Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20051023.htm

JOHN: TRUSTING JESUS AS MESSIAH AND GOD
Part XXIII: Discerning To Avoid Blindness About God For Blessing
(John 7:19-8:12)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Disturbing spiritual blindness afflicts many in Christendom:

(1) As we noted in our last two sermons, significant differences exist between key beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church and the Bible! (a) We learned the Roman Catholic Church claims the bread and wine in the Mass become the real body and blood of Christ so that if one ingests them, it helps him gain eternal life! Such a view is said to be supported by Jesus' words in John 6:53-56 as cited in the official American Bible for Catholics where Jesus spoke of ingesting His blood and "flesh" for eternal life. Yet, such words offended His disciples who knew Leviticus 7:27 prohibited the partaking of blood, so Jesus clarified in John 6:63 in that same version that He spoke figuratively back in John 6:53-56, saying: "the flesh is of no avail." In His own words as cited from the official Roman Catholic version of the Bible, partaking of Jesus' real body would provide NO benefit just opposite the Roman Catholic Church's belief! (b) We then saw Mark 3:20-31 of that same version exposes the sin of unbelief in Mary, the mother of Jesus and His "brothers" who were his "relatives" as they came to take Jesus custody, saying "He is out of His mind'"! They were each thus sinners, and Mary's sons were her physical offspring by her union with Joseph! This official Catholic Bible then counters the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church on the immaculate conception and perpetual virginity of Mary, yet millions cling to such beliefs for eternal life!

(2) Troubling spiritual blindness afflicts Gospel preaching churches, too! Last week, I learned a Sunday School class in a Gospel preaching church had discussed if a believer could be demon possessed. The woman who told me of this had not wanted to dominate the class as she was not the teacher, and knew more than her male teacher, so she had kept quiet! In the vacuum of insight that resulted, a new believer in the class expressed dismay at the fear of possibly becoming demon possessed!

The woman who reported this event said she finally cited Psalm 119:130 to help this Christian, a verse that says: "The entrance of thy words giveth light . . ." The new believer clung to that verse in hope, but the issue was not settled! (We will settle it in our conclusion!)

So, how can WE avoid such unedifying spiritual blindness?

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "Often various Scripture interpretations and beliefs arise among even Christians that are wrong, and these produce confusion and unrest! What causes this, and how may I avoid it for blessing?!"
  1. Though John wrote his Gospel that the reader might trust in Christ to be saved (cf. John 20:30-31), his record of Jesus' dialogue with the unbelieving crowds at the feast of Tabernacles in John 7:19-8:59 exposes great spiritual blindness in them!
  2. We view that dialogue between Jesus and the faithless crowd to discern the SYMPTOMS of spiritual blindness so we may discern it and thus AVOID it for blessing (as follows):
    1. The spiritually blind crowd errantly made judgments based on appearance, not Scripture's intent, John 7:19a, 22-24; 5:8-9, 16:
      1. The Jews sought to kill Jesus for allegedly violating the capital offense of breaking the Sabbath when He had healed a lame man (opposite rules of the Pharisees) back in John 7:19 with 5:8-9, 16.
      2. Yet, as Jesus noted, their rule on the issue missed the intent of the Law: Moses' call for surgical circumcision to address one part of the body on the 8th day even if it was the Sabbath made Jesus' work to address a lame man's whole body justified by that very Law, John 7:19a, 22-23! Thus, the Jews errantly sought to kill Jesus in judging by appearance, not by the Law's intent, John 7:24.
    2. The spiritually blind crowd was errantly inconsistent with its OWN stated views, John 7:19b-20 with John 7:13 and John 7:25-26:
      1. When Jesus claimed others sought to kill Him, the crowd denied this was true, implying Jesus was lying in claiming this, 7:19-20.
      2. However, before this denial, the crowd dared not speak openly of Jesus for fear of reprisals from their leaders, and after this denial, some spoke of how the leaders wanted to kill Him, Jn. 7:13; 7:25!
      3. This glaring inconsistency in the crowd exposed its blindness!
    3. The spiritually blind crowd errantly held to popular views ADDED to Scripture RATHER than relying on Scripture ALONE, 7:26ff:
      1. The crowd said they would not know Messiah's origin, 7:26f.
      2. Yet, this popular belief was not from Scripture, so their acceptance of its error coupled with their awareness that Jesus lived in Galilee led the crowd in spiritual blindness to avoid trusting in Jesus, John 7:27, 41, 52 (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to John 7:27).
    4. The spiritually blind crowd errantly failed to RECALL PREVIOUS insight from Christ and so misunderstood His LATER truth that was BASED on His PREVIOUS insight, John 7:16-17 with 33-36:
      1. The crowd expressed confusion over what Jesus meant by their not being able to find Him when He would leave them, John 7:34-36.
      2. Yet, Jesus just said in John 7:33 He was returning to "him that sent me," and EARLIER in the SAME conversation He had noted He spoke the teachings of God, the One Who had sent Him, 7:16-17!
      3. For failing to pay heed to this previous insight, the crowd missed the idea that Jesus had come from God and would return to Him!
    5. The spiritually blind crowd errantly failed to INVESTIGATE facts AVAILABLE TO them, and so missed God's truth, John 7:37-43:
      1. The crowd stated it knew Messiah would come out of Bethlehem of the seed of David, and concluded Jesus was thus not the Messiah as He had come from Galilee, John 7:37-43.
      2. However, they failed to investigate facts available to them as did the non-eyewitness, Luke (Luke 1:1-3) to see Jesus was of David's seed and HAD been born in Bethlehem, cf. Luke 2:1-7; 1:30-33!
    6. The spiritually blind leaders errantly failed to INVESTIGATE their Old Testament and so missed the truth, John 7:44-8:12; Isa. 9:1-6:
      1. The leaders denied Jesus was the Messiah as they felt the Old Testament did not allow for Him to be from Galilee, John 7:44-52.
      2. Well, all the manuscript evidence indicates John 7:53-8:11 was added after John wrote his initial Gospel (Bruce M. Metzger, A Text. Com. on the Grk. N. T., 1971, p. 219-222), so Jesus replied in John 8:12 to the leaders' John 7:52 denial that the Old Testament did not allow for Messiah to be associated with Galilee! There He claimed He was the light of the world that was predicted in Isaiah 9:1-2, 6 where Messiah and God was to arise in Galilee!
      3. Thus, in failing to pay heed to their Old Testament, Israel's leaders were blinded to the Messianic and divine identity of Jesus Christ!
Lesson Application: (1) May we BELIEVE in Jesus as Messiah and God in view of the obvious utter spiritual darkness of those who stumbled at faith in Him, and in view of the way Jesus' claims are so clearly supported in view of all the facts, John 3:16. (2) Thus equipped, may we rely on the indwelling Holy Spirit for discernment (1 Cor. 2:12-16) to AVOID spiritual blindness, (a) making our evaluations based only (b) on Scripture and (c) its contextual intent, (d) being consistent in our views, (e) using Biblical truth previously given to discern new insight, (f) and investigating the facts available to us on Scripture's application.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 When we began this sermon, I mentioned a phone conversation I had last week with a Christian in another state who reported she had kept quiet in a Sunday School class out of Biblical respect for her male teacher who knew less than she did. Then, since the class discussion went into the topic of whether a believer could be demon possessed, and since the teacher was ignorant of the answer, a new believer in the class soon became distraught at the fear of becoming demon possessed!

Well, if we apply points we learned in this sermon lesson, we can avoid such unsettling spiritual darkness on the subject (as follows):

(1) We just learned that ONE activity for avoiding spiritual blindness is to look to Scripture ALONE versus even popular human opinion; we thus RESIST our OWN ideas on the subject and the ideas of OTHERS to read in 1 John 5:18 (KJV) that Satan, the evil one, "toucheth not" the believer in Christ.

(3) Then, to see what "toucheth" means in that verse, we apply a SECOND activity in avoiding spiritual blindness, investigating the facts we can examine, and learn from books in my library on the Greek New Testament that "toucheth" is from haptomai that means the "handling of any object as to exert a modifying influence upon it," U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966 ed., p. 825; R. C. Trench, Syn. of the N. T., p. 58-59. So, Satan can not exert a modifying influence on at least one's NEW nature in Christ, so the new nature can not be demon possessed!

(4) Finally, applying a THIRD activity for avoiding spiritual blindness, that of maintaining consistency with our treatment of the facts, we recall we have long and repeatedly taught out of 1 John 1:9 and Galatians 5:19 that ANY sinful believer can escape his old sin nature's control to live by means of the Holy Spirit's control in his new nature were he merely to confess his sin and rely on that indwelling Holy Spirit! Well, such steps a demon would never allow a carnal Christian to take were he able to "exert a modifying influence upon" such a sinful believer! Thus, REGARDLESS of his CURRENT practical STATUS in his Christian WALK, be he in SIN or RIGHTEOUSLY filled with the Holy Spirit and living in his new nature, NO believer in Christ can BE or BECOME demon possessed!

May we thus apply God's Word and live in His edifying, comforting spiritual LIGHT versus troubling spiritual darkness!