THE UNPREDICTABLE CHRIST

 

JOHN 8:1-11

Pastor Rick Jackson

 

This morning I preached on The Predictable Christ. We like to think everybody is predictable- we know so much about them- but it is a marvel that Christ, with so much about Him given to us, remains unpredictable in many ways [His return date being just one example]. We know He will return [predictable since He always keeps His Word] but we don’t know when- an unpredictable time- [since He always keeps His Word]. Let us open the Scriptures and see why “The Predictable Christ” is also “the Unpredictable Christ”.

 

I. HOW IS CHRIST OFTEN UNPREDICTABLE?

 

1. In His Actions [Jn. 4:27]

- And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?

We sometimes think Christ acts like us, has our prejudices and foibles, our reactions, etc.

 

2. In His Words [Jn. 2:18-21, 7:46]

- Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.

- The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.

 

3. In His Inaction [John 11]

 

II. WHO FINDS CHRIST TO BE UNPREDICTABLE?

 

1. The Enemies of Christ Found Him to be Unpredictable [Lk. 6:1-11]

2. The Family of Christ Found Him to be Unpredictable [Lk. 8:19-21]

- Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press. And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee. And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.

 

3. The Friends of Christ Found Him to be Unpredictable [Lk. 9:51-56]

 

III. WHY IS CHRIST OFTEN UNPREDICTABLE?

 

1. Christ is Different in His Person [Mk. 8:27-30]      And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets. And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.

 

2. Christ is Different in His Planning [Mk. 8:31]         And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

 

3. Christ is Different in His Pattern of Thought [Mk. 8:32-33, Is. 55:5-9]

-And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.

-Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.