john 7

John 7

Tonight we're going to continue our series looking at the Book of John Chapter 7. And again, some of these chapters are pretty long, just like the chapter tonight, we're going to be looking at 53 verses. And tonight is a little bit of a continuation of what we talked about last week and really throughout this whole thing, we're going to look a lot about some things that Jesus said that made these religious elite of the Jews very upset. Because they don't like being told when they're wrong. They don't like being told that they're not living the way they should be. But one thing that we cannot forget when we're looking at this. We need to make sure that we understand that what Jesus says here doesn't just apply to the Jews. What Jesus says here applies to us as well. We cannot forget that because a lot of times we think, well, that just applies to the 1st century. That just applies to the Pharisees. That just applies to the Jews. No, it applies to us all. That's why we have this book. That why, that's why we have the Scripture so that we can apply it to. Our lives we can figure out where we are not living the way that we should be. And we can correct that, because we need to read, we need to understand, and we also need to take action.

So let's jump on into the scripture. Look at the 1st 10 verses, one through 10. It says, “After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for he was unwilling to walk in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now the feast of the Jews, the beast of Booths, was near. Therefore his brother said to him, Leave here and go into Judea, so that your disciples also may see your works. What you are doing, For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For not even his brothers were believing in him. So Jesus said to them, My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it that its deeds are evil. Go up to the feast yourselves. I do not come up to this feast because my time has not yet fully come. Having said these things to them, He stayed in Galilee, But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he himself went up, not publicly. But as if in secret.”

So what we see here, Jesus knew that there were some threats out there to kill him, and he initially didn't want to go to Judea, and he didn't go to Judea with all the other people that were with him. But eventually he went up by himself, not publicly. But he went up as if he was in secret. He didn't want anybody to know what he was doing.

Now, if you remember a couple weeks ago, we talked about how John relates things to food and to these things, these feasts of the Jews. And the same thing is here today in Chapter 7, the Feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths. Now the Feast of Booths is often referred to as the Feast of Tabernacles, and what this was, was when they gathered and harvested the grapes and olives, they had a seven day feast. This was somewhere in between September and October. They had this seven day feast after the harvest. Of grapes and olives.

Another thing I want to touch on here for just a minute people didn't understand Jesus's mission. I didn't understand what he was actually meant to do. Didn't understand why he was on this earth. They thought that if he was the Messiah, now it says that his even his brothers didn't believe in him. There were people who didn't believe that he was the Messiah. They didn't believe who he was. But they also thought that the Messiah would come to take over the world publicly. They thought he would do this politically. They thought he would do this in public. But they missed why Jesus was here. They missed what had to happen.

I want to touch on the fact that his brothers didn't believe. We know that, James. We look at Scripture. James didn't believe in Jesus until after his resurrection. That's what is so important about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, as there were people, even his close family members. They didn't believe in Him. They didn't believe that he was the Christ. They didn't believe that he was the Messiah until after the resurrection. That is why this event is so important.

Another thing I want to mention here, Jesus had to stay in God's timing. He understood. He knew how important it was for God's timing to be perfect. He knew that God's timing was perfect, and he wasn't going to do anything to change that. And it didn't matter what anybody else said. It didn't matter what everybody else wanted him to do. He knew that God's timing was perfect. And he knew that is what he had to follow. Nobody else mattered, really.

You see, Jesus knew and understood how important God's timing was that it was always right. Now, there was a lot of things that Jesus probably could have done differently if he wanted to follow the crowds, if he wanted to follow everyone else. But you see, he wasn't there to win a popularity contest. He wasn't there to win an election. He was there to be the perfect sacrifice. He was there to give his life for us. That is what was important to him. That's what should be important to us as well.

I want to stop here just a second and ask a question. How can our human expectations cloud our understanding of God's mission? You know, sometimes we can get things into our own mind, we can get into our own head, and we believe we understand why things happen. But what happens when they happen a little differently? What happens what goes through our mind when God does something differently than we think that He should? What goes through our mind when things happen in God's time and not ours? We don't like it, we can't stand it, we don't want to be around it. If we get in that mindset, we're not truly trusting God. Because we have to understand His plan is perfect. We think ours is, but it's not. God's plan is perfect.

The last thing I want to mention about these verses, we need to embrace patience. We need to embrace trust in God's timing. Now. Patience is something we cannot stand to listen to a preacher. Preach about because we hate it. We don't want to think about patience. We don't want to talk about patience. We don't want to be anywhere near the word patience. Because we don't want anything to do with patience. We don't want to be patient, people. But a lot of times we have to develop patients. A lot of times God puts us in a situation to where we have to develop patients. So we need to watch out for that. We need to be patient with God's timing because it is perfect, it is always right. Remember that.

Look at verses 11 through 18. It says, “So the Jews were seeking him at the feast, and were saying, Where is he? There's much grumbling among the crowds concerning Him. Some were saying He is a good man and others were saying no. On the contrary, He leads people astray. Yet no one was seeking openly of him for fear of the Jews. But when it was now in the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. Jews were astonished, saying, How has this man become learned, having never been educated? So Jesus answered them, saying, My teaching is not mine, but is he who sent me. If anyone is willing to do his will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak for myself, he who speaks from himself. Seeks His own glory, but He is seeking the glory of the one who sent him. He is true and there is no unrighteousness in him”.

So we know that Jesus kind of snuck up to this feast without his disciples and he's teaching now. But they are looking for him. They didn't know where he was. They knew he would probably be there because he's been causing this big fuss, he's been causing them problems. They knew he would be there, so they were looking for him. And there's this big controversy here, really, of who Jesus is. They don't know if he is a prophet. They don't know if he is the Messiah. They really have no clue who this guy is. But he's saying all these things. He's doing all these things that don't make sense to them. They have never seen or met anybody like Jesus, and it's because he's the Messiah. He's the Son of God here on this earth. But they missed it. They missed the point.

So Jesus began to teach, He began to speak, and it blew their minds that he knew as much as he did. And they're saying, how can he know so much? We know he didn't study under a rabbi. You know, he didn't go to any of these schools. How does he know all this? Because it was commonplace at the time for someone who was going to be a rabbi to study under a rabbi to learn all these things. This would take place for years before someone would move up to the position that Jesus is and know all these things. They're wondering how he knew all this. How did this happen?

It all happened because he's the Christ. He's the Son of God. He knew all of this before. He is divine. But one thing that strikes me when I read these verses is he gives everything to God. Just like always, He always gives God all the glory. He always gives the Father the credit. Do we do that today? Would we like to do that today? Do we do as good a job of it as we should? How often do we give God the glory? Do we want to take it for ourselves? Do we want to have all this glory for ourselves? Or do we give it to God where it rightfully belongs, because without Him we could do nothing? What would you do? Forget that fact, because it is a fact. It's not just an opinion. Without God, we could do nothing. We need to remember that. We need to give him the glory.

Look at verses 19 through 24. It says, “Did Moses not give you the law? And yet none of you carries out the law? Why do you seek to kill me? The crowd answered. You have a demon. Who seeks to kill you? Jesus answered them. I did 1 deed. And you all marvel for the reason Moses giving you circumcision, not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers. And on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses will not be broken, you are angry. With me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath. Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with a righteous judgment.”

I love these verses right here because Jesus really hands it to him. And what he is doing, basically he is accusing them of hypocrisy, is accusing them of being hypocrites. Because according to the law of Moses, the a male baby had to be circumcised on the 8th day of being born. Now if that fail on the Sabbath to do it, to keep from breaking the law of circumcision, they would do it, but at the time they were breaking their custom or their tradition of no work on the Sabbath. And at the same time, when Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath, they got mad at him for doing it. Now, to me, that's the definition of hypocrisy. They're first thing it, Jesus for doing the same thing that they're doing. And he tells them about it. He shows them where they're wrong. But they don't like it.

You see, they became too legalistic, they've lost sight of what was important. We can do the same thing today. It's very easy to do the same thing today. It's very easy to be hypocritical because we want to look at everybody else. We want to judge everybody else by their faults, but we never want to look at ours. We don't want anything to do with looking at where we have messed up. We don't want anything to do with looking. That where we have sinned. But I'll work quick to point everybody else's faults out to them. We need to be careful with that.

Going down, take a look at verses 25 through 39. It says, “So some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, is this not the man whom they were seeking to kill? Look, he is speaking publicly, and they are saying nothing to him. The rulers do not really know that this is the Christ, do they? However, we know where this man is from. But wherein there? Wherever the Christ may come, no one knows where he is from. Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, You both know me and know where I am from, and I have not come of myself. But he who sent me is true, whom you do not know. I know him because I am from him, and he sent me. Till they were seeking to seize him, and no man laid his hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. But many of the crowd believed in Him, and they were saying, When the Christ comes, He will not perform the signs than those which this man has will He. The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things. About him and the chief priest. The scribe sent officers to seize him. Therefore Jesus said, For a little while longer I am with you. Then I go to him who sent me. You will seek me, and I will not find me, and where I am you cannot come. The Jews then said to one another, Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? He is not. Intending to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he? Which statement that? He said you will seek me and will not find me, and where I am you cannot come. Now on this last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture said, from this is the innermost being will flow rivers of living water. But this he spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive. For the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified”.

All right, so a few things here about these verses. Jesus didn't care about their threats. He really didn't. They threatened him violence, they threatened to kill him. They threatened all these things. But Jesus didn't care. He knew what he had to do. He knew that he was going to speak publicly anyway. You see, he was committed, he was ready, he knew what he was going to do and nothing was going to stop him. Are we that committed to day? I think Bob talked about this in his community devotion on Sunday morning. If we knew that someone could come in here and arrest us for worshipping God, would we come and do it? If we knew that someone could come in here and legally kill us for worshipping God, would we do it? Are we anywhere close to as committed as we should be? Something I want us to think about tonight.

You see, no one really knew this much about Jesus. They didn't know who He was. They, you know, knew him as a physical person, but they didn't know why He was here. They didn't know why He was able to say these things. They didn't know why he was able to do all these things, to perform all these miracles. Now it was a Jewish tradition that had developed in Jewish circles that the Messiah would appear suddenly to the people and they wouldn't know where he was from. That's not what Scripture said. That was just their tradition. That was something they come up with on their own.

And Jesus started speaking, looting about his death. He was speaking about eternity. He was speaking about his death. And they lost it. They had no idea what he was talking about. No one noticed it. We need to make sure that we are not letting culture, that we are not letting the world cloud our judgment about who Jesus is. We cannot do that. We cannot let anybody or anything cloud our judgment onto exactly who Jesus was. Because he used the Christ, He's the Son of the living God. We can do nothing without him. We have no chance of salvation without Jesus. We cannot forget that. You see, a lot of times we want to forget that. We want to forget about Jesus, we want to forget about religion. But we cannot do that. It's dangerous. We need to make sure we're not doing that.

Let's finish up this chapter. Look at verses 40 through 53. It says, “Some of the people there, for when they heard these words, were saying, this certainly is the prophet. Others were saying, this is the Christ. Still others were saying, surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the descendants of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David was? So division occurred in the crowd because of Him. Some of them wanted to seize him, but no one laid hands on him. The officers then came to the chief priest and the Pharisees and said to them, Why do you not? Bring him, the officers answered. Never has a man spoken in the way this man speaks. The Pharisees then answered them, You have not been led also astray, have you? None of the rulers or Pharisees believed in him, has he? But this crowd, which does not know the law? This accursed Nicodemus. He who came to him before being one of them, said to them, Our law does not judge a man unless he first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it? They answered him, You are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee. Every one went to his home”.

All right, so just a couple of things here. We'll close here in just a second. They didn't bother to investigate where Jesus was born. That's what blows my mind about this whole passage of scripture here. These these verses they didn't bother to check. They thought he was born in Galilee, but that wasn't the case. He was born in Bethlehem. If you remember the story, he was born in Bethlehem. They went there for the census. That's where he was born. He was not born in Galilee. You know, they made this big deal of Jesus being born in Galilee and the Messiah can't come from Galilee. They made this big spectacle about this, but in reality, they didn't do their do their due diligence. They didn't make any sense because they didn't investigate, they didn't know what they were talking about.

Do we ever let tradition? 1st from something. Do we live or let tradition hold us back? And the meaning of the tradition really doesn't mean anything. Me and Ricky were talking Saturday if we were going to. Kingsport to Bertha. We started talking about tradition. And you reminded me of the illustration of the woman who cut the ends off the ham. Little girl, ask her mom, said. Mom, why do you cut the ends off the hand? Well, I don't know. That's the way my mom always done it. So she went to her mom and said why does mom cut the ends off the ham? I asked mom about it and she said it's the way you always done it. And she said, well, I'll cut the ends off the ham a long time ago when she was little because it wouldn't fit in my oven. I don't know why she cuts the ends of it off. You see how crazy that sounds? How often do we do that? How often do we get caught up in tradition and we forget the meaning of what we're doing? It's easy to do, it happens all the time. But we need to go to what matters the most. We need to hold tight on what matters the most. We need to go to God. We need to concentrate on him all of the time. Never forget that.