Welcome to the defender Bible study, a weekly encouragement to equip the body of Christ through the study of scripture and prayer to manifest the gospel to orphans and vulnerable children around the world. This podcast is a ministry of us begins by being rooted in God's word.

Welcome to the defender bible study podcast. Today is Monday, 02/10/2025. My name is Chris Johnson. I serve as the senior director of church partnerships and external advocacy for Lifelong Children Services. Well, we're continuing our study through the book of John, and this week, we are going to conclude John chapter number seven.

So if you have your Bible, grab it, turn with me to John chapter number seven. We'll be looking at verses 25 through verse 52 at the end of the chapter. Now in this story, in this chapter chapter seven, we have the story that of Jesus being a a part of the Feast of Boots. This Feast of Boots is also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, and really it was a celebration of the children of Israel reminding them of the faithfulness of God. It was a throwback, a callback to remembering the times that they wandered in the wilderness and God faithfully provided for them.

The reason it's called the feast of booths is because they would build these makeshift dwellings. They would live in these booths, that would be made with with, with straw and with, leaves and different things that would build these makeshift buildings. And for this seven day period, the feast will last for seven days. They would live in these booths, again, to remind them of the shelter that was provided for them as they traveled through the wilderness. Remind them of those times where they were not in their homeland, but they were traveling from Egypt up to to the promised land.

And so during that time, God, of course, was so faithful to provide shelter for them, to provide food for them, to provide water for them, to provide everything that they need. He met their every need during that season of wandering, and so the Feast of Booths was just a good time for them to remember that and to be reminded of God's, both God's provision and God's protection. Now, it had been about several months since Jesus had been to Jerusalem. The last time he was there was for another feast, and so he's now, all the when they would have these certain great feasts, all the men in Israel would be called to come to Jerusalem to worship and to celebrate and recognize the the feasts that were there to to celebrate together. And so for Jesus, there's an element of danger really in his returning to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast.

There were some that were already beginning to to call for his life, to call for him to be arrested, to call for him to be silenced. And so generally, Jesus was saved as as long as he was either staying hidden and kind of out of sight or if he was in front of a large crowd. Because those that were trying to silence him were would feel somewhat intimidated by the crowd, and they knew that if they tried to arrest him or call him out too much, when he was teaching that they certainly themselves would be in danger because the people were hearing Jesus and receiving what Jesus had to say and were certainly, enjoying and embracing his, the working of his miracles and his teaching as he would share. So the first part of this feast, we see Jesus kinda laying low. It says here in the scripture that that he went up privately, so he kinda blended in with the crowd and just kinda tried to to slide in.

Some were asking about where he was. They asked if he'd be making himself known. But finally, about halfway through this week long celebration, Jesus begins to step forward. Jesus begins to teach the crowds. Now his teaching was not very popular with religious leaders because it was attacking them and kind of calling out calling out their their sin.

And and ultimately, it was really kinda challenging their hypocrisy around the Sabbath day and the the keeping of the Sabbath. He knew that these religious leaders were not happy with him. He knew that they desired to discredit and silence him, but he continued to go forth and and teach what he needed to teach. And so this is where we pick the story up, just as Jesus has has taught, he has, shared with the crowds. And so now we're gonna see in this passage the the response, how the people responded to what Jesus was saying.

Now we're gonna read the this passage together. And as we read this, I want you to pay close attention to to just the way that we see these responses over and over again. Now back in verse number 20, a few verses up, we see that there were some people that just thought he was crazy. And when you start talking about people coming after him, he's like, there's there people are like, I don't see anybody coming after you. You must be crazy.

We're gonna see here that there are some that they wanted to arrest him. There's some that wanted to silence him. There were some that were confused and really didn't know what to believe. And then there were some who did believe. So let's go together our passage, John chapter seven verse 25 through 52.

Some of the people of Jerusalem, therefore, said, is not this the man whom they seek to kill? And here he is speaking openly, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? But we know where this man comes from. And when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.

So Jesus proclaimed as he taught in the temple, you know me and you know where I come from, but I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true and him you do not know. I know him for I come from him and he sent me. So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. Yet many of the people believed in him.

They said, when the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done? The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. Jesus then said, I'll be with you a little longer, and then I'm going to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am, you cannot come.

The Jews said to one another, where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying you will seek me and you will not find me, and where I am, you cannot come? On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Now this he said about the spirit whom they those who believed in him were to receive. For as yet, the spirit had not been given, but because Jesus had not yet been glorified. When they heard these words, some of the people said, this really is the prophet. Others said, this is the Christ. But some said, is the Christ to come from Galilee?

Has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was? So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. The officers then came to the chief priest and Pharisees who said to them, why did you not bring him? The officers answered, no one has ever spoke like this man.

The Pharisees answered them, have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed. Nicodemus, who had gone to him before and who was one of them, said to them, does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does? They replied, are you from Galilee too?

Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee. So again, we see in this passage as we notice very clearly that people responded in in different ways. There were some who according to verse number 25, and they wanted to kill him. They they were not only content to have him arrested, they wanted they wanted him to die. They wanted to be dead.

And the people said, is is this really the man that you're trying to kill? There were some that were confused. You know, there were some that said, hey, if you want to kill him, then why are you not doing so? Why are you not you're not even arresting him. You're not coming unto him.

And and it, you know, caused these people to kind of go, hey, you say that this man is a false prophet, not teaching, but yet you're not arresting, so maybe you really do believe that He's the Christ. Maybe you really think that He is, and so you're wrestling with that. And so there were some that just continued to be confused about who Jesus was, and so they were were wrestling with this. They they talked about the fact that they said, you know, it kinda showed that they didn't really know what they were talking about because they started saying, well, we don't really know where the where the Messiah is supposed to come from. And, of course, the scriptures had told them very clearly where the Messiah would come from.

Later in the passage, those same people were saying that the Messiah was supposed to come from from Bethlehem, but yet they were saying that Jesus came from Galilee. And of course, they didn't know enough about Jesus to recognize that He actually was born in Bethlehem. He actually was fulfilling that exact, prophecy that had been given. So as they're discussing and talking about Jesus's physical birth and where he was born physically, Jesus kinda turns the table and and starts talking about the reality of of taking a little bit further and saying, hey, normally you don't know where I came from because I came from the father. He he says it's not just about where I was born physically, but ultimately, I'm here and I came from the father.

And, of course, this was Jesus's primary thing that he would say over and over again that would somewhat get him in trouble with religious leaders was he was claiming to be from the Father, to be one with the Father. And so Jesus reasserts that even here again. Verse number 30, we see that there were some that wanted to arrest him. They were seeking to arrest him, but again, nobody laid hands because they were afraid of what might happen, what would be the response of the crowd. But then we also see in verse number 31 that there were some who did believe.

Many of the people believed in him. Many of the people did follow him. And, you know, we see this truth in the world today. We see the same response for people today. There are some that just don't care about the truth and don't care about the evidence.

They just continue to want nothing to do with Jesus. And you can lay it all out. You can prove that he was the Messiah. You can show that he's the savior. You can point them to their dependency and their need for him for for salvation, for forgiveness of sin, for eternal life.

They see the evidence. They hear the evidence, but they still reject it. They still don't want anything to do with it. There are some who today stay confused as they tend to focus more on explanations that they want and rather than trusting by faith that God is who He said He is. They want every little detail explained and they, if every little detail, and they can't reason everything out in their mind, then they're not gonna have the faith, they're not gonna believe.

And so they they they want every little thing to be to be laid out for them. But thankfully, there are some who exercise faith. There are some who exercise faith and do accept Christ as their savior. They do they do, hear the truth and accept the truth. And, man, as we're interacting with the world today, as we're interacting with people around us, we need to to recognize those that we're that we're sharing the gospel with, that no matter how articulate we are, no matter how clear we are in our presentation, man, the gods just their heart is is is hardened, their eyes are blinded, and they can't see the truth, and they refuse to accept it.

There are some that, man, they're gonna have all the questions, and they're gonna try to divert, the message, and they're gonna try to get you on-site, off on side trips, and and try to get the focus off of what you're actually trying to to say as you're articulating and sharing the gospel because they're so concerned with all the little details and and all the rabbit trails. But then thankfully, as we share the gospel, there are gonna be some that are gonna receive the gospel. They're gonna hear the message that's proclaimed. Are they gonna receive that message? And so it's important that we continue to share that message and point to the hope of the gospel.

That's one of the things that we're passionate about here at Lifeline. We wanna make sure that every interaction we have, that we're sharing the gospel. And there may be women in crisis. There may be vulnerable children. There may be broken families, and and they may not receive the truth when we share it.

They may argue over the truth. They may reject the truth, but there are gonna be some who will accept the truth. And so we must be faithful to continue to preach it, to continue to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now in the next session, verses 32 through 39, we see that the chief priests and Pharisees kinda went a step further and and not only because they they themselves weren't willing to do this arrest, but they sent officers to arrest Jesus. And so as they as they sent these officers to arrest Jesus, we see that Jesus just continues to speak of his oneness for the father, of his being the Messiah, and of his ability to bring salvation.

And and, so again, they continue to to question these things and try to figure out where what he's talking about, or they're just not willing to receive this message that he's sharing. Now, one of the things to to note about the Feast of the Booths, one of the things that was a part of that, again, to commemorate God's provision and ultimately God providing water from the rock. If you remember, when they were in the wilderness and they didn't have water to drink, God told Moses to strike the rock. And when he did, water came gushing forth. And so God provided the water.

So in memory of that, a part of the celebration of the feast is that the priest will take a, gobble of some type and would go down to the Pool Of Siloam and would would take water from the Pool Of Siloam, would walk through the city, would enter through the water gate and then would go into the temple courts, and then ultimately would pour that water out on the altar. Now on the last day of the feast, on the seventh day was kind of the the culmination of this whole week. The priest says they would take that water, enter into the city, go through the water gate, come to the temple courts, they would walk around the temple courts seven times, and then would pour out that water on the altar. And so it was a big time, it was a good time. Now when we see water being referenced in those scriptures, there's a couple different ways that it's referenced.

Anytime that we see water that's used for washing, that is a picture of the word of God. And the word of God's ability to cleanse us, to wash us, to make us clean, we see that over and over again. And so when the water is it was referred to washing water, it was referred as a picture of the word of God. When water for drinking is mentioned in scripture, it's a picture of the Holy Spirit. It's a picture of the working of the Holy Spirit in us and through us and the work that he does in our hearts and lives.

So here, we're seeing drinking water. This is talking about the water that was provided for them to drink. We're seeing the water carried from the cup and then poured out on the altar. So so the picture here, of course they were just thinking physical, temporal water, but then Jesus in this context steps up and He's gonna say something pretty strong and pretty bold here. He says, it says here that Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.

Don't go to the rock, don't go to this pool, don't go to the priest, come to Me to drink. Whoever believes in me as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now this he said about the spirit whom he whom spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive for as yet the spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. So so Jesus is saying, hey, we're celebrating this temporal water that quenched the thirst for a little while, but you want lasting thirst, quenching, you want you want, water that that will quench your thirst for eternity and it's in a spiritual sense that I am that living water. Now we remember just a few chapters back, John chapter four, we heard Jesus say the same thing to the woman at the well.

He says, hey, you're drawing out water to drink and you're thirsty and so you drink this water, but I am the living water and you drink of me and you'll never thirst again. I'll provide eternally for you. And so, Jesus is making the same declaration here during the Feast of the Boots. But again, he's taking you a little bit further. And he's saying not only am I the living water that will provide for your salvation, but when you drink of this living water, you're ultimately gonna be given the Holy Spirit would reside within you.

And this Holy Spirit is gonna produce within you rivers of water. And so the idea here is that those who come to faith in Christ will receive eternal life, receive Jesus as the living water, but also receive the Holy Spirit that empowers us to walk in that truth and to live out that life and ultimately to be a witness and an example to Christ as the living water. As I read this, I can't help but think of second Corinthians chapter five, which is a passage that's very commonly used here in our ministry, at Lifeline where it says here that that we are reconciled to God through Christ. And not only are we reconciled, but then we are given a ministry of reconciliation to share and proclaim the message of reconciliation. And that message of reconciliation is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So Paul said to the Corinthians, you've been saved and reconciled to God so that you now can be ambassadors and you can be his witnesses and you can share what he has done for you, you can share that with others. And so Jesus is really saying the same thing here. He's saying, hey, if you trust in me and recognize who I am, then I will provide everlasting life. I will provide living water for you, but then also I would use you to be my ambassadors to preach and proclaim my message to help others experience eternal life as well. As believers, we get to drink of the living water, but we also become channels of that living water getting to share it with the lost world around us.

What a joy, what an honor, what a privilege. Even after this, there were some who believed, but there were some who were unsure, and there were some who still wanted to arrest him. When you look at verses 45 through 46, you see an interesting response from these officers, the chief priests and the and the the workers in the temple, the religious leaders, the Samar- the the, the Pharisees, they had sent forth these officers to rest. So when they came back empty handed, the chief priests and the Pharisees said to them, what's the deal? Why didn't you arrest him?

Why don't you have him? And notice their response. In verse 46, the officers answered, no one ever spoke like this man. They they themselves recognized and were like, hey. The things that he was saying, we've never heard these kind of things before.

It just it didn't seem right to arrest him. It it it sound like he was preaching and proclaiming truth. You back up and you see in verse 40 that some said this really is the prophet. Some said this really is the Christ. And so these officers themselves were in the process of being convinced that Jesus was exactly who he said he was.

Now, the religious leaders, they began to scoff them and they began to mock them and basically belittle them, basically saying, you know, okay, great, now you're believing too. You must be simple like those others. Anyone that would believe this, they don't really know the law. They don't really understand truth. It would only be simple minded, people that would that would believe what this what this man is saying.

They mocked them for believing. And again, man, so oftentimes this is exactly what the world does today. They look and say, well, if you had true intellect, you would under you would you would not have this simple faith. If you if you truly had a bigger picture, a better understanding of the world and the realities of this world, there's no way that you would be a Christian. There's no way you would choose to follow Christ.

And so while the world tries to discredit us, the world tries to tear us down and call us ignorant or uneducated or simple, we know that that this is the truth of God's word. This is the truth that must be received. The passage concludes with with Nicodemus basically defending the process. Now Nicodemus, of course, came to Jesus in the night in John chapter three and and somewhere along the line we know that Nicodemus placed faith in Jesus, but we don't know where he's at in the process at this time and it certainly would have been great if Nicodemus would have stayed up and said, oh, I believe too, and I'm learned, I'm educated, and he is the Christ. But Nicodemus said just enough to kinda to kinda put a put a barrier there.

And then so he he really kinda used their own, the things they were saying and their own teaching and understanding against them. And and so while he's not fully and publicly proclaiming his belief, he reasons that they should not worry about arresting Jesus based on their traditions. And the appeal that he makes is he appealed to the testimony of what a man says and what a man does. He he says here, does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does? So he said that the the practice was we want to hear the testimony, give a give the man a hearing, give him a the opportunity to testify, but then we also wanna watch his life and see what he does.

And then isn't that exactly what Jesus has said over and over again? As He has preached, as He has taught, as He has been questioned, He said over and over again, listen to the things I say. He had claimed to be the Messiah, He claimed to be one with the Father. And then he said, look at the deeds that I'm doing, all the miracles, all the things they were doing were all testifying to the reality that he was the Messiah, that he was truly who he said he was. And so his words were reinforcing that and his actions, his deeds were reinforcing that.

I wonder as we look at our own life, do the things that we say, do our words point to the fact that Jesus is the Christ? Do our actions, the way that we live, does that point to the reality that we believe that Jesus is the Christ? As the world watches us, what is our testimony to the world around us? Does our do our does our testimony, if we were given a hearing, would our testimony preach and proclaim that Jesus is the savior, that Jesus is our savior, and that Jesus came to bring truth and healing and forgiveness and light? Jesus demonstrated that He was the Messiah both by what He said and what He did.

And may we do the same with our words and with our life, may we point to Jesus as the Messiah. I wanna conclude our time really just by kind of thinking of a couple practical things as we think about this idea of sharing the gospel with others and being, being witnesses for Christ and being instruments in his hand. How do we be an effective witness? How can we take the example of Jesus and take this passage and how can we learn from it so that we can be an effective witness to the reality of Jesus? Three things.

First of all, we must recognize the tactics of the enemy. We must recognize the tactics of the enemy. You see his tactics at work here. He brings confusion. He causes them to chase rabbit trails.

He brings up the argument of intellectualism. He he casts doubt, and his tactics have not changed. He still does the same thing today. As we proclaim the gospel, the enemy is going to do all he can to discredit us, to bring confusion, to try to tear us down and try to get people, caught and and and wrapped up in fear and doubt. So we've gotta recognize the tactics of the enemy so we are prepared and ready to give an answer, ready to share forth a a a valid argument for the realities of Christ.

Recognize the tactics of the enemy. Number two, we must walk in wisdom and trust God's timing. We must walk in wisdom and trust God's timing. Jesus knew when to speak and he knew when not to speak. He knew what to say, what not to say.

He did not run ahead and get ahead of the father. It says here in this passage that his time was not yet come. So we see over and over again him waiting on the timing of the father. He trusted also that nothing could happen to him that was not a part of the father's plan. So he walked forth and people would tell him to hide, tell him that you can't go there, it's dangerous to go there.

He would go forth in boldness because he trusted the sovereignty of God and he knew that nothing could happen to him unless God allowed it and ultimately willed that to happen. So as we are trying to be an effective witness, may we walk in wisdom, may we pray and ask God, you know, the Bible says if we lack wisdom, we can ask of him and he'll give it to us. May we ask him for wisdom to discern when is the right time to speak, what's the right thing to say, how do we approach situations, how do we approach certain circumstances that will enable us to get the platform to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ? So may we walk in wisdom and then may we ultimately trust God's timing and God's divine work and God's plan in the salvation process. It's not my responsibility to save people.

I can't save people. That's the work of the Father through the Holy Spirit. And so it's important that we walk in wisdom, that we trust God's timing. Also it's important that we recognize the tactics of the enemy. And then finally, it's important that we be faithful to be a witness and stand for truth.

May we be faithful to be a witness and stand for the truth. Even when others don't agree, even when we're mocked and we're ridiculed. You know, we see again the the story of Nicodemus throughout him. We see his faith grow and build up more and more to where that he becomes a strong witness for Jesus Christ and he stands for truth. May that be our testimony as well.

May that be the reality of our life that no matter what comes our way, when people understand, when people, believe us, they don't believe us, they disagree, may we stand firm in the truth. May we stand firm upon the truth of God's word, and may we be faithful witnesses for him. I pray that we will be an effective witness to the reality of Jesus. I pray that we will stand strong in that by recognizing the tactics of the enemy, by walking in wisdom and trusting God's timing, and then finally, by being faithful to be a witness and to stand for the truth. May that be said of us as Christ followers may be said of our families, our churches, may be said of our the ministry of Lifeline.

May we be faithful to the gospel. Thanks for praying for us, praying that we would stand firm in these things and that we would do what we can to help connect the body of Christ, local churches and families within those churches, to help connect them to vulnerable children, women, and families so that those children, women, and families can hear the good news of Jesus Christ. Let's go to him in prayer. Dearly father god, we love you and thank you so much for your goodness to us. We thank you for the truth of your word that leads us and guides us and directs us and reveals to us who you are.

I pray, god, that we would take the things that we've learned here and that we would be bold in our witness, that we would stand firm. God, I pray for the ministry of Lifeline that as we take the good news of the gospel around the world, as we come alongside churches and families within those churches, may we help equip and disciple and train people to share the gospel with the vulnerable. Lord, that's what's most important. That's what matters more than anything. May we share the good news of Jesus Christ.

Lord, we thank you for this truth. Thank you for calling us to be your ambassadors. May we be faithful to do so. For it's in the wonderful name of Jesus, our savior, we pray. Amen.

Thanks again for joining us for the Defender Bible Study. If you enjoy making this podcast a part of your weekly routine, we'd love for you to take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review the Defender Bible Study to make it easier for more people to find. For more resources and information on how you and your church can partner with Lifeline, please visit us at lifelinechild.org. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter by searching for Lifeline Child. You can email us directly at info@lifelinechild.org.

We look forward to seeing you again next week for the Defender Bible Study.