John 7:25-36
Decide His Identity, and Determine Your Destiny
Introduction
Did you ever think you knew someone, only to find out that they weren’t who you thought they were? Annie and I were talking last week. Did you ever do or say something in your marriage that makes your spouse ask, “How did I ever marry you? How did I not see this?” Like when you were dating and engaged they didn’t really know who you were at the time – they thought they knew you enough to marry you but, oops, darnit, too late now. Well, I confidently re-assured her that she had gotten the “pick of the litter.” And she said, “Yeah, emphasis on ‘litter’”!
Context
So I ask again, did you ever think you knew someone, only to find out they weren’t who you thought they were? The crowd in John chapter 7 thought they knew who Jesus was. They knew He was from Nazareth in Galilee; they knew He was the son of Joseph and Mary; they knew He was a carpenter by trade; they knew His brothers and sisters. But, a person can know some things about Jesus Christ while never really knowing Jesus Christ.
Today I want us to focus on two aspects of our passage: Knowing God in verses 25-29, and Being with God in verses 33-36. (Pray)
Knowing God (25-29)
Notice verses 25-29, “At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Christ? But we know where this man is from; when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.’ Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, ‘Yes, you know me and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.’”
Jesus is in the temple, in Jerusalem, in the midst of thousands and thousands of Jewish people. Many are from Jerusalem, but many more are Jews who have made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. In verse 19 Jesus asked “Why are you trying to kill me?” And the crowd said to Him, “You are demon-possessed, who is trying to kill you?”
Those are the Jews from out of town. They didn’t know that the Pharisees and the Sadducees were trying to kill Jesus. They didn’t know that the last time Jesus was in Jerusalem He healed a man on the Sabbath and then claimed to be equal with God. But, the Jews who lived in Jerusalem remembered and were aware that the authorities were trying to kill Jesus. And they are the ones who ask in verse 25, “Isn’t this the one they are trying to kill?”
Knowing that Jesus is a hunted man, they are astonished to see him speaking publicly and that he hasn’t been arrested yet. They wondered if the religious authorities have investigated Jesus further and concluded that He really is the Christ.
But, they show they are not ready themselves to accept it based on their faulty understanding of the OT prophecies concerning the Christ. It was the popular belief that no one would know where the Christ would come from (“When the Christ comes no one will know where He is from”). This was based on a misinterpretation of passages like Isaiah 53:8, “Who can speak of His descendants?” and Malachi 3:1, “Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to His temple”.
They missed Micah 5:2 which predicted Christ would come from Bethlehem – which the crowd acknowledges in verse 42. Jesus may have grown up in Nazareth, but, with a little investigation they could have found out that Jesus had in fact been born in Bethlehem (Mth. 2:4-6; Luke 2:4-6). They thought they knew Jesus, but, they really didn’t. Do you really know Christ?
In this Gospel we have seen some people who did know Jesus. John the Apostle knew Him as the Word of God, the True Light, God the One and Only. John the Baptist knew Him as the Lamb of God and as the Son of God. Andrew knew Him as the Messiah. Nathanael knew Him as the King of Israel and the Son of Man. The Samaritan woman at the well knew Him as the Living Water; her fellow Samaritan’s knew Him as the Savior of the World. The Jews in Capernaum knew Him as the Bread of Life. His disciples knew Him as the Holy One of God. The Jews in chapter 7 can’t figure out whether He is the Christ or not.
God created man to know Him. God’s will is to be known – His will is for us as His creatures’ is to know Him as the Creator. In Jeremiah 24:7, speaking of Israel, God says, “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord.” Later in chapter 31:34 God speaks of a covenant with Israel that He will make in the future when “[He] will put [His] law in their minds and write it on their hearts…No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me”.
The reason God created you was to be known by you. There is no higher pursuit in your life than to seek to know God. Career, education, marriage, success in business or in sports, wealth, fame, physical fitness are all inferior pursuits next to the pursuit of knowing God.
Moses was a man who whole-heartedly sought to know the Lord. He says to God in Exodus 33:13, “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.” What low and unworthy thing are you devoting yourself to while sacrificing the pursuit of knowing God?
Even though they had religion they did not have knowledge – they did not know God. Verse 28 says, “___________”. A person can be as spiritual and religiously devoted as anyone while being utterly ignorant of who God is and what He is like. The Apostle Paul is an example of how a man can be more religious than anyone else but be more ignorant of God than everyone else. Turn to Philippians 3:4-8.
Knowing Jesus Christ is necessary for anyone to know God. Jesus is the only way to know the Father. Do you want an image of the Father? Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Do you want a representative of the Father? Jesus is the exact representation of God’s being. Do you want to have the fullness of the Father? In Jesus all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form. He has come and made the Father known. He says in verse 28 and 29, “I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”
Being with God
Notice verses 33-34, “Jesus said, ‘I am with you for only a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me. You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.’”
Jesus was only going to be with them a little while longer; the Light of the world had only a short time left in the world. It was about 6 months before Jesus was going to be crucified. That’s why nobody could touch Him in verse 30, and that’s why the guards couldn’t arrest Him in verse 45, because the time for Him to be arrested and executed is still 6 months off.
Now, in my opinion, these are the most terrifying words in the Bible: “Where I am, you cannot come.” This is hell – to be barred from the presence of the Lord; to not be where Jesus is; and to be kept out of the place where Jesus is – this is terrifying. Because it means there’s only one other place where I could be – hell. Second Thessalonians 1:9 says about those who never reject Jesus Christ, “They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power”.
We see this separation from God’s presence began all the way back in Genesis 3. God kicked Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden because they sinned against Him. Sin separates man from God. If you are a believer and you are sinning and you know you shouldn’t (whether in your speech or your conduct or your attitude), you know the separation you feel between you and God. You know the guilt and the distance you feel when you walk through these doors to “worship.” Your heart is not in it because your conscience condemns you. You need to heed James 4:7 and 8, “Submit yourselves to God; resist the devil; come near to God; wash your hands; purify your hearts; stop being double-minded.”
If you are not a believer then you know the fear of walking into a church; the fear of men’s judgment, and ultimately the fear of God’s judgment. That fear is because you have not trusted in Christ to wash your sins away and cleanse your guilty conscience. You have not been joined with Christ but you are separated from Him. You have not received His Spirit inside of you but you are empty and dead inside. You haven’t received the hope and the promise and the confidence that is given to every child of God. Don’t you want to know what that is?
It is to be with Jesus where He is – that is the promise and confidence and hope of every child of God. Philippians 1:23, “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.” Second Corinthians 5:8, “We are confident I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” First Thessalonians 4:17, “After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” John 14:3, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
Listen, it’s not only the hope of every believer, but, it is the desire of Jesus for us to be with Him. John 17:24, says, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory”. Isn’t that amazing?! That while Jesus is in heaven seated at God’s right hand, and as He prays constantly for us, all the time He is wanting us to be with Him where He is.
But, Jesus had to come to us first before this could happen. In chapter 1 He is called the Word of God and John says in verse 14 that Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us. In other words, He came to be with us where we are, so that He could make the way for us to be with Him where He is. God became flesh on the earth so that in His flesh He could bear our sins and die on our behalf. By this He is the One who takes our sins away, He is the One who purifies us from our sins, and He is the One through whom we have access to the Father in heaven. This is where He came from, and this is where Jesus went back to, “I am with you only for a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me.”
The Jews didn’t understand Him. In verses 35 and 36 it says, “The Jews said to one another, ‘Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?’”
They didn’t realize Jesus was talking about heaven because they were “of the earth.” John 3:31 says, “the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth.”
At that time, all the Jews didn’t live only in Jerusalem. Many had migrated throughout the Roman empire and lived among the Greeks. There were Greeks who had been converted to Judaism and became worshippers of the true God. They thought Jesus was going to go to them and teach them too.
But their thought was more prophetic than they knew. The plan of God was in fact to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles. His salvation was never only for the Jews. Romans 9 :23-26, “What if God did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy , whom he prepared in advance for glory – even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles. As he says in Hosea, “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people… they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”
God has called out men for salvation from every nation, not just from Israel. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles – he was to carry the Gospel to them that we here today could be saved too. Revelation 7 describes a scene in heaven where multitudes upon multitudes of people from every nation, people, and language were standing before the throne of God and in front of the Lamb, crying out, ‘Salvation belongs to our God”.
The Jews were confused about who Jesus was. They were confused about where He was going.
Conclusion
There were people in the crowds hearing the Word of God. You’re in the crowd hearing the word of God. These people in chapter 7 either accepted Christ, or, they rejected Him. You either accept Christ or you reject Him. There is no middle ground.
The point is that every human being will be in one of two places when they die: either with Jesus where He is in heaven, or, cast away from Him in hell
Decide His Identity, and Determine Your Destiny
Introduction
Did you ever think you knew someone, only to find out that they weren’t who you thought they were? Annie and I were talking last week. Did you ever do or say something in your marriage that makes your spouse ask, “How did I ever marry you? How did I not see this?” Like when you were dating and engaged they didn’t really know who you were at the time – they thought they knew you enough to marry you but, oops, darnit, too late now. Well, I confidently re-assured her that she had gotten the “pick of the litter.” And she said, “Yeah, emphasis on ‘litter’”!
Context
So I ask again, did you ever think you knew someone, only to find out they weren’t who you thought they were? The crowd in John chapter 7 thought they knew who Jesus was. They knew He was from Nazareth in Galilee; they knew He was the son of Joseph and Mary; they knew He was a carpenter by trade; they knew His brothers and sisters. But, a person can know some things about Jesus Christ while never really knowing Jesus Christ.
Today I want us to focus on two aspects of our passage: Knowing God in verses 25-29, and Being with God in verses 33-36. (Pray)
Knowing God (25-29)
Notice verses 25-29, “At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Christ? But we know where this man is from; when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.’ Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, ‘Yes, you know me and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.’”
Jesus is in the temple, in Jerusalem, in the midst of thousands and thousands of Jewish people. Many are from Jerusalem, but many more are Jews who have made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. In verse 19 Jesus asked “Why are you trying to kill me?” And the crowd said to Him, “You are demon-possessed, who is trying to kill you?”
Those are the Jews from out of town. They didn’t know that the Pharisees and the Sadducees were trying to kill Jesus. They didn’t know that the last time Jesus was in Jerusalem He healed a man on the Sabbath and then claimed to be equal with God. But, the Jews who lived in Jerusalem remembered and were aware that the authorities were trying to kill Jesus. And they are the ones who ask in verse 25, “Isn’t this the one they are trying to kill?”
Knowing that Jesus is a hunted man, they are astonished to see him speaking publicly and that he hasn’t been arrested yet. They wondered if the religious authorities have investigated Jesus further and concluded that He really is the Christ.
But, they show they are not ready themselves to accept it based on their faulty understanding of the OT prophecies concerning the Christ. It was the popular belief that no one would know where the Christ would come from (“When the Christ comes no one will know where He is from”). This was based on a misinterpretation of passages like Isaiah 53:8, “Who can speak of His descendants?” and Malachi 3:1, “Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to His temple”.
They missed Micah 5:2 which predicted Christ would come from Bethlehem – which the crowd acknowledges in verse 42. Jesus may have grown up in Nazareth, but, with a little investigation they could have found out that Jesus had in fact been born in Bethlehem (Mth. 2:4-6; Luke 2:4-6). They thought they knew Jesus, but, they really didn’t. Do you really know Christ?
In this Gospel we have seen some people who did know Jesus. John the Apostle knew Him as the Word of God, the True Light, God the One and Only. John the Baptist knew Him as the Lamb of God and as the Son of God. Andrew knew Him as the Messiah. Nathanael knew Him as the King of Israel and the Son of Man. The Samaritan woman at the well knew Him as the Living Water; her fellow Samaritan’s knew Him as the Savior of the World. The Jews in Capernaum knew Him as the Bread of Life. His disciples knew Him as the Holy One of God. The Jews in chapter 7 can’t figure out whether He is the Christ or not.
God created man to know Him. God’s will is to be known – His will is for us as His creatures’ is to know Him as the Creator. In Jeremiah 24:7, speaking of Israel, God says, “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord.” Later in chapter 31:34 God speaks of a covenant with Israel that He will make in the future when “[He] will put [His] law in their minds and write it on their hearts…No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me”.
The reason God created you was to be known by you. There is no higher pursuit in your life than to seek to know God. Career, education, marriage, success in business or in sports, wealth, fame, physical fitness are all inferior pursuits next to the pursuit of knowing God.
Moses was a man who whole-heartedly sought to know the Lord. He says to God in Exodus 33:13, “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.” What low and unworthy thing are you devoting yourself to while sacrificing the pursuit of knowing God?
Even though they had religion they did not have knowledge – they did not know God. Verse 28 says, “___________”. A person can be as spiritual and religiously devoted as anyone while being utterly ignorant of who God is and what He is like. The Apostle Paul is an example of how a man can be more religious than anyone else but be more ignorant of God than everyone else. Turn to Philippians 3:4-8.
Knowing Jesus Christ is necessary for anyone to know God. Jesus is the only way to know the Father. Do you want an image of the Father? Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Do you want a representative of the Father? Jesus is the exact representation of God’s being. Do you want to have the fullness of the Father? In Jesus all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form. He has come and made the Father known. He says in verse 28 and 29, “I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”
Being with God
Notice verses 33-34, “Jesus said, ‘I am with you for only a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me. You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.’”
Jesus was only going to be with them a little while longer; the Light of the world had only a short time left in the world. It was about 6 months before Jesus was going to be crucified. That’s why nobody could touch Him in verse 30, and that’s why the guards couldn’t arrest Him in verse 45, because the time for Him to be arrested and executed is still 6 months off.
Now, in my opinion, these are the most terrifying words in the Bible: “Where I am, you cannot come.” This is hell – to be barred from the presence of the Lord; to not be where Jesus is; and to be kept out of the place where Jesus is – this is terrifying. Because it means there’s only one other place where I could be – hell. Second Thessalonians 1:9 says about those who never reject Jesus Christ, “They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power”.
We see this separation from God’s presence began all the way back in Genesis 3. God kicked Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden because they sinned against Him. Sin separates man from God. If you are a believer and you are sinning and you know you shouldn’t (whether in your speech or your conduct or your attitude), you know the separation you feel between you and God. You know the guilt and the distance you feel when you walk through these doors to “worship.” Your heart is not in it because your conscience condemns you. You need to heed James 4:7 and 8, “Submit yourselves to God; resist the devil; come near to God; wash your hands; purify your hearts; stop being double-minded.”
If you are not a believer then you know the fear of walking into a church; the fear of men’s judgment, and ultimately the fear of God’s judgment. That fear is because you have not trusted in Christ to wash your sins away and cleanse your guilty conscience. You have not been joined with Christ but you are separated from Him. You have not received His Spirit inside of you but you are empty and dead inside. You haven’t received the hope and the promise and the confidence that is given to every child of God. Don’t you want to know what that is?
It is to be with Jesus where He is – that is the promise and confidence and hope of every child of God. Philippians 1:23, “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.” Second Corinthians 5:8, “We are confident I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” First Thessalonians 4:17, “After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” John 14:3, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
Listen, it’s not only the hope of every believer, but, it is the desire of Jesus for us to be with Him. John 17:24, says, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory”. Isn’t that amazing?! That while Jesus is in heaven seated at God’s right hand, and as He prays constantly for us, all the time He is wanting us to be with Him where He is.
But, Jesus had to come to us first before this could happen. In chapter 1 He is called the Word of God and John says in verse 14 that Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us. In other words, He came to be with us where we are, so that He could make the way for us to be with Him where He is. God became flesh on the earth so that in His flesh He could bear our sins and die on our behalf. By this He is the One who takes our sins away, He is the One who purifies us from our sins, and He is the One through whom we have access to the Father in heaven. This is where He came from, and this is where Jesus went back to, “I am with you only for a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me.”
The Jews didn’t understand Him. In verses 35 and 36 it says, “The Jews said to one another, ‘Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?’”
They didn’t realize Jesus was talking about heaven because they were “of the earth.” John 3:31 says, “the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth.”
At that time, all the Jews didn’t live only in Jerusalem. Many had migrated throughout the Roman empire and lived among the Greeks. There were Greeks who had been converted to Judaism and became worshippers of the true God. They thought Jesus was going to go to them and teach them too.
But their thought was more prophetic than they knew. The plan of God was in fact to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles. His salvation was never only for the Jews. Romans 9 :23-26, “What if God did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy , whom he prepared in advance for glory – even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles. As he says in Hosea, “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people… they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”
God has called out men for salvation from every nation, not just from Israel. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles – he was to carry the Gospel to them that we here today could be saved too. Revelation 7 describes a scene in heaven where multitudes upon multitudes of people from every nation, people, and language were standing before the throne of God and in front of the Lamb, crying out, ‘Salvation belongs to our God”.
The Jews were confused about who Jesus was. They were confused about where He was going.
Conclusion
There were people in the crowds hearing the Word of God. You’re in the crowd hearing the word of God. These people in chapter 7 either accepted Christ, or, they rejected Him. You either accept Christ or you reject Him. There is no middle ground.
The point is that every human being will be in one of two places when they die: either with Jesus where He is in heaven, or, cast away from Him in hell
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