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Proverbs 17:1-9
1 Better is
a dry morsel with quietness, Than a house full of feasting with strife.
2 A wise servant will rule over a son who
causes shame, And will share an inheritance among the brothers.
3 The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the LORD tests the
hearts.
4 An evildoer gives heed to false lips; A liar
listens eagerly to a spiteful tongue.
5 He who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker;
He who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.
6 Children's children are the crown of old men, And the glory of children is their father.
7 Excellent speech is not becoming to a fool,
Much less lying lips to a prince.
8 A present is a precious stone in the eyes of its possessor; Wherever he
turns, he prospers.
9 He who
covers a transgression seeks love, But he who repeats a matter separates
friends.
Father God, help those that practice religion, realize
religion is not what you desire. It is faith in your Son Jesus, for eternal
life. Amen!
Gospel of John 7:14-30 NKJV
This week’s lesson is about Jesus at the
Feast of Tabernacles. It is midpoint in the Feast and Jesus goes into the
Temple and starts teaching. The people are awestruck of His knowledge and
teaching skills, but the healing on the Sabbath once again comes up for
discussion.
14 Now about
the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.
Now about the middle of the feast; In the Jewish laws it was required of
the men to be present the first day of the feast to participate in the many
rituals they had devised. Do you suppose this could also be part of the reason
why Jesus wasn’t present the first day? If He would have been present He would
have been participating in manmade law, which would be idolatry. Hmmm,
something to think about! Even today there are many denominations that practice
manmade doctrine/law that is not in the teachings of the Bible, therefore
practicing spiritual adultery.
Jesus went up into the temple and taught; Jesus taught with authority and wisdom.
What a privilege these people had to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to Him
teach. He taught in such a manner it awed the people listening and they were
able to understand what He was saying, unlike the teachings of the Pharisees
and Scribes. This was all so different than what the people were used to
because of the Holy Spirit being present to open the ears and minds of the
people.
15 And the
Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never
studied?"
The
Jews spoken of here are those educated (Pharisees and Scribes) in the
scriptures. Even though they sought to find fault with Jesus to kill Him, they
marveled at what He taught and the scriptures of the Old Testament that He knew
and recited.
16 Jesus
answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine,
but His who sent Me.
Jesus
answered them because their comments/questions were either heard by Jesus or
they were revealed to Him through His divine nature. Jesus teachings were not
His but His Fathers who teaches in all truth via the Holy Spirit.
You
know what Jesus taught was the truth because it did not contradict scripture.
If it does not contradict the Bible then it is true. Knowing what the Bible
teaches gives us discernment to know the truth of what a pastor, priest, or
minister is saying, if it isn’t the truth, then one needs to separate
themselves from this religion.
17 If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the
doctrine, whether it is from God or whether
I speak on My own authority.
If anyone wills to do His will;
To do the will of God
is to obey His commandments; to yield our hearts and lives to His requirements.
A disposition to do His will is a readiness to yield our intellects, our
feelings, and all that we have entirely to Him, to be governed according to His
pleasure.
He shall know concerning the
doctrine, whether it is from God or whether
I speak on My own authority; A person shall have internal evidence of
the truth of the doctrine, and attempt to do the will of God. Romans
1:18-21
This
internal evidence is of two kinds; 1) He will find that the doctrines which
Jesus taught are such that acclaim themselves to His cause and sense of right
and wrong, and are consistent with all that we know of the perfections of God.
2) An honest desire to obey God will lead a man to embrace the great doctrines
of the Bible. He will find that his heart is depraved and inclined to evil, and
he will see and feel the truth of the doctrine of depravity; he will find that
he is a sinner and needs to be born again; he will learn his own weakness, and
see his need of a Saviour, of an atonement and of pardoning mercy; he will feel
that he is polluted, and needs the purifying influence of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore,
we learn by being Born Again: 1) That an honest effort to obey God is the
easiest way to become acquainted with the doctrine of the Bible and those who
make such an effort will not complain at any of the doctrine within. The truth
of revelation is evidence which every person can apply. 2) We see the goodness
of God in giving us evidence of his truth that may be within every man’s reach.
It does not require great learning to be a Christian, and to be convinced of
the truth of the Bible. It requires an honest heart, and a willingness to obey
God.
18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who
seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in
Him.
He who speaks from himself
seeks his own glory; Mankind
that speaks from his own flesh or doctrine of man, not sent by God, seeks
praise and glory of men, and are mere human teachers.
But He who seeks the glory of
the One who sent Him; Jesus
lived and sought to please His Father in all things. He only wanted to bring
glory to God and not himself.
Is true and no unrighteousness
is in Him; Meaning,
there is no falsehood; no deception; He is not an impostor.
19 Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the
law? Why do you seek to kill Me?"
Did not Moses give you the law;
Here Jesus brings up
the point that Moses gave them the laws, which the Pharisees spent their days
trying to achieve holiness by keeping them and the meticulous rules that they
had added to God's laws, but fell way short.
Yet none of you keeps the law;
Here Jesus calls these
leaders liars right to their faces, this accusation that they didn't keep
Moses' laws stung them deeply, in spite of their pompous pride in themselves
and their rules. They could not even fulfill a legalistic religion, for they
were living far below what the Law of Moses required.
Why do you seek to kill Me; Every violation of law they considered
as deserving of death. Yet they were seeking to kill Jesus just because He
healed a man on the Sabbath. In their mind work on the Sabbath was worse than
them plotting murder. They overlooked Thou shalt not Kill!
Anyone
that tries to live by the legalistic laws of a religion; to be righteous to
gain entry to Heaven, will fall way short and fail because of our human nature.
This is why Jesus came to earth to live and die for us because we don’t have
the capability to live by law. That is why we need Jesus as our Saviour and to
place our faith in Jesus death and resurrection.
20 The
people answered and said, "You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill
You?"
The
people meaning the crowd of people not the leaders made this statement. They
were ignorant of the plot, and so they were surprised at His statement.
21 Jesus
answered and said to them, "I did one work, and
you all marvel.
The
answer Jesus gives here is referring to the healing of the man on the Sabbath
in Chapter 5 that took place about 1 ½ years previously.
22 Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from
Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.
Moses therefore gave you
circumcision; Moses did
not appoint circumcision as a new institution, but found it already in
existence, and incorporated it in his institutions and laws.
(not that it is from Moses,
but from the fathers); What
Jesus is saying here is the rite of circumcision was handed down by God long
before Moses which was to signify that if anyone was circumcised it showed they
belonged to God. It was the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that started
the rite according to God’s instructions, Genesis 17:10.
And you circumcise a man on
the Sabbath; According
to Moses' law, circumcision was to be performed eight days after a baby's birth
(Genesis 17:9-14;
Leviticus 12:3).
This rite was carried out on all Jewish males to demonstrate their identity as
part of God's covenant people. If the eighth day after birth was a Sabbath, the
circumcision would still be performed, even though it was considered work.
While the religious leaders allowed certain exceptions to Sabbath laws, they
allowed none to Jesus, who was simply showing mercy to those who needed
healing.
23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the
law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man
completely well on the Sabbath?
Here
we have a double standard pertaining to work on the Sabbath. The Jews deemed it
ok to perform work on the Sabbath in order to abide by the law, but if someone
else does some type of work on the Sabbath that is good and wholesome it is
bad. People often accuse others of doing things which they themselves do in
other ways.
How
many times have you encountered people that have the attitude of do as I say
and not as I do? I have many times throughout life and it does cause grief at
work or in the home. It is no wonder Jesus labeled these Leaders “hypocrites”.
24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with
righteous judgment."
Do not judge according to
appearance; In effect
says, “If you think you have not violated the Sabbath in Circumcision, then how
can you think I broke the Sabbath when I healed one of you who had been
crippled for years?
These
leaders were so focused on the Laws they couldn’t see the good that Jesus did.
They had their own agenda and they weren’t going to budge an inch in their
ways. There are so many people that are so bound up in their religion they
can’t see Jesus because of all the chains of doctrine blocking their view.
But judge with righteous
judgment; What Jesus is
saying here is, to be truly righteous is to judge right from wrong; good vs.
evil, so then looking at the work of circumcision and healing on the Sabbath,
how can healing someone be bad.
25 Now some
of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?
This
verse says two things, first that “some of them” meaning natives to Jerusalem
and the second thing is that it was suppose to be a well kept secret that the
leaders were plotting to kill Jesus, but wasn’t.
26 But look!
He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that
this is truly the Christ?
27 However,
we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where
He is from."
These groups of people that
are having this discussion are trying to sort things out. They know the
Sanhedrin leaders are planning on killing Jesus, but yet Jesus is speaking
boldly and they do nothing. They pose a question that maybe the leaders know
Jesus is the Messiah and have had a change of heart, but state in the next
verse they know where Jesus came from and that He couldn’t be the Messiah. The
most probable cause as to why the leaders did nothing was because of the
massive crowd of people and feared for their lives if they did anything at the
present time. This left the people bewildered! The one thing they overlooked
was what the Prophets proclaimed and how Jesus would come into this world. Had
they studied scripture they would have known what was prophesized on how Jesus
was to enter the world. Matthew 2:4-5 And when he had gathered all the chief priests
and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to
be born. 5 So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of
Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet.
28 Then
Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You
both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but
He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.
Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in
the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you
know where I am from; What
this phrase is saying is; you think you know Me and where I come from, but you
don’t. These people are thinking carnally because they think they know where
Jesus came from.
And I have not come of Myself,
but He who sent Me is true; The
phrase, “But He that sent Me is True,” in effect says, “You know Me as Jesus of
Nazareth; and yet you do not know Me, for you do not know Him that sent Me; but
I am from Him and He did send Me” (Williams).
Whom you do not know; Jesus plainly tells them here that they
don’t know God at all. All they know is religious laws.
29 But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."
Once
again Jesus claims to the audience that He knows the Father and that the Father
sent Him.
30 Therefore
they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had
not yet come.
At
this point the religious leaders were boiling with hate and anger they wanted
so much to take Jesus, but the Holy Spirit withheld them because it wasn’t the
time for Jesus to be crucified yet.
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created that
are in heaven and that are on earth,
visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All
things were created through Him and for Him.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God,
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless one is born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God."
The Lighthouse
Full Gospel Church
Sinners Prayer; Pray this, and if you
believe it with your heart, Jesus will save you!
“Lord
Jesus I know I am a sinner. I confess my
sins to you; I am sorry for my sins; I repent (Meaning, desiring to turn from a
sinful lifestyle.) of all my sins, and I am asking for your forgiveness. I believe that only you can forgive sin. I commit my life to you and ask you to come
into my heart, direct, and take charge of my life. I believe that you died to set me free from
my sinful lifestyle and you rose from the dead to give me eternal life, and
right now you are seated at the Right Hand of God Almighty. I believe you are
the Son of God; the only Way, the only Truth, the only Life, and my
Savior.” I believe this and have faith
you will make a new person out of me, by sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in my
heart and lead me in a new life. In Jesus name I pray Amen.”
(John 3:16,17; Romans
3:23; 6:23; 5:8; 10:9-13; Ephesians
2:8-10; 1 John 5:11-14; 1:6-10)
(Sin: Rom. 1:22-32; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph.
5:3-7
