John 07(11–29)

Introduction

Last week we studied the opening verses of John 7, where the Lord’s half-brothers said to him that he ought to leave Galilee and go to Judea for the Feast of Tabernacles, so that his disciples will see the miracles he can do. Since the Lord’s half-brothers did not believe in him, they were really mocking him and challenging him to prove himself. They were basically saying to him: ‘Instead of hiding out in the sticks, go up to city and show yourself to the world!’

And in the Lord’s reply to his half-brothers, he said that the world cannot hate them, but it hates him. The world hates him because he testifies that what the world does is evil.

And last week we thought about why people don’t come to church. We tend to assume the reason they don’t come to church is because there’s something wrong with church and we need to change what we’re doing to make church more appealing to people. But the truth is that people don’t come to church because they hate the Lord Jesus. And people hate the Lord Jesus because he makes clear to them that they’re sinners who have done evil. And people don’t like to hear that about themselves.

And I said last week that the Lord’s coming into the world testifies that the world has done evil, because the reason he came down from heaven and was made one of us was in order to be our Saviour. And the world needs a Saviour because all of us are sinners who have done evil. And so, his incarnation testifies that we’re sinners who need a Saviour. But we don’t like being told that we’ve done evil. And so, the world hates him.

But to keep us from becoming despondent, we thought about what the Lord said back in verse 37 of chapter 6 about how all the people that the Father has given him will come to him. All the people, chosen by the Father from before the creation of the world, will come to the Lord Jesus. They will definitely come. And they will definitely come, because the Father enables them to come by his Spirit, who draws us to the Saviour.

But then, the Lord’s words about the world hating him also show us how corrupt we are by nature. Since all things came to be through the Lord Jesus, and since all of us have received our life from him, then we all ought to live our lives for him and for his glory. Out of gratitude for creating us and for giving us our life, we should honour and obey him in all we do and say. But instead of honouring him, we hate him. And so, the world has turned on its Maker and, in due course, we’ll read in John’s gospel how the world hated its Maker so much that they killed him. That’s how corrupt we are by nature. That’s how far we have fallen. And that’s the way we would all be and that’s the way we would remain if it were not for the overflowing goodness and love of God. The world hates the Lord Jesus, but God so loved the world that he gave the Lord Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our salvation so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. The world hates its Maker and it tried to destroy its Maker when they crucified him. But because of God’s super-abundant love for the world, he has overcome our hatred and our enmity and our wilful rebellion and he has created peace between us through the death of his Son. And he sends his Spirit into our lives to transform our hatred into love, so that instead of hating the Saviour, we love him; and instead of running from him, we run to him.

Those are some of the things we were thinking about last week. In the rest of chapter 7, John tells us what happened when the Lord went up to the Feast of Tabernacles. So, he didn’t go when his half-brothers told him to go. But he went up later by himself. And he didn’t go up to make a name for himself by performing some great miracle, which is what his half-brothers said he should do. No, he went secretly and not publicly. And when he did finally show himself to the people, it wasn’t to win a following for himself with an impressive miracle. Instead he taught the people.

Verses 11 to 13

But look how today’s passage begins. The Jews were watching for him. When John refers to the Jews, he often means the Jewish authorities. So, the Jewish authorities were watching for the Lord. They suspected that he might turn up in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. After all, back in chapter 5, it says the Lord went up to Jerusalem for another feast. So, perhaps he’ll turn up for this one. And if he turns up, this would be their chance to arrest him. So, the authorities are watching for him. They’re on the look-out to see if he will come. And they’re asking, ‘Where is he?’

And among the crowds — and when John refers to the crowds, he often means the ordinary people — among the crowds, there was widespread whispering. So, people had heard about the Lord Jesus and they were now talking about him. Some people were saying that he has a good man, while others were saying that he’s a deceiver. He deceives people. You can’t trust him.

And why were they whispering these things? John tells us in verse 13. No-one would speak about him publicly or openly for fear of the Jewish authorities. No one wanted to get into trouble with the religious authorities by saying the wrong thing.

And so, all these people have gathered in Jerusalem for the feast. And the authorities are looking for him so that they can arrest him. And the people are talking about him and they’re trying to decide whether he’s good or evil and whether they should believe in him or not. And the reason John has written this gospel is to convince people who aren’t sure what to think about him. He’s written his gospel to convince people that Jesus is the Christ and Son of God. He’s God the Father’s only begotten Son, who has come down from heaven as one of us to be the Christ. And the Christ is God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King who suffered and died on the cross as one of us to save us from our sins and to save us from all the misery our sins causes and to bring us into the presence of God where we’ll be perfectly holy and happy for ever and for ever. That’s why John has written this gospel. He wants everyone who reads these things to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, because whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ receives everlasting life.

And, of course, if someone asks you to convince them about the Saviour, then you should open up the pages of the Scriptures and show them what John or one of the other gospel writers or what the Apostle Paul or the Apostle Peter have said about the Lord Jesus. It’s by hearing about the Saviour that people will come to believe in the Saviour.

Verses 14 to 18

In verse 14 John tells us that half way through the feast, the Lord went up to the temple courts and began to teach. John doesn’t tell us what he said on this occasion. But he does tell us about the reaction of the Jews. And once again, John is probably referring here to the Jewish authorities. And he says about them that they were amazed. They marvelled because of him. And they wondered how did this man get such learning without having studied.

Now, I suppose it’s possible to read these words positively. It’s possible to read these words as if they’re saying: ‘This man has never been to college. He’s never been trained. But isn’t his message great anyway? Isn’t he a powerful preacher?’ It’s possible to read what they said in that positive way. However, given what we know about the religious authorities and how they hated the Lord, then it seems more likely that we should read their words in verse 15 as a complaint. It’s not so much, ‘Isn’t he great, even though he’s untrained’, but ‘Who gave him the right to stand up and teach in the temple when he’s never been to college? Who does he think he is?’ It’s as if one of the pupils in a classroom suddenly decided to stand at the front and lecture all his classmates! Everyone else would think: ‘Who does he think he is? Who gave him the right to teach us? He doesn’t know anything more than us.’ And so, I think we’re to take it that the people are complaining about the Lord Jesus in verse 15.

And the Lord answers them in verse 16 by making clear to them the source of his teaching. He said to them: ‘My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.’ And that’s an interesting way to put it. He says it’s his teaching. It’s his message. It’s his doctrine. But it comes from another. So, it’s his, but it’s not from him. It’s his message, but he got it from someone else.

And from whom did he get it? He got his teaching, according to verse 16, from the one who sent him. And he’s talking about God the Father, isn’t he? God the Father sent him into the world and he received his teaching from the Father.

And this one verse points us once again to the doctrine of the Trinity and to how the one God we worship is three persons, because there’s the Father who is God and there’s the Son who is God and there’s the Holy Spirit who is God. However, they are not three gods, because there’s only one God.

And as we’ve seen before, the Father is the source of the Son eternally, because the Father begets the Son eternally and the Son is eternally begotten from the Father. The Son is from the Father, who is the source. And the Son receives all that he is from the Father. In fact, he receives from the Father all that the Father is, so that the Son is a repetition of the Father. There’s no difference between them, except that one is the Father and the other is the Son. Apart from that one difference, they are the same.

And so, back in chapter 5 we learned that the Son received life in himself from the Father. And here in chapter 7 we learn that the Son received his teaching from the Father. What he knows and what he teaches is from the Father, because he himself is from the Father eternally. And the Father has sent him into the world as one of us to teach us the truth about God and about salvation.

And then, in verse 17, he tells us that the only ones who can accept his teaching are those who are already committed to doing God’s will. So, look at verse 17: ‘If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.’

In the classroom, there’s always one pupil at least who has decided that they don’t want to learn anything. They’d rather be outside, playing. Or they’d rather be at home, watching TV or playing video games. They’d rather be somewhere else, anywhere else, rather than in the classroom, listening to some teacher drone on. That’s the attitude they have: ‘This teacher has nothing to say to me.’ And so they don’t learn anything and they won’t accept anything the teacher says.

And something similar happens in Christianity. People decide that Christianity is nonsense and we’re foolish to believe in God. And if that’s the position people take, then they’re not going to accept any of the things the Lord Jesus says. They’re not going to listen to his teaching and they’re not going to believe any of it. If people have decided that Christianity is rubbish, then they’re not going to believe anything the Lord says.

However, people who come to church because they love God and want to do his will will regard the teaching of the Lord Jesus in an entirely different light. They’ll listen to his word with humble and believing hearts, ready to accept that this is indeed the word of God and it’s true. Whoever chooses to do God’s will — whoever is committed to knowing and doing God’s will — will recognise that the teaching of the Lord Jesus is true.

So, someone comes to church, but he has no desire to do God’s will. And everything we do here will all seem to him like nonsense and a waste of time. But others come to church and they want to do God’s will. And through the reading and preaching of his word, the Lord Jesus speaks to them and they receive his word as true. And so, whether a person listens to God’s word or not reveals what is in their heart. The person who loves God will accept his word. The person who hates God will not accept his word. And, of course, that’s why we must pray to the Lord to prepare the hearts of people. We must pray to the Lord to prepare the hearts of people so that they’re ready to pay attention to it whenever they hear it. We must pray to the Lord to soften their hearts. And God is able to prepare the hearts of people by his Spirit, who gives us a new heart to love the Lord and to listen to him.

And we all ought to listen to the Lord’s message and accept it, because the Lord wasn’t seeking glory for himself. Instead he was seeking his Father’s glory. I’m now looking at verse 18, where the Lord says that he who speaks on his own does so to gain honour for himself. So, a false teacher is not interested in teaching the truth. He’s only interested in preparing a message that will please the people so that they will praise him. But the Lord Jesus is the one who works for the honour of the one who sent him. In other words, when he was on the earth he worked for the honour of his Father in heaven by faithfully teaching the message the Father gave him to teach. He wasn’t trying to make himself popular with the people. He wasn’t trying to draw a big crowd to himself. All he wanted to do was to honour his Father in heaven by teaching the truth about God.

And that, in fact, is what every preacher should do. In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul says about true preachers that they have renounced secret and shameful ways and they don’t use deception and they don’t distort the word of God. Instead, Paul says, they set forth the truth of God plainly. And in this way, they commend themselves to every man’s conscience. That is to say, by setting forth the truth plainly, it will be clear to everyone who hears the preacher that he was not trying in any way to deceive them or to hide anything from them or to manipulate them. All he was trying to do was to set forth God’s word to them as plainly as possible. That’s what every preacher should do. And that’s what we should want from our preachers. We should want them to honour the Lord by teaching his word.

Verses 19 to 24

If the Lord wanted to become popular, he wouldn’t have said what he says next in verse 19. Look at verse 19. He said: ‘Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?’

Moses was regarded by the Jewish authorities as the great, if not the greatest, prophet. He was the one, the only one, who used to speak to God face to face. And as far as they were concerned, there was no one else like him.

But even though they regarded Moses as their greater teacher, none of them kept the laws which he gave them to keep. That’s the Lord’s point in verse 19. In fact, that’s his accusation. Moses gave you the law, but you’re not keeping the law! In what way are they not keeping the law? It’s by trying to kill him. So, they’re breaking the sixth commandment which not only forbids murder, but which also forbids everything that leads up to murder, including hatred. And they hate him and want to kill him.

The people respond by saying that he’s demon-possessed. In other words, you’re crazy! And they ask him, ‘Who is trying to kill you?’ And so, he reminds them of what happened when he went up to Jerusalem on a previous occasion. At that time, he healed the lame man by the pool. John records it for us in chapter 5. And because the Lord healed the man on the Sabbath Day, the Jewish authorities began to persecute the Lord. They wanted to kill him.

And the Lord goes on to show that their desire to kill him because of what he did on the Sabbath is wrong, because look at what they do on the Sabbath. What do they do on the Sabbath? Well, they’re prepared to circumcise newborn boys on the Sabbath. They taught that a boy must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth even if the eighth day was a Sabbath. Normally they had to rest from all kinds of work. However, as far as they were concerned, it was okay to circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. They believed that the law about circumcision superseded the law about Sabbath keeping. And the Lord’s point is that if they’re willing to do that on the Sabbath, then why are they angry with him for healing a man on the Sabbath? If circumcising a boy is a good thing to do on the Sabbath, then surely healing a man is also a good thing to do on the Sabbath?

And he warns them in verse 24 that they need to make a right judgment about such things. So, they need to think clearly and deeply about these things in order to make a right judgment about him. Instead of finding reasons to reject him, they need to give up their objections and commit themselves to him, because he is indeed the only begotten Son of God the Father who has come to teach them the truth about God and about salvation. Instead of rejecting him, they need to believe in him.

And that’s true for everyone. All kinds of people have all kinds of objections to Christianity. They have all kinds of reasons for thinking Christianity is nonsense and for rejecting Christ. But people need to give up those objections and come to Christ with humble, believing hearts. When they do that, they will see that Christ has come from God and he’s true and he’s the only Saviour of the world.

And it’s God himself who enables people to give up their objections and to embrace Christ. And so, we should be praying to him to prepare the hearts of people so that, when they hear God’s word, they will receive it. And we should ask him to prepare our hearts before we come to church so that we will come as those who want to do God’s will and who will listen to his word with humble, believing hearts.

Verses 25 to 29

And in the final verses today — verses 25 to 29 — the Lord makes clear where he has come from.

So, some of the people in Jerusalem began to ask whether or not this is the man the Jewish authorities were trying to kill. By asking this, they’re confirming the words of the Lord in verse 19. That is to say, he wasn’t being crazy when he accused the Jewish authorities with trying to kill him. He wasn’t being paranoid. It was true: they were trying to kill him.

But the people are now puzzled. They’re puzzled because the authorities were once trying to kill the Lord Jesus, but now they’re letting him teach in public. Have they changed their minds about him? Have they come to believe that he’s the Christ? Have they been persuaded that he really is God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King who had come to save them?

And then they raise their own objection about the Lord in verse 27: they know where this man is from. At least, they think they know where the Lord was from, because they think he’s from Nazareth in Galilee. Nazareth was where he was brought up. However, he was really from Bethlehem, because that’s where he was born. However, they think they know where he’s from. However, as far as they were concerned, when the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from. Do you see that at the end verse 27? There was a belief going around among some of the people in those days that the origins of the Christ were unknown. Others would point to Micah 5:2 where it says that he would be born in Bethlehem. But there were certainly some who thought that the Christ’s place of birth would be unknown. And that’s what they’re saying in verse 27.

And in reply, the Lord cried out: ‘Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from.’ So, in one sense they know where he is from, because they know he grew up in Nazareth. And some of them, like his half-brothers, knew that he was actually born in Bethlehem. However, that’s not the whole truth about him. The whole truth about him is that, while he was born in Bethlehem and grew up in Nazareth, ultimately he’s from heaven. And so, he says in the rest of verse 28: ‘I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.’

So where is he really from? Where is he ultimately from? He’s from heaven, because he’s the Eternal Son of God the Father, begotten of the Father before all ages and he’s God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God. He is the Eternal Son of God the Father. And God the Father sent him into the world as one of us to be the Christ and our Saviour. He’s come from God the Father in heaven to save his people. That’s who he is and that’s where he has come from.

And he says that the people in Jerusalem do not know the Father who sent him. They don’t know God. But he knows God. He knows God, because he is the Son who has come from the Father. And the Father has sent him into the world so that we might know God too. And as I’ve said before, who better to make God known to us than God himself? And that’s who the Lord Jesus is. He is God. He is God the Son in the flesh. And he has come in the flesh to reveal God to us and to reveal God’s overflowing goodness and love and his grace and mercy and his compassion by delivering us from our sin and misery and from the path of destruction we’ve chosen for ourselves; and by giving us the hope of everlasting life in the presence of God, where we will become perfectly holy and happy as we gaze upon our God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.