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Read of that event.
So let's turn to Matthew 21 and Jason will read us 1 through 13.
This is Jesus coming into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday the
beginning week of his Passion Week of course and he is showing himself as the promised son of
David and he would be enthroned but the course of that
movement to the throne would go through the cross of course that week death
burial resurrection then ascension to that throne in heaven where he serves as Lord of Lords and King of
Kings and so Palm Sunday the glorious entrance of our Lord.
The son of David.
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and
came to Bethphage to the Mount of Olives then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them go into
the village in front of you and immediately you will find a donkey tie and a colt with her.
Untie them and bring them to me if anyone says anything to you you shall say the Lord needs them
and he will send them at once.
This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Prophet saying say to the daughter of Zion behold your
king is coming to you humble and mounted on a donkey on a colt the foal of a beast of
burden.
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.
They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks and he sat on them.
Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the ground and others cut branches from the trees and spread them
on the road.
And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting Hosanna to the son of David.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest.
And when he entered Jerusalem the whole city was stirred up saying who is this.
And the crowd said this is the Prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.
And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple.
And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.
He said to them it is written my house shall be called a house of prayer but you make it a den
of robbers.
Let's pray
Heavenly Father we thank you for this passage and in this passage we're
reminded of the triumphal entry of Christ.
And yet it was so quickly after this that he was abandoned and that he was
crucified.
And Lord this time of year we remember his death his burial his resurrection and
Lord we rejoice that it is because of Jesus Christ that we have life.
It is because of his work on the cross.
Lord we thank you for the salvation that is found in Christ Jesus.
We thank you that you have granted to us repentance that leads to saving faith.
Lord we thank you for the work of salvation that you have accomplished in our lives.
And we pray Lord that we would understand these truths more that we would understand what it took for
Jesus Christ to condescend and enter into history to enter into
creation and his great humiliation at the hands of sinful men as he was crucified on the cross.
But Lord wait may we remember his exaltation.
That he has a name that is above every name.
And Lord for that we worship you.
So Lord help us now to listen to the words of the scriptures as they are proclaimed.
We pray Lord that the Spirit would teach us what they say.
That the Spirit would help apply these truths to our lives so that we might live for your glory and
your honor for Lord you are worthy of all of these.
Thank you Lord in Jesus name.
Amen.
Well let's turn in our Bibles again to John chapter 7 as we work through this passage where
we have Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.
We've been in John's gospel almost a year.
Amazing a few more weeks and it'll be a year.
And when we began our study of this fourth gospel we drew attention to the fact that that
John the Apostle sets forth Jesus portrays Jesus to his readers in a
way that's quite distinct from Matthew Mark and Luke the synoptic Gospels.
John's gospel is unique for where they set forth the person of Jesus
largely from the experience and perspective and eyewitness account of the Apostles
themselves.
John's gospel is quite different it's more of an revelation of the inner life of the Lord Jesus
himself.
And so we have a more intimate as it were revelation of Christ for us
in his eternal divine nature as well as his temporal human nature.
And certainly we continue to see that in the passage before us today in John chapter 7
this emphasis of John's gospel reveals Jesus Christ in quite a remarkable manner.
And as we continue to read and reflect and consider on these things
it can be quite transformative for us or one matter that we've tried to
emphasize to our study.
It's it's really through our knowledge and our relationship and
I know that that word is kind of bandied about quite readily.
But it's through our our knowledge and relationship with the person of Jesus Christ that we experience
transformation in our own lives.
It's not just coming to understand what he taught and then apply that in our lives as
beneficial as that certainly is but rather it's coming to know Jesus Christ himself.
For in him is life and that life is mediated to us through his word and through
the Holy Spirit.
And so in him is life and he is the light of men.
And so we would say that if your spiritual life seems to be rather stilted or stifled
seek to know the Lord Jesus with great desire and effort seek him and ask
God to reveal him to you more clearly and fully.
For again and knowing him every spiritual blessing may be discovered and experienced
in him are the blessings enjoyed by his kingdom citizens including a life of joy and
peace freedom from fear a sound mind a life of righteousness
and most importantly fellowship with God through Jesus Christ.
It's the person of Jesus Christ that we desire to hold up before ourselves.
I was reading some of the words of a classic book written by Isaac Ambrose entitled
looking unto Jesus.
And he wrote of the special duty of ministers pastors to set forth this theme of the person of
Christ.
And I was exhorted myself as I read it and encouraged and it pressed upon me
in our church our responsibility to hold forth the person of Jesus Christ.
Ministers ought in duty more abundantly to preach Jesus Christ.
Dr. Sims is clear that the special office of the ministry of Christ is to lay open
Christ to open up the tapestry and to unfold the hidden mysteries of Christ.
And therefore he exhorts that we should labor to be always speaking somewhat about Christ or tending
that way.
When we speak of the law let it drive us to Christ.
When a moral duties let them teach us to walk worthy of Christ.
Christ or somewhat tending to Christ should be our theme and mark to aim at.
And I am feelingly say I may feelingly say it is the sweetest subject that was ever preached
on.
Is it not as an ointment poured forth whose smell is so fragrant and whose savor is so sweet
that therefore all the virgins love him.
That's an allegorical use of the song of Solomon song of Solomon chapter 1 verse 3.
Actually is it not comprehensive of all the glory beauty excellency weather of things
in heaven or things on earth.
Is it not a mystery sweet and deep.
Is it a worthy study to make farther and farther discovery of this blessed mystery.
And it were to be wished that all the ministers of Christ would spend themselves in the spelling and reading and the
understanding of it if there be any duty on earth resembling the duty of the saints in heaven.
I dare say this is it Jesus Christ the person of Jesus Christ.
And that's what we have wonderfully displayed forth in John's gospel elsewhere to.
Of course entire Bible is a disclosure of Jesus Christ but it is in a wonderful
and rather unique way in John's gospel.
Now in our study of this seventh chapter of the gospel of John we've considered our Lord Jesus having
gone up to Jerusalem from Galilee during the annual feast of the tabernacles or sometimes called the
feast of booths.
Although all of Jerusalem was anticipating saying Jesus they were all looking for him.
For all Jewish males were compelled to attend that feast under the law of Moses.
Nevertheless Jesus had come up secretly and actually in the middle of the feast seven -day feast he came up
probably on the third or fourth day.
Jesus did not want to draw attention or notoriety to himself but rather he desired to teach the Word of God
to the people that they would consider the message of the kingdom of God for which he
for which they had so great a need.
And so last Lord's Day we gave attention to Jesus coming forward in the temple to teach the people
regarding their need for spiritual life that only he could bring to them.
And the people particularly the Jewish leaders of the people were quite amazed at the content and the manner
of his teaching.
They asked him how does this man no letters having never studied
how can this man be so articulate.
How can this man know so much about the truth of God and his word when he hasn't
had formal study.
And Jesus responded by telling them that his doctrine that is the content of his teaching
had been given to him by the one who had sent him.
In other words God his father had taught him his doctrine and that he was then proclaiming
this doctrine to the people there in Jerusalem.
No doubt that with the wonderment of the people there was also puzzlement.
They were asking themselves who is this man.
And how do we know what he is saying is truth.
They were asking themselves that and Jesus responded to them saying if anyone wills to
do his will he shall know concerning the doctrine whether it's from God or whether I
speak on my own authority.
And so there's one way which we can be assured we can know and understand the truth
and recognize it when we hear it.
This was the key for their identifying spiritual truth and it remains the key for the people of God today.
The person who truly desires to do the will of God from the heart will receive assurance that he has
heard the truth.
When it's proclaimed to him he'll recognize it.
God himself will affirm it and confirm it to his soul as he hears the very
Word of God.
And coming to recognize and to know the truth of God through the preaching of the Word of God was one of the
evidences that convinced the Apostle Paul that the Christians at the church at Thessalonica were numbered among the
elect of God.
He knew they were chosen of God unto salvation in the manner that they received his
preaching as the very Word of God.
And so Paul wrote to that church these words.
We give thanks to God always.
God was responsible for their salvation.
We thank God always for you all making mention of you in our prayers remembering without
ceasing your work of faith labor of love patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of
God and Father knowing beloved brethren your election by God.
Paul knew that they were numbered among the elect those who would receive salvation.
And then in verse 5 he gives the reason an explanatory clause
for our gospel did not come to you in word only but also in power and in the Holy
Spirit and in much assurance as you know what kind of men we were among you for
your sake.
And then a little farther on he wrote to them.
We also thank God constantly for this that when you receive the Word of God which you heard from us you
accepted it not as the Word of men but as it as what it really is the Word of
God which is at work in you believers.
And so that's one of the clearest evidences that a person is actually one of the elect
one that God has purposed to save through Jesus Christ when they hear the teaching or preaching of the
scriptures.
And it's being taught and preached rightly the Holy Spirit of God affirms to that soul that's true.
That's not just the words of a man I'm hearing I'm hearing God talk to me to this through these words.
It's the Word of God and I believe it's so.
And that itself is an evidence of the grace of God at work.
Now our Lord then gave another way in which he could be identified as legitimate as he
taught them.
We read in verse 18.
He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory.
But he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true and no unrighteousness is in him.
Jesus Christ never sought glory for himself but rather he sought the glory for
his father the one who had sent him.
That's why he came up secretly to the feast and not publicly as his brothers wanted him to do from
Galilee.
He did not seek notoriety for himself.
He wanted to exalt his father.
And so he came up secretly.
And all of a sudden the people find him in the temple teaching the Word of God and the
Lord Jesus indicates that the true man of God or a true church of God rather will desire
foremost to glorify God and to glorify his son whom he has sent.
Any man who thinks to bring glory to himself is not to be a trusted man.
His words will be errant and they will be corrupt.
At some point you can mark it down.
That's a truism.
I was reminded and I've indicated this before in previous notes of the
Puritan pastor Thomas Brooks who ministered in London in the 1600s.
And he wrote a classic book.
It's available online or you can purchase it Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices.
And he wrote in this book.
Now the best way to deliver poor souls from being deluded and destroyed by these messengers of Satan
is to display them in their true colors so that being known poor souls may shun them and
flee from them as from hell itself.
And then Thomas Brooks went on to identify or set forth seven identifying
marks of false teachers that he derived from various passages of scripture.
And again I thought it would be helpful for us just to set them out before us in our notes once
again.
And so on the top of page three of your notes we have these seven qualities if I can use that
word of false teachers.
The first distinguishing mark is that they are men pleasers.
They preach more to please the ear than to profit the heart.
They want to be received.
They want to be heard and they want to be recognized.
The second distinguishing mark of false teachers is that they are notable for casting dirt scorn and
reproach upon the person names and credits of Christ's most faithful ambassadors.
In order to build themselves a following they destroy others.
Third the third distinguishing mark of false teachers is that they spew out the devices and
visions of their own heads and hearts.
And he quotes Jeremiah 23.
The prophets prophesy lies in my name.
I have not sent them commanded them nor spoken to them.
They prophesy to you a false vision divination a worthless thing and the deceit of their
heart and not from the mouth of the Lord.
A fourth distinguishing mark of false teachers is that they easily pass over the great and mighty things
of both the law and the gospel and dwell mostly upon those things that are of the least importance and
concern to the souls of men.
They know what what people generally in the cues like to hear and
delight to hear.
And they actually will you know pattern or shape their messages to that
kind of responsive ear or or heart.
The fifth distinguishing mark of all teachers is that they cleverly disguise their dangerous principles and soul
deceiving notions with very attractive speeches and golden expressions.
They're very winsome and they're very persuasive in their speech.
The sixth distinguishing mark of false teachers is that they strive more earnestly to win men over to their
opinions then to improve their behavior.
They're seeking a following and they want to swell their ranks.
And then the seventh distinguishing mark of false teachers is they exploit their followers through covetousness.
And as Brooks wrote they eye your goods more than your good.
And so those are distinguishing marks of false teachers.
Now after our Lord affirmed the manner in which the truth of his teaching may be validated he confronted the Jewish
leaders before the gathered crowd regarding their designs and their attempts to murder him.
That's what we have in verse 19 of our passage.
The people for the most part were uninformed of the evil intentions of the Jewish leaders
and so they responded.
In verse 20 the people answered and said you have a demon who is seeking to kill you.
He made these charges openly of course referring to only some in the crowd.
But the crowd reacted you've got a demon who's trying to kill you you know you're
delusional.
And then Jesus reasoned with them why their charges against him were illegitimate.
And so he concluded by saying to them in verse 24 do not judge according to appearance but judge with
righteous judgment.
And that brings us now to verse 25 and following.
And we want to consider the instruction and teaching of
verses 25 to 31 in the time we have this morning.
So let's read this.
Now some of them from Jerusalem said is this not he whom they seek to kill.
But look he speaks boldly and they say nothing to him.
Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ.
However we know where this man is from but when the Christ comes no one knows where he is from.
Then Jesus cried out as he taught in the temple saying you both know me and you know where I am
from and I have not come of myself.
But he who sent me is true whom you do not know but I know him for I am
from him and he sent me.
Therefore they sought to take him but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come
and many of the people believed in him and said when the Christ comes will he do more signs than
these which this man has done.
There is a change of emphasis with verses 25 and following in the verses
before the authority of Jesus was the primary issue but that shifts now with
verse 25.
Now the identity of Jesus is the focus and John introduced for
us if we consider this as a as a narrative account as we try to examine the narrative in the way that
John tells his story John actually introduces a new character or a new voice
in the discourse.
Before verse 25 there were the Jews and in John's gospel the Jews
referred to the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem who were hostile to Jesus.
A second voice was the people or sometimes described as the crowd which would have
been at Jerusalem and these would have included many Jewish pilgrims from all over the world.
The crowd or the people.
But now in verse 25 we read of a third group and they're really set forth as a third character
who has a different viewpoint a different perspective of things and they are described by John as
some of the people of Jerusalem.
These people should probably be understood as local residents of Jerusalem not the Jewish pilgrims
that have come from other lands.
Each of these three groups of people seem to serve a different purpose in the narrative
and this was pointed out by Edward Klink.
He is a contemporary commentator of John's gospel and it's quite good the commentary by the
way and he wrote these words.
It is worth asking why the narrator would distinguish this group from the crowd in general some of the people
in Jerusalem.
If the Jews first verbal exchange verses 14 through 19 present to the reader the
theological issues at stake and the crowd.
The second verbal exchange verses 20 through 24 presents to the reader the faith issues at
stake.
Then the people or some of the people at Jerusalem.
The third verbal exchange which is in our passage verses 25 through 29 present the political
issues at stake.
The Jerusalemites did not initiate the challenge to Jesus but they clearly knew about and understood it
as their statement makes clear the political issue at stake is one that had already been revealed to the reader
but it's mentioned here presses it again into the scene at hand.
The focus on this man serves to introduce the theme of this section of this pericope.
In other words this narrative unit which is the entire chapter 7 of the feast at
tabernacles.
Now as we look over these verses verses 25 to 31 we can propose an outline
to help us in our consideration these verses.
First we have the confusion of Jesus's true identity.
Secondly we have the confession of Jesus's true identity.
He declares who he is.
Thirdly we have the collusion of Jesus's enemies.
We hear a lot about collusion these days.
Well there was collusion among Jesus's enemies.
And then fourth we have a concession of many people.
Many people there at Jerusalem believed on him because of the signs he had done.
So let's work through these verses.
First the confusion over Jesus's true identity verses 25
to 27 again now some of them from Jerusalem said is this not he whom they seek to
kill.
However we know where this man is from and when the Christ comes no one knows where he is
from.
We'd read a few verses earlier that the people had accused Jesus for being wholly deluded
even having a demon when he charged that there were those seeking to kill him.
That's what we read in verse 20.
And now with verses 25 to 27 we read that some of them in Jerusalem asked
themselves is not is he not the one the Jewish leaders were trying to kill.
And so we see that there was confusion and difference of opinion of who Jesus was and how the
Jewish leadership regarded him.
The Jews had been less than aggressive in their efforts to kill Jesus largely due to the fear of the
populace who would not at this time stand for their treachery.
Give them a few days and they will.
Of course two matters brought puzzlement to these people.
First if Jesus was the man that they were trying to kill how does one explain that he's so bold
preaching and the temple of Jerusalem.
And secondly if the Jewish leaders are not forthright in their efforts to kill him perhaps they've come to believe
it's true concerning him that he is the promised Messiah.
And so you see there's confusion and disagreement here among the people of the city.
And by the way that's what happens when men of God or churches don't take firm stands
on issues not only for issues but against issues.
It results in confusion and disagreement a lack of clarity and understanding on the
part of the people.
One wrote various opinions are ventilated in the crowd and there's a good deal of talking at cross -purposes.
Some might dismiss as madness his charge and an attempt was being made on his life.
Others knew that the charge was not baseless but if his life was indeed being
sought that made his boldness the more remarkable.
And not only his boldness but also the slowness of the authorities to arrest him or even prevent him
from speaking as he did in public.
Why were they so reluctant to intervene.
Perhaps said some.
Since his last visit to Jerusalem the authorities had received evidence which proved he really was the
Messiah.
And so you can see how perhaps this dynamic taking place there among the people is putting
pressure on the religious authority Jewish authorities.
We better take action here very quick or we're going to lose them now.
Their confusion was due to their false assumptions regarding Jesus even though the miracles he
performed in the authoritative profound teaching he promoted gave evidence he was the Messiah.
When they applied the test of what they knew to be true of the coming Messiah.
They dismissed him as an illegitimate claimant to Messiahship and so we read in
verse 27.
However we know where this man is from but when the Christ comes no one knows where he's from.
They assume something to be absolutely true with regard to their understanding of the Messiah and Jesus did not
seem to fit that scenario and so they were not embracing him.
This often happens by the way it's a dynamic that takes place in people's lives.
They assume something is true with regard to the Bible when actually it's not.
And they draw conclusions from that.
And they reject the truth because they assume something that's true what it's not.
And these people were confused because they assume something that was not necessarily true.
The fact is there were different beliefs about the Messiah among the Jewish people from where he would
originate.
Some Jews believe the Messiah would be a heavenly figure.
One like the Son of Man particularly those Jews living down at Qumran by the Dead Sea.
One like the Son of Man was coming from the skies who would renovate the earth and overthrow the existing
armies.
He was a heavenly figure coming but Jesus didn't fit that mold.
Others believe that he would remain obscure and hidden until the day when he would be manifested to Israel.
No one would know the Messiah until the day he stood forward to deliver Israel.
But here Jesus was standing in the temple teaching.
The people did not conform to this belief and others were quite convinced that the Messiah would be
born in Bethlehem.
Micah 5 2 declares a prophecy.
Everybody knew that or most of the people knew that which was in the southwest of Jerusalem about seven miles.
But again that shouldn't be south west should be southeast.
I believe if I recall my geography right.
But again or so they thought Jesus was from Galilee and therefore he could not be the promised Messiah as they
were presently thinking.
Everyone knew from where he had come that is Galilee.
Or so they thought.
We of course have more information than they we've got Matthew 1 and 2 and Luke 1 and 2.
We know he was born in Bethlehem as a descendant of David.
By the way verse 27 is one of a number of instances in John's gospel
of irony.
In fact commentators of John's gospel refer to it as Johannine irony.
As one wrote this is an instance of Johannine irony.
They were thinking of Jesus as Galilee and home to them he was Jesus of Nazareth but
the evangelist that would be.
John has in mind a profounder answer to the question whence or from where Jesus
came.
An answer which comes to expression in Jesus's next words.
He doesn't argue he came from Bethlehem.
He argues that he came from God the Father.
That's the point.
And then Donald Carson who seems perhaps to have the best commentary available on John's
gospel in English explain the matter more fully.
And I'm going to pass over some of these parenthetic statements for clarity.
No sooner has the suggestion been ventilated that it is dismissed.
The reason lies in the first of three popularly held notions of what the Messiah would be like that
are mentioned in this chapter that Jerusalemites are convinced that they know where this man is
When the Christ comes no one will know where he is from.
This cannot mean that they think the biblical revelation provides no hint of Messiah's ultimate origins.
These Jerusalemites are not like those who thought in apocalyptic terms and assume the Messiah would be
hidden from before the creation until the moment of his self -disclosure.
Rather the Jerusalemites hold the view attested elsewhere that the Messiah would be
born of flesh and blood and yet would be wholly unknown until he appeared to affect Israel's redemption.
And then he points out the same perspective is found in the synoptic Gospels.
With such expectations there could be none of this.
Perhaps he is perhaps he isn't speculation as far as they were concerned they know where Jesus
came from.
He sprang from Nazareth and his family home was now in Capernaum.
And he had been engaged in itinerant ministry for some time.
This of course is another instance of the celebrated Johannine irony.
The Jerusalemites are not as informed of Jesus's true origins as they think
again false assumptions limited understanding and perspective.
And it resulted in wrong conclusions.
And so here we see that some were quite convinced that they understood the teaching of the Holy Scriptures and they knew that
Jesus did not conform to them.
In reality they did not understand fully the Scriptures and they certainly didn't understand the person of
Jesus Christ.
And in the same way folks we can potentially be so convinced that we have a clear
understanding of a matter.
But in reality there are gaps in our thinking and misapprehensions of what the Lord is doing in
people's lives.
The fact is we're very finite and we're very subjective and we can easily be mistaken.
And our attitudes and oftentimes our values will
perversely affect our thinking.
And yet we can be so convinced we're right and we understand.
We have to be very humble and very careful in our understanding of spiritual matters.
Well let's consider now the confession of Jesus's true identity in verses 28 and 29.
Then Jesus cried out as he taught in the temple saying you both know me and you know where I am from
and I have not come of myself.
But he who sent me is true whom you do not know but I know him for I am from him and he
sent me.
So although these Jews were talking about the identity of Jesus with one another perhaps in smaller groups
it's clear that Jesus knew what they were thinking and what they were saying to one another.
Perhaps he overheard them or perhaps the Holy Spirit had informed him as to their speech and thoughts.
Verse 28 records that Jesus cried out.
This is a rather unique expression.
Jesus cried out whenever this is found in John's gospel it always
precedes an important saying Jesus cried out.
What he cried out is pretty important.
Jesus the response to the Jerusalemites gives the impression of a prophet.
But further John states that Jesus had cried out in the temple.
Jesus cried out and he was in the temple when he did so again carries the idea of a prophet
making a pronouncement.
And it also conveys to us as readers of the gospel the importance of Jesus's statement
here in this verse.
Now this crying out of Jesus was somewhat of a departure from Jesus's regular
way of teaching and preaching.
And J .C. Ryle pointed this out.
This is a remarkable expression.
In other words Jesus cried out.
We find our Lord departing from his usual practice when we read that he cried or raised his voice to
a high pitch.
Generally speaking the words in St. Matthew apply strictly quoted from Isaiah.
He shall not strive or cry neither shall any man hear his voice in the street.
Yet we see there were occasions when he did see it right to cry aloud and lift up his voice.
And this is one the perverse ignorance of the Jews their persistence
and blindness to all the evidence and the great opportunity afforded by the crowds around him in the temple courts
were probably reasons why he cried.
But again in a narrative sense the Holy Spirit moved John to record it this
way in order to give emphasis to give weight to what he declares about himself.
What was Jesus saying when he cried out.
Essentially he was rebuking them for their limited and errant understanding of his true nature and of his
identity within the context of the gospel account.
Here Jesus is again stating that he is the eternal Son of God.
Again a theme or idea that we find repeatedly in John's gospel he said you
both know me and you know where I'm from and I have not come of myself.
But he who sent me is true.
He acknowledged that they knew him in a measure and that as a man he came from Nazareth of Galilee.
But that was not the real issue is what Jesus was saying.
It was not important where he was from as a man but what was important was that God had
sent him that being God his father.
When Jesus said he who sent me is true he was saying that God the Father was real.
This is the issue at hand not who I am or where I came from but God the Father.
Who who sent me and on whose behalf I am speaking.
That's the issue at hand.
And then he made this declaration quite amazingly.
Him you do not know.
I'm speaking of the one who sent me.
And him you do not know but I know him for I am from him he sent me.
Quite an amazing declaration.
These Jews assumed they were the people of God.
They knew God and God knew them.
But Jesus told them they did not know God.
Here are the words of Robert Lenski a Lutheran commentator.
The fact that Jesus grew up in Nazareth in the home of Joseph and Mary reveals nothing about his true origin
and mission.
And the assumption of the citizens that it reveals everything only demonstrates their foolish ignorance.
And here are more words of Lenski describing what played out
on this occasion.
When Jesus testifies that he is from him he already declares his mission
namely that he is sent as the Messiah.
But he states this directly.
And he did commission me.
Now that's Lenski's translation of the Greek here in this verse this is an independent statement.
It forms part of an answer to the question whence and the English tend to use that word whence.
We don't use it anymore.
But whence means from where from where he came.
I am from him.
He did commission me.
In other words this God whom these citizens do not know Jesus knows so well for Jesus came from him
and that God did himself send and commission Jesus in the completest way.
The question whence Jesus is or from where he came is thus answered.
And at the same time these citizens are shown why they know nothing of Jesus's origin although they think
they know everything and why Jesus knows what is hidden from them.
The issue is squarely drawn on the one side a spurious deduction on the other
firsthand testimony to the fact on the one side vain and empty denial that Jesus is the
Christ and on the other the assured reality that he is indeed the Christ.
While it is brief this testimony of Jesus is most direct and to the point and at the
same time highly dramatic one of the clearest statements our Lord makes of his
deity God the Father sent him
and so Jesus identified God as father who sent me.
This expression he who sent me is one that is common to Jesus.
In fact here we are in John 7 and this is the 14th time in John's gospel.
Thus far Jesus referred directly to he that sent me
and that is the manner in which Jesus described God the Father he who sent me.
This expression is one of the major statements of scripture which distinguishes the persons of the Blessed
Holy Trinity from one another.
I've mentioned this before but we need to reinforce this
because I hear error all the time regarding the Blessed Holy Trinity and about the three
persons of the Trinity.
The biblical doctrine of the Trinity is a declaration that we are monotheists.
Now we believe in one God.
We're often accused of being polytheists.
Jehovah's Witnesses Muslims will accuse us of being polytheists that we believe in
three gods but this is wrong.
We believe in one God as our confession states forthrightly the Lord our God is but one
only living and true God.
We are monotheists and that's the first statement in article 2 of our confession
which is entitled God and the Holy Trinity.
But within that article the first words of the third paragraph are these in this divine and
infinite being singular being one God there are three subsistence.
The father the word or son is either called the Word of God or the Son of God and
Holy Spirit of one substance power and eternity each having the whole divine
essence and yet the essence undivided very precise
specific language.
It dates back to the early church councils.
And so here is the statement of the three persons of the Holy Trinity.
The Bible teaches that there is one God and he manifests himself in three persons father son
and Holy Spirit.
By the way this is an essential doctrine.
You cannot be a Christian unless you understand and believe the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
If you believe something other than the Holy Trinity the one part the three persons in the one one
God you are not trusting in the one true God.
That is you're not a Christian you don't have salvation.
The confession then speaks of how we're able to distinguish these three persons of the Holy Trinity one
God.
But these three persons in each is distinguishable in some ways from one another.
The father is of none neither begotten nor proceeding God.
The father is never described as being begotten.
The son is eternally begotten of the father.
He wasn't begotten of the father when he was born to the Virgin Mary he was eternally bought begot.
There was never a time when the son of God was not begotten of the father.
The Holy Spirit proceeding from the father and the son.
The Bible never says that Jesus proceeds in the same way the Holy Spirit proceeds.
The Bible never says the father proceeds.
But the Bible describes the Holy Spirit as proceeding from the father and the son
all infinite without beginning.
Therefore one God is not to be divided in nature and being but distinguished by several peculiar
relative properties and personal relations.
In other words the way these persons relate to one another which doctrine of the Trinity is the
foundation of all our communion with God and comfortable dependence upon him.
And so the language of our Lord in John 7 29 underscores this statement.
Jesus said he who sent me God.
The father is never described in the Holy Scriptures as having been sent by the Son or the Holy Spirit.
This distinguishes the person of the father from the persons of the Son and the Holy Spirit.
This is what our confession meant by the words that the persons of the Trinity are distinguished by several peculiar
In other words they relate to one another differently one to the other.
The father sends but has never sent.
The son is sent by the father.
The Holy Spirit is said to have been sent by the both the father and the son.
And so here we see therefore that their relative properties that is the manner that the three persons of the Holy
Trinity relate with one another reveals their distinction from one another even though the three
persons of the Holy Trinity is one God.
Holy Trinity is not an easy doctrine but it's one that you must conclude if you
believe the Holy Scriptures.
J .I. Packer described this doctrine of the Trinity in this way that basic assertion of this
doctrine is that the unity of one God is complex.
The three personal subsistences as they are called are co -equal and co -eternal centers of self
-awareness each being I in relation to two who are you.
The father can speak to the son I you each partaking of the full divine
essence the stuff of deity if we may dare to call it that along with the other two
they are not three roles played by one person.
That's modalism that's heresy.
T .D. Jakes is the modalist.
He's a heretic he's not a Christian although he's the most popular preacher in America.
T .D. Jakes.
Nor are there three gods in a cluster that's tritheism.
Three gods the one God he is also an equally they and they are always
together and always cooperating with the father initiating the son complying and the spirit
executing the will of both which is his will also this is the truth about God that's
revealed through the words and works of Jesus that undergirds the reality of salvation as the New Testament sets
forth.
There's just so much confusion and lack of clarity in people's thinking
and we go out into the world we talk about God you believe in God you believe in Jesus and people affirm oh yeah
but when you begin to ask them what it is they believe they don't have a clue as to what the Bible
teaches about the true God who are they believing in who are they trusting and then their life will probably
betray that they they really don't know God as Jesus declared these Jews didn't know
Robert Raymond who died just a couple years ago has a wonderful systematic theology and he stated the doctrine
of the Trinity perhaps more succinctly.
The three propositions or doctrines are essential to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and so here are the three
truths of the Trinity.
First there is but one living and true God eternally and immutably that is unchangeably
indivisible that's the doctrine of monotheism.
Secondly the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit are each fully and equally God that's the doctrine of three
persons sameness in divine essence and third the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit are each distinct
persons the doctrine of three persons distinctness in subsistence these three concepts
represent in capsule form the biblical doctrine of the Trinity.
Again this is foundational it's something that we should understand and embrace.
Now after Jesus declared that they did not know the Father he declared that he didn't know him.
Jesus said you both know me you know where I'm from and I've not come of myself but he who
sent me is true whom you do not know but I know him for I am from him and he
Matthew Henry wrote of these words they know whence he came.
Perhaps you know he came from Nazareth and where he had his birth perhaps.
But he will tell them what they what they knew not from whom he came.
That was the issue not from where he came but from whom he came that he did not come of
himself that is he did not run without sending nor come as a private person but with the public character
that he was sent of his father.
This is twice mentioned he has sent me and again he has sent me to say what I say and do what I do.
This he was himself well assured of and therefore knew that his father would bear him out.
And it is well for us that we are assured of it too that we may with holy confidence go to God by him.
This is foundational to our whole understanding of our relationship with God.
Well now we come to the conclusion or pardon me the collusion of Jesus' enemies.
Verse 30 we read of the people's desire to take him.
Therefore they sought to take him but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come.
It seemed there were now many more desirous of his death than just the Jewish leaders of Jerusalem.
Some of these in Jerusalem joined with those Jews here.
They must have included not only the Jewish leaders but numbers of those Jewish worshippers in the temple
who heard his assertions.
These assertions exasperated the Jews and they sought to seize or apprehend him.
He was claiming to be God sent by God the Father and he was claiming
exclusive knowledge of the Father.
You don't know him.
I know him because he sent me.
That will get a stir won't it.
In a crowd in a Jewish crowd in Jerusalem.
And so they sought to apprehend him but no one laid hold of him.
No one laid a hand on him because his hour had not come.
In other words God had decreed when and how the death of Jesus would take place.
His hour was set in the eternal decree of God and that hour had not yet arrived.
This idea of his hour is mentioned a few times in John's gospel.
It's here in John 7 and we'll also read it in John 8.
These were as Jesus spoke in the treasury as he taught the temple.
No one laid hands on him.
For his hour had not yet come.
But the time will arrive in this gospel that is our will have arrived John 13 1.
Now before the feast of the Passover when Jesus knew that his hour had come that he should
depart from this world to the Father.
Having loved his own who were in the world he loved them to the end.
But that hour was yet in the future again at least six months off in the future.
The feast of tabernacles is in the fall.
He was crucified at the Passover in the spring following winter.
The saint aroused varied reactions on account of it.
Therefore his enemy sought to arrest him.
But God is over all.
His purpose is worked out.
Men cannot interfere with it.
The time of Jesus's death was not yet in his enemies could not bring that time forward no matter how they might try.
Jesus wasn't anxious he wasn't fearful.
He knew that he would accomplish the work that God the Father sent him to do.
And in the God the Father's own time we too should
take comfort in this.
Shouldn't we that God has an hour for you and for me.
He decreed the day of your birth.
He decreed the day of your death.
And though man may invent all kinds of ways to supposedly prolong life it's only going to be prolonged to that
hour.
And then it comes to an end.
And this should give us therefore a sense of assurance and confidence.
And it should I hope take away fear of that event.
As the scriptures say that you and I should not as Christians should not be afraid of death.
If you're not a Christian you should be scared to death.
I mean it ought to you know terrify you.
But for Christians God has taken away the fear of death if we think rightly and understand rightly
Jesus.
That's one of the reasons he took upon our nature.
Therefore the children shared flesh and blood.
He Jesus himself likewise partook of the same things our body our nature human nature
that through death he might destroy the one that Satan who has the power of death that is a devil and
deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
We are able we don't.
We're not always successful in this but we are capable of not being afraid of death.
The fact is we need not fear what lies before us in this world for two reasons.
First it will only really get bad when our hour has come that is when God has
appointed whatever it is to take place and in the time that he's determined it will take place.
And until then we may be assured that the Lord will preserve us.
And secondly whenever that day does come it cannot and will not ultimately have any bearing
whatsoever of our spiritual and eternal well -being.
You and I as Christians are invincible in this respect.
As the writer to the Hebrew says we may boldly slay the Lord is my helper.
I will not fear what can man do to me.
There's a boldness and courage on the part of Christians if they're thinking rightly
Lord Jesus we're not going to read this passage because of the time but he foretold of the great calamities that were going to come upon
Judah and Jerusalem in AD 70.
But he said that in spite of all this he says not a hair of your head will perish.
That's a rhetorical statement saying that nothing ultimately is going to harm you.
You're secure.
Whatever comes is just a passage to the blessed promises of God in Christ.
And then lastly we have the concession of many people in verse 31 even as we read of the hostile and evil
intentions of the people of Jerusalem toward our Savior we read of this of others that were present
and many of the people believed in him and said when Christ comes will he do more signs.
And these which this man has done.
So there were those coming to believe on him even in the in the context of this great
hostility their faith does not seem to have been based on a great deal of substantive information.
But faith did characterize them.
They believed on him.
They were convinced that Jesus was the Christ by the many signs that he had wrought in their midst.
These believers suggest that God was doing both a work of redemption as well as a work of judgment among
the people.
And that's what Jesus is doing in history.
He's saving his people and he's judging his enemies.
He is the great winnower of the peoples of the earth separating his wheat from the chaff.
And yes there'll be a great separation on the last day.
But that separation is taking place now through the Word of God.
Jesus was separating the people as he was speaking to them and the Word of God as it's being taught to us this morning.
It's separating people isn't it.
You have believers.
Yeah that's true.
That's the Word of God.
I affirm that that's true.
I see that I read it.
You have others that this guy's mad.
You know this guy doesn't have a clue.
And he realized we live in the 21st century.
These people really believe this stuff.
You know that's their thought their attitude.
In fact sometimes they become angry when they learn what we.
You know we believe what we believe.
You know it angers them because they see us as errant and ignorant
while they themselves are advanced and educated.
This is how they view us.
They view us as deceived and deceiving people.
This is how they regard us.
And it's only going to get more.
So as course time unfolds but we trust that we
we believe the Lord has taught us these things.
The Holy Spirit has affirmed them.
And you could no more convince us otherwise.
And I don't.
I don't know even how to compare it.
You know we cannot be convinced otherwise because the Lord has sealed us with this
reality in this truth.
So let's just conclude with a few questions.
Is there anyone here who has yet to confess Christ openly to own him as your own Lord and
Savior.
And let me ask the question what are you waiting for.
You have far more evidence to substantiate everything that's claimed by us than did these people in Jerusalem who
believed on him.
You're believing family members have testified to you.
This church has testified the truth of Jesus to you.
These people believed and confess Christ with far less information and understanding that you have
presently again we read of them.
Many of the people believed in him said when Christ comes will he do more signs than this man has done.
Can you do any less than these people did.
But believe on him and stand forward.
Confess Christ to another.
Confess Christ to me.
I remember the first person I confessed Christ to
mrs. Oliver.
I don't remember her first name now but an older lady who was in the church praying
and I confessed myself as a Christian.
She broke down crying.
I was surprised you know.
But she rejoiced in it.
Tell somebody I'm a Christian.
Christ is my Savior my Lord.
And I confess him to you.
And I want you to know it and I want him to know it.
And Jesus has promised those who confess me before men.
I will confess before my father in heaven.
Stand forward.
Be baptized.
If you're a Christian why wouldn't you want to to align yourself with the people to
line yourself on the right side the winning side that God has promised through Jesus
You'll be blessed for doing so not only now but you'll be blessed eternally.
Let's pray father.
Thank you for your word and the clarity of revelation that
Jesus Christ gave of his identity and of who he is and and
the purpose for which he was sent.
We thank you our father for loving us for having sent your son.
And we thank you Lord Jesus for having been faithful to your calling and having redeemed us
from our sin.
We pray that you would help us our God to believe the truth of your word holy without reservation.
And give us courage and boldness to declare it Lord to this generation.
And we'll thank you and praise you father for this in Jesus name.