Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I want to say last week we had a business meeting. We formally voted to start fundraising on a new building. And so if you feel so led to give towards that or know other people that would like to, I encourage you to do that. And so for the next three years, we'll be working in that direction to gather and funds and really trust God in the life and the direction of the church as we look to build a new building in place of the two modular buildings. That's just an exciting step for us as a church as we formally jump into that for the next three years or so or less, as God provides. So if you have your bibles, like I said, John, chapter seven, verse 37, is where we will start. And we are in part two of this two part message called divided over the divine. And on the back of your outline, you have an option to kind of fill in some stuff there. As we walk through our text last week, we walked through the first portion of this, starting verses 25 through 36. And that was not part two. Since it was last week, it must have been part one.
[00:01:09] Super. And so hopefully you're able to listen to that, or you were here for that. One of the things that we talked about last week, just to kind of give you some context for that, if you weren't here, is talking through the struggle that was happening in people's hearts between trusting in Christ, believing what Christ had to say, and believing the things that they understood. And last week I brought a rope with me, and I have it here again today. And so last week we talked through how the rope is like a person's heart. And in each person, before we come into the realization of Jesus and the truth, we're kind of sitting over here in our own part of life, our own world. We're happy, we're content. And then God works in our hearts. And maybe, perhaps through somebody else sharing the gospel with us, God opening our eyes to the reality of his existence, there begins to be a tug. We realize there's a tug between what I want to do and what God wants, between what injustice is and what justice is, between lies and what truth is. And every person in the life that you and I live, we have this tugging that goes on even as we follow Jesus. You and I experience this tug of the flesh and the tug of the spirit in our life. And so as Jesus was talking through his identity with the people at this feast, we'll get into that in just a moment. We saw last week that there was a tugging going on between, in the hearts of everybody listening. They were divided over the identity, the divine identity of Jesus. I'll pick that up a little later. So today we'll look at part two, and that'll involve, that will involve a little bit more as. As well. So part two here. Some of you, let's just listen in here. Some questions in life are the kinds of questions that we like. So, for example, should we go swimming in a pool? Should we go to the ocean? Should we go to the mountains of the ocean? Do you like that kind of option? Someone say, hey, you want to go to the mountains or the ocean? That's not easy. Some of us, we know immediately how many of you would like to go to the ocean? How many of you would like to go to the mountains? How many of you are unsure?
[00:03:12] Most people are pretty sure they know which one they like.
[00:03:17] Would you like plain cheesecake or would you like chocolate? Cheesecake? How many of you would like plain cheesecake? Chocolate.
[00:03:24] So even in the midst of this, right, there's one of you on one side, there's one on the other. How many of you would like a ribeye versus a filet mignon? Ribeye.
[00:03:37] All right, so real clear decision. Now, some questions in life are a little bit more challenging. Some of we can jump to one side. We know really, really quickly. Others, a little bit more challenging. For example, what school should I go to? What major should I have? Where should I get a job? Or perhaps, is this the right person for me to marry? Should I invest in this business or in that ministry?
[00:04:03] Should I have that difficult meeting with someone, or should I not and avoid it? Questions face us every single day. Now, the question that we see today, and the crowd is seized today in the passage that we're going to read in just a moment, is this. Here's the question. What will I do with the person of Jesus Christ? Now, that's a question that truly every person here listening in this passage has to deal with. They have to raise their hand, one side or the other. They have to make a decision.
[00:04:34] Will I submit to Jesus, or will I do life my own way? And I would submit to you this morning that this is life's most important question. How you answer that question, how everybody answers that question, will impact all other questions. It will shape their identity. It will shape the purpose, the direction that you aimore, your life. Now, some of you have already figured out, am I going to raise my hand as far as living my own way, or am I going to raise my hand with, I want to follow Jesus? Hopefully, you've made that decision. And if not, I encourage you, invite you to make that decision today. One commentator says this. About the passage that I'll read right now. He says this. It has been said that there are some passages in scripture. Which deserve to be printed in letters of gold. Of such passages, the verses before us form one of those. They contain one of those wide, full and free invitations to mankind. Which make the gospel of Christ so eminently. The good news of God. Let's read together. And then we'll pray. And we'll understand a little bit further. Of the context. And the entire portion that we're looking at. Let's start in verse 37. This is part two. This is Jesus. He's speaking at a feast. We'll get into that in a moment. Let's read together. 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.
[00:05:57] Whoever believes in me, as the scriptures have said. Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now this he said about the spirit. Whom those who believed in him were to receive. For as yet the spirit had not yet been given. Because Jesus had not yet been glorified. When they, those listening, that is, heard these words of Jesus. Some of the people said, this really is the prophet. Others said, this is the Christ. But some said, is the Christ to come from Galilee? Can you see the tension that's going on. In the minds and the hearts of the people? Has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David. And comes from Bethlehem. The village where David was. So there was division among the people over him. It's a key verse there. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. The officers, which we actually heard last week. Were sent by the chief priests and the Pharisees. To arrest Jesus. The officers then came to the chief priests and the Pharisees. Who said to him. That is the chief priests and the Pharisees speaking. They had been sent to arrest Jesus. Now they're asking, because Jesus is not with them. Why did you not bring him? The officers answered, no one ever spoke like this man. The Pharisees answered them. Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed. Nicodemus, verse 50.
[00:07:22] We know about him from chapter three as well. Nicodemus, who had gone to him before. And who was one of them, said to them. Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does, they replied, are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee. Let's pray together. Dear Jesus, we come before you as the author and perfecter of our faith, the one who deserves our attention this morning, the one we lean on this morning.
[00:07:56] And I pray that for us today that we would not question in our minds and our hearts anymore if you are better than whatever the world has to offer us, that we would submit to you our whole attention this morning, our heart this morning. And not just this morning, but even as we leave this room in some time, Lord. And there's the tension of the distractions of the world and of our flesh versus the spirit, Lord, that we would continue to choose you in Jesus name. Everyone said, all right, so the outline you have in front of you says there's three big points that we'll see in your outline. There's actually two main concepts that we're looking at today, but you'll see three big points in your outline. The first is this, that you can write in the claims of Christ, the claims of Christ, verses 37 through 39. The two big ideas that we see in this passage that's really important for all of us here today to truly understand, to get an idea of is one, Jesus is going to make an invitation. Can you say invitation? Jesus is going to make an invitation. And then the second big concept that we're dealing with today is this. The response of the people. Say response. Okay, so those are the two big things that we're gonna see today. Jesus, clear invitation. We'll spend a little bit more time there because it's the words of Jesus. They're truly important for every one of us today. And then we'll spend a little less time on the response of the people in points two and three. So a little bit of context that we have to understand in order to understand, really the significance of what's happening here. Look at verse 37. It says, on the last day of the feast. Now, if we look earlier, we'll see that this is called the feast of booths. There are three major feasts that happen in the life of the jew at this time, Pentecost, Passover, and booths, or tabernacles. And what happens here at this major festival is when all of the people, all sorts of the men from all over Israel, they come to Jerusalem. So there's thousands of people around this city, and they are told in the midst of this festival that they're supposed to make basically, like, little tents, little booze, and they make these out of branches and sticks, and they're to live in them for a week. Now, it's not just like a normal camping trip that you might go on. Some of you really enjoy camping, and so you would enjoy something like this. Some of you may not. This. In this situation, they make these. These little booze out of sticks, and it's to remind them of the time in the wilderness that they had traveling from place to place, moving about as God called them to. And so what God told them to do, and we can read this back in Leviticus, he said, every year, what you're supposed to do is celebrate the years of wandering through the wilderness and me providing for you over and over and over again. And so they were supposed to celebrate in this time, whether or not they like camping, they're supposed to celebrate. And this was a joyous time for everyone as they remembered God's faithfulness. Now, the key that we want to understand here, that we don't actually see, particularly in scripture, in great clarity, but history tells us this, and I want to just explain what happens here that we, again, don't see in this text, but history kind of gives us a greater insight into what's happening here. So on the last day of the feast, history says the culmination of the whole festival really is in full swing. It's the pinnacle of everything. The week is finally coming to an end. And each day of the feast, some say. Others say it's just this last day of the feast. A priest would take a jar, and he would go out from the temple, and he would go to the pool of siloam. And what he would do is he would draw water from the pool, and then he would bring it back to the altar, and he would pour the water out on the altar. And so what the people would do is. And I brought a jar. Not a jar that they would have had. This is just a picture. You know what this would be, right? So a priest would grab this, and he would go down to the pool, and he would scoop out some water. And this is a distance. This is not like I just kind of reached out the door and scooped out some water. They would have traveled. And what history says is the people there would have gathered and followed the priest down to the pool, and they would have then been with him as he scooped the water out and walked all the way back to the altar. And as they were doing that, they would have sung something called the halal, which is psalm 1113, which Pastor les read earlier. Through psalm 118. And so as they're going, you just kind of imagine this procession of people. They all, by the way, would have been holding sticks from their little booze that they had. So it's the last day they could have taken some sticks from their booth, and they're like, all right, everyone, let's go to the temple. All right, the priest, there he is with his jar. Let's all follow him. And they would have been singing the psalms. Can you picture this? Singing the psalms as they go down to the pool. And then they would have scooped, the priest would have scooped out some water, and then they would have followed him back to the altar, singing as they went. And then as they came back. History tells us that what they would do then is they would circle. The priest would then circle the altar seven times. You know what that reminds you of? Jericho. Right? Seven times. And then pour this out. And so what they were doing was truly like living out God's faithfulness. They lived out a week of living in booze through the wilderness. And then they come to the culmination of that. That's crossing the jordan. They go to Jericho, and then they circle the altar just like they circle Jericho, and then show God's faithfulness as they pour out the water on the altar. And so in the midst of all of that happening, most likely the priest has come back. The people are all there. Jesus then steps onto the scene. All right, so you kind of have this picture in your mind of what's going on. Jesus then, unlike regular Jesus fashion, where he might sit down and begin to teach, it says in verse 37, you notice the beginning words there. What does it say? On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus, he didn't sit down. He stood up. And what did he do? He cries out. He gets everybody's attention. Why? Because what he's about to say is so important for everyone to hear. He isn't hiding. He isn't sitting back. Only for a few slightly people to get the message that he has. This picture is significant. It's a beautiful picture of Jesus showing everybody, hey, this is very important. And then look what he says. Such an incredible passage. If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Now. They would have remembered, where did we get water in the wilderness? Remember there was a time that they needed water, and they went to Moses, and Moses took his staff, and what did he do? He hit a rock and the water came out. You might consider this as well. Jesus is the true rock, and out of him comes living water, particularly when Jesus was struck, we then can experience life struck on the cross. Now notice point a on your outline. He then calls and he says, whoever thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scriptures have said, out of his heart will flow living water. First thing, point a you could write is this. Verses 37, 38. Kind of give us an idea of this. He says he will satisfy all we find here that Jesus, though the leader and the founder of a group of people that some say are very exclusive, he truly calls to everybody and says, this isn't just for a select crowd of people. It isn't for the rich people or the good people, the people well dressed, the people with no baggage, the people with no shame, the people with no problems. No, he doesn't just say, those are the people that get to accept me, but he says, truly everybody, no matter your baggage, no matter your past, no matter your struggles, you, if you thirst, come to me.
[00:15:42] His invitation has always been open to everyone.
[00:15:47] Jesus invitation, he says, in other places, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden. John 316 earlier on in this book, for God so loved part of the world, the rich people in the world, the well off in the world. No, he loved all of the world. He loved everybody. He's calling them to himself now. In order to be satisfied with Jesus, there has to be some prerequisite, and it's this thirst realization that I don't have enough in myself to satisfy myself. I can't do life by myself. As long as people believe that I'm fine, I'm good, all by myself, there will not be salvation.
[00:16:35] He says, all you who thirst, for everyone listening, who says, I'm righteous, I'm good, I don't need anything else. Are they going to find salvation in Jesus? No. All you who thirst. What does he say? If you thirst, here's what you're to do. Come to me. To have a desire for satisfaction is not enough for salvation. That's what Jesus tells us here. One must make a move of the heart from satisfaction without Jesus to finding satisfaction in Jesus, even if that means leaving everything else the world has to offer. Because we realize that without Jesus, my life is nothing. And Jesus often parallels pictures and things that we do with spiritual concepts. So he says, come to me, right? We already have this idea of the pitcher. They've scooped up water, we're pouring it here on the altar. And now he parallels this concept, this water and this pouring out. He says, you want to be satisfied. If you thirst, come to me. And what does he say? You are to drink, that is, to take him in to receive him. You don't satisfy your thirst by looking at the water, by talking about the water, right? None of us do. We don't. We don't say, oh, I'm so thirsty. Well, that looks like really, really good water.
[00:17:52] What do you do if you're thirsty? You drink it. You consume it. You take it in. And so Jesus says, don't just look at me. Don't just talk about me. Don't just be divided in your hearts about me. Take me and drink of me. Let me come inside of you. This is truly a posture of the heart for every one of us. It's not like Jesus is physically in this container here. But he's before us, and he's inviting us. He's like, I'm ready. Are you ready? Are you ready to let me satisfy the thirst that you have? What does it mean to believe in Christ? It means to thirst to come and to drink. It means to realize your thirst, to hope in Jesus as the only one who can satisfy your thirst.
[00:18:37] So what Jesus says here is actually more than a claim. As you see on the top there. It's an invitation.
[00:18:43] It's truly an invitation to every person. And he says he has a similar invitation in chapter four. With a woman at the well in chapter six as well. When he calls people to eat and drink and be satisfied, be on your outline, he does more than just say, I want to save you. He says, there's more that I can give you. We see this in verses 38 and 39. He says, be on your outline. You can write this in. He will give more than needed for salvation. This is a wonderful thing, isn't it, that Jesus doesn't just say, I'm gonna save you, and then I'm gonna leave you. Good luck with your life until you die. And then you'll come to heaven, and then we'll be good. But rather he says, I'm gonna save you, and then I'm gonna give you more. Whoever believes in me is the scripture that says, out of his heart will the word heart. Or innermost being the actual word there is actually like belly. It's the part of me that provides substance for my inner.
[00:19:38] Like my stomach or what's in my heart or truly who I am. So out of who I am, the innermost parts of me will flow rivers of living water. Now, John's note, the author's note is this. He's speaking of the Holy Spirit. So imagine we have this bucket again. Right? And so, as someone who is filled with Jesus, here's what he's saying. If you truly have me, if your spirit is. If my spirit is in you, it's like this. I'm pouring myself in you. But here's what I want to happen. It's imagine there's a hole in this bucket somewhere. Now, if there's a hole, a decent sized hole in this bucket, and I start pouring water in, is the water going to overflow or is the water gonna start coming out of the hole?
[00:20:22] Probably gonna start coming out of the hole, right? It's the picture of I'm gonna fill you up. And if and when I do that out of you, people are going to experience me.
[00:20:34] Here's what he's saying.
[00:20:36] Because I can come and indwell you. When you trust and believe in me, people around you are going to see that. People are going to experience the spirit of God living inside of you. Out of you will flow rivers of living water. Who is living water?
[00:20:54] Jesus Christ. So as we take him in, it's not that we just consume. We keep him for ourselves. But when we truly have trusted in him, other people are going to experience him as well. Jesus has made a very significant claim. The one he has made, this one here is truly significant. He's calling people who are broken. He's calling people who are weak. He's calling people who are poor, truly those who desire wholeness in their life. And he's saying, are you done with that world?
[00:21:26] Because if you are, I'm the one who can satisfy you. I'm the one who can pour into your life in a way that you've never experienced and will never experience without me. Now there's reactions from people, aren't there? Various people respond in different ways to the message of the gospel. The invitation of the gospel. Don't point to on your outline reactions to Christ. Let's just look quickly here at these reactions. We've understood the invitation of Jesus. We see now there's literally thousands of people out there. There's the altar. There's Jesus who stood up. He's called everyone's attention, and he says, come to me if you're thirsty. Come, come. I'm the one who can satisfy. Even in our world, you know this, there are many reactions to someone of influence, someone of power, someone of position.
[00:22:16] You know this right now, in the world that we live in, politics is kind of a sensitive subject, isn't it? And we all kind of have an eye or an ear paying attention to what's happening in that world. If I were, I'm not going to. If I were to name drop somebody, everybody here would probably have an opinion. Many of you would have an opinion about whatever that is. Now, I'm not going to name drop anything. But the point is, is when someone of significance, someone of power, someone of position, comes before everybody, you're gonna have a lot of different opinions. Now, here's Jesus, someone of significance, someone of power, he declared an incredible invitation. People are gonna have different opinions. Look at some of the opinions of the people. Verse 40. When they heard these words, some of the people said, this is really the prophet. Here's point a. Some were cautious, some more cautious. The term prophet is not the same as Messiah, but it was a sign of God sending someone to speak to his people. Moses talked about how God would send a prophet. And so many of the Jews were thinking, one day, probably before the Messiah comes, there's gonna be some prophet that comes. And so some were thinking, man, it's been 400 years of silence from God. Maybe now the prophet is here. And so you see again here, there's this tension in people's hearts. They were doing their own life, their own way. They're waiting for Jesus to come. Jesus shows up and he says, I'm going to invite you towards me to be full. If you're thirsty, come this way. And then there's this part of them that goes, but wait a minute. Maybe he's just the prophet. Maybe he's not actually the messiah. Some were hopeful, though. Point B on your outline. Some were hopeful. Look what it says in verse 41. Others so different. Group of people seeing the same Jesus, hearing the same invitation. They said, this is the Christ.
[00:23:58] We talked about this crowd last week a little bit. These are the people that have looked at the real work of Jesus. They've seen him heal people over and over and over again. And they're saying, this guy, I don't think anyone can top what he's doing. Those people there, they were sitting in their world, but they started watching the evidence of Jesus, and they started getting pulled further and further in the direction of Jesus. They didn't let the other distractions pull them back, away from being hopeful that this truly might be the messiah they have been waiting for. Now, some people sat in that midst of tension. They were skeptical. That's point C. They were unsure if actually this could be the messiah. Now, why were they skeptical? Look what it says in verse 41 B and following. But some said, again, we have this other crowd said, is the Christ to come from Galilee knew that Jesus had come from Galilee. And so they think to themselves, wait a minute, he looks good. He sounds good. I'm being pulled in this direction. But then here it is.
[00:24:58] Their misunderstanding of Jesus identity or not understanding the complete concept, the complete person of Jesus drew them back the other direction. Jesus was from Galilee, but where was he born?
[00:25:11] It's not Christmas, but we should all still know this.
[00:25:14] He was born in Bethlehem. So look what it says. They're like, we think he could be the Christ. He might be, but wait a minute. Scripture says he should be born in Bethlehem, but this guy's from Galilee, so it doesn't fit. He doesn't fit our expectation. Now, here's what they could have done. They could have asked Jesus where he was born, right? They could have checked temple records and go, oh, wait a minute, Jesus, let's check in on him. Oh, look, he was born in Bethlehem. He fits. But they were.
[00:25:39] They were willingly choosing to say, he doesn't work for me. He doesn't fit my expectation of what I think jesus would be and who he would be.
[00:25:51] They were willfully ignorant of Jesus true origin. Have you heard the phrase, don't confuse me with the facts? It's kind of like that here.
[00:26:01] It's interesting, even today, how many people are skeptical of Jesus or the Bible or the christian faith because they have been misinformed and because they haven't done enough research to see that it actually could possibly be true. But somebody told them somewhere, at some point in time, well, it's not true because look at all these contradictions. And so they just say, oh, well, it doesn't work because there's all these contradictions. And when you hear that, you might answer with the question, like, what?
[00:26:28] But until they start doing the research, they might just sit back and say, it just doesn't work. Like some of these folks. It doesn't work because he's from Galilee. Maybe do a little bit more digging and find that it truly is Jesus. Find maybe that our expectations might not be right. Now, some people, they weren't cautious. They weren't trusting and hopeful. They weren't even skeptical in their hearts.
[00:26:51] There wasn't the pulling back and forth. They very intentionally, very clearly camped out on this side over here. There was no tension in their hearts. They were simply just angry. You could see that at point D on your outline. Some were just angry. Some of them wanted to arrest Jesus.
[00:27:08] Not just calmly, gently thinking, I think we should arrest him. They were upset with him. They were angry with him. Most notably, the jewish leaders wanted Jesus dead. The opposition to Jesus had continued to mount since he began his ministry. Some of them just didn't like that he was pulling people away from them. Others, well, he's saying he's the Christ or he's God, we need to kill him because he's declaring some sort of blasphemous statement. And so we need him gone. But no one could lay a hand on him because look what it says. His hour had not yet come. As you look, even in your outline, you review kind of their reactions, the responses to Christ. We find that they are not so different 2000 years later. There are some people today who are hopeful when they hear the gospel. Some people are skeptical, some people are cautious. And some people, how dare you judge me?
[00:28:03] Some people are angry. The reactions to Christ aren't particularly different today than they were then. And yet Jesus knew that it was still worth his time and worth his effort to go and share the gospel over and over and to invite people. Invite people? Invite people. He knew that there was people who said, I want you dead. He knew there was going to be people that said, I'm not so sure. He knew. People were misinformed about his identity. But that didn't stop him from inviting people who were thirsty. Did you notice his initial invitation? To everyone who thirsts, not everyone who wants to argue, but to everyone who thirsts.
[00:28:39] Our calling as God's people, God's ambassadors, is to invite people to make an announcement of the gospel. For example.
[00:28:50] Oh, actually, let me just pause there for a moment to make an announcement of the gospel. Even though we don't understand everything about the Bible now, there are some of us who sit and say, I need to know all the things about everything here before I can go and engage people with the gospel. But the reality is the gospel is news.
[00:29:14] It's news, it's information, it's an invitation to people. Now, for example, if a truck is moving down a road at a fast speed and a child runs out into the road, that the truck is going down at a fast pace. I don't have to understand how a truck engine works and understand physics and understand all the things in the human body before I yell to the child, what am I going to say? Get out of the road.
[00:29:40] Now if the child's probably not going to look back and be like, well, can you explain to me mechanics? Can you tell me how the engine's running?
[00:29:48] And if he did, it's like, I don't know. I just know that you need to get out of the road. In a similar way, we're called to be newscasters.
[00:29:59] Get out of your own way of life. Leave your own way of life. It's going to doom you and damn you to hell.
[00:30:06] Well, I don't know if I like that opinion. My job isn't to make sure you like it. My job is to announce the news.
[00:30:14] That's what I've been called to do. Now, I said at the beginning, there's two main concepts, the invitation of Jesus and the reaction .3 on your outline. Real quick here. Verses 45 and following to the end of the chapter. This major reaction, which I think deserves a point in itself, is the hostility towards Christ. The hostility towards Christ. The officers. Verse 45 continues.
[00:30:38] That is the temple guard. They are Levites, by the way, so they know the scriptures. Then they came to the chief priests without Jesus. And those who sent them said, where is he? You had one job. One job. Go grab Jesus. Make him stop talking.
[00:30:53] Why didn't you bring him? And the officer's response?
[00:30:57] No one ever spoke like this man. Here's what they're saying.
[00:31:03] His words have power.
[00:31:06] That's point a on your outline.
[00:31:08] Hostility towards Christ was meth. With his power.
[00:31:15] No one has ever spoken like this man. They didn't have other excuses like we couldn't find him or his disciples protected him. Or I got kind of afraid or something like they were very clear. Yep, we got there. I know we had one job. There he was. Jesus probably looked down and saw us.
[00:31:35] And he probably put out a finger. It's not my time yet. The hour's not here. And the guards realized we can't do anything to stop this man. He has significant power.
[00:31:45] In their hearts, they knew that Jesus was more powerful and more significant than any other person that might give them a directive. They knew we have to listen to this man, Jesus. Even though other people told us to do something else to stop this man. Now, for today, for us, sometimes the words of Jesus will move us. And sometimes the words of Jesus will stop us in our tracks. And for us today. I don't know which one that might be for you. But I think the thing that we know is this. We can't afford to ignore the words of Jesus.
[00:32:21] We can't afford to. Whether that is to get us going or to stop us from doing something we're not supposed to do. It's checking in with him and saying, what do you want me to do? And I'm willing to do it, no matter what the cost is. Maybe it's going to be ridicule. Like these guards. They experienced ridicule because they listen to the words of Jesus rather than the words of mankind. For us today, we have a choice to make every day. What is Jesus trying to say? And am I going to listen no matter the cost? We also see this hostility towards Jesus or towards Christ was born out of elitism. They were these elite folks, these leaders there. Verses 47 through 49, look what they're response is in the text. They mock the guards, calling them deceived. He's like, seriously, are you so deceived? Like you can't figure this stuff out? I mean, I guess I get those people over there, they're accursed. They have no idea. But you, you should be able to figure out, do you see any of us being confused by this guy? No, they're elitism. They were, they thought themselves better than everybody else. They were not hostile towards Jesus so that they could protect the hearts of the Jews that they wanted to teach. They were hostile towards Jesus because they thought they deserved the power and they deserved the position.
[00:33:47] How dare we change our way? Sadly, there are many who are opposed to Christ today because they say he is a crutch. Have you heard that before? I don't need a crutch in my life.
[00:34:00] That's a person similar to the Pharisees here who's saying, we don't need that. He's a crutch.
[00:34:07] I think he's more like a wheelchair for us.
[00:34:09] We can't even have one leg that works like we need Jesus in every part of our life.
[00:34:18] See on your outline, this hostility towards Jesus was caused by willful prejudice. Verses 50 through 52. Look what it says. Nicodemus, who we know is actually someone who's been sensitive to the message of Jesus. We see him in chapter three going and desiring to learn about the kingdom of God, about salvation. He speaks up now. He's simply. He's been there, he's been watching. He's one of the pharisees. And he has a sensitive heart and a sensitive ear towards the words of Jesus. And what I think is great is he used his position to advocate for the truth.
[00:34:53] He didn't say, now I'm gonna follow Jesus, and so I'm gonna leave. Being a pharisee, he didn't do that at this time. We see him using the position that he had to help others around him think critically. But because he feared his position, and understandably so, he would have been kicked out if he was to be known as a follower of Jesus. He poses this opposition as a question. Did you notice that he didn't just say, y'all are being prideful. Listen to this guy. I'm listening to him. But rather he posed it as a question. Wait a minute. Doesn't our law say, it's almost like he's trying to remove any responsibility from himself and causing them to think. Now, doesn't our law say, which you all like, know and like and want to follow? Doesn't our law say that we should test someone first?
[00:35:38] He's checking in with them.
[00:35:40] We should hear what he has to say. But the response that he got was, again, ridicule.
[00:35:47] Who do you think you are?
[00:35:49] What do you think? You know, the question that he's pointing out here is truly a fair judgment, something Jesus actually didn't get from most political leaders. Consider his death about six months later during the trial. Did he have a fair trial?
[00:36:05] No, because people just wanted him gone. There was so much prejudice around the person and work of Jesus. Their concluding line, you might know this already, which I think is great, in that in this passage, they conclude and say verse 52. They replied, are you a galilean, too? In other words, are you on his side? Are you on his team? Which they would have known otherwise. Then look what it says. Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee. Is that a true statement?
[00:36:37] No. There are other prophets from Galilee. Did they know they were lying when they said that?
[00:36:45] Maybe, probably they would have known. But you know when people are really angry and they're trying to make a point, how they'll say things that aren't true just to make a point.
[00:36:55] Welcome, Pharisees.
[00:36:57] They're trying to make a point so they're willing to say statements that aren't actually true just to get people to listen to them, just to get people on. Now let's conclude. You can put the title slide back up on the screen. We've seen Jesus clear and powerful. Invitation. Believe in me. That's what he started with at the beginning. We've seen multiple responses to this invitation, but we see over and over again, Jesus invites people, and then they're divided. They're pulled back towards their own agenda, towards their own opinion, towards their own interpretation, or towards their own flesh. I like the way I'm doing my life. And Jesus says, come to me if you're thirsty. All you who are weary and heavy laden, come to me and I will give you rest and I will fulfill the thirst that is inside of you. When Jesus invites us to follow him here's, the reality. It's going to cost us.
[00:37:52] We might like the idea that I'd like to be able to have Jesus along with everything else, but Jesus is on one side and the world is on the other. There's going to be a tension there. There's not an option to say, I'm going to take Jesus and try to have this salvation thing and take it over to my side so I can do my life and then just keep going back to, but he forgave me. But he forgave me. But he forgave me. That's romans six, right? Like, oh, it's okay, it's okay. I'm going to bring Jesus over to my world and my desires. No, no. He wants there to be a choice that you and I make. Yes, there's a tension. And he's going to say this every single time. I am better.
[00:38:29] I am better than anything else on this side. You're going to experience tension as you live in the flesh, but each day you can choose to say, I'm going to put away the flesh and I'm going to trust that I'm thirsty, and you're going to be able to satisfy me better than anything else over here.
[00:38:48] Closing questions what will you do with the invitation of Jesus? If you're resisting that, if you're finding yourself living in that tension, ask yourself why. What's holding you back from releasing the way of the world, the way of your flesh, the desires that you have, and trusting that Jesus truly is going to satisfy you better than anything else the world has to offer? Are other people experiencing Jesus because of your interactions with them? Jesus said that come to me and drink, and then, and because of that, other people are going to experience me when you trust in me. In other words, this idea of pouring water here, there's a hole in the cup. And by you interacting with other people and trusting in me, people are going to experience my love, my grace, my power through you. Trust in me, drink of me, and out of you will flow rivers of living water. Are you struggling to be more patient or more loving, more kind or more joyful? What does he say? Trust in me. Filled with your spirit, we are. And what is the fruit of the spirit?
[00:39:56] It's love and joy and peace. So in the midst of this struggle, will you keep running back to Jesus? Because he promises and Jesus promises hold true. He promises that as we run back to him and spend time with him, drink of him, find satisfaction in him. I'm thirsty. I'm thirsty. I'm stressed, I'm anxious. I'm hurting. I'm going to run back to him. I'm going to sit with him and let him satisfy me. He says, this, you'll find it's way better than anything else the world has to offer.
[00:40:33] So much better. It's an invitation.
[00:40:36] It's an invitation.
[00:40:39] The way you grow with Jesus last line here. The way you grow with Jesus isn't by striving and striving and striving. Is the world better? Is Jesus better? But rather it's by sitting at the feet of Jesus and saying, I believe this is better than anything else. If anyone thirsts, let him. Let her. Let them come to me and drink, is what Jesus said. Dear Jesus, we come before you today as the king, the one who has complete and total authority in this world that we live in.
[00:41:13] Whether or not hearts surrendered to you, you are still the king.
[00:41:18] You are still God over all.
[00:41:21] And you are our father, who loves us and cares for us, who wants us to trust in you no matter what goes on in our world. Lord, help us to come to you in the midst of the tensions that exist in our heart, in the world around us, and the distractions that we live in, to be willing to believe that you are better, that you're the one who's truly going to satisfy the desires of our heart, that we'd be able to step away. We would choose to step away by your power, step away from addiction, step away from selfishness. Step away from pride and trust that your way is better for those here today and perhaps in every one of our hearts, there's a continual desire towards the flesh. Lord, I pray that you give us strength to run back to you and find over and over again you are better. You are gracious and kind and merciful.
[00:42:20] We thank you for your love and your grace for us each day of which we so desperately need. In Jesus name, amen.
