Our True Victory In Christ. John 7 part 1

Good morning as we Enter John seven This week, I want to do the sermon a little bit differently than I normally do. I want to begin with the conclusion with the invitation as it were and then work our way through the sermon and then once again come to our conclusion. Hopefully I can make that make sense as we go. But we’re looking at Maybe the most theological stretch of chapters in all of the Bible. When you talk about John Chapter six through John chapter 12 And then of course you have following them, another incredibly theological prick copy of, of, of chapters in 14 through 18 when Jesus is sitting with his disciples. But we must understand the, the provision that he makes for us in john chapter seven or john chapter six that call to worship that true worship that could only happen when we are fully communing with him, I and him and he and us, we are abiding in him, all of that that we saw in chapter six. Now we move to chapter seven and the way my Mind works, Chapter seven is one of those chapters, that makes sense of christmas, right easter as it were. Makes christmas makes sense. And hopefully we’ll see that as we go button in his time on earth and especially his time on the cross. And then through his resurrection, jesus overcame the world in personal conflict and then by his death. Now the victory of christ as our head and we, the body concerns his members us right for he did not overcome the world for himself First Corinthians chapter 15: verse # 57 says. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He overcame the world in our name. And when we are interested in him, when we are following him, when we are abiding in him, he makes us conquerors together with himself and in all of our conflicts and sufferings, he assures us of certain victory of a of a holy outcome. So that when people are suffering, they need not be dismayed at the power and policy. The threats and terrors of the world. For though in christ were not exempt from the battle and the exercise and and the things that that that that the spirit of the world inflicts upon us. But nevertheless we are part takers together with him in victory. And that happens of course by faith, by abiding in him. And then we find that that as we exercise that faith as it grows and as our abiding in him becomes more and more personal and and more and more thorough in our lives, we find that the enemies we are facing or the enemies that we are battling have already been vanquished by christ. I know that that is a tough concept to understand, but he is going to lay it out for us in John Chapter 17 and hopefully you’re already reading that that great chapter as I asked a few weeks ago. But you remember that his first words, Our Father The Hour has come glorify your son. That your son may glorify you as this is his first request. We must suppose that it is the supreme request and desire and what everything is ultimately aimed at. We consider what follows to the end and all the rest. That he says in that great prayer seems to be an amplification of that first request on the whole. I think that it is pretty manifest that Jesus sought the glory of God as his highest end. The greatest thing. The greatest purpose that he can do is to glorify God. Therefore he defeats the world, the devil and and all of the enemies that we face. So that we confident in our freedom, that we’re confident in our freedom. And confident in our victory can glorify God as well. That that that we might glorify him. Now, I want us to go back to John Chapter two because Jesus uses this phrase over and over again in his Gospel. And I want to remind you of a couple uses of it. He is at Canna fresh from his temptation and you remember that while he is there verse three says that the wine ran out and the mother said to him, they have no wine and jesus said to her woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come In, John Chapter eight, which we’ll see uh in the following months, he spoke these words in the Treasury as he taught in the temple, but no one arrested him for his hour had not yet come, john uses this phrase a number of times in his gospel. And and and we are supposed to to to ask the question, well what is that our, what does that our consist of? When will that hour come and what will be the result of it? Now? With all of that in mind, let’s turn to romans or John Chapter seven after this, jesus went up to galilee. He would not go about in judea because the jews were seeking to kill him. You remember that’s how chapter six ends and then him asking the disciples, are you going to leave me as well? And they say where would we go? You have the words of eternal life, but because he had told the people to drink the blood and because he did the the the the the miraculous works on the sabbath day, breaking what they thought was the true mission of the messiah. That that that he would come along and fulfill their teachings because he equated himself with God. In chapter five, the jews are seeking to kill him. So he’s moving around at this point in galilee and doesn’t go to judea. Now the feast of the Boots was at hand. So his brothers, now these are his blood brothers. His blood brothers come to him and say verse number three leave here and go to judea. That your disciples also may see the works that you are doing, it’s almost cold sounding here. His brothers are saying, I know you’re not wanting to go to judea because people are gonna kill you there but you need to go to judea so that people can see what you’re doing now. Why they ask this is because they don’t want people to think jesus is crazy that they’re concerned about their reputation there even concerned I guess about his reputation but they are wanting him to be more popular to do his, his works more openly because of the of the whispers of the rumors that have been started by jesus enemies and then his brothers say this to him 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 for even his brothers did not believe in him, Jesus said to them, my time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you. But it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast, I am not going up to this feast for my time has not yet fully come after saying this. He remained in galilee. Now look at verse number 10 but after his brothers had gone up to the feast then he also went up but not as they wished him to right look at the end of verse number 11 or verse number 10 but 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 is a good man, others said no, he’s leading the people astray Yet for fear of the Jews. No one spoke openly of him. Now let’s look back and make some sense out of some of these verses the brothers coming in verse number three, they say leave here, jesus in galilee for the purpose that we’ve already mentioned that they say leave here, go to judea. That your disciples may also see the works that you are doing now. Not the 12, obviously the others who had believed in him for no one works in secret. If he seeks to be known openly, if you do these things, show yourselves to the world, his brothers come to him and they say what you’re doing looks sneaky. It looks underhanded it, it looks strange. It seems as if you’re like a magician doing these things and you’re hoping that if you get to the sophisticated people in judea, they might find out. So you’re staying out here in galilee in the backwoods and it looks sneaky. We don’t like that. We don’t like that idea attributed to you and to our family, I mean who wants to, who wants to hire a bunch of carpenters that their eldest brother is known as sneaky and underhanded. That’s their thinking because verse number five says for even his brothers did not believe in him. This to me is one of the most troubling texts in the new testament and why I talked about christmas earlier, I always wondered why the events that took place around the birth of christ did not have more impact than they than they do. It seems like that they end in in luke chapter two and luke and in Matthew chapter three and they’re never spoken of again the angels on the mountain, the glory of the Lord come down the the wise men from the east and all that seems to have no impact and and you know that mary and joseph told the story that that the story was known while he was in Egypt and when he had come back so why didn’t this have more impact? Because as jesus is going going to go on to say that until he has come until he has brought the true knowledge from God himself, mentor of the world, he says they can’t hate you because you think like them but they hate me because I exposed that their deeds are evil. But then when we understand man that christmas story makes so much sense. It brings us so much glory and so much peace that God became a man for us that he took our place, that we might, we might be the recipients of that blessed exchange our sin and rejection for his son ship and blessing Again, this whole John seven is a troubling text and it’s highlighted by this parenthetical statement. Even his brothers did not believe in him After the bread of life discourse in John Chapter six, so many of his disciples left him, you remember in 666 and jesus at this point is long into his ministry. He is approaching the end of his life. Now at the beginning of this passage, the brothers don’t seem to be unbelievers. His brothers act like they are his self appointed managers of his populist campaign. It seemed to be a family trait. His mother wanted to manage him at the wedding of kanna and force him to do what she wanted him to do. And now the brothers are coming along wanting to manage him that he would do what they want him to do. And jesus says to both groups, who are you to me? My hour has not yet come. Do you not understand that though I am a man and your son mother and your brothers jude and James right. I am also god of very God. And I have come with a, with a mission that the angel told our mother about that the angel told Zachariah about to be jesus, the savior that takes away the sin of the world. My mission is not a populace campaign. My mission is one to bring tears to men for their sin for their rebellion to bring understanding and darkness that then the light may shine and that light might become the light of men. As as Jesus says in john 11 through four for even his brothers did not believe in him. But brothers, you don’t understand my time has not fully come. It’s not time for me to die now. The brothers know he’s doing miraculous works, but they do not believe in a saving way. Their expectations of jesus were not all of we’re not we’re not anything about what Jesus was about. Now understand something. These were the people who were the closest to him who had been watching him all of their lives. They had heard about it and probably even seen the spectacular and the stupendous things that surrounded him. They were on his team, they were rooting for him to go to Jerusalem and manifest his power to receive glory. But remember Jesus is here not to receive glory for himself but to provide glory for the father. And then he asks the father to glorify him because it is not the glory of man that is real, it is the glory of the father that changes things. It’s the glory of the sun that gives us that victory. His brothers are thinking he’s done so much awesome stuff, but it doesn’t seem to be making a difference, a difference either in the world’s situation, there are still hungry people, There are still still sick people. There are still lame people. There are still blind people or for his own name. All of these stupendous things rather than giving him a name that men might honor has now become a name that that people question some say he’s a good man. Another say no, he’s a demon or he has a demon and he’s bringing harm to the people as we read just a few moments ago. Right. In fact, the brothers understand that his name is being dishonored and slandered. Now they believe in jesus of the spectacular by human standards, but they do not yet believe in jesus, the one who is fulfilling the will of God, the purpose of God and the good of man. My time has not fully come. When someone comes to me with the deepest questions of life, I asked them some questions. Do you love jesus perfectly? No, do you love him as much as you ought to? No. Right. Do you love jesus at all? Right. Generally they will say yes, but the caveat is to that last question, Do you love the biblical jesus? You see if they answer, do you love jesus perfectly. If they answer yes, then we got a whole world of problems. If they answer him, Do you love him as much as you ought to If they say yes, I I love him to that point, I’ll say, Well, all of your heart, all of your mind, all of your strength. No, but do you love him at all? Yes, Well, that’s a good place to start. Now, let me ask you the second question, Do you love the biblical jesus? Not the the existential example, not not the Spirit of liberation, not the ethical teacher, not the wonder worker, but the one who came in humble humility, who was born in a barn and laid in a manger, giving all that. He has. Birds of the air have nests, the foxes have their holes, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head, giving all that he has even his own life for other people. The one who says, I am not here to make your life better. I am here to make you better at life. You see, I’m not here to take away all of the elements of the curse. Because if I took away all the elements of the curse, no man would would would find God. No man would hear the voice of God. No man would cry out for him, Like the people in Egypt, I haven’t come here to make your life better. I’ve come here to make you better at life. So that when these things come, you can rejoice, always knowing that God is on our side, knowing that he is working to fulfill the purpose of glorifying the father through us and that we then are the recipients of that great response of God, of when he is glorified. If you were to ask jesus brothers, do you love jesus? And they would have said, Of course, but they would just added the proviso, we just can’t get him to do what we want him to do. How many people are like that, right? And in fact, when people come to me with those most important questions in life, that’s ultimately most of the time, what it comes down to. I just can’t get jesus to do what I want him to do. I don’t want to be half crippled, I don’t want to be half blind. I want to be able to go golfing again with my son and sit in a boat and catch crappie, right, Jesus won’t do those things for me. Oh, I believe in him. I just can’t get him to do what I want him to do. Why would I want him to do what I want him to do Most of the decisions that men make stink. They’re wrong. The heart is deceptively evil and and full of lies. There is a question that I must continually ask myself and that we must continually ask ourselves, do I believe in a in the biblical jesus or one of my own making. And am I believing in the biblical jesus right now, is that the one I’m following is that the one I’m praising in the songs we’ve sung and the songs to come in this service. Listen, the reason that I am standing here this morning is jesus, I love him and I love him not only for who he is, but also for what he’s done for me. I couldn’t have another job. I don’t think other than this one. And I have the greatest job in the world to spend my life with you people and to speak of his glorious love. Why I am here this morning is jesus and hopefully why you are sitting here this morning. It’s because of jesus and what he, what he accomplished in his hour. The jesus who cloaks his glory and humility. The jesus who exchanges the glory he had in the beginning with the father for the disgrace of a manger and ultimately the cross that jesus who is despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows, Get the one full of glory. Who gives us his peace, his joy. Right? What kind of expectation are you coming to jesus with? The real jesus will give you forgiveness and recreate you. That you might be better at life, that you might be better at fulfilling his purpose and our purpose and the purpose of our creation, Where will not be out of step with life, we will be in step with life so that when everything else that is out of whack comes against us, we know that we are on the road to victory and we cannot be diverted pulled off or destroyed, That’s awesome! Listen, if we come with any other expectation, we become like the unbelieving brothers as I stand here this morning and in this sermon, the only things that I can guarantee you that he will give you is forgiveness. Redemption, reconciliation with the Father for all of eternity. And the possibility of it with others. The only thing that I can promise that he will give you is forgiveness. Redemption, reconciliation with the Father through all of eternity. And he will give you himself to help you, to guide you, to love you, to strengthen you. And if that’s not enough, listen to these closing verses, John chapter 12. Whoever loves his life loses it and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me and where I am, will, my servant also be. If anyone serves me, the father will honor him. Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father save me from this hour! No, but for this purpose came I unto this hour, Father glorify your name! Then a voice came down from heaven. I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thunders thundered and others said. An angel has spoken to him and jesus said, This voice has come for your sake, not mine, Now is the judgment of this world, Now is the ruler of this world cast out, And I, when I am lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto myself, he said this concerning what manner of death he was going to die! The crowd answered him. We have heard the law that the christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this? Son of Man? And so jesus said to them, The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light lest the darkness overtake you, The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. But while you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of light. You see, we cannot love him perfectly. We cannot love him even as we ought. But that is not true of him. He can and does love us perfectly. Right, listen to him what he says! Later on the night that he has betrayed, he took the bread and broke it, saying, this is my body broken. For you, listen to the cup. This cup is the new covenant in my blood for the remission of sins. This it’s perfect love. This is the real jesus, right, This is what he offers us today. Right. We want the spectacular well, we we we we we want what we want, jesus comes to give us the beyond spectacular life in him for eternity, with the honor of God pouring down upon us. Right, who are you following? The biblical jesus who longed not for his own pleasures, but for the pleasure of the Father? Or the one who is the claw machine at at the angles? Who should pick for us what we want? Right. Listen. The answer to that question makes all the difference in the world. It’s the difference between defeat and victory. Joy and dis heart disheartening nous. Right? And it’s the offer that’s in front of us today, father, I think I pray.