In this sermon, Jason Dohm explores John 7:1-24, focusing on Jesus' actions and teachings during the Feast of Tabernacles. Initially, Jesus stays in Galilee, avoiding Judea because the Jewish leaders sought to kill him. His unbelieving brothers urge him to go publicly to Judea, reflecting either skepticism or worldly wisdom. Jesus, operating on a divine timetable, goes to the feast secretly. During the feast, there's divided opinion about Jesus among the people, with some seeing him as good and others as a deceiver. Jesus teaches in the temple, astonishing the Jews with his wisdom, despite not having studied under their recognized system. He asserts that his doctrine comes from God and challenges the Jews to judge with righteous judgment, not by appearances. The sermon emphasizes that understanding God's will requires a humble, obedient heart, and that Jesus' actions are aligned with fulfilling God's law, not worldly expectations.

Good morning. Our sermon text this morning is in John chapter 7 verses 1 through 24. Please read along with me. After these things Jesus walked in Galilee for he did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand.

His brothers, therefore, said to him, depart from here and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see the works that you are doing for no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly if you do these things show yourself to the world for even his brothers did not believe in him then Jesus said to them my time has not yet come but your time is always ready the world cannot hate you but it hates me because I testify of it, that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come." When he had said these things to them, he remained in Galilee. But when his brothers had gone up, then he also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. Then the Jews sought him at the feast and said, Where is he?

And there was much complaining among the people concerning him. Some said, He is good. Others said, No, on the contrary, He deceives the people. However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews. Now about the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught.

And the Jews marveled, saying, how does this man know letters, having never studied? Jesus answered them and said, my doctrine is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone wills to do his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on my own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?

Why do you seek to kill me? The people answered and said, You have a demon who is seeking to kill you. Jesus answered and said to them, I did one work and you all marvel. Moses therefore gave you circumcision, not that it is from Moses but from the fathers, and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?

Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your glorious word. Lord, to think that so many of us were like these brothers who did not believe in You, and yet You had such kindness and compassion on us. Father, bestow that kindness and compassion on all those in this room who don't know You.

Lord, We believe in the preaching of the word of the gospel to bring salvation. Would you save many in this room today? Would today be the day of salvation for so many? Holy Spirit, would you empower Jason to speak your word with such boldness and accuracy? Lord, give us ears to hear your word.

Lord, open our hearts that we might receive your word. Just able to change us, make us more like you, give us greater faith in you. Lord, above all, would you be immensely glorified today. In Jesus' name, amen. The title of the sermon today is, Teaching at the Feast of Tabernacles, because Jesus teaches at the Feast of Tabernacles.

Pretty straightforward. Sometimes chapter breaks are very unhelpful in that they provide sort of an arbitrary separation from immediate context which is helpful. This chapter break is actually perfect. I have no objection to this chapter break at all. Our text today begins in chapter 7 verse 1 after these things.

And then the text mentions the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles is in the seventh month. Chapter 6 happened right before the feast of the Passover which was in the first month. And so between the events at the end of chapter 6 and the events at the beginning of chapter 7, six months have passed. And So you really can't carry forward context from chapter 6 into chapter 7.

So it really is a good clean break. There's been a change of scene from Galilee in chapter 6 back to what will be Jerusalem in chapter 7. And time has elapsed. Six months has elapsed between these two chapters. At the end of chapter 6, Jesus' booming ministry has been significantly reduced.

The crowds were swelling, but they're not swelling anymore. Almost everyone has decided that the hard sayings are too much. The healings and the feeding was wonderful, But the hard sayings aren't worth it in the minds of many. And so they walk with Jesus no more in a literal and a figurative sense. So that brings us to chapter 7.

It's the seventh month, which is a busy month on the Jewish calendar, and this is right before the Feast of Tabernacles. As we go to this week's text, let's go to this week's text, asking for the Lord's help. Our God, I pray that whether the favor of man rests upon us, or if the hatred of man rains down on us, that we would learn to be like your son Jesus who knew how to react both to the favor of man and to the hatred of man and to look to his father trustfully in total dependence. Oh help us to be Christ like, help us to be like your son. Whatever life would bring to our door from our neighbors.

Use this text to teach us to be like Him. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. I would like to break the text into sections. That's a long passage today, 24 verses, and So the sections are actually going to be long too. I'd like to start looking at verses 1-9.

So hopefully you have your finger in John chapter 7. Follow along as I read verses 1-9. John chapter 7 verse 1. After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, for he did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jews' feast of Tabernacles was at hand.

His brothers therefore said to him, Depart from here and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see the works that you are doing. For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things show yourself to the world. For even his brothers did not believe in him. Then Jesus said to them, My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.

The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I testify of it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come." And he had said these things to them. He remained in Galilee. In these verses, Jesus stays while his brothers go.

So if you're taking notes on the handout and you're filling in blanks, it stays. Jesus stays in Galilee while his brothers go up to the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. Verse 1 says that Jesus stays in Galilee. And we have a term here, the Jews, that is used clearly meaning the ruling authorities. Look in verse 1.

The Jews sought to kill him. Now clearly there are Jews in Galilee. Galilee is full of Jews also. So we're talking about a particular group of Jews. It is the ruling authorities in Jerusalem that are out to kill him, which is why he walks in Galilee and does not want to walk in Judea or in Jerusalem.

Let's look back at the last time John the Gospel writer records Jesus being in Jerusalem. It's John chapter 5. So look at John chapter 5. I'm going to read a couple of verses from John chapter 5 just to get our minds back to what was happening last time Jesus was in Jerusalem. John chapter 5 verse 1, after this there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Then John the Gospel writer describes Jesus encountering a man who had been crippled for 38 years at the pool of Bethesda. He heals this man, but he makes the quote-unquote mistake of healing him on the Sabbath, which causes an uproar. We get sort of the outcome of this in verses 16-18. So follow along as I read John chapter 5 verses 16-18. For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath.

But Jesus answered them, My Father has been working until now and I have been working. Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was his father making himself equal with God. So this was the last contact that Jesus had with these Jewish leaders. He broke the Sabbath, so they thought, more on that in a minute, and he made himself equal with God, because he is equal with God, and they believed that he was blaspheming, So when they thought he broke the Sabbath they wanted to kill him. And when he made himself equal with God by calling God his Father, they really, really wanted to kill him.

And that's the last time he was in Jerusalem. And that really is the context for the desire of these Jewish leaders to want to kill Jesus. Now, the Feast of Tabernacles is at hand. What is the Feast of Tabernacles and who are Jesus' brothers? The Feast of Tabernacles is laid out, maybe most comprehensively, in Leviticus chapter 23.

In Leviticus chapter 23, we learn about the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. The seventh month on the Jewish calendar would straddle September and October on our calendar. So maybe think of mid-September to mid-October would be The seventh month on the Jewish calendar would straddle September and October on our calendar. So maybe think of mid-September to mid-October would be the seventh month on the Jewish calendar. It is a busy month on the Jewish calendar.

The first day of the month is the Feast of Trumpets. It's one day. Then the tenth day of the month is a Day of Atonement. Over and over when you read about the Day of Atonement, there is one phrase that is repeated. It's that you afflict your soul on the day of atonement.

So on the tenth day of the month, it is for grieving over sin. The Day of Atonement is a day about consciousness, sensitivity, of your standing before God as a sinner. You are supposed to afflict your soul. It is not a day of joy. The Day of Atonement is a day to think about your sinfulness before this holy God.

And this is the day where they would be placing their hands on the scapegoat and sending him out into the wilderness. Of course, it's rich in typology, picturing what the Messiah would be for his people. But then on the fifteenth day, the feast of Tabernacle starts. And it's very different from the Day of Atonement. In other words, it is for rejoicing.

Listen to Leviticus 23, part of verse 40. You shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. So this is your job for a week. Rejoice. Well then what do we do?

Well you rejoice some more. And then what do you do? You rejoice some more. You come before the Lord and you rejoice for seven days on the heels of having afflicted your soul because you are sinful and your sins have demanded a sacrifice. But that's not what the Feast of Tabernacles was about.

It was about joy. It was about what then? You are free. And it was actually, You would come, you would bring leafy branches, and erect these makeshift kind of tents made out of branches, and you would live in them in order to remember your life in the wilderness, the life of the people of God in the wilderness, having been redeemed from Egypt, God's care for them in the wilderness, that they lived this way in the wilderness. And Josephus says it's the most popular feast.

So there are three feasts a year where the people of God would come up to Jerusalem. There is Passover, and then there is the booths, and then there is the feast of in-gatherings. I believe I've got the three right there. But anyway, this is the most popular one. It's the favorite one.

Maybe not the most significant one, but it's the favorite one because it is all about rejoicing. And once every seven years, the law of God, the Pentateuch, would be read during the feast of Tabernacles. We have no idea whether this was the year for that or not. The text is silent on that point. Now regarding Jesus' brothers, we've seen them already in the Gospel of John.

If you want to flip back to John chapter 2, at the wedding of Cana, Jesus changes a large quantity of water into a large quantity of really, really good wine at this wedding feast. And this is what we read in John chapter 2 verses 11 and 12. This beginning of signs, the changing of water to wine was the beginning of Jesus' signs. This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him. After this he went down to Capernaum, he, his mother, his brothers, and his disciples, and they did not stay there many days.

I think what we get from this is that his mother and brothers were at this wedding. They were actually there when he manifested his glory. It caused his disciples to believe in him, but we're going to find out in our text that it didn't have the same effect, at least not at this point, on his brother. So we have been introduced to Jesus' brothers. Back to our text.

Now just listen to Matthew chapter 13 verses 54 through 57. Matthew chapter 13 verses 54 through 57. This will be helpful in a couple of different points in our text. When he, Jesus, had come to his own country, he taught them in their synagogue. So that they were astonished and said, where did this man get this wisdom in these mighty works?

Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas, and his sisters? Are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things? So they were offended at him." Now This is really a helpful text as a backdrop for what we're studying for a number of reasons.

First, we get the names of his brothers. They list off Jesus comes into Nazareth, he teaches in the synagogue, and they say, wait a minute, isn't this the carpenter's son? Aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas, and aren't his sisters here as well? So we actually get a listing of his brothers. We get four names.

Now regarding James and Judas, An alternate form of that name Judas is Jude. So I'm going to use that name now. Regarding James and Jude, there is strong evidence, both internally to the New Testament, and externally in church history, that James and Jude, the authors of the books named that, are Jesus' half-brothers. And I say half-brothers because God is not their father. They have a human father unlike Jesus.

Mary is their mother, but God is not their father, so they're half brothers in that sense. James wrote the book of James. Faith without works is dead. Jude, his half brother, almost certainly wrote the book of Jude about a warning against false prophets. In our text we have unbelieving brothers, but there's strong evidence in the New Testament and in church history that at least some of his brothers did believe and become followers of the Lord Jesus and become actually powerful men of God who wrote books of the Bible.

Another thing that we learn from Matthew 13 is that We see a pattern established that Jesus is a teacher. He's not just a miracle worker, not just one who gives sight to the blind and even raises the dead. Primarily, Jesus is a teacher. That's what we see him doing in Nazareth, what We see him doing in Capernaum, what we see him doing throughout the towns of Galilee, what we see him doing often in the temple courts in Jerusalem. Jesus is a teacher, but not just a teacher.

People marvel at his teaching. In our text they're going to marvel. In Matthew 13 it says they were astonished at his teaching. Jesus is a powerful teacher. Often we sort of lose sight of this because we're awed by the works that he does in the New Testament.

But the greatest Bible teacher who has ever lived is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the most powerful, most anointed teacher who ever lived. The reactions of the people throughout the Gospels just drives that point home. They are marveling at His teaching. He is teaching as one who has authority.

That's because he's God. And they're astounded at his teaching. And they can't figure out where he got all of this wisdom from. That's what it says exactly in Matthew chapter 13. They say, where did this man get this wisdom from?

Isn't he the carpenter's son? Can't we name his brothers? Aren't his sisters here? In other words, they know he doesn't have the background to be this powerful, anointed teacher. He's been here working in the carpentry shop, not in Jerusalem, studying under the rabbis.

Where did this man get this wisdom from? This is going to show up prominently in our text in John chapter 6. So back to our text, John chapter 7. Here's how Jesus' brothers advised him starting in verse 3. His brothers therefore said to him, Depart from here and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see the works that you are doing.

For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. Let's start with verse five. Verse five tells us what we need to know and what we can know for sure from these things. For even his brothers did not believe in him.

Whatever you say about the advice of his brothers, know this, it is advice from unbelieving hearts. So there's a couple of ways you can interpret what they say. But in any event, the sure thing that we ought to hold on from here is that this is advice from unbelieving hearts. We have that explicitly in the text. This could be skepticism.

It could be sort of a mocking sarcasm. Like you say you're doing all these great things. If you're really doing them, Don't do them in the backwoods here in Galilee. Go up to the capital city and do them there so that your disciples there can see them. It could be skepticism, a sort of mocking sarcasm.

Or it could simply be worldly wisdom from worldly men. I tend to think it's that. I started the week thinking the other, when they say, if you do these things, go do them there to say this is sort of a mocking of Jesus. You say these things but you're not doing them. But when I read the Expositors Bible commentary, it makes a case that Jesus is really the head of this household at this point.

It's almost certain that his father, Joseph, is dead, and that he is the oldest son in the household, and it would be an unusual thing for his brothers to sort of mock him. This is probably worldly wisdom from worldly men. So I don't insist that you accept that view, I just say I have a leaning having studied it this week. And they're giving him worldly wisdom on how to build back his following and his reputation. Hasn't he lost those in the last six months?

Didn't he have swelling crowds following him? And then his hard sayings reduced his following down to essentially him, him, and his disciples. There's been a great thinning out of the multitudes that were following him. And now, his brothers perhaps have some thoughts and worldly wisdom about how he can build back his following and his reputation. In other words, Jesus, don't hide in the backwoods.

If you're claiming to be the Messiah, there's no such thing as a backwoods Messiah. The Messiah ought to be in Jerusalem. If you do miracles, the miracles ought to be done in Jerusalem, where the leaders are, where the leading Jews and the leading religious teachers are. Here's how Jesus replies to them. Look again at verses 6-9.

Jesus said to them, My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I testify of it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come." And He had said these things to them. He remained in Galilee.

So this is Jesus' response. MacArthur says this in the notes in his study Bible. Jesus was on a divine timetable. We actually see that a lot in the gospels. Jesus has a great sense of exactly what ought to be done and exactly when it ought to be done.

And so he's careful not to do the right thing at the wrong time. And we see that again here. It's possible that when he says, my time has not yet fully come, he's talking about the crucifixion, but I sort of doubt it. Because he's saying, your time has come. He's certainly not talking about the crucifixion of his brothers.

I tend to think that MacArthur hits the nail on the head. This is really just about Jesus being on a divine timetable and knowing exactly what he ought to do and exactly when he ought to do it. As worldlings, that's what I'm going to call his brother, worldlings, members of the world, as worldlings, his brothers had no sensitivity to the divine timetable either for themselves or for Jesus. Jesus' brothers had none of the same considerations that Jesus had. No one hated them in Jerusalem.

No one was looking for them in Jerusalem. No one would care when they arrived, and so it didn't matter when they arrived. It mattered a lot when Jesus arrived, as we're going to find as we work through the text. It wouldn't matter at all when his brothers arrived. Now, turn to John 15.

I want us to see what Jesus says in John 15. And this is about the world hating him but having no problem with his worldling brothers. This is why in John 15, I'll read what Jesus teaches in verses 18 and 19. John 15, 18 and 19, Jesus says to his disciples, If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own.

Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." There's a fundamental difference between Jesus and His disciples and His brothers at this point. Again, I think there's great reasons to believe from the New Testament. They became believers, but they are not believers at the time that is represented by the text that we are in. And there is a great dividing line between Jesus and His disciples and these brothers. And it is the dividing line of salvation.

When you become born again, when the heart of stone has been removed and you've been given a heart of flesh, and you begin to love the things that you hated, and hate the things that you loved when you were an unbeliever, you become a threat to the world. Even if you don't say much, the increasing holiness in your life becomes an object of contempt for worldlings. They become threatened by it. Jesus actually says, I say to the world that their deeds are evil, so they hate me. This is a defining line for Christians.

Their words and their lives, the slightest bit of holiness in their lives becomes an object of contempt for worldlings. As Jesus said to Nicodemus in John chapter 3, 19, Jesus says this, and this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. This is actually what we have in our text today is really sort of an exposition, an unfolding of what Jesus said to Nicodemus. Jesus is the light. He came into the world, but men love darkness.

Why? Because light is not good? No, because their deeds are evil and light just brings that evil out into the open. Jesus was not mainly concerned with building a messianic following. Jesus was not mainly concerned with building a messianic following, but with teaching the truth about God and man.

Teaching the truth about God and man. Teaching the truth about God and His perfect holiness and teaching the truth about man and His sinfulness will give you a messianic following. Because it will make clear to people the gulf that is between this holy God and this defiled mankind. And it will make people hunger and thirst for a Messiah. At least those that the Father is drawing.

Jesus came to expose sin and to call sinful mankind to repent. And mankind, in and of our own nature that we are born with are not interested in that message. Jesus was not mainly concerned with building a messianic following, but with teaching truth about God and man. Now note this, this is very important, The religious establishment is called part of the world here. Do you see that?

The religious establishment is called part of the world. He says in verse seven, the world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. So what is Jesus talking about the Philistines here? Not hardly. Jesus is talking about the ruling establishment in Jerusalem that hates him and wants to kill him, and he says, that's the world.

We have to be very careful of thinking that the world is out there and only godliness is in here, in the walls of the church. That's not how it worked in the time of Jesus, and I'm convinced that's not how it works now. The Jewish establishment was the world. The Jewish establishment, the religious leaders, the ones who were preaching the sermons were as much worldlings as Jesus' brothers who did not believe in him, because they did not believe in him. Now a final note on Jesus' brothers.

I'm fast forwarding past the resurrection. In Acts chapter 1 verse 14, this is after Jesus ascends into heaven, his disciples get to watch him ascend into heaven, but before the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit is sent. Acts 1.14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers. After the ascension while they're doing what they've been commanded to do, which is to wait for the giving of the Holy Spirit, they're gathering and they're praying, the eleven with the women, with Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. They now believe in Jesus.

Or this, 1 Corinthians 9 verse 5. Listen to what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9 verse 5. Paul writes, Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?" So Paul and his companions are getting grief for taking along believing wives to help in the work. And he says, don't we have this same right? Don't the other apostles take along believing wives?

And it's a rhetorical question. The answer is yes. Don't The brothers of the Lord take along believing wives? The answer is yes. Does Cephas or Peter take along his believing wife?

The answer is yes. The brothers of the Lord are traveling and ministering. In the context, That's what this means. They are going about preaching, ministering, strengthening churches, maybe planting churches, and they are taking along believing wives. Again we have two books of the Bible written by these half brothers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So there is a happy ending, at least for two of these brothers and maybe for all of them. A couple of applications. You'll notice on the handout there's no section for applications at the bottom. It's because I'm going to be giving them section by section. Three applications from this section.

Number one, you could grow up with Jesus and be an unbeliever. Let that sink in for a second. Share a home with Him. You could grow up with Him. Maybe into your late 20s or maybe even into your 30s, you could grow up with Jesus and be an unbeliever.

You could see miracles and hear His teachings and observe His perfectly consistent life and still be an unbeliever. Just look back, you don't even have to probably turn the page for this. John 6, 44, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him." Think of how comprehensive that statement, that truth is. No one can come to Jesus. Not one single person ever born can come to Jesus unless the Father who sent Jesus draws you to Jesus.

That is so true that even if you grew up beside him, it would be true. And it is true in this text. They're probably in their late twenties, mid twenties, late twenties, maybe even one of these brothers, early thirties, and they have not come to Him. This should make us forsake the thought that we can cultivate a system that produces Christians. Friends, perish the thought.

Your home school is not going to produce Christians. Our little church bubble is not going to produce Christians. Our little church bubble is not going to produce Christians. Your consistency in family worship is not going to produce Christians. Now, I have a conviction that we should be homeschooling.

I think you share it. And that we ought to have a church culture that as far as we can see, as God would give us grace, we would conform it to what we see in the Word of God asking God to forgive us for the things that we don't see. And that we should be deadly consistent with family worship in our homes. But we can never think for a minute that that produces a certain output which is a Christian. That's not how it works.

God has given us things that we ought to do, that we're commanded to do. Let us be busy about those things, But don't let us mistake that with a certainty of the outcome. God controls the outcome. No one can come to Jesus unless God draws him by the working of his spirit. What does that mean for us?

It means we should pray. It means in addition to maybe homeschooling and maybe working to get our little church culture as close to what we see in the New Testament as we can and exerting ourselves to really worship God from the heart in the home as God would give us grace to do it, that we should cry out to God that he would do the work that only he can do. You could grow up with Jesus and be an unbeliever. Number two, some of you are misunderstood and or despised by family for being a Christian. Some of you are misunderstood by family because you are a Christian.

Some of you are despised by family because you are a Christian. You are in good company. Jesus is at least misunderstood by his brothers and may be despised, depending on how you take their advice. Here's what Jesus says in Luke 6 26. Luke 6 26, Jesus says, Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets." Woe to you when all men speak well of you. If all men speak well of you, you're like the false prophets. They say the things that people can't wait to hear. And so people love them. People love false prophets.

People love it when people say, peace, peace, when there is no peace. They're not misunderstood by their families. They're not despised by their families. Woe to you if everyone speaks well of you. Some of us might have too much peace in our families because we've not been willing to be faithful as Christians.

That's possible. Jesus didn't come to bring peace in your family. He might have come to bring a sword. He might have come to divide you. It's possible.

Now, the things that I'm saying are so easily misunderstood. I would never exhort us to go and be obnoxious. But sometimes, even saying the right thing in the right way, maybe even at the right time, will be despised. And you just, at that point, you have to throw up your hands and say, I would rather love them by telling the truth than hate them by being silent and be well spoken of by them. Number three, maximum exposure and or popularity cannot be my aim or our aim.

It's really easy for me to lose sight of this, and for us to lose sight of this. The name of the game for us is not maximum exposure and popularity. Getting our name out there, building a following. I am here to be a prophetic voice in our church. We are here to be a prophetic voice for each other and in our community.

When I say a prophetic voice I mean declaring the word of God to be true and applying it. I can't get I can't afford to be too attached to you liking what is said from our pulpit. We can't afford to get too attached to our community liking us and the things that we say here. We are to be the prophetic voice of God on the earth. That's what disciples are.

We're ambassadors. And sometimes the words of the ambassadors are despised. Sometimes the ambassadors are despised. Okay, next section. Verses 10 through 19.

John chapter 7, verses 10 through 19. But when his brothers had gone up, then he also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were, in secret. Then the Jews sought him at the feast and said, Where is he? There was much complaining among the people concerning him. Some said he is good, others said no.

On the contrary, he deceives the people. However, no one spoke openly of him for fear of the Jews. Now about the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. The Jews marveled, saying, How does this man know letters, having never studied? Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine is not my own, but his who sent me.

If anyone wills to do his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on my own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory. That he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true and no unrighteousness is in him. Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law.

Why do you seek to kill me?" In these verses we have an unapproved man teaching in the temple. So if you're taking notes on the handout and you're filling in blanks, it's unapproved. An unapproved man teaching in the temple courts. Jesus is that unapproved man. Something happens in Luke 2 which throws light on Jesus going up as it were in secret to Jerusalem.

In Luke chapter 2, Jesus is twelve, his family goes up to the Passover, and when they leave to go home to Nazareth, it's a day into the trip home, a full day, before they notice that Jesus isn't with them. This tells us something about the groups that would travel together from different locales, different families, different geographical groupings, going up as sort of a caravan to the feast. You can imagine how this might happen. This is sort of the same way when we have a conference or something. We often sort of caravan together.

Imagine that on steroids. If you were doing it on foot, and everyone from Youngsville was going on foot to Raleigh, we might very well, very likely band together and go together. It would be such a large group that you could lose track of your 12 year old for a whole day before you looked around and counted noses and knew for sure that he wasn't in your company. This helps us understand how families and communities traveled to these feasts. Jesus lets the caravan go without him.

That's what's happening in our text. The big group that you could lose a 12 year old in, goes without him, and then he goes separately, essentially unannounced. If he had gone with all of his family, all of the people from that area, that big group, everyone would have known exactly when he arrived. So he essentially arrives unannounced by this traveling group that he would have been expected to be with. From Jesus' perspective, what happens at the triumphal entry can't happen now.

What Jesus doesn't want to happen is what will happen later, which is the crowds in anticipation thronging him and welcoming him into the city. And even from our text you can see how easily that could have happened. People were wondering is he coming? People were looking for Jesus in anticipation of his arrival. There's great anticipation about whether he will even come to the feast and whether he is good or whether he is a deceiver.

We see this often in the Gospels where some people have a positive view of Jesus, and some people think, no, he's a deceiver, he's a false Christ. But these things are discussed in hushed tones, because people are afraid of the Jews. Everyone in view is a Jew. The people talking about whether he's coming, or whether he's good, or a deceiver, they're all Jews, but they're afraid of the Jews, meaning the leaders, the rulers in Jerusalem. Again, it's used in the same way here.

In chapters 9 and 12, we're not there yet, but we're coming there. In chapters 9 and 12, it's said explicitly that the Pharisees have agreed, anybody says Jesus is the Messiah, they're out of the synagogue. So that's going to be explicit in chapter 9 and chapter 12 when we get there. We don't know if that's official policy now, as it is then, but at least there's that undercurrent running through, and people have gotten the vibes. If you say that Jesus is the Messiah, you might be out.

People are afraid of discussing these things openly. In the middle of this week-long feast of rejoicing, the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus appears in the temple courts and he teaches openly and very publicly. So when it says in the temple, almost certainly, this is not in the temple as we think of it with the altar and the sacrifices happening there. This is almost certainly in the temple courts, which would be within the temple complex, but outside the temple proper. Women would be there, men would be there, Gentiles would be there who were also coming to the feast.

It was as public as it gets. Jesus comes and teaches there. By the way, this is what we see in the book of Acts when the New Testament church is born. The disciples are going into the temple to teach. Almost certainly, that's exactly the same thing.

They're just doing what Jesus did. The text says that the Jews marveled and they said, how does this man know letters having never studied? No letters isn't a wonderful translation. A lot of the other good English translations talk about learning. The point is, the essence of this is, How is Jesus so obviously learned?

How does Jesus know so much? How does this carpenter's son, who's been working in the carpenter's shop, know all that he knows? How does he preach with such power and depth? Here's something else that will throw light on this. Think of Saul of Tarsus.

Tarsus is at outer reaches. To talk about backwoods. You don't have a backwoods messiah so don't do your miracles in Galilee. Go up. Tarsus would make Galilee look like a thriving metropolis.

Tarsus was further out still. Listen to Acts 22 verse 3. This is Paul when he was caught in the temple and the mob is taking him by force and he addresses the mob. Acts 22 verse 3, Paul says, I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our Father's law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today. Saul of Tarsus' trajectory was what would be expected of someone who wanted to become a thing among the Jewish people in the religious establishment.

If you were born in Tarsus, you wouldn't stay in Tarsus if you wanted to become a thing. You would go to Jerusalem and you would study at the feet of a great rabbi. That's when he says, I studied at the feet of Gamaliel in this city in Jerusalem, so Saul left Tarsus and he came to study under a master, Gamaliel, in Jerusalem. And he was more zealous toward God as you are this day. This was a sign of his zeal and a desire to climb the ladder was that he left Tarsus, came to Jerusalem and studied under a master.

Listen to what he says in Galatians 1 verse 14. Galatians 1 verse 14, and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. In Galatians chapter one, Paul is describing him climbing the ladder. This is how you climbed the ladder. This is how you became a teacher in Israel.

You went to Jerusalem and you studied under a master. Jesus hasn't done any of that. He's the carpenter's son. From the carpenter's shop, there are two implications to what the Jews, the Jewish leaders, say here. Implication number one, if you haven't studied with us, you haven't studied.

If you haven't come to Jerusalem to sit under a master, then you've not studied in any way that's recognizable or significant. Implication Number two, if you haven't studied with us, your doctrine is your own. We only own the doctrine if you came and studied, if you learned it from us. If you didn't learn it from us, we don't acknowledge it. Jesus responds to this in verses 16 through 18.

Look at Jesus' response. Jesus answered and said to them, My doctrine is not my own, but his who sent me. If anyone wills to do his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on my own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him." Let's take this verse by verse. In verse 16, Jesus asserts that his doctrine is not his own, he has been sent.

So I'm not teaching my own doctrine, somebody sent me with this doctrine. Someone sent me to teach this doctrine. So the implications from what they're saying is, if you haven't studied with us, you haven't studied. And if you haven't studied with us, then your doctrine is your own. And Jesus says, No, my doctrine is not my own.

I was sent with a doctrine to teach. Not on my own authority, but I am one who is sent. Verse 17, Jesus teaches that there is a way that anyone can tell. What is the way that anyone can tell whether what is taught is from God or not from God? Here's the way.

Have a humble, obedient heart. If you have a humble, obedient heart, you'll be able to recognize teaching that is from God. Of course the implication of this is Jesus is essentially saying, you leaders have proud, disobedient hearts, so you don't recognize that what I'm teaching is from God. You think it's my own doctrine, you should recognize me as one sent from God to teach these things. If you had a humble obedient heart you would recognize that I was sent.

But because you have proud disobedient hearts you can't recognize it. This is actually taught throughout scripture. Just listen to the verses, the sprinkling of verses that I'm going to read. Psalm 25, verse 9. The humble he guides in justice, and the humble he teaches his way.

He in this verse is God. The humble God guides injustice. The humble God teaches His way. Not the proud, but the humble. Then in Psalm 25 verse 14, this is the same Psalm just a few verses later.

Psalm 25 verse 14, the secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him and He will show them His covenant. The secret of the Lord is with who? People who fear God. Or Proverbs 3 verse 32, listen to Proverbs 3 verse 32. For the perverse person is an abomination to the Lord, but his secret counsel is with the upright." God's secret counsel is with the upright.

God's secret counsel is with those who obey, who have been trained in obedience, who have grown in obedience. Or Daniel chapter 12 verse 10, listen to Daniel 12 verse 10. Many shall be purified, made white, and refined. So let me just stop there. We're talking about salvation here.

We're talking about those who have been cleansed. This is who is in view. Many shall be purified, made white, and refined. But the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand." The wicked do wickedly, The disobedient disobey, put it a different way, and they won't understand. But the wise will understand.

The ones who have been purified, made white and refined, they'll understand. The wicked do wickedly. The disobedient disobey and they won't understand anything. But those who have been purified will understand. Finally, 1 Peter 5 verse 5.

1 Peter 5 verse 5. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. This has broad application. God resists the proud. If you're proud, here's what you can expect from God for him to resist you.

He gives grace to the humble. Here's what you can expect from God if you have a humble heart. He'll give you grace. He'll give you things you didn't deserve. Because he loves a humble heart.

Here's one of the ways in which he resists the proud. He withholds understanding from them. Here's one of the ways he gives grace to the humble. He gives them understanding. He gives them light to walk by.

Here's the point. When we walk by the light God has given us, He gives us more light. That is overwhelmingly the pattern. If God has shown you truth, walk in it, obey it. It's the fast path to more truth.

Because you show yourself to be humble and obedient and so He gives you more. You've been faithful with what He gave you so He gives you more. In verse eighteen, Jesus offers evidence that he has been sent. The evidence is that he's clearly not seeking his own glory. He's clearly not enacting his own agenda seeking to be lifted up, but he's seeking to lift up the one who sent him.

Now how can we tell? Because the things that he's purposely saying and doing actually detract from his own glory. Jesus is enjoying, quote unquote, a season of humiliation because he's not seeking his own glory. Jesus could be seeking his own glory. Jesus could be swelling the crowds and be universally appreciated, but he's purposefully doing things and saying things that detract from his own glory in order to glorify the one who sent him.

Finally we have verse 19. Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill me? Jesus gives them a case in point. In their dealings with Him, they are not walking according to the light they have been given.

Verse 17, he said, if anyone wills to do his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine whether it is from God." If you will to do His will, in verse 19, he says, none of you keeps the law. It's the same Greek word. If anyone wills to do his will, you'll know the doctrine, whether it's from God. Verse 19, none of you keeps the law. In other words, if you were to translate it consistently, it would be, none of you does the law.

None of you wills to do the will of God in your dealings with Me." Is essentially what he's saying. Everything Jesus is teaching is consistent with prior revelation. Jesus doesn't teach anything in the Gospels that is out of step with the Old Testament. He's not overthrowing the Old Testament at all. He did not come to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them.

Everything Jesus is doing is consistent with the claims that he is making. In other words, the things that he is doing are the prophesied marks of the Messiah, yet they are seeking to kill him. So the things that he's saying are in step with the Old Testament. The things that he are doing are in step with the prophecies about the Messiah and yet in the face of all of that they are seeking to kill him. That's called murder.

There's a commandment about that. There's a commandment about murder. They do not will to do the will of the Father, and so they are held back from the understanding that Jesus is the Messiah. This is really a case in point to what he's just said. You acknowledge that God spoke to you through Moses and yet none of you keeps the law.

You're seeking to kill me. A couple of applications in this section. Number one, God's standards of doctrine and life are the standards that matter. It's embarrassingly obvious. You know, this is a really important point.

God's standards of doctrine and life are the standards that matter. You know, oftentimes we come up with all sorts of other standards, and they're not the standards that matter. They were bothered that Jesus didn't come to Jerusalem and study under a master, that his life had been spent in a carpentry shop. Well, what was he teaching? He was teaching according to God's standards of doctrine.

Everything was in step with God's standards of doctrine. They were offended at him, and yet his life was totally according to the standard that mattered, which was the law of God. By any standard, what he taught or what he did his life matched up with Scripture But they wanted to compare him to other standards that they had made up So he was unacceptable to them Hey, this can happen to us we We can make arbitrary standards that have nothing to do with God's standards for doctrine or God's standards for life and exalt those and even bring them up to a level with what's in the Bible or even above what's in the Bible. It's not right to do this. Number one, God's standards of doctrine and life are the standards that matter.

Amen. Number two, if you want more understanding, the fast path is humble obedience to what you already understand. This is another tremendously important point. If you want more understanding, do you want more understanding? Interested in more understanding?

Okay, I'm giving you the fast path. Humble obedience to what you already understand. If we learn anything from our text today, learn this. God is not on trial. We are on trial.

You have people in this text who want to put the Lord Jesus Christ on trial. He is the Lord of glory. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It is we who are on trial. Here's what J.C.

Ryle says, one secret of getting the key to knowledge is to practice honestly what we know, and that if we conscientiously use the light that we now have, we shall soon find more light coming down into our minds. Instead of saying, as some do, I must first know everything clearly and then I will act, we should say, I will diligently use such knowledge as I possess and believe that in the using fresh knowledge will be given to me, how many mysteries this simple plan would solve. Amen! Have you ever found yourself saying in your heart, as soon as I understand it all, I'll act." Our text today in John rebukes us for that attitude. We should say, as diligently as I can, I'm going to act according to the things that are clear and that I already know, trusting that this is when God brings more light and more understanding to us.

Does anyone think that your practice is ahead of your doctrine? No way! Almost always, what we know is ahead of what we're obeying, what we're living up to. We should chase that. We should chase obedience in the areas where we already understand.

Last section, 20-24. The people answered and said, You have a demon who is seeking to kill you. Jesus answered and said to them, I did one work and you all marvel. Moses therefore gave you circumcision, not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers. And you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.

If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." In this section, Jesus corrects some wrong doctrine about the Sabbath. So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it's correct. Jesus corrects. Some wrong doctrine about the Sabbath.

The people say, you have a demon. Who is seeking to kill you? This is either people who are unaware of the leader's desire and intentions and plans to kill Jesus or it's the leaders acting like it isn't true when they know it is true. We can't really know for sure. In the next chapter, when we get to chapter 8 verse 48, the Jews will be saying this, do we not rightly say that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?

So they're going to start adding the insults as we go through the chapters. Next chapter he will also be a Samaritan in addition to having a demon. John fasted and wouldn't drink wine and so they said he has a demon. So Jesus is in good company with John the Baptist as being accused of having a demon. Jesus doesn't dignify this accusation with a response.

He goes right to the truth. He says, I did one work and you all marvel. Now, What is the one work? It's back in chapter 5, the last time he was in Jerusalem, where he healed this man on the Sabbath. And that's where we already read in chapter 5, it said when he did that, they wanted to kill him.

Jesus goes right to the heart of the issue, which is their wrong thinking about the Sabbath and what they want to do to him as a result of him actually having a right doctrine of the Sabbath. He forces them to consider their own practice. So this is how Jesus defends himself against the false accusation that he broke the Sabbath. He forces them to consider their own practice. They actually circumcise on the Sabbath.

Circumcision law says you circumcise on the eighth day. So if a baby is born on the Sabbath and you count days, day eight is all the way back around on the Sabbath. If you were born on the Sabbath, the day for circumcision would be on the Sabbath and they actually do it, even though you might consider that work. But the Jews do it anyway and in doing so they acknowledge that not every action is a violation of Sabbath law. Their own practice acknowledges that there are certain things that you would do on the Sabbath that would otherwise be considered work, but for this reason, it isn't a violation of the Sabbath law.

And they're right. Circumcising on the Sabbath wasn't a breaking of the Sabbath law, Neither is healing. That's the whole thrust of the argument here. You've already acknowledged by circumcising on the Sabbath that not every action taken on the Sabbath is a violation of Sabbath law. Neither is healing on the Sabbath a violation of Sabbath law.

And we have verse 24 where he says, do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. No more surface judgments. In Matthew 12, Matthew 12 is all about Sabbath law and conflict with Jewish leaders over Sabbath law. In Matthew 12 verse 5, Jesus talks about the priests. He says the priests do all kinds of work on the Sabbath.

You don't think that is breaking of Sabbath law. In Matthew 12, a few verses later, Matthew 12 verses 11, he says if you have a sheep that falls into a pit on the Sabbath, you pull it out, that's not a violation of Sabbath law. It's really going to the same heart of things. You can't just look on the surface and say, just because an action was taken, this is a violation of Sabbath law. It never was a violation of Sabbath law.

None of these things. Priest working on the Sabbath was never a violation of Sabbath law. Taking a sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath was never a violation of Sabbath law. Circumcising on the Sabbath was never a violation of Sabbath law. Taking a sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath was never a violation of Sabbath law.

Circumcising on the Sabbath was never a violation of Sabbath law and healing on the Sabbath never was, wasn't, never will be a violation of Sabbath law. Two quick applications. One, allow for works of mercy and necessity on the Lord's Day. Works of mercy and necessity have always been lawful. No matter what your view of the Sabbath is, no matter how strict it is, works of mercy and works of necessity have always been lawful, are lawful now, and will be lawful until Jesus comes back.

Be careful about that. Now, is it possible to broaden the definition of mercy and necessity so wide that nothing is ever unlawful? Sure it is, but that's not the point of this text. Number two, be careful about giving too much attention to outward appearance. Be careful.

Of course, the opposite extreme is that nothing outward matters at all. That's also not true. But the point from this text is that the Jews had a fixation with outward appearance that was unhealthy and wrong and took them to places that they never should have gone. I'd like to conclude with 2 Corinthians chapter 2. You can turn there if you'd like.

2 Corinthians chapter 2 verses 14 through 16. Paul writes this. Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ and through us diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.

And who is sufficient for these things? Paul is actually offering commentary on what we see in this text. Jesus being the aroma of life to some, who the Father has drawn and brought to salvation, and Jesus is the aroma of life, eternal life, but to others Jesus is the aroma of death. It always was that case with Jesus. He was loved by those who were drawn by the Father in salvation and he was hated by, he was the aroma of death to the rest.

And so it is with us. So it is with the Lord's people. Let's pray. God, we thank you for this text. I pray that you would help us to continue to think about it and meditate on it in the days to come and to gain and benefit from a contemplation of these truths that are so important and helpful.

Pray this in Jesus' name, amen.