John 7:40-52
Notes
Transcript
Open your Bibles to John 7:40-52. and just MARK IT…put your ribbon there. This will be our text this morning.
PRAYER:
The subtitle for this section of Scripture is: Division Among the People
The first thing we have to do before we read it and see what God is telling us in this text is to erase the Disney version Jesus, the Americanized Christian version many of us were taught growing up. For one, Jesus is not a beggar, he is a _(what)_? King…thats right!
He is a conquering King!
This world that he created has fallen into sin. Everything has been corrupted. But…He said He would come and make it right again. The King would come and conquer sin and death and come and make all things new. Creation itself is longing for the sons of God to be revealed. The King promised that He would come and do what the first Adam, our first parents, failed at doing. To multiply and cultivate the Earth. Our first parents failed but the King said He was coming…He came…and He is ruling RIGHT NOW on the throne and He will conquer! We bow to no power, no government, but His.
This is what the early church was against. Rome didn’t care that people believed in Jesus. The charge against Christians is that they didn’t follow Caesar but another King whose name is Jesus Christ. That was the charge and that is what they hated.
Is this the Jesus you know? Do you know Jesus as a beggar or as a conquering King.
It matters greatly who you claim to know because one Jesus saves and the other
doesn’t exist.
If you don’t really KNOW the ONE TRUE KING…let me tell you who He really is...
Look at Exodus 15:3
The Lord is a man of war;
the Lord is his name.
You’ve probably heard popular sayings like, “this is a spiritual battle...” OH…IT IS!
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty,
the Lord, mighty in battle!
AND it’s not just some “spiritual” talk…it’s real! And one day people are going to see just how real it all was the whole time...
So...NEVER FORGET Revelation 19:11-16
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Does this sound like one who doesn’t have things under control?
Does this sound like someone who must beg for something, for anything?
Or does this sound like a Mighty Warrior, a Conquering King?
Now, I thought about reading you Isaiah 41-46 but I’m just going to point some things out
in this section of Scripture before we look at our text this morning. But…today, on this
Lord’s Day…read it…slowly, and think about it.
But…before we read Isaiah…I HAVE to remind you of Galatians…so we can better understand Isaiah.
So turn to Galatians 3.
Before we look at John 7, we have to read Isaiah 41-44, but before we read Isaiah we need to look at Galatians.
And to really drive it home we could look at Romans too, but we are saving Romans for later.
Who are the descendants of Abraham?
Who are the children of Abraham?
believers are!
Those who have faith in Christ
just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
He goes on to say:
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
So…the children of Abraham are those who live by faith. Faith Alone.
They know that they are saved by faith Alone.
Not faith PLUS Circumcision or Faith PLUS anything else.
Abraham is the father of our faith and the blessings that he was promised also come to us, Gentiles who are saved by faith.
It is by faith that we received the promised Holy Spirit.
See, the church of Galatia was visited by some false teachers who said that they had to have
faith PLUS circumcision. Paul comes in and says that it is FAITH ALONE and if you add
anything to it…then it is a false gospel.
He ends this letter to Galatia with this:
And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
The Israel of God are those who live by this rule. The rule that we are saved by Faith Alone.
The Israel of God are those who know and believe that what marks a Christian is not
circumcision or any other act but it is the Holy Spirit that is received through Faith in Christ
Jesus. That through faith we receive the Holy Spirit and are a New Creation.
So, we, who are saved by Grace Alone through Faith Alone are the descendants of Abraham, the Israel of God.
Now…look at Isaiah 41
But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant,
I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not grow faint or be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his law.
Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord; that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.
Behold, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
I tell you of them.”
Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the end of the earth,
you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,
the coastlands and their inhabitants.
Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,
the villages that Kedar inhabits;
let the habitants of Sela sing for joy,
let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Let them give glory to the Lord,
and declare his praise in the coastlands.
The Lord goes out like a mighty man,
like a man of war he stirs up his zeal;
he cries out, he shouts aloud,
he shows himself mighty against his foes.
For a long time I have held my peace;
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in labor;
I will gasp and pant.
I will lay waste mountains and hills,
and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn the rivers into islands,
and dry up the pools.
And I will lead the blind
in a way that they do not know,
in paths that they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I do,
and I do not forsake them.
They are turned back and utterly put to shame,
who trust in carved idols,
who say to metal images,
“You are our gods.”
But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
Because you are precious in my eyes,
and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
peoples in exchange for your life.
Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you.
I will say to the north, Give up,
and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the end of the earth,
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”
We FEAR NOTHING! LOOK AT ISAIAH 44:6-8
Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel
and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
“I am the first and I am the last;
besides me there is no god.
Who is like me? Let him proclaim it.
Let him declare and set it before me,
since I appointed an ancient people.
Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen.
Fear not, nor be afraid;
have I not told you from of old and declared it?
And you are my witnesses!
Is there a God besides me?
There is no Rock; I know not any.”
And our last one to look at in Isaiah....
“Remember this and stand firm,
recall it to mind, you transgressors,
remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
calling a bird of prey from the east,
the man of my counsel from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
I have purposed, and I will do it.
A SOVEREIGN KING!
A MIGHTY WARRIOR!
THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE GOD WHO REIGNS AND WHO WILL ACCOMPLISH ALL THAT HE HAS PURPOSED...
THIS IS JESUS!
DO YOU KNOW THIS JESUS?
IF YOU DO NOT…then you need to KNOW HIM!
YOU NEED TO SURRENDER RIGHT NOW TO THE KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS.
AND YOU BETTER TELL PEOPLE, your friends, your family, and everyone else, THAT THE KING IS ON THE THRONE AND HE REIGNS…SURRENDER EVERYTHING! GIVE UP!
But let me tell you when you tell them of THIS Jesus…you're going to face some problems right now.
With the state of the American church today, telling people who Jesus really is it will cause some division.
“But thats not Christian!”
“Jesus would never cause division between people”
Check this out:
God has been dividing people for a long time...
Thus I will put a division between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall happen.” ’ ”
This is the 4th Plague…the Plague of Flies.
Listen to what Jesus says here:
Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
Look at how the preaching of grace through faith caused divisions among the early church in Acts:
Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, and there they continued to preach the gospel.
Look at Acts 15:1-11
But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”
The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
The true gospel divides!
Look with me at 1 Corinthians 11:19
for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.
So now…lets look at our text this morning. JOHN 7:40-52
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 no one laid hands on him.
The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 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 this 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 law 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 prophet arises from Galilee.”
You know Jesus divides? You know why these people were divided by what Jesus said and did?
Because he walked into this religious festival, the Feast of Booths, and basically said “the game is over, HERE I AM! IF you are TRULY thirsty…come to me and drink. If you REALLY want God…then believe in me and you will have a river of living water flowing out of your heart…you will receive the Holy Spirit.”
But guess what happens when people who want play religion come face to face with Christ? They get really upset.
Jesus will divide those who really want to know Him and those that do not.
Everybody is good with Jesus until you get serious. Everybody is okay with everybody playing church and doing “good deeds” but when you bring the TRUE GOSPEL before them…a division will start really quick.
The true gospel says that you are a wretched sinner in desperate need of a savior and Jesus Christ is the only answer for you. And that’s fine with most but when you tell them to repent and believe…and you strip them of all of their accomplishments and remind them that none of that counted toward your standing before God…a division is coming quickly.
When you tell them all you must do is thirst, come, and believe in Christ…division comes
Look at verse 40-43
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.
The ones who said “This really is the Prophet” remembered what Moses said in Deut 18:15,
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—
It is an awesome thing when you are studying the Word of God with someone and they listen…and start seeing how things start connecting. This is what these people are doing here...
Some said “This is the Christ”....but it doesn’t say they came to him and surrendered to Him.
Some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee...”
This whole group is no different than so many today. People have an idea of who Christ is. Most of the people we know have their ideas of who Christ is…AND THEY ARE GOOD WITH IT.
And many of them DO NOT WANT anything else…they are good with what they got EVEN IF WHAT THEY HAVE ISN’T THE REAL CHRIST.
None of these people that we read about here took the time to just walk over to Jesus, the Word that became flesh, and ask Him to answer some of their questions.
No one walks up and says, “but Jesus, I was taught that you had to come from Bethlehem and I heard you are from Galilee. Can you explain that?”
No one walked up and said, “Jesus, I was taught my whole life that the Christ was going to be from the offspring of David. Can you explain that if you really are the Christ?”
See…these people loved their ignorance.
And people still today…instead of saying, “you know…I was taught this but you are saying that God saves us by grace alone through faith…can you show me where God’s Word says that?”
No…people would rather just NOT.
They would rather NOT look at the Word just like these people would rather NOT COME TO the Word who was standing right in front of them.
they felt like, “they’re good”
AND look at verse 44 real fast…just a quick note to make here:
Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
The word wanted means the “desired” to arrest him. Their “will” “desired” to arrest Jesus right then but they did not have the ability.
They didn’t arrest Him because God is Sovereign and in control of everything. The will of God is stronger and more powerful than man’s will.
So…verses 40-44 was just the ordinary folk…NOW LETS look at how the religious leaders are...
Let me give you a hint. Just like the ordinary people are like ordinary people today, the religious leaders then are just like the religious leaders today:
The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 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 this 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 law 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 prophet arises from Galilee.”