So John chapter 7 verse 32 through
verse 44, the Pharisees heard that the people murmured such
things concerning him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests
sent officers to take him. Then said Jesus unto them, Yet
a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent
me. Ye shall seek me, and shall not
find me, and where I am ye cannot come.' Then said the Jews among
themselves, Whither will he go that we may not find him? Will he go into the disperse
among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? What manner of
saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not
find me, and where I am ye cannot come." 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. He that believes
on me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water. But this is fake 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. Many of the people, therefore,
when they heard this saying, said, of a truth, this is the
prophet. Others said, this is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come
out of Galilee? Had not the Scripture said that
Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of
Bethlehem where David was? So there was a division among
the people because of him. And some of them would have taken
him, but no man laid hands on him. Now we see here a part of
the mystery of our Lord, that many heard His words plain, but
they did not have ears to see, and so they understood not the
things that our Lord had said. But let me back up and begin
with this manner of introduction. Let me explain and make clear
the title of our message for today. When we hear the word
enigma, and it is applied to a person or unto a thing, it
refers to what is a mystery or what is a puzzling thing, something
that we may not be able to grasp and understand. It refers to
something that is baffling, even to a thing that is obscure, and
then hard to understand, that it raises questions in our mind
that are not so easily answered. It perplexes those that hear
it and that see it, and thus, in that sin, it is an enigma. So an enigma is a thing that
seems obscure, at least at first or for a time, not readily understood,
are comprehended and hard to understand and hard to reconcile
with other things that we see and that we hear. Now, with that
definition of an enigma, we say that Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
the Son of God, the man Jesus whom we worship, was the most
unusual and the most unique personage to ever appear in the midst of
Israel, yea, in all the world, and yea, in all time he will
be so unto man. Never another like him before
or since. Never was there a man like Jesus
who appeared and ministered unto Israel. And neither shall there
ever be one to follow after from our time and on." Why was Jesus
such a mystery, such an enigma? Why did people scratch their
head and wonder, what is this? What does He mean? What is He
talking about? Well, let's notice some things
that make Him an enigma. First, He had a human mother. but no human father. Our Lord was born of a woman,
but He had no human father that had begotten Him. On the other
hand, He insisted that God was His Father and that He had come
down from God and heaven itself. He appeared in the likeness of
men. He took upon Him the likeness
of men, but all the while claiming and equality with God. He was God manifest in the flesh. But when we shall see Him, there
is no beauty that is outwardly that we should desire Him. So
says Isaiah in chapter 53 and verse 2. He was God incarnate. He was very God in the flesh. And yet, He had nowhere to lay
His head and owned no property." Matthew 8, verse 20, and Luke
9, verse 58. He made the world and all things
therein, but he neither owned a property or a house in this
world. And though he was rich, yet for
our sake, the Bible said, he became poor. So it was that the
exercise of the public ministry of our Lord, the Lord did encounter
many in His person and His teaching that they considered imperceptible. Our Lord did many things. Our
Lord said and taught many things that were imperceptible to the
non-spiritual ear. They could not realize what was
the meaning of the words of our Lord. They could not understand
the sense of the Lord's Word. They did not understand what
He said with insight, and particularly, they were without spiritual insight. And so they said sometimes in
themselves and sometimes unto others. Sometimes they said and
sometimes they asked questions like this. How can a man be born
when he is old? John 3 and verse 4. How can a man give us his flesh
to eat? John chapter 6 and verse 52. In John 6 and 42, they said,
Is not this Jesus, the One whose Father and Mother we know? How then does He say that He
came down from heaven? They said to him on one occasion
in John 8, you are not yet fifty years old. Do you mean to tell
us that you have seen Abraham? There is Pilate's question unto
our Lord, John 19 and 9, where did you come from? Whence art
thou? As Pilate weighed the charges
of the Jews against the Lord and heard his own personal testimony,
Pilate asked, Which camest thou? By what authority do you do these
things? In Matthew 21 and verse 23. John's inquiry to the Lord as
we saw. Are you the one that was to come
or do we look for another? John 19 and 9. John's inquiry
certainly seems strange and an enigma unto us. Then again, how
often we read of some of whom it is said, such and such, when
the Lord said unto his disciples that he would be delivered into
the hands of men, and that he would be killed, and that he
would rise again the third day, as in Mark 9 and verse 31. And
in verse 32, they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him. He said, I will be delivered
into the hands of the Gentiles, and be ill-treated and crucified,
and will raise again. When he told Mary and Joseph,
our Lord being but twelve years old in the flesh, I must be about
my father's business. In Luke chapter 2, And verse
49, and then we read in verse 50 of their response, they understood
not the saying which he spoke unto them. Even though the great
announcement to Mary at the conception of our Lord, that holy thing
shall be called the Son of God. And now she says, they understood
not the saying that our Lord had spoken. Again, Luke records
the same incident as Mark in Luke 9 and verse 45, and it says
there, "...and the saying was hidden from them, I must be about
my father's business." What does this 12-year-old son mean by
such a declaration? John 8, 27. They could not understand
the Lord's declaration that He came from God and that He spoke
the things that He heard from the Father. Therefore, it is
not the least bit surprising that we read here in our text
in John 7 and verse 43, so there was a division among the people
because of Him. That is, on account of Him, for
the sake of Him, and for the attitudes that people took one
another towards Him. Back in John chapter 7, verse
11 and 12, then the Jews sought Him at the Feast, that is, the
Feast of the Tabernacle, John 7 and verse 2, and they said,
Where is He? And there was much murmuring
among the people concerning him, for some said, he is a good man,
others said, no, he is a deceiver of the people. And this greater
division existed concerning the Lord. Some saying a good man,
others calling him a deceiver. One who went about and deceived
the people with his teaching. Thus was fulfilled the words
of the Lord in Luke chapter 12 and verse 51, that He came not
to give peace on the earth, but rather division. That there would
be rather than great unity around our Lord, He would be the source
and the cause of a great division. Matthew chapter 10, 34 and 35, He said, Think not that I am
come to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Spurgeon wrote on this particular
text of Scripture, quote, In the act of producing the peace
of heaven, he arouses the rages of hell. Truth produces opposition. Purity excites enmity, and righteousness
arouses all the forces of wrong," end quote, the words of Charles
Spurgeon. Now, this is a rebuke, if I may
make the point, a rebuke to all those kind, sweet, and gentle,
but misguided souls who are perplexed that all professing Christians
cannot come together in one and unity under the banner of, quote,
sweet, sweet Jesus, unquote. The reason we cannot is because
of the different views that men have of Christ. Held by the various
sections of Christendom, both Christian and cult, Christ is
somewhat an enigma even to people in our day and in our time who
profess to be Christian. For example, he is an enigma,
a mystery. Could he sin or could he not
have sinned? Is he man or is he God? Is he the eternal Son or is he
the created Son of the eternal God? Is He God, or is He only
the Son of God, as some had said? Did He die for all, or did He
die only for the elect? And considering these things,
it becomes evident that all cannot march under the same banner in
unity unto the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, I ask you,
was there ever a greater enigma or mystery than Christ in the
flesh? And I would ask it again. Was there ever a greater enigma
or mystery than Jesus Christ in the flesh, as seen by the
many, many divisions that arose because of Him and of His teaching? Some took Him to be a prophet
such as John the Baptist or Elijah or Jeremiah in Matthew 16. One of the old prophets that
is risen again in Luke 9 and verse 8. Others took Him to be
that one great singular prophet that Moses promised in Deuteronomy
18.15 and is seen in John 6 and verse 14 Others said, this is
the Christ. John 7 and 41. And some said,
is not this the Christ? John 7. 4 and verse 29, the woman
of Samaria. Others saw Him as a deceiver. John 7 and 12. And a blasphemer
in Matthew 26 and verse 65. Some said, in John 7 and 12, a good man,
others said no, a deceiver. Now, the mystery of Christ among
the people especially consisted in three things. These mysteries,
all of them, or many of them, can be summed up under three
headings for our best grasping and understanding them. Here
are three things, or I'll name three things, that were a mystery
or an enigma to so many about the Lord during His ministry. Number one that I would like
for us to consider, His claim that He came down from God out
of heaven. His claim that the Father had
sent Him. And His claim that He was one
and equal with the Father And some were confessing Him to indeed
be the Christ. Now, let's look at our text in
John 7 and verse 41 and verse 42, which I'd like to read again.
Others said, this is the Christ. But some said, shall Christ come
out of Galilee? Had not the Scripture said that
Christ cometh of the seed of David out of the town of Bethlehem
where David was." Now, they mean the anointed one, when they speak
thus of Christ, the Messiah, the Savior. Some put on the brakes,
as we like to say, under the pretension of honoring and adhering
strictly to the Scripture, for they said In verse 41 and the
last part, shall the Christ come out of Galilee? And then they
said in verse 42, has not Scripture said that Messiah, or the Christ,
would be a descendant of David out of the village where David
was and lived? Well, they're standing upon Micah
5 and verse 2, Matthew 2 and verse 6. Their argument being,
this man cannot be the Christ because Scripture foretold that
he would be a Bethlehemite, not a Nazarite. And Jesus of Nazareth
in Galilee was the place of his residence. Our Lord was born
in Bethlehem exactly as the Scriptures say. But here they are putting
emphasis upon the fact that He had been a resident of Galilee. And J.C. Ryle wrote on these
verses here in John chapter 7 this quote, Even the common people
among the Jews, knew that Messiah would be of the family of David
and was to be born in Bethlehem, the well-known birthplace of
David himself." It is called in Luke 2, 4 and 11, the city
of David. And if you want to trace it back
to the Old Testament, you'll find it in 1 Samuel chapter 16. But another thing mystified was
an enigma to many of the Jews concerning Christ's claim that
He came down from heaven, that He came out of the bosom of the
Father, and that He was very equal with God. And that thing
was the fact that when He went into His own country, that is,
into Galilee, and taught with great wisdom, and it magnified
God with great works in Matthew 13, 56 and 57, and Mark 6, 1
through 4, this was the result. They were amazed. They were astonished. They marveled at what they heard
out of His lips saying, How does this one have such words at his
command? Is not this the son of the carpenter? Matthew 13 and verse 55. And a carpenter himself. Mark chapter 6 and verse 3. And they went on. His mother
we know, and she is called Mary. And his brothers we know, and
they are James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas. And his sisters
also lived here and mingled among us." In other words, they took
him to be a commoner from a common family. And again, as Spurgeon
did put it, his pedigree seemed to them to be the lowliest. His father, so-called Joseph,
a common carpenter, his mother, an ordinary woman, his brothers
and his sister, persons of no fame. How could he know such
mighty things when he had not studied in the school of the
rabbi? How did he speak so eminently? How did he do such great and
wonderful things when, as they are suggesting, he was a nobody,
he was a commoner, He was from a commoner, nobody family, and
that was known by all that lived in the country or the vicinity. Strictly speaking, from human
reasoning, who is there would expect the great Messiah, the
anointed of God, to appear from such a stock as the family of
Mary. What a mystery that Christ should
come and lived among men in such a lowly fashion. The Prince of
Heaven, the great King of Heaven Himself, living in such a lowly
fashion. Who would think that such would
ever be the case? Who would ever think that a tired,
and a thirsty Jewish man sitting on the curb at Jacob's well would
be the anointed Messiah sent from God. Who would have thought
that one walking on Emmaus Road with the other two was the glorious
Christ of heaven? Who would imagine that one born
yonder in a stable to a peasant woman The wife of a carpenter
would be the great Son of God and the Messiah. So let's make
this notation. It was upon the occasion of the
division among the people that Jesus said to them in Matthew
13 and 57 and Mark 6 and verse 4, these words of truth, a prophet
is not without honor except in his own country and city and
in his own house. He is without honor in his own
native town. That is one familiarly known. He will not be in their eyes
highly esteemed in the city and the town where he came from. Pardon an illustration. But how
often do we hear of a man who goes on a killing spree, or is
a serial child molester, or has been charged with killing a whole
family, or called in for being a drug dealer. And when the neighbors
are interviewed, they say, he seemed like such a regular, nice,
family-friendly man. Friendly to all the neighbors.
coach of the little league, churchgoer, who suspected him of being a
killer, a pedophile, or a drug dealer, etc. In the other direction,
who would believe or expect that Messiah would be raised up in
such an ordinary family and in such a small, insignificant village
out of the public view for so long. This was perplexing to
many Jews in that day that Messiah came forth in His ministry from
such a background. In John 1, verse 46, Nathanael
asked the question, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? This question Nathanael had asked
because Philip, in John 1, verse 45, had said unto him, Come,
we have found him of whom Moses and the prophets and the law
did write. Come, we have found that one,
Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael was ready
to stumble at Christ because of the place of his residence. Can any good thing come out of
Nazareth? And just from that, Nathanael
would take up a prejudice against Jesus being the Messiah. John Gill said that Nathanael
himself was a Galilean. Gill also said that the whole
country of Galilee was largely held in contempt by the Jews. Other commentators agree. Not
only did Nazareth have no prominent place in prophecy, but it held
an ill repute or was a place of a bad reputation, as well
as being an obscure place and town with no claim to fame except
in a bad or shameful way. And as a result, it seemed an
enigma. It seemed to them a mystery that
the Anointed of God should dwell there in that place and come
forth into His ministry. But there's a second thing that
was a great enigma unto those of that day too. They stumbled,
many of the Jews did, and it was the Lord's claiming the authority
to forgive sin. When our Lord said He would forgive
sin, they had a hissy fit. One such incident you have in
Matthew 9, 2-8. It's also in Mark 2, verses 3-12. And again in Luke 5, 18-26. It was that incident when a palsied
man was brought to the house where Jesus was ministering. Four friends bring a palsied
man up on a cot, and they cannot get in for the size of the crowd
around about, so they go up on the roof and they remove a part
or a portion and make an opening in the tile or in the roof, and
they lowered the man down into the presence of our Lord and
Savior who was teaching. What did Jesus do? Go, go, get
away, I will not bother with thee. No, Jesus responded by
commending their faith and healing the palsied man. Now, palsy was
a pitiful thing. the trembling of the limbs, the
loss of control, and some paralysis in an individual with palsy. And Jesus then said, in the hearing
of all that multitude, these words to that palsied man, Thy
sins be forgiven thee. You can imagine. The scribes
and the Pharisees reckoned that they had heard blaspheming. For they reasoned this in their
heart, who can forgive sin but God only? They reasoned in their
heart, not out loud yet, there is no one can forgive sin, only
God. Luke 5.21, who is this? Who is this that blasphemes and
claims to forgive sin when none but God can say, Thy sins be
forgiven? You will find that neither Matthew
9, 3 nor Mark 2 and verse 7 have the word man in it. It is italicized in our versions
in the text. It is simply this blasphemer,
this blasphemer, whoever he claimed to be. They reckoned him to be
a blasphemer in claiming the authority to forgive sin. If Jesus were a mere man like
themself, then it would be blasphemy for him to forgive sin. And of course, these self-righteous
hypocrites would claim that they were standing upon the Scripture
and limiting the forgiveness of sin only to God, to His glory. Consider this, Exodus 34 and
verse 7, the Lord God, listen, quote, forgiving iniquity and
transgression and sin, unquote. Isaiah 43, 25, I, even I, am he that blots out
thy transgression for mine own sake, and will not remember thy
sins." Again in Micah chapter 7 and verse 18, Who is like unto
God, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage, and delighteth in mercy? Thus, those men reckoned our
Lord Jesus guilty of blasphemy in claiming both the right and
the authority that belongs to God only to forgive the sin of
a sinner. Some great lessons are here that
we might learn. There are gleanings here for
us in this particular occasion in the Scripture. For example,
the men who brought the palsied man to Jesus had not first and
foremost brought him because he was a sinner, but because
he was a diseased and a sick man. They had not brought him
to have his soul cleansed, but if peradventure his body might
be healed, which the Lord had done many times, and they believed
that Jesus was able to do that. Jesus commends their faith, but
then notice, as Gil said, a blessing was bestowed which was not asked
for. The first thing the Lord said
and did was to say to that man, thy sins be forgiven. Let me quickly refer us to another
person and occasion." That would be in Luke chapter 7. That of
a woman who in verse 37 there, was a sinner, had lived a sinful
life up to that point of time in her life, at least until recently. Her public reputation was known
far and wide as an open sinner. Many knew and considered her
to be a lewd woman. This is a woman, you remember,
who wept her tears upon the feet of Jesus and then wiped His feet
with her hair and then anointed Him with precious ointment. And when the Pharisee that was
host to the feast to Jesus said to himself, if this one were
a prophet, he would know what a sinner this woman is. and would
not allow her to be so familiar and touch Him in this way. Whereupon
the Lord speaks the parable of the two debtors who were forgiven,
v. 41-43. Then He says in v. 47, her sins which were many
are forgiven. And He says to the woman in v. 48 of that chapter, your sins
are forgiven. What a wicked woman she had been,
known to be a sinner. So the conclusion is this, that
Christ's claiming authority to forgive sins amounts to a claim
of deity. If our Lord would forgive sin,
it is a claim to deity on His part. Who can forgive sin but
God only? And Christ forgave sin. And only God can. A final enigma
or mystery I would like to mention. It's found in the claim that
Christ made. I got my tongue tangled and couldn't
speak for spluttering for a minute. That the claim that Christ made
that He was the Messiah or was the Christ and the deliverer
of His people and constantly predicting his death. His own
disciples did not understand or reconcile this in their mind
that he would die in Jerusalem. Mark 9, 31 and 32, and what a
mystery that the apostle Peter, so soon after his great fundamental
confession in Matthew 16, 16, Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Now he would hear the Lord predict
his own death in verse 21. And in verse 22, Matthew 16,
Peter would rebuke the Lord and tell Him, No, Lord, this shall
not be unto You. Already Peter is acting like
a pope telling God, what to do. Now, the closest of the Lord's
disciples could not at all reconcile His prediction of an awful death
with their hope and expectation of the Messiah and His great
works. Luke 2.50, 9.44, and 18.34. It
was a mystery hid from them in Luke 9.45. Until Jesus was risen from the
dead, John 2.22, did they then understand His teaching about
His death. Only when He was risen and ascended,
poured out the Holy Spirit of God, did they gain a full understanding
and appreciation of the things that the Lord had told them. What a mystery or enigma Was
it to them that Christ's suffering and His death must precede His
entering into great glory? Luke 24 and verse 26, that Christ
will gain and give life to many by means of His death upon the
cross, that the means of others having life will be the death
of Him, that He lay down His life to save many from spiritual
death. that out of death comes life. But only out of the death of
Christ comes there this great life. For saying this, the Lord
was mocked on the cross as they jeered and said, Save thyself! Save thyself! Some said, Thou
that saved others, himself he cannot save. If thou be the Christ,
come down off of the cross, and we will believe you. Yes, it
was a mystery and an enigma. And one who died such a shameful
death is the everlasting, complete, and absolute perfect Savior of
all of the elect. A mystery Christ was, an enigma
to many, and so today. In closing, Christ is still an
enigma, a mystery to many in Christianity. Strange views of
Christ are being set forth, as stated earlier. But to know Christ,
to know who He is, to understand His work and His person and His
office, heaven must reveal that unto us. If we are to know Christ,
who He is, it must be a divine revelation. No man shall understand
and know except God reveal this unto us. No man can know Christ
except God reveal Him unto us who He is and what He is. And He is set forth in the Word,
and there we find Him. We believe Him, that He is the
very Son of God, that His death is for the sins of others, that
He was very God manifest in the flesh. And that inscrutable doctrine
of the hypostatic union and the Holy Trinity of the three in
one. Who can understand that except
God reveal it unto them? Yes, our Lord, was a mystery
unto many, but thanks be unto God for those who were given
an understanding of the person and the work of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. Has God given you that understanding? Then praise Him. Praise Him for
evermore that he has caused you to know the Son of God as his
Son and Redeemer. Thank you, and let's stand please
for a word of final prayer.