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[0:00] Amen. Please remain standing with us as we read the Word of God this morning. We're continuing our series in the Gospel of John, and so I invite you to take your Bibles, open them up.

[0:12] If you're using the Pew Bibles there in front of you, this is on page 839. We want to quite literally be on the same page this morning as we're looking to God's Word. And so I invite you to follow along and listen to me as I read John 7, verses 1 through 36 this morning.

[0:35] After this, Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now the Jews' feast of booths was at hand, so his brothers said to him, Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples may also see the works you are doing.

[0:53] For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For not even his brothers believed in him.

[1:04] Jesus said to them, My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil.

[1:18] You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come. After saying this, he remained in Galilee. But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but in private.

[1:34] The Jews were looking for him at the feast and saying, Where is he? And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, He is a good man, others said, No, he is leading the people astray.

[1:47] Yet for fear of the Jews, no one spoke openly of him. About the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. The Jews therefore marveled, saying, How is it that this man has learning when he has never studied?

[2:04] So Jesus answered them, My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God, or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

[2:19] The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true. And in him there is no falsehood. Has not Moses given you the law?

[2:31] Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me? The crowd answered, You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill you? Jesus answered them, I did one work, and you all marvel at it.

[2:45] Moses gave you circumcision, not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers. And you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a whole man's body well?

[3:02] Well, do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?

[3:14] And here he is speaking openly, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.

[3:31] So Jesus proclaimed as he taught in the temple, You know me, and you know where I come from, but I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know.

[3:43] I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me. So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.

[3:54] Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done? The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.

[4:11] Jesus then said, I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me, and you will not find me. Where I am, you cannot come.

[4:23] The Jews said to one another, Where does this man intend to go, that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying, You will seek me, and you will not find me?

[4:39] And, Where I am, you cannot come. This is the word of God. You would please be seated. Let's pray once more. Father, we ask once more for your power through the preaching of the word, through your spirit, that you would grant us the desire to will the will of God, to hear it, to receive it, to love it, that we would trust more deeply in Christ this morning.

[5:13] We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. How thankful are you for the obedience of Christ? I wonder if you had one last opportunity to give thanks to God.

[5:27] Of all the many things that you could say, what would you choose to thank him for? Most of us, I assume, we might thank him for the gifts that he's given us.

[5:38] Good gifts of family, of friends, of a church family, of a home, of his provision for us. Maybe we would thank him for leading us, for guiding us, for being with us.

[5:49] Maybe we would thank him for the death of Christ on our behalf, for his resurrection from the grave. All good answers. There's more than one good, right answer to that question.

[6:01] But I wonder how many of you would think specifically to thank him for the obedience of Jesus. In December of 1936, the great Presbyterian leader, J. Gresham Machen, ignored his doctor's orders and continued to minister to the Orthodox Presbyterians there in South Dakota despite the pains in his chest from pneumonia.

[6:28] And within a day, he was hospitalized. And by New Year's Day, January 1st, 1937, he was gone. But as he lay there before he drew his final breath, he dictated his final words, his last words, in a telegram sent to his friend, John Murray.

[6:48] And here's what he said. I am so thankful for the active obedience of Christ. No hope without it.

[6:58] I am so thankful for the active obedience of Christ. No hope without it. The active obedience of Christ.

[7:10] This crucial aspect of our salvation that is unfortunately so often either overlooked or overshadowed by all of the other glorious benefits and aspects of the gospel, but without it, without the perfect obedience of Christ to the will of God, there can be no salvation for sinners like us.

[7:34] What I want to do this morning from John chapter 7 is hopefully, by the grace of God, broaden our understanding of the gospel to include not only Jesus' death on the cross, not only his resurrection, but the 33 years of perfect obedience to the will of God that preceded the death and resurrection of Christ.

[7:57] Our passage this morning in John chapter 7, it shows us the deep commitment of Jesus Christ to the will of God the Father. It is a demonstration of Jesus' perfect obedience, all of it from beginning to end, necessary for our salvation.

[8:16] So this morning, I want us to see three ways Jesus submitted to the will of God. This will be our outline this morning. If you're taking notes, I encourage you to. It's a good way to help you to follow along this morning with a sermon.

[8:28] Three ways Jesus submitted to the will of God. First, Jesus perfectly followed God's will.

[8:40] Jesus perfectly followed God's will. Last week, we heard Jesus deliver one of his more unpopular sermons. Unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in you.

[8:57] This is one of his least popular messages. He lost many disciples. Many of his disciples left Jesus that day. And as John is progressing through this gospel, I want you to notice he's drawing our attention, steadily pointing our focus to growing hostility towards Jesus and his teachings.

[9:16] people are starting to realize, starting to pick up on the fact that Jesus does not quite fit in with their expectations. Jesus isn't quite lining up with what they want him to do or who they want him to be.

[9:31] He's not bending towards their will. And so for some, they simply leave him, they reject him, they deny him, as we saw last week. But for others, the Jewish leaders in particular, they sought to kill him.

[9:46] So he says here in verse 1, he says, after this, after that message, Jesus went about in Galilee and he would not go about in Judea. Why? Because the Jews were seeking to kill him.

[10:00] Now John tells us that the Feast of Booths was at hand. This was one of the major Jewish feasts that celebrated the gathering of the harvest as well as God's provision for the people of Israel in the wilderness.

[10:14] This feast was one of the major gatherings of the Jewish people. All Jews were expected to come. They would gather there. They would put up temporary shelters called booths, hence the name, Feast of Booths.

[10:27] And it would seem like this might be a perfect opportunity for a rising teacher to gain some influence amongst the Jews.

[10:37] especially a teacher who just lost a whole bunch of disciples. Maybe this might be a perfect opportunity to regain some of that popularity, some of that publicity.

[10:49] At least, that's what Jesus' brothers thought. Look there to verse 3. John tells us, His brothers came and said to him, Leave here and go to Judea that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.

[11:04] for no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. At first glance, that sounds like a really good idea, doesn't it?

[11:20] At first glance, the will of Jesus' brothers, their desire for Jesus here, they say, Jesus, go make yourself known. We want the whole world to see you and to know who you are.

[11:30] Go make yourself known to the world. That sounds like a good request, doesn't it? It sounds a lot like what we want, doesn't it? Our mission as a church is to make Jesus really big, to magnify the glory of God, to draw attention that all the world might see who Jesus is and worship Him as He deserves.

[11:51] So what's going on? What's the matter with this request? Look to verse 5 because this is absolutely shocking. John tells us, They said this for because not even His brothers believed in Him.

[12:09] This request, although on the surface it seems good, on the surface it seems right, it was rooted in unbelief.

[12:20] Can we just pause here for a moment and feel the weight of this? Not even His own brothers believed in Him. I could not imagine another opportunity to be nearer to Jesus, to be closer to Him than to be His own brother.

[12:37] If you have siblings, if you're not an only child, if you have siblings, you know exactly what I'm talking about. To be so intimately close with Jesus, to see Him day in, day out, not just publicly, but in the privacy of your own home, to see Him and yet not see Him at all.

[12:58] If this isn't an illustration of the blinding power of sin, I don't know what is. Jesus' brothers, let them be a lesson to us that familiarity with Jesus does not equal faith in Jesus.

[13:17] His brothers are a living lesson of what we just read, what we just testified earlier this morning. The Spirit must give life. The flesh is no help at all.

[13:29] Apart from His Spirit, we simply, we can be as close as we need to be, but we cannot see Jesus for who He is. Not even His own brothers believed Him.

[13:42] This request that Jesus make Himself known, it seems on the surface like that's a good desire, a good request, like this would be pleasing to God, but John clues us in to their unbelief so that we would know something else is going on here.

[13:58] And it's possible that they thought, well, maybe He would do another sign. Maybe we would benefit in some way from another miracle. Maybe they thought His popularity, His growing popularity might benefit the family in some way.

[14:11] Maybe they could benefit from His influence. Maybe they thought that Jesus would garner enough influence and support within the community to come and overthrow the Romans. Regardless of what the exact motivation was, we need to see, we need to understand, if it's coming from a place of unbelief, then their will is ultimately driven by one thing.

[14:33] You know what it is? Self. Self-gain. Self-glory. To follow God's will is to seek God's glory in all things.

[14:48] But to follow our own sinful, selfish, sinful will is to seek our gain, our glory in all things. Even if it means using Jesus Himself as a means to get there.

[15:04] Let Jesus' brothers be an example for us, church. Non-believers can get themselves very invested in the name of Jesus.

[15:18] Non-believers can get themselves very excited about the name of Jesus. They can fill churches. They can sing songs.

[15:30] They can take notes during the sermon. But at the bottom of their hearts, what they ultimately want is not His glory, but their gain.

[15:43] The unbelieving heart will come to Jesus when they have a possibility for selfish gain and they will leave Him in an instant if that possibility is gone. And we've all seen this, haven't we?

[15:54] I remember in college seeing a few guys get real serious about the Lord right about the time they started having their eyes on some girl in college ministry. businessmen coming to church to try and drum up a few more clients.

[16:13] It's a tale as old as time. The unbelieving will wants to glorify self and it will use any means necessary, even the name of Jesus, to get there.

[16:27] But how does Jesus respond? Look here to Jesus' response. He says, He wants no part of this. So He tells His brothers, You go on up. He says in verse 6, My time has not yet come.

[16:40] You and your agenda, your motives, your desires, they belong to the world. There's an essential difference between you and me. You know what? The world hates me.

[16:50] It can't hate you. Why? Because you belong to it and I don't. I testify against it, but you belong to it. I'm not going up to the feast. You go on up.

[17:01] I'm not going. But this is interesting, isn't it? Verse 10, it says, He did go up. So what's going on here? Did Jesus just lie to His brothers?

[17:12] He said, I'm not going up to the feast. Now, verse 10, He is going up to the feast. So what's going on? Here's what I think is happening. John is showing us Jesus' complete determination to follow the will and the plan and the agenda of God, not the will and the plan and the agenda of sinful man.

[17:38] This is an act of defiance against the will and the agenda, even the temptation of sinful man. He says, My time is not here, meaning I have a precise plan to follow.

[17:51] I take orders from one person, God the Father. Your time's always here. Go whenever you want. I'm not going when you want me to go. I'm not going in your time, not in your way, not for your reasons.

[18:04] You go on without me. Now, I believe that this is another example of temptation in the life of Jesus. And it's incredible to me as we read the Gospels how alike Jesus and us, how alike we are to Jesus in this way.

[18:23] You know, Jesus was tempted daily to cave in to the pressures and the temptations all around him. He knows exactly what it's like to be tempted to follow the desires of sinful man.

[18:35] But there's one key difference. You know what it is? He was tempted and tried in every way as we are, yet, help me, yet without sin.

[18:47] Jesus Christ resisted the temptation to submit to the will of sinful flesh and instead perfectly followed the will of God.

[19:00] Surely, Jesus knew he could go into that crowd. He could demand to be praised. He knew he was owed all the praise and the attention of man. Surely, he could go and make himself known right then and there to all the world just like his brothers asked, and yet, what does he do?

[19:17] He sticks to the plan. You remember when the devil took him up on the mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and said, all the kingdoms of the world can be yours if you'll simply bow down and worship me.

[19:30] He knew that all the kingdoms of the world rightly belonged to him and yet, he knew there was a plan to be followed. There was a God-appointed time to be met for salvation to be accomplished.

[19:46] He must follow God's will perfectly. So he humbled himself and followed the will of God. He went up to the feast later in his time, not publicly, but John says, in private.

[20:00] He perfectly submitted to the will of God. Not only this, but second, second, Jesus perfectly willed the will of God.

[20:12] Jesus perfectly willed the will of God. Meaning, God's will was what Jesus desired more than anything. He was perfect not only in his external actions, but in his internal desire.

[20:27] One way we see this is in the teaching of Jesus. It seems like as he went up to the feast, there was a rumbling there in Judea. The Jews, meaning the Jewish leaders, were seeking him at the feast, asking where is he, not to say hello or to get his autograph, but so that they might capture him, arrest him, and ultimately put him to death.

[20:47] But the crowds, thousands of Jews there gathering for the feast, were all, they were muttering about him. You can imagine the kind of thunder, the roar of voices as you enter Judea.

[21:01] And John says, many of them were talking secretly about Jesus. Some said, he's a good man. Others said, no, he's leading the people astray. This division was mounting.

[21:12] So Jesus does as he often does and he went into the temple and began to teach. Look there to verse 14. About the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching.

[21:26] And the Jews, they marveled why. They marveled at him. What was the reason they're marveling at him? It's not because of the content of his message. It was about the origin of his teaching.

[21:40] Where did you learn all this stuff? Where did all this stuff come from? The Greek literally there says, how does this man know his letters when he's never studied? Meaning, he's never studied with us.

[21:53] Where is Jesus' seminary degree from? What rabbinical school did Jesus go to? Where does his teaching, where does his knowledge go? How does this man learn his letters when he hasn't studied with us?

[22:07] And Jesus says, I'll tell you where my teaching comes from. My teaching is not mine, but it is his who sent me. And here it is, verse 17. Listen to this. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

[22:28] Did you catch that? Let me read that again. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

[22:42] The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.

[22:53] Here's the litmus test. If you desire God's will, then you will look to Christ, listen to his words, and by the grace of God you will say, yes, that is true.

[23:12] Yes, those are the words of God. Yes, he is the Christ. Yes, that is good. Yes, that is life. Yes, that is from God. But if you will your own will, sinful, selfish, self-exalting, like Jesus' brothers, like the Jewish officials, then you will hear Jesus' words and say, he's speaking on his own authority.

[23:40] Meaning not from God. Human words. Take what you like, reject what you don't, eat the fish, spit out the bones. If you desire your own will above all else, you might really love what Jesus has to say when it lines up with what you already think and ignore what Jesus has to say when it disagrees with what you already think.

[24:06] If you will your own will, at the end of the day, what you want reigns supreme over the word of God. But Jesus says, those who will God's will, those who truly in their heart will thy will be done, they receive the words of Christ totally for what they are, the very words of God.

[24:29] Jesus says to the Jews here, you don't desire God's will. And I'll show it to you, two very clear examples. Number one, charge number one, you outright disobey God's word.

[24:42] Lord, you want to kill me. Verse 19. He says, has not Moses given you the law yet? Yet none of you keeps the law.

[24:53] Why do you seek to kill me? If you love the will of God, if you truly desire to do his will, if you love the law, which is God's revealed will for you, for your obedience, why are you right now plotting to break the sixth commandment?

[25:09] Thou shall not kill. They denied it. Who else? You have a demon. You're insane. You're crazy. And so he moves on. He says, charge number two, you disobey God's word and you apply God's word inconsistently.

[25:27] You like it when it suits you and you disregard it when it doesn't. Look there to verse 21. Jesus reminds them of his healing of the invalid man on the Sabbath day.

[25:39] Do you remember that account? There was a man who was waiting by the pool for someone to come and to put him in the waters. He'd been lying there for a number of years. Jesus comes up and says, sir, do you want to be made well?

[25:49] He says, I have nobody to help me. Jesus says, rise, take up your mat, walk, get up, you're well. The only problem was that was on the Sabbath day and that did not sit well with the rulers.

[26:04] He said, I did one work and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision, not that it's from Moses, from the fathers, and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.

[26:16] If on the Sabbath, a man receives circumcision so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath, I made a whole man's body well?

[26:28] Well, don't judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. Are you following Jesus' logic here? It was commanded in the law of God that every male child born had to be circumcised on the eighth day and so the question had to be answered, well, what happens if that eighth day falls on the Sabbath?

[26:52] Do we wait till the ninth day? Do we do it a day early or do we break that Sabbath law? You see my parentheses here.

[27:03] It's not breaking it. Do we break that Sabbath law and circumcise the child on the eighth day? And they determined that they would, in fact, uphold that eighth day ordinance even if it fell on the Sabbath day.

[27:16] And from that conclusion, the Jews determined that all acts of mercy would be permitted on the Sabbath. If a child needed to be circumcised on the Sabbath day, it would be done.

[27:29] If a sheep would fall into a pit, they would pull him out on the Sabbath day. But Jesus says, if that's the case, why are you trying to kill me for making a whole man's body well on the Sabbath day?

[27:44] You are inconsistently applying God's word. Why? Because at the bottom of your unbelieving hearts is your sinful will, not God's will.

[28:02] Thomas Jefferson, you may know, infamously made an abridged version of the New Testament called the Jefferson Bible. Are you familiar with this?

[28:12] where he took six copies of the New Testament in Greek, Latin, French, and English, and he literally cut and pasted what he determined together to be the core essential teachings of Jesus.

[28:28] And it was that self-curated, mutilated book that became his nightly reading. And what amounted to 86 pages of self-approved doctrine, the rest of it hit the cutting room floor.

[28:43] 86 pages. 86 pages that met his approval. Now we may hear that and scoff and shake our heads at that, but we have to realize that all of us are prone to that same sort of redactive reading of the word of God.

[29:04] Martin Luther, give you another example. He famously loved the letters of Paul. You know what he called the letter that James wrote?

[29:16] He said it was an epistle of straw. It didn't have one ounce of pure gospel doctrine in it. Now I've spoken with brothers who have said something similar.

[29:26] They said, well, I actually, I get along with Jesus in the gospels. I really like James. I resonate with him, but I have a hard time getting along with Paul. All of us need to be on guard and aware of this tendency in our hearts.

[29:44] Did our sinful hearts stand at the ready with scissors open, prepared to cut out whatever it is we don't like about Christ and his words?

[29:58] We need to be on guard, church. We know that our society, our culture, stands at the ready with scissors open, telling us every day something new that would probably be better cut out and left on the cutting room floor.

[30:16] Keep the stuff about heaven, but why don't we cut out these hard teachings about hell? Keep the gentle, loving Christ, but cut out the exclusivity of salvation in Christ alone.

[30:27] Cut out the sovereignty of God. Why don't we cut out our complete inability to earn or even will our salvation apart from his grace? Cut marriage?

[30:38] Cut gender? Cut sexuality? Cut justice? Cut holiness? Cut sin? Cut repentance? What are we left with? exactly what we wanted to hear?

[30:55] We have to constantly remember, church, that our reception of the word of God shouldn't be shaped by our will, our desires, our preferences.

[31:09] Rather, we want our will to be shaped by God's word, God's will, God's preferences. Those who will the will of God want the Holy Spirit to cut out of us anything that does not conform to the will of God.

[31:36] But the honest truth is that none of us do this perfectly, do we? The heart of a Christian, the desire, the heartfelt desire of a Christian is the will of God.

[31:49] That's from him in us. But we wrestle with the flesh. We wage war against the desires of our sinful flesh, which ought to make us so, so thankful that third, Jesus perfectly accomplished God's will for sinners like us.

[32:16] Jesus perfectly accomplished God's will for us. It seems like this discussion, it led towards more muttering in the crowds, and they began to ask, isn't this the man they seek to kill?

[32:33] And yet, here he is speaking openly, and they're saying nothing to him. Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ?

[32:44] They're on to something, aren't they? But as soon as this question was raised, an objection came with it. Look there to verse 27. He says, but we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.

[32:59] They knew, or at least they thought they knew where Jesus was from, and apparently they believed that when the Messiah appeared, it would be instant and unexpected. He would appear immediately and quickly get to work ushering in the kingdom of God, liberating the Jews.

[33:14] In other words, Jesus was not what they expected. They saw Jesus. They saw the signs. They heard his words and yet could not see Jesus for who he is.

[33:30] Why? Jesus says it's because they did not know God. They judged by appearances and not with right judgment.

[33:41] Jesus says, you know me and you know where I come from, but I have not come on my own accord. He who sent me is true and him you do not know. I know him for I come from him and he sent me.

[33:55] If you knew him, you would know me. If you loved his words, you would love my words. If you willed his will, you would look at me and know that I am he, but you don't.

[34:08] So how did they respond? They sought to arrest him. But no one laid a hand on him because his hour, that God appointed hour in the plan and the will of God had not yet fully come.

[34:25] Yet, many of the people did believe in him. And they said, when the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done? Do you see the mounting division of the people to Christ at this point?

[34:45] The mounting division of how people are responding to the words and the person of Christ. We cannot be neutral when we hear the words of Christ.

[34:56] We can reject him, we can write him off, we can seek to kill him, or we can come to him totally, but we cannot be neutral. This is the moment of decision for these people.

[35:12] God sent Christ for this purpose, that any who look to him and believe that he is the Christ might have life in his name. These Jews are teetering on the edge of eternity here, between eternal life and eternal death.

[35:27] As they weigh in their minds, who is Jesus? Who is this man? Is he who he claims to be? If it's not him, then who? Who else could do the things he does and speak the way he does?

[35:40] As you consider the words of Christ this morning, if you're not a believer, I would ask you the same question. If you won't trust this man, whom will you trust?

[35:53] Apparently, the Pharisees overheard this conversation and said, enough waiting, the time has come. The chief priests and Pharisees sent officials to arrest him, but as they do, Jesus says one last thing that just perplexes everyone in the crowd.

[36:13] Look there with me. He says, I will be with you a little longer, and then where I am going, I'm going to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me.

[36:24] Where I am, you cannot come. The Jews said to one another, where is he going? Where does he think he's going? Where we can't find him?

[36:35] Does he intend to go out to the Greeks and the dispersion and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by you will seek me and you will not find me and where I am, you cannot come?

[36:46] And John leaves us hanging, doesn't he? He doesn't give us the answer. But we know the end of the story. We know that very soon Jesus would enter again into Jerusalem to shouts of Hosanna, to words of praise, to the great expectations of the crowds, and within a week we know that Christ will hang on a cross.

[37:14] and he would be put to death and that the Son of God would die a sinner's death. Why? Why would this happen?

[37:26] Why would he do this? To perfectly fulfill the plan of God for sinners like us, for our salvation.

[37:38] You know, the death of Christ was not a tragic accident. This was the eternal plan of God from before the ages began, that the Son of God would come and live perfectly in our place where you have failed, where I have failed, where Adam has failed, and he would die in the place of sinners.

[38:02] But because of his perfect obedience, death would not have a claim on him. So he would rise from the grave and then ascend up into heaven and sit down at the right hand of God the Father because the plan of redemption was complete and Jesus fulfilled it perfectly.

[38:25] He says to the Jews, because of your sin, you cannot come where I am going. But do you know what he says to his followers later in John 14? Listen to this.

[38:38] He says, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also.

[38:52] And you know the way to where I am going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life.

[39:09] No one comes to the Father except through me, through my life, through my obedience, through my death, through my resurrection, given freely to you through faith.

[39:28] God's life. Why does this matter for us, church? Why does it matter that Jesus lives a life of perfect obedience?

[39:41] For one, let Jesus' obedience serve as conviction for us. None of us have lived a perfect life. all of us have fallen short of the glory of God in many ways, many more ways than we realize.

[39:59] Even this morning, even this hour, we have fallen short of the glory of God. Let Jesus' holiness convict you of where you fall short. Not only that, may Jesus' perfect obedience serve as an example for us.

[40:15] If we want to know what godliness looks like, if we want to grow in obedience, where else can we look but to Christ who perfectly obeyed?

[40:26] But not only that, church, be thankful that His obedience serves as a substitute for us. For as by the one man's obedience, the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous.

[40:48] The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ lived in the place of sinners where we failed, He succeeded, that He might give His perfect righteousness and all of the reward that comes with it to unworthy sinners like us simply through faith.

[41:09] If Christ Jesus erred in one degree from the will and plan of God, there would be no salvation for us. But because He perfectly submitted to the will of the Father, He gives us everything that He has earned in our place.

[41:28] If all we see when we look at Jesus are the ways we fall short, we will feel nothing but shame. If all we see when we see Jesus is a moral example of right and wrong, we'll feel pride when we succeed and we'll feel guilt when we fail, but if we look to our perfect Savior as a substitute, His perfect obedience credited to our bankrupt account by faith, then we will feel the weight of sin melt away.

[42:01] And we will feel thankful for the obedience of Christ. Christ, because without His obedience, there is no hope.

[42:14] Let's pray. Lord, we do thank You for the perfect obedience of Christ. We've failed. We freely confess and admit our sin to You.

[42:27] And we turn to You with it knowing that You sent Christ for sinners like us. That we can't earn our way to You. We've failed, but Christ alone has earned the right to eternal life and He's offered that to us simply through faith in Him and His name.

[42:47]  God, help us to will the will of God. Give us a spirit that desires Your will above all else, we pray in Christ's name. Amen.