Who is Jesus?
John 7:25-31

Thank you all for congratulating us for the birth of our third child.
Both mother and the child are doing well, and we look forward to coming and greet you all after some time of recovery.
Thank you all also for the baby shower last Sunday.
Since we had church officers’ meeting, there was a thought about delaying it a week.
But we had to deliver the baby two weeks early, so it all worked out.
As you know, Jean and Micah are four and three.
So it hasn’t been that long, but everything feels new again.
When I pick up Micah or Jean after holding Haley for awhile, I can really feel how big they have grown.
As they continue to grow, they talk a lot more and they ask many questions.
They ask all kinds of questions.
Sometimes, I feel amazed at the kinds of questions they ask, and other times, it’s nothing but silly questions.
As their curiosity grows, they are asking all kinds of questions.

Questions are important.
Those students that do well in school tend to ask lots of questions.
They ask themselves questions and they also ask their teachers questions.
Through the answers, their knowledge grows and they become more mature.
There are some sayings concerning questions.
“There is no such thing as dumb questions.”
I happen to think there are dumb questions.
At least, there is certainly different degree of the quality of questions.
Good questions and right questions help people and allow them to grow.

There are three questions in our text today.
These questions have to do with who Jesus is.
These are very important questions.
And their answers teach us a lot about who we are and our faith.
But none of the questions are explicitly answered.
Let us consider these three questions, not for the sake of questions themselves, but their implied answers and what impact they have upon our lives.

First Question
The first question is listed in verse 25.
“Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?”
This is a question by someone who knows what’s going on in Jerusalem.
Jesus came up to Jerusalem secretly at the time of the Feast of Booth.
But, he was rather public in his teaching in Jerusalem.
Jesus had some conflicts before with the Jewish leaders, and some of those leaders wanted to get rid of Jesus.
This was not known publicly, but few people in-the-know knew this.
And as Jesus was publicly teaching, especially concerning the issue of Sabbath, which Jesus had lots of conflict with Jewish leaders, they threw this question out there.
“Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?”
John does not explicitly answer this, but the answer is obvious.
Yes, Jesus is indeed the man they seek to kill.

What does this answer teach us?
It shows us the absolute corruption in the hearts of men.
Jesus is a sinless person.
Nothing he did here on earth deserved death.
But the Jewish leaders wanted to kill him. Why?
It is so that they can keep their tradition and their power in their society.
I have mentioned this before…what is the top priority of a politician?
It is re-election.
Many politicians promise to fix Washington, D.C. and all its corruption.
And then, they get to D.C.
The power they tasted is so attractive.
No one wants to give up their power on their own.
Jewish leaders were the same way – they had power and also took it lots of wealth in their positions.
They used traditions to prop themselves up and above others and show off their “righteousness.”
They show that they are far superior to others.
But Jesus came and started to tear these traditions down one by one.
He exposed their arrogance, self-righteousness, and hypocrisy.
I cannot go into details one by one how Jesus did this, but Jesus’ teachings exposed their hearts.
When the crowd started to follow Jesus, they were jealous and wanted to get rid of him.
This exposes the corruption of human mind that only thinks about themselves.
It is not a stretch to say that the sin entered into the world out of selfish hearts.
And that selfishness is what we are born with.
When young, it’s something you show, but when you get older, your learn to hide it well.
The first question exposes the corruption of the human heart.
We need to think about this question – are we truly following Jesus, or is there a thought that seeks to kick Jesus out of our hearts?

Second Question
The second question follows the first immediately in verse 26.
“Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ?”
This question is asked since the authorities are trying to kill Jesus, and yet, they are not opposing him as he is giving a public teaching.
“Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ?”
The answer to this question is “No!”
Rather, they do not want to know.
The answer reveals the lostness of human soul.
Human beings are blind and deaf.

When you look at the ministry of Jesus, it clearly shows that he is Christ.
But many did not want to know it or acknowledge it.
Why?
It is because he was not the Messiah they were looking for.
Yes, he let the poor have hope, blind see, and the lame walk…
But they wanted a Messiah, who is to drive out Romans and allow them to have all the power.
We sometimes seek to create the kind of God that we want.
We throw away the aspects of God we dislike and create a new god with aspects that we like.
Even when it comes to the Word, we obey what we like and we ignore what we don’t like.
Not only that we start to make excuses and justify ourselves why we shouldn’t follow through on those things we do not enjoy.
Is Jesus really the Christ for us?
Then, should we not let go of ourselves and obey him fully?

Third Question
The third and final question is asked by the people who have come to believe in Jesus.
Verse 31 – “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”
And while John does not give an answer, the obvious answer is “no, no one will do more signs that Jesus.”
What does this mean?
It means that Jesus is the Christ and we are to believe in him.

What did Jesus do? What signs did he perform?
First, he fulfilled the Scriptures.
Jesus said that he did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill them.
And he said this.
When asked by John, through his disciples, if Jesus was really the Messiah, Jesus answered…
Matt. 11:4-5 “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.”
Not only in the ministry, but even through the death and resurrection, Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures.

Second, Jesus gave people freedom.
He gave the sick freedom from illness; those under the power of money the freedom from money; and most importantly, he gave them Spiritual freedom.
According to Luke, when Jesus was in Nazareth, he read at the synagogue the 61st chapter of Isaiah.
Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering sight to the blind, to set liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then he goes on to say in verse 21, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Third, Jesus convinced people that he is God and the answers to the deepest problems of this world is found in him.
To think of Jesus has God was unthinkable for Jews.
But Jesus showed himself to Peter and heard from him the confession that “You are the Christ, Son of the Living God.”
And from Thomas he heard the confession “My Lord and my God.”

There are many other things we can talk about.
He led the only social revolution that is still on-going.
He healed those who have broken hearts.
As John writes in the final chapters, that if we were to write down everything Jesus did, this world will not be enough to hold all the books that will be written.
Jesus did so much.
Who will come and do more signs than Jesus?
What does this mean?
Jesus is the Christ!

Conclusion
So what does it all mean to us?
It means that we need to accept and believe in him.
To believe him means we need to completely trust in him and follow him.

This all happened during the Feast of Booth.
This was the feast that remembers God’s providence during their time in the desert in Exodus.
God has kept them alive through manna, water, cloud, fire, etc.
They were as good as dead in the desert, but God protected them.

In the same way, we were as good as dead and should have been rejected from God eternally.
But God saved us.
In order to give us life, when we were corrupt, lost, and dead, God sent Jesus as the Messiah.
We need to be thankful for this amazing love of God, shown through the sacrificial life of Jesus, and out of gratitude live the life of thanksgiving.

Trust in this Jesus.
Whatever areas you are struggling with today, when you trust in him, he will save you.
Not because you were good, but because God’s graciousness toward you.
God has proven his graciousness by sending Jesus, who indeed is Christ!