WEBVTT 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:01.199 Amen. 00:00:01.439 --> 00:00:03.200 Well, good morning, Sacred Mission. 00:00:03.520 --> 00:00:04.160 Good morning. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:05.200 How's it going? 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:05.919 Good? 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:06.320 Yeah? 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:07.440 You guys doing good? 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:08.000 Yeah? 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:08.720 All right. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:12.400 It's uh Bangle opening day today. 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:14.160 Who's excited for that? 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:15.199 Nice. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:17.440 Bengals versus Browns. 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:21.760 Uh, we have an absurd amount of Browns fans in this church. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:23.359 It bothers me. 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:31.519 I wish we could practice church discipline on such individuals, but that'd be building our own kingdom, not his, right? 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:36.000 Uh so uh yeah, but nonetheless, hey, here's something I've been pondering about. 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:40.799 I've been talking with all kinds of people who are excited about the opening season of football. 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:44.479 They're excited about their uh fantasy football teams, right? 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:46.079 And all this fun stuff that's happening. 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:55.359 But here's something I've been meditating on, thinking about this uh football season and fantasy football proves to me one thing. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:57.280 We have time. 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:00.159 We have time. 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:05.040 We have time in our days, in our weeks to do things, right? 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:06.000 With our time. 00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:12.560 And here's the challenge that I want to put forth to all the specifically men, and that might sound semi-like, oh what, women play fantasy too. 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:13.040 That's great. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:16.959 You if you fall in this category, great, but I want to speak to the men for just a moment. 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:41.599 And this, if if in the coming weeks you find yourself spending more time watching football and investing in your fantasy team than you do reading God's word, prayer, and most importantly, discipling your own family, I want you to receive this challenge and really bring that before the Lord. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:44.719 Because we see that we have this. 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:48.560 This is the most, this is the most challenging part of it all. 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:52.319 We make time for what's valuable for us. 00:01:53.359 --> 00:01:54.000 Right? 00:01:54.400 --> 00:01:55.760 We all say we don't have time. 00:01:55.920 --> 00:02:01.680 It's not that we don't have time, it's that we actually don't value the thing we're willing to give the time to. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:03.920 That's the problem. 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:08.800 And so I'm not, if you feel attacked, I'm not attacking you, I'm attacking this whole room. 00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:10.800 It's not just you, you're not that important. 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:25.759 But here's the reality is I just want us to think through that as men, as fathers, as leaders, as husbands, how are we committing our time, balancing our time, and how does it speak to our values as men? 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:26.800 All right? 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:27.599 That's it. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:28.719 Warm you up. 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:31.199 You guys so excited for what I'm getting ready to preach? 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:32.639 I can't wait. 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:35.919 Um, and I watch, I'm I'm not condemning any of these actions. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:38.000 I'm just saying, like, let's ponder those things. 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:39.120 All right, here we go. 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:40.879 Talking about values. 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:45.280 The Ramos family has five core values to our house. 00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:55.520 These values are this we love God, we love family, we love the church, we love truth, and we love recklessly. 00:02:55.680 --> 00:02:58.319 These are our five core values as a Ramos family. 00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:01.919 Now, love truth is one of those core values. 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:06.400 And the reason that we put love truth as one of our core values is because this. 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:22.800 In our life, we are more tempted to steer away from the truth or to run away from the truth because it above all other things costs us something. 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:41.439 I think truth has the greatest cost in all of our life, and so we are constantly tempted to run away from truth or to combat against it because of the cost that it brings to us. 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:44.400 Truth is going to cost us something. 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:47.759 But why is this then a core value of our family? 00:03:48.080 --> 00:04:02.479 We believe fundamentally that the fruit and outcome of truth is eternally greater than the cost to either ourselves or those around us for it. 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:03.599 Right? 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:17.040 The outcome of truth is greater, no matter the pain that might come through it, of either having to address truth and under the uh another individual's right, the relational pain that can happen when you are truthful, right? 00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:23.680 Sometimes your own pain when you have to wrestle with and work to submit to truth, right? 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:29.040 I've had people tell me very truthful things about myself, and it like was it hurt. 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:29.839 It wasn't fun. 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:32.800 I didn't sit there and be like, hey, can we do this again next week? 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:34.639 Like, let me put me down on your calendar. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:36.720 Like, no, don't ever talk to me again. 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:37.759 This was horrible. 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:43.439 Uh, but it helped me when I was able to be humble enough to receive it and submit to it. 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:43.839 Why? 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:46.959 The fruit of truth is greater than its cost. 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:53.759 And I want that value structure to be instilled with inside of our church community. 00:04:53.920 --> 00:05:06.720 And I believe that John 7 sets before us this reality that truth is the fact of truth in our world is going to tempt us to do one of two things. 00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:15.439 It's either gonna tempt us to corrupt it for popularity, or it's gonna tempt us to conceal it for protection. 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:19.680 And we're gonna wrestle with that in the text this morning, John 7, 1 through 24. 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:20.639 Let's dive in. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:21.279 Ready? 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:27.439 As we engage with the text, verses 1 through 9, here's what I want us to look at: the push toward popularity. 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:30.319 The push toward popularity. 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:44.000 Verse 1 says that after this, being the uh bread of life discourse that we just went through over the last few weeks, after this, Jesus went about in Galilee, but he would not go about in Judea. 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:47.120 So let's kind of uh build a map for ourselves, right? 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:50.000 I'm not a visual person, I don't have like a slide to put up. 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:53.120 So just picture in your brain what Israel looks like. 00:05:53.199 --> 00:05:56.720 It's a land mass, uh, whatever shape you want it to be. 00:05:56.879 --> 00:06:02.720 And then in the north, there's the region of Galilee, where Capernaum is. 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:12.480 This is the city where Jesus had gone to after he did the miracle of the feeding 5,000, and he went through the bread of life discourse in John 6 that we just went through, right? 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:17.680 So he was in the city of Capernaum, which is in the northern region of Galilee. 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:27.040 Forty miles south of him is the region of Judea, which is the home of the city of Jerusalem. 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:38.000 So it's about a 40-mile straight line foot journey from Capernaum to Jerusalem, where this feast that they refer to in John 7 is taking place. 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:40.800 It's kind of the epicenter of this feast, right? 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:44.399 And so he's saying, uh, he's gonna remain in Galilee in this moment. 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:49.360 He doesn't want to make the journey, we'll talk about want desire versus submission, right? 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:52.959 To Jerusalem into Judea. 00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:58.639 Because, he says, the Jews were seeking to kill him. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:07.759 So he understood that was what was waiting for him in Judea was that a group of people who had malicious attent against his well-being, right? 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:13.920 And so he was going to remain in Galilee, but he's only going to remain there for a short time. 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:28.079 Because it says uh when it talks about the Jews were seeking to kill him, John uh in his gospel, when he refers to the Jews, predominantly he's talking about the religious leaders of society. 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:33.439 And there's kind of three groups that make up this broader audience of religious leaders. 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:34.560 It's the scribes. 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:50.399 These were the people that were responsible for uh communicating God's law and word uh through this rigorous, very strict practice and discipline of writing down and copying God's word for others, right? 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:52.000 So they're the scribes. 00:07:52.319 --> 00:08:00.240 They also looked for uh discrepancies and mistakes and so forth as they were jotting this word of God down. 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:01.040 That was the scribes. 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:06.079 Then we had the Pharisees, they could be kind of ruled over, they were the head honchos, right? 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:14.319 Of making disciples, building other Pharisees up, that the word and law of God would reign and it would flourish with inside the people of Israel. 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:23.680 And then you have the Sadducees, this other group of religious leaders, but they were distinct from the Pharisees because the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. 00:08:23.839 --> 00:08:25.360 They did not believe in the resurrection. 00:08:25.439 --> 00:08:30.959 So that kind of qualifies them differently and distinct from the Pharisees. 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:36.960 And this was this Jewish religious leadership group that looked to kill Jesus. 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:39.919 And we saw that this fame is spreading. 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:52.320 And at the John 6, when he had done the feeding of the 5,000 miracle, it said that the crowd, the people, sought to take him, cease him, and make him king. 00:08:52.480 --> 00:09:00.799 So the people of Israel desired to make him king, yet the leadership of Israel desired to kill him. 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:07.840 Because his growing popularity, his growing influence threatened their power structure, right? 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:15.759 And so they wanted to kill Jesus that they might retain the power that they have over his people. 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:17.840 Now, verse 2. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:21.279 Now the Jews' feast of booth was at hand. 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:24.480 Uh let's talk about what this is, this feast of booth. 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:26.639 In Hebrew, it's called Sukkot. 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:32.960 Uh, and what it is, it's a festival that the Lord instituted for the people of Israel. 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:38.240 And at this time, they celebrate the end of an agricultural season. 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:46.000 They have and continue to pray for God to bring rain upon their work, that they might have a fruitful harvest. 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:54.720 And specifically, it's the grapes and olives that have been harvested, and that constitutes the end of this agricultural season. 00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:57.039 And they have this feast of booths. 00:09:57.200 --> 00:10:18.159 But more importantly, it was instituted by God that Israel would forever remember how he had delivered them out of Egypt and caused them to wander in the wilderness as he was leading them to the promised land and where he called them to live in these makeshift structures, booths, tents, right? 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:20.399 And so it's called the feast of booths. 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:24.559 We see this in Leviticus chapter 23, verse 42 through 43. 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:38.799 Says, You shall dwell in booths for seven days, all native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generation may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:40.720 I am the Lord your God. 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:52.639 So at the heart of this festival, God desired his people to remember how he delivered them with an outstretched arm and a mighty hand under the oppression of Pharaoh, right? 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:57.039 And so Jerusalem was kind of the epicenter of this festival. 00:10:57.200 --> 00:11:03.600 And that's where his brothers were going to be challenging or pushing Jesus to go. 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:13.759 Says in verse 3, so his brothers said to him, Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples may also see the works you are doing. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:17.279 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:20.480 If you do these things, show yourself to the world. 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:22.080 Well, here's what he's saying. 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:24.480 Uh, you you have some sort of following. 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:27.600 You have people that that are claiming to be your disciples. 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:34.320 If you can do all these miracles and these signs and wonders, you should go to Judea to make yourself known. 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:35.519 Don't stay here. 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:39.679 You should be pushed toward popularity, Jesus. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:42.559 You should make yourself known to the world. 00:11:42.879 --> 00:11:44.320 Promote yourself. 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:54.000 You see, they were trying to push him toward famousness, but God, the Father, had called him to faithfulness. 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:59.120 And he was being uh stuck in this tension of his brothers' sin. 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:01.440 Oh, and we see the heart of it, right? 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:04.720 We see the heart that his brothers didn't even believe in him. 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:09.919 Uh it says, verse 5, for not even his brothers believed in him. 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:12.720 This was their almost driving motivation. 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:15.039 There's almost a mockery in what they say. 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:25.840 Hey, if you really can do all these things, if you're that special Jesus, then you should go to Judea and really show everyone how amazing that you are. 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:34.480 They try to push him to show himself to the world, but it's the very world that hates Jesus. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:40.000 To show himself to the world would be to expose himself to its destruction. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:51.440 We've seen all throughout the Gospel of John, but specifically in John 6, the insatiable appetite of the world that it doesn't know when to stop devouring. 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:54.320 And we see this in pop culture all the time, right? 00:12:54.480 --> 00:13:06.159 When people pursue fame, when they pursue popularity, almost every time they become devoured by the insatiable appetite of culture, right? 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:15.200 It's either go out on top, get like the the the actors or or the athletes or the other people in culture who like live this life, you never hear about them anymore. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:16.399 They were the smart ones. 00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:21.919 They got out before the world just devoured them because it could not be satisfied. 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:24.639 Jesus is like, I'm not giving myself to the world. 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:26.240 It's the world that hates me. 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:29.279 I'm not gonna be pushed toward popularity. 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:35.919 Verse 6 Jesus said to them, My time has not come, yet come, but your time is always here. 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:39.120 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me. 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:39.759 Why? 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:41.360 I speak the truth. 00:13:41.679 --> 00:13:46.159 I testify, it says, about it that its works are evil. 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:48.240 He understands the cost of truth. 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:49.600 You go up to the feast. 00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:52.879 I'm not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come. 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:56.240 After saying this, he remained in Galilee. 00:13:56.480 --> 00:13:59.039 So this part of the text is kind of hard to follow. 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:03.120 We might perceive a discrepancy in the narrative. 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:08.879 It seems as though Jesus says, I'm not going up to this feast at all, and then he goes, right? 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:11.120 And we're like, well, is John lying? 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:12.320 Did Jesus change his mind? 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:14.559 Like, what's happening here in the text? 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:19.679 Uh what we see is just a translation uh uh uh issue, right? 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:32.879 And so in most literal translations of the Bible, like the Young's literal translation, it's hard to read because taking uh ancient language into modern English, it proves difficult, right? 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:34.240 For its readability. 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:45.679 And so translation work will make the text more readable to modern English people, not changing the meaning or the essence of the text, but making it more readable for us. 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:52.879 The Young's Literal Translation is one of those that says, yay, whether you can read it or not, we're gonna be as literal as we possibly can with the text. 00:14:53.039 --> 00:15:00.480 And here's one thing that they do they put a yet in between the not and the going in verse 8. 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:06.879 So if you look at verse 8, it would read this way Jesus speaking to his brothers, you go up to the feast. 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:13.039 I am not yet going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come. 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:18.720 So there's looking at that, right, and understanding Jesus doesn't contradict himself. 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:22.559 John isn't misquoting or misrepresenting the ministry of Jesus. 00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:31.200 The thrust of this text, not to work through and get in the weeds of uh uh uh translation uh uh issues with inside this text. 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:32.399 Here's the thrust. 00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:33.919 There's two main ideas. 00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:39.440 Number one is this we see Jesus' relentless devotion to the Father's will. 00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:42.799 Jesus's relentless devotion to the Father's will. 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:44.000 First thing we see. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:50.240 Second thing we see is this Jesus' patient endurance to the cross's end. 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:54.799 Jesus' patient endurance to the cross's end. 00:15:55.120 --> 00:16:02.159 If we look first at Jesus' relentless devotion to the will of the Father, it's not that he uh well you know, do I go? 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:02.960 Do I not go? 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:04.320 Oh man, I'm really torn. 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:06.399 I think I'll change my mind and do this thing. 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:09.519 No, what he's communicating is his time has not yet come. 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:12.240 He's submitting himself to the will of the Father. 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:15.759 It's not his moment, it's not the correct time. 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:20.080 He is going to go to the feast, but it's not gonna be a change of mind. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:23.120 It's rooted in a submission to the will of the Father. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:30.480 I'm going to go when my father releases me and shows me that this is my time to then go. 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:31.039 Right? 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:34.559 We we see in verse uh chapter five of John, verse 19. 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:41.600 So Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of his own accord. 00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:48.480 He cannot even go to the feast of booths of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:52.320 For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. 00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:59.120 So the first thing we need to see in this is Jesus' relentless devotion to the will of the Father. 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:04.000 But the second thing we need to see is Jesus' patient endurance to the cross's end. 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:12.640 Jesus was committed to the mission that he had been sent on by the Father, and it demanded the cross. 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:17.119 And so it wasn't necessarily that he was afraid of death. 00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:21.279 Jesus was not afraid of dying at the hands of men. 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:28.559 Jesus was committed to the mission of the Father, and it demanded the cross. 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:39.599 We see in John 17, 1, the high priestly prayer of Jesus, he says, when Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come, has come now. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:42.960 Glorify your son, that the son may glorify you. 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:48.960 That glorifying act that he's speaking of is being exalted on the cross. 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:51.119 This was the time. 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:52.319 Now he was ready. 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:52.880 Why? 00:17:53.039 --> 00:18:03.359 Because the Father's will lined up to what was happening with inside Jesus' experience, that he would patiently endure to the cross's end. 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:06.000 He was that dedicated to the mission of the Father. 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:13.920 Verse 7, he says, The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify it by that its works are evil. 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:17.359 Man, Jesus is feeling the cost of truth. 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:19.359 They have malicious intent. 00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:20.400 They want to kill me. 00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:21.519 Why do they want to kill me? 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:22.799 Because I'm speaking truth. 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:27.759 I'm testifying that what they do is evil in the sight of God. 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:33.519 And he knows that truth will cost him his very life. 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:37.920 And here's what I want us to kind of grasp together this morning. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:43.279 The Father is not leading Jesus away from harm. 00:18:43.599 --> 00:18:46.400 He's preserving him for the cross. 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:52.400 He's not leading him away from harm as if, as if, oh, if something bad happens, you know, all it's gonna be horrible. 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:56.720 My whole plan and purpose is just gonna fall apart if something bad happens to Jesus. 00:18:56.960 --> 00:19:05.359 No, ultimately, he was gonna die at the hand of the very wickedness that he calls out here of why the world hates him. 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:11.200 He was not keeping him from harm, he was preserving him for the cross. 00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:14.640 The brothers push toward popularity would be unsuccessful. 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:24.640 Jesus was not willing to pay the cost for popularity because its outcome would be a forever death. 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:32.720 Jesus was willing to pay the cost for truth because its outcome would be the death of death. 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:35.119 All together. 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:41.039 That life would come through the proclamation of the truth of the Father. 00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:46.319 As we look at verses 10 through 13, we see this the pool toward protection. 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:48.799 The pool toward protection. 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:50.400 Verse 10. 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:56.160 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but in private. 00:19:56.400 --> 00:20:01.200 So we we see this kind of resolve of this perceived narrative discrepancy in the text. 00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:05.039 Jesus does go up to the festival when his time had come. 00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:08.880 And he initially goes in privately, but it doesn't remain private. 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:19.279 I again, I don't want us to kind of build this sense that Jesus was afraid and he was like hiding under cloak, you know, like when Robin Hood has to go into the Sheriff of Nottingham's execution thing. 00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:20.799 He's like all cloaked up, then he pops out. 00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:25.119 He's like, uh, that's Jesus kind of did that, but he didn't really do that. 00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:33.200 Um Jesus shows himself publicly because he enters into the temple and starts preaching and teaching very shortly after. 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:39.519 He's not fearful, he's not afraid, but he does enter into the feast first, kind of private, kind of low-key, right? 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:44.000 And and and he makes this 40-mile journey for this seven-day festival. 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:49.920 And it says this at verse 11 the Jews were looking for him at the feast and saying, Where is he? 00:20:50.160 --> 00:20:50.799 Where is he? 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:53.279 There's this malicious expectation. 00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:59.200 We we believed that he was gonna be here, and we have business to carry out with him. 00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:04.880 Verse 12, and there was much muttering about him among the people, while some said he is a good man. 00:21:05.119 --> 00:21:09.440 Others said, No, he is misleading the people astray. 00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:16.960 The the chatter around Jerusalem seems divided in its consensus. 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:18.880 Who is this Jesus? 00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:21.920 So some will say, man, he's a he's a good man, right? 00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:28.319 He's a good moral teacher, he he's helping people and he's serving the poor and he's healing the sick. 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:29.759 Look at this good man. 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:32.160 Others say, no, he's leading people astray. 00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:42.559 He's contradicting the things that we have been taught and handed down from our religious leaders of what it means to work our way to God and be in relationship with him. 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:53.759 But it's fascinating that whether you stood on the good the side of he's a good man or you stood on the side of he's misleading people, we find no one standing on the side that he is Lord. 00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:57.519 Jesus is Lord. 00:21:57.920 --> 00:22:01.839 To be so reductionistic, to say That he's simply just a good man. 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:10.400 It dismisses, it outright casts aside the reality that he is God incarnate. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:12.720 He is the one whom the Father sent. 00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:14.640 He is the Christ, the Messiah. 00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:17.440 We can't just simply say He is a good man. 00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:20.160 We must say He is Lord. 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:26.000 Verse 13, yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him. 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:30.319 This chatter quickly remained hushed. 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:33.759 And it remained hushed because of fear. 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:35.839 Let's just believe for a moment. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:56.319 Let's kind of put ourselves in the narrative and say maybe there were some people in Jerusalem who truly believed in Jesus, that he was truly sent from the Father, that he truly was the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah, whom they have been promised from prophets of old, but still their mouth was closed. 00:22:57.039 --> 00:22:57.680 Why? 00:22:58.720 --> 00:22:59.920 For fear. 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:01.839 For fear. 00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:06.000 You see, this is the pool toward protection. 00:23:07.279 --> 00:23:10.160 It causes us to shut our mouth. 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:15.359 It causes us to not speak rightly with truth. 00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:22.960 There's circumstantial fear, silenced, everlasting truth. 00:23:23.599 --> 00:23:30.000 The people in Jerusalem felt the pull toward protection, the fear of the loss of their own life. 00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:43.759 But here's the reality: when we try to protect ourselves by concealing truth, we convince ourselves that we actually preserve our life, but it comes at the cost of the life of others. 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:51.359 That they don't hear the truth, that they aren't able to hear the good news of the gospel of Jesus. 00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:58.960 We might preserve ourselves, but it costs how many around us to not hear such glorious truth? 00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:07.119 Self-protection and truth proclamation cannot coexist. 00:24:09.119 --> 00:24:13.759 Self-protection and truth proclamation, it cannot coexist. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:16.480 The truth will always cost you. 00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:19.920 Some of you felt that cost in certain ways. 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:23.039 You felt the cost of relationships around you. 00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:29.839 You felt the cost of your place in kind of friend groups or social circles. 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:32.640 You felt the cost of truth. 00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:35.920 You know that it always cost you. 00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:44.960 You cannot value self-preservation and hold up the proclamation of truth together. 00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:48.240 It's impossible. 00:24:49.599 --> 00:24:53.599 Verse 14 through 24, we see the emptiness of self-glory. 00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:56.240 The emptiness of self-glory. 00:24:56.640 --> 00:25:00.400 Verse 14, about the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and he began teaching. 00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:01.599 So he makes himself known. 00:25:01.680 --> 00:25:02.559 He's public, right? 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:05.039 He's not cowering in the shadows. 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:11.839 The Jews therefore marvel, saying, How is it this man has learning when he has never studied? 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:18.319 What he's saying is, he hasn't studied under us, he hasn't been to any of our pharisaic schools. 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:21.759 How does this man have such education and learning? 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:26.640 And here's where the authority of Jesus' teaching resides. 00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:32.720 When we hear throughout the gospels that he spoke as one with authority, here's what they're trying to say. 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:40.880 He didn't have to pull from human sources to validate the proclamation that he was making, right? 00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:42.480 Like for me, who am I? 00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:43.279 I'm nobody. 00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:46.000 I know I have barely a high school diploma. 00:25:46.079 --> 00:25:46.799 That's all I've got. 00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:53.839 So when I get up here, I'm like, hey, this super smart dude said this, this super smart dude said this, and this super smart dude said this. 00:25:54.079 --> 00:25:55.839 Do you guys believe me now, right? 00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:59.599 Because I have no intrinsic authority of which to preach. 00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:07.200 I have to draw from all these other sources of humanity to try and establish some sense of authority. 00:26:07.440 --> 00:26:14.880 Or, right, if I'm faithful to preaching, I'm gonna establish my authority from the authority of the text itself. 00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:20.079 I'm going to speak from the scriptures and let it be the authority for me. 00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:25.200 Jesus, though, Jesus has self-demonstrated authority. 00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:31.039 He doesn't have to pull on this Pharisee, he doesn't have to pull from this prophet, he doesn't have to pull from anything. 00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:33.039 He speaks truth. 00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:42.880 The only thing he pulls from is the ever-flowing fountain of the eternal knowledge and manifold wisdom of the Father. 00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:44.240 That's it. 00:26:44.480 --> 00:26:49.039 So when he speaks with authority, he's not saying, hey, this brother said this, and I think this is true too. 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:50.880 No, he says, I hear from the Father. 00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:53.599 What the Father reveals to me, I speak to you. 00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:55.599 That is my authority. 00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:59.039 He needs no other human source. 00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:01.839 And he says this in verse 16. 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:06.400 So Jesus answered them, My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 00:27:06.559 --> 00:27:15.039 If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I'm speaking on my own authority. 00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:24.640 Verse 17 If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I'm speaking on my own authority. 00:27:25.039 --> 00:27:26.319 Here's what Jesus is saying. 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:39.839 When we have a will that aligns with God's will, now, first, that only happens by the power of the Spirit changing our will, giving us a new will, that it would be aligned with the Father's. 00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:41.359 This is the outcome. 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:46.079 It will affirm both the substance and source. 00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:50.799 That it comes from God and that it is truly true. 00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:51.359 Right? 00:27:51.519 --> 00:27:58.960 That's what the will of God in us, given to us by the Spirit, affirms within our very souls. 00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:03.680 That both the substance and source is true. 00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:09.359 Philippians 2.13 says this for it is God who works in you. 00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:16.880 It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 00:28:17.920 --> 00:28:19.599 Left to our own will. 00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:23.039 We devolve into speculation at best. 00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:28.640 The best that humanity can do is speculation. 00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:30.480 What is God really like? 00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:36.960 And some of it's a more uh godly form uh of not uh atheism but agnosticism, right? 00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:46.000 It's a more godly form of agnosticism, like, yeah, I believe in this generic God, this sky fairy who's out there might grant me my wishes if I just pray hard enough, right? 00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:58.799 But you don't believe in the Trinity, you don't believe in God the Father, who has eternally begotten the Son, who also from him comes forth the Spirit, who is co-eternal and coexisting and of the same substance. 00:28:59.039 --> 00:29:00.559 You don't believe in that God. 00:29:00.720 --> 00:29:05.359 You believe in a generic thing, it's this kind of godly agnosticism. 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:12.640 And so, in our best human effort, without our wills being changed by the Spirit, we're really left to just speculation. 00:29:13.440 --> 00:29:14.319 Who is God? 00:29:14.480 --> 00:29:15.279 What is he like? 00:29:15.440 --> 00:29:25.599 And from there, we might so terrifyingly devolve into atheism itself, which is a life of great faith. 00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:28.319 Faith that there is no God. 00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:38.960 Verse 18 the one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. 00:29:39.119 --> 00:29:45.279 Jesus wasn't chasing after his own glory, he wasn't there for his own glory. 00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:51.920 If that were the case, if Jesus was about his own glory, he would have changed the message. 00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:56.000 Isn't that the most fundamental reality, right? 00:29:56.799 --> 00:29:58.240 What's the outcome of what he's getting? 00:29:58.400 --> 00:30:00.880 Ah man, people really uh don't like me. 00:30:01.039 --> 00:30:02.480 Actually, they want to kill me. 00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:03.599 Uh, this is bad. 00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:06.240 I think I should probably change my message, right? 00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:10.400 And I'm gonna change my message so that I might have glory of myself. 00:30:10.559 --> 00:30:12.079 That's not what Jesus was after. 00:30:12.160 --> 00:30:13.920 He was after the glory of the Father. 00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:22.000 He was seeking his glory, a life devoted to the Father, demanded that the truth be proclaimed in love. 00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:27.359 Because the Father receives no glory from falsity. 00:30:27.759 --> 00:30:32.559 For in him, in his substance, there is no falsehood. 00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:36.880 Truth proclaimed was going to bring glory to the Father. 00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:39.839 Verse 19, has not Moses given you the law? 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:41.759 Yet none of you keeps the law. 00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:43.440 Why do you seek to kill me? 00:30:43.599 --> 00:30:45.680 The crowd answered, You have a demon. 00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:47.440 Who's seeking to kill you? 00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:51.039 Man, Jesus here, he shows why the world hates him. 00:30:51.359 --> 00:30:53.680 He testifies that their works are evil. 00:30:53.839 --> 00:30:55.359 Don't you have the law of Moses? 00:30:55.599 --> 00:30:57.599 Yet none of you even keep it? 00:30:57.920 --> 00:30:58.400 Right? 00:30:58.559 --> 00:31:01.519 He he lays before them their hot hypocrisy. 00:31:01.759 --> 00:31:06.960 Their hypocrisy when where they fail to uphold their words by their deeds. 00:31:07.519 --> 00:31:10.640 And now their hearts sit fully exposed before them. 00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:16.240 They desire to kill Jesus for the truth that he declares and the works that he performs. 00:31:16.400 --> 00:31:18.880 We're gonna see this throughout the Gospel of John. 00:31:19.039 --> 00:31:26.880 It's both Jesus' words and his works that cause such antagonism and animosity toward him. 00:31:27.279 --> 00:31:30.960 The crowd responds, though, with this assertion of lunacy. 00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:32.559 We don't want to kill you. 00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:33.759 You're crazy. 00:31:34.079 --> 00:31:36.480 Actually, I think you got a demon. 00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:40.160 You see, they refuse to admit it. 00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:43.359 They want to point the finger at him and say he's a lunatic. 00:31:43.839 --> 00:31:46.319