John 7:14-24
Ep. 93

John 7:14-24

Episode description

A Verse-by-Verse Expository Sermon on John 7:14-24 from June 22.

Download transcript (.srt)
0:00

But here in John 7, and really the whole

0:04

Gospel of John, as we've known, the subject

0:10

matter of John more than anything else is

0:16

Jesus.

0:17

And you just cannot improve on that subject

0:23

matter.

0:25

And I have to say with all the issues and

0:27

problems that we have going on in the world

0:29

that we've discussed this morning, and even

0:32

many issues and problems that we continue

0:35

to have within the Church of Jesus Christ, the

0:37

professing Church of Jesus Christ in America

0:40

and the world.

0:41

I am so thankful, very thankful to be able to

0:45

preach the Word of God to a congregation

0:48

that really doesn't get caught up in all of

0:51

that.

0:52

You just want to have the Word of God rightly

0:57

divided, plain and simple, no extras.

1:03

You just want, when you come here, you're

1:05

expecting just straightforward biblical

1:08

Christianity.

1:10

That's the kind of church I would go to if I

1:12

wasn't a pastor.

1:13

That's the kind of church this is, and it just

1:17

really frees up the preacher to preach.

1:21

I mean, keep it simple, stupid is really a

1:23

profound philosophy when you really think

1:25

about it.

1:26

I think it is.

1:29

So let's get to it today by first reading our

1:31

text that we're going to look at and expound

1:33

in verses 14 to 24 of the Gospel of John, John

1:39

chapter 7, starting in verse 14.

1:43

"But when it was now the midst of the feast,

1:47

Jesus went up into the temple and began to

1:51

teach."

1:54

The Jews then were astonished, saying, "How

1:58

has this man become learned, having never

2:01

been educated?"

2:04

So Jesus answered them and said, "My teaching

2:08

is not mine, but him, his who sent me."

2:12

If anyone is willing to do his will, he will

2:15

know of the teaching, whether it is of God

2:18

or whether I speak from myself.

2:22

He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory

2:25

, but he who is seeking the glory of the one

2:29

who sent him, he is true, and there is no un

2:32

righteousness in him.

2:34

"Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none

2:40

of you carries out the law?

2:45

Why do you seek to kill me?"

2:49

The crowd answered, "You have a demon, who

2:53

seeks to kill you?"

2:56

Jesus answered them, "I did one deed and you

2:59

all marvel."

3:01

For this reason, Moses has given you circum

3:03

cision, not because it's from Moses, but from

3:05

the

3:06

fathers and on the Sabbath, you circumcise a

3:08

man.

3:09

If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath

3:12

so that the law of Moses will not be broken,

3:14

are you angry with me because I made an entire

3:19

man well on the Sabbath?

3:21

Do not judge according to appearance, but

3:26

judge with righteous judgment.

3:29

You have to understand that the most

3:34

significant and important human being who ever

3:40

lived on

3:40

this earth is not debatable.

3:44

The claims that he made that are recording for

3:49

us in Scripture are really astonishing.

3:53

They were shocking.

3:55

They're still shocking today.

3:57

They were beyond bold, and especially in that

4:02

day, to the natural ear, his claims were

4:06

beyond

4:07

outrageous.

4:08

I want you to keep in mind that Jesus, just

4:11

kind of take yourself back to that time period

4:16

that he lived in.

4:19

You think about Jesus walking down the dusty

4:21

roads of Galilee.

4:22

He was really absolutely indistinguishable

4:25

from any other Galilean man when he walked

4:28

the earth.

4:29

Most likely, I would say, surely he carried

4:33

with him the Galilean accent that he grew

4:36

up with.

4:37

It was the same over there as this here.

4:39

When you go to Brogbridge, they have an accent

4:42

that's different from the accent that's over

4:44

there in Lake Charles, right, or North

4:47

Louisiana.

4:48

Same thing in those regions.

4:51

So just looking at Jesus, if he walked up to

4:53

you outwardly, you wouldn't see any evidence

4:57

of his deity.

4:58

He didn't walk around like the paintings you

5:00

see with a glowing halo around his head.

5:03

There was no way you would see him, really,

5:05

back then any different than you would see

5:08

any other man for that matter.

5:13

The difference, though, with Jesus is that no

5:19

man living came anywhere close to making

5:23

the claims that he made.

5:28

And I want to give you a little montage here,

5:32

back to back, straight from Scripture, and

5:36

I want it to help you absorb kind of all

5:41

together at one time something of the weight

5:47

of a lot

5:48

of the things.

5:49

I'm not going to go through every exhaustive

5:52

thing, but most of the big ones that he

5:56

claimed

5:56

when he was here.

5:57

I want you to feel the weight.

5:58

Just think about a normal, average Galilean

6:01

carpenter in Nazareth making these claims.

6:05

And I'm not going to go through all the

6:06

Scripture references, but you're going to

6:08

notice every

6:08

single one of these when I say them.

6:11

He said he came down from heaven.

6:15

He said he eternally existed.

6:19

He said that he had been sent into this world

6:23

specifically by God the Father.

6:25

He claimed to be the savior of the world and

6:30

the only savior.

6:33

He claimed to be the determiner of everybody's

6:38

destiny.

6:40

He claimed to be the source of eternal life

6:44

and the only source.

6:47

He claimed to be the only way to God.

6:51

He claimed to have the right to be honored and

6:56

worshiped on an equal basis with the eternal

7:01

God.

7:03

He claimed to be one with the Father.

7:08

He claimed to have the power to give life and

7:14

even to raise the dead.

7:17

He claimed to be able to raise himself from

7:21

the dead.

7:22

He claimed to be the one of whom the Old

7:28

Testament Scripture spoke and the one who was

7:34

the main

7:34

subject of the entire Old Testament to Jewish

7:38

religious leaders.

7:40

He claimed to be the supreme judge of all men

7:45

who would one day return and judge all

7:49

of them at his return in glory.

7:54

He claimed to be without sin.

7:58

He claimed to have all authority in heaven and

8:03

on earth that's the universe.

8:07

He claimed to have the power and the authority

8:11

to forgive sin.

8:13

He claimed to rule over the Sabbath to Jews.

8:20

He claimed to be greater than the temple to

8:24

Jewish religious leaders.

8:27

He claimed to be greater than Abraham to those

8:31

Jews.

8:31

He even claimed to have been alive before

8:35

Abraham was born to the Jewish religious

8:39

leaders.

8:41

Think of that.

8:45

All of this from a man who lived 2,000 years

8:50

ago who was physically by appearance

8:54

absolutely

8:55

indistinguishable from any other Galilean man.

9:01

These claims, folks, were just beyond

9:06

comprehension and the Jewish leaders taking

9:11

this in, listening

9:14

to this, what was their appraisal?

9:18

He's a blasphemer.

9:22

I mean, this level of blasphemy when you put

9:26

all this together is beyond what any human

9:30

being, especially back at that time, would

9:33

even think about saying all this stuff.

9:36

Therefore, many of them said he must be under

9:41

the overwhelming influence of the ultimate

9:46

blasphemer Satan himself.

9:47

He must be.

9:50

He does what he does by the power of Satan.

9:54

He said he has a demon.

9:57

Now others were more charitable and they just

10:01

said, "Well, he's insane."

10:03

I mean, anybody says all that, they're out of

10:07

their mind.

10:08

But whether he's a false teacher that we can't

10:12

believe, whether he's a totally insane madman

10:16

or even possessed by a demon, wherever you

10:22

fall in those camps, you just made a judgment

10:29

on who Jesus is, as I've said, with severe

10:33

implications, whether you believe it or not,

10:38

with your judgment, implications and

10:41

consequences that last forever in your

10:44

judgment.

10:45

Back then, just like now, some people believe

10:51

most in Israel rejected him.

10:55

And in the case of the majority of the Jews of

11:00

Jesus's day, they decided these Jewish

11:04

leaders have been here leading us for a long

11:07

time.

11:07

This is all we've ever known of God all our

11:09

life and what they've taught us.

11:11

Most of them followed the Jewish religious

11:13

leaders in that day.

11:14

In fact, it all ended up with even the

11:19

majority of the crowd who at one time, many of

11:24

them

11:24

said he was a good man and were behind him.

11:27

Many of them lined the street leading into

11:31

Jerusalem, shouting, "Hosanna, Hosanna in

11:35

the highest, blessed is he who comes in the

11:37

name of the Lord," with their palm branches

11:39

on the day that he rode into Jerusalem on that

11:45

donkey.

11:46

But by the end of the week, many of those very

11:49

sane people were screaming for his death,

11:52

crucified him.

11:55

I'm telling you that even in his day, he was

12:00

largely rejected.

12:02

Only 120 people showed up in the upper room in

12:05

Judea on the day of Pentecost when the

12:08

Holy Spirit came, 120 out of all the tens of

12:12

thousands of people in Judea that had

12:16

seen his miracles that were impossible to fake

12:21

.

12:21

And I want you to remember the words of John

12:25

from back in John 1, 10 through 11.

12:31

He was in the world.

12:33

Look at this next phrase, "And the world was

12:38

made through him."

12:41

You realize that John right there, just that

12:43

phrase, what an incredible claim that is that

12:46

the Spirit of God inspired the apostle John to

12:49

write just that phrase, "The world was

12:52

made through him."

12:54

Wow, nobody else having him come.

13:00

And the world did not know him.

13:04

He came to his own, the Jewish people, and

13:09

those who were his own did not receive him.

13:14

His claims were rejected by and large.

13:16

He was rejected, that's how it was.

13:22

Look around when you go outside next week to

13:25

the places where you involve yourself with

13:28

other human beings, most people reject him.

13:36

Why do you believe and others don't?

13:42

Why do I believe?

13:44

Well, ultimately, in the biggest picture, it

13:50

is because God, in his sovereign grace,

13:55

has made us willing to believe because

13:59

naturally we don't want to.

14:03

Naturally, we want to believe in us.

14:09

That's how Christians are made.

14:14

God makes it happen.

14:16

Now, as we approach this text, try to remember

14:20

, I know it's hard from where we left off last

14:24

time.

14:25

We just spent seven months of time primarily

14:29

in Galilee training the twelve disciples.

14:34

There were some public ministries and miracles

14:37

, but primarily, most of the last seven months,

14:40

he's been spending time with them, teaching

14:43

them, training them, preparing them for what

14:46

was going to come after he left.

14:48

We saw in verse 2 of this chapter that it was

14:51

now the time for the feast of booths.

14:54

If you remember, every Jewish man was required

14:57

to attend this festival once a year in

15:00

Jerusalem.

15:02

Remember, we went over it, Jesus's brothers,

15:04

they wanted him to go with them.

15:06

Come on, Jesus, it's time for feast of booths.

15:08

Come on down there with us, but he didn't want

15:10

to go with them in the big family caravan

15:12

that they would take down there every year.

15:14

He waited.

15:17

They went on because he knew down there in

15:20

Jerusalem there were Jewish leaders at this

15:24

point who were wanting to kill him, really

15:28

wanting to murder him.

15:30

Remember what he said, "My time is not yet

15:34

here."

15:35

We saw in verse 11 how the Jews were looking

15:38

for him at the booths.

15:39

I mean, they're looking, they're scanning all

15:41

through the crowds, where is he at?

15:43

We don't see him.

15:44

This time he was so popular, I mean, you could

15:46

pick him out of a crowd.

15:47

So many people have watched him preach and

15:49

seen him do miracles.

15:51

They're saying, "Where's Jesus?"

15:52

And you remember Jesus, he holds back.

15:56

He lets the feast get filled up full of people

16:00

.

16:00

He waits until midweek when all the people are

16:05

settled in.

16:07

And even then, he takes a secret journey

16:10

through Samaria that no Jew would ever walk

16:13

through.

16:14

He's being stealthy.

16:17

Even though, remember, in his sovereignty, he

16:20

knew exactly when the time was coming.

16:22

He's still acting in his responsibility.

16:24

And as we come to verse 14, we find him

16:27

approaching the temple in Jerusalem right

16:30

where the leaders

16:31

are who are determined to execute him.

16:35

And even though he's being stealthy, he's

16:38

putting his life on the line just by being

16:41

there.

16:43

Now, imagine Jerusalem.

16:46

You've seen in movies, you think of pictures

16:49

of how it looked, with the smoke rising up

16:51

out of the temple and the big walls that were

16:54

around Jerusalem.

16:55

Imagine it being now filled to capacity, tens

16:59

and tens of thousands of people, masses of

17:03

people.

17:04

They've come from all over the area to come to

17:08

this annual feast, and Jesus shows up.

17:11

He walks into Jerusalem in the middle of the

17:14

week of the feast.

17:15

I'm sure by now the leaders would give up

17:18

probably looking for him, and so it would

17:20

have caught them off guard for sure to see him

17:24

.

17:24

Remember, they don't think he's there for the

17:26

first part of the week, and in some ways,

17:28

in some ways, if you think about it, they're

17:31

kind of neutralized by the crowd and the

17:33

public

17:34

exposure that Jesus already has.

17:36

So as he comes in this way, he's really smart,

17:38

and they just couldn't go over there and just

17:40

grab him.

17:42

And right here, it is his time to be doing

17:47

exactly what he's fixing to do.

17:50

He wouldn't have come to Jerusalem one day

17:53

earlier than he did, because as we talked

17:56

about last time, he was on a very careful,

17:59

accurate, precise, divine, sovereign time

18:04

schedule

18:04

right down to the very hours and the very days

18:09

.

18:09

And he steps into what would have been a very

18:13

huge, massive crowd in the courtyard of this

18:17

temple.

18:19

And if you remember from last time, there was

18:21

that little part of that verse that said

18:22

they had all been talking about him.

18:24

He was the talk of the town.

18:27

I mean, how could he not be?

18:29

So many people saw him feed 25,000 people,

18:34

right?

18:35

And remember, some of them, they said he was a

18:38

good man.

18:39

Some of them said, "No, he's a deceiver."

18:42

But nobody really, there was more whispers.

18:46

Nobody really formed their opinions publicly,

18:48

because why?

18:48

The average man was very afraid of the Jewish

18:51

leaders, because they could put you out of

18:53

the synagogue, which would put you out of

18:56

socializing with anybody, you would be a par

19:00

iah.

19:00

Later in this chapter, they're going to make

19:02

an attempt to arrest Jesus, but they couldn't

19:04

pull it off, because when they sent the temple

19:07

police to arrest him, the temple police came

19:10

back without him.

19:12

They were empty-handed.

19:14

And the Pharisees said, "What's the deal?

19:17

Why didn't you bring him back?

19:18

Why didn't you arrest him?"

19:19

To which they said, "Never has a man spoken

19:26

the way this man speaks."

19:30

They had never heard anything like the stuff

19:34

he was saying in their life.

19:37

So let's get started by looking at verse 14.

19:40

But when it was now the midst of the fee, so

19:42

against the middle of the week, Jesus went

19:45

up into the temple and began to teach.

19:47

Now, he's doing what rabbis did, okay?

19:51

The temple courtyard, again, was this massive,

19:54

huge area.

19:55

And the rabbis would find a spot, and their

19:57

disciples would gather around, and they would

20:00

teach him.

20:01

So you could see a rabbi over here with his

20:02

little group of people, he's teaching, and

20:03

then you could look further over here, he'd be

20:05

a rabbi over here, he's teaching his little

20:07

group, and so that's what Jesus does.

20:09

He starts teaching in the middle of the week,

20:12

feast of booths, temple courtyard.

20:15

And in this passage before us, Jesus is going

20:19

to provide for us five reasons to believe his

20:24

incredible claims, and that's going to be our

20:26

outline for today, if you're making outlines.

20:29

Five reasons why the claims of Christ are true

20:35

.

20:35

Number one, the divine source of his teaching.

20:41

So in this big courtyard, again, lots of rabb

20:44

is teaching all at the same time, and probably

20:47

really more rabbis than at any other time,

20:49

because this is the middle of the feast week.

20:52

And when the rabbis taught, in order for them

20:54

to give authority to what they said, what

20:57

they would do is they would quote other rabbis

21:01

.

21:01

And this did two things, first, it had the

21:04

effect of validating what they said so that

21:07

the people wouldn't think that this rabbi just

21:09

came up with this on his own and just

21:11

had invented what he was saying.

21:13

And then secondly, it kept them in the

21:15

tradition and they were big on tradition.

21:18

You wanted to quote other rabbis like a Gamal

21:21

iel or somebody who were respected so that you

21:24

could give some authority to what you said,

21:26

being in the tradition like that was very

21:29

important to these Jews.

21:31

So that's what they would do.

21:35

But that's not ever, ever what Jesus ever did,

21:42

not one time.

21:44

He never quoted any other rabbis ever.

21:51

At the end of the sermon on the mount, the

21:54

people were amazed because he taught as one

21:57

having authority, it says, possessing

22:00

authority within himself, which means he didn

22:04

't need

22:04

to quote any rabbis.

22:08

So the first reason to believe the claims of

22:11

Jesus is his divine knowledge in his teaching

22:14

and in his doctrine.

22:15

Look at verse 15, then the Jews, the Jews then

22:21

were astonished.

22:23

That's a strong word saying, "How has this man

22:28

become learned, having never been educated?"

22:32

Please notice they acknowledged his learning

22:36

to what they were listening to when he spoke

22:42

was way beyond anybody else that they had ever

22:46

heard in their life.

22:48

Regular rabbis would expound scripture,

22:50

explain scripture, and then quote the other

22:53

rabbis,

22:53

as I said, to validate their interpretation.

22:57

But this teaching of Jesus, way beyond

23:01

anything, anybody, had ever heard.

23:06

It was a level of wisdom and knowledge and

23:09

understanding that was without equal, and

23:12

they are absolutely dumbfounded with what they

23:18

hear, shocked.

23:20

He never quotes another rabbi ever.

23:24

He doesn't validate his teaching with any

23:27

other human source, there's never been

23:29

anything

23:30

like it.

23:31

They're sitting there, listening to Jesus,

23:34

teach, and they are overwhelmed by the extreme

23:38

clarity of what he's saying, the depth of what

23:43

he's saying, the ringing reality of what

23:46

he is speaking.

23:50

And everybody else is listening to this

23:52

amazing teaching, too.

23:54

So in their minds, and they're wanting to kill

23:57

him, remember, but they couldn't kill

24:00

him outright in front of all these other

24:02

people.

24:02

So they're thinking in their minds, well, how

24:04

are we going to discredit him, because

24:06

we've got to do something here.

24:07

These people are being swayed by this.

24:10

Everybody's ever heard anything like this?

24:13

Well, they think the same way that politicians

24:18

think today, and how politicians deal with

24:22

each other today.

24:24

Just watch any of the political talk shows.

24:29

They attack him directly.

24:32

They don't attack what he's saying.

24:33

They don't attack his teaching.

24:35

Notice again, verse 15, "How has this man

24:40

become learning, having never been educated?"

24:44

Now, really, this is what you call an ad homin

24:47

em argument.

24:48

They didn't want to argue with him.

24:51

And what he said, they didn't want to debate,

24:55

they sure didn't want to debate him, okay?

24:58

So they tried to discredit him by calling into

25:02

question what?

25:04

His lack of training, his lack of education.

25:08

Another time they wanted to discredit him

25:10

rather than deal with him in debate, they said

25:12

, remember,

25:14

huh, couldn't any good thing come out of Azer

25:19

oth?

25:20

I mean, attack him, attack him for his

25:23

hometown.

25:24

I mean, it's not a very strong argument, is it

25:31

?

25:31

As we know, every time they did enter into a

25:33

discussion or a debate with him, what happened

25:36

?

25:36

They were humiliated.

25:40

So they're just grasping at straws here, right

25:46

?

25:46

Not only were they astonished by his claims,

25:49

but oh, I wish we could hear every jot and

25:51

tittle.

25:52

I'm sure the biblical support that he was

25:55

getting for the claims that he was making

25:57

and the verses that he was quoting was just

26:00

spot on in a way they'd never heard.

26:02

That's why they called him "learned," because

26:05

for sure he's quoting scripture with

26:07

everything

26:08

he's got to say, and they just can't cope with

26:12

it.

26:13

They're sitting there knowing they can't argue

26:15

with it.

26:16

They can't debate it.

26:17

They can't even contradict it.

26:21

They're trapped by their own self-centered,

26:25

hypocritical system.

26:28

So all they can do is discredit him.

26:32

Notice this little slight.

26:36

They don't even want to use his name.

26:38

Look at it.

26:39

They say, how has this man-- they don't use

26:43

his name.

26:44

That was definitely a shot.

26:45

A definitely an expression of derision.

26:48

How has this man-- they're saying, don't let

26:51

this nobody pass himself off as somebody

26:54

legitimately teaching the Word of God.

26:58

He's just shooting off his uneducated mouth

27:01

out here.

27:02

That's all they could come up with.

27:05

We got men today in the ministry who give no

27:07

credibility to those of us who haven't

27:10

gone to the seminary.

27:12

A same thing.

27:14

That doesn't cause me any problem.

27:17

Charles Spurgeon didn't go to seminary.

27:20

So if Charles Spurgeon didn't go to seminary,

27:23

I think I can not go to seminary, too.

27:27

Now, think about this.

27:30

Jesus could have defended himself in a number

27:33

of ways here by simply saying, hey, you're

27:36

absolutely right.

27:39

This is my truth.

27:41

You know why?

27:42

Because I'm God.

27:44

And I'm telling the truth.

27:47

But he's smart enough, of course, and wise

27:49

enough to know that that would have been infl

27:51

amed

27:52

them and the issue even more.

27:54

So he doesn't say that he's self-taught.

28:01

He doesn't say, hey, I came across all this by

28:06

myself.

28:07

This doctrine comes from me.

28:09

Well, now, he doesn't walk into that trap.

28:13

Instead, watch this, what he says, verse 16.

28:20

So Jesus answered them and said, my teaching

28:26

is not mine, but his who sent me.

28:30

Jesus always responded with things they would

28:32

never, ever in a billion years expect him to

28:35

say.

28:36

I just, these guys, I wish I could see the

28:39

looks on their faces at the stuff he said.

28:43

My teaching is not mine.

28:46

This is his self-knowledge.

28:48

I didn't make this up.

28:51

I'm not teaching my own opinion, but his who

28:56

sent me.

28:57

I'm not quoting rabbis, guys.

29:01

I'm quoting God.

29:04

What a reply.

29:07

This is not just in defense, mind you.

29:11

This is an indictment of the Jewish leaders

29:15

and their endless circular rotations and quot

29:19

ations

29:19

of rabbis who quoted rabbis, who quoted rabbis

29:23

.

29:23

He's saying to them, you're right.

29:25

Oh, yeah, this teaching right here is

29:29

different.

29:30

This is learned teaching because this is

29:35

divine knowledge, and it doesn't come from

29:40

rabbis.

29:41

They come from the one who sent me, namely God

29:45

, as he had already explained to them on

29:48

numerous occasions.

29:51

Over and over in the gospel, Jesus makes these

29:54

claims.

29:55

Again, I want to take you through a little

29:57

montage here.

29:58

You'll recognize every one of these from the B

30:00

ibles that Jesus said, but we're just going

30:02

to run through them quickly, but just put them

30:04

into your own mind.

30:05

He said, I can do nothing on my own initiative

30:09

, remember that?

30:10

I do not seek my own will, but the will of him

30:13

who sent me, remember that?

30:15

The Son can do nothing of himself unless it's

30:17

something he sees the Father doing.

30:19

They had heard this.

30:21

He who hears my word and believes him who sent

30:23

me has eternal life.

30:25

They had heard that.

30:27

I didn't speak on my own initiative, but the

30:29

Father himself who sent me has given me a

30:31

commandment as to what to say and what to

30:34

speak.

30:35

They knew that.

30:37

He was constantly making the claim that he was

30:41

directly verbatim quoting God, when heavier

30:45

he spoke to them.

30:47

It's incredible claims that ever could be made

30:50

.

30:50

So the divine source of his teaching is the

30:53

first reason for us to believe the claims

30:55

of Jesus.

30:56

And this is not just an offense, I want you to

30:59

remember this is an indictment of those

31:01

who do not speak for God, even though they

31:05

think that they do.

31:07

So here is Jesus.

31:10

He knows the mind of God because it's his mind

31:15

.

31:15

He doesn't just know it in a general way, even

31:17

in his incarnation, not in some kind

31:19

of impression.

31:20

He knows the mind of God thoroughly,

31:23

completely, verbally in words because he is

31:28

God the Son.

31:31

He speaks the words that the Father gives him

31:34

to speak, he says.

31:35

He knows what God thinks.

31:37

He knows what God says.

31:38

He knows what God wills perfectly.

31:44

He says that over and over and over, I know

31:48

the will of my Father.

31:50

And he also has complete, perfect knowledge of

31:54

the mind of man.

31:56

Remember in John 2, nobody needed to tell him

31:58

anything about a man.

32:00

He knew what was in man, completely,

32:03

thoroughly, totally inexhaustible knowledge.

32:08

He knew scripture in a way that no one ever

32:11

has who has ever lived on this earth.

32:14

He knew perfectly the true interpretation of

32:18

every single verse in the Bible to the

32:21

absolute fullest perfection.

32:25

So that's where you have to start thinking

32:27

about accepting the claims of Jesus.

32:29

You start with the supernatural knowledge that

32:32

he had, secondly, not only the source,

32:35

the place from which the knowledge comes, the

32:40

mind of God, but also, secondly, his desire

32:45

to do the will of God.

32:47

And this is critical, folks, for all who are

32:53

considering, should I do Jesus, should I come

32:58

to Christ, should I become a Christian, should

33:01

I do?

33:02

If you say, what motivates someone to come to

33:07

Jesus Christ, what are you looking for

33:11

when you say that?

33:14

Are you looking for a better life?

33:18

Are you looking to straighten up and fly right

33:24

?

33:24

You want your sins forgiven?

33:26

Those are good things, but here next in verse

33:32

17 is the test that Jesus gives.

33:37

Verse 17, "If any one is willing to do his

33:42

will, he will know of the teaching, whether

33:48

it is of God or whether I speak from myself,"

33:51

and that is a boatload of profundity right

33:55

there.

33:57

Here's the simple reality, coming to Jesus

34:00

Christ is not motivated by your desire to

34:03

get what you want.

34:06

It's motivated by your desire, big picture, to

34:10

do for God what he commands, and that

34:14

is essentially what he is saying.

34:16

So the first reason to believe the claims of

34:18

Jesus is because of the divine source of

34:21

his teaching. The second is because you have a

34:26

desire to do God's will, and if you have

34:27

a desire to truly do God's will, you have to

34:31

come to Christ because there's no one

34:34

else to come to.

34:39

What I'm trying to get across to you is right

34:42

there, that is where salvation starts.

34:45

The Holy Spirit convicts a person of sin and

34:48

righteousness and judgment, and that person

34:51

becomes aware of it through the preaching of

34:54

the Word, the presenting of the Gospel,

34:57

and then it weighs down on that person, and

34:59

they become aware for the first time of their

35:02

total spiritual bankruptcy, and it's only then

35:05

that you start to become a seeker of

35:08

God.

35:10

When this genuinely happens, you're not

35:13

looking for personal fulfillment, you're not

35:17

trying

35:17

to go to therapy, you're not looking for

35:20

personal benefits and blessings, that's what

35:23

the crowd was looking for that eventually

35:25

turned their back on Jesus in John 6, remember

35:29

?

35:29

What you're looking for is to, I want to do

35:33

what God wants.

35:35

For the first time in my life, I recognize my

35:38

standing before God.

35:39

I want to do what He wants.

35:41

This is when you start to step in the

35:44

direction of confessing Jesus as Lord, coming

35:48

out of

35:49

the dominance and the mastery of sin over your

35:52

life and to the mastery of the Lordship

35:55

of Jesus Christ over your life.

36:00

Let me tell you, Gospel truth is not appreh

36:04

ended by debate.

36:06

We can't debate somebody into believing the

36:09

Gospel.

36:10

You don't win the day even with a rational

36:12

defense of Scripture, like I got when the

36:15

Holy Spirit first began with me, even though

36:18

you can rationally defend the Bible and debate

36:22

the authority and the veracity of Scripture,

36:26

you can do that and the Lord did use that

36:29

to draw me, but what really draws people to

36:33

the Gospel, what draws people to Christ once

36:37

that Holy Spirit starts is a desire to do the

36:42

will of God.

36:44

God exists.

36:47

He is sovereign.

36:49

He is both the judge and the executioner.

36:53

He pounds the gavel and he pulls the switch.

36:58

When you get that, you start to understand.

37:03

You look around at your life and you say, "I'm

37:08

on the wrong side of God.

37:11

I never realized that before.

37:14

I'm alienated from God."

37:19

This book of Romans says, "I'm an enemy of God

37:24

.

37:24

I need to submit to God.

37:28

I want to be delivered from what I am.

37:34

I want to be delivered from the way I've been

37:36

thinking about everything there is to think

37:38

about."

37:41

So if you want to know if Jesus is who he

37:45

claims to be, then here's the test.

37:49

Are you desiring to truly do God's will

37:52

according to God's word?

37:55

Do you want to go through the narrow gate?

37:57

Do you want to walk the narrow way?

38:00

That's the issue.

38:01

I'm telling you, it's costly to believe.

38:04

John MacArthur wrote that book, "Hard to

38:06

Believe."

38:07

You ought to read it if you haven't.

38:10

Remember the rich young ruler?

38:13

He came.

38:14

He heard.

38:15

That's too much.

38:18

He turned and walked away.

38:19

He reasoned within himself, "I guess I really

38:22

am not ready to do the will of God."

38:24

If that's what it is, but I'm telling you,

38:28

that's the essence of true faith.

38:32

You're not asking, "What can Jesus do for me?"

38:36

Praises go up and the blessings come down.

38:40

That's silly.

38:42

You're coming under the weight and the burden

38:45

of your natural condition and you're saying,

38:48

"How do I become delivered from this to the

38:53

will of God?"

38:56

That's Christianity.

38:58

That's Christian salvation.

39:01

And by the way, that happens in a person's

39:05

life when the Holy Spirit begins to draw,

39:09

when the Father begins to draw through the

39:11

Spirit that we learned about in John 6.

39:13

That's when you know the drawing is really

39:16

happening.

39:17

And there's a third reason to believe the

39:21

claims of Jesus.

39:24

His amazing deference to the Father's glory,

39:29

his humility.

39:31

False teachers, frauds, fakes, charlatans,

39:36

they are all in it for personal gain, money,

39:40

power, fame.

39:45

You've been here for any length of time, that

39:46

ought to give you a clue that I'm not a false

39:48

teacher because I don't have any of those

39:49

three things.

39:51

It might help you understand that.

39:53

The New Testament even says that they do it

39:55

for the money, they do it for the power,

39:57

they do it for the prominence, the ego boost.

40:00

False teachers are self-centered fleecers of

40:05

the sheep.

40:07

Paul makes that clear.

40:08

Later on, John is going to talk about false sh

40:10

epherds and he says they seek their own

40:12

glory.

40:13

Remember in John 5 verse 44, Jesus said this

40:17

to the Jewish leaders of his day, "How can

40:21

you believe when you receive glory from one

40:24

another and you do not seek the glory that

40:26

is from the one and only God?"

40:29

Pow!

40:31

They were always more interested in the praise

40:35

of men than the praise of God.

40:37

Look next in verse 18.

40:41

Jesus says, "He who speaks from himself seeks

40:45

his own glory."

40:46

And again, he's going back to the fact that he

40:48

's not speaking from himself for his own

40:50

glory's sake.

40:51

He's not coming up with this to draw attention

40:55

to himself.

40:56

He speaks from himself, he seeks his own glory

40:59

.

40:59

He who speaks from himself, look at that verse

41:02

, seeks his own glory, but he who is seeking

41:04

the glory of the one who sent him, he is true

41:08

and there is no unrighteousness in him.

41:11

How do you tell a true teacher if he only

41:16

seeks the glory of God?

41:19

And that was Jesus.

41:21

Folks, this is part of his humiliation, that's

41:26

what we call it.

41:28

He laid aside what he was eternally entitled

41:33

to in glory and he came all the way down here

41:37

from heaven to this place and he even endured

41:43

an unjust criminal's execution on the most

41:48

torturous way for a criminal to be executed in

41:53

human history, the death of a cross.

41:58

Who's the true savior?

42:00

Well, the true savior is the one who washes

42:04

the disciples' feet, the one who came not

42:07

to be ministered to but to minister, to give

42:11

his life for his people.

42:13

He's the one who renders all glory and all

42:15

honor to the Father, always read through the

42:18

Gospels, never, ever to himself.

42:21

I challenge you to find another savior in all

42:26

of the religions like that.

42:29

I promise you, you can grok, you can Google,

42:35

you won't find it.

42:37

Jesus' life on this earth, he had no personal

42:40

glory in mind whatsoever.

42:42

We get to John 17, one day we will, coming to

42:46

the end of his life, he prays, "Father,

42:50

restore to me the glory I had with you before

42:54

the world."

42:56

He knew he was coming to the end and he was

43:00

looking ahead to what was going to happen

43:02

as he got back to his rightful place with the

43:06

Father and the Spirit and glory that he

43:09

left for us to come here to this cursed world,

43:13

to be a curse as we learned this morning in

43:16

Sunday school for us.

43:21

But while he was on earth, he was totally

43:24

humbled.

43:25

And he did only that which brought glory to

43:29

his Father.

43:30

False prophets rattled their own banks and

43:33

they glorified themselves, Pharisees were

43:35

like all other false prophets down through

43:38

history.

43:38

They were calling attention to themselves for

43:41

their own personal gain, Luke 16, 14.

43:45

Now the Pharisees who were lovers of money,

43:50

remember the still love of money is the root

43:54

of all evil, not just the money itself and

43:56

that verse right there says it all.

43:58

They constantly called attention to themselves

44:01

, remember when they prayed publicly so

44:03

everybody

44:04

could hear them and the clothes they wear,

44:07

Jesus was so utterly unlike that in every

44:10

way.

44:11

And then he humbled himself to the point of

44:16

actually becoming sin for us.

44:18

No false savior does that, folks.

44:22

No false savior hanging on a cross says Father

44:25

, forgive them for they know not what they do

44:29

while he is being unjustly executed, scan the

44:32

religions, you'll find nothing like that.

44:37

So it's the divine source of his knowledge, it

44:39

's the desire to do the will of God, it's

44:41

his deference to the glory of God that should

44:44

motivate a person to embrace the claims of

44:48

Christ.

44:49

Next reason is his declaration of man's simpl

44:51

eness starting in verse 19, he goes right to

44:53

the

44:53

heart of the matter.

44:56

Remember this is Pharisees, he says did not

44:59

Moses give you the law and yet none of you

45:01

carries out the law?

45:04

Right there, let me tell you, he says this as

45:10

he is fully aware that every single one

45:14

of them in that circle want to kill him right

45:16

at that moment and he says none of you carry

45:19

out the law, Moses, did Moses give you the law

45:22

?

45:23

Of course he did, they sat in the chair of

45:25

Moses, they looked at Moses, they thought

45:27

he honored the law, they thought they honored

45:30

the law but Jesus says none of you carries

45:31

out the law, not a one.

45:37

You really can't get a more concise, accurate

45:40

statement of truth regarding human simpleness

45:42

than that right there, none of you carries out

45:47

the law, none of you, nobody carries out

45:51

God's law from that time to this and before

45:54

all the way back to the garden, there's none

45:57

righteous, no, not one.

46:01

Galatians 3, if you break one law you got a

46:04

problem, Galatians 3 you broke the whole

46:06

law because what's God's standard, absolute,

46:09

lifelong, perfect obedience to the law of

46:12

God?

46:13

These proud legalists were daily law breakers,

46:16

the law of Moses was never intended to save

46:18

anyway.

46:20

It was intended to condemn man, it was

46:24

intended to drive people to an overwhelming

46:28

fear of

46:29

divine judgment for their inability to keep

46:32

the law that would cause them to repent and

46:35

to cry out for mercy and grace from God and

46:37

put their trust in Christ alone.

46:39

That's the purpose of the law, Romans 10-4,

46:43

just look at Romans 10-4, for Christ is the

46:47

end of the law for what?

46:52

Righteousness to who?

46:54

Everyone who believes, end of the law for

46:57

righteousness.

46:58

You don't go to the law for righteousness, you

47:01

can't because you can't keep it.

47:03

Christ is the end of the law for righteousness

47:05

, perfect righteousness imputed to you when

47:08

you believe for everyone who believes.

47:13

The law drives you to the end of yourself and

47:16

pronounces judgment on you because you

47:18

can't keep it.

47:22

And there you get to the end of the law.

47:25

Once the law has given its verdict, stands

47:31

Jesus to give you the free gift of salvation

47:37

that will never be found available in the law

47:40

of God.

47:41

Now, the Pharisees were just fine with how

47:43

they were doing with the law, they were fine

47:46

and justifying themselves, they'd say, "Wait a

47:50

minute, I can hear them.

47:53

What in the world do you mean that none of us

47:55

carries out the law?"

47:57

So Jesus, He knows what they're thinking as He

48:02

says it.

48:03

Look at what He says next in verse 19, "Why do

48:08

you seek to kill me?

48:10

Get that way down on you."

48:12

He knew what they were thinking and that nails

48:15

them right between the eyes, their outrageous

48:18

treatment of Jesus seeking to murder Him was

48:22

an overt violation of thou shalt not.

48:26

What hill, the big one, murder.

48:31

So He indicts them right to their face, man,

48:36

big time.

48:37

You talk about much a man, Jesus, much a man,

48:41

okay?

48:42

In His incarnation, now this crowd around was

48:45

made up from people all over the feast.

48:49

They really weren't in on the murderous plot

48:51

that the Pharisees had, right?

48:53

Maybe some of them were, but not many of them.

48:56

So look how the crowd responds in verse 20.

48:58

The crowd answered, "You have a demon.

49:02

Who seeks to kill you?"

49:04

Anybody around here talking about killing you?

49:08

Remember that the heart of men is deceitful

49:11

above all things and desperately wicked.

49:13

They don't know their own hearts.

49:17

Just six months later, after this very day,

49:21

when they all show back up for the feast, the

49:25

Passover, they're all screaming for His blood,

49:29

"Crucify Him, crucify Him, let His blood be

49:33

upon us and our children forever."

49:36

They all become murderers.

49:39

They react by saying, "You have a demon in you

49:41

to say something like that to these religious

49:44

leaders."

49:45

And so they are affirming what's kind of been

49:47

floating around one of the theories that

49:49

He has a demon that He leads people astray.

49:52

And so that just kind of keeps getting

49:53

repeated and repeated and repeated in these

49:55

masses

49:55

of people.

49:56

We're going to see it again in chapter 8,

49:58

chapter 10, this accusation of Jesus being

50:01

demonic.

50:02

Can you imagine?

50:04

God comes to earth and we call Him a demon.

50:06

I mean, it's just incredible.

50:09

They say, "Who seeks to kill you?"

50:12

The truth is they were just one step away from

50:15

doing that.

50:16

Six months down the road.

50:18

One more.

50:19

All right, we're going to close.

50:20

One more affirmation to believe the claims of

50:23

Jesus, His deeds of righteousness.

50:26

Look what He says next in verse 21, "Jesus

50:30

answered them.

50:31

I did one deed and you all marvel."

50:36

Now you have to have been reading the Gospel

50:38

of John, not just pull this out of thin air

50:40

to understand what He's talking about.

50:42

We're going to see in a minute.

50:43

He's going back to what happened in chapter 5

50:45

at that earlier feast in Jerusalem when

50:47

He healed that man, remember, at the pool of

50:50

Bethsaida on the Sabbath day.

50:52

And when He did that, remember, the man picked

50:54

up his mat and walked and all the Jewish

50:56

leaders

50:56

got a good case of the hives when He did that

50:59

because He did it on the Sabbath day.

51:01

"I did one deed and you all marvel."

51:07

Remember nobody ever denied any of His

51:09

miracles.

51:10

Certainly not that one because the man had

51:12

been going to that pool daily for decades and

51:14

everybody saw him every day down there cripp

51:16

led.

51:17

And so Jesus is saying, "Well, look here, just

51:20

to show you how warped you are, you reject

51:23

a miraculous thing and a display of the

51:26

goodness of God on the Sabbath day and you got

51:30

all

51:30

bent out of shape."

51:31

And then Jesus takes it a little further in

51:33

verse 22, "He's going to help them understand

51:36

the Sabbath in a way that they clearly don't."

51:40

Now look at verse 22, "This deserves our

51:42

attention, but this reason Moses has given you

51:45

circumcision,

51:46

not because it is from Moses, but from the

51:48

Father."

51:49

So circumcision, yes, is in the Mosaic Wall,

51:51

that all male children will be circumcised

51:53

on the eighth day, but actually it came from

51:55

the Fathers.

51:56

What that means, it goes all the way back to

51:58

the 17th chapter of Genesis.

52:00

It goes all the way back to Abraham.

52:02

So Jesus says, "You have circumcision."

52:04

It goes all the way back to Abraham.

52:06

It's repeated in Moses and then what He says

52:09

next in verse 22, "And on the Sabbath, what

52:12

do you do?

52:14

You circumcise a man."

52:15

What did He mean by that?

52:17

They did it on the Sabbath, because it had to

52:19

be done.

52:20

If the Sabbath happened to fall on the eighth

52:23

day of a month, it's on the Sabbath, guess

52:25

what they did on the Sabbath?

52:28

They broke it and they circumcised a child.

52:32

So in a sense, on that day, when they did that

52:35

, when it happened, they violated their

52:37

own tradition about what they would call work

52:40

on the Sabbath, because they had a

52:42

prescription

52:43

they needed to follow.

52:44

They had to circumcise this kid on the eighth

52:46

day.

52:47

So if it's necessary, the Sabbath, oh, for

52:52

this deal, we can set it aside, because this

52:57

is more important.

52:58

This is something better.

52:59

We got to do this circumcision.

53:02

So look what Jesus did to hit some wit next,

53:04

like with a Louisville slugger in verse 23,

53:07

"If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath

53:09

so that the law of Moses will not be broken,

53:12

can you angry with me because I made an entire

53:15

man well on the Sabbath?"

53:17

Who?

53:18

This is some kind of crazy thinking you guys

53:21

got going on right here.

53:22

I did one miracle on the Sabbath, and you got

53:25

the murder plot put in place for me because

53:28

of that?

53:30

One miracle that was done on the Sabbath,

53:32

which was a greater expression of the goodness

53:35

and mercy and divine power than any other kind

53:38

of prescription there could be on that

53:41

Sabbath.

53:42

And kill me for that when you yourselves

53:45

violate your own Sabbath rule, because you

53:48

thought

53:49

circumcision was more important.

53:51

Man, this is a major league rebut to these

53:56

Pharisees.

53:57

If circumcision takes precedent over the

54:00

restriction of Sabbath rest, well, guess what?

54:03

So does doing good.

54:06

So does showing the kindness and mercy of God

54:10

in healing a paralytic man who had been

54:13

that way all his life, and you watched him get

54:17

up and walk away with no pain with his

54:20

mat.

54:21

Verse 24, just to wrap it up, Jesus says, "Do

54:26

not judge according to appearance, but judge

54:30

with righteous judgment."

54:35

That's right, guys.

54:37

Have some discernment.

54:40

Make the right verdict concerning the claims

54:45

that I have made to you.

54:48

They had spent their whole life judging on

54:49

appearance, but let me tell you something,

54:52

that's the nature

54:52

of hypocrisy.

54:54

Stop doing that and judge with righteous

54:57

judgment.

54:57

And so, the end here today that we end with,

55:03

it's the same familiar theme that we have

55:09

been ending on with so many of these messages

55:13

in the Gospel of John, and it is the message

55:17

to every person, folks, there's no middle

55:22

ground when it comes to Jesus.

55:26

They just can't come halfway with Jesus,

55:30

impossible.

55:31

You either embrace Jesus completely as Lord,

55:37

or you do not.

55:39

One way promises heaven, one way promises hell

55:42

, whether you believe that or not, makes

55:45

absolutely

55:46

no difference on the reality of those two

55:49

endings for every human being.

55:51

There's plenty of reason to believe, but where

55:54

it has to start, as I said, is a desire to

55:57

do the will of God, to stop doing your own

56:00

will in life, to doing the will of this world.

56:04

It's truly desiring to do the will of God.

56:08

If you do, then I'm telling you absolutely

56:13

what you will do.

56:15

You will submit yourself to the Lordship of

56:19

King Jesus in repentance and faith.

56:22

You will.

56:23

If you don't, you don't really want God's will

56:29

.

56:29

You want your will.

56:31

You want to do life your own way.

56:34

You've got it all figured out.

56:35

You don't need Jesus.

56:39

Every human being, as I always say, gets one

56:43

lifetime of an unspecified number of years

56:46

to decide whose will will it be.

56:53

Let's pray.

56:55

Father, we thank you.

56:56

I love absolutely love nothing more than

57:00

preaching Jesus directly.

57:03

There's no one like him.

57:06

There's no one like him who ever lived on this

57:09

earth before, since, or ever will be because

57:12

he's God in human flesh, and I love preaching

57:17

when he was here.

57:19

Lord, take Jesus today and elevate him even

57:24

more in our minds.

57:26

Let the supremacy of Christ rule in our minds

57:30

and our hearts as we have heard yet again

57:33

how he behaved himself in the face of murder

57:39

ous Pharisees with such clarity, with such

57:46

genius,

57:47

with such articulation from Scripture, with

57:50

such knowledge, such wisdom, such power.

57:54

We give you all the praise for King Jesus, and

57:56

I pray if there's anyone in here today

57:58

that is not bowed in me completely to his lord

58:01

ship, that they come grab me and not leave

58:04

this property until we've sat down to talk

58:08

about it.

58:09

Father, we praise you for King Jesus today.

58:11

We pray we honor you with our worship today,

58:15

and you receive all the glory for it.

58:17

Jesus' name we pray.