Division Among the Jews

[Read John 7:40-52]

Well, like I mentioned last week, this Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, the Sunday when we remember and celebrate the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on God’s People. So, we’re going to talk about the Holy Spirit this morning, but we’re going to talk about Him in ways that are often neglected and overlooked in our current day and age. CS Lewis is famous for saying that Christians can make two mistakes when it comes to Satan and demons: They either pretend like they don’t exist and go through life blissfully unaware OR they give them too much power and authority, see them everywhere, and live in fear and trembling. Both responses are fine with Satan and the demons. 

I think Christians often make a similar mistake when it comes to the Holy Spirit. I think many Christians go through life completely unaware of the Holy Spirit’s actions and work in their lives AND other Christians are always looking for the work of the Holy Spirit. I think both are mistakes and both are extremely unhelpful because neither of them acknowledges some of the primary ways in which the Holy Spirit works in the lives of God’s people. And the reality is, the primary ways the Holy Spirit is working in the lives of God’s people seem a little boring to many. They want to see the miraculous stuff—the stuff that makes us go “Whoa!!” And we don’t see a lot of that in our lives. That’s why some act as if the Spirit isn’t there and others are always on the lookout for something miraculous. But here’s the truth that we need to have pounded into our hearts and minds this morning: The power of the Holy Spirit comes through the ordinary and mundane work of the Holy Spirit—the stuff we often ignore. 

Think about this analogy that the Apostle Paul uses in the book of Ephesians when talking about spiritual warfare. He says, “In all circumstances take up …the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:16–17, ESV). Many people point out that this is the only weapon we’re given—the sword of the Spirit. It’s the weapon we’re supposed to use in spiritual warfare. It’s where our power comes from. It’s the Word of God—the Bible. One of the primary ways the Holy Spirit powerfully works in the lives of His people is through the Word of God. It makes sense since the Holy Spirit was the one making sure the Bible was written. We read, “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:21, ESV). Every part of the Bible is a result of the work of the Holy Spirit and that’s why it’s called The Sword of the Spirit. That’s also why it’s one of the primary ways the Holy Spirit works in our lives because He’s the one who inspired it. Not only did the Holy Spirit inspire the Bible, but we also read, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26, ESV). He will teach us the Word that He inspired, or, as Jesus says elsewhere, He will lead us into all truth—truth that comes from His inspired word. Again, this is one of the primary works of the Holy Spirit—to powerfully work in and through God’s Word in our lives, the lives of His people, and the world—AND there is power in this work of the Holy Spirit.

Here’s what’s interesting about all of this, though. This powerful work of the Holy Spirit, working powerfully through the Sword of the Spirit—the Word of God—has a different effect on different people as it pierces them. Remember how last week’s passage ended. Jesus cried out in the temple that anyone thirsty should come to him and drink and be satisfied. Now, look at how everyone responded to Jesus’ preaching and teaching—how they responded to the Sword of the Spirit: “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.” (John 7:40–43, ESV). 

Here’s the first thing I want you to recognize about this passage. What effect does Jesus’ teaching have on the crowd in the temple? Or to say it another way, When Jesus pulls out the Sword of the Spirit on the crowds around him, what immediately happens? We’re told that there was division over Jesus. Jesus’ teaching caused division. The Sword of the Spirit caused division. And, to make this even more serious, it caused division in the church. These weren’t pagans who were divided by Jesus’ teaching. These were the supposed people of God who were divided by Jesus’ teaching. When Jesus taught—used the Sword of the Spirit—some people were curious about him, some people rejected him, some people hated him, and some people believed. 

Look at the responses by people who were rejecting Jesus. The first thing they say is, “This really is the Prophet.” (John 7:40, ESV), which sounds decent right? It sounds pretty good. It seems like they’re close at least. Yet, they don’t really believe what they’re saying. They say they believe he is the Prophet, but they don’t actually listen to or believe what he’s teaching. Jesus has already told them, repeatedly, that he is more than a prophet—that he is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior—and they haven’t believed him. And that means, they don’t really believe what they say they believe. If they really believed Jesus, they would know he was more than a prophet. 

Another group says, “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?” (John 7:41–42, ESV). Now, like I mentioned last week, John loves to write with irony and this passage is dripping with irony. But I also think John wrote this with a little smirk on his face. These people are saying, “We know this can’t be the Messiah because he wasn’t born in Bethlehem or from the line of David.” It’s ironic because we KNOW that Jesus WAS born in Bethlehem from the line of David, but these people don’t know what they think they know. John Calvin says that these people, like many people, are working harder to reject Christ than to simply receive him and believe in him, AND in their attempt to reject Christ, they bring more condemnation and judgment upon themselves. 

We see the same thing from the Pharisees in this group. They show absolute hatred of Jesus. They’re not just rejecting him, they hate him. When anyone tries to talk to them about Jesus—not even correct them, but slightly nudge them—they explode with accusations. When the temple guards come back without Jesus and give their reasoning, the Pharisees say, “Have you also been deceived?” (John 7:47, ESV) and they basically are saying, “Are you stupid?” When Nicodemus points out their hypocrisy in ignoring the law, and refusing to give Jesus a hearing, they don’t debate him, they just call him names too: “Are you from Galilee too?” (John 7:52, ESV), basically saying “Are you a backwoods hick too?” 

Much of their anger and hatred and blindness is a result of their pride. They think they are God’s gift to this earth. They think they are the smartest and the holiest and wisest people who ever walked the earth. That’s why they respond to the temple guards with, “Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” (John 7:48–49, ESV). They’re saying, “Nobody who really matters has believed in this guy. Nobody who actually knows anything or even cares about God or his law is listening to this guy. The only people who are listening to this backwoods hick are ignorant hillbillies themselves. They don’t know anything and live under a curse for it.” And to rub it in their faces a little bit, John slips in right at the end and quotes them as saying, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” (John 7:52, ESV). With another little smirk, John is pointing out that these guys aren’t as smart as they think they are and don’t know as much as they think they know. 

But notice something in that last line that should jump out at you—something that sounds pretty familiar today. The Pharisees say, “Search the scriptures and see that this guy is not a prophet nor the Messiah” but we’ve also heard Jesus say, “[The Scriptures] bear witness about me” (John 5:39, ESV). How can that be? How can the Pharisees be searching the Scriptures and saying they prove that Jesus isn’t the Messiah AND Jesus be telling people to search the Scriptures to see that he is the Messiah? How can both of those things be true? How can they be reading the same book and getting two different interpretations from it? That’s the theme of this whole passage, isn’t it? How can the same people hear the same teaching from Jesus, and be so divided over it? The answer goes back to everything we talked about at the beginning of this sermon—the Holy Spirit. 

How can we rightly understand God’s Word? Well, the one who inspired it works in us to help us understand it and apply it to our lives. We also read, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12, ESV). The Word of God—through the power of the Spirit—cuts deeply into our hearts, souls, and minds in a powerful way OR it doesn’t. The only difference is the work of the Holy Spirit. If the Spirit is at work in our hearts, souls, and minds, then He will be working in us to understand and apply and convict us of God’s Word BUT if the Spirit is not at work in our lives, we will read and read and read and study and study and study and will be just as blind and deaf and hard-hearted as we started—probably more blind, deaf, and hard-hearted. 

There’s this beautiful moment after Jesus’ resurrection where he’s with his disciples, explaining to them what’s going to happen next. Of course, they have been confused and mistaken repeatedly throughout the entire process. Then we read, “Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45, ESV) and because of everything we read at the beginning of this sermon, we know that Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures through the power of the Holy Spirit because that’s what the Holy Spirit does. To put even more weight onto this, THAT is the only way we will ever truly be able to understand God’s Word—is through the power of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, we will be just as blind as the Pharisees. We can study, study, study, and devote our lives to studying this book—and apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, we won’t understand any of it. We’ll still be blind guides. That’s why the Pharisees can say “Search the scriptures…” and be completely wrong and Jesus can say “Search the scripture…” and be completely right. 

This is also why there will always be division surrounding Jesus and His teaching. Whenever Jesus and his teaching go out into the world there will be division. Some will hear it and be intrigued. Some will hear it and work hard to reject it. Some will hear it and scream in anger. Some will hear it and believe. What’s the difference? The Holy Spirit working in their life. Ultimately, that’s the only difference. Apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God will never result in faith, but only curiosity, confusion, rejection, and hatred. 

We have to realize that this division will also happen in the church—among those who profess faith in Jesus Christ—just like we see in this passage. There will always be a level of tension and disagreement in the church about who Jesus is and what he taught. It’s been there from the beginning and it’s not going away anytime soon. That’s why John Calvin says, “There is no reason, therefore, why our consciences should be distressed when we see those who wish to be accounted the people of God fighting with each other by contrary opinions. Yet it ought also to be observed that divisions do not properly draw their origin from the Gospel; for there can be no firm agreement among men except in undoubted truth.” (Calvin, 312). Just because there will always be divisions and arguments about Jesus and his teaching in the church, doesn’t mean that there isn’t one truth. No, unity in the church comes from being united in undoubted truth. And, to tie that into the rest of the sermon, WHO leads us into the undoubted truth of God’s Word, The Holy Spirit. 

And when the Holy Spirit begins to lead us into the undoubted truth of God’s Word, then we begin to see the power of the Holy Spirit. I don’t want to offend anyone this morning, but I also want to speak clearly. The power of the Holy Spirit is not shown through speaking in tongues and prophecy and healing and miracles. The power of the Holy Spirit is shown when he takes the Word of God and uses it to completely transform our life. That’s real power. I mean, he took your life that was no life—you were dead—and brought you back to life. He took you, who were a slave to sin, and set you free in Christ Jesus. He took you, who were walking down a path of death and destruction, changed your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and set your feet on the path of life. If you think speaking in tongues and prophecy and miracles are more powerful than that, you don’t understand the depth of your sinfulness and how dead you were. The Holy Spirit did a miraculous work in you and continues to do that work in you through the Word of God. 

But I also have to remind us that this powerful work looks different in different people. For some, it looks like a night and day turn—a complete and instant transformation—but not for everyone. That’s one of the reasons why I love Nicodemus. We met him for the first time four chapters ago when he came to Jesus at night (and Jesus told him that he needed to be born again by the power of the Holy Spirit before he could even see the kingdom of God) and then left confused. I love that John still references Nicodemus as, “Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them…” (John 7:50, ESV). This is John’s subtle way of reminding us that Nicodemus still isn’t there. He went to Jesus in the dark and is still in the dark. He’s still “one of them.” Yet, we still hear Nicodemus say, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” (John 7:51, ESV). Now, this isn’t a statement of faith by any means. It’s not even a defense of Jesus. Yet, he is questioning the Pharisees. And, in John’s love for irony, we’re given a hint of something happening in Nicodemus. Remember what the Pharisees said earlier, “Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?” (John 7:48, ESV) and then we see Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee, speaking up about Jesus. It’s not much, but it’s a little hint that the answer to their question is, “Some of them are starting to believe.” It’s a long way away, but I’ll tell you the end of the story. After Jesus dies on the cross we read, “Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight.” (John 19:39, ESV). This time, Nicodemus wasn’t coming to Jesus by night, but was anointing him in mid-day. John doesn’t explicitly say “He believed,” but actions speak louder than words. 

This too is an example of the Power of God’s Word and the work of the Holy Spirit. It didn’t transform Nicodemus in an instant or a moment, but it slowly chipped away at him over time. The Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, kept piercing his heart and cutting deeply and pulling him in until the Spirit eventually won and Nicodemus finally believed. That too, is a powerful working of the Holy Spirit. 

This should give us hope and confidence in our own lives and in the lives of those we know and love. For our own lives, we can have hope and confidence that the Spirit can work in us to bring about change and transformation—this is his primary job. And he will do that through the Word of God. So, get into God’s Word, read it every day, and pray and trust the Holy Spirit to work in your life. He can and will do it. Maybe not instantly, but eventually, He will win in your life. 

The same is possible for those we know and love. We don’t know how the Holy Spirit is working in their lives. They may reject and reject and reject and reject for a long time, but if the Spirit is going to win, the Spirit is going to win. Our job is not to try to be the Spirit in their life, but to trust the Spirit to work. So, we keep treating them in ways that are in line with God’s Word and we keep speaking God’s Word to them. Even if they keep on rejecting it, we will trust that the Spirit can cut deeply into their hearts, souls, and minds and transform them in His power.