WEBVTT 00:00:00.170 --> 00:00:04.450 They want to kill Jesus because he claims to 00:00:04.450 --> 00:00:09.509 be God. Verse 2. The Jewish festival, the shelters 00:00:09.509 --> 00:00:11.570 or booths, depending on what version you're reading 00:00:11.570 --> 00:00:17.969 it, was near. Okay? This festival of booths or 00:00:17.969 --> 00:00:21.370 festival of shelters would happen every year. 00:00:21.429 --> 00:00:24.329 It's a critical point in the Jewish culture. 00:00:24.809 --> 00:00:29.289 This was one massive celebration. That you, where 00:00:29.289 --> 00:00:31.550 everybody would come together in Jerusalem and 00:00:31.550 --> 00:00:34.210 they would camp. And they pulled out these little 00:00:34.210 --> 00:00:37.390 tents. This is not glamping. Some of you guys 00:00:37.390 --> 00:00:39.490 from our last camp out like that's not camping. 00:00:40.929 --> 00:00:44.310 Some of you had like the Taj Mahals. This is 00:00:44.310 --> 00:00:46.990 different. They would deliberately bring small 00:00:46.990 --> 00:00:49.649 tents and go camp. If you just imagine thousands 00:00:49.649 --> 00:00:53.469 of people in little tiny tents for a whole week. 00:00:54.570 --> 00:00:57.789 And it was a celebration. And the festival was 00:00:57.789 --> 00:01:01.549 to celebrate God's provision in the wilderness. 00:01:01.710 --> 00:01:03.310 You remember in the wilderness in Exodus when 00:01:03.310 --> 00:01:05.969 they were all there? God provided for them over 00:01:05.969 --> 00:01:09.170 and over. His provision was given in food, in 00:01:09.170 --> 00:01:13.290 protection, and in water. And so that's what 00:01:13.290 --> 00:01:14.890 they would celebrate. They would come to say, 00:01:14.969 --> 00:01:17.930 look what God has done. We'll talk more about 00:01:17.930 --> 00:01:22.730 that festival in a minute. Verse 3. So his brother 00:01:22.730 --> 00:01:27.200 said to him, Leave here and go to Judea so that 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:30.959 your disciples can see your works that you are 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:34.920 doing. For no one does anything in secret while 00:01:34.920 --> 00:01:38.640 he's seeking public recognition. If you do these 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:44.079 things, show yourself to the world. For not even 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:48.120 his brothers believed in him. Okay. Remember 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:51.079 what he just said in the first verse that he 00:01:51.079 --> 00:01:54.200 was not going to go up to Judea? Why? People 00:01:54.200 --> 00:01:57.260 trying to kill him. So his brothers, they say, 00:01:57.319 --> 00:02:00.879 hey, these are his actual brothers. Children 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:06.680 of Mary and Joseph. They actually pushing at 00:02:06.680 --> 00:02:08.400 him. Why don't you go? You should go up to this 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:12.740 place. Here's the issue. They don't yet believe 00:02:12.740 --> 00:02:15.860 that Jesus is the Messiah. You own brothers. 00:02:16.259 --> 00:02:18.460 But what is really interesting, in fact, one 00:02:18.460 --> 00:02:21.539 of the biggest cases. to believe that Jesus is 00:02:21.539 --> 00:02:27.080 who he truly said he was, is that later on, after 00:02:27.080 --> 00:02:29.699 his death, burial, and resurrection, they come 00:02:29.699 --> 00:02:34.439 to believe. Believing your own brother is the 00:02:34.439 --> 00:02:36.300 Messiah. But at this point, they don't believe. 00:02:37.020 --> 00:02:39.979 There's a number of motivations behind why his 00:02:39.979 --> 00:02:42.259 brothers are kind of pushing him, agging him 00:02:42.259 --> 00:02:44.740 on to go down to the place that he knows people 00:02:44.740 --> 00:02:47.620 are out to kill him. Because he says he's going 00:02:47.620 --> 00:02:50.039 to stay in Galilee and not go down here to Judea 00:02:50.039 --> 00:02:52.319 because they might kill me there. What was their 00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:54.360 motivation? Well, I think there's possibly two 00:02:54.360 --> 00:02:57.360 different motivations. One, I think they were 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:02.259 wanting to expose him as a fraud. Or maybe they 00:03:02.259 --> 00:03:05.400 liked the fame. They liked all the attention 00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:07.819 that Jesus was getting and they could kind of 00:03:07.819 --> 00:03:10.319 ride in and help get the public recognition. 00:03:10.599 --> 00:03:14.870 We don't know. Now look at verse 6. Like I said, 00:03:14.909 --> 00:03:16.389 we're going to blaze through this because it's 00:03:16.389 --> 00:03:23.849 important. Verse 6, Jesus told them, my time 00:03:23.849 --> 00:03:28.710 has not yet arrived, but your time is always 00:03:28.710 --> 00:03:33.069 at hand. The world cannot hate you, but it does 00:03:33.069 --> 00:03:37.830 hate me because I testify about it, that its 00:03:37.830 --> 00:03:41.990 works are evil. Go up to the festival of yourselves. 00:03:42.750 --> 00:03:45.949 I'm not going up to this festival because my 00:03:45.949 --> 00:03:50.550 time has not yet come. After he'd said these 00:03:50.550 --> 00:03:54.050 things, he stayed in Galilee. Jesus says, look, 00:03:54.110 --> 00:03:58.990 bros, my timetable is not your timetable because 00:03:58.990 --> 00:04:03.710 my purpose is not your purpose. I'll go when 00:04:03.710 --> 00:04:07.969 I'm ready. You don't understand, basically he's 00:04:07.969 --> 00:04:10.409 saying, you don't understand. He tells them, 00:04:10.409 --> 00:04:15.719 people don't hate you. But they hate me because 00:04:15.719 --> 00:04:20.120 I expose their sins. That's the thing about Jesus, 00:04:20.199 --> 00:04:25.680 right? John 3, verses 19 and 20, Jesus talks 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:31.019 about the effects of encountering him. He, the 00:04:31.019 --> 00:04:34.839 light of the world, exposes the darkness of man's 00:04:34.839 --> 00:04:41.600 sin. When our sin is exposed, we have two options. 00:04:42.530 --> 00:04:44.910 Sometimes maybe three, but they really fit into 00:04:44.910 --> 00:04:50.310 two categories. One is you cling to him for cleaning. 00:04:50.389 --> 00:04:55.009 Help me, Jesus. Or you hate him for exposing 00:04:55.009 --> 00:04:59.230 your dirtiness. Sometimes we avoid him, but it's 00:04:59.230 --> 00:05:02.629 basically doing the same thing. Avoid it. Ah, 00:05:02.709 --> 00:05:06.829 it doesn't exist. Over and over. So let's just 00:05:06.829 --> 00:05:09.449 look at verse 10 before we jump to that. Verse 00:05:09.449 --> 00:05:18.360 10. After this, his brothers had gone up to the 00:05:18.360 --> 00:05:23.220 festival. Then he also went up, not openly, but 00:05:23.220 --> 00:05:26.519 in secret. The Jews were looking for him at the 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:30.660 festival and saying, where is he? And there was 00:05:30.660 --> 00:05:33.519 a lot of murmuring about him among the crowds. 00:05:33.699 --> 00:05:36.920 Some were saying, he's a good man. Others were 00:05:36.920 --> 00:05:40.319 saying, no, on the contrary, he's deceiving people. 00:05:41.620 --> 00:05:46.029 Still, Nobody was talking publicly about him 00:05:46.029 --> 00:05:50.829 for the fear of the Jews. Over and over, we see 00:05:50.829 --> 00:05:53.990 people have a lot of different responses to Jesus. 00:05:54.290 --> 00:05:58.350 It's true today. You either hate him, or you 00:05:58.350 --> 00:06:03.009 love him, or you try to ignore him. One of the 00:06:03.009 --> 00:06:06.569 things in the Gospel of John is that you see 00:06:06.569 --> 00:06:09.009 this over and over where Jesus is presented, 00:06:09.189 --> 00:06:15.199 and either people hate him, They love him. In 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:18.839 these verses, there's a group of people who encounter 00:06:18.839 --> 00:06:22.560 Jesus and have a very positive reaction to Jesus, 00:06:22.660 --> 00:06:27.579 but for fear of what the other people think, 00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:32.519 no one says a word about him. This kind of sounds 00:06:32.519 --> 00:06:36.720 like our American church, doesn't it? We don't 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:43.459 need to talk openly about Jesus. Just be quiet 00:06:43.459 --> 00:06:46.259 with your faith. You don't want to offend anybody. 00:06:47.720 --> 00:06:50.540 I agree with how Joby Martin has what he has 00:06:50.540 --> 00:06:52.399 to say when he comments about this section. He 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:57.319 says, every day we have to make a choice. Will 00:06:57.319 --> 00:07:01.839 I live under the fear of man or the fear and 00:07:01.839 --> 00:07:07.420 reverence of God? So he says, he goes on to say 00:07:07.420 --> 00:07:11.939 that when we live under the fear of man, We keep 00:07:11.939 --> 00:07:15.699 our beliefs to ourselves so we don't offend anybody. 00:07:17.019 --> 00:07:20.759 But we live under the fear of God. We take the 00:07:20.759 --> 00:07:23.800 gospel to the ends of the earth. When we live 00:07:23.800 --> 00:07:26.180 under the fear of man, we begin to adopt the 00:07:26.180 --> 00:07:29.540 values of this world. When we live under the 00:07:29.540 --> 00:07:34.860 fear of God, we value what God values. See, to 00:07:34.860 --> 00:07:37.879 live under the fear of man, you think about how 00:07:37.879 --> 00:07:42.160 this will affect your reputation. But we live 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:44.180 under the fear of God. We think first about the 00:07:44.180 --> 00:07:49.000 glory of God and his reputation. Now look at 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:56.420 verse 14. When the festival was already half 00:07:56.420 --> 00:07:58.639 over, Jesus went up into the temple and began 00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:02.579 to teach. Then the Jews were amazed and said, 00:08:02.740 --> 00:08:06.259 how is this man so learned since he hasn't even 00:08:06.259 --> 00:08:13.029 been trained? When Jesus spoke, the people were 00:08:13.029 --> 00:08:15.569 awestruck by the command he had on Scripture. 00:08:16.290 --> 00:08:20.290 They're like, what is this? But it was obvious. 00:08:20.350 --> 00:08:23.230 They knew that he wasn't trained as a special 00:08:23.230 --> 00:08:27.089 rabbi. But something was different. Verse 16. 00:08:31.129 --> 00:08:34.009 Jesus answered them, my teaching isn't mine, 00:08:34.149 --> 00:08:37.850 but it is from the one who sent me. If anyone 00:08:37.850 --> 00:08:42.929 wants to do his will, he will know whether his 00:08:42.929 --> 00:08:46.230 teaching is from God or whether I'm speaking 00:08:46.230 --> 00:08:50.769 on my own. The one who speaks on his own seeks 00:08:50.769 --> 00:08:54.549 his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory 00:08:54.549 --> 00:08:58.210 of the one who sent him is true, and there is 00:08:58.210 --> 00:09:01.570 no unrighteousness in him. Jesus is saying, look, 00:09:01.750 --> 00:09:08.669 you religious people, if you knew God, you would 00:09:08.669 --> 00:09:16.610 know who I am. See, the Father, I am the Father's 00:09:16.610 --> 00:09:24.389 Son. I come from Him. I do what He tells me to 00:09:24.389 --> 00:09:27.669 do. I don't seek my own glory. I seek the glory 00:09:27.669 --> 00:09:35.210 of the Father. Verses 19. Didn't Moses give you 00:09:35.210 --> 00:09:40.379 the law? Yet, None of you keep the law. Why are 00:09:40.379 --> 00:09:44.259 you trying to kill me? You have a demon, the 00:09:44.259 --> 00:09:47.700 crowd responded. Why are you trying to? Who's 00:09:47.700 --> 00:09:51.539 trying to kill you? So the law says that thou 00:09:51.539 --> 00:09:56.000 shall not murder, right? But they were trying 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:59.139 to murder him. And so Jesus just calls them out. 00:09:59.480 --> 00:10:03.179 And in deflecting that, whoa, especially publicly, 00:10:03.399 --> 00:10:07.000 they go, oh. Verse 20 is all about the deflecting. 00:10:07.629 --> 00:10:10.450 So instead of continuing down that road, Jesus, 00:10:10.509 --> 00:10:14.690 he got them. He got them. He just called them 00:10:14.690 --> 00:10:17.850 out. You think you're, I know what you're up 00:10:17.850 --> 00:10:19.429 to. He says, I know you want to kill me. You 00:10:19.429 --> 00:10:22.129 claim that you're really good. You're a really 00:10:22.129 --> 00:10:24.470 good follower of God. You claim that, but look 00:10:24.470 --> 00:10:27.789 at you. You're wanting to murder me. You have 00:10:27.789 --> 00:10:33.649 a demon? So Jesus just moves on to verse 21. 00:10:35.809 --> 00:10:38.529 I performed one work, and you were all amazed. 00:10:38.590 --> 00:10:40.289 Remember that? What was the work he's talking 00:10:40.289 --> 00:10:43.490 about? Well, he's talking about a lot of things. 00:10:43.549 --> 00:10:44.830 They've seen a lot, but he just kind of calls 00:10:44.830 --> 00:10:47.549 out. He says, I just do one work here. Jesus 00:10:47.549 --> 00:10:51.669 answered, this is why Moses has given you circumcision. 00:10:52.309 --> 00:10:55.029 Not that it comes from Moses, but from the fathers. 00:10:55.129 --> 00:10:59.049 And you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If a 00:10:59.049 --> 00:11:02.809 man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so 00:11:02.809 --> 00:11:07.830 the law of Moses won't. broken, are you angry 00:11:07.830 --> 00:11:12.149 at me because I made a man entirely well on the 00:11:12.149 --> 00:11:16.070 Sabbaths? Stop judging according to the outward 00:11:16.070 --> 00:11:19.129 appearances. Rather, judge according to the righteous 00:11:19.129 --> 00:11:24.470 judgment. He says, hey, remember when I healed 00:11:24.470 --> 00:11:27.029 the man at the well, or not the well, but the 00:11:27.029 --> 00:11:30.429 pool? Remember that? And you're all upset because 00:11:30.429 --> 00:11:36.870 I did it on the Sabbath? You guys will circumcise 00:11:36.870 --> 00:11:39.809 on the Sabbath, but you're upset. Me? For healing 00:11:39.809 --> 00:11:42.870 somebody? See, I think in these verses, I believe 00:11:42.870 --> 00:11:46.629 Jesus is exposing the reason or motivation behind 00:11:46.629 --> 00:11:50.470 why they will not respond to him as the Messiah 00:11:50.470 --> 00:11:54.850 and why they plot to kill him. Why? The reason 00:11:54.850 --> 00:11:58.409 is their own self -righteousness. Their own self 00:11:58.409 --> 00:12:01.250 -righteousness. The religious leaders were... 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:05.299 were upset and wanted to kill Jesus because he 00:12:05.299 --> 00:12:08.019 healed a man on the Sabbath. But Jesus said, 00:12:08.179 --> 00:12:13.299 healing and circumcision are no different. Both 00:12:13.299 --> 00:12:17.159 are ways to bless, care, and show grace to others. 00:12:18.059 --> 00:12:20.340 And one of the results of self -righteousness 00:12:20.340 --> 00:12:24.659 is that it squeezes any space out for grace. 00:12:26.899 --> 00:12:32.009 You don't speak with grace. You don't extend 00:12:32.009 --> 00:12:38.129 grace. You straight up lack grace. Why? Because 00:12:38.129 --> 00:12:40.549 you don't even see the need for your own grace. 00:12:43.110 --> 00:12:46.330 You're so blind. You're sin. You don't see your 00:12:46.330 --> 00:12:50.690 sin, so you have no need for grace. They saw 00:12:50.690 --> 00:12:54.450 their own good works. They saw their own righteousness 00:12:54.450 --> 00:12:59.690 and thought they were just fine. So the question... 00:13:02.029 --> 00:13:04.629 What do you do with this man named Jesus continues 00:13:04.629 --> 00:13:09.190 to grow as Jesus shows up at the festival and 00:13:09.190 --> 00:13:11.970 confronts these religious leaders? Everything 00:13:11.970 --> 00:13:14.230 is swirling. And you've got to see, the reason 00:13:14.230 --> 00:13:18.070 we're doing 52 verses is there's a swirl of confusion 00:13:18.070 --> 00:13:20.850 or what do I do? What do we do with this Jesus? 00:13:20.970 --> 00:13:23.929 He becomes the center point of this whole festival. 00:13:26.049 --> 00:13:29.490 Among the people, the question of Jesus' identity. 00:13:30.200 --> 00:13:34.899 and what to do with him arises. And so look at 00:13:34.899 --> 00:13:42.240 verse 25. Some of the people of Jerusalem were 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:46.419 saying, isn't this the man they are trying to 00:13:46.419 --> 00:13:50.580 kill? Yet look, he speaks publicly, and they're 00:13:50.580 --> 00:13:54.460 saying nothing. Can it be true that the authorities 00:13:54.460 --> 00:14:00.179 know that he is the Messiah? What you see is 00:14:00.179 --> 00:14:03.419 there's a group of people now internally in here 00:14:03.419 --> 00:14:10.860 who have experienced Jesus, and they're starting 00:14:10.860 --> 00:14:13.580 to come to the conclusion that we actually, maybe 00:14:13.580 --> 00:14:24.299 he is who he says he is. Verse 27. But we know 00:14:24.299 --> 00:14:28.200 where this man is from. When the Messiah comes, 00:14:28.379 --> 00:14:30.379 nobody will know where he's from. Now hold on 00:14:30.379 --> 00:14:38.899 just a second. Stop right there. That line that 00:14:38.899 --> 00:14:42.759 nobody will know where he is from isn't in the 00:14:42.759 --> 00:14:46.320 Bible. They've made that one up. They've come 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:50.679 to a conclusion that's not in here. Jesus fulfilled, 00:14:50.919 --> 00:14:56.519 Jesus fulfills over and over hundreds of different, 00:14:57.350 --> 00:14:59.769 about the coming Messiah. Jesus fulfills those. 00:15:00.330 --> 00:15:04.429 Born of a virgin. Born in Bethlehem. Born in 00:15:04.429 --> 00:15:10.490 the line of David. And on and on and on. They 00:15:10.490 --> 00:15:13.190 knew where he was going to come from. They had 00:15:13.190 --> 00:15:20.070 just changed the rules. Look at verse 28. So 00:15:20.070 --> 00:15:22.789 as he was teaching in the temple, Jesus underlined 00:15:22.789 --> 00:15:24.940 this. cried out. You've got to stand like this 00:15:24.940 --> 00:15:27.639 isn't a nice, soft conversation, because two 00:15:27.639 --> 00:15:29.559 times we're going to see that when Jesus responds, 00:15:29.779 --> 00:15:32.559 it's not like, hey, let's have a nice talk. No, 00:15:32.620 --> 00:15:37.500 he belts it out. He cries out, and he says, you 00:15:37.500 --> 00:15:42.399 know me, and you know where I am from, yet I 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:46.600 have not come on my own, but the one who sent 00:15:46.600 --> 00:15:52.759 me is true. You don't know him. I know him. Because 00:15:52.759 --> 00:15:59.539 I am from him and he sent me. Okay? The question 00:15:59.539 --> 00:16:05.440 Jesus is asking is, do you know me? To a bunch 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:09.240 of religious people, he says, you cannot say 00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:16.220 you know the Father, then reject me. I am from 00:16:16.220 --> 00:16:21.580 him and he sent me. Look at me. He says to his 00:16:21.580 --> 00:16:24.799 religious people, you say you know God, but you 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:27.799 see me, and you reject me, you don't know him. 00:16:28.679 --> 00:16:34.779 That's what he's saying. Look at verse 30. Then 00:16:34.779 --> 00:16:38.259 they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand 00:16:38.259 --> 00:16:41.720 on him because his hour had not yet come. However, 00:16:41.820 --> 00:16:45.019 many from the crowd believed in him and said, 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:48.990 when the Messiah comes, He won't perform more 00:16:48.990 --> 00:16:54.809 signs than this man has done, will he? This group 00:16:54.809 --> 00:16:57.970 of people, there's this group of people, they 00:16:57.970 --> 00:17:00.789 see Jesus and they hear Jesus and the reaction 00:17:00.789 --> 00:17:05.609 to Jesus is all over them. They say, ah, he is 00:17:05.609 --> 00:17:09.369 the Son of God. And there's another group that 00:17:09.369 --> 00:17:13.920 don't like him. And here the sack same things, 00:17:14.019 --> 00:17:16.740 but they don't respond to him the same way. One 00:17:16.740 --> 00:17:19.400 say, yes, this is the Messiah. And the others 00:17:19.400 --> 00:17:22.819 want to arrest him and eliminate him. That's 00:17:22.819 --> 00:17:26.880 the tension. Verse 32. The Pharisees heard the 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:31.059 crowd murmuring these things about him. So the 00:17:31.059 --> 00:17:33.279 chief priests and the Pharisees sent servants 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:39.440 to arrest him. Then Jesus said, I am only with 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:45.359 you for a short time. Then I'm going to the one 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:49.079 who sent me. You will look for me and you will 00:17:49.079 --> 00:17:52.240 not find me. And where I'm going, where I am, 00:17:52.259 --> 00:17:56.559 you cannot come. When the Jews said to one another, 00:17:56.700 --> 00:17:59.539 where does he intend to go? That we won't find 00:17:59.539 --> 00:18:02.579 him. He doesn't intend to go to Jewish people 00:18:02.579 --> 00:18:05.740 dispersed among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, 00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:11.069 does he? What is these remarks he made? you will 00:18:11.069 --> 00:18:14.529 look for me and you will not find me. And where 00:18:14.529 --> 00:18:19.309 I am, you cannot come. I like, again, one of 00:18:19.309 --> 00:18:22.009 the statements that Job summarizes these verses 00:18:22.009 --> 00:18:27.890 with. He says, they say, where did you go to 00:18:27.890 --> 00:18:32.990 school? He says, heaven. Where did you come from? 00:18:33.490 --> 00:18:40.779 Heaven. Where will you go? Heaven. What Jesus 00:18:40.779 --> 00:18:43.660 is saying is, where I'm going, you cannot come. 00:18:44.200 --> 00:18:49.200 That statement was extremely offensive. In John 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:53.420 14, verse 6, Jesus will say, which we haven't 00:18:53.420 --> 00:18:56.559 got to it yet, but Jesus told them, I am the 00:18:56.559 --> 00:18:59.559 way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to 00:18:59.559 --> 00:19:03.299 the Father except through me. This is one of 00:19:03.299 --> 00:19:05.380 the reasons why we say at Radiant Church, we 00:19:05.380 --> 00:19:08.289 are a church that's all about Jesus. Because 00:19:08.289 --> 00:19:10.390 he is the way, the truth, and life. No one comes 00:19:10.390 --> 00:19:13.549 to the Father except through Jesus. So to the 00:19:13.549 --> 00:19:17.529 religious leaders, he says, I'm about to go to 00:19:17.529 --> 00:19:22.549 heaven. And you can't go there. But without me, 00:19:22.789 --> 00:19:26.269 you want to go there. But without me, you can't 00:19:26.269 --> 00:19:28.750 come. That's pretty much straight up what he's 00:19:28.750 --> 00:19:32.829 saying. Your righteousness, your goodness. I 00:19:32.829 --> 00:19:35.009 mean, guys, face it. The Jews were... Really 00:19:35.009 --> 00:19:37.650 good. These Jewish leaders, they worked really 00:19:37.650 --> 00:19:41.710 hard at being really good people. Which we know 00:19:41.710 --> 00:19:45.269 they weren't fully that good. But he says, your 00:19:45.269 --> 00:19:46.970 righteousness, your goodness is not going to 00:19:46.970 --> 00:19:52.589 get you there. Now, 36. Now this is where I think 00:19:52.589 --> 00:19:56.309 the heart of this whole passage is. Verse 37. 00:19:57.529 --> 00:20:00.690 On the last and most important day of the festival, 00:20:00.890 --> 00:20:05.170 Jesus stood up and cried out, Notice it didn't 00:20:05.170 --> 00:20:08.009 say just get up and set. He cries out. And we're 00:20:08.009 --> 00:20:10.049 going to get to this in a minute. He cries out. 00:20:10.089 --> 00:20:13.289 If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and 00:20:13.289 --> 00:20:17.369 drink. The one who believes in me, as the scripture 00:20:17.369 --> 00:20:21.009 has said, will come streams of living water flow 00:20:21.009 --> 00:20:26.410 from deep within him. Okay. On the last and most 00:20:26.410 --> 00:20:29.630 important day of the festival. Seven days, day 00:20:29.630 --> 00:20:31.630 seven, the end of the campout is over. This is 00:20:31.630 --> 00:20:34.470 the height of the campout. Remember, the whole 00:20:34.470 --> 00:20:38.430 chapter is talking about this seven -day feast. 00:20:38.869 --> 00:20:43.009 The purpose was to remember how God provided 00:20:43.009 --> 00:20:47.849 for Israel. And one of the main parts of those 00:20:47.849 --> 00:20:51.390 seven days ritual was a part that involved water. 00:20:52.869 --> 00:20:55.750 Every morning, so you picture this, every morning, 00:20:56.359 --> 00:20:58.579 The priest, one of the priests, would gather 00:20:58.579 --> 00:21:01.980 everyone together at the temple and then lead 00:21:01.980 --> 00:21:05.420 them up to the Pool of Shalom, about a half a 00:21:05.420 --> 00:21:08.000 mile away. So you just see this big progression. 00:21:08.660 --> 00:21:10.440 And they're going up there and they're doing 00:21:10.440 --> 00:21:13.500 this to remember what God has provided. And once 00:21:13.500 --> 00:21:15.539 they're at the pool, the priest would take this 00:21:15.539 --> 00:21:18.220 golden container and he would fill it with the 00:21:18.220 --> 00:21:20.839 water from the pool. And they would make the 00:21:20.839 --> 00:21:23.259 procession all the way back to the temple, another 00:21:23.259 --> 00:21:25.910 half a mile back. And as they would go, they 00:21:25.910 --> 00:21:31.329 would sing the Psalms from 113 to 118. You can 00:21:31.329 --> 00:21:34.309 read those on your own. And they would sing those 00:21:34.309 --> 00:21:37.609 songs of praise and recounting how God had worked 00:21:37.609 --> 00:21:40.109 in their midst. This is what's going on. And 00:21:40.109 --> 00:21:43.410 when they get back to the temple, the priest 00:21:43.410 --> 00:21:48.380 would pour out the water onto the altar. Which 00:21:48.380 --> 00:21:50.579 would help them remember three major things. 00:21:50.779 --> 00:21:52.799 These are really important. They would help them 00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:56.160 remember to look backwards about how God had 00:21:56.160 --> 00:21:59.039 provided and poured out water for them in the 00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:02.480 desert. God, you did that. And then it would 00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:04.980 help call them to the present. They would help 00:22:04.980 --> 00:22:07.000 them remember the present where they'd praise 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:10.299 God for the year and the harvest and the things 00:22:10.299 --> 00:22:11.940 that he had done. And they would look forward 00:22:11.940 --> 00:22:14.519 to the next year. God, you are amazing. Look 00:22:14.519 --> 00:22:18.190 how you provide. And then they would look forward. 00:22:18.390 --> 00:22:20.630 Number three, they would look forward to the 00:22:20.630 --> 00:22:24.130 day that God would fulfill his promise that he 00:22:24.130 --> 00:22:27.230 promised in Isaiah. There's coming something 00:22:27.230 --> 00:22:31.190 great. And so in order to understand these little 00:22:31.190 --> 00:22:33.670 two verses, we have to do a really quick flyover 00:22:33.670 --> 00:22:35.829 of the book of Isaiah. So you ready? Buckle up. 00:22:35.869 --> 00:22:38.769 Here we go. Isaiah is really helpful. The first 00:22:38.769 --> 00:22:44.630 39 chapters in Isaiah talks primarily about judgment. 00:22:45.579 --> 00:22:49.819 God's judgment on Judah, God's judgment on Jerusalem 00:22:49.819 --> 00:22:52.440 and the surrounding nations, and God's judgment 00:22:52.440 --> 00:22:56.259 on the entire world. Verse 39, really fun. The 00:22:56.259 --> 00:22:59.940 judgment is due to their wickedness. What they 00:22:59.940 --> 00:23:02.440 have done wrong. God's going to judge wickedness. 00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:06.799 And then the book turns in chapter 40, where 00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:09.599 you find the promise of salvation enters in. 00:23:10.170 --> 00:23:14.289 And the remaining 26 chapters centers on someone 00:23:14.289 --> 00:23:19.490 called the servant. And in chapter 52, we find 00:23:19.490 --> 00:23:24.529 that this servant is God. And he's described 00:23:24.529 --> 00:23:31.509 as raised and lifted up. In chapter 53, we find 00:23:31.509 --> 00:23:34.289 out that servant will bring salvation by hanging 00:23:34.289 --> 00:23:37.950 on a tree, suffering and dying in place of sinners. 00:23:39.529 --> 00:23:43.170 In chapter 54, we find out that the death and 00:23:43.170 --> 00:23:46.230 resurrection of the servant allows God to offer 00:23:46.230 --> 00:23:50.490 us eternal covenant of peace, and he will bring 00:23:50.490 --> 00:23:55.549 us freedom of judgment. And look what he says 00:23:55.549 --> 00:24:01.230 in Isaiah 55, verse 1, which then you ought to 00:24:01.230 --> 00:24:04.869 compare with 737 of John. He says this, Isaiah 00:24:04.869 --> 00:24:09.980 55, 1, Come, everyone who is thirsty. Come to 00:24:09.980 --> 00:24:14.940 the water. And you without silver, meaning you 00:24:14.940 --> 00:24:18.720 don't have any way to pay for it. Come and eat. 00:24:19.900 --> 00:24:23.759 Come buy wine and milk without silver. Basically, 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:32.460 come. It's free. As the water is being poured 00:24:32.460 --> 00:24:38.609 out onto the altar, Jesus stands up and cries 00:24:38.609 --> 00:24:43.650 out, if anyone is thirsty. Can you picture this? 00:24:43.809 --> 00:24:46.589 Like this is the moment they're all excited for. 00:24:46.650 --> 00:24:50.450 And Jesus stands up, if anybody is thirsty, let 00:24:50.450 --> 00:24:56.630 him come to me and drink. It's mind -blowing 00:24:56.630 --> 00:24:58.630 to me. When I read this, I was like, are you 00:24:58.630 --> 00:25:02.309 kidding? Everything was on that moment. Jesus 00:25:02.309 --> 00:25:06.029 the Messiah, the servant, the Son of God, invites 00:25:06.029 --> 00:25:10.329 thirsty people to come to him and drink. It's 00:25:10.329 --> 00:25:13.849 beautiful. He says, I am the center of everything 00:25:13.849 --> 00:25:19.869 you're celebrating. I am the focus of this whole 00:25:19.869 --> 00:25:22.589 story in the Old Testament. It's all pointing 00:25:22.589 --> 00:25:25.930 at me, and I am here to quench your thirst. Come 00:25:25.930 --> 00:25:30.029 to me and drink. Imagine what this would what 00:25:30.029 --> 00:25:32.369 it would mean to somebody in a desert. Now we 00:25:32.369 --> 00:25:34.849 think of drinking, right? Just hone in on this 00:25:34.849 --> 00:25:38.390 idea of thirst for a second. This hit them different. 00:25:39.450 --> 00:25:41.289 It's not like, hey, I'm a little thirsty, go 00:25:41.289 --> 00:25:43.069 to the fridge and grab something cold to drink. 00:25:43.930 --> 00:25:46.930 I'm a little thirsty like I am right now. In 00:25:46.930 --> 00:25:51.369 the desert, water means life. In the desert, 00:25:51.430 --> 00:25:54.490 if you are thirsty, you are dying. That's literally 00:25:54.490 --> 00:25:57.069 what it means. And they were. The children of 00:25:57.069 --> 00:25:59.670 Israel, man, they were thirsty. They were crying 00:25:59.670 --> 00:26:01.869 out to God, like, quench our thirst. We're all 00:26:01.869 --> 00:26:06.849 going to die. And they cracked the... God provides 00:26:06.849 --> 00:26:09.730 water for them. And they're remembering that 00:26:09.730 --> 00:26:15.470 the God who provides is right there. And Jesus 00:26:15.470 --> 00:26:21.390 says, I'm it. I'm thirsty. Jesus says, are you 00:26:21.390 --> 00:26:29.380 dying? Come to me for life. Are you dying? Jesus 00:26:29.380 --> 00:26:33.900 is inviting us to come to him. Only Jesus can 00:26:33.900 --> 00:26:40.559 give life. Look what Jesus promises, though. 00:26:43.660 --> 00:26:48.140 Not just a drink. I don't promise you just a 00:26:48.140 --> 00:26:53.720 drink for life. I'm going to put a river. Of 00:26:53.720 --> 00:26:56.200 water in your heart. Look what he says. Verse 00:26:56.200 --> 00:27:00.000 38. The one who believes in me. As the scripture 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.359 has said. Will have streams of living water. 00:27:04.700 --> 00:27:10.339 Flow from deep within him. He said this about 00:27:10.339 --> 00:27:16.359 the spirit. Those who believe in Jesus. Who are 00:27:16.359 --> 00:27:19.000 going to receive the spirit. For the spirit. 00:27:20.109 --> 00:27:22.490 had not yet been given because Jesus had not 00:27:22.490 --> 00:27:29.210 been glorified. If you come to Jesus, put your 00:27:29.210 --> 00:27:36.769 faith in Jesus, you will be given life and his 00:27:36.769 --> 00:27:40.130 spirit will live inside of you. This is the picture 00:27:40.130 --> 00:27:41.990 we celebrated in baptism. When you come up out 00:27:41.990 --> 00:27:43.950 of the water, the same spirit that raised Christ 00:27:43.950 --> 00:27:47.329 from the dead and now lives in those who believe. 00:27:50.829 --> 00:27:54.130 His Spirit inside of you will become a river 00:27:54.130 --> 00:28:00.690 of unending life. What a promise. But that invitation 00:28:00.690 --> 00:28:05.250 in front of us, we come to six responses really 00:28:05.250 --> 00:28:07.410 quick that we're going to hit. Six responses 00:28:07.410 --> 00:28:10.089 that go 40 to 52. See if you can pick them out 00:28:10.089 --> 00:28:13.410 as we read it. Jesus, you've got to understand, 00:28:13.630 --> 00:28:17.029 like this is a ripple effect of what Jesus has 00:28:17.029 --> 00:28:20.779 just done in crying out, I am the one. who gives 00:28:20.779 --> 00:28:24.640 life. Anyone who's thirsty, come to me. And so 00:28:24.640 --> 00:28:28.500 there's six, we see six responses. When some 00:28:28.500 --> 00:28:30.339 of the crowd heard these words, they said, this 00:28:30.339 --> 00:28:34.980 truly is the prophet. Others said, this is the 00:28:34.980 --> 00:28:39.119 Messiah. But some said, surely the Messiah doesn't 00:28:39.119 --> 00:28:42.480 come from Galilee, does he? Doesn't the scripture 00:28:42.480 --> 00:28:46.099 say the Messiah comes from David's offspring 00:28:46.099 --> 00:28:49.839 and from the town of Bethlehem where David lived? 00:28:50.319 --> 00:28:53.460 They need to read their Bibles right there. So 00:28:53.460 --> 00:28:57.359 the crowd was divided because of him. Some of 00:28:57.359 --> 00:29:01.140 them wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand 00:29:01.140 --> 00:29:05.339 on him. Then the servants came to the chief Pharisees, 00:29:05.339 --> 00:29:08.519 and the Pharisees who asked them, why didn't 00:29:08.519 --> 00:29:11.759 you bring him? The servants answered, no man 00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:15.140 ever spoke like this. Then the Pharisees responded 00:29:15.140 --> 00:29:20.140 to them, are you fooled too? Have any of the 00:29:20.140 --> 00:29:24.259 rulers or Pharisees believed in him? But this 00:29:24.259 --> 00:29:27.359 crowd, which does not know the law, is accused. 00:29:28.339 --> 00:29:31.220 Nicodemus, the one who came to him previously 00:29:31.220 --> 00:29:34.680 and who was one of them, said to them, Our law 00:29:34.680 --> 00:29:39.220 doesn't judge a man before it hears from him 00:29:39.220 --> 00:29:43.660 and knows what he is doing, does it? You aren't 00:29:43.660 --> 00:29:47.859 from Galilee too, are you? They replied. Investigate 00:29:47.859 --> 00:29:52.420 and you will see. that no prophet arises from 00:29:52.420 --> 00:29:56.799 Galilee. Okay, there are, hard to find in here, 00:29:56.880 --> 00:29:59.680 but there are six responses we see, and we'll 00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:02.839 wrap this up really quick. Number one, he's a 00:30:02.839 --> 00:30:08.200 prophet. He teaches good stuff. He's a good moral 00:30:08.200 --> 00:30:13.019 teacher. Man, I can't tell you how many times 00:30:13.019 --> 00:30:16.779 in the valley since I've moved here, in conversations, 00:30:16.839 --> 00:30:19.759 not so much with you guys, But with people outside 00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:24.279 of the church, I've heard this comment. We fundamentally 00:30:24.279 --> 00:30:26.779 believe in God, don't we? Everybody in the valley 00:30:26.779 --> 00:30:30.900 believes in God to some degree. It seems. That's 00:30:30.900 --> 00:30:33.759 general. But he's just a good teacher. He's a 00:30:33.759 --> 00:30:36.839 good, yeah, he's good. Jesus is all right. But 00:30:36.839 --> 00:30:42.559 is he Lord? Is he your Savior? I think the second 00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:47.099 response is he's a fraud. Where is he from? Nothing 00:30:47.099 --> 00:30:52.019 comes from there. He's a fraud. Three is they're 00:30:52.019 --> 00:30:54.980 kind of anti -Jesus. That's a response. They 00:30:54.980 --> 00:30:59.839 want to arrest him. Who does he think he is telling 00:30:59.839 --> 00:31:06.240 me how to live? I'm in charge of my life. It's 00:31:06.240 --> 00:31:10.339 my money. It's my time. I'll sleep with whoever 00:31:10.339 --> 00:31:12.660 I want to sleep with. I'll do whatever I want 00:31:12.660 --> 00:31:19.339 to do. I'm anti -Jesus. Fourth. I have respect 00:31:19.339 --> 00:31:23.380 for him. Servants didn't want to arrest him. 00:31:23.400 --> 00:31:25.339 Like, eh, nobody speaks like this. We're not 00:31:25.339 --> 00:31:31.500 touching this one. I respect him. Number five, 00:31:32.099 --> 00:31:34.799 some are just curious. This is Nicodemus at this 00:31:34.799 --> 00:31:37.259 point. We know later on we believe that Nicodemus 00:31:37.259 --> 00:31:40.680 does come to faith. But we're just curious. Like, 00:31:40.700 --> 00:31:44.380 eh, we can't. Hey, don't push him so hard. You 00:31:44.380 --> 00:31:47.039 might not know who he is, but aren't we supposed 00:31:47.039 --> 00:31:51.400 to judge him? All five of these responses, though, 00:31:51.519 --> 00:31:55.599 will damn you to hell. And that's the truth. 00:31:57.799 --> 00:32:01.299 Jesus says in John 14, we just, six, I am the 00:32:01.299 --> 00:32:04.279 way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to 00:32:04.279 --> 00:32:08.460 the Father except through me. There's only one 00:32:08.460 --> 00:32:14.319 response, right response to Jesus. He is the 00:32:14.319 --> 00:32:16.460 Christ. Christ is not his name, it's what he 00:32:16.460 --> 00:32:22.690 is. Jesus Christ. The Messiah. Yes, that's who 00:32:22.690 --> 00:32:27.849 He is. He is my Savior. He is my Lord. The Lamb 00:32:27.849 --> 00:32:30.750 who's come to take away the sins of the world. 00:32:30.789 --> 00:32:35.009 He's come to take away my sins. And yes, I'm 00:32:35.009 --> 00:32:41.930 thirsty. And I come to you for drink. Are you 00:32:41.930 --> 00:32:50.900 thirsty? Are you thirsty? Come to Jesus today 00:32:50.900 --> 00:32:56.599 and drink. That's where life is. Let's pray. 00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:08.420 Gosh, Lord, we live in a world that offers a 00:33:08.420 --> 00:33:11.960 lot of drink. Different things we could drink 00:33:11.960 --> 00:33:15.000 of, and we drink those things in hopes to satisfy 00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:21.440 us, but you are the only thing that truly quenches 00:33:21.440 --> 00:33:26.259 our thirst. You are the Christ, the Messiah. 00:33:26.539 --> 00:33:28.960 And so we look to you, we come to you, we put 00:33:28.960 --> 00:33:32.000 our gaze upon you today. And Lord, I don't know 00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:35.740 in this room where everybody's at. Many of us 00:33:35.740 --> 00:33:37.799 in here may have said, yes, I want to drink of 00:33:37.799 --> 00:33:40.180 Jesus. And I pray that we will realize that the 00:33:40.180 --> 00:33:47.119 Spirit of God that lives in us is where we find 00:33:47.119 --> 00:33:49.680 the biggest and the only hope for this life. 00:33:51.150 --> 00:33:54.269 And if those in this room have not yet come and 00:33:54.269 --> 00:34:00.329 drank of Jesus, I pray today that they will honestly 00:34:00.329 --> 00:34:05.529 look at their sin and say, Jesus, I am a mess 00:34:05.529 --> 00:34:11.570 and I need you. Will you? And I put my faith 00:34:11.570 --> 00:34:15.349 in you today. And so, Lord, I just pray right 00:34:15.349 --> 00:34:17.429 now that your spirit does the work. I can't do 00:34:17.429 --> 00:34:19.809 anything. I pray that you do the work in us. 00:34:20.400 --> 00:34:24.179 as a group of people and individually. In your 00:34:24.179 --> 00:34:25.079 name we pray. Amen.