Now only three, there's no condemnation Jesus provides a perfect salvation, come unto me, oh, here is sweet calm, come and be saved! Once for all, O sinner, receive Him. Once for all, O brother, believe Him. Lead to the cross the burden of fall. Christ hath redeemed us once for all. Children of God, O glorious calling, His grace will keep us from falling, as He will lift you high at His call. Blessed salvation, once for all. Once for all, Lord, say they're receiving. Once for all, Lord, brother, believing. Into the cross the burden of all. Christ hath redeemed us once for all. Number 227, The Cleansing Way. I see. I see. I see. me. me. me. me. Oh praise the lord. Oh praise the lord. Turn in your Bibles, please, to John chapter 7. I'm going to read verses 10 through 24. But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up to the feast, not openly, but as Then the Jews saw him at the feast and said, where is he? And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him, for some said, he's a good man. Others said, nay, but he deceiveth the people. How be it no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews. Now about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up to the temple and taught. The Jews marveled, saying, how knoweth this man letters, having never learned? And Jesus answered them and said, my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory, but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keep the law? Why go you about to kill me? The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil, who goeth about to kill thee? And Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye marveled. Moses therefore gave you circumcision, not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers. And ye on the Sabbath day circumcised a man. A man on the Sabbath day received circumcision that the law of Moses should not be broken. Are you angry with me because I've made a man everywhere whole on the Sabbath day? Judges are not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Holy, just, and right thou art. There is none beside thee. none like unto Thee, Thou art God, and there is none else. We come in the name of Jesus Christ, your blessed Son, who is the very God of the very God of the very man of the very man. The Word made flesh that dwells among us that we may Father, we ask for those who are sick, going through trials and tribulations, thou knowest every case. We pray that what has befallen them by your great purpose will be to bring them to the feet of Jesus Christ, open their eyes to see who he is. Cause us once again to see him in these words, and hear his words as he speaks the truth. Help us, Lord, to worship you tonight. Cause us in our hearts to be thankful children, full of praise, and give all glory and honor to your name. We pray in his precious name. Amen. Now from verse 1 in this text, in this chapter, it is revealed again that the Jews sought to kill the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in verse one, after these things Jesus walked in Galilee for he would not walk in Jewry because the Jews sought to kill him. And they were sought to kill him because he had healed a man on a Saturday. That was the original reason. That was why they followed him, that's why they chased him, that's why they wanted to kill him. Remember when he healed that man on a Saturday and he took up his bed and walked. That's when they confronted him and that's when he began to tell them who he was. Now regardless of his miracles, this ultimately became the issue with the Jews who sought his death because this is what they could really deal with him in a matter of days. He broke the Sabbath day. They couldn't really kill him for saying who he was or for rebuking them or showing them the error of their ways, but they could kill him They brought him to court on the matter of doing something on the Sabbath day because that was a matter of death. It was a matter of pain and death. This is why our Lord came to the feast secretly. He sent his disciples up openly and then he came secretly. His secrecy was well founded for in verse 11 we find the first thing they do when they see the disciples is guess, where is he? Where is he? Why is he not with you? Where is he? We want to see him. And his disciples were immediately questioned as to Jesus' whereabouts. As is often the case, there was a division because of him. It says in verse 11 that the Jews saw him where he is and there was a much murmuring, in verse 12, among the people concerning him, for some said he is a good man, others said nay, he deceiveth people, he deceived the people. This was often spoken of the Lord Jesus Christ. There was a division because of him. You remember that in the early days our Lord Jesus Christ was preaching to these people and they left him because of the things he said. There was a division. Now there's a division for him. Look over at the same chapter here in verse 43. It says, so there was a division among the people because of him. And the reason for the division was that he told men the truth. If you look at chapter 9 and verse 16, it says, This therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not on Sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner say to do such miracles? And there was a division among them. And then in chapter 10 and verse 19, we read the same words again. There was a division, therefore, among them, among the Jews, of these saints. Later, in other texts, you'll see that they said, is he the prophet? No, he's not the prophet. So wherever he went, because of what he said and because of what he did, men were torn as to him. This doesn't mean that any of them were believers. But they had serious opinions about who he was. Some said he was a good man. He was a good man. I wonder what they were talking about. But he had shown compassion to the hungry and spoke openly. And he had not been hard on anyone. Maybe that's why they say he was a good man. Others said that he was a liar and deceived the people. Probably referring to the fact that he said he was the son of God and was very God. And that God had sent him and he spoke for God. And the words he spoke were from heaven. His words were spirit and they were life. These things offended men, so they were upset with him. The murmuring was probably whispering, because even to speak of him put the people in danger of the legalists. They said that they didn't speak of him because of fear of the Jews. So even to say his name in that arena, and remember this was a very religious time of year, this Feast of the Tabernacles, even to say his name could have brought problems to these people. In fact, later on when Nicodemus will defend him, saying we want to put this man to death and he's not done anything worthy of that, they said, are you also one that follows him? Are you one of his disciples? So there's always this division. They feared the Jews, and this gives us some sense of the diligence of the Jews in pursuit of the Lord Jesus Christ. They fancied themselves as keepers of the law, as keepers of the law, and guardians of the law, of Moses, and they took delight in constraining men to live according to their standards. You remember what our Lord said about the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23. In verse 3 and 4 it says, this all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do, but do not ye after their works what they say, and they do not. So they talk about the law and they preach the law, but they don't do the law. And he says, for they bind heavy burdens and grievance to be borne and lay them on men's shoulders. But they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. They don't put forth any effort. They stand up and they try to rule people's lives by giving them commands and rules to follow. This is the kind of people that our Lord is dealing with. They're law keepers. And so they've got this thing on Christ. They've got it on something. He healed somebody on the Sabbath day. He healed somebody on the Sabbath day. that all the Sabbaths, the Sabbath day and the other seven Sabbaths mentioned in Leviticus, every one of them say the same thing, don't do any work on the Sabbath day. As folks in the crowd whispered about him, he went up to the temple and taught. Our Lord Jesus Christ, he came in secretly with the crowd, but he went up to the temple and he taught. He openly revealed himself in the face of his enemies, and he came to arm with his own words. In verse 4 it says now, about the midst of the feast, so it's about the third or the fourth day of this eight-day feast, Jesus went up to the temple and he taught. And of those who had the privilege of hearing him, many were astonished at his understanding of the scriptures. It says that in verse 15, it says, so the Jews marveled. They marveled, saying, how knoweth this man letters, or learning, Learning having never learned now what they were talking about what he knew was the scriptures How does he know because he taught he didn't teach them just saying his own words He said thus saith the lord it is written in moses law and so forth all these things He always pointed them back to the scriptures In fact, you remember he said to some, you know that you do search the scriptures for him, and if you think you'll find eternal life up there, they would testify of me. But you won't come to me that you might have life. They had no clue. They had no clue of who he was. That he was the word from heaven. 1 John chapter 5, verse 7 says there are three that bear witness in heaven. The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three all one. The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. He alone inspired Moses. Who told Moses what to write down in Genesis, through Genesis, Exodus, and Ephesians, Numbers, and Deuteronomy? Who inspired Moses to write these things? The Lord Jesus Christ did. He's the creator. He's the author and finisher of what? Faith. And how does faith come? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word alone. He alone inspired Moses. He inspired all the prophets to write down these words called the word of God. And these men studied these words. And so when they heard him teaching with authority, and not as the scribes and the Pharisees, it says, of another place, they were astonished. And they marveled. And the reason they marveled is because they knew that this guy was from Nashville. One of them had said in another place in Scripture, there's nothing good coming out of Nashville. They knew he was from Nashville. They knew he was Joseph and Mary's boy. They knew he had been raised not rich, but probably lower middle class. And how did he learn these things? Back when he was 12 years old, he debated with the men in the temple when he was 12 years old. How did he know these things? They were his words. They were his words. I remember Carl Sandburg, who was a poet, used to come on Ed Sullivan's show and read his poetry. I read Carl Sandburg's poetry. I thought it was a beautiful poem, and he read it. Oh, my goodness. Oh my goodness, to hear a man read his own words and put the meaning that he had in these things. And this is what our Lord did when they heard him quote the scripture. Like in Luke chapter 4, when he took the book of Isaiah, chapter 61, where it says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me to heal the brokenhearted. Preach the second year of the Lord and so forth. They were astonished because he said, that's talking about me. That's talking about me. So these were his words. These were his words. He, of course, knew the scriptures, for he was what? The Word. He was the Word made flesh. These were his words. He's the author of the scriptures. Never a man spake like this man once said of him. They were astonished at his doctrine, his teaching. They asked how it was that he was a man of letters, a learning man, and the answer was plain and simple. He said this, my doctrine is not mine, in verse 16, but him that sent me. But him that sent me. What we know was his doctrine. He was the author of the doctrine. But why did he do this? We'll see that in a minute, exactly why he said that. Though he was God. As it clearly says in chapter 1, He was the Creator of all things. He is the Word who was God and was in the beginning with God. It was His doctrine, but He attributed it to God the Father as the One who sent Him. So that says two things. One thing, the words He speaks are from Heaven. And secondly, He's on a mission. They don't understand his mystery. He'll say a little bit about this in this very chapter about him going up to Jerusalem. He's got a day to meet up there. He further asserted that if a man would do God's will, he would know the doctrine. He would know the doctrine. He would be made aware, or know of the doctrine, be made aware of what God teaches. That's what it says in verse 17. If a man will do his will, He shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. He says, you know, I'm speaking, but I'm speaking the words of God. And if you knew God, if you knew His will and would do His will, then you would understand what I'm saying completely. And remember, He's speaking to religious folk. He's speaking to religious folk. He's speaking to unbelievers who held the law in high esteem. And because they held the law in high esteem, they sought to kill him because he had healed a man on a Sabbath day. That theme, we just read it in another passage, that theme goes all the way through this book. And remember, between chapter one and chapter seven, they had a whole lot of time going on. A couple of days. It's early on in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was declaring why they were astonished at his doctrine. They had studied the scriptures, but they missed the message. Like the old saying about the sparrow on a telephone wire, he's got a firm grasp on the telephone wire but has no idea what's going through the line. That's what these guys had to squirm. The Pharisees during the Maccabean Wars had made sure that this book was held. sacred and they've guarded it. The problem was when they came out of those wars, the years passed where the Lord didn't speak to the prophet, they become the interpreter of the words of God and so they said it was their word. They studied the scriptures, but they wouldn't come to Christ. They missed the message, because this is what this book said. Our Lord has said it over and over again. He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. And he used the scripture to believe that. He used the scripture of the serpents biting those who despised the bread of life. And then he goes on to say John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. It's all about trusting in him. He said to those who study the scriptures, you won't come to me for life. So he's talking here to unbelievers. They did not know the doctrine of God and that was proven because they did not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. In chapter 8 he'll say, he that's of God hears God's words. And you're not of God because you don't hear God's words. Every believer, you see, every believer I know a lot of people in religion say, well, I just don't understand the Bible. If you're not a believer, you don't understand it. But if you're a believer, you read this book and you see Jesus Christ. Because our Lord had said something about that in the Old Testament, in Jeremiah, chapter 31. He made a promise to undo this old covenant that the people were under and said, give them a new covenant. Jeremiah, chapter 31. In verse 33 it says, This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, so that I will put my law, and that is His word, in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people when He puts His word in their heart. What they'll find out is He is their God, and they are His people. And they shall teach no more every man and every brother, saying, No, Lord, they also know me. They also know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more. I'll forgive their iniquity. Now does that sound familiar? Turn over to Hebrews chapter 10. Here Paul writing to the Hebrew children about this new covenant, God having set aside the old covenant. Here in chapter 10 of Hebrews, he said the Lord took away the first and established the second. It says in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 16 and 17, this is the covenant that I will make with him. And in verse 15 he says, whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. for after he said before, where? Jeremiah 31, where I just read to you. That's the before. This is the covenant that I will make with them after though they say I'll put my laws in their hearts and in their minds will I write them and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Their sins and their iniquities. This is what the child of God knows. Over in Ephesians chapter 1, Our Lord says what He has given to us in His great purpose of salvation to honor and glorify His grace. In Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 8 and 9 it says, Wherein, that is in Christ, He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom, Christ is our wisdom, and pruned us, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He has purposed in Himself. So it says, He that does the will of God. He that does the will of God. What is the will of God? What does our Lord say in John chapter 6? Verse 39 says, this is my Father's will, which has sent me of all which he has given me. I shall lose nothing and raise it up again in the last day. That's God's absolute purpose is going to be fulfilled. And then in verse 4 it says, this is the will of him that sent me, that every one would seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I'll raise him up again in the last day. He that doeth my Father's will will know the doctrine, will know the doctrine. And back in our text in verse 18, it says, he that speaketh of himself. ties this in with the last phrase of verse 17, if any man will do his will, he shall know the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether it speak of myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory, but he that seeketh his glory, that is God's glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness in him. So we see and understand why he worded it this way. My doctrine is not mine, but him that sent me. He's giving the glory to God. That's the reason for attributing the doctrine to God. As a man, his duty is to give the glory to God. All that God has created, their duty is to give glory and honor to God, and they will. They will. They will give glory to His love and His mercy and His grace or they will glorify Him in His wrath and in His vengeance and His justice. But every creature is going to give God the glory. Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. to the glory of the Father. I've often thought the best sign the church could ever put up for people to see is, who gets the glory here? Who gets the glory here? God deserves all the glory. And Christ said, I'm not taking none of myself. That's why I say it's from Him that's saved me. his doctrine, not mine, because I'm giving him all the glory. That's why he worded it the way he did. Many years ago, we knew a family called the Hendrickses, Rosemont. They didn't always believe the truth. They were members of a local church that didn't believe the truth. Well, their son, Gary Hendricks, heard the gospel. The Lord saved him, and he began to study, and he understood the scriptures. And so he began to talk to his mom and dad about it, and they didn't get it. And what finally, old man Hendricks says, what finally got me, what finally sunk into my head, what he was talking about. He says, you say man is saved by his decision and his free will. I say man is saved by God alone and his grace. And just tell me, Dad, who gets all the glory and the salvation that you're talking about? Does God get all the glory? Or does some of it belong to your will and your decision? Or what I'm talking about. God saves men by Jesus Christ alone. Who gets the glory? Mr. Hendricks said, I see what you're talking about. I understand what you're talking about. This is why we're here. This is why we exist. It even says in Ephesians chapter 1 that we should be, exist, breathe, walk, live, we should be for His glory. That's why we're here, for His glory. As the only perfect man that walked upon the earth, He would do everything He did for the glory of God. In Gethsemane, our Lord said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. He's talking about His crucifixion. He's being made sin. He said, Father, if it's possible, nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. What's that? What is that? It's giving God the glory. That's what it is. Giving God not my will. Do you say that his will differ from God's will? No. They both had the same will. He came according to this passage, our passage. He came according to the will of God. It was God who said it. This is the Father's will. Of all He's given me, I shall lose nothing but raise it up again in the last day. This is the Father's will. Is His will different from God's will? When He said, Thy will be done, not my will. No, He's saying, I'm a human being here, getting ready to suffer. Be ready to be the substitute for sinners where the Saul, the sin of all my people are going to be laid on me and you're going to punish me for sin, if it be possible. Let this cup pass from me, for because I'm a man, I bow to your will. I give you the glory. And the person who does that, the Lord says, if he gives God all the glory, There's no unrighteousness in him. Christ said, I'm giving God all the glory. There's no righteous or unrighteous in what I say. They called him a liar. They called him a devil. They want to kill him. He said, I'm giving God all the glory. I'm not taking any glory from myself. Christ is a man. was totally righteous because he gave God all the glory. And what follows in this passage is the Lord putting the Jews on the spot concerning why they want to kill him. They want to kill him. Why do they want to kill him? Because he healed that man on the Sabbath day. He's going to put them on the spot by revealing their hypocrisy in the reason they desire to kill him. They want to kill him. That's found in verses 19 through 23. This is Lord's argument Did not Moses give you the law Remember that's not all about the law Did not Moses give you the law and yet none of you keep the law Wait a minute What he said He says none of you keep the law. Why you gonna kill me for? People said, that's the devil. Who goeth about to kill thee? They said they wanted to kill him, but they're lying now. And Jesus answered, I've done one work, and you marvel. What work's he talking about? Healing that man on the Sabbath day. You're in full wonder about that, and you want to kill him because I healed a man on the Sabbath day. I did one work, and you want to kill him. He says, Moses therefore gave you circumcision, Not because of Moses, but of the fathers that was actually given to Abraham. He said, you know what? You circumcise men on the Sabbath day. You do something on the Sabbath. You do a work on the Sabbath day. I did a work on the Sabbath day and you want to kill me? You do a work on the Sabbath day. You do a work. Their issue was that he healed a male on the Sabbath. They clearly know work was to be done on the Sabbath, on the pain of death. But if the eighth day after a male child was born fell on the Sabbath, then the law required the circumcision of the male child to be done on the eighth day after his birth. Then there was a dilemma, wasn't there? How does one keep the law and break the law at the same time? Why are these men still living, having broken the Sabbath? He said, you're gonna put me to death for killing a man? You circumcised on the Sabbath day. But our Lord's argument is not about killing them. It's about why they want to kill him. They circumcised on the Sabbath, and he healed a man on the Sabbath. What warrant do they have to kill him when they have done likewise? That's what he means. He said, you who say you keep the law, you break the law. You break the law. The issue was not a matter of degree or guilt, because the scriptures declared to even pick up a stick on the Sabbath day was worthy of death. where they're dead. You will go on to say, I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. In other words, I'm the Creator and I rest upon the Sabbath day. I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. I instituted that whole thing. The fact is that law keepers don't keep the law, but use it to accuse others and excuse themselves. They do things like saying to Christ in Matthew 22, which is the most important law? That's to say, when you go to hell for a little white lie, you don't know Christ, do you? Simple as that, all sin is against God. And there ain't no little sin because there ain't no little God. All sin is against God. The fact is that law keepers don't keep the law, but what it already said there in this text. That's repeated throughout the scripture. Look at Romans chapter 2. Paul talked to the Roman church. He gives this whole scenario here between verses 14 and 25 of chapter 2. He says, for when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean, while accusing or excusing one another. In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel, behold, thou art called a Jew, and resteth in the law. and make us thy boast of God, and know us his will, and approve us the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, and a light to them that are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which has the form of knowledge, and the truth of the law. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest not thyself, Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayeth a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhor'st idols, dost thou not commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy vows of the law through breaking the wall, dishonoureth God. For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you and Israel. Well, the circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the law. But if you be a breaker of the law, the circumcision is made uncircumcised. Now he's talking to the Jewish people there. Always. Galatians chapter 6. Verse 12. He says, as many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised. They constrain you to keep the law. Only lest they themselves should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. Because if they say you don't have to be circumcised, they're going to have a hard time with the Jews. But Paul, here speaking to the Galatian church, these are Gentiles. But the Jews that tried to get in there in Judaism, when neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh, they can keep points. That way if they can get you to keep the law, they can keep points. Our Lord said to these men, basically this, you break the law by circumcising. on the Sabbath day. You ought to be killed for that. But you're not. You say, I broke the law by healing a man on the Sabbath day. You ought to kill me. I shouldn't be killed either. I shouldn't be killed either. And he says to them, back in our text, he says, judge according, judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Judge righteous judgment. Remember back in Matthew chapter 6 when our Lord said, judge not a brother, judge not a brother. People say that all the time as if it means that you're not supposed to judge anything. We make judgments all the time. We judge everything. We do. And we better be glad we do. We ought not, he said, you ought not judge according to a period. Just because you see something, You might think it might be wrong. Don't be so sure. Don't be so sure. Judge a righteous judge. How is that done? I mean, how do you really judge a righteous judge? You have something in your lap that dictates how it should be done. Is it about the glory and the honor of God? That's the righteous judgment. And it's not in your judgment by appearance. Father, bless us to understand and pray Christ. Amen. God bless you.