Amen. Wonderful singing this morning. Hopefully I have enough voice left to get through the sermon this morning. Turn with me in your Bibles, if you will, to John chapter 7. John chapter 7. We’ve had a rich and Christ-exalting worship time already this morning as we remember and celebrate the resurrection of our Savior.

The miracle that stands as the center of all human history, whether people want to admit it or not. The event that confirms Christ’s victory over sin and death and secures salvation for those of us who believe in him. Those who have been drawn by the Father and have come to Christ alone. By grace alone, through faith alone, according to Scripture alone, for the glory of God alone.

And now, we turn to the Word of Christ, to see more of Him, and more of His glory. And that is exactly what we see in our text this morning. We will continue our study in John’s gospel. As we have our minds filled with Christ this morning, we turn now to the teaching of Christ. And last week, we opened this study of John chapter 7.

And at the end of John chapter 6, as you remember, Jesus said to his followers, in verse 64, there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were. who would not believe, and who it was that would betray him. And that closes chapter six, and as we opened chapter seven last week, we saw immediately that not even his brothers were believing in him. But Jesus was not surprised, as he said, and he was in no way impeded by the unbelief that he encountered. Instead, he continued to confront unbelief with his teaching and revealing who he is. And because of this, the hostility of his enemies only increased.

And eventually it would lead to what we reflected on Friday night. In his death and crucifixion and the trials and the beatings and all of the terrible things that he endured. And ultimately would lead to what we celebrate today. In his resurrection and victory over that death that he came to die. In fact, we read Friday night from John chapter 19.

Starting in verse six, it says, So when the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out saying, Crucify, crucify. And Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him. He was innocent. There was no reason to crucify him, no reason that he ought to die. And we know that. But the Jews answered him and said, We have a law, and by that law, he ought to die.

Because he made himself out to be the Son of God. Why ought he to die? Why was it that he died? What was the charge against him? Because of the very thing that he came to reveal. The very thing that John is trying to convince us of. The very reason why he wrote the Gospel of John. In chapter 20, verse 31, we’ve heard it many times. These things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that by believing, you may have life in his name. For that, they crucified him. Because he was the Son of God.

And this was unacceptable to them. This was blasphemy to them because they wouldn’t accept the truth. And Jesus made many truthful statements that they would not accept. We’ve heard many of them in our study, but listen to just some of these statements by Jesus. that were unacceptable to them, teaching that they refused to accept.

Things like that he came down from heaven. In John chapter three, verse 13, no one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended from heaven, the son of man. And we saw in chapter six, verse 38, he said, I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. They wouldn’t accept that.

Or when he said that he is the savior of the world. Again, John chapter three, God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. In John 12, verse 47, if anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. Or that he gives eternal life. John chapter 4 verse 14, whoever drinks of the water I will give him will never thirst, ever. But the water I give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. And Jesus warned them in chapter 5, you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have eternal life. That was unacceptable to them. Or he told them that he’s the judge of the world.

We’ve seen that many times. He’s told them that he is one with the Father. He specifically says in John chapter 10 verse 30, I and the Father are one. And I read earlier in John 12, he who sees me sees the one who sent me. And he told them that he could raise the dead. He told them in chapter five, There’s an hour coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come forth. And then in chapter six, everyone who sees the son and believes in him will have eternal life and I myself will raise him up on the last day. And there are many, many, many more things. more statements, more teaching that Jesus presented to these people, and they refused every single one of them.

And there were certainly some who believed, we know that, John the Baptist. The first one John presents to us, who said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Philip said, we’ve found him. of whom Moses and the prophets spoke. Nathanael said, you are the Son of God, the King of Israel.

The Samaritan village in Sychar, many believed in him and said, this one truly is the Savior of the world. There’s been many so far who do believe, but in comparison, it’s very few. Because there are many, many more who refused to see who he truly was.

And John told us this from the start. From the very beginning of this gospel. John told us this was the case. In John chapter 1, verse 10, John says he was in the world. And the world was made through him. But the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and those who were his own did not receive him. This is certainly proven to be true in the Gospel of John.

From Nicodemus to the Jewish leaders, and even as we saw his own brothers, and today as we continue in chapter 7, We see that these crowds at the Feast of Booths here in the synagogue continue to question him, to question his teaching, to be skeptical of everything he says. We’ll begin in verse 14 of chapter 7 this morning. We saw in the first 13 verses Jesus refused to go up to the feast publicly as his brothers urged him to.

But as we see this morning, eventually, after the crowds had gone, Jesus did go up to the city. He did go up to the feast. And when he got there, he began to teach. And what we see in our text this morning are really three gifts that Jesus gives these crowds. These unbelieving crowds, things they needed. First, He gave them His teaching. He went there and He taught them, knowing that they wanted to kill Him. He still went and He gave them His teaching. And then He told them they needed to trust. So our second division is the trust. We have the teaching, the trust, and lastly, He showed them He is the truth. So allow me to read our passage this morning. John chapter 7, verses 14 through 18. This is the word of the Lord.

But when it was now the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. The Jews then were marveling, saying, how has this man become learned, not having been educated? So Jesus answered them and said, my teaching is not mine, but from him who sent me. If anyone who is willing to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is of God or I speak for myself. He who speaks for himself seeks his own glory. But he who is seeking the glory of the one who sent him, he is true and there is no unrighteousness in him.

So after all the people had already gone up to Jerusalem, now in the middle of the feast, the feast has already begun. As I mentioned last week, this Feast of Booths or Feast of Tabernacles as it’s sometimes called, it was a week-long festival where they partied and had different feasts throughout the week, remembering how God brought them through the wilderness. And now in the middle of the festival, Jesus arrives in Jerusalem. And he goes up to the temple and begins to teach. That’s what verse 14 says. It was now the middle of the feast. Jesus went to the temple and he began to teach.

They expected him earlier. We read back in verse 11, the Jews were seeking him at the feast saying, where is he? They were waiting for him. But his unexpected absence and then now his sudden appearance. That caught them off guard. They expected Him to come up earlier. And Jesus came secretly and spoiled any plans they had to try to seize Him.

And many still had at least a favorable view of Jesus. Many at least, as we saw, thought He was a good man. He’s a nice guy, even though they didn’t believe. But even that would make it more difficult for them to arrest him like they wanted to, to make him go away. And as we saw Friday evening, even when they do arrest him, they do it at night in a secluded place. And they rush him off to trial before anybody hears of it.

But despite the growing opposition that Jesus faced, despite the danger that he was in, he goes and teaches. He fearlessly begins to teach them the truth about who he is and why he came. And again, that’s our first point this morning, is the teaching. He arrives at the festival and begins to teach. In verse 15, we see that his teaching had its usual effect.

The Jews then were marveling. saying, how has this man become learned, having not been educated? They were marveling. They were amazed at his knowledge, at his teaching. And this had been the case since Jesus was a boy. He made them marvel. He amazed them.

They had no answer for him. And that’s what they say. How has this man become learned? Not having been educated. But don’t read that as a compliment. Oh, wow, this guy’s brilliant. Isn’t this great? That’s not what they’re saying. They don’t interact with what he’s teaching. They’re going after his credentials. They don’t say, well, he’s wrong because of this, or this is where I disagree with what he’s teaching. No, they say, he’s not educated. What are you listening to him for?

And how do they know he’s not educated? How do they know he’s not taught? Because they didn’t teach him. He didn’t learn from us. Where does he get this from? He’s not educated from us. He didn’t go to our schools, our seminaries. He didn’t learn like we learn. He didn’t learn from our rabbis. He’s not educated.

I mean, can you imagine asking the Lord of the universe for his credentials? But this is a common tactic of insecure elite people. Many well-educated, insecure people hide behind the degree hanging on their wall. For fear that they might actually have to demonstrate their competence. And that’s what you see here. This is what these Jewish leaders are doing.

He’s not educated. He doesn’t have what we have. And since they couldn’t refute his teaching, they go after his credentials. They challenge his authority to even teach. because he lacked the authorized learning that they could have given him. So he had no legitimate right to teach them. They’re in this crowd and they’re going around saying, you people want to listen to this guy? Where did he even learn from? Where did he get his degree from? Where did this guy go to school?

And in their mind, if you don’t have the approved education, you have no authority. You’re just creating your own ideas, creating your own truth. It’s only truth if we say it’s truth. And their implication is that they need to disregard his opinion. He’s not telling you what we’re telling you, therefore he’s wrong. But they didn’t actually prove him wrong because they knew they couldn’t. He knew and he taught the scriptures too well. And again, this amazement at his teaching was a common reaction.

We see this a lot when Jesus teaches, when he preaches. Again, even as a child, Luke tells us of when Jesus was a boy and his parents lost him. He was about 12 years old and they lost him, but they end up finding him at the temple. In Luke chapter two, starting in verse 46, it says, and it happened after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded. They were astounded at his understanding and his answers. The rabbis were astounded at this young boy. Have you ever been astounded by the intelligence of a middle school boy? Me neither.

And Matthew tells us, after his preaching on the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter seven, verse 28, now it happened that when Jesus had finished these words, when he finished preaching, the crowds were astonished at his teaching. he was teaching them as one having authority, not as their scribes.” That’s a double-edged sword there. They were astounded, astonished because he was teaching with authority unlike their scribes who didn’t teach with authority apparently. They taught with, well, maybe there’s a good theory. Here’s some idea of what you might be able to. No, they don’t teach with authority.

And Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you. These Jewish teachers and leaders, they taught by quoting other rabbis. That was common, especially those who had lived before them. Which is, again, common, because old dead guys said it better. And generally, that can be true. But that was the thing that gave them authority. If I could quote some other man, that means what I’m saying is true. That means what I’m saying has authority, because someone else already said it.

But Jesus had a different authority. Jesus didn’t quote Rabbi so-and-so. And Jesus was even different than other biblical prophets, other prophets from the Old Testament. Even though, like him, they brought God’s word. But when the prophets spoke, they said, thus says the Lord. Jesus, on the other hand, said what? Truly, truly, I say to you, The prophets had a word from God. Jesus is the word of God.

He had his own authority. And this was the teaching that he was bringing them and that they refused to accept. He’s not educated. We can’t listen to this. Who is this guy? And he was making them marvel and causing them to grumble. Not because they didn’t understand it. Again, because they didn’t like it. They didn’t like what he was teaching them.

And the next thing we see, Jesus respond to them. Our next point is the trust. The trust that they needed in order to understand what he was saying. First of all, Jesus says in verse 16, Jesus answered them and said, my teaching is not mine, but from him who sent me.

I’m not making this up, but I’m not quoting your rabbis either.” Jesus, first off, denies their challenges that they said he’s not even educated, which in their terms means he’s making this up. He didn’t hear this from us. He’s making this up on his own. If he didn’t get it from us, then where did he get it from? And Jesus says, no, I’m not making this up. My teaching is not from myself, but it’s from him who sent me. It’s from God. And no, he didn’t get his teaching from them. They’re human institutions. And yes, his teaching opposed the teaching of Judaism. But that didn’t mean it was just his own opinion.

Jesus says, it came directly from God. It came from him who sent me. Again, this is one of those teachings I mentioned, that he continually brings up to them, that they refuse to hear, that he is from the Father in heaven, and so is his teaching. Later, Jesus, in the next chapter, chapter eight, he presses this fact home to them. In chapter eight, verse 28, he says this. This is just profound.

Jesus says, when you lift up the Son of Man, when you crucify me, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing for myself, but I speak these things as the Father taught me. These things that I teach come from God and they’re true, and I’ll prove it to you. I’ll predict my own crucifixion. Then you will know I was telling the truth.” And for many people, that was true. For his disciples, when he died and rose again, then it clicked. Oh, he said that. Oh, yeah.

And in the passage I read earlier from John 12, he repeats this truth we see here in John 7. In John 12 verses 49 and 50, he says, for I did not speak from myself. That’s what he’s saying right here. I did not speak for myself, but the Father himself who sent me has given me a commandment. What to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. Therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told me. This is what he’s saying in John 7. He tells them over and over that what he speaks comes from the Father. I don’t need your rabbi’s approval.” It comes from the father and they refuse to believe him. And he tells them why. He tells them that they refuse to submit to God and therefore they don’t understand the teaching of God. They don’t trust God, so they don’t understand him.

That’s what he says in verse 17, if anyone is willing to do his will. If anyone is willing to submit to God, he will know about the teaching, whether it is of God or I speak for myself. If you would submit to God, you would know yourself. They needed to trust. They needed to trust in God. This is how they will know that it’s true. If you submit to the will of God, you will know this is true. You see, their test was visual. Show me. Show me why I should believe in you. Prove it. And Jesus was often asked, give us another sign. Prove yourself to us. Show me something. Show me first and then I’ll believe.

But Jesus didn’t play that game. Jesus did not listen to them. because he knew they were hard-hearted unbelievers. And no matter what sign he gives them, they still won’t believe. Again, I read from John 12, one of the verses in there, verse 37 says, though he had done so many signs before them, they still were not believing in him. Show me, prove it. Though He had done so many signs before them, so many you wouldn’t believe it, they still refused to believe in Him.

But here, Jesus promises that the one who willingly does the will of God, the one who submits to Him, the person who honestly seeks the truth revealed by God, He will know. He will know the truth about Christ’s teaching, whether it’s from God or not. And this, again, is totally backwards from their approach. Their approach is, show me and I’ll believe.

Jesus says, believe and you will see. If they would actually humble themselves before God’s word to know it and to obey it, they would come to the realization that his teaching was true. Jesus is still rebuking them for not believing the word of God. You remember the end of John chapter five, if you believed Moses, you’d believe me. This is the same thing he’s saying. If you would submit to God, you would see, you would believe in me. And this challenge still stands. 2,000 years after Jesus said it. This promise, this assurance is still available to all genuine believers.

Speaking of quoting old dead guys, Listen to how the Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon said it. This is how he explains this idea of trusting and then coming to understand. This idea of submitting in faith which leads to understanding that this is true. This is what Spurgeon has to say. I love this illustration of faith leading to understanding. Or as the song we sang earlier, faith clothed in certainty. This is what Spurgeon has to say.

Every boy that goes to school has to exert faith while learning. His schoolmaster teaches him geography and instructs him as to the form of the earth and the existence of certain great cities and empires. The boy does not know himself that these things are true. Except that he believes his teacher. And the books put into his hands.

That is what you will have to do with Christ if you are to be saved. You must just know because he tells you. And believe because he assures you it is even so. And trust yourself with him because he promises you salvation will be the result. He continues, almost all that you and I know has come to us by faith. A scientific discovery has been made and we are sure of it. On what ground do we believe it? on the authority of certain well-known men of learning whose repute is established. We have never made or seen their experiments, but we believe their witness. Just so you are to do with regard to Christ, because he teaches you certain truths, you are to be a disciple and to believe his words and to trust yourself with him.

There is no clearer example of this than the resurrection. The resurrection, someone came back to life. Have you ever seen that? Have you ever seen somebody walk out of a grave? No, but I believe it. I believe that it happened. I believe with everything that it happened. I am sure of nothing else more than the resurrection of Jesus Christ, because he told me so, and I believe him. And this is exactly what Jesus is telling these people in the synagogue in Jerusalem.

If anyone is willing to do His will, if you submit to Him, if you come to Him in sincere faith, He will know about the teaching. Whether it is from God or He speaks from Himself. If anyone is willing, He will know. You can’t know. He will know. If you come to Him and submit to Him in faith, and you might say, well, that’s just ignorant faith. You don’t know anything. You can’t prove it. Well, neither can you. Prove it wrong.

Everyone lives by faith. You live by faith that this isn’t true, which takes a whole lot more faith, by the way. to think that all of this came about just by chance, that there’s no purpose in any of it, that we all became self-aware, sentient beings because of some fizzing chemicals millions of years ago. And since then, everything has just naturally evolved by complex and unverifiable processes. That’s a fairy tale.

It takes way more faith in the so-called experts to believe that and to believe what He said. I’ll stick with Jesus on that one. I’ll come to Him and believe what He said simply because He said it. I have no proof that He created the earth and you have no proof that He didn’t. I’ll believe what He says. That is submitting to Him in faith because He said it. and then coming to know that it’s true. That is what Jesus tells them.

It all has to start with simple faith and accepting or rejecting Christ and what he teaches. It’s not just intellectual decisions. It’s not just coming to know the right facts and then I got it. It’s never like that. It’s also about submitting to it and believing it and those who humble themselves and truly seek after truth will find it.

That’s what Jesus says. This is what God told Israel when they get to the promised land. Moses says in Deuteronomy 4 verse 29, from there, from the promised land, when you see what God has done, There you will seek Yahweh your God and you will find Him. Why?

For you will search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. That’s how you find Him. You genuinely submit and seek after Him. You become willing to do the will of God. Whatever He says, I’ll believe it. And that’s when you come to know the truth. Those who sincerely seek and obey the truth will find it. And if you humbly submit and continue to seek after him and his word, you will know the truth. You will know.

You will have certainty. And Jesus says in John 8, the truth will set you free. And that is the trust that they needed. They needed to trust in God and trust in His word. Submit yourselves to God and then you will know whether or not this is true. And lastly, Jesus tells them they need to know Him. They need to know the truth, that He is true. Verse 18. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory. But he who is seeking the glory of the one who sent him, he is true. There is no unrighteousness in him.

Jesus gives them a bit of a test here. He gives two characteristics of a false teacher. Two characteristics that hold up today, by the way, when you look at false teachers of our day. The first one is he speaks from himself. He has his own ideas. He gets up and he gives you all sorts of personal stories and illustrations and all these things that are about him. And number two, he seeks his own glory. He tells you the story so that you’ll think a lot of him. That’s a false teacher.

And false prophets always proclaim their own ideas to attract followers. and to gain personally from it, because their goal is not to feed the flock, it’s to profit from it. And this is how they would know that he wasn’t a false teacher, like they were accusing him of, that he wasn’t speaking from himself. In fact, if these Jewish leaders weren’t so concerned with credentials, They could search the scripture themselves. Show me in the Bible where Jesus is wrong about anything. But they don’t because they can’t prove him wrong. So they attack his character, they attack his credentials, they attack anything they can get their hands on except for what he’s saying. And secondly, Jesus never seeks his own glory.

If he sought his own glory, his own personal fame in the flesh, like his brothers accused him of in the passage last week, oh, go get some more attention, Jesus. Go up and make a scene. If he came to do that, he would have come up to the feast early. He would have come up with the crowds, and he might have even gotten an early triumphal entry. And if he was seeking his own glory, He certainly wouldn’t be teaching what he’s continuing to teach. Teaching the things that made the crowds leave in John chapter six. He wouldn’t have said what he continues to say. He’s seeking the glory of the one who sent him. As he says, he who is seeking the glory of the one who sent him, he is true. And there is no unrighteousness in him. This is how you know that he’s true. He’s not in it for himself, as we’re going to see as we continue in John. If he was in this for himself, do you think he would continually predict his own death and then go through with it? No, he’s not in this for himself. He never sought his own personal glory.

As Matthew 20, 28 tells us, the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. This is why Paul tells us to be like Christ in Philippians 2, who although existing in the form of God, He had the glory, did not regard equality with God a thing to be held on to, to be grasped. But he emptied himself by taking the form of a slave. He went from the top to the bottom. By being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself. He did not seek glory. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, the death on the cross that we remember this weekend. This is why He came. The death on the cross. This is why we believe. This is why we are saved.

If you believe. Are you in Christ? Do you have reason to celebrate today? The resurrection of Christ does you no good. If you don’t believe, the Bible tells us in Acts chapter 17, starting in verse 30, therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now commanding that everyone everywhere should repent. That includes you. You are without excuse. You now know the truth. Are you going to repent?

Everyone everywhere should repent because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he determined. And get this, having furnished proof to all by raising him from the dead. You see, the resurrection is not just about a fun day in the spring. The resurrection was proof that this is true and that he’s coming again. And if you believe everything that’s happened until now, you ought to believe what’s going to happen. There is a day fixed that He is coming again, and He proved it by rising from the dead.

Therefore, everyone everywhere is commanded to repent, to turn from your sin and unbelief and living for yourself and live for Him. Believe in Him. Believe in the gospel that Jesus Christ died and was buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. He gave us proof. He rose from the dead. Will you repent and believe in him? If anyone is willing to do his will, he will know. Come to Him and believe. Stand with me and we’ll close in a word of prayer.

Our God in heaven, we have so much to celebrate because of what you did. by raising Jesus Christ from the dead. And not only does this fill us with joy, it fills us with fear and trembling because you proved it. You proved that this is true. You proved that you will keep your word.

And Lord, I pray that if there is anybody here this morning who does not yet know you, who has not yet repented of their sin and trusted in Jesus Christ as the payment for their sin, as the one who went to the cross where they should have hung and took their penalty and paid it all and declared that it is finished, Lord, if there is anyone here who has not yet submitted to Christ, soften their heart. Bring them to yourself. Make them believe. We thank you, Lord, for your word, for what you show us and teach us and reveal to us. We pray all this in Jesus’ precious name, amen.