Jesus, The Misjudged One
John 7:19-24
This morning we listened to Jesus as He defended the fact that He is indeed the True One of God.
We have no doubt that what Jesus speaks is true because He received His message from the Father, He was followed by those who truly loved God, and His only motive was to glorify God.
And so this morning Jesus laid out the facts as to why we should listen to Him.
But in our text this evening, Jesus shifts the focus of His sermon.
He stops shining the light on Himself, and shines it on the crowd.
This is a very important second step.
For if Jesus comes claiming to be speaking God’s truth,
And people refuse to listen to Him,
That can only mean one of two things.
1) Either He is a false prophet and the people have seen through Him
2) Or He is exactly what He says and the people will not see it.
Since we determined this morning that Jesus is indeed the true one, we have no other option than to accept the second problem.
These people are obviously in a state of determined blindness.
Matthew 21:23-27 “When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. “The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?” And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ “But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet.” And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
And this is a mindset we continually see in the people of Israel.
They refused to see the truth about Jesus.
They did not like what He was teaching, “By what authority are You doing these things?”
But they would not accept that His authority was from God.
THE CRAWFORD SUNDAY SCHOOL SCANDAL
It is the same contradiction that the people are facing here.
Their refusal to follow Him
Is only revealing their own persistent blindness.
Jesus described these types of people like this.
Matthew 15:14 “Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
Later He would confront the Pharisees in much the same way.
Matthew 23:16-26 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘ Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’ “You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? “And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’ “You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? “Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. “And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. “And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.”
Jesus didn’t have many different adjectives for the religious leaders. One was hypocrite, the other was blind.
And later, in a humiliating comparison,
Jesus will actually reveal their blindness
Through healing a blind man that could see.
To which Jesus will say after this former blind man confesses Him:
John 9:39-41 “And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘ We see,’ your sin remains.”
And of course this is exactly what Isaiah prophesied.
(Interesting that no Old Testament passage is quoted more in the New Testament than this one.)
As Jesus was speaking to His disciples:
Matthew 13:14-17 “In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.’ “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. “For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
This group was obviously walking in the spiritual blindness that Isaiah prophesied.
I don’t even have to tell you how this applies today.
So many today who go throughout this world having heard the truth And yet refuse to see it.
We live in a day of determined blindness
He gives three attributes of these spiritually blind.
Although they were extremely religious, although they knew their Bibles, we are going to see that in what ways these people were blind even though they could see.
3 attributes of the religious yet spiritually blind
#1 SELF-GRATIFYING MEASURE
John 7:19
Now you understand what I mean by “measure”.
Everyone has one.
We all have that line in the sand that we draw in our brains as the difference between what is acceptable and what is not.
WOODY WOODWARD
If you where here Wednesday night and heard the testimony of Iris Blue and how she always had someone to compare herself to, and no matter how bad she lived, she could always find someone worse.
Now, if you want to know the true line, it is God’s righteousness.
This righteousness was first seen in the Law.
Deuteronomy 6:24-25 “So the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is today. “It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the LORD our God, just as He commanded us.”
Of course Jesus is the epitome of this righteousness.
Isaiah 28:16-17 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed. “I will make justice the measuring line And righteousness the level; Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies And the waters will overflow the secret place.”
But what happens is that people look at God’s measure
Through self-gratifying glasses.
Men find ways to examine God’s righteousness with glasses
That always seem to make themselves look better
And other people look worse.
Their measure is skewed to make themselves look better, and at the same time their measure is skewed to make others look worse.
Remember what Jesus said?
Matthew 7:3-5 “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
Jesus was confronting a people who were blind to their own wickedness, and that is what He says here as well.
“Did not Moses give you the Law..?”
But Jesus confronts their hypocrisy.
“Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law?”
You see these people looked at the Law and never saw their own flaws.
In their mind they were fine and everyone else is the sinner.
And Jesus just exposes them by asking this question.
“Why do you seek to kill Me?”
Why were they so willing to single Him out?
It is reminiscent of the famous statement of Jesus.
John 8:7 “But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Jesus point was that these people had a self-gratifying measure.
They only could see other people’s flaws, not their own.
THAT IS DETERMINED BLINDNESS
This is exactly who the Pharisees where.
Matthew 23:25-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
If you are unwilling to see the truth about yourself,
You cannot see Jesus,
Because the first thing He does is
Hold up a mirror for you to look into.
Hebrews 4:12-13 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”
If you have a self-gratifying measure, you are missing Jesus too.
#2 SELECTIVE MEMORY
John 7:20-21
Now after Jesus points out that they want to kill Him, they have a great argument.
They simply say, “Nu-uh!”
In fact they go further than that.
They actually accuse Him of having a demon, which is making Him paranoid, and that no one really wants to kill Him.
“The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you?”
My, My, My, what a selective memory.
And just to help their memory Jesus makes another statement.
“I did one deed, and you all marvel.”
NOW WHAT ONE DEED DID JESUS DO IN JERUSALEM?
That’s right, He healed the man at the Bethesda pool.
John 5:15-18 “The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.” For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.”
It is at this point that I’m surprised someone in the crowd didn’t say, “Oh that, we were just joking.”
You see this is also a characteristic of those who are deliberately blind.
They have a selective memory.
Somehow they only seem to remember the good things they do, And conveniently forget the bad things they do.
They are unwilling to look at themselves in the mirror,
But they are also unwilling to own up to the mistakes
They have made in the past.
They’re unwilling to get honest about who they are, or what they’ve done.
A selective memory is a determined blindness,
And it will catch up with you.
Matthew 25:41-46 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘ Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ “Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
It is always tempting to look at our own deeds with selective memory.
(Ever watch a reply of a football game?)
It is a characteristic of determined blindness.
Self-gratifying measure
Selective memory
#3 SUPERFICIAL MINISTRY
John 7:22-23
Now this passage gets a little wordy here, so let me see if I can help you through it.
You will notice that Jesus makes a statement that doesn’t seem to fit.
“For this reason Moses has given you circumcision…”
FOR WHAT REASON?
And Jesus then gives a parenthetical statement to say, “(not because it is from Moses, but from the Fathers)”
So in other words, Moses didn’t give you circumcision,
He continued to enforce it or to show it’s necessity, but WHY?
For that you have to look back at Jesus initial statement.
“Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law?”
Moses knew that no one would be able to carry out the Law, and for this reason Moses continued to emphasize circumcision.
NOW WHERE DID CIRCUMCISION COME FROM?
That’s right, Abraham.
Genesis 17:9-14 “God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. “This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. “And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. “And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants. “A servant who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. “But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
Circumcision was a symbol that meant you had entered into covenant with God. It was an outward symbol of inward faith.
Paul explains Abraham’s circumcision like this.
Romans 4:11 “and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them,”
Paul said that Abraham’s circumcision was “a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised”
It was an outward picture of his inward faith.
Moses gave circumcision because he knew that man would not be justified by the Law, but by faith.
So now listen to Jesus.
“For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath?”
DID YOU CATCH HIS POINT?
If you are willing to forego the Sabbath command of not working Because you realize that the spiritual significance to circumcision is more important.
How in the world can you fault Me for making a whole man well?
And notice the term “well”.
We are talking about a complete spiritual transformation, not just a healing.
The point is that these people had a superficial ministry.
Their ministry wasn’t about truly doing the will of God,
It was about using ministry to make themselves look good.
This is a determined blindness.
When people can’t even see that what they are doing is pointless.
That leads Jesus to make this very powerful statement.
Verse 24, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
The word appearance translates (OPSIS), and this is the only place it is translated “appearance”.
Every where else it is translated “face”.
John 11:44 “The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Revelation 1:16 “In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.”
You disregard Me because you don’t like how I look,
And you aren’t willing to see how you look.
Quit looking at the outward appearance of things.
Unfortunately this is all they could look at.
John 7:27 “However, we know where this man is from; but whenever the Christ may come, no one knows where He is from.”
John 7:31 “But many of the crowd believed in Him; and they were saying, “When the Christ comes, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He?”
John 7:52 “They answered him, “You are not also from Galilee, are you? Search, and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee.”
They couldn’t see the miracles,
They couldn’t hear the authority,
All they could see was that He was a carpenter from Nazareth and that He spent too much time in Galilee.
His appearance caused them to miss Him.
Isaiah 53:1-4 “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.”
Had they seen their own sin for what it was,
Maybe they would have more readily seen the Savior.
I want you to know something tonight.
JESUS IS THE MISJUDGED ONE
People all over the world are missing Jesus for the very same reason.
They live in a determined blindness.
They are unwilling to see that the sin the Bible talks about is in their lives.
They are unwilling to see that they are indeed the wretch that the song refers to.
They will not look past their religious ceremony, and they will not see that they are falling way short of the mark.
You cannot see Jesus if you live in a determined state of blindness.
“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
Look at yourself with God’s eyes.
Believe you are what the Bible says you are.
And then run to Jesus.
Pray
