C. Dialogue of Officers & Sanhedrin... 7: The Officers Report (45-46) E. 2. The Sanhedrin s Attitude (47-49) F.

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1 Congregational handout; outline sermon text on following pages Sermon Notes & References Living Water or Dry Dust? John 7:37-53 June 12, 2016 A. An Invitation, a Promise : Ho Everyone that Thirsteth (37-38) A. 2. The Explanation (39) B. C. Dialogue of Officers & Sanhedrin : The Officers Report (45-46) E. 2. The Sanhedrin s Attitude (47-49) F. D. Defence by Nicodemus : The Accusers Accused (50-51) G. B. Responses of the Crowd : Glimpses of Truth (40-41a) C. 2. Partial Truths (41b-42) D. 2. An Angry Answer (52-52) E. Conclusion H. 3. Confusion in the Crowd (43-44) A B C D Isaiah 12:1, 55:1-2 Isaiah 32:15, 44:3 Deuteronomy 18:15-18 Micah 5:2 E F G H Luke 4:22; Matthew 7:29 Job 12:2, 42:7 John 12:42, 5:18 Revelation 22:17

2 {1}. John 7: Living Water or Dry Dust? A. An Invitation, a Promise : Ho Everyone that Thirsteth (vv 37-38) a. Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. b. Jesus words were very appropriate for the occasion (A) the feast of tabernacles was a celebration of God s providing for them in the wilderness, by giving manna and water (B) it was also a time of thanksgiving for the year s harvest (C) on at least the first 7 days of this feast, water was taken from the pool of Siloam and poured upon the great altar to confess this {2}. (D) the Jerusalem Talmud explains this drawing water from pool of Siloam and pouring it out: Why is the name of it called, The drawing out of water? Because of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, according to what is said: With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12:1) c. Jesus was declaring that the grace of God which was shown to Israel (A) (B) is now being shown in Himself it is the fulfilment of the prophecy: Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance. (Isaiah 55:1-2) (C) it is a gracious invitation which is based not on any merit to be found in us, but purely on God s lovingkindness d. I believe that this great day of the feast was the eighth day (A) on each of the previous 7 days there had been sacrifices (B) among other animals, there were 13 oxen sacrificed on day 1 (C) 12 oxen on day 2, and so on (see Numbers 29:13-36) (D) but on the eighth day, it dropped to only 1 ox being sacrificed (E) picturing the one sacrifice of Christ that would finish all sacrifices which is important as the next verse shows

3 2. The Explanation (v 39) a. But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. b. in Biblical typology, we usually associate oil with the Holy Spirit, for they both anoint c. but the Bible also associates water with the Holy Spirit in other places than the passage in front of us: (A) Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fertile field And the fertile field is considered as a forest. (Isaiah 32:15) (B) For I will pour out water on the thirsty land And streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring, And My blessing on your descendants; (Isaiah 44:3) (C) indeed, John 3:5 can be translated, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water, even the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. d. In the OT, the Holy Spirit came upon men in measure and for a time, but since Pentecost He comes upon believers to stay (A) this change has come about through the glorification of Jesus (B) that glorification began when He was nailed to the cross and reached its culmination when He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High (C) for, before we can walk in the Spirit instead of Law, it is necessary that our sin be dealt with and that must take place at the cross B. Responses of the Crowd : Glimpses of Truth (vv 40-41a) a. Some of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, This certainly is the Prophet. Others were saying, This is the Christ. b. one must conclude that the Jews did not necessarily see that The Prophet of which Moses speaks in Deuteronomy 18:15-18 is one and the same as the promised Messiah c. but there is no record that these people took any step towards Christ d. an intellectual belief does not necessarily lead to saving faith e. still less do 2. Partial Truths (vv 41b-42) a. Still others were saying, Surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?

4 b. These clearly understood Micah 5:2 to place the birth of Messiah in Bethlehem as a descendant of King David c. but, without checking, they assumed Jesus was born elsewhere, and possibly that He was not descended from David d. of course John s readers knew, as we do, that Jesus fulfilled both, for they already had the gospels of Matthew and Luke available to read of his birth and parentage 3. Confusion in the Crowd (vv 43-44) a. So there arose a division in the multitude because of Him. And some of them wanted to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him. b. with these various opinions being expressed (A) these mixtures of truth misunderstood and truth misapplied (B) it is small wonder that there was confusion as to the truth (C) there is no record of anyone asking Jesus for the answer c. but the some who tried to arrest Him, could not do so, both due to the confusion and for another reason, as we shall see C. Dialogue of Officers & Sanhedrin : The Officers Report (vv 45-46) a. The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, Why did you not bring Him? The officers answered, Never did a man speak the way this man speaks. b. The original language here reveals that the Pharisees and the chief priests who met, verse 30, to send the officers temple guards to arrest Jesus, have now formed into one group, the Sanhedrin, the 70 official religious elders, to await their return with Jesus as a prisoner c. but, Jesus hour had not yet come, for His every action took place according to the Father s time-table d. so they returned, empty-handed, and met the demand, Why? e. there answer was candid and brief (A) Never man so spake. (B) they clearly intended, never did another man speak like this (C) but, of course, we realise the truth, never did one who was no more than a man speak like this. (1) for elsewhere we are told he spoke with grace (Luke 4:22) (2) and with authority (Matthew 7:29)

5 2. The Sanhedrin s Attitude (vv 47-49) a. The Pharisees therefore answered them, You have not also been led astray, have you? No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he? But this multitude which does not know the Law is accursed. b. the Pharisees, as being those more popular with the people leaders in the synagogues throughout the land speak for the Sanhedrin c. about the officers (A) these offices were Levites, being those families which first David & Solomon, and later Ezra & Nehemiah appointed as porters or gate-keepers for the temple (B) as such they were given a spiritual preferment by the Lord in the OT law and history, entitled to be ministers to Israel (C) (D) but here the Jewish religious hierarchy treat them with disdain You are not allowed to think for yourselves; you must think as we, your superiors think! those attitudes still exist today d. about themselves (A) they were like Job s three friends (1) of whom Job said, Truly then you are the people, And with you wisdom will die! (Job 12:2) (2) but of whom God said, My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has. (Job 42:7) (B) We, they say, are the people in the know; follow us e. about the people (A) what do these common people and this Jesus know? (B) they have never been trained in the Law as have we (C) these shepherds pastors of Israel, have no shepherd s heart (D) curse this people! D. Defence by Nicodemus : The Accusers Accused (vv 50-51) a. Nicodemus *said to them (he who came to Him before, being one of them), Our Law does not judge a man, unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it? b. they had been wrong in their statement to the officers there was a man, both a ruler and a Pharisee, who had believed in Jesus c. in fact, he was not the only one: Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the

6 Pharisees they were not confessing Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; (John 12:42) d. this Sanhedrin had been guilty of injustice (A) they had pronounced judgement on Jesus (1) most recently in verse 47 that He is a deceiver, false teacher, one who is leading the people astray (2) earlier in verse 30 where they deem Him worthy of arrest (3) earlier still in 5:18, where they judged him worthy of death (B) but Jewish Law, as well as Roman Law and in fact the law of almost any culture in the world said that the accused had the right to a hearing before his accusers before he was judged e. the Sanhedrin had made themselves the prosecution, the judge, and the jury all without hearing the defendant answer the charges (A) it took remarkable courage for one out of seventy to stand up and make this accusation (B) and they recognized that it was an accusation by their 2. An Angry Answer (vv 52-53) a. They answered and said to him, You are not also from Galilee, are you? Search, and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee. And everyone went to his home. (A) what do you do when someone accuses you of wrong-doing and you have no excuse and you know you are in the wrong (B) just what these men did (C) they answer with insult and falsehood (D) Nicodemus, you re just as ignorant as those Galileans out there! (E) Look in your Bible, and you will see no prophet comes from that land; Jesus is from there, so He cannot be a prophet! (F) but Jonah came from there; probably also Hosea, Nahum, Elijah b. I d like to think that Nicodemus took their challenge, searched the Scriptures and emerged with his faith in Jesus made stronger E. Conclusion 1. Jesus offered to them, as He did to the Samaritan woman, living water a. all the Sanhedrin could offer, was dry dust b. that is all the world and its mere religion can offer today 2. that gracious invitation of Jesus still stands today

7 a. if you are thirsty and this world cannot satisfy that thirst, come to Jesus for He alone can meet your deepest spiritual needs b. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let the one who hears say, Come. And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. (Revelation 22:17)

8 by Garth Hutchinson, Faith Fellowship Baptist Church of Aurora (Ontario): may be distributed or quoted freely, only let this be done to the glory of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ (Titus ii.13). Except as noted otherwise, quotations are from the New American Standard version, used by permission. Various other English versions of the Holy Bible may be used in this sermon. Explanatory additions to the Bible text are shown in braces. Version identifiers are: ASV American Standard Version of 1901 AV Authorized (King James) Version of 1769 NAS New American Standard version 1960, 1995 The Lockman Foundation (usually the 1995 edition) NIV New International Version 1984 by the International Bible Society NLT New Living Translation 1996 Tyndale Charitable Trust NKJV New King James Version 1979 Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers NRSV New Revised Standard Version 1989 National Council of Churches of Christ RSV Revised Standard Versio n 1946, 1952 National Council of Churches of Christ; Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd WEY The New Testament in Modern Speech 1902, 1912 R. F. Weymouth Some of the commentaries and resources used in the preparation of this message are identified as follow: Bruce The Cospel & Epistles of John, by F. F. Bruce, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI; 1983 BM Biblical Museum, Editor James Comper Gray, ca 1870 EBC The Expositor s Bible Commentary, 1986 Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 49530, MI: John, by Merrill C. Tenney EGT The Expositor s Greek Testament, Hodder & Stoughton; 1903 John, by Marcus Dods Gill Exposition of the Old Testament, Exposition of the New Testament, by John Gill, D.D. NICNT The New International Commentary on the New Testament The Gospel according to John, by Leon Morris NTC New Testament Commentary, by William Hendriksen; Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI; 1954 RWP Robertson s Word Pictures of the New Testament, by Dr. A. T. Robertson TEC -- The Gospel according to John, by George Allen Turner & Julius R. Mantey, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI; ca NICNT on 7:37