We're in John chapter 7 and the name of this sermon is John 7 the division caused by Jesus Christ.
John 7 the division caused by Jesus Christ.
That's one thing you'll notice in this chapter that people are very divided about Jesus Christ.
In this chapter some people want to kill Jesus. Some people believe on him.
Some people say he's a deceiver. Some people say he's telling the truth.
And the truth was that Jesus Christ when he was here he caused a huge division.
Some people believed him. They received him. They believed everything he said.
And then of course they wanted to kill him. A lot of people.
So we see the division caused by Jesus Christ.
Now let's look at the first point here.
The first point is this that the unsaved world does not understand our purpose and goals.
Look at what it says in John 7 verse 1.
After these things Jesus walked in Galilee for he would not walk in Jewry because the Jews sought to kill him.
So in John 7 verse 1 the Bible tells us the Jews sought to kill Jesus.
The Jews wanted to kill Jesus. That's what it says.
Now Jesus was aware of this.
He was a smart guy.
He realized the fact that his preaching had caused people to dislike him.
Caused people to hate him.
His first sermon what did they try to do?
They tried to throw him off a cliff.
His preaching divided people.
And here it says in verse 1 the Jews sought to kill him.
He is aware of this.
But you know the average person probably wasn't aware of it.
They don't understand the persecution that a believer goes through if they preach boldly what the truth is in the Bible.
But you notice throughout the entire Bible not just Jesus Christ.
But in the Old Testament all the prophets and people that preached on behalf of God.
The world hated them.
They didn't receive them.
And that's what we see in John 7 verse 1.
So notice what it says in verse 2.
So what you're seeing in verses 2 through 5 is the brothers of Jesus Christ are mocking him.
They're making fun of him.
They say go show yourself to the world.
If you're really the savior.
If everything you say is true.
Go show yourself to the world.
Now there's an obvious reason why he's not showing himself to the world though.
He realized they're trying to kill him.
Okay.
See his brothers obviously they're envious of Jesus Christ.
Obviously they're mad at their brother.
And they don't believe on him at this moment.
They end up believing on him.
Once you rise again from the dead it's kind of like okay.
I guess my brother was the savior.
But before that they did not believe on him.
And so they want him to go to Judea.
But you know if he goes to Judea it's a suicide mission.
Why?
Because the Jews are trying to kill him.
That's what it says in the first verse.
And so Jesus is aware of that.
But his brothers aren't aware of that.
See they don't understand our purpose.
They don't understand the conflict we go through.
They don't understand our goals in life.
And what they're basically accusing him of
is being an arrogant person.
They are saying that he wants to be known by the world.
That he wants to be known by the world.
That Jesus wants to be famous.
Look when Jesus came here he came and humbled himself.
He came obedient unto death.
Even the death of the cross.
It's the exact opposite.
When Jesus was here he didn't come to be a conquering hero.
He will come to be a conquering hero one day.
You see how wicked the world is.
It could be sooner than we realized.
It could be in our lifetime.
But you know when Jesus came the first time
he didn't come to be a conquering hero.
If he did he would have conquered everything.
He came to die for the sins of the world.
And so he's not coming to be known by everybody.
And he realizes it's not his time here.
We're in John 7.
There's 21 chapters in John.
He doesn't get killed until the end of the book.
If he just decided to make himself known
and just preach in a certain way
he would have been killed.
But that's not what he did when he preached.
He was wise about how he preached.
And he realized it wasn't his time.
Notice verse 6.
Then Jesus said unto them,
My time is not yet come,
but your time is all the way ready.
The world cannot hate you,
but me it hated.
Because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil.
People get this idea that Jesus Christ
was loved by everybody when he was here.
Not according to this verse.
He said the world hates me.
Me it hated.
That's what Jesus said.
Now yes you see tons of people listening to him.
There's a great multitude where he feeds them with fish
and loaves of bread.
Yes a lot of people listen to him from time to time,
but there's also people that kill him one day.
There's also people that tried to kill him
over and over again.
And the world by and large rejected Jesus Christ.
Look at the world we have today.
Do most people believe on Jesus Christ?
Nope.
No.
Narrow is the way we've seen it done to life
and few there be that find it.
Most people are going to go to hell.
So guess what?
When he was actually alive,
most people also rejected him.
If he was around today,
most people would reject him.
Most people don't think they would reject him,
but the truth is,
people don't like the words of the Bible by and large.
Now go to John 3,
because what Jesus said,
turn to John 3,
was they hated because he testifies of it
that the works thereof are evil.
And in John 3, notice verses 19 and 20.
And this is the condemnation that light has come into the world
and men love darkness rather than light
because their deeds were evil.
So what the Bible says is
that the people that hate the light,
they don't want to be near the light.
People that are living an ungodly life
and have wicked deeds,
they don't want to be near the light.
They don't want to be in a church like this
that's actually going to preach what the Bible says.
Why?
Because it shines the light on their sins.
See, that's the reason why the world hated Jesus,
because he shined the light on their sins.
Look, if somebody is a drug addict,
they don't want somebody preaching against being a drug addict.
They'll be offended by it.
And most people would rather just not go to church.
They don't want the light to be shone on their sins.
They don't want to read the Bible.
They don't want the words of God.
And so Jesus Christ, when he was here,
look, he preached against the world.
He preached against their wickedness,
so guess what?
They didn't like him.
Turn back to John 7.
Now, obviously, there's exceptions to this.
I mean, in this room,
it's filled full of people that love the Lord.
But you have to realize that most people don't love the Lord.
Most people don't want to hear the words of God.
And you realize that even though
there's a lot of people that go to church in this country,
the truth is that a lot of people that go to church,
they don't live very Godly lives.
I mean, our country is going downhill very fast.
Now, it's like that throughout the entire world.
But, I mean, in our country,
the sin level has just increased dramatically.
You know, it didn't used to be that tons of people
had kids out of wedlock.
That's becoming pretty common in the Philippines.
It wasn't common 30, 40 years ago.
But, yeah, the world is just becoming more and more wicked,
and when the world becomes wicked, guess what?
They're going to be mad at the people preaching against the wickedness.
Right? Because they're not living very Godly lives.
Now, it says in John 7, verse 8,
Go ye up unto this feast.
I go not up yet unto this feast,
for my time is not yet full come.
When he had said these words unto them,
he abode still in Galilee.
But when his brethren were gone up,
then when he also up unto the feast,
not openly, but as it were in secret.
So Jesus tells his brothers to go to the feast,
and he does go to the feast,
but he does it secretly.
Why is he doing it secretly?
Because he knows the Jews want to kill him.
That's what it said at the beginning of the chapter.
Now, obviously, his brothers don't understand that,
and they don't believe that,
but Jesus is aware of that.
So, one thing we need to understand here is this,
that it's not weak to decide to be smart about how you fight battles.
See, I mean, Jesus went secretly.
Right?
You know, there are truly wicked people
that would want to destroy you.
People that are powerful people.
You look at politicians,
whether it's this country or any country,
and other people that are high-level people.
Look, you've got to be kind of careful with how you deal with them.
And Jesus Christ, when he was here,
guess what?
He went up secretly to the feast.
Why?
Because he realized people wanted to kill him.
So he was smart about what he did.
Now, notice what it says in verse 11.
Then the Jews sought him at the feast and said,
Where is he?
And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him,
for some said he is a good man,
others said, Nay, but he deceiveth the people.
Notice the division caused by Jesus Christ.
Some say he's a good man,
others say he's a deceiver.
There's really no in-between position.
When you think about who Jesus Christ was,
he claimed to be God of the flesh.
He claimed to be the Savior.
He claimed to be perfect.
He claimed that he was going to rise again from the dead.
Now, you either believe that,
or you're saying he's the biggest deceiver who's ever lived.
There's no in-between position.
You know, when I was in Guyana on a missions trip,
I use this example because there's a famous cultist there,
Jim Jones, who claimed to be the Savior,
who claimed to be the second coming.
And I ask people this question
because there's a lot of Hindus there
and people from different religions, a lot of Muslims.
And I said, you know, well, Jesus claimed to be,
you know, God of the flesh.
He said he was the only way to heaven.
And he said he was going to rise again from the dead.
I said, let's say I told you those things.
Let's say I told you that I'm going to rise again from the dead,
I'm the only way to heaven,
and, you know, I'm the Savior of the world.
Now, there's three possibilities.
Either I'm telling the truth,
I'm lying about it, or I'm crazy.
It's one of those things, right?
And, see, Jesus claimed that he was the Savior,
the Christ, and he was going to rise again from the dead.
So what if someone says,
I don't believe that he rose again from the dead?
The only logical explanation
of what they should be thinking is
he's a terrible person.
If he wasn't the real deal, he's a terrible person.
And yet Muslims will say,
well, I think he was a great prophet.
No, he claimed to be God in the flesh.
Look, everybody's a liar,
but, look, I've never told people I'm God in the flesh.
That's a pretty big lie to make.
If Jesus wasn't actually God in the flesh,
he's the worst person
and the biggest deceiver who's ever lived.
There's no in-between position to take.
The Hindus say, well, he was a great man of God.
No, he was either God in the flesh
and the Savior and the Christ
and the only way to heaven like he said,
or he was a terrible human being.
The Buddhists say he was such a great teacher.
No, he was either the real deal or he was a phony.
See, honestly, the only religion in the world,
the only religion in the world
that says that Jesus Christ was an evil person are the Jews.
That is what they teach.
You can read their writings on the Talmud
and they say that he was basically possessed by devils
and he was doing things by evil spirits.
They say that basically Mary cheated on her husband
and that he's the son of Pantera.
That's what the Jews actually teach.
Now, they don't say that openly where people know that,
but that's what they believe,
that Jesus was the son of Pantera,
not of Mary and Joseph.
Now, obviously, we know he was born of the Virgin Mary,
but the Jews don't believe that.
They say that Mary cheated on her husband Joseph
and the guy by the name of Pantera,
that's where Jesus came from.
They actually do teach that Jesus was an evil person,
but at least what they say makes sense.
It makes sense that if he's not the real deal,
he is an evil person.
There's no in-between position here.
He either is the real deal or he's not.
So it kind of makes sense that either he's a good man
or he's a deceiver.
And look, the Jews here, they believe he's a deceiver.
That's the chapter where we see.
The Jews want to kill him.
They teach the same thing today.
Verse 13, how be it?
No man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.
People are afraid of the Jews.
That's what it says in verse 13.
They realize that Jews are pretty powerful people.
In a lot of countries, including in this country,
religious leaders are very powerful.
That's what we're seeing here in John chapter 7.
The Pharisees were very powerful.
They were powerful people,
and so people are afraid to speak openly.
It makes sense.
I mean, if you speak openly,
you can go to orthodox countries.
And if you speak against the orthodox church,
you're probably going to be thrown in prison.
You go to a Muslim country
and you say something against the Muslims,
what's going to happen?
You can't have your head chopped off.
You go to countries where the religious leaders
are powerful, and if you say anything against them,
you could have some major persecution.
In this country, there's really not much persecution.
We're able to freely preach the gospel
and talk to people about the Bible,
invite people to church.
We're freely allowed to have a Bible,
which in some countries, they're not.
But in some countries, there's actually real persecution.
We're afraid to have any opinions.
That's what we see here in John chapter 7.
Now, let's look at John chapter 7, verse 14.
I want us to understand also here tonight
the Jews' misunderstanding of the Old Testament.
That's point number two,
the Jews' misunderstanding of the Old Testament.
Notice verse 14.
Now, about the midst of the feast,
Jesus went up into the temple and taught.
And the Jews marveled, saying,
How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
Now, that's a very interesting statement
where Jesus is obviously preaching and teaching,
and it's obvious he knows what he's talking about.
It's obvious he's very educated.
And the Jews say, wait a minute,
this guy's never learned before.
Now, why would they say a statement like that?
Basically, what they're saying is,
he didn't learn from our institutions and our schools.
Basically, you can't get knowledge
outside of our Pharisee system,
where we teach you what it says.
You know, we have the same thing today
where people think that you cannot know the Bible
unless you go to Bible college.
Right.
Isn't that what they teach?
That if you don't go to Bible college,
there's no way you could have any knowledge.
Well, wait a minute.
If you're saved, you're involved with the Spirit of God,
which is the Spirit of truth.
And so when you read this Bible as a believer,
you can understand it.
Yeah.
Now, yes, you know, we have preachers and teachers
to help us with things,
but anybody in this room can open this book
in their free time and understand it
and understand the great mysteries that God has for us.
You don't need somebody to teach you.
Why?
Because you have the Holy Spirit teaching.
Right.
And as a saved person,
you can have the Word of God and you can learn.
But see, the Pharisees had this attitude that,
how could somebody possibly learn unless
we taught them?
What a stupid attitude to have.
Right.
Because, I mean, the Word of God is the Word of God.
You can learn the Word of God on your own.
Now, yes, it helps to have people teach you,
but this attitude that you have to go to Bible college,
people have the same attitude today.
They'll look down on someone
unless they graduated from Bible college.
Look, I didn't graduate from Bible college.
You know what I did?
I actually read this book,
and I went to a local church that trained me
and allowed me to preach there,
and then they ordained me and sent me out to start a church.
Amen.
That's what I did.
And that's the method you see in the Bible,
because guess what?
Show me the Bible college in this book.
Show me where there's a Bible college.
You're not going to find it.
There is no Bible college.
You know what people did?
They went to a local church,
and that's how they got trained.
That's what you see in the Bible.
Now, obviously, Jesus was specifically preaching
and teaching people.
You see Paul the Apostle take people under his wing,
and he's teaching them the Word of God
and training them.
Look, the greatest experience you get
is actually being involved in a church,
running ministries.
You know, when I was at Verity Baptist Church,
there was a lot of ministries
that I was given the ability to run,
obviously under the authority of Pastor Jimenez,
but he gave me the opportunity
to kind of lead those ministries,
and look, you learn from mistakes.
You learn from trial and error.
You don't learn by sitting up in a seminary
and just writing whatever all day.
Right.
Look, people graduate from college.
I graduated with a math degree,
and then you start your first day on the job,
and it's like, okay, well, how do I use this?
Because you know how to get an A on a test.
It doesn't mean, though, that you can actually do the job.
Right.
You have to actually be trained,
and if you want to run a church one day,
what better way to be at a church
and get opportunities to run ministries,
and then you get trained,
and then you start your own church.
Right.
And see, this attitude that you have to go to Bible college,
look, that's just not in the Bible.
Bible college is never mentioned in the Bible.
In fact, the only mention of college in the Bible
is not a good thing.
It's actually a bad thing.
Notice what it says in verse 16.
Jesus answered them and said,
My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
If any man will do his will,
he shall know of the doctrine,
whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.
So what Jesus said in verse 17 is,
if any man will do his will.
Okay.
So what does it mean to do the will of God?
We'll turn to John 6.
John 6.
Now, obviously, when we talk about the will of God,
there's obviously a lot of things
that are under the will of God
that he wants for our lives.
But I'll tell you what the number one first thing
he wants for you in your life.
It's found in John 6, verse 40.
And this is the will of him that sent me.
This is how you study the Bible.
You compare spiritual things with spiritual,
as the Bible says.
He talks about doing the will,
and so you go to another place
where it talks about what the will is.
This is the will of him that sent me
What is the first part of the will of God for your life?
It's to believe on Jesus Christ
and become a child of God.
Now, doesn't that make perfect sense?
Because if somebody learns every single thing in the world
but they never believe on Jesus,
where are they gonna spend eternity?
They're gonna spend it in hell forever.
The number one thing in our lives
is that we believe on Jesus Christ.
This is the will of him that sent me
that everyone would see at the sun and believeth on it.
May have ever, last night.
That's why our church believes in so many.
We go out there, we knock the doors,
we talk to people, we preach the gospel.
Why?
We want them to get started on the will of God.
And it starts with believing on Jesus Christ.
That's the first thing mentioned
is that you believe on Jesus Christ
and you get saved.
That's the number one thing.
Now turn back to John 7.
And the truth is that if you never believe on Jesus Christ,
you're never gonna understand anything in this book.
You say, why?
Well, this was not written by man.
This was written by God.
Now, yes, he used men to write his words.
But look, let me give you an example of this.
You know, my dad and I have written
a couple of chosen short stories
and the way we've done it is this,
that my dad has a really creative mind
but I'm better at actually doing the writing
in terms of getting things to rhyme and things like that.
So basically, he gives me,
he's given me the outline of what he once written
and I wrote it right into poetic form.
Now, that didn't really come from my mind.
That came from his mind.
So you look at who really wrote that story.
Well, I mean, I'm the one who put it into poetic form
but they actually came from my dad.
It was his creative mind.
It's his story.
I'm just helping him write it down.
Okay?
Now when it comes to the word of God,
God's the one who had made all the words here.
All it is is one man just writing it down.
Okay?
And so yes, several men were used to write the Bible.
It wasn't their words though.
They were the words of God.
And so it's a spiritual book.
Okay?
It's a spiritual book.
So guess what?
You need the Spirit of God inside of you to understand it.
And so someone who's never believed on Jesus Christ
and does not have the Holy Spirit of God indwelling them,
how are they gonna understand a spiritual book?
They're not gonna understand it.
And that's why it says,
if any man will do his will,
he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God.
See, if you believed on Jesus Christ,
you have the Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth.
So when you hear something preached,
you're gonna know whether or not it's of God
or whether it's not of God.
So when there's some man in Davao who says,
you know what?
I'm the appointed son of God on earth.
You're gonna know.
I don't think that's right.
It doesn't sound right to me
because last I checked,
only Jesus Christ was the son of God.
Amen.
When you hear things preached,
you're gonna know,
wait a minute, that just doesn't sound right.
That contradicts,
somebody gets up here and says,
well, you gotta get baptized to be saved.
No, wait a minute.
John 3, 16 says,
whosoever believe.
You're gonna know that's false.
So when you hear somebody preaching,
you can determine if it's true or not.
Why?
Because you're saved
because you have the Spirit of God inside of you.
But if someone does not have
the Spirit of God inside of them,
they're not gonna understand the Word of God.
And that's why people join bizarre cults
that are out there.
Why?
They're very zealous people.
They wanna do what's right,
but unfortunately,
they just don't know what the truth is.
And so they join crazy religions
that don't make any sense whatsoever.
What does it say in John 7, verse 18?
He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory,
but he that seeketh his glory
that sent him to the same is true
and no one righteousness is in him.
And this was basically
what his brothers were accusing him of
earlier in the chapter.
They're basically saying
that he was seeking his own glory.
Hey, go show yourself to the world
since you're seeking your own glory.
But you know what Jesus says is
that he that seeketh his glory
that sent him to the same is true.
So he didn't seek glory in this world.
Jesus came not to be a conquering hero,
but to humble himself
and become obedient on the death
and on the death of the cross.
And turn to John 8.
John 8.
And in John 8, verse 47
is a very interesting verse
where it says,
Now, everyone always likes to say
that Jesus Christ was just always so nice.
He never said anything mean.
Well, he just told them,
you know what?
You're not of God.
That's why you don't understand what's being said.
And in John 8,
we're going to look at that.
Next week, he says,
you're of your father, the devil.
That's even more mean.
There's a reason why people wanted to kill him
because he wasn't always the nicest person.
He would just preach what the truth is.
You know, that's what you see throughout the Bible.
That's what God's people are supposed to do.
But what it said was,
he that is of God heareth God's works.
What does that mean?
It basically means that as the same person,
you're going to be able to understand
whether what you hear is true or not.
Now, obviously, when it comes to the Bible,
there are things
that people could have different interpretations of.
Look, the Bible is infinitely deep.
There's not a single person in the world
who fully understands the Bible
and has every interpretation correct.
But you know,
most things in the Bible are not complicated.
You say, brother Stuckey,
you know, I don't know whether or not
God wants me to commit adultery on my wife.
Look, that's not a complicated topic in the Bible.
God makes it pretty clear,
yeah, you know what,
that's a wicked sin to commit.
You know, I don't know whether God
wants me to get drunk.
I'm pretty sure I can show you
a lot of verses that say,
don't drink.
Most things in the Bible aren't complicated.
So yes, there are certain topics
where there's verses
that we can have different interpretation on.
And you know,
who knows who's right?
But you know,
when it comes to most of the Bible,
it's pretty black and white.
God doesn't make it complicated
to figure out what's true and what's not true.
And you know,
when you see somebody who
hears what the Bible says
over and over again,
and they don't understand it,
or they don't believe it,
that shows that someone who's not of God,
they don't have the spirit of God
helping them interpret it.
Because when you read a verse like John,
or not John 1,
but Genesis 1, 1,
in the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth,
it's not very complicated.
Guess what created the heaven and the earth?
God did.
And then people say,
well, wait a minute,
I think the earth is billions of years old.
It's like,
I mean, are you reading the same book?
I am.
Because in the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth.
And he lays it out in six days,
and you add up the years
of the people after that
from Adam all the way up to the modern day,
the earth is barely over 6,000 years old.
And if you take the Bible literally,
there's no other way to interpret it.
Because in the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth.
It's not complicated
when you have the spirit of God inside of you.
But if somebody's not saved,
it's going to be pretty complicated.
And they look at something very clear,
like in the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth,
and they say,
well, I mean,
maybe it took,
maybe it was six days,
like I said,
maybe it was 6,000 years,
maybe it was 6 billion years,
who knows?
Or like the Hindus say,
maybe the earth was created
on the back of a giant turtle.
It's like,
yeah, who knows what's true?
Just believe whatever you want then, I guess.
It's not complicated when you're saved.
But when someone's not saved,
they can come up
with any number of interpretations of it.
Just turn back to John 7.
Now obviously when we talk about
the minor prophets,
or even the major prophets,
you know,
you go to the book of Ezekiel,
you go to the book of Zachariah,
look,
there's some complicated things in there.
Because they're prophesying about the end times,
there's a lot of symbolism.
Yeah,
you know,
there's a lot of complicated things there.
But when it comes to most of the Bible
and how we live our lives,
it's not complicated.
You say,
Brother Stuckey,
you know,
should a person spank their child or not?
There's good arguments on both sides.
There's not good arguments on both sides.
Because the Bible says,
He that spared his rod,
hated his child.
Yeah.
The Bible tells you to spank your child.
See,
God doesn't make it complicated
whether or not you're supposed to do it or not.
Usually it's just black and white.
The reason why people get upset though,
is because of the fact
they see things in the Bible
where God says,
this is the way it is,
and people don't like what God says.
That's why they want to kill Jesus.
Why?
He's preaching against what they were doing.
That is why they didn't like him.
Now,
in verse 19,
I want you to notice this.
Did not Moses give you the law?
And yet,
none of you keepeth the law.
Why go ye about to kill me?
So once again,
he says,
you're trying to kill me.
Now obviously,
Jesus is telling the truth.
He's not lying.
They want to kill him.
And he calls them out on him
in front of everybody.
But he said,
Did not Moses give you the law?
And yet,
none of you keepeth the law.
What does he say?
Not a single person.
Not a single person keeps the law.
See,
the Jews,
as well as the Muslims,
and as well as most everybody in the world,
is trying to work their way to heaven.
Aren't they?
They think if they keep the law,
they're going to get to heaven.
And it's like,
you know,
I agree with you.
Go ahead and keep the law then.
I mean,
have you ever lied before?
Well,
yeah,
I've lied before.
We haven't kept the law.
I mean,
yeah,
go ahead and try to keep the law.
Go ahead and try to live a perfect life.
See,
my Bible says there is none righteous,
no,
Christ the righteous,
the Bible says.
Why?
Because he was God in the flesh.
But you know,
nobody's going to be able to keep the law.
And you know,
it's just so bizarre when you think about it,
how people honestly think that their good deeds are going to get them to heaven.
Now look,
I was once 18 years old as an unsaved person.
And I thought my good deeds were going to get me to heaven.
I thought if I live a good life and obey God's law,
I'll get to heaven.
And then somebody showed me what the Bible says,
and I'm like,
wow,
that's not what the Bible says at all.
Now once you're on the other side of salvation,
it's really bizarre to think about
how could someone not understand this?
Why don't they understand
they don't have the spirit of God inside of them?
That's the reason why.
There's a reason why you have millions of people
that worship the feast of the black hazard
every year.
They just don't understand
that that hocus pocus healing
is not of the Bible.
Why?
They're not saved.
They just don't understand
what the word of God says.
That's the reason why.
And so,
nobody keeps the law.
Nobody even comes close to keeping the law.
So I mean,
it says all liars shall have their part
in the lake
which burneth with fire and brimstone.
It only takes one lie to be a liar.
Cause if somebody murdered one person,
you'd call them a murderer.
Somebody steals one time,
you'd call them a thief.
Somebody lies one time,
they're a liar.
So for just one lie,
we're condemned to hell forever.
Now look,
we've all done worse
than just tell one lie in our lives.
No one's even close to keeping the law.
And yet the vast majority of the world thinks
that if they keep the law,
they're gonna get to heaven.
And yet,
what does Jesus say?
He's like,
none of you keep the law.
And look,
the law's not just the Ten Commandments.
Nobody's kept all the Ten Commandments,
but there's a lot more
than Ten Commandments in this book.
I mean,
so none of us are even close
to keeping the law.
I mean,
can you honestly sit here and tell me
that you wake up every morning,
you just spend an hour in prayer,
or just you read the Bible for an hour.
Boy, you're just always happy.
You never get upset.
You know,
everything's perfect.
I mean,
yeah, right.
Nobody's kept the law.
And anyone who would say
you live such a great life,
they deserve to go to heaven,
it's a really private statement to make.
And that's why the first step
to getting saved is to humble yourself
and admit,
I can't earn my way to heaven.
And so verse number 20,
the people answered and said,
Thou hast a devil
who goeth about to kill thee.
And so they told Jesus
that he has a devil.
They're saying,
nobody's going about to kill you.
What they're doing there
is they're lying.
Because he's called them out.
Jesus knows that they want to kill him.
And they say,
nobody's going about to kill you.
Well,
Jesus said,
people want to kill him.
And the beginning of this chapter said that.
He realized what was actually
inside their hearts
and inside their minds.
And they're saying,
well, you have a devil.
Why?
They're trying to distract from the issue.
They got called out on the fact
that they're guilty
and they do want to kill Jesus.
And so they just say,
well, that's the devil.
In verse 21,
Jesus answered and said to them,
I have done one work in you,
ye all martyr.
Moses, therefore,
gave on to you circumcision,
not because it is of Moses
but of the fathers.
And ye, on the Sabbath,
they circumcised a man.
If a man is a man,
he is a man.
If a man is a man,
If a man on the Sabbath day
received circumcision
that the law of Moses
should not be broken,
are ye angry at me
because I have made a man
every whit hole on the Sabbath day?
Judge not according to their parents
but judge righteous judgment.
And so they were mad at Jesus
for healing on the Sabbath day.
What a stupid thing
to get mad about.
You know,
you're upset that somebody got healed.
I mean,
does that make any sense?
Let's say somebody had cancer
and then all of a sudden
they're miraculously healed.
I mean,
how dare you get healed
on the Sabbath day?
I mean, no,
the man was not created
for the Sabbath.
I mean,
the Bible says that
it was made for us.
It's for our benefit.
It gives us a day of rest.
It's not something
to put us into bondage.
Okay?
They don't understand.
They understood
to some degree
because of the fact
they talk about how
circumcision happens
on the Sabbath.
But then for healing,
apparently you don't get
healed on the Sabbath.
You can get circumcised
on the Sabbath according to them
but not get healed
on the Sabbath.
Obviously,
they just did not understand.
And what he's doing
because they're claiming
to keep the law
as being so perfect
and he's showing them
you're a complete hypocrite
of what you're saying.
Verse 25
Then said some of them
of Jerusalem
is not this he who
they seek to kill
but lo he speaketh boldly
and they say
nothing on you
do the rulers know indeed
that this is the very Christ
how be it we know
this man whence he is
but when Christ cometh
no man know
of whence he is
then cried Jesus in the temple
as he taught saying
ye both know me
and ye know whence I am
and I am not come up myself
but he that sent me
is true
and ye know not
but I know him
for I am from him
and he hath sent me
then they sought to take him
but no man laid hands on him
because his hour
was not yet come
and so basically
they're trying to take him
to kill him
they're trying to take him
to destroy him
his hour's not come yet
it's not time
for him to die
you know the Bible says
precious in the sight
of the Lord
is the death of his sins
now obviously
we know Jesus Christ
was God in the flesh
the Savior the Christ
but at the same time
in our lives
if God still wants us
here on earth
it doesn't matter
if they're pointing
a machine gun
at your head
and firing
you're not gonna die
if God says
you're not gonna die
right if God wants you
to live
he's got a purpose for you
look what about
when they were thrown
in the fiery furnace
did they die
no
why
God didn't want them
to die
that's the reality
see God can't protect us
and look obviously
this is talking about
Jesus Christ's hour
was not yet come
but in terms of our lives
that's why we always
talk about
the biggest safety
and protection
we can have
is living godly
cause if you're living godly
God can protect you
from anything
and look when it comes
to living for the Lord
most people
aren't doing it
so if you're someone
who lives for the Lord
God would have a reason
and a purpose
for you to be continuing
and if he allowed you
to die
your death is precious
in his sight
he allowed it
for a greater purpose
I had a great friend
of mine in college
who died
and he was not
living an ungodly life
in fact
you know
he was partied
and he died
when he was 20 years old
why did God allow him
to die
you know
I don't necessarily
know that
but obviously
he wasn't
under God's judgment
so if God
were to allow you
to pass away
he has a greater purpose
for you
obviously
we put that
in God's hands
obviously
we don't fully
know his will
in all situations
now
let's go to verse
number 31
and it says
in verse 31
this is our
and many of the people
believed on him
and said
when Christ cometh
will he do more miracles
than these
which this man hath done
now this is a very
confusing verse
if you just take
this verse by itself
because the first
half of this verse
says
many of the people
believed on him
okay
what do you have to do
to be saved
believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved
whosoever
believeth in him
should not perish
but of everlasting life
but then
what do they say
when Christ cometh
will he do more miracles
than these
which this man hath done
because in the second
half of the verse
it sounds like he's saying
this is not the Christ
will Christ end up
doing more miracles
than this man
it sounds like a
contradiction
there are no contradictions
in the Bible
there's never a
contradiction
if there's something
that seems like a
contradiction
it's because we don't
understand what's being said
so the way we understand
this verse
is actually just look
at the next verse
and it explains it
the next verse says this
the Pharisees
and the Pharisees
and the chief priests
even the people
murmured such things
concerning him
and the Pharisees
and the chief priests
sent officers to take him
so in verse 32
the Pharisees
are upset
about what was said
by these people
now if these people
didn't believe this
was a Christ
they wouldn't be upset
they're upset
by what's being said
so what is going on
in verse number 31
these people
believe on Jesus Christ
doesn't it say that
they believe on him
plain as day
many people believed on him
so what they're saying
when it says
says when Christ cometh, they're actually mocking the Pharisees. What they're saying is this,
when Christ cometh, will you do more miracles than this man doeth? Basically, what they're
saying is this guy has done so many miracles, you're saying there's going to be another Christ
who's going to do more miracles than this guy. That's what they're saying. They're
mocking the Pharisees. That's why the Pharisees are upset. It's not a contradiction.
They believe on it. As it says very clearly, we have to understand the tone of what's
being said is when Christ cometh, will you do more miracles? They're basically saying,
how are you not believing on this guy? How do you not believe this? He's healed people. He's done
all these miracles and you don't believe this? Is someone going to come and do more
miracles than this guy? That's basically what they're saying. You're basically mocking
the Pharisees. They're speaking sarcastically in verse number 31. The Pharisees heard that
the people murmured such things concerning him, and they sent officers to take him.
They're upset with what's being said. Verse 33, then said Jesus on to them,
Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me.
Ye shall seek me and shall not find me, and where I am, thither ye cannot come.
Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go that we shall not find him?
Will he go into the dispersed among the Gentiles and teach the Gentiles?
What men are saying is this, that he said, Ye shall seek me and shall not find me,
and where I am, thither ye cannot come.
And so they're basically trying to mock Jesus and what's being said,
and they're really just making themselves look foolish. Because throughout this whole
conversation, they can't answer anything Jesus Christ says. They obviously don't understand
the law. They don't understand the Lord of God, and they're trying to make him look foolish.
And whenever somebody is a fool that tries to make other people look foolish,
they just make themselves look foolish. That's the way it works.
We see that happen all the time. People try to mock the things of God. They try to mock
the Bible. People mock what we believe about creation. They say,
How can you believe that God just created this? So it's like, Oh, so a random explosion happened.
And then billions of years later, we had this just this bacteria in the ocean.
It just came alive. And then all of a sudden, animals started to get created.
And billions of years later, here we are. It's like, Yeah, that's real smart.
That's so much smarter than just believing God created. I guess a rock created us.
In the beginning, God in the beginning, a rock. Yeah, that makes or in the beginning,
a dot that exploded if you believe the big bang there. Yeah, that really makes us look
fools. But when people try to make him look foolish that are fools, they just make themselves
look foolish. That's the way it works. Verse 37. In the last day, that great day of the
feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come on to me and drink.
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, how his belly shall flow
rivers of living water. But this fakie of the spirit which they that believe on him should
receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified. And so
in verse 39, he talks about the spirit of God. This is referring to the Holy Spirit.
When we get saved, we get into well with the Holy Spirit. But in John Chapter seven,
a safe person did not get involved. Why? Jesus was not yet glorified. Okay,
but that does not change the fact that before John seven, the promise in John three
and John three 16 is everlasting life. So even though they weren't in dwell with the
Holy Ghost, they were saved forever. Because it says, I give it to them eternal life,
and they shall never perish. But they don't get involved with the Holy Ghost until after
Jesus rose again. But all the great verses that show everlasting life, eternal life,
those are before Jesus even died. Yeah, John 336, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life. John three 16 whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John five 24, verily verily saying to you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him
that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is past, present tense,
but is passed from death unto life. When you believe on Jesus Christ, you have already passed
from death unto life. Amen. You will not ever die. Your body will die. But who you
actually are is not really your body. That's just really your outward shell.
Who you are is not found in your body. And when you physically pass away,
you will go straight to heaven. Why? Because he promised, I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish. And all the examples he gives. He talks in John three
about being born into God's family. Look, my son will always be my son. Nothing is
ever going to change that. It doesn't matter if he turns 20 and says, You know what? I
hate you, Dad. I never want to talk to you ever again. And he never calls me the
rest of his life. It doesn't change the fact I'm his father. Nothing's ever going to change
that. And look, when we get saved, you see people in the Bible that do some pretty bad
things after they get saved. They rebel against God. They get mad at God. I mean, Jonah
literally runs away from God, and God has to get him swallowed by a whale to get him
back into his blood. People commit murder that were saved. David committed adultery
with Bathsheba. But if you look very clearly in the Bible, he did not lose his salvation.
Because in Psalms 51, when he lost was his joy. He didn't lose his salvation, he says,
restore to me the joy of thy salvation. Because as a saved person living in sin,
you will not be happy. When you know what the truth is and you rebel against it,
you're not going to be happy. But look, as a saved person, you cannot lose your salvation.
So yes, you know what? In John 7, verse 39, they were not indwelt with the Holy Ghost yet.
But it doesn't change the fact that they still had the promise of eternal life,
okay? But Jesus had to be glorified before they'd be indwelt with the Holy Ghost.
Now, in the Old Testament, though, you oftentimes see that people would get
filled with the Spirit, okay? And that's something that was around in the Old Testament
and something that's around today. The difference between us in the Old Testament
and us today is this, we are indwelt with the Holy Ghost when we believe on Jesus Christ.
But the Bible still says that you can be filled with the Spirit, which could give
you boldness to preach the gospel or to do something mighty for God. But everybody that's
saved is involved with the Holy Ghost in today's world. Verse 40, many of the people,
therefore, when they heard the saying said, of a truth, this is the prophet. Others said,
this is the Christ. But some said, shall Christ come out Galilee? You notice the division
that's being caused. Everybody's got a different opinion. And see, the truth is when it comes to
someone who boldly preaches the truth. I used to say this when we were in Sacramento,
where I'd invite people to church and I'd tell them that when you come to this church,
it's different than in churches you've been to. And people either love it or they hate it.
There's really no in between. When Jesus was around, people either loved him or they
hated him. It was really no in between. Because most people don't really state an opinion on
anything. See, when it comes to preaching at a church, your job is to preach all of the Bible.
And there are parts of the Bible that are not fun to preach. You say, why are they not fun
to preach? I've had times where I preach sermons here at this church. And I'm worried that,
you know, somebody is going to just not come back to church after I preach a sermon.
Why? It might offend them. But you know what? It doesn't change the fact you still have to preach
the whole Bible. We're going chapter by chapter through the book of John. I can't skip a chapter
because I'm worried about what the result is going to be. Because you never see Jesus
saying, well, you know, I'm just worried. I just called the Pharisee. I mean, he says,
you're over your father the devil in John chapter 8. The next chapter we look at.
He wasn't worried. You just have to preach with the Bible. Obviously, we do things in
love. You don't do things and be a jerk. But you have to preach the whole Bible.
Now, in verse 42, the Bible says, hath not the scripture said this Christ cometh of the
seed of David and out of the town of Bethlehem? Where David was. So there was a
division among the people because of him. Verse 44, and some of them would have taken him,
but no man laid hands on them. When it says they would have taken him, basically,
they want to throw him in prison, prison, beat him, kill him, whatever. They're trying to take
him to arrest him. They're trying to stop him from preaching the truth. Verse 45, then came the
officers to the chief priests and Pharisees and they said unto him, why have you not brought
him? The officers answered, never be as fake like this man. That's like the coolest part
of this chapter right here. Because basically these high level people, the chief priests and
the officers, the chief priests and the Pharisees, they send the officers basically to
arrest him and then the officers don't do it. And it's like, why didn't you do what we
told you to do? It's like basically, we pay your way. We're above you. We're more powerful.
And they say, we've never heard anyone speak like this before. It's like, you go ahead and
arrest him yourself. It's like, I'm not going to do it. Because they were afraid to arrest
him. Because they were afraid what he's saying might be the truth. I'm sure some of them did
believe on him. And so they said, well, I'm not going to do that. And honestly, when we
preach today, you know, it's, it's kind of a similar reaction because obviously we're not
Jesus Christ. But when you preach what the Word of God says, it causes people to say,
man, I haven't really heard preaching like this before. Why? Because very few churches
actually preach like they did in the Bible. They're afraid to preach what the Bible says.
And so honestly, when people come in here that visit, oftentimes what they say is,
it's very different than what I've heard before. You know, I'm not really used to seeing so
many Bible verses. I'm not used to hearing so much expounding on the scripture because most
churches are really built around entertainment and a rock concert and things like that. That's
never what we're going to be about. It's always going to be about the Word of God.
Verse 47, then answered them, the Pharisees, are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers
of the Pharisees believed on him? For this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.
And so basically the Pharisees are basically saying, no, none of us have believed on him.
So if he was really the real deal, us that are powerful, us that are rulers, us that are
Pharisees would have believed on him. Now, does that really make sense? When it comes to
powerful people in today's world, do most of them believe on Jesus Christ? When it comes to
all these politicians, do most of them love God? Do most of them believe on Jesus Christ? No,
they don't. And they might say, well, you know, I love God. It's like, yeah, right.
It's like, whatever, Mr. Politician. Look, you know, the fact that the Pharisees did
not believe on him is good proof that he was the real deal. You know, the Pharisees didn't
believe on him. They were high level religious Jews. And look, they did not believe Jesus
when he came. Look, the Jews said they were looking for Jesus. And honestly, most of
them, when Jesus actually came, they didn't believe on him. Now some did. And today, you know,
if you were to preach to someone who was Jewish, some would believe on him. But look,
the Bible says he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God
abideth them. And it doesn't matter whether you're Jew, Gentile, Hindu, Muslim, whether
you grew up in church, whatever your background, if you don't believe on the Son, you will
not see life. And they did not believe Jesus when he came. And these Pharisees, when
they died, they went to hell. Why? They didn't believe on Jesus Christ. Now, obviously,
there's exceptions here and there. Nicodemus is an exception, which we're going to see here
in verse 50. But by and large, most of them did not believe. And by and large, the most
powerful people and famous people, and most powerful religious people do not believe on
Jesus Christ. Most powerful religious people do not believe on Jesus Christ. Verse 50,
Nicodemus saith unto them, He that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,
doth our law judge any man before him, and nobody doeth? They answered and said unto them,
art thou also of Galilee? Search and look, for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet, and every
man went on to his own house. So I believe Nicodemus, who Jesus preached to in John chapter
3, did end up getting saved. But by and large, these Pharisees did not believe on Jesus
Christ. And he basically calmed down the situation. But what's the big theme you see
here in this chapter? There's just a huge division about Jesus Christ. I mean, there's
a million different opinions being thrown out there. And it would be the exact same thing
today. If Jesus was around today, then people would be very divided. Some people would believe
on him. And then others would say he's a deceiver. Others would say this. Others would say that.
That's the way it is. And everyone has this idea that, you know what? If Jesus was around
today, I would love him. I would worship him. And it's like, well, that's not what happened
2,000 years ago. I don't really see why it would be any different today. Because if you
didn't really believe on the people that preached the word of God back then, you wouldn't
believe on it now. And vice versa. The people that are saved today, guess what? 2,000 years
ago you would have gotten saved. Why? Because some people choose to believe what the Bible
says, and some don't. Let's close with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father,
thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to read through John
chapter 7. And asking God to help us apply this into our lives, help us do everything
we can to continue to study your word and to learn your word and realize that when
you were here, it didn't cause quite a division. And us today, even if we try to live
godly and be as kind as we possibly can, God, it will cause division at times.
Not everybody will like the message that you have, but it doesn't change a guy's life.