which refers to the croak of the raven -- a loud, harsh cry. The Lord raised His voice and gave it a penetrating pitch, like a parent dealing with a child who is oblivious and misbehaving. We need to pay attention to the Lord’s every word, even His glances; how much more when He raises His voice to shout at us? II. God the Father
v.44: has made faith in Jesus equivalent with faith in Him.
v.45: reveals Himself to the human race through Jesus; in this regard remember that "no man has seen God at any time", and that God "dwells in unapproachable light, and no man has seen or can see Him " I Tim.6:16. God revealed Himself in the OT through the pre-incarnate Christ. v.44-45: sent Jesus into the world.
v.48: Judges those who reject Jesus and disobey His word.
v.49 Gave Jesus a commandment (meaning--an injunction or a charge) which results in eternal life for those who believe it and keep it.
III. Jesus--God the Son
v.45: shows us God; when we see Him, we see God.
v.46: comes as light into the world so that those who receive and believe Him do not have to be in darkness.
v.47: His present mission for God is not to judge the world, but to save the world.
v.48: The word He speaks will judge those who reject Him on the Last Day (the day of judgment). His word is the opportunity for salvation; those who reject it have no cause for complaint on the final day of judgment.
v.49: He does not speak on His own initiative; but only what God the Father has "given commandment" to say.
v.50: He speaks that commandment just as the Father told Him because He knows it is eternal life.
IV. The Believer in Jesus:
v.44: through believing in Jesus believes in God the Father who sent Jesus.
v.45: through Jesus beholds God the Father.
v.46: has the light and need not remain in darkness.
v.47-48: (by implication)--receives Jesus; hears, receives, and keeps Jesus' sayings. i.e.; the believer accepts what Jesus says about Himself--he receives the Person of Jesus as Son of God, and as His Lord and Savior; then he listens to Jesus, he accepts what He hears from Jesus as truth, and he is obedient to that truth.
V. The One Who Rejects Jesus:
v.46: remains in the darkness. This assumes that we start out in the darkness.
v.47-48: is not immediately judged for unbelief by Jesus; but will be judged on the last day. While life remains, hope remains for repentance and faith.
v.47-48: rejects the person of Jesus (does not believe that He is the Son of God, the atonement for sin, the Lord of his life); does not listen to the teaching of Jesus, does receive what he does hear as true, does not obey it.
VI. Implications of these fundamental truths
A. The only way to see God is through looking to Jesus; in Jesus we see all of God that our minds can grasp. Jesus is the only way to God; all other paths to God are dead-ends.
B. For believers, the only way to a "deeper life" is through listening to Jesus, receiving His word as truth, and obeying His word.
C. Jesus' ministry indicates what our own Christian life ought to be:
1. As those who looked at Jesus saw Him who sent Jesus, so those who look at us must see Him (Jesus) who sent us. "As the Father sent Me, so send I you." What do people see when they look at us? Do our lives reveal Jesus, or obscure Him?
2. The purpose of our service to God is not to judge the world, but to bring it the message of salvation. True holiness brings conviction of sin in the unrighteous (Ephesians 5:11 - 13); holiness is effective at bringing about repentance, a judgmental spirit is not. The Pharisees were judgmental, but not very holy.
3. We must not speak of our own initiative; our own ideas and prejudices must be kept out of the Gospel. The purpose of proclamation is not to make people like us; it is to make them like Christ.
4. The words we speak must be like the words of Jesus: the words God enjoins us to speak--the words of eternal life. Godet says that Jesus means not that every word was given to Him before He left heaven, but that in every situation he listened to what His Father wanted Him to say and He presented that word, because it was the word of Eternal Life. This is how we must speak; the words of God and the words that lead to Life.
VII. Decision/Commitment
Receive, listen to, and obey Jesus– strive for a deeper life.
Strive for transparency, that others might see Jesus in you.