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Let’s continue on right here in John the seventh chapter and Jesus’
message in teaching during the Feast of Tabernacles and remember, this
is a compilation of what He taught from the middle of the feast which
then would be day four, five, six, and seven and beginning into the
eighth day. Now we finished verse 17; let’s come back here to John 7:18.
This is important to understand, “The one who speaks of himself is
seeking his own glory…” that’s especially true for all who are elders
and ministers and teachers. What we do is to serve the brethren, teach
the Word of God, give them the words of salvation, help them to learn
and understand how they are to live their lives before God, so they can
love God, so they can walk in faith, believe in hope, and live in love,
and qualify for salvation. And now that we have all the Word of God
available to us, it’s very important that we use all the Word of God;
that we use the teachings of Jesus Christ, and for the Feast of
Tabernacles, to see what Jesus taught. And just like Ezra did back in
the book of Ezra, what did he do – he read out of the law day-by-day. So
we’re going to read out of the Gospel of Jesus Christ until we finish
this section here on John 7, 8, and 9 because this has all to do with
the Feast of Tabernacles and is very important for us to know and to
understand. Now continuing in verse 18: “…but He Who seeks the glory of
Him Who sent Him is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”
Here is a key statement, verse 19, very profound: “Did not Moses give
you the law, and not one of you is practicing the law?” See what you
need to understand is this: Judiasm is not the Law of Moses. The Law
of Moses is the Word of God. Judaism is all the works and writings
of men and the traditions of men which they have used to replace the
Word of God, and as Jesus said, that rejects the Word of God, makes void
the Word of God, and sets up the traditions of men as more important
than the Word of God. So what are they seeking in that case? They’re
seeking their own glory, they’re seeking their own honor; they’re not
seeking the honor that comes from God. So he says, “Why do you seek to
kill Me? And the people answered and said, You have a demon. Who is
seeking to kill you?” (John 7:17-20.) You’re out of Your mind, so forth.
Well let’s understand, yes, they were seeking to kill Him, many places
it’s recorded. Let’s come to Mark the third chapter and let’s read that.
For after doing a wonderful healing, instead of thanking God, praising
God, glorifying God, coming over to Jesus and saying, “Oh, Jesus what a
marvelous miracle that You did. Teach us the Word of God. Show us His
way. It’s obvious that You are a man sent from God.”
Now let’s notice what they did because none of them kept the Law of
Moses, you see, and one of the greatest myths that is put out by Judaism
today, regardless of the branch of Judaism, is this: “We are the people
God. We are the chosen of God. We have always done what is right before
God, and we just cannot understand why all of you hate us so much, and
why you persecute us.” Well you see they aren’t understanding the true
facts. What they are going through is because they have rejected Jesus
Christ, and, no, they do not keep the Word God. They do not keep the Law
of Moses as Jesus said.
Now let’s look here, and see what they did to Jesus after He did this
miracle. And now you see even the words that I spoke, if it were heard
by someone from Judaism who is not really convicted of the truth, and
convicted of Jesus Christ, they might think to do to me, and any other
one who says the same thing, that they were thinking to do to Jesus. See
because when their minds are blinded, and their hearts are hardened, and
they do not keep the Law of Moses, and they do not recognize Jesus;
there is no way they can understand the truth, and all of the things of
the New Testament become competition.
Now let’s read what happened here – that’s why Jesus came to the
Jews, was a witness to the Jews, was a minister to the circumcision,
Mark 3:1: “And He went into the synagogue, and a man who had a withered
hand was there. And they were watching Him to see if He
would heal him on the Sabbath, in order that they might accuse Him.” Now
look at that attitude. “Then He said to the man who had withered hand,
Stand up here in the center. And he said to them,” and He was
looking around on them “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbaths, or to
do evil? To save live or to kill? But they were silent.” Verse 5: “And
after looking around at them with anger, and being grieved at the
hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, Stretch out your hand. And
he stretched it
out, and his hand was restored as sound as the other. And all the
people rejoiced, and all the people were happy, and they came up and
said to the man, “Well what does your hand feel like? How is it to have
both hands whole again?” No. Verse 6: “Then the Pharisees left and
immediately took counsel with the Herodians against Him as to
how they might destroy Him” (Mark 3:1-6). Now they were seeking to kill
Him all the way through.
Now let’s come to Luke the fourth chapter and let’s look at what
happened when He stood up in His own local synagogue, the one that He
would go to on Sabbath days when He was growing up, and let’s see what
they did to Jesus after He read to them out of the book of Isaiah. Now
verse 16, “And He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up; and
according to His custom, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day
and stood up to read. And there was given Him the
book of the prophet Isaiah; and when He had unrolled the scroll, He
found the place where it is written, The Spirit of the
Lord is
upon Me; for this reason, He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to
the
poor; He has sent Me to heal those who are brokenhearted, to proclaim
pardon to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,
to send forth in deliverance those who have been crushed, To proclaim
the
acceptable year of the Lord. So after He rolled up the scroll
everyone was looking at Him. So He looked at them and He said Today,
this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears.” And they were amazed
they didn’t know what to think of this. And they said, “Well” verse 22,
“Is this not the son of Joseph?” Just a man, who does he he think he is
getting off with this? “And He said to them Surely, you will say this
parable to Me: physician heal Yourself! Whatever we have heard done in
Capernaum, do also here in your own country. But He said, Truly I say to
you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country. And then He
told them how God dealt with Elijah. He didn’t send him to any of the
children of Israel during the drought of three and a half years, verse
26, but he was sent to a widow in the city of Sidonia and then He
also said in the time of Elisha there were many lepers, but none of them
were cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” Now notice verse 28, all of
those that saw Jesus grow up in the synagogue He attended, “Now all in
the synagogue who heard these things were filled with indignation. And
they arose up and cast Him out of the city, and led Him to
the edge of the mountain on which the city was built, in order to throw
Him down headlong; But He passed safely through their midst
and departed” (Luke 4:16-30). Yes, they were seeking to him over and
over again. You can read that all the way through. But you see what
happens when someone speaks the truth and they really don’t want to hear
it, they say, “Oh you’re crazy, you’re insane, you’re demon possessed”
and that’s what they said of Jesus.
Now let’s come back here to John 7 and let’s pick it up here in verse
21, because as we go through here there are a lot of things we’re going
to learn and a lot of things we’re going to see and understand. Now
verse 22: “Now then,” Jesus continues, “Moses gave you circumcision—not
that it was from Moses, but from the fathers (Abraham Isaac and Jacob)—
and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man.” Now when you also
understand the probable true date of the birth of Jesus, which we proved
in the
Harmony and in the New Testament – When was Jesus
Born, was probably the Feast of Trumpets which was on a weekly
Sabbath. So the holy day in the year that Jesus was born was on a weekly
Sabbath which meant that Jesus when He was circumcised was circumcised
on a Sabbath! So it’s relevant to a practice which in order to fulfill
the Law of Moses, they went ahead and circumcised on the Sabbath, and
Jesus being born on the Sabbath then He had to be circumcised on the
next Sabbath. Now then, verse 23, “If a man receives circumcision on
the Sabbath, so that the Law of Moses may not be broken, why are you
angry with Me because I made a man entirely whole on the
Sabbath?” Now that’s going back to John the fifth chapter where He
healed the man who had the infirmity for 38 years.
Key verse, verse 24: “Judge not according to appearance, but judge
righteous judgment.” I’m going to give two sermons on that after I
finish here. We’re going to have two sermons on Judge
Righteous Judgment. And today, that’s a serious problem that
we have even within the church. So it’s going to be very important that
we learn righteous judgment and it’s going to be important from the
point of view: how are we going to learn to help judge the world under
Jesus Christ, if we don’t know how to make righteous judgments now, if
we’re not capable of making the smallest judgment in a correct manner
now. We’re not going to be able to do it.
Now verse 25: “Then some of those in Jerusalem said, Is this not one
Whom they seek kill? So then they admitted exactly what Jesus said they
were trying to do – to kill Him. But they said, “But look, He is
speaking publicly, and they’re saying nothing to Him. Could it be that
the authorities have recognized that this man truly is the Christ? Now
we know this man, we know where He comes from.” He came from Galilean.
“But the Christ, whenever he may appear, no one knows where He comes
from.” Now that’s not true. They knew that He would be born in
Bethlehem. You can read that in Matthew the third chapter when the wise
men came and came to Herod he wanted know why they were there. They said
they came to worship the King of the Jews. So he called all of the
religious authorities and said, “The Christ where is He to be born? And
they looked at the Scriptures and they knew it, they said, “In Bethlehem
of Judea” and that’s exactly where He was born. But God worked it out in
such a way that they weren’t living in Bethlehem, but when it came time
for the taxes, Joseph took Mary who was about ready to deliver, and they
went up to Bethlehem and while they were there, Jesus was born. They
stayed there a short while, went down to Egypt, and then came back to
Nazareth. Now people didn’t know that. So they said, “We know where He
is from.”
Now verse 28: “Then Jesus spoke out teaching in the temple and
saying, You know Me, and you also know where I come from.” Because He
told them, “I’m from above, I am from above” we’ll see this a little
later. Now if you don’t have the sermon Who Was
Jesus, write in for it – because He made it very clear Who He was.
And we are going to see a little later, He also very well made it clear
that He was God manifested in the flesh. So they knew. He says, “…yet I
have not come of Myself;” I didn’t just stand up one day and say, Oh I’m
God’s Messiah! What do you know! No! He didn’t do that. “…But He Who
sent Me is true, whom you do not know.” They didn’t know the Father. See
Christ came to reveal the Father. He says, “But I know Him because I am
from Him, and He sent Me” (John 7:21-29).
Now come back here to Matthew the eleventh chapter and let’s see
something about one of the most important aspects of Jesus’ ministry,
what He was to do. And this shows us that the Lord God of the Old
Testament had to be Jesus Christ and was not God the Father. Let’s see
what He is doing here in great detail that He said in Matthew 11 is one
of the very reasons why He came. Now Matthew 11 and let’s pick it up
here in verse 25: Matthew 11:25: “At that time Jesus answered and said,
I praise you O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden
these things from the wise and the intelligent, and have revealed them
to babes. Yes, Father, for it is pleasing in Your sight to do
this. All things are delivered to Me by My Father; and no one knows the
Son except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father except the
Son, and the one to whom the Son personally chooses to reveal Him”
(Matthew 11:25-27). Now that’s quite a statement isn't it?
Now you think on that for a minute. Do you know of the Father? Do you
believe in the Father? Do you worship the Father? Do you know you have
the Holy Spirit of the Father? Jesus revealed Him to you personally, and
He chose to reveal it to you. Now what I want you to do is think of the
weight and the responsibility of that great and fantastic calling that
Jesus has given. See, that’s something we really need to understand! So
when he says back here, he says, “You know where I came from” He says,
“I know Him and because He sent Me.”
Now let’s come back to John 7:30: “Because of this saying,
they were looking for a way to take Him…” See because the
most incredible thing to the Jews who boxed themselves into a position
contrary to the true understanding of the Scriptures of the Old
Testament; (so if you don’t have the booklets [you can request them]:
The Two Jehovahs of the
Psalms, Two Jehovahs of the Pentateuch, and
Defining the Oneness of God) because they clearly revealed that
there were two; one Who was the Father, and one Who became the Son.
That’s very important for us to understand and for us to really realize
and grasp, but because the Jews wanted to close everything off, they
further tighten down the doctrine that there is only one God and part of
the forces of Judiasm coming into the church is to try and eliminate
that knowledge, and unfortunately too many people are falling for it.
Now notice, (verse 30):“… they were looking for a way to
take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him because His time had not yet
come” see, because the time of Passover was the time when that would
take place. So God made it so that they could not do anything. So they
were stymied in what they were going to do because God is not going to
do anything before the time. That’s why we have the set feasts; that’s
why we have them in the way that we have them, and when we have them –
in the due time. It also says that Christ was killed at the time – let’s
come back here to Romans the fifth chapter, and let’s see it. We know
that He was destined to be born, Galatians the fourth chapter, at the
set time.
Now we come back here to Romans 5 and it tells us about Christ and we
know that the set time looking back at it now after it’s already taken
place, was the Passover. Now let’s come here to Romans 5, and let’s pick
it up here in verse 6, Romans 5:6: “For even when we were without
strength, at the appointed time…” see it says back here, “…His time had
not yet come” so God is able to do whatever is necessary to make it come
out exactly as He wants. Now then, you think about this and how men come
along with their traditions, and how men come along with their twisted
interpretations to say, “Well the Passover was not on a Wednesday, it
was on a Tuesday, it was on a Thursday, it was on a Friday” – any day
but the day that is clearly shown when Christ died. “Oh, we’ll keep this
calendar which shows it’s on a different day. Oh, we’ll reject
everything that has to do with the Jews, and we will choose Good Friday,
so we can have an Easter Sunday morning resurrection.” No, it’s at the
set time, at the appointed time Christ died for the ungodly, which also
tells us this: God does everything on time and God uses His holy days
to fulfill His will and to reveal His plan and purpose.
That’s why we have the new book Occult Holidays or God's Holy Days
– Which? And when you read that, you’ll understand all the things
that men have done to change the Word of God, to make it conform to
paganism, to make it conform to their own traditions, and in doing so
they reject the Father, and they reject Christ – they set their own
ways, they set their own traditions, they seek their own glory, they
seek their own doctrines, they seek the things that they wanted to do.
See now, if we’re going to be true Christians, which we are, and have
the Spirit of God, which we do, then we are going to constantly – as it
shows here in John 7 – constantly be orienting our lives to the way of
God, constantly living by every word of God, having our minds filled
with the Word of God, filled with the Spirit of God, and constantly
coming to Christ to learn, to change, to grow, to overcome, and
understand the great calling that we’ve been given.
Now let’s come back here to John the seventh chapter, and let’s see
they all had opinions, they had all things that they were doing and so
forth, so let’s pick it up here in John 7:31: “Then many of the people
believed in Him…” now we’re also going to see as we progress along, to
believe in Him is more than to say, “Oh, yes, this is the Messiah!” It’s
a whole lot more than that. “…Believed in Him, saying, When the Christ
comes, will He do more miracles than those that this man has
done?” So they’re all talking among themselves. And “The Pharisees heard
the crowds debating these things…” so you know, this is Fox News on the
real set there, everyone having an opinion, “What you think, what you
know, what is your opinion?” You know, have right and left and try to
figure out what it is. That’s why you’ve got go by the truth of God. “…
And Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to arrest Him.” They
said, “Now you go out and arrest Him and bring Him in here”
[paraphrased]. And “Jesus said to them, I am with you yet a little
while, and then I go out to Him Who sent Me. You shall seek Me,
but you shall not find Me:
for where I am going, you are not able to come” and it means:
it’s impossible for you to come. And this was a difficult thing for the
Jews to understand.
Now let’s come back here to John the third chapter and let’s see a
parenthetical statement that John wrote which ties in with one of the
other Scriptures that we have read that, “You have neither heard His
voice nor seen His shape at any time.” Now come down here to verse 13,
and when we understand the Gospel of John was edited just before John
died, here’s one of the editings that he had – verse 13: “(And no one
has ascended into heaven, except He Who came down from heaven, even
the Son of man, Who is in heaven.)
Now let’s think about this for a minute. All the other apostles died
or were martyred, right? None of them were in heaven. None of the Saints
who came into the church beginning in 30 AD, and received the Holy
Spirit of God when they died, none of them went to heaven; because you
see the truth is when you die, you go to the grave; you don’t go to
heaven, you await the resurrection – that’s the truth of it.
Now also let’s think about this, and knock into a cocked hat one of
the main doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church – that Mary when she
died was assumed bodily into heaven. John wrote, because he knew Mary
and he know when she died, he said, “…No one has ascended into heaven,
except He Who came down from heaven even the Son of man Who is in
heaven” very profound statement see; so when we compare everything by
the Word of God, this helps us understand the truth of God, and that the
souls do not go to heaven. As a matter of fact, as we have learned,
“souls going to heaven” is one of the doctrines of Gnosticism. There are
varying degrees of Gnosticism in all Sunday-keeping churches. Now in the
Sabbath-keeping churches there may be some small degree of it, but we
need to get rid of those teachings because, as it says there, those are
the teachings of Balaam. And those are the teachings of the way of Cain.
Now let’s come back here to John 7. See, no one is able to go to
heaven. Why? Because Christ is the Firstfruit and no one is going to be
resurrected, as we know because of keeping Pentecost, until Christ
comes. Now John 7:35: “Therefore, the Jews said among themselves, Where
is He about to go, that we shall not find Him? Is He about to go to the
Diaspora among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?” Verse 36: “What is
this saying that He said, You shall seek Me, but shall not find Me…” Now
let’s understand something – when He died and was put in the grave and
was resurrected, you know they looked everywhere for His body; you know
that they were seeking to find out who stole the body because the
Pharisees paid the guards a great amount of money to say the disciples
came by night and stole His body, and the Jews believe that even to this
day. And you know they would love to have the body to know where it was
so they could display it to the world to show that He was a counterfeit,
but they couldn’t find Him – no body. The disciples saw Him, the
apostles saw Him, and up to five hundred of the brethren saw Him after
He was resurrected as a testimony to the resurrection. So they said,
“What is this: you’re not going to find Me and where I am going, you’re
not able to come”? So He literally turned the feast upside down – you
talk about everybody over in this corner (whispering about this), “What
do you think?” Well, you see the truth of the matter is, it doesn’t
matter what anyone thinks, the truth of the matter is, what did Jesus
say, and the truth of the matter is, the truth of the Word of God. See
because all of our opinions and speculations just like here are futile.
Verse 37: “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast,”
it’s the beginning of the Last Great Day “…Jesus stood and called out,
saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.” And that
reinforces what He said, “If you seek, you shall find; if you knock, it
shall be opened; if you ask, it shall be given” but you have to come to
Christ. So that’s the opposite, they wouldn’t come to Him. They didn’t
know where He was going, so Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come
to Me and drink” (John 7:35-37). Now hold your place here and come back
to John 6.
Let’s see what He talks about concerning the bread of life. John 6,
and let’s pick it up here from John 6 and verse 32, showing how this is
done. “Then Jesus said to them, Truly, truly I say to you, Moses did not
give you bread from heaven; but My Father gives you the true bread from
heaven. For the bread of God is He Who comes down from heaven and gives
His life to the world.” Now the Jews didn’t understand that. Verse 34:
“Therefore, they said to Him, Lord, give this bread to us always. And
Jesus said I am the bread of life;” now notice, “…the one who comes to
Me shall never hunger; and the one who believes in Me shall never thirst
at any time” (John 6:32-35). So when He said back here in John 7, that
“the one who believes Me, he shall never thirst.”
Now come back here to Matthew the fifth chapter and let’s see little
more out of the Beatitudes concerning the same thing – concerning
hungering and thirsting, concerning wanting and loving and desiring the
Word of God. Let’s come back here to Matthew 5 and let’s pick it up here
in verse 6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after
righteousness, for they shall be filled.” So you see how all the Word of
God continuously fits together as a wonderful and fantastic building and
dwelling to teach us the Word of God – line upon line, precept upon
precept, here a little, there a little, so that we can understand it?
(Matthew 5:6).
Now let’s come back here to verse 38 and let’s see about this and the
Word of God and so forth, and the Spirit of God. John 7:38: “The one who
believes in Me, as the scripture has said,” very important qualifier
isn’t it – Not believing as you think, not believing as you have been
told by a religious teacher, but believing as the Scripture has said –
which then is, what, belief, repentance, baptism, etc. “…Out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38).
Now He said this because just as the seventh day was ending and the
eighth day of the feast was beginning, they had a special ceremony
called the Ceremony of Waters. And what they did,
they got water from the temple spring, the spring of Gihon, and they
would take this water which flowed pure – some of the purest water in
all the area there – because it was needed for the Temple to do all the
things of the Temple, and then they would take these big pictures of
water, and the priests would ceremonially go around the altar of burnt
offerings, and they would pour out the water, and that was in
anticipation of a blessed harvest for the next year.
Now Jesus gives it new meaning, and He shows that this has to do with
the Spirit of God and He says in verse 39: “But this He spoke concerning
the Spirit,” see concerning the Spirit of God “…which those who believed
in Him would soon receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet
given because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:39).
Now we know in Act 2 because of Pentecost, God poured out His Spirit
in a tremendous way. Now let’s look at some of the prophecies of pouring
out of the Spirit and how that it would eventually be on all flesh –
that means Jews, Israelites, and Gentiles. Now let’s first of all come
to Ezekiel 39, where He talks about for the house of Israel, for the
children of Israel, and how He’s going to pour out of His Spirit upon
them. Ezekiel 39 and let’s pick it up here in verse 27, Ezekiel 39:27:
“When I brought them again from the people, gathered them out of their
enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
Then they shall know that I am the LORD their God, which caused
them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered
them into their own land, and have left none of them anymore there.
Neither will I hide my face from them any more: for I have poured out my
spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord GOD. Now that’s at the
beginning of the millennium when they repent. Now there’s the house of
Israel.
Now let’s see the house of Judah and also let’s understand something
– let’s put this in the context also of those who were there at the
temple during the time when the Holy Spirit was given, when the apostles
were preaching on the day of Pentecost because this also is a partial
fulfillment of that, and the pouring out of the Spirit upon the children
of Israel who were there. Zechariah 12 and let’s pick it up here in
verse 9, Zechariah 12:9: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that
I will seek to destroy all the nations that come up against Jerusalem.
And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications:” this is when God
is going to intervene and bring them to repentance through His grace;
because He says here in verse 7: “The LORD shall also save the tents of
Judah first, and the glory of the house of David and the glory of the
inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against
Judah.” Now what’s going to happened, here’s something that’s important
understand, (verse 10:) “…and they shall look upon me whom they have
pierced,” (Zechariah 12:9, 7-10). Now let’s apply that to all those Jews
assembled there on the day of Pentecost in 30 AD, when the Holy Spirit
was poured out. Weren’t a lot of them there in the crowd saying,
“Crucify Him”, as we have covered, and did they not look upon Jesus whom
they had pierced? Yes, so it was fulfilled then. Now the future
fulfillment when Christ begins to redeem Israel and Judah as He’s
returning then to say, “They will look upon Me Whom they have pierced”
when they see the Son of man coming, they’re going to be looking upon
Him, right? Yes, indeed. “… And they shall mourn for Him…” so forth and
so on. So He is going to pour out the Spirit upon them.
Now let’s come to Joel 2 and see how the Holy Spirit is going to be
poured upon all flesh, all flesh, very important. Let’s pick it up here
in verse 27, Joel 2:27: “And you shall know that I am in the
midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none
else: and my people shall never be ashamed. And it shall come to pass
afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh…” that’s
why you have the Gentile conversion there in Acts the tenth chapter
beginning with that, and then the whole ministry of Paul going to all
the Gentile nations, and then you have God’s Spirit being poured out
upon the 144,000 and the great innumerable multitude, upon all flesh.
And then this carries on over into all the millennium where the Spirit
of God will be made available to all people and like Jesus prophesied
“…out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” showing that
conversion is going to come to the whole world. (Joel 2:27-28.)
Now let’s go back here to John 7, and let’s finish John 7 with the
few verses that are left. John 7, let’s pick it up here in verse 40:
“Now after hearing these words, many of the people said, Truly, this is
the Prophet. Others said, This is the Christ. But others said, Does the
Christ then come out of Galilee? Does not the Scripture say that Christ
comes from the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the town where David
was?” (John 7:40-42.) Yes, I explained, yes, He was born there.
Verse 43: “Therefore, a division arose among the people because of
Him. Now some of them desired to take Him, but no one laid hands on
Him.” So those who were sent to arrest Him were confronted with all
these different opinions of the people, and some said, “Well let’s
arrest Him” and others said, “No, we’ve never heard anyone speak like
this” so as a result, they gave up on it. And “…when the officers
came to the chief priests and Pharisees, they said to them, Why didn’t
you bring Him?” That’s why we sent you. Why didn’t you arrest Him? “The
officers answered, Never has a man spoken like this man.” Now notice
what happens, you discredit the messenger “Then the Pharisees answered
them, Are you also being deceived? Has even one of the rulers or of the
Pharisees believed in Him?” (John 7:43-48.) Well, yes, Nicodemus did,
and yes, Joseph of Arimathea did, right? Yes.
Now notice their attitude, notice the attitude of what happens when
you have a hierarchical priesthood that looks down upon the people, and
considers themselves to be above the people, and higher than the people,
and greater than the people. So they said, verse 49: “But these people
who know not the law are accursed.” That’s the way too many of the
religious leaders look upon the people. The people are only there to
pray and pay and to give money and obey – so that we can have power, we
can have religious power, political power, and so forth. No. So then
this exposed Nicodemus so Nicodemus had some qualms of conscious in
this, verse 50: “Then
Nicodemus (being one of them, the one who came to Him by night)” or that
is Jesus, by night “said to them…” No notice what happens, verse 51:
“Does our law judge any man without first hearing from him in person,
and knowing what he does?” They answered and said to him, Are you also
from Galilee? Search and see, for no prophet has ever, come out
of Galilee.” So the meeting ended, “and everyone went to his house”
(John 7:49-53).
So there are a lot of lessons here in John 7 about the Feast of
Tabernacles which teaches many things, and it is just like as Nehemiah
did reading out of the law – now we read out of the law yesterday, and
today we read out of the law of the New Testament the teachings of Jesus
during the Feast of Tabernacles. Now tomorrow we’re going to get into
John 8 and John 9 and see what else Jesus taught.
Feast of Tabernacles, 2006 – Day Two
Scriptural References
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Ezra 7:10
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Nehemiah 8:1-2, 13-18
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John 7:1-2
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John 2:13
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John 7:3-16
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John 5:31
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John 5:19, 31-47
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Luke 24:44-45
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John 7:16-17
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John 12:37-43
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Luke 14:25-27
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John 12:44-50
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John 7:17-20
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Mark 3:1-6
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Luke 4:16-30
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John 7:21-29
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Matthew 11:25-27
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John 7:30
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Romans 5:6
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John 7:31
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John 3:13
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John 7:35-37
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John 6:32-35
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Matthew 5:6
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John 7:38-39
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Ezekiel 39:27-29
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Zechariah 12:9, 7, 10
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Joel 2:27-28
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John 7:40-42
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John 7:43-48
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John 7:49-53
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