Different Reactions After the Feast

Take your Bible this morning, turn with me to John chapter 8. John chapter 8, we're still in our series, "Christ the Son of God, Believe and Live." We know that John's purpose was to proclaim and exalt and teach the deity of Christ, Him being the true Messiah, the Son of God. We know that John's purpose was to be evangelistic to those who needed to know Christ, and we've been just following Jesus in this journey, this earthly journey, as He is revealing Himself to so many. John chapter 8 will be in verses 21 through 30.

Now if you're keeping up with our study, you're keeping up verse by verse, sermon by sermon, and you will know that we are finishing up a particular portion or section of Scripture that is focused on Jesus there at the Feast of the Tabernacles. Now I've said this before, I'll say it again, the Feast of the Tabernacles is sometimes called the Feast of the Booths. It's one of the high points in the Jewish calendar. All of Jerusalem would have been teeming with men and women. It was a great high point on their calendar in their worship of the one true God, and we are finishing up that portion of Scripture where Jesus was there at the Feast.

We have been following Jesus at the Feast ever since the beginning of John chapter 7. All of chapter 7 and chapter 8 have specifically focused on the ministry setting of the Feast, really except for one portion of Scripture which is verses 1 through 11 in chapter 8. Verses 1 through 11 seem to be an intermission, maybe an interruption of Jesus teaching there at the Feast. Of course, verses 1 through 11 do have him at the Temple, but the focus there in those verses is not the Feast. But we see all along there at the Feast, not just Jesus teaching, but the Feast itself is proclaiming him as the Messiah.

It's really interesting if you really see the picture. There's a two-fold picture here. Jesus is proclaiming himself as the Messiah, but in the background, the Feast of the Tabernacles and all those elements of the Feast are proclaiming him as the Messiah as well. Now, in our verses this morning, we will see the same pattern that we've been seeing all through Jesus teaching ministry here on earth. Jesus taught, he proclaimed, he sat down with the people. Then there arose a debate. The Jewish leaders would debate with Jesus as to his claims and who he was. And then we would see the reactions, the results, the fallout of Jesus' ministry.

Simply, people would be reacting to what Jesus was saying and doing. I'll give you some examples just to show you this pattern. Now, I'm going to work backwards in the text, but in John 6, Chapter 6, that great two-day event where Jesus feeds the 5,000. Remember, on the first day, he feeds the 5,000. On the second day, he begins to teach the crowds. He begins to teach the people. This proves the crowd. This proves those followers. And what do we see? Those people react. Do they not? Some walk away. Some reject. Jesus reveals why they were following. And then there, at the end of that two-day event, the disciples stood up.

Peter is their spokesman. He says, "We've left everything." So there is that pattern. Jesus preaches. There's a debate. And the people react. We saw this in John 5. Jesus healed a crippled man there at the pool of the state. Then there's the reaction. The religious leaders rejected him because he healed there on the Sabbath. Going back again, John, Chapter 4, Jesus goes down to Samaria, and he proclaims to the Samaritan woman she believes. Then we see a reaction from other Samaritans. So there's a pattern here, and I want you to see. Jesus teaches and he proclaims. He reveals himself. There's a debate. There's a discussion.

Almost a heated debate at times. And then there are people who are reacting to what Jesus is doing. This has always been the case. This always will be the case. Now what do I mean by that? People have been choosing the side, the right side of the wrong side of Christ for generations. This happened in Jesus' day, and it always will be the case. I'll give you an example of that from the text. Think about the 12 disciples. Remember, there was one who was a betrayer. Was it not? His name was Judas. Judas Iscariot. All along, he was a liar. All along, he was not a true believer. But what do we see? Judas saw the wonderful miracles of Christ.

He heard his masterful teaching of the Word of God. He viewed his perfect life up close. But what did he do? Judas rejected Jesus. That was then, and now what do we see? We know family, and we know friends who are rejecting Christ. Some of you have a spouse. They are rejecting Christ. Some of you have sons and daughters. They are rejecting Christ. Many times on Wednesday nights, we openly speak about those that we love who are rejecting Christ. And we see the reactions then and today of people to Christ. Now, one little tidbit of information I want to give you before we dive into the text. What do we do when we see people rejecting Christ?

We see Judas. We see these religious leaders. We see people in the text. But what do we do here and now today when we see people rejecting Christ? There are two things we do. First, we pray. Unless God moves on their hearts, unless God comes and reveals himself to them, they can never be converted. People, I want you to really know and I want you to fully understand that a man and a woman, a young person, can never be saved unless God first comes to them. So we pray. We've learned on Sunday nights, we pray for heavenly bread, that God the Father would come and reveal himself to them. So we pray and then we persuade.

Yes, we must go to our lost loved ones and friends and we must persuade them. We must persuade and talk and share and even beg them to come to Christ. Now, let's get into our message this morning. We're going to look at what I have called, or titled the message, the different reactions after the feast. This is the last portion of scripture, the tail end of these scriptures that deal with Jesus at the feast. I've already told you the verses will be in verses 21 through 30. And we'll finish up these verses and we'll transition next week into a different direction. But you see on the screens before you the truths that we will explore.

We will look at an announcement, Jesus announcement in verse 21. We will look at their debate verses 22 through 24, their question verse 25 through 29 and the reactions real briefly verse 30 and 21. So the title of the message is the different reactions after the feast, the different reactions after the feast. Let's look starting in verse 21. Jesus said, therefore, again to them, I go away and you shall seek me and shall die in your sin where I am going. You cannot come. Therefore, the Jews were saying surely he will not kill himself. Will he? Since he says where I'm going, you cannot come.

Verse 23, and he was saying to them, you are from below and I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. I said, therefore, to you that you shall die in your sins for unless you believe that I am he, you shall die in your sins. And so they were saying to him, who are you? Jesus said to them, what have I been saying to you from the beginning? I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but he who sent me is true. And the things which I heard from him, these I speak to the world. They did not realize that he was speaking to them about the father.

Jesus therefore said, when you lift up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he and I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak these things as the father has taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him. In verse 30, our last verse, as he spoke these things, many came to believe in him. Now, I hope that you are taking notes. I always challenge you to be diligent in taking notes. I want you to study these messages and to digest all that the Lord would want you to see and receive. Now, let's look at our first main truth. Truth number one, Jesus announcement.

Jesus announcement there in verse 21. He said, therefore, again to them, I go away and you shall seek me and shall die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come. Now, this announcement is closely connected with Jesus previous teaching. I want you to notice something about the language. The new American standard that I'm reading from says, therefore, again, the English standard says he said to them again. This language ties these passages, verses 21 on down to the previous debate in the previous argument. Go back to chapter eight, verse 12. What do we see again? Therefore, Jesus spoke to them. Go back over to verse 21.

He said, therefore, again to them. Notice the flow. This is going back and forth and notice in the middle of this one long message, there is an announcement. This is after the great invitations. Remember, we had two messages dealing with a great invitation. And now he transitions with verse 21 with this announcement. Now, there are two things out of this verse I want you to see. First, his death and destination. His death and destination. What does he say? I go away and you shall seek me and you shall die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come. Jesus here is speaking of his death and his destination. This I go away.

That's referring to the death. His death was close at hand. But now he says where I am going. This refers to the fact that he is going back to the Father. We know the rest of the story. Jesus dies. He's crucified. And on the third day he is raised to life again. And then we know that he ascended to the right hand of the Father and he is there now. So he is speaking of his death and his destination. And then second, notice he speaks of their death in sin. Their death in sin. Look at the verse again. Therefore, again to them he said, I go away and you shall seek me and you shall die in your sin.

Now I want you to notice the language is singular. The modern translations read singular. Sin. The King James has it plural. Sins. But in the original language it is sin. It is singular. Now that's important for you to see. Now why do I take the time to show you this? In the language this is speaking of their general condition before God. One of the resources I use is called Vincent's Word Study. Vincent's Word Studies helps you break down the language. And he says this expresses the whole condition of their estrangement before God. You see? They are estranged before God. They are in sin. They are in rebellion against God.

So there is a twofold announcement here. This is a bold announcement. One of the commentators I read said it was a harsh announcement. He boldly tells them of their condition and their inability to go with him. And we will see they do not understand this announcement. He says I'm going to die. I'm going back to the Father and you will die estranged to God. You see? That is a bold, harsh announcement. Now an application is real simple. We must see. We must understand when we deal with preaching and teaching God's Word. We must see that there are times when we must be bold, even harsh in our teaching.

We must see that we cannot always be smooth. We cannot always be soothing. We cannot always edify people in a positive manner. There is positive and negative edification. You see? And we must see that there are times when we have to be bold. We have to be even harsh. We must give people the brutal reality of the truth. There are times when I've given you harsh messages. There are times I've given you bold messages. There are times I have given messages that have so hit home to people that they've had to make appointments with the pastor.

I've had to sit down with people and help them sort out different problems or issues or questions in their life. And this is good. The religious leaders didn't like this. This was bold. This was harsh. But it was truth. And truth sometimes is very difficult to digest. And so this helps us see that we must give people the truth, whether it's positive or negative, whether they like it or do they do not. Let's move on. Let's notice truth number two. Let's notice their debate. Notice their debate. We're going to cover more verses here. Starting in verse 22 on down to verse 24. You'll see a transition at the beginning of verse 22.

Therefore, the Jews were saying they began to get into this debate based on what he has said in verse 21. Now, here in these verses, they do two things. The Jews do two things in this debate. First, they reveal that they did not understand what Jesus was saying. They didn't get it. It was bold and it was harsh and it was in their face, but they didn't get it. Second, they really accused Jesus in a new way. Remember that pattern I was telling you about? We see that they come in accusation back and forth. But this is a new accusation. This is a new debate. This is a new way in which they react.

There are several things out of these verses I want you to see. First, their accusation. Look at verse 22. Therefore, the Jews were saying, "Surely he will not kill himself, will he?" Notice this is different. Notice that this accusation is in the form of a question. But notice they are accusing Jesus of planning suicide or at least they're suggesting that Jesus was suggesting suicide. Now, this is important for you to see. You might not realize it, but this was a terrible insult in the face of not only Jesus, but in their religion, in Judaism. For the Jew, the idea of suicide was totally repulsive. There are two ways in which we know this.

First of all, if we look at how the Jewish rabbis, the Jewish teachers taught him that day, they taught, based on certain scriptures, that to commit suicide, it automatically put a person in a place of eternal damnation. See? All good Jewish teachers would have taught that suicide equaled damnation. Another way we can understand the Jewish mindset, there's a very reliable Jewish historian. His name was Josephus. He's very well read. And he wrote in Jesus' day, and after Jesus went to be with the Father, and he wrote that Jews who committed suicide were not even given a public funeral. What am I showing you?

Those are just two ways to help you and I see the way a Jew would have thought about and viewed suicide. It was unspeakable in their mindset. So this was an insulting accusation. Touch of sarcasm. They were maligning Jesus' character in saying this, and it would not have been unnoticed. See the accusation. Then second, notice their origins. Look at verse 23. As he was saying to them, notice, "You are from below. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world." Now, notice here that Jesus totally ignores what they said. He didn't even acknowledge the question about suicide.

He ignores what they said, and he immediately picks back up with verse 21. He stated earlier that they would die in their sin. They would be estranged from God. And now he is saying that they are from this world. They are from this evil world system, and he is not from this world. See, I want you to see their origins plural. Jesus' origin and their origin. Now, let me give you some explanation about this world world. We learned all about this world world when we were in our study in 1 John. It's been quite a while ago, but you should remember. The world world is used in three ways in the scripture.

The world of humanity, the world of humanity, the physical world, and then also this evil world system. John 3 16 says, "For God so loved the world." That's speaking of the world of humanity. But what Jesus is talking about here is this evil world system. You are of this world. You've come from this world, and I am not of this world. I am of another world. You see? Their origins out of verse 23. Third, I want you to see their death in sins plural. Look at verse 24.

"I said therefore to you that you shall die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he, you shall die in your sins." The modern translations and the King James use the word "sins" plural. In the original, it reads "sins" plural. Now, this refers to their deeds, their actions, their behavior. Notice the difference. Verse 21, it refers to their condition. And then here in this verse, verse 24, this refers to their actions. So you notice the two layers. He's saying, "You will die in your condition, and you will die in your deeds." So we see their accusation, their origins, their death in their sins. And then fourth, we see his ultimatum.

Look at verse 24 again. "I said therefore to you you shall die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he." There is an ultimatum here. Jesus uses, he says, "unless you believe." Now, the key word here is "unless" because there is an ultimatum. I like a little phrase that John MacArthur uses. He says, "This introduces the only hope of escape from God's wrath and judgment on sin." It's their only hope. He's saying, "You are condemned, you are judged, you are in your condition and in your deeds of sin unless..." You see the ultimatum? "Unless you believe, you will die.

They have no hope." And then fifth, I want you to notice his position. Look at verse 24. Verse 24, "I said therefore to you that unless you die in your sins..." Now, I want you to see something about his position. The New American reads, "I am he." Now, the New American has "he" in italics. King James notes it very similarly. Now, this is noting that this word "he" was added for understanding. Now, what I mean by added, the English translators will do these things to help us understand. And it needs to be there. But in the original, it reads "I am." Now, in our mindset, we might not understand what that means.

So, go back to verse 24, "I said therefore to you that you shall die in your sins unless you believe that I am..." You shall die in your sins. We might not understand the original and what that means. Now, let me explain that. This is a direct quote from Exodus chapter 3 verse 14. When God is dealing with Moses and God says to Moses, "I am who I am," God gives himself the name "I am." And when Moses goes before Pharaoh to lead the people out of Egyptian slavery, what does he say? He says, "I am sent me." And when Jesus said, "I am," he is assuming a position of God. That needs to be understood.

All of those Jews would have understood exactly what Jesus was saying. Their ears would have burned and their hearts would have screamed, "You are a heretic." Why? Because he was claiming to be God. Now, I want you to notice something about this debate. Notice the beginning and the end of this debate. First, they accuse him of plotting suicide and then at the end of the debate, he says, "I am." You see? You see his response to their accusation? He simply just proclaims himself as God. He does not try to argue or debate with them. They accuse him in a very insulting manner. He explains their origin and his origin.

He says, "You're going to die in your deeds." And he gives them an ultimatum. He draws them a line in the sand and he says, "Listen, let me tell you, I am. Unless you believe in me, you will die." And so for me, for you, what I want us to see out of this debate, we must see that it is important. It is imperative that we proclaim Jesus as God. There always has been a debate about who Jesus was. There always will be a debate about who Jesus is. Culture has always been attacking God and Jesus and the Bible and Christianity. But what we need to see is we simply proclaim Jesus as God. Isn't that what Moses did?

He stood before Pharaoh and said, "I am sent me." That is all the explanation he gave. And all we need to do is proclaim Jesus as God, singular, the one true God. There are not many gods. There are not many roads that lead to heaven. There is only one road that leads to heaven and it is through Jesus. There is one God and his name is Jesus. So all we must do is proclaim Jesus as God. The third main truth I want us to see is their question. Their question. Look at verse 25. On down to verse 29, their question, "And so they were saying to him, 'Who are you?'" Again, there is this debate.

"Jesus said to them, 'What I have been saying to you from the beginning, I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but he who sent me is true. And the things which I heard from him, these I speak to the world.' They did not realize that he had been speaking to them about the Father. Jesus therefore said to them, 'When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He.'" There is that language again. "And I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father has taught me. And he who sent me is with me.

He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him." Now we see another question. Again, they come back to Jesus, not in the form of an accusation like before, but in the form of a question. Now, previously they had asked this question. In verse 22, they had asked a question, but now we see it's not quite as inflammatory, but we'll see their question. First, I want you to notice this was their same old question. This was their same old question. What did they say in verse 25? 'Who are you?' This was a common question from the Jewish leadership and from the people.

They had been questioning Jesus' identity from the beginning. 'Who are you?' 'Who are you?' This was really, by this point, an insulting question because of all that Jesus had said and done. What I mean is it was probably a little more legitimate early on in his ministry, but remember all the signs that he had performed. Remember, John gives the signs to point people to Christ, all the claims that he had made, all the witnesses that had corroborated his testimony. And now they are saying, 'Who are you?' MacArthur has some interesting insight here. He says that there could have been an undercurrent of mockery, even sarcasm in this question.

Again, not quite as inflammatory as the question about suicide, but still the same old question, but yet with the, I think, a tinge of mockery and a tinge of sarcasm. I think it's important for us to see Jesus' response. What does he say? What have I been telling you all along? Jesus has been saying all along with no subtle claims that he was and he is God. So, their same old question. Second, notice his judgment. Look at verse 26 and 27. "I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but he who sent me is true, and the things which I heard from him.

These I speak to the world." They did not realize that he had been speaking to them about the Father. Now, Jesus is dealing with his judgment. Here, Jesus says that his judgment is one and the same with the Father's because his words are the words of the Father. Verse 27 reveals their blindness. They were spiritually blind, and their willful disobedience has given them no ears to hear Jesus' claims. Jesus pronounces more judgment, and their reactions incur more judgment. As we see, his judgment is the Father's judgment, but his judgment incurs even more judgment because they continue to reject. Third, notice his crucifixion.

Verse 28, "Jesus therefore said, 'When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am.'" Notice, "I am." Then he goes on to say, "And I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father has taught me." Here, Jesus in verse 28 is talking of his crucifixion. He is saying that the cross, the resurrection, and the eventual ascension will vindicate every word that I have ever spoken and every claim that I have made. That's why he speaks of the future actions or future events. And then fourth, notice his unity with the Father. Look at verse 29, "And he who sent me is with me.

He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him." Just as he has always done throughout his teaching, Jesus claims unity with the Father. His words, his deeds, and claims were from the Father because they were and are one. Now, what do we see in this question? They ask the same old question, but yet it was insulting. And we see his judgment upon them. We see his crucifixion. The future events will vindicate him and his unity with the Father. Now, this is the same pattern which we've seen and we saw in verses 22 through 24.

The leadership question, they accuse Jesus, but yet Jesus boldly speaks, harshly speaks, and he harshly deals with their condition and their imminent judgment. Now, what can we learn in application here? Not only must we proclaim Jesus as God, but we must proclaim man as sinful. See, the problem with people today is they want to give the good news of the gospel without giving the bad news of the gospel. You see, Jesus proclaims himself as God. I am, but also he proclaims them as sinful, rejecting man. And we must give the full counsel of God's word in that we must preach the goodness of God, yes, but the sinfulness of man.

See what we're learning here? We must proclaim God, Christ as God, but we must proclaim the sinfulness, the depravity, the wickedness, the rebellion of man. If you pause for a minute and you think about it, Jesus did not employ any modern church growth methods. What did he do? He says you're in sin. You're an enmity with God. He says you're in your sins. You will be judged. You will die unless you believe. That was not a message that would have attracted a crowd, not by our standards. Now, let's move on. I want us to see the fourth main truth, and I want us to see briefly their reactions. Their reactions.

In this truth, I want us to look at the last verse, and then we're going to go back to the first verse. Verse 30, "As he spoke these things, many came to believe in him." Now, go back and look at verse 21. He said, "Therefore again to them I go away, and you shall seek me, and shall die in your sin." See? Those are the two reactions of the people that are there before Jesus. And here in these passages, we see these two reactions. Just like in John chapter 6, we saw those crowds who rejected Christ. They wanted a Messiah on their own terms, and then we saw those who accepted Christ on His terms. And so this is a common theme.

This is the reactions of the people to Christ. Two people, two things out of these verses. Verse 30, "Many believed." That's obvious. Here we see that there were some who were persuaded. Some believed His claims of deity. Some saw the proofs and the signs, and they believed. Here we see the power of persuasion through the power of God. Now, that's a mouthful, but I want to say it again. This is the power of persuasion through the power of God. They believed. And then second, some rejected. What did He say in verse 21?

He says, "Therefore again, I go away, you shall seek me, but you shall die in your sin." It's important to understand the word sin is singular. You shall die in your position before God. They rejected. They took a stand against God. And here we see that Jesus simply and boldly declares to them that they would die in their sin. He is saying, "You are alienated from God, and you will die alienated from God." This is just the reactions of the people. Now, for us in application, we must see that people react the very same way today. This is not an old phenomenon. It's not a new phenomenon. This has always been the case.

When the gospel is preached, when truth is proclaimed, people will either reject or they will receive. They will either embrace the truth or they will reject the truth and die in their rebellion. And let me tell you, as you go as a Christian into your life, as you go and you begin to witness by the way you live, and you begin to witness through your words, and as the church begins to move out and declare the truth, and go out into the community and preach the truth from the pulpit, we will see the very same thing happen today.

You know, it's a sad thing when I see people, and we see people come into the life of the church and go the way of the world, but it's the same thing that went on in Jesus' day. There are lots of people who just do not want the truth. They are rejecting the truth of the Word of God. So it happened then, and it will happen now. Now, as we close, I want us to see the black and white nature of these ending passages. Now, I want you to remember the context, and then I'm going to get back to the black and white nature of these verses. Remember the context of everything that Jesus has been doing since John 7.

He's there at the Feast of the Tabernacles. The great crowds are there at the temple. So much going on is there worshiping the one true God. And two of the most important elements of the Feast of the Tabernacle pointed to nothing but Christ. Remember, as those priests would pour out the water there, symbolizing their journey from the desert, from slavery through the desert into the Promised Land, they left the desert and they were thirsty, and their thirst was quenched as they entered Canaan land and entered the very presence of God.

And Jesus stood up with that behind him, and he's saying earlier, we see that in chapter 7, verse 37, he says, "If any man is thirsty, let him come to me." And then what do we see? He moves on. There at the Feast of the Tabernacles, they had there in the court of women those great lamps that would literally light up all of Jerusalem and they would light them up at night, symbolizing the fact that they had come through the desert, they had come from slavery, and they had come into the very presence of God in Canaan, and what did he do? He stood up and he said, "I am the light of the world." The great invitation to come to Christ and believe.

But notice with that backdrop the black and white nature of these passages. As he spoke these things, many came to believe in him. Previously he said, "I go away and you shall seek me, and you shall die in your sin." It's very black and white. The different reactions at the Feast are reacting to Christ. And you know everything I read this week in my study pointed towards the black and white nature of these passages. One of the commentators I like to read's name is Warren Wiersby. He titled these passages "Life and Death." It's very accurate. Some experience life in verse 30, and some embrace death by rejecting Christ in verse 21.

The New American commentary that I read, it's a commentary series with multiple authors. It's simply titled these passages "Differing Directions." Isn't that what we see? Verse 30, "Some choose Christ and follow Christ." And then verse 21, "Some stay true to their religion and they reject Christ." Differing directions, life and death. John MacArthur probably had the most black and white title that I ran across these passages. His title was "How to Die in Your Sins." What do we see? Differing directions. Choosing to die in sin, life and death. The title of the message, "Differing reactions after the feast." It went on then and it goes on now.

Now as I close, I want to ask you a question. How have you reacted to Christ? If you cannot stand to your feet and say, "I've been redeemed, I've been redeemed. I was a slave to sin. I was a slave to self. I was an enemy with God, but God came to me and He saved me. He redeemed me. He quenched my thirst. He moved me from darkness to light." If you cannot testify that God has done that work in you, then you are exactly like those religious leaders. You're in your sin, in a position of enmity towards God. And you are in your sins, in your sinful deeds against God. How have you reacted to Christ?

If you're here this morning and you've never been born from above, you've never had this life-changing experience, only what God can do, I want to encourage you, listen, to chase after Christ. I want to persuade you, seek Christ while He may be found. Let's pray. Lord, thank You for the message this morning. Thank You for...