71 John 10:22-28 JESUS AT THE FEAST OF THE DEDICATION Introduction: Beginning back with John 7:14 and continuing through John 10:21 Jesus was at the temple in Jerusalem for the observance of the Feast of The Tabernacles. Beginning with verse 22 of our text today Jesus and His disciplea are back in Jerusalem for the observance of another feast, The Feast of The Dedication. The Feast of The Dedication took place about two months after the Feast of The Tabernacles. This means that Jesus has been gone from Jerusalem for two months which John says nothing about. It also means that this text is not directly connected with the Parable of The Sheepfold. It is, however, closely related to the Parable of The Sheepfold because some of the same statements which Jesus made about His sheep in the Parable of The Sheepfold are repeated in this text. I am going to ask you to listen carefully to this message and to learn some very important lessons from this text. I am going to ask that right now you ask God to use this message and this service to help you to draw closer to God and I am asking you to let God have His way with your life. I. Jesus at the Feast of Dedication V. 22, "And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication...," The Feast of The Dedication was an annual event, but had started a good many years after the Jews' return to their homeland from captivity in Babylon. The Jews were allowed to return to their homeland after the Medes and Persians took the empire from the Babylonians. Later Alexander the Great took the empire from the Medes and Persians and the Greeks ruled. Still later, even though the Egyptians did not rule the empire, they did take over Israel and ruled over Israel. The same thing is true of the Syrians. The Syrians took Israel from the Egyptians and ruled Israel. It was during the rule by the Syrians that Antiochus Epiphanes, the Syrian king, entered the temple at Jerusalem and polluted the altar by offering a hog on the altar in sacrifice to a heathen god. It was not until three years later that Judaeus Maccabaeus, a Jewish patriot, raised an army and drove Antiochus and his armies out of Israel. The altar which had been polluted by Antiochus was taken down and a new altar was built in its place. The entire temple was ceremonially cleansed and the new altar was dedicated to God in an eight day ceremony. In celebration of this event, The Feast of The Dedication was thereafter observed annually. It was a joyous affair. The temple was lit up with the giant candelabras which had been used two months earlier during the Feast of The Tabernacles. In addition to that, every home in the city of Jerusalem was lit up at night with candles. It was because of the lights that this feast is sometimes referred to as The Feast of The Lights. No public sign of sadness was allowed, not even in case of death. The main celebration took place at Jerusalem, but the people were not required to go back to Jerusalem for this celebration. If they preferred, they could celebrate in whatever city or village they happened to be. Yet since the celebration was about the cleansing of the temple at Jerusalem and about the dedication of the newaltar there,the greater celebration always took place at Jerusalem. Jesus and His disciples returned to Jerusalem at least for this for this particular celebration. (V. 22), "...and it was winter." The Feast of Dedication was an eight day feast which began on the 25th of the Jewish month Kislev which corresponds roughly to our month of December. The Hebrew name for this feast is Hanukkah. This feast is sometimes called "The Jewish Christmas" by Christians. This is because it begins about the same time as our Christmas Day and because of the lights which the Jews use in their homes at this time. Actually, it has nothing to do with the birth of Christ nor with Christmas. V. 23, "And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch." Solomon's porch was one of several porches which stood just inside the temple walls. It was covered with a roof and was somewhat protected from the winter winds by the walls of the temple and the roof of the porch. It is called Solomon's Porch because it is the only section of Solomon's temple to survive to be incorporated into Herod's Temple. The fact that this feast was held in the winter probably accounts for Jesus and others being in this porch instead of being out in the open in the temple courts where they would be exposed to the winter weather . They would have at least some protection from the weather under this porch. II. Jesus blamed for the doubts of the Jewish leaders V. 24, "Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly." On the surface this appears to be a reasonable request. However, if we take a second look it is easy to see that they were very hostile toward Jesus. They accused Jesus of keeping them in the dark about whether or not He is the Christ. Note the wording of their question: "How long dost thou make us to doubt?" The fact of the matter is that Jesus had not made them doubt. It is true that He had not come right out and told them that He is the Christ as He had to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. The Samaritan woman had said, "When Christ is come He will tell us all things." Jesus said, "I that speak unto thee am he," Jno. 4:26. He had also acknowledged to His disciples that He is the Christ. But He had never outright told the Jewish leaders that He is the Christ. III. What Jesus had told them about Him being the Christ Never-the-less He had told them in a way that should have been absolutely clear to them. Jesus had told them that He is the Light of the World. He had told them that He is the Bread of Life. He had told them that He is the Water of Life. He had told them that He is not of this world and that He had been sent from heaven to this earth. He told them that He is The Good Shepherd. He had told them that if any man would believe in Him He would give that man everlasting life. These are surely claims that only the Christ of God could truthfully make. He had told them in all these ways that He is the Christ, but they would not believe. Furthermore, they had understood that He was indirectly claiming to be the Christ. They had just refused to believe what He had told them. It was not a matter of misunderstanding what He had said. It was a matter of not believing what He had said. V. 25, "Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not..." Jesus did not say, "Ye understood not." He said, "Ye believed not." They did understand that He claimed to be the Chrsit. They simply refused to believe. He had repeatedly told them and they had repeatedly refused to believe what He said. IV. What Jesus had done to show them that He is the Christ Furthermore, in addition to the words which Jesus spoken to them in which He indirectly claims that He is the Christ, He had also shown them by His works that He is the Christ.He had healed lepers, He had given sight to the blind (even a man who had been born blind), He had caused the dumb to speak, He had caused the lame to walk, He had cast out demon spirits, He had healed all manner of sickness and He hadeven raised the dead to life again. It has been said that action speaks louder than words. (V. 25), "...the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me." His words bear witness that He is the Christ and His works bare witness that He is the Christ. How in the world could they have the gall to say that He was keeping them in the dark as to His identity. He had told them and shown them the evidence that He is the Christ of God. V. The Jewish leaders not His sheep The reason that the Jewish leaders could not understand that Jesus is the Christ of God is because they had rejected the truths that He had already told them. The gospel message contains enough truth from God that the unsaved can know how to be saved. But he cannot understand the deeper things of God until he is saved. After He is saved he will begin to understand the deeper things. The problem with the Jewish leaders is that they had not believed Him when He said that He is the Light of the world. The had not believed Him when He told them that He is the Water of Life. They had not believed Him when He told them that He is the Bread of Life. They had not believed Him when He told them that He is not of this earth, that He had been send down from heaven above. They had not believed Him when He said that He would lay down His life for the sheep that they might live. If they had believed what Jesus had already told them then they would be already saved and they would be His sheep. If they were His sheep, they would know for certain that He is the Christ of God, the very Son of God, the Savior of men. V. 27-28, "My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." VI. Important lessons we should learn. V. 26, "But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you." It is important to believe the word of God. It is important to believe all of the word of God. It is especially important for those who are unsavedto believe what the Bible says about Jesus. It is necessary for them to believe what the Bilble says about Jesus in order to be saved. It is importnat to be one of the Lord's sheep. Only the Lord's sheep will enter the door which leads to heaven. It is important for those who are the Lord's sheep to follow Jesus. Jesus founded a New Testament church and was its leader. Follow Jesus into church membership. Jesus walked in paths of righteousness. Follow Jesus in paths of righteousness. Jesus worshipped and served God the Father in heaven. Follow Jesus in submission to the will of God the Father in heaven. V. 27-28, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." Conclusion: If you are saved and you know that you are saved, then let me ask you if you are in need of a church home? If so, then we invite you to consider placing your membership here at Pleasant Hill. If you are saved and you are already a member here at Pleasant Hill, then let me ask you if you are following the will of the Lord in your life as you should. If so, thank God, but if not we ask you to surrender your will to the Good Shepherd and let Him have His way with your life. If you are not sure that you are saved, then let me ask you to come this morning and get right with God. Come and place your faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. Come and after trusting Jesus for salvation place your membership here in this church and serve the Lord. If you know that you are lost and on the road to hell, then let me ask you to come this morning, come and call on Jesus and ask Him to have mercy on your soul. Ask Jesus to save your soul and keep you out of the fires of hell. Ask Him to take you to heaven. Ask Jesus to save you right now and get your heart right with God.