Jesus' Divine Authority

We're coming back to our study of John. We'll be in John chapter 7. We've had two weeks off. If you're using Pew Bible, if you don't have a Bible, you're welcome to take the Pew Bible in front of you. That is on page 892. We're in John chapter 7 after taking a couple weeks off, and so I want to remind us of where we're at and what John has said thus far to to get us here. We started with a prologue. We're talking about the Creator. John is presenting to us that the Creator has come down to his creation to love that creation, to demonstrate his love, specifically God the Son has come down from God the Father to die for sinners. He has come to be the light in the midst of darkness. He has come down to save us from our sin. He's come to be the Lamb who was slain for the sins of the world. He's God's love expressed to this world. He's the water of life that quenches our true thirst. He's the bread of life that gives what we truly need. These are many of the things we've studied and heard as we studied John and the main point, the main focus that John continues to tell us that will continue to hear. We must believe Jesus is the son of God and in him, in that belief, we will have eternal life. Now, the over and over again, we hear Jesus is God, Jesus, the son of God. This morning, we have a very specific focus on the deity of Jesus. We'll be looking at his divine authority. Jesus is the divine plan of salvation. And specifically this morning, we're going to be looking at Jesus as almighty God who speaks with absolute authority for us as Christians. This is important because if we're his disciples, we must submit to his authority. We are submissive to Jesus Christ. Our passage this morning is John chapter 7. Really, this takes a whole transition. This is a key transition in the book of John. And so we begin a whole nother section. He goes up to Jerusalem again. You can trace John a number of ways. You can trace it through the I am statements. I am the bread of life. I am the vine. I am the bride. There's a number of I am statements you can trace. You can also follow John through the how many times Jesus goes up to Jerusalem. Here we begin a new section with Jesus again going to Jerusalem. I'm going to look at this passage, John 7, 1 through 24 in four different parts. First, in verses 1 through 9, Jesus submits to the Father's authority. 1 through 9, Jesus submits to the Father's authority. Secondly, verses 10 through 15, Jesus' authority confuses sinners. Jesus' authority confuses sinners. Then verses 16 through 18, Jesus' authority comes from God. Jesus' authority comes from God, that's verses 16 through 18. And then finally, Jesus has authority over the law, verses 19 through 24. Jesus submits to the Father's authority. Jesus' authority confuses sinners. Jesus' authority comes from God. And finally, his authority, he has authority over the law. We hear God's word as we read it, as I read it. After this, Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now, the Jews, Jews face of the booth was at hand. So his brothers said to him, leave here and go to Judea that your disciples also may see the works 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 for not even his brothers believed 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 is not yet fully come. After saying this, he remained in Galilee. But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up not publicly, but in private. The Jews were looking for him at the feast and saying, Where is he? There was much muttering about him among the people, while some said he is a good man. Others said, No, he is leading the people astray. For fear of the Jews, no one spoke openly of him. About 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 has learning when he has never studied? So Jesus answered them. My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 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. The one who speaks on his own authority speaks his own glory, speaks his own glory. But the one who speaks the glory of him who sent him is true and in him there is no falsehood. Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keep the law. Why do you seek to kill me? The crowd answered, you have a demon who is seeking to kill you. Jesus answered them, I did one work and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision, not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers. And you circumcised a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so the law of Moses is going to be broken. Are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I met a man's whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you have sent your son. We thank you that we can study him now. I pray that we would see he is your plan of salvation. He is our savior. I pray that you would call us to be his disciples. Help us, Lord, to recognize his authority. probe our hearts and our minds. Illuminate by the power of your spirit, shine light into our hearts and our lives so that we see how we can be more faithful in following him and obeying his authority. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. The first thing we see is that Jesus submits to the Father's authority. Verses 1 through 9, they really mark this section as a preface. It's not just a transition. It's a preface. There's helpful background here. And a number of months have taken place since the last thing we saw in chapter 6. John isn't trying to give us a long, chronological, detailed account of everything Jesus said. Everything Jesus did, he has chosen specifically certain things to present a very clear proclamation presentation that Jesus is God. And here we see that the focus is on Jesus demonstration of his authority in Jerusalem. Seven months have passed and the background is important. The Jews were seeking to kill him. Jesus knows they want to kill him. Jesus knows his life is a danger. And so he's he's staying away from the danger zone. Judea, specifically Jerusalem. This is a very powerful theme throughout John. We've seen a number of places. The theme is this. Jesus came to his own and they knew him not. Jesus came to his own and they hated him and despised him. Jesus came to his people that he chose, that should have been ready for him, that should have been prepared. And they rejected him. The light came into the darkness and the darkness knew him not. The Jews are the first people to see that Jesus, he's a savior and that the first people to reject him, they were erased out of part. God called them out, and yet they could not separate themselves from the world and they hated him. Verse two gives us another setting. It's the Feast of Booze. This is probably the most festive and the most celebrated feast. It is the celebration of God taking Israel through the wilderness after he saved them and redeemed them from Egypt. It was a week-long festive occasion where they would set up booths and they would literally live in them, remembering and reminding themselves that God kept them through the wilderness. We see in Leviticus 23, you shall dwell in booths for seven days 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. I am the Lord, your God. It happened in fall. It would have happened last month. And it was celebrating God giving the harvest of the grapes and the olives. And then there was one final day of great festivities. Verse three introduces our tension. It's his own brothers, his own flesh and blood, now Jesus was born of a Virgin Mary. Joseph was his father, not in the physical sense, but he was the head of the household. And so he was born under Joseph's headship. But, God, the father is his true and final father. These other brothers are his half brothers, physically speaking. They didn't have the... Jesus didn't have the DNA of Joseph. These brothers are his half brothers, the other sons of Joseph and Mary, his younger brothers. So his brothers said to him, Leave here and go to Judea that your disciples may also see the works you are doing. For no one works in the secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. Now, there's a few things that need to be focused on here. Jerusalem is the capital city. Jerusalem is the big place to be that if you if you're claiming to be king, if you're claiming the Messiah, you've got to go to Jerusalem and demonstrate it. This is like saying I'm the world's best golfer, but never joining the PGA. You have to go to the stage, you have to go where everyone is watching and everyone's focusing on what you're doing. You have to go to demonstrate it in the center, the capital. Notice, there's also a hopeful interpretation, a helpful note that helps us know what's going on. The brothers did not believe Jesus. They did not believe in him. They are making a request that does not have faith. Jesus never responds to unfaith. Jesus never responds to doubt. Jesus never responds obediently to those who do not ask in faith. He responds to those who ask with faith. Remember chapter 2. When they were wanting to crown him the king, he did not submit himself to man because he knew what was in man. In chapter six, they wanted to make him king, but he withdrew knowing what they really wanted to do. Now, Jesus responds to the request in a very unique and interesting way. He refuses the request. He refused. My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. Now, if you've been with us, we've continued to see that Jesus uses the word hour to demonstrate or to point to that time in which he will die on the cross. His hour has a very specific, significant moment. The hour is always referring to when he will die on the cross. This is not the same word. I believe time here is a different kind of reference. It's much more general. He's not referring to his death. He's not referring to when his death will come when he references his time. He's saying my time has not yet come. He's saying I will go later, but he's making it very unclear for them. He rebukes them quite strongly. It's not my time. Your time is always here. The world hates me. It cannot hate you. These two concepts are tied together. These two contrasting of Jesus and his physical brothers, they're tied together. It's not my time. Your time's always here. The world hates me. It cannot hate you. Why is Jesus tying these two together? You see, the brothers, even though they were circumcised Jewish men, they were of the world. They lived as men of the world. They lived as men of their own sinfulness. They went about their days doing whatever they wanted to do, not following what God wanted to do. Jesus' life is different because He's on a divine timetable. He does exactly what the Father wants Him to do when He wants Him to do it. He doesn't listen to the world. He doesn't follow the world's pattern. He lives for the Father, not against the Father. The brothers, they live for the world and they live against the father. Jesus simultaneously against the world, and because he was sent by the father, he's for the world. You see, the key difference is that there's two ways to live. Either every minute is live for the glory of God or it's for our own pleasure. The brothers are living in the world for their own pleasure. Jesus is living for the glory of God. He realizes every minute Every moment can be used for God's glory. Every moment is precious because it can be used for God's glory. But they're of the world. They do whatever they want. They're against God. I believe as we look at this, Jesus on God's timetable, I believe we can we can infer we should be too. We should be thinking about time the way Jesus thought about it. And I think there's two big application points we can derive from this. First, we can see how all time, all timetables work out in God's plan. And second, we must trust every moment that our our lives matter. First, we have to learn to trust God's time. We must learn to trust God's time, not just because Jesus does everything according to every moment in Jesus plan. We can look at all of Scripture and we can see how God designed his plan of salvation in time, through time, at just the right time. Paul said in Galatians, at the right time, the father sent his son. The timing of God is perfect. He's sovereign over time. We can see every moment of Jesus' life matters. We can see every moment matters because God has planned and designed everything to happen at its right time for His perfect purpose. The challenge, church, is that we have to learn to wait well. We have to learn to wait, trusting God and His timing. I look around and I know most of you. And I know that everyone in here, we're all waiting on something. Everyone is waiting on something, either rather than be the right job, a better job. We're waiting on a spouse. We're waiting on children. We're waiting on our children to be obedient. We're waiting on our children to trust Christ. We're waiting on children to repent. We're all waiting on something. Maybe we're waiting for relief from pain, to be physical or emotional. We're waiting for God to bring peace back into our home. We're waiting for our spouse to again be reconciled with us. There's other things we're waiting upon. We have to learn is that God's timing is perfect and that we don't always see what's happening and why it's happening. But we can always know that even when we cannot trust God's finger in what he's doing, we can always trust his heart, that whatever is happening for us and to us, it's happening for our well-being. His timing is best. The second thing is we think of the timing. We hear Paul in Ephesians 5.16 with a great exhortation, redeem the time. Connected with this exhortation, look carefully how you walk because the days are evil. You can either be walking around and you're exercising and participating in the world. You're walking around according to the timetable and the desires of the flesh in this world. We're using every moment for the glory of God. Every moment is ours if you are in Christ to use for the glory of God. It's a whole new stewardship. Time is our most valuable resource. I ask you, are you wasting God's time? Every moment is his for us to use for his glory. Think about how you use your time. If you use God's time like you use your employer's time when you're on the clock, would you be fired? Could you keep that job? Absolutely not. We're sinners. We have to regularly take account of how we spend and waste our time. Take account of how much time. How much do you spend feeding your soul versus feeding the delights? of the sinful flesh and the sinful eyes and the pride of life. I just had the students in the worldview class read Jonathan Edwards' resolutions over and over again. He's wanting to take account. How did I use my day? How did I use my week? How did I use my month? Take this challenge. Record how much time you spend doing different activities for a day. Take account of how much you waste. Take account of how much you use directly and specifically to follow God, to build yourself up in his truth and to glorify him. Because if every moment we're either building our lives up to love sin more or God more. One final question, and I think it's helpful for us as we think about discipleship. Jesus said the world hates him. Because he shows that their deeds are evil. He is a true light. And when he he came, he revealed how dark the world is. Later in chapter 15, we'll think about this more when we get to that text, but Jesus says this, if the world hates you know that it has hated me before it hated you. He's speaking to the disciples. If the world hates you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you're of the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you're not of the world, but I chose you out of the world. Therefore, the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. Key obvious question. Does the world love you? Does the world hate you? Does the world see that you're in tune with the way they walk and live and talk, how they make decisions, or would the world look at you and say they see a different way of living, a different way of prioritizing time, a different way of talking, a different way of choosing what kind of humor is appropriate? Does the world hate you? Is your life in tune with the world that they see that you're in tune with them? You're you're in their darkness or are you a light in the midst of darkness? Now, Jesus here, this world, his culture is very different. He's approaching and confronting a world that is built up on restriction and self-righteousness. He is built up on a world that wants to build up a self-righteousness using rules and regulations and restrictions. That's the world he's confronting. Our world is very different. We are secular. We believe that we must live for the now and we must make now the most pleasurable now we can possibly imagine. Our world values license, not restriction. Say yes to your desires. Obey your thirst. Make little of God and much of yourself. This is the pattern of our culture. Are you moving about in this world? following the same philosophy, following the same time, following the same pattern, or are we following our master? Are we willing to be hated by the world? Are we willing to be hated by the world? Do we believe this truth is worth being hated by our peers? Do we believe this is truly the light And that when we live it, it will reveal to others their darkness, not because we're going around condemning them, but because we are living in such a way we're refusing to participate in their crude humor, refuse to participate in their activities or the darkness that they would see our light, God's light in us and would make their darkness obvious that they're going to hate us. A very practical, concrete way this is going to come about. We have lived in a nation that has been blessed from borrowed capital from Christianity for a long time. Our morality has been borrowed from Christianity for some time. But I have friends who are pastors in cities that are having to make hard decisions. There are certain cities, there are certain pastors, I have friends, they work for companies, and they celebrate diversity today. And if these employees who are Christians do not participate and celebrate diversity, they're hated. These are real decisions that are having to be made by Christians in certain cities. They're going to be hated if they do not promote this particular lifestyle, if they let their light be shown and say, I'm not going to participate in that darkness. They're hated by their peers, their co-workers, no chance of promotion. You might even be fired. Are you willing to be hated because you know God's truth in his light is trustworthy? The second thing we see in our passage, Jesus' authority, it confuses sinners. Jesus' authority confuses sinners. But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up. Not publicly, but in private. His time wasn't to go up with his family. His time was to go up privately and quietly by himself. The Jews were looking for him at the feast and saying, where is he? Because they wanted to kill him. There was much muttering about him among the people. There's two groups here. There's the crowd, there's the Jews. Now, the crowd is, they're also Jewish, but there's certain leaders among the Jewish people that they want to kill him. Then there's the larger crowd that they're kind of curious. Some are saying, is he a good man? Others are saying he's leading people astray. But no one would speak openly about him because they were afraid of the Jews. And then Jesus gets up. About the middle of the feast, Jesus went up to the temple and he began teaching. And the Jews marveled. How is it that this man has learning when he has never studied? We have to realize that there's already been confusion in what Jesus has said. He said, I'm the bread of life. I'm the water that quenches your thirst. He's claimed to have equality with God by calling him father. He's going to be the savior of the world. He's going to be the light that come to the darkness. He's claimed to be greater than Moses. It brings about confusion. Some say he's good. Some say he's leading people astray. They're fearful because the Jews might persecute them if they actually give their opinion. But his teaching is confusing because of two things. Notice, he spoke with authority and he spoke without the typical credentials. He spoke with authority and he spoke without the typical credentials. Now, as we think about the confusion, I want to address this. So what's confusing to us about Jesus? Everybody likes something Jesus says. Everybody likes to quote Jesus in their own personal way, their own preferred way. This is very clear. We all like something Jesus says. First, we like it that he told others not to judge us. We like what he says about other people. You're not supposed to judge me. You're not supposed to come in and show me my sin and declare what's wrong with my life. We like when Jesus says to others, stay away from me and don't judge me. We also like Christ's word when it says, do not lie, do not steal, do not kill, because this is God's word that protects my rights, the right to truth, the right to my possessions and the right to my life. What we do not like about Jesus. is what he claims about himself, what he claims about us. We don't like that he tells us we're dark, that our lives are full of sin, that we actually do steal, that we are liars, that we are coveting, that we are guilty of murder because we've had anger. We don't like when Jesus makes a very precise and clear judgment that shows us that if anyone ever did weigh our lives against God's word, we'd be found wanting. We don't like that he says he's God, he has absolute authority and that we must submit to him. The only way to have true life and life as God declared it is to believe in him. He said there's a choice we all have to make. Is Jesus a good man? Or is he leading people astray? Those are the two options. Those really are our two options. Either he's good and he's right in everything he said. Or he's leading the people astray. Either he is the only way we can be saved from our sin. He is to be worshipped. He is to be our only master. Or he's leading us astray. Christian, we can't pick and choose what we're going to submit to. Either he is perfectly good and everything he said was good. Or he's leading us astray. Either everything he has said is right and good for us, or he's wrong about everything. We don't get to make up our own master and our own savior. It's either Jesus, as God has presented him to us in Scripture, or we're still lost in our sin. We're still dead in our transgressions. If you're not a Christian this morning, I pray you will contemplate, is Jesus Good. Is he God's salvation for me? Is he the one good man who ever existed and he was died on the cross so that that good man died in my place? I should be under the judgment of God, but that good man, Jesus Christ, he died in my place. And instead of I said of God's judgment on me, instead of me suffering that judgment, he put it on Jesus. That's the question. Are you a sinner under the judgment of God or is Jesus the good man who died for you? His authority confuses us and we have to make a decision. Either he is completely good and right and worthy of our worship or he leads us astray. The third thing we see from our text this morning. Jesus authority comes from God, Jesus authority comes from God. Notice his answer. They're thinking, how is this man able to stand up and teach like this? He's never studied. He answers them. My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. Now, the crowd, they want to know who his rabbi is. Where did you study? Under what great rabbi? What great prophet? What tradition are you coming from? In context, we have to realize something. They did not value novelty or originality. The Jews at this time did not value novelty or originality. Now, that's hard for us to think about because those are our two greatest values in teaching. As Americans, we love novels. We love novel teaching. We love someone who's original. Here, it has to be tried and tested before it's understood to be true. Novelty wasn't valued. So they're asking, are you a new teacher? Are you bringing about a new tradition? Are you trying to be a rogue, new prophet, bring about a new religion? Because we only trust those who have been tried and tested. He answers them, my teaching is not mine. I'm not a rogue prophet, he says. I'm not bringing about something new. I have a teacher. It's God. I am coming to tell you what God sent me to tell you. Now, they want to know who his rabbi is. I don't have a rabbi, he says. God sent me. This is what God has said. Notice verse 17. He makes the argument go even further. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. Now, this is a very interesting argument that Jesus made a number of times. Over and over again, he said, if you really knew the Father, if you really listened to the Father, you would recognize that I am speaking what the Father says. Now, if you're thinking about what he's arguing there, it's a circular argument. I am telling you what the Father has said, and if you knew the Father, you would believe me. That is a circular argument. He is appealing here to a circular argument. Now, isn't that a logical fallacy? Not necessarily. I ask you, what other authority is Jesus going to appeal to to demonstrate he's speaking the truth? What higher authority than God can Jesus appeal to that he's speaking the truth, he's making a very clear and bold declaration, I have come from God, and if you knew God at all, you would recognize it. There is no higher authority, and so he is appealing to the highest authority. Notice, he says that he speaks not in his own authority, but he speaks on God's authority. He also doesn't speak for his own glory. Verse 18, but he speaks to glorify the one who sent him. I think here we can actually think of another mark of discipleship. When we speak. Whose glory are we seeking to spread? Jesus Christ, when he came, he did not try to magnify himself. That's the Holy Spirit's job. Jesus, his goal is to seek the glory of him who sent him. His life was committed to seeking God's glory. Now we as disciples, we're called to seek the son's glory because he's the one who has sent us into the world. So, for whose glory do we live? For whose glory do we speak? Now, in order to really wrestle with this, we have to first recognize we are, by nature, self-exalting sinners. This is our natural position. We exalt ourselves. We have to work at exalting God. It is not our nature. Our hearts are bent upon ourselves to love ourselves and exalt ourselves before we can begin glorifying God. The first thing to realize is that there's a treason in our hearts, as we sang earlier. There's a desire in ourselves that wants ourselves to be exalted, not the one who is truly deserving to be exalted. How do we work out this issue that by nature we want to exalt ourselves, but we're called to exalt God? The number one plan God has for this is to gather with other Christians so that we can sharpen and engage one another with God's word to show how we are supposed to live together for God's glory. In the height of the author of Hebrews argument, he declares we must not forsake the assembling to stir one another up. See, they didn't, not everybody had their own Bible. The printing press didn't come for another 1400 years. They don't have their own Bible, so they came together and they read God's word and they stirred one another up with their fellowship and their communion. I ask you, do we seek God's glory in our communication and fellowship? I've had a number of conversations already this morning, and I can't say they've all been seeking God's glory. Why not? Why is it that this day, especially the Lord's Day, when we gather, why aren't we talking about Jesus? Is there something more important? Is there something more important to talk about today than Jesus? What are our conversations about? It's not about exalting Christ. Who are we exalting? We must be committed to knowing God's word. We must be committed to declaring it. Our final observation, our final section of our text. Jesus has authority over the law. Verse 19 had not Moses given you the law, yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me? Before we read the rest of the text, there's a key transition of Jesus argument. The Jews want to kill him. He spoke in publicly, knowing they want to kill him. That they've asked, who are you? Who are you teaching after? What is your teaching based upon? He makes a key transition as he continues to argue, has not Moses given you the law, yet none of you keeps the law. The Jews, one of the things that makes one a Jew, well, there's two things. There's there's the law of Moses and circumcision. They have been given the oracles of God. They've been entrusted with the oracles of God. They claim to have Moses, but They only possess the law. They don't obey it. They really don't even believe it. Moses gave you the law. You have possession of it. In Romans 2, around the same passage, in the same chapter that Sam read earlier, Paul actually makes the argument, Jews possessing the law only makes you more condemned. Possessing the law doesn't bring righteousness. Possessing the law should help you see that you're a sinner in need of a savior. No one keeps the law. The law only demonstrates to us that we're all sinners. More specifically, he says, have not Moses given you the law so you possess it, yet none of you keep it. And he's going to keep focusing on what specific law is he referring to? Why do you seek to kill me? Thou shalt not murder. The Jews are seeking to kill him. Why has he broken some commandment? Has he broken some law? No, he's perfectly righteous. He's perfectly good. He's confronting them with their own breaking of the law, with their own motive right there on the spot, with their anger against him. You already break the law because you right now are seeking to kill me. Now, the general crowd asked the question. Who's seeking to kill you? Well, first, we have John recording these kinds of accusations from all different sides. You have a demon who is seeking to kill you. Jesus answers them specifically, but he answers them in a very unique and precise way again. Look at verse 21. I did one work and you all marvel at it. Now, one work that's referring to his last time in Jerusalem. He healed a man at a pool. He was a The man could not walk, he was a cripple, and Jesus healed him on the Sabbath. And so from that point, the Jews were seeking to kill him. He did one work, and you all marvel at it. Verse 22, he begins to give a lesson on how to interpret the law to the Jewish leaders. Moses gave you circumcision. Not that it's from Moses, but from the fathers. And you circumcised a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment." Jesus is teaching them how to interpret the law, and there's two specific commands that he's helping them see how they should interpret the law. One is regard to circumcision. And he says that circumcision wasn't from Moses, it was from the fathers. That's because God gave circumcision to Abraham. Moses is years after Abraham. Circumcision was given to the people of Israel and Moses recorded it in law, but circumcision wasn't something Moses gave them. It was something God gave years before. That's why that parenthetical is there. Two particular commands. You are to be circumcised on the eighth day and you are to keep the Sabbath. These are two of the most important laws that distinguish the people of Israel. Circumcision, that's the sign. That's a sign of the covenant. That's a sign that they are God's people, God's race, God's nation. The Sabbath, that was a day they kept to remember that God is a God of peace and rest. Now, these two commandments sometimes conflicted. If a child was born on the Sabbath, which happened In order to keep the circumcision on the eighth day law, what day would they have to circumcise him on? The Sabbath. Eight days afterwards is the Sabbath. And so here you have the conflict. Are you supposed to keep the Sabbath and not do any work on it? Are you circumcised on the eighth day? You see the tension. There's two commandments that would keep you from obeying one of them. You have to choose which one has priority. The tension is, do you break the Sabbath? by obeying the circumcision rule, or do you keep the Sabbath and not circumcise a child until the ninth day? Now, the rule that the Pharisees, the religious leaders, came up with is that you can circumcise on the eighth day. And this is the principle. You could commit to work that was a necessary act of mercy. The Jews of the day said that circumcising on the Sabbath was acceptable because it was a necessary act of mercy. The child had to have the perfecting right of circumcision. It was necessary for the child's benefit. Now, Jesus introduces two interpretation issues. First, he argues from the lesser to greater. If you said the child should be circumcised, I made the whole man's body perfect. You're saying that you can do work on one member of the child. I made the whole body well. He's going from lesser to greater. You'll do one work on the body. I did the work that made the whole body well. Further, he removes the necessary aspect. They could have argued, couldn't you wait till the next day to circumcise? Or to make the body's man, well, couldn't you have waited to make the man? Well, Jesus removes the necessary. He says, God called me to do it when I did it again. He works on the father's timetable. His final charge is very clear. Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. Isn't this the wisdom of God to judge rightly? This is what we should all long for, to make proper judgment. What is right judgment? Well, first, it's not by appearances. The Jews had judged themselves as a privileged people because they possessed the law. The Jews judged themselves as God's people because they had the outward sign of circumcision. The Jews judged themselves as a privileged people because they had things from God, but they didn't really believe them. And Jesus' evidence against them is that you think you have all these things from God. But if you really believe God's word, if you really understood what the sign of circumcision meant, you would see that I'm the Savior that you need because you're a sinner. If you really saw the law and had it, not in just the possession of your hand, but in your heart, you recognize. You're a sinner in need of grace, and Jesus Christ is the Savior. Jesus is confronting where they have placed their hope. He's confronting them. Your hope, it can't be in your circumcision. Your hope, it can't be in your race. Your hope, it can't be in your nation. Your hope, it can't be in possessing the law. Your hope can be in God's grace alone, which is now seen in Jesus Christ. So I ask you, As disciples of Jesus Christ, as those who come to hear, how can I be a disciple of Jesus Christ? Where is your hope? If it's anywhere but in Christ and him crucified, it's in the wrong place. We love little tokens and symbols and things that appear to be faith, but real heart change, real trusting, real desire that seeks to worship him alone. That's true religion. So the Jews, they trust in their circumcision, they trust in possession of the law, they didn't trust in the Savior. I think we have an equivalent of circumcision and possession of the law in our American evangelicalism. A lot of folks believe they're going to heaven because one day they gave an appearance of being a believer. They walked an aisle, they prayed a prayer. A lot of folks think they have this great assurance, this great hope that they will one day be with God in glory because they one time followed a call, they one time walked an island, they one time prayed a prayer. If the only hope you have, the only assurance you have is a one time commitment you made, I don't think your assurance should be that strong. I would actually be more assured that you're going to hell than you're going to heaven if that's the only assurance you have. You see, as Christians, we always remember we're sinners. We must always recognize we are sinners and we always need grace and we are always dependent upon what Christ has done for us. Never what we have done for him. We seek to worship him because he is the God of grace. We must look to Jesus. We must realize he's the only authority that can save us. He's the only name in which we can be saved. was recognized where sinners gathered only because of what he's done for us. We pray with me. Father, we thank you for Jesus that you have now spoken in a prophet greater than Moses. You have spoken by your own son. Help us to hear him. Help us to believe that he is the light of the world, that he is the lamb slain for sinners. He is your son and in him we can have eternal life. Help us as a body gather to always be committed. To encouraging one another to find our rest and our peace in him, not in our works, not in things that we boast of and what we've accomplished, what we've possessed. But only in what Christ has done for us. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.