Jesus the Good Man or God-Ma..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. the gospel according to john chapter 7 we'll be reading from verses 1 through 13 1 through 13 after this jesus went about in galilee he would not go about in judea because the jews were seeking to kill him now the jews feast of booths well that was at hand so his brothers said to him leave here and go to judea that your disciples also may see the works you are doing but 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 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.

You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come. 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? And there was much muttering about him among the people.

While some said he is a good man, others said, no, he's leading the people astray. Yet for fear of the Jews, no one spoke openly. of him. Amen. This is the word of the Lord.

Well, brothers and sisters, once again, we're back in the fourth gospel As a church, we've been working our way through this gospel verse by verse. Now, it's been a few weeks since we've been here, but if you recall, we're already two sermons and nine verses into the seventh chapter, and already the hostility of the Jews against the Lord is evident, and it's mounting. This will be the major theme from now on. And as we progress through the coming chapters towards the upper room discourse, which begins in chapter 13, we'll see that the antagonism against Christ will increase more and more and more. I'm hoping that the context of chapter seven is still reasonably fresh in our minds.

I know it's been a couple of weeks since we've been here, but it's the time of the Feast of Booths, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, when we began this chapter, I gave a brief summary of this feast. And so for the sake of time, I'm not going through and going over all the details again, but as a general reminder, it'll suffice to say that it was one of three main feasts celebrated by the ancient Jews in this time. And it's a feast prescribed for us in Leviticus chapter 23. We'll be there in a couple of months.

This festival was to commemorate the wilderness generation where their ancestors, after being freed from the bondage in Egypt by the strong hand of our God, spent some 40 years in tents or booths, that's the name, until they entered the promised land. So in commemoration of this for centuries many Jews and indeed even some proselytes would pilgrim not only from around Israel but the diaspora or the dispersed Jews would make the long trek from all over the known world and they would come to celebrate this feast with their fellow countrymen in Jerusalem. It was a time of joy. It was a time of celebration and thanksgiving as they performed various rites and rituals. And you may remember me saying previously, it's the Feast of Booths that was the most spectacular in regards to sheer volume of animals sacrificed.

in the temple. It was the most expensive feast according to the history books, of course, well, according to the Bible, but according to the history books, it was also the feast that attracted the largest attendance. The city's population would swell up to four times the normal amount of people during this feast. Jerusalem was bustling at the seams with people everywhere. The sheer number of people present at this feast would have formed at least part of the reasoning for the advice Jesus' brothers gave to him.

If you remember, we spoke about this a few weeks ago. Their advice for our Lord was to make the journey down with him or up, we should say, although Jerusalem is south of Judea, but everywhere to the holy city is up when we read the word. But to make that journey with them and make himself known in a place where it matters. You see, in Galilee, he'd be known as a rural preacher at best, but if he reveals himself down in Jerusalem at the time of the Feast of Booths, that's a different story altogether. You see, if the Messiah of Israel was interested in the pomp and popularity, if he was primarily concerned with amassing a serious following, this feast is about as good as it gets to make that happen.

Especially, and likely, this is what his brothers were thinking, if he convinces the big guns of his Messiahship. The big guns, you know what I mean. This is the religious leaders in Jerusalem. If he can convince them, then the deal would be in the bag, as far as his brothers were concerned. And well, his brothers, although they did not believe in him, verse five, I'm sure they'd be happy to ride the wave of their brother's success.

But of course, the Lord's ways are not man's ways. Our Lord is not interested in committing to the counsel of his unbelieving brothers, nor onto their timetable. Rather, as we considered in previous weeks, Christ's agenda is one that is set for him by the father who sent him into the world. Our Lord is following a divine schedule and his purpose is to do the will of the father, even if it proves unpopular according to human wisdom. In fact, not only will our Lord and his teaching be unpopular, but he will be despised.

In fact, he will be hated by the world. It makes this clear to his brothers in verse seven. Because his very presence, the very presence of Jesus Christ, who is the brilliant light that exposes the evil and the wickedness in man's heart, is the presence that people hate. And there, in particular, in Jerusalem, where we have all the religious elites, they're not gonna welcome this Jesus with open arms, but with clenched fists and increasing opposition. Because the one who is the way, The truth and the life looks beyond the glowing facade of the so-called religious and exposes their hypocrisy, the hypocrisy he knows in their hearts.

Beloved, our Lord won't pat them on the back or massage their egos like the vast majority of the people. Rather, his all-seeing eyes and his piecing words will reveal the true state of their worthless, cold, legalistic religion and they don't like it one bit. So they'll try to eliminate him permanently. In fact, in chapter seven and chapters eight, or those two chapters, no less, no less than nine times, we will read of the intent of the religious leaders to either arrest our Lord or to kill him. Beloved, they want him gone.

We don't know. Of the brother's response, we're not told that. but they make their way down to the feast. And Jesus, as he said, doesn't accompany them. Verse nine, he remained in Galilee.

Now we come to the content of our passage for this evening. And that is the verses from verses 10 through 13. And in this passage, we'll see that Jesus does end up going to the feast a bit late because it's a few days into the feast, but nonetheless, he does make it up to Jerusalem. And when he does make the journey, the apostle John tells us that already he was the topic of the month. And the conversations and the discussions that had been had quietly were predominantly, well, they predominantly had this question in mind.

What are your thoughts? about this Jesus? Who do you think he is? And the responses are telling. In fact, in these verses from 11 through 13, we get an idea of the attitude of the Jews towards him.

We've already established previous sermons that the Jews in John are the religious leaders of the day. You know, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the scribes. But also we see in these verses the view of the common people, those who are present at the feast. Now, before we consider these responses, and that's, by the way, where we'll spend most our time this evening, let's look at verse 10 for a moment. But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but in private.

Now, brothers and sisters, I know that I've addressed this point briefly in previous sermons, but it's important, I think, to clarify a very important point here. And that is that Jesus, by no way, was being deceptive towards his brothers. Even though earlier in verse eight, he says to them, you go up to the feast. I'm not going up to this feast for time, for the time or for my time has not yet fully come. He's not being deceptive and I want to explain this to us.

I want to make sure we're clear on this point. because some skeptics have tried to assume all sorts of things against our Lord from this exact passage, not the least of which is the claim that he lied or deceived his brothers intentionally. Their argument is that because of the growing hostility by the Jews, Jesus wanted to do things under the radar, so he deliberately lied or at the very least misled his brothers into thinking he was not going up to the feast at all. Now we know our Lord did not wish to blow any trumpets about his coming. He wanted to do it discreetly, he does, but to think he deliberately lied to his brothers is crazy.

He's the sinless lamb of God, the light of truth. Not a hint of unrighteousness is found in him. The Apostle John has labored more than any gospel writer to demonstrate Jesus as divine. In fact, his very purpose statement in chapter 20, a statement that I've repeated no less than a dozen times, says, now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, or the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe, hear this, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Jesus is perfectly righteous because he is divine.

Furthermore, in the very next chapter, Jesus stands publicly before the Jews and asks the questions, the question, beloved, that you and I could never get away with. You know what I'm talking about. When he stands before them and he asks, which of you convicts me of sin? Now that's a pretty bold statement, particularly when you realize that the men he asks the question to would relish the opportunity to accuse him of wrongdoing, but not a word. Not a word was uttered.

You've often heard me say, if there ever was a time of eerie silence, it was then. So it would be completely preposterous to think that John would, in verse eight of our chapter, suggest that Jesus was emphatically and deceitfully denying that he would make the trip to Jerusalem, when in fact he was intending to go all along. Beloved, our Lord committed no sin Neither was deceit found in his mouth, 1 Peter 2.22. Instead, we need to realize that the point he was making to his brothers was that he was on a divine agenda.

What he does and when he does it is predestined by his father and not by man. So according to his divine calendar, Jesus wasn't saying he was not going up to the feast at all, but only that he was not going up to this feast with his brothers this year. And if we understand or if we realize that the journey to Jerusalem by the pilgrims for the various feasts was actually part of the festivity, it may help us understand why Jesus would say this. You see, the joyous celebration began not when they arrived in Jerusalem. actually began from the time they left home.

It was customary to gather with your friends and relatives and townsmen and make the journey together. They would sing what are called the 15 pilgrimage Psalms, that is Psalms 120 to 134. And as they journeyed to the holy city, they were together joyfully sing these Psalms and they would be recalling the goodness of Yahweh upon their ancestors, but not only their ancestors, but his continued goodness upon them even now. You see, the journey was very much part of the whole festivity. It was part of the festival experience.

The collective track together to Jerusalem was part of the event. And Jesus wasn't going to be part of that event this year. Have you ever wondered Have you ever wondered how it is in Luke chapter two, the only text of scripture that speaks of the boy Jesus, how it is that Mary and Joseph managed to lose their 12-year-old son? Have you ever thought, who loses their son on a walking trip? Maybe you have and maybe you haven't.

You see, they were making the journey back to Galilee after being present at one of the feasts in Jerusalem, only to find their son some three days later, after frantically searching for him, and they find him conversing in the temple. Now, it's not because his parents were irresponsible parents that they lost him. It's not that at all, but because they supposed, the text tells us that their son was among the large number of friends and relatives pilgriming back with them. You see, if there was only 10 or 20 in total making this journey, they would certainly have noticed that their boy, Jesus, wasn't there. But there wasn't.

It wasn't a matter of 10 or 20 making this trek, but perhaps hundreds who made the journey together each year. And that's why it was so easy for them to lose him. Well, what's the point? The point is this. And what I believe John is intending to communicate to us is that this year, Jesus wasn't going up to the feast with his brothers and the group of people as they always did from year to year.

He doesn't give them specifics, but he leaves it at that. But when the timing is right, and that's a few days time, he goes up privately and discreetly, possibly only with his disciples. Now it's obvious, the Jews were still out to get Christ. And it would be another six months before in the father's timing, Jesus will willingly allow the hostility of the Jews to eventually take him unjustly to the cross. But for now, His journey to the feast will be private and discreet.

So if the Jews inquire of him among the group of pilgrims swarming into the city from Galilee, they won't find Jesus among them. At least not until Jesus decides to make himself known publicly. And that's exactly what happens. Because in verse 11, we read, the Jews were looking for him at the feast and saying, Where is he? I said earlier, in verses 11 through 13, we'll see the attitudes and the view of the people at this feast towards our Lord.

The standouts in our passage is the religious leaders, they're the Jews, and the people, or the crowd, as you might have in some of your Bibles, that's the locals as well as the diasporian Jews. And we're told in verse 11, the Jews were looking for him at the feast and saying, where is he? Now that would have been pretty frustrated when they came and searched among the band of people who've just come in from Galilee and found that Jesus wasn't among them. After all, in their mind, they thought, well, this Jesus who claims for himself to be the devout Jew, surely he would have come as a rabbi with his followers to this feast. But what they had in their hearts, beloved, was far more than frustration against Christ.

Beloved, as we will continue to see as we progress from verse or chapter 7, 8, 9, 10 through to 12, we will see very quickly that they hated Jesus. Now, we're not given much information in this verse or in these verses about the Jews in particular. And it may seem like conjecture for us to assert that we can determine their attitude from these three words, where is he? But beloved, we can safely read between the lines. In light of what we know already in this gospel, and we've been through this gospel verse by verse up until this point, and in light of what we know with the thrust of this chapter, we can safely assume these self-righteous men weren't looking for our Lord in order to greet him with a holy kiss.

were harboring a fierce anger that ran red hot against our Lord and it was their intention to arrest him and have him killed. We'll see this theme over and over again in the next few verses until we get to the end of chapter 8 and they actually pick up stones to stone him. That's how deep-rooted their hostility and hatred was for our Lord. Does this not confirm Christ's words to his brothers only a few verses back when he said, the world cannot hate you, assuming or telling his brothers that you are yet part of the system of this world. But he hates me because I testify about it, that its works are evil.

This was a spiritual battle, beloved, and the enemy was stirring up the emotions of his people, in particular, the Jewish religious people, leaders of the day, to conspire against Jesus Christ. And it wasn't as though their sinister plans were hush hush. their intentions were no great secret. They weren't exactly doing things discreetly, because if we run our eyes over to verse 25, we're told the people of Jerusalem speaking to Jesus declare this, is this not the one they seek to kill? Speaking of Christ, of course.

Some of the pilgrims, as per verse 20, may have been caught by surprise at the hostility of the Jews, but the residents of Jerusalem, and that's the ones who, out of these words, They knew better. They were completely aware of the deep-rooted scorn the religious leaders had for Christ. How, you might ask? How did they know of this deep-rooted hatred? Well, it wasn't that long ago that our Lord was in Jerusalem for another feast.

Now, we can't be exactly sure how long ago exactly, because the Apostle John doesn't actually give us the name of the feast, but it's safe to assume it would be either 12 or 18 months ago, depending what feast it could be, whether it's the Passover or even the Feast of Booths. But it was about 12 to 18 months earlier. And we know this because the contents are found in chapter five. We spent quite some time last year going through and examining and meditating chapter five together. You may remember that it all began when our Lord healed the invalid man of almost four decades at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath.

And of course, doing the healing on the Sabbath caused these religious leaders to be somewhat aggravated. But their aggravation Their aggravation became rage when they heard what our Lord was declaring of himself. When they heard the high and lofty truths that he is claiming of himself. Because no one can deny that the words of our Lord to the Jews in that chapter, chapter five, have him emphatically saying that he is equal with God. Listen to the response of his listeners in verse 18, because they didn't get this one wrong.

This is what they say. Or this is what the Apostle John says about their attitude. This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, that's Christ, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. Now brothers and sisters, there's been countless people throughout history who have denied our Lord to have ever declared of himself to be divine. But you cannot, you cannot in good conscience read chapter five and conclude anything other than Jesus claiming for himself to be God.

Now, whether you believe it or not is one thing or another, but he does claim of himself to be God. And the Jews, they knew exactly that's what Jesus was saying. They got it right. And as monotheists, that is, people who believe that God is one, they didn't have a category to understand Jesus's claims. And therefore they deemed him to be a blasphemer, deserving of death.

They could not understand, beloved, that God is indeed one, but in three persons. And what fueled their fire and what made them even furious was further in that chapter where our Lord Jesus indicts these people to great grievous sins. He accuses the proud religious Jews of neither truly knowing God or His Word. that although they possessed the scripture, he said, they guarded it, they memorized it, they taught it, yet they did not understand it. You see, the word of God was in their minds.

I want you to hear this. The word of God was in their minds, but he had not found residence in their souls. Because if he had, they would have recognized the incarnate Word of God who stood before them is indeed Himself, the fulfillment of Scripture, that He is the very fulfillment of the sacred wreath that they supposedly held dear to their hearts. If they had the Word abide in them, they would have recognized that Jesus is indeed the Messiah. Beloved, if they had the Word of God abide in them, they would have fallen down on their faces in adoration and worship, because that is the only right response.

That's what he's worthy of, but that's not what they do. In their sin and in their rebellion, they do the opposite. If ever, if ever there was resentment, If ever bitterness, if there ever was deep rooted hatred, it was what the religious leaders experienced towards Christ. This Jesus intends to turn their world upside down and they won't have any of it. They've worked too hard for what they have.

Their traditions that they put in place, they're not willing to give up. The power and the control of the people that they now enjoy, they weren't going to relinquish that. their reputation as the holy ones, the respect that they received as the knowledgeable religious elites would be flushed away if Jesus had his way. These things were too valuable to them to give up. Sure, they were anticipating a Messiah, but not this Messiah.

They didn't need a Messiah to reveal their unrighteousness. They didn't need a Messiah to reveal their hypocrisy, a Messiah to expose their cold, lifeless religion. No, nor did they see a need for a Messiah who in His grace would offer redemption and forgiveness for those very sins. No, they wanted a Messiah who'd pat them on the back and say, job well done. You see, Jesus was a Messiah they could not accept.

They'd made up their mind. They were not interested in reasoning with Him. They wanted Him gone, out of their hair for good. We like the way things are, Jesus, thank you. We don't need you to mess everything up.

And so, as I said earlier, no less than nine times, no less than nine times in the next two chapters, we are reminded of their intent to arrest Christ or put him to death. The Jews in verse 11 were looking for Christ, yes. but they were looking for Him because they wanted to get rid of Him once and for all. This was their attitude. This was their view of the Savior.

But the people, or the crowd, weren't so united in their views. And there was, let's read verse 12. And there was much muttering about him among the people, while some said he's a good man, others said, no, he's misleading the people. Now, brothers and sisters, the word translated here now is to be Bible's muttering. Although it can also mean grumbling or complaining as it has been translated in some of your Bibles.

but here I believe it connotes the other definition given to the original word and that is whispering only because of the next verse. So I believe what we have here is everyone was whispering among themselves, speaking with a low voice, talking under one's breath so as to not to be heard. You see there was great fear in the air at this time and we'll see that there was a lot at stake if they had a different view or different view to the religious leaders and so they didn't want their opinions to be heard. So they spoke in a whispering fashion. among each other.

The apostle John gives us two, two such views that were being circulated quietly among the people at the feast. One is seemingly positive because some said he's a good man. I'll explain why this statement isn't so positive in a few moments. And the other is a derogatory view because others said, no, he is leading the people astray. We'll start with the last one first.

The people who said he's leading the people astray. No doubt those who profess this had taken the side of the religious leaders of the day. They thought Jesus was leading the people astray, literally deceiving people. A man with ulterior or hidden motives. They likened this Jesus to all the other frauds and charlatans before him.

They placed him in the category of liars who say one thing but really mean something else. As though he puts on a facade. an appearance of innocence, an appearance of purity and holiness, but just beneath the surface is a lion waiting to devour the vulnerable, as though he means harm. They signed to deception his claim to be the Son of God. They signed to deception that he is Messiah, that he was tricking the people into thinking he's able to forgive sins when indeed he cannot.

that he was actually misleading the people to think that he is the substance and the source of eternal life, when in fact, he's not. This is what they're saying. Their claim was that Jesus is dishonest. He's a deceitful man. Brothers and sisters, this is a massive, massive accusation against our Lord.

Beloved, this places Jesus in the company of the deceiver himself. Who is the deceiver? Satan. In fact, they've already attributed our Lord's miraculous power to Satan, and now they accuse him to be the deceiver. A deceiver, to be a fraud, to be a con artist, just like Satan.

You know, as I was preparing for this sermon, the thought Or this thought, it almost made me sick to the stomach. Our Lord is being accused of cheating people for what they thought would be personal gain. The only reason one would deceive another is because they have something to gain. And this is what they thought of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, we all know We all know what a con artist looks like.

We have these type of characters even in our day, especially in the so-called religious circles. I don't want to name names, but we can no doubt think of men or women who claim to be prophets of God endowed with supernatural power who deceive people. They masquerade as saints doing acts of human benevolence, but really, Just under the surface, they have haughty eyes. They look to identify the weak and the vulnerable to take advantage of. In our day, we've seen our fair share of counterfeit faith healers, haven't we?

Robbing people of their money and giving false hope of healing, but all the while, their only concern is to satisfy the desires and the passions of their own flesh, no matter how much hardship they bring upon someone else. It's all about me, they would say in their heart. It's all about me. We all know people like this, maybe from a distance, but we all know people like this. And I know how my blood tends to boil when I think of such fraud and to think that's how some thought of Christ is hard to swallow.

It's hard to believe. that as I see and look upon those who are taking people for advantage, for advantage of people, those who are deceiving people, those who are conning people, those who have deceitful intentions, as I look upon them and I see them through these eyes of anguish, how could this be? That's how they're looking upon the pure, perfect savior of the world. That's what he was being accused of. Brothers and sisters, the only thing that should come to our mind is this, how dark is the human heart?

How dark? How blind is the natural unregenerated heart to claim of the perfect sinless lamb of God who is the very epitome of love and all that is good to be a deceiver like Satan. Can you think, can you think of anything more slanderous than this? In fact, sad as it is, this view of our Lord became dominant in some Jewish circles after his resurrection. In the Jewish writings called the Babylonian Talmud, Jesus is mentioned to have been executed.

Now there is a lot wrong with that document, but we won't get into that. But the reason in that document, the reason given for his persecution, for his execution is this, because he was a deceiver who practiced sorcery, enticing Israel to apostasy. Beloved, this is in their document. Because he was a deceiver who practiced sorcery, enticing Israel to apostasy. This is how they saw Christ.

The signs and the wonders were, in their view, acts of sorcery. And Jesus, well, as far as they were concerned, he was just a charlatan, a fraud, a con artist. You see, such is the hatred of the world against our Lord. Such is the blindness of the eyes that no matter what he did, the miracles he performed, the acts of healing, the love, the kindness, compassion, the care, the mercy, no matter what he did, all they could see because the blindness and the rebellion of their own heart was a wicked man before them. Beloved, this is what we were all at one stage.

Before we were saved, beloved, we were no different to this. that if Christ was right before us, that if we existed 2,000 years and we roamed the streets of Palestine, first century Palestine, if we were there apart from the divine grace of God, we too would think of Christ in the same way. So beloved, how grateful ought we be that our blindness has been taken away? How grateful ought we be to have our hearts of stone taken out, that divine surgery where hearts of flesh being placed in so that we are able to see Jesus as our Lord, our Saviour, our Redeemer, our King. But we have a third view.

We've seen the religious Jews of the days and their attitude was one of sheer hatred. We've also considered those whose opinion of Christ was for him to be a deceiver, a fraud, a con artist. But these views were certainly horrendous and slanderous of our Lord. But now we come to a third view. Those in the crowd who said he's a good man.

He's a good man. Beloved, the third view is not quite the light at the end of the tunnel that we may think it is. It seems to me that the Apostle John is showing us that the faith of these people, although it looks genuine on the surface, is in fact superficial and not genuine. I say this for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because of the confession itself.

I'll explain this in a moment. And secondly, because they lack the fruit of genuine saving faith. Let me explain. The confession that Jesus was a good man was to some degree true. I mean, we can all agree on that.

As a man, Jesus is morally perfect. As far as the Jews could see, or as far as these people could see, he lived a righteous life. He obeyed the law of God as man should. He told no lies. He was free from lust.

He was free from theft. He was free from covetousness. He was kind. He was loving. He was caring.

He seemed to uphold the scripture with high honor. His teaching was like no one else they've ever seen or heard, unlike the scribes. He taught with authority. All good so far, right? Actually, no.

Although Jesus was all these things, we have to ask the question, what about what Jesus taught about himself? What about the statements that they would have heard directly or indirectly of what Jesus said of himself, of what Jesus claimed for himself. Because we can be sure in our study in the fourth gospel so far that Jesus wasn't claiming to simply be a good man. His claim, his claim was that he was God in flesh. And if these Jews were claiming him to be good, then that definition would have to necessitate that they consider Jesus to be truthful.

Now, we have to agree on that. Now, beloved, I'll be the first to say, based on what our Lord has taught about himself, if he was merely a man, he would not be a good man, but a very, very bad man. A blasphemous man, in fact. Beyond that even, he would be completely out of his mind and suited to be locked away in a mental institution. I question if these people were thinking straight in light of Jesus' teaching by saying or concluding that he was a good man.

Let's think about the truth statements he's already said of himself in Jerusalem so far. Even if we restrict ourselves to the statements our Lord made to one chapter, chapter five, because we know in chapter five, he was in Jerusalem. Listen to what he says. He says, the very work of the father is the work I do also. In other words, what God can do, I can do.

Is this a claim of a me-man? It goes on. You all know the only God who can raise the dead and give life. Well, yours truly can do that also. And I can do it as I will, he says.

Beloved, there's more. The devout Jews were familiar with the last words of the book of Ecclesiastes. And the last words of the book of Ecclesiastes reads like this, for God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil. You hear that? For God will bring every deed into judgment.

So God is the great judge of the universe. They all knew that, there was no question. But now Jesus is saying, The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son. Jesus is saying, I'm the judge of the universe. I'm the one with the all-seeing eye.

I'm the one who will judge your every single secret. The things that are hidden in your heart that no human being knows, I will see them and I will judge them. How do you land on the statement that Jesus is a good man in light of what Jesus taught about himself? and to top things, and to top things up, just in case that wasn't enough, our Lord says, you know how all creation gives honour to God? Well, it will give the same honour to me.

In other words, the worship and honor and glory deserving of God the Father is the same worship and honor and glory deserving of me. I ask you, are these words the words of a good man or a God man? Beloved, what you believe about Christ, it matters. Because anything short of believing what he has claimed of himself will leave you with a superficial profession of faith. And it is a profession that will not save.

Like he's a good man. It falls so short of what, of who Jesus really is. Beloved, he is the eternal son of God, God in flesh, who came into this world as the God-man to buy spirit wrought, saving faith, save wretched sinners like us from the just wrath of God that we deserve. And he was able to do this because as the eternal son of God, he drank the wrath of God in full upon the cross for those who would trust in him. Because He, because He is the sinless Son of God.

And beloved, if He was not God in flesh, it would be impossible for Him to accomplish the work of salvation. Beloved, what we believe about Jesus matters. He matters. He's so much more than a good man. The second reason to perceive, I believe, that the faith of these professors, at least for now, was less than genuine is because of their fruit.

You see, on multiple occasions already in the fourth gospel, we've seen what seems to be genuine faith. And we have to be careful because in the gospel, according to John, we have John using the same word. He said, some believe, and only later to find out that that believe was a counterfeit faith. We see that all the time, but he uses his own vocabulary. So we have to keep our eyes open and make sure that we see the contents and we examine the contents.

So we've seen on multiple occasions already in the first seven chapters that people who seem to have genuine faith, over time proved to be, actually they didn't have a genuine saving faith, but a superficial counterfeit faith. Because faith, beloved, we have to remember this, always produces discernible spiritual fruit. Faith always produces discernible spiritual fruit. What does James say? He says, faith without works is dead.

And I believe John is showing us that not only is the people's profession lacking, God or Jesus is a good man, it's short of Mark, but also their faith is lacking. It doesn't seem to be genuine spirit-wrought saving faith. Let me give you an example of what we've seen already in the gospel. Think about the Galileans on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee in the previous chapter, chapter six. They witnessed our Lord do many, many signs and wonders.

And that's why they were following him actually in swarms, in thousands we're told. And not least of these signs was feeding the 5,000. They were so amazed that they professed him to be, remember in verses 14 and 15 of the previous chapter, they professed him to be a prophet like Moses. Now that's a great profession, because it's true. Jesus is a prophet, or the prophet like Moses as foretold in Deuteronomy chapter 18.

So far so good. But these Galileans will actually go one step further. They'll resolve to make Jesus king, even by force if necessary, because they consider him to be the Messianic king that is prophesied in the Old Testament. Guess what? That's true again.

Jesus is the Messianic King of the Root of David. Their professions are true, they're spot on, they've hit the mark. But beloved, true saving faith is not simply based on what we say with our mouths, but what the Spirit has done in our hearts. Because someone can profess many things that are true, but not believe them in their hearts. That person is not saved.

But if there is spiritual life given by God, if one is born again, then true saving faith will be evident through the bearing of lasting spiritual fruit. The Galileans in the previous chapter profess the right things with their mouth, but they were not rooted in their heart. We know this because as we read on in that chapter, we see that not only does our Lord reject the crown that they offer him, or they try to offer him, because he sees right through them and knows their hearts. But on the next day, he also exposes their selfish motives of why they actually are following him. It was for physical, material gain.

Food that perishes, our Lord calls it, and not for the food that endures to eternal life. They had a superficial faith that did not change them from the inside out. Their confession, their profession was not rooted in any substance within. And if we fast forward by the end of that day, most of them will end up deserting our Lord anyway. Their faith was not genuine spirit wrought saving faith.

It was a counterfeit faith. It was actually the faith of demons. Their actions prove it with no discernible spiritual fruit to show for it. So too, I believe is the case here. For the people in chapter seven, who professed that Jesus is a good man.

Why do I say this? Well, because of the next verse. Verse 13. Yet for fear of the Jews, no one, no one spoke openly of him. You see, not only was their profession that Christ was simply a good man lacking, but they were fearing to declare their allegiance to Christ openly for fear of the Jews.

They held an opinion about Christ. Now, it was a faulty opinion, a lacking opinion, but they had one nonetheless. But they wouldn't confess even that publicly because it was not yet a true conviction. And a true conviction is placed in one's heart by the Spirit of God. He's a good man, they said.

But that's at least what they thought. But their hearts were not completely sold out to his lordship. Jesus was not yet their delight. Jesus was not yet the treasure of their soul. Because had he have been, they would have been willing to give up the whole world to follow after him.

But now without true spirit wrought convictions, for fear of the consequences, they kept their profession hush hush. They held it loosely because they were not willing to pay the price to follow after Jesus Christ. Now these conditions, beloved, they certainly speak ill of the oppression and the horrible power the religious leaders had over the people in that day. And from what we read in the next few chapters, the tension in that place could be cut with a knife. That's so true.

The Druze really despised Jesus and anyone siding with him would, they would be persecuted. In fact, in chapter nine, we're told they already agreed among themselves that anyone who confesses Jesus as Messiah would be excommunicated from the synagogues. And that doesn't just mean that they're prohibited from attending religious worship. Beloved to be put out of the synagogue carried with it a stigma that no Jew wished to experience. Excommunication practically labeled that person a heretic and he was shunned by the community.

In fact, rules in those days were put in place forbidding Jews to come within a certain distance of an excommunicated person. It was a shameful experience for the offender. but not only for the offender, but for his family also. One's good reputation is completely lost if excommunicated. And in a shame on a society, reputation is a big deal.

The fear of the Jews was real, beloved. And we'll see an example of this in chapter nine when we get there and we should never play it down. It was real persecution. It was difficult. And beyond this, even if someone didn't profess Jesus as Messiah, but was seen or deemed sympathetic to Christ.

He'll also be met with scorn, the fury of the religious leaders, no matter who he was. Actually, towards the end of our chapter in chapter seven, Nicodemus, the Pharisee, one of their own is rebuked by his peers because they felt that he was siding with Christ, when in fact he wasn't siding with Christ. He was simply imploring them to uphold the law by not judging men without giving proper hearing. But that didn't see it that way. They were one-sided.

And they saw Nicodemus as siding with Christ, and therefore they put reproach on Nicodemus. Beloved, the oppression and the fear mongering by the religious leaders in this day was real. And the emotional burdens they placed upon the people also was real and it was appalling. That's why our Lord rebuked the Pharisees and the scribes on so many occasions, most notably the seven woes we find in Matthew 23. But despite the opposition, and we don't deny its fierceness, Christ still expects his people to stand firm and resolute in him.

If fearing the authorities prevented people from publicly confessing Christ, not as a good man, but as Lord and Savior, as Messiah, as difficult as that would be, and despite the consequences, then that denial may be evident that they were not true disciples and therefore devoid of true saving faith. And beloved, I know, I know these are difficult words to hear. I know they are hard words. And I know I speak them personally as one who's never experienced this level of religious oppression or even any type of severe persecution, I know. But a fear of opposition, beloved, the Bible's clear.

If fear of opposition prevents one from making a profession of faith in their Lord and Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, then there's a serious issue of the heart that must not be overlooked. Don't take my word for it. God's word is clear on the matter. A few pages over in chapter 12, listen to what is written in verse 42 and 43. Now, it's a section of scripture just before Jesus goes with his disciples in the upper room discourse, which goes all the way through several chapters.

And it's a section that primarily speaks about the unbelief of these people. But listen to the words that we have. Nevertheless, many, even of the authorities, believed in him, of course, the him is Jesus. So we've got authorities even believing in Jesus. But for fear of the Pharisees, they did not confess it, hear this, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue.

It's a similar situation to what we have here in chapter seven, is it not? But the text continues. It actually gives us a reason for the lack of the confession. It actually gives us a reason why these people who seemingly believed in Jesus, why they did not profess their faith, yes, they would be expelled from the synagogue, but the inherent word of God gives us the heart reason why this is, and it continues. Verse 43, for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

That's the heart of the issue. The glory of man outweighed the glory of God. If this is the case, then it's only a matter of time, beloved, before one's confession about Jesus Christ will eventually be denied. There is no substance to a faith like this. This is no spirit wrought conviction.

Christ cannot be some sort of appendage to our lives, wanting the things of the world, whatever they may be, reputation, comfort, material things, the easy life, you name it, while at the same time holding to Christ. This is not true Christianity. You see, Jesus demands all, and his disciples must seek him and his glory above all. Beloved, you've heard it said before that Jesus is either Lord of all or not Lord of all. Now, I'll back off and say, hold on, Jesus is Lord, whether you think he is or isn't.

Whether whatever anyone thinks, Jesus remains Lord and King, nothing changed that reality. But this saying is true in the sense that it speaks of the attitude of one's heart. You can't have one foot in the world and one foot in heaven. You just can't. You must choose whose side you take.

Either you are with Christ or you are with the world. You must choose one or the other. But remember this, friendship with the world is enmity with God. Seems to me that the people in our passage had made their choice, at least for now. They've chosen the world.

They were more concerned to be pleased or to be men pleasers than to stand up for Christ. And their silence is a likely indicator of this. Because Jesus said, for whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in the glory and the glory of the father and of the holy angels. Now, Lord warned, it would not be easy. This is not the easy life that many profess it to be.

He warned that if you seek to live a God life, you will be persecuted. Jesus spoke to his disciples and said, the persecution will come. Only a few weeks ago, we considered together, beloved brothers and sisters, as a church, we considered verse seven of this chapter, and we concluded, if they hated our Lord without a cause, they will also hate his disciples. Christ warned of the cost of being a disciple. It could cost you everything, he said.

In fact, he even said it could even cost you your own life. The question needs to be asked, who's willing to give up their own life for the sake of Christ? Beloved, only those. Only those who have been saved and cleansed by his blood. Only those who have been forgiven of their sins.

Only those who have been reconciled to God and are now trusting in Him for all things. Only those who by faith now hold to His good promises. Only those who have experienced His love. Only those who have come to know Him as the all-satisfying bread of life and have come to recognize that He is the all-sufficient One, the One who's all-sufficient to satisfy our hunger and our thirst forevermore. Brothers and sisters, you know, you know, a soul united to Christ sees the world for what it is.

Empty. Empty and unable to satisfy. And if that's the case, then I ask this question. What do you have to fear? If Christ, if in Christ you are at peace with God, if in Christ you are loved by God, what does it matter that the world will hate you?

You see, true saving faith dispels fear, no matter the consequences. We're not playing down the consequences and the reality of the human experience of fear. Let's not play that down, but we're saying what we have in Christ is an eternity secure in Him. This is what explains the boldness. among the apostles and the Christians in the early church.

In fact, we're going through the book of Acts now, aren't we? And that's now Bible studies, and this should be all pretty fresh in our minds. Their boldness in the face of heavy persecution is a supernatural boldness. It cannot be explained with human reason, especially when for many of these, like Stephen, for example, We did that study only a few weeks ago. Confessing Jesus as Christ, as Messiah, meant losing his own life.

How does one attain that sort of boldness? How does one remain faithful despite opposition and in the presence of real human fear? How does one, in spite of what the passage, for example, speaks of the persecution and the fear that they had of the Jewish establishment or the Jewish religious leaders, how does one stand up and say, hey, I know you're against this Jesus, but he's my Lord and he's my savior, and I believe in him? How does one achieve that sort of boldness? Only one way, and it's to know Christ for who he really is.

is. It's to have a true and genuine knowledge of Jesus Christ that comes through genuine saving faith. Because eyes are opened, hearts are enlightened to believe in Him and His word and His promises are grasped and apprehended. and the knowledge of who you are in Christ and the security that you have in him, that your eternity is secure in the beloved Lamb of God who gave his life for you, Christian. Knowing this, or to give you an overwhelming sense of peace.

Not only an objective peace that you are reconciled to God, but also a subjective peace that you are safe in the hands of the Saviour. And beloved, it is important that you know Him for who He is. A superficial confession like He's a good man just will not cut it. Because you and I need more than a man. We need the God-man.

He's the eternal Son of God. He's the Redeemer of our souls. is to be convinced that this Christ beloved, this saviour, this king is more valuable than life itself. This is how the apostle Paul is able to say, for me to live is Christ, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Christ is all in all, no matter what the world throws at us.

no matter what the opposition or the persecution, and it will be difficult if it comes. Let's not play that down. But beloved, it's not about girding our loins and mustering our will that will get us through it. It's fixing our eyes upon Jesus Christ and His promises found in His Word. It's to embrace Him by faith.

It's to enjoy the means that is given us, the local church, the fellowship of the saints. It's together to believe upon Him and to know that He is sovereign over all the events of the universe. Everything that comes our way, it comes our way because it's been fashioned. by His holy hand. It's to believe this.

And when you believe in Him in this way, beloved, your fears begin to melt away. It begins to melt away. What is the remedy for fear? knowing Jesus Christ and who He claims to be, believing upon Him, trusting His promises and walking in faith. Beloved, I'll end by reading a passage in Matthew that speaks to the remedy of fear.

The words of our Savior himself, it comes on the back of our Lord's warnings to his followers that persecution will come in this world. It'll come from many different places. But then he gives them the remedy for fear. And I'm gonna read for you and we'll end on this note. It's in Matthew chapter 10, verse 26 through 33.

Our Lord says, so have no fear of them, that them is your persecutors. For nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the rooftops or the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who cannot destroy both soul and body in hell.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. But even the hairs on your head are numbered. Fear not therefore, you are more valuable than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven.

But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. May the Lord give us the conviction and the boldness wrought in spirit true, the Spirit's true saving faith, to believe in Him and to proclaim Christ as our Lord and our Saviour. And may it be that we never are ashamed of Him, but always, always seek Him and His glory. And know, beloved, whatever comes our way, No matter what comes in our path, no matter what He allows us to walk into, that we are completely secure in the arms of the Triune God.