This transcript was generated by whisper.ai. (upbeat music) - Welcome to day three of our look together through John chapter seven and daily drive time devotions. We're looking this week at the things that don't work to quench our spiritual thirst. And then we're heading towards the thing that does work to quench this thirst. What doesn't work? Well, we've looked at the political solution, the human strategies that we come up with that might make this thing work. We looked at that in day one. Yesterday we looked at the philosophical solution, the idea that somehow if I just think long enough or hard enough, philosophize good enough, that I'll come up with a solution. That doesn't work. And today we're going to take a look at a third human solution that we come up with beginning in verse 25. Let me read for you verse 25 to 31. See if you can hear their solution. At that point, some of the people in Jerusalem began to ask, isn't this the man they're trying to kill? Here he is speaking publicly and they're not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Christ? But we know where this man is from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from. And then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, yes, you know me and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me. At this, they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him because his time had not yet come. Still, many in the crowd put their faith in him. They said, when the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man? There was a lot of disagreement in the crowd that day about who Jesus was, who Jesus wasn't, what they should do with Jesus, what they should do about Jesus. Some questioned him, some followed him, some put their faith in him, some wanted to seize him in order to arrest him. When it comes to the satisfaction of that inner thirst, the spiritual thirst that you have in your life, these verses are a reminder of the fact that agreement won't satisfy your thirst. Getting everybody to agree, everybody to be at peace, isn't going to satisfy your thirst because when it comes to the most important things of life, everybody doesn't agree. We'd like them to, but they don't. Here's Jesus, God in human flesh, and everybody couldn't agree on the fact, even though he's working these miracles, that God was amidst them. This is not the political solution or the philosophical solution. I'd call this the popular solution. I make this to be popular with everyone. I'd be happy if I could just make everyone around me happy, satisfied if we could just all agree. The problem is, then you're looking to other people's opinions. And if you look at these verses, they're looking at a couple of things. They're looking at what do the authorities say? You notice in verse 25 and 26, what do the authorities say about this Christ? And they're looking at what do those around me say? This person asked this question, another person asked this question. When you go after this popular solution, you become like a person who's trying to live their life like a political campaign, always taking opinion polls and adjusting your life, adjusting your words, adjusting your direction by those opinion polls. What does she say? What does he say? What did they say? What does mom say? What does dad think? And you're always adjusting to those that are around you, thinking that if I can just make everyone happy, then this inner thirst that I have is going to be quenched. The problem is people's opinions are wrong. My opinions are wrong. Your opinions are wrong. Now we can have a difference of opinion about whether my opinions are more often wrong than your opinions, but the truth is all of us have wrong opinions. Only God is always right. And don't forget this, just because someone speaks with confidence doesn't mean they know what they're talking about. So many people speak with confidence and they have no idea about the truth they're talking about. The fact that someone speaks with confidence just means they know how to speak with confidence. You got to check the truth. I have in my life heard some of the most amazing truth. Some of the most life-transforming truth spoken by someone who didn't really have the confidence to say it maybe as they should to really get through, but what they were saying was life-changing. And I've heard some of the most damaging, deceitful, hateful, selfish lies told by people with a smile on their face, a confident gleam in their eye, who looked like they just wanted to help you. Truth of the matter is people's opinions can be wrong. Look, in this chapter, these few verses we just read at how misinformed people can be. In verse 12, they said Jesus deceives the people back at the beginning of this chapter. Jesus deceives the people, the only true one, the only holy one that was walking the earth, ever has walked the earth, and yet they accuse him of being the deceiver. Satan is the deceiver. Yet they got this so wrong, they thought of him as one who was demon possessed, they said later. That's how misinformed our opinions can be. Back in verse 20, we looked at yesterday, they said, no one's trying to kill you. Jesus has indicated my life is threatened. They said, no one's trying to kill you. But then look at what happens in verse 25. They said, isn't this the man that they're trying to kill? Just a few verses later, the rumor mill has started, and instead of no one's trying to kill you, oh, that's the guy everybody's trying to kill. That's what happens with opinions. Opinions are so dependent on the rumor mill. If you want to run your life by the opinions of some YouTube subscription, you're in big trouble, 'cause rumors are so often wrong. In verse 27, they say, no one's going to know where the Christ is from. And yet, we know where he is from, so this can't be the Christ. There was a spiritual rumor in that day. Wasn't in the Bible, it was just a spiritual rumor that the true Messiah would come without anyone knowing where he came from. That rumor was dead wrong. Everything that you hear people say is in the Bible isn't in the Bible. People say things like, God helps those who help themselves. Not in the Bible, Benjamin Franklin, not the Bible. Everything that you hear people say is from the Bible is not necessarily in the Bible. And everything you hear people quote from the Bible isn't necessarily being quoted as the Bible says it in the context of the Bible. That's why you gotta go back and check it out. And this truth that they were saying nowhere in the Old Testament, no promise about it, but they made it up. And they're saying that because of that, we must conclude that this isn't the Messiah. They built their whole thinking on a lie. Later in this chapter, they're going to say that Jesus couldn't be the Christ because he was born in Galilee and not in Bethlehem. You don't have to celebrate many Christmases to know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. But because he grew up in Galilee, they wrongly assumed that he was born in Galilee. That's how misinformed our thinking can become. Don't let your life be ruined by someone who can boldly state a wrong opinion. Do what Jesus called us to do. In verse 28, he called us to stand against this popular solution, letting other people's opinions run your life by asking this question, what is God's opinion? Yes, he said in verse 28, you know me, you know where I'm from. I'm not here on my own. He who sent me is true. God is true. So you ask, what's God's opinion? And you don't add his opinion to your opinion poll. You don't even give his opinion three votes and everybody else gets one. You make God's direction, God's will. You make it your compass. You don't vote on some things. You don't vote on what direction north is. North is north. No matter when anybody votes, it's still going to be north. And God's truth is God's truth. No matter when anybody votes, it's God's truth. I want you to notice that as Jesus shared God's truth in the midst of this confusing, popular solution kind of crowd, some people tried to seize him. They wanted to arrest him, punish him. Other people put their faith in him. You can find two opposite opinions on any issue. And that is why when we talk about finding God's will, God's direction, fulfilling this spiritual thirst that we all have in our lives, the opinions of others aren't ever going to get you there. Even if you got everybody around you satisfied and happy, the truth of the matter is it's only God's opinion in the end that counts. So as we pray today, let's ask for his opinion, his direction. God, when we talk together about your opinion, we realize that it's unlike any other opinion that we'll ever hear. My opinion can be wrong. Our opinions can be wrong. But God, your truth can never be wrong. And so we pray you'd help us to learn to trust you. The voices around us are so loud and sometimes they're from people that are so close to us and so insistent. God, help us to trust you instead. Help us to trust your will, your way, your direction in our daily lives. We need you. So instead of taking a poll of the opinions around me today, God, help me to listen within for your will. Help me to talk to others about your will. Help me be one who promotes your direction in our daily lives. I ask for this strength. In Jesus' name, amen.