The Danger of Being Almost Right About Jesus

In this sermon drawn from John 7:25-32, the pastor confronts the spiritually deadly condition of possessing religious knowledge without genuine saving faith. Using the crowd in Jerusalem as a mirror, he warns that familiarity with the facts about Jesus is not the same as truly knowing him. The people of Jerusalem had the Scriptures, witnessed Christ's miracles firsthand, and debated his identity -- yet their unbelief and preconceived religious traditions blinded them to the very Messiah standing before them. The sermon drives home that rejecting or misunderstanding the biblical Christ is not merely an academic error but a fatal spiritual misstep that leaves a person perishing in their sins. The pastor also anchors the congregation in the sovereignty of God, demonstrating that the cross was not an accident but an eternally decreed act of redemption, and that believers are kept by that same sovereign hand. The sermon closes with an urgent call to repent and believe the gospel while the door of grace remains open.

Key Points:

- Being almost right about Jesus is a spiritually fatal condition, not merely an academic mistake, because it leaves a person trusting in a God of their own making rather than the Christ of Scripture

- The people of Jerusalem possessed the Old Testament Scriptures and witnessed Jesus in person, yet their unbelief acted as a thick veil over their eyes, preventing them from recognizing their own Messiah

- Knowing facts about Jesus -- his birthplace, his lineage, his earthly biography -- is not the same as possessing saving faith; head knowledge is not heart knowledge

- When people reject or reshape the biblical Christ to fit their culture, politics, or preferences, they have created an idol, which by definition is a false god

- God is simultaneously and perfectly both a God of wrath and a God of grace at all times; reducing him to only one diminishes the true God of Scripture

- True knowledge of God is impossible apart from the Son; to reject Jesus is to prove one does not know the Father

- The sovereignty of God is demonstrated in the fact that no one could lay a hand on Jesus until his appointed hour, proving the crucifixion was the eternal, decreed purpose of the triune God and not a tragedy that caught God off guard

- Believers are kept by that same sovereign hand; their days are ordained, and nothing happens to them outside the sovereign permission of the heavenly Father

- The window of grace is not unlimited; Jesus warned that a time would come when people would seek him and not find him, making the present moment urgent for repentance

- Religious pride must be stripped away entirely; no amount of church attendance, baptism, moral living, or biblical knowledge can bridge the gap between a holy God and a sinful soul apart from Christ

Scripture Reference:

- John 7:25-32 serves as the primary text, covering the crowd's confusion about Jesus' origins, Jesus' bold public declaration of his divine commission, the sovereignty of God protecting Jesus until his appointed hour, the belief of many in the crowd, and the religious leaders sending officers to seize him

- Malachi 3:1 is referenced in relation to the popular expectation that the Messiah would appear suddenly and mysteriously

- Acts 2:22-24 is cited from Peter's Pentecost sermon to establish that the crucifixion was delivered by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God

- John 14:6 is summarized to affirm that no one comes to the Father except through the Son

- 1 Corinthians 2 is referenced regarding the natural man being unable to accept the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually discerned

Stories:

- The crowd in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles serves as the central narrative, illustrating how people who possessed the Scriptures and witnessed Jesus in person could still miss him entirely due to spiritual blindness and preconceived religious traditions

- The "Ricky Bobby theology" reference is used as a contemporary illustration of fashioning a Jesus of one's own making rather than submitting to the Christ of Scripture

- The book of Job is referenced as a biblical narrative demonstrating that suffering believers can trust in a sovereign God who governs all things with purpose

- The book of Jonah is referenced as a narrative demonstrating that God's sovereign purposes cannot be thwarted by human resistance or circumstance

- The apostle Paul's ministry from Acts is briefly referenced to illustrate that, like Jesus, Paul could not be killed before his appointed time, further demonstrating the sovereignty of God over the lives of his servants