Below is the manuscript to this Sunday’s sermon. Chances are, you will encounter grammatical errors. Please be gracious. I pray this will be beneficial to you as you study the Word of God that is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17).”
One thing that I’ve begun to really appreciate about the gospel of John, especially John 7, is how it’s packed full of irony. The more I’ve begun to think through all of these ironies found in John 7, the more I’ve become convicted.
I think John gives us these ironies to:
Show us the unadulterated truth about who Jesus is.
Show us the unadulterated hypocrisy found in the lives of Jesus’s audience, which should reveal to us the same hypocrisy in our own lives.
Today we will be finishing John 7. If you remember, all of John 7 is one fluid story that’s taking place during the Feast of Booths. This feast is very important for us to understand as we work through this chapter. The Feast of Booths was one of three pilgrimage feast, which means that Jews were required to travel to Jerusalem to observe this feast. This feast was a week long feast that (1) celebrated God’s complete provision of their harvest and (2) celebrated God’s faithfulness to provide for his people, by dwelling with his people in the wilderness.
During this feast John has been showing us that while the religious leaders and the crowds celebrated God dwelling with them in the wilderness they don’t see that God is standing right before them. Jesus tells the crowd that they don’t see and recognize him as the Son of God because they do not know God personally. If their will was to do God’s will then they would know who Jesus was.
So, ironically and tragically, they’re consumed with external religious practices, yet they have no relationship with God. Their heart is far from him.
We’re then reminded of the religious leaders desire to kill Jesus because he worked on the Sabbath (Jn 5). But, ironically, Jesus shows them that they’re guilty of doing the exact same thing when they circumcise on the Sabbath.
Jesus was essentially showing them that if they want to kill him, then they must kill themselves, as well. They’re walking in hypocrisy. They’re judging by appearances, not with right judgment. The more we progress through this gospel, the more we will see this hypocritical judgment of the crowd and religious leaders exposed.
Now, some people eventually believe in Jesus, while others want to arrest him. But no one can touch him because his hour had not yet come. The Pharisees hear about those who are beginning to believe in him. They get frustrated. They send officers to arrest him. And Jesus doesn’t budge.
In fact, he continues to preach. He tells the Pharisees that he will eventually be going to a place that they cannot go to. “[They] will seek him and [they] won’t be able to find [him].”
The Pharisees then mockingly ask, “Where’s this man going to go? Is he going to go to the Greeks?” The only place that was so repulsive that they couldn’t imagine going to was the Greeks.
So, is he going there? Well, no. He’s going to return to the Father. And when they die in their unbelief, they won’t be able to find him. It will be too late.
But, ironically, after Jesus’s ascension, he will send his people out by the power of the Holy Spirit to those repulsive Greeks. The beauty of the gospel is that it takes enemies and strangers and makes them friends and family. The only people that the religious leaders couldn’t imagine God sending them to is the very people that God will graft into his family.
Then, last week, on the last day of the feast— during a feast that celebrates God dwelling with his people and miraculously providing food and water for his people in the wilderness, during a feast that celebrates God’s provision for his people now— Jesus ironically and masterfully stands up and exclaims, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”
He was saying, “Hey! I know your barns and your wells are full, but if any of you thirst and long for something more, come to me and drink!” In the middle of a feast that celebrates God’s provision, he asked if anyone lacked, and then he extended to them the invitation to come to him and drink.
Now, not only could he satisfy their thirst, but out of their hearts would flow rivers (plural) of living water. This is an invitation to take something that is dry, lacking, and lifeless, and make it life giving.
If you come to Jesus in belief, God won’t simply dwell with you, he will dwell in you. If you believe in Jesus, you will receive the Holy Spirit, and from the Holy Spirit dwelling in you will flow rivers of living water. Meaning: the fruit of the Holy Spirit will flow from your heart and life, and be a blessing to both you and those around you.
A river of love, a river of joy, a river of peace, a river of patience, a river of kindness, a river of gentleness, a river of goodness, a river of faithfulness, and a river of self-control will flow from you.
Belief in Jesus is not merely intellect. Belief in Jesus leads to life giving actions that come from the Holy Spirit that dwells within the life of a believer.
Have you come to Jesus in belief? If so, out of your heart will flow rivers of living water.
Well, as we continue to read through this gospel and finish up this chapter, we will see more irony in our passage today. There is great confusion and division surrounding who Jesus is and what he’s come to accomplish. But, in the middle of this confusion, there’s one group that’s more certain about who Jesus is than anyone else. This group is certain that Jesus is a blasphemer that is deceiving the foolish. But, we will see yet again that they are not judging with right judgment. Their judgment is based strictly upon appearances.
As we work through this passage, we will see that they’re more deceived than anyone else. Ironically, all of their accusations made against Jesus and the crowds ring true of themselves. We will see today that the self-righteous have very little concern with truth. Because of their self-righteousness, they are unwilling to judge with right judgment.
Our passage today will once again force us to survey the evidence surrounding Jesus and decide for ourselves who Jesus is.
Let’s dive in.
“40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, ‘This really is the Prophet.’ 41 Others said, ‘This is the Christ.’ But some said, ‘Is the Christ to come from Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?’ 43 So there was a division among the people over him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.”
Now, verse 43 tells us that there’s a division among the people over who they think Jesus is. Following Jesus’s bold invitation for anyone who is thirsty to come to him and drink, the crowd is beginning to lay their cards on the table, showing who they think Jesus is. And not everyone is in agreement.
First, in verse 40, we see that some people heard Jesus’s words and they think that he is the Prophet. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this title thrown around in the gospel of John. Nor is this the first time that we’ve seen the crowd identify Jesus as “the Prophet.”
Back in John 1 we saw the religious leaders approach John the Baptist and ask him if he was the Prophet. John says, “No, that’s Jesus.”
Then, back in John 6, after Jesus miraculously feeds the large crowd bread and fish, the crowd exclaims, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”
They connected Jesus’s miraculous provision in the wilderness with God’s miraculous provision of manna for his people in the wilderness, through the prophet Moses.
So, claiming that Jesus is the Prophet means that they are connecting Jesus to the OT prophecy found in Deuteronomy 18, where Moses says,
“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…”
So, ecstatic they thought that they had found the prophet that Moses prophesied about, and Jesus had their attention.
Well, Jesus then leaves the crowd and on the next day he begins to proclaim to the crowd that he’s the bread of life that came down from heaven, which led to the crowd grumbling and complaining. Where they should have listened, they complained and grumbled and left. As quickly as he gained their attention in the wilderness, he lost their attention in the synagogue in Capernaum. They, and many of his disciples, left him at this point because of his claims to be “the bread of life sent from heaven.”
Well, now, similarly, Jesus’s invitation during the feast of booths to “Come to him and drink” reminds the crowd of Moses once again. Where they were previously reminded of God providing manna for Israel in the wilderness, they are now reminded of God miraculously providing water for Israel in the wilderness.
On several occasions, God miraculously provided water for Israel through Moses. In Exodus 17, for example, we see the people thirst for water and grumbled against Moses. God then tells Moses to strike a rock, and from the rock water will be provided. Moses does so and God miraculously provided for his people, reminding them that the LORD was with them.
***There’s so much symbolism here of Jesus that we don’t have time to get into. In a dry and lifeless area, the rock was struck, and out of the stricken rock flows life. In a lifeless area, Jesus, the rock, was struck, and out of his death on the cross flows eternal life.
So, during the Feast of Booths, during a time to celebrate God’s provision for his people in the wilderness, Jesus invites the thirsty to come to him and drink. This proclamation leads some of the crowd to say, “This really is the Prophet.”
They’re thinking, “There’s just too many similarities between Jesus and Moses. He has to be the Prophet that Moses was talking about. Therefore, we must listen to him.”
Jesus, the Prophet, has their attention, and they’re listening closely.
Then, another part of the crowd says, “This is the Christ.”
Now, we learned a couple weeks ago that “Christ” means messiah or anointed one. The one who is anointed is divinely set apart by God for a specific task. In Luke 4 we see Jesus say, himself, that he is “the anointed one,” who would be set apart by God to proclaim good news to the poor and set the captives free. Jesus is therefore, the one who is capable of setting men and women free from bondage. Jesus is the one who was sent by God to rescue, redeem, and restore anyone who comes to him in belief. He is the Messiah that the OT has prophesied about!
Now, although it seems like the crowd thinks that the Prophet and the Christ are two separate people, we know that both of these proclamations here are true of Jesus! Jesus really is the Prophet. He really is the Messiah. So, both of these groups of people have recognized and connected Jesus as one whom the OT has prophesied about.
But, then another part of the crowd enters the scene and says, “Nah, this can’t be the Christ.”
Look at the latter part of verse 41 and 42,
“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?”
This group of people, like the religious leaders, are not judging with right judgment; they’re judging by appearances. They’re looking at Jesus and they’re mulling over all of the things he’s said and done, and they’re thinking through the OT prophecies pertaining to the Christ, and they conclude that he’s not the Christ.
They think Jesus is from Galilee, and they know that the Christ is to be an offspring from David born in Bethlehem. Therefore, they come to the conclusion that he’s not the Christ.
Now, I want us to notice a bit of irony here that John leaves unaddressed. Their references to the Scriptures are accurate. Yes, the Christ is to be a descendent of David. Yes, the Christ is to come from Bethlehem.
Psalm 89:4, for example, says,
“I will establish your (David’s) seed forever and build up your throne to all generations.”
And we saw two weeks ago that in Micah 5:2,
“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”
So, they rightly understand the Scriptures pertaining to the Christ. However, they do not rightly understand Jesus. If they would have done their research, if they would have judged with right judgment, they would know that, although Jesus grew up in Galilee, he was born in Bethlehem.
This part of the crowd has dismissed Jesus as the Christ because of a partially, ill-informed, understanding about Jesus. They’ve looked past the works and words of Jesus, and the many witnesses pointing to Jesus being the Messiah, and they’ve rejected the idea of Jesus being the Messiah because of appearances.
Now, I struggled this week with the question, “Why doesn’t John address or answer their false understanding about Jesus here?” Why does he leave their false opinions unresolved.
Unlike Matthew and Luke, John doesn’t tell us the birth narrative of how Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Unlike Matthew and Luke, John doesn’t tell us the genealogy of Jesus, showing us how he is in fact a descendent of David.
The crowd is rejecting Jesus as the Christ because of a misinformed perception about him; and John’s main goal in writing this gospel is show us that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have life in his name.
So, why does he leave their questions unresolved here? Why does he not capitalize on this opportunity to expose their misunderstanding about Jesus
As I wrestled through this, I began to realize that he does expose their misunderstanding about Jesus. But, he does it in an unconventional manner.
Rather than give us more information or evidence supporting Jesus as the Christ, John takes his flashlight here and exposes the crowd's inability to judge with right judgment, which should give us more evidence to the fact that Jesus is the Christ.
We’ve come to a point in this gospel where John is beginning to force us, the readers, to look at the evidence and decide for ourselves. Up until this point, John has strategically laid out an abundance of evidence for Jesus being the Christ. And now, with the crowd, we’re beginning to be forced to make decisions about who we believe Jesus is.
The crowd here is making a judgment about Jesus strictly off of what they can see; and based off of what appears to be true on a surface level, they’ve rejected Jesus as the Messiah. They were quick to write him off because of a misinformed understanding about him.
Men and women do this all the time. We do this with God and we do this with others.
For example, one may look at his or her surroundings and conclude that God is not good because all this person sees is sin, death, and corruption. How could a good God allow bad things to happen? Without learning about God, we make a judgment about God based off of what we can see.
Not only that, but we people. We live in a social media driven world where stories are at the tip of our fingers. We quickly make judgments about men and women based off of appearances, and we are quick to condemn and judge, and often times we condemn them of things we’re guilty of ourselves.
Without learning more about Jesus, the crowd rejects Jesus as a blasphemer. Listen, I think we see here that you can always find an excuse not to believe in Jesus. But, I think we also see here that your excuse for unbelief will never be valid.
John is seeking to show us that Jesus really is the Christ who is capable of setting you free from sin, and any excuse you have to reject Jesus as this Messiah is a surface level, illegitimate excuse.
Anyone seriously searching to know the truth about Jesus will go to God’s word, asking for wisdom, and will discover the truth about Jesus. But, that’s not the case for the crowd here. They’re content to come to a conclusion about Jesus with the visible evidence that they have.
So, ironically, this portion of the crowd rightly understands the prophecies surrounding the Christ. But, they don’t rightly understand that the Christ is standing right before them in Jesus, offering them eternal life.
“So there was a division among the people over him.”
Jesus’s words are dividing the crowd down the middle. Part of the crowd is connecting the dots and identifying him as the Messiah/Prophet. Another part of the crowd is rejecting him as a deceiver.
There’s no middle ground of apathy when it comes to Jesus. You either submit to him as Lord, giving him your full attention, trust, and obedience. Or you respond to him in hostility, rejecting him as a deceiver.
Which is true of you?
If you believe Jesus is the Christ, then that means you trust in him for eternal life. He is the one you’re submitting to, and he is the one who has given you the Holy Spirit so that you may bless those around you.
If you’ve rejected Jesus, then you will continue to thirst and long for this life that is found in Jesus, and eternal damnation will be your fate.
So, following Jesus’s words, there was a division amongst the crowd, and
“…some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.”
Why did no one lay a hand on him? Because “his hour had not yet come (v.30).” We were reminded two weeks ago that “no persecution falls outside the sovereign hand of God.” The crowd didn’t lay a hand of Jesus because it wasn’t in God’s timing for them to do so. Yes, Jesus will eventually be arrested. But, not yet. John continually directs our attention to the fact that the opposition Jesus faced was not outside of God’s control. It was God’s plan to send his Son to redeem sinful humanity through his death on the cross. So, “some of them wanted to arrest Jesus, but no one laid hands on him.”
Now, as we continue to progress through this passage, we will ironically see that those who reject Jesus, claiming him to be a deceiver, will actually be the ones who are (1) deceived themselves and (2) the ones seeking to deceive others. They’re guilty of the very thing that they’re claiming Jesus to be guilty of. Their rejection of Jesus was not birthed out rightful thinking; it was birthed out of a self-righteous hypocrisy based upon appearances.
Look at verses 45-46,
“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!”
Let’s pause here for a moment. Two weeks ago in verse 32 we saw the Pharisees and the chief priest send the officers to arrest Jesus. Now, following Jesus’ invitation to come to him and drink, the officers are coming back empty handed, without Jesus, because Jesus is speaking in a way that is unrecognizable.
“No one has ever spoke like this man!” Feel the weight of this. The officers heard first hand the message of Jesus, and rather than arrest him as a blasphemer, they come back saying to the religious leaders, “We couldn’t arrest him because we’ve never heard anyone say the things Jesus is saying.” They were sent out to arrest a deceiver and they came back thinking he’s a truth-bearer.
They’re saying to the teachers, the religious leaders, "We’ve grown up hearing y'all teach, but Jesus is speaking with an authority that we’ve never heard. We couldn’t do what you told us to do. He’s making connections between himself and the OT that are compelling.”
This leads to the Pharisees saying in verse 47,
“Have you also been deceived?”
This question shows us exactly what the Pharisees thought about Jesus and the crowd. “Have you also been deceived” tell us that they believed Jesus was a deceiver. They believed he was teaching lies, manipulating truth, and leading the ignorant crowd into deception. They believe the crowd had been deceived, and they were asking if the officers have been deceived, as well.
They then say,
“Have any of the authorities or Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accused.”
So, where there is widespread confusion over who Jesus is, the Pharisees are certain that they know the truth. They’re essentially saying to the officers, “None of us have believed in Jesus. Therefore, you shouldn’t either.”
The evidence they’re giving to support the idea that Jesus is not the Christ is themselves. At this point, their justification for why Jesus cannot be the Messiah has nothing to do with Jesus and everything to do with their assessment of Jesus. Jesus cannot be the Messiah because we have not believed in him.
Never mind the works that Jesus has done throughout his life, never mind the words you just heard him proclaim, you’re an idiot who has been deceived if you believe in him. The religious leaders are seeking to strip the officers of any opportunity to decide for themselves, and they’re seeking to pressure them into placing their hope and confidence in their expert knowledge.
They’re saying, “Who’s job is it to study the Scriptures? Who knows the law Ours. Have any of us, who knows the law, believed in him? I don’t think so. So, what camp do you want to be in: ours or this crowds that does not know the law?”
The religious leaders are degrading those in the crowd who have believed in Jesus. They’re claiming that the crowd has brought condemnation upon themselves for believing in Jesus. They are calling them ignorant fools who don’t know the law.
I think there’s, yet again, great irony that John wants us to pick up on here. Ironically, those who are supposed to know the law don’t recognize the giver of the law and the one that the law points to, Jesus (Jn 5). The one’s who boasted in their wisdom and expert knowledge are pointing their fingers, claiming that others are deceived, when, in fact, they are the ones who are deceived. And, ironically, this foolish crowd that is “accursed” and that “does not know the law” knows the truth.
Now, very beautifully, John highlights and exposes their hypocrisy by bringing up Nicodemus in verse 50.
“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?”
Nicodemus is mentioned three different times in the gospel of John. He’s mentioned in John 3. He’s mentioned now. And he’s mentioned in John 19.
There’s a couple details that John wants us to notice here in verse 50 pertaining to Nicodemus.
First, He wants to remind us that Nicodemus had previously gone to Jesus with questions (Jn 3).
Nicodemus went to Jesus at night and said, “Hey! We’ve seen all of these things that you’re doing. We know that you’re a teacher that comes from God. No one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
Jesus then tells Nicodemus that “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus’s religious superiority would profit him for eternal life.
So, John wanted to remind us that Nicodemus has heard the gospel clearly taught to him, he knows the truth about Jesus, and he’s clearly been wrestling through the words Jesus has previously spoken to him. Nicodemus, unlike his counterparts, is seeking to judge with right judgment.
But, not only that, John also wants to remind us that Nicodemus was a Pharisee. Nicodemus is a part of the crowd that is zealous for the law and that is boasting in their unbelief of Jesus.
Now, it’s unclear, at this point, whether or not Nicodemus believes himself. I think at the end of this gospel, we will see that he clearly does believe. In John 19, when everyone leaves, Nicodemus brings oil and myrrh, and buries Jesus. But, at this point in the gospel I think John is showing us the progression of Nicodemus. Where he went and heard the gospel message from Jesus in John 3, he’s now wrestling with that message in John 7, and he will be a believer of that message in John 19.
So, somewhere between John 3 and John 19, Nicodemus is converted, and I think this reminds us that evangelism isn’t always a preach once, convert immediately process. Sometimes we preach the gospel, and it appears that nothing happens. But, for months, years, or maybe decades that person wrestles over who Jesus is, and then after a long period they may decide to place their faith in Jesus.
May the slow conversion of Nicodemus comfort us in our evangelism. Don’t get discouraged. Continue to preach and continue to pray.
At this moment it’s unclear whether or not Nicodemus believes, but what is clear is that Nicodemus is not on the same brainwave as his crew; and he begins to challenge the Pharisee’s logic by asking,
“Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?”
First, notice the difference in how he and the Pharisees refer to the law. Unlike the Pharisees, who refer to the law as “the law,” Nicodemus calls it “our law.” Where the Pharisees are using the law as a tool to bring condemnation on others, Nicodemus is using the law to bring clarity to both himself and others. The Pharisees language reeks of arrogance and pride, and Nicodemus’s words have the pleasant aroma of humble submission. Nicodemus, unlike his counterparts, is seeking to judge with right judgment.
Here, he’s referencing passages like Deuteronomy 1:16-17; 17:2-6; 19:15-19, which states that a person must be heard and that evidence and witnesses must be considered before a person can be charged as being guilty.
Nicodemus is exposing the Pharisees inability to keep the law, which means they’re ironically the ones who stand accursed. Where they’re seeking to condemn Jesus, they’re condemning themselves.
In exposing their inability to judge with right judgement, John is giving us more evidence to the fact that Jesus is the Christ. The Pharisees then respond to Nicodemus by saying,
“Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
So, they’re mockingly asking, “What are you on his team, too? Are you from Galilee? If you knew the Scriptures, then you would know that no prophet comes from Galilee.” Once again, their words ironically fall short of being truthful because there was actually two prophets who came from Galilee: Jonah and Nahum.
So, listen, the more we progress through this gospel the more we will begin to see the sinful hypocrisy of man being exposed. The religious leaders are not judging with right judgement. They’re judging based off of appearances. Although they are zealous for the law, they do not know God.
The more we see the hypocrisy of the religious leaders exposed, I hope we see more and more hypocrisy exposed in our own lives, as well. I hope and pray that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we put that to death.
My prayer is:
We will constantly be reminded that our ability to “do good works” does not grant us salvation.
The religious leaders knew God’s word, and could keep God’s word (externally). But, their self-righteousness kept them from truly knowing God and seeing their need for a savior. Rather than fall on their face before God in repentance, they keep on seeking to be blameless in the eyes of others. Listen, your ability to “do good works” does not grant you salvation. To the believer and nonbeliever, you never outgrow your need for Jesus.
We are a people that is slow to make judgments about others without first learning what they do.
Hostility and division is a fruit of making judgments about others without learning about all they do. Husbands and wives, don’t make judgments about your spouse without learning his or her side of the story. Christian brothers and sisters, don’t make judgments about one another without learning his or her side of the story. May we not be quick to make judgments about others without learning all of the facts? May we be slow to go to social media, blasting men and women for something we don’t know anything about.