John 7.25-52 Jesus the River

  • Sam Ford
  • Dec 9, 2007
  • Series: Gospel According to John

John 7.25-52 - Jesus the River

December 9, 2007

Sam Ford

 

Judging by Appearances...

Last week's sermon ended with a challenge by Jesus...

 

24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment."

The problem with our culture today is not that we judge by appearance, it's that we don't judge at all.  Not judging by appearance has mutated into affirming every falsehood that a person or group of people put forward.  The opposite of "not judging by appearance" is NOT refusing to judge at all.  Not judging by appearance means we don't evaluate something at first glance for GOOD or BAD...but we rightly according to the truth-the actual state of matter, that which conforms to the facts of reality. 

 

Judging by Appearances never leads to ignorance

Those who judge by appearances are ignorant of the truth.  They never make the effort to go beyond the surface to find out what is actually there.  As a result, we make the mistakes of judging that which is BAD as GOOD and that which is GOOD as BAD.  Of course, we do not do this all the time with everything, but we often get "duped" into believing something that is a lie. 

 

Much of our ignorance about God is willful

2Peter 3 gives examples of how many people deliberately overlook the "facts" that God has reveal to us. In fact, Romans 1.18 says we avoid truth at all possibilities, even suppress it as we embrace more "comfortable" lies.  Now, some people do KNOW the commands, facts, and promises of God and ARGUE against them-Jesus says those are the devil's kids.  I am beginning to believe that most people don't actually "argue" the truths of God and replace them with other demon-lies.  I believe we are ignorant of both the truths of God (We Don't Read our Bibles), we're ignorant of the truths of the world (We Believe everything we see on TV, Internet).  

 

We choose the Truth Goulash

Instead of ONE truth, we decide to get "Spiritual" and combine all the truths together.  They aren't "exclusive", their complementary (Sense the sarcasm?).  In our "blissful ignorance", we grab everything we "hear" and we mix them all together into one big SPIRITUAL goulash that tastes like a puke-flavored jelly-belly.  Such ignorance is reflected in a recent interview with actor Will Smith who said:

 

 "I was introduced, [to] it by Tom and I'm a student of world religion. I was raised in a Baptist household, I went to a Catholic school, but the ideas of the Bible are 98 percent the same ideas of Scientology, 98 percent the same ideas of Hinduism and Buddhism... How can I condemn someone for what they believe and I believe that God was born from a pregnant virgin?" - Will Smith

 

There is ONE truth.

The problem is that our study of truth reveals that Jesus made some very exclusive truth claims; specifically, about WHO HE IS that don't work on those other religious systems.  If Jesus is WHO HE SAYS HE IS...

  • If Jesus was born of a Virgin
  • If Jesus is the only true God in man
  • If Jesus died as my substitute on the cross for my sins and not an example
  • If by his sacrifice Jesus crushed Satan, death, and demons
  • If Jesus is the only one who released me from slavery
  • If Jesus gave me his perfectly sinless life so that I can be made righteous before God
  • If Jesus' death is the only thing that appeases God's wrath
  • If Jesus blood cleanses me and purifies me from sin
  • If Jesus' is the mediator between me and God
  • If Jesus' is my example of suffering and life as a man
  • If Jesus is the only way to be break down barriers and reconcile my relationship with God
  • If Jesus is the ONLY ONE to show me what God is like....

 

 

...then Christianity is 100% different than any other religion regardless of how much moral behavior they might share.  It is completely other. 

 

In today's passage, you will see the same argument that is continuing in 2007 began over 2000 years ago-Who is this guy Jesus...really?  The sad thing is THAT EVERYONE KNOWS and yet, they willfully choose to ignore it.  Knowing who Jesus is should change the way you live, every moment of your life.

                                        

READ JOHN 7.25-52

 

V. 25-31 - Failures

In this first section of verses we see a series of failures as they argue about what to do with Jesus.

 

Failure of Leadership

The residents of Jerusalem knew at this point that the Jewish rulers wanted to kill Jesus.  They begin to wonder why they are allowing Jesus to speak so openly and not do anything about it.  They were probably confused by the lack of leadership they were seeing in these guys.  Basically, the leaders were not doing what they said they would do. 

  • If he was the Messiah, they should accept him. 
  • If he was not the Messiah, he should be arrested and stoned as a blasphemer.

 

Leadership has a responsibility to Shepherd the flock.  Shepherding the flock does not mean spoon feeding everything they should believe, but it does mean leading the flock to clean waters and protecting them from that which will harm them. 

 

Failure in Leadership Leads to a Failure in Theology

The Jewish leaders fail here.  Watching their leaders, the people consider the possibility that they might in fact believe he is the Messiah.  These guys are not nearly as versed in Scripture as the Jewish leaders are.  They don't read their bibles, they know only what they might have been taught about Jewish traditions, or what they hear people talk about.   But they are thinkers.  And as they ponder why the Jewish leaders are not doing anything, they start to reason it out:

(1) No one knows where the messiah comes from.

(2) We know that Jesus came from Nazareth

(3) Jesus can't be the Messiah.

 

How many of us base our understanding of God on WHAT WE HEAR, WHAT SOMEONE ELSE TELLS US...or any number of other alternatives to the Word of God.  A lot of people say, "Yeah, I've read the Bible...I know what it says."  Or "I like Jesus, I know what he claimed."  Both are usually flat our lies because even most Christians I know don't read their Bibles and can't tell me what Jesus said or did other than "he died for my sins."  Because the leadership has failed...these guys believe something that is simply not true:

 

28 - "You know me, and you know where I come from?  But I have not come of my own accord.  He who sent me is true, and him you do not know.  I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me."

 

Failure to Understand the Most Important Truth

They didn't  know the BIBLE? The Messiah comes from Bethlehem.  The people could not see the truth because they were blinded by what they thought were dependable facts that they probably read on the ROMAN INTERNET  They were wrong on several accounts.  The Bible is quite clear where the Messiah will come from.  Micah 5.2 says the Messiah comes from Bethlehem.

 

They didn't  know JESUS? This was the boldest of bold statements.  He tells them I am not some self-proclaimed prophet, I came from God.  When Jesus says He's been sent from God, he may as well have said that I was sent from heaven.  In other words, it is a claim to divinity because you have be alive in order to be sent. The most important question you can answer is, "Who is Jesus?"  The wrong answer has eternal ramifications.

 

Failure's of Leadership & Theology today

Will you allow yourselves to remain ignorant or will you study the Word of God so that you are not duped by something that might tickle your ears.

  • Reduction of the Atonement, Jesus as my example or just my substitute?
  • Redefinitions of historical Christian doctrines such as hell or complete avoidance to the point where the sacrifice of Chris is devalued
  • Equivocation on various moral issues clearly identified as sin in the Bible
  • Change in view of Scripture as true if I embrace it versus true whether I embrace it or not

 

Brian McClaren, one of the leaders in the Emerging Church movement that is generally theological started with writing a book called New Kind of Christian.  It was challenging and thought provoking.  But over the years, his once edgy thoughts have crossed a line.  In his new book, "Everything Must Change", he does not propose a New Kind of Christian, but no kind of Christian at all.  Asking questions of faith and the practice of that faith are important, but there is a limit to what answers there are. For things to be Christian means that there are answers and there are limits to what those answers can be.

 

 

 

V. 32-36 Don't worry, I'm leaving

The crowds start muttering about who Jesus is and some probably start to believe him.  The Jews are a bit disturbed by this and send Temple officers to arrest Jesus.  As they arrive Jesus says:

 

33 - Jesus then said, "I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me.  Where I am you cannot come."

 

He will soon by gone...you won't find me

He tells the guys who show up to arrest him to basically not worry, he'll be gone soon. Don't worry guys, I'll be out of your hair real soon.  But what does he mean by, "You'll seek and not find me."  At first glance it feels like Jesus must contradict himself because, in other gospels, he is recorded as saying "SEEK and YOU WILL FIND, KNOCK and the door will be OPENED."  Clearly, if anyone calls upon the name of the Lord, God will answer.  But, at the same time, it appears like God has a limit.  Consider Proverbs 1.20----

 

At some point...God will either smite you out, or let you go.  God will let you die in your sin. 

 

 

V. 37-39  The Invitation:

Immediately following his bold statement about the punishment for sin, he stands out and cries out an invitation to all people...

 

37 - On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scriptures has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."

 

It seems like a weird proclamation at this point.  But considering the context of the feast of Tabernacles, it makes a lot of sense. 

 

Overview of The Festival of Tabernacles/Booths

1.      DATE:  Third of three Jewish feasts during the year; taking place around mid-October, attendance was required for all adult males who lived within 15 miles of Jerusalem (Feast of Passover, Festival of Pentecost)

 

2.      ORIGIN:  Derived from Leviticus 23.40-43

 

40 And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. 41 You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."

 

3.      HISTORICAL MEANING: The people left their homes to live in hand-made booths.  With the thousands of people who would gather for the feast, small man-made temporary booths would show up in the streets, on the roofs of houses, in city squares, in gardens, even in the courts of the Temple.  They were not permanent structures, usually made of branches and fronds.  The roofs were thatched, but wide enough to see the stars and the sun.  This experience would remind them of the 40 year wilderness wanderings they had experienced-and their dependence upon God in that time and future hope of God's promises.

 

4.      TIME: The festival lasted 7 days, what an additional 8th "great day".

 

5.      AGRICULTURAL MEANING:  It was also a celebration of the harvest-thanksgiving.  It was considered the most popular of all festivals called "The Feast" (1Kings 8.2) and "The Festival of the Lord" (Lev. 23.39).  It was also called the "in-gathering" as, by this time, all barley, wheat, and grapes had been safely gathered from the harvest.

 

The Ceremony During the Festival

1.      CEREMONIAL DISAGREEMENT: Leviticus 23.40 says to "take on" the first day the fruit of trees, branches, etc.  The Sadducees (The LIBERALS) believed these were the materials that the booths must be made of.  The Pharisees (The FUNDAMENTALISTS) believed that it was a description of what worshippers should bring to the temple. The masses of people naturally followed the Pharisees interpretation.

 

2.      Each Day of the Festival THE PEOPLE would:

  • Come w/ palms and willows to the Temple
  • Form a screen/roof with them and march around the altar

 

3.      Each Day THE PRIEST would:

  • Take a golden pitcher holding about 2 pints of water
  • Went down to the pool of Siloam and filled it with water
  • Carried the full pitcher through the water gate:  as he did, the people would recite Isaiah 12.3  With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

 

  • Carried the full pitcher up to the altar and poured it out as an offering.
  • As he did this, the people would sing the Hallel (Psalms 113-118)
  • When they came to Psalm 118.25-29 the worshippers SHOUTED and waved their palms toward the altar :

25      Save us, we pray, O Lord!

          O Lord, we pray, give us success!

26      Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

          We bless you from the house of the Lord.

27      The Lord is God,

          and he has made his light to shine upon us.

     Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,

          up to the horns of the altar!

28      You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;

          you are my God; I will extol you.

29      Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

          for his steadfast love endures forever!

 

4.      PURPOSE:  The ceremony was a vivid thanksgiving for God's good gift of WATER, an active prayer for RAIN, and a memorial for the water from the ROCK in the wilderness that Moses had struck with his staff.

 

Jesus Cries Out

He cries out to the people, the people who are denying him, ignoring him, pretending to know him, those wanting to kill him....many who had rejected him and says COME!  Don't you realize that this water points to me!

 

Forgotten what their "religion" is all about

These guys have been coming back year after year after year for the past hundreds and hundreds of years.  They have performed the same ceremonies time and time again.  They stopped honestly looking for their messiah, to the point that when he's right in front of their face, they don't recognize him. 

 

I can't help but think that is just like me.  Do we really remember what this is all about?

 

Jesus is the Salvation that this entire ceremony is pointing toward

Exodus 17.4- 7

4 So Moses cried to the Lord, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me." 5 And the Lord said to Moses, "Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink." And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?

 

  • We ignore, forget, or pretend that this temporary home is all there is
    • Things here are broken
    • This is not our home.
    • Our goal is to be with God.
  • We ignore, forget, or pretend we're not thirsty
    • Our culture offers just about anything (ALL KINDS OF ROCKS) you can imagine to quench your thirst...literally.  Like some sort of spiritual energy drink, we seek out not what our body actually needs, but what will suit our momentary passion.  
    • Others, by the grace of God, sense their spiritual thirst.  I pray everyone feels this sense of THIRST of NEED.  It is when we experience a deep sense of sin, a deep desire for peace, a deep insatiable desire for forgiveness.  It is this thirst that Jesus told the Woman at the well in John 4.14 "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."  We know it too.
  • We ignore, forget, or pretend we're not dirty
    • Our culture wants you to believe that you're not dirty, perverted, or otherwise broken.  If you just think positive about things, believe that you're not, somehow that changes. 
    • That's just flat out ignorance.  The reason we all these guys make millions writing books about the POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING is that we feel dirty. 
    • We feel dirty, filthy, impure because of the sins you have committed or because of the sins committed against you.  1John 1.7 says the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sins. or Hebrews 9.14 which says the blood of Jesus cleanses even our very conscience to serve the living God! 

 

We need that river...flowing in us and from us

  • When that river runs in us, we are filled with a river that cleanses us from within but then, flows out from us into others (HUSBAND, FATHER, EMPLOYEE...THEN JUSTICE, MERCY, GRACE).
  • There is a reason that it is a river, or a spring, and not just a bucket.  A river never stops flowing....
  • This comes by the power of the Holy Spirit who we receive when we accept Jesus Christ (NOT ENOUGH EMPHASIS). 

 

Conclusion:  There are different responses....

DO YOU REACT to the WORDS of JESUS ANYMORE?

 46- (Officers) "No one ever spoke like this man."

No one has every spoken like this man.  In fact, not a single person who has ever walked the face of the earth has spoken with the authority and impact that Jesus has.  Zoroaster, Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed, Gandhi, never spoke like this. Will you remain ignorant?

 

DO YOU EVEN KNOW the WORDS of JESUS

47 - (Pharisees) "Have you also been deceived...But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed." People hear it who don't believe it and battle against it. They believe those who would believe such foolish stories are ignorant and are blind to their own.  These people are too clever for Jesus, too smart, they know too much. 

 

WILL YOU TAKE HIS INVITATION LIKE NICODEMUS 

50 - (Nicodemus) "who had gone to him before..."

There are those who have experienced new birth.  And when they see Jesus...they see the rock o their salvation, literally.

 

 

"If anyone thirsts, let him acome to me and drink.

 


a See ch. 6:35

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