Purpose, Proficiency, & Perception - John 7:1-24

Hey guys, thanks for listening to our Calvary Chapel Charlotte podcast. I will walk by faith and not by sight.

Good morning. Turn to John chapter 7 as we continue through the book of John. I put in the bulletin today, there's a handout. That's just for your information to maybe help you out some.

John has so many themes running through it. So many themes running through the book of John. He covers so much and he does it so effortlessly.

The Lord definitely put together quite a man in the Apostle John. And the Holy Spirit was able to use him. I'm so thankful for this book, but that helps me.

It's like kind of three different arcs in a sense of how you can look at the gospel of John. Jesus as the light and light of the life of the world and love. And then through looking at the scripture through the Son of God and how he manifests himself.

And then also how he's a witness. That John wrote this book so that we might believe. That Jesus is the Son of God and that believing on him, we might have life through his name.

That theme run through the whole book. This theme of belief. Right? We saw that last week as we finished chapter 6. We saw this picture of the bread of life. We saw that the bread of life has to be what?

Partaken of. You got to eat it. Right? And to partake of the bread of life, it's that we need to accept the fact that we're accountable to Jesus. To his ability. His adequacy. His authenticity.

His authority. When we do that, that is how we partake. We surrender ourselves and say, Lord, I need to partake of this because I'm not adequate. I don't have what it takes. I don't have life.

I need to partake of something that brings life to the inward parts of me. And we looked and we saw this verse with Simon, with Peter, after Jesus had turned to the apostles and said, Are you going to go away also?

Because the 70 or whoever, a bunch of these other disciples are like, Hey, this is too hard. Jesus is talking about things we weren't expecting. Seems like he's talking like he's going to die. And in such a way that we need to be a part of it?

Drink his blood and eat his flesh? That's too hard for us. And so they turned away. And he turned to the disciples and said, Are you going to go away also? And good old spokesman Peter, first opened his mouth on many occasions.

This time he was right on. He said, To whom shall we go? We don't understand everything either, Jesus. We don't quite understand all of you. But you have the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Did he understand everything? No, they didn't. That's been a theme through this whole book too, hasn't it? That the woman at the well, does she understand everything about Jesus? She didn't.

When you think of the nobleman who came and wanted his son healed, did he understand everything? He didn't. The feeding of the 5,000, did they understand? No. But they could all partake. Our lack of understanding does not hinder us, does not keep us from coming to Jesus.

I'm so thankful for that. But understanding does follow. Understanding follows what? Obedience. But what does obedience follow? Obedience follows belief. Understanding will come.

Understanding follows obedience, but obedience follows belief. Without that first step. Unbelief. We're going to see today, that picture today, a picture of unbelief. Unbelief is going to question Jesus in three ways.

It's going to question Jesus' purpose, Jesus' proficiency, and Jesus' perception. We'll see that unbelief in the people's lives, in the Jews' lives, the ruling class, and in his brethren are keeping them from seeing Jesus in the light of who he really is.

I think he'd be instructive for us, too. So remember, we looked at John chapter 6, verse 29. We said this was the theme verse of chapter 6. Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God that you believe.

Believe on him who he has sent. That's the theme. And that's the theme through the whole book, right? As we looked at in John 20, that in believing, you might have life through his name. So this theme of belief, it runs through the entire gospel.

And John, over and over, what do we see? He uses an event in the life of Jesus. And then he gives us multiple examples and perspectives around that event regarding either people's belief or unbelief, right?

We saw that, the woman at the well, this event in Jesus' life. And then all of the examples that played out afterwards of either belief or unbelief. We looked at the event of the feeding of the 5,000, and it was the same.

Jesus feeds the 5,000, and then it plays out the way that people relate to Jesus with belief or unbelief as him being the bread of life. We're going to see the same thing today. We're going to see this theme again of belief.

And we're going to see, as John puts in front of us, these different pictures of how are you going to respond. Now, the thing with going through the scripture, a lot of times it comes to us, the truth that comes to us, it comes from a negative side, right?

Of, well, they did this and shouldn't have. This is what they did, even though here's what the truth said. And I think it'd be nice if we could just always, like, well, oh, look at this.

They just believed. And we have those moments, and they're wonderful. We have the woman at the well, right? But the reality is we're in a fallen world. We're in a world that's filled with sin. And even though we have been redeemed from the penalty of sin and we no longer are under the power of sin, the presence of sin is still very real.

And so a lot of the things that I experience, even my own walk with Jesus, a lot of times it comes through, Lord, I need some help. I messed up again.

I can't figure this out. It comes through that avenue. But how did Jesus, how did his love, how did God's love come to us? To the greatest tragedy in mankind. To the most negative thing that could ever happen.

That God himself was crucified. He became sin for us. That we might become the righteousness of God. So I don't think we should shy away from the things that are hard to take sometimes. But why this way, Lord?

Because he knows us. And he wants to reach us with his love. And that's not always through the easy path. So, in verse 1, chapter 7, it says, After these things, so after Jesus has finished his discussion in Capernaum in the synagogue, speaking to the disciples, speaking to the people, speaking to the Pharisees and the religious leaders there.

After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee. And that's all the other Gospels, the synoptic Gospels. Tell you all about Jesus' walk and ministry in Galilee. For he would not walk in Jewelry.

Jewelry. In other words, he wouldn't walk in Judea or Jerusalem. Because the Jews sought to kill him. So we saw the same thing before in John chapter 4. Remember? Jesus took his baptismal ministry up in the northern part of, or the southern part of Galilee.

And John moved his up north of the Jordan, I mean. I'm sorry. And it says the Pharisees then heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John. But not Jesus.

His disciples did, it tells us. But his ministry was growing. And it says the Lord knew that. He knew that the Pharisees were getting wind of this. And what does he do? He heads out of Judea and goes to Galilee.

Same reason. Same thing. Man, it seems like Jesus is avoiding conflict. Well, maybe that's what we're supposed to do, right? As Christians, we're supposed to avoid conflict.

We're supposed to just, well, you know. Jesus didn't avoid conflict. Not at all. In Luke chapter 9, it tells us this. And it came to pass, when the time was come, that he should be received up.

He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. He headed for conflict. But only when it was appropriate. Jesus didn't avoid conflict. He simply sought fruitfulness.

The goal in everything Jesus did was fruitfulness. If confrontation was needed to produce fruit, he wouldn't shy away from confrontation. But he didn't run from confrontation.

But he never used confrontation for any other purpose than to promote truth and seek life. It wasn't for the sake of just, I'm going to show them what's what.

No, it was for fruitfulness. Even when he does, in Matthew chapter 23, when he goes through all the woes to the Pharisees, they're pretty harsh. Whoa, Jesus is just, here's the truth, guys.

They're just nailing him to the wall. Verse 26, he says, You blind Pharisees, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

In the midst of this, calling them, you hypocrites, within you are extortion and excess, all of that. And then he says, but if you would only cleanse it, I want to make you clean.

I'm confronting you for the purpose of life. I'm not confronting you because I'm angry with you or just for the sake of showing you I'm right. But the Jewish leaders here, Jesus knows that they sought to kill him.

Why? Why did they seek to kill him? Well, that goes all the way back to Matthew chapter 5. We're going to see in this section, Lord willing, we'll get through verse 24 today. We're going to see that they still are all bent out of shape over the fact that the pool of Bethesda, Bethsaida?

Bethsaida, yeah. Bethsaida is the town in Galilee. Bethsaida is the pool. Yeah. Bethsaida, where he healed the paralytic. And they're all upset and wanted to put him to death. In John chapter 5, verse 16.

Therefore, did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him because he'd done this thing on the Sabbath day. And they're still all bent out of shape over that. They wanted to destroy the one who makes men whole.

Is that ridiculous or what? And he says, now the Jews' feast of tabernacle was at hand. So this is one of the three times, Exodus 23 tells us, the three times that all males must appear before the Lord in Jerusalem.

There was Passover, Pentecost, and tabernacles. And you can read more about tabernacles in Leviticus 23 if you want. These are the three times that they would have to present themselves. The Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand.

And this was quite a ceremony. They had done it up so much to this point. It would have been awesome to see. They would light torches. And they would light up the entire temple region during the night, during these festivities.

And it was said that it was so bright that a woman throughout all of Jerusalem could separate chaff from the wheat. And they would celebrate. And they had this whole ceremony of bringing the water up.

And the ceremony of water, these seven days, to bring it up and dump it out at the altar. And we're going to see that. The last and greatest day of the feast. We'll see how Jesus responds then.

But that's what the feast of tabernacles is. It was to commemorate when the Israelites lived in tents in the wilderness. And they were provided for by God. It also celebrates them looking forward to a future time when God will again tabernacle with them.

When he will set up his kingdom. And Jesus will rule for a thousand years on the seat of David from Jerusalem. What was really cool is they had this forward look represented in the way they'd construct their little tents.

So they'd make booths. Right? And they would all go and live outside in these booths. Kids must have loved it. Like, I love the feast of tabernacles. And parents are like, oh, the feast of tabernacles. Never get a good sleep.

But you'd essentially go out of your house in your backyard. And you'd make a tent. And you'd be like, this is what it was like. Guys, this is what it was like when we came through the wilderness. But man, what a picture that would have been for the kids, huh?

But it said they constructed their booths so they were partially opened roofs so they could look into the heavens. And such a view was to remind them that they were pilgrims passing through this life.

Man, I look at that and I think, I need to construct my booth like that. It's just a temporary place. I'm not here for long. But I need to make sure that there's a roof that's open so that I can always keep heaven in view.

Remind myself that this is not my home. So it's that time of the year. And it says in verse 3 that his brethren, therefore, said unto him, depart. Depart hence and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see the works that you do.

Man, what good guys these are. They're supporting Jesus. Well, look down at verse 5. Verse 5 there in chapter 7 says, for neither did his brethren believe in him.

This wasn't an attaboy. Anyway, this was more of a, well, this is what you're about, Jesus. Go do it. They didn't believe in him.

Romans 10, 17 says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. They didn't believe because they wouldn't receive his words. They lived with him. They grew up with him.

They were around him. And yet that didn't produce faith, did it? Faith did not come by way of familiarity. Faith didn't come by proximity. And faith didn't come by natural relations.

Man, living in the South, I think some of those are deeply embedded here. My family's been in this church for generations. Do you go there? Well, no. But my family's been a part of it for years.

Man, I can do the same thing. I grew up in a Christian home. You know, I was raised and I was great, wonderful. But you know what? The only thing that produces faith is God's word.

When we receive God's word in belief. No amount of familiarity can overcome unbelief. No matter how familiar I am with Jesus, with his people, with what he's about, it can't overcome unbelief.

That applies to our relationship with Jesus and applies with our relationship with others as well. No relationship can survive unbelief. None.

Not a relationship with the Lord. You say, well, I believe in the Lord. Wonderful. Praise God. I hope you do. I hope that you put your faith and trust so that that fountain of grace is something you've partaken of because of the sacrifice he's made.

But I think unbelief comes into my relationship so many times. So many times I allow it to come in, but I think, hey, I'm familiar with Jesus. I'm close to him. I'm one of his. I'm a child of God.

I've got that natural relationship going for me. But am I operating in a way that's allowing me to respond to his words in faith? Or am I, like these brethren, relegating them to unbelief?

For there is no man, says his brothers, that does anything in secret, and he himself seeks to be known openly. Jesus, if you're seeking fame, this isn't the way to do it. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.

For neither did his brothers believe in him. You see, unbelief led his brethren to assign wrong motives to Jesus' future intentions. They didn't believe him, so they assigned wrong motives to his future intentions.

And they misunderstood his current purpose. What did they think his future intentions were? You want fame. What did they assume his current purpose was? You want the world to see you.

Wrong on both accounts. Unbelief saw pride instead of purpose. Unbelief saw fame instead of faithfulness. Unbelief saw simply a mere man instead of the mighty God.

Unbelief saw fools instead of followers. Oh, those foolish disciples. Unbelief in any relationship does not accept who someone really is.

But it's our relationship with the Lord, with one another. Father, you know, as we continue through the book, the scriptures line by line, verse by verse, I don't jump out of where we are to do a message necessarily for whatever the holiday or the day may be.

I trust that the Lord will, you know, weave it in. He so faithfully has. You know, I think there are relationships that we have that should be wonderful. Sometimes they're not.

You know, it's Father's Day. And if you've got a great relationship with your Father, it's a wonderful day to celebrate. If you don't, it might be a hard one. But what we all have is an opportunity to have the most amazing relationship with a Father, with a Heavenly Father.

But that relationship comes through belief. It comes through faith. An unbelief in a relationship, it doesn't accept who someone really is. It doesn't receive a person's words as valuable. And it does not receive someone's purpose as genuine.

Well, I know you say that. But, Jesus, we know what you're really about. I know what you're really about there, Jesus. Oh, I know. I know. You say you're just going to church because, you know, you love the Lord. But you're really just trying to, like, look good.

You think you're so holy and religious. Well, how does Jesus respond to unbelief? What does he do? Does he meet them in their unbelief? No, guys, I am so sorry you misunderstood me. No, no, no, no, no.

Let me make this clear to you. You know, no, I wouldn't do that. No, he doesn't. Jesus responds with truth. Truth. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 14 says, That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

How do you combat that? How do you, you know, they are specifically lying in wait to deceive through craftiness, through a wind of doctrine that sounds true. The slight of men.

What do I do with that? Verse 15, But speaking the truth in love may grow up unto him in all things, which is the head even Christ. You see, the truth does something very, very particular in a relationship.

It gives opportunity for love. The truth gives opportunity for love because love cannot exist outside the truth. It can't. It's not possible. God is love. And in him is no darkness at all.

That which is not truth is, by definition, darkness. It is never loving to enable a lie. You see, if I enable a lie, then what I'm doing is I'm closing off the avenue of truth in the relationship, which means I'm closing off the avenue of love.

Unbelief here is confronting Jesus over his purpose. Thought it was mine. It's all good. Jesus is responding.

How does he respond to their unbelief regarding his purpose? Jesus, we don't believe your purpose. Man, he speaks the truth to them regarding their purpose. He speaks back to them their purpose, the truth.

Jesus said to them in verse 6, My time has not yet come. Time, there's opportunity. The meaning of it. My opportunity has not yet come, but your opportunity is always ready. He says, you question my purpose.

I need to tell you the truth. It's not time for my opportunity. But here's the issue. You see, unbelief in a relationship, it leads to a very one-sided relationship. A relationship of truth allows the other party the opportunity to make their own decisions.

And Jesus is saying, guys, it's got to be your way, doesn't it? It's always got to be your way. Your way is always ready. Your opportunity is always ready. Now, there was truth. There was truth that Jesus was seeking opportunity.

But it wasn't for himself, was it? Did Jesus seek opportunity for himself? No. Jesus was seeking opportunity, but he was seeking an opportunity for us.

He was seeking opportunity for truth, so that life may come, so that love may come. In contrast, his brothers were always seeking their own opportunity. He's like, man, your time is always an opportunity for you guys.

He says this to them. The world cannot hate you, but me it hates, because I testify of it. The works thereof are evil.

Essentially, guys, you fit in great with the world, because the world's evil and so are you. That's going to go far in the relationship. Truth is the only avenue, guys.

It's the only avenue for love and life. The world and those of the world, they're always averse to the truth. He says, they hate me. They don't want anything to do with me because I'm giving them the truth.

James chapter 4, verse 4 says, You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God, is hateful to God, is contrary to God, is a relationship that can't exist?

Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Friendship and fame with the world, it will align us with those who hate God. Jesus says, that's not my purpose.

Why are the world's works evil? Why are they evil? Well, because they create so much wickedness and they create so much harm. They're evil because they're works of unbelief.

Works of unbelief lead to death. The wages of sin is death. Works of truth lead to life, because Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

The only thing for us, guys, that the world has to offer are souls that need saving. That's all we have out there. When I say world, I mean the world system. Not like the world that we have to get our food in, and we live in, and we wake up in, and we work in.

I'm talking about the world system. When we chase after the world system, we're chasing after something that is contrary to God's system. And all it has to offer me, it can't offer me fame, it can't offer me success, it can't offer me any of that.

Because it's not of the truth. But it can offer us souls. Souls that need to be saved. Souls that need to know, hear the truth, so the truth can produce that life.

You see, unbelief sees relationships as opportunity for self. How do you know if there's unbelief working in your relationship? How do you know if there's unbelief working in the relationship you have with someone else?

Well, what is it seeking opportunity for? A relationship of faith, of truth, it seeks opportunity for service. A relationship of unbelief, it seeks opportunity for self.

Man, I've got to check my own heart. Because I can be close to Jesus. I can be part of his family. I can be familiar with him. And find that all I'm doing is seeking to use that as an opportunity for myself. Jesus said, how many apostles?

Twelve. And one of them was seeking what? An opportunity for himself. Go you up to the feast, to this feast. I go up not yet unto this feast, for my time is not yet full come.

The truth does not go along with unbelief. There would be a time where Jesus would take the opportunity to present himself to the world, as they claim in verse 4, that's what he wants to do.

There would be that time. But it would be for sacrifice, not for his own success. God's purpose in all of our relationships is not for our own success or validation, but that we, through sacrifice and service, bring the truth and love into those relationships.

Right? God wants me, through sacrifice and service, to have opportunity to bring truth in that relationship. With truth comes life. With life comes love. It would come, but in God's timing.

Galatians 6.10 says, As we therefore have opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto those who are of the household of faith. The opportunities God gives us are not for our own self-satisfaction, so that we might serve others to bring the truth into the situation, into the relationship.

And when he had said these words, unto them he stayed there still in Galilee. And so they went up. And when his brethren were gone, then he went up to the feast.

But not openly, but as it were in secret. Jesus did not let his brethren's unbelief dictate how he lived his life. He didn't allow them to dictate that.

I mean, this looks like hypocrisy. You always said you weren't going to go up, and then you go up. Well, yes, because unbelief always sees hypocrisy instead of holiness. Now his brethren were going to the same place, they were going the same way, and they were going with the same purpose.

Why didn't Jesus go with them? Because they didn't have the same heart. They didn't have the heart that Jesus had. Romans 16.17 says, Now I beseech you, brethren, mark those which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you've learned, and reason with them.

Talk with them. Sort it out with them. Avoid them. Avoid them. I'll never talk with that person. No, that's not what it means. Man, any opportunity God gives us to speak truth, to bring truth and life into a situation, great.

But I can't go the same way as someone who's going somewhere in unbelief. He didn't let his brethren's unbelief dictate how he lived his life. Even if they said, Jesus, we know what you're about.

You're just seeking your own fame. Oh, you said you're not going to go up, but now you're going up? That looks like hypocrisy. No, it wasn't. It was holiness. It's what it was. And then the Jews saw him at the feast and said, Where is he?

Hence the reason he went up, not openly, because they're all looking around. They probably saw his brethren show up. Well, where's Jesus? Where is he? Where is he at? And there were much murmurings among the people concerning him.

That's our word to murmur. We've seen that a few times in John, disputing to have contention back and forth. For some said, He's a good man. And others said, No, he deceives the people.

But why couldn't they come to an answer? Why couldn't they come to a conclusion? Unbelief will keep the most important questions from being asked and resolved.

Unbelief keeps the most important. Here's the most important question. Who is Jesus? We don't know, because they're afraid of the Jews. No man spake openly, for they're afraid of the ruling Jews.

The Jews sought to use their authority and their position to keep the people in line with unbelief. You need to stay in line with what we want, with our unbelief. You see, the truth, truth can stand alone.

Truth will stand by itself. Unbelief needs a crowd. No, no, you need to do what we're saying. We need to feel validated here. But it keeps the most important questions from being asked and resolved.

We're not helping a situation when we enable unbelief. Because what we do is we keep the most important question from entering in, and it may hurt, but it may bring life.

For some of these people, they needed to hear, you are flat out wrong. Jesus did not come to deceive. He came to bring you life. Why? I can't believe you talked to me so harshly like that. And for some, yes, Jesus is more than just a good man.

Jesus is the Son of God. Now, about the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. Jesus operated on a timeline that promoted truth, not to promote himself.

His brethren said, here is a timeline. If you want to promote yourself, you need to do it like this. Jesus said, no, I have my own timeline. I have a timeline that operates on holiness and truth. I'm going to go up to the feast, but on my own timeline.

And a timeline that did not promote me, but that promoted truth. He went up in the temple and did what? He taught. He taught. Jesus did not engage those who did not believe.

That wasn't his goal. He didn't go up and say, all right, who are the guys who don't believe? Bring on the Pharisees. I'm ready. I got my 12 apostles. They're going to back me up.

Where'd you go, boys? He didn't engage with those who did not believe. He used his time and his words to reach those that did. Right? Why was Jesus' priority always to teach?

Why was he so, you know, we didn't see it in John, but in Mark, it tells us that when he gets out of the boat and he sees the feeding of the 5,000 or the people, he sees them all coming, it says that his heart goes out to them and he has compassion because he sees they're like sheep without a shepherd.

And so he sat down and taught them. That was his priority. Well, wouldn't you and shouldn't you teach if you know your words have eternal life?

Shouldn't you as well? Wouldn't Jesus prioritize that if he knows that his words will bring eternal life? Well, Jesus, why didn't you prioritize healing? You're still going to die eventually.

Why didn't you prioritize, you know, making sure the people were fed? Why didn't you prioritize your standing in this world? Because he had words that would bring eternal life. Jesus, his priority was to teach because his priority is life.

Unbelief will keep the words of life out of our relationships. My unbelief that God can work in a relationship, oh, Lord, I can't say that to that person.

I know your word says that, but they're not going to take that well, Lord. It keeps those words of life out of our relationships when we don't believe. And I don't believe that God is big enough to work in that. And it keeps words of life, words that speak life, just life between each other, between brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, children and fathers, and parents.

It keeps words that should speak life because I don't know, I don't believe. I know what that person is really about. I know what their motives are, so I won't speak truth. I won't speak the words that I should that might actually bring life.

And the Jews here, they marveled, saying, how does this man know letters? I love the old King James. I doesn't even know how to read.

Wasn't he homeschooled in Galilee? Man. Look, I like homeschool jokes because I'm homeschooled. Not dogging homeschoolers, but I can dog myself. So. He's never learned.

Here we see that unbelief is going to confront Jesus over his proficiency. Where did he get this type of proficiency? How is he so able to do this? This, whoa. How does Jesus know things that could have only been taught to him by someone else?

How does he know things that only came through someone else who already knew such things? And what they're essentially saying is we didn't teach him, we're not owning this. We want to distance ourselves from this guy.

We didn't teach him. Where is Jesus' degree? Where is his degree? Where was he trained? What rabbi trained him? I mean, he's from Galilee.

You know, even his own disciple, when he called him, said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Where is his degree? Psalm 119, 105, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

Who was Jesus' teacher? Who was his guide? Psalm 119, 99, I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation.

And God's word, he was the word made flesh. Who taught Jesus? I hope the same one who's teaching you and me. I hope the same one. John 16, 13, how be it when he, the spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth.

I hope there are people that you talk to and they walk away from you scratching their head going, how did he have that answer? How'd she know that? I know her. She can hardly read. How is this even possible that you could speak to this need that I have in my heart?

How did you know what was going on in my life? Jesus answered them and said, my doctrine, my teaching is not mine, but he that sent me.

I see everything that Jesus teaches, it's verifiable as the father is because they use the same curriculum. He's like, this is not mine, this is the one who sent me. And you can verify Jesus' teachings because they always line up with the word.

Always line up with the father. John 1, 1, in the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God. I never need to fear that the word of God will ever speak anything that's not of God.

I can approach this with the most open mind and open heart. God's word's never going to speak to me anything that's not of God. I'm not going to get, you know, I've never really read through Habakkuk before. Holy cow, it's speaking to me all kinds of things that aren't of God.

No, not true. Not true at all. I never need to fear that. In the beginning was the word. He was with God. He is God. And so Jesus can effectively say, man, everything I have is the same as the father's.

And if any man, verse 17, will do his will, the father's will, the one who sent him, he shall know. He shall know of my teachings, of my doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.

In other words, if anyone wills to do God's will, they will find that God's will is that they believe and receive the son. If anyone will will, if anyone wants to, if anyone desires to do God's will, what you're going to find is God's will is that you believe and receive the son.

If any man will do his will, you're going to know, you're going to find out that the words that I speak, they're not of myself. You see, our understanding of the word is not through education, but edification.

edification. Comes first through edification. If any man will will, then he'll know. If any man will believe. In Jude 1.20, it says, but you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.

How do I build up my faith? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. I'm going to have to be in the word if I want to build up my faith. I'm going to have to be in prayer, it says, if I want to build up my faith. I'm going to have to be in communion with the Holy Spirit if I want to build up my faith.

Is education wrong? No, absolutely not. They were surprised at Jesus' level of education and understanding. But Jesus did not prioritize in his life getting their approval, going through their system and their method of saying, yes, he is educated in the word.

Jesus went through the Father's course, which is a little different. that begins with faith. It begins with belief. He that speaks of himself, he seeks his own glory.

But he that seeks his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. He's saying here, if someone seeks, speaks for himself, he's seeking his own glory.

What he's saying is, I'm not seeking in my own glory. What I'm saying is true, and there's no unrighteousness in me. It's a bold claim. It's a bold claim. Where's the proof, Jesus? Where's the proof you're not seeking fame, but you're seeking the Father?

Where's the proof? It's in the fruit. It's in the fruit. Look at the fruit of Jesus' ministry. Look at the fruit of his life. And why wouldn't they receive it? Well, Jesus is going to tell them why here.

Did not Moses give you the law? And yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you go about to kill me? Jesus is essentially saying, I've never broken the law.

You have. And you want to put me to death. But what is the penalty for lawbreakers? Death. Not for those who keep the law. Jesus answers their unbelief over his proficiency with truth regarding their inability.

He's like, you're so concerned with how I know I'm able to do all these things. Guys, look at your inability. Look at what you can't do. Don't be so focused on what the other guy is doing. Well, you know, I think I would have done it different than that.

I can't believe. You know, they're not really walking well with the Lord. Are you? Are you walking with the Lord? Am I walking with the Lord? It's easy for me to go, you know, this is the reason they're in this problem. But what about me?

Am I looking outward instead of inward? Jesus' life and fruit were all the proof he needed to show that he was of God. He said, I have not done anything that's not been in line with my father and I've not done anything that's outside of his will.

In contrast, what were the Jews doing? The lives and fruit that they live proved they're lawbreakers. Look at it, guys. My life proves I'm a lawbreaker. I can't pull that over on you.

I can't pull it over on my wife and kids. Maybe I can pull it over on some of you. Hi, I'm the pastor. No, no. My life proves I'm a lawbreaker. I don't have anything to stand on.

The fruit of my life proves that. Jesus, who broke no law, fulfilled the law on my behalf so that I could be entered in now to his whole complete life and experience what it is to live a life as one who keeps the law.

Not that I'm perfect, but he is and we experience that perfect life. The Jews' fruit proved they're lawbreakers. It proved they're under the law and whoever breaks the law gets put to death.

And here they are projecting that onto Jesus. You're the lawbreaker. That's what unbelief does. Unbelief always projects onto those who speak truth. Always projects itself onto those who speak truth.

Why? Why does it do it? Because it can't accept it. It's not true. Truth, the light, reveals that I'm of darkness. I can't accept that. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to project onto you that you're the one who's wrong.

And I'm going to then justify the fact that I'm pushing away the truth because it's you. You're the lawbreaker. And they had to jump through some hoops to get there with Jesus. The people answered and said, now the people answer because Jesus has been responding to their religious leaders and the people all answered and say, you have a devil.

Look, you know you're in a bad place when you're accusing Jesus of having a devil. Who goes about to kill you? And here we're going to see unbelief is confronting Jesus now over his perception.

What are you talking about? You don't know what you're talking about. Unbelief doesn't, it confronts Jesus over his purpose, over his proficiency, and now over his perception and says, well, Jesus, you don't have a clue what you're talking about.

But Jesus already knew that, didn't he? That they would be like that. In verse 64 of John 6 last week, we read that there were some that wouldn't believe. And Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray him.

You know, there are not many steps between unbelief and betrayal. There's also not many steps between unbelief and unreasonableness. Their unbelief caused them to view Jesus as their enemy.

They view Jesus as the enemy. They view Jesus as the evil one. They view Jesus as the one we need to get out of here. Man, look what unbelief can do. What can unbelief do in my life when I allow it to come in?

When I don't receive Jesus' words, when I don't accept his motives, and I don't believe his perspective and his purpose, and all of a sudden I'm looking at what Jesus wants to do is like, whoa, that must be Satan.

That must be the devil. Why? Because it's going to cause me to change my life. Because I'm going to have to repent. Because I'm going to have to draw near to God. I'm going to have to resist the devil, draw near to God, and trust him to do a work in my life.

There's not many steps between unbelief and unreasonableness. Jesus answered and said unto them, again, he responds to their unbelief regarding his perception. He responds with the truth of their lack of perception.

He answered and said, I've done one work and you all marvel. Again, he's referring back to that work. That work that they just can't get past. They still can't get past what they perceived as Jesus passed wrong.

They can't get past it. This is the next feast. We've gone from Passover to Tabernacles. And they're still upset over this thing that he did wrong.

You know what's sad? They didn't wonder at the grace and compassion of God. They didn't wonder that God was so loving and amazing that he healed the paralytic. For 40 years, he was like that. And he was healed.

They didn't wonder at any of that. What they wondered at was that Jesus dared to break their law. I can't believe you'd break my law, Jesus. Yeah, but don't you see the love of God? Don't you see the grace of God?

Don't you see what God is doing here? But you broke our law. Jesus says, Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision. Not because it's of Moses, but of the fathers, parenthetically.

And you on the Sabbath day, you circumcise a man. Jesus is establishing here the fact that what they would consider breaking the law in the same way they considered he broke the law, they do the same thing.

On the Sabbath, you circumcise a man. You see, circumcision was an exception to the Sabbath law of no work. Leviticus 12.3 says that on the eighth day the flesh of the foreskin shall be circumcised.

It didn't matter if that eighth day fell on the Sabbath. They would still do that. But Jesus is pointing out that circumcision was not originally given as a law to Moses, but was first given as a sign of promise to Abraham.

Abraham. And Genesis 17, God gives Abraham the everlasting covenant of the land, the land covenant. He says, this is my covenant with you, an everlasting covenant. And then he says, but Abraham, you have a part in this not to keep the covenant, not me in my faith unless to keep the covenant, but I want you to have a part in this.

And it's not to keep it so that God won't fail, but it's for what purpose? Genesis 17.11 says, and you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between you and me.

He wanted him to have that sign. So Jesus is pointing back before Moses and saying, guys, you're worried about breaking the law because I healed a man, but let me tell you, promise supersedes law.

Galatians 3.17, the law cannot make the promise of none effect. Promise supersedes law. And if a man on the Sabbath day receives circumcision, the law of Moses should not be broken.

He's saying to them, so on the Sabbath day, you're doing something that's contrary to the law to keep the law. How does that work? Because promise supersedes law. Are you angry at me?

Because I've made a man every bit whole on the Sabbath day. You see, it was permitted, it was even commanded to do a negative work on the Sabbath, to do a work of removal, to do a cutting.

Should it not then be more acceptable to do a work of wholeness on the Sabbath? Look what unbelief does to us. Look where it puts us. Puts us in a place where we are more accepting of that which causes harm, but it keeps the law.

And we are that which brings grace and life and wholeness because of promise. The law takes away grace and truth they add. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

The word there for whole, because I've made every man, or made a man every bit whole, is sound. To make one sound. The law cannot make sound. It simply reveals they're not whole.

That's all the law can do. It won't make me sound. Paul says in Romans 7 that the law slew him, or sin taking occasion by the law slew him. I was doing great until the law came and said don't covet.

And it just wiped me out because I realized, man, I'm a covetor. If only I hadn't known that. The law, the knowledge of the law, it just brought more and more to Paul's attention.

And it brings more and more to our attention that we are people who are not whole. We're not very sound. Jesus alone can make sound men out of sinners. But he doesn't do it according to law, does he?

What does he do it according to? Promise. Promise. According to that promise. See, unbelief, it will prevent soundness. Unbelief prevents wholeness. Unbelief prevents reason.

Maybe there's relationships you are thinking of in your own life where you're like, man, it's just lack of reason and wholeness and soundness and soundness. Maybe your walk with the Lord right now is lacking soundness.

It's just not, it's just, you just don't feel like you're on solid ground right now. You love the Lord and his word, but something's not whole. It's just, there's a reason for it, but maybe it's unbelief.

Maybe you're putting the cart before the horse. Maybe you're putting the understanding before the obedience. Maybe you're putting law and obedience before faith and promise.

Our last verse for today. Do not judge according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. You see, unbelief sees limitations in law, but faith sees life in love.

They had an appearance that they were judging by. They saw something. They saw limitations. They saw law. They saw all of this because they wouldn't believe.

Righteous judgment? Well, to have righteous judgment, you must first be righteous. It sees faith. It sees life. It sees love. In their unbelief, they perceived Jesus as the sinner and themselves as righteous.

Unbelief, guys, it isolates us. It pigeonholes us. It puts us off in the corner. It puts us alone. It puts us in a place where we look at even Jesus as someone who would wrong us.

Jesus will harm me because I won't believe. The only solution for that is to allow those words of life to come back into my life.

You see, in each one of these situations, Jesus did not seek confrontation. And now every one of these situations of unbelief, he didn't go, you know what?

I'm just going to go out and I'm just going to look for people and I'm going to confront them. I'm going to tell them. What did he do? He simply wanted to teach people to believe. He wanted them to believe so that they might experience his words of life and his love of life.

But when unbelief confronted him, he responded with truth so that he might bring life into the situation, whether they receive it or not. It's not for us to go out and hunt down unbelief, to confront it.

It's for us to speak words like Jesus did that give life. Now unbelief is either going to respond or it's not. Truth, it illuminates unbelief. It illuminates unbelief's lack of purpose.

What purpose does unbelief have? Claims to have a purpose, but it's all linked to this world. Truth illuminates unbelief's lack of ability, lack of proficiency. Man, what can unbelief do?

You know, I had great unbelief and I was able to do, well now, has anybody ever said that? The truth, it illuminates unbelief's lack of perception in me.

It illuminates the fact that God, I don't see this situation right and I realize that now by allowing the truth into my life. But in never, in no instance did Jesus ever use the truth to intimidate, but only to illuminate.

He never used the truth as a tool to beat someone down and show them how wrong they are, to prove the fact he's right. He used the truth to illuminate. Ephesians 5, 13 says, but all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light.

It's not easy to get reproved. Sometimes it's very hard to receive a reproval, right? We've all had dads who've reproved. Like, oh no. Like, oh, that was really dumb and he's going to find out.

Oh no. Or even worse, your sister gets to him first. But all things that are reproved are made manifest, are shown by the light for whatsoever does make manifest is light.

It may hurt, but the point is to bring light. Jesus never used confrontation for any other purpose than to promote truth and seek life.

That's the only reason he used confrontation. And that is the Father's heart. Today, as we celebrate Father's Day, as we celebrate Father's Day, that is the heart of a father.

Not to seek confrontation, to promote myself, to prove I'm right. for any other purpose than to promote truth and seek life. And if you ask my kids, they'll tell you that did not always happen.

That did not always happen. But what I taught them, I hope, is that we can go to our Heavenly Father. You never need to be afraid that he's going to do anything other than use the truth to seek your good and to seek life.

And when we're reproved and when the light is shown in my heart and I realize, man, I have so much unbelief there. And look what it's done. Look what it's separated me from. What do I do then?

I love the rendition of this, the way this verse is rendered. Wake up! Wake up, sleeper! God shines a light into our lives and he says, wake up!

Oh no, he's going to be so mad at me. Oh, he's going to punish me. Don't just get up. He's just trying to wake you up. Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead. Christ will give you life.

What is our part? To rise from the dead and receive life. Open your eyes and see the light. That's it. All he's asking us to do is to wake up, sleeper.

Sleeper is one whose eyes are closed. Sleeper is one who's not conscious of the light. Sleeper is one who's not conscious of what's going on around him. All he's asking you to do is open your eyes to the light. It takes care of everything else.

Rise from the dead and Christ will give you light. Only the love of the Father would send the truth of the Son to make us unwhole people sound.

That's the Father's heart. Don't let unbelief keep you from receiving the truth of God's purpose for you. He has a purpose for you. Faith brings purpose.

It gives us something to live for. Faith brings proficiency. It gives us an ability that we've never had that our Father gives us.

Faith allows us to see things we've never seen before. It gives us a perception. Man, our eyes are open and we can see. Unbelief. It won't accept who someone really is but only who they're perceived to be.

Unbelief. It won't receive a person's words as valuable and meaningful. And unbelief. It sees someone's purpose and motives as not genuine.

Before you think of other people that's happening to you in your life. Look at your relationship with the Lord. Is unbelief allowing you only to see what Jesus is doing based on your perception of it?

Man, he's reproving me. I can't receive that. Is unbelief in your relationship with the Lord causing you to see his words as not valuable or meaningless? Or meaningful, I mean.

Is unbelief in your relationship with Jesus causing you to look at his purpose and motives as not genuine? Do you see them as something harmful in your life or something evil? What do we do?

Man, we open our eyes. The light's there. Just open your eyes. Romans 14, 4. Paul is saying, who are you that you judge another man's servant? To his own master he stands or falls.

Who am I? Who are we to judge someone's relationship with the Lord? Who am I to judge if that person's standing or not? Oh, they're not standing, right? Judge myself. Because Paul says, he shall be holding up for God is able to make him stand.

For you and I, as we judge our own hearts and lives, sometimes the feeling can be, how am I going to stand? How can I stand in this? How can I stand in the truth? I'm all alone. How can I stand against this?

This relationship's so difficult. How can I stand in Jesus' words when they are reproving me? God is able to make us stand. You and I are not sufficient, but God is proficient and he will make us stand when we choose to stand on the truth.

Amen. Amen. Father, thank you so much for your word to us this morning. Lord, we want to be those that wake up, Lord. Lord, I hope and trust that everyone here has received that life.

They've been raised from the dead that you have given them life. They have put their faith in Jesus Christ, this lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world, and he came to express that love, the love of the Father who would give his only begotten Son that whosoever would believe in him will never perish, will never go to destruction.

But shall have presently, actively, and eternally age-abiding life. Boy, I hope we've all done that. But Lord, I think many of us, we fall asleep. We close our eyes.

We're in proximity. We're in relationship. We're near you. We've got history with you. But we're living lives with our eyes closed because we've not allowed your word to bring the truth, to bring the life, to bring the light into our lives because of our unbelief.

Lord, I pray for my brothers and sisters this morning. I pray that you would bless them, Lord, with reminding them that the Father's heart is not to bring confrontation to them, but to bring life to them.

Lord, you'd remind us that when you reprove us, it's so that we might have life, that we might have light, that we might come back into a healthy relationship with the truth. And Lord, in those relationships in our lives where there's so much unbelief, help us, Lord, to live with our feet firmly planted on the truth and leave the consequences to you.

Scripture tells us that when you were reviled, you reviled not again, but you committed yourself unto him who judges justly. Thank you, Jesus, that you are our master and before you alone we stand and by you alone we will stand.

You are so good to us. We worship you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. If God is speaking truth into your life, it's not for confrontation.

It's because he loves you. Two, if God wants to use you to speak truth into someone's life, it's not for confrontation. It's to bring love. If you need prayer, I'd love to pray with you.

Have a blessed Father's Day. God's heart for you is good. He's faithful, he's true, and he loves you. Don't let unbelief keep you from that relationship. And now may the Lord bless you and keep you.

May the Lord make his face to shine upon you. The Lord be gracious unto you. And the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you peace. God bless you.

Enjoy your day.