Thanks very much, Rachel and Margot.
And good morning, everyone.
Good to see you if you're in the church here.
Good to know there are lots more watching us online.
It will be helpful if you've got a Bible in front of you
or an electronic device you can read the chapter on
because, as Rachel said, we're only able to read part of it
and we will be referring to the whole chapter as we go along.
I can say with some confidence that John chapter 7
is the chapter of the Gospel that most of us are least familiar with.
Let's just think about that.
I realise this won't resonate with everyone,
but let's think through the chapter of John's Gospel up to now.
Chapter 1, we have the Word and the Lamb of God.
Chapter 2, we have the wedding at Cana.
Chapter 3, we have Nicodemus.
Chapter 4, we have the woman at the well in Samaria.
Chapter 5, we have the lame man who was healed on the Sabbath.
Chapter 6, we have the feeding of the 5,000.
And we could go on from Chapter 8 onwards.
But Chapter 7, what's it about?
Well, we've probably not got that much idea.
Most of us, it's not a chapter that immediately resonates.
It's quite hard work and we have to think about it as we go through.
So my job this morning is hopefully to make John Chapter 7
a little bit more memorable for you,
but also to think about what its relevance is for us today.
And I think there are some very practical things that we can take from it.
So we've got a lot to cover in quite a short time.
So here's the plan.
We're going to think a bit about the context of John 7.
Context is always important when we study the Bible,
perhaps particularly so in this chapter.
We're then going to walk through it and see how we can navigate our way through the chapter.
Please do read it all when you get home and certainly before your small group this week.
We're going to think about five questions,
which I hope will help us see the practical significance of John 7 today.
And then we're going to end with a rock music legend
and we'll find out about that when we come to it.
But let's begin with context.
John's Gospel, as I'm sure you know,
the key verse for context is at the end of Chapter 20,
when John says that he's written so that we will believe that Jesus is the Messiah,
the Son of God.
And everything in John's Gospel is working towards that aim.
Every incident, every saying of the Lord Jesus,
every conversation that's recorded is to help us to understand who Jesus is,
that he's the Messiah, the Son of God.
And John 7 is no different from that.
In fact, it's very important in the flow of the Gospel.
If we come to the more immediate context,
between John 5 and John 10,
which makes a little subsection of the book,
there are a number of incidents which all happen around the time of Jewish feasts or festivals.
John 5, it doesn't say what the specific festival was,
but Jesus was in Jerusalem for a festival
and their discussion about the Sabbath,
which is, in a sense, a weekly festival.
John 6 takes place around the festival of the Passover.
John 7 to 9, around the festival of tabernacles.
And then John 10, around the festival of commitment,
or what we would these days call Hanukkah.
And all of these festivals do a number of things for us.
The first is they help position where Jesus is.
As we go through the Gospels,
some of what Jesus does we see is in Galilee,
and some is in Jerusalem and Judea.
And if an incident takes place,
or a meeting takes place in Jerusalem,
you can be confident that it's because Jesus is there
for one of the feasts of the Jews.
So we're in Jerusalem again today.
Perhaps more importantly,
these festivals give us a bit of a countdown
to the cross of the Lord Jesus.
They draw us nearer and nearer to Calvary.
So chapter 6 is the Passover,
a year before Jesus was crucified.
The Feast of Tabernacles that we're thinking about today,
that took place in September, October.
So that was six months before the crucifixion.
Hanukkah, you may know, is in December.
So that was about three months before the Lord died.
So we've got a bit of a countdown.
The Lord is getting closer and closer to his crucifixion
as we go through the Gospel.
But perhaps most important of all,
in terms of the significance of the feasts,
is if we look at what Jesus says
and the things that happen,
they are very much tied in
to the meaning of these festivals.
Passover, Hanukkah, we could look at,
but particularly when we come to the Festival of Tabernacles,
it is very much the backdrop to what Jesus is saying.
So I'm going to take just a couple of minutes
and we're going to think about what happened
at the Festival of Tabernacles.
What was it all about?
Well, the thing that was most striking about this festival
is that for a week,
people in Jerusalem lived in temporary dwellings,
in kind of tents that were covered with branches.
And that was looking back
to when the Israelites were in the wilderness
and they had temporary dwellings.
And this was quite an exciting week for the Jews.
Think of all the festivals,
it was the most joyful.
We could think perhaps of young people
going to camp these days,
getting away from home,
going somewhere different,
doing something different with different people.
That was very much what it was all about,
a time of rejoicing and celebration.
And it had three particular aspects to it.
It looked backward,
it looked at the present,
and it looked forward.
You may see echoes of all of these
in John chapter 7,
indeed in chapters 8 and 9.
So as I said, it looked backwards.
It remembered the time
when the Israelites had left Egypt
and they were going through the wilderness
and would ultimately end up in Canaan
in the Promised Land.
And it thought about how in that period
God had provided for all their needs.
He provided water,
he provided food,
everything they needed,
even though there were nomadic people
traveling around,
God gave them everything that they needed.
In the present,
the Feast of Tabernacles,
or Saccot as it was called,
was the Harvest Thanksgiving.
So that's a familiar concept to us
when we come together
and we give God thanks
for his current provision for us.
So the festival took place
at the time of the harvest,
particularly bringing in grapes perhaps
and fruit from trees,
and people gave thanks for that.
It was a celebration
of God's present goodness
to his people.
But it also looked forward
to the coming of the Messiah.
And that's why in John 7 particularly,
Messiah is mentioned time
and time again.
The Jews were looking forward
to the one who would be
the liberator of their nation.
Now they had a different idea
for what we might
of what the liberator
of the Messiah would be,
but they were very much
looking forward
to his coming.
And a key chapter
for understanding
how the Festival of Tabernacles works
is the prophecy of Zechariah chapter 14.
And one of the things
that prophecy says
is that when the Messiah comes
and tabernacles with his people,
people from all nations
will gather around him
at the Festival of Tabernacles
and will worship him.
So there's very much
a forward-looking aspect
to the festival as well.
And we see some fulfillment
of that in the Lord Jesus
when he came the first time.
It will be completely fulfilled
when the Lord Jesus comes again
and indeed every knee bows before him.
He is recognized as the Messiah,
as the Son of God.
So it's the past,
the present and the future.
And there were two particular themes
around the Festival of Tabernacles.
One was light.
I said it was September, October.
It was around the time of the equinox.
And the Jews were aware
the nights were beginning
to get longer and darker.
And one of the things
that the festival celebrated
is the light that God gives us.
Every day, 16 huge bowls
were lit up in one of the courtyards
of the temple.
And apparently you could see
throughout the city,
you could see the light
that came from these.
No street lamps, of course,
in those days.
So light was very important.
And as we look at chapters 8
and chapter 9
in the next few weeks,
we'll very much be coming back
to that.
The second thing that was important
was water.
This was the dry season.
Often it was a time of drought.
And so as the people came together
for this festival,
they were aware of God's provision
of water and their need of that.
Now I'll go into more detail
about that in a few minutes.
There's again a ritual involved in it
that will help us.
But this is a great, joyous festival
with lots of different meanings to it.
And I hope we'll see some of them
as today we think through this chapter.
Okay, that's enough for context.
Let's move on now
and think about
how we can break down the chapter.
John very helpfully
gives us some timings for this.
And I think they're the easiest way
to look at the chapter.
The first few verses
are the start of the festival.
There's a bit of discussion
about whether Jesus is going or not.
And his brothers say he should.
And he says he's not going just now.
But it's all about
the start of the festival.
And I think the key word
to hang on to here is delay.
That Jesus' brothers say,
you should be going to Jerusalem.
Look, you're doing all these things
in Galilee,
but this is a backwater.
Who's interested in what happens here?
You need to go to Jerusalem
and do all the things there
and be seen in public.
John tells us it was because
they didn't believe in him
that they took this view.
It's a slightly cynical view,
I think.
But Jesus says,
no, I'm not going now.
My time hasn't come yet.
And so he doesn't immediately
go up to the festival,
but he's still the talk of the town,
even though he's not there.
People are saying,
well, where is he?
We know about this Jesus.
Why hasn't he come?
And they're saying,
well, who is he?
Some people are saying,
well, he must be a good man.
All the things he does.
And other people saying,
no, he's just a deceiver.
But all that they were doing
kind of whispering,
because they knew the Jewish leaders
were opposed to Jesus.
So that's the start of the festival,
the delay that Jesus introduces.
From verse 14,
we have the middle of the festival.
The passage Rachel read to us says,
not until halfway through the festival
did Jesus go up to the temple courts
and begin to teach.
And the key theme of the next 20 or so verses
up to verse 36
is this debate about who Jesus is
and what he is doing.
And lots of different views
and different arguments.
Some of the people thinking,
yes, he must be the Messiah.
Look at the way he speaks.
He's not been trained.
He's not been taught in our synagogues
or by our leaders.
And yet he says these wonderful things.
Surely he must be the Messiah.
And then Jesus talks about
why he's able to speak as he does.
It's because he comes from God.
And if people are obedient to God,
they will recognize that
and they will be obedient to his teaching.
He then comes on
and he talks about the miracle in chapter 5.
Remember in chapter 5,
where the lame man who is beside the pool,
Jesus heals him on the Sabbath
and he causes uproar
among the religious leaders.
And he comes back to that
and he makes a very important point.
He says,
you got on of me
because I healed a man on the Sabbath,
but you will quite happily
circumcise someone on the Sabbath.
What's the difference?
Why is that acceptable
and it's not acceptable for me to heal?
Get your judgments right.
And then again,
we have this question,
some people concluding that Jesus is the Messiah,
some not.
The authority is very much against him.
And then he talks about
his authority a bit more.
He talks about the fact
that people don't recognize Jesus
because they don't recognize
that his authority comes from God the Father.
and again,
the authorities are trying to seize him.
We read that in verse 31.
But the crowd are still thinking,
this is someone really special.
How can he do these miracles
if he's not from God?
And then finally,
in the latter part of this section,
Jesus talks about him going away.
And again,
that causes some confusion.
People think,
well, where is he going to?
Is he going to the Gentiles?
Jesus, of course,
is talking about the fact
that he's going to heaven.
He's going to his father
by way of the cross.
So lots of discussion,
lots of debate in the middle.
We could go into a lot of detail about it,
but we don't have time this morning.
And then finally,
we have the end of the festival.
I've called that decision
because this is the time
when people have to nail
their colors to the mast.
What do you really think about Jesus?
We have,
first of all,
and we'll come back to it,
that Jesus stands up
and he says,
let anyone who is thirsty
come to me and drink.
And we'll come back
and look at that wee subsection.
It's very important.
We'll look at it
in a couple of minutes.
And some of the people then say,
well, he must be a prophet.
Others say,
well, he must be the Messiah.
And then other people say,
no, he can't be.
We know that he comes from Galilee.
The prophet,
the Messiah,
doesn't come from Galilee.
It can't be Jesus.
And again,
we have a hardening
of the Jewish leaders
against him
and we have the people divided.
Not sure many of them
what's happening,
but a good number believing.
So as you go through the chapter,
if you get a chance
to do it in more detail later,
hopefully that gives you
a bit of a structure.
Delay the first section,
debate in the second,
and decisions to be made
in the third.
But I want to spend
the rest of the time
thinking through five questions.
Five questions, I think,
come at us from the chapter
and that are really important
as we want to apply it
and think what its relevance
is today.
So there's when, why,
where, what, and who.
So the first is a question
of when.
And the issue is,
what do we mean
by Jesus' time?
Jesus says,
my time has not come,
as in verses six and eight,
if you're following along.
In that context,
he's thinking of his time
to go and very publicly
show himself in Jerusalem.
Now when that time came,
around six months later,
the Lord Jesus rode
into Jerusalem on the donkey
and he received the praises
of his people.
And I think that is
the reference the Lord
is making there
to his time
not having yet come.
But if we go down
to verse 30,
John tells us
that the Lord Jesus,
our,
hadn't come yet.
That he hadn't yet
come to the point
when people could seize him
and could judge him.
his hour hadn't come
so the people,
the authorities,
weren't able to touch him.
And so the hour
that they're talking about there
is Jesus' death
on the cross for us.
His crucifixion at Calvary,
which was the time
that his whole life
had been building up to.
Right as far back
as chapter two in John,
Jesus says to,
in this case,
to his mother Mary,
my time,
my hour has not yet come.
And as we follow
through the gospel,
it's building up
to the point where
John says in chapter 12,
or Jesus says rather,
now my hour is come.
Why is that significant for us?
Because it tells us
that the whole of Jesus' life
was directed towards
his death on the cross.
It was no accident
that he went to Calvary
and died for us.
He knew from the start
what was going to happen
and he was building towards it
in everything that he did
in his ministry.
Jesus' time,
the time that he came
into the world,
the purpose that he came
into the world for,
was to go to the cross
at Calvary
to take our place
and to die for us.
And as we read
through Jesus' life,
it's important
that we recognize
it's all building up
to that climax.
And as John takes us through
and tries to persuade us
of the fact that
Jesus is the Messiah,
he's also doing that
knowing that the ultimate evidence
will come through the cross
and through the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus.
So Jesus' time
refers to his death
for us on the cross.
Second question then,
why did Jesus have authority?
It's very clear
from this chapter
that Jesus preached
with real authority.
The people listened to him
and they were amazed.
And they were a bit confused
because they knew
their leaders were opposed
to Jesus
and yet here was someone
who was saying
such wonderful things
and more than that
was doing such wonderful miracles.
Where did that come from?
And of course,
Jesus says his authority
comes from God,
the Father himself.
The words he speaks
are not his own words he says.
They're the words
that the Father
has given to him.
That's in verses 16 and 18
particularly.
And the point he makes
is that what he's saying
is not so that he can come across
as this wonderful preacher,
but so that his Father
will be glorified.
He also says
that he was sent by God.
That's in verse 29.
I know him
because I am from him
and he sent me.
So the authority
that Jesus has
is authority
that has been given to him
by God,
the Father.
And that's the same authority
that Jesus still has today.
Do you remember
at the end of Matthew's Gospel
we have the great commission
of the Lord Jesus
to his disciples
and he begins by saying
all authority
has been given to me,
given by whom?
By God the Father
in heaven
and on earth.
And John is bringing out for us
that Jesus has total authority,
authority to teach,
authority to heal,
authority to tell others
what their faults are
and to expose their hypocrisy.
And that authority
comes from God.
It's the same authority
that he still has.
Question three,
where did Jesus come from?
That's the big question
that seems to come back to
again and again
in the passage.
It's the thing
that's confusing the people
because they're looking at him
and thinking,
yes, this is someone important,
but he's from Galilee.
Galilee is a little backwater,
quite a distance away
from Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is not the kind of place
that important people come from.
And it's certainly not the place
where the Messiah comes from.
Now, it has to be said
that people were a little bit confused
about where the Messiah comes from.
Verse 27,
they say his origins are unknown.
And then a bit later in verse 41,
they say he's going to come from Bethlehem,
which is true.
But one thing they knew
was he wouldn't come from Galilee.
And of course,
they just weren't realising
the Lord Jesus
originally was from Bethlehem.
But more important than that,
as the Messiah,
he had come from God himself.
Yes, Galilee was his home.
It was where he'd lived
most of his life.
But he was born,
as the scripture prophesied,
in Bethlehem.
And he had come ultimately
from the presence of God
because he was
the eternal son of God.
The people thought
he can't be important
if he comes from Galilee.
Perhaps people today think,
first century Israel,
how can someone important,
someone who's a saviour,
come from there?
Well, the fact is,
Jesus did come from there.
The Messiah was born there,
but he came from God ultimately,
and we need to recognise that too.
Question four,
what does Jesus offer?
We're going to come back now
to three verses
that we didn't read earlier,
but I do want to read them now.
They're really important
in this chapter.
So it says,
on the last,
and this is verses 37 onwards,
on the last and greatest day
of the festival,
Jesus stood and said
in a loud voice,
let anyone who is thirsty
come to me and drink.
Whoever believes in me,
as scripture has said,
rivers of living water
will flow from within them.
By this he meant the Spirit,
whom those who believed in him
were later to receive.
Up to that time,
the Spirit had not been given,
since Jesus had not been glorified.
I said one of the key themes
of the Festival of Tabernacles
was water.
And what happened was
that every day,
a procession of priests
went down the hill
to the Pool of Siloam,
and they drew some water from it,
and then they processed back
up the hill to the altar,
and they poured the water
onto the altar.
Meanwhile,
the people,
the normal people,
were joined with them
and were singing,
singing verses
from the Old Testament
and celebrating
what was happening.
And then on the last day,
the eighth day,
it was an eight-day feast,
on the last day of the festival,
this happened seven times.
Down the hill,
collect some water
in urns,
back up the hill,
pour it on the altar.
And it appears that it was
while this was happening
that Jesus shouts out,
here.
The one who had,
at the beginning,
not wanted to go to the festival,
not be seen to be
drawing attention to himself,
now he is ready
to draw attention to himself,
and as this ritual goes on,
he shouts out,
and he gives a spiritual application
to what's being done.
Now again,
if we look back
at the Old Testament,
there's significance
in the water,
and the water came from the rock
as the Israelites
were going through
the wilderness.
There's significance,
we said earlier,
in the present for them
in terms of needing water
in time of drought.
And if we go back
to Zechariah 14,
again,
the living water is there.
It talks about water flowing out
from Jerusalem
to the nation.
I'm sure Jesus had that in mind
when he was speaking.
But Jesus says,
let anyone who is thirsty
come to me
and drink.
Back in chapter 4,
Jesus met a Samaritan woman,
and he says,
if you drink the water
I give you,
you'll never thirst again.
So it's picking up again
the same theme.
If we want
real sustenance,
real meaning
in our life,
that comes to
drinking in
from Jesus.
The water that
he will give us
is the water
that is life-giving,
that frees us
to do
what is right.
And John identifies
that what he particularly
means
is that those
who believe in Jesus
will receive
the Holy Spirit,
and the Holy Spirit
makes all the difference
in our present life.
When we trust in Jesus,
when we confess our sins
and believe in his death
for us on the cross,
we have eternal life.
We can look forward
with confidence
to heaven.
But we also have
in this life
the Holy Spirit
who is given to us
to be our guide,
our helper,
our friend,
our gift giver,
the one who
changes our lives.
and Jesus is saying,
if anyone trusts in me,
they will get this
wonderful blessing
of the Holy Spirit.
But notice he says
more than that.
He says,
yes,
come and drink,
drink of me,
and you will receive
the Holy Spirit.
but from you,
rivers of living water
will flow out.
Not entirely clear
what the Scripture
being referred to there
is.
It may well be
Zechariah 14
that I mentioned earlier.
But the point is,
if we have the Spirit,
if we have the Holy Spirit,
that is a great blessing
to us,
but it should also
be a great blessing
to everyone else.
When we have God
working in us
through the Spirit,
it's not just
for our benefit.
It's so that
we can serve him
and so that others
will benefit
from it.
And I think
there's a real challenge
for many of us there.
If you believe
in the Lord Jesus,
if you call yourself
a Christian,
what difference
does your life
make to others?
When people meet you,
do they go away
feeling refreshed,
feeling there's
something different here,
there's something
that's really helped me
and benefited me?
Or do they see you
just as being
like anyone else
and there's no difference
from the fact
that you would call yourself
a Christian?
If we have the Spirit,
the Spirit working
in our lives,
changing our character,
guiding us
to do what is right,
should make us
visibly different
to others.
As is the case
with Jesus,
not all of them
will welcome it
or will think
this is a good thing.
We should be
distinctive as Christians.
We shouldn't just be
blending in
with the world
around about us.
We have the Spirit
and the Spirit
is given to us
so that we can bless others,
so we can build up
others in the church,
but also so that
we can bless others
who are not yet Christians
and help them
to understand
truths
about the Lord Jesus.
So what does Jesus offer?
He offers us water
that satisfies
but also
that overflows
and blesses others
as we have
the Spirit.
And then finally,
the key question,
who is Jesus?
And that's what really
is all through this chapter.
People wrestling
with this thought,
who is Jesus?
Who is this person
who is here,
who is doing
these wonderful things
and saying these wonderful,
sometimes controversial,
things?
Who is he really?
And I think there are
four different reactions
to Jesus
in this passage.
The first is that
some people are very
confused by him.
They're confused
at his learning.
How can he know so much
when he's not had
a formal education?
They're confused
about his origin.
Where did he come from?
They're confused
about his plans
for the future
and he says he's going away.
What does he mean?
Where is he going to?
They just can't make sense
of Jesus.
Perhaps that's where
some people here today
are too.
Yes, you've heard
the story of Jesus.
Perhaps you've marveled
at some of the things
that he said
and the things
that are written about
him in the Bible.
But you're still confused.
You still can't quite understand
is he the Messiah?
Is he someone
who you should have
a relationship with
or not?
If you're in that position,
I suggest the best thing
you can do
is to get a gospel
by John.
We can provide one
if you'd like.
Read through it
and see whether
what John says,
what John writes
about Jesus
makes sense,
whether he does
make the case
that Jesus
is the Messiah,
the Son of God.
Great to take
the gospel
of you the time
and just to read
through it in a sitting
and just immerse yourself
in what John says
about Jesus
and then,
as God directs
your thoughts,
come to a conclusion
about who Jesus
really is.
If you're confused,
don't remain confused.
Look what the Bible says.
Try to understand it.
Second group of people
weren't so much confused
as in denial.
Again,
they were seeing
everything that Jesus said,
but they kept coming up
with reasons.
how can it be?
Particularly
where he came from question.
How can he really be
the Messiah?
Despite everything,
despite all they saw
and heard,
yet they had this
stumbling block,
I can't quite believe it.
And I guess that's true
of many people today as well.
Aware of Jesus,
aware of what is written
about him in the Gospels,
and yet saying,
how can someone
who lived 2,000 years ago
in a part of the world
far away from us
who died a criminal's death,
how can he be God with us?
How can he make any difference
in my life now?
Now, again,
if you're in that position,
reading John's Gospel
or any part of the Bible
is really helpful.
But if you have questions,
if you can't understand things,
do speak to one of us,
someone who's been
on the platform today
or one of the staff team
in the church,
do speak to us
and we can try to help you
understand perhaps
some of the stumbling blocks
and maybe be able
to overcome them.
Third group of people,
they weren't confused,
they weren't in denial,
they were just opposed
to Jesus.
This is the religious leaders,
the Pharisees,
the chief priests,
they just said,
he's ruining everything
we've built up,
he's exposing us,
speaking against us,
we need to get rid of him.
They even sent soldiers
to go and arrest him.
Slightly amusing
because the soldiers go back
and they say,
we can't arrest him,
we've never heard anyone
who spoke like this.
And that just riled
the leaders even more.
They were totally opposed
to Jesus.
One exception is mentioned
then in the chapter,
look out for Nicodemus,
who we saw previously
in chapter 3.
And again today,
there are many people
who are put off
by Jesus,
who don't want
the challenges
that he brings,
who don't want him
to disturb them
out of their comfort
and the life they lead
and aren't willing
to listen to him.
Hope no one is here
today in that position.
If you are again,
I would urge you,
don't have the closed minds
of the Jewish leaders.
Look at God's word,
think about it,
and see that Jesus
really is the Messiah.
Then the fourth group,
they weren't confused,
they weren't in denial,
they weren't hostile,
they believed in Jesus.
Whether it's through
what he did in verse 31,
or whether it's through
what he said in verses 40 to 41,
when they talk about him
being the prophet or the Messiah,
they realized what he said
was what he was.
He was the genuine article,
he was the one
who people had been
looking forward to
from Old Testament times.
Again, if you're not yet
in that position,
do think about Jesus
and who he is
and of what he has done
and come to the response
directed by God's Spirit
of believing in him.
Jesus is the only hope
we have for forgiveness
for all the wrong we've done
and for a future
that goes well beyond death
and that brings us
to something much greater
when we leave this world.
Don't be confused,
don't be in denial,
don't oppose Jesus,
come and believe in him.
I said it'd end
with a rock music legend,
so let's do that.
It's Bono,
the lead singer of U2.
In 2004,
there was a terrible
terrorist attack in Madrid
on the Spanish trains.
193 people were killed.
Shortly after that,
Bono did an interview
with a French journalist.
I think they got around
to talking about
how can people
who claim to be religious
do such things.
Bono said,
it's not our own good works
that gets us
through the gates of heaven.
I hope we can all
agree with that.
The Jews replied to him,
such great hope
is wonderful,
but it's close to lunacy.
In my view,
Christ has his rank
among the world's
great thinkers,
but Son of God
isn't that far-fetched.
That's very much
the attitude of some
of the people
in John 7.
And here's what Bono said,
I've condensed this slightly.
He said,
no,
it's not far-fetched to me.
Look,
the secular response
to the Christ story
always goes like this.
He was a great prophet,
obviously a very interesting guy,
had a lot to say
along the lines
of other great prophets,
be they Muhammad,
Buddha,
or Confucius.
But actually,
Christ doesn't allow you that.
Christ says,
no,
I'm not saying
I'm a teacher.
Don't call me a teacher.
I'm not saying
I'm a prophet.
I'm saying
I'm the Messiah.
I'm saying
I am God incarnate.
And people say,
no, no,
please just be a prophet.
We can take a prophet,
but don't mention
the M word.
And Bono says,
he goes,
actually,
I am the Messiah.
So what you're left with
is either Christ was
who he said he was,
the Messiah,
or a complete nutcase.
I'm not joking here.
The idea that
the entire course
of civilization
for over half the globe
could have his fate changed
and turned upside down
by a nutcase.
For me,
that's far-fetched.
So I'd urge you,
so would Bodo,
think today
about Jesus.
Jesus.
Recognize in him
the Messiah,
the one sent from God.
If you've trusted him,
follow him.
Use the gift
of the Spirit
he's given you
to bless others.
If you don't yet know him,
prayerfully consider
who he is
and come to put
your trust
in him.
Let's pray together.
Father,
we thank you
for your word
to us this morning.
We thank you
for this long
and in some ways
difficult chapter,
but yet which clearly
presents the Lord Jesus
as the Messiah,
the Son of God,
with us.
We thank you
for his words,
for the great teaching
that he gives us.
We thank you
for his works,
for these wonderful miracles
that we read about.
But we thank you
especially for his cross,
for his death for us
on the cross at Calvary,
and that he's alive
and at your right hand today.
Help all of us
to believe that,
to trust him
as the Messiah,
and to follow him
as our Lord.
Thank you
for our time together.
Thank you
for the opportunity
to meet and to worship.
We commit ourselves
to you
in Jesus' name.
Amen.