John 7:25–31 Sermon

Scripture

John 7:25–31 ESV

25 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? 26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? 27 But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” 28 So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. 29 I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” 30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

Intoduction

Introduction

In chapter 7, we see that Jesus went about in Galilee.

He avoided going to Judea because of what verse 1 said about the Jews there wanting to kill Him.

His brothers made a suggestion.

John 7:3–4 ESV

3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.”

They wanted Him to go where He would have been killed.

Verse 5 tells us that they weren’t even believers and Jesus would respond by telling them that His time had not yet come to reveal Himself and to die on the cross as was appointed.

The feast of booths was at hand and at that time He would not go to the feast.

After His brothers went to the feast we see that Jesus would follow soon after they did. Not publicly but privately.

And in verse 11, we see that the Jews were looking for Him there. They came from Jerusalem which was where He didn’t want to go because they were the ones who wanted to kill Him.

About the middle of the feast Jesus would go up into the temple where He would begin teaching.

We saw that they were astonished at His teaching and wondered how He could know what He was teaching.

They wondered how He could be so learned in the Scriptures.

Jesus’ response to this can be found in verses 16 to 19 where He ended by asking the question, “Why do you seek to kill me?”

The crowd accused Him of having a demon and the Jews wanted to kill Him for what He had done back in chapter 5 where He healed a man on the Sabbath.

They couldn’t see or hear what He was saying about Himself and He told them that they needed to judge correctly in verse 24.

John 7:24 ESV

24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

This was meant to point out how they were judging wrongly.

They could not see who Jesus was and they could not hear what He was saying.

Our text today has Jesus at the temple teaching and the crowds accusing Him and also the Jews wanting to kill Him.

In our text we see three things.

1. Questions from the people (v.25-27)

2. Jesus’ proclamation among the people (v.28-29)

3. The division of the people (v.30-31)

1. Questions from the people (v.25-27)

Read Verse 25 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?

Here we see again how divided the people are here.

Jesus asked the question in verse 19, “Why do you seek to kill me?”

In chapter 7, we see that Jesus went about in Galilee.

Then in verse 20,

John 7:20 ESV

20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?”

Why do you seek to kill me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?”

We see how divided they were also in ,

20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?”

He avoided going to Judea because of what verse 1 said about the Jews there wanting to kill Him.

John 7:12 ESV

12 And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

His brothers made a suggestion.

What we have to remember is that the feast of booths was at hand.

It was crowded there and busy and we see very clearly that the crowds divided on what Jesus taught and who He was.

John 7:3–4 ESV

3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.”

In the first question we see in verse 25 they asked, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?

We see people

“Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?

The people there knew that there were some who wanted to kill Jesus.

They wanted Him to go where He would have been killed.

The first mention of people wanting to kill Jesus is found in , which happened in Jerusalem. Which was where the people here were from.

Verse 5 tells us that they weren’t even believers and Jesus would respond by telling them that His time had not yet come to reveal Himself.

Question: Why would anyone seek to kill the sinless Christ?

The feast of booths was at hand and at that time He would not go to the feast.

After His brothers going up to the feast Jesus would after. Not publicly but privately.

And in verse 11, we see that the Jews were looking for Him there.

About the middle of the feast Jesus would go up into the temple where He would begin teaching.

They were astonished at His teaching and wondered how He could know what He was teaching.

Jesus’ response to this can be found in verses 16 to 19 where He ended by asking the question, “Why do you seek to kill me?”

They crowd accused Him of having a demon and the Jews wanted to kill for what He had done back in chapter 5 where He healed a man on the Sabbath.

They couldn’t see or hear what He was saying about Himself and He told them that they needed to judge correctly in verse 24.

John 7:24 ESV

24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

Our text today has Jesus at the temple teaching and the crowds accusing Him and the Jews wanting to kill Him.

Question: What case could they have had for a man without guilt?

What this is telling us is how evil the human heart is without faith in Him.

The evil heart within those who refused to believe and the evil heart that desired to kill Him shows us what is happening within man.

It shows that the words of Jesus have found no place within them.

This is where a hatred for God comes from. This is what Jesus pointed out in the very next chapter where He exposes their plans.

John 8:37 ESV

37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.

John 8:40 ESV

40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.

Then in verses 43-44 of chapter 8,

John 8:43–44 ESV

43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

They are seeking to kill Jesus because His words find no place in them and we see that they cannot bear to hear His words.

Apart from faith this is who we are.

The people from Jerusalem continued with another question in verse 26.

Read Verse 26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ?

This question shows us their spiritual condition because they are proving that they have not seen, heard or genuinely believed what Jesus said about Himself.

They asked, “Can it be?”

Can it be that the very people who want to kill Him aren’t because they know that He is the Messiah?

This is nothing more than suspicion on their part since Jesus had already spoken openly to them but they did not believe.

Verse 27 reinforces this.

Read Verse 27 But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.”

They didn’t believe.

His brothers didn’t believe, many disciples in didn’t believe and they left Him. And here they did not believe.

And here they did not believe.

There is so much unbelief here. And the reason is simple.

His words found no place in them. They could not bear to hear His words. So much that they wanted to kill Him.

I submit to you today that this is you. This is me. Apart from grace.

Many of us maybe could imagine ourselves there when Christ came in the flesh.

Question: What would we have done?

Answer: Apart from grace, we would have been with those from Jerusalem or those in the crowds.

I remembered the song “How Deep The Father’s Love For Us” where in it, it says:

Behold the man upon a cross My sin upon His shoulders Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice Call out among the scoffers

We would have called ourselves His disciples but then leave Him when He’d talk about Himself as the bread from heaven.

The crowds, the people, those who sought to kill Him show exactly what the human heart does without His words finding place in them.

All of our problems stem from a refusal to believe that Jesus was sent by the Father.

This is at the crux of all evil. The human heart remains evil when denying Jesus Christ as sent from the Father. So much that there He is in front of them yet they refuse to believe and worse, they wanted to kill Him!

Jesus referring to Himself as sent by the Father is all over the gospel of John.

And again, the lack of belief in this, is the core cause to our God hating.

As an example, Jesus said in 5:18-21,

John 15:18–21 ESV

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

Jesus knew this and He would again speak of the One who they did not know.

This was so vitally important, so much that Jesus would proclaim this in the temple.

2. Jesus’ proclamation among the people (v.28-29)

Read Verse 28 So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know.

To proclaim meant to shout or cry out. The tone would have also meant that it was cried out with the possibility of being an unpleasant sound.

We see this same word in , where the translators used the word cried for when John bore witness about Jesus.

33.83 κράζω; ἀνακράζω; κραυγάζω: to shout or cry out, with the possible implication of the unpleasant nature of the sound—‘to shout, to scream.’

It is used four times in the gospel of John.

In the other two passages in and in , they used cried to describe what it meant to proclaim.

The KJV, the NRSV, and the NASB all use cried.

Jesus cried as He taught in the temple.

This proclamation was not just a strong voiced teaching. This was done with a cry.

Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 398.

Question: Why was Jesus crying out in the temple here?

We find the answer in the next part of verse

Answer: “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know.

Jesus cried out first that:

First, “You know me, and you know where I come from.”

There is debate on whether this was meant to be used with sarcasm or if it was used as a question.

We know that in verse 27 they said,

John 7:27 ESV

27 But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.”

They assumed that they knew where Jesus came from. Which if they meant where He was born and where He grew up, they would be right.

But only believing this shows us the core problem. Namely, a belief in Jesus as just a man and not God who was sent by the Father.

Later in this verse we see Jesus telling them that they did not know who sent Him.

And according to , Jesus said “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

The latter part of verse 28 would support that Jesus said this with sarcasm.

John 8:19 ESV

19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

Which would have meant that He used irony to mock them since they just knew where He came from. Which they didn’t have a clue at all.

At best they were talking about where He was born and where He lived but that is worlds apart from what Jesus was talking about when speaking of where He was from.

The Second part of the verse supports this where He says, “But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know.”

, Jesus said “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

And you cannot know the Father unless you know the Son.

This is an indictment. He is charging them with unbelief.

They were divided on what to do with Jesus.

They were also divided on who Jesus was.

Which proves that they were not in union with God. They didn’t believe.

English Standard Version Chapter 7

some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.”

Some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.”

Question: Who was this man who cried out loud and taught in the temple?

Answer: He was the Christ.

My salvation and your salvation is proven by the truth of our faith being genuine in believing that Jesus knows the Father and that He was sent by the Father.

This is what Jesus is crying out in the temple as He is teaching!

He is crying this out because it is their core problem.

Read Verse 29 I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.”

Question: If Jesus showed great passion here in teaching the truth of Him being sent by the Father, then why is it that we have become so passive about it?

Jesus knew the Father, Jesus came from the Father and Jesus was sent by the Father.

Question: Why?

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus came because God loved the world.

Maybe we have lost our passion because we have forgotten that we were those who were of the world.

Who have been forgiven a great debt.

Maybe we have forgotten that we were dead.

Jesus was given and those who would come to saving faith would have eternal life and they will never perish.

Jesus cried this out because He knew exactly the condition of man apart from belief in this.

Even while the sinless Christ cried out what they needed to hear, the heart of man is shown again to be full of rejection, confusion and hatred.

The people remained divided because they refused to believe.

We also see God’s sovereignty at work here.

3. The division of the people (v.30-31)

Read Verse 30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.

This is the amazing truth of the sovereignty of God!

Jesus had an appointed time to die. And it was not this day.

They sought to arrest Him but no one laid a hand on Him.

Remember ?

Acts 4:27–28 ESV

27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

God was in control and Jesus was on divine timing.

They’re so called “free will” had nothing on the timing and sovereignty of God.

Jesus would die when God the Father had appointed it and we see this very clear here in verse 30.

Not only did they seek to arrest Him and couldn’t, We also see the continued unbelief of those who believed Him.

And yes I said the continued unbelief of those who believed Him.

Read Verse 31 Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

Here we see that they believed Him.

First, that they believed Him.

Question: But was this actual genuine belief?

The latter part of the verse gives us the answer.

They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

This is where someone could have stepped in and say that this is the Christ and there is no need to wait for His appearing.

Which actually John did!

People wanted to arrest Him and they wondered who could do more signs than Him which showed again that they did not genuinely believe in Him because they were about signs and not about Christ.

They were keeping count on the signs He was doing but did not have saving faith in Him.

We have concluded already by reading through John chapter one and to here that there can be a belief about Jesus without a genuine saving faith in Jesus.

And the number one sign of this is the belief in the signs while not believing that Jesus was the Christ and sent by the Father.

We are not a people of signs and wonders. We are a body that was purchased with the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ who was sent by the Father to atone for our sins and giving us the right to become children of God!

Matthew 12:39 ESV

39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

The sign of Jonah being that Christ would be buried but raised from the dead.

The Christ has appeared but the question is:

do you believe that He knew the Father?

do you believe that He came from the Father?

do you believe that He was sent by the Father?

Trust and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ!

I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.”