A
Study of the Book of John
“That You May Believe”
Sermon
# 23
“Christ
the Great Divider”
John 7:40-53
There are some
things in life that you can be neutral about but Jesus is not one of them. Yet many people in our country are still
trying to be neutral about Jesus. They claim that Jesus was a good man, maybe a even a
great man, but that was long ago and in another time and it has nothing to do with how
they live their lives. And it certainly does not require that I go to church much less
belong to a church. They say, “You don’t
have to go to church to believe in Jesus.”
In Luke 11:23
(Matt 12:30) Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against
Me, and he
Jesus says that neutrality to him
is really opposition to Him. To decide for God, one must decide for Jesus. In a cosmic war
there are no spectators; everyone lines up on one side or the other. The implication is to
be careful which side you choose.
In verse forty-three we
are told, “So there was a division among the people because of
Him.” In Luke
12:51-53 (Matt 10:34-35) Jesus told his disciples, “Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth?
I tell you, not at all, but rather division. (52) For from now on
five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. (53) Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother
against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
Faith in Jesus always has been and will
continue to be a dividing line in this world. In parts of the world today where
Christianity is not the predominant religion it is still very much so. In countries in
which Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam are the predominant religions, to come to faith in
Christ often means being disowned by your family.
You may be saying how does that concern me in
modern America? R. Kent Hughes in his commentary
states, “Christ brings division to everyday life. We all
have experienced this. Maybe we are at the store, in school, or at work, and we are
talking animatedly with someone about any number of things – maybe politics or
education or sports or even the weather. Then someone says something like, ‘My life
has really been different lately because of Christ.’ Suddenly there is a silence and
a shuffling of the feet. Someone coughs. Someone else looks at his watch and says, ‘I’ve
got an appointment to get to or I’ll be late.’ Another says, ‘Oh, yes I
have to go feed the dog. I must be going.’ But in reality the man who said he had to
feed the dog did not have a dog to feed and the other person’s appointment was the
next day. Yet the mere mention of Christ brings division to life.” [R Kent Hughes. John: That You Might
Believe. (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1999) p. 222]
In John chapter seven Jesus has been teaching
at the temple during the feast, it had made a big impression on some of the people, but it
was not certainly not unanimous and “there was a division of
the people because of Him” (7:43). The great sadness of this division is that
it means that there are those who choose not to believe in Jesus and by that decision
reject the only means of being saved.
What we have revealed this morning are Three
kinds of Unbelief.
First, There Are Some Who Choose To Believe Some of
His Claims (v. 40)
“Therefore many from the
crowd, when they heard this saying, said, “Truly this is the Prophet.”
Some of the listeners were sure that Jesus
was “the prophet” (v. 40). This is the prophet
predicted by Moses in Deut. 18:15-18. These people like many today, believed Jesus to be a
great prophet but not the Son of God. An interesting perspective is to understand that
even the Moslems believe that Jesus was “a” prophet.
But a partial faith is not a saving faith.
Secondly, There Are Some Who Choose To Believe Intellectually.
(v. 41a)
“Others
said, “This is the Christ.”
There
were even others who went a step further and said of Jesus “This
is the Christ” (v. 41a) and although that may sound like true belief it is
not!
If we think for a moment we understand that
just a knowledge of the facts about Jesus and even believing them true does not save a
person. Lots of people have grown
up in Christian homes, attended good sound Bible believing churches, gone to Church camp,
attended Youth group, in fact had ever spiritual advantage, and yet have never come to
trust Christ. And those people who have
all that knowledge are just as lost today as the worst person on skid row. They
are in our community. They can quote Scripture verses, and can believe them all to be true
and still be lost. In fact they can even be sitting in this worship service this morning.
They do not question the factualness
But intellectual acceptance is not saving
faith.
Third, There Are Some Who Choose To Reject Him Entirely
(vv. 41b-53)
“…But some said, “Will
the Christ come out of Galilee? (42) Has not the Scripture said
that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David
was?”
Some question if Jesus could be the Christ for
He was a Galilean. They obviously knew that Jesus had grown up in Nazareth but had they
cared enough to check out the facts they would have found that He was actually born in
Bethlehem and that He was indeed of the tribe of Judah and of the lineage of David.
Some times people make up their minds before
they have all the facts.
As we have already mentioned verse forty-three
tells us that there was a division of opinion concerning Christ, yet it was a division in
which all chose unbelief.
In verse forty four we read, “Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on
Him. (45) Then the officers came to the chief priests and
Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?” (46)
The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!”
Men (called
“officers” (lit. huperetes) (v. 48) -probably the equivalent of
temple policeman) had been sent to arrest Jesus. And as these
no doubt stood around waiting for an opportune time, they were astonished by what they
heard. The men returned from hearing their mission, but without Jesus. When asked to give
an explanation of their failure, they gave a clear and yet very unexpected testimony. They
said, “No one ever spoke the way this man does.” Considering
to whom these words are being spoken and by whom these words are spoken, they are indeed
rare and bold words of testimony. But this news will not be well received.
In fact in the response we will see
Three
Tactics Of Those Who Choose To Reject Christ. These are tactics that have been used in the
past and they continue to be used in the present by individuals who choose not to believe
in Christ.
Notice how those who reject Christ behave.
“Do they ask, “What is it about Christ
that makes Him so compelling?” No! “Do they debate the merits of His
claims?” No! “Do they say, “We
will hear Him for ourselves?” No!
· They
Use Ridicule. (v. 47)
The
Pharisees respond to the officers by
· They
Use Peer Pressure. (v. 48)
“Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees
· They
Call Those Who Believe Ignorant. (v. 49)
“But this crowd that does not know the law
It is a terrible thing when one thinks
themselves either too intelligent or too good to need Jesus – and it is still
happening today!
In the middle of all this unbelief is one word
of defense in verses fifty and fifty–one,
“Nicodemus (he who came to
Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, (51)
“Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?”
There
is a double irony here. First, the
And second irony here is that they spoke
of those who did not know the law as being “accursed”
(v. 49) and yet Nicodemus had to be reminded them that they were not themselves
acting in accordance with the Law. The law demanded that a man could not be condemned
outright, based solely upon what a man’s opponents thought about him. Everyone had to
be given an opportunity to defend themselves.
The Pharisees respond to Nicodemus in verses
fifty-two and fifty-three, “They answered and said to
him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out
of Galilee.” (53) And everyone went to his own house.”
The Pharisees quoted ill-relevant scriptures
and taunted Nicodemus as being a Galilean and it seems he said no more. Yet how often have we found ourselves in a
situation in which we have felt called upon to defend our faith, and have made some kind
of half-hearted defense and then been shamed into silence.
Sadly,
in the whole discussion of Jesus there was no hint that they ever got down to the real
issue “Who Is Jesus?”
Conclusion
We end where we began with the
So
let me ask you.
· What
have you decided about Jesus?
· Is
He who He says He is?
· You
are either for Him or Against Him, for He will not allow anyone to be neutral.
You either receive Him as your personal Savior or my failing to do so, you are flat out rejecting Him.
[1]
Compare
with Mark 9:50, “But Jesus said to him, “Do not
forbid him, for he who is not against us
is on our side.” Jesus' point is not that
those who are neutral about Jesus are for him; in fact, the man invokes Jesus' name in
doing his work. This exorcist is not neutral. Rather, the point is that all disciples are
to minister and should be allowed to do so. Ministry
is a cooperative venture.