I tell you, being an emotional person is a load to carry.
It's hard.
But it's the way God wired me and so just here I am.
You must be informed by the Scripture.
In fact, you can't really sing great songs apart from the Scripture.
Tell your ma, tell your pa, our loves are going to grow.
Nothing, right?
But when we sing such a song as we just finished singing, your love never fails.
I don't know about you, but I was thinking about passages of Scripture.
And so we move from singing the Word to being instructed by the Word.
And allowing the Word to be the thing that frames our life, our worship, and our ambitions for eternity.
Isn't that right?
Turn in your Bible to John chapter 7.
And I want you to look at the clock, the watch.
We don't have a clock in the front or the back.
There's a very good reason for that.
All I'm saying is I do want you to know that when John finished our time of singing together,
we're going to find out whether I can stomp on the throttle and get it done in fewer minutes.
And don't hold that against me and bring it up ever again.
So, John 7, verse 1.
After this, Jesus went in Galilee.
About in Galilee, he would not go about in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him.
Now, the feast, the Jews' feast of the booths was at hand.
So his brothers said to him,
Leave here and go to Judea that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.
For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly.
If you do these things, show yourself to the world.
For not even his brothers believed in him.
Jesus said to them,
My time has not yet come,
but your time is always here.
Let's pray.
And here's what I want you to do as I am praying.
I would ask that you pray as well.
God, conscious, deliberate expression of your dependence upon the Spirit of God,
helping me as I preach,
and you as you attend to the Word of God.
Father,
this morning we are gathered together because of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and because you have given to us your Word,
which is entirely sufficient,
that we who are your children would be completely furnished for all good work.
We pray for the enabling of the Spirit of God both in my preaching
that you would allow me through your enabling to be clear,
to be simple in communication,
to be passionate for the things that exalt the Savior
and that your Spirit would take the word that you have here in the Scriptures
and weave it into our heart that the thing that stands out to us
would be the glory and the sufficiency and the supremacy of the Lord Jesus,
that we, having not yet seen Him, would grow to care about Him more
and long for the day that we will see our Savior face to face.
Let that be the ambition and affection of our life
and let our time in the Word of God strengthen that desire.
We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Now, it is important when we take a small piece of passage
to actually understand the larger context.
context. And today is no exception to that rule.
So if I were to ask you,
what is one verse that gives you an overview of what the book of John is about?
How many of you would say,
well, I'm thinking right now of John chapter 21, verse 31.
Would you say that?
These things are written, what?
So that you may know or that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that by believing you may have life in His name.
When we take the book of John and we are working our way through it,
we understand that one of the characteristics of this book
is that there's a lot of detail in Christ's life that's left out.
There are actually only seven major little pictures that are given to us.
This is different than the synoptic gospels that give us lots of detail.
And so when John limits his lessons to seven particular pictures,
it's appropriate for us to really pay careful attention.
And our text this morning stays on that theme of making it clear to us who Jesus is
so that we may believe in Him as the Son of God.
I do want you to understand that Jesus, at this point in John chapter 7,
is still away from Jerusalem.
You'll remember what had happened as He'd started His public ministry
in Jerusalem, the city of God.
And how had He actually begun?
How did He start?
Does anybody remember?
Wave at me if you remember what He did
for His first public demonstration of His authority and power.
What did He do?
That was actually a little more private.
You're not doing bad because that's how John starts.
But what was the big smackdown event in Jerusalem?
Cleaning the temple, right?
I mean, here is a nobody comes bopping out of the...
I am having trouble with this.
Does anyone have chewing gum to stick on my ear here?
Bear with me.
It's like masking tape might be good.
Okay.
Remember, He walks into Jerusalem and He goes into the temple
and one lone guy cleans house.
I mean, that's just unbelievable.
And you remember, it was such an impressive act
that all the scribes and Pharisees and all the leaders of Jerusalem
could do as they kind of whine a little bit and say,
yeah, and where do you get the right to do this?
You know, it's like, meh, meh, meh.
And they're intimidated.
Well, following that, Jesus ends up sensing adequate pushback
from what He had done that He moved away from Jerusalem,
went back towards Galilee.
And in that journey, you remember, He stopped and met the woman at the well,
Samaritan woman.
She came to Christ.
And later, there we have John chapter 6.
And that extended passage is really an early picture
of what was developing in the ministry.
And we find that Christ's miracles were drawing lots of people
to be interested in Him.
But Christ's teaching was leading to more and more people
deciding that they didn't want what He really had to offer.
And so we are now in John 7.
And I might encourage you to actually pencil a note in your margin of your Bible.
We are six months from the cross.
I think that's important.
Six months from the cross.
And what we find in John chapter 7,
and we're going to look at verses 1 through 13,
is really the widening gap
between the people that Christ came to minister to
and what His purpose and His calling really was.
So let's kind of take the passage and break it up
and realize that what we find, first of all,
is how most people actually saw Jesus.
You look there in John chapter 7,
and I want you to pick up with me there, if you will, at verse 2.
And it was the timing of the Feast of Booths.
And for the nation of Israel,
there were three public celebrations
that all the nation of Israel was actually to be involved in.
One of them was a Passover,
and we know that was a pretty big deal.
But the Feast of Booths, in some ways,
was the most spectacular, the most joyful.
And it was one...
By the way, I do want to tell you that I'm going to be on vacation starting...
Actually, Pastor Saul is going to be preaching for two weeks in a row.
You get to do one of my special passages.
I'm like, shoot.
But hey, that always happens.
He is going to be preaching on John chapter 14,
carrying on, and I will be back about two weeks later.
Judith and I, I have to confess this,
I'm going deer hunting.
I shouldn't say that publicly.
But then after that, we're going down to Norris Lake,
and we're going to spend a little time down there together.
And we will come back and address John chapter 7, verse 37.
The Feast of Booths, a great party for a nation of Israel,
was a time in which they reminded themselves of what God had done
in bringing them out of the land of Egypt and slavery.
But it was also a time of great spiritual intent or import.
It was where they actually, on the great day of the feast,
and we're going to see this in John chapter 7, verse 37,
they would actually take large pots of water
and pour them down the steps of the temple.
And that was an indication of the promised coming of the Holy Spirit.
It was a spectacular festival and a feast,
and everybody loved coming to it.
In that context, we find that the brothers, here in verse 4,
so his brothers said to him,
leave here and go to Judea,
that your disciples also may see the works that you're doing.
I want you to understand that the brothers were impressed
by what they saw Jesus doing,
and they, along with many,
were actually impressed with Christ's power,
but they were completely tone deaf to his truth.
They saw the miracles,
they saw the evidence of his authority and power,
but the truth of the matter is,
is they weren't the least bit moved
by the reality of what his message was all about.
I do want you to know,
if you're stopping to think carefully,
that what this passage tells us
is that Jesus actually did have half-brothers.
What does that tell you about Mary?
It tells you that she did not remain a perpetual virgin.
It tells you that she had other children besides Jesus.
And if you will keep your finger there in John,
because of the false teaching
regarding the perpetual virginity of Mary,
I want you to turn in your Bible.
At the end of the day,
the question is,
what does the Bible,
what?
What's it say?
Okay.
So we're thinking here,
Jesus had brothers?
Actually, they were half-brothers.
But turn to Matthew chapter 13.
Matthew chapter 13, verse 35 and 36.
Wow, I can hear all those pages rustling.
And I am discovering that I have tracked the wrong passage.
That means one of you deacons is going to have to save me.
35 and 36.
Where does it...
How did I do this?
Okay.
John...
I mean, Tom,
would you run the search engine that you have?
And...
Is it 55 and 56?
There we go.
Okay.
Is not...
Yes.
Three should be five.
John 13, 55 and 56.
Okay, here we go.
Is not this the carpenter's son?
Is not his mother called Mary?
Are not his brothers,
James, Joseph, and Simon, and Judas?
And are not his sisters among us.
What does this tell us?
I mean, common sense, right?
Mary had more children, quite a few actually, besides Jesus.
And so here we find that, going back to John chapter 7,
his brothers, they were impressed with the power that Jesus was displaying.
It was undeniable.
They could see the things that were being done.
But they didn't believe in him at all.
And while they recognized that he was doing exceptional things,
they really didn't see the value of those exceptional things
in relationship to their own soul.
I kind of imagine what they were saying here.
In the passage, he said, listen.
He says, no one...verse 4...
No one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly.
If you do these things, evident, obvious,
show yourself to the world.
You see, in essence, what the brothers were saying is,
hey, we recognize that you are displaying some exceptional power,
and you might as well make something of yourself.
Make a name.
Let other people know what you can do.
You've done some pretty spectacular stuff out here in the countryside,
but take your game to another level.
Go up to Jerusalem and let everybody see what you can do.
It's interesting that while they recognized Christ's power,
they had no sensitivity to what his message really was about.
And I'm afraid that there are many, many people today
that, like Christ's brothers, are all caught up in the superficial.
They like good works.
They like nice deeds.
And they've completely missed the message of sin and repentance.
I was struck last week by listening to a short clip of President Obama
kind of talking very favorably about the Pope,
and he was just waxing eloquent about how the Pope was such a messenger
for the disadvantaged.
And he said this,
and the Pope has made it clear that the central tenet of Christianity is mercy.
I thought to myself, hmm,
the greatest disadvantage of the human race is not a need for mercy,
but the greatest disadvantage of the human race is sin.
And the truth of the matter is,
is that God in His mercy sent Christ to be the substitution for our sin
and to die in our place that we might have salvation through faith in Him.
So I recognize here at first that John is giving us a picture of,
so what did people think about Jesus?
Well, they kind of liked His miracles, okay.
There's a second group that we find,
and you'll pick up at the hostility.
First of all, in verse 1, it says,
the Jews were seeking to kill Him.
Again, in verse 11, it says this,
the Jews were looking for Him at the feast,
saying, where is He?
You know, they were interested,
not because they wanted help from Him,
spiritually speaking,
but they were kind of put off by,
is He going to show up and cause a problem for our party,
you know, that kind of thing.
And you read that they had gone out of their way,
actually, the Jewish leadership,
to tamp down public conversations about Jesus.
You find out that when Jesus showed up,
it says here that the people,
though they were muttering about Him,
they were very careful that they didn't do it openly
because they knew they would get kind of pushed back
from the leadership.
And so you have to recognize this,
that when the world goes out of its way
to suppress the truth,
you can be sure that what is going on
is that conviction is being resisted.
I read an article,
again last week,
being that this is the first day of the week,
I read of an esteemed doctor
who was part of Harvard
or was on the staff of faculty at Harvard
who also had visiting privileges
at a Boston hospital.
And several years ago, actually,
he put together a private research paper
that talked about the medical risks of sodomy.
When he published this,
among the other physicians in the hospital,
it led to his actually being censured
and eventually fired by the hospital.
Why?
Because he pointed out
that sin creates unintended consequences
and heartache,
and when in that private community,
he said,
listen,
has anybody ever stopped to think
that when we endorse all this kind of misbehavior
that we actually end up creating
greater public health needs?
He was fired for that.
I got to tell you that
you can be sure that
when the truth is spoken clearly
and carefully,
however kindly it is said,
it ends up being offensive
to those who hate the truth.
And you can be sure that Jesus here,
as he spoke about the need of man's soul
and the realities of sin,
he ended up deeply offending the Jewish leaders
who had proposed that ultimately
the way to solve sin problems
was just to do good works.
And you and I bump into people all the time
that are of the mind
that really the issue in their life
can be improved by a little more effort
on their part
or it's just some guy taking care of some issues
and it'll be okay.
So why are you going to go to heaven?
Well, because I'm a pretty good person.
Now, all of us have a tendency
when we're smiling in public
to say we're a pretty good person.
Isn't that right?
But the fact of the matter is
that our conscience plagues us at night
when we're alone.
And so I want you to recognize
that the Jewish hostility
over Christ's clear teaching
was understandable.
Now, there's a third group
that I want you to recognize
and you look there in verse 12
and there was much muttering
about him among the people.
They were muttering back and forth
and that word muttering here
is a word in the Greek
that actually talks about
complaining or bickering.
No one in the bickering crowd
really had a remedy
or a conclusion.
What they were doing
was just kind of going back and forth
about the issues of who Jesus was.
And so you look there at verse 12
and some said he's a good man.
Some said, well, no,
he's leading the people astray.
And back and forth they went
just kind of throwing their ideas
back and forth
and they really weren't settled
in any way
with what the reality
of who Jesus was
and what his ministry was.
They didn't get that part at all.
So instead of being humble enough
to admit what their need was,
the vast majority of people
just chose to kind of muddle along
and complain among themselves
and be uncomfortable
with the reality
that on one hand
you had the evidence
of Christ doing spectacular miracles,
undeniable,
and on the other hand,
well, he was teaching things
that were really hard to swallow.
Remember what happened
in John chapter 6?
After he had finished his sermon
and as they were playing
verse 1 and only verse 1
of just as I am,
what happened?
All of you who need
to recognize Christ
as your Savior
and confess your sins
come towards the front.
Nobody came.
They all walked out.
They didn't want to hear it.
They were offended.
And so here we are,
John 7,
and it tells us
that the people
kind of just kind of
muttered and grumbled
and fussed a little bit
but never came to a conscious
and deliberate choice.
I'm reminded of actually
what happened
over in 1 Kings chapter 18,
verse 21.
Don't need to turn to it,
but you'll remember there
that Elijah,
it had not rained
for three years
and so Elijah called
for a smackdown
between him alone,
the God of the universe,
and the 450 prophets of Baal.
And when they all came together
on top of that little hill,
he said,
hey guys,
what's the problem with you?
Listen to what he said.
Elijah came near
to all the people
and said,
how long will you go limping
between two different opinions?
I like that.
How long will you go limping
between two different,
well,
on the other hand,
well,
you know,
he said,
if the Lord is God,
follow him.
But if Baal,
then follow him.
And here's what the people did.
Does anybody know
what the people did?
They didn't say a word.
And the truth of the matter is
there are some of you
here this morning
in the hearing
of the word of God
that are going to take
that passive,
non-responsive role
and play it out this way.
You heard the word,
you understand that Christ
put you on the spot
of saying yes or no
and you're just going to
kind of keep on
doing your own thing.
I would plead with you
this morning,
understand that the purpose
of preaching
is to put you on the spot
of saying yes or no
to Christ.
And understand this morning
that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of the living God
and the one through whom
salvation comes.
And he calls you
to believe in him
and you who have
believed in him,
he calls you
to live a life
that is a stellar example
of his power to save.
That brings us
to one other thing
that I want us
to see this morning.
What is the truth
about Jesus?
First of all,
let's recognize
that he understood
his life's mission.
He understood
his life's mission.
His brothers wanted him
to go up to Jerusalem
and show his stuff,
make a name for yourself,
do something pretty spectacular,
heal people.
Let everybody be impressed.
Christ understood
his life's mission
was not just about
taking care of
the physiological
needs of people.
You know,
I've been sobered
when I stop and think
about all the adulation,
the praise and adoration
that our culture
has heaped on the Pope
when I am struck
by the fact
that not in a single instance
did he ever make
the gospel clear.
That's stunning.
I mean,
what would you think
of a pastor
that you listened to
for longer than an hour
and he never told you
how to get to heaven?
John chapter 7,
verse 7,
just in case you wonder
how Jesus handled
this issue,
here's what it says,
the world cannot hate you
but it hates me
because I testify
about the things,
or I testify it
that its works are evil.
Turn over in your Bible
if you would
to Luke chapter 6.
Thank you, Tom,
for helping me
with that fall earlier.
I think I've got
this one right.
Luke chapter 6,
verse 26.
Woe to you, Tim.
Woe to you, Francis.
When all people
speak well of you,
for so their fathers did
to the false prophets.
Hey,
if I had one shot
at Congress,
does anybody want to guess
what I would say?
Huh?
It would be this.
Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners
and the hope
of eternal life
rests in believing
in his finished work
upon the cross.
The greatest problem
in mankind's existence
is a sinful,
wicked heart
that rejects
the glory
and the holiness
of God
and there is salvation
in no other person
but in the work
of Christ on the cross.
Isn't that true?
That is our one
singular message
that we have.
And if you wonder
what Jesus was all about,
he understood
his life's mission,
it was to draw attention
to the desperate need
of mankind's heart
and let them know
they couldn't save themselves
by their own efforts.
For another,
as you think about it,
Jesus was profoundly
merciful and gentle
but at the same time
he was also clear
that sin is man's
greatest problem.
Sin is man's
greatest problem.
I got to tell you,
Jesus in many
different instances
could have chosen
to accommodate
the world that he was in
and the people that
for a period of time
just loved his
spectacular behavior.
I mean,
what we know
in John chapter 6,
it tells us
that the crowd
wanted to take him
and force him
to be their king.
He didn't do it.
And Satan comes to him
and Satan earlier,
if you're back in Matthew
or in Mark,
I believe you'll find
that when Satan
came to tempt Jesus,
it was,
hey listen,
I can give you
all this power,
all you have to do
is bow down
and say that I'm,
worship me.
No way.
So I want you
to understand
that here is Jesus
invited nowhere
to speak in Washington
or Jerusalem
other than
on his own initiative
and the thing
that he makes
undeniably clear
is that he came
to be the Lamb of God
and take away
the sins of the world
and I want you
to understand
that Christ made
that undeniably clear
over and over
and over again.
No one listened
to him for very long
and didn't understand
that the issue
of the heart
was most important.
There's a third thing
that I want you
to see this morning.
I want you to know
that Jesus knew
that his call
was to the cross.
You look there
in John chapter 7
verse 6
Jesus says
my time has not
yet come.
Look at verse 8
you go up to the feast
for I am not going
up to this feast
for my time
has not yet
fully come.
You know what?
Jesus knew
exactly
what
the plan was.
He knew
what his mission
was
and his life
was framed
by that singular
understanding
of what he was
there to do
and that it was
in the control
and direction
of his father
and he completely
got it.
He was focused
on his mission.
So let me ask
you a question
this morning
as you think
about the issue.
What are you
going to do
with Jesus?
The obvious
question that we
find playing out
in John chapter 7
in these 13 verses
that we kind of
look at in an overview
is that we've given
we've been able
to see this picture
of how most people
saw Jesus.
Pretty good
with miracles
but I'm not
interested in what
he has to say
about my soul.
Pretty irritating
in that he
draws attention
to the fact
that self-righteousness
doesn't cut it
and
kind of confusing
because
you know
on the one hand
I see that he's
doing some
pretty big things
but on the other hand
he's really making
me uncomfortable
when he's talking
about my soul.
No,
just kind of wait.
John 7
gives us a picture
of how the majority
of people
actually looked
at Jesus.
On the other hand
we have Jesus
with a very,
very clear point
saying to everyone
that he came
in contact with
the desperate
need of your heart.
Sinful,
justly condemned
before a holy God.
Hardened,
resistant
is that there
really is
no remedy
for the ugly
darkness
of your soul
apart from me.
I want you
to think about that
because here's
the truth.
There's some of you
sitting here
today
and I think
that this passage
in John chapter 7
kind of,
everybody look up
so you know
I'm talking to you,
right?
Everybody look up.
I'm talking to you.
I really am.
There's some of you
sitting here today
that are actually
pushing off Jesus
just like
that crowd
did.
Some of you
have grown up
in Christian homes.
You've heard
all the Bible
verses
and you're kind
of irritated
by some of the
idiosyncrasies
that you're having
in your context,
right?
Your parents want
this or your parents,
I'm not going to do that.
Really?
The main issue
is not what
your parents want.
The main issue
is what about
the darkness
of your heart?
Are you listening
to me?
There is no remedy
for that dark
and unhappy heart
apart from what
Jesus did on the cross
in dying for
your sins.
And when a person
comes to genuine
faith in Christ,
you know what
the Bible says?
It says they're
born again.
They stop being
who they used to be
and they are
somebody completely
different.
I get excited
about that.
I was in the car
last week
with an individual.
I tell you,
I bump into
so many people
who think they're saved.
I mean,
you know,
after all,
they find out
I'm a Baptist pastor
and they think
the safeguard is
I'm saved.
And I love
telling them,
if you're saved,
you don't have
to stay the way
you are.
In fact,
Jesus died on the cross
to guarantee
the absolute certainty
that not only
do you go to heaven,
but you get different.
I was reading this
morning in devotions
where Jesus talked
about salvation
and He kind of
compared it to,
you know,
when you plant a seed,
something happens,
right?
When you put leaven
in dough,
what happens?
If the leaven is there,
the dough does what?
I know,
some of you scientists
want to tell me
that you have to have
the right humidity
and you have to have
the right temperature.
Stop all that.
Okay?
Just dough does its thing
when there's yeast in it.
Listen to me.
There are some of you
sitting here today
that really can't
give me any evidence
or your own conscience
can't give you any evidence
that your profession
of faith
has made
any difference
in your life.
So ask yourself
the question,
which pile am I in?
If any man be
in Christ Jesus,
he is a
new creation.
And there's some of you
here today
that desperately need Christ
and you think
your problem
is other people.
It's not the case.
On the other hand,
to you who are believers,
can I tell you something?
A good picture of Jesus
ought to absolutely inspire you
to live every moment
of your life
with every breath you draw
to make the spectacular
Lord and Savior
of this world evident.
Why are you here
and not up there?
For one reason,
that Christ might be
exalted in my life
until he takes me home.
And anything less than that,
anything less than that,
dishonors the glory
of the cross.
And so I would plead
with you this morning,
if you are a believer,
glory in his name,
live your life
like he did
with his mission
clear in view
and long for the day
that you will see him
face to face.
Let's close in prayer.
Amen.