John 7:40–52 Sermon

Sermon Text

John 7:40–52 ESV

40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43 So there was a division among the people over him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. 45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” 47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

Outline

1. Division among the people (v.40-43)

2. Division among the authorities (v.44-49)

3. The possible faith of one (v.50-52)

1. Division among the people (v.40-43)

Read Verse 40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.”

Question: What words is the writer speaking of in verse 41?

The writer is referring to what Jesus said in verses 37-38.

John 7:37–38 ESV

37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

John

Question: What would prompt the people who heard what they heard in verses 37 and 38, to say that Jesus was the prophet?

I believe it was what He said particularly in verse 38.

John 7:38 ESV

38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

Let’s look closely to what Jesus said,

1. “Whoever believes in me”

Jesus was essentially telling His listeners to have a complete trust and reliance in Him.

He was telling them to have confidence in Him, to have faith in Him. Which would have been an offense to someone who did not believe Jesus to be God

to believe to the extent of complete trust and reliance—‘to believe in, to have confidence in, to have faith in, to trust, faith, trust.’

Jesus spoke of Himself as the object of faith when speaking about belief

, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 375., as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

Speaking this authoritatively of Himself, would have had either one rejecting Him or accepting what He was saying

2. “as the Scripture has said”

Jesus referenced the Holy Scriptures when speaking of Himself

He referenced them and He told them what would happen when one believes in Him according to what the Scriptures had spoken

Making mention of what the Scriptures had spoken, the listeners were left with what the Scriptures said about One who would come, speaking and doing what Jesus had said and done

Which would have left them with the option of the Prophet that was promised

3. “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”

During this time of the feast it was said that was recited and read openly

Verse 1 of chapter 14 talks about the day that is coming for the Lord

In context this was a messianic text speaking of the day of the Lord

It was also where the prophet spoke of living waters

Zechariah 14:8–9 ESV

8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. 9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.

This is why they must have thought that Jesus was the prophet promised by Moses.

Jesus referenced the Scriptures and spoke about Himself as what Zechariah prophesied about.

In verse 41, we see that others said this is the Christ (a statement) and (a question) that some had concerning Jesus.

Verse 41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee?

Read Verse 41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee?

With people saying He was the prophet they were referring to the prophet spoken of by Moses in .

Deuteronomy 18:15 ESV

15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—

In verse 41 it speaks of others saying that Jesus is the Christ.

Remember verse 26,

John 7:26 ESV

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 was a question asked then and now we see that there were some who acknowledged Jesus as the Christ.

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 53.82 Χριστός, οῦ; Μεσσίας, ου

(literally ‘one who has been anointed’) in the NT, titles for Jesus as the Messiah—‘Christ, Messiah’ (but in many contexts, and especially without an article, Χριστός becomes a part of the name of Jesus; see 93.387).

The Christ literally meant “one who has been anointed.” In the New Testament it was used to speak of the Messiah. Which again was what the people wanted.

The question that followed after in verse 41 was, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee?”

Apparently, they didn’t know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

Galilee was his home. But Jesus was born in Bethlehem which fulfilled the prophecy from

Not only did they not know that Jesus was born there, but they didn’t know that He was a descendant of David. We see this in verse 42.

Read Verse 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43 So there was a division among the people over him.

This is actually is nothing new.

The question of Jesus being who He said He was is the most important question.

With what Jesus said about Himself, He would only leave us with two options.

Either He is who He said He was or He was not who He said He was.

C.S.Lewis said,

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [that is, Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

The people were divided then as there are people now.

We at Christ Alone Fellowship have found the Scriptures to be true and infallible.

Even when tired and weary of life.

Jesus spoke of Himself as the Christ promised by the prophets.

We have come to the conclusion that Jesus is who He said He was.

Not only were the people divided but the authorities also were divided.

2. Division among the authorities (v.44-49)

Verse 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

As verse 44 states, there were some there who wanted to arrest Him, but it says, that “no one laid hands on Him.

In contrast to verse 30 where it reads....

John 7:30 ESV

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

…they were seeking to arrest Him and here they wanted to arrest Him. But it says that no one laid hands on Him.

They were seeking to arrest Him and here they wanted to arrest Him. But it says that no one laid hands on Him.

Verse 30 tells us the reason why they didn’t arrest Him. It was because his hour had not yet come. Which we can find also in verse 20 of John chapter 8.

Verses 45 and 46 tell us why in particular here they didn’t arrest Him.

Read Verse 45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?”

Read Verse 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!”

Jesus was proclaiming.

Augustine said of Jesus’ proclaiming,

his words are thunderbolts whose life is as lightning

Augustine was right and it was the reason why the officers at their shock didn’t arrest Him.

His proclamation of what was true crippled them to not do what they were charged to do!

Jesus’ proclamation caused much unrest and division. It also caused some to believe.

The officers here were more specifically Jewish temple guards. Which is why they could say that in comparison to what they have heard in the temple, no one ever spoke like this man.

They didn’t arrest Jesus and the Pharisees answered with saying tp the officers,

Read Verse 47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived?

Jesus was speaking truth. And He was proclaiming this truth in such a way that was thunderous and loud. Which actually captures what Jesus’ proclamation looked and sounded like.

The officers were in shock and they were unable to arrest someone who, as Augustine said, who’s life is as lightning.

I think culturally speaking people would have seen Jesus today as disruptive and unconventional.

Preaching passionately about the truth can be mistaken with asserting motives to someone who actually doesn’t desire to entertain people.

Sadly, people want more of an execution of good points rather than someone who is genuine in their passion for God’s glory that expresses itself in biblical preaching.

We ought to be careful to create a mold as to how preaching should look like. But also we must guard what preaching is.

The reason I am bringing this up is because this is what the people in our text are responding to. And we should take note not to make the same mistake.

John Piper when explaining what Expository Exultation means he said,

Preaching does not come after worship in the order of the service. Preaching is worship. My job is not done if I only see truth and show it to you. The devil could do that—for his own devious reasons. My job is to see the glory of the truth and to savor it and exult over it as I explain it to you and apply it for you. That’s one of the differences between a lecture and a sermon.

Jesus wasn’t lecturing. He was crying out the truth about Himself in such a way that it left those who wanted to arrest Him in shock. So much that they couldn’t arrest Him.

If we are to follow His example, we also must have a passion and a desire to see the glory of God in our proclamation of it.

I am not talking about how loud you can be. But the question is how passionate are you about the truth of Jesus Christ.

His proclamation caused even the authorities to be divided.

They even questioning in themselves if there was one of them who believed. Most likely out of a fear that they could even believe what Jesus was saying..

But there was one of them who believed. In verse 48 they said,

In verse 48 they said,

Read Verse 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”

3. The possible faith of one (v.50-52)

Question: Was there any of the authorities or even the Pharisees that believed?

I believe there may have been one of them in our passage today.

3. The possible faith of one (v.50-52)

Verse 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them,

Verse 51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?”

Question: Who was Nicodemus?

It is interesting to note that Nicodemus is only mentioned in the gospel of John.

Verse 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

We see Nicodemus first in .

John 3:1 ESV

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

So, he was a ruler of the Jews.

In we have Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night, asking about the signs Jesus did.

In verse 2 of , Nicodemus called Jesus Rabbi which was a respectful acknowledgement and He continued to say in verse 2 of , “we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

Verse 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .Verse 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

Though Nicodemus acknowledged Jesus respectfully, in He didn’t receive the testimony of Jesus. Which we see in .

John 3:11 ESV

11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.

Nicodemus appears again here in our text and later we see Him in , bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight so that they could give Jesus a proper burial.

bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight.

He was a ruler which meant that he had a higher rank than most of the religious elites and yet we do see a man who had admitted that Jesus was sent by God and someone who wanted to give Jesus a proper burial when He had died.

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

In our text we see Him “putting in check” those who wanted to arrest and kill Jesus without regard to what they themselves held to.

John 7:52 ESV

52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

I say their traditions because nothing in the law could be cited that would deal with what Nicodemus was speaking.

The MacArthur Study Bible Chapter 7

No explicit OT text can be cited that makes Nicodemus’ point. Most likely he referred to rabbinical traditions contained in their oral law.

His concern about judging someone without first giving them a hearing and learning what they did must have been a concern pertaining to a just process that was honorable to their own traditions.

Later they would attempt to charge Him with blaspheme but as we know, Jesus was only speaking the truth about Himself.

Nicodemus from among them, sought to remind them of what their law didn’t say about what Jesus spoke.

What is interesting is that the Pharisees looked at the crowd as accursed and not knowing the law but Nicodemus corrected them and reminded them of what their own laws spoke of.

Showing that maybe they were the ones who were ignorant.

It shows us their lack of faith and in this portion of Scripture we see the possible faith of one who decided to go against those who sought to arrest and kill Jesus.

They continued with their unbelief and ignorance in their response in verse 52,

Read Verse 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

They were so clouded with bad judgement that they actually forgot that Jonah and Nahum actually came from Galilee. So prophets did come from their.

It is a sad state when someone who claims to a belief and yet contradicts it with stubborn ignorance and selfish intent.

The proclamation of Jesus was thunderous, passionate and true. And it was offensive to those who did not believe in who He was.

In closing I want us to remember that

God does not delight in religious zeal. The Pharisees were the most zealous for what they thought was true

God is not about preserving unity in the crowds. Because of what He said to them is caused them to be divided. The truth can do that with those who refuse to believe.

God is not about preserving unity in the crowds. Because of what He said to them is caused them to be divided. The truth can do that with those who refuse to believe

God’s view point on how many people

God is about saving those whom He has called

We live in a thirsty and hungry world that is divided and distraught

But those who are thirsty and hungry for Christ are those who have been drawn by the Father and have come to the Son

Through the truth of Jesus Christ, by His grace, when we come to saving faith we are given not just life but eternal life

That is why like Jesus our words should be as thunderbolts and our lives should be as lightning

Because what God has done in us and what He can do for anyone who believes, should be proclaimed

Even if it causes division in the world