I especially appreciate Colin's song.
I think after the news and the pastoral prayer that I did, Colin's song was helpful and was very connected.
! We can trust God.
Why don't you turn with me to the book of John, chapter 7.
Gracious Father, help us to understand your teaching, that we would obey it.
In Christ's name, amen.
I wonder if you've had a teacher that just made a tremendous impact on your life.
Someone that you just connected with, that taught you the material, but they taught it in such a way that not only did you remember it and understand it,
but you also kind of made that information your own.
A teacher that made the subject just kind of come alive.
A teacher that when you actually, you took the class and you were just glad, wow, I'm just so happy that I had that teacher and that material.
I have to tell you, my granddaughter has just a wonderful teacher that has just made, even so far this year, has just made tremendous inroads with her.
When I look back, I can't remember a single teacher I had in grade school or high school.
That probably says more about me than them.
I want you to know, but I can't remember a single one.
When I went to OSU, by that time in my life, I already had a wife, two kids, a full-time job.
The teachers, even though I was really interested in the material, I just loved physics.
I loved calculus.
But still, it was kind of like they were a means to an end.
I finally had one of those teachers.
In seminary, I had Dr. Crawford.
I know Linda knows him, maybe some of the others.
He was at Grand Rapids for many, many years.
He's with the Lord now.
He taught systematic theology and church history.
I can remember going there for summer sessions.
Because they would pack the stuff together for summer sessions, you would have four hours of class, four hours of lecture.
Dr. Crawford could use all four hours and then some.
When you got done with this class, and if Rich Brown and I used to just talk about Dr. Crawford all the time.
When you got done with that four-hour class, you know what you wanted to do?
Go to the dorm room and read your Bible.
You couldn't wait to just, I want to know some more.
How does that fit?
How does that fit into this?
How do these things connect together?
You were just so excited about the material.
You would stay up until early hours of the morning and then just get up and do it again the next day.
Because Dr. Crawford made God's word come alive.
He made you want to know it.
As I said, he's with the Lord now.
But you know, but I really appreciated him.
But Dr. Crawford, or the teacher that you thought of when I asked if you had one of those teachers,
can't compare with the great teacher.
In fact, in many ways, the biggest thing, the most significant thing about Jesus Christ
was his teaching rather than his miracles.
You see, in many ways, the miracles were really less consequence.
People liked the free lunch.
The Pharisees and scribes were not concerned about meals on wheels.
But what they didn't like was when Jesus Christ said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
I am the bread of life.
And if you don't eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, you are not part of me.
And when he said that, what happened?
Everybody left.
Except the twelve.
And even with them, he turns to Peter and says,
Are you going to go?
And what does Peter say?
I would, but where else would I go?
There's no place I could go because no one else has the words of life.
John chapter 7, verses 14 to 24.
About the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching.
The Jews therefore marveled, saying,
How is it that this man has learning when he's never studied?
So Jesus answered them,
My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.
If anyone's will is to do God's will,
he will know whether the teaching is from God
or whether I'm speaking on my own authority.
The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory.
But the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true.
And in him there is no falsehood.
Has not Moses given you the law?
Yet none of you keeps the law.
Why do you seek to kill me?
The crowd answered,
You have a demon.
Who is seeking to kill you?
Jesus answered them,
I did one work,
and you all marvel at it.
Moses gave you circumcision,
not that it came from Moses,
but from the fathers.
And you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.
If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision,
so that the law of Moses may not be broken,
are you angry with me because on the Sabbath
I made a man's whole body well?
Do not judge by appearances,
but judge with right judgment.
You'll remember the context with me.
Jesus had been in Jerusalem about six months earlier,
and at that time he had healed a man by the pool of Bethsaida.
It was on the Sabbath.
And he told the man,
Get up, take your bed, and go.
Them, the religious leaders,
seeing Jesus tell this man to carry his bed on a Sabbath day,
were just incensed.
And they did try to kill him.
So much so that Jesus had to leave there.
He went back up to the northern part,
and then there's about a six-month period in there,
and then we come to right before this,
where Jesus' brothers,
his earthly human half-brothers,
had said to him,
Hey, you want to be something special?
Go to Jerusalem during the Feast of the Tabernacle.
That's when everybody goes to Jerusalem again,
and you can just go in there and teach,
and everybody will make a big thing over you.
Jesus wasn't concerned about his own glory.
He was about completing the will of the Father.
So he said, I'm not going now.
And this passage that we're looking at today,
then Jesus does go.
Someplace in the middle of the feast.
And he goes and he starts teaching,
and people in Jerusalem,
just like people every place that he went,
are amazed at his teaching.
See, the teaching of Jesus was unique.
First thing I want you to see is that
his teaching was with understanding.
It was informed.
It made sense.
It was attractive to people.
It fit together.
We might say that it was logical.
It made sense.
Of course it was biblical.
And I'll have more to say about that
in just a few minutes.
But notice that his teaching was understandable
because it was with understanding.
It drew people to him.
Yes, people came for the miracles.
But even when there were no miracles,
people still flocked to him in such numbers
and with such aggressiveness
that many times he had to either slip away
or he had to get into a boat
and go out into the water
so people wouldn't crush him.
That crowd of people was one of the things
his enemies were attracted to.
They didn't like the fact that Jesus drew the crowds.
They wanted to be noticed for their elegant talks,
for their great-sounding prayers.
Since they couldn't refute his teaching,
they questioned and attacked his credentials.
They said, in effect,
Jesus doesn't know his letters.
He doesn't know the alphabet.
It could have been a slam,
and I think they were not above that.
It could have been saying,
Jesus doesn't even know his ABCs.
But in fact, Jesus had studied.
And all of the children of those days
were actually, well, at least all of the boys,
maybe the girls.
That's a little bit unclear.
At least some of the girls went to school.
All the boys went to school.
And we can see,
usually they went to the synagogue,
and the rabbi of the synagogue would teach them.
We can see that Jesus understood how to read.
If we look over,
I'm going to have you jumping around a little bit.
Sorry, that's the way it is.
Luke chapter 4.
Look at Luke chapter 4, verse 16.
Luke chapter 4.
And he came to Nazareth,
where he had been brought up,
and was his custom,
he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day.
He stood up to read.
And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him.
He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written.
I'll just stop there.
He goes on to read a very specific passage in the book of Isaiah
that talked about the coming Messiah.
It was a passage about him.
Now, I want you to understand, just consider for a moment,
how difficult that task is.
Because it's easy for us to just say,
well, so what, you know, Jesus read this part out of Isaiah.
We have a scroll, a complete scroll of the book of Isaiah
from about the time that Jesus lived.
It's from the Dead Sea Scrolls.
This scroll is 11 inches high.
It is 24 feet long.
It has about 54 columns that are about 6 inches wide each.
Beginning to end.
There are no punctuation marks in either Hebrew or Greek.
I don't know if it was a Greek text or a Hebrew text.
It could have been either.
Both were available at that time
and both were read in the synagogues.
Okay?
But let me just...
I know more about Greek,
so let me just give you the picture if it were a Greek one.
Okay?
If it were a Greek text,
there are no capital letters.
There are no spaces between the words.
Okay?
It is simply a 24 foot wide piece of parchment
that has letters on like a giant word find.
Okay?
Jesus opens the text to exactly the place
and he reads the message that he wants them to get
that he is the coming Messiah.
The closest that we can come to it
those of you who still use a printed Bible,
I really like using my electronic one.
It has lots of advantages.
There's only one thing I don't like about it
is when I was carrying a paper Bible
and after I'd used it for several years,
I could say,
there's a text I'm looking for.
I have no idea what the reference is,
but it's on the left-hand side of the page
about halfway down.
Okay?
That's what Jesus did.
Does that happen with a brand new Bible
just out of the box?
It does not.
It happens from spending time in it.
And so, we see that Jesus had a familiarity
with God's Word that marked his teaching
as being with an understanding of the Father
and his perfect will.
What were his enemies actually saying?
They might have been this cut
that he doesn't even know his ABCs.
They were also certainly saying,
well, he doesn't know what Rabbi so-and-so said.
I bet he has never heard of Rabbi so-and-so.
You're right.
Jesus didn't know
what the John MacArthur's
or the John Piper's
or the Alistair Beggs
or even the Joe Crawford's
of his day said,
but he knew the Father's will
and he did it continuously.
Second thing is Jesus taught with authority.
This fact shows up in several places
and I want you to look at two of them
really briefly with me.
The first one is in Matthew chapter 13.
Matthew chapter 13.
I'm going to go ahead and read it.
You can look at it or you can just listen.
54 and 56.
And coming to his hometown,
he taught them in the synagogue
so that they were astonished and said,
where did this man get this wisdom
and these mighty works?
Is not this the carpenter's son?
Is not his mother called Mary?
Are not his brothers James and Joseph
and Simon and Judas?
Are not all his sisters with us?
Where did this man get all these things?
In other words,
here are the people,
his neighbors,
his friends from Nazareth,
and when he goes there
and he teaches,
they are just surprised.
They're amazed at the teaching
that he gives.
Where did he get this ability to teach?
John chapter 7.
Back to where we were,
but just a few verses ahead.
The pastor will be talking about this
in a few weeks.
Here's what happened.
The scribes and the Pharisees
sent their hooligans,
their thugs,
to go get Jesus.
Go get him,
bring him here.
We'll arrest him quietly.
You guys just go get him
and kind of kidnap him at night
if you have to.
The thugs,
the officers,
went to find Jesus
and they heard him teaching.
They come back to the Pharisees
who sent them
and they said,
where is he?
We just stay on a little task.
Just go arrest this guy.
They come back and they say,
but you never heard anybody
teach like that before.
Jesus taught with authority.
It stood out.
It made a difference.
Interesting,
just an aside.
Notice the thing
that when that happens,
what the scribes and Pharisees
are really concerned about.
Well, you didn't see
any of us there, did you?
It's almost like,
I hope there wasn't anybody there
that we would know.
Jesus was different
than the scribes and Pharisees
because he quoted
not men, but God.
His teaching was never marked
by references
to the great rabbis
of his day
or the past.
He did not have to rely
on the understanding
of other people
because he had perfect
understanding
of his Father's word.
In fact,
when John said,
in the beginning
was the word,
the word was with God,
and the word was God,
and the word became flesh,
he was saying
that Jesus Christ
is the perfect imprint
of the Father.
Jesus was not only different
from the scribes
and Pharisees
in his teachings,
but he was also different
from the prophets
in his teachings.
The prophets could say,
thus saith the Lord.
And throughout the prophets,
the minor prophets
in particular,
you find them
over and over
saying that this,
we are simply the messenger
and here's the message.
We're going through
some of these minor prophets
in my small group.
And Amos, Obadiah,
Nahum, Micah,
every one of them,
there's over and over
this emphasis,
thus saith the Lord,
thus saith the Lord.
Jesus' words and deeds
are so much different
because they're at one
with the Father.
Not only because
of the unqualified obedience
that Christ had,
but perhaps even more importantly,
because he spoke
and taught
with the authority
of the Father.
Jesus doesn't say,
thus saith the Lord.
He says,
I say unto you.
You can see it
probably the best place,
the Sermon on the Mount,
where over and over again,
Matthew chapter 5
through chapter 7,
over and over again,
he says,
you have heard it said,
but I say to you.
A direct instruction
authoritative
declaration.
So Jesus answered them,
my teaching is not mine,
but his who sent me.
As I was studying that
over and over this week,
I kept thinking of the fact
that from his temptation
in the wilderness
to the cross,
Jesus' speech
was sprinkled
with the written word of God,
the Old Testament.
In the wilderness,
three times,
Satan tempts Jesus
from a physical need
to the attainment
of personal glory.
And each time,
Jesus responds
with a quotation
from the book of Deuteronomy.
From the cross,
in his dying moments,
the majority of the words
that he spoke
are quotations
from either the Psalms
or the book of Isaiah.
He taught God's word
and he lived it.
John chapter 5,
verse 19,
tells us that Jesus
always does
what the Father does.
In fact,
in the book of John alone,
there's over 30 references
to the fact that Jesus
understood
that he was on a mission
and with a message
from God.
He wasn't throwing up
new things
and throwing out the old.
He was fulfilling
what God's perfect plan
from the beginning,
from the garden was.
He's not a charlatan.
He's not some kind
of respected leader
that inevitably
mixed together
different motives of,
yeah, I want to serve God,
but I'd also like
to be recognized.
In fact,
he utterly rejected
what might work
or what might appear
to be successful
in favor of his
Father's agenda.
It talks about
the characteristics
of Jesus' teaching.
But let me say
definitively and clearly
that the teaching
of Jesus
was and is
understandable.
It's not filled
with lengthy quotations
or complex words
or distant,
complicated,
philosophical
or theological
ideas.
Having said that,
this passage
that we're looking at,
Jesus lays out
what are the basic
principles
that are necessary
necessary
to be able
to understand
what he said,
to be able
to evaluate
his teaching.
Understanding
and a goal.
His understanding.
What Jesus is saying
in this passage
in John chapter 7
verse 17,
what he's saying
is that the question
of whether or not
his teaching is true
cannot be decided
by rigorous
debate procedures.
It can't be decided
by human logic.
It's not determined
by intelligence.
There's a moral issue.
Let me say it
in a sentence.
It'll come up
on the screen
and then I'll try
to explain
what I mean.
Accepting or rejecting
the claims
of Jesus Christ
is never a purely
intellectual decision.
It's a moral
and spiritual
decision.
what is needed
first and foremost
obviously is the work
of the Father in us.
But what Jesus
is talking about here
is the human side
of it.
The human side
it's necessary
in a right assessment
of his teaching
to choose
to do God's will.
Then you will
find it out.
Points not
that someone
has to attain
some level
of personal holiness
or God approved
level
of moral
perfection
and then they
can pass judgment
on Jesus
and his teaching.
Rather the question
is that a person
must be fundamentally
committed
to doing
God's will.
When you think
about it
that's talking
about a faith
commitment.
John chapter 6
verse 40
for this is the will
of my Father
that whoever
looks on the Son
and believes in Him
should have
eternal life
and I will raise
him up
on the last day.
Let's bring that down.
Maybe you're here
this morning
and you're thinking
I'm just not sure
that I understand
everything.
I'm not sure
that I understand
everything that Jesus
taught.
I'm not sure
I understand
anything in the Bible.
I'm not even sure
that I believe
what He said.
Not even positive
that He existed.
Certainly not
that He was
who He said He was.
Jesus is saying
the problem
is not your
intellectual ability.
It's not
your formal training.
It's not because
you have doubts
or questions.
The problem
is not that
you need someone
to explain it
to you better.
The problem
is your rebellious
nature.
You're unwilling
to do God's will
in God's way.
You're unwilling
to submit to Him.
To turn from
your sin
to put your trust
in Christ.
And until you
do that,
until you cry out
to God
to cleanse your heart,
to give you
repentance
and to remove
the unbelief,
you put your trust
in Christ,
there's nothing
else that really
matters.
The goal
of this understanding
must be much more
than just fire
insurance,
not just to keep us
out of hell.
it must be more
than intellectual
accomplishment.
I know more
of the Bible
verses than
anybody else.
In fact,
I've got three
Timothy words.
Okay?
I don't have any.
And I appreciate
the kids that do,
but that's not
going to get you
to heaven.
It's only an
acceptance of
Jesus Christ.
It's only
desiring
and having
the goal
to bring glory
to God.
Jesus says,
the one who
seeks the glory
of him who sent
me is true,
and in him
there is no
falsehood.
And Jesus is
clearly speaking
about himself
here.
That there's no
falsehood in him,
and there's no
falsehood in him,
because he
completely
acknowledges
and obeys
the Father.
But it has
to come from
us too.
The confessions
of the early
church,
which sometimes
I think we
should pay a
little more
attention to,
have it right.
What's the
main goal?
What's the
chief end
of man?
Some of you
might know
the answers
to these
questions.
The chief
end of man
is to glorify
God and enjoy
him forever.
Perhaps you're
here today as
a believer,
and you feel
stuck.
You do
occasionally read
your Bible,
but when you
do, you don't
really get
anything out of
it.
You can't
really say that
you've learned
anything about
God since you
were in
children's
programs.
You have
some success,
at least for a
time, of
controlling the
sin in your
life.
But it
comes back to
the same
areas over
and over
again.
Jesus tells
us how
falsehood
enters us.
We seek
our own
glory rather
than the
glory of
the one
who sent
him.
Maybe you
want to
look good
in front
of your
spouse,
in front
of your
children,
children.
Maybe you
want to
look good
in front
of your
parents,
for
coworkers,
classmates,
neighbors.
You want
people to
recognize you
as being a
pretty good
Christian.
Maybe you
just want to
look good in
your own
eyes.
The way to
grow in
understanding
God and
his will
is by
making it
your goal
to do
his will
for his
glory.
Psalm 40,
verse 8,
I delight
to do
your will,
oh my
God.
Your law
is within
my heart.
You know,
that almost
always calls
for a
humbling.
We humble
ourselves
before God
and before
others.
we say
to him,
it is my
own selfish
pride,
my humility,
I need to
confess my
sin,
I need to
repent,
and I need
to change.
Jesus'
teaching was
unique.
It was
understandable
when we
come in
obedience and
faith.
And finally,
Jesus'
teaching was
gospel-focused.
I want to
read the
passage.
I know I'm
already in
trouble,
so hang
with me.
Has not
Moses given
you the
law,
yet none
of you
keeps the
law?
Why do
you seek
to kill
me?
The crowd
answered,
you have
a demon.
Who is
seeking to
kill you?
Jesus
answered them,
I did
one work
and you
all marvel
at it.
Moses gave
you circumcision,
not that it
was from
Moses,
but the
fathers,
and you
circumcised
a man on
the Sabbath.
If on
the Sabbath
a man
receives
circumcision,
so that the
law of
Moses may
not be
broken,
are you
angry with
me?
Because on
the Sabbath
I made
a man's
whole body
well?
Do not
judge by
appearances,
but judge
with right
judgment.
Next week
we're going
to see the
reaction of
the people
to Jesus'
teaching,
but the
fact is
that they
do not
react with
surprise.
They do
not react
with confusion.
They don't
say,
what in the
world is he
talking about?
Here we
are talking
about how
to know
God's
will,
how to
be able
to judge
Christ's
teaching,
how to
understand
all those
things,
and what
does he
do?
He goes
off talking
about Moses.
For us,
that is what
it sounds
like,
but for
them,
that's not
what it
sounds like,
because Jesus
starts with
what I call
a duck
question.
Okay?
Duck
questions are
questions that
you do not
need to ask
because you
already know
the answer.
Okay?
I'll give you
the perfect,
the best example
possible.
Moms,
your child is
there,
and you say,
would you like
an ice cream
cone?
And the child
says,
Mom,
you know,
I've really been
thinking about it.
I've kind of had
a lot of junk
food lately.
I really think
you probably
should give me
something that's
a little more
healthy.
Why don't you
give me some
vegetables,
and I'll just
pass on the
ice cream today.
That's probably
not what they
say,
right?
Well,
Jesus is
saying,
didn't Moses
give you the
law?
And they're
saying,
well,
of course he
did,
you dummy.
We know
that.
And Jesus
turns it right
around and he
said,
but you don't
obey it.
Why was it
so significant?
Because Jesus'
opponents prided
themselves on
knowing God's
will.
They thought,
yes,
we got that
down.
We know
God's will,
and the
way we
know it
is we
know the
law.
Jesus
says,
not a
single one
of you
obeys it.
He's
pointing out
to them
that mere
possession of
the law
can never
guarantee
sanctity.
And in
fact,
possession of
the law
without
obedience to
the law
is the
path of
condemnation.
The law
is the
school teacher
that shows
us our
need for
Christ.
Jesus
moves directly
from here
to reveal
the hearts
of the
leaders by
reminding
them of
their actions.
Just six
months earlier
in John
chapter 5,
he heals
a man and
they immediately
want to kill
him.
Now here
he is at
the feast
of tabernacles.
I got to
quickly explain.
Feast of
tabernacles.
So you know
what this is.
This is the
time when the
people of
Israel celebrated
the fact that
God brought
them out of
the land of
Egypt and
he put them
into their
own land,
a place of
rest and
peace.
I don't
know why
we,
my grandmother
took me to
church when I
was a child.
I don't
remember hardly
anything.
Okay?
Didn't make an
impact on me,
I'm afraid,
until later
in my life
when my
life was a
mess and I
thought,
oh wow,
I went to
church when I
was little,
maybe I
should go
back there.
But anyway,
here is this
feast of
tabernacles.
The one thing I
do remember
is for some
reason our
Sunday school
teacher had us
make tabernacles.
They had us
make these
little tents
out of
branches and
stuff.
I have no
idea why.
But it
did leave an
impact on
me.
That's what
happened.
What they
had was a
national
camping day.
They all
took their
tents from
wherever they
lived,
they went to
Jerusalem,
they set the
tents up,
or sometimes
they were just
lean-tos,
okay?
They set them
up in the
streets of
Jerusalem and
they prayed and
worshipped God
for delivering
them out of the
house of bondage
and bringing them
into a land of
plenty.
it's a picture
of redemption.
And that's
where Jesus
is.
He's right
there in
Jerusalem
teaching.
And he
brings up
Moses.
There's a
message here.
Jesus says
the healing of
the man on
the Sabbath was
a cleansing of
the whole man.
And just like
the partial
cleansing that
circumcision is
supposed to
illustrate,
the cutting off,
removal of the
condemnation of
the world and
the corruption of
the world and
the making his
children his own
and marking them
out as his.
Just like that
circumcision
overruled a
strict keeping of
the Sabbath,
Jesus says the
complete healing of
the man overrules
the strict keeping
of the Sabbath.
Because the
Sabbath was made
for man,
not man for the
Sabbath.
Jesus'
healing of that
man then becomes
a fulfillment
of Old Testament
circumcision.
redemption of
On the very
day that
served as a
sign of God's
Old Testament
purpose of
redemption and
rest.
Jesus'
reasoning is
insistent that
his activity is
fulfillment of
that redemptive
purpose of God.
By the statement,
he's making the
point that his
teaching, his
miracles, his
activity is the
fulfillment of the
redemptive purposes
of God.
Finally, in their
approach to God's
will, if it were
one where they
were one of faith,
they would soon
discern that Jesus
is not a Sabbath
breaker but the one
who fulfills both
the Sabbath and
circumcision.
The problem,
however, is really
that they have no
relationship with
God.
They know the
law of Moses,
but there's no
relationship there.
And Jesus points
this out to them
and in so doing,
he brings them to
the point of
decision.
He says,
righteous judgment
results from
right relationship.
relationship.
So how about you?
Righteous judgments
come from right
relationship.
Have you come to
the place where you
have a personal
relationship with
Jesus Christ?
Have you come to
the place where your
relationship with
Christ so impacts
you that when you
read the Bible,
it's not, oh,
this stuff doesn't
make any sense,
but it's, that's my
Savior.
do you seek to
obey God?
Are you trying to
change?
Pastor Kenoyer has
been saying a lot
recently, and it's
exactly true, you
don't have to stay the
way you are.
You know what the
sad thing is?
Most people that I've
come into contact
with in ministry want
to stay the way they
are.
They don't want to
change, at least not
if it means giving up
any of the sin that
they're involved in.
Do you want to
change?
The Holy Spirit is
there to help you, to
bring you to that
change in life.
But you have to say,
yes, I repent.
I'm the one who is
wrong.
Let's pray.
maybe this morning
that someone needs to
make a decision.
In the Sunday school
class this morning, we
were talking about the
fact that Paul labored
and toiled to make his
people mature in
Christ.
Maturity is the goal.
Gracious Father, I pray
that you would work in
people's hearts.
That if there's someone
here who has just been
playing the games, they
think they know God's
will because they know
the law.
They think they know
God's will because they
look good.
That you would reveal to
them where their heart
really is.
And they would come to
the place of accepting
your son Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately, it's also
with believers.
So many times we can
change, but we don't
want to.
Father, I pray that you
would work in
individuals' hearts,
believers here today,
to draw them to the cross
again, that they would
repent.
By doing so, they would
begin the process of you
changing them.
I ask it in Christ's name.
Amen.
Thank you.