Operating on God’s Timetable: Trusting Sovereign Grace

• Jesus' Ministry in Galilee vs. Judea 00:06:09 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that Jesus operated with freedom in Galilee but avoided Judea due to the threat of being killed by the Jews, setting the context for the Feast of Booths.
• The Feast of Booths and Legal Obligation 00:08:42 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor notes that Jesus was required by the law to attend the Feast of Booths, highlighting his perfect obedience to the law.
• Imputed Righteousness and Active Obedience 00:09:01 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor connects Jesus' perfect keeping of the law to the theological concept of imputed righteousness, where Jesus' active obedience is credited to believers.
• God's Sovereign Timetable vs. Human Timetables 00:13:22 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts God's perfect, sovereign timing with human impatience, using the example of unanswered prayers to illustrate that God does not operate according to human whims.
• Divine Sovereignty and Timing 00:12:57 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that Jesus acted purposefully according to God's plan and timing, contrasting this with human impatience and the idea that God operates on our whims.
• The Feast of Booths (Sukkot) 00:16:29 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor defines the Feast of Booths as a commemoration of Israel's wilderness wandering, emphasizing its role as a reminder of God's past blessings and faithfulness during difficult times.
• The Perpetual Virginity of Mary 00:20:20 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor addresses the doctrine of Mary's perpetual virginity, rejecting it in favor of the biblical teaching that Jesus had biological brothers and sisters, citing Matthew 1 and Mark 6.
• Marriage and Sexual Purity 00:24:19 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor affirms the goodness of sexual union within marriage as a God-ordained institution, contrasting it with the sin of sex outside marriage and the error of asceticism.
• Sexual Ethics in Marriage 00:25:00 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor affirms sexual intimacy within marriage as a 'glorious thing' and a 'covenant renewal sacrament,' contrasting it with the sin of sex outside marriage.
• The Brothers of Jesus 00:26:09 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor discusses James and Jude, noting they were brothers of Jesus who did not believe in Him until after the resurrection, and highlights their contributions to the New Testament.
• Worldly vs. Heavenly Mindset 00:30:24 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts the world's desire for public recognition and 'big events' with Jesus' reliance on God's timing and the 'ordinary means of grace.'
• Persecution and Repentance 00:37:03 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that the world hates the gospel because it calls for repentance, citing Paul's sufferings and the necessity of proclaiming judgment to sinners.
• Opposition to Gospel Truth 00:38:19 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that proclaiming the need for repentance and faith in Christ leads to being labeled as homophobe or unaffirming, and that the world hates this truth.
• Historical Precedent of Suffering 00:39:19 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor cites Paul's beatings and the martyrdom of apostles to illustrate that suffering for the gospel is expected and indicates doing the right thing.
• Internal Church Accountability 00:40:46 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor applies the concept of boldness to internal church relations, urging believers to admonish one another in love to help each other grow.
• Jesus' Timing and Secrecy 00:41:39 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor analyzes Jesus' decision to go to the feast privately rather than publicly, explaining it as a matter of divine timing rather than deception.
• Confusion Regarding Christ's Identity 00:43:36 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor discusses the mixed opinions of Jesus in the crowd and compares this to modern cultural confusion, citing Senator Mike Lee and Mormon theology as examples of distorted views.
• Call to Evangelism in the Bible Belt 00:46:55 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor challenges the assumption that the 'Bible Belt' is genuinely Christian, urging the congregation to actively preach Christ to those around them who are lost.

• Sermon Illustration 00:13:35 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses a personal anecdote about praying for something for years without it happening, illustrating that God's timing is perfect even when it differs from human desires.
• Sermon Illustration 00:14:15 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about praying as a third-grader to become a Ninja Turtle, expressing gratitude that God did not grant this wish, implying it would have been a bad outcome.
• Sermon Illustration 00:14:51 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts his experience attending seminary unmarried, praying for a wife, and being grateful that God said 'no' at that time, as he met his wife shortly after graduating.
• Sermon Illustration 00:30:46 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts his time working at St. Louis Country Club, imagining the impact if wealthy members like Cardinals owners were saved, to illustrate 'worldly thinking' that values status over quiet faithfulness.
• Sermon Illustration 00:32:02 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the movie 'Great Awakening' and figures like George Whitefield and Billy Graham to contrast rare, large-scale evangelistic events with the millions of faithful believers living quietly.
• Sermon Illustration 00:32:37 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes the daily struggles of homeschooling mothers and raising children, using the phrase 'the days are long, but the years are short' to illustrate the value of small, everyday faithfulness.
• Sermon Illustration 00:34:02 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recalls Jesus' birth to poor peasants in Nazareth and His proclamation to shepherds, illustrating that God works through humble, ordinary means rather than grand displays.
• Sermon Illustration 00:44:42 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references Senator Mike Lee's anger over the Department of Defense's coding system for faith, which did not include a 'Christian' bucket, to illustrate modern cultural confusion and conflict regarding religious identity.
• Sermon Illustration 00:46:14 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor mentions friends from Dallas, Texas, and people in Memphis, Tennessee, who claim to be saved and baptized but are actually lost, to illustrate that geographic 'Bible Belt' areas are not inherently Christian.

• Pastoral Charge 00:26:48 ▶️ 📄
  > Read the book of Jude
• Pastoral Charge 00:26:48 ▶️ 📄
  > Read the Book of Jude.
• Pastoral Charge 00:47:15 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor commands the congregation to actively preach, live out their faith, and evangelize to others.
• Pastoral Charge 00:47:31 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor challenges the congregation to examine their own faith and ensure they have placed their trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] I'm very, I don't know, excited and apprehensive this morning, I guess is the best way to describe it.
[00:00:09] It's a new context, which means I'm not relying upon the previous context or what we talked about before, but we're moving on now.
[00:00:17] And so, setting up the new context, there's going to be a turn that happens here in John 7.
[00:00:25] last chapter, the focus was sort of on the Passover and everything that went along with the Passover. Jesus using also the feeding of the 5,000 to talk about being the bread of life.
[00:00:38] Now we're moving on to Jesus is going to be at the Feast of Booths, but he doesn't start there.
[00:00:43] This passage this morning is sort of his transition from Galilee down to Jerusalem for a time.
[00:00:50] Galilee down to Judea. Because if you know, or as you know, most of his ministry was done up in the northern regions of Israel around the Sea of Galilee. That his home base was sort of
[00:01:02] Chorazim, but we also know Bethsaida, or sorry, Capernaum is what I was trying to say. But Chorazim, the Decapolis, Bethsaida, all of these places surrounding the Sea of Galilee is where he did most of his ministry, though he did as a person who fulfilled all things under the law
[00:01:19] according to the law, went to Jerusalem during the times of the year that he was commanded to under the law. There were three main festivals that all people, or the men of the, particularly the men, were commanded by God to go down to Jerusalem in order to, or at least to the place
[00:01:36] where the tabernacle was. And at this point in time, there's a temple now and it's in Jerusalem.
[00:01:41] That's Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles. So we're going to get into what the Feast of Tabernacles is all about, and what does it have to do with Jesus, and what's going on with that as we get into the text this morning. So if you would stand
[00:01:57] with me as we read from the Word of God, John chapter 7, verses 1 through 13, please. Thus says the Word of God. After this, Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea because
[00:02:14] the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now the feast, now the Jews' feast of booths was at hand, so his brothers said to him, leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples may also see the works you
[00:02:26] are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, if you do these things, show yourself to the world. For not even his brothers believed in him.
[00:02:39] Jesus said to them, My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.
[00:02:46] The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it that its works are evil.
[00:02:52] You go up to the feast.
[00:02:54] I am not going up to the feast, for my time has not yet fully come.
[00:02:58] After saying this, he remained in Galilee.
[00:03:00] But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but in private.
[00:03:06] The Jews were looking for him at the feast and saying, where is he? And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some say he is a good man, others said, no, he is leading the people astray. Yet for fear of the Jews, no one spoke
[00:03:20] openly of him. These are the words of the living God given to us on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and penned by the Apostle John. Please receive them with the authority that it carries,
[00:03:30] because this is the word of God. You may be seated. Let us ask the Lord's blessing upon this time.
[00:03:40] Our Heavenly Father, it is our prayer that this morning you would bless the proclamation of your word.
[00:03:46] I'm a mere mouthpiece, Lord, who desires to articulate the word and explain it and preach it faithfully, Lord, not adding anything to it or taking away from it, Lord.
[00:03:56] Give me grace that I may exposit the word correctly this morning, faithfully, and that in doing so, Lord, the Holy Spirit would move in our midst, convicting us of sin and righteousness and of judgment, Lord,
[00:04:08] that he would bring about a remembrance of the words in our minds and in our hearts that we may not merely be hearers of the word but also doers I pray heavenly father that you would convict us of our sins
[00:04:20] grant us repentance and I pray heavenly father if there's someone who does not know Christ Jesus as Lord this morning that today would be the day of their salvation give us encouragement where we need encouragement
[00:04:31] chastisement where necessary Lord and in all things encourage us by the word of God this morning We pray all these things in Jesus name. Amen. Operating on God's timetable, there's a great emphasis this morning that's given about how Jesus is meant to present himself before the people.
[00:04:52] Jesus has one understanding of how then the people are, his brothers are having another understanding about how things are supposed to happen and whether, you know, when he's supposed to do it and what's supposed to happen. And we're going to see a lot of the authority of Jesus
[00:05:08] Christ and always understanding his role and his obedience to God the Father, operating under the inspiration and the leadership of the Holy Spirit as he is being led. And he is going to operate according to his own time, according to the plan of God, and his timing is perfect. He's not going
[00:05:26] to be rushed by anybody as he goes along and does his ministry. And so that's why I call this operating on God's timetable, because that's the main idea of the focus of the passage this
[00:05:40] morning, this sort of like worldly understanding of how Jesus is supposed to operate in this particular passage of scripture, and then Jesus himself operating according to his own plan and purpose, which of course is perfect. And we're going to talk about the application that goes
[00:05:56] along with that. But let's get into the beginning of what this passage has to say. And firstly, it says in verses one and two, it says, after this, Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not
[00:06:09] go about in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now the Jews feast of booths was at hand. So that sets our context for the entire rest of the passage. And not just this morning,
[00:06:22] but as we continue going through chapter seven, this is sort of the preface or the premise of everything that's going on. Number one is this, his major ministry is in Galilee. That's what we'd mentioned at the beginning, that he is operating in Galilee most of the time. As he's
[00:06:38] operating in Galilee, though he has skirmishes, as we know from the other gospels, and we're also in this one as well, whether when he goes into various synagogues or as he's operating and healing people and interacting with the people. Surely, yes, he does have a lot of contentious
[00:06:56] fights with people like the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the lawyers and all of these various people. But ordinarily, as he moves about within the region of Galilee, there's a certain amount of freedom that he has in doing so. That there's not a great amount of opposition yet
[00:07:14] mounted to him up in that time, but the vast crowds that are following him are following him in Galilee. And so it says, after this, Jesus went about in Galilee. Him going about means he's going about. He's got freedom. He's able to do so, okay? I forgot to mention that after this
[00:07:33] means after this, this is just John's little way of letting us know, hey, I'm starting something new now, okay? So this is a literary context. We're finished now talking about Jesus as the bread of life and everything that went along with that, and the Passover and all that we talked
[00:07:50] about during this last part. This is a brand new context, a brand new pericope. If you want to learn a great word to share with your friends and you want to sound really theological and awesome and
[00:08:00] things, you'll use the word pericope, which is just a contextual piece, like a little story within the gospel. So that's what's happening here, this new context. And he's introducing this, he's setting up what's going on.
[00:08:16] That in Galilee, he's got lots of freedom, but he would not go about in Judea.
[00:08:22] What does it mean by that?
[00:08:24] It means that he's a lot more reserved and he's not as open and he's not able to do as much in Judea as he does in Galilee.
[00:08:34] He is going to keep the feasts and that's what John's gonna introduce next, that the Jews' Feast of Booth was at hand.
[00:08:42] So he's about to participate in something that was required by the law.
[00:08:48] And since Jesus Christ is a person who followed the law perfectly, and that's one of the reasons why he's our spotless, sinless lamb of God who was made as a sacrifice on our behalf and also grants to us
[00:09:01] the righteousness that we have, the imputation of God's righteousness, keeping the law perfectly fulfilling all that's required of the law is imputed to us because jesus obeyed the law on our behalf that's called his active obedience that jesus always does what
[00:09:23] was required in order to fulfill the law that he would be that spotless blameless lamb of god is not only a perfect sacrifice for our sins but also the one as it says at the end of second
[00:09:35] Corinthians 5, 521, it talks about he became sin who knew no sin, that we might become what? The righteousness of God in him. He took our sin upon himself. When we come to faith in Christ,
[00:09:48] he places his righteousness on us. And so that imputation of this, so rejoice, everyone in this room. You and I in this room right now have kept the Feast of Booths perfectly because Jesus has,
[00:10:06] and he's done so on our behalf. He has fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the law.
[00:10:13] But it sets also the context of what's about to happen. This Feast of Booths is at hand, and here's the problem. Jesus has got to go down to Jerusalem to participate in the Feast of Booths,
[00:10:26] and there's going to be conflict there.
[00:10:28] He doesn't do so in an open manner because the Jews are seeking to kill him.
[00:10:36] The Jews are seeking to kill him.
[00:10:38] Already at this point in time, now John is the least chronological of all the gospels.
[00:10:46] In fact, most of John is actually dedicated to the last week of Jesus's life.
[00:10:51] We've got like several chapters that are dedicated just to one night where Jesus is up in the upper room with his apostles, like four different chapters, all dedicated to that out of like 20 chapters, right? So John is more focused on that you would
[00:11:07] believe in Jesus as the son of God. You might have life according to his name. And he's less concerned about the chronological details of what's happening. So we don't even know which Feast of Booths was this. Was this early in his ministry? Was this the last Feast of Booths before
[00:11:23] he was about to go to the cross? We don't know. We have no idea in the sense that John doesn't give us any real contextual clues here, but just to know that it's not about the timing. It's about
[00:11:35] the conflict that John is introducing. This is what we do know. Jesus is not going to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths, because he's scared. That as the Jews have built up their hatred toward him,
[00:11:58] their opposition toward him, their belief that he is blaspheming by saying they can understand enough to know that he's proclaiming something about himself that sounds like blasphemy to them.
[00:12:10] And so he, they have a lot of vitriol and hatred for him. And we know, of course, that by the end, we have every gospel, that Jesus is eventually handed over to the Jews and the Gentiles to be
[00:12:23] executed, right? Crucified. We know that they will kill him. And so Jesus is not going out of fear because they're going to kill him. He's not going because this time is not right.
[00:12:37] That he's operating according to the time and the plans of the Father, okay? He's not some a thoughtless martyr who's like just some zealot who's like trying to rush in and show himself merely to be just this great example of being a zealot for God or something like that. No,
[00:12:57] he does everything purposefully. He does everything according to the plan and the purposes and the timing of God Almighty. And that's a great reminder to us by means of application that God has a timetable upon which he operates. And that timetable upon which he operates is perfect.
[00:13:22] Also, it's not necessarily the timetable upon which we operate. Like we might look for something, like suppose you have been praying for something for years and years and years.
[00:13:35] And God has not yet done this thing for you. And you think to yourself, wow, why isn't he doing this thing for me? And the answer is, I don't know. I don't know. What I do know is that God
[00:13:48] doesn't operate in according to our timetables. He doesn't operate according to our whims.
[00:13:53] He doesn't operate even according to our desires. He operates according to his perfect sovereign plan. But what I always found to be true is that some of the things that I asked for, I'm really glad that he didn't give them to me in times past.
[00:14:12] You know, I always tell the story.
[00:14:14] This is a funny story from when I was a kid.
[00:14:15] I used to pray that God would make me into a Ninja Turtle.
[00:14:18] Like that was like, that was me in my third grade, you know, mind, eight years old.
[00:14:24] And Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was like huge at that time.
[00:14:27] And I was like, how cool would it be?
[00:14:29] God, why don't you make me into a Ninja Turtle?
[00:14:31] Well, praise the Lord, he didn't turn me into a reptile, right?
[00:14:35] You know what I'm saying?
[00:14:35] That's a really good thing.
[00:14:36] Now, that's, of course, a very silly and stupid example, but there have been other times where God has said no, okay? You know, when I went to seminary, I went to seminary unmarried. I went
[00:14:51] to seminary, and of course, I was looking for a divinity degree, you know, my master divinity, but partially, you know, that I was looking for somebody else who was looking for an MRS degree, You know what I'm saying? And God said no. He said no. And praise God, because like literally
[00:15:08] the day I came home from seminary, like the day after, that's when I met Katie. And praise God, he said no there when I was like, man, I'm like almost 29 years old, or I am 29 whenever I finally
[00:15:20] got married. I wanted to be married a lot earlier than that. I really did. And I didn't want to be down in seminary single. I didn't want that. I was not a person who was going to be celibate the
[00:15:35] rest of my life. I wanted to get married, you know? And by God's grace, he said yes to me at the right place and the right time. And he gave me this incredible wife that I couldn't be happier
[00:15:48] to be married to, you know what I'm saying? And so you probably have some kind of a story, some kind of a thought in your mind of times past when God did not give you in that moment
[00:16:02] at that time what you desired and what you wanted. And because of that, it was so much better for you because he had something different and better in mind, okay? So that bleeds into a little bit of
[00:16:17] other things that we're going to talk about. But Jesus is about to go to the Feast of booths now what is the feast of booths just for those of you who don't know that is one of the
[00:16:29] three there's multiple feasts there's also things like the day of atonement and the feast of weeks and the and the um rosh hashanah which is which is the head of days and all of these different
[00:16:40] feasts that happened during that god had prescribed to the the people of israel in the old testament well uh the feast of booths was one of those celebration feasts and as we read from leviticus
[00:16:51] during that time. It was a time where they, for a full week, I think it's interesting that there's something mentioned about the first day and the eighth day. We'll get to that in just a minute.
[00:17:00] But this picture of for a full week, they were meant to live in booths. What do we mean by booths?
[00:17:06] You might also have heard this as the Feast of Tabernacles, or in the Hebrew, I believe it's Sukkot, right? And so this is the feast where people were years after they came out of the
[00:17:18] promised land, out of Egypt into the promised land, after they had built houses and a temple was built and palaces were built and they lived in the land, they were for a week supposed to
[00:17:30] remind themselves of their history. That for a time, for approximately 40 years in the wilderness of Sinai, they didn't dwell in houses. They didn't have their land. They dwelt in booths. They dwelt and tabernacles, and it was to remind them of the blessing of God, that we're experiencing this
[00:17:50] blessing now because we remember what God did in our forefathers and our past. And it's a great feast of remembrance and celebration, a time. Also, I think it's just kind of cool that once a year,
[00:18:05] the whole nation of Israel went camping for a week together. I mean, that's just really kind of fun to think about that, but it was meant to commemorate something from the past. And how good
[00:18:17] is it to set up reminders for ourselves? Just like we talked about with the timing of God, just how I explained that remembrance of, I can remember a time when God blessed me so greatly,
[00:18:31] when God did this thing for me. And remember the time whenever I went through something, because I think that's the other side of it.
[00:18:41] It's not just remembering the blessings that he brought me through, but it's also remembering of the very difficult times that I've been through in time past as well.
[00:18:52] And remembering where I was in that difficult place and remembering that right now, I'm not in that difficult place, which means when the next difficult time comes upon you, that's a great opportunity to remember the difficult time from the past to say I remember
[00:19:12] how God was gracious and faithful during that time and so since I remember that he was gracious and faithful during that time I can trust him in this time it's good to set up those feasts so to
[00:19:26] speak those times of remembrance to consider man I was really in a place that was difficult I was in a booth in the wilderness of Sinai, so to speak. But now look at where I am. I'm not there
[00:19:39] anymore because of God's grace, because of God's providence, because of God's mercy.
[00:19:47] All right. So the feast of booths is at hand. So verse three says this. So his brothers, meaning Jesus's brothers, what? We'll get to that in a second. So his brothers said to him, leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one
[00:20:08] works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world, for not even his brothers believed in him. All right, lots of stuff to tackle here. Number one
[00:20:20] is brothers? Wait, what? Jesus had brothers? Yeah. And if you actually read in Matthew chapter 13, I think, or 15, I can't remember now. I thought I had it down here, but maybe I don't.
[00:20:36] That Jesus, sorry, Mark 6 is where I had it. There we go. Not only does it mention that he have brothers, but he even says in Mark 6 verse 3 that he has sisters as well. And what's going
[00:20:49] on here? You may have grown up in a particular tradition or may have friends who are in a particular tradition that believe in what's called the perpetual virginity of Mary. And what that means is that there are some people that believe and teach that Jesus was an only child, that Mary
[00:21:08] and Joseph never consummated their marriage, that they were united together in marriage, but Joseph never touched Mary in any sort of intimate sexual way, and she remained a virgin for the entirety of her life, and Joseph, I guess, as well then, right? And so that Jesus was born, of course,
[00:21:26] conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, and then, you know, that Mary, after that, never, ever consummated the marriage with Joseph, and therefore, Jesus had no siblings, okay?
[00:21:40] I don't know where someone gets something like that, but it's not from the scriptures, because the scriptures are very clear, and in fact, right here, this very passage, Jesus had brothers.
[00:21:50] In Mark 6, 3, it mentions Jesus' sisters.
[00:21:55] One of the ways they try to sort of explain that away is to say that that word for brother or that word for sister could also mean near relatives, like cousins or something like that.
[00:22:07] Okay, you're kind of doing some, you know, somersaults and all these different things like that, rather than just reading what I would call the clear reading of Scripture.
[00:22:15] But the fact of the matter is, in fact, go with me, if you will, over to Matthew 1, if you would.
[00:22:20] I just want to mention this for a second, just to sort of combat that. I do not believe that is a true teaching. I do not agree with that teaching. I think it's a teaching that you can hold and
[00:22:32] still legitimately be a father of Christ and be in error, but I just think it's wrong. I think it's wrong, okay? If you turn to Matthew chapter 1, you could start in verse 18, but, well, let's go
[00:22:56] and start in verse 18. Why not, right? The birth narrative of Matthew's gospel. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph,
[00:23:12] being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
[00:23:18] But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in
[00:23:29] her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet.
[00:23:41] Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, he took his wife, but knew her not. Now, here's a very, very, very important word,
[00:23:59] okay? Extremely important word, until. Knew her not until she had given birth to a son and called his name Jesus. Now, did Jesus, was he a virgin conceived and virgin born? Yes. Did Mary remain
[00:24:19] a virgin after she gave birth to Jesus. No, they had a normal marriage relationship, which is a good thing, by the way, because we don't want to also fall into the extreme asceticism that says
[00:24:30] things like, you know, like a Roman Catholic priest where they have to be unmarried and all their lives and things like that. No, no. In fact, marriage is wonderful. It's a great and glorious thing. Without being too crass, you know, the sexual union is also wonderful and it's created
[00:24:49] by God. And it's how we get children and things like that. And it's also meant to display the glory of God in marriage. It's a wonderful, beautiful, glorious thing that God has given.
[00:25:00] And there's nothing wrong. In fact, there's something wrong if you are married and you're not consummating it, right? Like that's like the opposite of what things like 1 Corinthians 7 says. Don't deny one another. Don't, you know, that you've been called to do this. Lest you
[00:25:15] give each other over to temptation. It's a normal, natural, perfectly good thing to participate in within the covenant of marriage. It's kind of like the whole baptism and Lord's Supper thing.
[00:25:31] This Lord's Supper that we participate in, it's a covenant renewal sacrament. It's where we come together to sort of renew the covenant with Christ. But you can't take communion until you've entered into covenant through baptism, you see?
[00:25:45] It's the same kind of idea, the same picture.
[00:25:49] Sex outside of marriage is forbidden, sinful, wicked, wrong.
[00:25:57] But within the marital union, within the covenant of marriage, it's good, wonderful, glorious.
[00:26:05] It glorifies God and it strengthens marriages.
[00:26:09] so that Jesus had brothers and it was good that he had brothers because God heard in in fact according to church tradition we believe that we have two books of the new testament written by Jesus's brothers one is the epistle of James James is understood to be the Lord's
[00:26:30] brother James the brother of the Lord he was old camel knees what a wonderful man and how remember when we went through James, the wonderful, incredible, practical knowledge that comes from James. Jude is the other New Testament writer that we commonly believe was another brother of Jesus
[00:26:48] Christ. Highly important book that most people skip over. Go read it today. It's only a chapter long. It's very small, but it's rich. It's full. So good. And both of these were people who are
[00:27:02] the brothers of Jesus Christ. Now, here's the problem. As we understand it, these brothers did not, did not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Messiah and Lord until after the resurrection.
[00:27:19] Until the resurrection of Jesus Christ, they're also mentioned, by the way, being gathered at his ascension. So they're there, they're believing him and following him there at his ascension.
[00:27:30] But right now, as it says in verse five, it says, for not even his brothers believed in him.
[00:27:40] At this point in time, his brothers are lost. Imagine what that would be like to grow up in a household where one of your brothers, I mean, just put yourself in the shoes and think to
[00:27:53] yourself, I've got three brothers. Imagine if Isaiah one day started proclaiming himself as Messiah and Lord. I mean, that would be weird. You know what I'm saying? It would be hard to take that. I mean, besides, you know, the obvious fact, you know what I'm saying? No, I'm kidding.
[00:28:14] But it would be so strange. I mean, just put yourself in the shoes. Somebody within your very household begins to promote themselves as, no, I'm the anointed Messiah of God. I'm the bread that came down from heaven and lets you eat my flesh and drink my blood, then you have no life
[00:28:36] in me. One of your brothers start saying stuff like this. It would be hard. Now there's a distinction between what we in here might think with regard to that. Jesus, of course, lived a perfect sinless life. So I imagine that even growing up with Jesus, they knew something was
[00:28:53] different about him. There was just something about him that he portrayed himself in such a way that, of course, then they eventually do become his followers because they witnessed the resurrection, which is the ultimate sign that he gives to us.
[00:29:07] But at this point in time, they didn't believe in him.
[00:29:09] And so therefore, what are they going to do?
[00:29:12] They're going to give him some worldly wisdom.
[00:29:15] And it shows a little bit of, almost a little bit of, they're kind of mocking him, it seems.
[00:29:20] Look at what it says in verse three and four.
[00:29:22] So his brothers said to him, leave here and go to Judea that your disciples may also see your works that you're doing.
[00:29:29] for no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly.
[00:29:33] If you do these things, show yourself to the world.
[00:29:37] In other words, what are they saying?
[00:29:38] They're saying, look, if you really are who you say you are, Jesus, if you really are the Christ, the son of the living God, then why don't you just go make it known?
[00:29:49] Then why don't you just go out to the world and display it?
[00:29:52] Why don't you go shout it from the rooftops, Jesus?
[00:29:56] Why are you holding back?
[00:29:58] Why are you being secret about all this stuff?
[00:30:02] Why are you not going out and just declaring to the world your messiahship?
[00:30:09] I find that very interesting.
[00:30:11] Jesus answers them in verse 6.
[00:30:15] My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.
[00:30:21] What does he mean by that?
[00:30:22] Well, there's a couple things I want to pick up from this.
[00:30:24] Number one is that this shows that the world's ways are not our ways, right?
[00:30:31] The world's ways are not our ways.
[00:30:33] I remember as an illustration, whenever I first came to Christ at a very early age of my walk with Christ, I was working at St. Louis Country Club, which is in, well, St. Louis, right?
[00:30:46] So it's like the premier country club in St. Louis.
[00:30:50] it's like all the owners of the Cardinals were all members there. You know, people who own like vast properties of downtown St. Louis, you know, millionaires and billionaires were members of this club. And I used to think to myself, man, what if these guys got saved, right? What if these big
[00:31:10] guys, these movers and shakers, what are these very popular, high to do people in St. Louis, what if they got saved? What an amazing impact that would have if one of these guys came to
[00:31:25] Christ and started living for him. That was worldly thinking. Because we often think of grand gestures, big names, big events. You know, I have nothing against things like Billy Graham crusades. Praise God for Billy Graham and all the vast amount of preaching
[00:31:48] and the number of people that by God's grace, he was able to see come to faith in Christ.
[00:31:53] I told you a couple of weeks ago about that fantastic movie that we saw and now it's completely jumped out of my head.
[00:32:02] What was it called?
[00:32:03] Great Awakening, yes.
[00:32:05] You wouldn't think I'd be that stupid, but I am.
[00:32:09] Great Awakening.
[00:32:11] And there are very few men in the world that are George Whitefields.
[00:32:16] There are very few Billy Grahams in the world.
[00:32:20] But what are there in the world?
[00:32:23] Millions of them, faithful believers who are living in the quiet, in the shadows, the everyday faithfulness, the means of grace understanding, the everyday faithfulness.
[00:32:37] Think of all in this room.
[00:32:39] I always think about you all the time, mothers, you wonderful, wonderful, wonderful homeschooling mothers where, and all of you kids, you keep having babies and I just love it. There's just babies everywhere in this church and this is
[00:32:54] great. And when the babies are small and whenever in all these, it seems like you go through an entire day and you're like, wow, I did nothing today except for survive. And thankfully my kids
[00:33:06] actually went to bed and they ate something today because this day was gone. Disaster, blow up, whatever. One of my favorite statements is the years, the days are long, but the years are short.
[00:33:20] you're doing the work of the kingdom.
[00:33:24] You're doing the work of the kingdom of God.
[00:33:27] The little things, the small faithfulnesses, the everyday things, these are what transform the world.
[00:33:37] Even Jesus here isn't going down to the feast to make a grandstand gesture.
[00:33:43] All right, everybody, it's me.
[00:33:45] He doesn't do it the way the world does it.
[00:33:48] He does it through the ordinary things, the small things.
[00:33:51] He even goes, we're going to see in a few minutes here, he's going to go down secretly.
[00:33:56] He's going to go down without fanfare, without trumpets, without any of this stuff.
[00:34:02] He does things according, even think about his birth.
[00:34:05] We read the Matthew passage, but how was he born?
[00:34:09] He was born to a couple of poor peasants in Nazareth.
[00:34:13] Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
[00:34:16] And who was he first proclaimed to?
[00:34:20] Shepherds.
[00:34:22] Okay, kind of the refuse of society at that time.
[00:34:25] This, it's not in the big things.
[00:34:28] God doesn't do things in the big, big things for the vast majority of the time.
[00:34:34] Of course, we have highlights, right?
[00:34:36] Signs and wonders and things like that.
[00:34:38] But how is it that God builds his kingdom?
[00:34:42] It's through things like the foolishness of preaching.
[00:34:45] It's the ordinary means of grace.
[00:34:49] It's not rock concerts.
[00:34:50] It's not events.
[00:34:52] It's not, I love sight and sound, and they do a great ministry, but it's not all about big plays or big productions.
[00:34:59] The real change happens in the everyday foolishness of preaching, ordinary means of grace, faithfulness.
[00:35:08] Jesus illustrates that here.
[00:35:10] His brothers see things for the world's perspective.
[00:35:13] Make a big statement, do a big event, go pull yourself, make it about you.
[00:35:18] No, Jesus instead illustrates the dying to him himself taking up his cross and following after the Lord's commandment here. He says, my time has not yet come. He says, it's not time for me to go do that yet. There will be a time when he enters
[00:35:33] into Jerusalem triumphantly with palm branches and everybody's singing, Hosanna, Hosanna to the son of David, who very, you know, just a few days later would then be screaming, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. But his day wasn't there yet. He knew his timetable. But he says, your time is
[00:35:53] always here. What does he mean by that? What does he mean by that? Well, I think he means that you're of the world and you're just living according to the world. Your time is always of the world.
[00:36:03] You're thinking in a worldly way. You're not thinking according to the plan of God.
[00:36:07] Because he continues on in verse 7, the world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I'm not going up to the feast for my time
[00:36:20] has not yet fully come. And after saying this, he remained in Galilee. He says, the reason why I'm not going is because I know who I am and I know what's going to happen to me if I go in the way
[00:36:32] that you want me to go. But you don't understand that because you're not thinking with a heavenly mindset. You're thinking with a worldly mindset. And so therefore, I'm not going to go according of the commandment. But he also reminds us of the fact, the world cannot hate you, verse 7,
[00:36:50] but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. We had a great time in our Bible study this morning at 9 30 going through Thessalonians and we talked about this specifically,
[00:37:03] about enduring the trials and the persecutions and the difficulties of following after Christ, about when you make a proclamation of the gospel or you interrupt the worldly affairs of things and you insert the gospel
[00:37:17] and proclaim the gospel of Christ in places.
[00:37:20] When you call people to repentance, people get mad about stuff like that.
[00:37:26] They start getting irate and yelling at you.
[00:37:28] Why?
[00:37:29] Because they hate the truth and they hate the testimony of the truth.
[00:37:33] And so because of that, I saw this meme.
[00:37:36] It was so good.
[00:37:37] I hope I can remember what it said. I thought I wrote it down, but I can't find it in my notes right now. And I'm not going to search for it. But it talks about something like, the world
[00:37:48] hates the word repent, but everybody in hell wishes they could hear it just one more time.
[00:37:58] The world hates to be called out in their sin. The world hates to hear you're a sinner and you've offended a holy God.
[00:38:10] And unless you repent and turn to Christ and receive the forgiveness of your sins, the remission of your sins, then you're in danger of hellfire.
[00:38:19] They call it things like, but you're not very affirming or you're a homophobe or you're fill in the blank of whatever it is.
[00:38:28] And they find every reason to get mad at you, even though you're not even calling them those things.
[00:38:33] You're just saying the truth.
[00:38:35] You're just saying the truth that, no, you cannot continue in the sin in this way and expect to ever see heaven.
[00:38:40] That unless you repent and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord, you will not experience the forgiveness of God.
[00:38:47] And it will be a very scary, terrifying day for you on the day of judgment.
[00:38:53] The world doesn't like that.
[00:38:55] The world doesn't want to hear that.
[00:38:59] The world, therefore, hates that.
[00:39:03] And so be prepared.
[00:39:04] because we here in this room name the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:39:09] We here in this room have been called to do exactly the same kind of thing, to disrupt the world, to disrupt the worldly system.
[00:39:19] Paul wasn't beaten with rods five times because he was being, you know, just so soft and nice and sweet and things like that.
[00:39:29] He was beaten with rods five times because he went into the synagogue or the square and he boldly proclaimed repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:39:43] He wasn't imprisoned because he played nice.
[00:39:47] He was imprisoned for the gospel of Christ.
[00:39:51] All of the saints that were martyred, all of the people of history, all of the apostles except for John and he was boiled in oil and then exiled on an island for proclaiming Christ.
[00:40:01] it wasn't because they were being winsome it was because they were proclaiming the truth of god and the world hated them from for it well guess what folks we've been called to do the same thing
[00:40:16] so when they lash out at us and they call us any number of names or or or or you know whatever don't be surprised that doesn't mean you're doing something wrong it means you're doing something
[00:40:31] right. And that's a good thing to experience the suffering and the trials for being bold for the gospel of Christ. But I think about not just in the world as we preach to the world, I think about
[00:40:46] how we relate to one another. That there are times whenever we need to get in each other's business.
[00:40:51] And even as followers of Christ who love the word of God and love the Lord Jesus Christ, we're still sinners and sometimes we don't like to be called out. But that's what we've been called
[00:41:01] to do, right? To do things like bear with one another, encourage one another, forgive one another, and at times admonish one another, right? Because we are our brother's keeper.
[00:41:16] And so we also should be people who don't recoil at the truth. That we should, even if the truth is biting or cunning or hard to hear, we should be willing to hear it and to put it into practice
[00:41:30] because it's the means by which God grows us into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:41:39] I also think about how in all of this, Jesus illustrates things like not seeking his own.
[00:41:46] He illustrates things like not boasting in himself.
[00:41:53] Jesus isn't propping himself up here even as the worldly people are telling him that's what he should do, make a name for himself.
[00:42:02] All right, so he doesn't go up.
[00:42:04] He says, I'm not going up to the feast, and then he does go up to the feast.
[00:42:06] We're gonna see that here.
[00:42:07] What is going on there?
[00:42:09] Is Jesus lying?
[00:42:10] And you'll hear a lot of critiques of the scripture say that he's lying.
[00:42:13] No, what he means is he's not going up with them in the very public way that they're going.
[00:42:17] That's what he means.
[00:42:18] I'm not going with you up to the feast, basically.
[00:42:20] But then he goes his own way.
[00:42:22] Notice what it says.
[00:42:23] You go up to the feast.
[00:42:24] I'm not going up to the feast, for my time has not yet fully come.
[00:42:27] After saying this, he remained in Galilee.
[00:42:29] Verse 10, but after his brothers had gone up to the feast then he also went up but not publicly uh but in private okay so he still was going he always meant to go and he wasn't saying he wasn't going in the sense of he was
[00:42:42] never going to even go at all he just meant he's not going with them so as he was going there in private the jews were looking for him at the feast remember remember um when it talks about the jews
[00:42:54] in this way in john's gospel it's talking primarily about the jewish religious system that opposed Christ, okay? Of course, all of Jesus' apostles are also Jews, but they're Jews who believe in Jesus as opposed to the Jews who reject him, okay? So he's speaking mostly about the Jews that are
[00:43:10] rejecting him, and we can see that they're rejecting him, and they're trying to come up with all these different reasons for who he is, and they're trying to explain him. They're looking for him. They're saying, where is he? And then verse 12, it says, there was much muttering about
[00:43:23] him among the people. While some say he's a good man, others said, no, he is leading the people astray. Yet for fear of the Jews, no one spoke openly of him. So we have a mixed opinion of who
[00:43:36] Jesus is. Some of the people there are actually thinking, man, who is this guy? This guy might really be the Christ. Other people are saying, no, he's a blasphemer who leads people astray.
[00:43:46] And I just think that's very interesting that this is nothing new, what we have today. Today, we have all these different depictions of Jesus and who he is. We have the chosen Jesus, right?
[00:43:57] The depiction of how he's depicted in the show. We have the Jesus that's the Jesus Christ superstar Jesus, or the God spelled Jesus, or all of these various ways of promoting Jesus, right?
[00:44:13] And everybody's got these opinions. Oh, he's just another good man. He's just another incarnation of, you know, whatever God in Hinduism or something like that. Or he's just, he's like Buddha or Muhammad or something like that. We have a whole world full of people who are confused
[00:44:29] about who Jesus is. And this is not new today. There was a great stir up over the past couple of weeks because of Senator Mike Lee. Have you guys seen about this? Where he started,
[00:44:42] he got mad because of the Department of Defense released some sort of like coding system to give a quick coding for like people in their faith in the army or something like that.
[00:44:55] But it had like all these Christian denominations and then it had Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, right?
[00:45:02] And so he got really mad because why didn't you put them in the Christian bucket, so to speak?
[00:45:11] And so that started this whole big firestorm out in social media and things this past week in, I guess, two weeks. And it's just amazing because today, today, people are just so confused, still confused of how, who Jesus is. By the way, Mormons don't worship anything that's anywhere
[00:45:33] close to the biblical understanding of Jesus. They're a cult. They are not believers in Christ.
[00:45:41] What I say, when I say this is, or why I say this is, don't think that because we live in southwestern Missouri, where there's, you know, within the however many miles, how many churches are around here? I mean, there's churches all over the place down here. We're still in kind of the
[00:45:59] south. We're still in kind of the Bible Belt area, but I guarantee you, I guarantee you, look around you here in Bible Belt, southern, southwestern Missouri. People are confused about who Jesus is.
[00:46:14] they're not believing in Jesus there are tons of lost folks all around us right here, right now I've got some friends here this morning from Dallas, Texas doesn't get much more Bible Belt than Dallas, Texas
[00:46:31] and I bet you they'll tell you the same thing I remember being in Memphis, Tennessee do you know everybody's saved in Memphis, Tennessee?
[00:46:38] everybody is saved in Memphis, Tennessee you go up and talk to them about Jesus oh I'm saved, I'm saved I've been baptized, all that stuff, you know, lost, lost. They're confused. I say this to say,
[00:46:55] get in the fight. Keep being active. Don't think to yourself that just because we're in a nice little sort of Republican conservative area that everybody around here really is a genuine follower of Christ. Keep preaching, keep living, keep promoting Christ and who he really is and tell
[00:47:15] people about Jesus. Because even here, even now, there are people all around us who don't know the Lord. My question to you this morning as we close up is, do you? Are you sure of who you
[00:47:31] understand Jesus to be? And understanding who he is, have you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? I hope that you have, and I hope that you will if you haven't, because
[00:47:46] the Lord Jesus Christ saved this guy, and so many other people in here can testify of how many people or how Christ has set them free and saved them through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[00:47:58] He does everything according to his own time. He does everything according to his own glory, and we praise him for it. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this passage of scripture that reminds us of Christ and all that he is and what he's doing and
[00:48:17] and a testimony, Lord, of your perfect timing in all things and how you accomplish everything according to your own will and your own plan, Lord.
[00:48:26] I pray, Heavenly Father, for all of us in here that we would look to Christ, that we would be faithful in proclaiming him, faithful in living according to his commandments, Lord, understanding that it is life and good for us, Lord.
[00:48:46] and now Lord as we come together to celebrate this time of communion we realize that we are legitimately communing with you today Lord for you are here with us the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in this room
[00:49:04] and we are fellowshipping around your table thank you Heavenly Father for this reminder of our the accomplishment of our salvation through the broken body in the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:49:20] Bless this time of communion, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.