The Divine

In John 10, we find four dimensions of the unexpected that reveal the heart of Jesus. An unexpected feast, some unexpected clarity, unexpected nuance, and unexpected mercy. All of these events point to his nature as the Son of God. Today, we explore these events and the claims Jesus is making. Stay with us.

From Chicago, this is The Moody Church Hour, a weekly broadcast of worship and teaching with Pastor Philip Miller. Today, another in a long series of messages from the Gospel of John, a series we're calling Loved by Jesus. Our focus, the divine. Here now is Pastor Philip, along with worship leader Tim Stafford and Executive Pastor Bill Burchie.

Well, good morning, everybody, and welcome to The Moody Church. We're so glad you've chosen to spend this time with us today. You know, Jesus got in trouble with the religious leaders of his day, not so much because of what he did, but it's what he claimed. He claimed to be the divine son of God. And he backed it up with his life.

and it was something they couldn't quite handle. Because when Jesus claims to be God, you have to do something with that claim. And we need to respond to that claim as well.

So let's pray that the Lord would do a work in our hearts and lives that we might respond to Jesus, who is the Son of God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, help us to see Jesus today. And to bring our lives in surrender and submission before his claims. Help us to see him as the divine son that he really is.

and bow before his feet. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Management. All hand King Jesus All hand the Lord of heaven and earth All have King Jesus All hand the Savior of the world Do you believe it today?

Let's sing to the king All hand King Jesus All hand the Lord of heaven and earth All hand King Jesus All hand the Savior of the world Lead us, kids, sing our hymn all King Jesus, all King Jesus all have the Savior of the world. Amen. You are Lord. Lord, you are the King. We welcome you into this place, into our hearts today.

Thank you, Lord, for reigning over all the earth. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Aren't you grateful for our kids this morning?

So glad that you've joined us this morning. What a wonderful song to praise the Lord with. Let's pray. Father, indeed we sing, hallelujah, what a great God you are. greater than we could even imagine.

But it gives us an appetite to be in your presence for all eternity. And we thank you for the opportunity. to worship you this morning. And we pray that you might draw us to yourself, open our eyes to see. Even more, your greatness, your goodness.

Your holiness and your love. And we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. He who was before there was light walked across. The her pages are He who made every living thing, behold him he who heard a description left his throne to wake as a child.

He became like the least. Behold him, Jesus, Son of God, Messiah, the Lamb, the roaring lion, beast him and behold him. He who died with sinners and saints, healed the blind, the lost, and the even now he is in our grace. Behold him, he who chose a criminal land, paid with blood to settle our death, buried as he rose to die. Behold him Jesus, Son of God, the siren, the Lamb glory in Lia and behold Jesus, my father.

And all may God, our God of the risen Savior all these. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty God almighty worthy worthy worthy to receive all raised holy holy holy is the Lord God almighty worthy worthy worthy to receive homies Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, worthy, worthy to receive our praise Jesus, Son of God, the Sire, the Lamb, the Lord, worthy His hand and be holy Jesus alpha and holy our risen Savior, worthy Skin and be holy. Lord, we've been reading about you today. We've been listening to songs about you today. We've been impressed with your great glory and your humility.

Now I pray that you would transform us. Yesterday. As we hear your word, That we would understand who Jesus truly is and worship you afresh today. In Jesus' name we pray. Hey.

When I fear my faith, Christ will hold me hands. When God's enterprise fail, He will hold me hands. I could not keep my hand through a spiritual love for my love and He will strongly fast. He will be fast. He will only fast for one since we sword.

He will only fast Those He says are His love, Christ will be us, Precious in His Lord His high. He will be fast, He will love that my soul be lost. His promise that shall last up by him as an heart. He will hope me fast. He will be blessed.

He will be honest. For us then I must be slow in the holy world for my life he never died. Christ will roll me last. Justice has been satisfied. He will roll me last.

Raise with him to handless life when he comes at last. Till our faith is turned to sight. He will only last. He will glory fast. He will glory thou thy savour loves we store.

He will hold me thy night. He will be thy glory thou thy sake our love we store he will glory. For my Savior loves the song, He will all be thousands. We praise you, Lord, our God, our King, our Shepherd. the one with us.

leading us to green pastures, the one with us leading us through the valley of the shadow. of death. We trust in you. We believe your word. Encourage us, help us today as we listen.

To see you fresh, to see who you really are, not who we've created you to be. We worship you this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Mm-hmm. A while back, a young lady wrote to me, and this is the basic gist of her question.

or challenge that she was writing me about. She said, a part of me really wants to embrace the Jesus you describe on Sundays. There's so much I like about him. His heart, his compassion, his justice, his humility. But Forget hung up on his words.

His exclusive claims. his narrow teaching. His required allegiance. I must admit I'm on the fence. I just don't know what to do with.

Jesus.

Now, in my experience, she's not alone. I think A lot of people could resonate with the struggle that she's articulating so well. In fact, this is even a central theme of the Gospel of John. You know, Jesus, you know, he's so compelling on so many levels, right? I mean, who wouldn't love water turned to wine, you know, and bread and fish multiplied in the wilderness, and fevers breaking, and invalids walking, and blind people seeing what's not to love about Jesus and all of his power and what he comes to do, and the freedom he brings.

This is amazing. And then he speaks. And he says things like he did back in chapter 5, verses 17 to 18. My father is working now. And I am working.

And then John tells us this is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him because he was calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. Or again in chapter 8, we just saw this a few weeks ago. Truly, truly, I say to you: before Abraham was, I am. And so they pick up stones to throw them at him. But Jesus hides himself and goes out of the temple.

And today, in the passage we're going to look at, today he does it again in chapter 10, verses 31 down to 33. This is what he says: I and the Father are one. Verse 31 says, the Jews picked up stones again to stone him. And in verse 33, the Jews are explaining this and say, it's not for a good work that we're going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself. God See, what got Jesus in hot water was not so much the things he did.

It wasn't so much his works as it was his words. Oh, there were times when Jesus cleared the temple or he healed on the Sabbath that got everyone's feathers ruffled. But what really got Jesus in trouble was his words, his claims. He kept making these bold claims to deity. And the Jewish leaders believed this was nothing short of blasphemy.

How dare he make himself out to be God? No one has that right save God alone. Leviticus 24, verse 16 in the Mosaic law stipulated that blasphemers were to be stoned. to death. And so that is what they are trying to do here.

And Jesus, knowing this full well, that that was the penalty for blasphemy, risks his life in order to make clear to us exactly who he is: that not only is he fully human, but he is also fully blasphemy. God. And it is, in fact, this claim that Jesus will die for. In Matthew 26, verses 63 to 66, at the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin. The high priest says to him, I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ.

The Son of God. Jesus said to him, You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. And then the high priest tore his robes and said, he has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need?

You have heard the blasphemy. What is your judgment? And they answered, He deserves... Death.

Now we tend to forget just how edgy these claims are. Just how they would have sent shockwaves throughout the Jewish world. It caught everyone out off guard, how utterly unexpected this is. But let me help to show us that a little bit. today.

We're going to be in John chapter 10, verses 22 to 42, and we're going to see here four dimensions of the unexpected in the life of Jesus. We're going to see an unexpected feast. unexpected clarity unexpected nuance and unexpected mercy. An unexpected feast, unexpected clarity, unexpected nuance, and unexpected. mercy this morning each dimension revealing more of who Jesus is Yes.

So let's pray together. And ask that we would see and understand this Jesus who is so very unexpectedly. Bold. Let's pray. Heavenly Father.

We pray. that you would Break our categories. Help us to feel the tremors of the claims of Jesus. These are claims that Lay claim to all of us. To hear them is to be accountable to them.

To encounter the Son of God is to be forced to do something with him. We pray that we would respond by the power of your Spirit in faith. and trust in In your son. For we pray this in his name. Amen.

Amen. First, we see here an unexpected feast, unexpected feast. Verse 22. At that time, the feast of dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of Solomon.

Now, I say this is an unexpected feast because if you go to find the feast of dedication in the Old Testament, you won't find it there, it's not listed. It's because this feast didn't begin until 165 BC. You may be more familiar with its contemporary name, Hanukkah. Hanukkah is an eight-day feast celebrating the Maccabean revolt, which led to the reconsecration and rededication of the temple after it had been desecrated by a guy by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes. In short, there's a lot of history here, but in short, in 168 B.C., a Syrian king named Antiochus IV, who called himself Epiphanes.

Epiphanes means God manifest. Interesting. He and his soldiers entered into Jerusalem and they massacred a bunch of Jewish people, entered into the temple and erected an altar to Zeus, the god Zeus, and sacrificed a pig on it. And no one can imagine a more sacrilegious or blasphemous act in a Jewish context.

Now, led by a Jewish priest named Mattathias, with his five sons, a large-scale rebellion broke out against Antiochus. When Mattathias died in 166 BC, his son Judah, known as Judah Maccabee, Maccabee means the hammer. Don't you love that? He took the helm, and within two years, he successfully drove the Syrians out of Jerusalem, reclaiming the temple using a lot of guerrilla warfare. And they cleansed the temple, rebuilt the altar of the Lord, and lit the menorah in the temple.

They had a very limited supply of oil, but miraculously, that oil ended up lasting a full eight days. And thus the temple was reconsecrated, and Hanukkah, the feast, was born.

Now. Why do I bring all of this up?

Well, first, it's because this is the feast that Jesus is at, okay? But the second reason is that the themes of the feast are particularly relevant to the conversation that's going to unfurl here. The themes that we see here in Hanukkah are blasphemy, Consecration light and worship. blasphemy, consecration, light, and worship. And these will turn out to be the very points of contention in this conversation.

Just a few months ago, you will recall, that Jesus declared himself to be the light of the world. This was just a few months earlier. Then in chapter 9, verse 38, which is not that far in our context and not that far in their memory, Jesus had accepted worship from the man who was born blind, now healed. And that irked them. In short order, Jesus will claim to be God manifest.

I and the Father are one. And the Pharisees will cry out, blasphemy. And remember, the feast of dedication is all about the consecration of the temple. And look at Jesus' statement down in verse 36: Do you say of him whom the Father? What is the word?

Consecrated and sent into the world, you are blaspheming because I said, I am the Son of God.

So Jesus says, Look, the Father consecrated me. We're at a feast that is celebrating the reconsecration of the temple, and the Father consecrated me. These are not irrelevant statements. Here's the point. Here's the point.

The timing couldn't be any more dramatic. Judah Maccabee stood up against blasphemy and consecrated the temple by destroying the false worship so that the true worship of the living God could occur and the worship that is due to his name might be received by God. And the Pharisees now believe that they are following in his steps here. They are standing up against a blasphemer, they believe. They are maintaining the consecration of the temple so that the worship of the true and living God might take place and be rendered to His name.

Now here's the irony. The irony is that the Pharisees are the ones who are in fact blaspheming. Because in refusing to acknowledge God's only Son, right before their eyes. They are blaspheming him. They are not treating him with the honor he deserves.

And it is God the Father. who is consecrating his son sending him into the world. who is standing up to their blasphemy.

so that the worship of the true and living God might be given to the one who deserves it. His son.

So this is the unexpected feast, see? And it is at this unexpected feast where we encounter some unexpected clarity, unexpected clarity. Verse 24.

So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. Are you the Christ? Speak plainly, Jesus. Are you the Christ, the Messiah, the Promised One?

Tell us plainly. No more of these confounded analogies. I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. I am the door of the sheep.

I'm the good shepherd. Just speak. Would you just speak plainly, Jesus? Would you just tell us? Verse 25.

Jesus answered them. I t I told you. And you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me. But you do not believe.

Because you are not among my sheep. Notice Jesus identifies here the two pillars of his witness. His words and his works. He says, I told you my words. and you did not believe and the works that I'm doing in my father's name, you don't believe them.

Either. You don't believe either my words or my works. Why, Jesus? Because he says, you're not among... My sheep.

Now he's re-engaging the previous analogy that he used earlier in the chapter. But this time he presses it a bit further. Verse 27, my sheep, he says, hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. He says, Look, you're not among my sheep. If you were, you would hear my voice and you would follow.

Me. But you don't believe Oh, I wish you would. Because I would give you something Hugely valuable. Verse 28. I give them eternal life.

and they will never perish. and no one will snatch them out of my hand. Remember, I'm the good shepherd. I will not lose a single one of my sheep. No one can snatch them out of my hand.

No robber, no thief, no wolf. Nothing. I will keep my own. For eternity. I will hold them.

Fast. Verse 29: My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of The father's hand. I am the Father. are one.

Now, I don't know about you, but I want to say to Jesus: now, wait a minute, Jesus, this is confusing to me, okay?

So you say, no one, you have your sheep, right, and they're in your hand. And no one can snatch them out. I get that, okay? And the Father has given them to me.

So the Father had the sheep. And he put them in the Son's hand. And now the Son holds them and will not let go of them.

Okay, that makes sense. But my father. Who is greater than all, no one is able to snatch them out of my fathers. But wait, they're in Jesus. Hands out.

How does that work?

So the father. gives them to the Sun. The Sun is holding them. But the Father doesn't release them. Because they're both being held by the Son and the Father.

So it's something like this: the Father puts the sheep in Jesus' hands. Jesus closes his fingers and then the Father holds them too. I am the Father. Are one.

Now they ask for clarity. What does this mean? They asked for clarity. Tell us plainly, Jesus. What do you mean?

Are you the Christ? This is way more than they bargain for. Do you see this? This is, I and the Father are So the Jews pick up stones, verse 31, to stone him. See, they understand perfectly what Jesus has said.

He just claimed to be one with God the Father.

Now, this is a tense scene, friends. They are animated, they have stones in their hands, and they're about to throw them. Watch what Jesus does. Verse 32. Jesus answered them.

I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of them are you now going to stone me? He asked them this question. What did I do? That made you stone me.

And they say, he's playing for time here. You see this? He's playing for time. He's making them think, verse 33, the Jews answered him. It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you.

but for blasphemy. Because you, being a man, make yourself out. To be God. You make yourself. God, it's not for your works.

but for your words that we are stoning you. See, friends, what's happening here is Jesus makes an unmistakable claim to deity. Jesus makes an unmistakable claim. They've asked for a plain statement. Are you the Messiah, the Christ, the promised one, David's son who will come and bring the days of the promise?

And instead, Jesus gives them way more than they asked for. He gives them a crystal clear claim to be divine. Is that plain enough for you? This is unexpected clarity.

Now, followed by unexpected nuance. Look at verse 34. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law? I said, You are gods. If he called them gods to whom the word of God came, And Scripture cannot be broken.

Do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, you are blaspheming because I said I am the Son of God?

Now, I find this utterly fascinating. Remember, they still have stones in their hands. And Jesus decides, I think now is a good time for a little Bible study.

Okay? Would you open your Torahs to Psalm 82? You know, this is where he goes. He says there's a quote. In Psalm 82, the Lord God is speaking, and he says, I said you are gods.

And Jesus' logic here is if the Lord God. can address beings other than himself As small G God, small lowercase gods. Gods. And this is in the unbreakable inspired scriptures, mind you. Why are you upset with me?

For saying, I am the Son of God.

Now, admittedly, the logic of this strikes us as a bit strange. It would be a lot clearer to us if we had an ancient Near Eastern heritage. But if you study ancient Near Eastern culture, you will find that kings and rulers were routinely referred to as the sons of God. Angels likewise were referred to as sons of God. And in the ancient Near East, it was fairly common to label them as God with a small G, small g.

God. And that's what we have here in Psalm 82.

Now, scholars will debate in this Psalm whether this is a reference to angels or to rulers and kings who are in view here. We don't need to settle that debate in order to understand Jesus' point, however. Which is that if God Himself in the Holy Scriptures can use the term small g God to refer to beings other than God Himself, Jesus says, look, are you absolutely sure? You want to be stoning me before you know exactly What I mean by this. And who I Am.

Are you ready to render a verdict? Or are you willing to consider my claim at any level? Verse 37. If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. 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 am in the The Father. Jesus says, Look, it would be one thing if I was just making these claims and had no way to back up what I was saying. But look, look at the works that I'm doing. Look at the works of my Father that I am doing. Things that only the Father God can do, but I'm wielding them.

The sick are healed, the lame are walking, the eyes of a man born blind have been opened. If you don't believe my words, at least believe my works, the works that I'm doing. And then Jesus further nuances what he means here. By I and the Father are one, and I am the Son of God. He unpacks this further and says, The Father is in me.

And I am in The Father. And again, verse 39, they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

Now, what does this last nuance mean? The Father is in me, and I am in. The father.

Well friends. This is very important, this distinction. Jesus claims not equivalence. but equality. Jesus' claim is not to equivalence.

but to equality with God.

Now, we are getting smack dab into the middle of systematic theology here, so bear with me for a moment. But this is vitally important. Jesus claims not equivalence with God, but equality. If Jesus were to claim that he was the father. That he was the father.

that they were equivalent, that they were the same. person and then you could just sort of swap them out. It didn't matter which one you had. That would actually be heresy. That's not what he says here.

Because the Son is not the Father, and just as the Father is not the Son, nor is the Father the Spirit. And the Spirit is not the Father, nor is the Spirit the Son, and nor is the Son the Spirit. The one true God. eternally exists. as three co-equal, co-eternal persons.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And these three are one. God. This is the doctrine of the Trinity. And it is exactly what Jesus is nuancing here.

I and the Father are one. We are both. God. We are both divine. The Father is in me, and I am in the Father, and I'll introduce you to the Spirit later.

This is too much for you to handle right now. But we are three persons. one in essence We are equal, we are united, we are one, and yet we are Three. We are not equivalent. You can't just exchange us.

But we are equal. God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, all equally God, and yet distinctly three individual persons. And yet so deep is the loving union of this eternal community of persons that they mutually indwell one another while maintaining their own unique distinctiveness. Do you see this careful nuancing of his relationship with the Father? The nuance is enough to stop them in their tracks.

And instead of hurling those stones, they decide we better just arrest him. We need to figure this out. But then once again he slips away.

Now, this unexpected nuance now leads to an unexpected. Mercy. I had never seen this before. In all my reading of the scripture until this week. When I saw it, it took my breath away.

There's an amazing mercy here. At the end of chapter 10. I want to show it to you. Go back to verse 37. And 38.

Jesus says, if I'm not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them even though you do not believe me. Believe the works. that you may know and understand that the Father isn't me. And I am in.

The father.

Who is he talking to right now? This final appeal: if you don't believe me, at least believe the works that you would know. and understand. Who I am, and who the Father is, and how we relate to each other. Who is he talking to?

The Pharisees. The religious leaders with stones in their hands. Ready to Kill him. And he says, look, look, look, look, look. You with your stones, listen.

I know what I'm saying is hard to believe. I know you've gone your whole life conceiving of God as solitary, isolated, monopersonal. And what I'm revealing here is that there's more to God than you ever understood. And it's a lot to take in. I get it.

I get it. I understand. I know. But if you can't believe my words Won't you just at least believe the works? That you might know And know.

The phrase here, know and understand, is actually the same word in Greek. It's Gnosco, past tense and present tense. At least believe the works that you might know. And then no. That the Father is in me and I am in the Father.

This is such unexpected mercy, friends. He looks his assassins in the eyes and he says, Look, I know it's hard to believe what I'm saying. But just would you start with my works? Start with these miracles. The man born blind, the lame walking, the bread multiplied.

Would you look at what I'm doing and whatever faith you have, whatever faith you can muster, just even if it's just a fraction, even if you can just only believe a little bit. Then you would know. And no. That the Father's in me and I'm in the Father. Just would you just start where you are?

Would you just trust whatever little piece you can believe here?

So that you might know and know. What a merciful invitation to. Assassins. Verse 40, John concludes the section by saying, He went away. again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first.

And there he remained. And many came to him, and they said, John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man. was true. And many believed in Jesus there.

So don't you see here at the end of chapter 10, we have come full circle. In the Gospel of John, here it was John who baptized Jesus in the beginning, introduced him to the world. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And now Passover is just around the corner. The Lamb's hour is nearly at hand.

And Jesus goes back to where it all began for him. And many believe in him. And notice the words that are used here. Very important. John offers no works.

But his words are unquestioned. Jesus has just said If you can't believe my words... Leave my works because his words were being questioned. And so don't you see, even in this, Jesus is reaching out in mercy. He says, look.

The ideal would be that you believe my works and my words. The package deal, you embrace me as I am. That's what the man born blind did. That's what the woman at the well did. That's what so many people have done to come and place their faith and trust in who I am.

But if you can't do that. At least believe the works. in order that you might know and know. But even if you can't do that, Even if you have to rely on John's words, to finally trust me. Even that I'll take.

That'll get you down the road. to faith. You see, Jesus patiently pursues hostile hearts, friends. Jesus patiently pursues hostile Hearts. Aren't you glad?

Because none of us believes as we ought. No one, not me, not you, not anyone, none of us believes as we ought to. And how patient is our Jesus with us? We all of us could pray with that Father to Jesus that one time, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. That's an honest prayer.

Unexpected mercy. Three takeaways quickly as we wrap up here. The first one is this. Prince Jesus didn't stutter. Jesus didn't stutter.

He said, I and the Father are one. I am the Son of God. The Father is in me. And I am in the Father. Don't you see, Jesus has brought us to the very brink.

He's taken out all the guesswork. This is the clarity they sought. but didn't expect. And now there's no going back. Do you realize you have to do something with this, Jesus?

He either is what he claims to be, The Lord of heaven itself come to earth. or he's a certifiable lunatic. or else a liar from the pit of hell. You don't have any other options. The problem is Everything we read in the Bible suggests that Jesus is in great psychological health.

aside from statements like this. Everything else seems reasonable and normal and balanced. even incredibly healthy. That's why many people say, I can't just lump him into the category of a crazy person. And a liar?

If he's a liar, how do we account for his works? For his miracle, his power, God's evident... power in his life and strength wielded through him. No, friends, the only reasonable conclusion at the end of the day. is that Jesus is in fact who he said he was.

That he is the Lord of Heaven come down. to earth. Won't you believe in him? The second takeaway is that Jesus deserves our worship. Jesus deserves our worship.

Remember, this feast was all about the consecration of the temple for the worship of the true and living God. And Jesus said, Remember back earlier in the book of John, he said, Destroy this temple, and in three days I'll build it up again. Or raise it up. He's talking about his body. Jesus is the new temple.

He's the place we go in order to commune with God. In John 4, Jesus said to the woman at the well, Believe me, an hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. The hour is coming and is now here when true worshipers will worship in spirit and truth. And now the Father has consecrated the Son and sent him into the world. The new temple, the new residence of God on earth, in flesh before us, he is consecrated so that the world might worship the true and living God in the person of Jesus Christ, his Son.

And so, like the man-born blind friends, we are invited. to believe in Jesus. and to fall at his feet. in worship. Once you worship Yeah.

The third takeaway is this. Jesus welcomes you where you are. Jesus welcomes you where you are. Maybe you're like that lady who wrote me at the very beginning. You like much of who Jesus is.

And yet you struggle with some of the things that he says. Maybe you're drawn to him. But you struggle with this teaching about, say, sin or sexuality or maybe parts of the Old Testament that seem harsh or. offensive to you. Don't you see?

that Jesus will welcome you exactly where you are. Even the parts of you that are skeptical, that are hesitant, that are doubting or timid. Jesus says, look, I know, I know some of this is hard to believe. I know what I say can be tough to swallow. But won't you just start where you are?

Won't you just trust the little piece of me that you can believe, whatever faith you can muster, if you would just believe even just a fraction. Of who I am, what I'm doing, or what other people are saying about me, then you would know. And then no. Who I am. You might even have to rely on somebody else's testimony, like John the Baptist.

or Philip Miller. or someone in your life. you might have to say, well I think he sees this and maybe if he is telling me the truth I can believe. In Jesus, do you see even that will get you down the road? Jesus is inviting all of us to just put our toe in the water.

Just get down the road and he'll take us. From there. Would you pray with me? Lord, we believe. Would you help our unbelief?

Help us know what to do with Jesus. He doesn't fit always what we would expect. But then again, why would God fit any of our expectations? I wonder if there's something. real here.

Deep here. transcendent and life-changing here. I wonder if it is true. that Jesus is everything he claims. To be.

Oh Father, if that's true, it would change everything. It would change life itself. It would change our loneliness and our Desperation to prove ourselves that if there's A love from beyond the world. that forged us in the beginning. And that will welcome us into your arms in all eternity.

That death is not the end, nor is our birth the beginning, but all of our life is an eternal one, swept up into the arms of the triune. God, too one to be many and too many to be one. What if love is the final word? in the universe. And Jesus is everything he claims.

to be. Help us believe. Help us know. And now Who Jesus is. Help us behold.

Him. Lord, we pray this in Jesus' beautiful name. Unexpected name. Amen. Our benediction today comes from 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.

Verses 16. and seventeen. And now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself The God our Father who loved us. and gave us eternal comfort. and good hope through grace.

comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work. and word. Amen. Amen. On today's Moody Church hour, we heard Pastor Philip Miller with another message in a series he's calling Loved by Jesus, the book of John.

We heard about the divine. The claims Jesus made for himself in chapter 10 of this gospel.

Next time, The Life, one of the most gripping and glorious scenes in the Bible as Jesus raises his friend Lazarus from the dead. The Moody Church Hour is a listener-supported ministry. We count on the ongoing financial support of listeners like you. Together, we share solid biblical teaching that transforms lives across America and around the world. You can call us at 1-800-215-5001.

That's 1-800-800-0. 2155001. Online, you'll find us at MoodyChurchHour.com. That's moodychurchhour.com. Or Write to us at Moody Church Media, 1635 North La Salle Boulevard.

Chicago, Illinois, six oh six one four. This broadcast is a ministry of The Moody Church.