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The Gospel of John, The Period of Conflict, Jesus Urged to Go to the Feast of Tabernacles, Part V, John 7:16,17 - Lesson 52
John 7:12, And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people.
John 7:13, Howbeit no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.
John 7:14, Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.
John 7:15, And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
John 7:16-17, Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
Jesus infers that they are simply trapped in their system.
They are slaves to error!
They know not the truth because they know not Jesus Christ!
They have been caught by the snare that the fear of man brings.
They are caught in a trap.
But he is not trapped with them.
His message is free from the complex, muddied and enslaving doctrines that the Jews held.
All the true prophets, as a spokesman for God, delivered a message that was not their own.
It was not a message derived from man or man's systems.
Likewise the message of the greatest prophet of them all, Jesus Christ, was not his own or came from the Jews and their systems.
He came to declare the Father! He came to declare the doctrine of the Father.
Without Jesus Christ you would not know the Father.
Remember in John 14:9 where Jesus said unto Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?
Jesus Christ did the works that the Father had given him to do and he now speaks the words that the Father had given him to speak.
The works and the words of Jesus declare the Father.
They tell us all we need to know of the Father.
Many people throughout the world are seeking to find God.
They look for God in nature, they look for God in experiences, they look for God in drugs and hallucinations, they look for God in religions of every sort and color.
But they will not find God in those things.
God is to be found in Jesus Christ.
Don't ask me to show you the Father if I have shown you Jesus Christ!
Jesus Christ came to this earth as a man to reveal the Father.
If he won't satisfy you, that is all God is going to do for you.
No extra revelation from God is available except Jesus Christ!
He is the Son that is given to Man to reveal the Father.
That means that he is the one and the only one that is given to man to reveal the Father.
He goes on to tell them that if there be a readiness to do the will of God the capacity for discerning God's message will follow.
Whoever has that readiness of heart will recognize the teaching of Christ as truth.
Wherever the heart is right God gives the capacity to understand his truth.
The Holy Spirit will see to it.
And I believe whoever has the readiness to do God's will, will recognize whether a messenger is true.
Perhaps the reason why people are so deceived today is the lack of readiness to do God's will.
By saying this Jesus Christ tells us that truth must be revealed.
And it is revealed to the one that does God's will.
Isn't that practical?
If God finds himself a servant won't he reveal to that servant truth about himself? |