Well, today I want to talk about evidence, will and authority. Those are three pretty big subjects all in the same topic. But as we go along with this lesson, I hope to make some sense out of all three things. And I want to try to combine these things as we think about what all of them involve andmaybe for our minds this morning, what of these three might possibly be at least for what we're going to think about might be the most important. I want you to think with me this morning. I want to begin in John's gospel. So if you have your Bibles, let me encourage you to turn to John's Gospel. We're going to be spending the majority of our time. I will refer to some other passages in Scripture, but most of them we talk about this morning will be from the Gospel of John. And in a moment, we're going to get to John seven, and we're going to camp there for just a little bit. But I begin this morning in John, the first chapter and verse nine. John says, "That was the true light, which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to His own and His own did not receive him, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name. Who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and Truth." He came to His own and in His own did not receive him. Don't you find that remarkable? The very people to whom, much, if not all of the Old Testament is written to specifically. When it talks about all the prophecies and everything that relates to the covenant, when it talks about the Messiah who would come and would take away the sins of the people, all of that written, first of all, to the Jews. And the text tells us, when he came, his own people did not receive him. I find that truly remarkable.
But when you get to verse 12 and 13 of this text, the text says that some did receive Him, some accepted who he was. Some reached the conclusion that he is who he said he was and what he said he was, or who he said he was, says I am God, and I've come in the flesh. That claim is, is pretty remarkable. Pretty is not the right word. It's not it's just, it's an outset, an astounding claim, and yet, Jesus said that is who I am. And there were some who believed, and to those who believe, the text says he gave the right to become children of God. There's a few things here that I want to think about, especially in verse 13. He said he gave the right for some to become children of God, those who would believe. And he said, You have to be born. You have to be born, as he would say to Nicodemus in a couple of chapters, but he had to be born again. But here he says, You're not born -- he says you're not born of blood. He's talking about this physical act of physical birth in which that whole process takes place. It's an amazing process. But he said, That's not what I'm talking about and even Nicodemus said, are you talking about me entering my mother's womb again? That just can't happen. I find that hard to believe. I'm kind of thinking out loud what Nicodemus may have said to Jesus, when Jesus said that when you had to be born again. And Jesus said, I'm not talking about that, but I am talking about being born again. And here in chapter one, he says, not of the will of the flesh, not something about some fleshly or bodily desire, fleshly appetite. He says, I'm not talking about somehow that being a factor in you being born again in a different kind of way. Or it says, not of the will of man, not any self will desires what I might think or what I might -- he's not talking about me saying this, I want to be born again, but I'll do it my way. That's what he's saying here. It's not it's not any way that you might think of what he says is it's by the will of God. He says it's by the will of God. In other words, you going to come to God if you going to be born again, you get on God's way. You only going to do it God's way. You can't do it any other way. And he even enumerates some other ways that you can't do it. And if you're unwilling to do that, I think the implication is clear, then you're not going to be born again. If you're not willing to do what God said in His way, then you're not going to be born again.
So at the beginning now of John's gospel, which part of which we just read, he lays out what I think is the theological premise of chapters one through 13, which is, you need to believe that Jesus is the Christ, that He truly is the Son of God. You need to believe in me. And so John spends the next 1213, chapters, if you will, identifying seven signs. Seven, we would call them miracles. They're miracles or wonders or signs, all of which indicate something different about this supernatural thing that happens. But John points out seven of these signs that signify who Jesus is, and he fulfills everything that the Jews should have expected. I find that interesting. Everything that he came to do, everything that he said he was, was a fulfillment of the covenant that had been given to the Jews. He fulfilled everything about that, and the text says when he came, they didn't believe him. It wasn't as if no one did, but the majority of them didn't believe him. The majority of them today don't believe him. It's an amazing thing, isn't it? And I think these three factors that I mentioned as I opened the lesson, that I really titled the lesson, evidence will and authority have something to do with this, with factoring into this idea of believing in Jesus. And what I want to do this morning is kind of identify two of these especially, and that's evidence and will, and it will relate to authority, but I want you to think about how those things play, especially in the mind of the Jewish audience in Jesus day. Because what John is showing is that believing in Jesus goes a lot deeper than just looking at the signs.
And I'm going to say this because this is where I'm going to go now, there were people who saw the signs and never believed. There were people who saw supernatural things occur and they didn't believe. I have thought before for myself, if I could have just seen one miracle, I'd been going, Wow, that's amazing. Whatever you say, I believe. I really think that about myself now, thinking about everything that's recorded in the Old Testament, but they saw it all the time. They saw miracle after miracle, and they didn't believe. I find that unbelievable. I find that remarkable. But the issue when we talk about going deeper or so, let me say it this way. So the issue in believing in Jesus is not really the evidence, and I'm going to talk about that in kind of a negative kind of way, but it's not really the evidence. And this morning, I would say to you, or anyone who's listening, if you don't believe in Jesus this morning, I don't believe it has to do with the evidence, not really, but I'm going to explain what I mean by that. The issue is going to be, are you willing to bow your knee to the authority of Jesus, because you're not going to be able to say, Well, I just don't believe there's enough there to get me to the point where I believe in Jesus, folks, that's not what it's about. I'm going to say this now, and I'm going to say it again toward the end. But if you need evidence to believe in who Jesus is, there's plenty of it. And may I encourage you to go get it. I'll help you. I'll help show it to you. I'll read it, show it to you, and let you reach your own conclusion. That's the only thing I know to do. But there's plenty of evidence out there, so don't go down that road of well, there's not enough evidence. Oh yes, there is. There's so much evidence. But if you don't believe, and if you're not willing to bow your knee, the evidence won't matter. That's what happened to the Jews. They were just unwilling to yield. It didn't matter that the evidence was there.
And let me show you. Okay, let me. We're gonna go through, turn your Bible to John seven. We're going to go through just John seven. I'm just gonna stay in John seven mainly. Okay, let's look at these passages. This is John seven, beginning in verse one. "After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, for he did not want to walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jews Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. His brothers therefore said to him, depart from here and go into Judea that your disciples also may see the work that you're doing. For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For even his brothers did not believe in Him, then Jesus said to them, my time has not yet come, but your time is always ready." The text tells us, while he's in Galilee, even his own brothers did not believe who he was. I find that remarkable. They grew up with him. They began to see some of the things that he did, and what they said is, you need to go to the big city. You need to go to Judea. Don't stay up here in Galilee. Go to Judea, where everybody be open about it, where everybody can see that. And Jesus said, it's not it's not yet time for me to do that. And verse six says to his brothers, he said, my time is not yet come. It's not time for me to do what you're asking me to do. He said, but your time is always ready. Don't you love that language. Don't tell me. In essence, Jesus saying you don't tell me what to do. I do what I do on my own terms. I go where I want to on my own terms. I do what I want to on my own terms, and I'm going to go, but it's not going to be when you tell me to go, but he says to them, your time is now. Your time to believe in me is now. It's time for you to be ready. They didn't believe it. They would but not here.
Then you get to verse 14 of John seven. "Now, about the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught, and the Jews Marvel, saying, How does this man know letters? Having never studied." Isn't that interesting? He went to the temple and he taught. And while he's there, they're going, you're not even educated. You got no letters after your name, you're not a PhD in anything. And yet you're you're up here, and you're teaching. And I think we can, I think we can infer not just teaching, but he's teaching, as others would say, on other occasions, he's teaching as one who has authority. He's making sense of all of the things that we've ever heard. He's making sense of all of that. Verse 16, "Jesus answered them and said, my doctrine is not mine, but his who sent me." In other words, I don't have to study. I didn't come up with this. My doctrine is not mine. It's the one who sent me, and by inference, it is God, God who sent me. And if anyone, verse 17, "wants to do His will, He shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it's from God or whether I speak on my own authority." There's the issue. If anyone wants to do His will. There's the issue. See, we're back. We're back to, now we're back to that saying not evidence, not evidence. I think Jesus is implying there's plenty of evidence. But if you want to do His will, then do it, then do His will. It's not about the evidence, not ultimately. Now you can't, you can't decide something without the evidence. I'm not suggesting that you can't decide something without the knowledge. But what Jesus is talking about now, it's not ultimately about the evidence, it's not ultimately about the knowledge. It's ultimately about the will. Are you willing to do what I'm telling you to do.
In this same chapter, in verse 31, "Many of the people believed in him." Now think about, think about all this. "Many of the people believed in him and said, when the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these, which this man has done?" Well it said many believed in him. And then they're asking, well, when the real Christ comes. This guy's doing signs. But when the real Christ comes, the text says, Will he do more signs than this man? I mean, how do you-- do how do you do more signs? And I think there's saying, I don't know he's talking about number-of, but will he do greater things? How do you do greater things than something that's miraculous? But here's why I bring this point up. Verse 32 says the Pharisees heard the crowd. The Pharisees heard what the crowd was saying. The Pharisees heard the question they're asking in verse 31. "They heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him." You know what they did? You notice what that text doesn't say. It doesn't say the Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning him, and the Pharisees said, We believe. We believe in him. That's not what happened. What happens is they said to their underlings, you go get him. You go find him and bring him to us. They saw signs, but they asked, When He comes, will He do more signs? And the rulers of the Pharisee said, Go get him. Go take him and bring him to us.
Alright, well, let's keep going in John seven. Let's look beginning in verse 45. I want to read this text. I'm gonna go back and look at a few things in it. Verse 45 of John seven. "Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees." Okay, they sent him off to get him. Okay, here's what happened. "When they came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, Why have you not brought him? The officers answered, No man ever spoke like this man. Then the Pharisees answered him, are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in him, but this crowd that does not know the law is accursed." Now let's stop right there before we get to the next section. The rulers send them away. They come back. And he's not with him. He said, did we not, did we not send you to get him? Where is he? And they looked at those rulers, and they said, you not going to believe it. This, this guy, you sent us after he speaks like nobody else. And they said, Oh, my word. They got you messed up in the head too. You listening to him. You're not thinking straight, and you're not thinking straight because you're accursed. You don't understand what the law said. What's ironic about that? It was them, it was the ones who knew the law that didn't know the law, and they asked the question, have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in him? Why would you appear to be believing him? None of us have. None of the smart people have. None of the knowledgeable people have.
But who has? Well, verse 49 says the crowd. But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed. In other words, it's all you low lifes, it's all you underlings, it's all you privates, it's all you infantrymen, it's all you people who are believing. It's not the generals, because the generals are smarter than everybody else. Let me just stop here and say a couple things. You know, I've known, and I'll use this kind of example, because I've seen it happen. I've seen younger people-- I've seen younger people go off to universities, and they become enamored with smart people, intellectuals, academics, and those people typically are smart. I'm not dissing the fact that they don't have aptitude to learn. I'm not challenging their test scores. But for some reason, and I think I know what it is, they're unwilling to believein things like we're talking about here. Why is that? Because there's not enough evidence? The answer is, because they don't want to. And we could, we could talk further about that. There's a lot of things to say about that, and I'm kind of leaving it out there, but I wanted to make that point. Don't, don't be enamored with smart people, and don't let smart people destroy your faith or cause you to question your faith, just simply because they appear to be smart. You just go back and look at this evidence.
Let's go back to verse 50. Remember this guy? Nicodemus? John three. Nicodemus steps up? Nicodemus is a Pharisee. And what Nicodemus suggests is, well, wait just a minute, fellas, let's at least give him a hearing. Let's at least let him say what he's got to say. We don't know how Nicodemus responded in John three. We don't even know if Nicodemus did respond in John three, but Nicodemus apparently is in the process of considering Jesus because he suggested hearing. He's suggesting that Jesus speak. And it may be that Nicodemus wants them to hear Jesus, so Nicodemus can hear him again. It might that may be the case, I don't know, but Nicodemus says it's only fair, and they make an issue of, well, you just, you just want that, because he's a Galilean like you. But Nicodemus steps up. And the issue is this: that the evidence is strong. It may be that Nicodemus knew that too. He may, in his mind, he may be thinking, you know, I've already heard from this man. And maybe he may be saying, If you heard what I heard, you wouldn't be saying this about him. You wouldn't be trying to arrest him and ultimately kill him. You might be trying to listen to him if you heard what I heard. But the issue is this: the evidence is strong. It's like creation. Psalm 19, verse one, Psalm 19, one through six is really the idea of general revelation. It's talking about what people can see. And it begins by by this phrase, "The heavens declare the glory of God." What does that mean? It means that a person who looks into the heavens and looks and sees what's going on in the heavens, if he or she will allow their minds to be open and fair about what they see, then what creation does, it declares God. It declares the glory of God, the design and the order and the purpose. As you look at all that, as you think about all of that, it speaks volumes. That's exactly what Dan Kingsley is talking about at Tri Cities today. What you see and what that says and the evidence that that provides people.
And then the psalmist beginning in Psalm 19, verse seven says that it's his word. The word itself provides that evidence. Verse seven begins, "the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." And then it begins to talk about all the things that God's Will does. But the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. That's enough. That's all sorts of evidence. So my question is this, why don't smart people see that? You know, most people don't see it. At least they don't accept it, they don't acknowledge it, they don't live according to it. Why is it that smart people, you ever ask yourself that? I'm just a lowly-- I'm just a lowly person. I didn't score that high on my aptitude test, you know, but I can see that. I can see this. Well, what happens today happened then. It's not the smart people. It's the people who are willing to see the evidence and have an open mind about it. Why? Why do smart people of the age ridicule those who believe the Bible? You know, there are some people this morning, folks that think we have lost our mind because we believe in Jesus. There are some. People in our world who think the last place in the world I want to be on a Sunday morning is in a building doing what these people are doing this morning. They think we're idiots. They have-- they can't understand why would you do what you do? Why do you do what you do? Because you've chosen to. Is evidence a part of that? Yes. But the evidence is there for all of us. The evidence is there for people who choose not to. Evidence is apparent. It's about the will, and no amount of evidence will change a heart that does not want to believe. No amount of evidence. And the idea is all throughout Scripture.
Let me give you an example that we're all familiar. We're not going to turn to any of these passages, because you go back to Exodus and read this. You remember Moses and Pharaoh? You remember the plagues and Moses came to Pharaoh, and he said, you know, here's what's going to happen. Let my people go. Pharoah says I'm not going to do that. Well, God said you need to let his people go. Well, I'm not going to do that. Okay. Well, I gave you a chance. Nileturn to blood. The Nile turns to blood. Supernatural? Yes. Would that be enough for you? Wasn't enough for Pharaoh. Matter of fact, early on, there were a few things that even his magicians did to to give the appearance that they could do something similar. And then and then heat got turned up. There were frogs and gnats and flies and locusts and cattle and boils and hail and darkness. You remember. And then the ultimate was the death of the firstborn, and Pharaoh said, That's it. When his own son died, said, That's it. Go. Take them. Get out of here and go, right? We think, well, it finally happened. And what happened when he let him go? What did Pharaoh do? Went after them. Changed his mind. What happened to his people? His army was killed. Why? There wasn't enough evidence? Was it? Was it? Should he have done 20? Should there have been 20 plagues, or 30 plagues, or 50 plagues, would would 51 plagues have done it? No. One plague should have done it right? It wasn't the evidence. Wasn't the evidence at all. It was the will of Pharaoh. It was the will of Pharaoh, and God knew that. God knew that if you have some issue about, you know, God hardening Pharaoh's heart and all of what that means, you know, Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Pharaoh had already decided, I'm not going to do that. Now, God used that, I think, for his purposes to accomplish some things that he wanted to accomplish for his people to see. Pharaoh's heart was hardened because Pharaoh made that call.
If you need evidence for belief in Jesus, then by all means, look for it. I'm not dismissing or discounting evidence. Matter of fact, faith is a result of evidence. The Hebrew writer says there's got to be some substance to your faith, and that is evidence. You see things that help you have faith, that's clear. But if you need evidence to believe that Jesus was who He said He was, then go to it. It won't take you long to get it. God made it so. Remember this passage Henry read? Romans one, "for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are," what? "clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and God had so that they're without excuse." You don't even need the Bible. Just look up, just see what God has made. That ought to give you enough evidence there that's clear. Clear to whom? Clear to people that want to see what the truth is. They don't. Suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
There's plenty out there, so let me, let me share one. Not it's not my final verse, but it's my final verse in this sequence. Let let me share a final verse that just sums up what we talked about this morning. Okay, I love this. I love this verse because there's a verse in which Jesus is having a conversation with the Jewish leaders of his day. And the issue is, how could Jesus be David's son? How could Jesus be King David's son? You remember the Old Testament prophecy said that that's what was happening. He was part of that lineage. And their question is, how in the world can that happen? And Jesus gives them an explanation in Matthew 22 and when he gives them that, we're not interested in the explanation this morning, but when he gives them the explanation, verse 46 of Matthew 22 says this, "and no one was able to answer him a word. Nor from that day on, did anyone dare question him anymore." You talk about stopping the questioning. They didn't say word, and the text says no one was able to answer. And it was not just nobody responded. The text says nobody was able to answer. So it seems to me what he's saying is, if Jesus is asking him a question, they couldn't answer the question. Jesus told them the answer. So if you're inquiring, he's saying to these Jews, if you're inquiring is they didn't have an answer for him. Why didn't they have an answer? Because he answered it. Because he answered it. They didn't have an answer the rest of the day. They didn't have an answer the rest of the time, because within a few days, he was going to be crucified. There was no more questioning. The questioning had already taken place, and the answering had already taken place. The evidence was already there.
What's the conclusion? The conclusion can be found in verse 54 of Matthew 27 when a Centurion at the Cross said, "Truly, this man was the Son of God." That's the conclusion. That's not the conclusion of Matthew 22, but that is the conclusion. When all the evidence had been presented what that Centurion said? No, he's the son of God. Truly, this man was the Son of God. And so when you get to Acts two and Peter and those apostles preached that sermon on the day of Pentecost, verse 32 of Acts two, as Peter and the apostles are are concluding their sermon. They said this, "this Jesus, God raised up." You ready for this? "Of which we are all witnesses." This Jesus, miracle. God raised up. That means he was dead. But, miracle, God raised Him up. What proof do you need? You're all witnesses. You've all seen it. What else do you need? You need to decide. That's why, in verse 37 the text says, "And when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked men and brethren, what shall we do?" On the day of Pentecost for at least 3000 people, the issue wasn't, was he raised from the dead? The issue was, let me do something about it now. See that's the issue, and that might be the issue for you this morning. If you're in this audience and you're not a believer, you have yet to bow the knee. You have yet to say, You know what Kenny I've heard these sermons. I've looked at the evidence. It's there. It's aplenty. It's overwhelming. I just walk outside, look up at the sun and the moon and the stars, and I know God is there. I know God made all that. And what are you waiting for? What are you waiting for? What? What is it that you think you know better than God? But what are you waiting for? I'm not trying to be gruff to you. I'm just trying to be forthright with you. What in the world are you waiting for? If you know that Jesus is the Son of God, and you know he died for you, that He rose again from the dead, and that he can save you from your sins and because of your faith and your trust and your confidence and your obedience in Him, He wants you to be with Him eternally in heaven. But it's your call. It's your choice. Why won't you do that? If you would today, we'd love to help you. There is nothing right now at 10:40 on Sunday morning, December 8, that I would rather do and that we would rather see than help you render obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Would you bow the knee? Would you submit your will to Him? If we can help you with that come as we stand and as we sing.
