Where you fit, depends on where HE fits (John pt. 23)
Text: John 7:14 – 52
We’re working our way through John’s Gospel, for some time now… and just to re-cap for you what we looked at last week, we talked about how Jesus had been rejected by the multitudes, and how His own brothers came against Him, trying to shut Him up. And now it was the time of year for the Feast of Booths (or Feast of Tabernacles)… and that was a week-long memorial celebration when the people remembered how God had provided for the Israelites during the Exodus. They called it the Feast of Booths, because they all lived in tents during that time. And they wanted to remember – “Hey we all used to live in tents. We had no permanent home… but even then God was faithful and provided for us.” And it just so happened that the Feast of Booths coincided with the annual vine harvest, so they incorporated that in as well. And Jesus’ brothers have gone up… but Jesus didn’t go up right away. He actually waited a little while before He headed to Jerusalem. And the reason for that is because a lot of folks were trying to kill Him. And I what I want us to do is to look at these different groups and their reactions to Jesus. So let’s read the text, and then we’ll look at each group and Jesus’ words to them. (READ TEXT)
So the first group, we see in verse 15, they are the “Jews”. Now understand all these people were Jewish… but when John uses the word “Jews” he’s speaking about the Judeans… the people of Judah, not the Galileans. Remember; Jesus has been laying low in Galilee, but now He’s gone south to Judah, to the city of Jerusalem. So John uses this to distinguish between the Judeans and the Galileans. And we already know from last time, that many of these folks are seeking to kill Jesus… it’s not just the religious leaders, but many Judeans themselves. The reason they want Jesus out of the picture, is because they want a political Messiah. They want to be delivered from Roman rule. But they want a Savior of their own design, and Jesus didn’t fit their ideal. They’re not concerned with getting right with God. They just want political freedom. They want self-governance. And those things aren’t bad… but you can’t truly have them without God. So when Jesus started to call them to repentance, and when He stats telling them that in order to follow Him, it might cost them everything, they were out.
They didn’t want anything to do with Him. And so they attempt to justify their rejection of Him by calling into question His educational pedigree. They say, “How can this man have learning without ever having studied?” Meaning; having never studied under a distinguished Rabbi in Rabbinical school. Really that’s just an excuse… they don’t like what Jesus is saying because men love darkness rather than light… but they’re using His lack of a so called education as justification for rejecting His teaching.
The second group John mentions are in verse 25… he calls them the “people of Jerusalem”. And basically; they’re just confused… they’re not sure who Jesus is. Some of them question whether or not He’s the Christ – the Anointed one… the Messiah. But they’ve got all kinds of crazy ideas about what that means, and where the Savior was supposed to come from, and what He was supposed to do. They say, in verse 27, “When the Christ comes, no one will know where He comes from.” I have no clue where they get that idea. Not from the Bible that’s for sure. Even the religious leaders in Herod’s day knew that Christ was to be born in Bethlehem. So they’re totally wrong about that… and then… in verse 31, they say that they think that when the Christ comes, He’ll do even more signs than Jesus. Basically the Jerusalem crowd is religious, but they are completely ignorant. They’re ignorant of God’s Word, and they’re ignorant of who Christ is and what He’s come to do. These are the kind of people who would get sucked in to all kinds of false teachings, and the latest religious fads and trends, because they have no real knowledge of God’s Word, and the truth. You know… these are the people who end up reading “The Shack”, or “Heaven is for Real” and think it’s actually Biblical.
The third group that John mentions is in verse 32… our old friends the Pharisees. These are the religious leaders. And these guys hate Jesus with a passion. They’re legalists, and they’re totally lost… with the exception of one or two of them. And the problem that the Pharisees had with Jesus was that He kept upsetting their apple cart. They had a good racket going for them.
They had wealth, they had comfort, they had authority… and they really weren’t bothered too much by the Roman Empire, as long as they could keep the people under control, and docile. That’s why Jesus was such a threat to them. It really wasn’t about doctrine, or religion, or anything like that – they used that as their excuse… but for the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin, it was more about maintaining their comfy, cozy lifestyles. They had tried to tell Jesus to not rock the boat, but He just wouldn’t cooperate with them.
Not too long ago, I was able to speak with some of the junior sponsors at kids camp, who were going to college, and they were asking me, how to stay strong in their faith while at college. I told them to be unafraid… that they should speak with humility and love, but never be afraid to speak the truth. And one of them said to me, “Pastor Ken, you don’t understand how it is today… it’s like China now.” So I asked that young man if he had actually even tried to witness or share the Gospel with anyone at college, and he admitted that he hadn’t. And I said to him, “Then really what you’ve done is pre-emptively silenced yourself. The enemy didn’t have to shut you up… you shut yourself up for him.” And I get it… not every hill is a hill you have to die on… but at some point, you’ve got to speak out, and stand up for what you believe in… otherwise, you’ll get into the habit of wilting away, not rocking the boat. The more you do it, the easier it is to do it again and again… and the harder it is to take a stand.
Then finally in verse 45, we see the fourth group… John calls them “the officers”.
Basically these were the temple police. Even though they weren’t like real police… they were kind of like bouncers, mob enforcers, and security guards all rolled into one. And to me, these guys are one of the most interesting of the groups mentioned in this chapter. They are in and around the temple day in and day out. They’ve no doubt heard Rabbi’s expound on Scripture over and over again. They’ve heard the best preachers in Jerusalem… but then they go out to arrest Jesus, and as they go, they begin to actually listen to Him. And as they listened to Jesus, they were profoundly affected. John doesn’t say that they got saved, but they were impacted in some meaningful way. And basically they decide, “We’re not going to arrest this guy.”
Now let me just show you what it is that Jesus has been saying… This is what the Temple Police would’ve heard… in verse 16 & 17 He says that He’s teaching God’s Word… He’s teaching God’s lessons… And if you’re really seeking God, and really wanting to do His will… you’ll know that what Jesus says is true. Then in verse 18 He slams the Pharisees and false teachers. He says “The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory.” In other words, false teachers are out for their own glory… they’re out to make a name for themselves. They want the big crowds, the large venues, the podcasts, the TV shows, the radio programs… not so they can get the Gospel out to the lost, but so that they can get their own name out, and be more famous than the other guy – whoever the other guy is. And make more money… The wider their reach, the more people they can dupe into giving to their “ministry”. They’re the kind of guys… when you go to their church web page, it’s their face that’s all over the page… You can’t find any definite thing on their doctrine, but their face is all over the website. They’re the kind of guys that buy their own airports and then name it after themselves.
Jesus goes on and tells the Judean’s, “Do not judge by appearance, but judge with right judgment.” Basically He’s saying, “If you’re going to judge Me, then judge Me based on what I’m teaching, and saying, and doing, not on the fact that I don’t have a PhD. from the Jerusalem Rabbinical school.” Judge based on the truth… judge based on the facts… judge based on the evidence.
In verse 28 Jesus tells the people that they don’t know Him, because they don’t know God. If they knew God, they would know that Jesus is from God… and that Jesus was teaching God’s Word. But they can’t understand it, because they’re dead in sin… they can’t understand the things of the Spirit. He proves it to them when He speaks of His coming death in the following verses and they think He’s talking about going outside of Israel to the Greeks. They totally miss what He’s saying there. So those are the things that Jesus has been saying; but I think what really got the temple officers (temple police) was what Jesus says in verses 37 and 38.
Let me read that to you really quick (READ John 7:37-38).
Now remember – the Feast of Booths is going on. It’s been going on all week.
It’s a memorial celebration where the people remembered how God had provided for them in the wilderness during the Exodus from Egypt. During that time, they lived in tents… they called them booths or tabernacles… And God fed them mana from heaven. At least at first; later on He fed them quail. And do you remember where they got their water from?
Turn with me to Exodus chapter 17:1-7 (READ).
All the people in Jerusalem have been asking themselves, “Is this the Christ? Is this the Messiah? Is this the Savior? Is this the Lord?” And Jesus stands up on the last day of the feast, in-front of everyone, and shouts out “YES!”
All throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus has been telling the people, “You look back at Moses… you look back at the Patriarchs, the prophets, the priests, the kings… you honor them, you revere them… but they were all pointing to Me! They were all looking forward in faith to the day I would come and win the victory over sin!”
CHURCH… IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS!
Everything in the Bible is either pointing to Him, talking about Him, or remembering Him.
He says, “If you’re thirsty – come to Me… and once you do… you’ll have rivers of living water flowing out of your heart.” And John tells us that He was talking about the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer.
Now the chapter closes with the Pharisees attacking the Temple Officials… and you notice their method. They say, “Of course He’s not legit, no one of any prominence believes Him.” In other words, YOU don’t want to be ostracized do you? You don’t want to go against the flow do you? No one who is “important” agrees with Him… are you sure you want to take His side in this?
Now what we see happening here in our text is the same thing we see in our world today. There are some people who want Jesus as their Savior, but not their Lord. They aren’t willing to surrender all to Him. They want someone to rescue them from hell, but who requires no commitment and sacrifice from them… You have groups of people who are religious, but they really don’t know what it is that God’s Word actually teaches, and what it is that Jesus demands from them as followers. They’re willfully ignorant, and confused. Tossed by every wind and wave of doctrine. Their faith and their theology is shallow. Then we have our comfortable legalists – You know… “We’ll condemn anyone and everyone – but by golly don’t look into our lives. Don’t judge us. Don’t demand that we actually live holy. And by all means don’t EVER push us out of our comfort zone.”
But then we also have those who are like the officers and Nicodemus, who say, “Wait a minute… there’s really something about Jesus. He’s worth looking into. He’s worth following. And yeah, I might get into big trouble for not going with the flow of the world. But I’m going to stand up. I’m going to commit. I’m actually going to take a risk.”
The question for us is – where do we fit in all of that? Our answer will depend on where Jesus fits into our lives. Is He Lord? Or is He just some interesting moral philosopher? Is He the Sovereign Savior? Or is He a lunatic? Is He God? Or is He just a man who gave good advice?
Is He the One who died for your sins and was raised up for your justification? Or is He a myth?
Does He deserve our love, our commitment, our faithfulness and obedience or not?
CLOSING
