The following sermon was delivered by the Reverend John W. Howe, Rector of Truro Episcopal Church, Fairfax, Virginia, on April 27, 1980. The sermon is entitled, Getting to Know Him, and the scripture reference is John chapter 10, verses 22 to 30. 

This brief interchange that John records between Jesus and some of the Jews, we find three things that perhaps will encourage us or perhaps will challenge us very deeply. Three things that I'd like us to notice this morning. The first is that Jesus wants us to know who he is.

He wants us to know the truth about him. Notice the question that the Jews ask of him. How long will you keep us in suspense?

If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus says, I told you. I told you and I've told you and I've told you.

The problem isn't that I didn't tell you. The problem is that you didn't believe. have a lot of very good people and in fact a lot of religious people a lot of people who would count themselves members of one or another church who are going through the motions but who if you ask them would say I'm afraid I really don't know whether or not Jesus is the Christ whether or not he is who he claims to be whether or not He is God in the flesh.

I wish somebody would tell me. Jesus says the problem isn't that I didn't tell you. The problem is that you didn't believe.

He doesn't say this is something you've got to figure out for yourself. This is something you've got to go to Virginia Seminary for three years and maybe at the end of that time you'll work it out. This is something reserved for the few.

He says, I told you. But you didn't believe. He says, look at what I'm doing.

My works bear witness to me. That's why I'm doing them. If you can't believe my words, look at my works.

I'm doing the things that God does. The lame leap and run and dance. The blind have their eyes opened and they can see.

The deaf hear. The lepers are cleansed. that's the work of God that's why I'm doing these miracles every time Jesus did a miracle it had at least two purposes one was to meet the need of the person to whom it was directed he did it in compassion and love secondly was to be a witness to who he is that's what the word miracle means a sign it says look at the things I'm doing they bear witness to me But you see, the problem is that if you've already formed an opinion and you've closed your mind and in your estimation there's no possible way that this one could be God in the flesh, God come amongst us, then every time he does another miracle, it's only going to add fuel to your accusation that he's a blasphemer.

He's putting himself in the place of God. And that just condemns him all the more. He heals a man on the Sabbath and instead of rejoicing, the Jews say, look, he broke the Sabbath and the Sabbath is God's day.

Yeah, that's right. That's just the point. The Sabbath is God's day and this is the Lord of the Sabbath.

Caiaphas says, tell us plainly, are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus says, yes, I am. And Caiaphas whirls around and says, we don't need any other witnesses.

He's condemned himself. Which is exactly what he did, you see. If his claim to be in God is not true, and he goes on and claims it again, and he puts himself in the place of God, and he does the works of God, that just adds condemnation to him.

That's blasphemy. How are you going to break that cycle? my point is that if you've come here this morning convinced that Jesus could not possibly be the Christ there is nothing in the world that I could say that would convince you otherwise that would just add to the accusation Jesus says my friends the problem is not that I haven't told you the problem is that you don't believe Jesus is anxious for people to believe I would suggest to you this morning that he is more concerned that you would know the truth of who he is than you are to find it out.

That's why he came. Was that we might know the truth about God. We've got this thing very badly distorted.

We contrast the Old Testament with the New, and we think that Jesus dreamed up some altogether new idea of who God is. He says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I and the Father are one.

I have not come with a new message. I've not come with a new idea of who God is. I've come to demonstrate to you that the old idea is true.

To put it into life and blood, human terms on the stage of history. Do you want to know whether all the promises about God are true? Look at how Jesus behaves.

That's how God behaves. But when you come up against a closed mind, there's very little you can do to open it. Reminded of the story of a fellow named Fred who woke up one morning and decided he had died.

And he called his wife in and he said, quick, you better get the undertaker, I've died. And she said, Fred, that is crazy, that is absurd. She began to give him reasons why that could not possibly be so.

He said, no, I'm sorry, I'm dead. He called in the children. He said, talk to your father.

They talked to their father. Children, you better start living as orphans. I've died.

They called in the minister, and the minister gave him 18 different theological arguments, and Fred was still absolutely sure he had died. And then the minister got an idea. And he borrowed a pin from the wife, and he took Fred down to the coroner.

He said, you don't happen to have a body laying around. He did. Pulled out the body, and he stuck the pin into the body's hand.

And he said, look at that, Fred. And Fred looked at it. He said, no blood came out, did it?

Fred says, no, no blood came out. He says, you see, Fred, dead men don't bleed. And Fred said, yes, I see.

Dead men don't bleed. He said, give me your hand, Fred. He took the pin, and he stuck it into Fred's hand, and blood spurted out.

And Fred says, son of a gun, I was wrong. Dead men do bleed. Is your mind open?

Is the mind of your neighbor or your boss or your employee or that member of your family that you've longed for? Is that mind open? Jesus Christ wants us to know the truth about who He is.

That's why He came. That we might know the truth and the truth would set us free. That's why He came.

Notice how Jesus deals with honest, searching inquiry. Never once does He rebuke it. John the Baptist says, are you the one or should we look for somebody else?

Jesus doesn't rebuke it. He says, tell John the things I'm doing. The lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, the lepers are cleansed, the poor have the good news preached to them.

Tell them what I'm doing. That ought to convince them. Those are the very scriptures he's been quoting about Messiah.

And then, remarkably, Jesus gives the highest praise that he ever gave to anybody about John the Baptist in this moment of his doubt and inquiry. Nobody born of woman is greater than John, he says. He doesn't rebuke that honest inquiry.

He meets it with himself. Thomas says, unless I see the nail prints in his hands, stick my hand into his side, I'm not going to believe. And Jesus says, come, Thomas.

Jesus wants you to believe. He wants you to know the truth. The second thing we need to see is that discovering who Jesus is is primarily a matter of getting to know him personally.

And we've reversed that for the most part. We've said, well, first I'll find out who he is, and then, if he's worthy of it, I might give him the time to enter into a relationship with him. But he says, no, it doesn't work that way.

You enter into a relationship with me, and then you begin to understand who I am. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. That's a definition of his sheep.

You want to know who Jesus' sheep are? They're those who hear his voice, and who know him, and who follow him. He says, I know them and they know me because it's a relationship.

It's not a matter of a bunch of intellectual or academic answers primarily. It's a matter of a relationship. You remember those devastating words to the people who built their houses on the wrong foundation.

He says, depart from me, I never knew you. I never knew you. Discovering who he is is a matter of beginning to know him personally.

How does the private discover who his commanding officer is? He's pressed into service, and as he follows him, he begins to discover who he is. The little puppy dog discovers who his master is as he follows his master.

Husbands and wives discover who their spouse really is as they enter into relationship and begin to share each other's lives. And Jesus says, discovering who I am is a matter of coming to know me personally. Christianity is not a matter of what you do, it's a matter of who you know.

If I could answer every one of your theological questions, which I can't, but if I could. You know, most people, it's like toast. One pops up and you answer that question.

Another one pops up and you answer that and another one and another one and another one. But if I could answer every single one of your theological questions, you would be absolutely no better off than you were at the beginning. Unless in the process you began to trust this one that we're talking about and get to know him personally.

I could cram your head full of an encyclopedia worth of theological trivia and it wouldn't make any difference because he says the truth will set you free and the next sentence is if the Son sets you free you shall be free indeed. It's a matter of knowing Him personally. And that leads us to the third thing which is this, that getting to know Him is primarily a matter of giving Him my life, entrusting myself to Him.

That's what it means to follow Him. See, if I follow Him, that means where He goes, I go. I'm no longer setting the agenda for myself.

I'm no longer calling the shots. He is. He's boss.

That's what it means to follow Him. It's entrusting myself to Him and letting Him take charge of things. And in the process, there's a perfect exchange.

I give my life to Him and He gives His life to me. He says, I give to my sheep eternal life and they shall never perish. That phrase eternal life means both quality of life and duration.

It's His life. He would give to those who would trust Him His own life, His own relationship with the Father. That's the Gospel.

That I would give them life eternal. Life in all its fullness. Life in all its abundance.

But we receive it as we give our lives to Him. And they shall never perish, He says. No one is able to snatch them out of my hand.

That ought to be a word of great comfort to you. He says, when you trust yourself to me, it's no longer a matter of you hanging on for dear life. It's a matter of my hanging on to you.

you know when I take my three year old daughter across a busy street her safety is not dependent on her hanging on to me I hang on to her and that's what Jesus says you trust yourself to me and I'll hang on to you you can take yourself out of that hand if you want to if you insist on it I'll let you go but nobody else nobody else can snatch you out of my hand He says, if that weren't enough, my Father hangs on too. And no one can snatch you out of His hand. Let me tell you, friends, the good hands people are not at Allstate Insurance.

They're the Father and the Son. Father and the Son. So these three things.

Number one, Jesus wants you to know the truth about who He is. That's why He came. But you discover who He is as you enter into relationship with Him.

Not a matter of theological trivia. It's a matter of knowing Him personally. And that begins and continues as you give yourself to Him.

Let me ask you, have you done that? Have you given yourself to Him? Or do you need to renew that commitment?

He says, my sheep hear my voice. Do you listen to His voice? Are you spending time in His Word?

You can't get to know Him unless you listen to His Word. Are you entrusting yourself to Him day by day and moment by moment? Is He setting the agenda?

Is He calling the shots? You don't have to answer me. But answer that in your own heart.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. If you're not following Him, you can't know Him. have you received the gift of eternal life are you sure do you know that you're going to heaven this is the point in our service where we stand and confess our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed I'm going to ask us to do something slightly different this day I'm going to ask that we bow our heads for a moment.

And if it would be your desire to make or renew such a commitment to this Lord Christ. Then stand. This is between you and God and we'll keep our eyes closed and we're not looking at each other.

But if it would be your desire to give your life to this Lord Jesus Christ and to get to know Him more personally, then stand. I invite you to follow me in this prayer Lord Jesus Christ thank you for loving me thank you for coming to let me know the truth about God thank you for coming to let me know the truth about God I want to know you more personally this day I want to entrust my life to your keeping. I would receive you as Lord.

Come into my life and take charge of it. Give me your spirit and by His strength I will follow you. I love you, Lord Jesus.

Amen.