We're going to turn to John chapter 7 today as we continue our study in the gospel of John. And you'll remember here, just to set the context a little bit, this is a challenging section of Scripture. There's no doubt much of John has really comforting passages. when we get into the after 10 11 you'll notice remember that the Lazarus story and the raising of Lazarus and then of course Jesus washing feet and all those beautiful discourses on the Holy Spirit and the comfort that comes from those one of the chapters that we don't give a lot of attention to is chapter 7 of John because it's a battle and this is where preaching the whole counsel of God is important because what it's showing us here is Jesus confronting unbelief. He's helping us to see unbelief, what it looks like, and really kind of an anatomy of unbelief. We tend to think it's just among pagans and those who don't believe the gospel and the bad sinners out there, and that's not what Jesus is dealing with in John 7. Jesus is dealing with unbelief in the community. And that's where his biggest fight was. That's where his biggest challenge was. And it's meant that we would understand the blessings of all that he's done for us and that we would not do the same. That's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10. So that's the purpose here as we look at this. I'm going to read this morning from John chapter chapter 7, beginning at verse 20, actually 19, and we'll read a ways through verse 39. Beginning at verse 19 of John 7, 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. I want you to stop. Think about what they just said and who they said that to. You think this is going to go well if you tell the Son of God he has a demon? It's not going to go well. I did one work, Jesus answered, and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision, not that it is 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 righteous judgment. Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? Here he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? But we know where this man comes from. And when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from. So Jesus proclaimed as he taught in the temple, you know me, and you know where I've come from. But I've not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me. So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, when the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done? The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him and the chief priests, and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. Jesus then said, I will be with you a little longer, and then I'm going to go to him who sent me. You will seek me, and you will not find me. Where I am, you cannot come. The Jews said to one another, where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying, you will seek me and will not find me? And where I am, you cannot come. On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scriptures has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive. For as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. And there we'll stop the reading of God's word. That's a very interesting and powerful end to say that there's something here that is shown to us that would be resolved when the Spirit comes. And we'll consider that this morning. We're continuing our reflections and our study in the ministry of Jesus. It's really quite a ministry to study, unlike a ministry we've ever seen before or heard. It's really powerful to study Jesus walking on this earth and ministering and seeing what he had to deal with and how he handled many of these things. And I think it goes without saying that what we're running up against here is not the Jesus of American Christianity. Isn't that just obvious by now? That often the Jesus that is presented in American Christianity who is soft and passive and never says anything to challenge anyone and never offends anyone, that this is not the Jesus we're running up against in Scripture, is it? It's mind-boggling to us because we have preconceived ideas and notions about who Jesus should be and how he should act toward us. And when you study the Scriptures, you find that a lot of them are just simply false. It's important to say that it really does depend on the context in which Jesus was ministering. He was out to the north, he was away from Judea, and he was up in Gentile lands when broken people came to him, when hurting people came to him. He would put big beacons and spotlights right on those people and say, ah, that's what I'm after. And then you would see real compassion and mercy and help and forgiveness and grace to the messed up. but it was a little bit different in Israel. It was a little bit different in the center, where all the law and the prophets had been given for years, where all the covenants had been given. Think of Romans 9, the law, the prophets, the covenants, the adoption, the giving of the law, all those things, all those blessings that Israel had, had been given to them and were running up against this challenge of, not across the board, obviously there were many believers in Israel, We're running up against this challenge in the ministry of no faith. No faith in Jesus. And yet, deeply committed religious people. Isn't that a shocking thing? It's what we call religiosity. Where we come to do our duties, to be seen by people. We do all the feasts. We're singing Handel at the Christmas service, right? We're up in front. We're doing everything that we're supposed to do. That fits what the expectations are of the community, but no faith. And this is a challenge to us. This is a challenge to us. Performing all the duties of the law with no desire to receive the purpose for which the Messiah had come to save people from their sins. You see, that's important. It's really important. Jesus was completely compassionate to those who said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And he was not compassionate to those who stood at the front of the church and said, God, I thank you. I'm not like those people across the street. You see? And that's what we have here this morning. Really, the heart of the ministry, he has come to his own, John chapter 1, and his own have not received him. That's what John's showing us in this first section of what that looks like, to study the anatomy of that and to not do that. And that's where we are. They didn't accept the Jesus of Scripture. Important. They accept the Jesus of their tradition they constructed. And that's what happened. And Jesus is fearless here. He really is absolutely fearless here. See him not pandering. See him not wavering. See him confronting. See him challenging. See him convicting. All that we would naturally fight against and say, I'm out of that. I'm not listening to that. That's what happened in John 6. and it's pressing us to this great claim. Is this the Son of God who speaks to us, or isn't it? And what is our decision about Jesus? That's what John has us thinking about right now. Who is Jesus, and does the speech in a particular way tell us who he is, as opposed to how the scribes and the Pharisees and everyone else taught and preached? And that's an important question to ask. So he tells the people the truth here. He speaks boldly so that people would believe and that they would come to him for life. So that's where we are. I want you to notice here in this first section that we read that really what we have is Jesus bring a giant exposure. When you come to the light, your deeds are going to be exposed. And as you stand in front of the light, there's just automatic exposure. There's no way to get around exposure. That's why Jesus says people don't want to come to church in the light because they hate the exposure. And that's what's going on here in this particular section is exposure in this first part because as he said last time, what I'm doing is testifying that their works are evil. How do we respond to that? Jesus gave this grand indictment in the middle of the temple last time. Nobody was keeping the law. And that was quite something to hear. So they respond to this in verse 20. You have a demon. Who wants to kill you? Remember, Jesus said that, you want to kill me. Which, by the way, was not something just anyone runs around saying. Clearly, again, we're seeing the divine son of God speaking. He's reading their hearts. He sees exactly what's going on. You have a demon. Who wants to kill you? That would be the oddest thing for somebody to run around saying today in this particular way. And Jesus here is exposing it. But I want you to notice here what particularly happens as he's speaking. he raises then the issue of why they wanted to kill him. Back in chapter 5, he had completely made somebody whole on the Sabbath. What a wonderful thing he did. He actually healed a man who had been bedridden. Remember he tried to get in the pool of Siloam? For 40 years in Israel. 39 years the man had been down. And Jesus comes and in great compassion helps that man. You know what everyone said? Oh, you did it on the Sabbath. Unbelievable, isn't it? That's how bad it got. That's how much the people couldn't think. That's how boxed in they were to the tradition and didn't even understand it. And Jesus says, you hypocrites. Don't you go around circumcising on the Sabbath to keep the law of Moses? You will make sure on that eighth day, you make sure that circumcision's done. But when it lands on the Sabbath, you still do it. And guess what you do? You neglect the weightier, command arrest. You see what he's saying here? He's exposing that they're doing the same. They're doing it at least in their way. And neglecting what is most important for the sake of the tradition and missing what all of it meant. that ironically, they were missing what true rest meant in Jesus. He is our rest. Remember, he's claiming everything here. He is our Sabbath. So this was the issue that now made for a big fight, and Jesus himself has raised it to the forefront. He didn't wait for them to do it. He brought it out and said, this is why you want to kill me. I know exactly why you don't like me, because I am not fitting your tradition the way you've constructed it. And he says, stop being hypocrites. Judge with righteous judgment. An important statement. Now, the people were listening to this. It's a really interesting moment. The people were listening to this, and they're standing there, and here's what they start thinking. It's one of the sort of ironic moments, like the blind man in John chapter 9. Do you want to be his disciples? The people start speaking here, and they're saying in their minds, well, whoever has had the audacity to speak to the religious leaders this way? everyone was just sort of puppets in their hands. And this guy actually thinks for himself and challenges them. In fact, you'll notice what they say. Isn't this the one the religious leaders want to kill? Look, is this not the man whom they seek to kill? And here he is speaking openly. And they don't say anything to him. Well, we know what they've done to others. They don't do anything about this guy. He just says whatever he wants to say. And they say nothing. Could the authorities really believe that this is the Messiah? There's the irony that comes out here. And I looked at this carefully this week. It's a fascinating moment here because the word that they chose here is not just openly. ESV really, I think, did not get this correct. They are recognizing he speaks boldly. He speaks boldly. He seems to have absolutely no fear in the way that he speaks. He doesn't seem to worry about the consequences whatsoever. He doesn't seem, which tells you that they understood in all the ministries of all of the pastors in Israel, all the pandering that was going on. He speaks differently. In fact, they'll say that down later in the chapter. one of the officers says no one ever spoke like this man that's what happened at the end of the sermon on the mount when jesus was finished speaking it says their mind was blown because nobody had ever spoken with such authority so it's interesting that they recognized that he was unreserved in his speech against the rulers he had no fear and interesting because jesus had just said, well, that's a way you should note true speech. Anyone who's speaking for his own glory and seeking his own glory and what we're doing and anyone who's seeking to glorify himself and make his name great and show himself great in this world, what does he do? He speaks from himself so that people would praise him and love him. But Jesus said he who seeks to honor God speaks from him, Which was giving us a really important moment of valid, true speaking and how to assess it. How to know whether something's real or whether something is false. And again, I'm not, it's important to say we have enough jerks out there today, right? Who are just obnoxious. That's not what this is. Please hear me. A lot of obnoxious stuff. There's a lot of stuff that's just sheerly obnoxious and annoying and doesn't do anything for anyone except yell angrily at people. That's not what Jesus was doing. I tried to say this last time. People, though, don't have this kind of response to soft, suggestive, easy comforts in the ministry. You don't get hung for making people feel good about themselves. It doesn't happen. You don't get put on a cross. A guy gets up today, and what we're used to is casual conversation. You can't make anything sound too heavy. You can't make anything sound that's too pressing on people about their life. You have to be really nice. You have to always smile. And the preacher's supposed to make you feel non-threatened. Well, I don't want to threaten anyone. That's not the goal. But Jesus is exposing sin with a goal. He was running around telling people that they're covenant breakers. They weren't keeping the law. That they were sinning. And he was telling them there's nothing Israel could do to make themselves right with God, which the whole system had become so self-righteous in that way that that's what made it ugly when he spoke those things. Nobody ever said those things. So he was exposing their lives. He was exposing their hearts. In fact, this is what the ministry is designed to do. It's designed to get to the heart of matters, not just stay on the periphery. The ministry is designed to get to the most pressing issues of your life. That's what Jesus was doing. He didn't just let people coast and never get to what they needed to deal with in their lives as they were under the delusion that they're following him when they were following him all wrongly. so what we've seen with jesus is that he's using words given to him from above to convict people and to show them him and when that happened you know what you saw in people not anger anymore notice how angry the the people are here when you saw people save you know what came out joy freedom you'll know the truth truth will set you free happiness forgiveness love their whole lives changed when they were set free. William Perkins said that there's really two marks of true preaching. We've talked about the marks of a faithful church, and we have really emphasized that and catechized with that. But you know, I think we need to also emphasize what Perkins wrote a lot about in the marks of faithful preaching is plainness and powerfulness. He says, when someone hears this kind of ministry, You know what happens is they're hearing it. Their secret faults are disclosed. And they're laid open in a way that doesn't happen with regular speech. You begin to feel your lost state. And you begin to feel that somebody else is really searching you and trying you. And you say, wow, the pastor really spoke to me today. How did he do that? That wasn't me. It's the Holy Spirit. So that when secret faults are disclosed in your hearts and in your lives, the heart, he says, gets ripped up and says, certainly God speaks in that man. That's the evidence of the demonstration of God's Spirit and a power in preaching. I think he's absolutely right. That's what we're seeing here with Jesus. It's the Sermon on the Mount. So you have to look at the aim of it. What was the aim of it? What was Jesus trying to do? he was not just exposing to expose, he was exposing to show them him. I'll show you that in a second here. So that they would live in peace and joy and happiness in the Holy Spirit. But here we really get to an exposure of where we are. When someone pries into my life, I don't like it. Do you? You know? Be like somebody saying, hey, come, show me your, you know, bank account. What have you been spending on? Well, that's not your business, right? I don't want anyone to see my bank account, what I'm spending on. Neither do you. That's us. Well, God knows your hearts. God sees the cards that we hold, I said in the prayer. We like a poker face. We like, you know, I don't want anyone. Here's the family secret. Don't let anyone ever show your cards. Don't ever show your cards. God says, I see them all. I see them all. And what we do at that point is important. How do we handle that, right? There's two kind of responses. One is, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, done, stop. I'm not going to listen to that. Common. Or, you know, the woman, Syrophoenician woman, Lord, call me a dog. Call me whatever you want to call me. Peter, you have the words of life. Expose me, try me, test me. I'm open to whatever you want to show. Whatever you want to expose in my life, that's fine. as long as I'm even a doorkeeper in your house. Well, that's amazing. Instead of, ah, back off, back off. That's what we get here. That's exactly what we get from the people as they begin to try to reason Jesus away. After they recognize that Jesus spoke in a way like nobody ever spoke before, and after they say, do the rulers know that he's a Christ? Ah, but wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. When the Christ comes, nobody's going to know where he comes from. Now, that's not true. They didn't know the scriptures. Out of you, Bethlehem, shall come forth to me, one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting. But you see, at coffee time, they reasoned Jesus away. We don't have to listen to that. What does Jesus do? Verse 28. Then Jesus cried out. Now, I don't know how that looked. I don't know quite how it sounded. But I think he probably put up his arms and gave a bellowing cry to the people. Then Jesus cried. He screamed out as he taught in the temple. Imagine the swarms of people. Your version says, you both know me and you know where I'm from. But that doesn't really capture what he's doing here. He's responding to the charge of him having a demon. And he's using irony. You think you know me and you know where I'm from? Really? Is that what you think? That's the sense of this. Do you think you know me? And do you think you know where I've come? Because he's about to say you don't know the Father. So you know me, you think. You think you know me, says Jesus. but I've not come of myself. He who sent me is true, whom you don't know. Whoa. Again, who says that, right? Nobody just says those kind of things unless you're divine. For I know him and I'm from him and he sent me. So he cries out in their unbelief, he says, you don't know me, you don't know God. Verse 30 tells you that right then and there, they said, that's it, grab him. Grab him, that's it, we're done with this guy. Take him, arrest him. Let's put up the cross right now. And John wants you to see, well, that's impossible. That's absolutely impossible because it was already predetermined when the time was that they would be able to grab him. Isn't that amazing? They couldn't even do what they wanted to do with the Son of God until the time was permitted, Which should give you the greatest release in all the stuff that's happening in the world right now, by the way. If you're gods and you belong to him, they can't do anything to you until the time's permitted. What a way to go forward and to not lose heart in this mess right now, right? So John's pressing us here with the validity of the message, and he's pressing us to make a decision with regard to who we think Jesus is. Do you know Jesus? What do we think about Jesus? What do you think about the Christ? Who is he? Do we know Jesus? And this is important because John is pressing us with the validity of the message. No one speaks like this. And if the ministry that comes to us is his ministry, isn't it remarkable what goes on in the ministry of Jesus in this world where today, who has a voice like this in this world? No one. No one is able to search your heart except the word of God. And that the Spirit takes that spoken word and does the very thing that Jesus was doing here. No one is able to command your life this way, in this life. No one is able to search you and try you and get a hold of you and change you and make you a new creature. Nobody's able to do that with a powerful word spoken. Listen to all the talk on the news. They can do nothing. There's no power in the speech. Suggestions, suggestions, ideas, and a lot of stupidity, right? And so we're pressed here. Think about all these sermons you've heard. Who set that up? How does that happen? And it gets into the heart, and it actually changes people who've bumped into Jesus for thousands of years and have had their whole lives changed. Look at that. Where do you think that comes from? It's his word. It's his speech. So in verse 32, everyone starts recognizing this is really powerful stuff. And guess who didn't like that? the Pharisees. These things scare me. I don't know if you, last time I was sitting back there and that dumb bug, you guys were great, but we were falling apart. Gordon's are weak. I'm sorry. Pharisees come in. The officers get together. They hear the crowds discussing the possibility this might be the Messiah. And so they said, they sent officers, you go get him right now. That's it. Then Jesus speaks again. No, you won't. I'll be with you a little while longer. Then I'm going to go to my father. It just keeps going. This is great discourse. That may not seem strong to our ears, but here's how it sounds. Here's the sense of it. They have furiously opposed him. And what Jesus just said is, listen, the window's short here for you. there's a fixed time given by my father. You don't have time to play games. Cards are shown, everything's open. Try to kill me as much as you please. I'm gonna go at the appointed hour to my father and I'm gonna be received by my father to glory. It's a moving statement. And then he says this, where I'm going, you can't come. I'm about to close the sermon in a minute. I want you to hold that thought. Where I'm going, you can't come. to tease you a little bit, did he say that to his own? How do they respond? They begin to ridicule him. And the Jews say, what is this guy? What is he going to do? He's going to go out to the dispersion and preach to the Greeks? Yeah, actually, that's exactly what he's going to go do, but that's not what this talked about. They were mocking him. And it's referenced twice by Jesus and then by the Jews in verse 34 and 36. You will seek me and not find me, and where I am you cannot come. He just said to them, you've refused me. I'm going to heaven. I'm going to go by way of a cross, and I'm going to be resurrected, and I'm going to go to heaven. And the judgment for your unbelief is, you can't come. That's a serious moment. I think we read over these things and don't let them set in. You will continue to look for your Messiah. And in chapter 8, he'll say, you will die in your sins. Now, do you see why this is so important today? Paul said, there's this day of salvation. There's this day of mercy. There's this window of grace that is given. And who's calling you today? Jesus. You know, Jesus looks at your life and he knows you. He fashioned you. He made you and he knows you. And in his powerful spirit, when he summons and he calls, I pray we're never like this kind of response. It does go on in Christianity. but think of the beauty of what's being shown here who's calling you who has the power over your life who raises the dead and gives life who goes to the valley of dry bones and with a summon by the spirit flesh gets up and bones and they live who does that jesus by the word and in the most amazing moment of this text today the best moment after all that knock down drag out fighting. This is so beautiful what happens. In verse 37. On the last day of the feast. All this religiosity. Last day of the feast. Jesus stood up and he cried out, listen to this. If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. And out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Did Israel thirst before? Yeah, at Meribah. Remember John's shown us Exodus the whole time? Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, give us water to drink. Moses said, why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord? So Moses cried to the Lord, what shall I do with this people? They're almost ready to stone me. See, same thing. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb. And you will strike the rock. And water shall come out of it. And the people will drink. See what he's pulling from? And he called the name of the place Massa and Meribah because of the quarreling of the people of Israel. And because they tested the Lord saying, here it is, heart of the sermon today. Is the Lord with us or not? Is he? That's a great question. Is the Lord with us or not? That's the question of the text. Is he the Lord who's with us? Is he the Lord who's come to us? Is he the God of heaven and earth who's speaking to us? Or is this just something you can say, I don't like you pressing me. Leave me alone. I'm doing my own thing. That's the question. And Jesus says, Come to me right now. I know you're struggling. I know you have bitter hearts. I know you're frustrated. And I also know what your sin has done to you and your status before a holy God. Come to me. I'll solve it all. I'll give you life. I'll take your bitter hearts and replace them with a heart of joy and peace. And then Jesus said, John says, but this he spoke concerning the spirit who, who those believing would receive for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. Here's the real problem, isn't it? That Jesus had to die. He had to rise and he had to go away so that the spirit would come and make this kind of response possible. Wasn't this the promise of Isaiah 43 and 44 in closing? Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth. Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The beasts of the field will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself. They shall declare my praise, but you have not called upon me, O Jacob, and you have been weary of me, O Israel, for I will pour my water on him who is thirsty. Who's thirsty today? Well, that's a great question right now, isn't it? Because it's also physically hot. But that's just not what I'm talking about. I will pour my water on him who's thirsty and floods on the dry ground. I will pour my spirit on you and your descendants. My blessing on your offspring. Here we are. This is what you're living right now. You are full with rivers of living water in your hearts when you have Jesus. Just look at the difference of Peter before Pentecost and after. And I want to close with this last thought. I still have four minutes. In the Escondido URC, I don't have a bunch of people raging against the message. Spirits come. You have no idea how ugly that would be. I'm so thankful to minister in the new covenant. When the Holy Spirit has come, you love this word. You're here sitting in 100 degree heat right now. But it's the word that's powerful in your life. I have a church of people who love the word. And when it confronts them, you know what? You don't run off. I pray none do. I've seen it in the ministry. But you receive it. And you say, it's the Lord. let him speak and do as he pleases. That's the spirit in you. And the point is, is that when the Holy Spirit comes, he lights a fire in people's hearts of love for the truth, to see the answer, to have a filled life of living water. You have that, do you know that? Think of how the Lord has answered you and satisfied you. And then what did he say to you? He said this, he didn't speak to you this way. Where I'm going, you cannot come. You're going to come to John chapter 14. And what's it going to say? Believe in me. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself. He just said to them, you can't come. He's just said to you, I'll come and take you to myself. That, where I am, you may be also. And you know the way to where I'm going. That's the work of the Spirit. The way is the way of a cross and resurrection. The way is the way of Jesus, who is the way, truth, and life. And all who believe in him out of your hearts right now flowing rivers of living water, and you're going to go be with him soon. That's the message of the gospel. That's his goodness to you. Believe him. Don't doubt him. Let him press you. Let him try you. Receive it. But that shows his steadfast love to you, to conform you more to look like him. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for how you show us this light in the midst of such a conflict in this passage. How faithful you are. We love you, O Lord. Thank you for loving us first. And in all of our struggles of sin and bitterness and hardship in this life, let us see what the Holy Spirit has done as we receive your word. For there, we embrace Jesus the Messiah the son of the living God and believing have life in his name and a place prepared for us to which we soon will go. Thank you. Bless your people. Encourage them. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.