TURNING ON TO JESUS
#505 TURNING ON TO JESUS
Scripture John 7:32-53 Orig. 10/30/1990
Passage: 32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him. 33 Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.” 35 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? 36 What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”[a] 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” 43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.
Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders
45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” 46 “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.
47 “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. 48 “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”
50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”
52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”
53 Then they all went home. . .
Purpose: Continuing the series from John’s gospel, here discovering measures of individuals who are turning on to Jesus.
Keywords: Christ the Lord Revival
Timeline/Series: Bible Study John
Introduction
At a former church, an older couple found it necessary to move closer to their children. The had lived in the community all their married lives, and regretted the changes that would be necessary.
We talked about it, prayed about it, but still they were reluctant to leave the church that they had been a part of for forty years. Because the new town was only an hour away, I continued to visit them. A regular topic of every visit was, “Have y’all found a church yet?” Actually, they were living only a block away from the one where one of their children was actively involved. They would always tell me that they were attending some at Fair Park, but had not decided what to do about joining.
After almost two years they united with the new church. Sometime later I saw Mr. Cheeks again. He explained to me what had happened. They were in a special program, VBS or something like that. A goat was being used in some kind of performance that was included.
When the program was over, an invitation was given. My friend said, “I reached over and took Lucille by the hand and said, ‘Come on, if these people will take a goat in, they’ll take us!’”
I was at Lucille’s funeral last Sunday afternoon. The men of their Sunday School department filled three pews serving as honorary pallbearers.
There are people in our text being turned on about Jesus, but, unfortunately, not all of them are being turned on to Jesus.
I. The First Expression Has to do with Expectations. V40 “Many of the people therefore, when they hear this saying, said, ‘Of a truth this is the prophet.’”
Expectations were running high in regard to the Messiah. People are in Jerusalem for festival. Time of joyful celebration. Time of spiritual definition. They have heard Jesus give expression to spiritual thirst. “If any man thirst, let him come.”
There was a great polarity of views about who He was. Religious leaders had rejected His claim. But the miracles from Galilee have followed Him to Jerusalem.
They all knew that a great prophet would come. Luke 7:16 “They glorified God, saying . . . that a great prophet was risen up.” Deuteronomy 18:15 “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me.”
But do you notice that they each one control their own expectations? Some are completely convinced from scripture, from what they hear abroad in the land. Others use the same sources to confuse. How sad when people use scripture to plot their own demise. They know just enough to be ignorant. Josh Billings: “The trouble with most folks isn’t so much about their ignorance, as knowing so many things that ain’t so.”
How many scriptures do you really know? Enough so as not to be confused? What are you doing about it?
This is not the first time Jesus has had scripture quoted to Him. They presumed Jesus to be Galilean. People presume on His manhood. They presume lack of deity. Assume that He is like the rest. They saw Him as ill-born, beneath them. How do we see people today? Does the limitation of birth mean to assign them a role of caste? Illustration: Willis Reed/Karl Malone [born near the place where this sermon was delivered].
II. Then We Encounter a Kind of Experimentation. V45 “. . . they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? The officers answered, never man spake like this man.”
Again, there are people prepared to go both ways in regard to Jesus, just as there are in our town, and in this room. Some have committed all, some not at all. Others walk a thin line between commitment and denial.
The officers had been sent by their leaders to bring Jesus in. By the way, did you see the story of the town clerk who lost her job: “Do you want to talk to the man in charge, or the woman who knows what’s going on?”
We have already seen that the people were divided v43. Two different words suggest division: a) diamerismos Luke 12:51 (opposition), “I am come to give . . . division”; b) dichostasia Romans 16:17 (to stir up) “mark them causing division . . . avoid them.” This word is schisma: It is division set to ill will. Schisma is the source of the word schizophrenia.
The religious leaders are the ones taking the lead to disenfranchise. One of the things wrong is a spinoff of religious leaders showing liberality. The people God continues to bless are those who stand by His word.
Do we take the time to encourage our leaders/teachers?
The glorious thing happening here is in the lives of these officers. Law officers have a tough time measuring conversions. They see us all, not in our Sunday best, but with our guards down. So, they are a tough lot to convince.
You notice they are charged with faith. Anyone who encounters Jesus on equal terms will be impressed. But these men “believed”—pistueo. And, hear me, “believing” they saw Jesus as a man, not to still His voice, but to set free in the world..
That’s our business, to set the voice of Jesus free in the world. How???
III. The Text Takes Us Finally by the Way of Exultation. V50 “Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them.) Doth our law judge any man before it hear him, and know what he doeth?”
All around Jerusalem were people making choices. Some of them making them on logic. Some emotion. Others reasonableness, need. Some simply because Jesus touches the chords of their hearts. None of them yet knowing the death ahead. He will be in Jerusalem in a year. John 10:22. There will still be division. John 9:16, John 10:19. Same word: but they are also saying “He’s mad, has a devil.”
He will be telling them plainly of His death. John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep, John 10:18, “No man taketh it (my life) from me, but I lay it down of myself.”
Only John mentions Nicodemus, but he is mentioned three times. He came to Christ (3:2)—he was an elitist but he came, and so must you. He lifts up his voice for Jesus (7:51). Can you, or I, do less? He will pay tribute to Christ (John 19:39). For us, will it be tribute, or triviality?
“Would to God,” Nicodemus thought, “I had taken a stand for him while he lived.” We cannot give deserving bouquets in the grave. Let your spouse, child, parent, friend know your feeling, especially who have helped you to Jesus. Be honest about your faith.
Conclusion
Mary Tyler Moore did a show years ago that centered around the death of a clown named Chuckles. He showed up at the circus dressed as a giant peanut and was trampled by the elephant who tried to eat him. The show went back and forth across a line of people who thought it very funny, and others who saw it as tragic. Could there be room for us to examine ourselves in regards to the death of Jesus? Is it just another every day thing, or, did He really die for my sin?
Lee Atwater (MMS-11/3/90)