May 21, 2024 • 15 mins
www.nic-williams.com
Could it be that the key to unlocking spiritual maturity lies in differentiating God's will from His timing? Prepare to embark on a journey through John chapter 7, as we meticulously examine the provocative questions that emerge from Jesus's enigmatic actions and teachings during the Festival of Tabernacles. We'll guide you through six significant inquiries, scrutinizing the contrast between extensive biblical knowledge and the essence of true spiritual growth. Through thought-provoking discussion, we reveal how Christ's own life serves as a blueprint for understanding and submitting to the divine will.
This episode is a deep exploration of belief, miracles, and symbolic acts that define Jesus's mission as more than a provider of temporary relief but as the eternal satisfaction for our soul's deepest hunger. As we reflect on His declaration as the bread of life and the living water, we invite you to contemplate the parallels between the Israelites' desert experience and our modern spiritual journey. Moreover, we'll grapple with the transformative nature of belief and its critical role in both our personal faith and in evangelism. Throughout, we encourage you to not only fortify your own convictions but also to engage in meaningful dialogue with those around you, sharing the profound love and truth that Jesus offers.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, podcasters, welcome back.
We are in John chapter 7 today,which is an incredible,
credible passage, and withinJohn chapter 7, there's so many
questions.
I don't know if you've everexperienced this.
I've got two kids 12, 13 atthis time and we've never failed
to encounter a moment wheresomebody learns something new,
(00:21):
or Lori and I say something, andthen we play this game of 20
questions Not the actual game,that would be fun, but the game
of them just saying wanting toknow everything about what
you're talking about.
And the problem is sometimesthey stump you right.
Sometimes they ask thequestions and you're like I just
don't know if I know theanswers.
Well, in John chapter 7, wefind actually 20 questions being
(00:44):
asked within this chapter.
Up to this point, John hasspent time telling people who
Jesus is, what his identity is.
He's made the case in eachchapter leading up to this
moment showing miracles and longtalks in which Jesus has with
people, explaining to the peopleexactly who he is.
And then you come to chapter 7,and all of a sudden, there's
(01:07):
just questions after questions.
In fact, about every threeverses there's a new question,
and we can boil the 20 questionsthat you find in this chapter
down to about six major ones,and so, for the time that we
have together today, I want tojust briefly address some of
those questions, and what Iwould love for you to do is go
(01:28):
back and look at John chapter 7,highlight some of the questions
, wrestle with them.
Some you'll know the answer toright away.
Others may be questions thatyou've wrestled with in your
life, and so you can sit backand begin to look at those and
study scriptures for yourself.
The first question that we findis where is Jesus Beginning?
(01:49):
In John chapter 7, Jesus hasthis conversation with some of
his half-brothers and they'retalking about this celebration
or festival of the tabernaclesthat's coming up in Jerusalem.
And his brothers are tellingJesus hey, you should go and
perform your miracles there,that way more people would know
about you.
And they're not doing this in away to lift Jesus up.
(02:11):
Scripture actually says it'sverse 3 or 4, that his brothers,
at this point, still didn'teven believe he was the Messiah,
and so I feel like they're kindof poking fun at him too a
little bit.
But they're telling him to goand he says, hey, my time has
not yet come.
And so Jesus, about halfwaythrough the festival, makes his
(02:31):
way to the festival, so hisbrothers went ahead of him.
But now Jesus is making his waythere and as he's going, people
are asking that question.
People are saying where is thisJesus, this Jesus that performed
all these miracles, the guythat fed the 5,000, the 4,000,
where is he at?
And some wanted to see himbecause of who they thought he
was and how amazing he was.
(02:52):
Others said that he was just aperson that deceived people, and
so in John, chapter 7, verse 11, the crowd simply asked where
is he?
And the answer is that Jesuswas simply waiting.
He was waiting for the rightmoment.
This is something we talkedabout at South Shore at our
church in the last week thatsometimes we know the will of
(03:15):
God but we don't know the timingof God.
And it's so easy, when you andI know that God's called us to
do something, to try to rush it.
When you know something has tobe done, then you just say, all
right, let's just do it.
But I think it takes morespiritual discernment for you
and I to understand God's timingversus God's will and to be
able to wait.
(03:35):
And Jesus was so in tune withGod that he knew he needed to go
there, but the day that hisbrothers went was not the day to
go.
He didn't need to rush God'splan and so he waited.
He waited till the appointedhour that was for him to go, and
it was about halfway through.
(03:57):
It's another question you kindof find asked through various
ways in this passage and it'sthis question how does Jesus
know so much?
In fact, that question is askeddirectly.
There's this moment that whenJesus finally makes it to
Jerusalem, he stands in thetemple courts and he begins to
(04:19):
teach, and he's teaching withthe authority of someone that
knows the scriptures and haslived the scriptures beyond the
authority of anybody else, andthe crowd begins to whisper and
talk to each other about thisidea.
How does this man, who has noformal education, how does he
speak the way he does?
How does he speak with theunderstanding that he has?
(04:41):
How does he have the spiritualmaturity that he has?
And I think sometimes, I thinkspiritual Christians think
spiritual growth is simply aboutmore Bible knowledge.
We think attending certainBible studies means we're
growing spiritually.
We think if we read books aboutfaith, then our faith is
(05:01):
growing.
We think a certain person thatcan quote a bunch of verses out
of the Bible that they're aspiritual giant and we honestly
confuse Bible knowledge withspiritual maturity.
And we honestly confuse Bibleknowledge with spiritual
maturity.
And spiritual maturity issimply when you and I get to the
point that we're submitting tothe will of the Father.
(05:22):
And this was the story of Jesusand everything he did, even in
the timing that he went to atown and to the moment that he
spoke, he submitted to God.
And so they begin to ask hey,how do you know all these things
?
And he plainly tells them Idon't know these things from me.
These things come from the onewho sent me, which was a phrase
(05:44):
he used over and over again.
Another question we see wrestledwith in John chapter 7 is who
wants to kill Jesus?
In fact, there's one point thatJesus kind of calls the crowd
out and he says hey, some of youjust want to kill me.
And they kind of push him offand say you must be demon
possessed.
Nobody here is trying to killyou.
(06:06):
But the religious leaderswanted to kill Jesus because he
healed a man on the Sabbath,which is what Jesus begins to
talk to them about right afterthis passage.
But Jesus said healing andcircumcision are no different.
Now let me explain that.
If you haven't read Johnchapter 7 or you aren't in
church Sunday, Jesus' retort tothe Pharisees was basically that
(06:29):
hey, you guys have a law thatyou don't work on the Sabbath,
but you also have a law that ifa male is born, that eight days
later he has to be circumcised.
And sometimes that eighth dayfalls on the Sabbath.
And so what do you do?
And the answer was theycircumcise him, and so they
break their own law to followanother law, or another way to
(06:54):
say it is they break a law tofollow tradition.
And Jesus is saying hey, you dothat just to circumcise
somebody, but I actually healeda man, I brought wholeness back
to a guy's life, and you guysare upset with that.
Now, another question that'swrestled with in John chapter 7,
probably the most importantquestion that you and I could
(07:15):
wrestle with at all is simplywho is Jesus?
Maybe he's possibly the Messiah.
Maybe he's possibly the one Godpromised long ago.
Verse 20, obviously some ofthem thought he was
demon-possessed.
Verse 40, some of them thoughthe was the Messiah.
Verse 12, some of them thoughthe was demon-possessed.
Verse 40, some of them thoughthe was the Messiah.
(07:35):
Verse 12, some of them thoughthe was a deceiver Verse 12,.
Some of them thought he was agood man.
And we find a clear answer whenwe consider chapter 6 and
chapter 7.
In chapter 6, we have themiracle of the feeding of the
5,000, the miracle of thefeeding of the 4,000.
We have the walking on water,we have the moment where he
(07:58):
healed a Canaanite woman's child.
And then, at the end of thatchapter, he ties all those
things together when he says hey, I've been feeding you
physically, but let me tell youwhy I'm really here.
I am the bread of life.
And he gives us that first I amstatement.
And in that I am statement,he's saying I can give you bread
that doesn't just fill yourstomach but fills your soul, and
(08:22):
it's something that sustainsfor eternity.
And then, in chapter seven, hebegins to talk about being the
living water, about being theliving water, the water that
quenches the thirst.
And so he's been painting thispicture and not in an obscure
way, in a very clear way of whohe really is.
(08:44):
And again, over and over again,when he gets the chance, he
says hey, I don't come for me, Icome for my Father, the one who
sent me Another question thatwe see kind of wrestled with in
this passage is will you come toJesus?
Now, you got to remember, thePharisees don't like Jesus.
In fact they want to kill Jesus, and in this chapter they
(09:04):
actually send some guardstowards Jesus to arrest him and
bring him to them.
And when those guards get toJesus and they hear him speaking
, they realize man, we can't getthis guy.
We've never heard someone speakthe way he does.
And what they're not saying isthey're not saying he's very
eloquent and man, he was just acool speaker.
They're saying the words he isspeaking breathe life into
(09:29):
people.
He's speaking with authoritythat we've never heard before,
even amongst the religious eliteof the day.
So, will you come to Jesus?
If you go back to the OldTestament and you look in the
prophet Isaiah's book, by thetime you read chapter 55, and
(09:52):
this is the chapter that Jesusreferences in John, chapter 7,
you know that God is going tosend his servant to save his
people from judgment.
Now let me give you thoseverses John, chapter 7, verse 37
, if anyone is thirsty, let himcome to me and drink.
Isaiah 55, 1,.
Come, everyone who is thirsty,come to the water.
(10:16):
Now.
What all is happening here.
What all this water talk isabout is.
This festival of tabernacles, orfestival of the booths that
they're celebrating at thismoment is a remembrance of what
happened when the Israeliteswere wandering through the
wilderness for 40 years.
And when they're wanderingthrough the wilderness for 40
(10:37):
years, God is providing for them.
He's providing for them fordirection by a cloud by day, a
pillar of fire by night.
He's providing for them food,bringing manna to them every
morning, except on the Sabbath.
He's providing them water.
And one of the crazy things youthink about them, they're in
the middle of the desert, and sowhere are they going to find
(11:00):
water?
Those who are thirsty in adesert are people that usually
die, and Jesus, or God, calledout to Moses to strike a rock
and water would be pouring outof it.
Now, Moses, if you know,commanded to speak to a rock, so
water would come out of it, andGod provided water in the midst
of the desert.
In a desert, water means life.
(11:20):
In a desert, if you're thirsty,you're dying, and Jesus is
inviting those that are dyingspiritually to come to him to
drink of the life that he has tooffer.
Isaiah 55.1,.
Come, everyone who is thirsty,come to the water and you,
(11:41):
without silver, come buy and eat.
Come buy wine and milk withoutsilver and without cost
Referencing, back to Christ.
That it doesn't cost youanything to come to Him, that he
has already paid the price,that he wants you, that he
invites you to come to Himempty-handed.
(12:05):
The last question that wewrestle with in the last few
verses of John, chapter 7,verses 40 through 52, is simply
this, and here's the question Iwant you to land with today Do
you believe Jesus?
Because if you don't believeJesus, you're not going to come
(12:28):
to Jesus.
You have to come to a pointthat you actually believe that
he's God, that he's the onlysource of life, that he loves
you, that he's gracious andmerciful, that he died on a
cross loves you, that he'sgracious and merciful, that he
died on a cross for you.
(12:49):
And if you do, you'll come tohim and you'll find peace,
You'll find your thirst of yoursoul being quenched, You'll find
eternal life.
But if you don't believe that,you will never come to him.
(13:12):
As you go about your day today,whether you're riding in your
car, headed to work, headed homeon the exercise bike, wherever
you find yourself, spend sometime wrestling with that
question.
If you are a believer, ifyou're someone that's already
found a relationship with God, Istill want you to wrestle with
it.
And the reason I want you towrestle with it is if you have
(13:34):
friends that don't know Christ,that is the question they need
to wrestle with.
And if you've never truly spenttime understanding the depth of
that question, do you believe?
Because, as Jesus said, that'swhat it is Belief, that's what
changes everything.
Belief in him brings faith bythe grace of God.
(14:00):
So, as you go about your day,share the love of Jesus, tell
someone about him and spend sometime wrestling with the
questions of the faith.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
I hope you have an incredibleweek.
Hey, podcasters, welcome back.
We are in John chapter 7 today,which is an incredible,
credible passage, and withinJohn chapter 7, there's so many
questions.
I don't know if you've everexperienced this.
I've got two kids 12, 13 atthis time and we've never failed
to encounter a moment wheresomebody learns something new,
(00:21):
or Lori and I say something, andthen we play this game of 20
questions Not the actual game,that would be fun, but the game
of them just saying wanting toknow everything about what
you're talking about.
And the problem is sometimesthey stump you right.
Sometimes they ask thequestions and you're like I just
don't know if I know theanswers.
Well, in John chapter 7, wefind actually 20 questions being
(00:44):
asked within this chapter.
Up to this point, John hasspent time telling people who
Jesus is, what his identity is.
He's made the case in eachchapter leading up to this
moment showing miracles and longtalks in which Jesus has with
people, explaining to the peopleexactly who he is.
And then you come to chapter 7,and all of a sudden, there's
(01:07):
just questions after questions.
In fact, about every threeverses there's a new question,
and we can boil the 20 questionsthat you find in this chapter
down to about six major ones,and so, for the time that we
have together today, I want tojust briefly address some of
those questions, and what Iwould love for you to do is go
(01:28):
back and look at John chapter 7,highlight some of the questions
, wrestle with them.
Some you'll know the answer toright away.
Others may be questions thatyou've wrestled with in your
life, and so you can sit backand begin to look at those and
study scriptures for yourself.
The first question that we findis where is Jesus Beginning?
(01:49):
In John chapter 7, Jesus hasthis conversation with some of
his half-brothers and they'retalking about this celebration
or festival of the tabernaclesthat's coming up in Jerusalem.
And his brothers are tellingJesus hey, you should go and
perform your miracles there,that way more people would know
about you.
And they're not doing this in away to lift Jesus up.
(02:11):
Scripture actually says it'sverse 3 or 4, that his brothers,
at this point, still didn'teven believe he was the Messiah,
and so I feel like they're kindof poking fun at him too a
little bit.
But they're telling him to goand he says, hey, my time has
not yet come.
And so Jesus, about halfwaythrough the festival, makes his
(02:31):
way to the festival, so hisbrothers went ahead of him.
But now Jesus is making his waythere and as he's going, people
are asking that question.
People are saying where is thisJesus, this Jesus that performed
all these miracles, the guythat fed the 5,000, the 4,000,
where is he at?
And some wanted to see himbecause of who they thought he
was and how amazing he was.
(02:52):
Others said that he was just aperson that deceived people, and
so in John, chapter 7, verse 11, the crowd simply asked where
is he?
And the answer is that Jesuswas simply waiting.
He was waiting for the rightmoment.
This is something we talkedabout at South Shore at our
church in the last week thatsometimes we know the will of
(03:15):
God but we don't know the timingof God.
And it's so easy, when you andI know that God's called us to
do something, to try to rush it.
When you know something has tobe done, then you just say, all
right, let's just do it.
But I think it takes morespiritual discernment for you
and I to understand God's timingversus God's will and to be
able to wait.
(03:35):
And Jesus was so in tune withGod that he knew he needed to go
there, but the day that hisbrothers went was not the day to
go.
He didn't need to rush God'splan and so he waited.
He waited till the appointedhour that was for him to go, and
it was about halfway through.
(03:57):
It's another question you kindof find asked through various
ways in this passage and it'sthis question how does Jesus
know so much?
In fact, that question is askeddirectly.
There's this moment that whenJesus finally makes it to
Jerusalem, he stands in thetemple courts and he begins to
(04:19):
teach, and he's teaching withthe authority of someone that
knows the scriptures and haslived the scriptures beyond the
authority of anybody else, andthe crowd begins to whisper and
talk to each other about thisidea.
How does this man, who has noformal education, how does he
speak the way he does?
How does he speak with theunderstanding that he has?
(04:41):
How does he have the spiritualmaturity that he has?
And I think sometimes, I thinkspiritual Christians think
spiritual growth is simply aboutmore Bible knowledge.
We think attending certainBible studies means we're
growing spiritually.
We think if we read books aboutfaith, then our faith is
(05:01):
growing.
We think a certain person thatcan quote a bunch of verses out
of the Bible that they're aspiritual giant and we honestly
confuse Bible knowledge withspiritual maturity.
And we honestly confuse Bibleknowledge with spiritual
maturity.
And spiritual maturity issimply when you and I get to the
point that we're submitting tothe will of the Father.
(05:22):
And this was the story of Jesusand everything he did, even in
the timing that he went to atown and to the moment that he
spoke, he submitted to God.
And so they begin to ask hey,how do you know all these things
?
And he plainly tells them Idon't know these things from me.
These things come from the onewho sent me, which was a phrase
(05:44):
he used over and over again.
Another question we see wrestledwith in John chapter 7 is who
wants to kill Jesus?
In fact, there's one point thatJesus kind of calls the crowd
out and he says hey, some of youjust want to kill me.
And they kind of push him offand say you must be demon
possessed.
Nobody here is trying to killyou.
(06:06):
But the religious leaderswanted to kill Jesus because he
healed a man on the Sabbath,which is what Jesus begins to
talk to them about right afterthis passage.
But Jesus said healing andcircumcision are no different.
Now let me explain that.
If you haven't read Johnchapter 7 or you aren't in
church Sunday, Jesus' retort tothe Pharisees was basically that
(06:29):
hey, you guys have a law thatyou don't work on the Sabbath,
but you also have a law that ifa male is born, that eight days
later he has to be circumcised.
And sometimes that eighth dayfalls on the Sabbath.
And so what do you do?
And the answer was theycircumcise him, and so they
break their own law to followanother law, or another way to
(06:54):
say it is they break a law tofollow tradition.
And Jesus is saying hey, you dothat just to circumcise
somebody, but I actually healeda man, I brought wholeness back
to a guy's life, and you guysare upset with that.
Now, another question that'swrestled with in John chapter 7,
probably the most importantquestion that you and I could
(07:15):
wrestle with at all is simplywho is Jesus?
Maybe he's possibly the Messiah.
Maybe he's possibly the one Godpromised long ago.
Verse 20, obviously some ofthem thought he was
demon-possessed.
Verse 40, some of them thoughthe was the Messiah.
Verse 12, some of them thoughthe was demon-possessed.
Verse 40, some of them thoughthe was the Messiah.
(07:35):
Verse 12, some of them thoughthe was a deceiver Verse 12,.
Some of them thought he was agood man.
And we find a clear answer whenwe consider chapter 6 and
chapter 7.
In chapter 6, we have themiracle of the feeding of the
5,000, the miracle of thefeeding of the 4,000.
We have the walking on water,we have the moment where he
(07:58):
healed a Canaanite woman's child.
And then, at the end of thatchapter, he ties all those
things together when he says hey, I've been feeding you
physically, but let me tell youwhy I'm really here.
I am the bread of life.
And he gives us that first I amstatement.
And in that I am statement,he's saying I can give you bread
that doesn't just fill yourstomach but fills your soul, and
(08:22):
it's something that sustainsfor eternity.
And then, in chapter seven, hebegins to talk about being the
living water, about being theliving water, the water that
quenches the thirst.
And so he's been painting thispicture and not in an obscure
way, in a very clear way of whohe really is.
(08:44):
And again, over and over again,when he gets the chance, he
says hey, I don't come for me, Icome for my Father, the one who
sent me Another question thatwe see kind of wrestled with in
this passage is will you come toJesus?
Now, you got to remember, thePharisees don't like Jesus.
In fact they want to kill Jesus, and in this chapter they
(09:04):
actually send some guardstowards Jesus to arrest him and
bring him to them.
And when those guards get toJesus and they hear him speaking
, they realize man, we can't getthis guy.
We've never heard someone speakthe way he does.
And what they're not saying isthey're not saying he's very
eloquent and man, he was just acool speaker.
They're saying the words he isspeaking breathe life into
(09:29):
people.
He's speaking with authoritythat we've never heard before,
even amongst the religious eliteof the day.
So, will you come to Jesus?
If you go back to the OldTestament and you look in the
prophet Isaiah's book, by thetime you read chapter 55, and
(09:52):
this is the chapter that Jesusreferences in John, chapter 7,
you know that God is going tosend his servant to save his
people from judgment.
Now let me give you thoseverses John, chapter 7, verse 37
, if anyone is thirsty, let himcome to me and drink.
Isaiah 55, 1,.
Come, everyone who is thirsty,come to the water.
(10:16):
Now.
What all is happening here.
What all this water talk isabout is.
This festival of tabernacles, orfestival of the booths that
they're celebrating at thismoment is a remembrance of what
happened when the Israeliteswere wandering through the
wilderness for 40 years.
And when they're wanderingthrough the wilderness for 40
(10:37):
years, God is providing for them.
He's providing for them fordirection by a cloud by day, a
pillar of fire by night.
He's providing for them food,bringing manna to them every
morning, except on the Sabbath.
He's providing them water.
And one of the crazy things youthink about them, they're in
the middle of the desert, and sowhere are they going to find
(11:00):
water?
Those who are thirsty in adesert are people that usually
die, and Jesus, or God, calledout to Moses to strike a rock
and water would be pouring outof it.
Now, Moses, if you know,commanded to speak to a rock, so
water would come out of it, andGod provided water in the midst
of the desert.
In a desert, water means life.
(11:20):
In a desert, if you're thirsty,you're dying, and Jesus is
inviting those that are dyingspiritually to come to him to
drink of the life that he has tooffer.
Isaiah 55.1,.
Come, everyone who is thirsty,come to the water and you,
(11:41):
without silver, come buy and eat.
Come buy wine and milk withoutsilver and without cost
Referencing, back to Christ.
That it doesn't cost youanything to come to Him, that he
has already paid the price,that he wants you, that he
invites you to come to Himempty-handed.
(12:05):
The last question that wewrestle with in the last few
verses of John, chapter 7,verses 40 through 52, is simply
this, and here's the question Iwant you to land with today Do
you believe Jesus?
Because if you don't believeJesus, you're not going to come
(12:28):
to Jesus.
You have to come to a pointthat you actually believe that
he's God, that he's the onlysource of life, that he loves
you, that he's gracious andmerciful, that he died on a
cross loves you, that he'sgracious and merciful, that he
died on a cross for you.
(12:49):
And if you do, you'll come tohim and you'll find peace,
You'll find your thirst of yoursoul being quenched, You'll find
eternal life.
But if you don't believe that,you will never come to him.
(13:12):
As you go about your day today,whether you're riding in your
car, headed to work, headed homeon the exercise bike, wherever
you find yourself, spend sometime wrestling with that
question.
If you are a believer, ifyou're someone that's already
found a relationship with God, Istill want you to wrestle with
it.
And the reason I want you towrestle with it is if you have
(13:34):
friends that don't know Christ,that is the question they need
to wrestle with.
And if you've never truly spenttime understanding the depth of
that question, do you believe?
Because, as Jesus said, that'swhat it is Belief, that's what
changes everything.
Belief in him brings faith bythe grace of God.
(14:00):
So, as you go about your day,share the love of Jesus, tell
someone about him and spend sometime wrestling with the
questions of the faith.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
I hope you have an incredibleweek.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.