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“Now Who's Rejecting Whom?" • 8.25.19
• Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
Text
• John 7:1 : "After these things Jesus walked in
Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill
Him." :
"After these things" refers to the Lord's "bread of life"
discourse, which He had held in a Capernaum synagogue.
- Jesus declares of Himself that He is God's
"Bread from heaven" in the flesh.
- If people desire to receive eternal life,
they must partake of His flesh and blood, they must receive Him into
themselves!
- At the time, this was a difficult,
intolerable metaphor to take in, but a definitive point in His ministry.Many
who had followed the Lord superficially, walked away.
- The true disciples remained, confessing that
He was the Christ. There was no other place to go. He alone had words of
eternal life.
- The Jewish leadership that had questioned the
Lord were now certain that Jesus had to die.
- They have definitively rejected the Lord's
claim to being God's "bread" and were actively seeking a way to put
Him to death.
- Jesus was not afraid of dying at their hands
per se. In a little over six months from this time, Jesus will give His body up
to be sacrificed at their hands. The issue was a matter of timing.
- While there was time, Jesus went about the
northern section of Israel, avoiding the south because of their murderous
intent. Verse 2.
• John 7:2-5 : "Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles
was at hand. His brothers therefore said to Him,
'Depart from here and go into Judea, 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 His brothers did not
believe in Him." :
The Feast of Tabernacles takes place annually around late September, early
October.
- According to Exodus 23:15-17, this
feast was one of three that required the mandatory attendance of all Jewish
males. We will talk at greater length about the Feast next week.
- With the feast nearing, the Lord's brothers
came to speak with Him about His plans.
- Generally, families would caravan together
toward Jerusalem. His brothers are planning on attending and want to add in a
little dig while they are at it.
- A large part of the Lord's miracles were done
in the Galilee region, but the most sophisticated audience was in Judea.
"If you could make it there, you could make it anywhere!"
- Their words reflect a desire for Jesus to
satisfy His followers in a much more public and grand scale. "Let them see
the works that You are doing."
- The word "see" comes from the word
"thereo" from which we get our word "theory."
- "Let them look upon your works and
confirm their theories about You!" They wondered why Jesus would hang
around and work in obscurity, doing miracles that might never be known.
- The NLT translates verse 4, "You can’t become famous if you hide
like this!" while the
NIV renders it, "No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret."
- His brothers believed that Jesus was able to
work miracles, but even they did not believe in Him as the Messiah! It's
difficult to understand how they could not come to that conclusion.
- Certainly, it was no advantage to them to
have God in the flesh as their own brother!
- Sometimes, I think that I'm a failure because
I'm unable to convince people that Jesus is God. Well, it turns out that even
Jesus could not reverse their way of thinking in His lifetime!
- Even greater, consider how much Jesus had to
submit to the Father's timing for His brother's salvation! At least two of His
brothers will be saved, but on this day, they are clueless! Verse 6.
• John 7:6-9 : "Then Jesus said to them, 'My time has not yet come, 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 yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come.' When He had said these things to
them, He remained in Galilee." : Jesus wasn't concerned with fame or popularity. He wasn't
wanting to "strike while the iron was hot" or "go viral"
with His work. That is furthest from His mind!
- Think about this for a second: Jesus had come
from heaven to Earth. When He lived in heaven, all of the angels worshipped Him
continually!
- Think further with me: When the devil offered
to worship Him, he offered the same sort of gratification to the Lord. Jesus
knows that if He follows the Lord, He will rightly be given all of it!
- Jesus exemplifies the truth that obedience to
God is better than opportunity in this world! Allowing the Lord to bless us in
His time is better than seizing our moment!
- That road to blessing comes, not from a show
of power, but a show of submission to God!
- Jesus knows very well "the time."
This word here refers not to chronology, but to opportunity.
- His season of opportunity had not yet come.
He would be glorified, but not with the help of men, and not by the methods of men!
- Their season is always before them. The world
would not oppose the Lord's brothers.
- The world loves it's own! It loves to hear of
it's own value. Jesus is hated by the world for His counter cultural message.
He calls the world out on it's evil sinfulness!
- At this time, it's wise to consider the term
"world" in this context. It is the system of thought that opposes the
right of God's rule.
- People in this world are either passive or
aggressive against Him. On either side of the spectrum, the end result is
opposition.
- The world system opposes Christ because He
will not tolerate it's evil. I'd want to ask myself if my friends accept me too
readily. Do they know that I think like Jesus about their world?
- Perhaps you do not think like Jesus about the
world. I'd be concerned about that as well!
- By virtue of His holiness, Jesus forever
stands in opposition to the world, calling it out for it's wickedness! Jesus
will not stand by and be hypocritical. He must render the judgment of God!
- The Lord's brothers could go now, but Jesus
would go in a very different way. Verse 10.
• John 7:10-13 : "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?' 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.' However,
no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews." : Given the context of what we are
about to see, the Lord avoided going with His brothers as a precaution. The
religious leaders would likely be looking for Him with His family.
- His concerns were warranted. When He arrived
in secret, there was already a hunting party looking for the Lord! The
religious leaders were not looking for Him to honor Him!
- The street level talk among the people was
divided. There was a lot of murmuring going on among the people, some who
believed Him to be good, while others thought that He was a "seducer."
- No matter what a person thought, they did not
dare to mention His Name openly because the fear of the religious leaders was
great! They wielded their power of intimidation to great effect.
- Nobody was really willing to cross them or
even seem to question them. Jesus didn't fear them for a moment. Verse 14.
• John 7:14-17 : "Now about the middle of the feast
Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the Jews marveled, saying, 'How
does this Man know letters, having never studied?' Jesus answered them and said, '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." : Feasts, as we have mentioned
previously, drew over a million people to Jerusalem. That was a crowd that
virtually anyone could hide in if they wanted.
- In the middle of the week though, Jesus, a
hunted man, took up a public station within the Temple to teach. There is no
fear in Jesus, in spite of the murderous plot that surrounded to Him!
- This is a key characteristic of all who walk
with Christ. Their fear of God means that they fear nothing else! It seems like
the leaders tried to come to deal with Him, but were stopped by His Word.
- They marveled, to the point of admiration.
"How does this Man know letters, having never studied?" Generally, a
person who taught had done an apprenticeship with another Rabbi.
- Then, the new teacher would just quote all of
the other teachers when He taught! Jesus did not teach this way! He taught from
personal knowledge. He never learned from their institutions.
- Their training would have taught Jesus how to
be wrong about Himself! What these men knew didn't lead them any closer to
identifying Christ, who was standing right in front of them!
- Jesus looked at them and told them where His
teaching had come from. It had not come from their training, but from the
Father Himself!
- He challenges them to do God's will in order
to fully know whether the Lord taught God's doctrine or not! It's funny that
only those that obey will know the origin of wisdom!
- If you find yourself confused today or at a
loss for direction, perhaps you should begin with obeying the last thing you
were told to do! When you do, you'll know heaven's teaching!
- Incidently, understand a finer point here.
Jesus is concerned about accurately transmitting the Father's teaching without
being wiiling to speak from His own authority.
- Today, the Bible is the fully encoded and
final communication from the Lord. It would follow then that a person should
"teach it," not just teach "from it!"
- Jesus, God in the flesh, did not want to
speak on His own authority or as the NIV translates it, "on my own."
Aside from this being the Jesus approved model, why is this dangerous? Verse 18.
• John 7:18-19 : "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. Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?'" : The person that is speaking out from
his own resource, is seeking to enhance his own reputation. When the content
originates in him, his whole goal is his own fame!
- Remember the Lord's words to His brothers.
Their opportunity was always "now!" That is the mindset of the world.
Jesus, speaking to the Temple crowd, sought to lead people to His Father.
- Any other target, any other destination, to
put your trust in any other person, is unsafe and truly devastating to the hearer!
Why? Because there isn't a shred of unrighteousness in Him!
- Jesus is telling them that aside from
avoiding the pitfall of pushing their own agenda, the only teaching that issues
in personal holiness is that which seeks the Father's glory!
- Note the connection: He looks at these men
that have been trained in the school of the law, yet, because their goal was to
honor themselves, none of them kept it!
- They were supposedly teachers of the law, but
by virtue of the implication, were those who taught it to enhance their own
reputation. They didn't concern themselves about conforming to it!
- You could almost see these men aghast with
unbelief that Jesus would come into their Temple and call them law breakers in
front of everyone!
- They no doubt wondered in their hearts how He
could say such a thing. That's when Jesus exposes their law breaking for all to
hear. He asks them point blank, "Why do you seek to kill me?"
- Breaking one law, in this case, their desire
to murder Jesus, is to break the entire law!
- Jesus knows why they want to murder Him.
Jesus did nothing to enhance their reputation. He did nothing to endorse their
lifestyle or honor their supposed authority.
- These men had been taught to use the law for
their own purposes and made heroes of men that taught from their own authority!
Jesus condemns them and the Jews are taken aback! Verse 20.
• John 7:20-24 : "The people answered and said, 'You
have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?' Jesus answered and said to them, 'I
did one work, and you all marvel. Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you
circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, 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 not judge
according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.'" : This is a great way to stop an
argument! The people levied a charge of demon possession at the Lord!
- It might be akin to our phrase, "Are you
crazy!?" Certainly, the Lord was exposing the religious leader's
mentality, but the regular people, the visitors, were unaware of their agenda.
- Jesus isn't done addressing the religious
leaders and even offers specific timing to the beginning of their opposition.
"I did one work."
- Jesus had done several works, but this one
was connected to the Sabbath, when Jesus healed the man at the pool of
Bethesda. Why was healing this man on the Sabbath such a big deal?
- Did they not realize the contradiction in
their own practices? Take circumcision for example.
- That command to God's people was given prior
to the law of Moses as a sign of God's covenant with Abraham in Genesis 17.
- Circumcision was to take place on the 8th day
of a Jewish boy's life. If you had a baby on a Friday, you had to have him
circumcised on the 8th day, which would have been the Sabbath.
- These men regularly perfomed this and did not
consider the Mosaic laws related to the Sabbath to be broken.
- God's commands will not contradict
themselves, therefore, God would not consider this a sin.
- If it was alright to bring pain to a a person
on the Sabbath, how much more then was it right for the Lord to make a man
completely whole on the same day?
-
The NLT translates verse 24, "Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly."
- How could they not see their contradiction? Jesus
commands them not to come to a final position about Him based upon their
superficial categories. Verse 25.
• John 7:25-27 : "Now some of them from Jerusalem
said, 'Is this not He whom they seek to kill? But look! He speaks boldly, and
they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the
Christ? However,
we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where
He is from.'" :
Funny, but a few seconds ago, the visitors wondered if He had a demon! The
visitors might not have been aware of their elder's agenda, but it wasn't
hidden to the locals!
- These informed men wondered why the leaders
weren't making a move to kill Him as they had planned! Their plans were that
obvious and well known.
- If the leaders had a legitimate reason to
kill Him, why hadn't they already done so! Why were they tolerating His
presence?
- Could it have been that they really believed
Jesus to be the Christ? These are intriguing thoughts. Jesus wasn't hiding from
the leaders of the Jews.
- He was speaking openly, plainly. One definition
employs the phrase "with free and fearless confidence!" How could He
be so free? He knew God's timing.
- No matter how much the elders wanted to kill
Jesus, they would not be able to do so until the Father's time table was
fulfilled. These men could have looked at this with those eyes.
- They may not be siding with the religious
leaders, but they can't bring themselves to acknowledge Jesus for another
reason.
- They knew where the Lord was from and the
Messiah was supposed to come from parts unknown. You and I listen to that and
wonder how they can be so wrong!
- The Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem
according to Micah 5:2. The Chief Priests and scribes told Herod
where to look for Him in Matthew 2:5,6.
- The confusion is over the verses that speak
of Christ's first coming and His second coming! At His second coming, Jesus
will land on the Mount of Olives out of nowhere!
- The inability to see Messiah's two comings
made the people stumble in their understanding. • John
7:28-31 : "Then Jesus cried out, as He taught
in the temple, saying, '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 the Christ comes, will He
do more signs than these which this Man has done?'" : Jesus comes right out and says,
"You all know where I come from!"
- The truth about who He was, where He came
from and who sent Him, was clear for everyone to see!
- Their teachers had not taught men to know
God, but their own version of God! Jesus didn't have that problem. He knew God.
- Jesus had come from Him, a claim to divinity
and was sent by Him, a claim to authority! How did they respond to this? Did
they bow their knee to the Messiah? They sought to arrest Him!
- It was a futile effort until the time was
right. They could try to silence Him, but many still believed in Him that day.
If He's not the Messiah, could another Messiah do more than Him?
- The people's belief did not make for happy
Pharisees! Verse 32.
• John 7:32-36 : "The Pharisees heard the crowd
murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests
sent officers to take Him. Then Jesus said to them, 'I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me and 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 said, ‘You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot
come’?'" : As we come into this final section,
note that this entire section, from verse 1 to 36, is about
rejection.
- We have seen the rejection of Jesus by His
own family. We are seeing the rejection of Jesus by His countrymen and by the
rulers of Israel.
- In this final section, we see the rejection
by Jesus of the religious leaders, and by proxy, ultimately all who reject Him
in this life!
- The Pharisees needed to nip this in the bud
and sent out their brute squad to deal with Jesus before His influence ruined
their day. Jesus always ruins a religious person's day!
- Jesus looked at the Pharisees and the chief
priests and made this cryptic comment to them. He knew that He was only with
them for a little while longer.
- They do not know that their plans to kill Him
will succeed at the next Passover. They think that they will be saving Israel
from a dangerous pretender. Jesus knows that He will be going home!
- Somewhere down the road, they will return to
a desire to seek after the Messiah, but because they will not look to Him, the
One they are rejecting, they will not find Him.
- They will seek a Messiah of their making, for
the purposes of their agendas, and that Messiah will be known as the
AntiChrist! JESUS CHRIST, the real Messiah, will have been missed by them!
- The consequence to that loss will be the loss
of the ability to be where the Lord is. Listen to these words: "Where I am
you cannot come!" Literally, you will not have the power to come!
- Jesus is talking about heaven and the
enjoyment of the benefits pertaining to eternal life!
- Nobody who is in heaven would enjoy it
without the presence of Jesus Christ! These men by virtue of their hatred of
Him, won't and can't be there!
- "But they are very sincere?" They
are sincerely wrong! "They are very religious!" These are the ones
that Jesus will point to that on judgment day and be told, "I never knew
you!"
- Per company policy, these men completely
misunderstood the Lord's words for a physical location among the Disperison,
but the question bothered them and it should bother you!
- Of all the people that should have expected
to be in heaven, these men would have been it!
- Compare this with what Jesus tells His
believing disciples in John 14. Jesus has been teaching His disciples
about His betrayal and sacrifice.
• John 14:1-3 : "Let not your
heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you. And if I
go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." : There are people who will be with
Jesus and there will be those that will not be with Jesus. The dividing line is
Jesus Himself!
Conclusion
- This section
of scripture is all about rejection. Jesus was rejected by His own family, His
own countrymen and His own people's rulers.
- But here is
the crux of the passage: Who does Jesus reject? Who does Jesus accept? That is
the issue of importance, indeed, eternal significance!
- The people in our story have six months until
they kill Jesus. Some in here, or in earshot, may only have six months left!
- The question
that must be settled in your heart is this: "Is Jesus worth trusting with
my eternal soul?" Will you be with Him for eternity or away from Him?
- You might
look at the people in this story as foolish for missing the point. I pray none
of you will follow in their footsteps.
- Ultimately,
to reject Christ in this life is a guarantee that He will reject you when you
see Him in the afterlife!