[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. This is the next message in our series on the book of John entitled, Jesus is God.
[0:15] Thank you very much. You can be taking that offering. And while you're doing that, as soon as you've given your money, you can open your Bible to John 8. That means give your money, then open your Bible. That was a joke, but you can do it anyway.
[0:26] John chapter 8. Vamos a abrir la Biblia a Juan capítulo 8, por favor. Juan capítulo 8. Juan capítulo 8. Y I'm going to read to you. Just to be honest, we're going to have to condense the message, but I think you'll still get the truth.
[0:45] Vamos a tener que hacer un poquito el expreso acá, la esencia. But you're going to receive the truth todavía.
[0:56] John 8, 51. John 8, 51. Juan capítulo 8, versículo 51. Hemos llegado a la parte de la Biblia donde están atacando a Cristo.
[1:11] We have come to a part of the Bible where they're attacking Jesus. In John chapter 8, verse 51, the Bible says, Am I talking English or Spanish? Man, we've got to have somebody remind me which one I'm in.
[1:22] Spanish? Am I talking Spanish? Thank you. De cierto, de cierto os digo que el que guarda mi palabra nunca verá muerte. Would you open your Bible and look at John 8, 51?
[1:33] Look what the Bible says. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Verse 52. Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil.
[1:46] Abraham is dead and the prophets, and thou sayest, If a man keep my sayings, he shall never taste death. Verse 52. Versículo 52. Entonces los judíos le dijeron, Ahora conocemos que tienes demonio.
[2:01] Abraham murió y los profetas, y tú dices, El que guarda mi palabra nunca sufrirá muerte. Jesus is making it very clear that he is God.
[2:15] He is letting them know. He says, If you believe me, if you trust me, you will never see death. You will never taste death. Jesús está diciendo muy claramente, Si tú crees en mí, nunca verás la muerte.
[2:30] Nunca probarás la muerte. That makes these people extremely angry. Before the end of this chapter, they're going to try to kill him. Eso hace a la gente supermente furiosos con él.
[2:43] Y antes de acabar el capítulo, van a procurar matarle. Jesus says, I am telling you that you'll never have to die. You'll never have to see death. Nunca tienes que morir.
[2:55] Nunca tienes que ver la muerte. Número uno. Vemos como deshonran a Jesús. I want you to look, number one, at how they dishonored Jesus. If you'd look at verse 48, I don't have time to read it.
[3:08] Solamente, me in versículos 48 a 51, look at verses 48 to 51, mark them down. You can read them later. They dishonor Jesus. Ellos están dishonorando a Jesucristo.
[3:21] In verse 49, the Bible says, Jesus answered, I have not a devil, but I honor my father. And you dishonor, you do dishonor me.
[3:32] In verse 49, versículo 49, Jesucristo respondió, Jesús, yo no tengo demonio. Antes honro a mi padre, y vosotros me deshonras. I didn't even see that.
[3:44] Dos on rice. I want you to look at what they called him. They called him, number one, a Samaritan. You might not understand what that would mean, but that's a racial slur.
[3:55] It'd be a racial slur, like somebody might have used in the South years ago. It might, a racial slur that somebody might have. It was calling them a half breed. They were half breeds physically.
[4:06] They were half breeds spiritually. They had previously married with pagans. And so they're in a sense calling Jesus a traitor, a compromiser. He has dishonored his people.
[4:18] He is a traitor to his people. And they have no respect. Les están llamando un Samaritano. Eso es un insulto racial. Están diciendo que es como uno que es mitad, mitad, mitad judío, mitad la otra raza.
[4:35] Y no hay respeto para él. Ellos se han cansado con los paganos. Están diciendo que Jesús no es un profesor de verdad. No es un maestro de la Biblia.
[4:45] Es un pagano. Uno que es traidor a su gente. Y están molestos. They're also calling him a devil. If you notice that. They said he had a devil.
[4:56] They said, You're crazy. They said, You're out of your mind. Dicen que él tiene un demonio. Que es loco. Que es afuera de su mente. But Jesus said, Hey, you guys are dishonoring me.
[5:10] And when you dishonor me, you're dishonoring my father. That's in verse 50. He said, You dishonor me. Verse 50 and 51. And, well, they're doing it because he said, He shall never see death.
[5:22] And Jesus said, I don't seek my own glory. I'm not promoting myself. I only want to honor the father. In verse 50 and 51, Dice que están deshonrando a Jesús.
[5:33] But Jesús dice, Yo solamente busco honrar a Dios. Y ellos están enojados. Porque dice que nunca van a ver la muerte. I want to read with you.
[5:46] John 11, 25 through 26. I want you to focus on something. I want you to know that in John 11, 25 and 26, that we will not die.
[6:00] Nunca. We are never going to die. That's a Bible promise. I want you to read it with me. John 11, 25. John 11, 25. Jesus said in there, I am the resurrection.
[6:12] And the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die. Believest thou this?
[6:22] Would you put that up in Spanish now? Do you see what he's saying? Do you see what he's saying? He said, Lazarus is dead. But if he believed in me, he's going to live again. Then he said, If you really believe in me, you will never die.
[6:36] See, dying is being separated from God. Dying is hell. Dying is punishment. That's the word for it. The second death. The first death was because of sin. The second death's because of sin.
[6:47] We're born again. We're never going to die. Death is not to us what it is to them. When we die, we step out of this world and into another world.
[6:58] We don't die. We just move. We just leave here. I'll say all this in Spanish in just a second. But watch this. Tomorrow, Chris and I are going to get on an airplane in downtown Atlanta and we're going to leave here.
[7:10] We're going to separate from this city and the next thing we know, we'll land in Washington, D.C. and then in Paris and we'll step out of here and we'll go somewhere else. But we're not going to be dead. We're just going to move out of this place.
[7:20] Say amen right there. That's what happens when we go to heaven. We don't die. We just change locations. Can you say amen about that? Lo que pasa, lo que pasa es los que han creído en Jesús nunca van a morir.
[7:34] Y aun si estuvieran muertos, vivirán de nuevo. Estaba hablando con él, Lázaro apenas ha muerto. Estaba hablando con los hermanos. Estaba diciendo, no, no ha muerto, va a vivir de nuevo.
[7:46] Y nosotros nunca vamos a morir porque morir es paga de muerte. Morir es pena de pecado. Morir es cuando Dios castiga.
[7:58] Y nunca vamos a recibir esto porque Cristo ya pagó nuestra cuenta. Y el momento que morimos, vamos a llegar al cielo. Mañana, Cristo y yo subimos un avión y vamos de acá a Washington y de ahí a París.
[8:12] A París. Y no vamos a morir. Solamente vamos a cambiarnos de locación, de ubicación. Cuando muero yo, yo me voy a partir de acá y voy a llegar hasta allá. Amir o no? Okay, look, if you would, second thing I want you to see here.
[8:25] out of this passage of scripture just real quickly. I want you to go down to verse 53. The second thing, the first thing, the first thing was that they are dishonoring Jesus. La primera cosa era que estaban deshonrando a Jesús.
[8:38] The second thing is, they asked Jesus, who do you think you are? Preguntan a Jesús, ¿Quién te crees? Mira el versículo 53, verse 53.
[8:48] 53 dice, ¿Eres tú acaso mayor que nuestro padre Abraham, el cual murió, y los profetas murieron? ¿Quién te haces a ti mismo? Look at what it says in verse 53.
[9:00] Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead, and the prophets are dead? Whom makest thou thyself? They said, who do you think you are? You tell us we're never going to die.
[9:12] You tell us you can guarantee us that we'll never die. Do you really think you're greater than Abraham? Do you really think you're greater than the prophets? Who do you try to say you are? I mean, Abraham ha muerto, los profetas han muerto, y tú prometes vida eterna para nosotros.
[9:28] ¿Quién te crees? ¿Cómo puedes tú decir que no vamos a morir? So it's, you need to realize, we have, he's God. He's saying he's God. I mean, this is as clear as day.
[9:39] Who else would look at you and say, yeah, Abraham died, and yeah, all the prophets died, Isaiah died, Jeremiah, Ezekiel died, Daniel died, Jose, Joel, Emma, Sobra, all those guys died, everybody died, not me, not me.
[9:53] And if you believe in me, you won't either. Who do you think you are? They say, ha muerto Abraham, ha muerto todos los profetas, Isaías, Jeremías, Ezequiel, Daniel, Oseas, Joel, a todos ellos han muerto, pero yo no muero, y los que creen en mí tampoco van a morir.
[10:10] ¿Quién te crees? ¿Quién te crees? Everybody important in their religion had died. Jesus said, not me. Todos los importantes en su vida, en su religión, habían muerto, pero no Jesús.
[10:26] I'd like to show you verse 55, verse 55, just kind of rushing through this passage, but look at it, 55, pero vosotros no le conocéis, mas yo le conozco, y si dijera que no le conozco, sería mentiroso como vosotros, pero le conozco, y guardo su palabra.
[10:45] Mira ese reciclo. Cristo dice, si yo dijera que no conozco a Dios, yo sería tan mentiroso como tú. Look at, look if you would at verse, look if you would at verse 55, you have, you have not known him, but I know him.
[11:00] And if I say I know him not, I'd be a bigger liar as you are. I know him. And I keep his saying. Jesus said, I know God. I, and if I said I didn't, I'd be a liar just like the rest of you.
[11:14] I know him. I want you to say he's more important than Abraham ever thought of being. Look at, look at what the Bible says about him. If you would, verse 58, verse 58, versículo 58, verse 58.
[11:28] The Bible says, Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you before Abraham was, I am. Do you, would you, there's not a mistaken translation there.
[11:39] Do you see what those tenses of the verbs are? Before Abraham was, you see, Abraham had a beginning and a life and an end. Jesus said, before he was, I am.
[11:51] That's not good grammar. Unless you've always been. Jesus was saying, Abraham had a short life, but I always been. I am. I am. I am in the past.
[12:01] I am right now. And I am in the future. Look at, he said, I believe in verse 58. Jesus les dijo, de cierto, de cierto os digo, antes que Abraham fuese, yo soy. Eso, eso no es un error en la traducción, no es un error en el idioma.
[12:17] Abraham tenía una vida cortita, pero Jesús ya existía antes, y existía todo el tiempo que estaba vivo, existía, hasta el día de hoy. Siempre ha sido yo soy. Yo soy en el pasado, yo soy en el presente, yo soy en el futuro.
[12:31] Él es Dios. But look what they do. They reject him. Look at verse 59. Look at verse 59. Versículo 59. Verse 59. Then took they up stones to cast at him.
[12:44] Then took they up stones to cast at him. Look at verse 59. Tomaron entonces piedras para arrojarselas. Arrojarselas. They took up stones and said, we don't believe a word you got to say.
[12:57] We think you're crazy. We think you have a demon. We think you're Samaritan. We reject everything you got to say. We're going to kill you. Ellos agarraron piedras diciendo, eres un Samaritano, tienes un demonio, no te creemos, queremos tenerte muerto, vamos a matarte.
[13:13] Ahora mismo te rechazamos por completo. That's exactly what goes on. Whenever you step out to tell people about Jesus, you shouldn't be surprised that people get upset when you tell them there is a way to know you can go to heaven.
[13:25] It shouldn't surprise you when people say, you're crazy. It shouldn't surprise you when people think you're a nut for believing in Jesus. You ought to know. That's the way it's always been. Cuando tú invites a una persona a aceptar a Cristo y te rechazan o rechazan el folleto o no quieren escuchar el Evangelio o te miren como eres loco, eso no debe sorprenderte.
[13:44] Están haciendo lo mismo con Jesucristo. Porque tú estás diciendo que hay una forma que pueden tener perdón, hay una forma que pueden tener vida y está en Cristo Jesús. It ought to, you ought to go out there and just say, I know they're going to reject Jesus.
[14:00] I know they're going to reject him. Tú debes salir sabiendo que van a rechazar, pero tú les vas a decir que Cristo, Cristo puede dar vida. Last thing I want to show you. Look at verse 59. How did Jesus deal with the persecution?
[14:13] How did Jesus deal with persecution? ¿Cómo es que Jesús trató con la persecución? Look, mira versículo 59. The Bible says, Tomaron entonces piedras para arrojárselas, pero Jesús se escondió y salió del templo y atravesando por en medio de ellos se fue.
[14:30] Look at what it says in verse 59. Then took they up stones to cast at him, but Jesus hid himself and he went out of the temple going through the midst of them and so passed by.
[14:41] Just real quickly. You know, we got missionaries right now in the middle of trouble. We have them in Harbin, China. Right now, Natasha's in Beijing.
[14:53] There's some complications with her baby. Aaron and Tyler and Cesar and Renzo are in Morocco and in Northern Africa among Muslims and it's not always the safest environment.
[15:05] And we have some instructions about how you deal with persecution. Tenemos misioneros ahora mismo ahora mismo en China and Harbin and Beijing.
[15:16] We tenemos gente en el norte de África. El hermano Tyler y el hermano Aaron y Renzo y Cesar y ellos están ahí y pueden estar bajo persecución y la Biblia nos explica qué hacer.
[15:28] Look at what they did. Look at what Jesus did. You know, when we send a missionary out, you may say, what do we send them into harm's way for? You know, we're not looking to get hurt. We're not looking for them to get hurt.
[15:40] Jesus wasn't looking to get hurt. They were ready to kill Jesus and look what he does. Look what he does in the verse. It says he hid himself and then it says somehow he walked right through the middle of them and they didn't even know it.
[15:52] He got out without getting hurt. He got out without getting hurt. He got out to go continue his ministry. So, fíjense en lo que dice acá en el siglo 59. No estamos enviando misioneros para salir lastimados.
[16:04] Dice la Biblia que Cristo se escondió. Entonces salió del templo atravesando por en medio de ellos y se fue. En alguna forma pasó por en medio de ellos y no se dieron cuenta. We go out to witness.
[16:17] It is never our goal to upset people, to start fights, to be rabble rousers. Never. Say amen right there.
[16:28] Nunca es nuestra meta salir a causar problemas, a enojar a la gente, a causar persecución sobre nosotros mismos. It is our purpose to share Jesus with everybody.
[16:41] Es nuestro propósito compartir a Jesús con todos. Y ellos salieron, o ellos salieron de en medio de la persecución para seguir su ministerio.
[16:52] And Jesus hid himself and got out of there to keep his ministry going to the other place that he would go. So, let me give you two or three things here just real quickly to sum up tonight.
[17:03] And I apologize that maybe it's been a tad confusing for you. They're dishonoring Jesus. They're dishonoring Jesus. When they dishonor Jesus, they think they're protecting God, but they're really not protecting God because Jesus is God and they don't know that.
[17:20] And Jesus clearly says, I am. I am. That's a term. That's a God term from back in the days of Moses when he said, Yosoi. And he says, I am. And Jesus is God and he says, if you believe, you won't die.
[17:33] If you believe, you won't die. But that is too big a statement for any man to make. It's too big a statement for any man to make. It has to mean that something's wrong with Jesus or he is really God.
[17:45] And they're not ready to accept that he's God. And so they want to kill him. And so they reject his message. They reject his message. They want to kill him. And I want you to know when you step out to witness to people, they may reject the message.
[17:59] When you go out to witness to people, I hope you carry gospel tracks. I hope you invite people. The other day, we were somewhere, five guys, I believe it was. And I gave the girl a track and I invited her to the church and she acted a tad kind about it, not unkind.
[18:15] And I looked and I said, ma'am, where do you live? You live close. Maybe you'd come to the church. And then that was all she wanted. It was like, hey, I was nice enough when you gave me that piece of paper. No being pushy, buddy. And so she kind of let me know she didn't really like it.
[18:27] I kind of expected that, wouldn't you? That's all right. That's all right. Hey, they weren't throwing rocks at me. They weren't trying to stone me. They reject maybe what I want to do, but I'm going to tell them about Jesus and move on to tell the next guy.
[18:42] Tú debes estar saliendo a invitar a las personas. Todo lo que Jesucristo está haciendo acá es un poquito difícil. Ha dicho cosas que ningún hombre puede decir. Ha dicho que él era, yo soy, antes de Abraham, ha dicho él.
[18:56] Ha dicho que ellos pueden poner su fe en él y ellos van a tener vida eterna. No van a morir. Él ha dicho todos sus profetas han muerto, yo no he muerto, yo soy mayor que todos.
[19:08] Ellos han rechazado su mensaje. Ellos han rechazado su mensaje. No debe ser de sorpresa para ustedes que ellos de afuera van a rechazar el mensaje que tú llevas.
[19:20] Lleva folletos, invita a personas a aceptar a Cristo y sepa que sí van a rechazar el mensaje y tú no debes estar enojado ni molesto cuando alguien se enoja un poquito porque le has invitado porque tú sirves a Cristo y estás tú dispuesto a recibir algo de persecución y tú no tienes que preocuparte porque no están tirando piedras en tu dirección.
[19:44] Quizás unos ojeados están mirándote, están dándote el ojo malo pero nada más que eso. I am very glad you came tonight. Estoy contento que hayan venido and I hope that you will take into account what Jesus is doing here and you'll put it in practice.
[20:01] Espero que tomen en cuenta lo que Jesús está haciendo y que lo tomen en cuenta. Father in heaven, I love you. Padre, te amo y te agradezco y te magnifico.
[20:14] Help us to be witnesses. Ayúdanos a ser testigos. Ayúdanos a invitar a otros para conocerte. Help us to tell others so they'll come to know you. Bless us as we surrender our lives to you.
[20:26] Bendíganos mientras que rendimos nuestras vidas a tus pies. We love you. Te amamos. You have been listening to Austin Gardner, pastor of Vision Baptist Church.
[20:40] For contact information, location, service times, or more audio and video recordings, log on to www.visionbaptist.com. Visit us at some