Knowledge An Understanding

Well, let's open our Bibles again this morning. We want to study His Word, rightly dividing the Word of Truth and trust this morning that the Word of the Lord can speak to our hearts. You know, this book was written in many ways in a Jewish setting.

Jesus here is ministering in Israel, but these words are not just for Jews, they are for all men. And these are principles about human nature and we can learn from these principles. Let's go this way here.

I'm in John chapter 7. We left off last time in John chapter 7 verse number 13. And so we want to do a little review and then look at verse 14 down through verse 24. Let's remember here that there are three main feasts amongst the Jewish people that every male, 20 years old and up, is required to be at every year.

The feast, well, let me give a test. What's the first feast? Who can tell me the first one of the year? Passover. Passover is symbolic of the day the Lord meets you.

That's the beginning. The blood of Jesus, casting the leaven out, repentance, seven days of the feast of unleavened bread following Passover, meaning we're now an unleavened people. That's why when we have the Lord's Supper, we take unleavened bread.

We're an unleavened people. What's the next feast? Pentecost. The feast of Pentecost, where the Spirit of God comes to us.

And if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. We have received the firstfruits of the Spirit. Another name for the feast of Pentecost is the feast of firstfruits.

And what's the third feast? Someone else. Tabernacles. Tabernacles.

God gave that feast as a reminder to the Jews that when He brought them out of Egypt after the Passover night that He had them dwelling in booths and in tents to teach them that when God delivers you and saves your soul, you ought not to be attached to this present world. You ought to live as a stranger in a pilgrim, as Abraham dwelling in tents, looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. And every year, those Jews, Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles.

God was saying, you need the blood of Jesus. You need the Holy Ghost. And you need to live as strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

And I tell you, you get those three, you got the center of what Christianity is from those three feasts. And so, Jesus here is about to come to the feast of Tabernacles. We saw that last week.

And the Jewish leaders know that Jesus has to come to this feast because He's a male, 20 years old and up. And so usually during the feast is when they would plot to get Him. And so, they're wanting to kill Him.

We talked last time about envy being the motivation for them wanting to kill Him. Even His own brothers and sisters are saying, Jesus, go on down to the feast. They didn't believe in Him.

There was envy there. They wanted Him to be killed. And so, the Lord Jesus sends them on their way and says, you go down to the feast.

I'll come down a little later. And then we read here in verse number 10 of chapter 7, but when His brethren were gone up, then went He also up into 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, the Lord comes to this feast kind of incognito, secretly.

He does not come with His family. I'm sure the people were there waiting. There's His family.

Look in the midst there. He's somewhere in the family. Or, no, there's His disciples.

Let's see if we can find Him in the midst of His disciples. But they look. Family? He's not there.

And they look. Disciples? He's not there. But the Lord had come kind of secretly.

And so, we come now to verse number 14, and I'd like to just walk down through these verses and give some lessons for us here from the Word of the Lord, starting in verse number 14. But let's pray and acknowledge the Lord here before we begin. Heavenly Father, again, I acknowledge You in all of our ways that You might direct our path.

And Lord, as I studied, I trust that You directed my own heart into the path that You'd have us to take here this morning. But I do desire that You'd change that path, if it's Your will, and You'd lead me along the path that You desire. Lord, may our hearts also be open to acknowledging You this morning as we hear, and that You would direct us to the path that You want us to go, each one of us, as we hear the Word of the Lord.

I pray You'll fashion it and equip it for each heart here today, Lord. And so we acknowledge You now. We need You.

We need Your help in everything that we do, especially in teaching and receiving the Word of the Lord. We pray Your blessing in Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, so we have the Lord.

He is going now to the temple. And we're going to start reading here in verse number 14. And verse number 14 says this, Now about the midst of the feast, sometime in the middle, Jesus went up into the temple and taught.

And so around the middle of the feast, Jesus manifests Himself. He goes into the temple and He begins to teach. Now in the temple is a courtyard.

You have the house of God where you have the Holy of Holies and all the things there with regards to the sacrifice. But out in front of the temple is a large courtyard. And it's in that courtyard that Jesus spends a lot of time teaching the people.

There are many people coming and going in that courtyard. As a matter of fact, in the next feast of the Passover, when He is going to be delivered up and crucified, they come to Him at night to get Him. And He says to them, Listen, I sat with you daily in the temple to teach, and you laid not your hands upon Me.

Why are you coming here in the evening? Well, they came in the evening to get Him because there were many people who thought He was a good man. Others thought He deceived the people. We read that last week.

So they came to get Him secretly. But Jesus would sit daily in the temple teaching. He is, may I say it this way, the personification of what wisdom is.

Proverbs 1 says, Wisdom crieth without. Wisdom utters her voice in the streets, in the chief places of concourse, that's where people are moving, in the opening of the gates of the city. She utters her words, crying, How long, ye simple ones, will you love simplicity? And you scorners delight in scorning, and you fools hate knowledge.

Why we need more of that crying out in the chief places of concourse. You know where Isaac was yesterday in the chief place of concourse, lifting up the voice and warning the simple, warning the scorner, and warning the fool. So if you were truly a follower of Jesus, you would often times sit in the temple courtyard and hear Him teaching the multitudes of people.

And sometimes when you're up in Galilee, you would be with Him and He'd be teaching 5,000 or He'd be teaching 3,000 or He'd be teaching 200. But He was always teaching the Word of God to people. He is the personification of wisdom.

Look down to John chapter 7, in verse 37, In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried. And so here the Lord Jesus lifts up His voice, wisdom crieth without. Wisdom cries out.

Lift up your voice as a trumpet, God told Jeremiah. Show my people their transgression. Brother, there's nothing wrong with lifting up your voice.

Jesus did it on a regular basis. Look over to John chapter 8, verse number 1. Jesus went up under the Mount of Olives and early in the morning, He came again into the temple and all the people came unto Him. And He sat down and He taught them.

And so this is the normal Christian experience here. Jesus rises early in the morning. And where is He heading? He's heading down where the people are.

He's heading down to the temple and He is teaching. And so if you're a follower of Jesus, you know, 7 o'clock in the morning, you're sleeping, who's at the door? It's Jesus. I'm Jesus.

I'm waiting for You to come. Let's go down to the temple. You're a follower of Me.

And we rise and we follow Him down to the temple early in the morning. And we observe Him teaching. And maybe we counsel with people.

And maybe He gives us the opportunity to teach also. But this is a daily activity in following Jesus. You know, that's something that you don't see much anymore in Christianity.

And something that's very lacking in the church today. We have a lot of people sitting and listening. We have a lot of learning.

We're going to see this in just the next verse or two. A lot of learning, not a lot of teaching. Going forth and teaching the Word of God.

And so Jesus is a public teacher. And those that follow Him are learning this as they go from place to place. Well, let's look at verse 15.

And the Jews marveled saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? And so they listened to His teaching. And they say, My, this guy is a good teacher. And how has he got this knowledge and wisdom and understanding? How does he do this? Because we looked into the records of the Jewish rabbinical schools.

And he's not in there. He's not sat under such teachers as Gamaliel. That's who Paul sat under, you remember? And he's not sat under these great teachers.

He's not been in our Jewish schools. They checked the records. And how does this guy know this stuff? How does he have this wisdom as he teaches the Word of God? Well, Jesus grew up in Galilee and he grew up in Galilee.

He was from Nazareth. He did not attend the religious schools in Judea. But his teaching was very profound.

And the people were amazed. It says they marveled. They marveled.

How does this man know this wisdom? Well, the Lord is going to answer them here in verse 16. He says, My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me. In other words, I am learning My doctrine from the One who sent Me.

And that is, I am learning it from My Father. I am getting, as Eli said, I'm getting, or someone read this morning, that wisdom that's coming from above. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives it to all men liberally and upbraids or does not rebuke you.

God will not rebuke you for coming and asking Him for wisdom. He upbraids us not. But He gives to all men freely.

And so Jesus learned His doctrine from His Father. I went to Bible school, but you don't have to go to any Bible schools. Amen? You don't have to pay any money.

You have an avenue whereby you can acquire all the wisdom that you desire. Well, there's a couple of things that Jesus did that helped Him acquire this wisdom. I'd like to just mention to you here this morning.

First of all, He had a desire for it. If any man hunger and thirst, after righteousness he shall be filled. Do you remember Him sitting at age 12? How many of you are 12 years old? We've got some 12-year-olds here.

He is sitting at age 12, and the Bible says in the book of Luke, He is asking questions and He is listening to the rabbis. He is listening to the elders at age 12. He was not a gamer.

He was not playing video games at age 12. He was seeking out wisdom. Praise God for that.

Some of you young people, you don't realize this, but as you get older, you're going to need wisdom. Not only for your life, but for eternity. You're going to need some wisdom.

And if you're a wise young man, you're going to spend your time like Jesus did, acquiring wisdom, and you're going to have to have some desire to do it. You say, why don't I have desire? I'll tell you why you don't have desire. Desire comes out of a heart that truly believes that Jesus is who He is.

If you don't have that belief in your heart, then you'll have no desire. And Jesus knew His Father. He had faith.

He believed the Scriptures. He knew there was an eternity. He knew that He needed wisdom.

And so He pursued it. You know, most of our issues are because we don't have any faith. We don't really believe.

We don't believe there's an eternity. We don't believe there's a heaven where people are blessed forever, and a hell where people are tormented forever. We truly don't believe that.

We don't believe that this truly is the Word of God. And that these are the words, as Paul told Timothy, these are the words that will help you get into eternal life. But Jesus, at 12, He believed it, and that belief drove Him down to the temple to sit and to listen to the rabbis and the elders, and to ask questions and to learn about the law of God.

And so, young people, I don't know. I'll just say this. You ought to be wise.

And this book ought to be at the center of your attention, the center of your life. Like the prophet Ezra, they all kept asking Ezra, what's in your hand there? What do you got in your hand, Ezra? He says, it's the law of the Lord. Ezra was a man who carried the book around all over the place.

He was a man who was known for that book in his hand. You know, what did God that people would have that book in their hand instead of that mechanical or that technological device in their hand? I mean, how much are we seeing people just looking and looking and looking and looking, and maybe they're looking at Bible verses, I don't know. But most of the time, they're not looking at those things.

They're looking at vanity. They're looking at foolishness, stuff that is going to lead you into apostasy. You know, the devil is deceiving some of you young people because what he wants you to do is just pass the time a little bit, you know? From 12 to 14 to 16 to 18 to 20, just pass the time because he knows something about you.

He knows that in youth is when your heart is tender, is when you can embrace the Word of God, when you can embrace the salvation in Christ Jesus. He knows you can be taught as a youth. You can memorize as a youth.

But as the days go by, the heart hardens, the eyes begin to close, and it becomes more and more difficult for you to get wisdom. And so he just keeps you moving down this direction, telling you you've got time in the future until someday you wake up and you realize you've wasted your life on stupid, foolish things. And here's the Lord.

He's 12. And He understands the value of wisdom. I was 19 years old before I realized the value of wisdom.

But from 19 to 30, I felt like I got at it. I spent a lot of time seeking wisdom, the Word of God. Some of you have such a great advantage.

You're 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 years old. You ought to be in this book here. You say, well, what's it draw? I don't understand it.

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Why don't you get in there and start working and laboring, and all of a sudden, God will open your eyes, and God will bless you, and that will prepare you for the rest of your life. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

You know, there was a day when someone hung before me a strawberry. I never tasted one before. I looked at it, probably said it doesn't look good.

But I tasted it. I've not gone back since. I love strawberries.

And so Jesus, He is seeking out wisdom. He has desire. And I know that you're very familiar with these verses.

Let me just read them to you and listen, young people. This is Solomon speaking to his son. My son, if thou will receive my words and hide my commandments with thee, so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to understanding.

That's what Jesus was doing. Teach me, rabbis. Yea, if thou cryest after knowledge and lift up thy voice for understanding, if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasure, then thou should understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

Yeah, you have to have some desire. Some of you have desires for silver and gold, and you go out and seek it out, and you'll labor and you'll work to get it. But God says you ought to have that same desire for the things of God, for wisdom.

Wisdom is the principal thing. Get wisdom. And with all you're getting, get understanding.

Well, you can't always convince people. Now, one day they'll be convinced. I wish we could convince you in your youth to seek wisdom.

Well, Jesus was a seeker of wisdom. Wisdom, first of all, comes from a desire to seek Him. And that desire comes from a heart of faith, a heart of true belief.

But another reason, and here's something I think we can talk to us older ones. We'll let the youth go by for a while. Yeah, the young people need to have desire, but here's something.

Another reason why Jesus was wise was because He obeyed what He learned. Look what it says in verse 17. If any man will do his will, he shall know the doctrine.

He shall understand the doctrine. He shall have light and understanding, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. Here's one of the ways to get wisdom, and that is when God gives you light to obey the light.

You know, there's so many people sitting in churches today. They hear and hear and hear and hear, and they get taught and taught and taught, but they don't obey what they're taught. And it leads them to darkness.

It leads them to deception. And so Jesus says this, if any man will do my will. Not just hear it.

If any man will do my will, then he'll know. He'll know of the doctrine. Jesus was not one that just gathered knowledge, but He also did it.

And that's at a different level. He had what the Bible calls understanding. Knowledge is up here, and understanding is down here.

Knowledge and understanding. You know, you can borrow knowledge. You can go to the library and get a lot of knowledge.

You go on YouTube, you get all the knowledge you want. It's amazing the knowledge you can get. But you cannot borrow character.

You can borrow knowledge, and you're going to get some knowledge here today. We're going to go through the Bible, and we're going to talk about knowledge. But knowledge has to get to understanding.

Right there is the fourth soil. That heart which hears the Word of God and what? Understands it. Which brings forth fruit.

Obedience. That's the heart that has a fruitful life. And a lot of people in the church, there's probably some here this morning, that just acquire knowledge.

In their mind, it's all about knowledge. But I'm telling you that knowledge is not what you want solely. You need to get much deeper than knowledge.

You need to get down to understanding. Understanding. What is understanding? Understanding is taking what you've been taught and making the application to your life.

Applying it. Knowledge is a good thing, but if it doesn't lead to obedience, it's a dangerous thing. The Bible tells you that.

James 1.22 says, But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only. What's the next few words? Deceiving your own selves. Deceiving your own selves.

And so you read the Bible, you understand, you look into it, and you see what it says. And you don't actually do it. You don't have... You know where this heart is right here? This is that broken and contrite heart.

That ground that is soft. That ground that the Word of God finds a place to grow and be deeply rooted. But there are many who are hearers of the Word and not doers.

And they deceive themselves. Now, let's go back to the Jewish people. And this is what Jesus is dealing with all the time.

These people had a lot of knowledge. As a matter of fact, they could even say, Hey, we searched the Scriptures. No prophet comes out of Galilee.

You know, isn't he supposed to be born in this place and that place? And they knew the Scriptures. They were lawyers. They had a good understanding of the Scriptures.

But down at the heart level, down at the spirit and the level of their human will, they were stiff-necked. They were uncircumcised in heart. As Stephen said, they were resisting doing the will of God.

And so they were blind. Blind people. Hypocrites.

Why? And Elson mentioned it a few weeks ago. Why? Because Matthew 23 says they say they understand the knowledge, but they do not. They do not do what the Scripture says.

Well, there's another adverse effect that knowledge can have if you don't do what you know. And that is, knowledge puffeth up. You think knowledge is a good thing.

Yes, but knowledge without an obedient heart down here actually puffs you up. You know, I know a lot of things. I'm not doing a lot of things, but I know a lot of things.

And we think we're somebody because of what we know. Knowledge has a tendency to puff you up. But if you're a broken and contrite heart, and you have a humble heart, and you fear God, knowledge will change your life.

But if you don't have a broken and contrite heart this morning, and your heart is self-willed, and you keep getting knowledge and knowledge and knowledge, that knowledge is going to puff you up. And so certainly, not only were the Jewish people blind, but they were very proud people. So knowledge to a broken and contrite heart leads to obedience and blessing.

Knowledge to a self-willed and hard heart leads to pride and deception. And boy, I tell you what, many in the church today are proud and deceived, and not broken and fruitful. You've heard this illustration, I'm sure.

That very sun out there, and it's going to be a hot one today, where that very sun can melt wax, but it can turn clay to a rock. And this stuff right here has the potential to a broken and contrite heart to melt it and to prosper its life, but it also has the potential to make your heart as hard as a rock. To harden your heart.

And so what Jesus is saying here is this, that God does not give revelation to those unwilling to do His will. Some of you sit here and you say, this book is dry. I read it week after week, day after day, I don't get any revelation.

Revelation doesn't come to you if you're not willing to do what it says. So the reason why it's dry is because your heart is unwilling to obey it. It is asking of you things that you're unwilling to do.

Said an amen or what? And so if you're willing here this morning, and God knows your heart is broken, and in your heart you're saying, Lord, whatever You want, You know that's what I want to do, then God will open the Scriptures to you. But if your heart is not there, don't expect to know the doctrine or know His will. And so Jesus was one who came not to do His own will.

But the will of My Father, guess what? He got a lot of revelation. He had a lot of understanding. And when they heard Him preach, it wasn't like the scribes and the Pharisees.

This guy has some depth. How is he getting this? He's not been to our schools. The Lord says, I'll tell you how I get it.

I do the will of God. I do His will. I like that story, the first miracle that Jesus did.

I've shared this before, but Jesus asked the servants. He said, Hey, servant, come over here and get these pots and fill them with water. So what did the servants do? They went and got the pots, filled them with water, and filled them with brim.

Obedient. And then Jesus turned those pots of water to wine. And then everyone at the feast tasted this wine and said, Wow, this is good stuff.

Where did this stuff come from? And the Bible says that nobody knew, but the servants knew. Yeah, those who are willing to do what He said, they're the ones who found the secret. They're the ones who saw what no one else saw.

Those who are willing to do what He said. So just to throw this out, the book of Daniel says, He that wins souls is wise. The Great Commission.

Are you willing to do what God says to do? Are you willing to go out and win souls? You say, if I win souls, does that make me wise? Well, if you go out and win souls and obey the Lord, He'll open up wisdom to you. I'm lacking in wisdom. Where are you obeying? Are you obeying the Lord? Well, one thing I'd like to share here, just to clarify something, that this doing His will is from the heart.

Brother Elson, when he taught through Ephesians chapter 6, he read these verses. Listen to what Paul says here. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters.

And this is good for us before the Lord. We're a servant. He's a master.

According to the flesh with fear and trembling, that's in the heart, in singleness of your heart as unto Christ, not with eye service. Where's the servant? Where's the master? He's not here. Well, we can fool around now.

Not with eye service as men pleasers, but as servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. With good will doing service as unto the Lord and not unto men. This obedience that the Lord is talking about is an obedience coming out of a broken and a contrite heart.

Now let me ask, now here's the tricky part. You would have gone to a Jew in Jesus' day and you'd ask them, are you doing the will of God? What do you think they'd say? If any man will do my will, he shall know the doctrine. Well, we're doing it.

We're here at the Feast of Tabernacles. We're obeying your will. I mean, look at us.

We're doing the will of God, but they were not doing the will of God from the heart. Outwardly, the Bible says they appeared righteous unto men, but inwardly, in the heart, they were rebels. Their hearts were hardened and blinded and deceived, but outwardly, they did the will of God.

And so this obedience is coming from the heart. I like Philippians chapter 3. Paul talks about all the things that he did. It's an amazing statement.

He says, according to the righteousness of the law, I was, what? Blameless. Blameless. You know, Paul wasn't some sort of external rebel.

He was at every feast. He offered every sacrifice. As far as the ceremonial aspects of the law, he was blameless.

If you had asked him, Paul, are you doing the will of God? He'd say, I'm doing the will of God. But in his heart, he was a rebel. He was in darkness.

He was actually opposing the church and the Lord Jesus. And so when the Bible talks about here, if any man will do his will, Jesus is talking about from the heart, from the inner man. I read these verses a while back, but turn with me to Romans chapter 2. Hold your finger there.

Romans chapter 2. This whole thing is brought out here in Romans 2. Paul is talking to the nation of Israel. In verse 17, I'm not going to read this whole passage down through verse 29, but look at the attitude here in verse 17 of chapter 2. Behold, thou art called a Jew and restest in the law. In other words, we have knowledge.

We have knowledge. And makest thy boast of God. We're God's people.

And knowest his will. There's knowledge and approves the things that are more excellent being instructed out of the law and are confident. There's the pride that thou art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes which has the form of knowledge and of truth in the law.

So here you go. That's what they were. But here's the problem.

Verse 21. Thou, therefore, which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest, a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest, a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that apportest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? In other words, they were saying, don't do these things, don't do these things, but in secret, they were doing them. As far as God's perspective of them, they were ungodly, wicked people, but as far as man's perspective of them, they were righteous, godly people.

Verse 23. Thou that makest thy boast of the law through breaking the law dishonest thou God. He talks about circumcision here.

Jesus will talk about that here just a little bit in John, but look down to verse 28. For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, up here with knowledge and all the outward expressions, but he is a Jew, verse 29, which is one inwardly. And the circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter.

So here's the problem with what Jesus is facing in Judaism. They know a lot, they look good on the outside, but inside of their hearts, it's a mess. And you're human and I'm human, and you know that there are times in our life where we come to this place right here and we put on a smile and we dress the way we ought to dress, but we know that on the insides, we're a mess.

Right? Maybe I'm the only one who experiences that. Well, God is concerned about that mess on the inside. Well, at the end of verse 29, it says, whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Whose praise is not of men, but of God. And you know, these two, this here is seeking the praise of men. When you come down to this level, you've got a broken and contrite heart, you don't care what men think.

Amen? I know when my heart is broken before God and my heart is contrite, it doesn't matter what people think of me. All that matters is what God thinks of me. And that is the utmost importance for me is, God, how am I in your sight? And so the Jews very much were seeking the praise of men.

You know why? They weren't concerned about the inside. They were seeking the praises of men. And so they were men-pleasers.

And all this falls into the same category. They were all men-pleasers. I love this passage in Matthew.

It says that all their works they do to be seen of men. That's all they do. That's the reason why they do what they do.

It's just to be seen of men. So let's go back now to John 7. John 7. He says here that His doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.

There's two ways. I'm either speaking and giving glory to myself, or I'm giving glory to my Father. Verse 18, He that speaketh of himself seeks his own glory, but he that seeks his glory that sent him, that's my Father, the same is true.

I'm speaking of Him and I'm seeking His glory. And no unrighteousness is in Him. The glory of men or the glory of God.

Let me ask you, what are you seeking today? I mean, this is real for us. I know sometimes we take these passages and say, well, this is for a bunch of Jewish people 2,000 years ago. No, it's for human nature.

It's for all of us. Let me ask you in your heart, in the depths of your heart, what do you really seek after? The praises of man or the praises of God? I'm going to ask you to turn to a couple of places here this morning, so don't get weary with it. Matthew 6 is a good passage here.

Matthew 6 talking about the glory of men or the glory of God. Let's read in Matthew 6. This is a Sermon on the Mount. Very familiar verses.

Starting in verse 1 of chapter 6, take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them. Otherwise, you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogue and in the streets, that they may have glory of men.

That's the whole system. Glory of men. Verse 3, but when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be done in secret, and thy Father would see it in secret, and so shall reward thee openly.

You know, our inside religion, that secret religion that nobody else sees, that's where you ought to be focused on. Because that's what brings glory to God. You know, when your heart is in the right place, broken and contrite, and it's all right on the inside, and you're at peace with God and yourself, that's when the glory comes to God.

You know, if you were a Jew back then, you didn't care about the inside. All you cared about was making sure everybody sees you. You know? Am I doing right? Is everybody looking? Because you wanted the glory of men.

And we can go on here. I don't want to look at all these, but it says when you pray, don't be as the hypocrites. They love to pray on the corners, and they make a big show of it, for they want to be seen of men.

Verse 6, But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which is in secret shall reward thee openly, that your great concern, Jesus says, is for a secret religion, the inward religion, where God can be glorified by a pure inward life. So let me ask you, what concerns you today? Well, let's go back. We can read about fasting, but we're not going to do that.

Look over to John chapter 7 again. Let's keep going down through here. And so Jesus said that he that speaks of himself seeks his own glory, but he that seeks his glory that sent him the same is true.

By the way, Jesus did not speak of himself. He did not point to himself. He pointed men to his Father.

Gave glory to his Father. Verse 19, Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keep the law? Why go you about to kill me? You know, they could have said, but Lord, we are keeping the law. We're at the Feast of Tabernacles.

You know, we're keeping the law. Here we are. Moses gave them the law, but they did not keep it.

It was not in their hearts. Jesus said they worship Me with their lips, but their hearts is far from Me. There are people here today that worship God with their lips, but their heart is far from Him.

I didn't get an amen on that one. I mean, seriously, there are people here today who come here, who show themselves to be a Christian, who sing songs, who communicate, but their heart is far from God. It's even here.

And so you can sit here and attend to the Lord. Attend the Tabernacle Feast. Attend Passover Feast.

Do all the outward things. And yet, be reprobate. Why do you go about to kill Me? You know why? We talked about this last week.

What? He says, listen, Moses gave you people the law. You don't even obey Him. Why are you trying to kill Me? I'm obeying Him outside and inside.

Why do you want to kill Me? You know why they wanted to kill Him? We talked about this last week. Envy. You know, they had some issues in their heart.

Envy. They delivered Him up for envy. And Jesus would always preach to that old heart.

And He kept attacking that old heart. And those people just were angry that He kept preaching at that old heart. Because they wanted to make a show of religion.

They were tired of hearing about the heart. Well, get used to it. You're going to read your Bible.

You're going to read a lot about the heart. You're going to read a lot about the inner man. Well, let's keep reading here.

Verse 20, the people answered and said, thou is the devil, who goeth about to kill thee. Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and you all marvel. Now, here's what happened three months prior at the Feast of Pentecost.

We read this back in John chapter 5. At the Feast of Pentecost, Jesus comes and He goes into the temple and He finds this man sitting beside the pool. Remember him? And he's been there for 38 years. And the Lord has compassion on him and mercy, and He heals this man, and this man is up and telling everybody.

And in Jerusalem and amongst the Jews, this is a huge ordeal. This man who they've known for 38 years, who is paralyzed, is now up walking around. It happened in June.

Feast of Pentecost. Three months. There's been a lot of talk.

Who is this Jesus? Some say He's a good man. Some say He's a deceiver. Now we come back three months later.

Everybody's coming back into Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. And they're still on what happened back here. And that's what Jesus is talking about.

I have done one work and you all marvel. And He goes on to talk about, in verse 22 and 23, what happened. Let's read it.

Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision, not because it is of Moses but of the fathers. Abraham was one who actually started it. And ye on the Sabbath day circumcised a man.

So you people, you Jews, you bring a man in and you circumcise him on the Sabbath day. You don't think anything of it. As long as it's outward, you know, this outward thing, a form of knowledge and the externals, you can do it.

It's fine. But then he says in verse 23, if a man on the Sabbath day receives circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry at me? Because I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day? Why are you upset at me? My circumcision went all the way through. I made a man every whit... I mean, I cleansed him all the way down on the inside.

I circumcised his heart. And you're angry at me. Well, in the Bible, there are two forms of circumcision.

One is an outward circumcision in the flesh, the cutting of the foreskin of a male. And of course, the Jews boasted in the fact that they were circumcised. How many of you, how many Jews do you think that were actually circumcised, but were living a wicked life in the heart? There was a lot of them.

And yet what they would do is say, but I'm circumcised. And somehow they would rest and boast in the fact that they have this cut, this mark in their flesh, in their outward exteriors, and that was their trust and boast in their religion. But the Bible says there's another circumcision, and that's the circumcision of the heart.

Colossians talks about how that you and I who are children of God have been circumcised in the heart. We have been made every whit whole. And by the way, that's the circumcision that you want right there.

That's the broken and the contrite heart. You might come as a Jew and present your body as a male and say, I want to be circumcised. And they will circumcise and cut away the foreskin of your physical body.

But God was not interested in that. That was simply a type and a shadow. What He wants you to do is come and He wants you to present yourself to Him and say, I want you to circumcise this old wicked heart.

I mean, I want you to cut the foreskin of my heart away and cut the love of the world away. Cut the love of sin away. Cut the love of immorality away.

I want you to cut it all away. I want to be circumcised in the heart. In other words, I want to have just a broken and a contrite heart.

That kind of sacrifice, the Bible says, He'll not despise. Well, Jesus would do that kind of work on the Sabbath day. And that's why they were so angry at Him.

A lot of times it was envy and jealousy. But He circumcised all the way through. By the way, if you're truly a child of God here this morning, you've been circumcised all the way through.

And I'll say this, I can say it with confidence, if the inside of you has not been changed, if the inside affections have not been changed, if you're still dealing with the darkness that was inside of you before you were converted and after you were converted, you never got circumcised. You never got circumcised. That heart never changed.

And so we need a circumcision. And I think one of the problems we face in the church today is people don't come to the place where they're done with themselves. I mean, I don't have a lot of experience, but I know this, when I was 21, 22 years old, I literally came to the end of me.

I mean, it was over. I've told you this before. My life was over.

It was done. It was no longer me anymore. And I love that position where I was back then, where it was truly done.

I didn't care what job I had. It didn't matter to me. I told you before, I was a college graduate.

And after the Lord led me out of this nice job down in Houston, Texas, I threw newspapers. Of all newspapers, the Gary Post Tribune. If you know anything about Gary, Indiana, I mean, it's a nasty place.

I threw the newspapers. My father was embarrassed to tell people when they come and say, hey, what's your son, Jerry? You know, that college graduate? What's he doing now? He's a newspaper delivery boy. I didn't care.

It didn't matter. I wanted to serve God. My heart was broken.

And I didn't care what people thought of me. It didn't matter. All I cared about was what God thought of me.

To have a broken heart. You see, when Jesus was with the Jewish people they had a lot of knowledge. They could tell you the right answers.

They could do all those things. They looked good on the outside. But down here, doing the will of God from the heart, nothing doing.

Nothing doing. Well, let's close here with verse 24. And he closes with this lesson.

Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment. You can imagine why he tells them, don't judge people up here. Judge them down here.

You want to discern? You want to have discernment in your life? Don't do it up here. Do it down here. Don't judge according to appearance, but judge righteous.

And Brother Ellison said this a couple of weeks ago. Righteous means right. Judge right judgment.

You want to get it right every time? You want to get your judgment right every time? Do it down here. You want to get it right 60%, 80% of the time? Do it up here. But when Jesus tells you to judge, he says, I want you to get it right all the time.

Judge righteous judgment. Now, why should we judge not according to appearance? There's two reasons. Number one, because he said so.

You know, my little boy, Zachy, right here. Zach, get off the table. Why? Zach, don't touch that cake.

Why? And you know what I always say? Because I said so. That's all it takes. Jesus said to not do it.

Don't judge according to appearance. Isn't that enough? Don't do it. Well, here's one of those commandments that people break on a regular basis.

Judge not according to appearance. That's a commandment, by the way. Well, the most important reason, well, no, I can't say this is the most important reason.

I would say the most important reason is do it because he said so. But the second reason is do it because it's not a reliable form of judgment. Now, let's just ask this question.

If you were judging a Jew in Jesus' day and you were judging Jesus in his day and you looked at the outward Jew and you looked at the outward Jesus, do you know what? You'd have found no difference in the two. They looked the same. They talked.

They had knowledge. They looked the same. The only problem was when you came down inside and looked at the spirit and heart of the Jew, it was much different than here.

Oh, boy, was it different. And that's why Jesus always would expose this thing right here. Ah, here's where you're messed up.

He always brought the spotlight to the Jew right here. And the Jew hated it because he was exposing the Jew. And so would circumcision be a reliable form of judgment in Jesus' day? Would circumcision... Hey, have you been circumcised? Yeah, I've been circumcised.

Oh, you're a good Jew, aren't you? God loves you. I'm sure He's pleased with you. No, because all the Jews are circumcised.

Would it be accurate to judge people based upon circumcision? No, it wouldn't. And so sometimes we make mistakes. Now, sometimes you'd see a Jew that was circumcised like Simon, Anna.

No, Anna wouldn't be circumcised. She was like Simon. And you hit it right.

And here's the man that circumcised. He's got a good heart. But you know, we make mistakes when we base our judgment on appearance.

And I shared this with you a few months ago, but turn back to Matthew 7. I have a few more minutes here this morning. I have another page in my notes. Matthew 7, and the Lord warns us here in verse 15.

He says in Matthew 7, verse 15, Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Now, it says here that false prophets come to you in sheep's clothes or they look outwardly like good people. By the way, the devil doesn't send false prophets to us who don't look like us.

You know, he doesn't send a false prophet in here with gaudy jewelry and shorts and a tank top. He doesn't do that because when he sends a false prophet, he tries to make that person, that individual look very much the part. For example, if I go into Walmart with a $100 counterfeit bill and I make my counterfeit bill red, and I hand the lady at the counter my red $100 counterfeit bill, you know what she'll do? She'll laugh.

Where did you get this? This is funny. Hand it back to me. Because nobody would try to counterfeit it that way.

But if I make my $100 bill green, and it's very, very close to real money, and I walk in and I say, here's my money, and she takes it and looks good, and then she steals it when she puts it in the counter, and she goes alongside and pushes a button by her register, and I'm standing there. Ten seconds later, the manager shows up with security people. Oh, wait a minute.

Let me see that $100 bill. Well, it's a counterfeit. I go to jail.

Nobody counterfeits money and makes it red. And so when the devil sends counterfeit people here, and there are probably some here, he always sends them in sheep's clothing. You see, I don't get too concerned when I see the shorts and the hairdos and the makeup.

I don't get too concerned about that. I get concerned about when people look the part. They look the part.

They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inside, they're ravening wolves. And that's why Jesus says, don't judge based upon the outside. Actually, if you judge based upon the outside, you're actually playing right into the hands of the devil.

The devil would love you to judge based on appearance because he's going to send you some people that look real, real good. Would you agree? I'm going to send them people that have sheep's clothing. And unfortunately, many people just say, you look good on the outside, you're good to go.

But I want to also say this just to balance this out. If you're right on the inside, ultimately, you're going to get right on the outside. Amen? If you have a broken and contrite heart and you want to do the will of God, there's going to come a time and it's probably going to come soon that God is going to say, you need to get that haircut, man.

You need to get that pair of pants on, lady. You need to get rid of that makeup, young lady. You need to get rid of those jewelry.

That is going to come into line. So let's just throw that in. But if you're a judge and you're trying to judge people where they're at, Jesus says, do not judge them based upon appearance, but judge right judgment.

Judgment that will never do wrong. I want to judge. Let's say the Lord asks you, I'm going to give you two methods of judgment.

One method gets you right eight out of ten times. The other method gets you right ten out of ten. Who would take the eight out of ten? None of us would.

And so righteous judgment is that which gets you right every time. Now He goes on here and He says this, Beware of false prophets, verse 15, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. You shall know them by their fruits.

In other words, you're going to know them by what comes out of here, the well. What is the fruit that's coming out of the heart? And of course, we know what the fruits are, the fruits of the Spirit, love and joy and peace and longsuffering and gentleness and goodness and faith and temperance. What is coming out of the Spirit? And Jesus says in verse 20, By their fruits you shall know them.

Right? So when I judge a person, I try to look at what's coming out of their heart. What is the Spirit and the attitude? Here's something interesting. Let's keep reading because this actually goes on.

In verse 21, Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he, now notice this, He that doeth the will of my Father. Here we go again. Now is this the will of His Father from the heart? Amen.

He that does the will of my Father, look what it says, Many will come to me and say, I prophesied. You know, you can be a preacher. And have a wicked heart.

I cast out devils. I believe Judas cast out devils. He had a wicked heart.

Done many wonderful works. Miracles. You can do those things and have a wicked heart.

And then I'll profess unto you, I never knew you. Depart from me ye that work iniquity. Now here's something interesting.

In verse 24, Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them. What sayings is he talking about there? What sayings? Whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them. You know what these sayings are? The Sermon on the Mount.

Right here. He is concluding the sermon. He's bringing the invitation.

Whoever hears these sayings. Now just listen to these sayings for a minute. And ask yourself this question.

Is the Lord talking about this or this? Let me just give you a few of them. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are they that mourn.

Blessed are they that are meek. Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst. Blessed are the merciful.

Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. You have heard that it was said of them of old time, don't murder.

But I say unto you, whoever hates his brother is a murderer. You have heard it hath been said, do not commit adultery. You know, that's up here at this level.

But I say unto you, whoever looks upon a woman to lust, is an adulterer in his heart. And on and on he talks about the inner man. Matthew 6, the verses we read, secret life.

The secret religion. And then he says, and I agree Brother Elson shared this a few weeks ago, he said this, except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you don't have the real thing. Unless your righteousness does not get down to that heart, you don't have the real thing.

You're an imposter, right? And so, judge according not to appearance, but judge righteous judgment. What you want to find out is what's in a person's heart. The spirit and the attitude of the heart.

That's where judgment ought to be made. And so the Lord gives us that lesson here in John chapter 7. He is dealing with a people who have a lot of knowledge, who can tell you right from wrong. He is dealing with a people who look good on the outside, but he's dealing with a people whose heart is far from God.

And if you judge those people based upon their externals, you're going to be way off. And today, if you judge people based on externals, you're going to be way off. Find out what's in that spirit.

Do you know if a man has a broken and a contrite heart, out of that spirit will come humility. Out of that spirit will come mercy, gentleness. All the fruits of the Spirit will come out of that heart.

And so if you want to judge righteously, ask yourself the question of, is there a good spirit? Is there a good heart? And if you judge that way, Jesus said, judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Thank God you'll get it right every single time. And you won't make any mistakes.

And that's what the Lord's desire is, His heart, here in John chapter 7. So we'll pick up in verse 25 next time. Let's close with a word of prayer, then we'll open it up to anyone who'd like to share. Heavenly Father, we thank you again.

And Lord, may we also know the doctrine. May we also have a heart that is truly broken and contrite, that we might receive understanding and revelation from you. Lord, search our hearts and know us.

See if there'd be any wicked way in us. You who know the heart and thoughts of all men. And so we pray your blessing, Lord, upon these words now.

In Jesus' name, amen. All right. Does anyone have anything they'd like to share this morning? Thank you, Lord, for revealing truth.