Introduction
This is now our third week in John 7. At the beginning of the chapter, the Lord’s half-brothers were urging him to leave Galilee and to up to Jerusalem in Judea for the Feast of the Tabernacles. They were saying to him that he should leave the sticks and head up to the big city and show the people there what he can do. And since his half-brothers didn’t believe in him, they were really mocking him.
And the Lord responded by saying to them that it wasn’t the right time for him to go up for the Feast. For them, any time was the right time. But for him the right time had not yet come. And so, his brothers went up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles by themselves and he remained behind.
However, he didn’t remain behind for long. After his brothers left, he went up by himself. And he went secretly and not publicly. And when he did finally reveal himself to the people, it wasn’t by performing some mighty miracle, which is what his brothers were suggesting he should do. He didn’t make a great splash by doing some amazing miracle. Instead he taught the people.
And we saw last week that the Jewish authorities were amazed by his teaching. After all, he hadn’t studied at one of the rabbinic schools in those days. So, where did he get his knowledge and wisdom? And the Lord explained to them that his teaching was not his own, but it comes from him who sent him. In other words, he received his knowledge and wisdom and his doctrine from his Heavenly Father. And he has come into the world to make the Father known. ‘You do not know him’, he said. Even though the people were worshipping God in the temple, they did not really know God. Ad then the Lord Jesus added: ‘but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.’ God the Father sent his only begotten Son into the world so that we might know God and know his overflowing goodness and love and his kindness and his willingness to pardon his people for our sins and to give us everlasting life in his presence, where we will know him and his love for us for ever and for ever.
Today we’re going to focus on the remaining verses of his chapter. And rather than go through the remaining verses verse by verse, I want to draw out three points from the passage. Firstly, I want us to think about the confusion that existed among the people about the Lord Jesus. Secondly, I want us to think about the opposition that existed among the people to the Lord Jesus. And thirdly, I want us to think about what the Lord says about the Holy Spirit. So, the confusion, the opposition and the Holy Spirit.
Confusion
And so, the first point is the confusion that existed among the people about the Lord Jesus. And we’ve seen this confusion in the earlier parts of the chapter. We saw it among his half-brothers who didn’t really know what to make of him. John tells us that they didn’t believe in him. So, they didn’t yet believe that he’s the Christ and the Son of God. That is to say, they didn’t yet believe that he’s the only begotten Son of God the Father, 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 sent by God to save us from our sin and misery in this world. After the Lord’s resurrection, his brothers would believe in him. But for now, they didn’t believe in him. And yet, they refer in verse 4 to the things he had done. And they’re clearly referring to his miracles. So, think of their confusion and bewilderment. They know their half-brother is able to perform miracles, but they don’t yet know what it means. They don’t yet know who he is. They can’t make sense of it yet.
And then in verse 12 John tells us what the people were saying about him. So, crowds had gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, which was one of the three annual religious feasts which the people had to attend each year. And the people are wondering whether the Lord Jesus will appear in Jerusalem for this feast. After all, he’s gone up to Jerusalem for other feasts. So, will he come up again for this one? And they’re talking among themselves about him. Who is he? Some were saying he’s a good man, while others were saying he deceives people. So, is he a good man or a charlatan? They weren’t sure what to make of him.
So, John has already borne witness to the confusion that existed among the people about the Lord Jesus. And he does the same in the verses we’re studying this evening. Take a look at verses 33 to 36. The Lord said that he was going to be with them for only a short time and then he will go to the one who sent him. They will look for him, but they will not find him and where he is, they cannot come. When he refers to the one who sent him, he’s talking about God the Father, isn’t he? God the Father sent his Son into the world as one of us. And in a short while, the Lord will return to his Father in heaven. He means he will ascend to heaven after his death and resurrection. And when he ascends to heaven, they will look for him, but they won’t find him. If they look for him in Jerusalem or in the rest of Judea or in Galilee or in a foreign country, they won’t find him, because he will be back in heaven with God the Father.
But they don’t understand what he means. And they’re therefore puzzled by his words. And you can see their bewilderment in verses 35 and 36. The Jews — and when John refers to the Jews, he’s often talking about the Jewish authorities — the Jews said to one another: ‘Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him?’ He’s talking about returning to heaven, but they wonder whether he’s planning to go to another country. Will he go to the Jewish people who are scattered among the Greeks? That is, will he go to the Jewish people who live outside of Israel? And if he goes to them, will he teach the Greeks while he’s there? And what does he mean when he says ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’? What does he mean? They don’t know. They’re confused.
And then jump down to verses 40 to 44. John says that on hearing what the Lord said, some of the people said, ‘Surely this man is the Prophet.’ In Deuteronomy 18, God promised to raise up for his people a prophet like Moses. It says that God will put his words in the Prophet’s mouth and the Prophet will tell the people everything God has commanded him to speak. And so, the people were expecting this great Prophet to appear. So, was the Lord Jesus that special prophet? And others said, ‘He is the Christ’. Throughout the Old Testament, God promised to send his people the Christ, who was a Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King who would save his people from their enemies. And so, some people thought the Lord might be the special prophet who was to come. Others thought he might be the special king who was to come.
But then some people said that he can’t be the Christ, because the Lord Jesus is from Galilee and as far as the Scriptures are concerned, the Christ will come from Bethlehem in Judea. We saw last week that some people believed that the origin of the Christ was unknown. No one will know where he comes from. But others believed that the Christ would come from Bethlehem. And they therefore thought the Lord Jesus can’t be the Christ, because he’s from Galilee. The irony, of course, is that the Lord Jesus was from Bethlehem. That’s where he was born. Most people didn’t know that, because he grew up in Nazareth in Galilee. But they didn’t know that. And so, they were confused. Who is he?
And if you look back now to verse 31 you’ll see that there were some who put their faith in him. They said, ‘When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs that this man?’ In other words: he must be the Christ, because look at all the marvellous miracles he can perform.
So, there’s this confusion, this puzzlement, about the Lord Jesus. The people can see he’s able to perform mighty miracles and they’re impressed by his preaching. But most of them don’t know what to make of him. Some are beginning to believe in him, but most are just confused. Who is this man?
And that’s the most important question a person can ask. And it’s vital that we’re clear on who he is, because our eternal destiny depends on how we answer that question. We’re coming up to exam season. In schools and colleges, students will be sitting all kinds of exams and they’ll have to answer all kinds of questions. And how they answer those questions will perhaps determine their future career. But how we answer the question ‘Who is Jesus?’ will determine everything about our life for ever. It will determine how we live our life in this world, because if we believe that he’s the Eternal Son of God who came into the world as one of us to save us from death and destruction, then we’ll live our life for him and for his glory. We’ll want to serve him because of what he has done to save us. We’ll no longer live for ourselves or for earthly things that don’t ultimately matter and which are destined to perish. We’ll live for him.
And it will determine where we spend eternity, because if we believe in him and trust in him for salvation, then we will live with God for ever in the new and better world to come where we’ll be perfectly holy and happy for ever.
But if we don’t believe in him, if we reject him, if we find reasons for denying him, then we’ll spend all of eternity shut out of the presence of God and his goodness. And eternal life away from the presence of God and his goodness is a life of endless darkness and sorrow and suffering.
And so, how we answer the question ‘Who is Jesus?’ will determine everything about our life for ever. And John has written his gospel to convince us that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God and the Saviour of the world.
Opposition
But there was not only confusion among the people, there was also opposition.
Back in verse 11 we read that the Jewish leaders were watching out for the Lord in case he turned up in Jerusalem. And they were watching out for him so that they could arrest him. And in verse 19 the Lord complained that they were trying to kill him. Some of the people thought he was being crazy. They asked: ‘Who is trying to kill you?’ And yet, look at verse 25, where some of the people said about the Lord Jesus: ‘Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?’ It seems it was widely known among the people that the authorities were trying to kill the Lord. And at the beginning of today’s passage, we read in verse 30 that they tried to seize him. But they were prevented from doing so because his time had not yet come. In other words, since it was not yet the right time for him to die, God somehow rescued him. And something similar is recorded in verse 44 where John tells us again that some of the people wanted to seize him, but they were prevented from doing so.
Take a look now at verse 32. The chief priests and Pharisees — so, the member of the Jewish council — sent temple guards to arrest the Lord Jesus. And in verses 45 to 52 we read what happened when the temple guards returned to the chief priests and Pharisees. It’s clear that they returned empty-handed. So, the Jewish leaders wanted to know why they hadn’t arrested the Lord. And the guards declared: ‘No-one ever spoke the way this man does.’ It seems they went to arrest him, but the things he said made them change their mind about him. Instead of arresting him, they disobeyed their orders and left him alone.
And you get the impression that the Jewish authorities are feeling a mixture of impatience and anger and contempt towards the guards and the people in general. They say to the guards: ‘You mean that he has deceived you also!’ In other words: ‘How could you be so stupid as to be taken in by him? You’re no better than the rest of the people who have never studied the law the way we have. If you knew the law as we do, you’d know that Jesus is a charlatan!’ And they said about the people that they must be under a curse to be taken in like this.
And that’s when Nicodemus speaks up. This is the Nicodemus who went to speak to the Lord at night back in chapter 3. And the Lord spoke to him about the new birth. And we know that Nicodemus was a member of the Jewish council. But it also seems that God was working in this man’s life, because he spoke up for the Lord, saying that the law doesn’t condemn anyone without first hearing him. In other words, we mustn’t jump to conclusions. We must give him a chance to defend himself before you condemn and kill him. And Nicodemus is being quite reasonable, isn’t he? He’s being quite fair.
But in their anger, the other leaders turned on Nicodemus. They asked him, ‘Are you from Galilee too?’ And I think they mean: ‘Are you from the sticks as well? Are you a country bumpkin who knows nothing?’ ‘Look into it’, they said to him. ‘Search the Scriptures and you’ll discover that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.’ And you can see how contemptuous they are of Galilee. They look down their noses on the people who live outside Jerusalem. And they’re convinced that the Lord must die.
And in every generation, there are those who not only do not believe in the Lord, but who stand in opposition to the Lord and to his people. As the Lord himself said in verse 7, the world hates him. The world hates the Lord Jesus and the world hates all those who side with the Lord Jesus. That’s why the Jewish leaders turned on the temple guards and on Nicodemus. And in the book of Acts we read how those who did not believe persecuted the early believers and the Apostle Paul faced persecution wherever he went. And in one of his letters to Timothy, Paul told Timothy, who was a young pastor, to expect to suffer for Christ. And the writer of Hebrews wrote his letter to encourage believers who were suffering for their faith. And the book of Revelation is also about encouraging believers who are suffering in these, the last days in which we’re living. And down through the years, the Christian church has faced opposition and persecution from those who do not believe.
An unbelieving world hates the Lord Jesus and his people. And yet God loves this world. And he loves this world so much that he sent his Son to save this world. And the Son loves this world so much that he was willing to be sent and to come down from heaven and to suffer and die at the hands of those he came to save.
And he endured so much opposition from evil people because he loves this world and he came to save us. And his love for the world has endured through the generations and he continues to call men and women to give up their unbelief and their hatred and to come to him for salvation. And whoever comes to him, he will never drive away. Instead he’ll forgive them and he’ll give them the hope of everlasting life in the new and better world to come, which is a world of love and not hatred, where God will pour out his love on us continually and for ever and for ever. Where hatred abounds, God’s love and grace and mercy super-abounds.
The Holy Spirit
And we see the greatness of God’s love in what the Lord says about the Holy Spirit.
John tells us in verse 37 that it was the last and greatest day of the Feast. And I should explain that every day during the Feast of Tabernacles, a jug was filled with water from the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem and carried in a procession from the pool to the altar in the temple, where it was poured out on the altar. And the purpose of the Feast was to remember and to give thanks to God for the time when God’s people were in the wilderness for forty years and the Lord took care of them by providing them with manna to eat and with water to drink. They gave thanks to the Lord for caring for them in the wilderness and for caring for them ever since by causing the rain to fall and their crops to grow in their fields.
But the daily water-pouring ceremony did not take place on the last day of the Feast. And that’s the day when the Lord stood up. And so, on that day, when they didn’t pour any water on the altar, the Lord Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice so that everyone could hear him: ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’
The Lord Jesus invited the people to come to him for living water. And John explains that when he referred to living water, he meant the Holy Spirit. He was inviting the people to come to him to receive the Holy Spirit.
And do you know what it means to have the Holy Spirit? It means we have God with us all the time. To have the Spirit means that God is inside us all the time. It means God is dwelling within us by his Spirit all the time. God is not just up in heaven. Or he’s not just living in a temple in Jerusalem or in a church building. God comes to his people personally by his Spirit and makes our hearts his home. And so, God is with us wherever we are. And he’s with us to help us. No matter what challenges or dangers or troubles we face, God us with us and he will never leave us or forsake us. And he’s in us to reassure us of the greatness of God’s love for us. And he’s in us to convince of us of God’s grace and mercy and goodness and kindness and his power and strength. And he’s there to renew us in God’s image and he’s there to transform us into the kind of people we were meant to be. He’s there to fill us with life and love and joy and zeal.
When we were studying John 4 — where the Lord spoke to the Samaritan woman about the Holy Spirit and where he described the Spirit using the same image of living water — I said that the image of living water is fitting, because living water is water than flows from a spring. Just as living water, or running water, comes from a spring, so the Holy Spirit comes from God the Father and God the Son. He comes from them eternally: pouring forth abundantly from the Father and the Son eternally. But then the Spirit also comes from them to us in time. The Father pours out the Spirit through the Son to people here on the earth.
And he gives the Spirit to whom? To those who are thirsty. Do you see that in verse 37, where the Lord says: ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink’? And do you know what that means? It means he gives the Holy Spirit to all those who know that there’s something lacking in their lives. That’s what thirst is. A person is thirsty when he lacks water. And the thirsty person not only lacks water, but he feels it. He feels this thirst.
Lots of people, even Christian people, feel fine. They feel satisfied. They don’t feel that there’s anything missing from their lives and they’re satisfied that they have all that they need. They’re not worried about their relationship with God and they don’t feel dissatisfied that something is wrong or off in their relationship with God. They feel they’re fine just as they are. And the person who feels satisfied will not go to the Lord for more of the Holy Spirit.
But there are others who are aware that their relationship with God is not what it might be. And they’re dissatisfied with the way they are. And they yearn for a closer relationship with God and for a better relationship with him. They want more of God in their lives and a deeper sense of God’s love and goodness and power. They are the thirsty ones. And they’re the ones who go to the Lord in order to receive from him more of his Spirit.
But we don’t go to the Lord on foot. We don’t go to the Lord on foot, because the Lord Jesus is in heaven and we are on earth. So, once we begin to feel our lack, how do we go to him? The Lord explains it for us in verse 38, where he says, ‘Whoever believes….’ That’s how we go to the Lord Jesus. We go to him by believing in him: by believing that he is the one who can give us more of his Spirit. And so, we go to him by faith. We trust in him to give us what we know we lack, but which we also long for. We need living water to revive our tired and weary and dried-up souls and to fill us with life and love and joy and zeal for God and his glory. And the Lord Jesus never disappoints us, because to those who thirst for the Spirit and who thirst for life and love and joy and zeal, he will give his Spirit.
And he’s able to give us his Spirit and to fill us with life and love and joy and zeal because he has been glorified at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. So, at the end of verse 39, John explains that up to that time, the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. And when John refers to the Lord’s glorification, he means how the Lord was lifted up on the cross to pay for our sins with his life; and afterwards he was lifted up to the Father’s right hand in heaven as king over all. And when he was lifted up to heaven, he received the Holy Spirit from his Father and he now pours out the Spirit upon his people here on earth. The Lord Jesus suffered and died and was exalted to heaven, so that he might give us his Spirit.
And he gives his Spirit to all who thirst. Are you thirsty for the Spirit? Are you aware that there’s something missing in your life and in your relationship with God? Maybe you think there’s nothing missing and you’re fine. But in this life there will always be something lacking in our life and in our relationship with God, because we won’t be made perfect until we reach the life to come. And so, do you feel it? Do you feel that something is missing? Are you dissatisfied with yourself and your relationship with God? Do you want more of God? Then go by faith to the Saviour, who pours out his Holy Spirit on all who thirst. Go to him by faith and ask him to pour his Spirit into your life and to fill you more and more with life and love and joy and zeal for God’s glory.
Sermons and Stuff 