Fighting Over Jesus

It is often suggested that the most important questions we face are questions like, who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? And certainly those are basic and foundational questions in life that, at some point, and to some degree, we all ask ourselves, but I would suggest that there is a more important, a more basic, a more foundational question than any of those. And it is this, who is Jesus Christ? Now, I know if you have just a least bit of cynicism that you brought with you today, you may be thinking, oh yeah, John, you're a preacher. That's the question. That's everything. Jesus is the answer to everything, right? Jesus is the answer to every question. Just mouth the word Jesus. That's all there is. Well, I firmly believe that with all of my heart, that the answer to that question, who is Jesus Christ, will answer not only your eternal destiny, it will not only determine that, it will also answer all of the other questions that you bring to the table. It will give you the starting point for answering them in a deep and meaningful and life-purpose kind of way. So the most important question you can ask is, who is Jesus Christ? The answer to that question frames every other answer to every other question. It is the raging question of our day. I'm often amused, more angered, I guess, every Easter season when major news, periodicals like US News and World Report and Time and others come out with their latest research on who was Jesus. Who was the historical Jesus as though it is the task of unbelieving scholars to figure out who he was? And they try to figure out from archaeological evidence and historical evidence or the lack thereof, just who was Jesus? It is a raging question even in our day, but that debate did not start recently. That debate started in Jesus' ministry during his life. That debate has been raging since he was here on earth. It started then and it has never stopped, but it comes to a peak in the chapters where we are now in John's Gospel. In chapter 7 through 10, especially, Jesus has been in Jerusalem at the feast of tabernacles six months before he will die. And most of what we have in chapter 7 through chapter 10, verse 21, are at or just after that feast in the fall of the year. But in verse 22, we jump ahead three months and we come to another feast and the intensity, the white hot heat of controversy over who Jesus is just continues to come to a boiling point actually to the point that Jesus will get. Jesus will come to the place where he must leave Jerusalem for his own safety because it is not yet the Father's time for him to die. This opposition peaks in chapter 10 and this dramatic conflict over who Jesus is unfolds for us in our passage today in six stages. Six clear stages of this controversy, this conflict over who Jesus is. Let's begin in John chapter 22 or John chapter 10, verse 22, with this first stage, the confrontation. And John sets up the confrontation over the person of Christ by, first of all, painting us a scene of the setting for this confrontation. Notice if you will, the setting that he describes in verses 22 and 23. Then came the festival of dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon's colonnade. It has been three months since the feast of Tabernacles and here we are at another feast. But this feast is not described in the Old Testament. It's not one of the ones from the Old Testament in the mosaic law. This is a different one. This is a feast that goes back only a couple hundred years. And I think John wanted us to understand the setting to better grasp and picture the opposition to Jesus and His life and ministry here. So let's take a moment to understand where we are in the stage of things here. Almost 200 years before Jesus utters these words that we will read in our passage today, something awful was going on in Israel. 168 BC, a king, a king of Syria by the name of Antiochus epiphanes, who by the way was prophesied in the book of Daniel. And in Daniel's prophecy would actually become kind of a symbol of the Antichrist who will come later in earth's history. This king, Antiochus epiphanes, swept through Israel, conquering it, taking it from the nation of Egypt, and decided to try to force Greek culture on the Jewish nation. So he walked into the temple as a Gentile, defiling the temple, forced the priests to eat pork, literally shoved it down their throats, turned the storerooms of the temple into a brothel for religious prostitution, turned the brazen author into an author to the Greek and Roman god Zeus, and capped it off by offering a sal, a pig on the author. Completely desecrating the temple in the eyes of every faithful Jew. Well that aroused the anger of the Jews, unlike anything that had been done in centuries. And a revolt came out, the priests, the high priests, Judas Maccabius, let a revolt against Antiochus epiphanes and the Syrians took them three years, but they were able to gain their independence. It was the last flicker of independence they would have until the Romans swept through, and it would be the last independence the Jewish nation would have until 1948. But in 165 BC, they recaptured the temple, they rededicated the temple, and one of the traditions of that amazing deliverance, kind of like an independence day celebration for the Jews. One of the great stories and traditions that went around is when they got to the temple and took it, there was only one day of oil left for the great candelabras in the temple, but it lasted for eight days. Every December, Jews would celebrate the festival, the feast of dedication, to remember the dedication of the temple back to the Lord for eight days they would celebrate this festival. It is still celebrated by faithful Jews today. It's called Hanukkah and every December, Festival of Lights comes about for every faithful Jewish family. Jesus was attending that festival in Jerusalem, and John says it was winter. So for that reason, Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon's Colony. Now we kind of slip over those things and don't grasp what's happening. In December, in the winter in Jerusalem, it can be cold, windy and rainy. They don't get a lot of snow, they can get a little snow, but it's cold and windy and rainy. And so there's a part of the temple that's kind of protected from those winds. We've got a picture of it for you. Solomon's Colony, these tall columns, 25 feet high or so, were next to this enclosure on the right hand side of your picture, which is like an enclosed porch. It's an outside wall of the temple and it's enclosed with a roof over top. So it provides protection from the winter weather, the winds from the rain. And oftentimes, rather than being in the open courts teaching at this time of year, Jesus would be under those colonnades. This is the same place where in the book of Acts, the early church met. It's Solomon's porch. It says in the book of Acts. So this is the setting. This is the scene. This is where Jesus is at the feast of dedication. But the setting gives way to the surrounding because as Jesus is walking along, all of a sudden, he is surrounded by people in verse 24. The Jews who were there, again, the Jews, John's use of that term to mean the Jewish religious leaders, the Jews who were there gathered around him saying, how long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly. Now I call this the surrounding because the word the NIV uses is a little weak. They didn't just gather around him, they encircled him. It literally means to surround him, literally to trap him in so that he couldn't get away this time. And they say it's time for a showdown in the temple. You don't keep us in suspense any longer. We want to know from your lips, tell us who you are. If you're the Messiah, come right out and say it. Now Jesus has come right out and told others that he was the Messiah, but it's been privately. In John 4, he did it to the woman of the well. In John 9, he did it to the man he had healed who was born blind. He has not said those actual words in a public setting, probably because of the tremendous misunderstanding of the Jews as to what the Messiah would be like. If he proclaims himself the Messiah, immediately they want to put him into the ruling place. They want to make him king. They want to deliverance from Rome. They have all kinds of political ideas as to what the Messiah should be like. But Jesus has told them, maybe not using those words. He's told them and he's shown them. And so this confrontation leads to the explanation in verses 25 to 29 where Jesus explains some things to them. Before he gives them clearly what they're looking for, he needs to explain some things. Three things he explains to them. First of all, he explains the reason for their unbelief in verses 25 and 26. Jesus answered, I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my father's name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. Now basically what Jesus is saying is he describes the reason for their unbelief. He's saying, I've already told you. I've already answered the question. Am I the Messiah? I've told you. I may not have used those exact words, but I have told you who I am. Not only that, I have shown you, not only my words, but my works that I do by my father. They support what I've said. They are the confirming testimony from my father about who I am. And so I have told you, I have shown you. Jesus is saying to them, you do not need more information. The problem is not a lack of information. The problem is not up here. The problem is here. The problem is not, you need more information. I've given you plenty of information. I've told you who I am. I've shown you who I am. The problem is the reason you don't believe what I've said. The reason you do not understand what I have done is in the heart you need a new nature. That's your problem. It's here, not here, that the problem is. You need a new nature. The reason you won't believe is you're not one of my sheep. The reason you don't understand the miracles, the reason you don't believe what I say is because your heart is in no position to receive it. Jesus is anticipating exactly what Paul will say in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 14. When he says, the person without the Spirit does not accept, the word except in his literal means to welcome, does not receive the things that come from the Spirit of God, but considers them foolishness and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. Paul was saying, and Jesus is saying, the reason for your unbelief is not you need more information. The reason for your unbelief is you don't have the right nature. You're not one of my sheep. You've never trusted me as savior and become my follower. Without that work of God in our hearts, we can't see. We can't understand. Paul tells us that this is a work of the Spirit of God to convict people, to draw people to the Savior. It is a work of God to save people. When we come to know Christ, then the lights go on, then we understand what Jesus is saying, then we grasp His works and His words. Jesus says, you can't believe what I'm saying or doing. You can't grasp it. You can't understand it because this is of the Spirit. The Spirit, the same thing Paul was saying, and you're not one of my sheep. Thus you don't get it. You don't get it. So you've got to become one of His followers in order to gain the spectacles of faith to be able to accurately perceive His words and His works. That's what Jesus is saying. The reason for your unbelief, not a head problem. It's a heart problem. It's a problem of not having the right nature. So Jesus goes on to describe what that nature looks like. The second thing He explains is the nature of the sheep, verse 27. Here's what my sheep look like. The reason you don't believe is because you're not one of my sheep. But here's what my sheep are like, verse 27. My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. He's describing the nature of His sheep, sheep in the context from what He said about being the good shepherd laying down His life for His sheep and so forth. It's obvious the sheep are believers. Those who have trusted Him, who've accepted Him as their Lord, as their Savior, who have become His followers, and people who have truly done that have a new nature. They are sheep and their faith in Christ is evidence that is demonstrated. It is seen by the fact that they follow the shepherd. Sheep, follow the shepherd. If you're not following the shepherd, you're not one of the sheep. So Jesus says the nature of sheep is to follow the shepherd. So when you follow the shepherd, you show, you demonstrate that you have the nature of a sheep. You are one of His. You're the genuine article. You're not a counterfeit. You truly know Jesus as your Savior. Now none of us follows imperfectly. The sheep have a tendency to wander off, a little compel grass over here, go my own way, do my own thing. But they belong to the shepherd and there's a general rule of life when they hear His voice. They'll follow Him. Sometimes the shepherd has to take His staff and kind of get Him back in line. And sometimes we do that. We don't follow imperfectly. But what Jesus is talking about here is the general direction and course of your life. If you are genuine, if you're one of His sheep, you follow Him. If you're not one of His sheep and if you're not following Him. Let me put it this way. If you're not following Him as the general course of your life, then you're not a sheep. You're a dog or a pig. Really, you are. What Peter says. Look at this verse in 2 Peter, chapter 2. Speaking of false teachers who profess to be religious and no God, all of that. But they really don't. He says, of them, the proverbs are true. A dog returns to his vomit and the salve that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud. What he's talking about is your nature, your heart is reflected in your direction of life and what you tend to go toward. If you're one of God's sheep, if you're one of His genuine true believers, then your life will in general terms, not perfectly, not always, but in general terms, you'll be following the shepherd. You know His voice. And my sheep follow me, He says. But you know what you can do whatever you want to with your little puppy dog. You can comb His hair for whatever He's got. You can comb that and cut it just right and fix it up, put him in a dog show and put smelly good stuff on him. You can do everything you can to him. You know what? The vomit is going to lick it up. That's a dog for you. And you know what? You can clean up your pig. You can have one. You can clean up your pig. You can wash him. You can put perfume on him. You can put a little pink bow around his neck. You can, you know, curl his little weird looking tail. You can do all kinds of things to make a pig look pretty. You letting loose. You know where he's going to go? Straight for the mud. Why? Causes a pig. This is nature. Outward reform does not equal salvation. It's very easy to get people to be moved emotionally to respond in a crowd and to make a profession. It's easy. I've got books on my shelf that can teach you how to do that. I've got one called drawing the net that can walk you through steps on how to give an invitation so that you sure you get people forward. I've seen that. I've experienced that. And that quite often is a work of the flesh to try to get results. When something is genuine, when the spirit of God is really moving, people stick. They follow. They're sheep. If their nature turns them away from Christ back to their sin, back to their old life, no desire, no interest at all in the things of God. And I'm not talking about a little slip up here and there. I'm talking about abandoning the things of God to go full scale because you love it back into your old life. Then you're a dog. You're a pig. You're not a sheep. Now sometimes, and we're going to get to this in a moment, sometimes in our kinds of circles, we highlight so much the truth of eternal security that we're almost giving people a blank check to do whatever they want to do and live however they want to live. And that is not what the Bible teaches. Once saved, always saved, which is often thrown at us as kind of a caricature, a pejorative comment to criticize what we believe about eternal security. Once saved, always saved. You mean you believe that? Yeah, I believe that. But also believe if you're genuinely saved, you'll follow the shepherd. It doesn't give you a license to go live any way you want to. And if you go back to your vomit and you go back to your mud, you're probably showing you don't have the nature of a sheep. That's what Jesus is saying. The nature of the sheep is to follow the shepherd. None of us again does it perfectly. Sometimes we wonder away. But if you're genuinely saved, the book of Hebrews says, God will deal with you as a son and bring you back. He will chase you. And if you continue to resist that, he'll take you on to heaven for Sean 516. The explanation of the nature of the sheep. Now, understanding who the true believers really are, people who are following the shepherd, then and only in that context does Jesus explain the security of the sheep. And these are blessed comforts. The security of the sheep in verses 28 through 30 or 28 and 29. Notice what Jesus says. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my father's hand. Two of the greatest verses in all of the Bible, classic proof texts of eternal security. What Jesus is saying here is verse 27, the foundation, if you are genuinely one of my sheep, who knows my voice and follows me, then I give you this promise. If you are a genuine believer, you have eternal life. You can never lose your salvation. If you've got the genuine thing, if you're really saved, you can never lose that. And you know what? Jesus reinforces that in four ways here. First of all, He says, we have eternal life. By definition, that's life that will never end. Some people kind of get around it by saying, well, you know, you get that when you die, then you get eternal life. So you've got to hang onto it, you've got to live, you've got to pray through it, you've got to make sure you hold onto your salvation or you won't have eternal life. No, no. The Bible teaches that the moment you trust Christ, you are given eternal life. John 318, John 336, John 524, multitudes of verses, talk about the fact that at the moment of faith in Christ, you are already delivered from death into life, you have no condemnation, you're a believer and you have eternal life at that moment. So when you trust Jesus as your Savior, you are given eternal life by definition, a life given from God that can never end, if the only way it could ever end is if God Himself ends. Because it's the same quality of life that He Himself has, it is eternal in nature and in duration. It can never end. If that's all Jesus said, you've got eternal life, then I would know I'm eternally secure in Christ, but He reinforces it this way. He says, I give them eternal life. What Jesus is saying is your eternal life is not something you earn, it's not something you merit or deserve, it's not something you work to get. So it's not something you can hang onto either. From beginning to end, it is totally a work of God's grace. Salvation is a free gift from God, we don't do anything to earn it, we cannot do anything to keep it. It's not up to me to save myself, it's not up to me to keep myself saved. It's a whole package deal, it all goes together. And so we are given eternal life, it's a gift of God's grace. He reinforces it a third way with this promise. He says, I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. John consistently uses the word perish of the second death, eternal death, in other words eternal separation from God in the lake of fire. The punishment and the condemnation that comes to every unbeliever. But Jesus says, for those who are my sheep, I've given them eternal life and they will never perish. In fact, it is so strong, John uses a triple negative. You know, I remember just a little bit of my English from back in the day. And I remember enough to remember that if you use a double negative, it cancels out the negative and you're basically saying a positive. I ain't never going. Basically means I'm going. But John uses a triple negative. What he's saying is I want to reinforce this. So he says, you will never know, never perish. Impossible for you to perish. And I want to emphasize that as strongly as I can. You will never know, never perish. But then he reinforces our eternal security in a fourth way. Notice what he says. He says, I give them eternal life and they shall never, never perish. But then notice this, no one will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my father's hand. Your salvation and your eternal destiny rests secure in Jesus' hand. You are in His hand. I've heard the songs put your hand in the hand of the man. That's not what salvation is all about. I've heard people say how you got to hang on. Now don't let go. It's not up to me to save myself or to keep myself safe. I'm not trying desperately to somehow hang on to Him. If I let loose, I'm gone. No, no. The Bible says, I am in His hand. And there's more protection than that. Not only am I in His hand. And I trust His hands pretty well. You know, as a verse in Deuteronomy that says, underneath are the everlasting arms. They never grow weary. They can hang on to you. It's not a matter of you hanging on to Him. He's hanging on to you. You're in His hand. But double security. Not only are you in His hand, He goes on to save my father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my father's hand. So you're also in the father's hand. Double protection. To use an advertising slogan, you are in good hands with our Lord because He has you in His hand and the father has you in His hand. And no one can snatch you out of His hand or the father's hand. No one I think includes me. I can't snatch myself out of God's hand. Now, here's the balance to that truth. This is not a blank check for you to live any way you want. Oh, okay, I got saved. I'm assured of heaven. Now I can go out and live like the devil because I've got my ticket to heaven. Uh-uh, remember verse 27. Verse 27 brings the balance to this. If you live that way and think that way, you're a dog, you're a pig, you're not a sheep because the sheep know my voice and they follow me. They have that nature. They have that inclination. Not perfectly. Not always. Not always like I'd like for them, but they're inclination. They're direction in life. Their major goal in life is to follow the shepherd. That's the sheep. And it is to those people this promise of eternal security is made. Not people who say they're saved, but go back to their vomit and wallow in the mud. No, people who follow the shepherd. Eternal security, the explanation of the security of the sheep. Well, that explanation then leads to the declaration. And the declaration is simple. It is clear. It is powerful. Verse 30. These few words. I and the father are one. Okay, there you have it. You asked for me to say plainly who I am. This is it. This is as clear a declaration of Christ's deity as there is in the scriptures. This is more powerful than when Jesus said in chapter 6, I'm the bread come down from heaven. This is more powerful than when Jesus said in chapter 7, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. This is more powerful than what Jesus said in chapter 8 when he said before Abraham was, I am. That's pretty powerful. But this is the most powerful of all. This is clear. You want it clear? You want it to where you can't miss it? You want me to say it clearly? Here it is. I and the father are one. Not that we're identical persons. Again, the original language helps us here. The word one is in the neuter. It's not feminine, it's not masculine, or masculine. It would be talking about the father and son being the same person. But it's neuter. It means we are the same essence. We have the same nature. We're not the same person. We're distinct persons. But we have the same nature. Just as the father is God, I also am God. That's what Jesus is saying. We have the same divine nature. Can't be any clearer than that. And guess what? They got it this time. They accused him of blasphemy before, but they're still trying to prod him into a clear statement. This is the clearest statement of all. That leads to the accusation. The accusation of verses 31 through 36. The Jews state the accusation. Look at it in verse 31. Again, his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stoning, but Jesus said to them, I have shown you many good works from the father. For which of these do you stone me? We are not stoning you for any good work they replied, but for blasphemy because you, a mere man, claim to be God. You know, they've got it right this time. I mean, they understand what Jesus is saying. Very clearly, they understand that he is claiming he is equal to God. That he has the same nature as God the father. They understand that. So they're ready to ston him. They take off to go to the part of the temple just south of where they were and that colony where it's unfinished yet. They're going to pick up some of those unfinished stones and come back and find him and they're going to stoning. We'll find that Jesus moves away out of their reach, but they're going to ston him for blasphemy. And you know what, they're right. If a mere man claims to be God, that is blasphemy. And then under Jewish law, that was worthy of death. What they're wrong in is in their presupposition. Their presupposition is that he's a mere man. So he must be committing blasphemy. They're wrong in their first statement. He's not a mere man. He is God. And he has every right to claim equality with the father. So Jesus refutes the accusation. Look at verse 34. Jesus answered them. Is it not written in your law? I have said you are gods. If he called them gods to whom the word of God came and scripture cannot be set aside. In other words, I'm taking this out of the Old Testament and you don't just explain away scripture. Scriptures authority. Infallible and errant without error. You don't just set that aside. Scripture cannot be set aside. Cannot be broken. Verse 36. What about the one whom the father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said I am God's son? Now the intricacy of the argument Jesus uses is somewhat lost on us because we're not familiar with these Old Testament passages that he refers to and the concepts he's talking about. So let me see if I can help us out here just a little bit. Jesus goes back to an Old Testament statement in Psalm 82. We've got it for you on the screen where God says this to people who are judges in Israel, judicial authorities. I said you are gods. Notice the little G. Same way Jesus uses the term. You are gods. You are all sons of the most high. But you will die like mere mortals. You will fall like every other ruler. Now Jesus or God here is speaking in Psalm 82 of judicial rulers. They have delegated responsibility from God to rule over God's people. They are to speak for God. They are in a sense to take the place of God in the eyes of the people to make clear and explain God's word. They have delegated power from God. They have they are agents of God if you will. Representatives of him charged with the responsibility of explaining and communicating God's revelation his word to the people to pass down judicial sentences from the mosaic law and explain what the word of God said about the national life of Israel. They have delegated responsibility. They are agents of God. In that sense they are representatives of God. They are called little G. Gods. Sons of representatives of the most high. The same thing is said of Moses as another type of political and religious leader in Israel. In Exodus chapter 4 when Moses is talking about Aaron with me, God says he will speak to the people for you. Aaron will. And it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. And the same relationship Moses has to Pharaoh in Exodus 7 verse 1. Then the Lord said to Moses, see I have made you like God to Pharaoh and your brother Aaron will be your prophet, spokesman in other words. In all of these Old Testament uses, the term God either being like God or actually calling them small G. Gods basically means they are delegated with responsibility to speak for God. Now what Jesus is going to say, they were called Gods in the Old Testament. Sons of the most high. But what is going to say next in verse 36 is I am on a different level than them. If it was appropriate to call them delegates, agents, representatives of God and refer to them as sons of the most high in that way. What about the one whom the father set apart as his very own? Set apart literally means to dedicate. By the way, just a little play on words here. It's the feast of dedication. Remembering the dedication of the temple. And Jesus says I am the one the father dedicated. Set apart, cleanse, prepared to come and be your savior. What about the one the father actually set apart as his very own and sent into the world? I am not just a representative. I was sent down here from heaven picking up on that imagery he's used all the way since chapter 6. So what he's saying basically is human representatives of God can be called Gods. Sons of the most high in the Old Testament. I'm on a different level. I have literally been set apart dedicated by the father to be sent from heaven to this earth to be your savior to be your Messiah. So why are you blaspheming me for saying I am God or I am equal to the father? Jesus refutes the accusation. But I love what happens next. That leads to the invitation. A gracious, powerful invitation on the part of our Lord to people who have trampled him under foot already. Look at verse 37. Do not believe me unless I do the works of my father. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works that you may know and understand that the father is in me and I in the father. What Jesus is doing here is still inviting them. He's urging them. He's pleading with them to believe. And if you cannot believe what I'm saying, then look at the miracles. They were designed to be confirmation evidence of who I am. So at least, even if you can only do this, at least believe on the basis of the miracles, examine the evidence, believe. And then you will know and understand, he says, notice the order. Exam in the evidence. Then believe, then you will know and understand that the father is in me and I in the father. You will never understand spiritual truth until you come to Christ. Yes, you need to examine the evidence. If you have questions, there's a place for examining the evidence. Jesus says, examine the evidence. If you won't take my word for it, then look at the miracles. They're evidence. Look at them. And there are all kinds of evidences in God's creation and God's way of doing things. The way he's put this world together, there are all kinds of evidences that can be examined, but one will never fully know and understand the truth about Jesus until they commit to believe in him as Savior. The thing that's amazing to me is Jesus is still holding out his arms to these people who are ready to stone him, who are ready to kill him. And he's still pleading with them. Come, believe. And so you know what? That offers me hope that he's still pleading with you. No matter what you've done, no matter where you've come from, no matter how long you've rejected Christ, no matter how long you've walked by him or walked over him, no matter what you've done, he's still pleading with you. He's still holding out his arms. He's inviting you. Come, believe. If you need to examine the evidence, examine the evidence, but believe. Then you'll fully know and you'll understand no matter what you've done, no matter where you've been, no matter what you've been guilty of, no matter where you are right now. Now Jesus holds out his arms to you and pleads with you to come. That's a gracious invitation. The actor of a generation ago, Steve McQueen, was just about as tough and bad in person as he was in the roles he played on the screen. He had a lot of success in Hollywood until alcohol ruined at 4am and broke up his family ruined his life and he gave up in despair. He was in such despair one night that he went to a crusade held by one of Billy Graham's associates in Los Angeles. He was so moved that he went forward that night made a profession of faith. The person who was dealing with him, Steve McQueen said, I'd like to meet Billy Graham. Well Billy Graham was not there, but he wanted to sit down and talk with him and Billy Graham got the news. A little while later, a few days, a couple weeks maybe later, Billy Graham passing through Los Angeles had a layover at the airport and they arranged to meet. They sat down and Steve McQueen's limousine for two hours. Billy Graham opened his Bible and tried to assure him what faith in Christ meant and what it meant to trust Jesus. And Steve McQueen could not get over the past he had and the wicked life he had lived. And he could not grasp hold of the fact that God could forgive him, could forgive anybody with the kind of life he had lived. Billy Graham kept showing him scripture after scripture and finally they landed on Titus chapter 1 verse 2 and Steve McQueen's heart grasped hold of that verse. The hope of eternal life, just this phrase, the hope of eternal life which God who cannot lie promised long ago. And that somehow found its way by the spirit's power and to Steve McQueen's heart. And he wanted to write down that verse so that he could remember it and go back to it and Billy Graham instead just handed him his Bible. So here just take this. Some of you will remember that Steve McQueen ended up getting cancer and went to Mexico to try experimental treatments. On his deathbed, he asked for a Bible. He opened the Bible to Titus chapter 1 and verse 2. And he died with his finger on that verse. The hope of eternal life which God who cannot lie promised long ago. I don't know the nature of anybody's heart. I don't know the genuineness of anybody's decision. But if he truly did place his faith in Christ and his hope of eternal life in the one who cannot lie, then he went out to meet the Lord with his hope on that promise that God cannot lie. He cannot lie my friend. He's making you a promise. He's holding out his arms to you with the same invitation. If you will trust Jesus as your savior, you will have eternal life. And God who cannot lie has promised that to you. That's the invitation today. That invitation leads to the evacuation in verses 39 to 42. We just mentioned it briefly. They try to a try to seize him, try to arrest him. He slips out of their grass and leaves town. He goes 18 to 20 miles east across the Jordan River into a place called Paria where he will spend the next three months for safety's sake, yes, but so that he can continue to prepare his disciples for his death. His next visit to Jerusalem three months from now will be on Palm Sunday. Just five days before his death. The evacuation. But before he left, he offered that invitation. And he offers that to you today. Will you come? Will you receive Jesus as your savior? I go back to the questions I raised in the beginning of this message. The most foundational questions of life. Not who am I? Where have I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? But who is Jesus Christ? He is quite clearly God's Son who was sent to this earth to die on the cross and be our savior. But there's a follow up question. There's another question that is just as important. And it's this. What will you do with Christ? What will you do with Christ? He is the savior who came to this earth to die for you, to pay for your sins. What will you do with him? Will you walk right by him again? Will you trampling under your feet again? Or will you this time look him in the eyes the one who holds out his arms to you? And will you embrace him in faith and trust him as your savior? Let's pray together, please. Father, I pray that the message of who Jesus is and what he's done for us and how we can trust him as our savior to give us eternal life. I pray that that message will be clear to everyone who needs to hear that today. And if there are those who need to embrace it in faith and trust the Lord Jesus as savior, I pray that they will do so today. We ask it simply in His name and His authority. Amen.