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GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN CHAPTER ONE
PASTOR CHUCK SMITH

Well, let's turn to the gospel according to John chapter one.

This gospel of John was written quite a long time after the other gospels.

The other gospels were already in use in extent and thus John does not follow the

pattern of the other gospels as he records for us the life of Christ. But John pretty much sums

up his gospel doing or taking the last part of the ministry of Christ, spends a lot of time in

the last year of Christ in his gospel. It was thought to be written from Ephesus at 70 AD when

the Roman troops came in and conquered Jerusalem, destroying the city, killing a million, over a

million Jews. Many of the Jews escaped before Jerusalem fell and most of the church did escape

and did not suffer the destruction by Titus and the Roman troops. They were directed by a word

of prophecy to leave the city on that night and for some unknown reason as they left out of the

east gate according to the direction of the prophecy. Somehow Titus did not have the troops

positioned at the east gate that night and thus the church escaped. John went to Ephesus and

according to the traditions he took with him Mary, the mother of Jesus. And there at Ephesus,

John continued the ministry and there are early church records that speak of John's ministry

there. We know that John was then, they attempted to kill him, they boiled him in oil but it didn't

have any fatal effect upon him and so he was exiled to the island of Patmos and the thing is,

God wasn't through with him yet. God wanted to give to him the book of Revelation and so the

book of Revelation was written from the isle of Patmos but the gospel of John is the last of the

gospels written. It is a later work and so John in his gospel is thinking probably of the Greek

mind because he has moved into a culture that is a Grecian culture in Ephesus and so he's probably

thinking of a gospel that would appeal to the Greeks. Its appeal is to the unbeliever and so

at the end of the gospel he said Jesus did a lot of other things that are not recorded but these

have been recorded that you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah and by believing have life

in his name. He closes his gospel saying if all of the things that were done by Jesus were written

down there probably would not be enough books in the libraries to give a full account of all that

Jesus had done. So the gospel of John is a great book to encourage a person who is an unbeliever

to read because again God said his word would not return void.
It would accomplish the purposes for

which he had sent it and if John was written that people might believe that
Jesus was the Messiah

and by believing have life in his name, then as a person reads the book of John that will be

accomplished in their heart as they will understand that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.
So with the

unbeliever in mind and especially the Greek mindset he declares: In the beginning was the

Word - the logos. Now in the Greek in their philosophy they say that behind
a word is a thought. In other

words words express our thoughts and behind the thought is a thinker. You can't have a thought

without a thinker. So in the beginning was the Word and with that comes the he tells you now that

behind the Word - the Word was with God the Word was God and the same was in the beginning with

God. John's plain declaration - the Word was God. Most cults fail on this point of acknowledging

that the Word was God but you can't make it any plainer or clearer than what John has declared.

The Jehovah Witnesses for instance say that the Word or that Jesus was the Michael the archangel.

The Mormons say that He was the brother of Lucifer that He is a created being. It's interesting that

as Matthew begins his gospel he begins it with Abraham. He gives you the genealogy of Jesus and

he traces him back to Abraham and then he tells of the birth of Jesus his baptism and then his

ministry. Mark doesn't tell us about the birth of Jesus but he does tell us about His baptism and

His ministry. Luke goes back to the account of the announcement to Zechariah the prophet of the

birth of John the Baptist the forerunner of Jesus. He goes back to the announcement to Mary of the

birth of Jesus and then he tells us and gives us the account of the birth and things that transpired

around the birth and some of the early life of Jesus. He in his genealogy takes you back to Adam

but John goes back one step further - in the beginning. Now when was that? Was there a beginning?

You know in the beginning was the Word. When the beginning was He was already there. In the

beginning was the Word past tense and the Word was with God and the Word was God and then he

tells us that all things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made.

The book of Genesis begins in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The Bible

doesn't try to tell us anything about how long ago the beginning was, but in the beginning God

created He was there before the beginning. God is timeless he is outside of the time continuum and

so here John sort of takes up much as does Genesis going back to the very beginning was the Word.

The Word was with God. The Word was God. He was in the beginning with
God and all things were made

by Him. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The Word was God and all things

were made by Him. It is interesting there are many passages in the New Testament that do ascribe

the creation to Jesus. They're in Colossians verse 16 of chapter 1.
For by Him were all things created

that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible, invisible, whether they are thrones or dominions

or principalities or powers, speaking of the angelic beings,

all things were created by him

and for him. Not only is Jesus the creator but He is the object of creation. They were created for

Him. So know this. That's why you exist. He created you for Himself.
In the book of Revelation chapter

5 as they're praising chapter 4 the response of the elders to the worship of the cherubim they say

thou art worthy O God to receive glory and honor for You have created all things and for Your good

pleasure they are created. I think it's extremely important that we recognize and realize that I was

created for Him. But then Paul takes us one step further and he said He is before all things,

pre-existing all things and by Him, he said all things consist. That word consist is held together.

God created things visible and invisible. God created the visible things out of invisible things.

We're made up of atoms and molecules which cannot really be seen but here we are created out of

invisible things and this great mystery of creation. And one of the mysteries is that things are made up

of atoms. But atoms are sort of a mystery in that they are made up of the nucleus of the atom which

is little protons and around the protons there revolve these electrons. Now Coulomb's law of

electricity talks about the expelling force of like particles. In other words positive charges

have a repelling force against positive charges. Opposites attract. I guess that goes with people too.

I hear marriage opposites attract but the likes repel so be careful about you know who you're getting

involved with. But there is so much expelling force of positive charges that if you had one gram of just

positive charges on the North Pole and one gram on the South Pole the
pressure against them it would take

1800 pounds to hold that gram of protons on the North Pole and on the South Pole.
There would be that much

repelling force at that distance. We do know that the atom bomb was created by releasing the positive

charges that are in the heart of an atom. And we know the tremendous power that is generated when we

can upset the nucleus of the atom and allow the protons to act according to the natural bent of

being pushed apart. Somehow they're glued together. The scientists made up they called it the atomic

glue the masons but that theory sort of went by the board. The mystery is what holds the universe

together. The power that holds matter together and that's what is revealed here by Him all things are held

together or all things consist. In the book of Hebrews God who at different times and in different manners

spoke in the times past to our fathers by the prophets has in these last days
spoken unto us by His son whom He has

appointed the heir of all things by whom also He made the worlds.
So John is telling us here right off that He is

the creator. All things were made by Him without Him was not anything made that was made. And in Him was life and the

life was the Light of men. The hope for us is in Jesus Christ. In Him life - eternal life. And the Light

shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. And so Jesus
shining in the darkness but the darkness is not able to

comprehend or apprehend this Light. There was a man who was sent from
God whose name was John, so he's now going to tell us a

little bit about the mystery or the ministry of John the Baptist.
The same came for a witness to bear witness of the Light that all men

through him might believe. And he was not that Light but he was
sent to bear witness of that Light. And that is the true Light that is

Jesus which lights every man that comes into the world. For He was in the world
referring again to Jesus. The world was made by Him a second

assertion that He was the creator and the world knew Him not.
Now we are celebrating the advent of our savior into the world. We are not

certain of the dates and that isn't important. We are celebrating the fact that
Jesus came to this earth and any date is all right as far as the

celebration of that very fact. People get caught up because it's pretty provable that
Jesus wasn't born December 25th. That our celebration what we

call Christmas is sort of an adaptation of a pagan holiday. But you know it doesn't
make that much difference. Well it does I guess the way some people

celebrate it. They are pagans and they celebrate it in a pagan way. And if you are
looking forward to the office parties and getting drunk and so

forth and pagan have your holiday. But don't call it Christmas. Call it Saturnalia like the
Romans did. But to us it is a day that we set aside to celebrate the

coming of Jesus into the world. He was in the world. The world was made by Him.
But sadly the world knew Him not. He came to his own that would be the

Jewish race. But He came to His own and His own received Him not.

But as many did receive Him to them He gave the power to become the sons of God even to those who

believed upon his name. Which were born
not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor

of the will of man, but of God. Our new birth as
many as received Him became the sons of God.

How did I become a son of God? By a new birth. The birth was not by the will of man

but by the will of God. So not the will of the flesh. I'm born of the spirit by the will of God.

The Word was made flesh. He dwelt among us. We beheld his glory.

The glory of the onlybegotten of the

Father full of grace and truth.

So basically as you read this
you can start off with verses one and two.

In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God. And the Word was made flesh.

That is God became man.

He dwelt among us and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten

of the Father full of grace and truth.

Coming back to John he bore witness of Him. He cried saying this was He of

whom I speak. He that came after me is preferred before me for He was before me.

Pre-existence of Jesus. And His fullness have all we received and grace of

his fullness have we all received and grace for grace.

John came to bear witness of the coming of the Messiah.

He was to go before Him to prepare the hearts of the people to receive Him.

And John was not out to promote himself or to promote his own ministry.

Concerning Jesus he said, He must increase and I must decrease.

And every one of us should actually have that same attitude as John.

He must increase. I must decrease. So of his fullness have we all received
grace for grace.

For the Law it was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

So man through the Law related to God. It was the means by which sinful man

could relate to a holy God. It was through the sacrifices of the Law that

the sins were covered and the door was opened for man to fellowship with God,

through the peace offerings of the Old Testament.

But there's a new covenant that God has made and it is the covenant of grace

and it is by the grace of God but it was made possible through Jesus Christ

and through His sacrifice, and it's interesting all of the sacrifices of the

Old Testament were just pointing ahead to the sacrifice of Jesus.

So grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

No man had seen God at any time but the only begotten Son

which is in the bosom of the Father He has manifested Him.

No man has seen God at any time because as Jesus said to the

woman of Samaria, God is a Spirit. They that worship Him must worship Him

in spirit and in truth and no man can see His Spirit

and so no man has seen God at any time.

There were manifestations. There were men who thought that they saw God

and Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Lord and he said that he had seen

God but in reality it was the manifestation and Jesus is the manifestation of God.

So no man has seen God at any time but the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father He has manifested Him.

This is the record of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him just who are you?

And he confessed and he denied not but he confessed I am not the Messiah.

They were wondering concerning John. He was an interesting character and he

was baptizing down at Bethabara which is right towards the upper end of the Dead Sea.

Not too far from Jericho and that's where John was baptizing and they

came out and they said just who are you?

Because if you baptize someone you should have some authority for

baptizing them and that's basically what they were looking for.

Who gave you the authority to baptize? Just who are you?

And he confessed to them I am not the Messiah.

So they said well who are you then? Are you Elijah?

And he said I am not.

Now this creates a little bit of a problem in that Jesus in Matthew's Gospel and

speaking of John the Baptist said if you can receive it this is Elijah of whom the prophets spate.

Malachi said that the Lord would send Elijah before the face of the Lord to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers and so forth.

So John is denying that he is Elijah. How can that be when Jesus said well if you can accept this or receive it John was Elijah.

When Jesus was with his disciples and talking about John the disciples are

talking about himself as the Messiah they said how is it that the scriptures

say that Elijah must first come and he said he has come and they have done with him what they would.

So how do you reconcile this where John is saying no I am not Elijah?

Well if you go back to Luke's Gospel when the angel was announcing to his

father Zechariah that his wife Elizabeth was going to have a son who would go

before the Lord he said he would go in the spirit and in the power of Elijah.

In other words he won't be the complete fulfillment of the prophecy of Malachi

that Jesus is coming again and that before Jesus comes again Elijah will

return and be a prophet again to the nation of Israel.

And he will turn their hearts unto the Father and so in Revelation chapter 11

you have the two witnesses that come to the earth and who minister there in

Jerusalem to the Jews and that will be the fulfillment of the prophecy of Malachi.

So in a sense he's not when he's saying I'm not Elijah I'm not the fulfillment of

the prophecy of Malachi that's later but he is of course - so they finally said well

then who are you that we might give an answer to those that sent us to find out.

What do you say of yourself?

And so he said you know I'm not the prophet that Malachi was talking about

but I'm the voice of one he's going back to Isaiah that is crying in the wilderness

make straight the way of the Lord as said the prophet Isaiah.

And they which were sent were of the Pharisees so he his claim of himself I am the one that he that Isaiah was talking about.

Now it is interesting in those days when a king was going to visit an area they would send out people

to repair the roads to level off the high spots to fill in the ruts and the potholes.

So that as the king would come it would be a smooth ride rather than a rough

ride they would take the curves out as much as possible so that was the duty

of those that would go to prepare for the king to come to an area.

And so Elijah I'm the prophet that Elijah was talking about who went out to

make to tell the people make the roads straight to prepare for the coming of the King Jesus Christ.

So they asked him and said unto him then why do you baptize if you're not the Messiah nor Elijah nor the other prophet.

Now that other prophet was the one that Moses predicted as he was talking

the Messiah there will come a prophet like unto myself and to him shall you give heed.

So are you the prophet that Moses was saying was going to come.

And John answered them saying I am baptizing with water but there is

standing One among you whom you do not know.

He it is who comes after me, He is preferred before me whose shoe latchet I'm not worthy to unloose.

I'm not unworthy to loose his sandal.

These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan where John was baptizing.

Now the next day after this questioning of John he saw Jesus coming unto him and he said behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

It would be interesting and probably in heaven we will find out the answer but it

would be interesting to know how many lambs under the Law have been slain as sacrifices for sin.

No doubt into the millions it will be an interesting trivia thing in heaven to discover just how many lambs sacrificed.

None of them could take away sin.

None of them could provide a removing of sin they did provide a covering for sin.

It took the blood of the Lamb of God Jesus Christ to take away our sins.

So John is here declaring behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

This is He of whom I said He was coming after me He was preferred before me for He was before me.

Again the acknowledgement of the pre-existence of Jesus.

And I knew Him not but that he should be made manifest to Israel therefore am I come baptizing with water.

And John bare record saying I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it abode upon Him.

And I knew Him not but He that sent me to baptize with water said to me upon

whom you will see the Spirit descending and remaining the same is He that baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

In Acts chapter one just before Jesus ascended into heaven He told his

disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father.

For He said John indeed did baptize with water unto repentance but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days.

And so He was instructing them just before He ascended wait here in

Jerusalem in a few days you're going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Now here John is saying that he was baptizing with water, but the One who sent him to baptize told him upon

whom he saw the Spirit descending and abiding He was going to baptize them with the Holy Spirit.

John's baptism was a baptism of repentance.

John's message was repent the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And water was the element in which John was baptizing the people.

John was the baptizer water was the element and the issue was repentance.

John said there's One who's coming after me He's mightier than I am - I'm not

worthy to untie His sandals and He's going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

And so Jesus is the baptizer, the element in which you are baptized by Jesus is the Holy Spirit.

And the issue is power you will receive power Jesus said when the Holy Spirit comes upon you

to be witnesses of me both in Jerusalem all Judea Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Many people have been baptized in John's baptism the baptism of

repentance acknowledging their repenting of sin and wanting to live a

new life not after the flesh that life was buried in the waters of baptism as many

as you were baptized were buried with Christ.

But many people have not yet experienced that baptism by Jesus the

baptism with the Holy Spirit and their lives are not empowered to do the work of Christ

and the power of witnessing because they need that baptism by Jesus Christ.

And so John said I saw and I bore record that this is the Son of God and

so again those that are you know here is John right here in the first chapter in the

beginning was the Word the Word was with God the Word was God.

And now John gives the witness - I bear witness this is the Son of God.

So again the next day after John was standing with two of his disciples and

looking upon Jesus as he walked he said behold the Lamb of God and the two

disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus.

Then Jesus turned and He saw them following and He said into them what are you seeking

and they said Rabbi which is to say and being interpreted master where do you live

and He said come and see and so they came

and they saw where He was living and they abode with Him that day for it was about

the 10th hour or it was getting late in the afternoon about four o'clock.

Now one of the two which heard John speak and followed Him was Andrew

who was Simon Peters brother and he first found his own brother Simon and

he said to him we have found the Messiah which is by interpretation the Christ.

Now I think that it is important that when we read of Jesus and we read of Jesus Christ

or we read the Lord Jesus Christ we realize that that's not first middle and last name.

Lord is His title that is what He is to us - He's my Lord my master that

that signifies relationship my relationship to Him as Lord. Jesus is His name.

It is the Greek for Joshua which means Jehovah is salvation but that's His name

they shell call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sin.

The the angel told Mary to call His name Jesus later Joseph when he was trying to figure things

out the angel assured that that which was conceived in Mary was from the Holy Spirit.

She was to bring forth the Son he was to call his name Jesus Jehovah Shua.

Christ is the Greek word for anointed and it is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah or the Messiah.

So when you read of Christ your reading of the Messiah your understanding that

He is the promised Messiah the promised Messiah of the Old Testament

as God was promising to ascend the anointed One the Messiah and that is Christos - Christ is the anointed one.

Here he gives you the - we have found the Messiah which is being interpreted

the Christ so he's telling you that that is Greek word Christos is the Hebrew Messiah.

And he brought him to Jesus when Jesus beheld him he said you are Simon

the son of Jonah but you will be called Cephas which is by interpretation a stone.

So it's interesting how that John again is interpreting because his readers are more or less the the Greek people

they understood the Greek language and so John is careful to interpret these words into the Greek for them.

Now the following day Jesus went forth into Galilee and He found Philip and He said to Philip

follow me. Jesus is now gathering together disciples disciples that were later be ordained as apostles.

And so Philip and here's how the thing is just growing, Philip was a beseda the city of Andrew and Peter.

Today they have discovered the site of ancient Beseda they didn't know where it was

for such a long time but now the archaeologists are there uncovering the remains of the city of Beseda.

It was so totally destroyed that even the location was lost for a long time

you remember Jesus said woe unto the Beseda and it's interesting

that those cities that He announced a war upon do not exist today.

But the reason why Beseda was not found is that it is now probably a mile and a half or two miles from the Sea of Galilee.

It was once a a on the shores of Galilee but over the many years the muddy Jordan River

has built up silt in the upper end of the Sea of Galilee

and the silt sort of created a silt dam and added to the land mass.

There on the upper end of the Sea of Galilee so that Beseda is now about a

mile and a half two miles away from the Sea of Galilee and that's why they didn't

find it because they kept looking around the shores of the Sea of Galilee for Beseda.

But that was the home of Peter and Andrew and of Philip.

Philip found Nathaniel so here's the way it's spreading they discover Jesus and then they tell others

about their discovery and that's the way the gospel is spread even today.

We discover our Lord and then we share with others the wonderful discovery.

So Philip found Nathaniel and he said to him we have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write.

Jesus of Nazareth He's the son of Joseph and Nathaniel said unto him can

any good thing come out of Nazareth? Nazareth was one of those cities that you know

was sort of looked down as a rough rugged city and can any good thing come out of Nazareth?

And Philip said well come and see and so Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him and

He said of him behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile and Nathaniel said unto Him how do you know me?

And Jesus answered and said well before Philip called you when you were

under that fig tree I saw thee. Nathaniel answered and said Rabbi You are the Son of God.

You are the King of Israel and Jesus answered unto him and He said

because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree do you believe?

You are going to see greater things than these and He said unto him:

Verily verily I say unto you hereafter you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.

Back in Genesis when Jacob was fleeing from his brother Esau and he had come to

Bethel and there weary, tired, he lay down on the ground using a rock for a pillow.

And he had this dream and he saw this ladder that was reaching up into heaven

and the angels of God were ascending and descending on this ladder.

Jesus is here declaring I am the ladder by which man has access to heaven. I'm the ladder that Jacob saw in his vision.

No man, He will say in the fourteenth chapter can come to the Father but by me.

Here declaring He is the ladder by which you have access to God. How true that is.

Now the third day, it's interesting John takes us in subsequent days here, there was a marriage

in Cana of Galilee. Now Cana is over the hill from Nazareth and the mother of Jesus was there.

Some believe that it was a relative perhaps of Mary that was getting

married and both Jesus was called and His disciples to the marriage.

So they're walking over the hill down into the valley to this little village of Cana.

And when they wanted wine, they'd run out of wine, the mother of Jesus said unto him they have no wine.

Now Jesus up to this point had not performed any miracles. This is the first miracle that Jesus had performed.

There are some writings that talk about Jesus in his early years healing birds and in Egypt there's

the story that he made these little clay pigeons and then gave life to them and they flew away.

But that's all just, you know, imaginations. This is the first miracle of Jesus.

But it would seem that Mary is somehow suggesting to Jesus that He solved the problem for them.

Saying, they don't have any more wine. And He said unto her, woman, what have I to do with thee?

My hour is not yet come.

Evidently Mary did understand just who her Son was.

The angel had told her that He would be the Son of The Highest, be known as the Son of The Highest.

And knew that He had these powers, though they had not yet really been manifested.

And His mother saith to the servants, whatever He tells you to do, do it.

She knew her Son that if there was a problem, He was wanting to take care of it.

Here's an embarrassing problem. They have the wedding feast and perhaps

the groom was poor, couldn't afford to have enough wine for the guests.

And so Mary presents the problems to Jesus and He sort of rebukes her in a way.

But yet she knows that His heart will be touched by the need.

And so there were set there six water pots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews.

These were water pots to hold the water for the purification ceremonies.

And they contained two or three firkins apiece. Now a firkin is about nine gallons.

So Jesus said unto them, fill the water pots with water.

And so they filled them up to the brim. And he said unto them, now draw out and bear it to the governor of the feast.

And so they took it to him. And the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine.

He didn't know from whence it was, but the servants that drew the water, they knew.

And the governor of the feast called the bridegroom.

He said unto him, every man at the beginning does set forth the good wine,

and then that which is worse when they are pretty well drunk.

But you have kept the good wine until now.

This, the beginning of miracles that Jesus did in Cana of Galilee,

as He manifested His glory and His disciples believed on Him.

So things are beginning to gel now with Jesus and His disciples.

After this, He went down to Capernaum and His mother and His brothers and the disciples.

And they continued there not many days.

Capernaum became the headquarters of Jesus' ministry.

Beautiful, beautifully situated there on the Sea of Galilee.

It's a spot that I always enjoy visiting.

The ruins that are there at Capernaum are fascinating ruins.

They've sort of spoiled them in a way.

They put up a building supposedly over the house of Peter.

It's like a flying saucer.

It doesn't fit with all of the old artifacts that go back to the first century.

But the lake there is just beautiful.

And that's where Jesus more or less made His headquarters - there at Capernaum in His earthly ministry.

And so many of the miracles and so forth of Jesus were done there at Capernaum.

And so the Jews' Passover was at hand.

And Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

This is at the beginning of His public ministry.

And it would appear that He attended three Passover's.

This being the first, the third He was crucified on the third Passover.

But Jesus went to Jerusalem.

Notice he went up to Jerusalem.

Now in the map, south is usually considered down and north is considered up.

But you never do say you're going down to Jerusalem.

That's just something they won't say.

You always go up to Jerusalem.

Now you might be coming from Mount Everest, but you'd say, well, let's go up to Jerusalem.

The city of God, you never go down, but you always go up to Jerusalem.

And so Jesus was going up to Jerusalem.

And He found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money.

These men were profiteering off of people's desire to know and to worship God.

I think that's the worst kind of profiteering.

Taking advantage of people who want to serve and worship God.

The changers of money.

The common coinage was Roman coinage.

It had the image of Caesar on it.

And thus they would not allow you to put into the offering coffers any Roman coins.

If you wanted to give to God, you couldn't give a Roman coin because of the image of Caesar on it.

And so they had a lucrative little business.

People who want to give to God, well, I'll tell you what, we've got some shekels here.

And so money changers, will change your Roman coins for the temple shekel so that you can give to God.

But what they were doing was charging exorbitant rates of exchange.

So that you might have, say, a dollar in Roman coins.

And they would give you maybe 60 cents worth of shekels.

So that it was ripping off the people who were wanting to give to God.

In giving or making a sacrifice, the sacrifice had to be perfect.

It could not have any spot or blemish.

So to bring a sacrifice from your own flocks, the priest would examine it to see if it was without a blemish or spot.

And they would examine it carefully until they could find a blemish.

And then they would rebuke you for trying to offer a blemished animal for a sacrifice.

And they would direct you over to the stalls where they were selling certified kosher sheep.

They had already been examined by the priest and they'd been accepted for sacrifices.

But they would charge an exorbitant price for them.

In the city, you could buy a sparrow, three or four of them, for a penny.

But they would always find some flaw in it.

And so they would force you to buy the doves or whatever that they had certified as ready for sacrifice.

But again, paying a good price.

So that on his first visit, recorded to Jerusalem for the Passover.

I guess there was one when he was 12.

But on this one, as he is an adult in his ministry, he makes this scourge of a small cord.

And he drove them all out of the temple.

Now, I don't know how you picture Jesus when you think of Him as sort of a feminine looking, you know, oh, gentle Jesus, meek and mild.

Look upon this little child.

Remember, he was a carpenter.

He was a rugged, outdoor man.

I mean, he looked at this.

He became so incensed over it.

He makes this little scourge, this little whip, and he begins to drive them out.

He overturns the tables.

He sets the animals free.

He's creating a real hubbub right there in the temple precincts.

And he said unto them that sold the doves, take these things out of here.

Don't make My Father's house a house of merchandise.

And the angels remember, I mean, the disciples remembered that it was written, the zeal of thine house has eaten me up.

Psalm 69, it's interesting.

Psalm 69 is one of the most quoted psalms in the New Testament.

And you'll find a lot of quotations here in John from Psalm 69.

The psalm that declared the zeal of thine house has eaten me up.

It's angered me. It's upset me to see what's going on.

Then answered the Jews and said to Him, what sign do you show us seeing that You do these things?

It's the same thing with John the Baptist.

Who are you? Who gave you the authority to do this?

And so they're now challenging Jesus.

Just who gave you the authority to come in and to do this?

And Jesus answered and said unto them,

You want a sign?

Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.

Then said the Jews, forty six years was this temple in building and You will rear it up in three days.

But he was speaking of the temple of His body.

He was talking about His death and His resurrection.

You want a sign? It'll be the resurrection.

That's the great sign that Jesus is the Son of God.

Another time when they were asking for a sign, He said a wicked and

an adulterous generation is looking for signs.

But no sign will be given to it.

But the sign of the prophet Jonah, for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale,

so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

And so the signs were not in the miracles that Jesus wrought.

The sign, the ultimate sign would be his resurrection.

And so if you will read in conjunction with this, 1 Corinthians chapter fifteen,

you will read the importance of the resurrection.

For if there is no resurrection, there is no sign.

If there is no sign, then our faith is in vain, our hope is in vain.

Our loved ones who have died, they've perished and we are of all men most miserable.

But now has Jesus risen from the dead? He fulfilled that sign.

It's interesting when they had brought Him for trial to try to get the sentence of death.

One of the witnesses that came against Him said,

this man said that if you destroyed the temple He would rebuild it in three days.

And of course that was one of the charges that was leveled against Jesus.

But as John tells us, he wasn't talking about the temple that Herod had built.

At the time that Jesus was there, they had already been building on that thing for 46 years.

Can you imagine a building today that they would still be working on?

When did you start this? Well, 46 years ago.

The thing was, it will be 18 more years before they complete it.

And so they are looking at Jesus and thinking that He's talking about the temple that was built by Herod,

but he's talking about His own body, the temple of His own body,

that you destroy it and in three days I'll rise again.

When therefore He was risen from the dead,

His disciples remembered that He had said unto them,

and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

All of a sudden after the resurrection, oh yes, remember He said, in three days He would rebuild it.

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day,

many believed in His name when they saw the miracles which He did.

Now He is beginning to do many miracles, public miracles,

by which He is proving to the people that He is indeed the Messiah,

opening the eyes of the blind and just setting at liberty those that were bound and all,

and beginning to show them that He was the Messiah through the miracles.

And many believed because they saw the miracles.

But there's something interesting here.

Jesus did not commit Himself to them because He knew all men.

They believed in Jesus, but they weren't really committed to Jesus.

You know, there's just an awful lot of people like that today.

They believe in Jesus, but they're not really committed to Jesus.

What is their position? I really don't know.

I am concerned.

I'm concerned that if we would poll our Sunday morning congregation,

that the vast majority would say, oh yes, I believe in Jesus.

But they're not committed to Jesus.

Jesus isn't the Lord of their lives.

And thus, Jesus wouldn't commit Himself to them,

knowing that they probably didn't have what we would call a saving faith just to believe.

But as James said, you say that you believe God.

Do you think that that's something special,

that that's supposed to do something for you, you believe in God?

He said the devil's believing God, and they fear and tremble before Him.

So it's more than just a head knowledge.

Jesus wouldn't commit Himself to them because He knew them.

He knew men.

And He didn't need that anyone should testify of man to Him,

for He knew what was in man.

He knew those who had a genuine faith,

not just because they saw miracles and they said, whoa, that's exciting,

but that they had committed themselves to serve and to follow Him.

Am I just a believer or am I truly committed?

He knows me. He knows my heart.

Has He committed himself to me?

That's the important thing, knowing what's in my heart.

Father, we thank you for this beginning of the Gospel of John

and the introduction to Jesus that John does give to us.

And Lord, we pray that you will just help us to examine ourselves,

knowing that if we would judge ourselves, we won't be judged by You.

And Lord, we do believe, but we realize, Lord,

that there is something more than just believing that You did exist,

believing that You were a good man, believing that You were a great teacher,

even believing that you are the Son of God.

But there is that commitment, commitment of ourselves to You.

And Lord, help us that we might make that commitment,

that You might indeed be committed to us.

These things, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Shall we stand?

The pastors are down here at the front to pray for you tonight

who desire prayer for any cause or reason.

So we would encourage you, if you have a need in your life,

don't just leave, but come on down and let them minister to you.

And God wants to help you tonight.

God wants to work out those problems in your life.

And if you'll give him a chance, He will.

So may the Lord be with you.

Watch over, bless you, and keep you, fill you with His Spirit,

and cause your life to just overflow

in the abundance that He wants to bestow upon you.

God is so good. God is so good.

God is so good. He's so good to me.

Jesus is real. Jesus is real.

Jesus is real. He's so real to me.

He saved my soul. He saved my soul.

He saved my soul and he made me whole.

I praise his name.