Jesus Fills All Emptiness – John 7

Good morning. Once again, we come to uh The second of our sermons, in the gospel of John Chapter seven and this chapter is both um sad and exhilarating. We see the sadness that that Jesus reveals in the life of people and and the emptiness that that that that feels those who are only of adam. But it’s exhilarating whenever we see what god offers. Uh chapter seven, if I were to give it a theme would be, Jesus fills all emptiness, you know, in chapter three, uh you see uh the emptiness of knowledge in in Nicodemus, in chapter four, he gives a woman water that will truly satisfy her. In chapter six, he says, I am the bread of life, He has the words of Eternal Life is said at the end of Chapter six, but no one will listen. You see, you have this theme that that Jesus is building in John about emptiness and he can feel it, Jesus is the son of God and during his public ministry, he is earnestly exhorting sinners to repent, but because of that message, he is bitterly resisted. And so, at the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus exclaims if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink and his enemies reply that he is a demon possessed pretender. Subsequently, they have decided that he must go either by expulsion or execution. Now, let’s look at this chapter and see the wonderful promises of christ After this, Jesus went about in galilee, He would not go about in judea because the jews were seeking to kill him. Now, the news of the Feast of Boots was at hand and the first emptiness that I want us to look at is the emptiness of familiarity and unbelief. Sometimes when we are so familiar with things, we think that we believe them just because we are familiar with them, but but we don’t really use them to satisfy our soul and and to fill our lives with what God wants. The familiarity sometimes keeps us from believing. You see that in verse three, so his brothers said to him, leave here and go to judea that your disciples may also see the works that you are doing for. No one works in secret. If he seeks to be known openly, if you do these things show yourself to the world. And then verse five such a sad verse. Now, even his brothers did not believe in him, Jesus turns to his brothers and says, my time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. You go up to the feast, I am not going up to the feast for my time has not yet fully come after saying this, he remained in galilee In these verses three through 9. You see the emptiness of familiarity and unbelief, believing unbelief, they know he can do great things, they know that that that that that that that he can heal the sick. They know that he can give sight to the blind. They know that he can raise the dead. But they do not know his mission because they will not listen. They will not see beyond what they can see with their physical eyes. They’re not listening to what jesus has to say that I have come to be the savior of the world, not Jonas Salk, you know uh healing polio, you know not not some faith healer or whatever. I have come to be the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. And the brothers were so familiar with him. They believed in him. They believed in his power, but they did not believe in his mission. They only see what their eyes can see and therefore they’re cut off from the light that brings understanding that emptiness next. I want us to see the emptiness of opinion over logic, reason and listening. There are those who will never relent their opinion even in the light of truth. We see that beginning in verse number 10 after this, his brothers went up to the feast and he also went up not publicly, but in private. The jews were looking for him at the feast saying, where is he? And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said he was a good man. Others said he is leading the people astray Yet for the fear of the Jews. No one spoke openly. Listen. There is no option for being neutral with God. The people are afraid to speak openly because of other people and then people with no fear openly scorn and deny God. You see this is one of those things I don’t understand about us christians, the world will openly and and and eagerly and and vehemently scorned God. But we have such great difficulty speaking of his goodness, of his love, of the value of dying to the old man and living to the new man having hope, peace and joy. You see these people had set their opinion about Christ, not based upon truth but based upon what they want. And we’re going to see how great that that that is at the end of Chapter 11 when some of the people believe and follow him and some of the people go to the Pharisees and and tell what he is doing and that leads to the final conflict that ends up in the crucifixion of Christ opinion over truth, our knowledge as opposed to God’s. When we live in opinion rather than truth, our lives are empty. We have no foundation upon which to stand and christ is saying, I am here to feel that emptiness, to give you the solid understanding of the universe and how it works of me and of you and what I have come to offer you next in this chapter we see the emptiness of arrogance and authority and have predetermined truth of popularly accepted truth and of ignorant truth that ignores truth. Listen, this is a huge, huge problem both in our lives and in our in our evangelistic efforts in the world. Is that that that the arrogance of people, the the the the predetermined truth that they have in their minds or they they hold with the popular truth and they ignore the truth that is presented by christ. You read it here in verse number 14. Now, in the middle of the feast, jesus went up into the temple and began teaching the jews. Therefore marveled saying, how is it that this man who has no learning when he has never studied? So, jesus answered them. My teaching is not mine, but it’s his who sent me. They’re saying how in the world can you talk? You you don’t have, you don’t have the degrees that we have. You don’t have the time spent in the temple that we have. You don’t have the stamp of authority of the people to speak. Who are you to speak. And jesus says, listen, my teaching is not mine. My teaching comes from God verse 17. If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether this teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. If you will listen. And if you if you will set aside your predetermined understanding, he is saying, you will know that these words are not from a man, they are from God. They are the truth that fills the emptiness. They are the truth that brings the light into the world. They are the truth that brings the truth, that brings fulfillment to us and understanding to us and purpose to us and life. And as he’s gonna say in a couple of chapters later life, abundant. There is one who speaks of his own authority. The one who speaks of it on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true. And therefore there’s no falsehood, Jesus is saying, I’m not doing this for my personal gain. By the way, it’s one of those most amazing things about jesus and one of those things that absolutely assures me of who he is. He had all of this power. And yet he never used one erg of it for himself. He is standing there in a simple linen road. He has no palace to go back to foxes have holes, The birds of the air have the nest, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. He said, look, I’m not seeking my own authority. I I have come with a mission from God to present the truth. And in and in a man like that, there is no falsehood has not moses, He says given you the law, yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me position, age and education. That’s what they are determining as the, as the barometer For truth, Jesus says in Verse 18, he is without sin. That’s amazing statement. And he says it in the middle of a feast of worshiping God. And he says this by saying that he is true the truth, the word, the very glory of God, full of grace and truth. Look at what he says. He says, I am without sin. My message is true because I am the message. This is how he is different above all other teachers. In Chapter eight, he is going to ask them you who are without sin. You cast the first stone and he stands in authority against those who are longing to stone the woman and no one can speak against him. They cannot find anything to speak against the Christ. So therefore from the oldest to the youngest, they dropped their stones as they walk away. This is the twofold measure of a true teacher. Does his teaching come from God. Is it according to the revealed word of God? And does the work glorify God? Or does it glorify man, Jesus is saying, listen, you you’ve got to drop your arrogance. Pride leads to destruction and a haughty spirit to a fall. You’ve got to drop the, the arrogance of a predetermined truth and open your ears to hear the truth truth from the lamb of God has moses not giving you the law yet. None of you keeps going. Yet You seek to kill me. And look at how the crowd answers, You have a demon? They say who is seeking to kill you? You’re you’re a drama queen who’s seeking to kill you? Well, the Pharisees have decided they have picked up stones time and time again. Now he’s not making this up. He’s not a drama queen. He says, I’ve come to bring you the truth of the Grace of God. Jesus answered them, I did one work and you all marvel at it. And yet you seek to kill me. All he has done is good. But because he will not do what they want him to do and be what they want him to be. They say he has a demon and no one’s trying to kill you. You’re just making this stuff up. It’s not truth. And so Jesus goes on to talk about the emptiness that comes from false teaching. Look at Verse # 25. And some of the people of Jerusalem, therefore said is not this the man whom they seek to kill. You. See, they knew that that that that that that the leaders wanted to kill him, but because he went against their pre deceive pre uh conceived notions of who he was. They mocked him openly in the crowd saying no one is trying to kill you yet. They know that that that the the leaders are trying to kill him is not this. The one whom the leaders seek to kill and here he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. Can it be verse 26 says that the authorities really know that he is the Christ can they know this? Do they know this? But we know it says where this man comes from, and when the christ appears no one will know where he comes from. You see, they’ve made up their own teaching. The bible clearly says that he would be born in Bethlehem, that he would come from, Egypt. Their leaders had taught this, this, this this this truth, this myth about the coming messiah. The leaders know who he is, but they will not reveal that to the people they teach falsely and the people fall for it. So jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, you know me, you know where I come from, but I have not come of my own accord. He says, he who sent me is true and him, you do not know. I know him, for I come from him and he sent me. You see the crowds are completely confused about jesus origin, about jesus person, About jesus’s mission, Jesus knew exactly who he was and he was never confused and that’s what he offers me. The emptiness of confusion drives us to, to, to, to to to craziness. It drives us to emptiness. It drives us to, to, to to making rash and and bad decisions, and he says, listen, I have come, I know exactly who I am and and I have come to bring new birth, that you might know exactly who you are, that it has been granted to you, as he said in Chapter one, to be the Children of God. What a great understanding if we would just listen to him and believe him and not like his brothers, but truly believe right, not just in what we can see, but what what he promises. Then we go on very quickly to the emptiness of unbiblical expectations. So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. They want to arrest him, but they can’t, that should be proof enough that that that he has come from God. Here you have the the the authorities and they come and somehow they cannot arrest this one. Itinerant preacher from galilee who has nothing to his name but a robe, but they cannot arrest him because his hour has not yet come. And God will not let it happen if God will not let it take place. And then verse # 31. Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, when the christ comes, he will do more signs than this man has done when the christ comes, he will do more than jesus has done right. If jesus isn’t the messiah, when the messiah comes. Will he do more miracles than jesus teach? With more insight and authority than Jesus love more remarkably than Jesus has loved, suffer with more courage than Jesus. Atone for more sinners than Jesus raised the dead with triumph more than Jesus. Ascend to heaven, with greater glory than Jesus present. A greater gospel than Jesus. Change more lives than Jesus free, more addictions than Jesus free, more grief stricken hearts than Jesus heal more hearts than Jesus restore more marriages than jesus triumph over tyrants more than jesus. None of this is possible. No one can do what Jesus has done, and certainly no one can do more. He deserves all of our confidence, all of our life and our faith as the messiah holding nothing back. That cannot be a greater than Jesus. The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, It says in verse number 32 and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him, and Jesus said, I will be with you a little longer. You’re not gonna do this today. What authority? How does he have that authority? He is the God of the universe, and he is sit on mission by God himself. You’re not gonna arrest me today. You’ll have me here a little while longer. Then I will go to the one who sent me. You will seek me, and you will not find me? For where I am? You cannot come, The Jews said to one another? Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him. Does he intend to go to the dispersion amongst the Greeks and teach the gentiles? You see, they still don’t understand it. I’ve come from God. I’m going to God. He has said it as plain as possible. I have come from God with a mission of grace and truth. And I am going to God with those names who have committed and believed and trusted in me fully that they might be adopted by God into his family and have the privilege to be called the Children of God. But they will not listen. They said, Is he going out into gentile territory? What blindness, unbelief brings? What does he mean by this saying? You seek me and you will not find me and where I am, you cannot come. So you have all of this emptiness. And it’s sad. It’s morbid and it’s all of those things. But then there’s a change in the chapter where jesus said. I have come to feel all emptiness. I have come to bring you from ceremony to reality. On the last day of the feast of the great day, jesus rose up and said. If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink the ceremony that you’ve been carrying on. I have come to make it a reality. That that what you that that what you chose or or that’s what you have celebrated and long for in picture is now here in front of you. Anyone who thirst let him come come to me and and I will give him uh drink. Anyone who believes as the scripture has said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water, he will know who he is, he will know what his mission is, he will be filled by me. Okay, now this, he said about the Spirit and 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. You see, this whole week was looking back to when God gave the water to the people at Horeb, that’s what this feast was all about. Now Jesus is telling them to look forward to a new and eternal life without want, not without trouble, get that, but without want, he will fill us completely. And so Jesus stood up and he cried out. What Jesus was to say was of great importance importance because of where he said it, standing in the temple courts right outside the temple itself. What he says here is important because of when he said it on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, after the water had been poured out on the previous days and now he comes and he says, you have no more water, but I am the water of life And one drink and you’ll never thirst again. It’s important of how he said it crying out, even shouting. This is in contrast to the general tone of his ministry. Where he spoke gently, Isaiah 42 2 says he will not cry out or raise his voice nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. But here he does. He lifts up that voice to let the people know. The invitation was broad because he said, if anyone, regardless of intelligence, regardless of past, regardless of race, regardless of class, regardless of nationality, regardless of political party, the invitation is broad as it could possibly be, but then it’s narrow because he says, if anyone thirsts, You see, one must see their need, thirst is not anything in itself, thirst is the lack of something. It’s emptiness! It’s a crime need. And jesus said, I have come to fulfill all needs, all you who thirst? Like I said, thursday is not something, it’s the lack of something, and water is not a little thing. It is the most essential need for man, especially in the desert. We must recognize our need, and jesus here is giving an invitation, and it’s as broad as it can be. But then it’s narrow in our own understanding. You see, jesus says where I go, you cannot find me. But now he comes, and he reveals himself openly, right? How glorious and how wonderful you can’t plan an expedition and go and find me. But I have come to stand in your midst to give you this great offer of fulfillment. The people have turned away from him, but he has not turned away from them. In fact, he he extends to them. This most glorious and gracious of invitations, Right, listen, we must understand. Apart from christ, we are empty. Apart from christ. We cannot know who we are. One our mission, what our purpose. He is here in life. But if we drink from the water that jesus offers us, if we if we eat the bread of his flesh and we become like him, then we know who we are. We are the Children of God, and what is our mission? It is to reveal his invisible attributes visibly in our life. He has come to fill your emptiness with hope with peace with joy then so that that you have that that hope and peace and joy that settles you. You can reveal kindness and gentleness and meekness as you walk in this world, because you’re unconcerned about your safety, because you are God’s, you could be patient. See all of these are the fruits of the spirit. Peace, love, and joy. You see when we have that there’s a foundation that we can stand on so that we can reveal patience and kindness and gentleness and meekness, and we can control ourselves because we know who we are in him. Are you thirsty. Are you looking for that that will fulfill you in life? Are you looking for that which will give you purpose? Are you looking for that? Which will that will fulfill the hollowness in your life and give you hope, Jesus says. If anyone thirsts, let him come to me, Oh, and he will give us everything that he is right. It is the church that fills him all in all, and he will fill us with himself that we will lack Father. I thank you. I praise you. I love you the great hope that you give us in jesus christ.