Sermon Tone Analysis

Before we get started I wanted to announce that Bermuda short Sunday has been postponed until further notice.

So, we'll have to wait until the weather gets a little warmer before we do that.

I'm so glad to see all of you that have come today.

I trust that the roads were clear for you.

There may be those who have been hindered by the weather still and have not been able to come, but we want to enjoy our fellowship together this morning.

We're looking in the Gospel of John, the Word became flesh.

We're studying together today an event that happened at winter, so it's appropriate I guess for us to look at that.

It's the Feast of Dedication when we come to our text in John 10, the last portion of John 10, beginning in the 22nd verse there this morning.

I want us to look at a message I've entitled The Practice of Unbelief.

And it seems that the Lord has chosen this ceremony in order to point out a tremendous unbelief that exists in the lives of the Jews there in Jerusalem.

Certainly He used . . . in the previous portions of John that we've already looked at…he used the Feast of Tabernacles and all of the ceremonies that took place to point out some things, to try to show them that what was symbolized in that ceremony was standing right in front of them…the real Messiah, the real Bread of Life, the real Light of the World, and the water that quenches your thirst.

And at this celebration, He is going to use this symbolism, I think also, to attack their practical unbelief.

All of us run the risk of finding ourselves from time to time practicing unbelief.

Now that sounds strange.

If you say, "Well, no!

I believe in Jesus."

Well, you know you can believe in Jesus and yet find your life to be one that gets caught up in unbelief.

That is the history of Israel.

We want to look at that as well this morning.

They had times that though they trusted YHWH, they had a practical unbelief about them.

And I want us to see the consequences of that, not only in the Pharisees that are surrounding Jesus in our text today, but I want us to see how that can affect us so that we may stem that tide of unbelief that's so pervasive in our society today.

The Feast of Dedication that was in connection with the celebration of Hanukkah in the winter was a celebration that was the result of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who was a dictator that ruled around 168 B.C. there in Jerusalem.

Some 190 years earlier, he had gotten to the point where he set up an idol of Zeus that was made to look like him there in the temple, the idea being that he wanted to be worshipped as God.

The title Epiphanes means glorious one.

And he saw himself as a God.

It was a title given to a god; it was a title he had given himself.

And through the events that later became the celebration of Hanukkah, through the rebellion of the Jews during that day, he was overthrown.

He dies, the idol is removed, and the priests rededicate that temple.

And it is that dedication that is commemorated at the Feast of Dedication.

So the central focus is the temple.

Now that's where the Jews are gathered and that's where Jesus is.

In fact, He's walking across Solomon's portico or Solomon's porch in the front part of the temple complex when the Pharisees notice Him.

And they surround Him and they want to question Him yet again.

Verse 22 of John chapter 10 says, /"Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.

And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch.

Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, 'How long do You keep us in doubt?

If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.'"/

Now this is just got to cause Jesus' eyes to roll because He has spent His entire ministry demonstrating by His works, by His miracles, and by His statements.

And every time He does so it's met with opposition by this very group.

When the man born blind is given sight…a man who was blind from birth is given sight…and he stands before the Pharisees to tell them that this man called Jesus had given him sight, they just refused to see it themselves.

They're blinded to the reality of his sight.

They will not accept the fact that Jesus has done this great work.

And when Jesus makes those statements about Himself, they want to pick up stones to throw at Him.

So narrow-minded is their practical unbelief.

So narrow-minded is their religion that they can't see the object of their worship when it's right in front of them.

How sad for anyone who cannot see the very thing you dream of, the very thing you worship, the thing you long for, when it's right there in front of you.

How sad indeed!

And that's exactly what's going on with these Pharisees.

They say, "Well, just tell us!

We're tired of guessing.

Tell us plainly!"

And Jesus says, "I've been telling you this over and over and over!" Listen to Him in verse 25: /"Jesus answered them, 'I told you, and you do not believe.

The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.

But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.'"/

And we looked at that even last week.

/"'My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.

My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.

I and My Father are one.'"

Let me tell you one more time, "'I and My Father are one.'"/

And as a good shepherd, this blind man has been given sight, he has come to Me by faith and he will never lose his salvation.

He is in My hand, he is in the Father's hand, and nobody can snatch them out of Our hand.

Whew!

Right over the tops of the Pharisees' heads!

Verse 31: /"Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.

Jesus answered them, 'Many good works I have shown you from My Father.

For which of those works do you stone Me?' The Jews answered Him, saying, 'For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.'/

/Jesus answered them, 'Is it not written in your law, "I said, 'You are gods'"?

If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, "You are blaspheming," because I said, "I am the Son of God"?

If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.' Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand."/

Jesus says, "You're accusing Me because I said I'm the Son of God.

Look at the works!

If you don't believe me, believe the works!"

God doesn't allow these works to be done through a charlatan!

God doesn't allow these works to be done through a false prophet!

These works have been done as a sign to you, as a testimony that I am who I am!

When the Lord allowed these miracles to take place in the New Testament…that's why they took place by the way…it was secondarily to heal somebody.

It was primarily to show who Jesus was.

It primarily to show the real Church!

It was primarily to show whom God had His hand on.

And it was clear to anybody, it should have been, that Jesus was God, that He and the Father were one.

So why didn't they see it?

Why would they refuse to accept what seems to us to be such an obvious proof?

Because of unbelief.

Unbelief.

It's like when Elijah stood up on Mount Carmel back in 1 Kings 18:21: /"And Elijah came to all the people, and said, 'How long will you falter between two opinions?

If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.'

But the people answered him not a word."/

Elijah stands up and says, "You people don't know which way to go! You're allowing this Baal worship led by Jezebel to take hold and take root in the land of YHWH, in God's land.

You need to decide today, are you going to follow God or are you going to follow Baal?

Just make a choice!

Choose who you're going to follow!"

And the Pharisees are given that choice whether they like it or not.

Choose whether you're going to believe what you see and accept that truth or whether unbelief is going to drive you away from the truth.

My friends, what happens to the Pharisees needs not be put on the shelf as "what happened to foolish people."

But it really needs to be the example of what can happen to all of us.

These Pharisees were not ignorant of the Scriptures.

They were not people who had never gone to the Synagogue or had failed to study the prophecies of the coming Messiah.

They knew it; they memorized it.

They knew it better than anyone.