Soon

would, please take your Bibles
and turn back, once again, to John Chapter 7. John Chapter
7 as we wrap up this Lord’s Day, this just incredible chapter. To set the stage, Jesus has just
finished articulating so clearly the Gospel, even as I at a moment
ago, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He
who believes in me, as the scripture said, from his innermost being
will flow rivers of living water. He pleaded there on the last
day of the great feast. He pleaded with those that were
even hateful and issuing death threats toward him, plotting
his arrest and ultimately his demise. If you would pick up
I want to read to you a passage from the book of Revelation. So Jesus answered them and said,
My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone is
willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether
it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. He who speaks from
himself seeks his own glory, but he who is seeking the glory
of the One who sent him Moses give you the law, and yet
none of you carries out the law? Why do you seek to kill me?”
Well, Jesus was responding and defending his teaching. They were criticizing his teaching.
They were criticizing his alleged lack of training, wondering where
it was he had gone to school, and believing all the while that
he had never received any kind of And so Jesus takes this matter
as a matter worth defending. His teaching was divine. His teaching was from the Father
Himself. There was another matter where
Jesus sought to defend. The crowd had already seen His
miracle and they had purposed to kill Him. yet they deny it. Look at verse 20. The crowd answered,
you have a demon? Who seeks to kill you? This takes
us all the way back to the healing in Bethesda where that’s exactly
what they sought to do, is to kill the Lord Jesus. And so Jesus
considers this a matter worth defending, that he didn’t just
have, you know, a nervous conscience, that he knew exactly what they
were up to. Verse 21, Jesus answered them,
I did one deed, and you all marveled. For this reason Moses has given
you circumcision, not because it is from Moses, but from the
fathers. And on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. If a man receives
circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses will
not be broken, are you angry with me because I made an entire
man well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance,
but judge with righteous judgment. Jesus considers His healing there
done, knowing that it produced this hatred. Look, He is speaking publicly.
They are saying nothing to Him. The rulers do not really know
that this is the Christ, do they? There was already confusion that
will become manifest in our passage this morning. However, we know
where this man is from. But whenever the Christ may come,
no one knows where He is from. Issuing forth their own ignorance
about the Messiah. And so Jesus takes up this third Is it really that much of a mystery?
Verse 28, Jesus said, and Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching
and saying, you both know me, and know where I am from, and
I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom
you do not know. I know him because I am from
him, and he sent me. So they were seeking to seize
him, and no man laid his hand on him, because his hour had
not yet come. But many of the crowd believed
in him, and they were saying, When the Christ comes, he will
not perform more signs than those which this man has, will he? The Pharisees heard the crowd
muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and
the Pharisees sent officers to seize him. Therefore Jesus said,
For a little while longer I am with you. Then I will go to him
who said, cannot come.” The Jews then said
to one another, where does this man intend to go that we will
not find him? He is not intending to go into
the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he?
What is his statement? That he said, you will seek me
and will not find me. Where I am you cannot come. Now
on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried out, saying, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me
and drink. He who believes in Me, as the
Scriptures said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living
water. With this He spoke of the Spirit,
whom those who believed in Him were to receive. For the Spirit
was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Some of the people, therefore,
when they heard these words, were saying, this certainly is
the prophet. Others were saying, this is the
Christ. Still others were saying, surely
the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is he? Has not
the scripture said that the Christ comes from the descendants of
David and from Bethlehem, the village where David was? So a
division occurred in the crowd because of them. Some of them
wanted to seize him, but no one laid hands on him. The officers
then came to the chief priests and the Pharisees. And they said
to them, why did you not bring him? The officers answered, never
has a man spoken also been led astray, have you? No one of the rulers or Pharisees
has believed in him, has he? But this crowd which does not
know the law is accursed.” Nicodemus, he who came to him before, being
one of them, said to them, Our law does not judge a man unless
it first hears from him and knows what he is doing. They answered him, you are not
also from Galilee, are you? Search and see that no prophet
arises out of Galilee. There is an interesting feature
of preaching. Oftentimes when I, it’s my habit,
as soon as I finish I make it to the back door And I’m there
really as much as for anything to field prayer requests from
people, ultimately and hopefully to deal with those who are really
wrestling with spiritual things. Either something I preached,
certainly in the case of the gospel, you’re hoping that the
Lord would be moving in the hearts of those who do not know Him. And yet what it usually becomes
is what One of my old professors called the glorification of the
worm, where immediately people lavish praise on you, as if you
invented the material that you just utilized. Oh, pastor, that
was the greatest sermon that I’ve ever heard. Well, that’s
why Hendricks called it the glorification of the worm. And quite often,
I think, There are as many of those as there are of the critical
comments. I think my favorite one is, that
was interesting. And you know when they give you
that comment that you really better prepare yourself and duck,
because there’s usually a follow up to that. That’s where people
give you their feedback. That’s where they kind of let
you in on who you really are. And whether it’s criticism or
praise, they are giving you their assessment of what you had to
say. Now we know, absolutely, unequivocally,
that Jesus knew exactly what every heart’s response was to
His Gospel. He didn’t need to ask them. He
didn’t need to rush to the back door of the church and shake
everybody’s hand and look everybody in the eye in order to determine
how His Word had resonated within them. He knew exactly what it
had done in every person’s heart. It was tremendously varied, as
we will see here in a moment. What you have is, in these closing
verses, verse 40 through 52, you have The assessment of the response
to the Gospel. And it is a very dynamic assessment. It’s across the board. The people,
the crowd has an assessment. The religious elite has an assessment. Even Nicodemus himself has an
assessment. He has a response. Go with me if you would back
to verse 40. To the crowd of the people. The
crowd of people, their response was divided. It was completely
divided. Look at verse 40 through 44 again. Some of the people, therefore,
when they heard the words were saying, this certainly is the
prophet. This is probably the most outspoken
of the bunch. We found him. We don’t know exactly
how he’s identified. We don’t know what his calling
is. We don’t know exactly what his ministry looks like. But
this guy is really something. others, verse 41, were saying,
this is the Christ. Now, we’ll come back to that
in a moment. I don’t know that they were absolutely,
you know, ready to fall on knees of repentance and receive Christ
as their Savior. They were acknowledging that
in some way, shape, or form, dynamic, very diverse. Still
others were saying, sure, Christ is not going to come from Galilee,
is He? You can’t possibly think that
this is the Messiah. So division, verse 43, occurred
in the crowd because of Him. It is as if He caused it. And there were some who, because
He’s just a rabble-rouser, a causer of division, Some wanted to seize
him, but no one laid hands on him. No one was able to lay hands
on him. Let’s go back and look just briefly
at the first response. Some of the people, when they
heard the words, were saying, this is certain the prophet. They had heard the words that
I took the time to read this morning. Essentially, Jesus’
defense. Jesus’ defense, first of all,
of His teaching, that it was God-given. Defense of the healing,
that it was something that was done in parallel, no different
than circumcising a man according to the Jewish law on the Sabbath,
which they did. Jesus healed a man. How can he
be held into account? And that’s why he appeals, judge
with righteous judgment. And then thirdly, the defense
of his origin. They have heard all of that. And on top of that, they heard
the beautiful articulation of the gospel, the appeal to come
to Christ and drink. When it says these words, when
they heard these words, I think it refers back to all of it. during the Feast, not just the
Gospel, if anyone is thirsty, come and drink, that which immediately
precedes these verses, but the whole preaching that occurred
over those several days, as soon as Jesus began to teach. Back
in verse 14, those who heard it, it says they were astonished. Couldn’t believe what they were
hearing. And then Jesus immediately attributes that very preaching
to God Himself. And so, having heard these words,
they come to the conclusion that this certainly must be the prophet. Deuteronomy 18, we’ve looked
at this before, because in John 121, remember, they thought that
John the Baptist might be the prophet. The prophet they’re
referring to is from Deuteronomy 18. The Lord your God will raise
up for you a prophet like me from among you. From your countrymen
you shall listen to him. And so it was a rather undefined,
I think ultimately it is pointing to the Messiah himself, but for
them it was rather undefined. They didn’t know exactly who
he was, they didn’t know what he was They didn’t know what
his message was. They didn’t know what his ministry
was going to be. They just knew that there was
going to be a prophet. And they could readily refer
to him as THE prophet. They hadn’t seen a prophet for
hundreds of years. There hadn’t been a prophet.
And now all of a sudden, verse on to the scene, John the Baptist,
they think he’s the prophet. And if he’s not the prophet,
then certainly Jesus, this one, teaching He must be the Prophet. This
is exactly what the people of Galilee thought. John 6.14, the
people had seen the sign, the feeding of the 5,000. They said,
this is truly the Prophet who comes into the world. They were
all looking for this Prophet, even as undefined as He was.
And so there were And seemingly, at least on the
face of it, they received Him or accepted Him as God’s promised
Messiah. And as I said before, that doesn’t
mean that they were really ready to truly submit themselves to
Him as not only Savior, but Sovereign Lord. But they were intrigued by Him,
and they entertained the idea that, you know, this A lot of ideas, a lot of different
responses to what Jesus was saying. Look at the end of verse 41.
Still others, the third group, were saying, surely Christ is
not going to come to Galilee, is he? They didn’t even know
what the scriptures taught definitively. They didn’t even know exactly
what to look for. But they just knew that this
couldn’t possibly be the one. has not the Scripture said that
Christ comes from the descendant of David and from Bethlehem? The village of David was. Obviously,
we’ve done our homework. We’ve gathered the facts. This
can’t possibly be Him. Can it? They hadn’t done their homework.
They didn’t know where Jesus was born. They knew that He was
from Galilee. They didn’t know much more than
that, other than He was this divisive figure. Back in John 6, 42, that was
the same argument used against Christ following the feeding
of the 5,000, when so many people were beginning to build a popularity
following around Christ. They said, is this not Jesus,
the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? We know that
he’s from Galilee. We know who his parents are.
Some people probably literally knew his parents. So they couldn’t
believe that this person would be the promised seed of David,
the promised one who was supposed to hail from Bethlehem, David’s
village. They were stunned by this news. They didn’t know what to make
of it. They just knew that this couldn’t possibly be him. They
assumed that because they knew who He was, a Nazarene from Galilee,
that that necessarily disqualified Him. He couldn’t possibly be
the Messiah. They thought they were so knowledgeable. They thought that
they knew their Bibles so well that as soon as a person identified
themselves as such, they would immediately be able to recognize
him. The interesting thing is, John,
the Apostle John, writing here, he lets those comments, those
criticisms stand, even though they are in error. John could
have corrected it here and said, now the people didn’t really
know. John knows. John knows all about Christ.
He knew that he was born in Bethlehem. He knew that he was at the seat
of David. But he lets their comments stand. We’ll talk about why in a moment. John is comfortable. John knows
where Jesus is from. In fact, in John’s Gospel it’s
been articulated a number of different times. In chapter 1,
verse 45, Philip found Nathanael. who said, we have found him whom
Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth. It didn’t create any problems
for John there. In 642, which verse we just read,
is this not Jesus, son of Joseph, who father and mother we know?
It didn’t cause any problem for the apostle John there. John knew that Christ, that the
Messiah was of the seed of David. John knew that he was of the
house of Bethlehem, that he was born there. All of that was entirely correct,
and it’s also true according to prophecy, biblical
prophecy. Matthew’s Gospel lays out so
clearly that all of these so-called conundrums, even some of the
facts that seem contradictory, all begin to immediately blend
together, that He would come out of Egypt, that He would be
born of a woman, that He would be born in Bethlehem, that He
would be a Nazarene. All of those things begin to
come together in Matthew’s Gospel. The official position of the
St. Hedron, as they interpreted the
Scriptures, they had it exactly correct. that Jesus, this man, they just
didn’t have the facts. They didn’t know that he was
born in Bethlehem. They thought he was born in Galilee. And so,
in a sense, they’re correct in their criticism, but they don’t
have the facts correct. Verse 43 says, a division occurred
in the crowd because of him. Some of them wanted to seize
him. The word there potentially even violent. There
was quite a discussion about Christ there. These three different
viewpoints all suddenly coming into collision. Not just the officers who were
sent with that specific duty to arrest Christ, but there’s
at least a portion of the crowd, perhaps even a third of the crowd
or more, who wanted to arrest Jesus on their own authority. They wanted to pull Him aside.
They wanted to take Him out, so to speak. They were inclined
to arrest Christ, but they didn’t arrest Him. They couldn’t, really,
because it wasn’t yet time, according to God’s time. And so the crowd,
not unlike the people of our own day, the crowd Even in our own day, if you talk
to people, they’ll have a variety of different opinions about Christ.
Some people will say that, you know, they believe that He existed,
that He really is a historical figure, He was a good man, He
lived a good life. Others will say that, you know,
I do believe, I don’t know exactly how these things shape out, but
I know that He was a prophet. That’s what Muslims believe. like Muhammad, not as good as
Muhammad, but a prophet. There are many that will have
plenty of nice things to say about Christ. And then there
are others who really believe that they believe. Just by believing
that Jesus was the Messiah, they believe that they are saved. They believe that Jesus was who
He said He was, and they believe that because they believe that, that they’re saved, and they’re
not. And then there are those who
see Christ for precisely who He is, who know in their heart
of hearts that He has been sent by God, to pay for their sin
on the cross and they know that He is the only way of salvation. They know. God has led them to
the truth and His Spirit is in concert with their spirit and
it affirms their knowledge of the Savior. They know. There was not only disunity in
that crowd. There’s disunity in our own day,
still, about Christ. There was a second crowd that
needed to be assessed in their response to the Gospel. We saw
the crowd, great diversity, at least three different groups,
and probably many more ideas about Christ. The same here. The Jewish religious elite. The Sanhedrin itself was divided. Look at verse 45. The officers,
and I take this to mean the official legal and policing wing of the
chief priests and the Pharisees, these were Jewish officers, temple
court officers. The officers then came to the
chief priests and the Pharisees and they said to them, Why did
you not bring them? They were irritated. They had
given the officers a mission. They had given them a command.
And now they have to answer for that command. They have to give
an account. And so they do in verse 46. The officers answer,
never has a man spoken the way this man speaks. That’s their
defense. I mean, imagine this. If you’re
the sergeant on duty for Fort Collins Police Department, and
you send a squad car over to arrest a particular troublemaker,
and the officer comes back to you and says, man, this guy’s
really something. The Pharisees were, I mean, they
had to be just living been led astray, have you? Are
you kidding me? We gave you an order and you
come back with this? Look at verse 45. The officers came to the chief
priest and they, that is the chief priest, the Sanhedrin,
said to the officers, why did you not bring him? Now the interesting they had to be celebrated as
a Sabbath. It was a Sabbath. Part of the feast, the festival
of booths, was the fact that it was culminated with this Sabbath
celebration, and yet, even yet, in all their hypocrisy, the Sanhedrin
sits and waits in a meeting. This wasn’t Sabbath business. Sam Hedren is sitting and waiting,
waiting for the return of its officers, hopefully with the
prisoner in tow. As one said, neither the officers
nor any of the multitude had ventured to arrest him. Under
the control of God’s providence, they had been unable to find
good opportunity for taking him. They had been awed by the majesty
of his words. until his father allowed it. Here’s what you have to conclude. The Sanhedrin have given these
officers some kind of an order, not just to make an arrest, but
to look for a favorable opportunity. Go get this guy when it’s an
opportune time. Look for an opportunity to exploit
and seize him. And if they come back, empty
handed. These are officers of the Sanhedrin. They are part of the religious
elite. And yet there is a division,
a fracture. There is a schism even within
the Jewish religious elite. Look at verse 46. You can hear
it in their voice. The officers answer, never. We’ve
never seen anything like this. I’ve never heard anything like
this. We’ve never seen anybody conduct themselves the way this
man did. The hatred of the Sanhedrin,
the anger that must have just begun to pour out of them at
the fact that these had disobeyed an order, essentially, and had
not done as they were commanded to arrest Jesus. It must have
just poured gasoline on the fire of what they were already feeling
towards Jesus. And now, their own officers come
back? Can you imagine how incensed
they became when their own officers show at least a degree of influence
under Christ and His teaching? One characterized it as if they
came back spellbound. It was as if they had seen a
superstar. They were in awe of Him. At the very minimum, they were impressed.
They saw the power of Christ’s teaching. They heard His words,
how unique. They’d never heard anything like
it. Never. J.C. Ryle characterized it in
these just He said they had never seen anyone
exercise such influence over his hearers. Here are people
that had the authority and the motive to arrest him on the spot,
and yet they can’t move. They’re absolutely spellbound.
They’re absolutely dumbstruck. They’ve never seen anyone exercise
influence over his hearers the way Christ did. They’ve never
heard anyone speak such deep and important truths in such
simple and yet striking language. Remember, as we went through
all of those, how short and how clear and how strong each of
those statements was. As Riles says, solemn, impressive,
yet affectionate. A dignified tone of authority
as a messenger from heaven. All of these pronouncements,
so authoritative. All of this teaching, so gracious. This invitation that they had
just heard, come and drink. It was like nothing they’d ever
heard. They were used to the dull dribble from the rabbis
in the temple. Over and over again on the same
points of the law, which they themselves didn’t heed. yet here’s
Christ, humbly, yet powerfully, clearly. And it had to be a difficult
thing for them, and so in a sense you’ve got to hand it to them,
at least they were courageous enough to own their conviction,
such as it is, to walk in knowing that they faced likely
rebuke, which they received, but even potentially disciplinary
action where they possibly could have lost their jobs as temple
guards, that they could have been punished, thrown in jail
themselves. They were sympathetic towards
Christ, at the very minimum. And this does nothing but irritate
the Sanhedrin. Look at verse 47. The Pharisees,
the legal experts, are the ones to speak. The Pharisees then
answer them, You have not also been led astray, have you? They’re
insinuation here. And note just how much there
is in these words. There’s anger. There’s a sarcastic
tone. There’s certainly irritation.
And now, even by virtue of the words that they say, they’re
ridiculing their own guards. And they insinuate that anybody
following this man is an error. Here are the Pharisees. The so-called
brains of the operation, those who studied fastidiously and
held to every letter of the law verbally. These were the orthodox. These
were the experts in the law. And they immediately seized opportunity
to criticize their own temple guards. And they asked, have
you been led astray? It’s an interesting word, plenao. It talks, that’s where we are,
where planet’s from, because they used to think that they
were just wandering the skies. You have not also wandered away,
have you? What it talks about is a fundamental
departure from the truth. You’ve wandered away from the
truth? Then look at verse 48. No one of the rulers has believed
in him, has he? You don’t see a great movement
of the experts in the law leaning towards favor towards Christ,
do you? They were supposed to be the
leaders. Everyone else was supposed to follow them. They were supposed
to do as the Pharisees did, not have a mind of their own. How
dare they? law is accursed. They start by
saying that anybody following Christ is astray. Now they wrap it up. I mean,
they’re on a roll here. They’re completely out of control.
Not only are they astray, they are accursed. Damn. The whole statement is one of
contempt. But when they refer to this crowd,
it’s like this multitude, these people, this rabble. These were
the people of the temple. These were the Jews, the Jewish
people, whom God called chosen. And yet, in the religious elite’s
mind, see the rabbis, the Pharisees,
the Sanhedrin, They had a real contempt, even for the people
that they represented. They referred to them as the
unlettered multitude. They hadn’t studied like we’ve
studied. The Pharisees and Sadducees didn’t
do the law any more than anyone else, but they sure studied the
law. They called them the people of
the earth. And in their opinion, it was dead wrong for them to
have a mind of their own. Questions and things of serious
nature, religious nature, ought to be studied by the experts
and left to the experts. The study of the law, the mere
study of the law, was enough to make one wise and pious. And so anything short of that
left you as nothing short of being considered a village idiot.
There was one that recorded a statement
by the rabbis. When they referred to them as
the people of the land, the rabbinic law, not the law of God, the
rabbinic law said six things are laid down about the people
of the land, the commoners, those who didn’t study The Jewish religion
and the Jewish law, like the Pharisees and scribes, the Sanhedrin
did. Six things are laid down about
the people of the law. Entrust no testimony to them. Take no testimony from them.
They couldn’t even testify in a court of law. Trust them with
no secret. Don’t tell them anything, certainly
nothing secret. Do not appoint them guardians
of an orphan. Do not make them custodians of
charitable funds. They’re not trustworthy. And
number six, do not accompany them on a journey. That brings
it to perspective, doesn’t it? That parable that we so often
refer to as the parable of the Good Samaritan. No wonder they
wouldn’t have anything to do with this guy beaten up on the
side of the road. You know what this is? It’s the
same attitude that the Roman Catholic Church maintain from
the 5th century onward. As they became the Roman Catholic
Church, the more they became the Roman Catholic Church, the
more they took the truth and the scriptures away from God’s
people. It was only the Reformation that
put the Bible back in the people’s hands. They didn’t deserve to
know. Even to this day you’re not illiterates, they don’t know. That’s what
they say. They do not know. They don’t
know what they should know. They don’t know the law. They
don’t know things that we know. We know. They don’t. And because of that, they’re
cursed. I mean, this is so completely out of control. What one referred
to as an outburst of theological fury. It would be akin to calling
somebody in our day and age a heretic, which I think ought to always
be your last line of defense. What they were basically saying
is this entire population of people, anybody who follows Christ
is formally excommunicated. They’re a curse. Now how they
began to go about this is anybody’s guess. And so we see, in the response
to the Gospel that was so clearly and delicately given, the people,
the crowd of people, utterly divided. Even the Sanhedrin itself,
the bastion of religious expertise of the day, utterly divided. And then it comes to a single individual.
A man that we’ve already met. A man named Nicodemus. We see
even in his own heart. He’s divided. Look at verse 50. Nicodemus, he who came to him,
that is Christ, before being one of them, that is the Pharisees,
the Sanhedrin, said to them, our law does not judge a man
unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does
it? Whitney Cadenas did. He’s just being noble. He’s just
trying to be just, fair. At least he had that part of
it right. In a sense, he’s telling his own friends and cohorts,
let’s let cool heads prevail here. Let’s think this through.
Remember what the law says. We’re kind of getting off track
there. Thanks for pulling us back. Is that what they said?
No. You’re not also from Galilee, are you? Search and see that
no prophet arises out of Galilee. They hated him for what he said.
They immediately ostracized Nicodemus, one of their own. Belittle him. How dare you call us to account
for the in the U.S. did was simply look
at the basic law, not only the law of Judaism,
the Old Testament law, but the law of the land. They didn’t
have the authority to take matters into their own hands. They didn’t
have authority to accuse a man unjustly. The very men who were
supposed to be Experts in the law are in the midst of breaking
the law. And that’s essentially what Nicodemus
tells them. Deuteronomy chapter 1. I mean,
don’t turn. I’ll be gone by the time you
get there. I charged your judges at that time saying, here are
the cases between your fellow countrymen. Judge righteously
between a man and his fellow countrymen, or the alien who
is with him. You shall not show partiality
in judgment. You shall then hear the small
and the great alike. You shall not fear man, for the
judgment is God’s.” They were to act in God’s stead, as God
would act. Deuteronomy 17. If the case is
too difficult for you to decide between one kind of homicide
or another, between one kind of lawsuit or another, between
one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your
courts, then you shall arise and go to the place which the
Lord your God chooses. Ultimately, let Him decide. Judge
with righteous judgment. Deuteronomy 19, verse 15. A single
witness shall not rise up against the man on account of any iniquity
or sin which he has committed. On the evidence of two or three
witnesses, the matter will be confirmed.” Exodus 23, you shall
not bear a false report. Do not join your hand with a
wicked man to be a malicious witness. And yet that’s exactly
what these religious leaders had done. They’d drummed up some
false charges against Christ. evil plan. Essentially, the law
was the same law as ours. Innocent until proven guilty.
And they hadn’t done anything. They had no cause to even arrest
Christ, let alone prosecute him. And so they lash in to Nicodemus,
you are not also from Galilee. You’re from Galilee? Is that
where you’re from? Are you part of his cohort? Search and see that no prophet
arises out of Galilee. Well, they obviously forgot about
Jonah and probably Nahum and Elisha. There were plenty of
prophets. And so stand back a moment. Here’s
Christ, carefully, defending His teaching, defending the healing
from Scripture, defending His origin. Ultimately, the next
morning, standing up before this hostile crowd and preaching,
pleading with them the gospel, come to me and drink. And what’s
the response? You have a divided people. You
have a divided religious elite, and you have a divided individual,
division. You know what? People tend to
think. They tend to think of spiritual things and people’s
response to those as some kind of a continuum, a broad spectrum.
And on one hand, you have atheism and an utter disbelief of anything Earth just is what it is and
we all die. And on the other hand of that
is that extreme fanaticism. And so most people think of themselves
as somewhere along that continuum. They don’t know exactly where
the line is. The line between those who truly
believe and are heaven bound, they believe that they’re on
the right side of that line, They don’t know exactly where
that line is between those who are truly heaven-bound and those
who are not, who are hell-bound. And though they don’t know exactly
where the line is, they’re comfortable. Somewhat. After all, they’ve
considered God. They are, to some degree, in
comparison with others around them, moral. They’ve entertained
Christ and Christianity. After all, they were born in
a Christian nation. The date on their newspaper says,
in essence, that they acknowledge that fact. They own a Bible. They have been to church, sometimes
for years. It’s not to meet somebody on
this line of continuum. You’re either a person of faith.
You either place your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ or you’re
hedging. You’re waiting. You’re expecting
God to do something far greater yet to earn your faith. In Luke’s Gospel, chapter 12,
Jesus said, Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth?
I tell you no, but rather division. From now on, five members in
one household will be divided. Three against two, and two against
three. They will be divided. and law against daughter-in-law,
daughter-in-law against mother-in-law, what Jesus says is there is a
certainty of division. Those who are truly in Christ
and those who are hedging. From the atheist even to the
fanatic, all along the continuum there are those who really truly
are not in Christ. that I came to bring peace on
earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. And you can
hear it slam down at me. Jesus Christ came to divide,
to separate believers from unbelievers. And you’re either in faith, in
Christ, or you’re not. There is no continuum in Christianity. There is no kind of belief. There
is no leaning Christian. You’re either in Christ or you’re
not. And Jesus spells it out right
here. He came to bring division. Where are you? Let’s pray. We thank You for this Savior
who stood toe-to-toe with those who hated Him. We thank You for
His testimony. We thank You for His patience
with those who so obviously hated Him. We thank You that He so
faithfully preached the Gospel. We thank You, Father, that so
many heard the Gospel and through the centuries have heard and
responded, even down to our day, even some of us. Father, we thank you. We thank
you for the clarity that it is a continuum. That it is in this
broad spectrum of kind of, sort of, belief. The person either
places their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, or they do not.
Lord God, we thank you. We thank you for the passage,
we thank you for this clarity, and we plead with you for your
work of grace on any who do not yet believe. Have your way with
them. It’s in Christ’s name we pray.