14 Who is Jesus? (John 7)

Welcome back to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. This is the 14th talk in our series on Gospel of John. Today we’ll be studying John chapter 7. Thanks for listening. On the last podcast, we were in that famous section where Jesus speaks the 5,000 and then proclaims himself to be the bread of life. He was in Galilee, which is up in the north of the country. He was away from Judea, Jerusalem, and the center of things. A huge crowd was following him around because of the miracles he was doing. They were very interested in this guy who could heal people and provide free food. But then he disappointed them because he didn't continue providing bread every day, and he started to say weird stuff about how they needed to believe in him and his body was true food. That wasn't what they were looking for, and most of the crowd left. Chapter 7 starts with Jesus still in Galilee in the north, but before the chapter ends, he will return to Jerusalem. And it shouldn't surprise us that once again the theme we're going to explore is the way people respond to Jesus. Let's start with the first five verses. After this, Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now the Jews' feast of Booths was at hand, so his brothers said to him, Leave here and go to Judea that your disciples also may see the works you were doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world, for not even his brothers believed him. Now just a reminder here of how John is using this word Jews in this context. John tells us Jesus stays in Galilee because the Jews want to kill him. Of course, there were Jews in Galilee. Jesus is not avoiding all Jews everywhere. John is using this word to mean the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem. They were the ones who were seeking to kill Jesus. And most of the time when John talks about the Jews, he means the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem. In fact, we're going to see later in the chapter when Jesus enters Jerusalem, John contrasts what the crowd says about him with what the quote Jews say about him. Well, the crowds are also Jewish, but he is contrasting the reaction of the people at large with the reaction of the Jewish leadership. Now John tells us Jesus is being careful about what he does. The situation in Judea in the south is volatile. A number of the Jewish leaders would like to have Jesus executed. So for the time being, he's staying in Galilee. Now his brothers are puzzled by this and probably a little contemptuous. Galilee is a comparative backwater. Jerusalem is where the action is. And his brothers are confused. They say, look, Jesus, you're acting like this big deal. You're doing these miracles. You've got disciples coming and going. You gathered a great big crowd, but you lost them. Why aren't you putting yourself forward? From their perspective, what's the point of being this great religious leader from God if you're going to hang around in a place like Galilee? They're urging him to make himself known, declare himself, go where the action is. It's a little bit like claiming to be a movie star, but not being willing to go to Hollywood. Now this feast is approaching, and his brothers say, What are you doing up here? Galilee's not where the action is. Use this opportunity of the feast to go to Jerusalem and proclaim yourself. And John gives us this little side comment that not even his brothers believed in him. They've seen the miracles he's done. We know they have because they say so. And they tell Jesus, he's doing the miracles in the wrong place. You need to go big time. You need to go to Jerusalem. Do this stuff so that you can be seen and recognized for who you think you are. They haven't really understood the significance of the miracles. If they had, they would be throwing themselves on their knees and saying, Forgive us for doubting you. Tell us what you think you ought to do. But instead, they see Jesus as their big brother, who, as my grandmother used to say, has gotten too big for his britches. He thinks he's a big deal. He's claiming to have all kinds of authority and be a prophet from God. But from their point of view, he's not very good at it. He's hanging around in the wrong place, and they tell him so. Jesus answers, this is verses six through nine. Jesus said to them, My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I'm not going up to this feast, for my time is not yet fully come. After saying this, he remained in Galilee. So Jesus says, Okay, I'm staying away from Jerusalem right now because there are people there who want to kill me, and it's not time for that yet. Now we know later in the chapter Jesus does go to Jerusalem, but he goes very quietly. He does not come in with a big entourage proclaiming the Messiah's here, neither does he come in publicly with his family. He comes in quietly alone, does some teaching, and then slips out. This trip is not the big reveal, but the time is coming when he's going to do exactly what his brothers ask him to do, and that will be the triumphal entry, which we'll see later in the gospel. There will be a day when Jesus accepts the acclamation of the crowd and rides into Jerusalem as the Messiah, but that time is not yet, because he knows that when he does that, it will lead to his death. So he tells his brothers, You can go anytime you want. There's nobody there waiting to kill you. They don't hate you the way they hate me. His brothers have the wrong picture of him. Jesus is not a celebrity who needs to get out more so that his fans can see him. He's more like a lightning rod. He attracts the hostility of the world wherever he goes. Now let's talk about why that is. He says here, the world hates him because he testifies that what it does is evil. This issue of how you respond to Jesus is one of John's main themes. We've been seeing it throughout the gospel. John explores why some people reject him and others believe him. He's already given us several reasons why people reject Jesus. He's told us the Pharisees valued the approval of their peers more than the approval of God, since following Jesus would hurt their social standing. They weren't interested in following him. He tells us the crowds abandoned Jesus because he wasn't the kind of Messiah they wanted. They wanted daily bread and an easy life. Jesus has said people reject him because they hate the light. They don't want to be exposed as evildoers. And here he says something similar. People hate him because he testifies that their deeds are evil. Now, what does he have in mind when he says this? What should we think about? Who hates him in the context here? The Jewish leadership hates him so much they're trying to kill him. Has he been testifying to them that their deeds are evil? Well, yes, in fact, he has. The Pharisees prided themselves on how well they kept the law. They considered themselves the religious elites. They were the ones doing it right. They were students of the Old Testament. They knew exactly what it meant to keep God's commandments. They developed this whole system of rules and regulations to explain exactly how to keep the commandments. And they saw themselves as the top of the religious heap. They were doing it all right. But Jesus has consistently charged the Pharisees with having it all wrong. We see that clearly in the other gospels, particularly in the Sermon on the Mount and Matthew's Gospel. Jesus tells them they don't really believe the scriptures they study so much. He calls them self-righteous and proud. He says they love money, power, and prestige more than they love God. He's told them they're unloving and unforgiving, and in general, they've totally missed the point of the law. They think of themselves as the most obedient, godly people on earth, and Jesus calls them whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones. Now, in order to believe in Jesus, they have to buy that picture, and that takes a lot of humility. Since they're unwilling to humble themselves like that, they hate him. They claim this man cannot possibly be the Messiah because the Messiah would recognize that we Pharisees are the ones doing everything right. Now think about how that relates to us. This is a fundamental truth that each of us must come to terms with. A lot of people claim to love Jesus today, but the question is, do they love the biblical Jesus? Do they love the Jesus that is described in Scripture? Jesus confronts us with the fact that we're in trouble. We are not on God's good side. We have rebelled against him, we have not loved him as we should, we have not loved our neighbors as we should, and left to ourselves, we can do nothing about that fact. As Jesus says, He testifies, your deeds are evil. To find the life that Jesus offers, we have to confront the issue of our sin. Now, today we don't outwardly hate Jesus like the Pharisees, but we can redefine him. We can make him the kind of Messiah that we want to believe in. How often have you heard something like this? Oh, of course I believe in Jesus. Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan who helped the guy who was beat up on the road. He loves people. He doesn't condemn anyone. He's all about unity, he's all about forgiveness, and so am I. Or Jesus is my best friend. He loves me unconditionally. He doesn't care if I don't understand or read the Bible and all that stuff. When I need him, he's there. That other Jesus people talk about in church who judges people, calls people to repentance, that's not my Jesus. My Jesus is on my side. Well, the problem is the Jesus who judges and calls people to repent is the real historical biblical Jesus. I think what Jesus says here applies in a lot of different ways, and this is one of the blocks that we stumble over. To come to faith, we have to admit we have a problem with sin. And if we don't want to admit we have a problem with sin and evil, then we don't seek Jesus. Now there are a lot of other issues we can stumble over, but this is one of the key ones, and it's mentioned several times in John. Let's go back to the text. After his brothers leave for the feast, Jesus goes to Jerusalem in secret. This is ten through thirteen. But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, but not publicly, but in private. The Jews were looking for him at the feast and saying, Where is he? And there was much muttering about him among the people, while some said he is a good man, others said, No, he is leading the people astray, yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him. Here then are the first of numerous reactions to Jesus that are recorded in this chapter. We've already seen one, his brothers don't believe him. Now we see the crowds in Jerusalem are talking about him before he even shows up and they're debating who he is. Some of them think he's a good man, others think no, he's a problem. And again, you can see this distinction between the crowd and the Jewish leadership. The crowd was afraid to speak for fear of the leaders. The leaders were looking for Jesus to try to kill him, and the crowd didn't want to get on their bad side by talking about Jesus. Finally Jesus appears, let's look at fourteen through twenty four. About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. The Jews therefore marveled, saying, How is it that this man has learning when he has never studied? So Jesus answered them, My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me? The crowd answered, You have a demon who is seeking to kill you? Jesus answered them, I did one work and you marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision, not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers, and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. Now we see another piece of evidence here of why we should believe in Jesus, and that is the incredible wisdom and power of his teaching. In addition to all the miracles Jesus performed, he taught and spoke with authority. Nobody taught the way he did. His teaching was so powerful and knowledgeable that even his enemies were reluctantly impressed. The Jewish leadership marvels at his understanding and asks, where did he learn all this stuff? He didn't study at the best schools with the best rabbis. This is another piece of the evidence that we have to evaluate who Jesus is. Not only did he do miracles, he taught with great wisdom and understanding. As it says in the other gospels, he taught as one having authority. Well, what are we to do with that piece of evidence? How should we respond to him? Jesus says, basically, my sheep hear my voice. He uses that language elsewhere. Here he says, if any man is willing to do God's will, they will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. His opponents, the Jewish leadership, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, think that Jesus spoke on his own. They think he made all this stuff up to gather a following and take away their power. His Sabbath breaking, his lack of respect for the Pharisaic rules, makes it obvious that he's got it all wrong. But Jesus makes a different claim. He's saying, I didn't make this stuff up. I didn't go out and invent a new theology or a new philosophy on my own. Everything I know, I know from God. He's not a self-serving gloryhound. He's a righteous, obedient servant of the living God. And we have to decide whether he is who he claims to be. And once again, we find this theme that is so interesting to John and his gospel. We believe what we want to believe. Ultimately, what determines whether we believe Jesus' teaching or not, it's our own will. What we want determines our response. If we're not willing to humble ourselves to the will of God, then we will decide Jesus is a fraud. If we are willing to humble ourselves to the will of God, then we will recognize that Jesus is from God. I'm probably beginning to sound a bit like a broken record, but this is what the Gospel of John is all about. And here again we see this theme of evidence and response. Jesus is such an impressive teacher that everyone can see it, even his enemies see it, but people reject him. Not everyone believes him. Why? Because ultimately, in our natural state, we reject God, we run away from him, we ignore him, and we refuse to believe. But God, in his great mercy, sends his spirit to us as an act of loving kindness and grace and changes us so that we become people who believe what is true. We are willing to humble ourselves before God. Now notice Jesus takes the challenge directly to them. He says, You, my Jewish opponents, you claim to follow the law of Moses, and yet you don't really do what he says. You claim to be these great champions of the Old Testament law, but you haven't embraced the law at all. And the way that you're responding to me, Jesus, proves it. Remember in chapter 5, the last time Jesus was in Jerusalem, he healed a man on the Sabbath. That infuriated the Jewish leaders. They begin to seek his death. Then he claimed that God was his father, and they became even angrier. Now he's back in Jerusalem. This is approximately 18 months or so later, and they're still mad about that healing on the Sabbath. And Jesus points to the irony of their position. They want to defend the law by killing an innocent man. The way they respond to him about this healing proves they have totally misunderstood the law, and he gives them an example. Moses commanded keeping the Sabbath, but Moses also commanded that a newborn should be circumcised on the eighth day after birth. Well, what are you supposed to do if the eighth day falls on the Sabbath? Do you wait until the ninth day? Do you perform early on the seventh, or do you perform the ritual on the eighth day on the Sabbath? Well, Moses said, go ahead and circumcise on the eighth day, even if it's the Sabbath. And you can see this principle behind that, that working for the benefit of someone is of greater importance than keeping the Sabbath, doing good, doing compassion, being kind. Those things are always important, and they take precedence over keeping the Sabbath. So Jesus says, look at yourselves, you claim to obey the law, yet you want to kill an innocent man. How does that fit? This innocent man shares the same understanding of the Sabbath that Moses had. You have misunderstood the very law that you're using to justify your actions. I think that's what Jesus means by this language about judging according to appearance. On the surface, if you just look at the situation, it seems very clear to you Pharisees. You Pharisees say, we've got a rule. The rule says, don't do X. You did X, case closed. But righteous judgment looks at everything. It looks at the issues, the circumstances, everything involved, and says, what takes priority in this situation? So Jesus is arguing. Jesus is a teacher from God who shares the same values that Moses had. He compassionately healed a man who had been ill for almost four decades as an expression of God's power and God's love. And so what if it happened on the Sabbath? What they ought to have seen is a great act of God's compassion and healing. The fact that they can't see that shows how much they have misunderstood the law. Now we get more responses to Jesus. This is verses 25 through 29. Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? And here he is speaking openly, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from. So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, You know me and you know where I come from, but I am not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. I know him for I come from him and he sent me. Now here again we see more of the varied responses to Jesus. The people are noticing, hey, here's that guy they've all been looking for. He's teaching in public. Isn't he the one they're trying to arrest and have killed? Which is interesting to know how public their plans to kill him were. Anyway, there are crowds confused, they're saying, What's the deal with that? Maybe the leaders have decided he really is the Messiah. Maybe that's why they haven't arrested and executed him. But they have a problem with that idea. Jesus doesn't fit their picture of the Messiah. They know where Jesus comes from. They know he comes from Nazareth. But they think when the Christ comes, no one will know where he's from. Now, this is one of the clues we have about the messianic expectations at the time. It sounds like they were expecting the Messiah to arrive mysteriously and unexpectedly, maybe out of the clouds or something like that. They aren't expecting one of their neighbors to be the Messiah. The fact that Jesus grew up in Nazareth and they've known him and know who he is, he couldn't be the Messiah. Jesus' answer is very interesting. He says, Well, there's a sense in which you know me and where I'm from, but there's a sense in which you don't know me and where I'm from. Yes, you know me in the sense that you know I'm from Galilee, but in a deeper sense, I have been sent by God, and unfortunately, you don't know God at all. So in the deepest sense, you really don't know where I'm from at all. You think I'm from Galilee, but in reality, in the more important, profound sense, I am the one who has been sent by the Father, I am the Messiah, and you don't have that clear at all. Now John gives us a few more responses to Jesus. This is in thirty through thirty six. So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done? The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. Then Jesus said, I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me, where I am you cannot come. The Jews said to one another, Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying, You will seek me and you will not find me, and where I am you cannot come? So the officials want to seize him and arrest him, but a lot of the multitude believes in him because they've seen him perform miracles, and they logically reason, would the real Messiah do more than what we have seen this man doing? He's been doing a lot. The Jewish rulers know what the crowds are saying, and they want to nip that attitude, that conclusion in the bud before it gets out of hand. So they send some of the temple guard to arrest him. Jesus shows how little he considers himself influenced by their decisions. He's not under their control. He says, Look, I'm going to be here for a while longer, and then I'm going away. And I think he's talking about his resurrection and ascension. I think that's what he means by going away, and he's going someplace where they can't go. And implicit in what he's saying is how insignificant the plans of the Pharisees are. They can decide whatever they want. It doesn't matter. God's plan is going to unfold as God wants it to unfold. Jesus is going to be around as long as God wants him to be around. Then, when it's time, even killing him is not going to stop him. They may think that they have won when they arrest him and succeed in getting him executed, but God has other plans. Jesus will leave on his own turns and God will resurrect him. Now, Jesus is being cryptic. I don't think anybody really understood at the time he spoke what he was talking about. And we see that in the text. They think maybe he's leaving Judea and going to the Gentile regions instead. But I think Jesus is talking about his death, resurrection, and ascension. Jesus stands up on this great festival occasion to give one more teaching, which we find in 37 through 39. On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Once again, Jesus uses the imagery of water and thirst that we saw him use with the woman at the well. Again, Jesus draws this analogy to the way water satisfies our thirst and gives us life. Being thirsty is a sign that we need something that we don't have. And Jesus says, I will give you the thing that will satisfy your real deepest thirst. I can give you life that will satisfy you in a way that nothing else can, because I can free you from the tyranny of sin and death. And John clarifies that Jesus is speaking about the Spirit, the means to satisfying the thirst, the way to find eternal life and escape the judgment of God is to have the Spirit of God at work in you. Ultimately, it is the work of the Spirit that changes us from the inside out, brings us to the point where we can believe and accept who God is and who Jesus is, and have faith, and that brings us into eternal life. Now, that is a topic that begs to be explored, but I'm not going to explore it now. I have a podcast series called Who is the Holy Spirit, where I go into all those issues in a lot more detail and examine the work and the role of the Holy Spirit in both the Old and the New Testament. I will link to that in the show notes if you want to explore that topic. But for today, we will press on with the big themes in the Gospel of John. Jesus makes this great appeal, and I think there's something very dramatic about the situation. The Feast of the Tabernacle or the Feast of Booths commemorated God's provision for them during their time in the wilderness. Specifically, it commemorated the manna from heaven and Moses giving them water from the rock, which is in Numbers 20. One of the ways they celebrated is they carried water to the temple in golden vessels and poured it out. So here is the Messiah of Israel standing up, proclaiming to Israel that he is the living water. Probably maybe as they're pouring this out, he's proclaiming he's the living water that can quench your thirst. All you have to do is believe. And I think John realizes that we, his readers, have a thirst that needs to be quenched as well. But what he's really interested in is how people responded to this. And beginning in 740, he gives us a variety of responses. When they heard these words, some of the people said, This really is the prophet. Others said, This is the Christ, but some said, Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the scripture said that Christ comes from the offspring of David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was? So there was division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. The officers then came to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who said to them, Why did you not bring him? The officers answered, No one ever spoke like this man. The Pharisees answered, Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed. Nicodemus, who had gone before him, and who was one of them, said to them, Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does? They replied, Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee. So Jesus stands up and makes this great proclamation about being the living water, and we see a variety of responses. Some think he is the prophet that Moses predicted. Others say he is the Christ, the Messiah. And this represents the variety of opinions around whether the prophet and the Messiah are the same person. Some think he was the same, others think it was two different people. Other people in the crowd are just confused. Isn't the Messiah supposed to come from Bethlehem? But Jesus is from Galilee. How could that be true? How could he be the one? It's interesting John drops this in without comment, but we know he's read the other gospels. He knows that they tell the story of how Jesus was born in Bethlehem and later moved to Galilee, and he knows that Jesus fulfills the prophecy and he doesn't need to explain. Instead, he faithfully records what the crowd was thinking. And now we see what happened to the temple guard. The people wonder why Jesus hasn't been arrested. The leaders decided they needed to take action. They sent the guard to arrest Jesus, but the guard returns empty-handed. They say they never heard anybody teach and speak the way Jesus does, and they become so interested in his teaching that they forget to arrest him, and they're so busy listening to him that he slips away when he's done. Now, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, John is really interested in how people are responding to Jesus. And here we see a new response. The officers who were charged with arresting him are so struck by what he said and how he taught that they didn't do it. The Pharisees are outraged. They say, hey, you don't see us believing in this guy, do you? With the implication, we are the cool guys. If we don't believe in him, what makes you think you ought to believe in him? Because we're the ones who study the Old Testament law, we're the ones who have this down right, and you should do what we do. Don't be influenced by that rabble out there who's listening to this guy. We're the religious elite. We're the ones who know what's what, and we're not listening to him. At this point, Nicodemus, the man we met in chapter three, bravely speaks up. He's the one who came to Jesus at night to ask him questions. And we see Nicodemus is still interested in Jesus, and he says, Shouldn't we hear this man out before we condemn him? Doesn't our own law tell us that's what we ought to do? I expect Nicodemus is hoping the Sanhedrin would listen to Jesus and they would really believe that he is the Messiah. He wants Jesus to have a chance to make his case to them. In response, his fellow members of the Sanhedrin mock him. They say, Are you from Galilee too? Jesus couldn't be legit, no prophet arises from Galilee. Now I might just make a side comment at this point. We've seen the people claim several times that no prophet comes from Galilee, but Scripture actually does talk about a prophet from Galilee. There's the famous section in Isaiah 9 that we often read at Christmas time. That's the passage for unto us a child is born. And that section begins by talking about how those in darkness in the north in Galilee will have a great light dawn on them. And when you put that whole section together, you can see that Isaiah says, Galilee will see the dawning light of the Messiah, the child that is about to be born. So when the people claim no prophet arises from Galilee, I think they've got it wrong. And I wonder if it isn't this prejudice against Galilee that existed at the time that made them either overlook or misinterpret the Isaiah passage. Now let's wrap this up. In chapter 7, John gives us a variety of responses to Jesus. We have the condescending disbelief of his brothers and the hostility of the rulers. In the crowd, we see just about everything. We see interest, we see confusion, we see some hostility, and we see some belief. The crowds marvel at his teaching. The guards become so distracted by his teaching they forget to arrest him. And we also see the continuing interest of Nicodemus in trying to stand up for Jesus. Now, along with how people respond to Jesus, John is very interested in why people respond as they do. And he added two new ideas in this section. First is the legalism of the Jewish leaders. And by legalism, I mean the attitude that says, I am a superior person because I know the rules and I keep the rules. I have the right list, I do the things that are on the list, and that makes me better than everyone else. That's what I mean by legalism, that kind of an attitude. The Jewish leaders wanted to kill Jesus because, from their perspective, he broke the Sabbath. And keeping the Sabbath is on the list. Jesus claims to be a teacher from God, he breaks their understanding of the Sabbath, therefore, from their perspective, that disqualifies him to be the Messiah. Jesus tells them they have misunderstood the law and their hostility to him proves it. Keeping the Sabbath has its place in an overall life of loving God and loving your neighbor, but it's not an absolute rule. Some things are more important than keeping the Sabbath. But the Pharisees didn't understand that, so they weren't prepared to follow him. Instead, they wanted to kill him because he didn't keep the rules the way they said the rules ought to be kept. Their legalism was a stumbling block to believing in Jesus. And the second idea is this idea that belief is related to our will, that we only believe what we want to believe. Now, John has explored this theme before, but he's flushing it out a little bit more here. We've seen if you're not willing to risk losing the approval of men, then you are usually not willing to believe in Jesus. We've seen if you're not willing to admit that you have a problem with sin and you need mercy, then you're not willing to believe in Jesus. And here he's added: if you're not willing to submit your will to God's will, then you will reject Jesus. You have to want the right things in order for Jesus to be somebody that you believe in. So let me finish by teasing that idea out a little bit. As we live our lives in the world, God will put us consistently in situations that call us to act on our beliefs. We will face big and little situations every day that repeatedly test our faith. For example, when my friend hurts me, I have to decide how to respond. Will I forgive her? Will I judge her? Will I get angry? Will I show compassion? How I respond reveals what I believe to be true. If I'm a legalist who thinks I'm better than everyone else, then I'm going to throw the book at my friend for hurting me. But if I know I'm a sinner who needs mercy, then even if I get angry at first, eventually I'll repent and forgive. Life is full of many, many big and small circumstances that force us to confront the big questions. Who do I trust? What am I counting on? Where does my hope lie? What do I think is right? And the Bible describes this process as trials testing our faith. What I believe reflects what kind of person I am, and you can see what I believe in the choices I make, in the way I respond, in the values I'm seeking, and so forth. Now, John has told us those who are born again by the Spirit are willing to believe the hard truth about who God is and who we are, about our problem with sin and our need for mercy. But here's what I want to talk about today. This process of testing our faith can be messy. And this is not a process of one strike and you're out. Sometimes we will courageously and joyously embrace the right thing to do. Sometimes we will fail spectacularly and publicly. Sometimes we will stubbornly cling to what's wrong until God breaks through and humbles us. And it's important to understand that this is a process. Yes, how we act on our beliefs is a crucial indicator of what's going on inside, but it's an ongoing process. One moment in time does not define us. Instead, what defines us is the trajectory of our lives, the lifelong direction we end up heading. When you become a believer, every one of your beliefs does not automatically and immediately fall into line with everything the Bible teaches. Instead, your beliefs develop and strengthen as God unfolds your lifelong journey, and that growing process can be a struggle. As a church, we are often tempted to fall into what we might call doctrinal legalism. By that I mean we as a church come up with a list of approved behavior. Do this and you're fine. The list changes with time and culture, but the idea is the same. In the past, it might be don't drink, don't dance, don't play cards, then that changes, it becomes something else. But we come up with this list of here's the approved stuff that you should do if you are a believer. This is what you're supposed to believe, the doctrines you're supposed to believe. Here's the list of behavior that you should seek, and here's the list of behavior you should avoid. And we think if you can check off all the things on the approved list, you're in. And if you can't check off all those things, then you're out. Well, that is a deceptively false picture of the Christian life. It rightly understands that what we believe is very important. It rightly understands that what we believe changes how we act. But it misses the fact that working that out is an ongoing and complicated process. For example, look at Nicodemus. Does Nicodemus believe that Jesus is the Messiah at this point? I don't think we know. He seems to be in the process of struggling with belief. And I think the text suggests that we should be very optimistic for Nicodemus and that by the end of the gospel, it sure looks like he believes. But there's a journey, there's a process. It takes some working through. Yes, some doctrines are very important, and we need to be very clear about things like who is Jesus and what did he do for us? And we need to encourage each other to believe the truth. But we also need to recognize that coming to faith can be a messy process, and we are prone to make mistakes. We need to be humble in this process. We are not in a position to judge each other, nor should we condemn each other because we don't know what God is up to. God is still working. And especially we should avoid priding ourselves on keeping the approved list of our culture. All of us are quite capable of keeping the list on the outside and rejecting God on the inside. Truth is important and we're called to believe it. Embracing the truth is of central importance. Acting on that truth is also vitally important, but at the same time, we need to know this is an ongoing process of growth, and it takes time and the Spirit of God, and instead of judging each other, we should pray for each other. You've been listening to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. My mission is to explain not only what a passage means, but how we figure it out. The blog version of this episode is on the link below the podcast, or you can also find that by going to wednesdayintheword.com slash John14 or John14. If you've been blessed by this podcast, please support the show by subscribing and leave a positive rating or review on your favorite podcast platform. It really does help. But most importantly, tell a friend what you learned and where you learned it. Our theme music is graciously provided by Reggie Coast. You can find his music on heartfeltmusic.org. You can find more about how to study. And understand the Bible on my website, wednesdayintheword.com. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the Word.