The Perfect Fulfillment | Sermon 05/07/2023

Apologia Utah

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John chapter 7 believe it or not.

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I know we spent so much time in chapter 6 This is the final sermon in chapter 7. There was only three sermons in chapter 7 due to the narrative

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We're gonna be in verses 37 through 52 today 37 through 52 of John 7 and The title of the sermon today

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Church is the perfect fulfillment the perfect fulfillment so starting in verse 37 of the gospel according to John chapter 7 here now the inerrant and infallible words of the living and true

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God Now on the last day the great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried out saying if anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink

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He who believes in me as the scripture said from his innermost being will flow waters

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I'm sorry rivers of living water But this he spoke of of the Spirit whom those who believed in him

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Were to receive for the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified

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Some of the people therefore when they heard these words were saying this certainly is the

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Prophet Others were saying this is the Christ Still others were saying surely the

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Christ is not going to come from Galilee Is he has not the scripture said that the

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Christ comes from the descendants of David and from Bethlehem? the village where David was

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So division occurred in the crowd because of him Some of them wanted to seize him, but no one laid hands on him

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The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees and they said to them. Why did you not bring him?

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The officers answered never has a man spoken the way this man speaks

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The Pharisees then answered them. You have not also been led astray. Have you? No, one of the rulers or affair or Pharisees has believed in him has he?

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But this crowd which does not know the law is accursed Nicodemus he who came to him before being one of them said to them our

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Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing.

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Does it? They answered him. You are not also from Galilee Are you search and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee?

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Thus sending the reading of God's holy and inspired word. Let's pray once more quickly church

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God I would ask you today Or that you would oppress impress upon us

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God what you want us to know and learn and understand and take within us today

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Lord During this sermon God, I pray that you would illuminate the scriptures to your people by your spirit the same

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Holy Spirit whom Jesus is promising to give us in this very text the

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Holy Spirit that he has given us now in Christ and So Lord, please Be with us

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Let us not leave here Unchanged Lord, let these not be simply words or information or data but God let these

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Words of yours sink in us and change us and encourage us and we pray this all in Jesus name.

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Amen So if you haven't been with us the past couple weeks we have been in John chapter 7 and the context of John chapter 7 has been the

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Feast of Tabernacles the Feast of Booths or what is called Sakat?

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Okay, we've been in the midst of a celebration essentially We first saw that mentioned the

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Feast of Booths when Jesus his brothers mocked him Tried to get him to come to Jerusalem on their own time

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Then we saw Jesus arrived to Jerusalem in divine timing and began teaching to the vast crowds

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People making pilgrimage from all over the Mediterranean to come to this feast come and participate in this

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Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem a series of challenges between him and the people

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Him and the Jewish leaders broke out. We saw that last week. That was all concerning his authority to teach

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Who gave this man this authority to teach? And then we saw that it also ended in conspiracies about His identity who he is.

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All right And for this section today in the scripture that we're in we must especially

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Get our minds into the Feast of Tabernacles Like the other feasts this was one

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That was to remind the people Who God is and what he did after their slavery in Egypt that he brought them out that he that there was an exodus

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That God delivered them from Egypt from slavery. He rescued them That's what this feast is about and in their flight from Egypt in route of the promised land they lived in tents and huts and God provided manna

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Some bread from heaven and he provided water all the way through they were to celebrate the

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Feast of Tabernacles in the fall time for seven days and there was what was called the great day on the eighth day

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It was a celebration Because they had just completed Harvesting olive oil from all the

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I'm sorry olives from all the olive trees for for oil for making soap

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They had just harvested all the grapes from their vineyards. They were going to be making more wine

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They just harvested a bunch of figs and they could eat those Snacks and make treats and there's so many other crops at this time in the fall and they were

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Celebrating what God had done to provide for them the people in this feast were to acknowledge the creator as the one who provided the crops and the rain for those crops

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They would pray for water at this feast For a great harvest again next year knowing the one true

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God could do it opposed to all the other regional deities

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That people prayed to for rain in other regions right these idols

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And it was during the Feast of Tabernacles that a great revival broke out

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Centuries prior to this when returning exiles came back from Babylon Jews Israelites they came back to Jerusalem and Ezra Nehemiah and a great revival broke out

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It was also during this feast The Feast of Booths Tabernacles that Solomon dedicated the first completed temple before all the people and it says that God's presence entered that temple during this feast and That is key to remember

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God's presence also Deuteronomy 16 speaks of this Feast of Booths It says when the people assemble the

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Lord their God will be there That's the promise if you celebrate this feast.

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I'll be there. God says I will be there and Then the Lord mentions in Leviticus 23 the most detailed instructions on this feast that they are to remember

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God delivering them and Saving them Okay in fact this feast

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Takes place just a few days after what is called the Day of Atonement this was just after the

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Day of Atonement where they're reminded of their sin and They're reminded that they need something to atone for sin.

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They need something to forgive them their sins and so this feast and all those things and the

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Day of Atonement are things that ought to be in our mind so remember that Remember right now as we go through this text the provision of God God's presence

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At the feast and the salvation he gave them from slavery. So water provision salvation and his presence

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And so this is this is the time This is the feast in which Jesus speaks and what is in the minds of every participant every attendee knows these things and remembers these things and so we

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Need that background as well. So with that in mind, let's go to the text It's already up there for you verses 37 38 now on the last day the great day of the feast

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Jesus stood and cried out saying if anyone is thirsty Let him come to me and drink

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He who believes in me as the scriptures said from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water

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Now these statements are Not unlike the ones that Jesus made to the

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Samaritan woman at the well in John chapter 4 or even Like the ones at the end of John chapter 6

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But the symbol the symbols of thirst and water I would say are even stronger here

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To understand that let me give you a bit more detail on the activities performed during the

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Feast of Tabernacles. Okay You see there were daily ceremonies for each of the seven days of the feast

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There was a lighting ceremony, which Jesus will cover shortly in John chapter 8 and there was also a water ritual the water ritual was to recall

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God's provision of water in the Israelite wilderness wandering and In addition to that the ceremony praised

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God for his provision in the rainy season and it was also a request for more according to experts on the seven days of the feast a

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Golden flagon, which is like a vessel that carries liquid this golden flagon was filled with water from the pool of Siloam and was carried in a procession led by the high priest back to the temple and As the procession approached the water gate on the south side of the inner court three blasts of the shofar this trumpet was sounded okay, and while all these pilgrims and participants watched the priests would process around the altar with the flag and filled with water and the temple choir would sing what's called the

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Halal, which is Psalms 113 through 118. They would sing the

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Psalms. In fact, we went over Psalm 114 today, they would have sung that okay and dusty.

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I'm sure you're glad we didn't ask you to sing it today Now when the choir reached

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Psalm 118 Every male pilgrim shook what was called a

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I hope I'm pronouncing this right a lulav Which is like a willow and myrtle twig

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Fan that is tied together with palm lacing Okay, and then in the other hand, they would hold this citrus type fruit, which was a representation of the harvest they just had so I had this this like this twig palm fan thing and and the fruit and They would all cry out

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Give thanks to the Lord give thanks to the Lord give thanks to the Lord. They did that three times

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The water then was offered to God at the time of the morning sacrifices Along with the daily drink offerings of wine

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So the water was poured into its respective bowl the wine poured into its

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Respective bowl poured out before the Lord. That's the idea. These things are an offering before God So these ceremonies of the

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Feast of Tabernacles were related in Jewish thought to not only be about the Lord's provision of water in the desert

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But also to be the Lord's pointing to the Lord's pouring out of the Holy Spirit in the last days

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And so pouring at the Feast of Tabernacles refers even Symbolically to the messianic age that the

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Savior is coming That from this sacred rock would stream waters waters that would cover the whole earth

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So you could imagine How lively things were at this time? It was a party.

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It was a celebration. They had these rituals going celebrating verse 37 as we see says it was the last day on The last or great day of the feast the water libation ritual reached its climax the priests

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Circled around the altar seven times and then they poured out the water with great display and ceremony

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This was the Hashanah Rabbah the great Hashianah Which is translated save now save now save now to God All the people were watching

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Multitudes participating and it's at this climax When all were considering God and his provision

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It's all at this moment at this final water ritual where the water is poured out this great moment and Jesus as the last

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Drop hits the ground Jesus stands up and says if anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink

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That's what's amazing He says you see this ritual. This is about me.

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He says this is about me It's amazing Let him come to me and drink and those who believe in me will have rivers of living water flowing from inside him from his innermost being

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This would have been monumental an uproar the high priest just appealed to the

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Creator God to continue to provide water and Also to pour out his spirit upon the people and Jesus as if answering their question stands up and goes

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I'm the answer. I'm the provision I'm the provider he says he's saying all of this is about me and like a prophet of old

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Jesus speaks for God and Yet he doesn't need to say thus says the

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Lord we talked about that last week because he is Lord He is the authority to say this. This is not blasphemy.

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This is a fulfillment. Jesus is this He is the Lord and so he was right to stand up and say your rituals about me

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I can provide that for you all that they were doing that week with the tabernacles building tents pointed to Jesus the celebration

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Pointed to Jesus the lighting ritual which will go over next week in chapter 8

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Light of the world. It's about Jesus the water drawing ceremony All of it in its entirety was about him for him and belong to him the

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Lord of the feast appeared before the people You remember I said that in Deuteronomy 16.

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It says the Lord will appear before his people at the feast and Here the Lord truly appeared before his people at the feast

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And he's going to offer all the things that they're asking for. He offers permanent deliverance from slavery of sin and in the wake of the

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Day of Atonement eternal atonement and propitiation What those bulls and goats can't do he's going to be able to do for ever.

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Okay You'll never thirst with him You'll have a constant flow of living water flowing rivers there is a desert of sin and death that all people are in and We need something stronger than regular water

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Zechariah 13 speaks of this it says in that day a fountain will open up from the house of David and it will pour out for all the sin and impurity of the people

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Jesus then says in verse 38 as the scripture said as the scripture said you see that He says the scripture has said from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water

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What scripture is Jesus talking about? Now some try to point to some specific verse

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But he could probably be pointing To the vast majority of water and spirit promises as a whole

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I think that's viable because Isaiah 44 3 says for I will pour out water on the thirsty land and Streams on the dry ground get this.

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He says I will pour out my Spirits on the offspring on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants

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Water and spirit water and spirit Isaiah 58 11 and the Lord will continually guide you and Satisfy your desire in scorched

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Places and give strength to your bones and you will be like a watered garden Here it is and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail like a river constantly flowing

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Jesus is aligning himself With this promise of this Messiah who will bring this water for cleansing and the

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Holy Spirit and When looking at the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37

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God says this he says I will put my spirit Within these dead bones and will make you come to life

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And I will place you in your own land and you will know that I the Lord have spoken and done it so the dry bones

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Are us the dry bones are them and Putting his spirit within those dry bones makes them come to life.

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Do you see? Dry needs what water and so the spirit water The image there is constantly interchanged

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And what does Jesus say will go into those who believe him what will reside in your innermost being

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Which in the Greek by the way is just belly That's the way they spoke about in ancient days when something's really inside of you.

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It's your belly And so what's gonna go in there Living waters

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They will flow out from you and it makes sense That the water and the spirit are interchanged here because John narrates in verse 39 that he's speaking of the coming of the

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Spirit and So the source of these waters the source of the

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Spirit is Christ It's Christ It's not the person who possesses the spirit of the water.

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It's the one who gave it and He'll give it freely he said in chapter 4 when you are given this living water, it will well up it will spring up to eternal life and Besides the aforementioned scripture verses that I already spoke of Jesus could also be pointing to that Revival in Nehemiah and Ezra when people return back after exile

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If you remember in Ezra and Nehemiah, they hear the law They hear the Word of God for the first time in a very very long time and they learn.

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Oh my goodness We're supposed to be celebrating this Feast of Tabernacles and it's going on right now

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And so what do they do? They immediately stop what they're doing and they start celebrating the feast.

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In fact It's like they were trying to make up for all the years that they didn't do the Feast of Booths Because it says not just for seven or eight days.

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Did they celebrate they celebrated for the whole month the whole month they celebrated the

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Feast of Tabernacles according to Ezra and Nehemiah and So what happens at the end of the month?

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in These books some Levites led the people in prayer and confession and what did they say?

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What did the people pray? Let me tell you they prayed this in chapter 9. Oh Lord you provided bread from heaven

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Bread from heaven for their hunger you brought forth water from a rock

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For them for their thirst. Who's the rock? And you told them to enter in or in order to possess the land which you swore to gave them you and your great

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Mercy did not forsake them in the wilderness The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day to guide them on their way nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them light

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Light of the world To light them for the way in which they will go and here it is.

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You gave your good spirit to them to instruct them So we have light we have water.

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We have a rock we have we have bread from heaven We have all the things that Jesus has been talking about for multiple chapters now

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It says your manna you do not withhold from them. You gave them water for thirst That's That's Christ the cornerstone the rock

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He gave the water Jesus is fulfilling all these things the perfect fulfillment

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Verse 39 John narrates what we've already come to find out about the promise of water and Its relation to the pouring out of the

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Spirit And just as the priests were pouring out the water in front of the people

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Again, Jesus stands up and says I will do that But more than that hidden in what

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Jesus said Was he was saying I'm gonna pour out The Spirit of God upon you.

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I will pour out the Holy Spirit Jesus says Verse 39 it says but this he spoke of the

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Spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive For the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified

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So the living waters so far have represented eternal life the washing of sin everlasting sustenance

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But also now the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in one's innermost being

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This is in the Gospel of John the first glimpse that we have

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The clearest glimpse that we have so far of the Holy Spirit The Lord Jesus will go into much more detail of the

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Holy Spirit in chapters 14 and 16 In our passage last week

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Jesus had mentioned if you remember he's going to a place that they cannot go and now

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Interestingly he alludes to the Spirit you see the Spirit did not come until what?

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Jesus had finally gone up And so he says last week.

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He said I'm going to a place that you can't go now. He's talking about his spirit Very much alluding to the day of Pentecost The Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.

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This is speaking about the cross and the resurrection and by the way

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He is not saying that this this is when the Spirit will finally enter the world or finally act in the world

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That's not what he's saying Because we even see in the Old Testament that the Spirit was working all the way back in Genesis So the

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Spirit's been at work, but this is different When the Spirit is poured out on God's people it will go he will go into their innermost being

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This is significant That the that the presence of God will be permanent within the believer, okay?

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That when the grace of Jesus touches the believer that grace will come with the

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Spirit of God you see The presence of God will be permanent with the believer even when the temple is gone

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Even when the temple is destroyed in 70 AD the Holy of Holies is gone

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Even today The temple's gone today, but God's presence wouldn't be there anyways

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It wouldn't be there Even when Christ leaves he says it's good that I leave you're not going to be alone

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Now some Have argued believers Stopped receiving the

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Holy Spirit after the book of Acts Have you heard that before some have said the Holy Spirit was only for people in the first century

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We don't receive him today. That's false guys That's heresy. That's a lie

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Okay Or they'll say that one has to have their Someone of a higher

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Christian authority has to lay hands on them to receive the Holy Spirit We did see that in the book of Acts But that's not a necessity

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We saw even examples in the book of Acts of people who received the Spirit even without the laying of hands

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That's not a normative thing. That was a Demonstration that God wanted to do in that particular context in that moment.

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And so those are lies Okay The only prerequisite here in verse in these verses is what belief that's it

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You receive the Holy Spirit he who believes in me, that's it

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He'll get this That person that man that woman that child he who believes in me, whoever that is will receive this

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Holy Spirit like living water he likens it to It causes one to consider when

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Christ gives you the Spirit Like living water and he enters your innermost being and flows like a river.

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What does that look like? What does that look like? I Can think of a few examples.

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I won't go over all of them, but I I look to Scripture What does the Scripture say about the Holy Spirit? Romans chapter 8 verse 16 says for the

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Holy Spirit himself Testifies to our spirit that we are children of God What is what is the

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Spirit doing when he testifies that is he is a witness? This the Holy Spirit is a witness within you

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The Spirit acts as a witness to our spirit leading us guiding us convicting us to follow

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God to do God's will and If the Spirit flows out of you, you could also call that fruit, right?

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If the Spirit's gonna flow out like rivers out of you, then that sounds like fruit a bit

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Galatians 5 Details to us what the fruit of the Spirit is that is what will the

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Spirit in you do in such a way? We're all manifest outwardly. It says in Galatians 5

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But the fruit of the Spirit is love Love is going to come from you joy peace patience

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Not just by yourself Patience with other people. Okay Kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness

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Self -control against such thing. There is no law now those who belong to Christ Jesus have been crucified

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Have crucified the flesh along with its passions and desires. That's the fruit of the Spirit In Ephesians 1 it says that we and our salvation were sealed in Christ by the

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Holy Spirit of promise in other words The presence of living waters within you aka the

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Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee That Jesus has saved you that you've actually drank of living waters through your belief in him

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And there's so much to say about the third person of the Holy Trinity But we will cover that third person of the

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Trinity in more details in chapter 14 and 16 So let's move on that was certainly the meat of the text now for the rest of the scripture section

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We will see the reactions of the crowd and of the the rulers the the

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Jewish leaders we're gonna see everyone's reaction the crowds who were participating the

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Chief officers and rulers and Pharisees who were there. That's what we will see for the rest of this section

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We're gonna see the fallout So to speak of the audacious claims of Jesus of Nazareth So this is going to start with speculations verse 40

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Some of the people therefore when they heard these words, so he just stood up He said I'm the one who can provide this some of these people heard these words and they were saying

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Certainly in the Greek that is the word the root word is truth truly

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Truly, this is the prophet Truly, this is the prophet. It's possible some in attendance at Jesus's pronouncement we're also there for the multiplying of bread like manna or Maybe now the rock in the water talk have reminded them of the

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Prophet Moses Why would a reminder of Moses cause them to think of the prophet

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I'll tell you why the prophet is Reminded to them in this moment because Moses had once prophesied from God in Deuteronomy 18 that one day the

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Lord will raise up a prophet from the people's own countrymen and He will speak the words of the

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Lord and whoever will not listen to him will be condemned And according to Carson in the first century many

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Jews thought the Prophet and the Christ were two separate individuals

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Okay, because you might have read this and gone wait some say he's the Prophet some say he's the Christ I thought that was two offices that Jesus occupied and You're right

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You're right These are two things that he does occupy but in this moment in the first century they didn't see that It was likely not until Jesus Resurrected and ascended that Jewish Christians recognized.

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Oh, he is the Prophet and the Messiah and our King Prophet priest and King right

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And our Messiah Some were saying this is truly the

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Prophet but verse 41 others were saying this is the Christ Still others were saying surely the

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Christ is not going to come from Galilee is he? And so some say this is the Christ What they are seeing

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Jesus do what they are hearing in their mind. This can't be anyone other than the

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Messiah We have already recognized that such a belief in understanding comes only from the father to an individual if you remember that from John 6

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However, others were skeptical still others were saying surely the

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Christ is not going to come from Galilee is he? Galilee They were hung up on Jesus's hometown of Nazareth and Galilee unaware that his birth was elsewhere and They considered this in an immediate disqualification.

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He can't be the Christ. He's from Galilee He's from Galilee the people consider what they know to be some necessary qualifications to be the

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Messiah verse 42 has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the descendants of David and from Bethlehem the village where David was and They're right

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Did you know that they're actually right about that? We know obviously that Jesus wasn't born in Nazareth in Galilee, but he was born in Bethlehem Now we might commend them for saying this because at least they look to the scriptures.

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That's good They establish from the holy text the qualifications for the

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Messiah, what are they they say here? He must be a descendant of David and he must be born in Bethlehem We saw

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Jesus rebuked them in the previous passages for not judging with righteous judgment for only considering what they see and Superficial they don't see beyond his coming from Galilee They don't understand that he was born in Bethlehem.

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Why don't they even ask him? Why don't they simply ask him look Jesus? We know that you started in Galilee Are you the one who was a descendant of David and born in Bethlehem?

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They don't even ask him They don't judge with righteous judgment. And so the irony for us as the readers is laughable.

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We know where he's from We don't have time to read them but things like 2nd

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Samuel 7 Psalm 89 Micah 5 just to name a few speak of the necessity of descendants of David and being from Bethlehem Sure enough

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Matthew Luke John Peter Paul and even

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Jesus himself in Revelation 22 says that he is a descendant of David. It's confirmed and So I don't think

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John felt the necessity to mention that here in a narrative piece real quick Because by this time when the gospel of John came out

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It was likely that the other some of the other Gospels were already circulating. So people are like, oh, yeah

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He was born in Bethlehem. He didn't need to say that here And so we have the crowd speculating and offering up their opinion of Jesus.

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He's the Prophet. He's the Christ No, he can't be the Christ. He's from Galilee.

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He's not from Bethlehem and So when you have these opposing forces coming together that go against each other like two pieces of land that oppose each other a fault line is made and In that shifting of the land one rises and one lowers and you have this this chasm this division

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The Division is greatly apparent verse 43. That's what it says. So a division occurred in the crowd because of him in the

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Greek a schisma a Schisma occurred. That's where we get the word schism and Church, this is what

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Jesus does This is what Jesus does his coming divides the world

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Into faithful followers or doubtful deniers depraved deniers

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We see that in our world today people who reject God people who hate

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Jesus and then there's those who? Love him and serve him his coming divides the entire world

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Remember what he said in Matthew chapter 10. He said I did not come to bring peace upon the earth

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I came to bring a sword dividing people some will believe in me some won't he goes on to say if you're going to actually

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Find your life Then you've got to deny yourself pick up your cross and follow after me.

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It's the only way so Jesus naturally separates He naturally separates the gospel separates

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People reject it or they accept it verse 44

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Some of them wanted to seize him, but no one laid hands on him The root word for seize here piezo is to apprehend and press down To grab

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Jesus and press him down suppress him To keep

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Jesus from continuing what he's doing stopping Jesus Seizing him pressing down however

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Just like the mixed reactions canceled out So did the efforts to stop him cancel out no one laid hands on him

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It's not his time They couldn't touch him despite wanting to it's not his time to go to the cross.

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It's not his time to be tried So we're now going to transition from a discussion between Between the the crowds and the division between the crowds and we're now going to finish up with the internal Conversation that's happening between Jewish leaders.

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Okay If you remember verse 32 from last week, it showed that the chief priests

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Sent who for Jesus? temple police Temple officers were sent out in verse 32 to seize him and to stop him and after some time

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The officers come back to the Pharisees and they question the men verse 45

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The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees and they said to them. Why did you not?

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bring him To us and the officers response to me is astounding.

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Okay verse 46 They say what never has a man spoken this way the way that this man speaks never before Not a single

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Anthropos and a single man has ever spoken like this man

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They've heard rabbis. They've heard scribes. They've heard Pharisees synagogue leaders

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They've heard supposed prophets pop up. They've heard Learned and highly decorated men speak.

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They've heard them all speak at this feast even But this was different this was different Jesus wasn't simply captivating or fascinating He wasn't only well educated and highly learned

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He did not merely have the ability to or a debate and adequately argue or exposit or preach the way he spoke

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Was as though he meant every single word and every word carried a depth and a weight to it it was commanding and yet loving

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The way he spoke was firm and yet gentle It was in a language that they could actually understand with words that they knew but it was divine in origin

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This is from heaven. It was like heaven was coming out of a man

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On earth Like the sound of living waters running through a brook and in some instances

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Like the rushing of the power of a waterfall he could be both. He's both at the same time

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So were the words of Jesus comforting and convicting The best feelings accompanied his words for some and the worst feelings for others

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Indescribable Obviously indescribable The officers didn't add anything to that report no one's ever speak in the way that this man has spoken never you could imagine an

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Amazed and bewildered look upon their faces. God astonished them so much that they were disarmed

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All thoughts of harming and seizing Jesus left them All they could recall was his speaking and his words

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But listen, here's part of the restraint of these men these men these temple officers weren't simply hired thugs or villains of some sort

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These temple officers would have been taken from a pool of Levites Levites Some Levites are to serve the temple with administration

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Some Levites were to serve in singing and instruments others

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Were aiding the priests in the preparation of sacrifices, but these Levites were assigned what?

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to be temple guards temple guards all of them coming from the priestly line of Levi and so they are trained religiously and Their inheritance was religious in nature

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Not in land like the other tribes and they themselves as Levites as men who have grown up around the temple and serving

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God In the temple, they are torn at the deepest level of themselves because of Jesus's words

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It wasn't a crowd of believing people that kept them from getting to Jesus it wasn't some

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Apostles or disciples that pulled them away from Jesus what stopped these officers?

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the words of Jesus Jesus speaking How can we think about the officers response in respect to our own lives?

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That's what I thought to myself when I went through this Well, do you walk away from reading the

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Bible or hearing the word proclaimed and you're sometimes in wonderment

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Maybe even saying to someone else you have got to hear the words of God today I've never heard anything like it.

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Do you ever feel that way? when you read the word I Think especially the quiet time that we have with God can offer that You know, sometimes it's not about quantity people.

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It's about quality Go over the same verse over and over seek God in his word

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Marvel at that word Next time you read the

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Bible, especially the Gospels. I want you to think of how Jesus even speaks. I Want you to imagine being in front of him in heaven.

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Do you ever see? like a husband speaking in front of others and Only some people would notice this this husband is speaking and Then you look over his wife and he's commanding the room.

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He's giving a good story. He's a respectable man And his wife is looking over at him with admiration and love and wow,

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I love my husband You ever see a wife speaking? gently

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But with strength and maybe that husband is looking over at his wife. He loves her

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He admires her you will enjoy Jesus's words in heaven with such pleasure you will look at Jesus infinitely more than the way you would look at your spouse the same way when he's speaking a

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Calmness will overtake you along with a desire to not miss a single word. I believe that And it's not only because we love what he says it's because we love him

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That's what's gonna make it all the more Grand and wonderful if you love

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Jesus fiercely you will love what he speaks You hear that if you love Jesus, you will love what he has spoken

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And if you love what he speaks, you'll walk away sometimes speechless and disquieted like these officers

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So, how do the Pharisees respond to their Words here on why they did not seize

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Jesus verse 47 the Pharisees then Answered them you have not been led astray

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Have you you've not been led astray. Also, have you? Surely that's why you've got to say this you're also deceived

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The Pharisees think the temple police are simply mesmerized. They're deceived by who they think is a swindler

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Making himself out to be God They resort to shaming the

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Levite officers One commentator says of this quote the sneering question of the

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Pharisees Does not mock the guards on the ground that as police police officers.

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They should have followed orders But they mock them on the ground that as Levites Who should follow the religious authorities before them?

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They have compromised their theological integrity and have been seduced by a transparent

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Imposter who could never manage to deceive the real thinkers That's what they think of themselves.

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And so these officers Their duty is to the temple and the Lord of that temple and for some reason they couldn't apprehend

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Jesus Maybe even a thought in their minds was What if this man was sent by the

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Lord of the temple? How could I seize him? That sort of intuition wouldn't be far off them.

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And so the internal Jewish leadership dialogue continues verse 48 No, one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in him has he the again?

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This is the Jewish authorities saying this the ones who just shamed the officers are saying has anyone among us

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Believed in him And you know, what's amazing is when you think about the reality of having this conversation

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How was John privy to this? I'll tell you what I think it is I think the reason we even have this private dialogue with Jewish leaders is

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Because some of them turned to Christ and divulge the information later. That just simply has to be it Unless one of the

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Apostles is just a super, you know listener and I don't know how he would get close

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But I think for sure it's because some of these leaders turned to Christ In fact later in chapter 12 verse 42

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It says that even among the even many among the leaders believed in him There it is

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In fact, we're going to encounter some of those men in future sermons It's as if they stand there and take an evaluation

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Maybe these Jewish leaders are even looking around at their fellow colleagues Maybe they're trying to see if any of these men are hanging on Jesus's words.

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Did it look captivated? Do they look enthralled and what Jesus is saying? How do their faces look?

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Has any Jewish leader vocalized any support for this man? They're looking around. Maybe they're taking an evaluation as For the leaders in this scene

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The Pharisees pride themselves on not being fooled by Jesus But their pride is exactly what causes them to continually be deceived

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God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble verse 49

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But this crowd which does not know the law is accursed they say

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Jewish leaders just insulted the temple officers now They'll insult the crowd of people and they'll surmise that these

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Jews. They just are ignorant of the law Maybe they mean the whole test the whole

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Old Testament. These people are accursed What they have said of the believing crowd is the exact description of themselves.

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They don't know the law and they are accursed right Because they have not turned to Christ ignorant and accursed

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Accursed here according to the BDAG Lexicon means being pronounced outside of the realm of the sacred with the implication of being under divine condemnation

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To believe in Jesus according to these Pharisees is to be under divine condemnation

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Lawless and therefore cursed and This condescending attitude toward the common people was typical of learned

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Rabbis and priests by the way, in fact, they would often call the crowds of people the people of the land

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That's a common phrase the people of the land To the authorities this crowd of people represents a class lower than themselves

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Because some of the people were of mixed bloodlines some were from Gentile nations and the diaspora the dispersion of the

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Jews and So they consider these people less than them Remember even typically

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Excuse me Only religious figures had access to scrolls or papyri

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Old Testament scriptures only they did They possessed it they could study it the average person like these people of the land had to go to synagogue or the temple to hear the word proclaimed from one of these figures and That is what makes it all the more astounding to the people that Jesus speaks like this.

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How does he know this? This is an unlearned Galilean And this is precisely why the

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Jewish leaders look down on the people. They have the access to the law They can study it and they know it unlike the common folk the common people don't know it.

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So we're better In their minds the only way the crowd could start actually believing in Jesus is

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Because of their ignorance and lack of piety So now we come to our final verses of the scene, okay in enters

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Nicodemus of the leadership conversation This is the

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Nicodemus who is a Pharisee and a quote teacher of Israel from John chapter 3

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Who approached Jesus in the middle of the night and you have that famous? Dialogue and and we'll see their

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Water and spirit as well, by the way and Nicodemus asked him questions about the kingdom of God Nicodemus says to his colleagues in verse 51

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Our law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing

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Does it? Some scholars argue Nicodemus is not concerned about justice for Jesus as a teacher and ruler.

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He is Only concerned about the correct practice and principle of the law some people say that I don't think that To me, it just doesn't seem that way that Nicodemus is only concerned about what's right?

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What's the law? I think Nicodemus is actually concerned about Jesus by now I'm I'm wondering if that conversation in the night

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Was starting to draw Nicodemus to God himself. It had an impact on him He speaks up to the other

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Pharisees and Jewish leaders reminding them of the law They were calling the crowd lawless, but they themselves were going against the law they're they're hypocrites and by sending police after Jesus they are essentially already issuing a warrant for arrest without a crime or at least proper investigation of it and So maybe

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Nicodemus is alluding to Proverbs 18 He who gives an answer before he hears it is folly and shame to him or again in Proverbs 18 the first to plead his case seems right until another comes and examines him and So this confirms that they wanted to do

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More than seize Jesus. He was aware of it Nicodemus was aware of it So the

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Pharisees then skipped Nicodemus's reminder of the law they just simply lump him in with Jesus They are aggressive and reactive at this point see the

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Galilean is the problem and You Nicodemus are being swept away with this

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Galilean verse 52. You are not also from Galilee. Are you? Search and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee Nicodemus are you gonna be a problem like this man is for us?

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and so The way they speak to speak to their colleague This is supposed to be a colleague at the same level for them

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Pharisee The way they speak to him in this moment is shaming him. They shame their own colleague

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This would be heaping tons of cultural shame upon him and it doesn't record his reaction.

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I Wonder if Nicodemus is starting to see their hypocrisy their narcissism

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Their desire for power he goes. Okay. He tested them with what he said there sure enough they failed

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Do you see that latter part of the verse? Search and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee They try to put the speculation of Jesus to rest

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No prophets are to come from Galilee Look into it yourself.

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No prophets come from Galilee This isn't the prophet or the

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Messiah. Let's bypass the law and take Jesus out, but they are wrong though in fact

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Jonah and Nahum Two minor prophets of the Old Testament are from Galilee.

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So already these these men are wrong They have all this disdain for Galilee The people as we saw in chapter 1 they said nothing good can come from Galilee.

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Can it? especially a prophet or a Messiah nothing can come from Galilee and Listen if you've enjoyed

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How Jesus has fulfilled the Feast of Tabernacles at the beginning, but you've checked out a little bit

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I need you to check back in now. We're wrapping up. Okay? This is amazing. You need to hear this

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We're almost done What's amazing is right before one of the most profoundly messianic prophecies of Jesus in Isaiah 9

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Isaiah 8 go there real quick with me in your Bibles go to Isaiah 8 if you can if you have it

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Isaiah 8 I Don't have it on the screen, but I want you to see it with your own eyes

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Isaiah 8 speaks to what is happening in this moment about the Christ and Galilee and the leaders unbelief

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Isaiah 8 verses 12 through 14 Isaiah 8 12 through 14

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He says this you are not to say it is a conspiracy in regard to all that this people call a

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Conspiracy and you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it It is the

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Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy and he shall be your fear and he shall be your dread

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Then he shall become a sanctuary. What did Jesus call himself? tabernacle a temple but but to both the houses of Israel a

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Stone to strike and a rock to stumble over and a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem he is what he is the rock and What's happening right now at the

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Feast of Tabernacles They are stumbling over Jesus and his words and their concern for him and his relation to Galilee They have been regarding these things as conspiracy.

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He's a prophet. No, he's the Christ No, he can't be because he's not from Bethlehem.

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He's not a descendant of David conspiracy conspiracy But then go to Isaiah 9 just turn right over Isaiah 9, what does it say regarding the

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Christ the Messiah? verse 1 of Isaiah 9 But there will be no more gloom for her who is in anguish in Earlier times he treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt

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But later on he shall here it is He shall make it glorious by the way of the by the way of the sea on the other side of the

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Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles and the people who walk in darkness will see a great light those who live in a dark land the light will shine on them and So who is this great light coming from Galilee?

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Matthew Luke Paul They all quote from this passage in Isaiah 9 and they all say that this is about Jesus Don't the religious authorities realize it don't the skeptical people of the crowds realize it someone

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Gloriously incredible is going to come from Galilee Or I should say in this moment came from Galilee and they are doing what

01:00:05

Isaiah chapter 8 says They are calling Jesus and his origin a conspiracy Says don't call it a conspiracy

01:00:13

They're speculating If they knew the word They would know that the

01:00:19

Messiah had to both be born in Bethlehem a descendant of David and he had to come down positionally from Galilee From Galilee a light will come the light will shine in the darkness

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This is so amazing He's not going to rise out of the holy of holies in Jerusalem in the temple

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He's going to come as he always has in a humble way as a baby as a man

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Right born in a feeding trough Almost died had to flee to Egypt when he was a young man

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He's going to be sitting lowly riding on a donkey He's going to be from Galilee the place that people have disdained for That's the

01:01:14

Messiah That's the Christ. He's not going to come floating out of heaven and say I'm the

01:01:19

Christ This is the way that he comes in this great humility, and it's a stumbling block to the proud and so remember all this week of the feast of Tabernacles the feast of booths they've been singing the halal psalm 113 through 18 and Psalm 118 is the very last psalm they would have sung and what does it say in psalm 118?

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22 through 24 They're literally this is being fulfilled right now it says and the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and This is the

01:02:03

Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes This is the day which the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it

01:02:09

They should be rejoicing and be glad in this moment that the chief cornerstone has finally come

01:02:15

He says I'm the sacred rock from the wilderness. I'm the one where the water gushed out I'm the one who's going to pour out my spirit.

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I'm the rock he says on me. You'll have a firm Foundation, but that rock is what either going to make people stumble over him

01:02:32

Which is happening now or people are going to find him to be a cornerstone for the foundation for their lives and life eternal boom

01:02:42

Amazing and this should be the day that they're glad The Lord has come on what's called what the great day.

01:02:51

This is the day the Lord has made They should be glad the Lord has come to his own feast.

01:02:59

And so my sermon was titled the perfect fulfillment Because everything has fit together so very perfectly with Jesus His timing his words his actions his signs his works perfect perfect perfect and What was the

01:03:20

Apostle John's aim in writing this gospel? We've gone over this quite a bit he wrote I wrote this gospel so that you may believe

01:03:27

Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and Believing you may have life in his name

01:03:34

And so John has written about this feast of the tabernacles and all the other occasions we've previously covered to show that Jesus is the

01:03:44

Very fulfillment in substance of every type and shadow and prophecy of the

01:03:50

Old Testament He's it Look no further

01:03:57

It was meant to be greater than anything else we've considered that was meant to be

01:04:03

It is greater than any twist of any story told by men Right you you see this story

01:04:10

This movie and at the end you see all the pieces for fit perfectly together and you go

01:04:16

Wow, they wrote this really well and it's like they're just stealing that from the Bible that concept

01:04:22

Jesus fulfills every single twist every single loose end that you thought couldn't be tied.

01:04:28

It comes together in Jesus Christ and To think one day we're gonna feast with the

01:04:34

Lord of the feast So the perfect fulfillment, how does that change things for you

01:04:45

You see all that seems unfinished in your life will also be fulfilled by him

01:04:53

Your sin will continue to die and his righteousness will be fulfilled in you

01:04:59

Fulfillment fulfillment all your suffering and your pain may seem pointless in this life

01:05:06

But you'll get to see his fulfillment in it all fulfillment This perfect fulfillment is what he has promised

01:05:26

He will complete and he can We can act like these things won't be fulfilled they won't be complete

01:05:34

You and I can keep looking at the things and people around us But we need to look at the one who will fulfill all things in every promise.

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That's it. That's it Jesus is the perfect fulfillment And I don't know what you've been going through for some time now

01:05:54

But stop looking to other things to fulfill you you see There's so many times that we try to take things and dethrone

01:06:03

Jesus off of our lives and we think that these things Pornography sex addiction drugs alcohol

01:06:15

Being the best in my career Making these things idols. Some of these are okay things.

01:06:21

They're good things, but then we dethrone Jesus and We make those things where we get our fulfillment comfort entertainment

01:06:28

Leisure pleasure and so whatever is giving you fulfillment right now in this life

01:06:36

Examine it and take a look and just as Jesus has fulfilled all things my friends

01:06:44

Jesus will fulfill what is lacking in you. So stop going to other things Turn from that and see that our

01:06:53

God is the perfect fulfillment Let's pray Lord.

01:07:01

Thank you for this time. Thank you for your Word God help us to stop looking at other things help us to stop seeking fulfillment in all other things

01:07:15

Lord help us to see that even in our lives things are so Perfectly brought together because of you you are over them.

01:07:25

You are working through them You will bring them to completion. We can trust you we can have faith in you

01:07:33

God you have truly Fulfilled all that you have promised and you will do that Lord help us to know that and believe that by faith