The Christ From Galilee? - J..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. From verse 37. On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now this he said about the spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. When they heard these words, some of the people said, this really is the prophet. Others said, this is the Christ. But some said, is the Christ to come from Galilee?

Has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was? So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him but none, no one laid his hands or laid hands on him. The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees and said to them, why did you, my apologies, the officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees who said to them, why did you not bring him? And the officers answered, no one ever spoke like this man.

The Pharisees answered them, have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But the crowd that does not know the law is accursed. Nicodemus, who had gone to him before and who was one of them, said to them, Does our Lord judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does? They replied, Are you from Galilee too?

Search and see. that no profit arises from Galilee. Amen. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord, it remains forever. Well, brothers and sisters, by the grace of God, we will bring our journey in the gospel according to John in the seventh chapter to an end this evening.

It has been a journey that we've seen through for several months. And by God's grace, I hope that the Lord has illuminated to your hearts how wonderful and how gracious our Savior is. It's a chapter that from the very onset has revealed to us the antagonism against our Lord Jesus Christ. In particular, from the very beginning we're told that the Jews were seeking to kill Jesus. From the very beginning we see this antique antagonism, and we see how it grows over time, over the seventh chapter, and we know that the Jews were really wanting Jesus out of the way.

He was an obstacle. He was a thorn in their flesh, and they wanted Him out. But over and over again, as our study has progressed, we've seen that their plan to get Jesus out of the way was thwarted time and time again, because the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, His time had not yet come. The time will come, but it won't be for another six months. So any of the attempts to take care or to get rid of Christ will not be accomplished until then.

But not only are the Jewish authorities in view in this chapter because we know the setting is in the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths and we have people from all over the world that come in the pilgrimage to this third and final feast of the year to come and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles with their fellow Jewish countrymen. So we have a selection of people from all over the place, not only the Jewish religious leaders, not only the Jerusalemites, those who live and reside in Jerusalem, but we have pilgrims from all over who have come and made the journey into Jerusalem. And here now we've got the context, it is in the temple in Jerusalem. And before even Jesus comes to this feast, we know that He is the talk of the crowd. The people were already discussing among themselves, who is this Jesus?

Who do you say he is? Who do you say he is? And even from the onset before Jesus comes to this feast this year, there's already a flurry of different opinions about who this Jesus is. And we looked at those in previous weeks. But we know one thing for sure.

that although there's a flurry of different opinions, some favorable and some not so, the Jews have been fairly consistent. That's the Jewish religious leaders. They've been fairly consistent. And their consistency is that they are resolved. They want Jesus out of the way.

They've made a decision and they want Jesus Gone. Completely. Out of the way. He's an obstacle in their course, in their path, and so what they've done is they've tried to discredit Christ, if you remember, by saying He has no credentials, He has no formal qualifications, no formal education, and He's not approved by us. Don't listen to Him, they're telling the crowd.

Don't listen to Him. His message is false. He's a false Messiah, and we want Him gone. And of course, their words have affected some of these people, as they would. But others had begun to think for themselves.

It's incredible. We can't understand the power that these religious leaders had over the people. We all have Bibles in our hands, and we have the privilege of being able to study God's Word on our own. But these people didn't have that privilege. They would go to the synagogues or the temple, and they would read it read.

And these people who were the religious elites, the teachers of the law, were the ones who would teach the people in Jerusalem. And they would teach sometimes very erroneous teachings. So they had a very strong power over these people. But somewhere along the line, in John chapter 7, the people start to think for themselves, and they start to think maybe, just maybe there's something special about this Jesus. Because things aren't starting to make all that much sense.

We know the authorities don't like him, we know they've said he's a blasphemer and they want him out of the way, but here he is once again in the middle of the temple preaching and teaching before thousands and yet with no consequences. So they're starting to think maybe there's a level of dishonesty amongst our religious leaders. Maybe they know something and they're holding back, and so they begin to think for themselves. And that's why we have a flurry, a flurry of different opinions about who this Jesus is. But behind the scenes we know already that there's a plot.

A plot that was established by the Jews had already begun. And that plot is they commissioned officers of the temple. These are Levite men with the duty of guarding the temple. We heard that this evening that the Levites had a duty to guard the tabernacle and now temple. And these officers were Levite men who were meant to guard the temple from any unruly behavior or anything that would corrupt or defile the temple, including false teaching.

And so they called the Levites and said, hey, you need to take care of this Jesus. Arrest him and get him out of the way. Now that's behind the scenes. Now the Levite men, the officers that the text tells us, had taken that commission on board. But of course, they couldn't be careless with their arrest of Christ.

They had to time it properly. There had to be an opportune timing in when they captured the Lord. Because remember, there are still quite a few people who were favorable to Christ. There were people who were captivated by Him, whether truthfully or not. But there was a lot who were seeking the Lord.

A lot said He's a good person and they're not going to sit back and allow the temple guys just to pull Him away. So they had to be very careful. That's happening now behind the scenes. Now, a few days have passed, because Jesus had come to the tabernacle halfway through, and a few days has passed, and when we had a look at the previous verses, from 37 through 39, we're introduced to that passage as it being the last and the final day of the feast. If you remember that the last two times we were in the Gospel according to John, we together contemplated and meditated upon those verses, 37 through 39.

In essence, In essence, from 37, our Lord gives an invitation to the people. And then in verse 38, He gives them a promise. And then the Apostle John gives us a commentary in verse 39 to explain what that promise is. And we went through that in the last few weeks that we were in the Gospel. But this week, together by God's grace, we'll be considering from verse 40 through 52.

And in essence, what we have before us is the response of the people to the invitation of our Lord Jesus Christ from 37 through 39. And what an invitation it is. You see, Jesus jumps to his feet. And with a loud voice, he calls upon everyone there and he says, he who thirsts, Let Him come. Let Him come to me and drink."

Now these people weren't stupid. They knew that Jesus wasn't holding a bucket in His hands with water and He wasn't dispersing or passing out water to satisfy their physical thirst. That's not at all what He was doing. He was using a physical metaphor to reveal a profound spiritual reality. As water is life to the body, Jesus is saying, I am life to your soul.

If you thirst, come. If you thirst, come. Don't bring anything in your hands. Just come and drink, is what Jesus is saying. then verse 38 makes it clear to come and drink of Christ is to believe.

And to believe in Christ is to be eternally satisfied in him. Come to me, he cries. I'm the source of life. I am the fountain of soul quenching eternal gratification for your soul. Your soul needs hydration for life.

And apart from me, you'll perish in your sins. Death is everywhere. Come to me and receive life. That's the invitation of our Lord. It's a spiritual invitation or an invitation to spiritual life.

For those who thirst, Those who recognize their desperate need for that life that is on offer, then they are to come drink, and then the promise kicks in. The promise that Jesus makes is that out of their own hearts will flow rivers, multiple, plural, rivers of living water. The Spirit of Jesus will be poured into their own souls once He is glorified. We addressed that last week. And he will dwell in the believer.

God dwells in the heart of the believer. Our brother explained that for us this evening. That we become the temple of the Holy Spirit. But not only will the rivers of living water flow from the heart in abundance, not only will the abundant life of Jesus Christ dwell in His people, but also that abundant life will overflow into streams of rivers of Spirit-wrought blessings that flow unto others. Our salvation is never selfish, beloved.

It's never selfish. The Spirit of Christ flows through us, producing in us an undeniable Christ-likeness. And we begin to look like Him daily. More and more, I hope. But also our lives, our testimony, our profession of His truths and the truths of His gospel flows from us.

And that's the means that the Lord uses to bring life. to others. We become vessels of the good news. Vessels of the news that brings forth life. Living rivers.

The invitation is given. The promise to all who come and drink is made. Now in the verses before us from verse 20 to 40, my apologies, we are made aware of the responses to that invitation. In fact, we have five responses recorded for us in the text until the end of the chapter. Three initially from verse 40 through 42, which I'll consider in a moment.

And then further down the passage from verse 45, the response of the Levite officers who were meant to arrest the Lord, as well as the Jewish leaders who sent them. I'll address them a little bit later in the sermon. But in essence, there's nothing new here. We know that our Lord, up until this point, has been in His earthly ministry some almost three years. And we know wherever He's gone, there's always been a lack of agreement.

There's been disagreement. There's been division among the people. And that's what the Apostle John, he summarizes it best. In verse 43, he says, So there was a division among the people over Him. Verse 43.

No consensus. Some said one thing, others said another. Beloved, if there is a division, and there always is, it's also safe to say there will always be opposition. And as we'll see, to stand up for Christ always requires spiritual backbone. The first of the people's responses is found in verse 40.

Put your eyes down there. It says, When they heard these words, the words that we meditated upon the last two times we were in John from verses 37 through 39, some of the people said, this really is the prophet. Now if you think these words are familiar, you're right. They are familiar. Because in the previous chapter, in chapter 6, the Galileans uttered the same words.

You might remember that. After they'd witnessed the miracle of massive proportions where our Lord brings They bring to Him two pieces of fish or two fish and five loaves. And from that little bit of food, He multiplies it to satisfy the hunger of thousands upon thousands, maybe ten to twenty thousand people. A massive miracle. When the people saw what the Lord had done, this is their declaration in verse 14 of the previous chapter.

They say, What John tells us, when the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, this is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world. Now, brothers and sisters, don't let the fact that in hindsight, we know how that ended in Galilee. We know where the narrative ends, and it takes 24 hours, and most of the people turn their back and reject the Lord. But don't let that take anything away from the declaration they make in verse 14, because it's a true one. Jesus is indeed the prophet.

Definite article, the prophet, the prophet. The prophet they're speaking about there in chapter 6 is the same prophet that's spoken of here in chapter 7. It's the, they're referring to the prophet like Moses that is spoken of in Deuteronomy chapter 18, a prophet to come. Yahweh promises that He will send a prophet. And when this prophet comes, one who is like Moses, Yahweh, God is very specific, very emphatic to His people.

When that prophet comes, there is one obligation that His people must do. And you know what that is? Twice He says it in that passage. They must listen to Him. Of course, listen connotes a listening and an obedience also.

The Galileans recognized the prophet in the last chapter. They recognized that Jesus must be the prophet. That was the confession of their mouth. But did they do what they were told? Did they do what they were told in the book of Deuteronomy by Yahweh through the mouth of Moses?

Did they do that? Did they listen? Well, we know how the story ends, don't we? It's a tragedy. The Galileans were all too impressed with his power.

They were impressed with his ability to heal the sick, overly impressed with his ability to feed their bellies. But do they listen to the prophet? Flick over with me to chapter 6, and let's go to verse 60, and just quickly run our eyes over verse 60. When many of his disciples heard it, heard what? Heard the teaching of this prophet, heard the teaching of Christ, they said, this is a hard saying.

Who can listen to it. And after Jesus replies to them, we get these words in verse 66. Same group of people. After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. You see, they heard Christ and they declared, who can listen to him?

That was the only instruction given in Deuteronomy when this prophet comes. Listen to him. Obey him. And yet he comes, they declare with his mouth or with their mouth that this must be the prophet, yet they fail to listen. They fail to obey.

Now some in Jerusalem in the temple profess the same thing, that this Jesus is the prophet. But do they listen to him? Have they come to drink of Him? That was the command. If you thirst, come and drink of me.

Have they come to believe in Jesus? Have they come to receive Him through genuine saving faith? Do they come true followers of Christ? Well, maybe. We're not told.

But John often puts clues in the text to help us interpret the facts. I want you to realize why. what he writes for us in the very next verse. Verse 41. Others said this is the Christ.

You see these people had distinguished between the prophet to come and the anointed from God, the Christ. They've distinguished between two. Now, there's no doubt some would have linked the two. Some would have seen the prophet that was promised in Deuteronomy 18 and the anointed from God, the Messiah, the Christ, to be one and the same. Maybe there were some that would link the two, but there were some that didn't.

And maybe John is telling us that these people are on the right track, but they're not quite there yet. Remember back in chapter one, You remember when the Pharisees sent the priests and the Levites to John the Baptist to inquire on his identity? And they came, and when they did come, John knew why they were there. And they were asking, who are you? And John volunteers some information immediately before his question.

He volunteers the information that I am not what? The Christ. Immediately. I know who I am. I know what I've been sent to do.

I'm the forerunner. I'm not the Christ. Let's get that straight right away. I am not. I am not the Christ.

Okay, what was the response of the priests and the Pharisees? The next thing they say, are you Elijah? Your answer's in the negative. And then they ask this question, well then are you the prophet? So he said, I'm not the Christ.

And then they go on and say, are you Elijah? Are you the prophet? They've distinguished between the Christ, the anointed of God, the Messiah, and the prophet. You see, if they hadn't come to the conviction that the prophet like Moses is one and the same as the Christ prophesied in the Old Testament, then the prophet in their mind is a forerunner to Christ. And beloved, if this is what the people are thinking here in chapter 7, then their understanding of who Jesus is, is still deficient.

Because Jesus is so much more than a mere prophet. No true prophet, no true prophet has ever said, come unto me, come unto me, drink, and from your heart will flow rivers of living water. No prophet has ever said anything like that. It's true that the prophet is sent by God, but let me ask you, have you ever read or heard of a true prophet who said the words that Jesus said to the group here in the Feast of Booths back a few verses in 28 and 29. Have a look there when Jesus says, But I have not come on my own accord.

He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. Here's the point, verse 29. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me. Now, I come from him is important. Because you've heard the prophets say that we've been sent by God.

We've heard that. They speak on behalf of God. But never, never have you heard a prophet or a true prophet of God declare of himself to have come from God. The message is from God, yes, but not the man. You see, that terminology, from, in the Old Testament is reserved to God.

That terminology is spoken of, of the Holy Spirit. Many times, over and over again, you'll find in the Old Testament that the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, is sent from God. God is sent from God. And now Jesus is claiming that He is not only sent by God, but He's sent from God. This is no ordinary prophet.

This is no ordinary prophet. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the word was God. John 1.1.

Jesus is much more than a prophet. Others say this is the Christ. Again, a true confession. He is the Christ. Absolutely.

But haven't we heard that before as well? Something similar to that. In fact, it was only a few verses ago, back in verse 31 of chapter 7, when the people said, we were told here, yet many of the people believed in Him because they said, when the Christ appears, will He do more signs than this man has done? Now, we addressed this earlier a few months ago, probably a few, maybe a couple of months ago. And basically what they're saying is we think this is the Christ.

I mean, look at his signs and look at his wonders. We can't imagine the Messiah would do any more powerful signs and wonders. Look how powerful he is. He's amazing. I think he is the Christ because of the signs.

But you remember the purpose statement that John gives us in chapter 20? He tells us that the signs do have a purpose. But that purpose is to point to Jesus and then to tell you to listen to Jesus. Listen. Listen to Him.

Listen to His teachings. Listen to His claims. Listen to His invitation and obey. The sign is not the ends in and of itself. It is a means to point to Jesus and declare and authenticate that He is indeed from God.

Now listen to what He has to say. And what He has to say has been declared in the way of invitation and that is, come, come and drink from Me. to receive Him as Lord and Savior for the forgiveness of your sins. If you've come to believe He is the Christ, it ought not to be because of the signs He has performed, but because you've come to drink from Him and your soul has been satisfied. If you believe He is the Christ, it is because His Spirit has done a work in your soul that can only be explained by the powerful encounter with the Almighty God of the universe.

The signs in the first century do indeed have a place. But remember this, beloved. True faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ. Romans 10.17 And I'm not doubting some, I'm not doubting at all that some may have actually come to a true saving knowledge of Christ among those who professed him to be the Christ.

But beloved, until now, even those who made truthful confessions, for the most part, we've seen time and time again that it's been superficial. They've been moved by emotions, marveled at His power, but they haven't come to drink from the fountain of life. That is, they haven't really come to believe that Jesus is the Christ. They may have professed it, but too often they haven't believed it in their hearts. Time and time again the profession comes from their mouth and only time can tell, but in time it proves to be illegitimate, an illegitimate profession of faith.

See, unless the grace of God has flooded their hearts with true saving faith in this Jesus, what is spoken with the mouth is meaningless. And Jesus has had his fair share of professors, has he not? Professors not as those in university, but as those who profess with their mouths. He's had his fair share of talkers with no spiritual substance within. But beloved, talk is cheap.

Unless there's a consistent reality within, then the talk is meaningless. Unless Jesus has made residence in your soul by faith in Him, unless He has done that, then the end is always the same for those who profess seemingly truths about Christ but don't believe them in their heart. The end is always the same. They end up falling away. Now time will tell about these here in our chapter 7 who profess that Jesus is the Christ.

Time will tell. I think I may be hopeful for them as well. But in the third group in our passage, well, we can, from the onset, say these are just simply ignorant unbelievers. Because 41b, we read, but some said, is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?

You can see the superficiality all over that, can't you? What ignorance. we've already come across a similar ignorance, something similar, at the same feast back in verse 27. But back then, they dismissed the possibility of this Jesus being the Christ for this reason. They said, we know that this man, we know this man, sorry, my apologies, we know where this man comes from, verse 27, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.

You see, that's an ignorance, but that's an ignorance of Scripture, right? The error of these people, in verse 27, was to evaluate or to escalate, is the word I'm looking for, the traditions of man that they've heard lies from the mouths of men over and above what is written in sacred writ. The error for that group was one of authority. and to depart from the supreme and sole authority of the Word of God on the matters of faith, well, that's a damnable sin. But for those in verse 41, the ignorance is actually of another type.

They had the Scripture down pat. They were wise enough to recognize that the Messiah was not going to be a mystery man, someone who comes onto the scene and we don't know where he's from. They knew more than that. They knew he'll be of David's root. And they knew, according to the prophet Micah, that he would be born in Bethlehem.

Great! They have a working knowledge of Scripture. That's pretty good so far. But where did they go wrong? They were ignorant about Christ himself.

They knew he was raised in Galilee. They knew he lived in Galilee. They'd probably seen him come to the feasts with the caravan from Galilee year after year after year. And then they assumed presumption that this Jesus was born in Galilee. Now, I give them an A-plus for conviction.

Because when someone sees the powerful works and signs and wonders at the hand of our Lord, and His authoritative teaching, and yet in their mind think, no, wait a minute, He was Galilean, and we know that Scripture is clear, that the Messiah comes from Bethlehem, you've got to give them some points for holding to what they thought was Scripture. Because we know, let God be true and all men liars. Even if our eyes see something different to what is written in the text of Scripture, let our eyes be liars, but not God. But they failed to see that principle through. Yes, Scripture is true, but a true concern for truth would compel you to match the scriptural truths with the reality that is before you.

Not based on assumptions. But on truth, Jesus is right there. A simple question would clear things up. A simple question to the Messiah and you would know. Do a fact check and you will see fairly quickly that he was actually born in Bethlehem.

Do a fact check and you'll find both his mother and his earthly father Joseph were from the roots of David. But rather they lean on their own understanding. They're wise in their own eyes and they fall in the sin of presumption. That's a deadly sin. This is the Messiah you're talking about.

This is the Savior of the world you're talking about. You've been anticipating His advent for hundreds of years now. He's the anointed one of God, the only hope of Israel, indeed the hope of the world. Do you not think it's important to get your facts straight? Go to the source.

Ask Him. But no, we know enough. We know enough. As far as we're concerned, this cannot be the Messiah. Our decision's made.

And as a result, they turn their back on Christ. And they turn their back on the true Messiah. They only hope to be forgiven of their sins and reconciled to God. What a tragedy. Seems like the book of John keeps bringing up all these tragedies.

This is what we call spiritual blindness, beloved. Hold what is false as true. You see, Jesus says in the next chapter, if you know the truth, you know the rest of the verse, the truth will set you free. How can we forget the words of our Lord to his disciples in the upper room discourse when he said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. You wish to be set free?

You wish to know the truth? Then take Jesus up on his invitation and come and drink of him. These people presumed to know Him, but they had no idea who He really is. Because? Because they did not come to Christ.

Beloved, Christ is now at the right hand of the Father, but you know this principle remains true. You seek truth? Come to Christ. No, we can't come to Him physically. He's at the right hand of the Father, but we can come to Him through His Word.

His sufficient, inerrant, God-breathed Word. Christ is known through His Word. Now, don't look around and think you can figure it out on your own. You and I aren't smart enough. We're just not.

And don't listen to the gossips of men. They have no clue either. Come to Christ. Come to Christ through His Word. That's where truth is.

In His Word. How many have perished because they've held doctrines of men and not doctrines of God. Beloved men are liars. Full stop. But God is true.

Come to the source of that truth. and learn, and learn from Him, learn from Christ through the source that He's given us. Come to His Word and learn about sin. Come to His Word and learn about our enmity towards God in Adam. Come to His Word and know and understand what our judgment is before the Lord, what we deserve because of our enmity, because of our sin against the good and holy God.

And come to His Word to come and recognize the grace on offer through this Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, the only Savior of the world, who was eternally God, in the presence of God, and He became man and dwelt among us. born of a woman, born under the Lord to redeem those who are under the law. He went willingly to the cross to be crucified. He died upon that cross. He was buried and he was raised victoriously, resurrected at the right hand of the Father, so that all who would come to trust in him would share in his resurrected life.

You want to know truth? Come to the word of Jesus Christ. Come to his word. Come and drink. Come and drink.

from Christ. John says in John 17, my apologies, Jesus says in John 17, that beautiful verse that we all know when he's speaking to the Father in the high priestly prayer, he says, sanctify them in truth. Your word is truth. Don't commit the same damnable sin that these people have committed in Jerusalem in the temple precinct before the Lord. Come, come to Christ.

For if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. Now as with any division, emotions are stirred up and it's no difference here. Motions are stirred up, and the Jews, we know that there's some in the crowd now that are joining with the religious leaders, because in verse 44, John tells us there are some now that have intentions and resolve in their heart to arrest Christ, but we're told once again that they don't. Not one person lays a hand on him. Why?

Well, we know enough now that they know the answer to that question, because his hour had not yet come. However, in the back of our minds, we should be still thinking about those officers that were commissioned. Remember those officers that were commissioned a few days ago by the chief priests and the Pharisees? What happened to them? That was a few days ago.

This is the last day of the feast, and Jesus is still preaching and teaching in a public place before thousands. What happened to them? And John fittingly tells us what happens in the very next verse. It's beautiful. Verse 45.

The officers then came to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who said to them, Why did you not bring him? And the officers answered, No one ever spoke like this man. The officers returned empty-handed, and the chief priests and the Pharisees are looking around, and they say, Well, you've come, but where is this Jesus? We sent you out on an errand. Actually, we sent you out with a command.

And now you've come back empty-handed. Why didn't you bring Jesus to us? What's going on? And their response was simple. No one has ever, no one ever spoke like this man.

The officers were absolutely mesmerized at the teaching of our Lord. I love the response in the original. Of course, the English is beautiful, but the original brings something out which is special. In the original, it connotes more like this. It said more like, never at any time has a man spoken like this man.

You get that? Never at any time has a man spoken like this man. It's almost like saying, it can't be me human. You sent us to arrest him and bring him back. And that was our intention.

We went, we know orders. We're officers in the temple. We've done this over and over again. And so we've gone and we've gone to a place where we can see him and we're waiting for an opportune time and our ears begin to hear what he's saying. And what we hear is unlike anything we've ever heard before.

We've heard all you teach us from the scripture. Multiple times. But we've never heard anyone speak like this Jesus before. It's the same book. He teaches from the same scripture.

But we've never heard anyone speak like him before. Not even remotely. No one speak with the amount of wisdom Well, no one has ever spoken with the authority that he speaks with. No one has ever spoken with grace dripping from his lips. We've never heard anything like this from any created being.

We're convinced this Jesus is no mere human. Maybe they come to realize what John has already told us in the prologue, in the 14th verse of the prologue of John, when he says, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. Full of grace and full of truth. No new man can speak like this is what they're saying. But the question is, beloved, that we should be asking these men, at least asking the text, is this.

Have they come to believe in this Jesus? You know, as I said, we don't know, and my response is going to be the same as those who profess Him as being the Christ. I am hopeful, but we're not told in the text. But we do know, even a cursory glance over the Gospels, we find everywhere, people everywhere, enamored and absolutely mesmerized and marveled at the authority of the teaching of our Savior. How many times do we read the gospel and we read that text?

I'll give you an example. Mark chapter 1 verse 21. And they went into Capernaum and immediately on the Sabbath he, that is Christ, entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching. For he taught them as one who had authority and not as the scribes.

Unlike what their ears are used to hearing. But too often, too often people marvel. Too often people are fascinated at this Jesus. They see his uniqueness in his teaching and what he has to proclaim. And then, because of an unchanged heart, they revert back into unbelief.

Even though their marveling is maximum, they've never seen anything or heard anything like him. You remember the passage in Luke 4? Jesus is at a synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth. He stands and he opens the scroll and he reads in the book of Isaiah and then he gives a brief explanation saying that what you see in this book is spoken, it's fulfilled today. In other words, I am the fulfillment of what I've just read.

And the people marvel. The people are astonished at that. And we're actually told in the text that the people spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words coming out of his mouth. Marveled. Astonished.

Mesmerized at the grace, at the gracious words coming out of his mouth. They marveled. They're probably thinking something similar to the officers in chapter 7. They're probably thinking, We've never heard anything like this before. This man speaks with incredible authority, with grace, with wisdom, with knowledge.

He explains scripture like no one before. This is incredible. But then maybe three minutes later, literally, maybe three minutes later, they turn on a dime. Because then Jesus opens his mouth and begins to teach some teaching that was an offense to some of these proud people's hearts. And literally only a few verses later, we're told that the people, same people in the synagogue, same people, were filled with wrath.

They confessed and professed the amazement of who this Jesus is and his graciousness. And the same people in a few minutes time, they're filled with wrath because of what Jesus said in the meantime. They press him and press him and push him out to the brow of a cliff in order to push him off and kill him. Of course, we're told that that doesn't happen because we have the answer. His time had not yet come.

But the point is this, just because you marvel at his teaching or acknowledge that he speaks like no mere man, it doesn't mean that you belong to him. You can believe true things about the Lord and still not be saved. His word needs to take root into your soul. Jesus Christ, He needs to reside in you. So when He says, come and drink, you're consuming Christ.

And the life of Christ then becomes your life. He comes within. He takes root in your very being. His life becomes your life. He doesn't dwell in only your mind.

Your mind is fickle, beloved. You can be for him one day or against him the other. We can see this in Luke chapter 4, for example. This requires Jesus to be soaked into your absolute soul, the very essence of who you are. It requires a divine work from God.

Beloved, we all know, we all know the parable of the soils. There's four soils. Four soils. Apart from one, which is the soil spoken of, which is the path, the other three soils, every one of those three are people who have come to believe in some facts about the Lord for a period of time. And if they were among others who were truly saved, you would look at them and think they're probably one of us.

some level of truths, some level of amazement. Those three other soils, they all had this, but we know it is only the good soil that produces good fruit, because it belongs to Christ. The life of Jesus is flowing through that vine. You remember last week, only the good soil endures till the end. Whether or not the profession of faith of these officers was rooted in a reality, in a spiritual reality or not, is not known.

But we do know from what comes next, that because they profess with their mouth the truths about Christ, that with that profession inevitably will come persecution, oppression. Listen to what he says in verse 47. The Pharisees answered them, have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.

They're indignant at the officers. But beloved, I want you to see they're not infuriated at them because of their incompetence or their inability to obey a simple task. They're not indignant at them because of their incompetence because you've got all these officers and we've only asked you to arrest one man and put him in custody. You couldn't even do that. That may have been a cause of maybe agitation, but that wasn't their main concern.

Rather, the scathing response of the Pharisees and the authorities against these officers was because of the officers' religious sensibilities. You're Levite officers. You should have known better. People like Jesus teaching this blasphemous error may pull the wool over the eyes of the lay people, those who don't know the law. They're accursed anyway.

That's what they're saying. But surely not you. You're experts in the law. You know the Torah. Surely you're not deceived as well.

Oh, you are deceived. So you've been duped like those who don't know the law who are cursed. You see what they're doing? The Pharisees and the authorities are now placing these officers, these Levite officers, in the same pool, in the same category as the lay people who they think have no idea about true religion. Shame on you, is what they're saying.

Shame on you. They're claiming basically they're ignorant, they're foolish, and they're accursed. Almost like saying you're an embarrassment to the temple. We on the other hand, if you see that response, we on the other hand, us authorities and Pharisees, it's the Pharisees speaking, we are the standard of truth. You don't see us being duped, do you?

That's the question. You can just see they're oozing with pride, aren't they? Their lips are oozing with pride. We understand it, right? We know what's right and wrong.

We know how to interpret scripture. We know the law from that which is not lawful. That's us. We haven't been deceived. You poor fellas, you've been deceived.

But we're not deceived about this Messiah. We know the truth. the true interpreters of God's Word they deem to be themselves. And so they're basically saying, if Messiah was to come, don't you worry, we'll be able to identify him. That's not him.

You've been duped. You've proven that you're incapable of identifying Messiah through your understanding of what is true and what is Scripture. But believe that to us. We'll identify him. And when we do, we'll let you know.

Sit back down. That's the belittling attitude that they had towards everyone in these days because they were wise in their own eyes. Wise in their own eyes. Pride becomes before the fall. Never mind that they were speaking to the Levites.

Our brother explained to us this evening who the Levites were and their fundamental responsibility, their practical responsibility in establishing or setting up the temple or the tabernacle in those days and then putting it down so they can go on their journey when Yahweh, when the cloud or the pillar of fire was moved from one place to the other. Now that is the practical responsibilities, you may say, of the Levites. But there are others. Because a little bit later on, before they enter into the promised land, Moses, in Deuteronomy chapter 33, he pronounces on behalf of God some blessing on some of the tribes, I think eight or nine of the tribes. And you know what he says to the Levites?

This is what he says. He says to the Levites, he says, They shall teach Jacob your rules, God's rules, and Israel your law. They're to be teachers of the law. And we saw this played out as an example for us. If you remember when the southern kingdom of Judah was taken in captivity in Babylon.

If you remember, the prophecy in Jeremiah said that they'll be back after about 70 years. And in fact, that was the case, because the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus, the then king, and he brought them back into the land. Cyrus funded that land. It took them a bit of time, but they end up building the temple. And then a little bit later, after building the temple, some six generations or so, they built up the wall.

And then we have the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra, the priest, And then we see a mini revival happening among the people of Israel, the exiles who had come back into the land. And of course with a revival, it always comes with the proclamation of the Word of God. And then we have this text, wonderful text in Nehemiah chapter 8, where Ezra stands on a wooden platform and begins to proclaim the Word of God. Multitudes of people, the whole congregation of Israel is there.

And do you know who it was that was walking among the people explaining and giving understanding to what was being read? The Levites. It's the Levites. From morning to evening, he's reading the Torah, the Scripture, and it's the Levites that go one place to the other. And now you've got the Pharisees demeaning these Levite men, saying, you don't know the law.

You're no better than the congregation. You're no better than the people here who don't know the law. They're deceived. They're deceived because they don't understand the law, and they're accursed. And you've just come back to us, and you've shown us that you're deceived as well.

So we're lumping you in the same category as that. Pride. This is pride. They're thinking of themselves as the religious elites. The buck stops with us.

We're the ones who determine whether this man is real or not. And we're telling you, this is not the Messiah. You need to listen to us. We don't care what anyone else says. If you go against us, you're deceived and we're going to make you out to look foolish.

Beloved, there is always a great price to pay when you stand up for truth. The Levites paid it now because these men, as I said, the authorities and the Pharisees had an immense power over the people. An immense power over the people. And in a shame and honest society, you didn't want to get on the wrong side of that power. You don't want to be evicted from the synagogue.

You don't want to be seen as an outcast. This was a shame upon you and your whole family. And 2,000 years later, it is no difference. The details may change, but the principle stands. If you stand for the truth, it will cost you, beloved.

If you stand for Christ and his word and his gospel, it will cost you. I said earlier, we're not sure. I don't know whether the Levites had the essence and the reality in their soul or in their hearts. They may have, but the fact that professing that which is true brought upon themselves oppression and persecution and difficulty. And for us today, it's no different.

It could come in the way of religious authorities. It may come in the way of governmental pressures. Could come from your workplace or even the academic institutions, even the general population. They will look down on you and think that you're a deceived simpleton if you believe this book. If you believe this book.

I'll see you as foolish. Antiquated. I'm not going to use that word. Outdated. I'm going to use that word.

That's probably better. That's what they'll say. Christian, are you telling me that you believe the Bible is the Word of God? Oh, okay. Are you telling me you believe everything in this book?

Do you honestly believe that the world and the whole universe was made in six little days? Poor you. Do you accept what the Bible says about Jesus? Do you really believe that he is the eternal son of God who became man in the incarnation? was crucified, buried and resurrected from the grave three days later for the salvation of his people and salvation is found in no one else.

There's an exclusivity about this Jesus. You honestly believe that Christian? Wow, you're so naive. How about this one? Do you actually believe there's a literal heaven and hell?

You see, if you answer yes to any of those questions, then you're immediately belittled by the minds of most of the people in our world today. But beloved, remember this. The word of the cross is foolishness. Our brother mentioned that in his prayer. For those who are perishing.

But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God, for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning. I will thwart. Beloved, this is a spiritual, this is a spiritual war. And there's always a tremendous cost to stand up for truth, to stand up for Christ, and to stand up for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because the enemy will not give up ground easily.

And Jesus says we must count the cost to follow after him. Because although to drink from Him, although to respond to the invitation in verse 37, to come and drink, that will bring life to your soul. The effect on your flesh is the opposite. It brings death. To come.

In other words, let me say it another way. To come to drink from Christ is to live His life. but to die to yours. To come to drink from Christ, that is to believe, is to come to live His life and to die to yours. If you're deeply concerned about your reputation in this world, to be seen as wise, knowledgeable, to be highly respected in the eyes of men, Then beloved, the Bible is clear, you're not fit to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

It doesn't mean we go out of our way to be disrespectful, not at all. But the fact that we stand upon the truths in this world will make what we do and believe offensive to the world. You see, much of the errors and corruptions that have come into Christianity today was because of that exact thing. Christian leaders in previous generations, in an attempt to legitimize Christianity in the eyes of the world, they've come to compromise what we believe and compromise this book because you cannot, you cannot get the world to believe the precepts and the statutes in the Word of God. You cannot get them to believe these things unless you remove the offense and the sting of what is written because it is too confronting to the world.

And if you do that, beloved, if you remove the sting and the offense of the Word of God, then that gospel, according to Paul, is no gospel at all. It's devoid of the power to save, and therefore you have no salvation. And so my challenge to all of us this evening is this. May the Lord give us to be fools in the eyes of men, but a delight in the eyes of God. The Pharisees belittled the officers.

They lumped them in the same categories as the people who didn't know the law, the lay people who were accursed according to their language, because they didn't know the law. But did they know the law? Let's look at verse 50. Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, that's gone to Christ, and who was one of them, that's one of the Pharisees, said to them, does our Lord judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does? In other words, you mentioned the law about that.

Does our law judge a man before we give him a fair trial? Before we hear what he has to say? Before we put two witnesses and then we hear and give the guy a fair trial? Can we just go and judge people willy-nilly? at will.

This isn't Nicodemus. This is one of their own. Now they didn't recognize the Levites who were meant to be the experts in the law. We didn't recognize you, but in one of their own. One of the ones they said, we haven't come, has any of us come to believe in this Jesus?

Then you have this Nicodemus stand up. And then he says this. Some pointy words. Nicodemus becomes what you might call a stone or a pebble in their shoe. And they're probably going, what's going on?

You should be one of us. Why are you confronting us like this? You see, he's confronting them with either one of two things. Either he's confronting the ignorance of the law, which will make them guilty of the very accusation they've just accused all the people who've been deceived by this Saviour. Remember they said they don't know the law, they're deceived.

Or worse yet, If they were aware of what Nicodemus was trying to pull them up on, then they would be guilty of being willfully disobedient to the law. No longer a case of ignorance, but willful disobedience. I suspect it's the latter. You see, these men were hypocrites, to use our Lord's words. They were well studied, they knew Torah, they had big brains.

But they mishandled God's word. and they applied scripture as they saw fit. You see, they knew that God was concerned with justice. The very thing that Nicodemus is now confronting him with. They knew Psalm 89 that reads, the throne of God is established on righteousness and justice.

That's the very throne of God. God is concerned. True religion, as we heard, or we didn't hear our brother say that today. I think we did. Did we hear?

Yes, we did. We heard our brother read that true religion is what? That God is concerned that we When justice, that justice and loving-kindness, they're the things that God is concerned with. These people, these people knew this. They knew it.

And they still didn't give Jesus a fair trial. And Nicodemus pulls them up on that. He says, does our law allow for that? You're pressing the law. You mentioned the law.

You said these people don't know the law. Why are you so concerned that they obey? Are you obeying the law? Are you doing what the law says? Are you giving this man a fair trial?

Why don't you uphold the law? Now could this detail of the law have escaped their minds? Could they have had a brain freeze for example? all of a sudden, all at the same time, forgotten completely that they should be given a fair trial? Is that even a possibility?

Well, we'd have to give them a massive benefit of the doubt to allow for that. Let's allow for that lapse of judgment. Let's just allow it for a moment, entertain that thought. If that's the case, Let's say they forgot, I don't know what bad memory is. Let's say they completely forgot that detail, just plop, it just came out of their minds.

What would their response, or what should have been their response to Nicodemus when he brings that up? Because that should have triggered something in their mind. And their response, if they had forgotten, it should have been something along the lines of, you're right, Brother Nick. Thanks for bringing that up. You're right, Brother Nick.

What would we have done without you? If you had not brought that up, we would be guilty of an egregious sin before the Lord. Brother Nick, thank you so much. What would we have done without you? Is that their response?

Did they humble themselves to the truth? Not at all. They were stubborn in their hearts. Their hearts were hardened with pride. Proverbs 12, 15 rings true right now.

It reads, a wise man listens to advice, but then, but the way of the fool is right in his own eyes. We know what is right. And we are, we're going by what we know. You see, Nicodemus wasn't the run-of-the-mill guy either. He wasn't the average guy.

We know that he was a theologian of the day. Jesus, he met with Nicodemus back in John chapter 3. If you remember, our Lord said that he is the teacher of Israel, the definite article. This is a special type of guy. He's a theologian with a big brain.

He's an expert in the law. You don't want to recognize Levi, it's fine, but this guy is an expert in the law. He knows what he's talking about. He opens his mouth, people listen. That's all there is to it.

But then they replied to him, are you from Galilee too? He's just told them, is it okay by our Lord to try a man or to judge a man without a fair trial? And then they look at him and go, are you a Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee. Put it this way.

That wasn't exactly a compliment to Nicodemus' way. You see, you don't have to be overly perceptive as we read through the scripture to find out that the Galileans weren't highly respected among the Jews. Galileans were like the laid back country folk. and they were no match for the brilliant scholarship you find in Jerusalem. Are you from Galilee too, he says, or they say?

You remember Nathanael and his reply to Philip back in chapter one when Philip says, come, let me show you Jesus of Nazareth. He is the one we've been waiting for. And Nathanael says, you remember the words? He says, can anything good come from Nazareth? Nazareth is, of course, in Galilee.

But the Jews make their ignorance really known when they assert that no prophet comes from Galilee. And that really puts them in the same category of ignorance as the crowd, because they should have known. If they're experts in the law, they should know that there were prophets from Galilee. Nahum is one. And the other would be Jonah.

And Jonah, in fact, was only a two-hour stroll from Nazareth itself. They knew. They knew, but the problem is that no one was going to change their minds. These men were settled because their hearts were darkened. And they settled upon who they believed Jesus is.

And it doesn't matter how much evidence and what you say and who comes to the party, they weren't going to listen because they have hardened their hearts. And beloved, that's a very scary place to be. when someone continues to harden their heart against Christ. We know for a fact that when Jesus first came on the scene that there was hearing ears. They marveled at Christ.

But then somewhere along the way, their pride was affected. And somewhere along the way they realized, this is not quite the Messiah we hoped he would be. We hoped that he would come alongside us and give us a pat on the back and say, job well done. Great, you've done a great job while I was in here. Thank you so much.

He didn't do that. He rebuked them because of their mishandling of the law, because of the hypocrisy, because of the heavy loads they put on the people. And they weren't happy with that. So what was maybe a favorable attitude became hardening their hearts towards the Messiah. The signs and the wonders and the words of Christ and his interpretation of scripture, the authority that he showed was compelling.

But they kept hardening their hearts over and over and over again until they'd be given over by God. And that's a scary place to be. The hardened one's heart is a scary place to be. And these people right now have done that. They've been apprised to the miracles of the Lord.

The Levites have come back and said, we've never seen anyone speak like this man. He's not human. He's not human. He's more than human. We've gone to arrest him, but we can't.

They should have heard that. And then you have Nicodemus say, hold on, you're compelling, you're saying that these people don't know the law, but if you know the law, are you doing the right thing? God is watching, he's giving you the law. Are you actually doing the right thing by condemning this man without a trial? These are all warning signs from so many directions, but they're hardening their heart one after the other, after the other, after the other, and then there's nowhere to go.

There's nowhere to go. Your heart and your heart against God over and over and over again. It becomes stone and impregnable and there's nothing you can do. That's a scary, that's a scary place to be. Jesus was in their midst.

On the last day, he was calling to these people. He said to those who thirst, come. Come to me. Come drink from me. Come drink and have life for your soul.

Stop living in darkness. Stop living in death. Come and drink and be satisfied. And from within, experience the glorious rivers of life flowing from your heart. You will know God in an intimate way like you've never known before.

You'll experience the abundant life of knowing Him. All the scripture will be illuminated to your soul. It all makes sense because it's fulfilled in me. come and yet yet the Savior of the world the God in flesh comes to this earth and he stands before them speaking words dripping with grace even the Levite officers even they said we can't arrest this man he's awesome Their heart was so hardened that they're closing off every avenue that this is the Messiah and they're also trying to deceive everyone there of that. Such is the blindness of the heart that remains in Adam.

Such is the heart that remains in Adam. The irony here, and I'll end with this, this very festival was a festival that commemorates something. They were looking back. And they were looking back at their ancestors, and yes, they were remembering what Yahweh had done for them in the wilderness. The booths that they lived in for seven days were a reminder that their ancestors lived in booths.

And if you know they're made from these flimsy branches, they won't protect from anything, right? It was Yahweh who protected that people. And they were remembering the provision of Yahweh in providing food and water for these people, in giving them clothing they wouldn't wear out. They were remembering all these things. But you can't look back, you can't look back and commemorate that time in their ancestors, when their ancestors were in the wilderness.

You can't look back without remembering also the unbelief of the hearts of so many of those people over 40 years. You can't look back without being reminded of how many thousands rebelled against God and judgment came and then mercy and then judgment came and then mercy. And you can't look back without thinking this through and being reminded about those who hardened their hearts against Yahweh. They saw His mercy and His grace, and then a few days later, or weeks later, they grumble and moan, and they go against Moses, and against Aaron, and against God. They can't look back without being reminded of these things.

And I am absolutely sure that when these men, these religious men who are now denying Christ, when they did look back, that would have resolved in their heart, we're not going to be like that. We're not going to deny God like that. We're going to hold these laws. We're not going to allow our hearts to be hardened like our ancestors and perish in the wilderness. We're not going to allow that to happen to us.

But what we've just read here in John chapter 7 shows us that they're no better off than their ancestors. That these people are just the same. because of the corrupt heart that is found in man. And beloved, if you have come to know Jesus, if you have come to drink from him, to take him on his invitation, then we ought to be on our knees with grateful hearts Because it's not something that we've done. It's not the evidence that He's placed before us.

These men had more evidence than you and I when we think about Jesus physically walking, teaching, rebuking, all these things. It is because the Spirit of God, God Himself, He invaded our lives. And through that divine encounter, He gave us eyes to see, to see the darkness that we're in, the death that we were in and to see that life is found in Jesus. We ought to be on our knees giving him thanks and worship all the days of our lives because that is grace. Let's pray.