This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions. We are looking together
at John chapter seven this week, looking at the different ways that we try to
quench our spiritual thirst. As we, day four, take a look at one other way that
we try to quench our thirst, one other human way that never works.

Let me remind you of what we talked about the first three days. We talked about
the political solution, which is human strategies. We talked about the
philosophical solution, which is human ideas.

And we talked about the popular solution, which is the popular opinion, get
everybody to agree. Today, we look at another way that we try to get our
spiritual thirst quenched. We're going to look at the most dangerous of all,
because it is the most enticing of all.

It looks like it could quench your thirst, a human way to quench your thirst,
but it doesn't work. It fools you into thinking that you're doing something to
quench your thirst. This is the religious solution.

In verses 32 to 36, here's what John chapter seven has to say. The Pharisees,
the religious leaders, heard the crowd whispering such things about him, about
Jesus. And then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest
him.

Jesus said, "I am with you for only a short time, "and then I go to the one who
sent me. "You will look for me, but you will not find me. "And where I am, you
cannot come.

" The Jews said to one another, where does this man intend to go that we cannot
find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks and teach
the Greeks? What did he mean when he said, you will look for me, but you will
not find me?

And where I am, you cannot come. As we walk through these verses and this
discussion that Jesus has with the religious leaders, you're going to see their
religious solution. And you're going to reveal the fact that control can't
satisfy our thirst.

You see, religion is really man's attempt to control God. Put him in this little
box so I got him controlled, I can figure him out, I know all of his rules. And
control, religious or otherwise, won't satisfy your thirst.

There's a vast difference between manmade religion and a genuine relationship
with Christ. I'm not talking about denominations here, denominations of
churches. I'm talking about our attempts to reach God by our own efforts.

That's religion. Religion is filled with control and a relationship with Jesus
is filled, it's filled with freedom. The result of this religious solution that
the leaders in Jesus' day are going to propose is confusion and division.

Before this feast, they were in disbelief. In the midst of this feast, there was
a lot of debate. At the end of this feast, they are all in division.

Truth of the matter is, Jesus has a different solution. Just compare with me
what Jesus says here in John 7 with what he's later going to say to his disciples.
In John 7, 34, he says, "You will look for me, "but you will not find me.

"Where I am, you cannot come. " That's what Jesus says to someone who's trying
to find God on their own effort. I'm trying as hard as I can, God.

You will look for me, but you will not find me. Where I am, you cannot come. But
to his disciples later, John 14, 4, Jesus said, "You know the way to the place
where I am going.

" In John 17, 24, "Father," he said, "I want those you've given me to be with me
where I am. " What's the difference? The difference is religion or relationship.

With religion, I can't find him. I can't get there. With a relationship with
Jesus Christ, I know the way where he's going.

With Jesus' love, he wants me to be with him where I am. Now, let's get deeper
into this religious solution, verses 45 to 53. By the way, I'm skipping a few
verses here.

I'm saving verse 37 to 44 for tomorrow because that's the answer. Beginning in
verse 45. "Finally, the temple guards went back "to the chief priests and
Pharisees "who asked them, 'Why didn't you bring him in?

' "'No one ever spoke the way that this man does,' "the guards declared. "'You
mean he's deceived you also? ' "the Pharisees retorted.

"Has any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed in him? "'No, but this mob that
knows nothing of the law, "'there's a curse on them. ' "Nikodemus, who'd gone to
Jesus earlier "and is one of their own number, asked, "'Does our law condemn
anyone without first hearing him "'to find out what he's doing?

' "They replied, 'Are you from Galilee, too? "'Look into it. "'You'll find that
a prophet does not come out of Galilee.

' "And then each went into his own home. " Now, these few verses are an
incredible picture of this desire to control through religion, to control my
life, to control other people's lives. These are the tricks that we use when
we're trying to use religious control to get to God.

Look at the methods of control that were employed by these religious leaders.
They tried physical force, they tried to arrest Jesus. We're going to bring Jesus
in front of us.

We're going to shame him in front of this whole crowd. We're going to arrest him and
throw him in prison. And sometimes people will use physical means.

They'll say, "Well, we'll bring you in front of everybody "and ask you questions
and try to shame you. " That's a method of religious control. They also used
intellectual ridicule.

"Have you been fooled by him, too? " They say to the guards. It's pretty funny
here.

The guards that they sent out got it. No one ever spoke like this man does. The
leaders didn't get it.

And so instead of saying, "Why are they saying this? " They ridicule them, "Oh,
you've been fooled, too. " Another method of control, religious control is
appeals to authority.

They say, "Do any of us believe? "If none of us believe, it can't be true. "
They appeal to their own authority.

Another method of religious control is what I would call spiritual elitism. They
say here, "Do any of us believe in him? "Just the mob believes in him.

" And the mob, there's a curse on them. The people know nothing. There's a curse
on them, and yet we're blessed by God.

So you gotta listen to us. That is the depth of religious control. You'll see it
all the time.

People will say, "God has answered my prayers. "He hasn't answered your prayers.
"You need to follow me.

"God has made me prosperous. "He hasn't made you prosperous. "You need to follow
me.

" There's all kinds of ways to go down this road of spiritual elitism. I have
learned about the Bible in seminary. I can speak Hebrew and Greek, and you
can't, so you have to follow me.

The truth is, we don't follow any person. We follow God. It's a method of
religious control.

Keep going down the list. They also use personal attack. They said to Nicodemus,
one of their own number, we're meeting our friend Nicodemus here again for the
second time in the Gospel of John, and he defends Jesus a little bit.

Hey, we should listen to what he has to say first. You must be from Galilee,
too. Galilee, remember, was out in the country, and Jerusalem was in the city,
so this is the you're from the sticks.

You don't know what you're talking about charge. They personally attack one of
their own leaders, and then they also have false teaching involved, another
method of religious control. No prophet ever comes from Galilee.

Well, Jonah had, and Amos had, and Elijah had, and Hosea had. What they're
saying simply wasn't true, and the prophecy was that the Messiah was going to be
born in Bethlehem. They were teaching falsely from their own Bible.

As we go through the rest of the Book of John, it's going to become increasingly
obvious that their religious control wasn't for others' benefit, but for their
own. They like the sense of power that it gave them. We all do, so we have to
fight it by praying for humility, but we have to look for the answer that's
right in front of them.

Instead of trying to control things to get to the answer to satisfy this inner
need that we have, the guards said it, listen carefully to what Jesus is saying.
If I'll just listen to the words of Jesus, Jesus teaches with authority. If I'll
just listen to the truth of Jesus, Jesus has life-giving words.

Then I let go of my need to control, and I pick up the life that Jesus has for
me. The guards said it, and Nicodemus said it, look closely at what you're
doing. We're going against our own law in order to accomplish this.

Now, they didn't answer him. They just said, oh, you're from Galilee. They
ridiculed him.

The religious answer often causes you to do the very thing you're trying to
avoid in life. In your spirit, in your heart, you become the very kind of thing
you don't want to be. That's what the control the religious answer gives to us.

As we pray today, as we take a few minutes to talk to God, I'd like to pray
together about this tendency that we have to try to control our lives, and even
to use religion, to use God to control our lives. Would you pray with me and
just say to God, God, forgive me. Forgive me for the times when I try to control
through religion.

I put you in a box, I label it with a rule, and that makes me feel more
comfortable or more powerful because I can keep that little rule. Instead, I
want to give myself to you. Instead, I want to trust you, even when I don't
understand at all.

Instead, I want to follow you, recognizing that you are in control, even when I
don't feel in control. God, you are in control. And so today I pray that instead
of me trying to control my world, I would look to you, who is in control of
everything, and I would follow you.

I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. - Well, join us tomorrow, do not miss
tomorrow. We're going to be looking at what does quench our thirst, verses 37 to
43.