John, pt.40 | John 7:32-39

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June 25, 2023 Pastor Jeff Rice Covenant Reformed Baptist Church Tullahoma TN

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If you would, at this time, take your copy of the scriptures and turn with me to the Gospel of John.
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We will be considering verses 32 through 39.
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The Gospel of John, chapter 7, verses 32 through 39.
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This is our 40th message in this glorious Gospel.
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O God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Lord, we come to you seeking
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Christ, seeking that you will, at this time, through this broken vessel, speak forth your word to those that might not know you, to open their heart to receive you as you did
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Lydia's, and to those that do know you, you will use this to conform us to the image of your glorious Son, Jesus Christ.
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We beg you, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.
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Let's begin reading the text. John, chapter 7, beginning in verse 32, and we will read to verse 39.
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The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about him.
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And the chief priest and the Pharisees sent officers to seize him. Therefore Jesus said, for a little while longer
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I am with you, then I go to him who sent me. You will seek me and will not find me, and where I am you cannot come.
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The Jews then said to one another, where does this man intend to go that we will not find him?
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Is he intending to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and to teach the
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Greeks? What is this statement that he said, you will seek me and will not find me, and where I am you cannot come?
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On the last day of the great day of the feast, Jesus 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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But this he spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believe in him were going to receive, for the
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Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
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This study this week was pretty complicated, to say the least, a lot of background studying the history.
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Our theme for this Lord's Day is the invitation of Jesus, the invitation of Jesus.
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And my proposition, that which I aim to prove is this, only those that come to Jesus will be filled with the
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Holy Spirit, right? Only those that come to Jesus, how do you come to Jesus?
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John has given us several different ways that he gives an analogy on how someone does come to Jesus, right?
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He gave the analogy of the serpent being hung on the pole, those who would look to the serpent after they were bit, if they would just look to the snake, they would be healed.
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In the same sense for us, if we would look to Jesus Christ, us who are born dead in our trespasses and sins, if we would look to him, we would be healed.
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Those that come to Jesus will be filled with the Holy Spirit. The question is, do you have the
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Spirit of God? That's the question. I can assure you that if you do not, you will not be with Christ where he is.
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That's scary. It's a truth that we have to hold to as Christians and as we love our neighbors, whether there be family that's in our own house or extended family such as mothers and brothers and cousins or our neighbors, those whom we come to love or those that are in our church.
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The church has always been filled with intellectual believers, non -believers, and true believers.
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And so there's people who give Jesus the head nod, yeah, he existed, yeah, thumbs up,
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Jesus. But they don't actually believe that God raised him from the dead. There are those that just don't believe.
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They come because they were invited or whatever that may be. But there's some who are truly born again, who are truly
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Christians, who have confessed with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, and they believe in their heart the scientific impossibility that God raised
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Jesus from the dead because men just don't come out of the grave. But if you're truly a
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Christian, you believe that no matter what, even to death, because I can assure you that if you do not, you will not be with Christ where he is.
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Only those whom God tabernacles in will be where Jesus is.
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Because God once tabernacled in a tent, tabernacled in a temple, and now he tabernacles in men.
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And if you do not have the Spirit of God, you will not be where Jesus is.
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Do you have the Spirit? Is God in you?
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We have already seen in this gospel that you can believe in Jesus and not have the
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Spirit of God. Belief can take on many different forms, right?
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Such as believing because the signs. So you had, as we're walking through this gospel, many have professed belief in Jesus, but their belief in him was solely upon the signs he was performing, not the theology.
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Give me Jesus, remember, keep your theology.
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Oh, Jesus can take a sack lunch and feed 20 ,000 people? I'll take that,
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Jesus. You got two, as Paul Washer would say. I want that kind of a
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Jesus. And then when Jesus starts speaking, he starts teaching, he starts diving into God's Word, starts to exposition, starts to explain who he is and who the
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Father is as a hold on now. That's more than we bargained for. We don't want that Jesus.
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Everyone wants to build a Jesus, right? Well, perhaps. I'm so used to calling him pastor, so forgive me.
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Perhaps they want to build a Jesus, to build a bear. They want Jesus to be conformed to their image and not us being conformed to his image.
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Jesus did not accept that kind of belief. It wasn't good. It wasn't from the Father.
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Jesus is not your cash cow. He is not your fish and bread dispenser. He's something more.
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Again, do you have the Spirit? Or such as the belief that we see in Matthew chapter 13 concerning the parable of the sower.
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We looked at this a few weeks ago. If the gospel seed lands on bad soil, it will not produce fruit.
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The belief that comes from that will not last.
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If the gospel seed lands on roadside, rocks or thorns, although it might sprout, it will not last.
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If it's on the rock side, birds, who is the devil, comes and he gathers it up. He eats it up.
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Then you have the ones that sprout from the rocks and the thorns, and then when persecution and hard times come, these are those who give the head nod to Jesus.
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Yeah, I believe there was a man named Jesus, but they have not truly believed.
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They might have called upon his name. Many of supposed Christian churches in America, they lead people in a prayer of faith.
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Waft the owl, shake the hand, sign the car, say these words after me and you are saved.
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So they might have called upon his name, but they had not truly believed that God raised him from the dead.
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They had not truly believed that something scientifically impossible has taken place. Do you have the
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Spirit of God? Only those that the seed falls on good soil will receive the
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Spirit. In our outline today, we're going to see Jesus give an invitation to receive the
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Holy Spirit, and he will do so in the midst of controversy.
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We'll see a plot for his arrest, a prophecy of his return, a mocking of his prophecy, and a call to come to him.
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So point number one, a plot for his arrest. Point number two, a prophecy for his return.
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Point number three, a mocking of his prophecy. And point number four, a call to come to him.
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And as we transition, Jesus is in Judea for the
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Feast of the Booths. And all Jewish men, all
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Jewish men were required to be at this feast. To give a timeline,
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Jesus is six months away from his time of death. Six months from this, six months from where we're at in this gospel,
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Jesus is going to be crucified. Jesus will be crucified during the
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Feast of Passover, which in our gospel begins to take shape at chapter 13.
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From chapters 7 to 13 is right around six months.
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Chapter 13 to the end of the gospel is a matter of days, a matter of days.
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This puts us here in chapter 7 around three years concerning the ministry of Jesus.
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So point number one, a plot for his arrest. We see this in verse 32.
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The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about him, the him here being
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Jesus. And the chief priest and the Pharisees sent officers to seize him.
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Right here in our text, the leadership is identified. We've been talking about the religious
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Jews, their leadership. And John, when it says the Jews, for the most part it's speaking about the religious leaders.
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He's not lumping all Jews together when he says the Jews. We saw that there's many places in here where we saw a mixed multitude.
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So here he tells us who the Jews are that he's specifically speaking about, and it's the
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Pharisees and the chief priest. The Pharisees is a religious set among Jewish leaders, as is the chief priest.
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The Jewish leadership consists of Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, elders, priests, chief priest, and a high priest.
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And in our text, we have the chief priest along with the Pharisees sending officers to seize
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Jesus. And the reason being is given to us that they heard the crowd whispering these things about Jesus.
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And in the context of John chapter seven tells us what the, these things that they overheard.
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Look at verse 25 and 26. So some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, is this not the man whom they are seeking to kill?
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That they hear is the Jewish leaders, which are named Pharisees and chief priests, that they are seeking to kill.
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And look, he is speaking openly and they are saying nothing to him.
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Do the rulers truly know that this is the Christ? Verse 31, but many of the crowd believed in him.
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So this will be that superficial belief. And they were saying, when the
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Christ comes, will he do more signs than this man did?
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So they were overhearing the multitude of Jews that were gathered there that day, wondering, is this the
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Christ? Could this be him? Do the religious leaders know something that we don't?
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Are they not telling us? Are they withholding information from us?
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Why are they not taking him by force and killing him? They want to kill him. Why are they not doing so?
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Do they know something we don't know? It was this conversation about the Christ. They knew the
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Christ was coming. They were awaiting the visitation from heaven of the Christ.
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Even though believing for the wrong reason doesn't make you positionally righteous before God, it does, however, cause division.
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So they're believing because of the signs that they see doesn't make, excuse me, doesn't make them positionally righteous, but it does cause a stir among the religious leaders.
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It causes a division. Like even among the crowds that were there, some said he was a good man and the other says no, he's leading people astray.
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And I mentioned, yeah, you're right. He is. He is trying to take you from the old covenant system and to usher you into the new covenant because the old covenant is ending.
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It's ending. It's not going to be anymore. And yet all the more, they, they dance around the sacrificial system as if it was the, the golden cow that we see in Exodus.
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We have already seen from, from, from verse 30, that they were unable to seize
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Jesus because of God's divine time. Look at verse 30. So they were seeking to seize him, yet no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come.
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I sometimes will make this statement concerning God's sovereignty in my own death, that if God has predetermined me to die by fire,
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I will not drown. God is predetermined for the
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Christ to suffer and be crushed, but not at the feast of booths at the feast of Passover, which was six months away.
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This group of Jews, they cannot take him by force. Not because they're physically unable, but because of God's power upon Christ and his control in the world, his sovereignty.
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Jesus is not going to be arrested until the decree of God's will is accomplished.
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And we will touch more on that next week. Maybe. Depends on how, how far
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I get this week in my study. So maybe we'll, we'll touch on that. Point number two, a prophecy of his return.
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We see this in verses 33 and 34. Verse 33, therefore
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Jesus said, so the therefore is talking about them coming to arrest him.
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And therefore, Jesus said, for a little while longer,
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I am with you. Then I go to him who sent me.
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You will seek me and will not find me. And where I am, you cannot come.
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Remember what Jesus has been teaching throughout this gospel. That he is
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God, that he came down from heaven, and that believing in him, listen, is eternal life.
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Eternal life is not something far out in the distance. He is eternal life.
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There is no eternal life outside of Christ. He is. In the same way that I can say
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I am a man, he is eternal life. He is.
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Eternal life is being in him. We are predestined to be conformed to the image of him.
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We are in him. Jesus being God is speaking of the
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Godhead, him being the second person of the Trinity. God the Father, God the
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Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus as God the Son came down from heaven and became man.
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He who knew no sin became sin for us, right?
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How does that happen? He has to take on flesh. We talk about the
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Trinity. We speak about the one being and three persons, and each of the persons is the one being.
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That there is no hierarchy in the Godhead. That there is no one trying to exercise alpha male, if you will, right?
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God the Father is not trying to out God the Son. God the Son isn't trying to out God the
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Spirit. They are co -equal, co -eternal. But Jesus as the
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Son of God who took on flesh now has two natures, and one of the nature is a human nature.
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He took on flesh. He the eternal being, God the Son, took on flesh.
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He became a man to accomplish the purpose of God.
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And what Jesus is telling them in verse 34 is that he is going back to be with the
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Father. Most people take verse 34, and some very reputable names, people
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I listen to quite often, they take 34 as if it's speaking about seeking for salvation, such as when he is gone, if they begin to seek after him, it will be too late.
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However, in my opinion, that is a bad interpretation. It is inconsistent with the
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New Testament. Look at verse 34 again. You will seek me, Jesus speaking, and will not find me.
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And where I am, you cannot come. They say that after he's gone, they might seek him for salvation, and Jesus is saying it's too late.
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That is a bad interpretation of that verse. I simply believe that it's speaking about seeking him by way of not believing that he rose from the dead.
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Right? So after he was put to death, he rose from the dead. They've made up rumors that someone stowed his body.
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Believe me when I say people were looking for the body of Christ. Look back at verse 11, chapter 7, verse 11.
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So the Jews, this is the religious leaders, which we have identified as the
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Pharisees and chief priests, the Jews were seeking him at the feast and saying, where is he?
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In another sense, he could be speaking about pointing to his death in order for him to go back to the
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Father, he has to die. As they gather at many more feasts to come, they will not be seeking for him because he will not be there.
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So simply put, if you're looking for Jesus on earth, you will not find him. Jesus had already said something similar to this in chapter 6,
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I mean similar to this six months prior, chapter 6, verse 62. Turn there for a second.
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Look what he says in verse 62. Speaking to the Jews, what then if you see, so this is with your eyes, the
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Son of Man ascending to where he was before.
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Jesus has already, always in his ministry, he is speaking about his return.
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He speaks about him coming down from heaven and he speaks about him going back to heaven.
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He is God, meaning the Son of God. He came down from heaven and he is going back to heaven.
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That's what these verses are talking about. He says, for a little while longer I will be with you.
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What's that little while longer? Six months. I will be with you until the
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Feast of Passover comes again. The Feast of Passover that will begin, will start to unfold in chapter 13 is the third
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Passover in the Gospel of John. He is
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God. He came down from heaven and he is going back. He is with them for a little while longer.
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And when he goes back, they will seek him and will not find him.
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What he is not saying is that we cannot be where he is going. Well, he's saying it to those that don't believe.
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Point number three, a mocking of his prophecy, verses 35 and 36.
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Listen to the ignorance here. The Jews, so think the religious leaders, then said to one another, where does this man intend to go that we will not find him?
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Is he intending to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the
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Greeks? What is this statement? You will seek me and will not find me, and where I am you cannot come.
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Again, his prophecy was that he is going back to be with the father.
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He came down from heaven and now he is going to go back and be with the father.
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Now, excuse me. I want you to see the ignorance displayed here because Jesus has clearly taught that he came down from heaven and he is going back to the father.
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Let's just look in chapter seven, verse 18. So this is the same group of people, right?
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Different days, but the same group of people. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true and there is no unrighteousness in him.
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Meaning, kind of the whole idea of the righteous for the unrighteous.
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Jesus is the only one who has never broken God's law, so he is the righteous one.
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Righteous means law keeper, unrighteous means law breaker. You and I are law breakers.
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We are unrighteous. Jesus is the law keeper. He is the righteous one, and we talked about the righteous for the unrighteous, but he's pointing out here that he was sent by the father.
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Also verse 28 and 29, then
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Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, you both know me and know where I am from, and I have not come from myself, but he who sent me is true whom you do not know.
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Look at verse 29, I know him because I am from him, and he sent me.
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Think John chapter 1, in the beginning was the word, the logos, and the logos was with Theos, God.
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In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The actual
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Greek structure should be translated as God was the word. Verse 14, and he became flesh.
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The word became flesh. He came into being, and now he is going to go back again, verse 33 and 34, therefore, he said, for a little while longer
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I am with you, then I am going to go to him who sent me. You will seek me and will not find me, and where I am, you cannot come.
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Clearly, clearly he has been teaching this over and over. Just right here in this small portion that's taking place at the
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Feast of Booths, Jesus has been teaching this, but as we've been walking through the gospel, the whole gospel has been about this, that he is
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God, he came down from heaven, and that believing in him is eternal life. He makes the announcement that he is going back to where he was before, taking his rightful position upon the throne.
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Clearly they hear with their ears the words that he is saying, and what's just as clear is they don't understand.
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So they can hear him, right, they hear the words, but they're not perceiving. They don't understand.
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They don't believe Jesus could have been, excuse me, I don't believe Jesus could have spoken more clearly.
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Their lack of understanding shows how their hearts have become dull, hardened, hardened to the gospel.
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Remember that old parable, the same sun that melts ice hardens clay.
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The same gospel that will open your heart to receive Christ will harden, will hinder you to shake your fist at God, and to even say there is no
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God. Their understanding was that he was going to go to the Jews who are living among the
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Greeks. When it says to the dispersion, it's speaking about the Jews who are living among the
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Greeks, but it also says, and to teach the Greeks. That was the fear of Judaism.
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They were called to be the light of the world, but what did they do? They put the light under a basket, right?
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We can get into that, it's not only Matthew chapter 5. Don't put your light under a basket, but let it shine for the whole world to see.
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By the time we get to the New Testament, these Jews didn't want to display
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God. They didn't want to show the world God. They thought they had him, and they kept him for theirselves.
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And we know that through the ministry of Paul, the
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Gentiles were brought the message of God. Amen?
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Who's glad that the message of God came to the Gentiles? Am I the only one? Hallelujah, Hallebeck.
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In their ignorance, in their ignorance, they mock the prophecy that they clearly hear with their ears, showing the prophecy concerning Isaiah is true.
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You will speak to them, but they will not hear. Point number four, a call to come to him.
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This is taken from verses 37 to 39. 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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By this, he spoke of the spirit whom those who believed in him were going to receive, for the spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.
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First thing to notice, it is the last day of the feast. This means time has passed since Jesus got into the temple and started teaching.
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Jesus began teaching in the middle of the feast. Look at verse 14.
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But when it was now the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach.
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The feast was to last seven days. So this puts the middle of the feast around the third or the fourth day.
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But there were also days of rest fixed in. I believe the first day was a day of rest, and then they also had an eighth day after the feast that they considered a day of rest.
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So this being the last day makes it the seventh day. Now at this time, outside of the biblical expression of worship, they picked up along the way other traditions that will play out as we move through the next few chapters.
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Water being the first one we come to. So the
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Feast of Booths, or you could say the Feast of Tabernacles, takes place five days after the
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Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement being the day when the high priest alone would enter into the holy place and the most holy place with a sacrifice for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.
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He would have two goats and he would go and he would pray the sins of the people on one goat and he would set this one free.
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This is where we get the term escape goat. And he would take the other goat and he would slice the goat's throat and he would take it and go into the holy of holies and sprinkle the blood.
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This was something that you didn't have to be there. You could be at home relaxing with your family doing what you do and the high priest alone would go and make this sacrifice for himself because he isn't perfect and for the unintentional sins of the people because we are not perfect.
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Or we being them back then, excuse me. So five days after this they would be, we come to the
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Feast of Booths. However, there is a sacrifice every day in Jerusalem at this time.
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I remember one Sunday I brought in a chart that showed the daily routine of the
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Jewish leaders. Every day animals were killed, slaughtered, sacrificed.
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During the Feast of the Booths after the morning sacrifice each day the priest would go to the
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Pool of Siloam whose water came from the Gihon Spring. So because it came from the
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Gihon Spring they consider the water from the Pool of Siloam to be living water.
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The priest would take a golden pitcher and he would fill water from the
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Pool of Siloam. He then would go to the Court of the Priests. For six days he would walk around the altar of sacrifice one time each day and then after he would walk around once the priest would pour out the living water that came from the
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Pool of Siloam which flows from the Gihon Spring onto the altar.
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On the seventh and last day the priest with the living water would walk around the altar of sacrifice seven times before pouring out the water on the altar of sacrifice.
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You should be having things pop in your mind by now as a way of remembering they're leaving the wilderness.
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Think Jericho. As they left the wilderness they cross over the
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Jordan, they enter into Jericho. For seven days, well for six days they would walk around once and the seventh day they would walk around seven times and they would blow, play their instruments.
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Same thing taking place. They're using this as a way to remember how
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God brought them out of Egypt because if you remember the Feast of Booths is that they would gather together.
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All the men would gather together. They would build booths. They'd have palm leaves on top of it.
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These booths would be in the roads. It would be on top of houses and the men would sleep in them as a way to remember when the
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Israelites were in the wilderness. So now that they have crossed over the Jordan, now they have added something to where they pour out the living water on the altar of sacrifice as a way of remembering they're leaving
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Jordan. Also, it was also a way for them to ask
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God to bless them with rain for the next harvest. I don't know about you but this seems kind of pagan to me, this ritual that they have come up with.
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Instead of sacrificing an animal to the rain god, supposedly, we see this in culted religions, the pagan religions.
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They would pour out the water from the Gion Spring and the
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Pool of Siloam on the altar of sacrifice and ask
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God because before they're doing this to bless them with rain. For the harvest.
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This day, the seventh day, was called the Great Day of the Feast. Now with that background, with that background, let's look back at the verses.
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Verses 37 and 39. Now again, have that in mind of what's taking place here.
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Now at the last day of the Great Day of the Feast, remember you got these priests walking around at seven times pouring out the water on the sacrifice.
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Jesus stood and he 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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But this he spoke of the spirit whom those who believe in him were going to receive, for the spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.
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Now we're not going to go too deep into this by way of interpretation today, because my plan is to pick back up on this verse and focus on, well these three verses, and focus on them next week.
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For today, I just want us to see that with everything that's going on, the plot for his arrest, the prophecy of his return to the
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Father, the mocking of this prophecy, Jesus gives them an invitation.
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I'm reminded here of Spurgeon when he was asked about who to preach to.
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He said, well, if the elect had an E on their back, I'd go around and raise up shirts to see who to preach to.
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We get this a lot from people outside of the reformed circle.
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Well, if God is already predetermined and chosen, why do we have to witness?
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And when they say that to me, like they really mess up, because I always witness to people.
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For the last 13 years, I've stood on street corners and looking like a fool preaching
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Christ crucified for the Jew first and also to the Greek. Jesus gives us the example right here.
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Believe me, Jesus knew who were his, and yet we see him give an invitation.
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You don't have to know who to preach to. You just need to preach.
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You need to preach Christ. The gospel. We don't have to know anything.
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We don't even have to see the fruit this side of heaven. Some water, I mean, some plant, some water,
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God gives the growth. We are to be faithful, right? Especially reformed people most.
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We have this truth of God has given. He's revealed it to us, and we can be sometimes like the
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Jews trying to keep it to ourselves. Oh, shame on us.
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Evangelism is a command the same as love. Jesus gives an opportunity for those that are there to come and believe in him, and he does so by pointing to what's going on at the feast.
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He's using what's going on around him as a way to gather their attention to him and the truth that's about to be told.
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Jesus is telling them, as well as you and I, listen, that he is the fountain by which we must drink.
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There is no other fountain. There is no other fountain. He is the fountain.
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In the same way that eating of his flesh and drinking his blood was believing in him, so too drinking the water that comes from him is believing in him.
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When he says, come to me and drink, he is saying, believe me. Believe in me.
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Trust me. Put your faith in me. Pestua, right?
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Look to me. Come to me. Eat of me. Drink of me. All these things are just speaking about belief, about trusting.
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Believing in Jesus is how one receives the Holy Spirit.
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Let's go to chapter 4. Chapter 4, we will read verses 7 through 14.
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This happened to do with the Samaritan woman.
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A Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For his disciples had gone on, had gone away into the city to buy food.
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Therefore, the Samaritan woman said to him, how do you being a Jew ask for me, ask for a drink for me being a
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Samaritan woman? Remember as we walk through this, I said that Jews were not allowed to talk to women in public.
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They couldn't talk to their wives. They couldn't talk to their kids, much less a Samaritan. So she's blown away that a religious
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Jew, imagine he's dressing up as a Samaritan. He's dressed in his garments, he's asking for water. For the
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Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. So they couldn't talk to their wives. They couldn't talk to their kids.
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They especially couldn't talk to a Samaritan. And especially being a Samaritan woman. So she was blown away.
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Verse 10. Jesus answered and said to her, if you knew the gift of God, what's the gift of God?
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Eternal life, right? For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.
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If you knew the gift of God and who it is that says to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.
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She said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw with in the well as deep.
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Where then do you get this living water? Are you greater than our father
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Jacob who gave us this well and who drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?
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Listen, Jesus answered her and said, everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again.
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But whoever drinks of the water that I will give to give him will never thirst ever.
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But the water that I will give to him will become in him a well springing up to eternal life.
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Go to Galatians chapter three. Now, excuse me. Go back to our text real quick.
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Verse 38 and 39 of our text. He who believes in me, as the scripture says, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.
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How do you get the rivers of living water? You believe, right? Look right here. But he was but this he spoke about the
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Holy Spirit, whom those who believe in him were going to receive.
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Now go to Galatians chapter three. Look at verses one and two. Galatians three verses one and two.
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Paul says to them who have fallen for a different gospel. Oh, foolish
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Galatians, who bewitched you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly betrayed as crucified.
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This is the only thing I want to learn from you. Did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by hearing in faith?
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This is a rhetorical question. How do you receive the spirit? By hearing in faith.
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By hearing in faith. Ephesians two verse eight.
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For by grace you have been saved. Through faith and this is not of your own self.
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It is the gift of God. So what is the this that is not of yourself? It's faith. Faith.
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You do not conjure up faith within yourself. The spirit gives life.
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The spirit comes at belief. Regeneration precedes faith. Regeneration is the new birth.
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Regeneration is signified by water. I love that catechism we read earlier.
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Only if I can remember to go and read these things ahead, I can connect. But since I don't, God connects it for me, right?
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Hallelujah. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 36.
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Just a few more minutes. Ezekiel 36. Look at verse 25. God speaking, then
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I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and from all your idols.
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That's regeneration. Moreover, I will give you a new heart.
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This is faith. The old heart was self -righteousness.
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I basically think I'm going to remove your self -righteousness and give you trust in me.
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That's what this is telling us. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit within you.
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And I will remove the heart of stone, which is self -righteousness, from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
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This is the faith aspect, the trusting in him. I will put my spirit.
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Whose spirit is he going to put in us? His spirit. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues.
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And I will be merciful and you will be careful to do my judgments. I want you to notice here from this text, the order salutis.
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Regeneration, faith, Holy Spirit. Regeneration, faith,
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Holy Spirit. Now go to the Gospel of John chapter 3. Read a little quick story of Nicodemus verses 1 through 5.
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John chapter 3 verses 1 through 5. Again, Nicodemus was a man coming to him because of signs.
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Listen to what he says. Remember, Jesus doesn't receive that kind of belief. Therefore, I mean now there was a man of the
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Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night.
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And I pointed out as I preached through this, remember that list I said that the Jews had to perform in a day?
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All their duties ended at sunset, the beginning of a new day.
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The Jewish day starts at night. It was evening first, then morning the first day, evening first, then morning the second day, so on and so forth.
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So the new day began for them at sundown. At sundown, all the religious works in the temples and the synagogues were over.
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Nicodemus was free now to talk to Jesus. This is why he comes to him by night. A lot of people say that he's sneaking around from other people, trying not to be seen.
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History and the text just doesn't teach that. All right, sorry about that, rabbit. All right, this man came to Jesus by night and said to him,
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Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
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That's superficial belief. Jesus answered and said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see, this is with your eyes, the kingdom of God.
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Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
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Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
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Jesus here is referencing Ezekiel chapter 36, beginning in verse 25, the new birth.
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Regeneration first, then faith, then the Holy Spirit.
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When we are born again, we are given faith to believe, and through that faith, we receive the
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Holy Spirit. When Jesus is, in our text, is calling them to drink from him, he is calling them to be born again.
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Your first birth, your natural Jewish descent, you being a child of Abraham, and the new covenant means nothing.
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Something greater than Abraham is here. Something greater than Solomon is here.
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Something greater than the temple is here. Jesus gives his invitation to them to one day be where he is, and in order to be with him on that day, you too must believe.
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Believe that he is the Christ, that he died for our sins, and that he rose again on the third day, and he is with the
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Father. All those that believe will receive the
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Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee of our salvation, and we'll pick back up on that next week.
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The question is, that's closing, do you believe? Do you believe?
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Do you have the Spirit of God? Do you have it?
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Is it in you? Are you indwelt with it? Have you drunk from the fountain by which the living water comes from?
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If you have not, why not? All other water, this water leaves me thirsty.
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Holy in Christ am I satisfied. I am available to anyone who wants to talk.
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Your leadership is available. If you have any questions after the service, please come and talk with us.
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Let's pray. Oh God, Lord of heaven, earth, and all that is in between, all that is in them,
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Lord, you are the creator of all things. You are in control of all things.
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We are living in your history, your story. Lord, we are but beggars begging you to be with us, to lead us, and to guide us.
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Help us as pilgrims pass through from here to there to be with you,
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Christ. Lord, we just ask that you will help us in this journey.
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We're not asking you to move away the rocky path. We are asking you to comfort us as we walk through the trials of life.
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Help us not to be the one who gives the intellectual head nod, the one that your seed, the gospel seed that fell on good soil, that produces fruit, some 30, some 60, and some 100.
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Lord, put a heart for the lost within the reformed community. Lord, I pray that if there's anyone here that doesn't know you, that this day that you would use your word to grant to them regeneration, faith, and the
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Holy Spirit. Lord, those here, including myself, that know you, that you will use this in conforming us to the image of your son.
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Lord, I just pray right now as we prepare ourselves to partake in the supper. Lord, if there be any sin in us, that you will reveal it to us, to give us an opportunity to confess and to repent.
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And that in this supper, Lord, we believe that this is a means of grace by which, too, you are using to grow us, to conform us to the image of your beloved son.
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We pray, Lord, that you will continue to do that this day. Christ's name, amen.