John Chapter 10:30-42

We tend to forget what we should remember, and we tend to remember what we should forget. See, there are certain things in your life that you need to remember, those spiritual milestones, when and where you got saved, when you were baptized, when you just radically fell in love with Jesus.

You need to remember those things, not just kind of thinking back and remembering, but I mean just sitting and pondering and going, oh, I remember that was such a sweet time, a sweet season. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. Do you run to God when things get bad, or do you run away from God? Also, what does the Bible say about God's goodness? Today, as Pastor David McGee teaches a second part of The Son of God from John chapter 10, we'll find the answers to these questions and more. So now, here's David McGee with part two of his teaching, The Son of God. John chapter 10, verse 30, I and my Father are one. Now, this is a reference back to the Shema. We call it the Shema. It's Deuteronomy 6 and 4, and chapter 6, verse 4 and 5, from the Hebrew word, the first Hebrew word is Shema. Shema, Israel, Elohim, Yahweh, Elohim, Yahweh, Ahud, meaning the Lord our God is one God. Now, and if you remember, there's another clue about the Trinity way back in the book of Genesis, when God said, let us make, let us, plural, make man in our image.

Interesting, isn't it? So he says, I and my Father are one. So he's claiming deity.

So let's see what their reaction is. Verse 31, then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. So there they are letting us know that Jesus said something really important because they're picking up rocks again. And keep in mind, these aren't little bitty rocks.

These are like big rocks, okay? Verse 31 or 32, Jesus answered them, and 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 good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy, because you being a man, make yourself God.

Oh, wow. Now, the Jewish people here in this chapter, the Jewish leadership, they understood something that some people today miss. And that's that Jesus did claim to be God. In the Bible, he claimed to be God.

Now, what you do with that is between you and the Lord. But understand, that is part of his claim. You can't say, well, he never claimed to be God. Well, yes, he did. He just did it in this verse right here and in many other verses.

So what do you do with that? You know what's interesting is the accusations that they made of him here. They're saying that Jesus, who was a man, made himself out to be God. That's kind of interesting, isn't it? The reason it's interesting is it's backwards.

It's backwards. Jesus wasn't his God who made himself to be a man so that he could walk this earth and lay down his life for us. It's a Hebrew scripture concept. It's called the goel, is the Hebrew word. Kinsman Redeemer.

And some of the laws of the Kinsman Redeemer include that you had to be a relative of the one you were wanting to redeem. So Jesus became a man and walked among us. Not half man, half God. I've heard people say that.

No, 100% God, 100% man. And why did he do that? And why did he do that?

He did that. Jesus became a man so we could become children of God. Jesus became a man so we could become children of God. Jesus did that so that we could do something that we can scarcely comprehend, that we as sinful men and women can stand righteous before a holy God.

Something that we had dared not dream outside of that. As it's been said, Jesus paid a debt he did not owe because we owed a debt that we could not pay. That's why he did it. Verse 34, Jesus answered them and said, 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 Lord sanctified and sent into the world, you are blaspheming because I said I am the son of God? Now, look back at verse 35.

Jesus says something very interesting here. He says, to whom the word of God came. What was he referring back to? He was referring back to the Hebrew scriptures.

And what was he calling them? He was calling them the word of God. He was calling them the word of God. It's important to understand that Jesus validates and verifies the Bible as the word of God. And the word of God validates and verifies Jesus as the son of God. So you cannot say, well, I believe the Bible, but I don't believe that Jesus was the son of God.

You can't say that. And neither can you say, well, I believe Jesus is the son of God, but I'm really not sure about the Bible. Jesus called it the word of God. If you believe Jesus, you believe the Bible. If you believe the Bible, you believe Jesus. It's not a cosmic salad bar where you can pick and choose.

Well, a little that and a little this, and I believe a little of that truth, but the rest of it. You can't do that. You can't do that.

You shouldn't do that. Now, the word here in the Hebrew scriptures is Elohim. Now, some of us know that as one of the names of God in the Hebrew scripture, but it's also the Hebrew word for a judge or an official.

Okay. And in this case, that's sort of what Jesus is alluding to. In Exodus chapter 22, verse 8, it says, if the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall be brought to the judges. That word judges there is Elohim. To see whether he has put his hand into his neighbor's goods for any kind of trespass, whether it concerns an ox, donkey, a sheep, or clothing, or any kind of lost thing, which another claims to be his. The cause of both parties shall come before the judges and whomever the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor. Again, judges, judges, those three judges in there is the Hebrew word Elohim.

Okay. So in the Hebrew scriptures, they are called God's, and notice it's a little G. It's a little G. It's not a big G. And then in Psalm 82, the Elohim is used, and then it says, and then the judges, they will die like men. So obviously it's not a term distinctly of deity. And what Jesus is saying is, you know what? If they call judges Elohim, how can it be blasphemy to call me God when I'm doing these things, when I'm doing the works of the Father?

It's something they were missing. Now it's interesting to look at the names of God. And what's really interesting is to see all the names that are used for God in the Hebrew scriptures and similar titles that are used for Jesus in the New Testament. There's a whole lot of them.

I listed just a few right here. Yahweh, or I am. We have the I am statements. God, alpha and omega, Lord, savior, king, judge, light, rock, redeemer, our righteousness, shepherd, creator, giver of life, forgiver of sin, our healer, omnipresent, omniscient, omniscient, preexistent, and eternal.

That's just a few of the names that Jesus has given in the New Testament that correspond to the names God the Father has given in the Hebrew scriptures. Guys, Jesus Christ is God. There's no doubt about it. There's no doubt that that is what this book teaches.

Now, maybe you're sitting here going, well, yeah, duh. Well, there's a lot of people out there that are kind of confused on this really central issue of Christianity. In verse 36, He says, 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? In verse 37, He says, 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.

Think about this. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life, and He brought somebody back from the dead. He said, I am the light of the world, and He healed somebody that had been born blind.

These are all things that are believable. Jesus said, I am dying for your sins, and I will be resurrected again. And then He was raised from the dead three days later.

An amazing thing. If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me. Let me take just for a second, and let's talk about this Father, because it's mentioned several times in the Scripture, the Father. Some of us have a bad image of Father God. We have an inaccurate image of Father God. Now, maybe because our earthly Father was less than perfect. A lot of us think, well, you know, basically in the Hebrew Scriptures and Old Testament, God was really mad and really angry and went around zapping people and opening up into the ground, and He did all these horrible things, and He was really mad.

And so then, you know, Jesus died, and He was okay with that. You've got a bad picture of God. But our concept of the Father, we're told in Exodus 35, 34, verse 5, said, Now the Lord descended in a cloud and stood with Him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before Him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children, but by no means clearing the children's children to the third and the fourth generation.

Now, I'm not going to get into the last aspect, but talking about the goodness of God. Look at, this is God right here, merciful, gracious, longsuffering, abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. That's Father God.

That's God. And some of us have a really twisted notion of God the Father. We quote John 3 16 a lot, but have you ever really thought about what it says? John 3 16 says, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.

Who's that talking about? It's talking about God the Father. God the Father gave His Son to you. And while we recognize and we should recognize the sacrifice of Jesus, recognize the sacrifice of the Father. Recognize how precious you are to Him and how He is so good and so merciful and so kind. It's so important for us to realize this because so many of us have been the object of bad teaching or maybe no teaching in regards to God the Father. And we have an inaccurate picture of who God the Father is. We have to be secure in the love of the Father. And you can be secure in the love of the Father. You're listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge.

He'll be right back with more in just a moment, but I want to remind you of the free resources available to you on crossthebridge.com. There's a team of hundreds of people that will pray for somebody to be saved. You have a loved one that needs to know Jesus as Savior. You need people to pray for them. You need someone to present God's Word to them. Every day, we're presenting God's Word to them here on Cross the Bridge with Pastor David McGee. We can pray for them as well just by simply going to crossthebridge.com and click on the Pray for the Lost button. All you need to do is put in the first names of the people you love that need to know Jesus as Savior, click on submit, and immediately hundreds of people will begin praying for your lost loved ones. What an awesome way to bring your loved ones to Jesus. Here's a word from associate pastor D.A. Brown. Hey, Bob, I want to take a minute to pray for some of our listeners in these cities in Hawaii.

Kihei, Lanai City, Lihue, and also Ammon, Asseton, Boise, and Burley, Idaho. God, we thank you that we get to pray for these listeners today. We pray that they will be encouraged and remember how much you love them. Lord, if some of them are sick, we pray that you please heal them from the top of their head to the bottom of their toes. And Lord, we pray that you would equip them and empower them to share their testimony of your goodness to other people. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. When we were traveling, we were in Texas one time, and we were at a hotel, and we were traveling and ministering, you know. We were out by the hotel pool, and the kids were playing, and they were much smaller than they are now. And J.D., he was about two years old, and he was getting a big kick out of running, you know, from like 10 feet away. And he couldn't swim a leg, didn't have a float on or anything, but he was getting a big kick out of just running at the pool, you know, and then falling in, and daddy would catch him, you know.

And we were just having a blast, and Nora was having a coronary. And, hey, stop that. He's going to drown. He's going to...

I mean, that's what we do, right? The fathers invite the kids onto adventures, and the mothers are worried they're going to die in the process, right? I mean, that's pretty much parenting right there. So one of the... You know, Nora said something, and I can't remember if I turned to her or turned to one of the other kids, you know, but I turned because they said something or did something, and then, you know, I heard Nora, you know, the high decibel kind of thing, you know, and I turned around, and J.D. was at the bottom of the pool. And so, I mean, he wasn't there for very long.

Don't, you know... Meanwhile, yeah, you sound like a great father there, Pastor David. And so, I mean, I did stoop down to get him, and so I picked him up, and, you know, his eyes were just real wide, and he was very freaked out, because father had not been there. I had dropped him. And so, you know, that's what's wrong with him today.

No, I'm kidding. He'll tell you that, but I messed up. I dropped him.

But you know what? The father will never drop you. He'll never get so busy that his eye is not on you. We're told that he neither slumbers nor sleeps who looks over Israel.

His eyes are on you even now, and you can be secure in his love. And you know why that's so important? That's more important I think than ever. It's gotten even more important over the last few years.

You know why? Because many of us had a false sense of security. Many of us had a security base perhaps in government or military, but all that was kind of shattered a few years ago, wasn't it, on September 11th. When the impossible happened, when the strongest nation on earth became vulnerable, became vulnerable, because evil had found a new way to express itself.

And all of a sudden, we didn't feel the security of the nation or of the military or of the government like we once had. And what happened is a lot of people in that phase, they returned to the recognition of the security of the father. Now, maybe you were part of that or maybe you've come to the Lord since then, but there's a security there that you need to experience and you need to understand. Being in the hand of God is a very safe place to be. It's the kind of safety that allows you to live out your life for the Lord without fear of reprisal, without fear of what man's going to do or man's going to think.

Because why? Because you're in the hand of Almighty God, safe in the hands of the Lord who loves you. And how often we forget that? How often we get confused about that?

And the enemy comes and goes, oh, no, you know, you're not safe. But see, faith, trust, confidence, hope, all those are very similar words. See, when we talk about hope as a Christian, we're not talking about hope like I hope things work out. We talk about hope with an assurance, not I hope this will be. No, I hope as in I know this is going to happen.

I'm just not sure when. We can have that assurance. You can have that security.

I hope you are secure in that love. Hebrews 4 16 says, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Come boldly.

See, this is the thing. Some of us, most of us, have the tendency to, when we stumble, when we fall, when we encounter pain, we run from God. We run from God, the very being, entity, deity that can help us through those seasons.

And we run from Him instead of running to Him. And we need to develop the practice of running to God the Father when we're hurt, when we're in pain, when we stumble, when we fall, when things are good or things are bad of running to the Lord. Faith is a confidence in God.

It's a confidence in God. Verse 38, 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. And therefore they sought again the season, but He escaped out of their hand. Verse 40, and He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first. And there He stayed. He went back to this place where He was baptized.

He's getting ready. In chapter 11, His life is winding down. You see, the Gospel of John, the majority of it deals with the last week of the life of Jesus. So before He goes into Jerusalem, before He goes into Bethany, which is outside of Jerusalem, He pulls back one last time. And He goes back to the place that He's baptized.

I think He was going back and He was remembering and He was thinking. And it's important for us as believers to have those times. Last life lesson here is to remember your spiritual milestones. Remember your spiritual milestones. I've said it before.

I'll say it again. We tend to forget what we should remember and we tend to remember what we should forget. See, there are certain things in your life that you need to remember, those spiritual milestones, when and where you got saved, when you were baptized, when you just radically fell in love with Jesus.

You need to remember those things, not just kind of thinking back and remembering, but I mean just sitting and pondering and going, oh, I remember that was such a sweet time, a sweet season, and remembering those times. Because God has given us a lot of good things to think about, hadn't He? And the Scripture tells us whatsoever things are good, whatsoever things are pure, to think about those things. But what do we tend to think about? The newspaper, the television, and then the radio.

Think about the good things that God has told you to think about and given you to think about. Verse 41, then many came to Him and said, John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this man were true and many believed in Him there. And you know what? We see that going on here. We see many people come into a faith in Jesus. We see people who are really burned out and disillusioned on religion and churchianity come here and hear the truth and receive it.

We have people who have long ago written off the church come here and receive the Lord as their Savior. Maybe you've forgotten. Maybe you're a Christian. Maybe you've been born again. Maybe you've asked the Lord to forgive you of your sins, but maybe you've been in a church that was teaching you that God's really mad at you right now.

He doesn't really love you because you haven't been very good lately. I hope this morning you're hearing what the Word of God says to you, that God loves you and you're in the center of His hand and being reminded about the everlasting, unchanging, unwavering, unearned love of God. Or perhaps this morning you've never heard some of this stuff before.

Wait a minute. I thought being a Christian was you had to be so good. You had to come to church so often or read your Bible so much and then at some point your good kind of outweighs your bad and then you get in. That's not Christianity. Sad to say it's kind of become what Christianity represents, but it's not the real deal. That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that our good will never outweigh our bad.

The Bible teaches that if we broke it in one place, we've broken it all. But see, when you realize these things is when the impossible comes into view. When you realize that your goodness is not good enough, that's when hope walks into the room in the form of Jesus Christ. And he says, you know what?

You can never be good enough, but I was perfect and I'm willing to wrap you with the robe of my righteousness if you'll only come to me, if you will only believe. What an amazing, amazing offer from the Lord to each and every one of us this morning to realize his love for us, to realize his forgiveness for us, to realize that in the world gone crazy and all these mixed up changes going on, there is the unwavering love of God that you can experience in your life in an intimate and a deep way. God wants you to experience that. He wants you to be reminded of these things. And so there's the choice to turn away or to accept this offer. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Now, God wants you to pray this prayer so much that he died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. Jesus said he would not turn anybody away who comes to him.

And he came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend. You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P.O. Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117, and share how God is working in your life. You know, the Bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood through radio, through the internet, and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use. So if you'd like to support this ministry, please go to crossthebridge.com, click on the donate button, and subscribe to crossthebridge.com, click on the donate button, and ask God how much he would have you give, either on a one-time basis or a continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's Word continues to go out through Cross the Bridge.

Thank you so much. Well, DA, before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God email, devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the Gospel of John.