Envy & Jealousy

Well, praise the Lord, He wants to meet us in the green pastures. And it's the heart of God that we be well fed and that we have plenty of fresh water to drink. And the Word of God is that feed and the Holy Spirit is that water.

Here in John in a few messages we're going to talk about Jesus standing up at the Feast of Tabernacles and crying, if any man thirsts, let him come and drink. He's going to talk about water, living water for the sheep. Well, I'd like to turn to John chapter 7. Today I think some of you are probably, since you know the message, it seems like you're going ahead and preparing ahead for me, that's good.

Everyone shares, it seems like it fits into the message, so that's always a good thing. Maybe you're not thinking ahead and maybe the Lord's just leading you in that direction. I trust that's maybe the case.

But we've come now to John chapter 7 and I want to remind you that this book was written, John 20 says, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's why we're going through this book here. John has a real burden for you to believe that Jesus is the Christ.

In 1 John, his epistle, he had three epistles at the end of the New Testament. He gets to the end of that epistle and he says, These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you might know that you have eternal life, and that you might believe on the name of the Son of God. He had a burden for you to believe on his Son.

And so what we're going to go through in the book of John, that's the purpose. And we all ought to get to, after we finish this book, to chapter 6 verse 69 in Peter's testimony. We believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

So, let's look here at John chapter 7. Let's have a word of prayer before we do. And then we'll just take a look at John 7 verses 1-13 here this morning. Heavenly Father, again we acknowledge the presence of the Lord here.

We acknowledge you in all of our ways. And we want the Holy Spirit of God, as we learned this morning, not only to speak to us through the word of God, give us ears to hear. Lord, may we lay aside the past.

And may we lay aside the things that are troubling us, Lord. And may we lay aside the cares of this life, and the business that's coming, Lord willing, here in the next weekend. And allow the word of God to humble us.

And just to break our hearts and, Lord, to minister grace to us. I pray for myself that my heart would be open to your leading. And, Lord, as I always pray, that you would let me preach with boldness.

As I ought to speak, Paul said it, also that I might preach the word of God with clarity, at a trumpet that must give a certain sound, that we can prepare ourselves to battle it. Lord, also that I could preach with a fervent spirit. You've commanded us to do everything fervently.

And, Lord, also we pray finally that you would allow me this morning to preach this message in love. Speak the truth in love. May my heart have love for each one here.

Lord, may each of us hear what the Scripture is saying, and what the Spirit of God is saying to the church. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

All right, I'd like to start here in John 7. I'd like to teach you these 13 verses. This morning, there's a lot of things here. We could spend a lot of time here, but I'd like to go down through these 13 verses.

I want to read the first two, and then we'll spend a little time on them, because they set the stage for actually the next couple of chapters. After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee. Now, Galilee is about 70 miles north of Jerusalem.

Galilee, Samaria is in the middle. They're like counties. And Judea is south where Jerusalem is, and the center or the hub of Judaism.

After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, for He would not walk in Judah near Jerusalem because the Jews sought to kill Him. Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand. I'd like to stop here and just set the stage for what's going to happen.

The feast of tabernacles is about to occur. There are three major feasts in Jewish life. Three feasts, if you go back and you can read about them in Leviticus 23.

I spent some time back there. We won't go back there and talk about all of them. Just an overview here.

There are three feasts that every male from 20 years old and up needed to attend in Judaism. The first one was at the beginning of the year, the Jewish year. And that would be roughly April for us.

And that was the feast of Passover, followed by the feast of unleavened bread. And that feast was simply a symbol of good things to come. And you and I ought to be experiencing those good things.

Because all those feasts that the Lord had them take part in were shadows of good things to come. And so you understand what the feast of Passover was about. It was about Passover night when the blood was applied to the door, when the Israelites were told to get the leaven out of their house.

That's repentant. Dealing with sin and put the blood of Jesus on the doorpost. And then seven days later they were to celebrate the feast of unleavened bread because God cleansed them.

He cleansed their house. So you have this great Passover feast. And that's a picture of salvation.

That's where Christianity starts. Salvation. And the blood of Jesus.

Then in June is the feast of Pentecost, or the feast of firstfruits. Fifty days after Passover was the second major feast. Of course, this is when the Holy Spirit came down on the day of Pentecost.

This is the symbolic of receiving the Holy Ghost. So once your house is cleansed by the blood of Jesus, now the Holy Spirit can come and dwell in you. Romans 8.23, we have the firstfruits, Paul said, of the Spirit.

So the Holy Spirit is the firstfruits of our salvation. So it's the feast of firstfruits, or the feast of Pentecost. And then the final feast that every Jew was required, a male child from 20 years old and up, was the feast of tabernacles.

And that's the one that we're talking about here. This was in the fall of the year. September, late September, early October.

You can read about it in Leviticus 23. Well, let me just go back and just read to you what God said about this feast. You don't have to turn there.

I'll just read a verse or two. In Leviticus 23, He says this, And you shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations.

You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths seven days. And all that are in Israel born shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths.

When I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I am the Lord your God. And so think about this. God is trying to teach the Jews and preparing them for the Messiah and the kingdom of God.

And He says your feasts start out with Passover. That's where Christianity starts. The blood of Jesus.

The Passover night. Your next feast you've got to be at is the feast of Pentecost. That's the first fruit's feast where the Spirit of God comes down and you receive, as Caleb said here this morning, the Holy Spirit of God.

And then that final feast is a feast to remind you, here's what we need reminded of, that our life as a Christian, we are strangers and pilgrims in this land. And God brought them through the wilderness and they dwelt in tents and booths. And He did it for a purpose.

To remind us that we ought not to get ourselves too planted, too deep in this world. Amen? We ought not to get our roots too deep in this world. We are just a passing through.

This world is not my home. I'm just a passing through. And that's the mentality that we ought to have as children of God.

And for 2,000 years, every year, those Jews were reminded, in order, Passover, Pentecost, tabernacles. And that's to teach Christianity. Good things to come.

Those prophets were telling of good things to come. And so here we are in John chapter 7 and Jesus is about to go to the feast of tabernacles. Let's keep in mind Jesus is probably 30, 35, 33 years old.

He is a male, a Jewish male. He is required now to go to this feast in Jerusalem. There's only one problem.

The Jews hate Him. And the Jews are conspiring to kill Him. And you see over here in verse number 10, that when His brethren were gone up, then when He also went up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret, then the Jews sought Him at the feast and said, where is He? And so Jesus is staying up north, about 75 miles, because He knows if He goes to the feast here, especially publicly, He is going to be taken.

Probably. But He knows His time has not yet come and we'll get down to that here in just a minute. But notice what it says here in verse number 1. I want to spend a little time here.

After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, for He would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill Him. Now why did the Jews want to kill Jesus? Why would you want to kill Him? We sang about, oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus here this morning.

Why are the Jews desirous of killing Jesus? The Bible says He went around doing good. Healing all that were oppressed of the devil. Why would you want to kill somebody like the Lord Jesus? Well, there's two reasons the Bible gives for the animosity toward the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I'm glad Brother Dennis here shared. I was thinking Brother Dennis is trying to prepare us here for the message. But why was Jesus hunted and they desired to kill Him? Two reasons.

One of them is going to be seen in verse 7. We're not going to get to that here for a little bit. But I'd like to talk about the reason why the Jewish people, the religious leaders especially, wanted to kill Jesus. Does anybody know why the Bible says they wanted to kill Him? One word.

Who knows it? Envy. Envy. The Bible says here in Matthew 27 and Mark 15 that Pilate knew that the Jews had delivered Him up for envy.

Envy. And I know there's not a lot talked about envy. But I'd like to talk a little bit about envy here this morning.

Envy. Envy is one of those dreadful works of the flesh. But envy doesn't get a lot of time from the pulpit.

It doesn't get a lot of time for us as individuals. But envy is a very serious thing. And it has very serious consequences to it.

Here's what envy means, the definition of it. Envy is the feeling... Have you ever felt this way? The feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing of the prosperity of another. You hear or you see someone is prospering or someone is being praised or someone is being lifted up and there is this feeling of... Why do they have to say those nice words about that person? Why does that person have to have that nice thing? It's envy.

Envy. The Jews envied Jesus. And they had a strong displeasure in their heart when they saw the fruitfulness of His ministry, when they saw the miracles that God performed through Him, when they saw the crowds.

And we just saw about 5,000 of them not too long ago in John. Jesus has great multitudes that are following Him. And the Jewish leaders especially, they are envious.

Wow! I wish I could do those miracles. I wish I had those great crowds. I wish I could be fruitful like that.

And it just drove them to envy. And their envy ultimately drove them to try to kill Jesus Christ. There is another good example of this in the New Testament.

I'll read it to you. You don't have to turn there. Acts chapter 13.

It's talking about Paul and Barnabas as they are preaching. It says this, And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.

You know, envy. They saw this great city. All these people.

I want to hear Paul and Barnabas preach the word of God. And the whole city came to hear. And the Jews saw that.

And it produced a deep displeasure. Oh, I'm so envious of those men. They have these great crowds and we don't have them.

And it caused them to contradict and blaspheme them. Have you ever been in a group of five or six people and maybe you're talking about someone and oh, that brother or that sister is such a wonderful brother and you're lifting them up and just encouraging and this is what they do good and they do this good and then one person says, yeah, but. Watch out for that yeah, but.

Yeah, but they do this, this, this, this wrong. They have this, this, this in their life. That's a sign of an envious heart.

An envious heart does not allow people to be lifted up and praised and encouraged and exalted. So envy is something that the Jews were dealing with and that's what brought the animosity toward the Lord Jesus. Acts 7, 9 says the patriarchs moved with envy and sold Joseph into Egypt.

What caused the father's, Jacob's children to sell or to send Joseph into slavery? One word, envy. What did they envy? Joseph was a favorite. He was a favorite son.

Joseph had that coat of many colors and the brothers, they envied Joseph's position. They envied his possessions, his coats and because of that they were willing to put him in a pit and to sell him and never see his face again because they had envy. Now, I like to share because when I go through this I search my own heart.

But you know, when we preach the Bible here we want to preach it so that it will help people. There's no reason to preach just a bunch of facts. But let's ask the question, do you have envy in your heart? I mean honestly, just be honest.

God wants to help you. I'm not here to hurt you. God wants to help you.

Is there envy in your heart? Let's just be honest with each other. And do we envy people? Do we look at someone and feel some displeasure over what they have or maybe a position that they have? Envy produces very powerful forms of hatred. It put Jesus on the cross.

It put Joseph in a pit and ultimately sold Joseph into slavery. Now, here's a verse you ought to think about. Proverbs 27.4 Wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous, but who is able to stand before envy? I mean I'd rather stand, Solomon said, I'd rather stand before someone who is full of wrath and full of anger than to stand in front of somebody who's got envy in their heart.

Who can stand before envy? Envy is associated in the New Testament with words like malice, hatred, wrath, and bitterness. Titus 3.3 says this, For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. Dennis, do you know why Cain slew Abel? Because when Abel came to God, God smiled at his offering.

When Cain came to God, God frowned at his offering and Abel wanted that smile and he looked at Cain and he envied Cain. He envied Cain's relationship with God and he said, enough of it. This envy is driving me crazy and he took a knife one day and he killed him.

Out of envy. And so envy, envy is a work of the flesh. It's a very serious thing.

I will list it right up there in the works of the flesh with murder and drunkenness and envy. So little time today is given to things like this, envy and jealousy. I want to spend a little bit of time on it.

Jealousy is another thing. Jealousy is very similar. You know, envy has to do with possessions and position.

Jealousy has to do with another P. What's that? People. Usually in the Bible, jealousy is referring to people. A man is jealous over his wife.

You know, a wife goes out and commits adultery. A man can be full of rage, Proverbs says. He is jealous over his wife.

And so, jealousy is associated with relationships. People can have jealousies. You know, so and so is my friend.

I am jealous over this friendship. No one else can have it. So you have all these things going on.

Jealousies and envy. Friendships. I like this brother.

I don't want anybody else to like him. We have a special relationship. So we have these jealousies and envies.

These are the kind of things that are under the rats that people don't really pay much attention to. But they're destructive. They're very destructive.

And so they need to be brought to the light. So the Jews wanted Jesus to die because of envy. Let's keep reading here.

And I want to bring out something else here I've never thought about until this week. But verse 3 says, His brethren therefore said unto Him, Depart hence and go into Judea that Thy disciples also may see the works that Thou doest. For there is no man that does anything in secret and he himself seeketh to be known openly.

If Thou doest these things, show Thyself to the world. For neither did His brethren believe in Him. Now His brethren here also, I believe, are moved with envy.

They want Him to go on down to Judea knowing that people are waiting for Him and that He's going to be taken or they're going to try to take Him. And so they say basically, Go. I don't know if they say these words, but go, Mr. Miracle Worker.

Go. Go ahead. Go down to Judea, you know.

He's going to get taken. The Bible says His brethren didn't even believe in Him. After 32 years.

Think about this. After 32 years of living with your brother, two and a half years of seeing miracles, hearing of all Jesus is doing in your own family, His brethren don't even believe in Him. That's amazing, isn't it? Sometimes we think that Jesus lived His life with a halo around His head and that everyone understood who this is.

But even His brethren did not believe in Him. Mark 3, an interesting verse. After Jesus chose His 12 apostles, it says this, And when His friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on Him, for they said, He is beside Himself.

His friends. He's losing His marbles. He's beside Himself.

He's going mad. So that's the kind of situations that Jesus was facing. His brethren, His family didn't even believe in Him or His brothers and sisters.

And there's every indication here that His brothers and sisters are also envious. Let me ask you some questions. Have you ever thought about this? How do you think Joseph and Mary brought those children up? Do you think they ever sat in devotions and when they read the Old Testament and talked about the Messiah, they said, Children... Do you think Mary ever sat down with those children and I don't know how many there were, there may be ten of them, and Jesus standing there at 12, 14, 16, 18 in their home and Mary saying, Children, I want to tell you something that happened to me and Joseph.

An angel came to me one day and told me I was going to give birth and I was a virgin and Jesus was the child. And this angel told me that Jesus was going to deliver Israel. Here He is.

He's in our family. Do you ever think Mary shared some of those things with the family? With the children? And Joseph? Joseph, I saw an angel, Joseph said. And you know what? When Jesus, this little boy, your brother, was born, there was a chorus of angels in the sky.

Wow. Sounds like a coat of many colors, doesn't it? There's a potential there. And I'll tell you another story, children.

Your brother, Jesus, He was two years old. Wise men came from the east. Brought in gold, silver, and frankincense.

These men fell down and worshipped Him. Do you think those things were talked about in the home? On a regular basis. Jesus.

Well, here's why I think there was some issues here of envy and jealousy, is because Jesus is a picture, or Joseph in the Old Testament is a picture, of the Lord Jesus Christ, a type and a figure. By the way, what changed the brethren's minds? You know those same brothers and sisters were up in the upper room in Acts chapter 1? The Bible says, with Mary and His brethren. You know what changed things? The resurrection.

You know, when Jesus was on the cross, He looked down to John. He said, John, there's your mother. Where's His brothers and sisters? They're gone.

There's your mother. She's going to take care of you. My brothers and sisters, they don't believe in Me.

But you know, they watched Jesus. They saw Him on the cross. They saw the Spirit inside.

They put Him in a grave. They probably went to the grave. They saw His body there wrapped in that linen.

And they went away, and they knew in their heart they had just lost their brother. And three days later, someone comes to them and says, He's alive! Oh, come on. He's alive.

We've seen Him. Peter saw Him. Mary saw Him.

He's alive. And then He shows Himself to His brethren. Boy, you talk about believing now.

And all the things that they had heard and seen in Jesus, it all comes together. Now there's a beautiful picture of this. The brothers of Joseph sell Him out, put Him in a pit, sell Him into Egypt.

They think He's dead, right? He's gone. Forty years. Then one day, they're in need of food.

They go into Egypt. And lo and behold, they stand before Joseph. And Joseph reveals Himself to them.

And you know what? They run back and tell Jacob, He's alive! He's alive! They couldn't believe it. He's alive. And you know, there's a beautiful picture there.

Joseph is seated at the right hand of Pharaoh, second in command of Egypt. Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. Joseph fed His brethren.

And Jesus is feeding His brethren. Just this last chapter, we talk about the bread of life, spiritual food. So I'm thinking that maybe His brethren were a little bit envious of the Lord Jesus.

They didn't believe in Him. Verse 6 says this, Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come, but your time is always ready. Now Jesus knew that He would be killed during the Passover.

The Passover is another six or seven months into the next spring. He says, My time is not yet come. I'm not going to die.

It's not the will of My Father to die during the Feast of Tabernacles. My time is in the spring. And it will be in the next spring.

The next Passover. But He says, Your time is always ready. And brothers and sisters, that's something we need to remember.

Your time is always ready. Amen? That's why the Bible says today is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time because our time is always ready.

We have a sign that we take to college campuses. It's a picture of the Twin Towers and how those planes hit them. They're burning.

And on the bottom of that sign, it says it is appointed unto men once to die. And after this, the judgment. Long before the world began, the Lord knew those 3,000 or 4,000 people that died that day when they would die, how they would die.

He had foreknowledge of it all. It's appointed unto men once to die. It's interesting that every one of you have an appointment.

You know, I've thought about would I like to know my day? Probably not. But I have a day that's appointed for me. It's appointed unto men once to die.

And you know what? You're not going to escape that appointment. Amen? I read a story. It's kind of a fable type of a story, but it's a good illustration of an appointment.

There was a master, a rich man, who sent his servant down to the market in Baghdad over in Persia many years ago. That's what the story said. He sent him down to the market to buy some goods.

And while this servant was there in the market, he was bumped, rustled from behind. And he turned around and he saw the death angel there. And the death angel looked startled as he turned and saw him.

And this man was terrified. He fled from the market. And he went back to his master's house and he said, Master, Master, I was down in the market trying to buy your goods and I saw the death angel and he gave me a startled look.

And it terrified me. And so, Master, can you give me a horse and I'm going to flee to a city north of here, Samarra, to run from the death angel. So the master said, sure, take my horse and go.

So this servant got on a horse and fled to Samarra, about 40 miles north. Later on in the day, the master went down to the market. And while he was down there picking up the things the servant didn't get, he saw the death angel in the crowd.

He approached the death angel and he asked the death angel, excuse me, you know, why did you startle my servant this morning? The death angel looked at the master and said, startle him? Why, he startled me. Because I saw him here in Baghdad this morning but he has an appointment with me tonight in Samarra. And it startled me to see him here.

You know, it doesn't matter how you flee or try to flee from the death angel, the death angel is going to get you on your appointed day. And so Jesus says, my time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. Now, verse 7. Here's something we've talked about in the past.

The Bible says the second reason why Jesus was not liked. Excuse me here, He was hated. In verse 7, the world cannot hate you.

He's talking to His brethren here who are not believers. The world cannot hate you, but me it hateth, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil. Here is why the world hates me, Jesus says, because I testify of it that its works are evil.

Now there's a general principle in the world and Jesus is laying it out here that the world hates light. Darkness hates light. Just a few pages back, I'll read it.

We went over this before. But here's what Jesus said in John 3, verse 19, and this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Listen to this, for everyone that doeth evil hates the light.

Neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. Who was it this morning that said, if I'm living in sin, oh, Eli, I don't want to come to church. I don't want to show my faith.

Why? Because I'm in darkness and darkness hates light. If you don't believe darkness hates light, just turn your light on at 3 o'clock in the morning and see how your brother and sister reacted to sleeping at 3 o'clock in the morning. Just put the lights on.

See how much darkness... You won't make a lot of friends that way. Darkness hates the light. And Jesus says here that the world hates the light.

Darkness hates light because light reproves the darkness. Light rebukes the darkness. Light exposes the darkness.

That word reprove means to rebuke or to bring conviction or to expose. What does light do to darkness? If this room was totally dark and we brought light into it, what does light do to darkness? Light exposes the darkness and reveals hidden things. It brings conviction.

I think we ought to have conviction in a church. I think the Word of God ought to bring to light hidden things. Maybe this morning, the Word of God brought to light envy in a heart.

Oh, that's what that is, I feel, toward this person. Oh, that's sin. Well, God is not pleased with that.

So darkness hates light. Let me ask you this. Who is the light of the world? Jesus said, I am the light of the world.

The world is in darkness. I am the light of the world. The world hates Me because I am light.

And darkness hates light. What does the church call? You're a city set on a hill. You are the light of the world.

Should the church be hated by the world? This is something that Catherine Booth, the wife of William Booth, was troubled with. She said many years ago that I can see that the church is going to the world because of how little the world hates the church. And you can go out there and see the liberal church, how the world just goes walking hand in hand with them.

They like them. They accept them. They're pleased with them.

You know, it's sad that many people in the church are actually trying to get the world to like them. Listen, Jesus said they hate you. They're going to hate you.

They hated Me. They will hate you also. Well, what are Christians called? Children of light.

Children of light. Let's talk about those children of light. Turn to Ephesians chapter 5. I don't know if I was here, but maybe Brother Elson talked about this when he went through Ephesians.

But Paul talks about children of light in Ephesians chapter 5. And I know this is a concept that many people have a hard time embracing, but it's a biblical concept. Verse 8 of Ephesians 5 says this, For you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.

Okay, so here we are. You were in darkness. Now you're in light.

So now walk as children of light. So how do we walk as children of light? Let's read. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Don't hang around with them. Don't befriend them.

The unconverted, the unfruitful works of darkness. And here's where people don't like this part, but rather reprove them. Now that's what John 3 says.

The light reproves the deeds of darkness. Rather reprove them. Now, I've always taught throughout the years that true separation not only requires you to come out from them, but it also requires for you to turn around and reprove them.

Many people think separation is to come out from them and say nothing to them. Let them go on in their way in darkness. That's not being a child of light.

Verse 11 says, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it's a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. Does anyone think that there are people in the world that are doing things that are shameful? How about homosexuality? How about divorce and remarriage? How about lesbianism? How about the wickedness that's going on in this society? It's a shame even to speak of those things, Paul says, which are done of them in secret.

But now look at verse 13. But all things that are reproved, that's our responsibility, are made manifest by the light. For whatsoever doth make manifest is light.

In other words, if you're going to be a light, what you need to do is make manifest or reveal the darkness. Reprove the darkness. Bring to light the human conscience.

Sin. Verse 14, Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. You know, I think there's a lot of people in the church that are asleep.

Sleeping. Here is a world in darkness, and they are just letting them in darkness. And just, the Bible says they're asleep.

Not awake. So reproving the wickedness is light. Exposing the sin in our society is being a light.

Jesus said they hate me because I testify of their works, that they're evil. Now I don't apologize here today for going out and preaching against the sins of this society. I don't apologize at all.

It's as biblical as can be to preach. Now you do it with love. But the idea of we're trying to get the world to like us, it's not a biblical concept.

We're trying to bring reproof and instruction and correction to this world and in hopes that God can convict them of their sin and they can come to Jesus. So I go to a campus and I preach there and I preach against the sins of that community and that campus and the spirit is always this way. Don't speak those things.

Speak only love. And there's a reason why they say that. It's because they're in darkness.

And they love their darkness and they don't want light to reprove them. So they rebel against it. But brothers and sisters, that's what light is supposed to do.

If we as a church aren't exposing the sin of this society and speaking into it, then we're asleep. It says awake thou that sleepest. I have this illustration book.

Every once in a while I find a good one. I'll cut it out and put it in here. The first one here was something I got way back from some of the charity writings.

This is a good illustration about being asleep. Dear brothers and sisters, this is from a Christian. At 11.30 p.m. on April 14th, 1912, wireless telegraph operator Cyril Evans on the ship the Californian shut off his set and went to sleep.

Ten minutes later and only ten miles away, another ship, the Titanic, brushed an iceberg and ripped a 300-foot gash in its hull. The Titanic began sending distress signals by wireless which were picked up by several ships, none close enough to arrive on time. Two hours and 40 minutes later, while Cyril Evans slept in his bunk, 1,502 souls sunk to the bottom of the icy Atlantic Ocean.

Help me sleeping. Ten miles away. Wherefore, he says, awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you life.

Much of the church is asleep. You know, we talk about revival. We want revival.

Let me start here. I mean, if you're asleep, how are you going to have a revival? I like this passage. Although it's an Old Testament passage, Paul used it in the New Testament.

And he referred to it, and I'll read it to you in Ezekiel 3. He says this, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore, hear the word of my mouth and give them warning for me. When I say unto the wicked, those people out there, thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speaks to warn the wicked from his wicked way.

To save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity. But his blood will I require at thy hand. You know, we all know this.

But you see a blind man walking in darkness. You see that blind man heading toward a cliff. And Brother David's with me, and David says, someone say something to him.

Warn him. And I say, no, David, be quiet. Let's just let him go.

And he walks off the cliff and he dies. Do you know the law can put me in jail for that? For not warning and being negligent. That leads to someone's physical death.

You know, Paul said it this way. He said, I've warned you day and night with tears. Your blood is no longer in my hands anymore.

And so, we have a place to warn people. I know that many of you are not taught that way, but you need to relearn some things. There is a ministry for all of us, children of light, to be warning people that judgment's coming.

That sin is going to be judged. And people are going to spend an eternity in hell. I'd like to read a few more verses.

John talks about this in John 15. Something that we, I believe, need more of. John 15, verse 18.

Let's turn there a minute. And John speaks more about this in John 15, verse 18. He says, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.

I think Dennis mentioned this this morning. If you are of the world, the world would love his own. Boy, if the world likes you, that means you must be of the world.

Because if you're of the world, the world would love you. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord.

If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. That's a given. If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not Him that sent me. Now notice verse 22. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin, but now they have no cloak for their sin.

Here's what Jesus is saying. I came and spoke to them. I warned them.

John the Baptist warned Herod's wife, you shouldn't do that, it's wrong to take another man's wife and exposed it. Uncloaked it. You see, people walk around with a cloak on.

I was going to bring a coat today. They walk around cloaked, and they're hiding their sin. Right? And Jesus said, I went and spoke unto their life and uncloaked them, like the woman at the well.

Go call your husband. What? And all of a sudden the cloak came off. And so if we're ever going to get people converted, we have to uncloak them first and bring conviction to their heart that God can show them their sin, and then they can flee to Jesus.

And so Jesus did that. Verse 23, He that hateth Me, hateth My Father also. So you have this idea of being a light.

Paul said it this way, All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. If they persecuted Him, and He's a light, if you're a light, they'll persecute you. If He was a light and they hated Him, if you're a light, they'll hate you.

The fact that the church is accepted by the world sends a bad signal. Something's not right. Let's keep reading here.

Let's go to John 16. Let's jump ahead to John 16. There's other things Jesus says here in John 16 verse 7. John 16 verse 7, Nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away.

For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send Him unto you. This is what the Holy Spirit, talking about the Holy Spirit.

And when He has come, He will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. So John has a lot to say about this. John 3, here in John 7, John 15, John 16, When the Holy Spirit comes, He will use us as a vessel to reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment to come.

One of our challenges is this. I find this all the time. Jesus said that you're going to have to take up a cross, deny yourself, follow me.

And then He said this, Don't be ashamed of me and my words in this sinful and adulterous generation. There's a tendency for us to be ashamed and to shrink back. Well, let's go back here and keep reading in John 7. So Jesus says here, Not only did the Jews hate me for envy, but the world hates me because I testify of its works.

Verse 8, Go ye up unto this feast. I go not up yet unto the feast, for my time is not yet full come. So the Lord sends His brethren.

You go to the feast. I'll come a little later. Verse 9, When He had said these words unto them, He abode still in Galilee.

But when His brethren were gone up, then went He also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. So Jesus comes, not with a band of His family, probably not with a band of His disciples. He sends His disciples also.

He comes secretly. Now, is Jesus afraid? No, look down to verse 14. Now about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught.

And the Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? So He's not afraid. He's not fearful. But God has a purpose in it.

But the Lord has to go to this feast. It's a part of the requirements of the law. But let's keep reading here in verse number 11.

Then the Jews sought Him at the feast and said, Where is He? And there was much murmuring among the people concerning Him. For some said, He is a good man. Others said, Nay, but He deceives the people.

Howbeit, no man spake openly of Him for fear of the Jews. Now the Jews were a people that were held in by fear. Fear.

Can you imagine being at the feast and someone saying, Hey, have you heard about Jesus and the miracles? Shh! Don't say anything. If somebody hears you mention that name, they'll cast you out of the synagogue. And people were walking on eggshells for fear of the Jews.

The Jewish system promoted the fear of man. The Bible says the fear of man brings a snare. And there's something else I'd like to ask us all this morning.

Do we fear man? Are we afraid of what men think? Of what if we say something, what someone might think of us? Well, I better not say that. Someone will probably think bad of me. All these things cause us to be moved here and there and controlled by fear.

You don't have to fear. I didn't know this, but I just read one of my books here this morning that there's 365 times in the Bible that says fear not. One for every day.

Fear not. But the people here are held by fear. One more verse I want you to look at this morning.

Look at John 10. There's a story of this. Just a few chapters in front of us.

John 7. Jesus heals a blind man here. John 9. Verse 17. You know this story.

The blind man is healed. And verse 17 says, they say unto the blind man again, what sayest thou of him that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, he is a prophet. But the Jews did not believe concerning him that he had been blind and received his sight until they called the parents of him that had received his sight.

So they called Mom and Dad. And they asked them saying, is this your son that you say was born blind? How then doth he now see? His parents answered them and said, we know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But by what means he now seeth, we don't know.

Or who hath opened his eyes? Now they did know. We know not. He is of age.

Ask him. He shall speak for himself. In other words, they were afraid to say anything.

Now look at verse 22. These words spake his parents because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had agreed already that if any man did not confess that he was the Christ, or that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.

Therefore said his parents, he is of age. Ask him. They were controlled.

If you had visited Jerusalem in Jesus' day, the people were controlled by fear. We can't say anything because of the elders and the leaders. I mean, if you say something about Jesus or about this or that, you're going to get in trouble.

And that fear permeated the whole system. Do you ever say this in your heart? Well, I better not say that or I better not do this because someone might feel, you know, blah, blah, blah. Somebody might be upset with me.

And your life is controlled by the fear of people. Or are you really free? Are you free from the fear of man? Can you just live and be a Christian and serve God and not have the fear of man over you? Can you not be free to come up here and say, I'm failing, I've sinned, I've done wrong, and not have the fear of man, what man will say or what man will think of you? Can we not be free in our hearts from the fear of people and what they think and what they might say and how they might cast us out? Can't we just serve God? I should get an amen for that one, no? The fear of man is a snare. You know what a snare is? It's like that trap for the raccoon.

It holds you right in the same place. And if you have a fear of man today, you're not going to move anywhere in your spiritual life. You're stuck.

You're stuck. And if you feel like you're stuck, it might be because you just fear everybody and anybody. And you're afraid to just do the will of God.

The fear of man. If you'd have lived in Jesus' day and been a part of this group, that whole spirit was controlling the masses. Nobody said anything.

They wanted to say things. I believe in Jesus! I saw Him raise Lazarus from the dead! Ooh! This is going to get me kicked out of the synagogue. Don't fear man.

Fear God. The Bible says, fear not Him who can destroy your body, but fear Him who can destroy both body and soul. And so the atmosphere at the Feast of Tabernacles was an atmosphere of fear.

And people were in bondage, in a snare, the whole system. We as a church need to be free of the fear of man. Free of it.

It's not going to benefit us. What does God want you to do? Don't let fear control your life. Boy, I know a little bit about fear.

My wife can tell you. About 15 years ago, I went through a very deep valley of fear. Ooh! I don't want to go back there, but fear is a dreadful thing.

Some of you know what fear is like. Fear God. Don't fear men.

So we'll pick up here in verse number 14 next time. But I want to ask you questions here this morning. What about your heart? Is there envy? Fear of man? Are you open to being a light in this world? Or are you asleep? Now I'll tell you this, and I believe this with all my heart, when you get to the judgment and that lost soul that you knew and was living in sin stands before you, that lost soul is not going to say to you, I am so glad that you said nothing to me and didn't warn me of my sin.

I am just so glad. He's never going to say that to you. But he will say this, I know that you cared for me because you warned me of my sin.

Now I'm going to go to hell, but at least you warned me. Right? Isn't that just common sense? You warned me. Now I don't believe in just rebuking and having no compassion.

Paul warned men with tears. Our motivation to warn men ought to be the fear of God and the love of mankind, the love of the souls of men. How can we let humanity go to hell without a warning? And so Jesus was hated.

And I'll tell you what, you warned the homosexual. You warned the adulterer. Brother David and I were just talking this week a few days ago.

The Bible says in Romans 7 that if a man puts away his wife and he marries another, that woman who is married to another man while her husband is still living shall be called an adulteress. How many of you ever hear anyone talk about an adulteress today? You never hear that anymore. Nobody is called an adulteress.

Nobody is called a fornicator. We don't use those terms. Nobody is called a whoremonger.

Those terms are not politically correct, but they're biblically correct. The Bible says she shall be called an adulteress. You, young lady, are an adulteress.

Boy, you're going to get some heat from that one. You may end up getting your head cut off like John the Baptist did. But you're going to get stars in heaven for doing so.

And so, let's be open to believing. Darkness hates light. Darkness hated Jesus.

Darkness hates the church. Darkness ought to hate the children of light. Well, let's close with a word of prayer then.

We'll pick up here next week. Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word and the instruction in it. Lord, may You free us from envy and jealousy.

Lord, may the Spirit of God bring conviction to our hearts. May You free us from the fear of man that controls many. And Lord, may You free us from the fear of man that does not allow us to open our mouth and to warn the wicked of their wicked way.

And so, Lord, take Your Word today and use it for Your honor and for Your glory in our hearts. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

All right, does anyone have anything they'd like to add to that?