Day 51 - DA with DA, "At the Feast of Tabernacles."

all right hello everyone welcome to day 51 of da with da glad you are all here or are signing on as i speak so good morning to instagram great to see everyone good afternoon to youtube the reason i say good morning to instagram is that we do live on instagram live and then we upload later uh on youtube and that's normally taking place in the afternoon or the evening but because we have so many people from all around the world that are tuning in for the 90-day da with da challenge good morning good afternoon good evening good night somewhere someone's going to hear that and it's going to be the right thing or it's going to be the wrong thing so where i'm at it's a beautiful mostly sunny morning in colorado and i am just a few minutes late today i knew that i would be a few minutes late today because i had quite a busy morning already and i didn't have the most restful night's sleep either that's two nights in a row that weren't particularly good night's rests for me which is unusual but i feel energized today i feel great so um welcome everyone great to see everybody signing on on instagram today yes i said it i still can't believe i'm saying it but today is day 51 5 1 and there are only 90 days in the challenge that means that we've got just 39 days left i can hardly believe it so welcome everyone great to see everyone signing on blue skies here in arizona says rambler cat five carson's 05 west covina california great to see you good morning rita good morning shannie may 777 i didn't sleep at all why not why not i didn't sleep well i i was up about an hour last night and i just had this uh sort of burning sensation in my stomach and it must have been something that i ate in the afternoon i don't know but i was awake but i feel great now all right d jordan1113 good morning lots of hearts and uh celebratory hands there after the storms the sun is up in central florida says spirit coach good evening from norway great to see you christopher always good hey were you on the reddit uh sermon that i did on sabbath i think i saw you there all right porter six-pack a beautiful sunny morning in arkansas ooh arkansas all right good morning jerry this me hey bernice great to see you bernice asks how is jabel and the answer is he's doing totally fine this morning yesterday i asked him how he was doing he said he was 100 and then i i queried him about it a little bit and he said well maybe only 95 so then this morning i saw him and he was already in online school this morning and so i think i think he's fine and i think i mentioned yesterday i had a covet test either yesterday the day before and i was negative so anyway i'm gonna go get another antibodies test this week because as i think i've mentioned here violeta had coveted and tested positive for the antibodies and i sleep with her i live with her um i'm in extremely close proximity to her there's no quarantining away from violetta and uh so it just seems highly unusual that she could have had the illness and i wouldn't have i don't know we'll find out so good morning let's see who we have here michelle malissa 7755 i have to be a little quick this morning because i only have about an hour and uh originally when i saw this chapter uh titled at the feast of tabernacles i was like whoa this is gonna be this is gonna be a big one but actually ellen white divides this john chapter seven which is incredible john chapter seven is at the top of the heap of my favorite chapters in john and uh but she combines this john chapter seven or combines just maybe the wrong word she she splits this john chapter 7 incredible passage into two chapters so at the feast of tabernacles is what we're talking about today that's chapter 49 and then tomorrow chapter 50 is among snares and so today we're only dealing with kind of half of the feast of tabernacles chapter but man it is so good um great to see everyone signing on so glad you are here welcome to day 51 of d.a with d.a this is so exciting by the way the shirts are are gone they're ordered if you got one good for you if you didn't get one you missed your chance they're gone and i just got a text this morning from mark at types and symbols and he was like yep that's it they're all gone we're placing the order with the printer today so hopefully very soon we'll be getting those shirts and you can be absolutely sure that i will be wearing my shirt the moment i get it and i'll wear it here on d8 so by the way continue to use the da with da hashtag please especially on instagram uh because i love reading it if for no other reason i like to read it i like to see what people are doing i love the pictures i love the stories i love the testimonies and so please continue to use the hashtag da withda on instagram and yeah man this is just going so well i feel so blessed and so privileged to be journeying with so many of you through this incredible book that describes such a beautiful wonderful and welcoming savior that's what we'll be talking about today so man it's been a real privilege a real honor and i'm just totally happy this experience has been a tremendous blessing in my own personal walk with jesus my own devotional life it has forced me to read even more carefully and more intentionally and i'm sure it's done the same for you again the desire of ages is a book that i've read many times many times and some of these chapters i've read more times than i can remember but this particular reading through has been i think really special because it's been very disciplined it's been very regimented when we launched the da with da challenge i was like i don't know how many lives i will do maybe one a week maybe two a week or i had no idea that we would do one every single day and uh somehow it's just made room for itself you know it's just it's been so great and i've had several people reach out to me and say hey i can't keep up with the 90-day challenge the watching but i'm going to do it over a year or i'm going to do it over six months or whatever in fact one of my very dear dear friends in the world melissa reached out to me and said that she wants to write like study guides she wants to write study guides based on the lives that we've done and then it could be turned into like a study guide through the design of ages and i was like she said i'm gonna do this with or without your permission and i said you have my permission i see unmistakably melissa says next we should do the great controversy yeah i'm getting a lot of requests and uh the great controversy would be awesome it would also be kind of fun to go back and do patriarchs and profits and prophets and kings to get a real sense of the old testament but and i'm not saying we won't do all of those maybe we will if if interest is high and people want to do it um but i do have a little something in store and it is quite a large surprise that i've been alluding to since early on in the da with da challenge and i don't yet have the opportunity or permission to tell you what that is but i can tell you it's going to be pretty cool and i think the next challenge will revolve around that surprise that's coming and i'm not going to say any more because i'm the kind of guy i think i've mentioned this if you give me a bad news secret i'll i will take that to my grave right like if you say hey this is a bad news secret you know this thing happened to me or i said this or i did this and i don't want anybody to know that will never come out of my lips to another person without your permission but and this is the truth if you tell me a good news secret i am so bad at keeping good news secrets i'm a gospel preacher i'm wired to tell people good news so uh yeah if there's like a surprise party or something that you want to keep as a secret yeah don't tell me i'm not the person to keep that secret all right here we go we are in chapter 49 at the feast of tabernacles quick prayer quick reading and then we are off to the races i've got about an hour this morning so let's see how that goes father in heaven i want to thank you for all of the wonderful people that are following through this incredible book and father in a way we are following jesus like the disciples of old in our imagination in our mind's eye we are walking those ancient dusty streets we are going from town to town and place to place village to village and traveling from north to south and even into the hill country and far to the east lord we are with jesus and and this experience to me has felt very much like i am a disciple and i'm there learning and i'm their receiving instruction and i'm witnessing the miracles and father that is a credit of course first and foremost to the incredible accounts that we have of jesus in the gospels it's a credit to the incredible person that jesus was an uninventable incomprehensibly beautiful person but father it's also a significant credit to to this book the desire of ages and we just want to thank you i want to thank you for moving upon the heart of ellen white to write this book and to write it in the way that she did father this book has stood the test of time it's been read by many millions of people and father i am sure that those people have had the same kind of experience that we're having where we just feel like we're there we are there it's like better than a movie it's better than than uh you know us being in a cinema it's like our mind's eye informed by the holy spirit informed by the text of scripture brings us there and father today's scene in particular is amazing and so i pray that you'll be with us father may we be encouraged inspired educated and uh father may we be transformed not just information but transformation is our prayer today in jesus name amen all right welcome everyone so glad you're here here we go today's chapter is based on john chapter seven uh we are we've been really back in the gospel of john ever since the feeding of the five thousand um in john chapter six and then that difficult speech that jesus gave in the synagogue in capernaum so now we're in john chapter six and we're sort of back and forth and i've really appreciated actually the way that that ellen white in her what's effectively a harmony of the gospels is helping me to see oh so that's when that happened oh yeah that makes sense and i really like the way that matthew chapter 16 who do who the men say that i am um it gives us a real sense of where we are in the gospels and in the narrative of the life of jesus in matthew mark luke and john and here in john chapter 7 we're still really early in the gospel of john if you think about that right like there's 21 chapters in john we're in chapter seven that's only a third of the way through but as i've mentioned before the structure the organization of the gospel of john is such that by the time we get to john chapter 12 we're in the last week of his life think about that right 21 chapters and from chapter 12 to 21 is like the last week of jesus life roughly the last week of his life so here in john chapter 7 if you didn't know better you might think oh this story is just kind of getting started we're just into the thick of it but but really we've already tilted into the latter half of jesus life the latter half of jesus ministry and john chapter 7 is such an incredible chapter that captures this this tension and i'm going to talk a lot about the the at least two tensions that i identified in this chapter and the scenes are incredible and again ellen white does an amazing job of painting a number of scenes here two in particular um we'll get to that so this chapter is based on john chapter 7 i think it's like verses 1 to 15 and then also verses 37 to 39 will then circle back tomorrow and pick up verses 16 to 36. okay so i'm gonna start by reading john chapter seven and verse one here we go from the new king james version after these things jesus walked in galilee for he did not want to walk in judea because the jews sought to kill him now the jews feast of tabernacles was at hand now you're probably aware there are six jewish feasts six annual feasts in the jewish calendar and the feast of tabernacles sometimes called the feast of booths was the last one in the year passover's the first and then we have now at the end of the jewish calendar year the festival year the feast of tabernacles verse 3. his brothers therefore said to him depart from here get out of here and go into judea that your disciples may also see the works you are doing it doesn't take a lot of imagination to hear the snarkiness in that right like go out of here go go show your disciples all the great stuff you're doing verse 4 for no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly if you do these things show yourself to the world again the snarkiness is on full display here the dismissiveness the condescension not cool and we've we've addressed on several occasions already jesus relationship to his brothers the sons of joseph was less than ideal less than optimal now that will be transformed because james one of the brothers of jesus will actually become not only a believer but the leader of the early apostolic church and that is a story in and of itself but at this point in the development they're like yeah yeah get out of here go show your disciples all the great stuff you're doing i mean you you're presenting yourself as some kind of religious figure some kind of prophet figure some kind of messiah figure so why are you doing all this stuff in secret up in the north of galilee why don't you go to jerusalem go to the feast if you really are who people are saying you are so it's snarky it's dismissive it's inflammatory and and jesus of course sees through it um and he loves them he loves them very much and he wants them to eventually come to understand who he is and what his real mission is they're kind of like yeah go show off but his mission is not to show off okay picking back up verse six then jesus said to them my time has not yet come uh there is an important word there but we'll circle back to it probably but your time is always ready the world cannot hate you but it hates me because i testify of it that its works are evil you go up to this feast i am not going up yet to this feast for my time has not yet fully come and when he had said these things to them he remained in galilee so this conversation is probably happening presumably in nazareth right like in his hometown his uh brothers the sons of joseph are still there and so they get into this little you know conversation slash argument and jesus is like look if you're so excited about somebody going to the feast you can go to the feast my time has not yet come i'm going to remain here in galilee but thank you for your advice verse 10 but when his brothers had gone up then he also went up to the feast not openly but as it were in secret then the jews sought him at the feast and said where is he you get the sense that and ellen white does a great job of painting this it's like where's jesus is he coming right the healings have been on the uptick the feeding of the five thousand all of that news has percolated out everywhere where there was a jew that was living in expectation of the messiah which is to say every single jew all around even the larger mediterranean area they're like hey is is jesus coming is jesus of nazareth coming but he purposefully goes up in secret people are saying where is he verse 12 and there was much complaining among the people concerning him some said oh he's really good he's awesome i saw him do x y z i heard him say x y z a friend of a friend of mine was healed but others said no no on the contrary he's he's a deceiver he deceives the people so he's a controversial figure people aren't quite sure where to put him because as we've mentioned many times he doesn't fit nicely and neatly any to into any of the assigned boxes and so some think he's great and others think he's a deceiver verse 13 however no one spoke openly of him for fear of the jews for that is to say for fear of the jewish leadership see people aren't talking openly they're kind of keeping their mouths hushed tones to one another in the evenings in their tents their booths but they're not like publicly asking about jesus presence they were keeping it on the dl as much as was possible verse 14. now about the middle of the feast jesus went up into the temple and talked about what what what what and the scene that ellen white paints on this is absolutely phenomenal i mean in very skeletal form here very bare bones form here john's just like and he showed up at the feast and he went into the middle of the temple and he taught but you're going to have to let your imagination do a little bit of work here because it's like that is a bombshell that takes courage and bravery and audacity to show up in the in the final feast the culmination of the jewish festival year at the temple and just to start teaching the people publicly right in the middle of the grand ceremony again we're going to get to that in a second but whoa whoa that's a bare bones account there in john it just says now about the middle of the feast jesus went up to the temple and taught and the jews marveled saying how does this man know letters having never studied and jesus answered them and said and that's where we're just going to stop we'll pick that up tomorrow i am going to jump down now to verses 37 to 39 which says on that last day that great day of the feast jesus stood and cried out talk about a public scene talk about a public spectacle he cried out he shouted with a loud voice if anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink he who believes in me as the scripture has said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water but this he spoke concerning the spirit whom those believing in him would receive for the holy spirit was not yet given because jesus was not yet glorified okay again this incredible section because we just skipped basically 16 to 36 20 verses right in the middle of all of this we're gonna pick up tomorrow in the chapter among snares but but we've got to just set the tone for how audacious and amazing jesus appearance at the feast of tabernacles here is it's remarkable and we're going to start from the beginning and i just want to say that in these opening one two three four five six seven eight eight paragraphs i could literally read you the first eight paragraphs because she does such an incredible job of painting this beautiful picture of what the feast of tabernacles felt like and i don't know if you had the same experience that i had but i was like i want to go there i wanted to be there did anybody else read that account and think yeah yeah can i go can i get tickets can i go to that that sounds absolutely amazing because what the feast of tabernacles was was a reminder to the jewish nation of their wilderness wanderings they dwelt in these like tents that were made out of the bows on the branches of trees that were like these little lean twos that you would set up either against like a building wall or against a tree and they dwelt in these booths these little tents like a it was a reminder of their wanderings in the wilderness their ancestors wanderings in the wilderness and in a way it was designed to remind them that this world is not their home that they are not permanent residents here they are transitory right they're they're moving from here to a better place that god has something bigger and better in mind it was basically like a giant corporate collective camping trip and not just a camping trip any ordinary camping trip but a camping trip that was infused with all of this spiritual imagery when all of this with all of this celebration singing music shouting it was celebratory it was amazing now she does say that during the period of captivity these annual feasts were no longer kept right um egw writing says you must go to jerusalem during a festival it is amazing i have no doubt about that daryl i mean when i read this chapter i i felt giddy i was like wow why can't our religious gatherings be more like this and i've been to some great great camp meetings over the years and they're awesome they're really really good but but sometimes as the speaker for the camp meetings i'm like staying in a hotel and uh it just then i show up at the camp meeting and and i'd much rather be like in a tent you know camping and i'll tell you oh i probably can't tell you that i got i got some stuff lined up but i i don't want to say something that may may not actually occur but anyway i read this and i was like ah i want to be there i want to be there i want to see that now she also says though that amidst some of the celebration and amid some of the pomp that that the actual meaning of the ceremony was lost and and this is one of the tensions i mentioned that there are a couple significant tensions when i read this through several times this morning i was like yeah i see i see what she's done there so one of the tensions is that there's this celebration there's this pomp and it's surrounded by all of this religious imagery and this religiously significant um ceremonies these religiously significant ceremonies but that the thing to which the ceremony pointed the thing to which the festival pointed had been somewhat lost sight of and the thing that pointed to the reality had actually become the thing itself and this is what hap this is how idolatry is birthed even in christian contexts right originally many of the idols that came to be deified and idolized in sort of the medieval period they were just supposed to be windows or conduits or tools that allowed the mind to access the reality of the thing described in for example eastern orthodoxy they have iconography these sort of paintings that you've no doubt seen that are painted in a very you know a certain kind of style where the faces are long and and normally sort of some muted colors and halos and symbols and all of this this eastern orthodox iconography and the idea the original idea behind iconography was that these figures were purposefully painted in an otherworldly way in a kind of distorted way and these paintings that adorned the churches of eastern orthodoxy were were viewed like windows right they were like you could stand there and you could look into another world a different world an alien world they were supposed to be windows into which you could access the reality but as with the icons and with the idols in the medieval church catholicism the things became the object themselves and the things became venerated rather than a vehicle through which to see the reality which is god and by the way this is why god expressly said to moses atop sinai summit he reminded moses to remind the people they saw no form right like you didn't see me you heard my voice but you saw no form you saw the sun thunder you heard the light you you saw the lightning you heard the thunder but you didn't see anything that you could craft into an image and that was because god understood that there is a natural inclination in the human heart to deify and idolize things and then to mistake that the thing actually points to something to the reality and they make the thing the thing right and this happened in judaism it happens even in the church it can happen even in the church people can do this with all kinds of really beautiful institutions like the foot washing service or tithe or the sabbath or even a church service itself we can turn the thing into the thing when the thing actually points to something and so even though ellen white does a great job here a fantastic job of pointing to the celebratory nature i mean just listen to some of these words um celebration i'm in now the what third paragraph celebration rejoicing thanksgiving universal joy she uses that word uh that phrase a couple times the city bore the appearance of a beautiful forest oh isn't that cool isn't that cool and then she says in the evening there would be like this artificial light everybody in their little booze and their little tents and singing song thanksgiving i'm just reading here celebrated rejoicing with all kinds of music mingled with shouts of hosanna again universal joy song praise and then she says this was quite interesting that the the festival was kind of it had a twin meaning i thought this was interesting this is right at the beginning of paragraph four the feast was not only the harvest thanksgiving but the memorial of god's protecting care over the israelites and the wilderness and so there was this sort of twin complementary meanings one was the wilderness wanderings and the other was the harvest because eventually after the wilderness wanderings the israelites settled down into their land they had their plots their farms their gardens and then at the end of the year at the end of the harvest year they would bring at the feast of tabernacles these gifts and these these bounties from their harvest that year and so it was a harvest festival not unlike american thanksgiving but more religious more expressly religious but it also the dwelling in the booths and in the tents was a reminder of their wilderness wanderings and so it's all very beautiful i'm turning the page now she says the music the waving of palm branches the glad hosannas the great concourse of people over whom the light streamed from the hanging lamps the array of priests and the majesty of the ceremonies combined to make a scene that deeply impressed the beholders but most of the most impressive ceremony of the feast the one that called forth the greatest rejoicing was the one commemorating an event in the wilderness sojourn and then she says the trumpets they would sound and um glad shouts and echoing from hill to hill place to place more music and then the priest and she does a really great job of describing how there at the temple the priest would go down with a large pitcher and he would scoop some water up he would walk up the temple stairs and then he would pour he had a pitcher of wine and a pitcher of water and he would pour them into this these large basins these like lavers that were held by uh priests that then had these like pipes that ran down into the kidron river and then out into the dead sea and this was designed to signify the striking of the rock and the speaking to the fact that the rock had provided water for the children of israel in the wilderness right so this is like uh numbers 20. okay numbers chapter 20. this like water coming out of the rock i think it's also exodus 17. i could be wrong about that one so so this is like the most amazing ceremony i'll just read this here this display of consecrated water i'm in the paragraph that begins he bore the pitcher or the flagon to the altar in fact i'll just read that whole paragraph he bore the flag into the altar which occupied a central position in the court of the priests there were two silver basins with a priest standing at each one the flagon of water was poured into one and a flagging of wine into the other and the contents of both flowed into a pipe which communicated with the kidron and was conducted out to the dead sea this display of the consecrated water represented the fountain that at the command of god had gushed from the rock to quench the thirst of the children of israel yeah that's exodus 17 i'm almost sure then the jubilant strangs strains rang forth for yah the lord is my strength and song therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation okay all of this she says was designed to impress the senses it was beautiful it was celebratory it was a time of fellowship connection conversation socializing but also steeped in this religious significance but she says that for many the thing became kind of an event itself like something to attend and uh yeah there's nothing wrong with that there's nothing wrong with sort of these social events where we connect with one another in the context of church or of religion but too often and i've seen this myself in my own churches that i've pastored the potluck or the the gathering becomes the end in itself rather than a giant celebration of god's goodness god's graciousness and an opportunity to invite people in to that fellowship and into that celebration and we need to be continually on guard against the inclination to idolatry to deify the thing rather than the thing to which um the shadow points right and that's what's happening here it was it was basically a giant production okay it was a giant production and i've gotten in trouble for saying this over the years and i don't want to be misunderstood but i'm just going to say it anyway i'm not a big fan and never have been of like religious productions and and church productions and i've been the you know the guest speaker at many of these and i i try not to make a big deal about it but for me when i go into a situation and i'm preaching i don't like the lights all down and the the lights the moving lights and the fog machines and the that that's not ah that doesn't work for me that doesn't appeal to me and i feel like when i've seen that too often the the whole production value the entertainment value is like look at what's happening on the stage look at the band and look at the lights and you know i've just been in these situations too often where the production outshines the thing and this can be done in both conservative and you know more uh progressive and contemporary ways so i'm not taking a shot here at contemporary praise songs this can happen either way for me i'd rather just be there with you know sure bring a guitar bring some instruments and let's sing but keep the lights on and ditch the fog machines and i don't need any laser lights that doesn't doesn't work for me now look i know some people are really into it but i feel like there's always that danger that what we're creating especially for the young people is like oh no we need to put on a show and when we put on a show then we obfuscate the actual thing which is that jesus coming into individual hearts and communing in that personal connection is eclipsed by the show and i'm i'm not telling you just some opinion that i have i've seen this i've seen it in dozens of situations and in occasions where i've been invited to speak i'd much rather be in an open room a bright room with the light turns on turned on people have their bibles and yeah we're singing some songs and singing loud and rejoicing and i'm hey i'm even happy with some shouting of joy and i got i'm all about that right as far as just the authenticity and the the rawness of really worshiping jesus i just don't need all the accoutrements and the reason is not that i'm being a fuddy-duddy or fussy it's just that i know that when we do that we run the risk of creating a production and a religious event that then eclipses the thing and by the way that's the tension that's one of the two tensions i'm going to highlight here because you got this great big beautiful religious production and every detail she even says that when the priest went up the steps he went up in time to the music right the whole thing has been well produced you've got people with the headsets on the microphones okay cue get ready and three two one the priest is walking right you know you can i've been in these situations and when jesus shows up all of that pomp disappears it's just teaching jesus shows up and he just starts teaching and jesus teaching and the beauty of his teaching and the invitation which we'll get to in a moment of the teaching eclipses all of the thing and jesus she makes this point and she does it really well i think that because of the natural inclination of the human heart to sort of venerate religious stuff and to idolize religious stuff this is not just something that happened in eastern orthodoxy or medieval catholicism it can happen to us it can happen to us and she does a great job i think of articulating that okay so before we get there we have to have this little dialogue this little conversation that we mentioned briefly um with regards to the conversation that jesus had with his brothers the sons of joseph as she calls them and i'm at the bottom of page 524 of the types and symbols and 450 of the original and this line is a thread and we've noted this many times where ellen white will pull threads from previous chapters into the next chapter she does this very well to keep the story moving right this is just good writing and so she says this so the sons of joseph they're getting ready and they're they're like hey why isn't jesus getting ready isn't jesus going to go and i really like this it says they watched him with anxiety this is the paragraph that begins as the sons of joseph made preparation they watched him with anxiety since the healing at bethesda he had not attended the national gatherings that's back in john chapter five right so it's been a while and then this to avoid useless conflict with the leaders at jerusalem he had restricted his labors to galilee did you see that to avoid useless conflict we talked about that extensively yesterday to not unnecessarily or needlessly enter into conflict when it can be avoided and she uses that very language here to avoid useless conflict with the leaders at jerusalem jesus was a controversial figure and he did find himself in hostile confrontational situations with the religious leaders but that was out of necessity jesus wasn't provoking or purposely creating hostility he could have done a lot more right but he actually tried to avoid controversy but because the the ministry and mission of jesus and the work of the religious leaders were at such cross purposes conflict was inevitable but even though conflict and confrontation was inevitable jesus did his best best to minimize it and so i just love the fact that she pulls that little thread here to to avoid unnecessary conflict we talked yesterday about romans 14 she quotes romans 15 1. really great tie into yesterday's chapter and then you have this conversation that jesus has with the with his brothers and she describes that the brothers were not pleased with the way that jesus was conducting himself with regards to the religious authorities we've made this point before as well now i'm on page 525 same paragraph actually the very same paragraph but jumping down a little bit it says um in his teachings he had dwelt upon the blessing of obedience to the law of god yes that was a feature of his a significant feature of jesus teaching yet he himself seemed to be indifferent to the service which had been divinely established now this is a great point so jesus is advocating faithfulness to god obedience to god prioritizing seeking first the kingdom of god prioritizing god and yet it was a little confusing to people like the sons of joseph and the disciples and others hey why isn't he playing by the rules a little more why isn't he in jerusalem why isn't he attending the feast why isn't he washing his hands and sort of playing by the rules well jesus knows that many of the things that were regarded as expressly biblical had in fact been and she uses this word earlier perverted so that his participation in those things would have actually been to of sanction would have would have sanctioned unbiblical ideas and unbiblical notions and so jesus is very strategic that's the right word jesus is very strategic in the things that he does and the things that he doesn't do for example when jesus healed the leper he did say go to the priests and present yourself to be you know viewed as clean go present yourself bring the appropriate offering so jesus here we talked about this in the chapter on the healing of the leper is extending an olive branch to the religious leader saying hey look i can sign off on the stuff that's expressly biblical but many of these traditions these rabbinical traditions that have put barriers and boundaries around the plain teaching of scripture he couldn't sign off on that and so jesus absence from some of the religious festivals was regarded by some as flouting and and uh disregarding the commands of god but jesus knew what he was doing and he did so strategically now let me just read the next sentence because it's a great great sentence it's a great um passage here his mingling with the tax collectors and others of ill repute great language his disregard of the rabbinical observances the freedom with which he set aside the traditional requirements she's giving a list here concerning the sabbath all seem to place him in antagonism to the religious authorities exciting much questioning and i forgot my pen here okay this is a very important theme that emerges in this chapter and i'm just going to kind of because i'm short on time today i'm just going to kind of give it to you early that word authority there is an important word in this chapter very very very important word and this is another tension that ellen white introduces the assumed authority of the religious teachers because they occupied the temple they had the right clothes they were going through the ceremonies they had the big production they occupied the place of estimation in the minds of the jews and in the minds for example of jesus brothers like they're the authorities they're the ones and people were confused by jesus non-acquiescence to the authority's ways of doing things and so she says that here he was perceived as being antagonistic well he was he wasn't unnecessarily antagonistic but where the word of god where scripture came into direct conflict with the religious leaders and teachers of his day and their traditions and their rights and ceremonies particularly those that were designed to cut them off from the common people from the heathen from the samaritans from the people of ill repute jesus would not sanction them so again jesus is walking this very fine line of agreeing on every point where he can affirming on every point where he can we saw the temple tax yesterday jesus should not have paid that temple tax he was under no obligation to pay it not legally not morally he was a prophet he was a priest he was king of kings and lord of lords but when peter unwisely and ill-advisedly obligated him to pay the temple tax he did it so as not to arouse again useless conflict so jesus is walking this very fine line of standing for principle but not being unnecessarily obnoxious and antagonistic whoa can you say lesson for us can you say lesson for us in these incredibly politically polarized times in which we live like basically don't be unnecessarily obnoxious agree in every place where you can and i know and i'm not going to go on a political rant here i promise but i know that politicians and the media that cover these politicians want there to be drama drama sells antagonism sells conflict sells division sells because it fires people up it fires up the fan base it files fires up the party and then they ra be them okay fine fine but just know that you're being played you're being played you're being played by the media and you're being played by the politicians when god has given us a whole new set of glasses a whole new set of glasses where we look not at every opportunity to be dismissive of someone or antagonistic or to get into an argument or a conflict but to find those points of connection and commonality which we all have in christ in creation and in redemption okay we would all probably do really well for ourselves if we would turn off the television and stop paying attention to these inflammatory incendiary voices that actually make their money on people being at odds with one another okay so jesus here is walking this line where he's trying to obey everything that scripture advises right because he was himself of course the giver of torah but he cannot go along with stuff that obviously is not biblical and actually obfuscates and clouds scripture okay so it's not an easy line now let me just read the next sentence his brothers thought it was a mistake for him to alienate the great and learned men of the nation okay this is very important this reference to the great and learned men of the nation is no doubt a reference to the religious leaders the scribes the pharisees the lawyers the the elders and this is what is called it's actually a very poor argument it's kind of logical fallacy actually it's what's called the argument from authority the argument from authority so you're having a conversation with somebody and you're trying to you know you know figure out the truth of a point and somebody says well so and so said so and so believes that's an argument from authority oh he went to you know whatever harvard and he was okay this is an argument from authority an argument from authority does not actually strengthen the essence of the argument itself the argument either stands on its own or doesn't whatever the point is that's being made to say well did you know what so in fact this actually happens in the gospels when some people start to believe in jesus people go hey um have any of the scribes or pharisees believed that's an argument from authority and it's it's a form of of a related fallacy called the genetic fallacy and the genetic fallacy is basically the idea that the truthfulness of a thing or the value of a thing is connected to its origin and who originated it and who endorses it right now the the truth stands on its own the truth stands on its own but the brothers are like hey look these men are wise these men are learned they've been put in this position by god and you should not find yourself in antagonism with them this is the argument from authority of course they don't understand that if they want to play the argument with authority card jesus himself possesses supreme authority because he is you know god in the flesh they don't yet know this or understand this of course but the argument from authorities on full display here next sentence they felt that these men must be in the right they must be in the right the argument from authority and that jesus was at fault and then she goes on to describe that they part of the reason they wanted jesus to go up to the festival and to show off a little bit was because they took a kind of selfish ambitious pride in the fact that he was their brother so there's this again a weird tension they're advising him and she actually says that they spoke to him with authority they were kind of trying to tell them off they were older right they viewed themselves as kind of having some of authority especially after the passing of joseph they would have kind of assumed that paternal role and they think that they're going to sort of talk to him and tell him what to do and so they're they're kind of bossing him around but they also kind of like it that he's popular and oh yeah yeah yeah jesus of nazareth you've heard of him you heard of him yeah yeah he's my brother yeah that's my brother you heard about the feeding of the 5 000 yeah that was just the men they were women and children there as well yeah i don't want to brag but that's my brother you know you can so there's this they want to manipulate jesus control jesus steer jesus to benefit themselves and you know they're going to be elevated in their own minds if jesus could just get it get on along a little better with the religious leaders so there it looks like they're advising him hey jesus this is what's best for you what they're really doing is advising him on what's best for them and this mentality is very much like the mentality of the disciples in fact i actually wrote that here the brothers are not unlike the disciples i wrote that in the margin then the next paragraph i thought was quite interesting because the word if occurs four times if you do these things show yourself to the world the if expressed doubt and unbelief they attributed cowardice and weakness to him if he knew that he was the messiah why would this strange was why this strange reserve and inaction if he really possessed power why not go boldly to jerusalem and assert his claims why not perform in jerusalem the wonderful works that have been reported of him in galilee okay this has got the wilderness temptation written all over it and it's clearly satanic i'm actually surprised that ellen white doesn't hear reference the wilderness temptation because it's got that same satanic if you are the son of god then do something to prove it and that's the brothers here they're echoing that satanic insinuation of doubt that jesus was not really who he thought he was and and who he claimed to be right if you are if you are if you are and their reasoning is perfectly worldly it makes a lot of sense from a worldly perspective hey you've done all this great stuff in the north why not go down to jerusalem and do all this great stuff at a giant public gathering and then she says this would unite the nation and establish the new kingdom so here the brothers are only reflecting the thinking of the disciples though the disciples are slowly growing out of that slowly and they're kind of depressed and discouraged right now in fact i don't think there's really any mention of the disciples at all in this chapter because jesus has told them much to their astonishment that he's going to be crucified and he's going to be betrayed and it's a mess so so the disciples thinking is slowly morphing on this but this thinking reflects i'm on the next page page 526 451 paragraph begins these brothers of jesus reasoned it reflects the selfish motive so often found in the heart of those ambitious for display i'm reading now this spirit was the ruling spirit of the world they were offended because instead of seeking a temporal throne jesus had declared himself to be the bread of life they were greatly disappointed when so many of his disciples forsook him so they want jesus popularity to rise because they think all ships are going to rise with the tide and our ship is closest to jesus because we're his brothers right we have the same earthly well mother and our dad and his dad etc so they're they think they're members of the family it's kind of the same thing that we saw earlier hey there are some waiting outside you know your mother and your brothers are outside and jesus responds with a not so mild rebuke hey who are my family members who are my mothers and my mother and my brothers and my sisters those that do the will of god but they've still kind of bought into this idea that they can advise jesus but they're not advising him for his own best interest they don't even understand his mission or his identity they're just advising him because they have they have a vested interest in jesus popularity and in jesus becoming some revered figure revered religious figure so she actually says this in that same paragraph and actually the next paragraph the one that begins then jesus said to them i'll just read that then jesus said to them my time is not yet come she's just quoting here from john seven but your time is always ready the world cannot hate you the world hates me because i testify of it that its works are evil this is the antagonism that we talked about you go up this feast i'm not yet going up to the feast for my time has not yet fully come i really like the use of the word come here in this chapter we'll come to that in just a second when he had said these things to them he remained in galilee and then this line here i thought was very interesting his brothers had spoken to him in a tone of authority okay there's that word again authority the argument from authority the religious leaders the brothers exercising their authority people looking up to the priests with all of their pomp and their performance and their circumstance presenting themselves as possessing authority this is very this has a very similar ring to like the the feel of medieval catholicism where the cardinals and the popes and the priests all dressed up in this regalia and these giant big cathedrals and you know very you know well-defined religious ceremonies and rights and traditions that were designed to awe the senses and cause whoa these are the religious people they must be the religious people just look at them listen to them they're jibber-jabbering on in a language that none of us even understand because the mass was done in latin for a large part of the medieval period in fact for all of it i think so so it just was designed to be impressive like wow you know it was an argument from authority those giant cathedrals that you go to in europe and they're beautiful architecturally they're beautiful but they were designed to communicate we're authority we're the ones we're the priests that minister here and that's what's happening at the temple so there are these very interesting crossovers between because let me just say this between sort of medieval catholicism even eastern orthodoxy to some degree and the judaism that is being described here because that theme of making the thing the thing rather than the thing pointing to the capital t thing jesus god it it's just the natural inclination of the human heart to idolize and venerate the thing that's so proximate why do you think aaron was like hey we'll make a golden calf because people wanted something to to worship they wanted some object that they could see that they could venerate and this inclination in the human heart has not left it still is in us today we have to resist it we have to resist it this is why john at the end of his epistle there in first john like the literally the last thing he says is little children keep yourselves from idols and today our idols are not made of wood or of stoner of metal today our idols are celebrities influencers movie stars money security we have our own idols we're just a little more sophisticated in the way that we do idolatry right but no jesus is the thing right jesus is the thing we should be striving to make jesus famous and so um they speak to him in this tone of authority that's a key idea here this tone of authority um then i really liked this paragraph i'm going to read that next paragraph the world for christ i thought this was so good the world for christ is not a was not a place of ease and self-aggrandizement self-exaltation he was not watching for an opportunity to seize its power and its glory no it held no such prize for him um i like that it was the place into which his father had sent him he had been given for the life of the world oh to work out the great plan of redemption that's why he says my time has not yet come i'm working on another timetable another plan i'm doing a whole other thing over here the great plan of redemption he was accomplishing his work for the fallen race but he was not to be presumptuous not to rush into danger not to hasten a crisis each event in his work had an appointed hour strategy we've noted that many times had an appointed hour he must wait patiently he knew that he was to receive the world's hatred he knew that his work would would result in his death he's known that since he was 12 years old when he saw the lamb slain right he knew this but to prematurely expose himself would not be the will of the father i thought that was really beautiful there jesus was not trying to leverage opportunities to become famous right and to amass followers we've already seen that he has called away followers on occasion by saying things that were hard for them to hear right to decrease his popularity and remaining in remote and out of the way locations so that he could primarily do what what did we see last chapter pour into his disciples right so jesus was not you know a clout chaser he was the opposite he was actually strategically doing things that were visible like the cleansing of the temple and the healing of the man at the pool of bethesda but very often he was like don't tell anybody about this and sneaking away to the eastern shore of the sea of galilee or into the hill country of phoenicia so he was always strategic and the brothers advised him like hey go up there and show yourself off again because they know that's going to reflect well on them or at least they think so um and then she goes on to this section where she basically says jesus absence from the feast was noted in this we read in john chapter seven people are like where is he where is he where is he people weren't saying it out loud because for fear of the authority for fear of the religious authority but there was kind of the whisper in the air where is he and the thought of him was uppermost in all minds though the fear of the priests and rulers none dared to acknowledge him as the messiah again authority there was quiet yet earnest discussion concerning him many defended him as one from god while others denounced him as a deceiver next paragraph which begins meanwhile jesus had quietly arrived at jerusalem jumped down to the middle of that paragraph had he joined any of the caravans that went up to the feast public attention would have been attracted to him on his entrance into the city and a popular demonstration in his favor would have aroused the authorities there's that word again this word is very important in this chapter authority authority authority and i might as well tell you that i committed not the unpardonable sin but a sin just below the unpardonable sin in the d.a with d.a challenge once again to my own astonishment as well as to yours no doubt i pulled a hannah suarez and i have two words she sometimes has like half a dozen words or a dozen but i have two words today and i just couldn't choose between the two words and as you might have guessed one of my words is authority because the way i might as well just cut to the chase here because i only have a few more minutes the resolution the resolve of this whole authority thing is going to resolve when jesus stands up and teaches with true simplicity and true clarity and true authority his authority did not need pomp it didn't need circumstance it didn't need performance it didn't need all of the things all of the accoutrements that surrounded and propped up the religious leaders authority of the day jesus authority was embedded in his life his character and his teachings i want to say that again jesus authority was embedded within his own life within his teachings and within his character and i often say this and and i don't want you to misunderstand me just as a slight little side point here i am a big fan of christian apologetics that is giving an answer or a reason or a defense for the believability and rationality of the christian faith i've read many many many many books on christian apologetics especially in the first 10 years of my christian experience but more and more my argument for the believability of the bible the authority of the bible the authenticity of the bible is the bible itself the bible possesses an authority that that as it says in hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 the word of god is is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of the joints in morrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart the proof of the bible is the bible itself if you come to this book with an open heart and an open mind and you present yourself to god and say god reveal to me if this is your word god will do that unfailingly he will do that in the same way that the written word contains within itself the authority just a humble book but it contains within itself the experiential historical evidentiary authority that anybody who wants to know will know he that has an ear let him hear jesus had that same thing for anybody that wanted to know the authority of jesus was not embedded in any externalities in any accoutrements or or performance that propped him up jesus just shows up and starts teaching the people and the people are like whoa he taught them with authority and the text actually uses that word and i love this scene okay the next paragraph i just wrote scene and i've done this several times and i've pointed it out just this scene right here three exclamation points absolutely incredible check this out in the midst of the feast right this is that sort of skeletal reference in john in verse 14 john 7 14 where it just says now about the middle of the feast jesus went up into the temple and taught oh yeah that's very bare bones right like this was a scene because remember there's this sort of electric awareness and anticipation in the crowd like is he coming is he coming have you heard and some people are like that deceiver we don't want that guy to show up no no no a friend of a friend of mine was healed and and i ate some of the bread or a friend of mine ate some of the bread there when he fed the five thousand and betsayada and you know there's this like energy in the air and so when jesus shows up i mean it's like can't you see it can't you can't you feel it i mean wow and i want to read this in the midst of the feast when the excitement concerning him was at its height he entered the court of the temple in the presence of the multitude i feel it i got hair standing up in the back of my neck right now because of his absence because of his absence from the feast it had been urged that he dared not place himself in the power of the priests and rulers be careful be careful these guys are out to get you these guys are trying to kill you john says that right at the beginning of chapter seven all were surprised at his presence every voice was hushed authority he just shows up and just his presence without any externalities just every voice was hushed all wondered at the dignity and courage of his bearing his bearing in the midst of powerful enemies who were thirsting for his life whoa whoa man you know i just got to tell you this i think one thing that's going to happen in the new heaven and the new earth i think one of the things that we're going to get to do is that jesus will show us god will show us the actual movie of the life of jesus all 30 plus years of it i i think this is going to happen i think we'll be able to go sit down in the equivalent of movie theaters or maybe god will just you know you know project it across the sky and we will be able to see these scenes i cannot wait to see that movie i want to watch all 33 years or 32 years of jesus life over and over and over again and i think this is one of the things we're going to do in heaven it's going to be infinitely more amazing than netflix and and i want to see that scene here are the people she says that are thirsting for his life that hate him to the core of their being because he's a threat to their authority and a threat to their popularity with the people and he just stands there how does she say it he just stands there with dignity and they were wondered at the dignity and courage of his bearing in the midst of powerful enemies who are thirsting for his life i want to see that scene can't you feel that ah man standing thus the center of attraction it reminds me of the chapter what two chapters before one chapter before when the disciples saw jesus on the mount of transfiguration she says he was standing there in god-like form that's another scene i want to see standing there and god that's jesus right here but but he shouldn't be intimidating i mean there's just nothing about him that should be intimidating or imposing he's just he's just like a rabbi you know he's guys dressed in just ordinary clothes and what is it about him did he have huge muscles no no it was his life his character it was the purity embedded within him right and again we've got to make the analog here with scripture people have tried to be dismissive of scripture destroy scripture undermine scripture critics and skeptics for for centuries and yet look here it is here it is and it's still revered by many hundreds of millions billions of people on earth it's not this bible's not going anywhere because the authority of scripture the truth of scripture is embedded in the content itself because the holy spirit does this miraculous thing that only the holy spirit can do in scripture and so why would jesus be intimidating and posing he wasn't but he was standing thus at the center of attraction to that vast throng jesus addressed them as no man had ever done oh this has got very sermon on the mount feel to it right at the end of the sermon on the mount there they all wonder they marveled at his teaching because he taught them with authority and not as the scribes and the pharisees right as no one had ever done his words showed a knowledge of the laws and instructions of israel of the sacrificial service and of the teachings of the prophets far exceeding the priests and rabbis he broke through the barriers of formalism and tradition the scenes of the future life seemed outspread before him as one who beheld the unseen he spoke of the earthly and the heavenly the human and the divine with positive authority that's for me that's it right there that's that's it right there with positive authority his words were most clear and convincing and again at capernaum that people were astonished at his teaching for his word was with authority jump down uh two to that very short paragraph that begins as jesus spoke with him in the temple court 453 of the original 528 of the types and symbols listen to this as jesus spoke in the temple court the people were held spellbound right no ostentatious presentation here just jesus just talking just exegeting scripture explaining scripture the people were spellbound the very men who were the most violent against him felt themselves powerless all their authority was gone powerless to do him harm and for the time all other interests were forgotten and then here's my second word and i'm going to wrap it up with this the punchline is on that final great day of the feast jesus stands up and you get the sense here that jesus taught for several days i mean she says that day after day he taught the people this wasn't just like a one-off it wasn't like one hour jesus had this almost this like impenetrable force field around him of divinity and of protection and of authority that no one even thought about trying to in any way intercede or interpose themselves between jesus and the people divinity is on full display here and not the nature of divinity but the power of divinity in the authority in the content in the teaching in the life in the purity the character that's the way to say it the character of divinity is on full display here not the nature of divinity because he just looked like a man he just looked like a six foot tall 185 pound dude but the way his bearing his dignity and then what does he say what's the punch line here here's my second word his presence liberta very good yes oh maria king asks is refreshed your second word no no the second word is come come because right in the middle of all this he says come to me and drink if anyone thirsts let him come to me this is an echo of matthew chapter 11 28-30 come to me all you that labor and are heavy late and i will give you come the invitation the welcoming invitation jesus here presents himself as the rock because remember this whole ceremony is designed to point to the rock in the wilderness that gave water to the thirsting israelites in in the dryness of the desert and paul will later say decades later paul will say in first corinthians chapter 10 christ was the rock but that's what jesus is saying here that's what jesus is saying here he's saying christ i'm the rock come to me and drink and not with all of the pouring and the you know walking in time with the step and the wine and the all of that yeah yeah that's nice that's neat that's an interesting performance but i'm not here with the shadow i'm here with the substance come to me and drink all of you i am the rock that followed israel in the wilderness it's absolutely incredible jesus knew the wants of the soul now this is the other tension where the resolve where all of that pomp and and and circumstance and and externalities of the festival hold can't hold a candle to jesus invitation and jesus authority listen to this the paragraph that again jesus knew the wants of the soul notice how she contrasts this oh wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait i can't do that i got to quickly read the paragraph before very quickly the priest that had that morning performed the ceremony which commemorated the striking of the rock in the wilderness that rock was a symbol of him who by his death would cause living streams of salvation to flow to all who were thirst christ's words were the water of life there in the presence of the assembled multitude he set himself apart to be struck that the water of life might flow out to the world wow so powerful in striking christ satan thought to destroy the prince of life but from the struck rock there flowed living water as jesus thus spoke to the people their hearts thrilled with a strange aw authority and many were ready to exclaim as the woman of samaria had done give me this water that i may not thirst next paragraph jesus knew the wants of the soul pomp riches honor cannot satisfy the heart if anyone thirsts let him come to me the rich the poor the high the low all alike are welcome why does he welcome us because he promises to relieve number one the burden mind number two to comfort the sorrowing and number three to give hope to the despondent many of those who heard jesus were mourners and over disappointed hopes and many were nourishing a secret grief many were seeking to satisfy the restless longing with the things of the world and the praise of men i'm just going to keep reading but when all was gained they found that they had toiled only to reach a broken sister in a broken well from which they could not quench their thirst amid the glitter of the joyous scene they stood dissatisfied and sad because these externalities of religion can't satisfy the deepest longings of the soul and sometimes they become almost like idols and we we mistake the shadow for the substance that sudden cry if anyone thirsts startled them from their sorrowful meditation and as they listen to the words that followed the words of authority their minds kindled with a new hope the holy spirit presented the symbol before them that's why it's so powerful because it's not just what jesus is saying it's what the holy spirit is saying to them inside it is what the holy spirit is saying to all the priests that were thirsting for his life the holy spirit saying sit down and shut up sit down and listen sit down and learn you will not be getting up you will not be laying holds on this man i mean they were spellbound they were paralyzed not just because of the external authority that jesus was projecting in the clarity and beauty of his teaching because the holy spirit is saying sit down young man and listen and learn wow the holy spirit presented the symbol before them until they saw in it the offer of the priceless gift of salvation she says in the next paragraph in fact it's the last paragraph the fountain is open for all come to me and drink let him who thirsts come wild now this doesn't get us out of john chapter 17 because we are going to be back in it tomorrow the chapter titled among snares but friends if that scene if that scene and that invitation to come to me come to me jesus is standing before the temple as the temple he's standing in the middle of the ceremony about the rock as the rock he is preaching the word he is standing there as the word and authority is just emanating out of him again not in any external you know this isn't the amount of transfiguration he's not shining like the sun the authority is contained in the content of what he's saying and in the purity of his character and of his life and the people are like wow all of this religiosity has not satisfied the soul but this invitation to come people were being drawn to him and friends if that scene doesn't light you up i don't know what will okay let's quickly do the so the words are for me authority and come and i just couldn't i couldn't decide between the two sylvia says the rock is also a symbol of god's constant immutable character and the water symbol of his dynamic relationship and personality with us oh i like that the the rock being stable and the rock the water being fluid oh that's good very good leave it to sylvia to have an excellent insight um friends this is so beautiful so my words were authority because that's clearly on display here but how can we resist the word come in this chapter come to me come to me and this is jesus invitation she says he welcomed everyone the high and the low the rich and the poor the in and the out the healthy and the disease the jew and the non-jew everybody can come okay let me hear what some of your words were quickly thirst good word um oh authority somebody has here authority great word jesus is the authoritative word maxine says agree authority words oh lisa says he focused on the need of the soul agree lisa 503 7 taylor says yes amen agree okay here's some words fountain great word nitro wellspring love it juxtaposition interesting i love that word and i like the way it fits into this chapter symbol says envy drink says lindbergh priceless says judy deb says satisfy appointed like that um thirstying oh jerry i like that very cool uh water fountain living water great refreshed great divine great thirsting great christian good word i like the word thirsting i do like it i like it a lot actually in this context humility great window great my word is jesus yeah that's the word for every chapter that's cheating hope refreshing authority excellent read the same page there and love yep very good he says come with authority ooh gay man 44. i like that very good refreshing fountain goodness unpretentious majesty ooh hydrated oh that's very that's very good i like that um fountain hip city girl says fountain yeah good stuff okay quickly the rubric i didn't even actually write the rubric down today because i was in such a rush but i can do it fairly easily what's the point of this chapter i think the point in fact i wrote it here i just wrote it at the top of this chapter sometimes i do that there it is authority and come authority and come and i'll read you what i wrote here i said there is a tension in this chapter the authority with which jesus speaks and conducts himself but also the tender welcoming and accessible tone he takes in inviting all to come to me authority and accessibility and approachability are held in tension but in jesus somehow there is no tension between these ideas so a man of incredible authority but also approachable also available also accessible tender and welcoming and certainly the religious leaders of the day were not tender and approachable and welcoming right they were afraid of being sullied by your very presence and so for me that captures the point of this chapter these these tensions where the simplicity of jesus with the pomp of the ceremony the authority of jesus with the assumed authority of the religious leaders to to unpack excuse me unpack these tensions that's the point what about the person what do we learn about the person of jesus well there are a great many things but i'm going to go with jesus possessed an authority that was rooted in his character and in the and in the purity of his life and that jesus is welcoming to all and friends i want you to feel that not just as a theological idea but i want you to feel that jesus word to you is come jesus welcomes you he wants you in his presence do not be afraid to come to jesus to approach jesus he says come are you thirsty of course you're thirsty are you needy of course you're needy do you need hope of course you need hope come to jesus and then he says this really great internal thing will happen where out of your own belly will flow rivers of living waters because the holy spirit does this thing and uh that's really cool there at the end of john chapter seven it's like verse 39. um so that's the person how can we pray this chapter well i think we can pray that that god will help us to not replace the simplicity and beauty of jesus with religion right whatever form that religion might take you know you've probably heard it said before and it's a little platitudinous but it's true that christianity is not primarily a religion it's a relationship that's true that's true and i think we can pray and say lord forgive me where i myself have perhaps been drawn to or even blinded by the externalities of religion help me to be drawn to the content of religion which is jesus the word that's the attraction by the way i'm not against a well orchestrated program i think it's great you know we should put on things that are done with excellence that are done well i'm just not in me personally i'm just not into the lights and the fog and the lasers and that then and the lights down i don't do the nightclub thing you know that just doesn't that's doesn't appeal to me but but the prayer here is jesus help me to be drawn to the authority the content of your teaching and even if i need to say no to some of the externalities so that i can keep it simple right you know the kiss the old kiss thing keep it simple saint keep it simple saint and then finally how can we practice this chapter i think that for me the practice on this chapter is very much like the practice for the chapter on the invitation and that is just to consistently come to jesus just to keep coming yet you failed come anyway you made a mistake yep just come you're riding high and everything's going great come come in your joyous moments come and you're down just keep coming to jesus if you keep finding yourself at the feet of jesus it's going to be okay it's going to be okay in one of the letters ellen white not only wrote these amazing books she wrote a lot of letters and in one of the letters that ellen white wrote she wrote to a young woman who was struggling with the assurance of salvation she was like how can i know how can i be sure i feel so dirty i feel so unclean and she basically said i'm paraphrasing here but this is pretty close she basically said if you come to jesus just as you are you are as safe as if you were inside the walls of the new jerusalem itself talk about security right so just keep coming to jesus if you keep coming to jesus it's going to turn out you will find yourself at some day in the not too distant future perhaps sitting right next to me and the rest of the d.a with the we'll have a d.a with d.a reunion there and we'll watch some of these scenes we will watch some of these scenes projected by god across the sky and we will see what it was like when jesus stood up in the middle of the feast and everybody was paralyzed by his authority and by the purity and simplicity of his character we'll get to watch that right and maybe we'll be even eating some popcorn but i think we'll just be weeping tears of joy celebration and we'll probably break out in spontaneous song at the beauty of jesus it's going to be incredible and i've got to run but i love you all this was an incredible chapter we'll be back in john chapter 7 tomorrow i'm going to close with a quick prayer father in heaven what a chapter this is what a picture of jesus this is father numerous times in reading this and presenting this i just had the hair sort of stand up on the back of my neck just to feel the uniquely wonderful person that jesus was and the uniquely authoritative person that jesus was father we are drawn to him you don't have to drive us with threats of fear or a punishment or the guilt of of shame and self-loathing father we just feel drawn to jesus whether we're high or low whether we're up or down whether we're depressed or riding high right now in celebration of life's goodness father whether we're ill or well whatever our condition father we can all come we can all come jesus said come to me all all you that labor and are heavy laden and father we are coming now we're thirsty and we need that water of life that jesus promised to the people here in john 7 and he promised to the samaritan woman in john 4 that well of water that will spring up into everlasting life such that we will never thirst again father we won't need to go to the right or to the left we'll say with peter of old where would we go this guy has the words of eternal life there is no better place to be than at the feet of jesus and father in a world that's being increasingly torn apart by all different kinds of things help us to find our safety our security and our sense of identity and place in the world at the feet of jesus in his word in his church in community and this is our prayer in jesus name amen and amen and amen god bless you all i love you so much i'll see you tomorrow should be again in the morning we'll be in chapter 50. tomorrow will be in the fives and uh it's all happening so quickly and it's flying by so i love you all have a great day and i'll see you tomorrow bye

Channel: David Asscherick

Views: 2,655

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: David Asscherick, Ellen White, Ellen G White, Arise, Light Bearers, EGWWritings, Seventh-day Adventist, Seventh day Adventist, SDA, Adventist, Adventists, Ty Gibson, DAwithDA, Desire of Ages

Id: fHS68oO19eM

Length: 80min 14sec (4814 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 12 2021