66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
Jesus at the Feast of Booths
7:1 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews1 were seeking to kill him. 2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. 3 So his brothers2 said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For not even his brothers believed in him. 6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not3 going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee.
10 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. 11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” 12 And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” 13 Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.
14 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. 15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning,4 when he has never studied?” 16 So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s5 will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. 18 The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. 22 Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
Can This Be the Christ?
25 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? 26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? 27 But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” 28 So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. 29 I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” 30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”
Footnotes
[1] 7:1 Or Judeans; Greek Ioudaioi probably refers here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, in that time [2] 7:3 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 5, 10 [3] 7:8 Some manuscripts add yet [4] 7:15 Or this man knows his letters [5] 7:17 Greek his
66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
Jesus at the Feast of Booths
7:1 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews1 were seeking to kill him. 2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. 3 So his brothers2 said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For not even his brothers believed in him. 6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not3 going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee.
10 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. 11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” 12 And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” 13 Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.
14 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. 15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning,4 when he has never studied?” 16 So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s5 will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. 18 The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. 22 Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
Can This Be the Christ?
25 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? 26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? 27 But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” 28 So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. 29 I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” 30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”
Footnotes
[1] 7:1 Or Judeans; Greek Ioudaioi probably refers here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, in that time [2] 7:3 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 5, 10 [3] 7:8 Some manuscripts add yet [4]7:15 Or this man knows his letters [5]7:17 Greek his
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:
Good afternoon. It's good to see you all. We're gonna be continuing our study of John's gospel. We're gonna be picking up, at the last little bit of John chapter 6, and then, looking at the first 31 verses of John 7. So if you would go ahead and grab your bibles, it's also in your worship guides.
Jeffrey Heine:
We've been in this study for a while, and, it's it's always a joy to to dig into this text to really see what's going on here, to to pay attention to what Jesus is saying. And we're going to be getting into a number of red letter words tonight. And so it's a it's a privilege to be with you during this time. So let's turn our attention now to God's word. First John chapter 6 beginning with verse 66.
Jeffrey Heine:
And let us listen carefully for this is God's word. After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the 12, do you want to go away as well? And Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life and we have believed and we have come to know that you are the holy one of God.
Jeffrey Heine:
Chapter 7 verse 1. After this, Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him. And now the Jews feast of booths was at hand. So his brothers said to him, leave here and go to Judea that your disciples also may see the works that you are doing.
Jeffrey Heine:
For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For not even his brothers believed in him. And Jesus said to them, my time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.
Jeffrey Heine:
You go up to the feast. I'm not going up to this feast for my time has not yet fully come. Then after saying this, he remained in Galilee. But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but in private. The Jews were looking for him at the feast and saying, where is he?
Jeffrey Heine:
And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, he is a good man, others said, no. He is leading the people astray. Yet, for fear of the Jews, no one spoke openly of him. About the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching.
Jeffrey Heine:
The Jews therefore marveled, saying, how is it that this man has learning when he has never studied? So Jesus answered them, my teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. Has not Moses given you the law yet none of you keeps the law?
Jeffrey Heine:
Why do you seek to kill me? The crowd answered, you have a demon. Who is seeking to kill you? And Jesus answered them, I did one work, and you marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision, not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers, and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.
Jeffrey Heine:
And if on the Sabbath, a man receives circumcision so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath, I made a man's whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, is not this the man whom they seek to kill? And here he is speaking openly, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ?
Jeffrey Heine:
But we know where this man comes from. And when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from. So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, you know me and you know where I come from, but I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.
Jeffrey Heine:
So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. Yet, many of the people believed in him, and they said, when the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done? The word of the Lord. Let's pray. God, we thank you for your word.
Jeffrey Heine:
We thank you for your servant, John, who wrote it down for us, and we thank you for this church family as a place to come together under your word and listen for you to speak to us. And so we ask that by your spirit you would. Not only in the reading of your word, but but now as we seek to understand it and respond to it. Lord, help us to know and to believe that today is the day of salvation and that we can turn to you because of your grace and your goodness and believe. So help us, Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:
Your servants are listening. Amen. At the turn of the 20th century, if you were to pick up the Sunday New York Times I don't know how many of you you still take a paper, but if you, if you were to open up the New York Times in the early 1900, the Sunday Times, on page 10, you would find 2 columns, full page, of a Sunday school lesson for the week. Now that would that would seem pretty unheard of, what we've come to to expect from our modern culture and journalism. But in 1903, on Sunday, October 25th, if you opened up the New York Times, you would have read a Sunday school lesson, a good Sunday school lesson, with reflection questions at the end.
Jeffrey Heine:
You would have read a Sunday school lesson on Psalm 32. A Psalm of David, where he is delighting in the goodness and graciousness of God and extending forgiveness to him. It's kind of one that we hold in tandem with Psalm 51, A Psalm of confession. And in that New York Times, you would have read this prayer. Oh, my father, come and take me as I am.
Jeffrey Heine:
Here from this point, show me what to do and where to go and make me obey. Oh, God, change me, create me anew. I throw myself into thy hands. If I am left to myself, I am undone. Now, no one likes to admit inability.
Jeffrey Heine:
No one likes to admit that they need to change. That they have need at all. No one likes to admit that. They didn't like it in 1903. They don't like it a 112 years later today.
Jeffrey Heine:
We we don't like to express those kinds of things, but David did. David did because he was given this God given self awareness of his own desperate need. It was usually a self awareness wrought that came to him through brokenness and suffering, but he relished in it, knowing his own need and confessing it before the Lord. And as we dive into this chapter in John's gospel, We're about a third of the way through now. I want to invite you into a time of honest self awareness to consider your needs.
Jeffrey Heine:
And as a as a culture, we expend a great deal of energy on our material needs, the physical things that we need. We spend a lot of time and attention at gaining wealth and material things. And to quote the French Renaissance philosopher Montaigne, the lack of wealth is easily repaired, but the poverty of the soul is irreparable. Now I don't agree that it's irreparable. I think through the course of our time together, we will see, our only hope for the poverty of the soul.
Jeffrey Heine:
But we need a stark reminder of what our deepest needs are because everything around us is telling us that our our deepest needs are physical, and yet the poverty of the soul is reminding us that it's spiritual. And so today in our time together, I want us to enter into the scene of John 7 to kind of kick up kick up the dust on the road from Galilee to Jerusalem. I want us to enter into that scene, and I want us to really pay attention to what Jesus is saying, to hear what Jesus is saying. And then I want us to take a step back and see the big picture, not only in John's gospel, what's kind of progressing all the way through here, but but the big picture of of our own hearts and lives. So the first movement to, to enter the scene.
Jeffrey Heine:
In chapter 6, we saw a great crowd start to gather around Jesus. A great crowd came to hear him teach and they were fed by his own miraculous hand. And by the end of chapter 6, only the disciples remained. 1000 of people had heard Jesus teach. They had eaten by his hand, and they had walked away.
Jeffrey Heine:
So much so that Jesus turns to his disciples And he asks if they will be leaving also. Now, from the end of John chapter 6 to the first line of John chapter 7, 6 months go by. It was around springtime. Springtime when the feeding of the 5,000 had occurred, and now it was late September, early October. It was autumn in Jerusalem, the the leaves were turning.
Jeffrey Heine:
It was sweater weather. They didn't need to wear the sweaters yet, but they wanted to. And so the first service got the pumpkin spice latte jokes. So these are the ones for you. But it's it's it's time for a feast.
Jeffrey Heine:
The feast of booths. And so this long spread of time had just gone by. And so what what occurred there? Like, what what happened? What did 6 months go by, Jesus does his public ministry is 3 years.
Jeffrey Heine:
Like, why would you leave such a big portion out? And really a number of the teachings of Jesus that that even non Christians are familiar with occurred during this time. He wasn't just taking a rest in Galilee. There was a lot happening there. And I think that there are two reasons why John skips ahead.
Jeffrey Heine:
The first one is this, that in the other gospels, which had already been written, in the other gospels, that teaching had been well accounted for. That teaching of Jesus had been, written out for those who would come later to to hear what Jesus had to say. So that had occurred. And the other reason is this, I think that John wants to tie a connection between what was happening with the feeding of the 5,000 and what has been called the great defection. These people had heard, they had seen, and they walked away.
Jeffrey Heine:
The great defection that had happened. He wants to move us on in the story to the great conflict because a conflict begins to occur with Jesus and the people. And whereas the other gospels give a path of Jesus's teaching, John moves us along the path to the cross. We need to see this conflict growing. We need to see this conflict, this great divergence that's happening with the rulers and with the people.
Jeffrey Heine:
So John moves us forward to the feast of booths. And in this time, in these interactions that I want us to look at, Jesus really encounters and engages 3 types of people. The first one is this, those that misunderstood. He he interacts with people who misunderstand who he is and what he has come to do. He engages with people who are rejecting him.
Jeffrey Heine:
Those who outright reject what he is saying, what he is doing. And then thirdly, he interacts with those who believe. So the misunderstanding, the rejecting, and the believing. So let's look at these interactions and and hear together what Jesus has to say. Look with me in verse 1 of chapter 7.
Jeffrey Heine:
After this, Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him. And now the feast of booths was at hand. The feast of booths, sometimes called the feast of tabernacles. And and this is a very large feast.
Jeffrey Heine:
It was one of the most popular feasts to go to, and people would all converge in Jerusalem for this time. And the reason that it's called booths or tabernacles is because during this celebration, which, people of the Jewish tradition just recently celebrated, is that they would set up tents, sometimes even sleep in tents, but they would have meals in tents because they were remembering because as you might recall, all the feasts are about remembering. Remembering what occurred and in this feast they are remembering the time in the wilderness. They are remembering how God sustained the people of Israel in the wilderness as they were nomads, and they were dwelling in tents from place to place to place, as they picked up and moved, and picked up and moved. And so they were celebrating that.
Jeffrey Heine:
There were it was a time of remembrance. One of the things that they were remembering was how God sustained them with bread from heaven, manna, Which in chapter 6, John just highlighted Jesus saying, I am the bread of life. I am the the bread that comes down from heaven and sustains the people. You have to eat me to live. As he draws that parallel with the manna in the wilderness here in chapter 7, is the feast and the celebration remembering that time in the history of the people Israel.
Jeffrey Heine:
And so his brothers are heading that way. The families would caravan together along the road. They would sing songs. They would sing hymns together as they made their way, as this time of celebration, a time of singing songs about repentance, songs about God's covenant, and they would sing. You've got a crowd.
Jeffrey Heine:
Come on. It's time to get ready to go and Jesus is not going. And so they're confused and they say to him in verse 3, leave here. Go to Judea that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if they seek to be known openly.
Jeffrey Heine:
If you do these things, show yourself to the world. They're saying, if if you're wanting to get this Jesus brand out there, if you wanna get this name out there, you you gotta be pounding the pavement. You gotta be out there You want the world. So here, it's the biggest stage you're gonna get. Now what they don't understand, and and something that we've seen highlighted throughout John's gospel, is that every time Jesus talks about the world, he talks about judgment.
Jeffrey Heine:
Not a platform for him to get some more people interested in him. Not where he's trying to just cajole people to please believe in me. I don't see him in the gospels pandering, just just saying, please. If you would just like, I know that you've got some questions, but please please please believe in me. I don't see that happening.
Jeffrey Heine:
He declares who he is and what he has come to do and he declares judgment. And so that's what he says to them here in verse 6, my time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me. That that's the world. You wanna talk about the world?
Jeffrey Heine:
The world hates me. The world wants to kill me. Why? Because I testify about it that its works are evil. So you go up to the feast.
Jeffrey Heine:
I'm not going up to this feast. For my time has not yet fully come. And it's important here that verse 5, for not even his brothers believed in him. For not even his brothers, the the even there, not even his brothers. That that tells you how great this great defection was.
Jeffrey Heine:
Not even his brothers who saw him, who heard him, saw miracles, heard teaching, and they misunderstand who he is. This is a comfort to me. When I think about my own doubts and my own lack of faith, my own weak faith, my feeble faith. Because sometimes I'll think, God, if you just showed yourself more dominantly, if there was just riding in the sky, if if someone just came to to me with a word, if I just got enough signs, or if maybe if I just read another good book, like if I just got another good book, if I got more information, then I would have the faith that was sturdy. And then I think of Jesus's brothers.
Jeffrey Heine:
I saw the miracles themselves. They heard the teaching themselves for not even his brothers believed in him. And Jesus replies to all of this. He tells him that my time has not yet come. My time to go up to this feast, more specifically, has not yet come.
Jeffrey Heine:
And so he waits. They go up in the caravan, they go up with the family, and they make their way to Jerusalem. And after a time, at the right time, Jesus goes up privately. He goes up privately and he makes his way to Jerusalem, and there is further misunderstanding happening there. Look with me in verse 11.
Jeffrey Heine:
The Jews, the rulers, were looking for him at the feast and they were saying, where is he? And there was much muttering about him among the people. So in this muttering, there were kind of 2 camps going on. One camp said he's a good man, and the other camp says, no, he's leading people astray. And yet, for the fear of the Jews, no one spoke openly of him.
Jeffrey Heine:
Now, a good man is not what Jesus is. He's not just a good man. He's not just a wise teacher, a kind person that we should just all aspire to to emulate. We're not just trying to be like Jesus in those ways, the kind teacher. But that's what some are saying, but others are rejecting.
Jeffrey Heine:
And so enter the rejecting as they say, no. He is leading the people astray. And actually, Jewish literature at that time begins to talk about Jesus as the deceiver of Israel. So the literature at that time, the history that's being written, they're saying, this man from from Galilee, the the this Nazarene, he made his way in and he was deceiving the people. And so they reject him.
Jeffrey Heine:
And Jesus, unsurprisingly, does not let this muttering go on for very long. He goes into the temple, and he begins to separate separate the sheep from the goats, the rejecters from the believers, and he does this by teaching. Look at verse 14. About the middle of the feast, he went up into the temple and began teaching. The Jews therefore marveled, saying, how is it that this man has learning when he has never studied?
Jeffrey Heine:
And for those of you that are still trudging along through school, this can be a little depressing. You know? Jesus, he's never studied. He's never had to study before. He just has all these things.
Jeffrey Heine:
And so they're wondering, this rabbi that's never studied, he didn't go through the proper route. He didn't go through rabbinical school in the ways that you're supposed to. How does he have all this information when he doesn't have this education? I mean, how many of you would go to a doctor who had a great reputation and zero education? Very few of you will move on.
Jeffrey Heine:
And and so, no, of course we wouldn't. The education backs up the claims. The education backs up what's being said. And so, they're saying, how how could how does he say these things? How does he have this teaching?
Jeffrey Heine:
And so Jesus answers them. Verse 16. My teaching is not mine, but it is his who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. And what he's saying here is he wants his his message, his teaching to teach people about his identity, his origin.
Jeffrey Heine:
Where did he come from? Just like his message comes from the father, he came from the father. He was sent by the father. And part of what testifies to that, the truthfulness of what he is saying, is the fact that he's not going after his own glory. He's not coming for his glory, he's coming for the glory of the father.
Jeffrey Heine:
And so his message is the father's message. His origin is from the father. And so Jesus, as he often does when he is, ready to not back down from the conflict, he says this in verse 19, has not Moses given you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill me? And that crowd of rejecters, they they respond and they say, you have a demon who is seeking to kill you.
Jeffrey Heine:
Calm down Jesus, that's crazy. See Jesus is teaching them about his connection to the father and he's also calling them out that, yes, they have the law, but they don't keep the law. And then he asked him, why are you why are you seeking to kill me? He goes on, verse 21. I did one work.
Jeffrey Heine:
The one work that he is talking about is and we looked at a number of weeks ago. And that is the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda. The paralytic man, when he healed him on the Sabbath, that that was the powder keg that has now gone off. That that is that is what has been traveling. That's what that's the spark that started the fire of conflict with Israel.
Jeffrey Heine:
And he says, I did one work and you marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision, and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. And if on the Sabbath, a man receives circumcision so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? Don't judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. He's saying, to keep Moses's law, you circumcise on the Sabbath.
Jeffrey Heine:
That that's keeping the law. And you mark that child with a sign of the covenant, that that child is a covenant child, that the promises made to Israel extend to that child. And you do that on the Sabbath, and that's keeping the law. But I show up and I heal a man's whole body. I don't just mark a part of the body.
Jeffrey Heine:
I heal the whole body. I mark the whole body as gods, and you wanna kill me. So he's highlighting their own hypocrisy here. And as he highlights it, and he's calling them out for their own sin, they get angry. How do we know they got angry?
Jeffrey Heine:
Verse 25. Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, is not this the man whom they seek to kill? So just a few minutes earlier, before Jesus doubles down with his teaching and is even more offensive by saying that these people do not know the law and that they are not obeying Moses, Earlier they said, Jesus, calm down. You have a demon. You're crazy.
Jeffrey Heine:
Who is seeking to kill you? And then Jesus says, you're hypocrites and you don't understand the law of Moses. And then they respond with, isn't that the guy that we're trying to kill? Didn't we have a plan together to get rid of this guy? Before, you you have a demon where no one's trying to kill you, and now after this offensive teaching, we've got to do something about this guy.
Jeffrey Heine:
Wasn't there a plan to kill him? But then panic sets in. Because there was a plan to kill him. They're seeking to kill him, And yet, here he is speaking openly, and they say nothing to him, and here's where the real panic sets in. Can it be that the authorities really know that he is the Christ?
Jeffrey Heine:
Maybe the reason that they're not doing anything is because they know that he's the Messiah, and they are afraid of him. So that, yes, they want to kill him, but they're too afraid to do anything about it. So this confusion sets in, And then the muttering comes back with another answer in 27. But we know where this man comes from. And when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.
Jeffrey Heine:
So what they're saying is there is this belief that when the Messiah came, no one would know where he came from. He would show up and Elijah would anoint him, and he would become the messiah. And they're saying, this is this is Jesus of Nazareth. This is that carpenter. My mom has a chair that he made.
Jeffrey Heine:
Like, this isn't some person that's just appearing out of nowhere. And so he responds to them. You know me and you know where I come from. Okay. You know you know that I'm Jesus of Nazareth.
Jeffrey Heine:
You know that I'm from Nazareth. You know these things, but I have not come from my own accord. He who sent me is true, and you do not know him. So not only do they not obey the law, and then they don't judge rightly, but they don't know God. That's the development of the teaching here.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's getting more and more intense and more and more conflict arises. So as this happens, as this conflict is building and building and building, we're gonna close out our time by look looking at how yet many, in verse 31, yet many of the people believed in him. All this conflict, all these hard sayings, all these difficult things to hear, and yet, many believed. If we take a step back here and we see what's what's kind of progressing in John's gospel, as we see the conflict arising, as we've seen the great defection and people that just walked away, And then we see this tension building in Jerusalem. We still see these people believing.
Jeffrey Heine:
Verse 31. And I think that there are two attributes of a believer that we can that we can notice here in the passages that we've looked at tonight. The 2 things are this, the the first one is is back in the end of chapter 6. When Jesus says to the 12, do you want to go away as well? And Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?
Jeffrey Heine:
You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know you are the holy one of God. The first thing is that these believers, they believe and have come to know. They know this. Carl Jung, the 20th century, psychologist and psychiatrist, one of his famous lines as he was in an interview in the fifties on the BBC, and he was asked if he believed in God, and he said, no. I don't believe in God.
Jeffrey Heine:
I know him. A lot of controversy with a statement like that. But Peter is highlighting what that means. We we have come to believe. We have heard these things.
Jeffrey Heine:
We have believed, and we have come to know. We've come to know that you are the Holy One of God. And in that in that statement, Jesus' origin, where he came from is being highlighted. You are the Holy One from the father. So believing and knowing.
Jeffrey Heine:
The second thing is this, in verse 17 of chapter 7. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I'm speaking speaking on my own authority. So in this, we see that Jesus is saying that those who see him rightly To to go back to Peter's confession, to see him rightly is those who believe and know. And in this passage, 17, he is saying that those who will the will of God see him rightly and know who he is. So how do we get that?
Jeffrey Heine:
How do we get those 2 things? How do we get that believing and knowing? And how do we get that kind of will? Well, first, the believing and knowing. In a parallel to Peter's confession that we see in what's called the synoptic gospels, in Matthew in particular.
Jeffrey Heine:
Chapter 16 verse 16. Jesus has been asking Peter what the crowds are saying about him. What do they say my identity is? And Peter tells him. And then Jesus goes further and says, who do you say that I am?
Jeffrey Heine:
Who do you say that I am? Peter responds with these words, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus responded to him and said, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. So what's being said there? How how do we come to that confession, that knowing and believing?
Jeffrey Heine:
How do we get to that place? It must be revealed to us by God. Flesh and blood did not tell him these things. Now, he probably heard these things. They had conversations.
Jeffrey Heine:
Maybe he read a good book by Max Lucado. I don't know. But but at some point, he probably heard these things, but what needed to happen in his heart, in the poverty of his soul, he needed God to reveal to him who Jesus is. And we need that too. Second thing is this, how do we get that will?
Jeffrey Heine:
How do we will what God wills? Because Jesus says, the person who wills what God will sees Jesus rightly. So how do we get that? And in Hebrews, the author of Hebrews in chapter 13, as he's closing out and he's praying for his readers, he says this. We often use this as a benediction here at Redeemer.
Jeffrey Heine:
Now, may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. We must be equipped. We read it in Philippians in our confession tonight. We we have to be changed. We have to be transformed.
Jeffrey Heine:
We read it in Ezekiel 36. We we need we need a new spirit. We need a new heart. We need him to change us and to change our will that we would will what he wills. We must be transformed.
Jeffrey Heine:
Now, this is both an instantaneous action and a process. Right? This is instantaneous that God, in giving us new life in Jesus, in in in the Holy Spirit, connecting us to the person of Jesus Christ. In an instant, we we are given this faith. We are give we are we are drawn near to him.
Jeffrey Heine:
We are granted faith to trust and believe and for our will to be conformed. It is instantaneous, and it is a process for our entire life. That our will would be transformed throughout our lives to desire what God desires, to want what he wants. Notice just side point. Notice that Jesus didn't say he who does God's will because that that's one bar we're not meeting.
Jeffrey Heine:
But he says he who wills God's will, this work, this internal work of God transforming our will and our heart and our minds that we would want what he wants. To see Jesus rightly, we don't simply just need enough information that we would reason our way or simply, passion our way through our affections. We have to be changed. And to quote again from the prayer in the New York Times, if we are left to ourselves, we are undone. Left alone, we are misunderstanding.
Jeffrey Heine:
Left alone, we are rejecting. But when we are drawn by the father, when we are granted the gift of faith, we can believe and come to know that Jesus is the holy one from God. When we experience that grace, think hold these things in your mind. The great poverty of the soul, the poverty, the pennylessness of the soul. The father is rich in mercy, that he is wealthy in grace, and he lavishes his wealth of grace into the poverty of our souls.
Jeffrey Heine:
That which we could never work to attain. We could never work intellectually. We could never work morally. We could never work spiritually to get ourselves out of the poverty of the soul, and he is wealthy and rich in grace and mercy, and he lavishes it upon his sons and daughters. Left to ourselves, we are undone.
Jeffrey Heine:
But when he comes to us and he breathes this new life into us by the power of his spirit, we join in Peter's confession that actually comes later in the new testament from the book of Acts when he declares, and there is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. We join with him in saying, there is no other name. There is no other way. And we declare, hallelujah.
Jeffrey Heine:
All I have is Christ, and he is sufficient, and he is efficient for the poverty of my soul. Let's go to him in prayer. Oh, God. We are all sin and misery. Everything is wrong, but come.
Jeffrey Heine:
Oh, our father, come and take us as we are. Here from this point, show us what to do and where to go and make us obey. Oh, God. Change us. Create us anew.
Jeffrey Heine:
We throw ourselves into thy hands. For if we are left to ourselves, we are undone. Amen.