John 7:25-53

[0:00] John's Gospel, chapter 7, and I think we stopped. I know where we stopped.

[0:12] Ah, 24, we talked about judging. Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. So John 7, 24, and we'll pick it up right about there.

[0:23] And so before we get into the text, let's pray and just bow your head, bow your heart, and seek the Lord this morning. Let's pray. Father, we are asking you to meet with us this morning.

[0:37] We've gotten up. We've assembled. We're here in this place, believing that this is where you want us to be at this very time in this place in life. And it's our prayer that you'll meet with us and speak to us and illuminate our minds to the Word of God and to give us understanding in these holy words and the truth.

[0:58] And Lord, would you be with me and help me to speak and say only those things that are helpful and that will grow your people. And Lord, may you take what's said and use it for an individual to gain something in their life, to go forward for the Lord Jesus Christ.

[1:14] And God, just give us a better understanding of these holy words. We acknowledge that they're pure, that they're above us, that they're eternal, that they're from you.

[1:25] And we believe that with all of our hearts. And so God, as we come before you, we pray that you'll minister to us as we seek to minister to you. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

[1:35] Amen. So John 7, we stopped with this thought about judging and how that's such a famous line. And this would be Matthew 7, verse 1.

[1:46] Judge not, that ye be not judged. It's very commonly taken out of its context. And just that's the statement. You're never allowed to judge anybody ever. But once you start reading the Bible, you start finding out, well, Christ right here commanded to judge.

[2:00] And he commanded to judge a righteous judgment. And you go through, for instance, go through the Proverbs and you're going to see judgment is a staple in that book about how to judge and not to respect the person.

[2:15] And to not, I'm trying to think of a word or a phrase there about justifying the wicked and condemning the just. It's all in judgment. And it's just, now you may not sit in the seat of judgment.

[2:27] You may not wear a robe and a wig. But nevertheless, you're to make judgments. You're to make calls all the time. You're to judge something whether it's evil or not. Whether it's righteous. Whether it's of God.

[2:38] And how do you judge it? You judge it by a standard God has given you. And that's why it's important. And that's an understatement. But it's important to know the word of God. And to know what the Lord has already said about that topic or what principle he's given that could apply to that topic or area of your life.

[2:55] And so you're to judge. Absolutely you're to judge. And I gave you a few verses in the New Testament. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2.15 that he that is spiritual judges all things.

[3:07] And then we ran back to, I think it was Ezekiel. We looked at a few verses where God was commanding his preacher to judge them and to show them their abominations. So it is a biblical thing to judge and to present the truth and to stand on the side of what God said is right.

[3:25] All right. So verse 25 then, we'll carry it on. Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he whom they seek to kill? Now this is absolutely him whom they seek to kill.

[3:37] It was just a few verses before that that they were denying when Christ in verse 19 asked them at the end, Why go ye about to kill me? And they denied. They said, You got a devil. Who goeth about to kill thee?

[3:47] Well, it's common knowledge. The people know that they're seeking to kill him. It was earlier in the chapter that they were seeking to kill him. So there they are.

[3:57] The common people know this, even though they denied it to his face. But that doesn't mean much. Verse 26 below, He speaketh boldly. Now this comes off of this thought.

[4:09] They're trying to kill him. Why isn't he running for his life? Instead, he's standing up and speaking boldly. And they say nothing unto him. That's a remarkable thing.

[4:22] Viewing that is something that has caught them and said, Well, that's not normal. This guy is bold. This guy, they want to kill him. And he's going to stand up and speak to them in a manner and ways that he's not intimidated by them.

[4:37] And so that catches the attention of the common people. He speaketh boldly. You may remember the disciples of the Lord in Acts where they spoke boldly. And they said, These guys, they were never learned.

[4:50] They didn't go to a seminary. And yet they're speaking boldly. And it was evidence that they've been with Christ. And so there's the power of Christ coming out. I'm not going to turn there for the sake of time this morning.

[5:02] But moving on, he speaks boldly. And then the question comes up, Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? Christ? And I believe what they're saying there is that, Have the rulers identified?

[5:13] Have they solidified that he is? Because of the way he's speaking and the miracles he's done? Have they verified this, that he is?

[5:25] And so you notice the word, very Christ. Now I know that's an awkward way of speaking. When we say the word, very, we always use it. I'm going to get a little grammatical on you this morning, okay?

[5:36] You guys alright with that? Yeah. Thank you, thank you. Okay, here we go. So the word, very. We almost only, we almost exclusively use it as an adverb. Meaning it modifies another adverb or an adjective or a verb.

[5:52] For instance, we could say, Be careful that coffee is very hot. And if I just said it's slightly hot, Or I could say it's extremely hot, Then we're modifying the adjective hot.

[6:05] But in this case, It's not modifying a verb or an adjective. It's modifying the noun Christ. So therefore it's not an adverb in the English language.

[6:16] It's an adjective. This is the very Christ. So what's it saying? Well, if you read your Bible, You should probably think of a word that shows up similar to that, Where Christ would say, Verily, verily, I say unto thee.

[6:32] That's in chapter 3 for one. Verily, verily. What's he saying? He's saying truly or authentically. Exactly. And so in this case, The word very is a derivative of a noun verity, Which is truth.

[6:52] If you're familiar with the word verity, You've probably seen it, Or read it in something like, In all truth and verity. And those, Well, I won't go, I don't know Latin, but, So the word, They're saying that this is the actual, Or the precise Christ.

[7:10] The very Christ. I'll show you another place. Look at Acts chapter 9. It's not the only time this shows up just like this. Acts chapter 9, When Paul, At the time he's Saul of Tarsus, And he receives his sight, And he preaches Christ in the synagogues.

[7:32] And so before the apostle Paul gets off on all of his training, And all of his ministry, The very beginning, He is going into the synagogues and preaching Christ.

[7:43] And they're amazed when they hear him. And it's in Acts chapter 9, Look at verse 22. But Saul increased the more in strength, And confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, Proving that this is very Christ.

[7:59] The same statement. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? Paul, You can get it just from the context itself. He's proving that this is very Christ. The true, The identical, The real or precise actual Christ.

[8:14] So come back to John 7. And it's not a, It just might sound awkward to you, Because of the way we use the word very, Only as an adverb to say it's very cold, I'm very well, And things like that.

[8:29] But it's an adjective in this case. So, okay, Verse 27. Howbeit, We know this man whence he is. Speaking of Jesus. We know that he's the son of Joseph, They suppose.

[8:41] The son of Mary. He's from Nazareth. We know whence he is. But when Christ cometh, No man knoweth whence he is. Now that's not true. That's not a true statement at all.

[8:52] As a matter of fact, Later in the passage, Look at verse 41. Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath thought the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, And out of the town of Bethlehem?

[9:07] So they do know whence, Where Christ is coming from. Verse 27. They say, When Christ cometh, No man knoweth whence he is. Whence means from where. But then just a little bit later, Some of them do know the Bible.

[9:21] And isn't that interesting, How some know the scripture? Some don't know the scripture. And the ones that don't know the scripture, Declare as if they do know what's right. Saying, Well, when Christ comes, Nobody's going to know where he's coming from.

[9:34] You're wrong. The Bible tells you that he's going to come, Which seed, Which tribe, And even which city he'd be born in. So they're ignorant of the scriptures, But they're just mouthing it out there, Like they're right.

[9:47] A little bit later, Somebody says the truth, And they're corrected, But that sounds just like the world today. It sounds like a lot of Christians today. Christ said to these men later on, You do greatly err, Not knowing the scriptures.

[9:58] And that is a grievous error for any human being, To have a Bible and not know it. And so Christ, When he cometh, No man knoweth whence he is. Wrong.

[10:10] They're speaking wrong. Verse 28, Then cried Jesus in the temple, As he taught, Saying, Ye both know me, And ye know whence I am. And I am not come of myself, But he that sent me is true, Whom ye know not.

[10:25] But I know him, For I am from him, And he hath sent me. Now these are the same words he said back in chapter 6, Almost identical in many ways. This is the same message.

[10:36] Verse 30, Then they sought to take him. But no man laid hands on him, Because his hour was not yet come. And many of the people believed on him.

[10:47] Now, The Pharisees are the ones that want to take him. And they, As a matter of fact, Verse 32, The end of verse 32 says, The Pharisees' chief priests sent officers to take him.

[10:58] So there's a very, There's a common, How should I say it? Just a response of organized religion, Is when there's something that they don't agree with, They usurp authority, And use any form of power they can muster, To shut it down.

[11:19] To squash it. History, You can just study a little history. If you get an accurate view of history, You'll see that the Roman Catholic Church, Tried to kill and slaughter, And burn at the stake, And wipe out entire, Not towns, But entire movements, Of people that did not agree with them, And decided, Oh, Let's take them.

[11:42] Let's take them by force, Because we're bigger and stronger than them. And that is never, The people of God, Do not stand up for the truth, And harm others, And kill them.

[11:53] Remember Jesus Christ said to his disciples, The Son of Man has not come to destroy men's lives, But to save them. And so you can tell you're on the wrong side, When you want to turn to force.

[12:05] It's a mark of the flesh, Inside an unregenerate man, As he wants to use force. You don't agree with me, I'm going to hit you. That's the flesh. And there's the devil, In a religious system.

[12:17] They want to take him, They want to lay hands on this man, Because he's calling them out, He doesn't agree with them, So, Force. It's wrong. And many of the people, Verse 31, Believed on him and said, When Christ cometh, Will he do more miracles, Than these which this man hath done?

[12:35] Now we've already seen this come once, And it's going to come up again in chapter 9, And this is just such an innocent and clean remark. It's just such a neutral statement of, Well, look what he's done.

[12:49] What else are we looking for here? And so it's a great response, But the Pharisees, Oh, the Pharisees.

[13:00] Verse 32, They heard that the people murmured such things concerning him, And the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him. Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, And then I go unto him that sent me.

[13:15] Ye shall seek me, And shall not find me, And where I am, Thither ye cannot come. Now you're going to see they don't understand this, But just remember once again, When Christ speaks of things that is, It's of spiritual nature.

[13:29] He's talking about going away, And going to glory, And coming back. And he calls it a little while. Later before Calvary, He's going to say the same thing to his disciples. And he's going to say, A little while I'm going to be gone, A little while I'm going to come back.

[13:42] And they didn't understand what he meant there either. I think that's in chapter 16 maybe. But anyway, When he says this, It goes right over their heads. We've seen this over and over in this book.

[13:54] Verse 35, Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go that we shall not find him? Will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, And teach the Gentiles? What manner is saying is this, That he said, You shall seek me, And shall not find me, And where I am, Thither ye cannot come.

[14:10] So they're completely perplexed, Not realizing he's going to leave this earth. He's going to go away, Go back to the Father that sent him. And so, of course, That's just over their heads.

[14:22] Verse 37, In the last day, That great day of the feast, So we're at Passover still, I'm sorry, The Feast of Tabernacles, From verse 2, He went up to the feast, And this thing lasts, Seven plus one days, I believe it'll be the eighth day, If I'm right.

[14:38] And he cries, Jesus stood and cried, Saying, If any man thirst, Let him come unto me, And drink. Now, Little explanation, He that believeth on me, As the scripture hath said, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

[14:59] Little more explanation, After the fact, Parentheses, But this spake he of the Spirit, Which they that believe on him, Again, Should receive, For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, Because the Jesus was not yet glorified.

[15:11] So statement number one, If any man thirst, Let him come unto me, And drink. And then an illustration of that, We've already gotten that from chapter 6, Where you come to believe on me, It's like eating bread, I fed you with bread, Moses fed you with bread, But this is bread that came down from heaven, Living bread, On and on, We've covered that clearly.

[15:31] Now another illustration, One very, Pardon the pun, Very palatable, Very easy to understand, And, If any man thirst, Let him come unto me, And drink, And he's talking about, He that believeth on me, Nobody's drinking anything, Out of his belly, You believe on him, From the inside, Comes rivers of living water, He offered living water, To the woman at the well, In John chapter 4, And she said, Okay, Then give me this water, Well the water comes from the inside, This he spake of the spirit, When God gives you the spirit, You don't partake of him, Through your mouth, He is placed within you, It's a spiritual interaction, And so this has nothing to do, With drinking or eating, It's only illustrative, Of receiving Christ, Or believing on him, We sing a song, Actually I wrote it down, To sing a little bit later today, Called satisfied, And one of the verses says, All my life long,

[16:31] I had panted for a drink, From some cool spring, Or clear spring, That I hoped would quench, The burning of the thirst, I felt within, Hallelujah, I have found him, The living water, That could quench, The thirst of my soul, So it's all figurative, And you understand that, I think quite well, It's a shame, That we can't look at chapter 7, 37 and 38, And then look back in chapter 6, And say, Okay, He's not giving anybody, Blood to drink there, Is he?

[17:03] He's not talking about that, But so, Why are they so insistent, Upon their practice, Of the communion thing, And making that literal, In chapter 6, Moving on, This he spake, Of the spirit, So John, Years later, Is writing his gospel, And inserts something, That was unknown at the time, Inserts, Oh, He was talking about the spirit, Back then when he said that, But in the moment, There's no clarity on that, There's no statement of that, It's kind of, It's a prophetic statement, Of truth, But it's not necessarily one, That they understood, And received, So verse 40, Many of the people therefore, When they heard this saying, Said, Of a truth, This, Is the prophet, Now, Look back at chapter 5, Oh no, Chapter 6, Verse 14, We saw this earlier, But we didn't, I don't think we ran the references, Chapter 6, Verse 14, After he fed all of these people, In this miraculous feeding, With the bread and the fish,

[18:05] Verse 14, Then those men, When they had seen the miracle, That Jesus did, Said, This is of a truth, That prophet, That should come into the world, So they're awful concerned, About a prophet showing up, Come back to chapter 1, John chapter 1, And John the Baptist, Is beginning his ministry, And he's preaching, And he's baptizing, And the Jews, Send priests and Levites, From Jerusalem, To ask him, In verse number 20, Verse 19, Their first question is, Who art thou?

[18:43] And he confessed and denied, But confessed, I am not the Christ, They asked again, What then, Art thou Elias? He said, I am not, Art thou that prophet? And he said, Nope. Well then, Who in the world are you, And why are you baptized?

[18:56] And if you're not Elias, Which the Bible says, Would come back, If you're not that prophet, If you're not the Christ, That's who we're looking for, Then what in the world are you doing? He's like, Well I'm Isaiah chapter 40, I am the voice of one, Crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the way Lord.

[19:12] Now who is that prophet? Let's go back to Deuteronomy, And just catch the reference, Deuteronomy chapter 18, Moses told his people, The second generation of Jews, That lived through these 40 years, Of wandering in the wilderness, And were about to go into the promised land, Moses gave them instructions, That one day, God would raise up a prophet, One that's like Moses, And it starts in verse 15, Deuteronomy 18, 15, The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee, A prophet from the midst of thee, Of thy brethren, Like unto me, That's what Moses is saying, Unto him ye shall hearken, Moses led them like a flock, Through the wilderness, Jesus Christ saw them as sheep scattered, Having no shepherd, Moving down in verse 18,

[20:14] I will raise them up a prophet, From among their brethren, Among their brethren, He's going to be a Jew, Like unto thee, Moses, And will put my words in his mouth, And he shall speak unto them, All that I shall command him, And it shall come to pass, That whosoever will not hearken unto my words, Which he shall speak in my name, I'll require it of him, And so Christ said that, I didn't, I'll just read the verse here, Where is it at?

[20:38] Christ said, He that rejecteth me, And receiveth not my words, Hath one that judgeth him, The word that I have spoken, The same shall judge him in the last day, In John 12, 48. So, So coming back to John, This is a, There's a prophet, That's supposed to come, So who is this prophet, And when's he going to come, And where's he going to come from, And how are we going to know it's him?

[20:59] Well that's, That's what they got, Was there's going to be a prophet, And several have come, But they've never been, Quote, That prophet, Like unto Moses, So they're asking this question, All the time, And now in verse 40, 740, Many of the people therefore, When they heard this saying, Said of a truth, This is the prophet, But not everybody agreed with that, Verse 41, Others said, This is the Christ, This is the Christ, What's the Christ?

[21:28] Well the Christ is, Is the Old Testament term Messiah, Which only shows up two times, In Daniel chapter 9, Will you find the word Messiah, He's called Messiah the Prince, And the word means, An anointed one, As in he's the one, That is coming from God, He's the one, They know that their Messiah, Is going to be a deliverer, That he's going to free them, From persecution, That he's going to take them, And set them up on top of the world, And he's going to be king, Over all the earth, So they look at him as a soldier, As a conqueror, And so this is when they say, The Christ, But the Christ has so much more to it, Than just being tough guy, Than being the king, The Christ is going to speak, Wonderful things, He's going to heal, He's going to, Teach things, That they've never known, And heard, So when the Christ comes, When he starts doing these things, Like, He's checking all the boxes, So one say, He's the prophet,

[22:29] Another say, No, He's the Christ, And then in verse 41, But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? That's where he's from, Nazareth, And so, It can't be him, Because there's no prophecy, Of the Christ coming, From Galilee, Verse 42, Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David?

[22:51] That's true, And out of the town of Bethlehem? Yes, Where David was? So there was a division among the people, Because of him. Now, All they had to do was ask, All they had to do was say, Hey, Are you the Christ?

[23:08] And maybe he would have given them, Some answer that wasn't exact, Or that they would have been confused, If they could have said, Aren't you from Nazareth? I've got a problem here, You're doing all, All they had to do is open their mouth, Open their heart to him, And ask the question, Do you think he would have said, No, I wasn't born in Bethlehem?

[23:27] If they had to have said, The scripture says, That the Christ will be born of Bethlehem, Of the seed of David, But you're from Nazareth, I don't understand, It could have been that easy, Well, Don't you know, I was born in Bethlehem?

[23:41] He could have shown them, The year of the taxation, He could have proven to them, Matthew does, Matthew logs it, So that was evidence, That was available, And understandable, They could have asked the question, Instead, Instead, Instead, Instead, They're having their little council sessions, And there's division among them, Instead of just going straight to him, And getting it clarified, How about that?

[24:06] So the scripture says this, But he's from there, We don't, There's a division, Now, One thing to note about division, You're going to see this come up quite a bit, Take a look at John, John 9, And verse number 16, This is where he heals this blind man, John 9, 16, Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man's not of God, Because he keepeth not the Sabbath day, Others said, How can a man that's a sinner do such miracles?

[24:44] And there was a division among them, Among the Jews, Trying to discern if he was the Christ or not, If he's not keeping the law, In their mind, Then he can't be, But if he's doing the miracles, Well he's got to be, Look at chapter 10, And, I don't want to read the whole chapter here, But, The culmination of his teaching, Is division, In verse 19, There was a division, Therefore again, Among the Jews, For these sayings, Many of them said, He hath a devil, And is mad, Why hear ye him?

[25:17] Others said, These are not the words of him, That hath a devil, Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? It's the same contest, He's doing miraculous things, But, He's doing things that we don't agree with, According to some, So division, Division, One more verse on this, Come back to Luke, I think it's 12, Luke chapter 12, And this is a verse you ought to know, And be able to play side by side, With these three references, In John, Is this thought about division, Our nation, And the pledge of allegiance, Says, The goal is that we are indivisible, And you know as well as I do, That that's, That's not a reality, In our land today, There's plenty of division, Well look at this, Luke chapter 12, And verse 51, Suppose ye, That I am come to give peace on earth,

[26:19] That's what the angel said, Peace on earth, Good will to men, Do you suppose that I come, I tell you nay, No, But rather division, For from henceforth, That means from this moment, Forward, And if you want to put it in the timing of his, This is getting toward the end of his ministry, He's offered the kingdom to Israel, And then he's, This is going back into a study of Matthew, He's offered it plainly, In plain speech, And then it turns into parable form, Where it's no, It's that they which see may not see, And they which hear may not understand, Now God's going to hide some things from them, Because of their hearts, Already rejected his word, And so now Christ says, From henceforth, It's not about peace, It's not about a kingdom, It's not about the kingdom of heaven on earth, And earthly peace for you, No, Now it's division, In verse number 52, For from henceforth, There shall be five in one house, Divided, Three against two, And two against three, You know what they say, About a house divided against itself,

[27:21] Christ said that, About the Beelzebub, And it cannot stand, Verse 53, The father shall be divided against the son, The son against the father, The mother against the daughter, And the daughter against the mother, The mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, And the daughter-in-law against your mother-in-law, And he said unto the people, When he goes on to talk about, Some future things, But there's a truth, That Christ came to set some division, Between people, Some are going to believe on him, Some are going to be, Be completely pessimistic, And argue, And debate, And they'll see truth, Hear truth, And reject truth, And God's fine with that, He'll create a division, And he's come to cause that, Do you realize, From the very beginning, Genesis chapter 1, There's division, God calls for division, He says, Let there be light, And God divided, The light from the darkness, And later, And later, He divides the waters above, From the waters beneath, And he creates, Within the two, A place,

[28:21] A firmament, Where there can be light, Exist, And where life can exist, And inside of you, He came to create division, And he came to, To separate light from darkness, And create inside of you, A new man, Where life can exist, And light can dwell, And this is Jesus Christ doing, He's coming, He calls us to separate ourselves, From the ungodly, And come out from among them, And be separate, God's always calling for divisions, And so he's fine with them, Being divided about his son, Verse 43, There's the division among them, Among the people, Because of him, Now verse 44, And some of them, Would have taken him, So there it is, The third time, They want to put their hands on him, But no man laid hands on him, Earlier it said, Because his hour was not yet come, Verse 45, Then came the officers, To the chief priests, So they're returning, They were sent to get him, They came back empty handed, To the chief priests of Pharisees, And they said unto them, Why have you not brought him?

[29:21] The officers answered, Beautiful words, Never man spake like this man, What are they admitting? Well they're admitting for sure, That we were impressed, We liked what he said, We went there with a mission, And we kind of got distracted, And we couldn't be aggressive, We couldn't take him by force, Like we were commanded to, Because of his words, Because of what he said, From his mouth, I want to show you a few things, The Bible says about his words, It's incredible, I don't think we fathom this, Look at Matthew 7, I'll take you through, Just a couple references, Come back to Matthew 7, This is all the way back, To the beginning of his ministry, Where he goes up on the mountain, And teaches his disciples, And he lays out, Matthew 5, 6 and 7,

[30:21] This is like, This is going back to the beginning, And at the end of that discourse, They call it the Sermon on the Mount, It's such a beloved thing, From everybody, In verse 28 and 29, The very close, The conclusion of all of his words, It came to pass, When Jesus had ended these sayings, The people were astonished, At his doctrine, For he taught them as one having authority, Not as the scribes, They've never heard anybody speak like this, Saying things as a matter of fact, And then also relating them, To things they could get, And understand, It was just so clear, It was so obvious, But it was so true, And there was such force in the words, When, You know what it's like, When you hear the truth, And you know the truth, And it just, It resonates inside of you, And in some cases, Once in a while, You say,

[31:23] Amen! Because that's just, It's true, And you know it's true, And you can feel it's true, Anyway, Go to chapter 13, Matthew 13, And toward the end, Of these parables, He gives a list of parables here, And he finishes them, And look at verse 53 and 54, Matthew 13, Matthew 13, 53, And it came to pass, That when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed thence, And when he was coming to his own country, He taught them in their synagogue, In so much, That they were astonished, And said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, And these mighty works, They're just, Wow!

[32:18] Everywhere he went, I'll show you one more, This is impressive to me, Look at Luke chapter 4, Luke 4, And this is another case, Where he stands up, In Nazareth, His hometown, In the synagogue, And he reads, And says a few words, Closes the book, I'll start in verse 20, After he reads, And he closed the book, And gave it to the minister, And sat down, And look at the next phrase, And the eyes of all them, That were in his synagogue, Were fastened on him, They were just, Can you put yourself in the place, They are dumbfounded, At what just happened, And in verse 21, And he began to say unto them, This day is the scripture, He's sitting down, This day is the scripture, Fulfilled in your ears, And all that bear him witness,

[33:21] Or in all bear him witness, And wondered, At the gracious words, Which proceeded out of his mouth, And now they're confused, They're confused, Because they know him, This is, He grew up here, While he was a teenager, In the youth group, And now he's speaking, Such, They're just staring at him, So this is, These officers, In John 7, Get a taste of that, Of the words, I don't think we appreciate, I don't think we can fully get this, And maybe if we were there, And heard it for ourselves, I mean there are some gifted men, That can, That can capture our attention, When they get up and speak, They just have a way, They have charisma, And that's just fine, But Jesus Christ, I can only imagine, Is just, You know, So much more, And he spoke with authority, He spoke with gracious words, And he astonished them, Just absolutely floored them,

[34:21] They're staring at him, Speechless, That's a beautiful thing, To consider, Of the Lord Jesus Christ, And we get to read his words, We just don't get to hear them, Come forth from his lips, And we don't get to be, In that culture, And those customs, And be raised around it, Than to have this, The Christ, In our midst, Speaking, It's something that, I think we miss, When we read through here, So they're, They're astonished, And never man spake, Like this man, In verse 46, How true, That was, And they're, They're completely captivated, By the speech, Of Jesus Christ, Now the officers, Have a, Or the, The Pharisees have a response, Of course, 47, Then answered them, The Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?

[35:07] Have any of the rulers, Oh, Oh, That's what's important, Have any of the rulers, Or have the Pharisees, Believed on him? Because until we decide, You don't make any decisions, Or you're too dumb, To know, You know what they think, About their own people?

[35:24] Verse 49, This people, Who knoweth not the law, Are cursed, The Jews, That are not, That are following Christ, And believing he's the Christ, And making those comments, Well they're cursed, That's what they are, Until we decide, He's the one, And I think that's what they're saying, Back in verse 26, Do the rulers know indeed, That this is the very Christ?

[35:48] And they confirm that, No, We haven't believed on him at all, But then, Then somebody does open his mouth, In verse 50, His name's Nicodemus, Remember Nicodemus, From back in chapter 3, It says in chapter 3, He was a ruler, Of the Jews, So he qualifies, For their statement, Have any of the rulers, Well, We don't have proof, In that moment, That Nicodemus did, But he shows back up later, He shows back up, At the crucifixion, And gets his body down, And anoints his body, With Joseph, And takes care of him, And so, Nicodemus saith unto them, In verse 50, He that came to Jesus by night, Being one of them, Doth our law, Notice how he's going to put the finger on the law, Because that's what they're making claims to, Doth our law judge any man, Before it hear him, And knoweth what he doeth?

[36:44] And the answer is no, It doesn't, But you guys, Are stepping over the law here, And you're saying, Oh, They're all cursed, And they don't know the law, And taken by force, And they're saying, Hold up, That's not according to our law, We get to hear him, He gets to speak for himself, You bring forth witnesses, Two or three against him, If there's something wrong, You don't go taken by force, That's not how our law operates, But these men are above the law, As they see themselves, And you better be careful, A religion, When any man, I don't care if he's a pastor of a church of ten, Or he's a, Some, Pope, Or whatever he is, Any man that puts himself above the word of God, And starts telling you, How to operate outside the scriptures, Kick him out, Send him down the road, No man is above the word of God, So the Nicodemus sayeth unto them, And he says, Doth our law judge any man, Before it hear him, We're running out of time,

[37:44] We're almost done, Take your Bible, Go back to Galatians chapter 3, I want to look at a spot here, Paul makes a comment, About the law, And about being under a curse, These guys claim that, The Jews that believe on Christ, Are under a curse, Because they don't know the law, And yet Nicodemus is pointing out, That you're not observing the very law, That you claim to know, Now in Galatians 3, I'm not going to spend the time with the context, But verse 10, Paul is making, A contrast of faith, And works, The faith in Jesus Christ, Versus the law, And in verse 10, But as many as are of the works of the law, Are under the curse, For it is written, Cursed is everyone, That continueeth not in all things, Which are written in the book of the law, To do them, Now the Pharisees are correct in their statement, That in their mind, Now just in their mind, That these people are not following the law, So now they're cursed,

[38:46] Because they're not keeping the law, They don't know the law, They're cursed, That's what the Bible says, That you're cursed, If you don't keep the law, All the law, All things that are written in the book of the law, To do them, As soon as you violate it, And step away from it, Then you're under the curse, So they're accurate in saying that, However, They're inaccurate, In suggesting that the people, Believing on Christ, Are outside, Or not under, Or have violated the law of Moses, The statement though, Paul makes is, But as many as are of the works of the law, Are under the curse, They're under the curse, Because you've got to keep it all, And they're even in the passage, Violating the law, And earlier, They're seeking to kill him, Violating their own law, So doth our law judge any man, Nicodemus asked, Before it hear him, And knoweth what he doeth, The answer is implied, It's no, Of course not, And now watch verse 52, They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee?

[39:41] Nicodemus, Are you from up there? Search and look, For out of Galilee arises no prophet, So it can't be him, Again, Ask the question, Where are you from Jesus?

[39:51] You're from Nazareth, Right? And every man went unto his own house, Now there's a, I don't have, We're out of time this morning, But if you want to write it down, Let me get you the verse, Now you'd have to do a little Bible study here, But there was a prophet, That came out of Galilee, Search and look, It's in their writings, Their writings show, That there's a man named Jonah, That came from a specific town, And that town is identified, In 2nd Kings 1425, And if you chase that town, Back into Joshua, And I don't have it marked here, It's marked back in 2nd Kings, Joshua 19 I think, If you chase that back, You'll find that that's in the land of Zebulun, And Zebulun, Sits right to the east, Of the sea of Galilee, Galilee is in the, Is an entire region of the north, Zebulun is absolutely from Galilee,

[40:53] And their statement is, Search and look, For out of Galilee ariseth no prophet, Wrong again, Search the scriptures, You do err, Not knowing the scriptures, Jonah came out of Galilee, Now isn't that something, Because your Bible, In Matthew chapter 12, Jesus Christ said, That an evil and adulterous generation, Seeketh after a sign, There shall be no sign given unto it, Except for the sign of the prophet, Jonah, For as Jonah was three days and three nights, In the heart of the earth, Or in the whale's belly, So shall the son of man be three days, Three nights, The heart of the earth, So it's so interesting, To me that, They say there's no prophet, Coming from Galilee, And they're incorrect, And the very, The only one that I know of, That the Bible, That I can believe it says, The only one that came out of Galilee, Was Jonah, The very one that Jesus Christ said, Oh that's me, That's a sign, He was a sign of me, Dying and being buried, And raising again the third day,

[41:54] So that's a good little Bible study there, Sorry I don't have the time to run through that one, But we'll close with the end of chapter 7, With a verse 53, That is missing, In many of the new versions, Or it's suggested that it doesn't belong, And we'll pick it up there next week, And show you, That there's a chunk of scripture here that we have, That other Bibles would say, Hey we don't think this belongs in here, So we'll cover that next Sunday, Let's take a break, Let's take a break, Let's take a break,