Address—C. Hendricks
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Turn with me tonight to John's Gospel Chapter 7, verse one.
After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee.
For he would not walk in Jewry because the Jews sought to kill him.
Now the Jews Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.
His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest.
For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself to the world.
For neither did his brethren believe in him.
Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come.
But your time is always ready.
The world cannot hate you, but me it hated, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil.
Go ye up unto the feast I go not yet up unto this feast, for my time is not yet full. Come.
When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee.
But when his brethren were gone up, then when he also up onto the feast.
Not openly.
But, as it were, in secret.
Then the Jews sought him at the feast and said, Where is he?
And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him, for some said he is a good man, others said nay, but he deceived the people.
Howbeit, no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.
Now, about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught.
And the Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters?
Having never learned.
Jesus answered them and said my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine.
Whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.
He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory.
But he that seeketh his glory, that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.
Did not Moses give you the law? And yet none of you keepeth the law?
Why go ye about to kill me?
The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil.
Who goeth about to kill thee?
Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel.
Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision, not because it is of Moses, but of the Fathers.
And ye on the Sabbath day, circumcise a man.
If a man on the Sabbath day receives circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken. Are ye angry at me because I've made a man every wit hole on the Sabbath day?
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
Then said some of them of Jerusalem, is not this he whom they seek to kill?
But lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?
Howbeit we know this man whence he is. But when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.
Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me.
And ye know whence I am.
And I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.
But I know him.
For I am from him, and he hath sent me. Then they sought to take him, but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.
And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?
The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him.
Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go on to him that sent me.
Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me, and where I am thither you cannot come.
And then, said the Jews among themselves, whither will he go?
That we shall not find him. Will he go on to this dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? What manner of saying is this? That he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me, And where I am thither ye cannot come.
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
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He that believeth on me, as the Scripture had said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
Many of the people, therefore, when they heard this saying, said of a truth, this is the prophet.
Others said this is the Christ.
But, some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?
Not the scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David and out of the town of Bethlehem where David was.
So there was a division among the people because of him.
And some of them would have taken him, but no man laid hands on him.
Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said unto them, Why have you not brought them? Brought him?
The officers answered. Never man spake like this man.
Then answered them, The Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?
Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him?
But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.
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?
They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search and look for out of Galilee arise with no prophet.
And every man went unto his own house.
Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives.
There were three feasts.
Of Jehovah.
Where all the males?
Had to go to Jerusalem.
There was the Feast of the Passover.
Pentecost.
And Tabernacles.
And this was the.
Feast of Tabernacles.
That we're reading of in Chapter 7.
In chapter 5, the Lord is the Son of God who quickens the dead.
Gives life.
In chapter 6, he is the Son of Man.
Who came in incarnation, the bread from heaven.
Life unto the world.
And.
His death.
Also brought before us.
Eating his.
Flesh and drinking his blood.
One doesn't do that. He has no life in him.
So we have.
Him as the Son of God.
Quickener of the dead and His divine power as God the Son. And then we have his manhood.
Becoming a man.
Bread from heaven and dying on the cross for our sins and for the glory of God.
And then he ended up where he was before.
A man now in the glory.
Well, this Feast of Tabernacles that's in this chapter.
It wasn't time yet for it to come to pass. It wasn't time yet for him to assume his rights in this world where he had been cast out as the Son of Man, rejected, scorned, despised, spit upon, crucified.
And sent away with the message we will not have this man to reign over us.
And so the Kingdom was put in advance.
Well it says in the 1St chapter of verse of this chapter after these things Jesus walked in Galilee.
For he would not walk in Jewry because the Jews sought to kill him. Notice that's the way the chapter opens.
Later on, some asked the question, is not this he whom they seek to kill?
Well, we'll come to those verses.
Now the Jews Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.
His brethren, that's his brothers, his half brothers after the flesh.
Therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea.
That thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest.
For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself to the world.
For neither did his brethren believe in him.
We know that they did. Later, after his death and resurrection, they came to faith in him.
And two of his brothers. He had four. Two of them wrote books in the New Testament, James and Jude.
But here they hadn't come to faith in him, Neither did his brethren believe in Him.
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And they wanted him to show himself to the world.
Thou do these things, show thyself to the world. A time for that had not come. This was the time when he was in rejection.
And the leaders and the rulers of Israel were about to put him to death.
So Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come.
But your time is always ready. They were simply men of the world, and it's always the time for men of the world to seek the things of the world.
But his time hadn't come yet.
The time when all the promises would be fulfilled in the Messiah who would reign down here.
The Son of Man reigning in this world.
That time had not yet come.
He says the world cannot hate you.
But me it hateth, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil.
Go ye up unto this feast. I go not yet up unto this feast for my time.
Is not yet full come.
What a word to their conscience, though I doubt that it had much effect. The world cannot hate you.
Because they were of it. They were part of it.
They were connected with it.
They hadn't come to faith in him yet.
I haven't taken sides yet with him.
He says my time is not yet full come.
So when he had said these things.
These words unto them he abodes still in Galilee.
But when his brethren were gone up.
Then when he also up onto the feast, not openly.
But, as it were, in secret.
It wasn't time yet. It isn't time yet.
For him to openly come and take the Kingdom. But he will.
He will. He will do it.
With great power and authority in that coming day.
But he says my time has not yet come. So you're both still in Galilee.
But when his brethren were gone, up then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?
And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him.
For some said he is a Goodman, others said nay, but he deceiveth the people.
Great discussions took place there at Jerusalem. There were Jews from Galilee and the surrounding regions who were not aware of the the purpose of the leaders at Jerusalem to kill him.
And we'll see that a little later.
They say in verse when he says in verse 19 Why go ye about to kill me?
The people answered and said.
Now as the devil who goeth about to kill thee.
You have to distinguish between the people who came from a distance, Galilee and other places, and the residents of Jerusalem themselves. They knew what the intent was to do to him. It was at Jerusalem where he met with his stiffest opposition and hatred.
The Jews there, especially the leaders.
Many Hearts The thoughts of many hearts are manifest in this chapter.
And there's this great discussion going on amongst these religious people that had come to the Feast of Tabernacles, this great religious celebration, the only feast that had eight days to it.
Passover and Pentecost had seven typical of Jewish days, but this one had an eighth day. Well, we'll come to that.
Verse 14.
Some said in verse 12, some said he's a good man, others said nay, but he deceiveth the people. There was this discussion, who is he? What's he about? Is he is he a good man? Is he an evil man? Is he a deceiver? And there was all this discussion going on. You have to remember that it wasn't just you that Jerusalem that we're discussing these things, but the Jews that came from a distance Galilee and other places around about.
And there was great discussion going on as to who he was. Doesn't mean there was exercise of soul as to the truth of this person and the truth of his mission, but they were pondering these things.
12.
Verse 13. Howbeit no man spake openly of him, for fear of the Jews.
They knew what the spirit of the Jews at Jerusalem was to get rid of him.
To put him to death.
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And so they discussed it among themselves, but it wasn't something that they discussed openly because they were afraid.
Of the Jewish leaders now about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught.
And this again produced some comments. The Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
How does he know all this?
He's never been to.
He's never been to the seminary, he's never been to school to learn these things. Just a common Carpenter, son of a Carpenter. That's what they said.
That's what they thought.
Jesus answered them and said my doctrine is not mine.
But his that sent me?
Now that's the God that they profess to know.
The one that sent you.
They didn't know him.
And he tells them that in a moment, we'll read the verse.
He says my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. You reject we, you reject me. You reject what I'm saying you're rejecting him.
I am just giving you what he told me to say.
If any man will do his will, the one who sent me.
That was Jehovah, their God.
At least that professively was their God.
He shall know the doctrine.
Whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.
The soul that came into the presence of God as a result of what Jesus taught.
Would know the doctrine.
If he willfully rejected it.
Steeled himself against it. He would abide and remain in the darkness.
My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me, if any man will do his will.
He shall know of the doctrine.
Whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.
He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory. That was true of the leaders.
Of Jerusalem.
But he that seeketh his glory, that sent him.
The same is true.
And no unrighteousness is in him.
Wonderful words of truth that their consciences had to admit were true.
Their wills wouldn't.
But their conscience had to admit it.
Did not Moses give you the law?
And yet none of you keepeth the law.
Why go ye about to kill me?
And then you get the people which were not the people of Jerusalem, but those that had come from a distance. They answered and said, Thou hast the devil who goeth about to kill thee.
They didn't realize you go, that's in the 20th verse. In the 25th verse you have then said some of them of Jerusalem. Is not this he whom they seek to kill? Yes, it was.
So those at Jerusalem knew what the intent was of the leaders of Jerusalem to kill him and put him away, but those that came from a distance didn't. So there's this mixture.
Many opinions that were floating around at that time. Who is he?
Is he a Goodman? Is he a deceiver?
Is he the Prophet? Is he the Christ?
They didn't make a distinction. They didn't realize that the two were the same, and so there were all these discussions.
Thou is the devil who goeth about to kill thee, Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and you all marvel. That goes back to the 5th chapter where He healed that impotent man on the Sabbath day.
And that's what they were faulting him for.
I've done one work.
And ye all marvel. Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision.
Not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers, And ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man.
You carry out circumcision on the Sabbath day. If a man on the Sabbath day receives circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken. Are ye angry at me?
Because I've made a man every wit hole in the Sabbath day.
An argument that they could not answer.
They carried out circumcision on that day and another gospel. They would lift their beast out of a pit if it had fallen in on the Sabbath day.
But they were. They had a will.
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They had a will which was steeled against him.
Who is the light and the truth?
And they would not have.
Him or his doctrine?
And he says to them, judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
Then said some of them of Jerusalem.
Is not this he whom they seek to kill?
And lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him.
Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? And the answers of that question is yes, they did.
In their conscience.
They knew who he was. He tells them so.
You remember in the we might look at it and then we'll go back here. We might look at Mark Chapter 12.
In Mark chapter 12.
I'll read those verses.
And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set in hedge about it, and digged a place for the wine fat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to the husband been a servant, that he might receive from the husband men of the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught him and beat him, and sent him away emptying. Again he sent unto them another servant, and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. And again he.
Another in him they killed, and many others, beating some and killing some. Having yet therefore one son, his well beloved, He sent him off so unto them, saying, They will reverence my son.
But those husband men, the leaders of Israel, said among themselves, this is the air. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.
And they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.
This is the air. They know who he was.
But they refused it.
Terrible thing to.
Close your eyes to the light through the testimony of the truth that was coming to them in his person, in his words, in his works. Everything that he did and said were the evidence and the absolute proof of who he was.
And their conscience could not refute it, but their wills rejected him.
Terrible thing.
Verse 26. Again, back to John 7. But lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed, that this is the very Christ? Howbeit we know this man whence he is. But when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is. There's several glaring mistakes made on the part of those that make some of these statements. When Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence He is. A little bit farther down in the.
Chapter Verse 42 Hath not the scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem where David was?
And yet here are some people that said no man knoweth where Christ.
From whence whence he cometh?
The scripture was clear as to that.
Then cried Jesus verse 28 in the temple as he taught.
Saying ye both know me.
And you know whence I am.
And I am not come of myself.
But he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.
They claim to know him.
Their God.
They didn't.
They didn't know him in their souls.
They didn't submit to him.
If they had known the father.
In their hearts, and in their souls, and in their wills, Had they submitted to Him, they would have submitted to the Son.
He was the living embodiment of the Father.
He says later, He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father.
The words that he spoke were the Father's words. The works that he wrought were the Father's works. It was all clear and manifest, and their conscience bore testimony to that truth. Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am.
And yet I am not come of myself.
But he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.
In their wills, they didn't know him. Some have puzzled over this statement. You both know me and you know whence I am. And in the 8th chapter he says.
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Verse 19 Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me nor my Father. If he had known me, you should have known my Father also. 1 Chapter he says you know me, and the other chapter he says, You don't. One is the question of the conscience, the other is the will.
I had rejected him.
In their wills.
When the truth is presented to the conscience of man, it assents to it.
But they wouldn't submit to that.
That's what made it so serious. And then he says at the end of verse 28, whom he that sent me is true, whom ye know not what, an indictment upon these leaders. You don't know him.
You do not know God.
The sum and substance of all blessedness, both in this life and in that which is to come.
Is to know God.
And he can only be known in the person of his son.
And here the Lord says, ye don't know him.
Your conscience knows me.
It testifies to who I am.
My works do, and your conscience says Amen to it, but you won't have it.
Because you don't know him.
The only true God.
And Jesus Christ, whom now has sinned. So there is a sense in which they knew him, and there is a sense in which they did not know Him.
How important to know him?
And that he knows us.
Verse 29 You don't know him, he says. But I know him.
For I am from him.
And he hath sent me.
Tremendous truths that they had to grapple with and they had to decide, is this true? Is he speaking the truth? He says I know him.
He sent me, I am from him.
And he hath sent me.
If that were true.
Their whole course was wrong.
Their whole course was a course of rebellion against the Light, fighting against the truth.
That was there in the person of Christ.
Then they sought to take him. They wanted to put that light out. They could not stand the intensity of that light shining in upon their sin darkened souls. They sought to take him.
But no man laid hands on him.
For his hour was not yet come. Several times in the Gospel of John they sought to take him.
Here it just says, no man laid hands on him, and another place He, walking through the midst of them, went his way. In another place they came to take him. And he said, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth, He said, I am He.
And they all fell backward to the ground.
They could not touch him.
Until his kind time had come.
No man laid hands on him because his hour.
Was not yet come, he says in John 10. No man taketh my life from me. I have power to lay it down.
And I have power to take it again.
And many of the people believed on him and said, when Christ cometh.
Will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done? You can just see all that was going on there at Jerusalem at this time, the most critical time in, in, in the history of all the many feasts that they had celebrated. Here was the the fulfiller of the feast. Here was the King himself in their midst. The one who was to fulfill will be the great antitype of the Feast of Tabernacles when he reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
And they did not know him.
They did not receive him. They willfully rejected him.
Though their conscience told them.
He was the Christ. Do they rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? Yes.
In one sense.
In another sense, they did not.
Will he do more when Christ cometh? Will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done? Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him.
Quite a combination. I was noticing that the Pharisees and the chief priests, they didn't really.
Like each other too much, they had very different views, but they banded together to take him.
And then said Jesus unto them, yet a little while am I with you?
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And then I go unto him that sent me.
Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me in where I am thither ye cannot come.
Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go that we shall not find him? Will he go on to the dispersed among the Gentiles and teach? The Gentiles had no idea of the spiritual significance of the Lords words. He was about to go on high to the Father, and become the head of an altogether new creation.
He was rejected as the king down here as the.
I'm still waiting.
Remember, the thief on the Cross said.
Lord Jesus, Remember Me. Lord, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom.
And he told them, you don't have to wait that long. Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.
If what he asked for was what was granted him, he'd still be waiting. He hasn't come into his Kingdom yet.
But he will.
It could be very soon now, very soon indeed.
Verse 34 You shall seek me, and shall not find me, and where I am thither ye cannot come.
No, they could not come there. Where is he? He's Speaking of himself as being there already. He's there in the glory and Father's presence.
Then said the Jews among themselves, whither will he go?
That we shall not find him, will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?
Now that was about to come to pass after he went on high and sent down the Holy Spirit.
But he wasn't going to do that personally.
What manner of saying is this, that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me, and where I am thither ye cannot come?
And now we come to this tremendous verse. Remember the Feast of the Passover and the Feast of Pentecost? They had seven days each, but the Feast of Tabernacles had an eighth day.
It was after the completion of the seven.
When the 8th day, it's a it's a new beginning, a new beginning, a new creation. And that's why we Christians meet on the 8th day or the first day of the week, because that's when he rose from the dead. That's when he became the head of a new creation. That's when Christianity began, if you will.
With Christ.
Ascended.
And then he sent down the Holy Spirit.
In the last day, that great day of the feast.
It must have puzzled the Jewish mind. Why are there 8 days to the Feast of Tabernacles?
That eighth day being symbolical of the beginning of Christianity.
After the king was rejected and did not take the Kingdom, it was placed in abeyance and it's still in abeyance. He's gone on high.
And sent down the Holy Spirit.
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He becomes the center now of an altogether new order of things.
The center, the head of a new creation.
This doesn't speak of his death and resurrection, but that's involved in what he's saying here.
It assumes it.
And that's all developed in this gospel.
He that believeth on me is the Scripture hath said, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
An altogether new truth, something they didn't have in the Old Testament.
What does it speak of? That living water, that flowing water, that river of water, refreshment and blessing to those roundabout.
This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.
For the Holy Ghost was not yet given.
Because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
So the coming of the Holy Ghost depended upon a finished work.
A risen Christ and ascended Christ to the right hand of God. He was 40 days risen on the earth.
And then in Acts 1, he ascended up to heaven, and 10 days later.
Completing the 50 from his resurrection to the sending of the Holy Spirit, which was Pentecost, 10 days later He sent down the Holy Spirit.
When he was a man here on earth, at the River Jordan, he received the Spirit the first time for himself.
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By virtue of the perfection of his person, the Spirit was given as a dove. It came upon him perfect holiness.
Perfect purity that blessed lowly 1.
But now he receives the Spirit Acts 2 from His Father as a man in the glory, the Head now of a new order of things altogether, and He sends Him down.
And he comes here and unites those 120 believers in the Upper Room, the Day of Pentecost, into one body, and unites them to that glorified man in heaven.
And there we have the mystery, that hidden secret that God never divulged in the Old Testament.
Jew and Gentile. It doesn't tell us who composes that one body down here. On the day of Pentecost it was all Jews and Jewish proselytes. But that that baptism of the Spirit was not completed. It began then. It was not completed in Acts 10 till Acts 10, when the Gentiles are brought in.
And then you have in one Corinthians 12 by 1 Spirit, where we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews, Acts 2 or Gentiles Acts 10, and have all been made to drink into one spirit.
So we have the two that in that incorporate the body of Christ tremendous truth. This is the beginning of an altogether new order of things. The Spirit of God down here.
Indwelling each of us individually and collectively, and uniting us together to one another and to the glorified man in heaven.
Going to read those verses again, they are so tremendously important in the last day. That's the eighth day of the feast. Speaking of a new creation, He becomes the center now of an altogether new order of things. Not the Jewish Messiah, they had rejected him as that, but as the risen, glorified man in heaven, the man of God's counsels, to whom everything is being made subject.
In that last, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
We go to Him, we drink from Him, we find our blessings, our sustenance, our life, our everything in Him.
He that believeth on me.
As the Scripture hath said.
Out of his belly.
Out of his inmost beings shall flow rivers of living water.
This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given.
As the constitutor of Christianity, because Jesus was not yet glorified, he could not be sent down.
Until Christ was in glory those that talk about the Church of the Old Testament or the church.
When Jesus was here on earth, or even when he was a risen man on earth.
Do not understand the church didn't exist yet.
It didn't exist until that risen man ascended up to heaven, and sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, and received the spirit now to pour him forth and to send him down.
To bring those Jewish disciples now into something.
That never existed before the body of Christ. The truth of it was not brought out until Saul of Tarsus was converted in Chapter 9.
But the thing itself existed in chapter 2.
Of X.
Many of the people, therefore, when they heard this saying, said of a truth, this is the prophet.
Others said this is the Christ.
Thinking that the two were different.
But, some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?
Have not the scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David and out of the town of Bethlehem where David was, and so they dismiss him because?
He didn't come from Bethlehem, so they thought.
They never investigated. They never searched it out to find out they were not seekers. They did not want to know the truth.
So there was a division among the people because of him.
There has been a division among the people because of him ever since.
All throughout the world.
A division because of him.
How wonderful to be on the side of faith.
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And some of them would have taken him. Again, we read that, but no man.
Laid hands on him.
His hour hadn't come.
He was unassailable.
Then came the officers to the chief priests to remember back in verse 32, the Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests said officers to take Him, and now they come back.
Then came the officers of the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said unto them, Why have you not brought him?
The officers answered. Never man spake.
Like this man?
Oh, we can say that.
Never man spake like this man.
His words are life giving.
To the soul that has faith.
To the soul that whose eyes have been opened.
But to those that still reject him.
His words will condemn them.
Condemn them.
Awful to think of.
To refuse those words, to refuse the one who uttered them, to refuse the one who came as the very expression of the Father.
Never man spake like this man.
That answered them, the Pharisees. Are you also deceived?
Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed on him?
Yes, one of them had.
And he comes forward a little here. Remember in John 3 the ruler of the Jews, Nicodemus, He came to Jesus by night.
Came to him as a teacher to a teacher.
But now he speaks out a little bit better.
But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed wrong.
The people that know the law and fail to keep it are cursed.
Curse it is everyone that continueth, not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
It isn't the knowledge of the law that keeps 1 and preserves one, it's the keeping of it.
And none have kept it.
So they say, are these people who knoweth not the law are cursed?
They knew the law and they were the ones that were cursed because they were crucifying. They were about to crucify the very one that the Law pointed forward to.
Nicodemus now comes forward a little more brightly.
He saith unto them, He that came to Jesus by night, being one of them. That's in John 3.
Doth our law judge any man before it, hear him, and know what he doeth?
That took quite a bit of boldness for him to come out like that against the tremendous opposition that existed there among the Jewish leaders.
They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search and look for.
Out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. That was wrong.
They are. One of their prophets came from Galilee. Jonadip.
These leaders said out of Galilee arise with no prophet. That wasn't even true.
And every man went unto his own house.
Jesus.
Went unto the Mount of Olives.
And in there, there's this wonderful account.
I didn't read it but I'm going to go into it just a little. So beautiful.
And early in the morning he came again into the temple.
And all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught them.
And the scribes in the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery.
And when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act.
Now Moses in the Law commanded us that such should be stoned. Moses in the Law commanded that both the man and the woman should be stoned.
They only brought half the party.
Moses in the Law. It's amazing how the law can be quoted by these religious hypocrites.
And not realize that.
It condemns them too.
But they had come now into the presence of Him who is light.
And they didn't know who they were up against.
They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses and the Law commanded us that such should be stone.
No matter how he answered that question, they could have faulted him.
If he said stone her, they'd say he had no compassion.
If he said let her go.
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They would have accused him of not keeping the law of Moses.
What does he say to them?
This they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. There was number purity in their motives whatsoever.
They didn't care a bit for this woman. They didn't care for her. They were just going to make her.
Just use her to trap the Lord.
But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground.
As though he heard them not is just added by the translators he wrote on the ground.
The very one that wrote on the ground with his finger. The very one that wrote.
The 10 commandments.
And those two tables of stone.
They were using the law.
To the very lawgiver.
Who alone had the authority and the right to stone her?
They were using it to him and he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
And then they continued asking him.
And he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
And the only one that was qualified, if that was the requirement, was himself.
He was the only one that was without sin. He's the only one that could cast a stone at her. Would he?
And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
You know the law was given twice. The first time Moses broke it and then.
It was written again and God gave it to Moses a second time. Maybe these two writings refer to that.
We're not told.
And when they had heard it being.
Being convicted.
When they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said to them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast the stone at her. And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one. That's the proper use of the law.
Proper use of the law is to convict man of sin.
It went out one by one, beginning at the eldest even unto the last, and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
When Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman.
He said unto her woman.
Where are those thine accusers?
Hath no man condemned thee? And she said, No man Lord.
And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee.
Go and sin no more.
We have a beautiful commentary on that in 2nd Corinthians 5.
I'll read it.
Verse 19.
God was in Christ.
Reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.
And have committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
The law was given by Moses. He was not here to enforce the law of Moses.
He was here to show grace. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
And so he showed grace. He ministered it. He imparted to that woman the only power that would enable her to live above that sin that she had fallen into.
The law won't do it.
Commanding a person like this not to commit adultery won't do it.
But grace will empower the person.
Not to do it.
He came.
At Blessed One, full of grace and truth, the very lawgiver, not to enforce the law, not to give it again, but to show grace.
And to bring into blessing.
Wonderful portion we've been looking at.
The blessed Lord rejected here the Kingdom put in abeyance not fulfilled.
But on that eighth day.
He now becomes the head.
Of a new order of things.
That would be brought into operation by the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Who would unite us, everyone, individually, collectively, to that glorified man in heaven?
What a portion is ours.