FBC Daily Devotional – September 22, 2021

Faith Baptist Church

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Well, a good Wednesday morning to you. Hope your week is going well, and hope your day started off well, getting into God's Word, I hope, for a few minutes, and perhaps in today's reading in John chapter 7.

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And as I read this passage, I was reminded of something that Jesus said on another occasion to his disciples when he said,

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Don't think that I came to bring peace. I came to bring a sword. He didn't come to unite the whole world.

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He came to bring division. Now that requires a little bit of explanation, of course, doesn't it?

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Christians are never jihadists. God does not call us to take up arms.

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He doesn't call us to get guns and start fighting, you know, against anybody that's not a

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Christian, like the Islamic extremists do. No, that's not what Jesus is talking about.

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What he's talking about is the fact that his teaching, and his character, and who he is ends up causing division between people, because there are some people who will accept what he says, and accept who he is, but the vast majority will reject it completely.

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Just think, for example, of his simple statement when he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

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No one comes to the Father, but by me. Well, the vast majority of people who hear that kind of an exclusive statement in this day and age, in our day of inclusivity and quote -unquote tolerance, that's a horrible thing to say, and that is categorically rejected by the vast majority of people.

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That's what I'm talking about, and that's what Jesus was talking about when he said, I didn't come to bring peace,

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I came to bring a sword. And this is brought out, this is illustrated here in John chapter 7.

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So notice in verses 11 and 11 through 13 how, you know, Jesus divides people.

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Verse 11, there are some of the Jews who are asking, you know, where is he? Where is he? You know, they're curious about it.

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But there was much complaining among the people concerning him. A lot of people were complaining about him.

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Some of the people said, he is good. Others said, no, on the contrary, he deceives people.

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You see the division, the contrast there? And then there were other

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Jews who were so hateful toward him, that verse 13 says, no one spoke openly of him, of Jesus, for fear of the

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Jews. And we're talking about the Jewish leaders. Because the Jewish leaders despised Jesus.

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So Jesus, just the very presence of Jesus, and the subject of Jesus, at that time on this

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Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, there was division among the people regarding Jesus.

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And you know, here we are, 2 ,000 years later, nothing's changed. Not much has changed, has it?

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Mention the name Jesus in a crowd, and some will be just flat -out indifferent.

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Others will be mocking. Others will be appreciative of Jesus.

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Others will spit, you know, hateful toward Jesus, toward the name of Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, the

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Son of God, the one who loved the world so much that he came into this world to give himself as a sacrifice for our sins, so that whoever believes in him, puts their trust in him, will not perish, but have everlasting life.

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This Jesus is one who nevertheless creates such unnecessary, but inevitable, division.

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Why is it so inevitable? Well, because of the sinfulness of the human heart.

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The sinfulness of the human heart lashes out against him and ends up with some degree of hostility toward him.

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Even Jesus recognized this in verse 19. He said, why do you seek to kill me? Why do you want to kill me?

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And they responded, well, you're crazy. Nobody's wanting to kill you. Who's seeking to kill you? Well, Jesus knew who was seeking to kill him.

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They were seeking to kill him. And the rulers, the leaders, the

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Jewish leaders, wanted him gone. Where do you fall? What is your response to, your attitude toward Jesus?

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Indifference? Deep appreciation? Great love? Trust? Loyalty?

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Hostility? Rejection? Same person?

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So many different responses. I hope yours is a response of love and loyalty because you have put your trust in him as your

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Lord and Savior. Our Father in our God, we thank you for your

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Son, the Lord Jesus, who gave his life for us. Oh, I pray that all who are in the sound of my voice today would truly love him and trust him and then live for him.

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This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, well have a good rest of your middle of the week day, and I hope