John 7: 45-52

Illustration: Resolutions: We resolve

Resolve: decide firmly on a course of action.

We have redefined resolution.

A good idea that we will probably half heartedly pursue.

but there is a course of action that I believe we should all be resolved, and we find it here in our passage today.

Verse 45

The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees…

We ended last time by discussing the desires of these Pharisees to seize Jesus, to arrest Jesus, and to get rid of him.

Some thought he was the Messiah that had been promised, and others did not.

we need to see here that those who did not accept him as Lord are not merely passive people who just are neutral about Jesus.

These men hate Jesus. They want Jesus dead. They have no desire to follow Jesus. Rather the earnest desire of their hearts are to see Jesus’s heart stopped.

This is why they have sent officers to arrest him.

Take note of who has now teamed up with these Pharisees. Look at who the officers come to bring their news.

They come to both the Pharisees and now the chief priest.

Those who work in the temple of God, performing sacrifices, who are supposed to men of God performing the work of God, are actively fighting against him.

In fact these men who perform the sacrifices in the temple of God now want to destroy the one who will make their jobs finally meaningful.

The only reason any priest’s job in the Old Testament means anything is because of Jesus Christ.

Their job is only a picture, and the picture means nothing without the substance.

Example: Mcflurry

Again, this shows that close proximity to God and the things of God do not necessarily mean you have faith in Christ.

These men, of all people, were to be the holy men.

Your position will not save you.

My position will not save me.

Your position deacon, will not save you.

Your position Sunday School teacher will not save you.

Your position church member, will not save you.

None of those things mean you have Christ.

None of these things means you love Christ.

These men had the positions, but their hearts were against Jesus.

Why do they hate him?

He comes to make their job meaningful, but also to make their jobs obsolete.

He comes to make their job meaningful, but also to make their jobs obsolete.

He is the Lamb who takes away the sin of the World.

The lambs they offer can never take away sins.

He is the Lamb who takes away the sin of the World.

The lambs they offer can never take away sins.

Hebrews 10:4 NASB95

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

There is no need for them anymore.

He comes and by who he claims to be, he demands their devotion and submission.

They know who he claimed to be.

They refused it, because that would make him their Lord.

The primary reason for their rebellion is that they are unregenerate.

They are still dead in their trespasses in sin.

They are natural men who do not desire the things of God.

This is where all of us are apart from Christ.

Last week we talked about how we are enemies.

They want to know why these officers did not bring him.

They are mad:

Because the officers have failed to bring Jesus back to them.

Then they get mad because:

Then they get mad

The officers acknowledge that Jesus is like no other man they have ever known.

Verse 46

John 7:46 NASB95

The officers answered, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.”

If they weren’t mad before, they are now.

Now the officers acknowledge Jesus as being more than just a man.

They realize that there is something different than what they have heard before, perhaps even the men with whom they now speak.

Imagine this… The men who hate Jesus send their officers after Jesus. When the men return, they not only return empty handed, they basically tell these priests and Pharisees that “Jesus is a better teacher than y’all.”

Probably not what they are hoping to hear.

That guy you sent us after is really good.

Verses 47-49

The Pharisees criticize

John 7:47 NASB95

The Pharisees then answered them, “You have not also been led astray, have you?

They asked the officers if they have been led astray.

Instead of asking or acknowledging what they may be referencing in their statement, they just criticize them.

The irony here is that the officers are not “astray” at all.

They are in fact right on track. The Pharisees are the astray ones.

But again they refer to their own authority and actions as the rule of how people are to respond to Jesus.

John 7:48 NASB95

“No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he?

They think they are incapable of error. As a whole, they readily admit and recognize that they have altogether rejected Jesus and they wear this as a badge of honor.

Amazing that they even know what is required.

No one has “believed in” him.

They recognize that trust and faith is necessary and still, they boast of their lack of belief.

Instead of saying, “help my unbelief” as the Father does in , they boast, and say “Look at my unbelief.”

This is where we again see the dark hearts of these men.

They are actively persuading men away from belief through their unbelief.

This is the opposite of the Great commission.

God calls those who believe to call other to believe.

In fact, when we aren’t calling those to believe, we look little like true followers of Christ and more like these Pharisees.

In verse 49, they now turn their insults from the officers to the crowd.

They say the crowd does not know the Law and that they are accursed.

Here they criticize while boasting of their own “mastery” of the Law.

The problem is, their mastery of the Law is actually what keeps them from the Master of the Law.

They won’t acknowledge their need for a Savior because they know the Law.

And again, the judgment they make of the crowd is actually more true of them than it is of the crowd.

The pharisees are the cursed ones, for they have failed to see the curse of their own sin upon them.

Their knowledge is merely head knowledge, without any trace of trust in their heart.

Those who refuse to believe in Him, remain under the curse

John 3:36 NASB95

“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

Verse 50-52

Nicodemus comes to the aid of Jesus.

Nicodemus reminds them of the necessity of being consistent, knowing himself, that Jesus is innocent.

John 7:51 NASB95

“Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?”

The Jews now turn their sarcasm on their own.

They are proving that anyone who speak for Jesus, they wil insult.

Those who hate Jesus will hate those who stand for him.

Even when Nicodemus is right and lawful, they cannot admit that they are wrong.

Search they say, that no prophet comes from Galilee.

The inconvenient truth...

Jonah came from Gath-hepher which is located in Galilee and both Elijah and Nahum are both believed to have been from the Galilean region.

And here again, we see that the knowledge they claim to have is ill founded and faithless.

Elijah was from Gilead

Application:

This New Year, which side of Christ do you stand on?

For or Against?

Are you ready to be criticized for Christ?

Here’s a resolution we may want to consider.

I resolve to stand with Christ come whatever may or whoever may.

There is no riding the fence

Resolution: decide firmly on a course of action.

In a world similar to what Jesus was in, where people hate him and hate those who stand with him, resolve to stand firm.

In a world where people will criticize you for your biblical understanding of morality, marriage, sexuality, sin, resolve to stand firm even if that means you stand alone.

in a world where people still seek to kill, resolve to say with Paul: To live is Christ, and to die is gain.

I resolve to love Christ. I resolve to stand for Christ. I resolve to faithfully represent Christ despite what the world may say or do to me.