John 7:25-31 (ESV)

An Incorrect Knowledge

25 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?

26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ?

27 But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.”

An Incomplete Understanding

28 So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know.

29 I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.”

A Hopeful Faith

30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.

31 Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

John 7:14-24 (ESV)

Teaching and Understanding

14: About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching.

15: The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?”

16: So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.

17: If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

Law and Judgement

18: The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.

19: Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?”

20: The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?”

21: Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it.

22: Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.

23: If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well?

24: Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

John 7:1-13 (ESV)

Jesus’ Priority

1 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.

2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand.

3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.

4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.”

5 For not even his brothers believed in him.

6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.

7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.

8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.”

Jesus’ Approach

9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

10 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private.

11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?”

12 And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.”

13 Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.

John 6:41-59 (ESV)

The Rejection of Jesus’ Divinity

41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.”
44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”
45 “It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—”
46 “Not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.”
47 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.”
48 “I am the bread of life.”
49 “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.”
50 “This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.”
51 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

The Rejection of Jesus’ Doctrine

52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”
54 “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
55 “For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.”
56 “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”
57 “As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.”
58 “This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
59 “This he said in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.”

John 6: 35-40 (ESV)

The Fathers Gift

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
36 “But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.”
37 “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”

The Fathers Will

38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.”
39 “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”
40 “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Scripture Reading: John 6:22-34 (ESV)

The Search

22 On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone.
23 Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

The Seal

25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”
26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
27 Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

The Sign

28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”
29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?
31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'”
32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Scripture Reading: John 6: 16-21 (ESV)

The Trial of Absence

16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea,

17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.

18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.

The Trial of Presence

19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened.

The Trial of Obedience

20 But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”

21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

Scripture Reading: John 6 1-15 (ESV)

The Context of the Need

1. After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.
2. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.
3. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples.
4. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.

The Doubt of the Church

5. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”
6. He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.
7. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”
8. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him,
9. “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”
10. Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number.

The Sufficiency of the King

11. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.
12. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.”
13. So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.
14. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”
15. Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

John 5:39-47 (ESV)

Another Confidence

39 “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,

40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

Another Glory

41 I do not receive glory from people.

42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you.

43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.

44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

Another Belief

45 “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope.

46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.

47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

Scripture Reading: John 5:19-30 (ESV)

Love and Power

19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.

20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.

21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.

Judgement and Honor

22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,

23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

Life and Death

24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

25 Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.

28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice

29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

30 I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.