John 7:32-53 (Teaching)

[0:00] Good morning. Good morning. Back in the Gospel of John chapter 7. Last week we made it, I guess, I don't know, two-thirds of the way through this, something along those lines.

[0:20] I got all intentions of finishing up this chapter, albeit we have over 20 verses to cover to do that, but I think we can get it done. But last week we ended on a solemn note with verse 31 in John 7 that says, Many of the people believed on him and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?

[0:48] So we have these people believing on him, him being Jesus Christ. But in this verse we see that who they were believing on, who was Jesus Christ, they didn't think was the Christ.

[1:04] Because it says, When Christ comes, when the Messiah comes, when the promised one, the anointed one, the God promised in the Old Testament, when he comes, will he do greater miracles than these?

[1:16] So we see belief, but the belief, the object of that belief and the object of that faith is wrong in a lot of these people's eyes.

[1:29] And that's something that actually they talked about quite a bit yesterday at that conference that some of us were at was the object of people's faith.

[1:41] You know, if the object isn't Jesus Christ and the Jesus Christ of the Scriptures, then our faith is in the wrong place, it's plain and simple. It must be in the Christ of the Scriptures.

[1:54] But what led up all this was Jesus, remember those of you that were here last week, he had gone to the temple to teach. He was the feast of tabernacles and he had gone up, of course, after his brethren had gone up, his half brothers had gone on up.

[2:13] And of course, they were trying to prompt him to go and he went up after them, he went into the temple to teach. And he was teaching things that some people were kind of sort of liking, some people really weren't liking.

[2:29] And that's what led up to that some some believed on him. But they asked, they asked, like I said, a very solemn question. He said, when Christ comeeth, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?

[2:45] And that's where we end the last week. So we'll pick up in verse 32, John chapter seven says, the Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him.

[2:58] Then Jesus said unto them, yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me, you shall seek me and shall not find me. And where I am thither you cannot come.

[3:10] So these Pharisees heard that the people were were were murmuring about Jesus. They were talking about Jesus, whether it be good or whether it be bad. They had heard that that things were being said about Jesus.

[3:25] And obviously that some people believed in Jesus Christ, believed on him as we read in verse 31. So they sent officers to take him, which was which was very commonplace then if that if that was the case, if someone needed to be arrested in the Pharisees eyes or in the religious leaders eyes, they would send the officers to do so.

[3:48] We see this in the garden of Gethsemane, you know, when the officers showed up to arrest Jesus right before his crucifixion, but not before his crucifixion.

[3:59] You know, there were officers that were sent the Pharisees didn't go themselves to do it. They sent others to do it. But it says that the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him, then said Jesus unto them, get a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me.

[4:16] Well, it says then said Jesus unto them, unto who? Under these officers. Now keep in mind these officers would have been Roman. They would have been Gentile officers that the Pharisees had sent.

[4:28] The Jewish people had no power to arrest anyone. They had to go and make their case to the Roman government or the Roman officials and say this man needs to be arrested.

[4:39] And then the Roman officials would make a determination if that was truly so or not. So when it says that Jesus said unto them or Jesus said to them that I'm only here for a little while and then I'm going to go away.

[4:55] He was speaking to these Gentile officers, these Roman officers that had come to arrest him. He says, you shall seek me and shall not find me. Now there would have been Jewish people present here.

[5:09] Yes, but the Bible says he was speaking when these officers showed up. When he says ye shall seek me, that's plural and ye shall not find me.

[5:20] That's plural. So he would have been addressing everyone that was present, but he was addressing Jew and Gentile alike. He wasn't addressing just one or the other.

[5:31] He was addressing everybody that was present and these officers would have been present there. Verse 34, 35, then said the Jews among themselves, whether will he go, that we shall not find him.

[5:45] Will he go to the dispersed among the Gentiles and teach the Gentiles? This was amazing news to them, but remember he was speaking this basically to these officers, but really to everyone around him that was within earshot and the Jews heard this, says will he go to the dispersed among the Gentiles, the dispersed being the Jews that had been scattered.

[6:09] You're reading James chapter one. James's letter was written to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad. Greetings. This was what's commonly referred to as the diaspora, the Jews being dispersed out into different areas and different regions over there where they were at at this time.

[6:29] They weren't all congregated in Jerusalem. They weren't all congregated really in the nation of Israel. They were all around and these Jews were asking the question, is he going to go to the dispersed that are among the Gentiles and then teach the Gentiles what he's teaching us here?

[6:46] Well, what had he taught them? He taught them all kinds of things. I mean, if you go back to John chapter six in this immediate context, he had begun teaching in verse 14 and up to verse 31 that we finished last week.

[7:02] That's the section that we done last week, so he had been teaching them. But I mean, he'd been teaching really from the beginning of his ministry in John chapter two when he turns the water into wine in Canaan and he'd been teaching people ever since.

[7:17] He'd been teaching people all kinds of things and these Jews are asking the question, is he going to go to the Gentiles and teach them the same thing that he's teaching us?

[7:28] Is he going to go to the dispersed Jews amongst the Gentiles and teach the Gentiles the same thing? Verse 36, what manner of man is this that he said, You shall seek me and shall not find me, and where I am, thither you cannot come?

[7:48] What manner of man is that that would say such a thing? You shall seek me and shall not find me, folks. These people right now that claim that they're seeking after God, they truly aren't.

[8:00] There was people in this day that claimed that they were seeking after God, namely Jews. That claimed that they were seeking after God, namely Jews. That claimed that they were seeking after God.

[8:13] Remember, we talked about it going through the Gospel of John, we talked about going through the Sermon on the Mount, how people and various other times that have stood up here and taught and preached and everything else, how the Jews had the Old Testament, they had the Scriptures that pointed directly at Jesus Christ and yet they didn't accept Jesus Christ, they didn't accept Messiah when he came.

[8:40] And I know we went through in John chapter 1 how it's not that they didn't recognize Jesus Christ, it's not that they didn't recognize Him, it's that they rejected Jesus Christ as Messiah.

[8:54] And that was a horrible strike against them, but they're asking the question here in verse 36, what manner of saying is this, you shall seek me and shall not find me?

[9:05] Jesus just laying it down for them. He then told them, I'm only going to be here for a little while and then I'm going to go away and you shall seek me and shall not find me. He's speaking prophecy to them.

[9:17] Now, in this context that we're in here, we're about six months, give or take, from the crucifixion of Jesus Christ right here where we're at in the Gospel of John.

[9:30] About six months from this point would be the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. So we're about two and a half years, give or take, into the ministry of Jesus Christ at this point.

[9:43] So since John chapter 2 to John chapter 7, we've covered two and a half years of the ministry of Jesus Christ. And here he's saying, I'm only going to be here for a little while.

[9:55] He's already been here most of that little while at this point. There's only six months left to the crucifixion. So he says, I'm only here for a little while, then I'm going to go away to him that sent me, once again, referring to his deity, referring to himself as the Son of God here, referring to where he came from, which was heaven.

[10:17] He says, you shall seek me and shall not find me. And folks, the Jews that were present here and heard this, that has been the case for 2,000 years. He was here for a little while.

[10:29] He's gone now. He's gone physically from this earth and they are still seeking after the Messiah. Y'all have heard me say it time and time again, them little pieces of paper, they cram into the wailing wall over there in Jerusalem.

[10:45] Those are prayers that they're putting into the cracks of that wailing wall, begging God to send Messiah. So they're seeking after the Messiah and they're not finding Him.

[10:56] Folks, He's already been here. He has already been. He's done come. He's done been killed. He's done been buried. He's done resurrected. He's done ascended. But praise God, He's coming back again one of these days.

[11:07] He will be back again. Verse 37, in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.

[11:21] He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And this is a verse that I've quoted several times.

[11:32] He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this is so important, these two verses here, verse 37 and 38.

[11:44] Jesus says, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Let him come unto me. Folks, that's an invitation. It's an invitation. You read that word, come.

[11:55] It's just like in the book of Genesis, in Genesis 6, after Noah builds the ark, you hear God tell Noah, come into the ark. It was an invitation for Noah to come.

[12:07] Noah was under no obligation to go on to that ark. He done spent all those years building that ark. But God told Noah, he said, come into the ark.

[12:19] Come into the ark. That meant, hey, God's on the ark if he said that. Come into the ark. This is where I'm at. If he would have said, go into the ark, it wouldn't have been an invitation. That's a command.

[12:30] And if he said, go, that puts God on the outside until Noah to get in. But God was on the ark. I'm not saying that God wasn't everywhere at that point, but y'all should understand what I'm getting at there.

[12:42] It was an invitation to come onto the ark. Not only Noah, but his wife, his three sons, and their wives as well. It was an invitation for them to come. Jesus Christ here in verse 37 in John chapter 7, he's given an invitation.

[12:56] If any man is a thirst, if any man is thirsty, if any man is parched, if any man's throat is dry, let him come unto me, the folks that doesn't end there.

[13:07] It doesn't end there. He says, let him come unto me and drink. And it makes me wonder how many people have felt the convicting power and the drawing power of the Holy Spirit of God.

[13:19] And they may have walked to and altered, or they may have pulled their car over on the side of their road, or they may have fallen on their face in their home, or in the grass at a tent meeting or whatever.

[13:30] They have come unto Jesus, but they refused to drink. Folks, it's got to be in that order. You can come unto Jesus all day long, but if you don't drink, it'll do you no good.

[13:42] It's just like somebody has a creek running through their front yard, and they're dying of thirst in their house. Someone has got a hamburger in their hand, but they're dying of hunger.

[13:54] It's sad to read these things, and it's sad to think about these things. But how many people have been, I mean, truly, truly genuinely drawn by the Holy Spirit of God, and they've refused to drink?

[14:13] They've been brought to the very door of the fold, and they have not entered in. They've seen the door. I think Judas Iscariot kissed the very door of the fold.

[14:24] He kissed the door to heaven, but he didn't get in. He heard the same sermons. He heard the same lessons. He saw the same miracles that the other 11 disciples saw, but he didn't make it.

[14:38] He was right there with Messiah. He was right there. He was with Christ. He had come unto Christ. Christ called the disciples. He called the disciples.

[14:52] Judas Iscariot came unto Christ, but he did not drink. We must drink of Christ. We must partake of Christ. We must partake of Him, of His life, of His suffering, of His death, His burial, His resurrection.

[15:07] We must partake of all of these things. If we're partaking of Christ, we're partaking of Him wholly and fully and completely. We can't just take part of Christ. We must take all of Him, and we must drink of Him if we come to Him.

[15:22] He says, if any man thirsts, any man, Jew or Gentile, any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me as the Scripture had said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

[15:38] Jesus here is saying, he that believeth on me as the Scripture had said, not he that believeth on me in any way that he wants to. Not he that believeth on me as some off-the-wall left field preacher says to believe on Jesus.

[15:55] He that believeth on me half-heartedly. He that believeth on me except for this or except for that. He that believeth on me but does not drink of me if you want to take verse 37 into account here.

[16:09] He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Folks, that applies to me and that applies to you, that applies to anyone that confesses Jesus Christ as Lord.

[16:25] If we truly believe upon Jesus Christ out of our belly, out of our innermost being, out of ourselves, should be flowing rivers of living water, we should be professing Jesus Christ to the world.

[16:40] Praise God. Vern just read the Great Commission this morning and that commission doesn't just go to preachers and it doesn't just go to teachers or to deacons or anyone else. That is for every believer in Jesus Christ. We are all commissioned to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[16:57] If we truly believe in Christ as the Scripture hath told us to believe in Jesus Christ, as the Scripture hath said, out of our belly should be flowing rivers of living water.

[17:10] But folks, this is so much deeper than that. What is the belly? The belly is a part of you and I that never seem satisfied. Never seem satisfied. I mean, we might eat a big meal.

[17:24] We got Thanksgiving coming up here in a couple of weeks and all of us are going to eat ourselves plumb stupid on Thanksgiving. If you're honest with yourself, that's exactly what you're going to do. Whether it be 12 o'clock, whether it be 3 o'clock in the afternoon, you're going to eat yourself stupid, eat yourself into a coma and we're all going to have big bellies. We're going to be satisfied, but come 10 o'clock, come 11 o'clock, maybe 12.

[17:46] Well, a turkey sandwich sure would be good right now. I'd like some more of that yum yum. That pumpkin pie certainly was good. Our belly is never truly satisfied in the physical aspect.

[18:00] But folks, if we drink of Christ, it's just like he told the woman in John chapter 4 at the well, he said, he, the drink of this water shall never thirst, shall never thirst. And folks, if we do go back to the same well, go back to the same well.

[18:16] But our belly physically is never satisfied. But here we are talking about an abundance and overflowing. He that believeth on me as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

[18:29] Folks, nothing can overflow until it's filled. It can't overflow until it's full up to the very lip of whatever container that it is.

[18:40] And it can't be full unless it's filled by someone and that someone in this case would be Jesus Christ. It would be God filling us with the Holy Spirit and with the Word of God and with the things of God.

[18:52] And if our belly is full of that, it's going to overflow. If our inner being is full of that, it's going to overflow out into all the rest of the world. And he that believeth on me as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

[19:09] Not just a trickle, not just a drip. Rivers of living water. It's an abundance of what God has given us. It's an abundance of the good things of God.

[19:21] It's an abundance of the Word of God. It's an abundance of the Spirit of God. This should be flowing out of us to the rest of the world. Not just to the safe folks and not just on Sunday morning or Sunday evening or Wednesday night or whatever the case is.

[19:35] It should be happening continually for people that truly believe on Christ as the Scripture has said. Out of our belly should be flowing rivers of living water.

[19:48] The belly can be a curse to us, can it not? I mean, you read in Philippians, I believe it's Philippians chapter 3. He talked about the enemies of the cross and the enemies of Christ.

[19:59] He says their belly is their God. Folks, when we get born again, our belly is no longer our God. This is just talking about these people. Yes, they may have, you know, it's not talking about the sin of gluttony when it says that.

[20:15] It's talking about their eyes are never full, their belly is not full. They're continually looking at the world, seeking pleasure in the world, seeking fulfillment in the world, seeking the world to do something for them, regardless of what it is.

[20:31] I'm not going to go through a list of things, but regardless of what it is, it is worldly things that they're after and their belly, their inner desires, that is their God. Folks, it was my God before I was saved.

[20:43] It was your God for you were saved. You were looking for anything and everything except God to fill that void in your life and fill that void in your heart and your soul.

[20:56] Verse 39, But this spakey of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified.

[21:07] What spakey of the Spirit out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water? This spoke he of the Spirit. So if the Spirit is living in us because we have believed in Christ as the Scripture has said, the Spirit should be flowing out of us as rivers of living water.

[21:25] This spakey of the Spirit, we should be living lives that are glorifying to God. We should be doing things that glorify God. We should be doing the worldly things because our belly is no longer our God.

[21:37] Verse 40, Many of the people, therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth, this is the prophet. Others said, this is the cross. But some said, shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the Scripture said, the cross cometh of the seed of David and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?

[21:53] So there was a division among the people because of him. Many people heard this saying, verse 40 again, Many of the people, therefore, when they heard this saying said, of a truth, this is the prophet.

[22:07] This will be the prophet that God promised to his people in the book of Deuteronomy. He said, I'm going to raise up a prophet from among you. I'll raise up a prophet of your own lineage, of your own bloodline.

[22:20] I'm going to raise up a prophet unto you. And this would have been the prophet that these people were saying. But it says, some of them said, of a truth, this is the prophet. Others said, this is the cross.

[22:31] So others were saying, this is the Messiah. But some said, shall Christ come out of Galilee? So there are people saying, I believe he's the prophet. There are people saying, I believe he's the Messiah. This shows these people's ignorance of the word of God because the prophet that was promised in the book of Deuteronomy was the cross.

[22:49] And he was the Messiah. And Christ, the Messiah, was standing here before these people. Others, or had not the Scripture said that Christ comeeth of the seed of David and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was.

[23:03] Well, yes, yes, the Scripture says that. And they only really show their ignorance of the meaning of the word of God. But they were also showing that they knew what the word of God said.

[23:17] Folks, we can know, we can quote the Bible all day long. I could quote all kinds of Bible when I was lost. We can quote it all day long, but if we don't know what it means.

[23:29] If we don't have the Holy Spirit as our teacher and as our guide. We don't know what it means like these people. We're in trouble. They knew what the Scripture said.

[23:40] They said the Scripture says, Christ is supposed to come out of Bethlehem. Christ did come out of Bethlehem, did He not? We all know that Christmas is coming up here in another month and a half. Praise God for Christmas.

[23:53] But it's coming up in a month and a half. And we all know that Jesus was born of a virgin in the town of Bethlehem. These people here knew that prophecy from Micah chapter 5.

[24:06] They knew that He was to be born in Bethlehem, but they still rejected Him as Messiah. They were still questioning it. It says in some of them, or I'm sorry, verse 43, so there was a division among the people because of Him, because of Christ.

[24:23] Not even because some were saying He was the prophet and some were saying He was the Christ and some were saying, well, the Scripture says that the Christ, the Messiah, is supposed to come out of Bethlehem.

[24:34] Not those things particular, but because of Him, there was a division among the people and folks here in 2023. It is no different. If we believe in Christ, as the Scripture has said, not of our bellies flowing rivers of living water, we will cause a division.

[24:53] Christ even said that. He said, you think I've come to bring peace? I've come not to bring peace, but a sword. A sword divides. And it will be that way in the last day.

[25:04] It's that way now. It was that way during the time this was being written about, and it will forever be that way. Christ divides. And that is one reason I get sick when I see these co-exist bumper stickers.

[25:20] And when I see different people from different denominations or sects or evangelicals or whatever the case is, partnering with people that don't believe the true God.

[25:34] Folks, there is a division between those that are Christ and those that are not. There is a division between the people of God and those who are not God's people.

[25:46] It was that way in the Old Testament, God separated His people, the Jews, the children of Israel. He separated them, and He done it for a purpose. He separated them, He consecrated and sanctified them for His service and to glorify Him.

[26:02] And He has done the same thing with Christians in the New Covenant that we have in Jesus Christ. He has separated us. There is to be a division. If there's not, it's probably because we're not saved.

[26:14] If we are locked the world, then folks, it's because we don't have the Holy Spirit. Those without the Holy Spirit of God will act just like the rest of the world does without the Holy Spirit of God.

[26:30] But those with the Holy Spirit, we should be acting differently. There is a division. There's going to be a great division. The last day you read about it in Matthew 25 where there's going to be a separation of the sheep and the goats.

[26:44] You read about it in Matthew 13. You read about separating the wheat and the tares. You read about it all throughout the Scriptures. God separates. The things of God separates. The Word of God causes division.

[26:57] So when we read here in verse 43, so there was a division among the people because of Him. Folks, that shouldn't surprise us. Jesus Christ causes division.

[27:08] The Gospel causes division. The Gospel is a very controversial thing. The praise God, it's the only thing that's the power of God under salvation. That's why it's so controversial. Because man wants to have his own way to salvation.

[27:23] Man wants to have a part in his salvation. And the Gospel is the only thing that can save man from sin. It's the only thing that can save man from the wrath of God. It's the only thing that can save man from himself.

[27:35] It's the only thing that can save man from hell. That's why the Gospel is so divisive. And some of them would have taken him, but no man laid hands on him.

[27:46] Where have we read that before? No man laid hands on him. We read that just last week, I believe. Maybe the week before. We've read it a few times throughout the Gospel of John. We read it throughout the other Gospel writers' accounts.

[28:00] No man took him. Some of them would have taken him, but no man laid hands on him. They didn't lay hands on him because they didn't desire to. They desired to. They wanted to.

[28:12] They didn't lay hands on him because the providence and the sovereignty and the power of God did not allow them to. It wasn't his time. His hour had not yet come to be arrested.

[28:24] His hour had not yet come to be crucified. He was still in his ministry phase at this point. That's why no man laid hands on him. Verse 45, then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said unto them, Why have you not brought him?

[28:40] The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. So the officers, these Roman guards, that these Pharisees and these scribes would have sent out, the chief priests and anybody else that had any kind of clout in the Jewish religious world, that had sent these Roman guards out.

[29:00] The guards come back to them. They say, Where is he? Why didn't you arrest him? And the only words they could speak was, Never man spake like this man. Those guards have been standing there.

[29:12] Roman guards, Gentile guards. Folks, this is another one of these sad statements. Because there were Jews there again, that had the Old Testament scriptures, and they obviously knew what the Old Testament scriptures said, because they just got through saying, His cross not to come out of Bethlehem, out of the city of David.

[29:31] He's not supposed to be at the seat of David. And these Gentiles are the ones that were marveling over the things that Jesus Christ said. These Roman soldiers were, the officers answered, Never spake a man like this man.

[29:46] Then answered them the Pharisees. Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? So the Pharisees didn't say, Well, what did he say that was so astounding?

[30:01] What did he say that was so marvelous? What did he say that no man had ever spoke? They said, Are you fooled as well? Have you been convinced of this man as well?

[30:15] Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed on him? So not only are they asking these officers, Have you been deceived?

[30:26] Do you believe in this man that's calling himself Christ? Do you believe in this man that's calling himself the Son of God? But they want to know if any of their own little sect has believed in him as well.

[30:40] They're wanting, in other words, these officers to rat out anybody that might be amongst them that may have believed on Jesus Christ. Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed on him?

[30:51] But this people who know if not the law are cursed. This people that know if not the law are cursed. Well, who knew not the law? It's talking about anybody that believed on him in this context.

[31:04] But if we go all the way back to last week, what we were covering last week in John chapter 7, where Jesus went up to the temple to teach and some were believing, some were not, some were believing wrongly and all this, but they were saying this people that have not the law, this people that know if not the law are cursed.

[31:25] Folks that accuse Jesus Christ of the same thing. We read about it, I believe it was last week. How is this man able to do this? Not having any letter, not knowing the letter.

[31:38] Not being educated in other words. So these people that know not the law, these Pharisees were so caught up in their pride. They said we know the law, we understand the law, we know what the word of God says.

[31:53] They said this people who know if not the law are cursed. They weren't just talking about the Gentiles. Gentiles could have cared less about the law. They could have cared less about the law that Moses give to the Jews.

[32:04] Because the Gentiles weren't Jews, they were Gentiles. So they're referring to the Jews that have believed here. These people that know not the law, they know if not the law, they're cursed.

[32:20] Praise God for Nicodemus sticking up here though. Verse 50, Nicodemus saith unto them, He that came to Jesus by night, being one of them, doth our law judge any man before hear him and know what he doeth.

[32:35] They answered and said unto him art thou also of Galilee, Search and look, for out of Galilee ariseeth no prophet. Now this would be the same Nicodemus because the Bible tells us that it is.

[32:47] The same Nicodemus that we read about in John chapter 3. The same Nicodemus that came to Jesus by night, the same Nicodemus that Christ told twice, you must be born again. This is the same man.

[32:59] And he was a Pharisee. John chapter 3 told us that and we see it here. So Nicodemus saith unto them, He that comes to Jesus by not being one of them, doth our law judge any man before hear him and know what he doeth.

[33:14] Nicodemus is stepping up. I've heard people say that because the Bible doesn't explicitly state that Nicodemus did not become a believer in Jesus Christ, that he wasn't saved.

[33:27] I believe Nicodemus was a believer. I believe it because of this scripture and I believe it because of what we read at the end after Jesus Christ had been crucified. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, all their actions indicate they believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God.

[33:49] I believe all of this indicates that folks, the Bible don't say Spitzer Baumgartner is a believer either. The praise God I am. So to make that argument is ridiculous.

[34:01] But there are people out there that will say that. Nicodemus stepped up for Jesus here and not only did he step up, folks, he was the only lot, he was the only lot in this little brood of vipers that was standing around at this point.

[34:18] That's exactly what they were. They were all seeking some way to get ahold of Jesus, to arrest Jesus, to have Jesus killed. They were all seeking this and Nicodemus, one of their own, one of the Pharisees, he steps up and defends.

[34:32] He says, can we judge a man by our law without knowing what he does? Our law doesn't state that. So he's stepping up on Christ's behalf.

[34:44] And folks, if out of our belly flows rivers of living water, we need to be stepping up for Christ. I ain't saying go out and pick fights, I ain't saying go out to pick arguments.

[34:56] God called us to spread the gospel, not to win theological arguments. I ain't saying anything along those lines, but we need to stand up for what we believe.

[35:07] We need to stand up for this Bible, we need to stand up for Jesus Christ. And it's not because Jesus Christ needs us to do these things for him. Jesus Christ needs nothing and Jesus Christ needs no one.

[35:20] God's never needed anything or any one, but it is expected of us as God's children to do these things. They answered and said unto him, art thou also of Galilee?

[35:33] What they're saying here, they're throwing an insult at him. They're saying, are you also of his little clan? Remember, most of the disciples came from Galilee.

[35:44] That's what got Peter in trouble when he was in the process of denying the Lord three times and his verbiage. His accent gave him away.

[35:56] So they're asking Nicodemus here, are you also of Galilee? Search and look for out of Galilee, or is it no prophet? Well, folks, these Pharisees didn't know their scripture nearly as well as they did.

[36:08] Jonah was out of Galilee and Jonah was a prophet. Christ, being a prophet, being Messiah, and some of these folks actually said that they believed that he was the prophet.

[36:23] Christ, being out of Galilee. But Jonah, whom all these men here should have been well familiar with, he was from Galilee.

[36:34] So they didn't know their scripture nearly as well as they thought. Search and look for out of Galilee, or is it no prophet? And every man went unto his own house. Where were they?

[36:47] Before all this was going on, remember at the beginning of John chapter seven, they were doing the Feast of Tabernacles, which was an eight-day celebration. There's the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Booze, some translations call it, some people call it, which is where they would live in these temporary booths for a week and celebrate the journey through the wilderness that God had gotten their ancestors through.

[37:12] But the very last verse of this says, every man went to his own house, which tells me that Feast, that celebration was over with. Now, all that being said about that last verse, there are versions of the Bible out there, and they're, quote-unquote theologians, that will argue and that will say the oldest manuscripts that we have don't contain verse 53 from John chapter seven through verse 11 and John chapter eight, and therefore they shouldn't be in the Bible.

[37:48] I disagree with that. I disagree with that wholeheartedly. Just because it's not found, I mean, who's to say a page that can get lost or burned or whatever the case is and whatever manuscripts they're looking at, but they will say because it's not in the oldest manuscripts that we have that it was added later, therefore it's not inspired, therefore it shouldn't be in the Bible.

[38:11] We'll try and read from John chapter seven and verse 52 and pick up in John chapter eight and verse 12, and it'll leave you with all kinds of questions. We're not going to get into John chapter eight this week, but I'm just throwing that out there, that some people will say that verse 53 shouldn't be here at the end.

[38:30] I think it's a very fitting ending to the chapter that every man went to his house, Feast of Tabernacles was over, but folks, what's so significant about them is they left Christ.

[38:46] They left Christ where he was. Every man went to his own house. They left the Messiah, they left the promised one. Granted, they were rejecting him. I understand that, but we see that over and over and over.

[39:00] Christ goes here and preaches, Christ goes there and teaches, Christ goes to this region or that region, and he heals, and the people leave. The people leave Christ over and over and over, and I look at this and I read it and I think, how could those people do that?

[39:17] But I have to also wonder if I had been there at that time, would I have done the same? Would I have left Christ wherever he was? In John chapter eight picks up, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

[39:30] Every man went to his own house. Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. So keep that in mind before we start John chapter eight next week.

[39:43] Anybody got any questions or any comments on any of that? Alright God bless y'all, I appreciate you.