Welcome to Expound, our
verse-by-verse study of God's word. Our goal is to expand your
knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the word of God
in a way that is interactive, enjoyable, and congregational. Father, thank you
for the opportunity we have to, in the middle of
our week, put everything aside, come from different parts
of this city and even area, even the state--
for I know people who travel from a long distance
to come on Wednesday nights and enjoy your word. And Father, we open
our hearts, our hearts, individually to you. Father, we pray that you would
speak to us, that in speaking, Lord, that we would
hear your voice through the text of scripture. That the principles,
Lord, would sink, Lord, beneath just the ears
and into our very core and affect what we do, how we
think, how we treat people, how we make choices, and
even how we feel about life. We're giving you permission,
Lord, as the great physician to do heart surgery on each and
every one of us in Jesus' name. Amen. One of the things that I
loved about worship tonight and every time we
gather is the praise begins and it escalates
through the worship service. It's like layer upon layer upon
layer of an acknowledgement, a truth that we sing, and
another layer of praise and adoration. And I just love
the idea of telling God for about 30
minutes how cool He is and how much we love Him and
how much we appreciate Him. And I love that because
what we're going to read is the exact opposite. Chapter 7 takes a change from
the previous part of John where the hatred and animosity
toward Jesus escalates. It's layer upon
layer upon layer, and it increases until--
and we'll read it when we get to chapter 11, where
we read from that day forward they plotted on how they
might put Jesus to death. Jesus has been in Galilee. That's where we left
off in chapter 6. Now he is going to Jerusalem. And the Jewish leaders,
those in Judea, they have been eyeing him
since his first visit. They have heard
reports about him. Even though he has done miracles
in their midst, in their city, they will plot on how they
might put him to death. Now, between chapter 6 and
chapter 7 there is a gap. There is a gap of about a
half a year, about six months, leaving off in chapter 6
and going into chapter 7. And it's not that Jesus didn't
do anything for six months, like he took a
vacation and hung out and was laying out on the
beach at the Mediterranean Sea, hanging out with his disciples. He was very active,
and the activities are recorded in the first
three gospels, the Synoptics. But because John has
his own story to tell, these are just events
he doesn't include. So we have a gap chronologically
between chapter 6 and 7 of about six months. But then John wants to
chronologically orient us, and so he opens up chapter
7, "After these things"-- after the things that
happened in chapter 6 of John, as well as the other
accounts that are given. "After these things,
Jesus walked in Galilee, for he did not want
to walk in Judea down south because the Jews
sought to kill him. Now the Jews' Feast of the
Tabernacles was at hand." Tabernacles takes place in the
fall time of the year, late September, early October. It is a festival
of incredible joy. And I'll tell you
more about that as we go through the chapter. It is probably-- of all the
festivals, I love Passover, and I've been to Jerusalem
during this feast. But the joy and the celebration
and the anticipation for this feast, according to
Josephus, the Jewish historian, it was the most important, the
most significant, and the most joyful of all the feasts. Now, Tabernacles
was one of three what we call pilgrim feasts. And what that means
is no matter where you live within a
certain vicinity of the city of Jerusalem, you
will make it your ambition to go up three times
a year and celebrate these three feasts-- Passover,
Pentecost, Tabernacles. Or Pesach in Hebrew, Shavuot
for Pentecost, and Sukkot. Sukkot means booths. So the Feast of Tabernacles,
or the Feast of Booths, was celebrated by building
these little booths, these little shacks,
these little lean-tos, commemorating the wilderness
wanderings of their forefathers thousands of years
before when Moses led the children of
Israel through the desert. And they were camping
out under the stars, and God provided for them. Once a year they were to
come together and celebrate joyful feast for a whole
week, a total of eight days, celebrating that wilderness
march, that wilderness wandering, that happened
thousands of years before. Now, chapter 7 is
a long chapter. Can you see this got 53 verses? So maybe I'm too
ambitious thinking I can cover it in one night. I'd like to, but don't
hold your breath. However, as a long chapter,
it's easily divided. There are normal
divisions to it. And I thought I should tell
you what those divisions are so you can orient yourself. You ready? It's pretty easy. Chapter 7 can be divided
into the first section, before the feast; the second
section, during the feast; and the third section,
after the feast. That's exactly right. So verse 1 through
10 highlights on before the Feast of Tabernacles. Verse 11 through verse
39, during the Festival of Tabernacles. And verse 40 through 53, after. But I think we can
do better than that. You could look at it in terms of
the people's response to Jesus. And I would give
three words that would sum up chapter 7
of the gospel of John. The first word is disbelief. There are a group of people
who just do not believe in him. And interestingly,
his own brothers are part of that group. The ones he was raised
with in Nazareth are part of that
group, disbelief. Second, debate. People aren't sure who Jesus is. They're debating back and forth. Who is he? What do the leaders
think about him? And then finally, the
third word is division. Division, there's a
division over him, and it's very pronounced. So disbelief,
debate, and division are three words
that would sum up the gospel of John chapter 7. "After these things,
Jesus walked in Galilee for he did not want to walk in
Judea because the Jews sought to kill him." That is, the Jewish leaders,
the Sanhedrin in particular. "Now, the Jews' Feast of the
Tabernacles was at hand." Now, I told you that this
lasted a week, eight days. The first day and the
last day, the eighth day, were days of rest, days
of Shabbat, Sabbath. There was still a celebration,
and the celebrations took place in the temple. But they were days of rest with
the festival days in between. I mentioned that
booths were built, or these little lean-tos. So the way the law
required it be celebrated is that you build,
using branches, these little shanties,
these little shacks. And you have to construct
it so that the thatches, the branches, are
wide enough for you to see the stars at night. So get this. For a whole week, you go
camping with your family outside of your house. Now, for some people,
that wouldn't be too fun. But for others, especially
kids, that's fun. Hey boys, daughters. Let's move outside. We're going to sleep
outside tonight. And they're under the
stars, and they're going to ask, daddy, what
on earth are we doing here? And daddy would say, well, our
forefathers marched for years through the wilderness. And while they were out there
looking up at these same stars, God took care of them. God provided for them. Now, there were
certain things that occurred in Jerusalem to
commemorate the wilderness wanderings. One of them was that the
temple precincts at night were illuminated. They were lit up. And you say, how
were they lit up? There was no electricity. So they had these huge pots,
and they filled them with oil, and they had four of
these potted lamps to each pole that was erected
in the temple precincts. Now, keep in mind the
temple is 35 acres. So they would have these young
priests in training crawl up there and pour oil in so that
every night it was illuminated. And according to the writings,
it was so bright in Jerusalem that every courtyard of every
house in the city of Jerusalem at night felt the glow. You could see the
glow from the lights. We were just in New York. I was speaking in New
Jersey, and if you walk through New York City,
like Times Square, 1:00 in the morning, it's
as bright as daylight. If you've got a camera and
you're taking pictures, you don't even have
to have fast film. I mean, there's
just so much light. So the glow of Times
Square, those huge screens, they eliminate the whole city. So in Jesus' day with the
temple, it was illuminated. Now, what did that--
think of something that happened in the
wilderness wanderings that that would
be emblematic of. Do you remember what led
them through the wilderness? A pillar of fire by
night and a cloud by day. So the illumination of
the temple precincts were to remind people God gave
us a GPS system for 40 years. And then something
else occurred. The priest would walk
down from the temple down the steep slope to
the Gihon Spring, the water source of Jerusalem. Down into the City
of David, and he would take a gold pitcher,
and at the Pool of Siloam, fill it with water, go
back up to the temple, go up to the altar of
sacrifice, and pour water at the base of the altar. So you have water on
the rocks of the altar. What would that be an emblem of? Water coming out of the
rock in the wilderness. They didn't have water. God said go up and
smack that rock. Just touch it with your rod. And water flowed
out of the rock. So to give people,
especially kids, the visual of God's provision
and protection in the desert, those things were done. And I just love that. I love it. What a fun way to go to church. Let's go camping. So the Feast of Tabernacles in
Jerusalem, it was a holy feast, but it was a fun feast. It was a joyous feast. And the kids-- there were
games, and there were stories. And I love the idea that it
made it fun for the kids. And they were told to have
joy in their celebration. Verse 3. "His brothers"-- Jesus'
brothers, therefore-- "said to him, 'Depart from
here"-- here being Galilee-- "and go into Judea,
where Jerusalem is, that your disciples also may see
the works that you are doing. 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.' For even"-- and notice this--
"for even his brothers did not believe in him. And Jesus said to them,
'My time has not yet come. 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 yet going
up to the feast, for my time has not yet come." Now, when it says his brothers,
it means his half brothers. We know that Jesus was born
by the Holy Spirit conceiving in the womb of Mary, an
immaculate conception. Jesus was born of a virgin. She had never had any relations,
physical relations, with a man. Jesus came from her womb. But after that,
the Bible indicates in a few different
texts that they had normal marital
relationships, and that they had
boys and girls. Jesus had brothers and sisters. And Matthew chapter
13 verse 55 actually gives us the names
of his brothers. James was one of them. Joses, J-O-S-E-S, an early
form of the word Joseph, was another brother of
Jesus, half brother of Jesus. So he was the junior because
it was Mary and Joseph. So this was Joe Jr. So you had
Simon, James, Joe Jr., Simon-- not Peter, but a different
guy named Simon, "Shimon," and Judas. Not Iscariot, Judas,
the brother of Jesus. So here's what's interesting. At this point in the
story, they do not believe that Jesus
is the Messiah. They will believe
eventually, of course. Because James, the
half brother of Jesus, will become the leader of
the church in Jerusalem eventually in the Book of Acts. He will also write the
epistle, the letter from James to the church, the general
epistle of the Book of James. Also, Judas, the long
form of Jude, Jude will write the Book of Jude. That is the half
brother of Jesus. But here it says they
did not believe in him. Which I find interesting,
and I find encouraging. I do. I bet if I were to
ask some of you, you would say that
your family is the hardest of
all the people you know to reach with the gospel. For some of you, you have
been talking to and working on and praying for
and given tracts to and shouting Bible
verses at, slipping a tract into sandwiches. I don't know what you do. Anything you can do to get
their attention, for years. But they know you. They watched you grow up. And I remember, it was
so difficult to share it with my family. Other people, strangers
I could talk to, and they would be receptive. But when it comes
to your own family-- so it interesting that Jesus'
own brothers at this point did not believe that
he was the Messiah? They will, as I mentioned. But right now, they do not. There's unbelief
in their hearts. So they make a suggestion. It's interesting that
they're giving Jesus advice. Jesus, we would like
to be your agent here. We think you're doing
things a little wrong. You're kind of doing
things backward. You're hanging out here in
Galilee, the back woods, the back waters. You need to go
where the action is. If you want to prove
that you're the Messiah, don't stay up in Galilee. And so verse four, "No one does
anything in secret while he himself seeks to
be known openly. If you do these things,
show yourself to the world." Now, why are they
telling Jesus that he ought to go to Jerusalem? I can think of a couple reasons. The first one,
just a thought that comes to mind though,
it's not the real reason. But they are brothers. And there is such a
thing as sibling rivalry. You have to think that
living with Jesus was awfully difficult. Don't you think? As a brother, a half brother? I mean, Jesus is
perfect all the time. He never does anything wrong. It'd be miserable to
live with somebody like that as a brother. I just remember when my parents
thought my brother's were perfect, and they weren't. And I would get in trouble. I was the youngest of four boys. I would get the rap
for something they did. And it's like, they would,
oh, look at your brother Jim or Rick or Bob. And it's like, whatever. But it was true with Jesus. He was perfect. So hey, maybe they know
they don't like him down in Jerusalem. Jesus, you ought to
go down to Jerusalem. But here's another reason. I think it's really the reason. They-- his brothers,
his half brothers-- along with all the
other Jews at the time believed that the Messiah was
to be a political Messiah. A political Messiah. A deliverer. Somebody who would come in
and overthrow the powers that be and rescue Israel from
the oppression of the Roman government and set
them up as heirs of a kingdom, which the
Messiah would preside over. So here's the suggestion. Go to Jerusalem. Don't be hidden up
here in Galilee. The acid test for
your Messiahship is, do the leaders
down in Judea sign off on you being the Messiah? If they do, maybe there's
something to your claims. If you can do down there
what you've been pulling off up here with all of
these crowds, well maybe there's something to it. So they give them advice. Now, it wasn't good
spiritual advice, but it was good
political advice. If Jesus were a
political Messiah, this makes perfect sense. Go where the action is. Go to Jerusalem. Prove yourself. But it wasn't God's advice. It might have been good advice
from a human perspective, but it was not God's advice. Because there's
this little thing called perfect timing
that Jesus was hung up on. He would often say, my
time is not yet come. When his mother suggested
the turning of water into wine and making that as
an initial display, he said, my time has not yet come. And he often spoke
about this time table. And we see here, verse
6, "Jesus said to them, 'My time has not yet come. Your time is always ready." What does he mean by that? They don't hate you
guys down in Jerusalem. You're one of them. The world doesn't hate you. The world hates me. You go along with them. You're not telling them that
they're doing anything wrong. Notice what he says
in the next verse. "The world cannot hate
you, but it hates me." Now, listen carefully, you
disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, you followers of him. The world hates Jesus Christ. So when you wonder, why are
all those television specials coming out of
Christmas and Easter trying to debunk Christianity? Another one, another one. Why do people seemingly
go out of their way-- your professors at college,
your colleagues at work-- to target not
Islam, not Buddhism, but you, Christianity. Jesus said so. "The world hates me
because I testify of it, that its works are evil." Oh, that's why they hate Jesus. You know, Jesus spoke about sin. Today, Jesus, if he
were to come today, he would be called a hater. What a hater. He's always condemning,
talking about sin. He's coming to forgive sin,
like we're all sinners. He would. He would be called a hater. He said its deeds are evil. And he testified of it by his
own life, by his own words. You go up to the
feast, Jesus said. I am not yet going
up to this feast, for my time has not yet come. So they gave him advice. Jesus didn't take their advice. Is there a principle
here for us? Yes, there is,
psalm one. "Blessed is the man who does not walk
in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way
of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law
of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night." The counsel of the ungodly. It might even come from your
own relatives, ungodly counsel. It might be
well-meaning counsel, but it still might
be ungodly counsel. So Jesus listened
to their advice, and then he dismissed
their advice. He didn't take it. Thank you. Not going up. See you. You guys go. It's not my time yet. Not the right time. Now, this begs a question. Could the enemies of
Jesus down in Judea, could they have killed him
if he would have gone up to the feast early? What's the answer? Could they have killed
him at this time, six months before the cross
really was going to happen? No, not at all. Because his time
had not yet come. So all of his life was under
the perfect prescription and timetable of his father. However, the other principle is,
you don't want to court danger unnecessarily. You don't want to tempt
the Lord your God. You don't want to
do something that is going to cause
a revolt. That's why when they tried to make
him a king in chapter 6, he withdrew from their midst. He wasn't going to allow it. And the way he
didn't allow it is by escaping from their
midst, hiding himself. So he waits, tells
them to go up. Verse 9. "When he had said
these things to them, he remained in Galilee"--
that is, for a few days. "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, saying, where is he? And there was much
complaining among the people concerning him. Some said, he is good. Others said, no,
on the contrary, he deceives the people." Now, which of those
two opinions are wrong? Actually, both are wrong. They said he's good. That's wrong. It's inaccurate. That doesn't go far enough. He's not good. He's God. Now, Jesus said no
one is good but God. But listen, if he were just a
man, he couldn't be a good man. Because good men don't run
around saying, I'm God. I know a lot of good men. If they say I'm God,
they're not good men. They're crazy. They're deceivers. It's like, ah. So to say he's just a good
man does not go far enough, doesn't give an
accurate picture of him. So it's inaccurate. It's wrong. The other one, he deceives the
people, is also flatly wrong. These are rumors flying around. Jesus said I am the way,
the truth, the life. He was all about the truth. Even before Pilate,
he spoke the truth. And Pilate was amazed at how
honest and truthful he was. However, verse 13. "No one spoke openly of
him for fear of the Jews. Now, about the
middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the
temple, and he taught." It says that nobody said
anything in verse 13 or spoke openly of him
because of fear of the Jews. Proverbs 29, the fear
of man brings a snare. The fear of man brings a snare. When you do something
or don't do anything because you're afraid of
people, afraid of their opinions about you, it's a prison. It's a horrible way to live. And some of us get offended
by what is said about us or not said about
us on social media. They didn't mention me on
Facebook or in this Instagram. Where's my picture? They took all the other
people's pictures. If we could rise above the fear
of people, it brings a snare. The fear of man brings a snare. But whoever trusts in
the Lord-- same proverb, same verse-- will be safe. I've always loved Paul's
words in Galatians chapter 1. He said, "Do I
seek to please men? For if I sought to please
men, I could no longer be a bond slave
of Jesus Christ." Now, if you want
to please God, you don't have to really worry
about-- if you worry about what God thinks about you, you
don't have to worry about what anybody else thinks about you. The fear of the Lord
frees you from the snare of the fear of men. Or look at it this way. If you can get on
your knees before God, you can get on your
feet before any man. If you just bow
before Him, and you're concerned about pleasing
Him and loving Him and what He thinks
about your life, it just sets you free
from the fear of the Jews. Now, having said that, I
don't want you to think I'm all perfect and I've
never been afraid of people's opinions of myself. Listen, I've been in
plenty of situations where I've been afraid
to speak out for Jesus. We all have. We get intimidated
by an intellect or by somebody bold or
a certain situation. And I remember the
first time I wanted to share the gospel with a guy
I worked with at a gas station. I worked at a gas station. But this guy was a
popular kid in class, and everybody knew
him in the community. And I was just so
afraid that he's going to think I'm a dork
if I tell him I love Jesus. He's going to say something,
and he's going to shut me down. So I remember the day I
decided, today's the day. Today I'm going to open my mouth
and tell-- listen to his name-- Angus Macintosh. I know you're thinking, that guy
was a cool kid in your school? What kind of a crazy
school did you go to? But Angus Macintosh was
one of the cool cats. And I walked up to him, and
I stumbled over a few words. And then something
just kicked in. I couldn't explain it. I know now what it is. But I couldn't explain
it at the time. It's just like, firing up
the engine, just vroom, start it up. And I found myself
sharing with him and sharing boldly with him. And then some even
eloquent words came out. And I thought, where'd
that come from? You've had that experience, when
the Lord just kicks it in gear and overcomes the fear. And then once that
fear is overcome, they can't shut you up. Well, let me tell you
about this, and why that. Wait a minute, come back here. You want to lay it on. But I tell you what, it's
just beautiful when you can be free from the fear of men. Now, "Jesus"-- verse 14-- "about
the middle of the feast"-- so it's a eight day feast. Around day four, he shows up. Festivities have been underway. The booths are all around
Jerusalem, these little shacks and lean-tos on top of
houses out in the streets, you see them everywhere. "Jesus went into the temple,
and he"-- what does it say? "He taught." He taught. In the temple area,
the Temple Mount-- and if you've gone
with us to Jerusalem, you're picturing right now that
35 acre complex, the Temple Mount. 2,000 years ago on
that flat surface that is still in existence
today, the Temple Mount, there were two covered
porches, covered porticoes, colonnaded porticoes. One was called the Royal Porch. The other was called Solomon's
Portico, or Solomon's Porch. They did not service espresso
at the one in Jerusalem. But these were areas where
people could congregate, and they were covered
because it was shaded. And if you ever
go to Israel, you understand why you need shade. It's sort of like here. It's intense sun. So rabbis would often go under
the Royal Porch or Solomon's Portico and just find people
who were gathered there also to have a rabbi
come by and listen to sermons and teachings and
explanations, stories, wisdom. It was here, while Jesus
was in Jerusalem, that he would find a ready audience. He and his disciples would go
to Solomon's Porch or the Royal Porch and engage, like lots of
rabbis, and would draw a crowd, gather a crowd. But it says he taught. Now, I just want to bring
that to your attention. Because we often find
in the New Testament Jesus preaching and teaching. In fact, the three
major things he did was teaching,
preaching, and healing. Now, when he preached,
or he proclaimed, it was-- and I see
preaching primarily as making a
proclamation of truth to win the unsaved
into the kingdom. Then I see teaching as once
they have been preached to and they respond and
come into the kingdom, now they are to be taught. Now, preaching is exciting. You see immediate results. I was back in New Jersey and
Sunday night, we had a meeting. I asked people to come forward. It was at a Methodist camp. And they said, we
don't see a lot of it, but we want more of it. And so just to watch
people come forward, you see an immediate response. You know what it's like. We see it a lot around here. It's awesome. That's preaching. But now, once they respond,
you need to be teaching them. Whereas preaching is exciting
and you see immediate results, teaching is a bit slower. You don't see immediate results,
but you see long term results. Think of the difference being
between a house going up. You can pour a cement
slab, and you can put up the framing in a couple days. It's awfully exciting
to see it go up. It takes shape. You go, wow. Look at it. But then building
from that point on to finishing date, closing
date, takes a long time. Got to put the drywall
up, insulation in. There's got to be
electrical has to come in. You have to do all the
detail, work, et cetera. The process takes a long time. But you are building
on the foundation. And we love to
preach the gospel, but we also love
to teach the Bible. Because we want to build
solidity on the foundation that you have received and see
you grow deep and grow strong. And it's a slower process. It's verse by verse. It's chapter by chapter. It's book by book. It's an hour at a time. But eventually, you find your
faith growing, and it's solid, and it's unshakable. So Jesus went to the
temple, and he taught. "And the Jews marveled,
saying, 'How does this man, this Jesus, how does
this man know letters, having never studied?" Now, you just need to
understand that that is the equivalent of
saying, how does this guy know so much stuff
without a seminary degree, without a college education? They're not saying
Jesus is not educated, but he didn't go to one
of our seminaries, one of our recognized schools. In Jerusalem at that
time, there were about 30 what are called yeshivas. And a yeshiva, if you know
anything about Judaism, are schools of learning. And you go to yeshiva to
be taught the Torah and now the Talmud and the writings
of the sages, the Wisdom. And the yeshivas would teach
young men how to be rabbis. Jesus didn't go to any of them. But he had such a depth
and such a wisdom. But these leaders, they marvel. How did he get this wisdom
without us giving it to him? Who are Jesus' disciples? They were fishermen. They were blue collar workers. He didn't go to seminaries. He didn't go to yeshivas. He didn't go to the Sanhedrin. He didn't knock on Nicodemus's
door saying, you know what? Man, you're just like so
amazing and so brilliant. You're a teacher of the law. I need you on my team. He got Peter and John, and you
know the story of these guys. Fishermen. And in Acts chapter 4, when
the fishermen, the disciples, get arrested and brought
before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish leaders,
it says that they marveled at them like this. They marveled at them. Because they knew
that they were-- listen to what it says--
uneducated and untrained men, but they had perceived that
they had been with Jesus. Now, I would rather
have people who are with Jesus than
those who are formally trained and educated. I know a lot of people who are
formally trained and educated. They don't spend
much time with Jesus. But people who spend a
lot of time with Jesus and don't have the education,
give me those guys. And so you have
these fishermen who had been with Jesus
for three years. Talk about a seminary education. You're with the master. You're hearing him. You're watching him. You're observing him. Oh, by the way, do you
remember Matthew chapter 11 Jesus praying? Father, I thank you that
you have hidden these things from the wise and
the prudent, and you have revealed them to babes. Isn't that beautiful? It seems that the
Lord is looking for just open vessels,
humble people who would say, I want to learn. I want to grow. And God will reveal
himself to you. And oftentimes he'll hide some
of the most profound truths from some of the most
erudite individuals. "Jesus answered"-- verse
16-- "and said to them, 'My doctrine"-- my teaching--
"my doctrine is not mine, but His who sent me. If anyone wills
to do His will, he shall know concerning the
doctrine whether it is from God or whether I speak
on my own authority. He who speaks from himself
seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of
the one who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness
is in him." Now, I want to ask
you two questions. These really bring up two
good questions for us. Do you want to do His will? That's the first question. Do you want to do His will? That's an important question
because Saul of Tarsus, who was Jewish,
rabbinical, knew the law, was knocked off his horse
on the way to Damascus. And once God got his attention,
the first question he said is, Lord, what do
you want me to do? What do you want me to do? It's a good question. Do you want to do what
He wants you to do? Now, I ask the
question because it seems that there is a
lot of people who say, I want to know the will of God,
but tell me what it is first. Before I really say yes, I want
to-- tell me what it is first. Barnhouse, Donald
Gray Barnhouse, once said 95% of
knowing the will of God is being willing to do it
before you know it it is. Are you willing to do what
He wants-- anyone wills to-- and here it is-- do His will. Not just study it, not just
underline it, not just hear it, but do it. Do it. The key to learning is obeying. Or, if you prefer, the
key to learning is living. I am going to live by God's
grace what is revealed to me. So that's the first question. Do you really want
to do His will? The second thing in verse
18, the second question, is whose glory is it
that you're after? Whose glory is it
that you're after? God's glory, or your glory? Do you want to be
in the limelight? Hey, you didn't recognize me. You did you didn't
mention my name. You didn't thank me for that. People need to
know how good I am. You need to exonerate me. And some people want to
serve the Lord in a way that they get glory. They're noticed. They're always in the limelight. I love Moses. Moses didn't even want the job. I'm not even qualified
for the job, he said. I can't even speak. God said, I want you. You're going to be
my spokesperson. But I stutter. You're the man. This is going to work. Because I'm pretty good
at fixing guys like you. But he just didn't want it. And I love finding those who
are sort of reluctant to be in the ministry. I'm not saying that-- well,
let me put it to you this way. I had a good friend
of mine who helped me start this fellowship
in its early stages. And I remember him saying
specifically to me, don't put me in front of people. I'm not good at it. I hate it. I like to be the guy who's
turning on the lights, making sure the air is OK,
getting coffee going for people after the Bible study. So I knew that next
time I was out of town, that's the guy I'm going to
ask to fill the pulpit for me. And I did. And he was nervous. And he hated me for it. Until he did it. And when he did it, it
was so well received, and people were
so blessed, and he had such a very unique
gift of communicating. And he grew out of it. But it's always an
important question. Whose glory is it
that you're after? You see, God is looking for
vessels, vessels to use. But have you ever
taken something from a container, a vessel, and
when you eat it or drink it, you can taste the vessel
that it's been in? It's like, what's
that funny taste? Oh, that's the taste
of the container. if you have canned
peaches, you're tasting the can along
with the peaches. Just saying. And I remember my mom
had this little tub that she used to put milk in,
and she'd mix powdered milk in it in those days. Yeah, I know. So we did that. And then when she ever tried
to use it for anything else, to put orange juice
inside, it was polluted. It tasted like powdered milk. So some people are vessels of
God, but you taste the vessel. And the Bible says
we have this treasure and-- do you remember
what the verse says? Earthen vessels, clay pots. Make sure that people
don't taste the pot. I'm too close to Colorado. Let me say it a
different way. [LAUGHTER] Make sure that they don't
taste the vessel as much as the contents of the vessel. Verse 19. "Did not
Moses give you the law? And yet none of
you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?" Now he's pointing
out their irony. These leaders, these lovers of
the law, lovers of the Torah, speaking about touting how
great the law of Moses is. And the law says
this, and quoting this rabbi and that rabbi about
the law, the law, the law. Jesus said, you tout
the law, but you're trying to break the
sixth commandment, that is killing me. They're plotting to kill him. Now that is a reality
that is going on, and it will say that
as much very shortly. But not everybody is aware of
that, or they're denying that. For notice it says in verse 20,
"The people answered and said, you have a demon. You're crazy. Who is seeking to kill you?" Now, what's
interesting, that's what they said about John the
Baptist as well, that he was demon possessed. "Jesus answered and said
to them, 'I did one work, and you all marvel." He's referring to the
miracle in chapter 5 about a year before
that, when he was at another feast, probably
the Feast of Tabernacles, a year prior. He's at the pool of Bethesda. There was a man who had been
laid there for 38 years. You know the story. Jesus healed him. Do you want to be made well? And he was made well. And it happened around
the temple courts because the man went into
the temple to worship God. So it was a notable miracle. That's what he's referring to. "I did one work,
and you all marvel. Moses therefore gave
you circumcision, not that it was from Moses,
but from the fathers, and you circumcise a
man on the Sabbath." Why does he bring
up the Sabbath? Because when Jesus healed the
man at the pool of Bethesda in John chapter 5, they
were all bummed out that the man was
healed on the Sabbath. I mean, what they should have
said is, a dude got healed? We've never seen
that before ever. We've never done that. It happened? Wow! They said, it happened
on the Sabbath. I mean, they're so rigid. So he's bringing up the Sabbath. He said, "You circumcise
on the Sabbath. If a man receives
circumcision on the Sabbath"-- a man being a man child, male
child, an eight-day-old baby-- "so that the law of Moses
should not be broken, are you angry with me because
I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?" Do you see what he's doing? This is the classic argument
from lesser to greater. Now they have the
ritual of circumcision. Every male Jew on the eighth
day of that child's life went through the
ritual of circumcision, cutting around the
foreskin of the flesh as a sign of the
covenant to God. Mentioned in Genesis 17,
Leviticus chapter 12, and other places. Well, you can't
control when the baby's going to be born, which
means the eighth day might fall on the Sabbath day. Oh, but you can't
break the Sabbath. Can you? Well, they did, in effect. They circumcised
on the Sabbath day, which you're not supposed to do
ordinary things, ordinary work, on the Sabbath. But they circumcised a child. Why? Because circumcision takes
precedence over the Sabbath. So Jesus, in arguing from
lesser to greater, OK then. You cleanse one member of a male
baby's body on the Sabbath day to circumcise him,
and you're mad at me that I make a whole person
healed on the Sabbath day? In fact, you by
circumcision are taking away something from
that person, and I am giving to a person wholeness,
newness of life, a fresh start. Very powerful argument. "Do not judge"-- verse 24--
"Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with
the righteous judgement." Now, that is the flip
side to Matthew sermon on the mount, where
Jesus said, judge not that you be not judged. And I find everybody
loves to quote that when you're
holding somebody accountable for something
in their life, and they go, don't judge, bro. Judge not that
you be not judged. Well, Jesus on the
other hand said judge a righteous judgement. You can't censoriously
hypocritically judge someone and consign them to
eternal damnation. But you can make an evaluation
if you know all the facts and circumstances. In fact, he calls you to
make a righteous judgement. "Do not judge according
to appearance, but judge with
righteous judgment. Now some of them from
Jerusalem said, 'Is this not he whom they seek to kill?" See, Jesus said, you're
trying to kill me. And they go, you have a demon. Nobody's trying to kill you. And they're going, psst,
hey, isn't this the guy they're trying to off? They're trying to
bounce this guy away. "But look, he speaks boldly,
and they say nothing to him. Do the rulers know indeed that
this is truly the Christ?" In other words, you have a
crowd that is utterly confused because of their leaders. Their leaders have not
taken a public stand because they're
afraid of the crowd. Just as people won't
speak up because they're afraid of the Jewish
leaders, the Jewish leaders are afraid of crowd control
because lots of people love Jesus. So the leaders have been
ambiguous to put their flag down and say we're for him,
you ought to be for him too, or to say he's wrong. But that's going to change. Again, there's a growing
animosity as we go through. "However, we know
where this man is from. But when the Messiah
comes"-- when Christ comes-- "no one knows where he is from." Now, you need to
understand what that means. I just lost my whole place. You need to understand
what that means. They said, no one
knows where he's from. There was a misconception. There was a tradition based
upon misinterpretations of Old Testament scripture. The tradition was this. Messiah is going to come. Nobody's going to
know where he's from. He's going to come
all of a sudden. Nobody's going to know. And then suddenly, bam. Here he is. That was their tradition. Why was that their tradition? Because they misinterpreted
two Old Testament texts. One was Isaiah chapter 53, I
think it is around verse 8, where Isaiah says, but who
will declare his generation? They misinterpreted
that question, who will declare his
generation, to mean nobody will know where he's from. The other scripture was Malachi
chapter 3, the Old Testament book of Malachi chapter 3. It says, but the
Lord whom you seek will suddenly come
to his temple. So based on the
misinterpretation of those two texts, a superstitious
tradition developed that the Messiah will
just pop out of nowhere, show up, and deliver the
Jews from the oppression and take over the
world basically. Now, that wasn't scriptural. The Bible tells exactly
where the Messiah is going to come from,
Micah chapter 5 verse 2. But you Bethlehem down
in Judah, the Messiah is going to come from you. You know the verse. Enough said on that. Now I got to find my place. Ah, "but we know
where he is from. Then Jesus cried out as
he taught in the temple." He raised his voice now. He's yelling. He's getting
everybody's attention. "You both know me, and
you know where I am from. And I have not come
of myself, but He who sent me is true
whom you do not know. But I know Him, for I am
from Him, and He sent me. Therefore, they
sought to take him, but no one laid a hand on him
because his hour had not yet come. And many of the people
believed in Him and said, 'When Christ comes, will he
do more signs than these which this man has done?' The
Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these
things concerning him. And the Pharisees and
the chief priests"-- or the leading priests--
"sent officers to take him"-- to apprehend him, to arrest him. "Then Jesus said to them,
'I shall be with you a little while longer, and
then I go to Him who sent me." Now, we understand
what that means. Because we understand
who Jesus is. And we know that Jesus rose
from the dead and ascended into heaven. But they have a different
view of Messiah. They don't believe
he's the Messiah. He's just a dude in the
temple making these claims. So they don't really
get what he's saying. "You will seek me, and
you will not find me. And where I am, you cannot
come.' Then the Jews said among themselves, 'Where does he
intend to go that we shall not find him? Does he intend to go to the
dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What is this thing
that he has said, you will seek me
and not find me, and where I am you cannot come?" Now, you see the term
dispersion in your Bibles? The technical term
for that-- in fact, the term from which we
get the word dispersion is the Greek word diaspora. And some of you are
familiar with the term. The diaspora were Jews who were
scattered all over the world. They weren't in Jerusalem. They weren't in Israel. They weren't locals. And so they're thinking, is
he planning a trip outside of the borders of
Israel to speak to Jews in Gentile regions, and
even to Gentiles themselves? Now, why would they
ask the question? Because if he's leaving here,
if he's planning a trip outside and he's going to be
speaking to Gentiles, well this is a further
reason to reject him. He can't be our Messiah if
he's going to include Gentiles. I mean, even Jews living
in Gentile regions, to some of them, were sketchy. Galileans were sketchy to
people down in Jerusalem. They were very, very narrow. So they asked the question. What does he mean by this? They're longing to find out. "On the last day"-- verse 37--
oh, I'm looking at the time. Time's up. We have two minutes
to take communion. Am I right? Is that right? This is what happens. And the best is yet to come. I mean, listen, the
real gem of the chapter is in the next two verses. Two verses. Listen, you've got to love
those kids and those teachers over there who are saying that
you're going to keep a promise and be on time. So we're going to come back
to this, if you don't mind. But this is taking
place six months before Jesus will do what
this communion signifies. The breaking of his body,
the shedding of his blood, the sacrifice upon the cross. The Feast of Tabernacles
taking place about six months before the next
feast of Passover. This is where the dominoes
tip down in Judea. And they will plot how
they might destroy him. He will be back at
the Passover, and when he's back at the Passover,
he's going to heal his friend. The most incredible
healing ever. He's going to raise
Lazarus from the dead. And that will be the trigger
that causes them to say, we've got to get him, and we've
got to nail him to a cross and get rid of him
as soon as possible. What they do not realize
is that it has always been the plan of God to
send his son into the world to die the cruel death of
a sacrificial crucifixion to atone for our sins. Revelation 13, "He is the lamb
crucified from the foundations of the earth." So would you take
your communion cup. Would you take the
clear covering off and get to the bread. And would you bow your heads. Father, we bow not
because the Bible tells us to bow our heads. It does speak about
the bowing of the body and the humility of the heart. We signify that simply
by a bowed head, an honor to you, in worship of you. We hold this piece
of bread that speaks of the broken body
of Jesus, something he knew was coming, something
he predicted would happen, something he
educated and informed his disciples would be the case. It was forward for them. It is looking backward for us. We look back on it. And we're told to do it often
in remembrance of Jesus. You're holding that
bread in one hand, and I just wonder,
while your head is bowed and your eyes are closed,
I'm going to open my eyes. If you have never given
your life to Christ, or you need to come back him
and get right with him, if you just raise
your hand right now, with your other hand. Just raise it up. Keep it up for just a moment
so I can acknowledge you. God bless you and you and
you and you in the middle. Anybody else? Raise that hand up. God bless you right
up here in the front. God bless you. Anyone else? Right there in the
middle, yes ma'am. Awesome. Anyone else? Raise it up. To my right, toward the back. I see you guys. You can all put your hands down. Would you, where you are,
if you raised your hand, would you talk to
the Lord right now? And let's make the transaction. Would you say,
Lord, I'm a sinner. I know that. I've offended you, and
I'm sorry for my sin. I put my faith in--
I believe in Jesus. Tell him that. I believe in Jesus,
that he died on a cross for me, that he rose
from the dead for me. And I turn from my past, and
I turn to Jesus as my Savior. I want to live for
him as my Lord. Help me. In Jesus' name, amen. Now, all of you who have raised
your hand along with all of us together as believers in
the Lord Jesus Christ, let's take the bread symbolizing
that we acknowledge and we receive his work on our behalf. And then if you peel
open that lavender foil, and you're holding in your
hand the fruit of the vine, here it's grape juice. In the New Testament
at Passover, Jesus took the fourth cup
of wine in the Passover meal and said this is the
cup that signifies my blood shed for you for
the remission of sins. So we are holding an
emblem of his sacrifice. And when we drink it, we're
taking that sacrifice-- it's a visual reminder that
we have participated willingly in letting Jesus take
away, bear away our sins, take them far away from us on
his own body by his own blood. And we are forgiven sinners. We are forgiven, and thus
we're children of God. Lord, thank you for this
emblem of your sacrifice in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's drink together. If you've missed any
of our Expound studies, all of our services
and resources are available at expoundabq.org.
