but your time is always ready.
The world cannot hate you, but me it hated
because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil.
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 opened to the feast, not openly,
but as it were in secret.
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.
Howbeit no mass bake openly of him for fear of the Jews.
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?
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.
He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory,
but he that seeketh his glory that sent him the same is true,
and no unrighteousness is in him.
Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keep with the law?
Why go ye about to kill me?
The people answered and said, Thou hast the devil,
who goeth about to kill thee?
Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work,
and ye all marvel.
Moses, therefore, gave unto you circumcision, not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers.
And ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man.
If man on the Sabbath day receive the 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 the appearance, but judge writes his judgment.
Then said some of them of Jerusalem, is not this he whom they seek to kill?
Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?
Albeit we know this man once he is, but when Christ comeeth, no man knoweth once he is.
Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, He both know me, and ye know whence
I am.
And I am not comeeth myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.
But I know him, for I am from him, and ye have sent me.
And they sought to take him, but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet
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.
The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things
concerning him, and the Pharisees and the chief
priests sent officers to take him.
And said, Jesus unto them, yet a little while I am with you.
And then I go on to him that sent me.
He shall seek me and shall not find me,
and where I am, thither he cannot come.
Then said the Jews among themselves where there will he go that we shall not find him will he go on to the
Dispersed among the Gentiles and teach the Gentiles
What manner of saying is this that he said he shall seek me and shall not find me and where I am to there
He cannot come
And the last day that great day the feast Jesus stood and cried saying if any man thirst let him come on to me and drink
He that believed without me as the scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of relieving water
But this bake he 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.
Many of the people, therefore, when they heard this saying,
said of a truth, this is the prophet.
Others said, this is the Christ.
But some said, shall Christ come out of Galilee?
Hath not the scripture said that Christ
comeeth out of the seat of David,
and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?
So there was a division among the people because of him.
and some of them would have taken him but no man laid hands on him.
Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees and they set onto them.
Why have you not brought him? The officers answered,
never man's spake like this man. Then answered them,
the Pharisees, are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed on him?
But there's people who knoweth not the law or cursed.
Because he must sayeth unto them,
he that cometh to Jesus by night, being one of them,
doth our law judge any man before he'd hear him,
and knoweth what he doeth.
They answered and said unto him, art thou also of Galilee?
Search and look, for out of Galilee,
riseeth no prophet, and every man went unto his own house.
Let's pray.
Father God, we thank you, dear Lord,
for the King James Bible,
and we thank you for this wonderful church
you've given us, dear Lord,
and we thank you for our pastor.
Please bless him as he preaches your word.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Okay, we're in John chapter 7 this evening, and tonight we're going to look at the preaching
of Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles.
Look at verse number 1 here.
It says, After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, for he would not walk in Jewry,
because the Jews sought to kill him.
And of course,
What this is referring to is back in chapter 5, Jesus Christ had healed a paralytic man,
someone who was essentially incapacitated.
He was the one who was by the pool there, and he heals him.
And of course, the Pharisees did not like this.
They were not well pleased with the fact that Jesus Christ had done this on the Sabbath.
And they ignored the fact that this was a supernatural miracle, that God was obviously working in
and they decided to essentially try to take Jesus Christ,
they wanted to kill him,
they wanted to plot his assassination.
And so since then, they've essentially conspired
to take Jesus Christ in order to kill him.
And this is one of the reasons why Jesus Christ
essentially returned back to Galilee,
and the Bible says that he would not return
or he would not walk in jewelry referring to Judea.
Now, this doesn't mean that he would never return there,
but obviously he's not going to spend the most of his time
there because of the fact that there are people out to kill him.
And by the way, this doesn't mean that he was afraid.
It doesn't mean that he was scared.
It doesn't mean that he had some sort of, you know,
fear that they were going to kill him.
He just knew what the purpose of God for his life was.
You know, obviously he was to die.
He knows that.
But it's obviously made clear to him that now is not the time.
right? The time is not at hand that he should be crucified.
There's still much work for him to do.
And so he has to be wise as a serpent and harmless as a
dove. This doesn't mean he's afraid. This doesn't mean he's scared,
but he's obviously exercising wisdom because now is not the time for him to be
crucified. There's still a lot that he has to do.
And so he has to behave himself wisely.
Therefore, he would not walk in
jewelry is not going to spend a
whole lot of time in that southern
part known as Judea because they're
seeking to kill him.
However, we know that anytime there
was a festival that was supposed
to be observed the Sabbath,
the feast.
Jesus Christ would travel to Jerusalem.
He's not going to allow the fact that people are out to kill him
from deterring him, from obeying the laws of God.
And keep in mind, the observance of the Feast of Tabernacles
was still being enacted during this time
because during Jesus' ministry,
they're still under that Old Testament law, right?
So, Jesus Christ is going to observe the Feast of Tabernacles.
He was offering the Lamb.
He was participating in those Old Testament religious rites because of the fact that He
obeyed God completely and He's under that Old Testament law.
It says in verse number two, the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.
Now, what this is referring to is the Feast of Tabernacles referring to the fact that
the Lord instituted
celebration that lasted for seven days known as the Feast of Tabernacles where
the children of Israel would erect these booths also known as tabernacles
essentially commemorating the deliverance of God to the children of
Israel from the land of Egypt essentially providing for them giving them a
feast so to speak while they were in the wilderness and so this is a way to
commemorate that where they would set up these mini tabernacles as Leviticus 23
And of course they would feast for seven complete days.
That was part of the observance.
And so everyone would go to Jerusalem.
There would be caravans of families that would travel
from all over the known world who were Jews at the time
to Jerusalem.
in order to observe this so obviously Jesus Christ is going to participate in this so he ends up
traveling to Jerusalem but before that we're going to see this little discourse between him
and his brethren verse number three says his brethren therefore said into him depart hence
and go into Judea that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest now
Who is being referred to here?
Well, this is not just referring to his,
you know, his neighbors, his friends, his cousins.
When it says his brethren,
it's literally referring to the brothers of Jesus Christ.
Okay, actual siblings and of course we can include within this his sisters as well now. This is an important doctrine today
Because of the fact that you have the Roman Catholic Church that seems
Interested in just perpetuating this lie that Jesus Christ did not have any siblings
And it seems just absolutely absurd to make that claim and you kind of wonder why would they even say that?
But it's because of the fact that they want to believe that Mary was a perpetual virgin
That Mary had Jesus Christ, and of course we know that she was a virgin.
Prior to that this is the miracle right that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin
But they want to believe and perpetuate this lie that she remained a virgin thereafter
So even after Jesus Christ was born even though she was married to Joseph Joseph never touched her
you know they never came together they never had children thereafter and
Why do they believe that well because they view the physical relationship within marriage as being perverse or something like that because it's a false religion
And obviously we know that the physical relationship within marriage is not only sanctioned by God, it's appropriate and God
finds pleasure in that, right?
He commands married couples to do so.
That is something that married couples should do
in order to be right with God, in fact.
There's many teachings of that in the Bible.
We have 1 Corinthians chapter seven, for example.
The Bible teaches us that the bed is undefiled, right?
So God definitely encourages
and commands that physical relationship.
But yet the Roman Catholic Church wants to believe
and perpetuate, no, Joseph and Mary never had
that physical relationship thereafter.
He never had siblings.
Jesus and that's it, but that is a complete lie.
It's stupid, it's nonsensical.
And in fact, when talking about the birth of Jesus Christ,
it said that, you know, that Joseph knew her not until,
right, Jesus Christ was born.
Essentially explaining that there's a finality
to that abstinence, and it was until
after Jesus Christ was born.
And then, of course, he knew her physically,
which is why he produced these other children.
And there's many other passages in the Gospels
and in the New Testament that indicate
that Jesus Christ had brothers and sisters.
That's not crazy.
That's not blasphemous.
That's not false doctrine.
It's exactly what the Bible teaches
from Genesis to Revelation
that married couples have babies.
Okay?
And I've already covered this before,
but it's just worth noting again.
If Mary were to abstain from her physical relationship with Joseph, that would mean that she's not right with God.
Because of the fact that God commanded it, right?
And, you know, she's not the exception to the biblical mandate for all humanity to be fruitful and to multiply.
That commandment was given to every single human being and there's nothing wrong with
Mary having more children.
It doesn't take away from the deity of Jesus Christ, albeit it does take away from the so-called
deity of Mary though, right?
Because Mary is not God. She's not some supernatural woman.
She was a woman who was selected by God, yes, to bear the Christ.
But that's it. And you know what?
Obviously we thank God that Mary got saved.
And, you know, for all that sin comes short of the glory of God.
And if all really means all, then that includes Mary as well.
She fell short of the glory of God.
And if people want to believe that she was immaculate and sinless,
that would mean everyone that came before her was also sinless as well.
but obviously she was a sinner in need of salvation,
but the Roman Catholic Church has propped her up
as being some sort of deity,
where we have to go through her
in order to get to Jesus Christ.
No scripture, of course, to point to that.
No scripture to substantiate that claim
is just superstitious Catholic dogma
that comes from traditions, not the Bible.
you know the apostle Paul when discussing his conversion right he talks
about the fact that he saw James the Lord's brother well brother means like
you know it's they're part of the same country or something like that well
that's funny because in other instances it says that he's his brother and his
sisters okay
Now here's great proof the fact that he does have brothers is because of the fact that you know
this is brother, excuse me in verse number three is in distinction to the Jews, right?
So obviously, if you want to claim that brothers mean that they're part of his same nation,
his same country, well that wouldn't really make sense because of the fact that there's
this distinction made here between the Jews and his brethren.
Why?
Because the brethren in verse number three is referring to his actual physical brothers,
albeit they're his, you know, half brothers, but they're still his brothers.
So I want to point that out and we'll go over some other verses in just a bit.
that his own brothers, including his sisters, were essentially, they were not believers in Jesus Christ, right?
Not only were they not believers they seem to be scorning Jesus Christ, right? They seem to be
you know mocking him a little bit and
essentially
You know being disrespectful
Downplaying who he is undermining who he is because he says you know depart hence go into Judea
That thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest.
Now obviously what they're referring to is the fact that Jesus Christ is performing miracles in Galilee.
And he's saying, well, why don't you go to Judea
and let's have them see what you're doing over there.
You know, they're trying to provoke him to do so.
And then he says in verse four, they say in verse four,
for there is no man that doeth anything in secret
and he himself seeketh to be known openly.
If thou do these things, show thyself to the world.
I mean, obviously this is showing
that they are not in favor of their brother, Jesus Christ.
You know, they are undermining who he is.
And quite frankly, they're not believers in him.
How do we know?
We'll look at verse five,
for neither did his brethren believe in him.
So we can say with certainty that at this point,
his siblings were not saved.
Even though they saw the miracles,
they heard of the miracles, they were not saved.
And this would include James.
Which is pretty crazy if you think about it because later on James of course ends up being the pastor at the church at Jerusalem
and he ends up essentially, you know possessing a pretty lofty position where
Many of the Apostles even who were there with Christ who were believers from the beginning are kind of looking to him for direction
And there's various speculations as to why one of them could be, and I would agree with this particular interpretation that because he's the Lord's stepbrother, it's possible that he might have looked like a little bit like Jesus, right, because they come from the same.
And so their features might have been the same,
and that might have played a role in his influence.
It's not because he was a extremely golly person
or because his works followed him.
It might have been because of his appearance.
And quite frankly, James is a great guy.
He's a safe person.
He gave us the book of James, praise God.
But you know what?
He doesn't have a good track record
in the book of Acts though.
He's making a lot of bad decisions and coming up with his own epistles of rules for the Gentiles.
He's very much a Judaizing pastor actually.
And in fact, I preach an entire sermon on that, but if you study the book of Acts, you see that the church at Jerusalem,
I think it was running about, let's say close to 6,000 people, right?
6,000, maybe 7,000 people. There's a lot of converts in this church.
And it's a mixture of Jews and Gentiles with the majority being Jews though.
Okay, and you know, they're functioning the Jews are comfortable there
But yet they seem to have problems with these other churches that are reaching Gentiles
So it kind of indicates that maybe James was essentially
Cautioning a little bit to the Jews and kind of telling them what they want to hear
And you know proof of that is that in Acts chapter 15
There were Jews that came from Jerusalem to Paul saying that people have to be circumcised
Well, obviously James wasn't correcting them in that way, right?
So, James was guilty of some Judaizing there and maybe later on he became a great guy and
learned some good doctrine.
But in general though, we see throughout the book of Acts that he wasn't necessarily the
best leader.
It's just people seem to look to him because he was the pastor of the biggest church there.
Let me also say this, and this is speculation on my end.
I'm not saying this is dogmatic or anything like that, but I think further proof that
who favored the Jews quite a bit,
is the fact that when he, if you actually read
James Epistle, in the original language,
which is the Greek New Testament,
instead of saying congregation, instead of saying church,
which is exactly what he's addressing,
he actually says synagogue a lot of the times, you know?
And obviously, synagogue means a gathering, right?
And so that means a gathering, when you see the word synagogue in the New Testament or just a gathering in general, it's actually that word synagogue.
And we can't say that synagogue means only a gathering of the Jews because sometimes you have a synagogue of a birds, right?
You know, you just have a gathering of animals, a gathering of birds, and it often uses that Greek word synagogue there.
But when he's talking about the church, he uses that particular term, okay?
And so, just to kind of point to the fact that he's very much involved in that Jewish culture, so to speak.
But what we see here is that James, along with his sisters,
Joseph and his other brothers, they're essentially provoking him, they're undermining him.
And this goes to show that a prophet is not without honor, saving his own country and amongst his own kindred, right?
You know if you feel like man, I feel like I've served God. I've been consistent with the Lord
I've won souls to Christ and you know, my family doesn't really seem to like you know
See what I'm doing admire what I'm doing or honor what I'm doing
They don't seem to view me as a spiritual person or they don't really regard my counsel or what it is
I do, you know, you're in good company
Because God himself right Jesus Christ himself was not regarded by his own brother
Okay, so if you ever feel ostracized by your own family, undermined by your own family,
for your beliefs, you know, and you think to yourself like, man, you know, I have so
many people in church, or just in other churches that esteem who I am, they honor me, or they
appreciate the things that I do for the Lord, but you know, my family doesn't seem to do
that.
You know, my wife doesn't seem to do that,
my husband doesn't seem to do that,
my brothers and sisters, my cousins,
my family doesn't seem to do that.
You know, you're in good company
because Jesus Christ was in the same exact position.
His own brothers didn't believe in him.
And in fact, they didn't believe in him
until after the resurrection.
Now the reason I say that is because again,
throughout the gospels,
we see this tone of disbelief within his siblings.
It's not until Acts chapter one,
That you have the disciples gathering together towards the latter end of Acts chapter one and among them is Mary
And who and Jesus's brothers kind of indicating that at that point they believed, you know, it's just like all he resurrected
Okay, maybe he is he is what he say was all right. Can I be the pastor now?
Point that I'm making here is that Jesus did have siblings now
Let me read you from Matthew chapter 12 and these these passages Catholics hate
and they never like to discuss these passages
and they always misinterpret them.
Matthew 12 verse 46 says,
while he talked to the people,
behold, his mother and his brethren
stood without desire to speak with him.
Now this isn't talking about his mother and his neighbors.
If it's saying his mother and his brethren,
we can interpret his brethren as being his actual siblings,
just like we can interpret his mother
being his actual mother.
Okay, and by the way, there's an instances in the Bible where mother is used just to describe
Someone who is of age someone who's elderly in the community, right? We have that in that particular story with I
forgot who it was, but it was
What's the guy's name who was just a scoundrel in the Old Testament?
Joab when he's hunting the guy who's the son of Bikrai
Who's the son of Bikrai?
He's hunting them down and he flees into a city and remember with the old lady
She she basically decapitates the guy and throws his head over right. She calls herself a mother in Israel
Okay, what is that saying? It's saying that she's an elderly woman in Israel. I can't think of the guy's name right now
I can only think of Adam the son of a great
What is it Shiba the son of big Ryan he was essentially creating a coop there
He was against David. Joab was sent to go execute him
He flees into a city Joab is gonna burn that city down
But then an elderly woman comes out and she says she calls herself a mother in Israel
Basically the same that she's like an elderly person. So obviously that's used in that instance, but we're not gonna interpret Mary as being
Oh, just some mother in Israel as in she's some elderly woman in Jerusalem.
We obviously know that mother here is referring to the fact that she's actually Jesus's mother, right?
So therefore we can interpret brethren as meaning the same exact thing in its context as someone who's related to him.
His mother's related to him, brethren are related to him.
He says, then one sentence to him,
Behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee.
But he answered and said unto him that told him,
Who is my mother and who are my brethren?
Now, you know Catholics don't like to really mention this particular verse because it undermines
Mary right because he's like who is my mother?
Who are my brethren? He stretched forth his hands toward his disciples and said behold my mother and my brethren
for whosoever shall do the will of my father which is in heaven the same as my brother and sister and
mother showing us that
Blood did not really matter to Jesus Christ, right? Having siblings doesn't really matter to Jesus Christ
Obviously to a certain degree he cared for them
as noted by the fact that he essentially told John
to take care of his mother after his death.
But when it came to just the overall picture,
the most important people in Jesus' life were,
you know, his disciples, people who followed him, right?
And so we ought to have that same mentality
where we esteem the brothers and sisters in Christ
far more than anybody else.
And quite frankly, let me just be frank with you,
you know, I have more in common.
With brothers and sisters in Christ and some of my blood family
That's a fact people that I grew up with people that I have core memories with
People that I've just you know, I did life with you know, it doesn't really mean anything because I actually have more in common
With the people of God
Then a lot of them right I have more in common with believers of different races
All right, then I do even with those who are non-believers of my own race
And so why is that because they're doing the will of the father and so I want to point that out the fact that you know
It mentions his mother and his brother and Matthew 13 verse 55 says this is not the carp is not this the carpenter's son
is not his mother called Mary.
So addressing his stepfather, right?
And his actual mother, Mary.
And then he says, and his brethren,
James and Joseph and Simon and Judas.
Now, you know, if this is referring to his neighbors
or something, or just in general,
why is he only calling out like four of them?
Right?
It's like, wouldn't brethren just include all people
who are in that particular region?
The reason he's naming James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas
is because they're his actual siblings.
So the people who are criticizing him, they're like,
we know his siblings who he grew up with.
We know his mom.
We know they believe to be his dad.
Obviously we know it's his stepfather.
And it says in verse 56, he's like, oh, no, no, no, no, no.
Pastor, this is just referring to his neighbors.
This is referring to, you know,
the people who lived in that particular region.
That's just what they call them as brethren.
Verse 56, and his sisters.
Are they know all with us whence then hath this man all of these things?
So obviously this is referring to the fact that he's like we know his family
How can this guy be the Christ if we saw him grow up? We know his sisters. We know his brothers
We know his mom we know his dad what they believe to be his actual father
And so the point that I'm making here is that he had siblings all right and by the way his siblings have to get saved as
Well, albeit they didn't get saved until afterwards now. Let me also say this in that regard
Is that don't lose heart if your family doesn't get saved right away?
And don't lose heart if they don't get saved right away and then start coming to church right away either
Because look Jesus that even Jesus gonna get them to go to church until he died
Right it wasn't until after his death and then then his brothers came along right
And so I don't know, maybe some of your family members
will become Christians until after you die.
But the point that I'm, and I'm obviously
might be sooner than that.
And with some of you, it is sooner, right?
Some of us, we have family in church,
but don't lose heart and don't give up on your family either.
because of the fact that some of them might come around years later.
I mean my mom is a member of our church now, she comes to the services,
she's here tonight, but it hasn't always been the case, right?
Sometimes it takes years to win our family members over.
And obviously I'm preaching to myself because I have family members who are not Christians, they're not saved.
They don't agree with my wild beliefs or whatever.
But who knows?
Maybe in 10 years they will.
We don't know.
And so don't think there's something wrong with you.
Obviously, don't be a jerk.
Don't be a bad testimony.
But there may not be anything wrong with you because there was nothing wrong with Jesus either
Sometimes it's just the truth and sometimes people have a hard time
You know humbling themselves, especially if you're younger than them to believe what you're saying
Follow your lead because you're younger or whatever they change your diaper
You know, they always bring up these all this stuff. We knew you and this and that and the other
You know, sometimes it just takes time
Okay, and so last verse here is it says these all continue with one accord in prayer and supplication
Of course, this is an act chapter 1 with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brethren showing us
Of course that he has brothers so Matthew 13 we see this in Matthew 12
We see this here in John chapter 7 and we see in Galatians 1 where the apostle Paul says James the Lord's brother
Okay, very specific about his relationship to Jesus Christ himself
And so yes, he did have brothers and sisters.
It was a very normal thing.
It's still a normal thing for people to have a lot of children.
And let me just say this.
It doesn't take away from the virtue of Mary either.
Because we don't want to go to the extreme side
and just start detesting Mary or something like that.
She was a godly woman.
Just like many of the Godly women in the Bible, right?
She was a wonderful woman, a Godly woman.
She loved the Lord Jesus Christ, obviously.
And she's here in Acts chapter one.
She's part of the work.
And obviously she ended up dying later on
and going home to be with the Lord.
And I'm sure she's happy that she believed
on her son for salvation.
But you know what?
It stops right there though.
And that's it, okay?
And by the way, she did not ascend
in a glorified body either, okay?
And so there's a lot we can say about that reference my sermon on false doctrines regarding Mary
Look at verse number six. It says then Jesus said into them my time is not yet come
But your time is always ready the world cannot hate you
But me it hated because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil
What is Jesus saying? He's you know his brothers are trying to provoke him. We're like, oh, why don't you go in today?
You're so bold you do all these miracles, you know
We have the feast of tabernacles that we're gonna observe. Why don't you go?
And he's saying, you know, because my time is not yet come.
What time is he referring to?
The time of his death.
And he's saying, my time is not yet come,
but you can die at any moment is what he's saying, right?
He's saying, your time is always ready, right?
And he says there, you know, the world can hate you.
And obviously he's implying because you ain't doing nothing.
But me, it hated because I testify of it.
You see, the reason people want to kill Jesus,
and this is what he's implying here,
is because he preached against them.
He's speaking out against them and even though his brothers and sisters are
Are of the religion of Judea of the Jews they're observing the Feast of Tabernacles
No one's persecuting them even though they're literal
Relatives of Jesus Christ because they're not saying anything controversial
You don't say anything controversial. You don't get persecuted. Yeah, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution
So he's saying, look, the world hates me.
The reason I can't go to the Feast of Tabernacles with you
is because of the fact that the world hates me,
because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.
And folks, just mark it down.
When you speak out against the world,
the world's ideologies, the wickedness of this world,
you're gonna have people hate you.
You're gonna have people lose sleep over you.
You're gonna live rent-free in their heads.
And it doesn't matter at what scale.
It could be on a small scale, quote, unquote,
meaning your own literal family members that don't like you.
But that's persecution too.
It can be on a wider scale,
people on the internet that don't like you.
And at the end of the day, it's just the world, right?
Your family can be the world.
Your brothers, sisters, cousins, neighbors,
people out on internet land can be the world.
If you testify that their works are evil,
just mark it down, they're gonna hate you.
And so, you know, there's not much you have to do to be hated by the world.
You just have to testify of the world, that the works are of our evil, say what the Bible says, and you'll get people to hate you.
We don't have to go out of our way to be hated.
We just got to do what we do.
We just got to be Christians, you know, actually say what the Bible says, and people will hate us for it.
That's a fact.
So, you know, this should tell you though, that if you've never been hated, it means that you're not really testifying now, are you?
You know, it may be that you agree too much with the world
Then against it. Okay, so, you know Jesus Christ is telling us like well, I'm not going and obviously
When he says that he's not gonna go he's not saying that he's not going to go observe the Feast of Tabernacle
He's just not going with them
Because keep in mind, you know, this is a big caravan of people and they know Mary
They know his brothers and so they would assume that if he's going with Mary his mom
Or I'm sorry if Mary's there with his brothers then Jesus Christ is gonna be also among them and of course
They want to kill him so he has to kind of go incognito as we're gonna see in just a bit
So he's saying my time is not yet come look at verse 8 go ye up to this feast
I go not up yet unto this feast, for my time is not yet full come."
So I want you to notice that he doesn't say he's not going to go, period, he just said,
I go not up yet unto this feast.
So he's going to let them go ahead, because again, that's his family, they know his family
and they're assuming that he's going to be among his family.
So therefore he's not going to go with them.
Verse 9 says when he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee.
But when his brother were gone up, then when he also up unto the feast,
not openly, but as it were, in secret.
Again, not saying that he's a coward,
this is not pointing to the fact that he's afraid or something.
This is just him being discreet.
Okay, he needs to accomplish God's will.
And so he needs to go in secret, he needs to be discreet about this thing.
He's not trying to go openly because there's still a lot more for him to do.
Now what's interesting is that, you know, the people from Galilee are traveling from Galilee,
which north to Jerusalem, and obviously they're going there for the Feast of Tabernacles,
which pictures the fact that God provided for God's people in the wilderness as they traveled,
And of course, if we go back to that Old Testament story,
we see that the angel of the Lord was behind them as well, right?
He was ahead of them, but he was also behind them.
So just as the people are traveling to Jerusalem
to observe the Feast of Tabernacles,
Jesus is behind them following right behind, right?
So it kind of pictures them.
We're going to see some more pictures in just a bit.
So he travels to Jerusalem without the caravan of travelers.
And the reason we know there's a caravan
is because remember when he was younger,
You know, Mary and Joseph, you know, they forgot him, if you guys remember.
And he just kind of got lost among the people, so they're all traveling in a large group.
And then, of course, they forgot him, they end up going back, they found him questioning with the lawyers and such.
And so we have that. So we know that they're traveling in groups there.
Obviously, it's a lot safer to do so, etc. Look at verse 11.
Then the Jews sought him at the feast and said, where is he?
Now, why are they seeking him?
One, they want to kill him, but two, because they know that Mary and the brothers are there.
So then they're like, okay, we see Mary, we see Joseph, we see James, we see his sisters,
where's Jesus?
Okay?
And obviously when it says the Jews sought him, this is a mixture, this is a mixed crowd.
These are people who don't like him, but it's also people who do like him.
Now the people who do like him are looking for him for what?
For miracles.
Because previous to this, he had just multiplied the bread and the fish, right?
So obviously his fame is spreading abroad at this point, where people are awaiting him,
they're waiting to see him.
Look at verse 12.
And there is much murmuring among the people concerning him.
For some said he is a good man, others said nay, but he deceived the people, how be it
no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.
So what do we see here?
It's causing division among the people and you know it's the same today
You want to route people up you just talk about Jesus
and there's always gonna be
Mixed opinions about Jesus Christ
There's people who absolutely hate him and then there's people who don't hate him, but they just think he's a good man
Right you got the Muslims that say oh, he's a prophet
They don't hate him. They don't blaspheme him.
Now, obviously, you know, Muslims are still going to hell.
They're not saved.
They don't get a free pass just because they don't hate him like the Jews hate him.
But, you know, when you talk to him about Jesus,
they just don't go all the way into believing that he's the Christ,
but they do believe him to be a prophet.
It's similar to what we see here. He is a good man, right?
It's not a negative thing about him. It's not a negative assessment, but they like who he is.
But then there's others like, oh, no, he deceived the people.
They don't like them. They're like, no, he's a deceiver
Beelzebub, you know, these are the ones who are blaspheming who Jesus Christ is
So, you know
That's subject of Jesus comes up and then everyone starts murmuring. They're complaining
They're fighting and let me just say this you throw Jesus in a comment section
You're gonna get the same thing. You know people who agree with you and then you're gonna get people who cuss you out
You're gonna get people who say hey, he taught a lot of good things
Jesus is great a Christ is king, and then you have other people that will say blasphemous
Sacrilegious things about Jesus Christ why because you know he came not to bring peace but a sword
you know and
pastors out there need to come to this conclusion
That they can't please everyone
You know
It's like oh, there's so much division. Of course. There's division. They're supposed to be division
The greatest division that's gonna take place is when Jesus divides the sheep from the goats
What are you gonna do you understand there say hey, there's too much the vision here
Jesus gonna go. He's gonna tell you go to the goats, you know
Whenever Jesus Christ has mentioned there's division and we want the vision
We don't want division in the local New Testament church because God commands unity within a church
And in fact, he says that we need an endeavor to keep the spirit of unity in the bond of peace
Right meaning that we in our church first works Baptist church need to agree with one another regard regarding doctrine
And thankfully, you know in our church not only do we agree on the essential doctrines. We even agree on secondary doctrines
tertiary doctrines even at that now when you get to the fourth fifth stuff there's
people in our church believe weird stuff you know but you know we try not to
bring that stuff up but that's okay but you know obviously when it comes to the
essentials we agree
We agree, we have unity, it doesn't matter what background we have, what ethnicity or
upbringing we had, we agree on the essentials.
However, it should not be so with every church though when it comes to our church, right?
Because there's churches out there that believe false doctrine about salvation, false doctrine
about Jesus Christ, false doctrine about the Bible, we want there to be division between
us and them.
Why? Because the Bible says have no fellowship with the unfulfilled works of darkness, but rather approve them
You know God command of the light to be divided to separate from the darkness
Okay, well fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness with concord has Christ with Belial
So there needs to be division between us
and other churches, Christians, and other religious sects
that don't agree with the Bible, okay?
And that is the natural byproduct
of actually talking about who Jesus Christ really is.
I mean, Jesus is thrown in the mix.
He's not even there yet.
His name is thrown on,
then people are already fighting about it.
That's how it should be, okay?
That's what happens.
So people are murmuring and then but but here's the thing is that you know the Jews and obviously I believe
What this is referring to?
Regarding the real negative Jews is like the Pharisees
You know it says that many of these Jews didn't want to actually outwardly speak about this publicly speak about this for fear
of the Jews and I think that's referring to the Pharisees why because they know that if they
openly talk about them favoring Jesus
Whom the Pharisees hate, they might risk being excommunicated from the synagogues.
Because at this point, the Pharisees have the authority for whatever reason
to throw people out of the synagogues. No one gave them that authority. They took it upon themselves.
So when it says fear of the Jews, it's obvious that the Jews referring to the Pharisees
are exercising unbiblical rule over, you know, the Israelites, over the Jews
to the point where they can't even talk about Jesus because they might get thrown out of the synagogues.
Look at verse 14 now about the midst of the feast of excuse me now about the midst of the feast
Jesus went up into the temple and taught so this is proof that he's not afraid
Right, so in the midst of the feast, you know, maybe this is the fourth fifth day
Third or fourth day or so. What does he do? He goes into the temple and he just starts preaching he starts teaching the word of God
Okay
And the Jews marveled, saying,
how know what this man letters, having never learned?
Jesus answered them and said,
my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
If any man do his will, he shall know of the doctrine,
whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.
He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory,
but he that seeketh his glory that sent him,
the same is true and no unrighteousness is in him.
Now I love this passage because he's preaching
and people are like, whoa.
What degree, where did he get his degree from?
Where is his doctorate from?
Did he graduate from Masters College?
Did he graduate from, you know, MacArthur's College?
Where's his letter?
You know, how is it that this guy learned all this stuff
and he didn't learn under any Pharisee?
Well, that's why he knows this stuff.
First of all, he's God, but secondly,
because he didn't get his doctorate from Pharisees
because Pharisees don't know the Bible.
I don't know, Jack Squat.
How do we know that?
Well, because in chapter three,
he talked to a Pharisee who was a ruler
who didn't even know how to get saved.
Art thou a master of Israel?
Know it's not these things?
And so he's like, yeah, yeah, how does,
how know what this man letters?
Meaning how is it that he could just preach the word of God?
How does he know the scriptures having never learned?
Well, first of all, what do you mean having never learned?
You know, what does that supposed to mean?
What do you mean he never learned?
Of course he learned these things.
And we see that, right?
Even as a child, the 12 year old child,
he's questioning with the Pharisees, the rulers,
they're talking about the scriptures.
He's growing in wisdom and in knowledge and in stature.
And so he's perfecting his knowledge of the Word of God, even though he is the Word of God.
But they're like, well, how can he know the Bible if he's not a Pharisee?
How can he know the Bible if he's not a ruler?
How can you know the Bible if you didn't go to Bible college?
How can you know the Bible if you didn't go to some biblical university,
and you don't have a degree in this, that, and the other?
And what does he respond with?
My doctrine, my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
So what is he saying?
You know that when I'm saying it's truth
because it's doctrine that comes from the Father.
People ask me this all the time
and it's not because I'm a great teacher.
It's not because I'm a great preacher.
It's not because I make great Instagram videos.
I'll tell you why.
People are like, man, how do you know so much about the Bible?
But I'm just like, I'm just telling you what the Bible says.
I have the same Bible that you have access to.
Right?
Right.
I'm like, it's not like, you know,
I'm just some great teacher orator,
it's just that I'm simply quoting to you
what the Bible says.
You know, instead of going to a devotional,
instead of going to a podcast,
instead of going to, you know, some church father,
how about I just quote the Bible, okay?
And, you know, that proves to you that it's from God.
Why? Because it's the Word of God.
If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God,
the Bible says, right?
You know, preach what the Word of God says,
preach the entire counsel of God.
And you know, there's people out there
that are just hungry for the Word of God.
So the point, you can just quote scripture on a video
and people are like, whoa!
But I'm gonna tell you why they're amazed
is because their pastor doesn't quote scripture.
The pastor spends 40 minutes, 30 minutes, 15 minutes,
you know, just telling stories and, you know,
trying to be theatrical.
No, not quoting any scripture whatsoever.
The guy wouldn't be able to preach himself
out of a wet paper bag.
He wouldn't be able to point to any portions of scripture
because he's not actually studying
to show himself approved unto God.
It worked me into theeth not to be ashamed.
He doesn't rightly divide the word of truth.
And look folks, you know, you want to be a great preacher,
just read the Bible, memorize scripture,
and quote scripture.
Cause the power is in the word, right?
The word of God is quick and powerful,
sharper than any two-edged sword.
It pierces even to the dividing of center of soul
and spirit, joints in the marrow,
and is a discern of the thoughts
and the intense of the heart.
Let God do the work, right?
When you preach.
And obviously he uses people's personalities and whatnot, but the doctrine is of God and and you know, Jesus is just like
What do you mean having never learned? I I am the Bible like Jesus is the word of God
right
But he's saying here in verse 17 if any men will do his will he shall know of the doctrine and
He says whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself in other words
If you're someone who's seeking the truth you're doing the will of God. You'll know doctrine
You'll know what the Bible says.
This is why it's important for us to be students of the Bible,
but also those who actually do the Bible.
Make sure that if you want to learn the Bible, you're actually doing soul winning as well.
You're actually preaching the Gospel.
Make sure you're out there soul winning, knocking on doors.
I'm telling you right now, some of the greatest scholars on the Internet right now,
don't do any evangelism whatsoever.
They don't go out there and preach the gospel.
They don't go out there and so when they don't do that
because they don't know how,
because most of them are not even saved.
But let's just say they are saved.
I'm telling you right now,
they don't know any doctrine because they don't do the work.
And so he says here, he'd even address
who he learned it from, humanly speaking.
He says like, my doctrine came from God.
And you know what?
When we read the Bible and study the Bible,
who are we getting from?
We're getting it from God, right?
You know when we are sitting down reading the word of God and
Submitting ourselves to the ministry of the Holy Spirit
It's the Holy Spirit that teaches us all things brings all things into remembrance
Right and shows us with spiritual things comparing them with spiritual things what the word of God actually says
And look, I think I could speak for everyone here
that you've had moments in your personal Bible reading
where you're studying the Word of God
and the Holy Spirit is enlightening you
to the spiritual truths of the Bible.
And it's funny, you know, Catholics like to criticize us
and they're like, oh yeah, but you know,
look what happens when you guys interpret the Bible
yourselves, you know?
Everyone just has different beliefs or whatever.
Well, look what happens when you interpret the Bible.
You worship Mary.
You know, when you interpret the Bible,
you know what you do?
You believe in something called purgatory.
When you interpret the Bible, you teach transubstantiation.
When you interpret the Bible, you don't interpret it,
you just come up with things that are not in the Bible.
And you know, it's funny, it's like,
oh, who gave you the authority to interpret the Bible?
God?
No, but like, who though?
God.
The Bible literally says that the the unction that I have dwelling within me
You know, I need not that any man teach me you get that
But the but the Holy Spirit that dwells within me. He's gonna lead me into all truths
Not the Roman Catholic Church because the Roman Catholic Church does not know the Bible
No, they didn't give us the Bible
One of the biggest lies perpetuated by the Roman Catholic Church is that they supposedly gave us the Bible
Well, they don't even know the Bible
We're like Jesus, we're getting our doctrine from God.
Who are you to say, well books should be in the Bible or not?
The Holy Spirit that dwells within me.
That's who, that's who.
Oh, how do you know that these books aren't supposed to,
because they teach a lot of stupid stuff, that's why.
The reason those books should not be in the Bible,
that the Roman Catholic Church wants to be in the Bible,
is because of the fact that they completely
contradict the Bible.
And the Holy Spirit says,
Doesn't belong there
Who gave you this authority?
Well, my shepherd did that too
Okay, and you know it's funny now, you know, I take I put out all these videos about Jews
What the Bible says about Jews because you know a lot of people don't know about subject apparently
You know a lot of Catholics follow me because of that
And, you know, they'll often say, you know,
because I react to certain videos of other Christians
that say weird stuff about Jews,
and, you know, that they're God's chosen people,
blah, blah, blah, all this stuff that's not biblical,
and I'll correct them.
And then Catholics in my comments section will say this,
we'll see this will happen when Protestants interpret the Bible.
Well, that's funny, why are you on my page then,
learning the Bible from me?
Now, I don't even identify as a Protestant.
That's what they call us and whatever if that's what they want to call us. I'm not a problem. I'm a Baptist
I'm a fundamental Baptist, but you know, he's literally saying like this will happen to the product
Well, I studied the Bible and I came to the conclusion that the Jews are not God's chosen people and here you are a Catholic
learning from a
Baptist
Looks pretty bad, bro
You know you better go on private or something
Before people find out that you're learning from a Christian from a Baptist, right?
And so, it's important for us to realize that, you know, here are the avenues by which, according to the Bible, we learn the Bible.
Number one is the Holy Spirit, when we read the Word of God.
Number two is the local New Testament church.
Because the Bible says that he gave us some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ that we henceforth
be no more children, tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of what?
Doctrine, by the sleight of men in cunning craftiness whereby they lie in way to deceive.
So the Bible says, yeah, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, but you also need the local New Testament church.
Why? Because it's the pillar and ground
of truth. Go there to hear the preaching of God's word. We go there to learn the Bible.
We come here to learn the Bible, but guess what? You come here to get your faces ripped,
too, though.
Because the local New Testament church is not just the base of where you receive the truth and doctrine
It's also a place where you got to be reproved rebuked corrected
Exorded there's many different, you know purposes to the local New Testament church
And so I know I spent a lot of time on that but that's important. I mean he's telling them, you know
This is my doctrine comes from God
He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory he that seeketh his own glory seeketh his glory referring to the Lord
That sent him the same as true and known righteousness is in him
I spent a lot of time on that so I must hasten here verse 19
Did not Moses give you the law and yet none of you keep it the law why go he about to kill me?
So it's like you guys are busy talking about learning letters, you know me learning letters. How about you learn letters?
Because you're over here claiming that you believe in letters and yet here you are not keeping the law
Because the letters is referring to the law, okay?
Verse 20 says the people answered and said thou hast the devil who goeth about to kill thee
Jesus answered and sent to them. I have done one work and ye all marvel
Moses therefore gave you gave unto you circumcision
Not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers and ye on the Sabbath day circumcise 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 whole on the Sabbath day?
He's saying, look.
Moses gave me circumcision.
You're willing to circumcise a man on the Sabbath day
in order to make him part of the nation of Israel,
yet you're mad at me when I make a man every with hope,
meaning like I've completed a man.
In other words, I have circumcised him in heart,
and yet you're mad at me, right?
You're mad even though you would circumcise a man
on the Sabbath day while I'm saving a man on the Sabbath day,
which is far greater than the physical circumcision.
Verse 24, judge, not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment, then said some
of them of Jerusalem, is not this he whom they seek to kill, but lo, he speaketh boldly.
And they say nothing unto him.
Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?
So picture this, he's in the temple, he's ripping face, you don't know letters, you
know my doctrine is from God, I make a man every whit whole, you go about to kill me,
Because this is the Feast of Tabernacles and people are like man this guy's kind of bold like he's kind of like this guy's crazy
But no one's saying anything to him like there's rulers there
There's Pharisees there and they're not saying anything to him because obviously it's pricking their heart and
They're like maybe it's because they know that this is the very Christ
Verse 27 how be it we know this man once he is when but when Christ cometh no man knoweth whence he is
Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught
Saying you both know me and you know whence I am and I am not coming to myself
But he that sent me is true whom ye know not but I know him for I am from him
And he had sent me now. I do want you to notice the fact that he says that he cried in the temple. Okay, this isn't me
Crying means he's yelling so don't get mad at me when I yell because I'm preaching the way Jesus preached
And he's there, he's like, you both know me.
And you know which I am.
This is a lot different from your long-haired
Hobby Lobby Jesus.
Your Hobby Lobby Jesus is like, you both know me.
And you know which I am.
You know, the Jesus of the Bible,
he's like, I am not coming myself.
But he that sent me is true, whom you know not.
But I know him, for I am from him and he had sent me.
And that's why everyone's just like,
you know, Jesus was a hard preacher.
Crying doesn't mean like, I know him, you don't know him.
No, he's just like with fervor and passion
preaching the house down.
And this is why people are like, well, he's kind of bold.
He's doing this at the temple.
There's all types of leaders here
and no one's saying anything to him.
You know why?
Dang what are we gonna say, you know, and it obviously they're angry
But as we're gonna see no man ever spake like this
All right, look at verse 30, then they sought to take him
But no man laid hands on him because his hour was not yet come so they're just like oh, they would just want to kill him and
I kind of know what this is like
Because I remember going into the group of people who just wanted to kill me
But they couldn't lay hands on me, but it's it but it's it wasn't because my hour was not yet come
It's because there's police there
That was the only reason but I remember being in the midst and people were just like
You know, there's just like they're just gnashing at me with their teeth
They you know, they even shoved me and they're saying all kinds of crazy things
But no man laid hands on me because the police was there
But in this case like no minute no man laid hands on him because of the fact that his time was not yet come
Verse 31 and many of the people believed on him and said when Christ cometh will he do more miracles than these which this man
Have done so they're just like they're saying this in a facetious way like well if Christ is gonna come like
Can can he be greater than this right as he greater than what we're seeing at this moment?
The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him
Then said Jesus unto them yet a little while and I am with you and then I go into him that sent me
You shall seek me and shall not find me and where I am
Thither you cannot come then said the Jews among themselves whether will he go
that we shall not find him,
will he go into the dispersed among the Gentiles
and teach the Gentiles?
What manner of saying is this that he said,
ye shall seek me and shall not find me
and where I am dither ye cannot come?
So, you know, he's preaching this and he's saying,
you know, he's basically talking about the fact
that he's going to go to heaven after he dies.
And people are like, where's he going to go?
You know, and this kind of shows you how disconnected
the Jews were from the Bible, right?
You know even his disciples, you know, they didn't really know the timing of everything the kingdom of God
When he was gonna set up his rule, but Jews at this point were so disconnected from the Bible that you know
They had a hard time interpreting just what he's saying plainly, right?
You know, they had a hard time interpreting the resurrection. I mean think about this, you know in Matthew
When Jesus Christ is on the cross, right? He says Eli Eli Lama sabbatani
My God my God why I stop forsaken me and what did the Jews say like always calling for Elijah?
They're so disconnected. It's like Elise God, bro
Like everyone there knows that Elise God
But they're just like oh, he's calling for Elijah. No stupid. He's calling for God. How do you not know this?
It's not like a hard interpretation
Elie was a common phrase to use to describe God,
but they're so disconnected from the Bible.
They're so disconnected from the Word of God.
They're so disconnected from Jesus,
they can't even interpret it.
So it's like the veil is over their heart in real time.
They can't really interpret what he's saying.
Just like these guys,
they can't really interpret what he's saying when he's saying,
like, I'm gonna, you shall not find me,
because they can't interpret what he's saying,
because many of them are not saved.
Powerful.
Verse 37.
In the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying,
If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
So this is after he preached at the temple.
So he's preaching at the temple, he's saying all this stuff.
And then at the last day of the feast, he preaches again.
And he says, if any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink.
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said,
out of his belly shall flow verve as of living water.
But this spake he of the spirit, which they that believeth on him should receive,
for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
Now, what's very interesting about this is the fact again, this is the what?
The Feast of Tabernacles.
celebrating observing and observance that celebrates the fact that the children
of Israel went through the wilderness and God provided for them in the
wilderness. Well what happened when they're in the wilderness? Well if you
remember back in Numbers chapter 20 they were thirsty, right?
And let me read some of the passages here from Numbers 20, verse 17 says,
The Lord spake unto Moses the same, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together,
Thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes.
And it shall give forth his water, and thou shall bring forth to them water out of the rock,
so thou shall give the congregation and the beast the drink."
So God told him like, hey,
They're thirsty. Okay, speaking to the rock and obviously that rock is Jesus Christ
And it says it's gonna it's gonna quench their thirst in the wilderness
What is the Feast of Tabernacles?
Observing the time in the wilderness when God provided for them
Now obviously what happens Moses? He smites the rock twice, right?
Now water still comes out, but he's but but you know, he obviously marred that symbolic representation
But what we see here with Jesus is that some represent what G what God told the Israelites to do and some represent Moses
Because some didn't believe on Jesus Christ
Spoke to him water came out and they were they received it
Others on the other hand wanted to smite Jesus who are the Pharisees, right?
And so we see that that took place there.
And this is why he's saying,
if any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink.
Now, you know, if they knew their Bible, they'd be like,
oh, oh, I see what you're doing there.
You're the rock, you're the rock.
You know, I'm not gonna be like Moses.
I'm not gonna smite.
I'm gonna call upon the name of the Lord.
I'm gonna speak unto the rock,
confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus, right?
I'm gonna call upon the name of the Lord
so that I can receive that water
just as my ancestors received water from the rock
and they quenched their thirst.
I wanna receive that.
But again, the disconnection from the Bible
didn't allow them to see that.
And so very powerful here.
Now I do wanna point out in verse 39,
you know, obviously the water pictures the spirit.
and it says that the Holy Ghost was not yet given.
This doesn't mean that he doesn't exist at this time.
It's referring to the fact that because they're under
the Old Testament covenant,
the Holy Spirit did not indwell believers.
So he would come upon believers and I do believe
that when people were saved in the Old Testament,
they were still saved in the same manner
when it comes to the Holy Spirit, regenerating them.
So, for example, if you had someone in the Old Testament
call upon the name of the Lord,
the Holy Spirit would come and regenerate their spirit,
quicken their dead spirit,
but he would not permanently dwell within that believer, okay?
And the reason why is because in the Old Testament,
the presence of God, the Holy Spirit,
dwelt in the tabernacle and or temple.
But in the New Testament believers are now the tabernacle and the temple of God
Which is why now that New Testament phenomenon is that the Holy Spirit dwells within us
He sealed there until the day of redemption
So he regenerates both old and New Testament believers the difference now is there because we're the temple of the Holy Ghost
He permanently dwells within us.
So this is what it means that it says
that the Holy Ghost was not yet given
because Christ, that Jesus was not yet glorified,
they're still under that Old Testament.
Therefore, he doesn't abide with them, so to speak,
as he does now with us.
Look at verse 40.
It says, many of the people therefore,
when they heard this saying said of a truth,
this is the prophet.
Others said, this is the Christ, but some said, shall Christ come out of Galilee?
So obviously, what do we see here? We see some are speaking to the rock.
Some are believing on Jesus Christ. They're confessing Him as the Christ.
But others are just, you know, are still doubting.
Verse 42, has not the Scripture said that Christ comeeth on the seat of David
out of the town of Bethlehem where David was?
So there was a division among the people because of Him.
And some of them would have taken him, but no man laid hands on him.
Now, let me point this out, and that is that, you know, Jesus Christ wasn't going about like,
hey, hey, let me just believe on me, right?
He wasn't like, oh, you know, let me just explain this to you.
He's going to give the truth and let people come to their conclusions, right?
You can't force anybody to get saved.
You know, this is why I don't argue with people.
Me is just like, here's the truth.
I hope you get it.
But if you choose not to get it, if you're being obtuse about it,
If you're being stubborn about it, I'm just going to move on.
The truth is clear enough, John 316 is clear enough.
And I think one of the best examples of this
is doing this on Omi TV.
Because you run into a bunch of different people
on Omi TV, really wicked people, and then just people
like this.
Or just like, well, what about, you know?
I've talked to many Muslims.
And Muslims, I'm just like, well, let me just
leave it with the verse.
to think about, and then I'm just gonna move on
because I don't have time to waste with Muslims.
You either believe it or don't.
We're not gonna get into this apologetic discussion
to just prove to you beyond a shadow of a doubt
that Jesus Christ, bro, you just gotta believe it.
Plain and simple.
If you don't believe it, I'm moving on.
I win.
Next.
Okay, where are we at here?
Verse 45.
It says then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees and they sent him to them. Why have you not brought him?
Officers answered never man spake like this man. So the officers were sent to go
Arrest Jesus, but then they got carried away with this preaching. They're just like, man, this is good
They're just like I never heard preaching like this before
You know why cuz the preaching of the Pharisees sucked
Right the preaching of the Pharisees the Sadducees it sucks, and you know what this name is true today
You point to any kind of preaching of any churches and you and you compare with
Biblical preaching like this or preaching that's similar to this from other churches like our friends churches
I'm telling you right now once you go to this type of preaching you can't go back to the other kind
You're like something different about this. Maybe it's because we put more Bible into the sermon
Maybe it's because you actually learned something
Okay, but the officers just like I mean the Pharisees must have been offended a little bit, you know
Like no man ever spake like this like
I mean, I just preach like
Like no one's ever preached like this before like man. This is great. I wish you had more preaching like this
What's his YouTube channel? You know, oh man, I just started I subscribe. I listen to did you hear this?
You know, they're just amazed by the preaching
But I'm telling you right now again. It's not the person. It's just the content
When you preach the word of God people are attract people who love the truth that are attracted to the truth and
Obviously the truth attracts people who love the truth, but it also attracts weirdo sometimes sometimes people are just entertained by the preaching
Right. I mean Herod liked the preaching of John the Baptist. He heard him gladly
It doesn't mean that he was won over by him because he beheaded him shortly thereafter
But he enjoyed it.
He's just like, I like how he says that, you know?
And I've had people come to this church unsaved,
come unsaved, leave unsaved,
and they say they really like the preaching.
They're just like, yeah, I enjoyed that actually.
Because the preaching of God's word is always attractive.
Right?
And so, you know, you have this, and the officers,
they didn't do their job, they're just like,
I have never heard anybody preach like this before.
And obviously, you know, I covet.
You know, it would have been an amazing thing
to hear Jesus Christ preach in person, right?
Just on the temple, just ripping face.
You know, you know, we, I would have been up there,
like you guys just looking at the people
he's preaching against like, come on, Nicodemus, you know?
Come on, Jairus, you know?
Just kind of provoking him even more
Then answer them the Pharisees. Are you also deceived?
Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed on them who cares bro?
Because they're like, oh, how are you deceived? You don't see us believing in him
You don't see the Pharisees or rulers believing in him. Well, actually many of them have
They're just not willing to confess them openly for fear of the Jews
Because they don't want to be excommunicated from the temple
But they're like their standard is not is he preaching the truth their standard is well
How many how many of the rulers has he converted?
How many debates has he won though?
How many apologetic debates has he won though? That's that's the rule marker. No, let's just what about what he's preaching
You know and you know when I talk to Catholics online, which is scarcely now
You know that's what they want to know. Oh, how many debates are you willing to debate this person?
I thought I don't debate anybody I said, but I went a ton of Catholics to the Lord though. Oh
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I see you like winning Catholics, you know
Oh, you know a door-to-door or whatever
But why don't you actually get onto like an arena with an actual Catholic Apologist because they're not gonna get saved
So why would I want to do that? That's a fool's errand
He says verse 49, but this people who know if not the law are cursed the fine ironing
Is it that the funniest statement ever because Jesus got finished telling them you don't know the law of Moses
And then they say this people who know if not the law are cursed
Well, they're the ones who claim to know the law and guess what they're cursed
Because they don't know the law
Nicodemus sent unto him, tath unto them, he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,
doth our law judge any man before he adhere him and know what he doeth.
So obviously Nicodemus, you know, he obviously favors Jesus Christ. We don't know if he's saved yet.
It's possible that he was because it says that it says that he's being one of them and it's obviously he's defending Jesus.
But you know, he's taking a he's taking somewhat of a soft stance though, too.
He should have just been like, well, you know what? He told me to be born again.
He should have just told him what Jesus told him in John chapter 3 right, but obviously he's defending him
He's telling him like hey
Why are we judging him if our law tells them not to judge him before it hears him?
Verse 52 they answered and sentenced him are thou also of Galilee
Search and look for out of Galilee arises with no profit now. This is one of the funniest verses in this chapter
You say why?
Because it's very ironic because one thing that obviously they don't really know is that Jonah
Who's a prophet came from Galilee?
So they go search the Bible for out of Galilee, right? So no profit. Oh, apparently you didn't search
Because Jonah is from Galilee
moron
He's a prophet and in fact, he's one of the most notable prophets of the Bible
He's not like an obscure prophet of the Bible like everyone knows who Jonah is
You know, bro swallowed by a well
So, you know, he's a byword of the proverb and he came from Galilee
Okay
You know gath he furs where he came from which is I think is like southern part of Galilee, but he's from Galilee
So it's ironic. They're like search and look
Take your own advice
You take your own advice the prophet did come from Galilee. Yes, but even if there was no prophet
Even if Jonah was not from Galilee, it doesn't mean that Jesus Christ is not Christ
Because the prophet the the scriptures are being fulfilled in his ministry where he comes from
Obviously, they're just trying to discredit him. They don't want to believe on him
You know and obviously Nicodemus doesn't even know that either
Because he could have been like, well, you know, Jonah, but the guy doesn't even know
what being born again is, so I can't really blame him.
So it's funny, they're arguing, and in verse 53, every man went into his own house.
They're just all mad.
They just leave, you know.
So what do we see here in chapter 7?
We see, first and foremost, that Jesus Christ, in spite of the fact that there's major persecution,
He's still preaching.
So we need to keep preaching even when there's persecution, right?
But number two we see that you know people can get saved by just asking the rock
for that water and
There's gonna be people who smite the rock who mar that
Representation they hate Jesus Christ and obviously salvation could have been made available to them
But because they hate the Lord Jesus Christ
it's not and probably the biggest thing that we can learn from John chapter 7 that we can take away home with us personally is
That don't give up on your family
You know because it's possible they might get saved later on and you'll never know
Maybe you'll fill up an entire row with your family, but it's also possible that that may not happen to you after you die
Just like with Jesus, right and so you know Jesus Christ
So if ever you feel like oh man, I'm just how in the world am I gonna win my mom to Christ?
How in the world am I gonna win my dad to Christ my older brother my older sister well?
Here's the thing is that Jesus God in the Word of God was made flesh his own brothers didn't believe in him
So don't feel too bad
Sometimes it's not the actual person himself. It's just the truth
That they're espousing right it's the truth that people are rejecting and so let's pray father
We thank you so much for your word. Thank you for John 7 and some powerful truths here Lord
I pray that you help us as your people to take a bold stance and recognize that we are not without honor
Thankfully in the house of God
But we are sometimes without honor amongst our own family members and that's just how it is sometimes and help us not to give up on them
Maybe for some, it takes decades, years for them to come around, help us to continue to
pray for them and witness to them when the opportunity arises, Lord.
And I pray that you bless us as we go on our way, give us a great weekend.
Keep all those safe who are in Texas right now, Lord.
I pray you bless the fire breathing about this fellowship, the preaching of God's Word.
May you use the men of God greatly there to edify your people.
Keep our church members safe, Lord, and give them traveling mercies.
We love you.
We thank you.