Finding Life in the Inverted World (John 7:32-52 Jeff Kliewer)

Cornerstone Church

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January 23, 2023

Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org Finding Life in the Inverted World

11:37: Thank you. Before I get into what I want to talk about this morning, I want to at least acknowledge, if there are anybody here who's in high school, that's a little bit before your time.
11:49: Sorry, man. But if you're in high school, there is a high school Sunday school class that is kicked off today, so feel free to please join in with them.
12:00: I want to open us in Psalm 93. Now, before I do that, a little bit of history lesson about the nation of Israel.
12:09: As they are in the promised land, and God is their king, and they have judges.
12:17: The people get jealous, and they look around at the other nations, and they start to grumble.
12:22: And they say, we want to be like the other nations. We want a king. And this is an unfortunate profession.
12:34: But the psalmist in Psalm 95, 3 says, for the Lord is a great God, and a great king above all other gods.
12:44: If we choose to not let him be sovereign in our life, we are accepting another god as perhaps our king.
12:53: Israel had grown jealous. They wanted to be like other nations. But we do have our
12:59: Lord and our king, and he is above all. I just want you to realize there is nothing the world can give you, to offer you that is in any way better.
13:12: We do not need another king. We have our king, and he is in heaven. The psalmist goes on then in verse 6, let us kneel before the
13:22: Lord, our maker. This morning as we were praying before the first service,
13:29: Phil was actually praying that we would be in awe, because we are actually in the presence of our very
13:35: God. The psalmist said, let us kneel before the Lord, our maker.
13:41: But this morning as we gather together, in fact, all week long, every day, we should be in awe, and we should be kneeling before the
13:50: Lord, our maker. That's who we are. We gather together in that way. I have some announcements.
13:56: There are some amazing things going on for you to be aware of. This thing just did finish.
14:02: Between the first and second service, my wife had different women come together who were willing to participate, planning for a women's tea that's coming up very soon.
14:16: If you are interested in participating in planning for the women's tea, you weren't able to make this meeting this morning, contact my wife.
14:25: She would love to have as many women participate in that as they could, but that tea is coming up.
14:32: There is a congregational meeting tomorrow, seven o 'clock here in the church. We invite members and people who are just part of us to come.
14:42: Several things are gonna happen. It's going to be a great meeting. We're gonna be presenting and looking for affirmation for individuals, new members of our church.
14:53: We also have a topic that we want to bring up for discussion, a potential bylaw amendment having to do with the office of deacon, and there's gonna be some discussion regarding the ministries of our church, of our denomination.
15:07: So please, if you have that opportunity, please come and be part of that meeting. Today and right now, as I said, the second service,
15:17: Sunday school is starting. The high school are being fought. Eric Meyer is teaching a two -week class.
15:24: So if you're in high school, please join with Eric today and next Sunday.
15:30: After that, the Sunday school offering will be a starting point class. If you are new to us, you would like to learn more about us, it's a great place to go.
15:39: It's three weeks. You will learn about our statement of faith, what we believe. You will learn about the Evangelical Free Church of America, who they are and what they are all about.
15:49: And then you will eventually learn about our own church here at Cornerstone. It's a great place to learn and to get aware of who we are.
15:57: If you are interested in membership, it's also a great place to start out. So that will be the first three weeks of February.
16:07: There is going to be next Sunday, following second service, a planning meeting for VBS, Vacation Bible School.
16:17: We are already anticipating a VBS this summer, and we're going to do it together with The Rock.
16:24: So next Sunday, if you are at all interested in being part of it, please stay after second service.
16:31: There will be a brief initial meeting organizing that. The men next
16:38: Sunday are going to have a fellowship. This has been going on for a while, but there is one change.
16:43: The men have been meeting on the Championship Sunday, the
16:49: AFC Championship game, the NFC Championship game. I guess this is predominantly an
16:54: NFC church. Yes. Okay. The Eagles, the
17:06: Giants, the Redskins, the Cowboys, I'm a Bears fan, don't judge me. But we have always, for many, many years now, probably for like 20 years, we've been getting together on Sunday of Championship Sunday, and the
17:19: NFC has always been the second game. So that was what the plan was, but the NFC has changed up, and this year the
17:26: NFC is the early game. So the men's fellowship next Sunday will be at three o 'clock, and they can't show up at one o 'clock.
17:35: No, okay. Kickoff is at three, can come a little before. We're gonna be eating halftime and onward.
17:41: So it gives you a chance to kind of digest your lunch. So because we changed it, it was easier to do later.
17:48: And we still request that you go online, either on the app or on the website, sign up.
17:53: It's, I believe, $12 for adults, and five for 14 and under.
17:59: So it'll be at the Stockland House, gentlemen, a great time of fellowship. We had such an amazing response to the
18:06: Options Pregnancy Center with the bottles that would be filled with change checks.
18:13: I don't know that they're accepting Bitcoin, but we ran out of bottles, but we have more.
18:19: So we contacted them, and there are more bottles out there. If you want to partake in it, couldn't get a bottle, they are out there, so be part of that.
18:29: There is a workday being planned in the middle of February on a Saturday, the 18th.
18:35: You will hear more information about that, but you can put that on your schedule. It'll be a morning event indoors, doing things like paint and spackling and stuff like that.
18:45: We have a ministry that's been going on, a fellowship that started here in January. We're on a
18:51: Wednesday, there was gonna be a game night, and then two weeks later, there would be a movie night, and they alternate like that.
18:56: This week is a scheduled movie night, it's a Wednesday night affair. But because of the movie that's out now, the
19:04: Left Behind movie, Rise of the Antichrist, which starts on Thursday, don't come here
19:10: Wednesday. If you want to be part of our movie fellowship, go to the
19:15: Morristown Regal for the seven o 'clock showing of the Left Behind movie, Rise of the Antichrist.
19:21: That's where we will have our fellowship. Everybody just buy your own tickets when you get there, that's when that fellowship will be.
19:28: Time to turn to prayer. Father, we come before you in awe. We come before you not because we earned the privilege, but because of your love.
19:38: God is love. We come before you because even when we were sinners, you loved us and sent your
19:45: Son. We come to you bowing to you, our Lord and our
19:51: King. And we come to you confessing your sovereignty. Lord, in this world, we will encounter trials and tribulations, we will be tempted by this world to move in the wrong direction.
20:08: Our heart's desire is to follow you and so, oh Lord, we need the power of your
20:13: Holy Spirit within us to remain true to you, true to your word. We need the power of your
20:20: Holy Spirit so that we will be bold in following you, saying no to the pressures of this world.
20:25: Let the world see us stand for you. And as the psalmist says, let us bow the knee before the
20:34: Lord, our maker. Father, this morning, we come desiring to know you, desiring to draw closer to you.
20:42: We pray, Lord, for those many in our midst who are in need, perhaps suffering the loss, perhaps having physical ailments.
20:51: We don't forget, Lord, we pray. Father, this morning, we pray, even as Jesus taught us the way we should pray, we say,
21:02: Lord, your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
21:09: Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. Speak to us, we pray, this morning,
21:15: Lord, that your spirit opens our hearts and prepare our Pastor Jeff with the words that we should hear.
21:22: We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand together.
21:29: I hope you had time this past week, as I encouraged you last week, to read Psalm 148.
21:35: I wanna read something that allows us to just hone in on the concepts and the truth that's in Psalm 148.
21:44: It's one of those psalms that starts off with praise Yah, just like Psalm 113 that I read a few weeks ago.
21:52: And in this psalm, the psalmist calls the heavens and the earth and all the elements within the heavens and the earth to praise
21:59: Yahweh. He calls everyone and everything in the realm of the heavens to praise
22:05: Yahweh, the angels, the hosts, the moon, the light, and the waters in the heavens, because Yahweh is their wondrous creator.
22:16: And then it goes on, and it calls everyone and everything in the realm of the earth to praise
22:23: Yahweh. Sea monsters, the deep abyss, fire, hail, snow, clouds, wind, mountains, hills, trees, animals, creeping things, birds, and all of His people, because Yahweh is their salvation, and His name is to be praised.
22:46: So let's sing together. Praise His name. ♪ Reaches of heaven, starry heights ♪ ♪
23:08: Lights of the evening, dancing in silent skies ♪ ♪
23:18: Brilliance of morning, breaking day ♪ ♪
23:27: Oh, let them praise Him, praise
23:33: His name ♪ ♪ Oh, praise
23:39: His name, oh, praise His name ♪ ♪
23:47: Let all His wondrous works declare
23:53: His praise ♪ ♪
24:04: Hideous mountains, peaceful plains ♪ ♪
24:13: Snowfall and fire, thundering ocean waves ♪ ♪
24:23: Kings and their kingdoms, age to age ♪ ♪
24:35: Oh, let them praise Him, praise His name ♪ ♪
24:42: Oh, praise His name, oh, praise
24:48: His name ♪ ♪ Let all His wondrous works declare
24:58: His praise ♪ ♪
25:24: King enthroned in majesty, all things made by His decree ♪ ♪
25:38: Here is His throne, all things made by His decree ♪ ♪ Hear creation's melody, praise
25:44: Him, praise Him ♪ ♪ Everything with life and breath ♪ ♪
25:52: Everywhere from east to west ♪ ♪ Every heart raised from the dead, praise
26:02: Him, praise Him ♪ ♪
26:07: Angels echo the refrain, Jesus, Lamb of sinners slain ♪ ♪
26:15: Name above all other names, praise Him, oh, praise
26:25: His name ♪ ♪ Oh, praise His name, let all
26:33: His wondrous works declare His praise ♪ ♪
26:42: Oh, praise His name, oh, praise
26:48: His name ♪ ♪ Let all His wondrous works declare
26:57: His praise, oh, praise
27:04: His name ♪ ♪ Oh, praise His name, let all
27:12: His wondrous works declare
27:17: His praise ♪ Get to stand together and declare
27:27: His praise as we think and ponder all the things that He blesses us with.
27:37: We are rich beyond our wildest dreams. We are blessed in this country and in our lives, even though we go through difficult times.
27:45: We are well off. Unfortunately, sometimes we can think that being well off is also how our heart condition is.
27:58: We are wretched people. I am a sinner just like you. We come before a king.
28:07: We come before our Lord and say, save me.
28:14: And He willingly, within His mercy, says, come, I love you and I always have, no matter what.
28:22: Let's sing together, His mercy is more. Praise the Lord, His mercy is more.
28:33: Praise the Lord, His mercy is more.
28:45: Stronger than darkness, new every morn.
28:51: Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more.
28:58: But love could remember the wrongs we have done.
29:13: Omniscient, all -knowing, He counts not their sum. Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore.
29:24: Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more.
29:31: But patience would wait as we constantly roam.
29:45: What Father so tender is calling us home. He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor.
29:57: Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more.
30:02: Praise the Lord, His mercy is more.
30:14: Stronger than darkness, new every morn. Our sins, they are many,
30:22: His mercy is more. What riches of kindness
30:36: He lavished on us. His blood was the payment of life was the cost.
30:45: We stood neath the death we could never afford. Our sins, they are many,
30:54: His mercy is more. Praise the Lord, His mercy is more.
31:09: Stronger than darkness, new every morn. Our sins, they are many,
31:16: His mercy is more. Lord, thank you for your mercy.
31:25: Thank you that we can call you Father, that we can call you King. Lord, it is our greatest desire to not only sing these praises to you, but Lord, to live a life that you have called us to.
31:44: Lord, we want to trust in you with all of our heart and lean not on our own understanding.
31:50: We want to follow your ways. We want to follow your desires for our life.
32:01: Lord, we know that it may not be easy. Lord, we are willing to follow you anywhere.
32:10: You make it easy to love you. You are good and you are kind.
32:22: You bring joy into my life. You make it easy to trust you.
32:34: You have never left my side. You've been faithful every time.
32:45: All I want is you.
32:51: Jesus, all I want is you.
33:03: You are the refuge I run to. You are the fire that leads me through the night.
33:15: I'll follow you anywhere. There's a million reasons to trust you.
33:27: Nothing to fear for you are by my side.
33:33: I'll follow you anywhere. Follow you anywhere.
33:52: Jesus, you came to my rescue. You took my place upon that mountain.
34:03: You redeemed what I had lost. Now my whole world's revolving around you.
34:15: You're the center of my life. You're the treasure, you're the pride.
34:25: All I want is you.
34:32: Jesus, all I want is you.
34:42: You are the refuge I run to.
34:49: You are the fire that leads me through the night.
34:56: I'll follow you anywhere. There's a million reasons to trust you.
35:07: Nothing to fear for you are by my side.
35:14: I'll follow you anywhere. Wherever you lead me, whatever it costs me, all
35:31: I want is you. Jesus, all I want is you.
35:39: Wherever you lead me, whatever it costs me, all
35:49: I want is you. Jesus, all I want is you.
35:57: All I want is you.
36:05: Jesus, all I want is you.
36:12: You are my refuge. You are the refuge
36:18: I run to. You are the fire that leads me through the night.
36:26: I'll follow you anywhere. There's a million reasons to trust you.
36:38: Nothing to fear for you are by my side.
36:44: I'll follow you anywhere. Follow you anywhere.
36:59: I'll follow you anywhere. I'll follow you anywhere.
37:10: Follow you anywhere. I hope that's your prayer this morning.
37:30: Did you all do your homework last week? It was to memorize Psalm 51 .6.
37:36: So if you didn't, you could probably do it right now. Just in your own head, try to remember this. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
37:48: Let's pray for that. Heavenly Father, your word has taught us that you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach us wisdom in the secret heart.
38:00: We pray that you would do that for us now by your word. Your word is truth. We have no other way of knowing you, of knowing all that you have revealed about yourself, but by the scripture.
38:14: And so now, Lord, we pray that as we open the scripture, you would teach us wisdom in the secret heart.
38:20: And Lord, a wisdom that applies the things that we're learning. We pray, Lord, that as we leave here today, the fruit of the
38:28: Spirit would be evident in our lives. We pray, Lord, for the river of life, of living water that flows in the hearts of those who believe in Christ, for that water to flow in us, that it would produce an ocean of love for you, and an ocean of love for others, that you would create a fountain of joy, that we would be joyful Christians day in and day out, that this living water would produce peace like a river, that just flows in us,
39:06: Lord. You can do that by your word. No one ever spoke the way you do.
39:14: Words of life, words of power that change us from the inside out, speak to us that way this morning, by your word.
39:21: We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Because of the fall of man, people reason upside down.
39:34: There was an inversion that took place at the fall.
39:39: Remember that Adam was to lead his wife, Eve. But in the fall,
39:46: Eve led Adam into sin. And at the fall of man, the minds of all of Adam and Eve's posterity were corrupted, and even inverted to reason wrongly.
40:03: So it's not that all people are born into the world like blank slates, neutral. Rather, the problem is the human mind has become depraved.
40:13: And it does not reason rationally, but rather is darkened.
40:20: The mind has become darkened because of the fall. Isaiah 5 .20
40:26: well sums up this inversion. Isaiah writes, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
40:45: Do you see the inversion in the thinking of the world? Sweet is called bitter and bitter is called sweet.
40:53: Right is wrong and wrong is right. Up is down and down is up. Left is right. Everything is upside down and inverted in the thinking of the world.
41:04: And you can look at the world in which we live and nothing has changed. Sometimes as we see how the world is progressing towards the end times, we get discouraged because it seems pretty chaotic, doesn't it?
41:18: And that's true. However, the inverted thinking of the world has been this way since the fall of man.
41:27: People in Jesus's day were completely upside down in how they deal with him in John chapter seven.
41:33: So look at the world, how people think morally regarding different issues, regarding life.
41:43: They persecute the lives of unborn children in the womb and yet believe themselves to be crusading for rights.
41:54: It's completely upside down. And of course the wrong assumption there is that this human life in the womb is something less than human.
42:02: That's a simple misunderstanding. It's a twisting, an inversion of the truth.
42:09: Consider liberty, issues of liberty. They persecute those who refuse to do as told by the government and some would try to force people to inject a vaccine into their bodies.
42:28: Yet they claim that they're looking out for the good of all people. While they try to take authority over the life of an individual and what that person either does or does not take into their body.
42:41: According to Romans 14 verse 23, a person must be obedient to God in their conscience in these matters.
42:50: It's a matter of individual liberty and freedom and yet those who try to enforce their agenda on others think they're crusading for the good of all.
43:00: It's complete upside down inverted thinking. Consider the issue of gender.
43:06: They believe, the world believes, that they are liberating children from the prison of being trapped in the wrong body.
43:18: Not recognizing that it's their indoctrination over time that's convincing these very children that they're in the wrong body in the first place.
43:28: So they see themselves as liberators when in fact they're the very ones who are enslaving and imprisoning people with wrong thinking.
43:37: I think this last week we saw a great example of the inverted thinking of the world when it comes to this hockey player from the
43:45: Flyers whose name is Ivan Provorov. He said
43:50: I respect everyone, I'm going to stay true to my religion and not wear a rainbow pride flag as his warm -up jersey.
44:01: He said nothing beyond that I will respect everybody but I'm going to stay true to my religion.
44:08: And yet people commenting on him call him a hater. One sports writer calls him obnoxious and ignorant and homophobic and the list of slurs goes on and on.
44:23: Meanwhile that very person surely thinks that she's a crusader for justice.
44:30: Everything is upside down. Everything is inverted. When it comes to economics you'll hear cries for giving to people what they need.
44:43: And the idea is that we can surely as a society take care of everybody's health care needs and housing needs and food needs and every need that a person has.
44:59: But what they fail to understand is that the government has no resources except what they extract from the people by force.
45:10: See the government does not bear the sword in vain. According to the scriptures government has been given a sword by God in order to punish wrongdoing.
45:21: But the only way that people can take money, a government can take money from others is by the edge of the sword.
45:28: If you don't pay the taxes you go to jail. The government will force that. And so they confiscate the labor of people who have worked for their income.
45:40: They confiscate that by force in order to give it to others. It is really that masquerading as virtue.
45:49: But in the inverted thinking of the world the social justice warrior or the socialist who's pushing these kind of things actually thinks that they're just.
45:58: In their mind they are convinced that they are helping and not understanding that they must first steal private property in order to do their crusading work.
46:12: Let's get one more example before we get to John chapter 7 and the inverted logic of the
46:17: Pharisees. Look with me at Genesis chapter 9. Verse 6.
46:24: Genesis 9, 6. Scripture believe in the death penalty for the murder of the innocent.
46:35: Worse still many who claim to be Christian teachers are saying that because all people bear the image of God because all people are image bearers there should never be capital punishment even for first degree unjust murder of the innocent.
46:55: Because the murderer is still an image bearer. And so they say because the image of God is in every person there should be no such thing as capital punishment.
47:05: Look at the word of God. Genesis 9, 6. Whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed.
47:18: Couldn't be any more clear. But notice the next phrase and I heard this
47:23: I think it was A .D. Robles was talking about this. It's amazing that the very rationale that a person on the left who has rejected the authority of God's word the very rationale that they'll use masquerading to be a
47:39: Christian teacher is the word of God itself now twisted on its head.
47:46: Look at the rationale for capital punishment. It's the image of God in man.
47:53: For God made man in his own image. Because this innocent image bearing creation of God who is to be a vice regent, a representative of God on earth because this one has been unjustly slaughtered that's why the murderer must be put to death according to God's word.
48:18: But in the inverted thinking of the world the image of God in the murderer prevents the execution of the murderer.
48:28: You see? It is inverted reasoning. What God said is absolutely turned on its head.
48:35: And where did this inverted reasoning begin? In the Garden of Eden when
48:41: Satan said did God really say? And then goes on to quote
48:47: God just twisting his word a little bit repeating from any tree in the garden rather than the one tree.
48:54: There is always a twisting of God's word at some point to make it say the exact opposite of what
49:00: God has said. This is the inverted reasoning of humankind as a result of the fall.
49:10: So we come back to John chapter 7 this morning. We were talking just casually about a teacher who came to our church to train preachers.
49:23: His name was Timothy Warren from Dallas Seminary. And Dr. Warren helped many of our preachers remember to find the thrust of a passage.
49:32: The main idea of a passage. And as we were talking about Dr. Warren somebody said, well what was
49:39: Pastor Jeff's thrust last week? What was the main idea? And this person said, truth.
49:49: And she nailed it. In a word, John chapter 7 the thrust of the passage is truth.
49:58: Last week we talked about how we are not to judge by mere appearances but judge with right judgment.
50:09: But how do you know the truth? How is one to know the truth? Well, the answer to that according to Jesus in John chapter 7 verses 19 to 23 is consistency with all that God has said.
50:25: Every word that God has spoken must be held consistently without throwing some out to justify a wrong belief.
50:34: Jesus of course in that case justifies his own healing of a man by circumcision on the
50:43: Sabbath. If a man can be circumcised on the eighth day how much more can a man's whole body be healed on the
50:50: Sabbath? And by that consistent reasoning he was right to heal on the
50:58: Sabbath. He never broke God's law. So that's what we saw last week. Don't just judge by appearances but make a right judgment.
51:04: Take all of God's word into account. Handle it consistently and obey every word as written.
51:11: Well we continue in John 7 verses 32 to 52 and we see now the example of some who come to believe the truth.
51:23: On the other hand, some whose inverted reasoning, their upside down brain uses information to rationalize their rejection.
51:35: So there really are only two groups in John chapter 7. It's those who submit to the truth and believe and those who reject the truth.
51:45: Let's read it, John 7, 32 to 52. The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.
51:59: Jesus then said, I will be with you a little longer and then I am going to him who sent me.
52:05: You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.
52:12: 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
52:19: Greeks and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying you will seek me and you will not find me and where I am you cannot come?
52:30: We'll pause there and we'll continue to read the passage as we exposit through it this morning. In verses 32 to 37, you see the inverted reasoning of the
52:43: Pharisees and the chief priests and you see the teaching of Jesus that they cannot come to God.
52:55: They're muttering, the crowd is muttering things about him, some approvingly and others disapproving of Jesus and the chief priests have made up their minds.
53:05: What do they do in verse 32? They send officers to arrest him. Now what we'll see at the end of the passage is that Jesus returns to sender.
53:19: They're sent to arrest him and they come back empty handed because his word in their hearts is so powerful that it turns them back and I think these particular soldiers are becoming believers.
53:35: He's converting their heart. He has the power to do that. So who's in control here? When they sent soldiers to arrest him and the time had come, those soldiers came seeking
53:48: Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus said, Ego e me. I am.
53:55: Which is a reference to Exodus 3. I am who I am. I am Jesus of Nazareth and at the power of his word, the
54:04: Bible says the soldiers drew back or fell back. His word mowed them down to the ground and then he went willingly with them.
54:15: Notice this theme developing in John chapter 7. No one takes my life.
54:21: I give it willingly. Early in John chapter 7, verse 6, the brothers are urging him to go on their timetable and in verse 6 he says,
54:32: My time has not yet come. Who's in control?
54:39: Jesus. Later on in verse 30, it says, So they were seeking to arrest him but no one laid a hand on him.
54:48: Why? Because his hour had not yet come.
54:56: He's the one with control although the Pharisees seem to have all the power.
55:01: They're the ones that sent the soldiers to arrest him but he's the one in control and so he says,
55:10: I will be with you a little longer. Who's controlling that timetable? God is.
55:16: Not them. He's the one in control and then notice what he says,
55:22: I am going to him who sent me. So has
55:27: Jesus here told them where he's going? Fairly well he has.
55:34: He's called himself the bread of heaven that comes down and he's going to ascend the same way that they saw him come in John chapter 6.
55:41: Here he again says, I'm going to him who sent me. He's saying he's going to heaven and then he says,
55:49: You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come. Now look at the inverted reasoning of those who hear his word.
55:57: 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
56:04: Greeks and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying, You will seek me and you will find me and where I am you cannot come.
56:11: They're all worked up. They're in a tizzy. Where's he going to go? They're thinking he's going to go to the
56:17: Gentiles, to the dispersion and hide from them because maybe he'll try to escape being killed.
56:24: They miss the fact that he said he's going to his father which implies heaven. They're not reasoning rightly.
56:31: Their mind is upside down and they're missing what he's saying.
56:37: What does he mean that you cannot come? Strangely, many evangelical teachers will say,
56:47: This passage is all about the ability of man to come to God.
56:54: The power of free will to come. However, what does it say in verse 34? Where I am, you cannot come.
57:09: What's the problem? According to 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, the
57:14: God of this age, that does not refer to Yahweh, that refers to the pseudo, the false
57:21: God who asserted himself in the garden and mankind submitted to the devil and so came under the prince of this age.
57:33: 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4 says, The God of this age, referring to Satan, has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
57:49: They cannot see. Their minds are blinded. It's like they're wearing a veil. They are blind, although they think that they see.
57:58: Just a chapter earlier, in John chapter 6, verse 44, Jesus said,
58:05: No one can come to me unless the Father draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.
58:13: The drawn one will be raised up. God is able to do it, but they cannot come. John 6, 65, he then doubles down on that teaching, coupling it with John 6, 37, and he says,
58:25: No one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father. You see, the consistent teaching of Jesus throughout
58:33: John is the inability of man to come. Their minds have been blinded.
58:40: They're veiled, and they cannot see, and they cannot come.
58:45: They always reason wrongly. They can't handle the evidence. They reject their maker.
58:53: Do you see that in the text? Now, of course, Jesus here is referring to physical location.
58:59: You cannot get from earth to heaven. You can't get to the
59:04: Father, but he's referring also to coming to the Father and to him because he is the way to heaven.
59:12: They cannot come. This is a problem, the inverted mind of man.
59:19: The reasoning of man has become darkened and dim, and they cannot see, which leads us to verses 37 to 39, which is such glorious truth.
59:35: It is the invitation to come, and it's a genuine offer because the power of the word can awaken thirst in the heart of the listener.
59:51: The power of the word of Jesus draws the person. The Father uses as an instrument the preaching of the word, hear the words of Jesus, to draw that dead heart, to enliven the heart, to make thirsty, and then to satisfy the thirst of a dry and dead heart.
01:00:11: Let's read it. On the last day of the feasts, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
01:00:26: Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
01:00:34: Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive.
01:00:40: For as yet, the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
01:00:47: Well, this is a startling scene. And you have to understand something about the
01:00:54: Feast of Tabernacles. It had three major feasts.
01:01:01: The first, Passover, would bring all of the men to Jerusalem to gather for the
01:01:07: Passover. Fifty days later, there would be Pentecost, and then in the fall there was the
01:01:12: Feast of Booths. Tabernacles, shelters. That seventh month began with the
01:01:21: Feast of Trumpets. It was just a hundred trumpet blows that each were significant. The Feast of Atonement.
01:01:28: And then midway through the month, there was this seven day period called the Feast of Tabernacles. And here's what would happen.
01:01:35: All of Israel would come. The men were required, but the women could come as well, and children.
01:01:42: And Israel would come to Jerusalem and live in little makeshift shelters.
01:01:52: They would make the roofs out of willow branches and palm branches and myrtle branches and bundle them together tightly and make a roof in case it rained.
01:02:02: And also to provide, this is important, shade from the sun. They'd live in these little booths.
01:02:09: So what would they do for that week when you're living in your little hut in Jerusalem? Well, in the morning there was an important ritual.
01:02:18: The priest would leave by the water gate out to the
01:02:26: Pool of Siloam. And there he would draw water as Moses was drawn out. They would sing
01:02:33: Psalm 113 to 117 or possibly 18. They would sing this way and as the priest drew out the water from the
01:02:44: Pool of Siloam, he would recite Isaiah chapter 12, verse 3.
01:02:50: So flip back there. This is important because you'll understand why Jesus says what he said at this moment on the great day.
01:03:01: So in Isaiah chapter 12, verse 3.
01:03:09: I like that we have the pages turning. I can hear that. You can't hear the digits so it doesn't have the same effect if you're using a phone.
01:03:20: Isaiah 12, 3. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
01:03:34: That's what the priest would say every day for seven days. And then he would come back through the water gate.
01:03:41: The people would gather and in a solemn quiet moment he would pour the water out on the altar.
01:03:47: Why are they doing this? What does water have to do with it? Well, when you're wandering in the wilderness, you're parched.
01:03:56: Now, of course, there was a rock that accompanied them. God would open the rock and water poured forth from the rock as Moses hit that rock with the stick.
01:04:06: First touching it obediently, the second time in anger striking the rock. In any case, the rock represents
01:04:12: Christ. Water from the rock. But all through the wilderness, without Christ, they're parched.
01:04:21: They have no home. They're not in the land flowing with milk and honey. When they come into the promised land, they cross the
01:04:27: Jordan River. They circle Jericho seven times. The walls fall down. They win the battle and they enter into their rest.
01:04:36: And they have water in the land that's flowing with milk and honey.
01:04:42: It's flourishing. So for the seven days, they pour out water on the altar.
01:04:48: On the seventh day, look again now with John 7, verse 37, on the last day of the feast, the great day, this day was different and yet the same.
01:05:01: It was the culmination of the Feast of Tabernacles. On the seventh day, they circle the altar seven times.
01:05:10: Of course, reminding them of Jericho. And then, at the culmination, everybody falls silent.
01:05:20: They lift their tabernacle branches and wave in thanksgiving. It's a wave offering. And then they tabernacle the whole courtyard.
01:05:29: They use their branches to make a covering, picturing God's salvation covering them, tabernacling with them.
01:05:39: And the priest pours out the water as everybody sits silently, hearing the wind, thinking about the provision of water to the thirsty heart and the rejoicing and the joy that comes from the waters of salvation, the well of salvation.
01:05:58: And at that moment, I'm convinced, although the Bible doesn't say the precise moment, but I think the context of this festival points to it.
01:06:08: Look with me. Just at that moment, verse 37, Jesus stands up and cries out.
01:06:18: His voice like a shofar, a trumpet, piercing the silence of the ritual.
01:06:24: They're seeing this water ritual, the pouring out of the water from the wells of salvation. And he yells at that moment,
01:06:32: I think, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
01:06:41: Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
01:06:53: This is an amazing moment. He claims to offer salvation, eternal life, living water.
01:07:03: And by this, we're told, he means the spirit. Verse 39, now this he said about the spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive.
01:07:14: For as yet, the spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified.
01:07:19: Sermon for another day, there as a parenthetical here, let me just say, there is a very sharp and drastic change that happens when the spirit is given.
01:07:31: From old covenant to new covenant is a sharp discontinuity. He's either given or not given.
01:07:37: And that's why we at this church are quote unquote dispensational. What we're really saying by that is there's a sharp difference between the old covenant community of Israel and this new thing, the church, where the spirit is given at Pentecost.
01:07:54: Much could be said about that. But the coming of the spirit is a very significant change in dispensation.
01:08:01: It happens at Pentecost. It hadn't happened here. But Jesus is speaking of that, the giving of the spirit and the promise here he makes.
01:08:11: It's an invitation and it's a genuine. What genuine invitation? What is it? The promise of being with him in heaven, going where you cannot go on your own.
01:08:23: More than that, it's a promise that when you believe in him, he satisfies your thirst for God.
01:08:32: Your body gets thirsty for water. Maybe somebody here has run a marathon or at least a 10K or a 5K.
01:08:41: And you're just waiting on that water station because your whole body is just longing for water.
01:08:48: Everybody here has experienced physical thirst at some point in your life. That's an image meant to point you to God.
01:08:56: Because as your physical body longs for water, your soul thirsts for God.
01:09:04: You were made for him. Your heart is thirsty for him. There's no other satisfaction but God alone.
01:09:12: And God is the spirit. The spirit of the living God alone can satisfy that.
01:09:17: What does it look like? It's not just going to heaven when you die. It is a river of life inside of the new believer.
01:09:25: He gives his spirit to the believer in Christ. It happens from Pentecost on that the spirit now will indwell you and make you alive.
01:09:39: You will be like a tree planted by streams of water. Psalm 1. That yields its fruit in season.
01:09:45: And your fruit will be love. You will love God. You will love people.
01:09:55: You will have joy. Your life will be like a fountain of joy. And people will not know why you are so joyful even in your difficult circumstances.
01:10:05: You will have peace even when you're being persecuted by the world. You'll have a river of life.
01:10:13: This is the promise of the gospel. And Jesus is offering this to those who, what? Believe in him.
01:10:20: What he says. If anyone comes, coming is believing. Drinking is believing.
01:10:26: This analogy is so important. It was there in John 4 with the woman at the well.
01:10:32: He's offering her living water if she'll only come and believe in him as Messiah. Which she does, as well as most of Samaria.
01:10:40: Comes out and believes. We saw it again in John 6, verse 35. Eating and drinking was coming and believing.
01:10:50: So when the Roman Catholic Church confuses that later on in John 6 and says, oh no, eating and drinking is the
01:10:58: Eucharist. They're missing the point. The point circles back around again and again. Drinking is believing.
01:11:06: It's the heart that comes to faith. That's how you drink. You believe. And you eat.
01:11:13: When you take the spiritual food, you take the spiritual drink, your heart is believing. Now, he makes it alive on the inside.
01:11:22: You have rivers of living water flowing inside of you. Just as an aside, it makes me think, maybe you're a
01:11:31: Christian and you're thinking, why isn't my river flowing? I'm not experiencing this, maybe like the way
01:11:38: I used to. Or that I would expect to based on this text. That life is meant to be a river.
01:11:50: Not a reservoir. You're not a container. You're like a channel.
01:11:57: A river channel. And as that living water is flowing to you and you're ministering, you're going out telling others about Jesus.
01:12:03: You're evangelizing. Your joy comes in that. Maybe your river has just gotten kind of blocked, dammed away.
01:12:16: And it's not flowing the way it once did. Maybe what's lacking is ministry to others.
01:12:26: To get that water flowing the way it's meant to flow. Just a thought. So lastly here, we see the reaction then to this teaching.
01:12:36: And one reaction is inverted, upside down. And the other is rational.
01:12:43: Logical. It's exactly what the evidence tells us. Verse 40, when they heard these words some of the people said, this really is the prophet.
01:12:51: That's the conclusion. Someone who speaks like this and draws it all together, their eyes are open. That rock in the wilderness, in the desert, was
01:13:00: Christ. The source of living water. The well of salvation. The rock. It's Christ.
01:13:06: And they believe. He's the prophet. The greater Moses. Of Deuteronomy 18, 15 to 18.
01:13:14: And so they believe. Others say, this is the Christ. They're getting it. They're putting two and two together.
01:13:19: He's the king. They anointed the Messiah. But, some said, is the
01:13:27: Christ to come from Galilee? Now look at the inversion of their thinking. Has not the scripture said that the
01:13:37: 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.
01:13:46: Some of them wanted to arrest him. But no one laid a hand on him. Their thinking is inverted, not because their facts are wrong regarding the scripture, but because their assumption was wrong in the first place.
01:14:04: They're assuming that he's not from Bethlehem. Now if they had simply asked, where were you born?
01:14:13: That would be a good starting point. If they had said, Mary, where was
01:14:19: Jesus born? You tell us right now. Bethlehem? Bethlehem?
01:14:25: As Micah 5 .2 said it needed to be? He's the son of David as 2 Samuel 7 .14
01:14:31: said he needed to be. Here's the lineage. Here's Mary's genealogy. Here's Joseph's genealogy.
01:14:37: Everything lines up. But they're using their own wrong assumptions about his birth, imposing that on the text, and missing the point.
01:14:47: The very thing they use to discredit him is further testimony to the truth.
01:14:53: And this actually is John's structure of the book. I've mentioned before, for the first four chapters, he presents the claim.
01:15:00: And then from chapters 5 to 12, he cross -examines the claim by showing the opposition of the brothers and of the
01:15:10: Pharisees and even of the Galileans, who rejected him, by the way, most of them. In each case, his word holds up to scrutiny.
01:15:19: Truth doesn't mind being questioned. So we present these counterclaims, and his word stands up under pressure.
01:15:30: It can handle the opposition. And therefore, it's proven doubly so to be true.
01:15:38: It doubles down on it because he is from Bethlehem, and that's all the more evidence that his claim is true.
01:15:45: He is a son of David, the son of David, the Messiah. Lastly, you have some examples of these believers and these inverted thinkers.
01:15:54: Verse 45, The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them,
01:16:01: I love this, why did you not bring him? And the officers, the officers sent by the
01:16:10: Pharisees, come back and said, no one ever spoke like this man.
01:16:17: And they just go bonkers. They say, have you also been deceived?
01:16:24: They can only get angry. You see, those soldiers had thirsty hearts.
01:16:33: God was drawing them. He was drawing their hearts and making them thirsty, and when they heard the word, they recognized that it was true.
01:16:42: God was drawing these soldiers. He has the power, he has the control to do that.
01:16:48: They couldn't have come on their own, but by the drawing of the
01:16:53: Father, their hearts are made thirsty, and they're believing, and so they don't arrest him.
01:16:58: And it's that great persecution. Doubtless they lose their jobs, with the Pharisees.
01:17:04: Because it wasn't a Roman command, it was the Jewish leaders that commanded, they probably don't lose their lives.
01:17:13: But there's persecution, to be sure. There's a cost. In verse 49, but this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.
01:17:23: And in verse 48, they're like, have any of us believed? No, because your thinking is upside down.
01:17:29: You can't come. Your mind is darkened. But Nicodemus, look at verse 50, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, this certainly chafed them, said to them, does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing, and learning, learning what he does?
01:17:55: There's some wisdom. Proverbs 18, 17, someone seems right, until another comes to examine him.
01:18:03: Wisdom, in the secret heart, comes by examining the evidence.
01:18:10: You should have asked him where he was born. And Nicodemus is thinking rationally here.
01:18:15: Well, shouldn't we at least question him before we condemn him? I shared a video this week about some drama that's been going on in the
01:18:26: Evangelical Free Church of America, and how I, as a minister, have stood up when people began to push the woke indoctrination in the areas that I mentioned at the beginning of this sermon.
01:18:39: There's elements of it coming in. And the response to my book, which was
01:18:46: Woke Free Church, was not to consider the evidence or ever open the book and read a page of it to either refute it or agree with it.
01:18:56: The response was to condemn the man because the opposite side, the inverted side of truth, those who twist truth, they cannot stand face -to -face in a room and open the book and let this be the sole arbiter of truth.
01:19:18: Can't do it. So they condemn the man. And then some have asked me, well, how has that been for you, being persecuted in that kind of way?
01:19:26: And I said, are you distressed? Is this breaking you down? And I said, far from it.
01:19:36: My heart has been like peace, like a river. I haven't felt the pangs of distress.
01:19:45: And I think the reason for that is because this light and momentary affliction is achieving
01:19:51: God's purpose. He knows what he's doing with it. And it truly is light.
01:19:57: It's light. It's momentary. It's nothing. Compare that to our brother in Iraq whose name is
01:20:03: Mohammed, living in the city of Mosul, a Christian man. When ISIS came in 2016, he was driven out of Mosul to a northern part, right through Nineveh, to a northern part of Iraq where he was in a camp with others displaced.
01:20:23: And he was given two small tents to live in. Now, put yourself in that situation where your family is driven from your home, you're on the run for your life, and you're living in a little tent with nothing.
01:20:37: So Tom Nettleton from Voice of the Martyrs went to visit this brother. And he went in expecting, this man is going to be distressed.
01:20:45: He's going to need some encouragement from me. And when he got there and looked for the first time at Mohammed's face, all he saw was a smile from ear to ear.
01:21:00: And Mohammed said, look, brother, what we've done. We've taken this tent that we were given and we put our whole family in the other tent, family of seven with five little children, so that we could turn this one into a church.
01:21:16: And people are coming to faith. It was a Sunni camp. And many other families had come to faith.
01:21:24: And this man was overflowing with joy. The full fruit of the
01:21:30: Spirit in his life. Yet the circumstances of living in a tent. Talk about tabernacling for some time.
01:21:37: He was living in a tent. By the way, church, we are tabernacling now in this world.
01:21:43: We are aliens, we are strangers. This is not our home. There's coming a time of promised land.
01:21:49: But while we tabernacle, how should we approach it? We should have a river of living water.
01:21:57: So Tom Nettleton said, hey, brother Mohammed, how can we pray for you? And he said, can't really think of anything.
01:22:04: We've got everything we need. We've got everything we need. He went back to saying, we have the most opportunity for the gospel we've ever had.
01:22:14: Our families cared for, we have food, we have a shelter and we have a church. That's how he looked at life.
01:22:22: You see, that perspective is a river of life. It's a mindset on heavenly things, not on earthly things.
01:22:32: It's what it means to be a sojourner, as first Peter described. But to have
01:22:38: Christ, and therefore have everything that you need. We'll close now in John 7.
01:22:47: There will be persecution, and certainly Nicodemus from this point on in verse 51, they reply to him, verse 52, are you from Galilee too?
01:22:59: Don't you love those identity politics there? By the way, that's a two hour drive on the
01:23:07: Yitak Rabin Parkway from Jerusalem to Galilee. Very short distance.
01:23:13: But to them, Galilee was way up there. The backwoods people, can anything good come from Nazareth?
01:23:20: And the people in Jerusalem thought they were so much better. So they just mock the idea that this
01:23:29: Galilean, Jesus of Nazareth, could be the king, the messiah. Ironically they say, search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.
01:23:39: Although I do remember Isaiah 11, a light has burst forth in Galilee. Search and see.
01:23:48: Their very criticism points back to the truth of Jesus' claim. He is the son of David, he is from Bethlehem, and he grew up in Nazareth.
01:23:58: All of it confirms. Yet they persecute, they're upside down in their thinking. Where do we go from here?
01:24:04: Well, in closing, church, take comfort knowing that the thinking of the world has been inverted ever since the fall.
01:24:13: What we're seeing today is actually not new. They thought this way in Jesus' time.
01:24:20: For thousands of years they persecuted Christians while thinking that they serve
01:24:26: God. Remember Jesus said, a time will come where those who murder will think they're offering a service to God.
01:24:33: It's been like this. This is the world. The world is upside down.
01:24:39: But God has always had his own. And if you've been thirsty and you've come to him, to the rock, and you drink, you're given a river of life.
01:24:52: You're not in a dry and parched land. You have a river inside of you. So no matter what goes on outside of you, however deep and dark the wilderness gets, and dry, you have the
01:25:05: Holy Spirit. Don't take that for granted. And don't underestimate what that means.
01:25:10: You can live with peace and joy and love. His fruit is a promise to you as a believer.
01:25:18: He's not left you as an orphan. He's given the Holy Spirit to be in you.
01:25:24: So don't be discouraged as you look at this generation. Sure it's inverted. Sure the world is upside down.
01:25:31: But greater is he that's in you than he who's in the world. What do we have to fear?
01:25:37: Why live in fear when we have God in us? Like a river of life.
01:25:43: We have everything we need for life and godliness. We have God in us. And the second member of the
01:25:50: Trinity is coming back. Let's pray. So Father, thank you so much for your word.
01:25:58: Your word is truth. No one ever spoke like this man. Jesus. We trust you and we take you at your word.
01:26:07: And Lord, I pray for those who have been discouraged in this upside down world. That you would turn their mind right side up.
01:26:14: That turn their eyes to you. That you would fill us with your Holy Spirit. We pray for a fresh wind, a fresh fire.
01:26:23: For a flowing river of water to flow through us and overflow our cup.
01:26:30: And run out to those around us. The cup overflows. Thank you for the gift of the
01:26:37: Holy Spirit. Jesus, we confess you are the Christ, the son of the living
01:26:43: God. You are that rock in the wilderness to provide living water to us.
01:26:52: We look to you and we thank you for all you've done for us. We trust you. In Jesus' name we pray.
01:26:59: Amen. Stand firm. One last song. By faith we see the hand of God in the light of creation's grand design.
01:27:29: In the lives of those who prove his faithfulness.
01:27:37: Walk by faith and not by sight. Faith, our fathers roamed the earth.
01:27:50: The power of his promise in their hearts.
01:27:56: Of a holy city built by God's own hand.
01:28:03: A place where peace and justice reign. We will stand as children of the promise.
01:28:14: We will fix our eyes on him. Our souls reward till the race is finished and the work is done.
01:28:29: We'll walk by faith and not by sight. The prophets saw the day when the longed for messiah would appear.
01:28:50: With the power to break the chains of sin and death and rise triumphant from the grave.
01:29:05: The church was called to go. The power of the spirit to the
01:29:13: Lord to deliver captives and to preach good.
01:29:24: Every corner of the earth. We will stand as children of the promise.
01:29:35: We will fix our eyes on him. Our souls reward till the race is finished and the work is done.
01:29:48: We'll walk by faith and not by sight. The mountain shall be moved.
01:30:04: The power of the gospel shall prevail. For we know in Christ all things are possible for all who call upon his name.
01:30:21: We will stand as children of the promise.
01:30:27: We will fix our eyes on him. Our souls reward till the race is finished and the work is done.
01:30:42: We'll walk by faith and not by sight. We will stand as children of the promise.
01:30:52: We will fix our eyes on him. Our souls reward till the race is finished and the work is done.
01:31:07: We'll walk by faith and not by sight. Now may the
01:31:19: God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.