THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN TRADITION

 

Chapter 11

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The Unstoppable Authority in Jesus's Service

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Text

John 7:14-36 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the Jews marvelled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?”

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The people answered and said, “You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?”

 

Jesus answered and said to them, “I did one work, and you all marvel. Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made 

a man completely well on the Sabbath?

 

Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”

 

Now some of them from Jerusalem said, “Is this not He whom they seek to kill? But look! He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ? However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from.”

 

Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, “You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me.”

 

Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. And many of the people believed in Him, and said, “When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?”

 

The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him. 

 

Then Jesus said to them, “I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.” Then the Jews said among themselves, “Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What is this thing that He said, ‘You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come’?”

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Memory Verse

​John 3:31 (NIV) The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all.

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Introduction

If you are serving Jesus, you have received mercy and you have 24/7 security. Not from bodyguards, but from God and His loyal angels.

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Why? Because the authority behind Jesus’s service comes from above. God is the One who holds the earth in place (Job 26:7), controls the morning (Job 38:12), and sets limits for the sea (Job 38:8-11). If He runs the whole universe, He can handle protecting His people.

 

Objectives

To understand the power of serving Jesus, and the healing and authority that comes through belief in Him.

 

To understand the meaning of ‘righteous judgment’ in our lead text above (John 7:24).

 

Presentation

 

1. Jesus’s Service Comes From Above (John 7:14-16, 28-29)

Jesus did not start His own thing. He was sent by the Father and did His work.

 

This service operates in the “light-shine period”. When Jesus’s light shows up, darkness and frustration from hell cannot stand (John 1:5). It has been that way since Gen. 1:1-3; light always overthrows darkness.

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2. Jesus’s Service Has Instructors From Above (John 7:15-17)

The teaching and guidance in Jesus’s service comes from God through the Spirit. These are spiritual instructors who work with your mind without making you lose it.

But you will only recognize it if your heart is set on doing God’s will. If you are not serious about truth, it will sound like nonsense.

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3. Jesus’s Service Has Authority From Above (John 7:18, 25-27, 30)

When you are in Jesus’s service, there is no reason to panic or fear harm (1 Pet. 3:10-14).

There is built-in security, “inherent security services” (John 7:30). People tried to arrest Jesus, but could not, because His time had not yet come. The same protection is over those doing His work in His timing.

 

4. Jesus’s Service Has Healing Power From Above (John 7:19-24)

The healing and help that come through Jesus’s service are not limited by time or season. The priority is always people.

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The right question is: “How much good is this doing for people?” If it is not lifting people up, it is not really from Him.

 

5. Jesus’s Service Confuses the Opposition (John 7:32-35)

Wherever God is at work, the devil gets thrown off.

 

What is meant to help sincere people becomes confusing to those fighting against it.

 

They try to understand but cannot (John 7:35-36).

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It usually starts with doubt, and doubt leads to a fall (Rom. 11:7-10). But if you keep growing in knowing Jesus and how He leads (Rom. 14:1-8, 13, 19), you stay solid.

 

The key is in making Jesus’s truth the most important thing, so that you actually experience the benefit He designed for His people (Rom. 8:35-39).

 

6. What is Righteous Judgment?

In a nutshell, righteous judgment is seeing people and situations in the same way that God sees them – truth without hypocrisy (Matt. 7:5), justice without cruelty (Micah 6:8), and always with a door open for mercy (Jam. 2:13).

 

Righteous judgment:

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(1) Upholds truth. Sin is called out.

Righteous judgment does not pretend that sin is “OK”. Sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4) and he who sins is a servant of sin (John 8:34).

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(2) Shows mercy.

Mercy rejoices over judgment (Jam. 2:13).

 

Judgment alone says, “you did it, pay for it”. God’s righteousness through belief in Christ says “You did it, Christ paid for it, now walk free and sin no more.” It is not a licence to sin - you are still chastised but not condemned:

 

Heb. 12:6-11 For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

 

Matt. 21:44 And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.

 

How do we sin no more? Through Christ’s Spirit which He puts in us so that we may “get the victory”, as foretold by the prophets:

 

Eze. 18:31 Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?

 

Righteous judgment restores, it does not condemn. We are still judged and will stand before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10), but for the believer, there is no condemnation (Rom. 8:1-2). “Fire shall try every man’s work” (1 Cor. 3:12-15), but He judges our work, not our soul.

 

For the unbeliever, the wrath of God abides on him. He will be judged on the last day by the words that Christ has spoken:

 

John 3:36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

 

John 12:48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him -  the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.

 

Judgment without mercy or grace becomes a whirlwind of retribution, an “eye for an eye”, a “tooth for a tooth”, “kill by the sword, die by the sword”. The whirlwind of condemnation stops in Christ.

 

How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation as the grace that has come to us in Jesus Christ (Heb. 2:3)?

 

Conclusion

There was never a moment when Jesus was doing the Father’s will that any force could stop Him. That power did not end when He left earth. It is still in His service today, generation after generation.

 

If you sign up for this eternal service, you get access to that same invincible power from God. And you are no longer under condemnation, but under mercy.

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Evaluation Questions & Answers​

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1. Everything good in Jesus’s service is as a result of its source. Where is that source?

   • From above—from God the Father and Jesus who came from heaven (John 3:31). Anything good in the service is because it originates with Him.

2. According to John 20:30-31, not all of Jesus’s words and works are recorded. Why are we still expected to be as perfect as He is?    (Matt. 5:48)

   • The recorded Scriptures are enough to lead us to faith and life in Him (John 20:31). Perfection here means being complete and mature in following Him, not in knowing every single thing He ever did. The Spirit uses the written Word to shape us into His likeness.

3. According to Matt. 22:29, give two reasons why men sin against God.

   • Jesus said they sin because they do not know the Scriptures and do not know the power of God. Ignorance of God’s Word and underestimating His power both lead to sin.

4. When Christians stop learning, they are into an ‘occultism of ignorance’. Explain.

   •  ‘Occult’ means hidden or secret. If believers stop learning God’s Word and relying on His Spirit, they end up living in hidden ignorance - making decisions in the dark, following traditions blindly, and becoming easy targets for deception. Growth stops, and confusion takes over.

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Prayer

Father, thank You for this lesson. Give us boldness to live out our faith in Christ every day, and fill us with the joy that comes from Your Spirit. Amen.