I also have been struggling with the head cold that I hear a number of you struggling with. So you have my express permission to clear your throat, to hack or cough if you need to. I have a bottle of water because I took a suit of fed and I am as dry as a cotton ball. And so I will be sipping at my water bottle while you are coughing and we will all rejoice in our infirmities together. But let's turn now to God's word as we take that journey of suffering and rejoice in his word instead. John chapter 7. John chapter 7. I have to do two things with this chapter in the verses that we have remaining from verse 10 forward. The task is simply too large and as I began to look at breaking the chapter up into individual sermons, I realized that I was losing something by not looking at it as a whole. Because the whole is an event that took place during the Feast of Tabernacles and by taking each portion of it, we lose the context of that Feast of Tabernacles. And so this morning we need to answer a couple of questions regarding the identity of Christ which are asking these first verses which are important especially at this time of the year. They are important every time of the year, I only say especially now because this is when people are willing to hear us say who Jesus Christ is. They're willing to hear the argument and the argument must be made. But then I also want to take a look at the historical event of the Feast of Booz or the Feast of Tabernacles because we will learn so much by Jesus' interaction in the Feast of Tabernacles that will completely be lost upon us if we simply do not understand how the Jews themselves were witnessing and hearing what Christ was bringing to them. Let's look first at these first few verses in John chapter 7, chapter 7, verse 10, through verse 18. After this his brothers had gone up to the Feast. Then he also went up not publicly but in private. The Jews were looking for him at the Feast and saying where is he? And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said he is a good man, others said no he is leading the people astray. Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him. About the middle of the Feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. The Jews therefore marveled saying how is it that this man has learning when he has never studied? So Jesus answered them, my teaching is not mine but his who sent me, if anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory. But the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true and in him there is no falsehood. Lord bless the reading of his word. Who is Jesus? Who is Jesus? After in this setting it seems that the answer is obvious but I will bet you. If I were a betting man and if betting was something that the Bible actually would promote, that there are some even here who are not as clear in their thinking on who Jesus is as one might imagine. Who is Jesus? Making the question requires us to have a biblical pattern of thinking. For the question is vast. Who is Jesus? We use our creeds to help us to learn and to profess before the world and to confess with one another and as a testimony of our faith, saying essentially that these are words that we agree on, we use our creeds to help us understand who Jesus is. One of the Virgin Mary that he was incarnate, the only begotten Son of God, a suffered under Pontius Pilate was raised on the third day. We understand that Jesus existed in all eternity but is that the world's understanding of Jesus? When people reject Jesus, do they reject him because they have heard who he is and simply do not buy it or do they reject their notions of who Jesus is? Do they reject who they have been told or even better? Do they reject simply who they suppose Jesus to be? I marvel all the time at the extreme degree of confidence people have in their own opinion and their own deductions which are usually unstudied and unfaught out without consulting the Scriptures, without consulting anyone who has read through the Scriptures, without reading any secondary sources or books or a theology of any sort whatsoever, without looking at the confessions of faith, people will stand up and they will answer any question concerning church and ministry and Christ and God that you might ask. With great confidence because it's just what they've always believed, what's the root of that? Where did they learn that information? They would probably be a little vexed to discover that. They would struggle to discover and to tell you how they came to the opinions that they did. It was formed through sermons that they've heard, a Sunday school teacher that taught them hymns that they have sung and by and large the cultural expressions that have pressed in upon the church to identify for us who Christ is. And it does that in seasons that we consider to be religious holidays such as the one we're entering now which is the Christmas season which also happens at Easter as the culture turns a religious observance back towards the church and tells the church who Christ is and what the resurrection is and we buy it, buy in large. Who is Jesus? There are some who would press that Jesus was nothing but a prophet or a teacher. At a website called the Freedom from Religion Foundation, I found this introductory commentary. Jesus has been held in high regard by Christians and non-Christians alike. Regardless of whether he existed in history or whether he was divine, many have asserted that the New Testament Christ character was the highest example of moral living. Many believe that his teachings if truly understood and followed would make this a better world. That sounds as if it's a complimentary statement but it trivializes Christ. It trivializes him because now he's being cast as a moral teacher and the world has seen many moral teachers, Confucius, Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi, all of these moral teachers, Islam has moral teachers. Do we need another moral teacher? Do we need a moral teacher in Christ? Well this website goes on to actually debunk many of the sayings of Christ because it takes them out of context. It talks about his promotion of eternal torment and it quotes some verses where Jesus talks about people being cast into a lake of fire or he talks about people who will suffer eternal damnation if they don't come through him to God. And then they begin to even attack his moral advice. They talk about in Matthew 529 when he says if you do something wrong with your eye or hand that you should cut it off or pluck your eye out and they talk about what sort of barbarism is this that the Scriptures would teach that if you're thinking of doing something wrong you should cut off your hands or pluck out your eyes. They say that Jesus prohibited marrying a divorced woman and they say that marrying a divorced woman or say as a higher moral value than prohibiting it they say that Jesus suggested we should never plan for the future because we shouldn't worry about tomorrow because today has enough of its own that we shouldn't save money because after all it's the rich man that struggles with his spiritual life that we should sell everything and give it to the poor that we shouldn't work to obtain food that any sexual urge is a bad thing that many people will be looking to persecute us and we should look for that that if anyone steals from us we should never try to get it back and if someone hits us that we should invite them to hit us again and again and that these things were the teachings of Christ and so on this website if anyone would read this they would become convinced that maybe Jesus wasn't a good moral teacher at all in fact he may have been insane and then they would wonder how is it that a church has existed over 2,000 years following these kinds of teachings but you don't have to be a guest Christ you can actually be in favor of Christ but still not accept him there are certainly people that are very secular in their thinking that have come to Christ and have an appreciation of Jesus without actually believing in him for salvation Miguel Gorbachev, the prior leader of the Soviet Union, President of the Soviet Union said Jesus was the first socialist because he was the first to seek a better life for mankind. Jesus the socialist for those in the Soviet Union Martin Luther King Jr. considered an orthodox believer but this comment is a little bit of a mystery Jesus was an extremist for love and truth and goodness was Jesus an extremist he's a socialist he's an extremist and then Prince Philip who lived in the 1920s and 30s said he might be described as an underprivileged working class victim of political and religious persecution so he was a political activist one who was working with some sort of a movement against political and religious persecution does any of this have any relevance to our passage certainly how did we begin our passage with people talking about Jesus and wondering who he was look at our passage again the Jews were looking for him at the feast and saying where is he first we have the Jews that term used to describe the religious leaders and what they're doing at this feast of tabernacles is they're watching the caravans come in from Galilee and they're saying with contempt because there's exacerbation in this where is he they don't even name him by name they're looking for him they're exacerbated where is he they're waiting for Jesus which is what Jesus anticipated remember last week we read the verses where his brothers were saying let's go up let's go up let them see you and he said it is not yet my time and then we're told Jesus follows a few days later we're not sure exactly in the seven days where Jesus goes up around the middle it would seem of the feast of tabernacles but the Jews the religious leaders the Pharisees Sadducees are gritting and grinding their teeth looking for Jesus where is he where is he they were expecting him to come to the feast of tabernacles no formal charge has been brought and so we hear the people who are at the feast who were saying there's much muttering about him among the people you know what that is there's a lot of talk there's a lot of conversation people are in their small groups and they're chatting and some are saying well I think he's a good man and others are going no he's leading people astray well there's one thing that Jesus was not and that is simply a good man if there's one thing he can't be it is just a good man if he was just a good man then he was in fact leading people astray so we find here a lukewarm response he's a good man they have yet to really receive what Jesus has taught concerning himself being the bread of life or the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sins of the world he's a good man others who have rejected his teaching all us all out have said that he is in fact leading people astray but for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him so here we have the setting the Jewish leadership of the religious leadership is now pressing so hard for Jesus because of the Sabbath controversy because Jesus has said your sins are forgiven they are now threatened by him and yet there's no formal charge he has been staying in Galilee which is under Herod the tetriarch he is under a different he is under a different kingship there and so he was out of their jurisdiction they need him to come to Jerusalem so they can lay hands on him so that they can grab him and bring charges against him and so they're weaving around in the caravans of Galilee and calling out where is he where is he looking for him sending out the the temple guard to look for Jesus in these caravans and Jesus is nowhere to be found because Jesus and his and his God and omniscient personality knew their hearts he knew their hearts and he knew that they would be searching for him and Jesus is not to be found because it is not yet his time Jesus will not be arrested at the Feast of Tabernacles he'll be arrested at the Passover because when will the lamb be slain for the sins of the many at Passover not at the Feast of Tabernacles if Jesus had come up with his brothers there would have most likely been a premature triumphal entry the people would have received him with great acclamation remember they were just doing that by the sea of Galilee and they would have received him most likely prematurely as king and here he would have been now at the Feast of Tabernacles and open conflict with the Jewish leadership prematurely but why we would ask prematurely what was so special about the Feast of Tabernacles why does it matter about the Feast of Tabernacles let's explore two aspects of this the first will be to consider who is Christ his own claims was he simply a good man was he deluding the masses what is it that Christ was claiming to be it this is important because we need to speak to this in this season that we are in we need to speak to it annually year round but we need to be able to speak to it conversantly we need to be able to speak to it particularly while we are in the season where people are asking who is Jesus well we're told he's the reason for the season but what's the reason for Jesus who is this man called Jesus Christ well in the scriptures the same question is asked and he was told some say that you're a prophet some say Elijah some say John the Baptist and in Jesus turns right around his disciples and go but who do you say that I am and so we hear the same question this morning well would say who is who is Jesus and we might parrot what the world says and now from the from the scriptures were asked but who do you say I am there's two of the impossible answers or one of them is a good man Jesus refers to himself as God he refers to himself as God in the scriptures because he talks in the scriptures of the prophecies being fulfilled he also refers to God as his own father but he uses a unique unique term when he uses Abba Abba is a relational term it's not speaking of God as the universal father of all mankind it's a special and a particular relationship that he claims to have for himself and the father not observed fatherhood where I would observe that one of you might be a father but oh I have only one father myself I could look at one of you and say what's it like to be father or look at someone and then just say well dad what will you say to your daughter to your son about that but I'm not speaking to you as my own father but when I speak to my father and I say my father or my dad I'm speaking in terms of relationship that I am of my father and the same blood as my father that he is my father Jesus and using Abba for father was implying this and the people heard that he was claiming a unique relationship with God the father one that they didn't share it is true that God is a father of all men but he has only one claim that Jesus is making that this is his Abba father there's also in the scriptures we're told many I am statements of Jesus the bread of life I am the bread of life I am the light of the world I am the vine you are the branches I am the gate I am the good shepherd I am the way and the truth and the life essentially Jesus is saying that faith in his person is the way of salvation now if this is not true then this is scandalous and it's deluding to people if it's not true to say there is no path to salvation except through Christ if that is not true then I have pulled people from other paths of potential salvation and I have robbed them of the opportunity to be saved the Old Testament teaches about Jesus John 5.6 Jesus said this Moses wrote about me in John 8.56 Jesus tells him Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day implying he existed in the day of Abraham Isaiah 61 verses 1 and 2 Jesus was invited to speak at the synagogue and in the passage of that day was Isaiah 61 and God's providence this was the reading for that day that Jesus stood up to read and he said the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor he has sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn and he goes on and then he did something that I simply could not do you see reading it is not scandalous I just read it and you weren't scandalized by that but if I were to say today these scriptures are fulfilled and you're hearing implying that they are fulfilled by me now that would be a scandal because I'd be claiming to be the promised Messiah Jesus stood up in the synagogue and he read from Isaiah 61 and he said today these scriptures are fulfilled in your hearing claiming to be the Messiah he also claimed to have the authority to forgive sins now you and I can forgive a personal offense if you were to do something against me I am commanded in scripture to forgive we are commanded to turn the other cheek that we have the parable of the unforgiving servant to teach us that we are woe to those who are not willing to forgive and what's the pattern of forgiveness when one comes and they genuinely ask forgiveness then God says against our offense he puts it as far as the east is from the west he puts it behind his back he sees it no more he keeps no list of wrongdoings for those who are in Christ and we who are in Christ are to do the same with one another we are not to keep a list of wrongdoings to stand and give a reading and an account of someone's wrongdoings against us we are to forgive as Christ has forgiven us isn't that the prayer which we have already prayed today forgive us our debts just as we forgive our debtors forgive us we pray to God just like I forgive others that's a sobering prayer it's a sobering prayer that compels us to indeed forgive as Christ has forgiven the irony however is that while I can forgive you I cannot forgive someone else for you imagine a traffic court you go into court and you have a ticket that is there before the judge and then I tell you outside of the court you know don't worry about that ticket let's just forget it and I have forgiven you of that ticket and you leave but unfortunately for you the offense was not against me now I can forgive you all day long but the ticket still stands doesn't it and if you walk there will be a penalty to pay for your neglect of the ticket I cannot forgive you of that debt it is not mine to forgive I can be empathetic I can be sympathetic but I cannot forgive you of the debt which is not mine to forgive only the judge can forgive you of that and so I cannot forgive you of your offense against God Almighty only your offense against me not your offense against God that is given you by Christ so he says I have the authority to forgive sins and mark two five a paralyzed man is lowered through the ceiling where Jesus is and Jesus tells him son your sins are forgiven Jesus as I mentioned before claimed to be God which is blasphemy and a capital offense if it were not true and John 58 Jesus said before Abraham was born I am using the proper name for God given in Exodus 314 I am which the Jews would have heard as being God's self-disclosure of himself by his own name C.S. Lewis got it right when he said this you must make your choice either this man was and is the son of God or else a madman or something worse you can shut him up for a fool you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher he has not left that open to us he did not intend to I would submit to you that there are many who attend a church many churches who have not yet made up their mind about Jesus and they come with a patronizing attitude content to sit and go through a worship service because it's nice and it's quaint maybe they enjoy the fellowship or the music maybe they enjoy the intellectual stimulation that they get from the preaching and they wonder maybe it'll be true waiting for the pastor to one day say something that absolutely convinces them but they remain undecided about the person of Christ and there can be no indecision about Christ if he is the son of God then let our posture and let our attitude and let our behavior and let our commitment reflect it let our faith show forth what we believe to be true and if he is not one thing he cannot be is simply a good man and a moral teacher and so in our mind he must be a madman because he has claimed to be God he has claimed to be able to forgive sins he has claimed to be the only way of salvation and what person is going to sit and pretend as if they agree when they do not he is either a madman or he is the son of God savior of mankind but he cannot be anything else he is one of those two William Shed who was a professor at Union Theological Seminary for 28 years said this the deity of God the son was the subject of one of the greatest controversies in the patristic church that is the first century churches but the work that was done then and investigating the scriptures did not require to be repeated and here were the scriptures that they explored some of them Philippians 26 teaches that Jesus was in the very form of God not not believing that his privileges God was something for him to strive after for it was already his Hebrews 189 unto the Son he says your throne O God is forever and ever in Isaiah 9 6 the prophecy of the Christ child unto us a child is born and his name shall be called mighty God John 714 the Messiah who which means God with us John 1 1 the word became flesh and well among us and John 10 30 Jesus said I in the Father or 1 the scriptures are clear that they proclaim that Jesus is God and so now with this is the background to this controversy what was the Feast of Tabernacles and Numbers 29 it teaches us about the Feast of Tabernacles and it follows right on the heels of the Day of Atonement the Day of Atonement was around the first of our month of October and then on the 15th would be Tabernacles why mention the Day of Atonement because Tabernacles is set up by the Day of Atonement the Day of Atonement was a shadow which was repeated each year because they had to come before the Lord to be purified and cleansed of their sin before they could come to the Feast of the in gathering which is sort of like our Thanksgiving I suppose where they celebrate God's provision at years end and they give thanks to God because he poured rain out upon the earth and he gave them harvest but the Day of Atonement is what gives them the privilege of being able to come before God not as sinners lost and without hope but as the people of God because they have come before the Lord and confessed their sin and Hebrews chapter 10 verse 1 the law can never by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year make perfect those who draw near but in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin every year for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins and so this Day of Atonement had to be repeated every year they had their regular offerings that were made and then there would be a bull and a ram and seven lambs and a goat that would be sacrificed the priest were not the usual priest but only the high priest and he would dress not in the the gold and the normal priestly attire but it would be in white linen pure white linen recognizing symbolizing purity he would have to take five baths on the Day of Atonement five baths to clean his whole body and in addition to that he would wash his hands in his feet ten more times that's a lot of cleaning in a day five days before tabernacles the people would be reconciled before they could rejoice before God at the end gathering the Atonement we know is the end gathering of all nations if we flip over to Zechariah and I'll read that for you so that you don't have to everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the king the Lord of hosts and to keep the feast of the booze I'll stop there I would come into you the rest of the last chapter of Zechariah the prophecy was it on this feast of the booze there'd be an end gathering of all the nations people of all nations would come to the feast of tabernacles so we have prefigured in the feast of tabernacles not only a celebration for the harvest but also the end gathering not just of the corn and the ear as we sang last Wednesday evening about our thanksgiving for God's bringing forth the fruit the produce of the land but as that hymn aptly showed forth that it also there's talking about the harvest of souls and this end gathering would take place on at the feast of the tabernacles Jesus in that feast of tabernacles and I'm going to let me just go very quickly to the very culminating event where Jesus speaks it was a beautiful study I really enjoyed it on the last day of the feast the high priest takes a pitcher two pitchers one with wine and one with water and he goes down to the pool of salam and he dips a larger than usual pitcher of gold into that pool and he begins to make his way back towards the altar and the people are there with their branches made with three different types their their sheaves made with three different types of branches which in itself is interesting because there are three epics of Israel's history represented in these branches and they are all excited because of this last day of this wonderful celebration this has not been a morbid event this feast of tabernacles there's been living in booze and fellowship and festivities and sacrifices and reconciliation to God it's the end of the harvest it's been a good year the harvest is in there's no more labor right now it's a time of celebration and rejoicing and being the people of God and they would wave the branches in the air and the priest would approach the altar and he would pour the wine into one receptacle which had a small hole and he would flow down to the base of the altar and then he would take the water the receptacle was a little larger and he would start to pour the water representing God's rain pouring out the water coming from the rock and sustaining them and the wilderness all of these things are being represented but it also represents what would be the day of pentecost the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the people of God and as he started to pour that water the people would shout higher and higher and he would have to raise the picture up as high as he could so they could see the water pouring out they wanted to see the water reminding them of God's blessing of rain being poured out upon the people and as he raised the picture up and he poured the water and it's coming out it was right then when Jesus spoke versus 37 the last day of the feast the great day Jesus stood up and cried out picture this the people are in a frenzy they're waving their they're waving their branches and the priest is pouring the water out and Jesus stands in the crowd while all of this is going on and he cries out if anyone first let him come to me and drink and whoever believes in me as the scriptures have said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water now this he said about the spirit whom those had we had believed in him were to receive at pentecost for as yet the spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified imagine this event imagine the Jewish authorities the priest is pouring the water the people are cheering higher and higher and they're all into the whole ceremony itself and Jesus stands up and cries out with a loud voice if anyone thirsts then turn around and come to me that's what happened at the feast of tabernacles that's what was laid before the people and that's what was going on at this point as Jesus was presenting himself before the people we have before us now the same opportunity there will be celebrations and there will be events and we have our malls and our shopping centers and all that goes along with the Christmas celebrations imagine in the midst of all of this activity and the swapping of gifts and the giving of of presents and the shaking of hands and the reunions of friends and family if in the midst of all of that we were to stand up and cry out if anyone truly thirst the incarnate Christ is calling out come to him they're gathered just as they did in the feast of booze they gather just as they did at tabernacles they're gathered there in your homes and in workplaces and they're asking who is this Jesus and they're afraid to say we are afraid to say just like the Jews remember how it said that they were afraid to actually speak we can't be afraid to speak he's not just a good man he is God he is Messiah he is the living water let's not be guilty because the world has said there needs to be a separation of church and state let's not be guilty of being afraid to speak for fear of the world just as they did not for fear the Jews let us speak about the Christ who has saved us