Where Are You From?

Order of Service

• Hymn — All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name
• Call to Worship — Psalm 105:1-6
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Sin
• Assurance of Pardon — 1 John 1:9
• Scripture Reading — Malachi 2:10-16
• Hymn — Great Is Thy Faithfulness
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Prayer of Dedication
• Hymn — Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
• Sermon
• Prayer
• Hymn — Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: Where Are You From

Scripture: John 7:25-52

I. Where Christ Is From

A. The crowd's confusion centers on Jesus's earthly origin

1. A first-century Jewish tradition held that Messiah's origin would be unknown; most expected him from Bethlehem per Micah 5:2
2. Galileans and Nazarenes were considered unsophisticated, making a Galilean Messiah offensive to many
3. The Jewish authorities curse the believing crowd for ignorance of the law, yet ironically overlook that Jonah was a prophet from Galilee

B. Jesus redirects the question from earthly to heavenly origin

1. "You know me and you know where I come from, but I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know" — John 7:28-29
2. John, unlike the Synoptic Gospels, is not primarily concerned with Jesus's earthly origin story but with his heavenly origin — the Word was with God and was God (John 1:1)
3. The believing crowd in John 7:31 responds rightly: whatever his origin, could the Christ do more signs than this man?

C. Application: immerse in the whole counsel of God rather than rigid theological puzzle pieces

1. Various first-century Jewish sects (Qumran community, Sadducees, Pharisees) each had predetermined boxes Messiah had to fit — their traditions screened out truth
2. Scripture is not a puzzle we construct; it is revelation to be meditated upon so that hearts are trained to recognize truth even when it comes from unexpected places
3. The goal is to have God's word swimming in our bloodstream, not merely to collect proof texts or factoids

II. Where Christ Is Going

A. Jesus announces his departure: "I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come" — John 7:33-34

1. He speaks of the complex of his glorification: crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension back to the Father

B. The Jewish authorities misunderstand entirely, wondering if he will go to diaspora Jews scattered among the Greeks — earthly mindedness vs. heavenly mindedness, a recurring theme in John

C. Separation from Christ is not a matter of physical distance but of unlikeness of heart and spirit

1. Adam's sin broke fellowship with God; Christ, never missing the mark of God's glory, remains in fellowship with the Father even while standing on earth
2. To be conformed to Christ's image and receive him is to be even now in the kingdom — hidden in Christ (Colossians 3), seated in heavenly places (Ephesians 2), belonging to the Jerusalem above (Galatians 4)
3. Augustine: "Christ came to earth in such a way that he didn't depart from heaven, and so he returned as not to abandon us"

III. Who Christ Is Sending

A. On the last and great day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus stands and cries out with urgency: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water" — John 7:37-38

1. John explains this refers to the Holy Spirit, not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified — John 7:39

B. Old Testament background for living water imagery

1. Isaiah 58:11 — "You shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters do not fail"
2. Isaiah 44:3 — water poured on thirsty land connected explicitly to the pouring out of the Spirit
3. Zechariah 14:16-17 — the Feast of Tabernacles liturgy connected worship of the King with the provision of rain; Jesus fulfills this symbolism

C. The Feast of Tabernacles context amplifies the declaration

1. Each of the first seven days, priests processed from the Pool of Siloam to pour water at the base of the altar; the seventh day featured a climactic water rite
2. The eighth day was a sacred assembly — a New Year's Eve celebration ringing in new beginnings; Jesus on this day announces that he brings in the new, replacing the old festivals
3. Just as Jesus is the true bread from heaven, he is the true water — pouring out the Spirit on Jews at Pentecost, on Samaritans, and on the nations throughout the globe

D. The Spirit-indwelt believer becomes a fountain

1. Augustine: "Having drunk that water, the conscience being purged begins to live, and drinking in it will have a fountain and will be itself a fountain"
2. Those who come to Christ for the waters of the Spirit cannot contain them — the good news floods out through their lives to the ends of the earth
3. This is the incentive to walk in step with the Spirit and not the flesh, being conformed ever more into the image of Christ (Colossians 3)