Welcome to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We're glad you've joined us for today's program. Connect with Skip Heitzig exists to connect you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times through verse-by-verse teaching of His Word. That's why we make messages like this one today available to you and others on air and online. Before we kick off today's teaching, we want to let you know that you can stay in the know about what's happening at Connect with Skip Heitzig when you sign up for email updates. When you do, you'll also receive Skip's weekly devotional email to inspire you with God's Word each week. So sign up today at connectwithskip.com.
That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. The first verse in layers. After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee. For He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him.
Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand. His brothers, therefore, said to Him, Depart from here, and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see the works that you are doing. For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world, for even his brothers did not believe in him. Then Jesus said to them, My time has not yet come. Your time is always ready.
The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me, because I testify of it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to the feast, for My time has not yet fully come.
When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee. Now let's go back to the first verse, because I want to just concentrate on four layers of that verse. There are four phrases that I'm going to just take piece by piece, layer by layer, one after another. There are only 23 words in verse 1, but there's enough stuff, there's plenty of thoughts to occupy the rest of our time leading into the Lord's Supper. You know, I've had the privilege of preaching on whole books of the Bible in one setting.
Most times I'll do, I want to say two chapters, but I'm lucky if I get through one chapter on a Wednesday night. I've done paragraphs of Scripture. I've taught on words. I even taught once on a comma in the Scripture, but tonight we're going to look at one verse. 23 words found in verse 1.
I'll read it again. After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. John gives to us in verse 1 four things to see, four layers of this story. He gives us the when, He gives us the what, He gives us the where, and He gives us the why.
He begins with time. He's showing us a chronological orientation when He writes, after these things. 15 times in the Gospel of John, He uses the phrase, after these things. That's how John writes. In fact, that's how he writes in the book of Revelation. After these things, I saw such and such, and after these things, then this appeared. So it's a very John the writer, John the apostle way of writing. So John is first telling us a little bit about the when. He wants us to see the time denotation, the chronological orientation. After these things, after what things?
All of the things that he just wrote about in the previous section. Beginning with the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000 men plus women and children. After the miraculous walking on the water that His disciples saw. After the confrontation over Him being the bread of life. And after the disciples, not the 12, but some of the disciples, in hearing the disturbing words of Jesus, decided to leave Him and follow Him no longer.
After all of those things, then this happened. What you don't see readily is that there is a six month to seven month gap in these words. Between chapter six and chapter seven, beginning with the next section that we didn't read, is a six to seven year gap.
How do we know that? We know that because in chapter six verse four, it tells us it was the time of the Passover. Do you know when the Passover is?
Do you know what time of the year? Tell me, what time of the year is the Passover, anybody? Springtime. It's around April. That's when the Passover is.
Late March, early April. Typically that's when Passover is. By the time we get to chapter seven, it's already the Feast of Tabernacles because eventually Jesus will go up to Jerusalem. And His own brothers mention the Feast of Tabernacles. So there is six to seven months between chapter six and chapter seven of which John writes nothing about. Now that doesn't mean Jesus wasn't doing anything during that time.
He wasn't at the Sea of Galilee with His feet up on a raft just soaking in the rays. He was doing a lot of things that aren't recorded by John. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, tell us some of the things He was doing.
Let me tell you a few of them. One of the things He did is He went to the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, the farming area known as the Plain of Gennesaret, and He healed many people in that area. That's one thing He did during that six to seven month period. Not only that, but He had a confrontation with the leadership, the Pharisees over tradition, Jewish tradition. They came to Him and said, your disciples don't wash their hands the proper traditional way when they eat their bread. And there was a conflict that Jesus had with the leaders. Not only that, but Jesus went all the way up to the coast of Lebanon to Tyre and Sidon. And there was a woman who had a daughter who was demon possessed, and she begged Jesus to heal her daughter. And after a short conversation, Jesus healed that girl. Jesus then came back to the region, and He fed another group of people, not 5,000 men, this time 4,000 men plus women and children, but a smaller group than the first time. Not only that, but during this time Jesus went up north to the area of Mount Hermon in the north, Caesarea Philippi. And there He asked His disciples, who do men say that I am?
Who do you say that I am? And Peter said, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Right after that, Jesus announced that He would be going to Jerusalem and dying on a cross. It was the first time He ever told His disciples plainly what was going to happen.
That all occurred during that period of time. But not only that, but Jesus took a few of His disciples up onto that mountain where the Bible says a transfiguration took place. He was transfigured before them. Then after that, Jesus goes back down to the region of the southern Galilee around the lake, and He heals a man's epileptic son.
The disciples were unable to do it. All of that was happening during this period of which John tells us nothing. The biggest thing Jesus was doing during this silent period, not silent in the other gospels, but silent in John, is He was teaching His disciples. That was His main activity. He was taking them places, He was teaching them, He was getting them ready not only for what would happen at Jerusalem, but what would happen after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended. Now that's very interesting. Jesus did a lot of things, John doesn't mention any of them during that time.
Why is that? It's because it didn't suit the purpose of John's writing this book. Do you remember every time we begin a New Testament gospel we mention there are four gospels and all of them have a very different purpose for writing? Well John has a purpose for writing the book, and his purpose is not to give you an exhaustive chronology of Jesus, but the exact identity of Jesus. John wants the reader to know this Jesus is God in a human body.
He is the long awaited Messiah, but He is the Word made flesh, the One who is equal with God. That's His purpose is to uncover that identity. Now there's a principle here that I want you to see, and here's the principle. God doesn't give us all the information that He has. God doesn't give us all the information that we want, but listen, God gives us all the information we need.
Did you get that? God doesn't give us all the information He has. God doesn't give us all the information you want. God gives us all the information you need. Deuteronomy 29 29 says the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children. God knows what you need to hear. I know we'd like to know more.
People ask you questions. Why would God do this? Why would God allow this? I don't know what your answer is, but let me tell you what the right answer is from you to them.
I don't know. The secret things belong to the Lord, not to me. God doesn't give me all the information I want. He doesn't give me all the information He has, but He gives me all the information I need. He gives me just enough information to act on that. Hey, how are you doing acting on the information He's given you so far?
Let's just start there. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to Skip's teaching, we want to help you and the children in your life see the timeless story of Christ from cradle to cross with Nate Heitzig's new book, Christmas Under the Tree. Told through the eyes of an unlikely character and graced with illuminating illustrations, this gripping tale is rooted in the limitlessness of Christ's love and helps young readers understand why Jesus left heaven to be born under and die upon a tree. This exciting resource, along with a companion audio experience, are available to you now as our way of saying thanks for your gift of $25 or more to reach more people with God's love through Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give. Now, let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. So John felt it wasn't important to give the details, but the ones he gave were important details. There's something else in that phrase.
After these things, here's the principle, another principle. God's watch is more accurate than my watch. I wear a watch. I don't always remember to wind it. I have the kind that you have to wind every day or it'll tell you the wrong time.
So I wound it this morning and I think I have pretty good time. It's accurate. But God's watch is more accurate than my watch. God keeps perfect timing. God is never late. And one of the things we find over and over again in the Gospels is just how accurate God was in His timing. Galatians chapter 4 verse 4, that in the fullness of the time, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law at just the right time. And once Jesus hit planet Earth, boy, was He on a perfect timetable, right?
He gets to Canaan and His mom goes, come on, do this miracle. And Jesus said, my hour has not yet come. He wasn't just keeping the days. He was keeping the right hours.
His watch was accurate. Later on when it is the time for the crucifixion, He prays to His Father in John chapter 17, Father, the hour has come, glorify Your Son that Your Son may glorify You. Jesus was moving to the exact timetable as set by the Father. So it was after these things. The Apostle Peter is a part of this whole entourage and later on he will say this, for God is not slack concerning His promise as some count slackness.
He's just long suffering, not willing that any should perish. Now, my earthly father was late. He was late for picking me up from school. He was late for dropping me off to school. He was late for doing just about anything that involved me. I remember well. That was my earthly father, but my Heavenly Father is never late.
Your Heavenly Father is right on time. So that's the first layer, after these things. That's the first phrase. The second phrase in the second layer, it says, after these things, Jesus walked in Galilee. Hey, how did Jesus get around from place to place? Oh, He didn't take a car or a moped or a bus.
He walked out. I don't want to really belabor this, but I want you just to think about it. Some of us took a tour to Israel not long ago. Raise your hand if you were with us. Raise your hand if you went to Israel. If you've ever been to Israel, how's that?
Raise your hand. Okay, so when we all went to Israel, we had an air-conditioned bus that took us from place to place to place to place. The bus did all the work. The bus took us to about one one hundredth of all the places Jesus went to. The bus let us off. The bus picked us up, and we just walked a little bit around some of those places.
And even doing that, we all said, I'm tired. Hey, Jesus didn't just walk in Galilee. He walked to Galilee. He didn't just walk in Jerusalem. He walked to Jerusalem.
And all the places I just mentioned, He didn't just walk in them. He walked to them. There was a sixteen-year-old teenage boy who just got his driver's license, and he said to his dad, Dad, I'd like to talk to you sometime about my use of the family car. Dad said, tell you what, son, if you can bring your grades up, and if you start studying the Bible more, and if you cut your hair, then we'll discuss your use of the family car. Well, a month later, this kid brought his grades up. He'd been reading his Bible, and his dad said, son, I'm so proud of you.
Your grades are up, almost straight A's. I notice you've been reading your Bible every morning, but your hair, you still didn't cut it. And his son said, well, you know, Dad, I've been thinking about that, and I notice in the Bible, Samson had long hair, and Absalom had long hair, and Moses had long hair, and even the Lord Jesus had long hair. And his father said, you're absolutely right, and they walked wherever they went. So listen, don't always pass these words up when you read them in the Scripture, and he walked in Galilee.
But here's what this means in particular. The word walked is the Greek word peripateo. Peripateo means to walk about, to walk around, and it's typically a metaphor for hanging out, staying in, or living at. The point is, Jesus hung out and stayed mostly around Galilee, living there as his base, his headquarters, for that period of six to seven months. It doesn't mean he didn't take a jaunt up north or a jaunt over to Mount Hermon, but he came back and mostly was teaching his disciples walking around Galilee. Have you ever wondered what it was like to be a disciple?
I don't even have to ask for a show of hands. I know some of you have thought, wouldn't it be cool to have been in that group of disciples and follow Jesus around? Now just think about that thought. How hard would it be to follow Jesus? Do you think it'd be hard? Do you think it'd be hard to walk all these places and all of the demands and crowds that Jesus constantly had around him?
I bet it would be very hard to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, let me tell you about Galilee in the summer. You think it's hot here? I checked the weather today and the next few days in Galilee, 101, 102, 103, with the kind of humidity that a lake affords. I've been to Galilee in the summer. I've gotten sick and dehydrated in Galilee for a few days.
They had to put me in bed. So I can just imagine what it would have been like to be these disciples following Jesus during that summer in the heat, walking to all these places. But what they saw, what they heard, what they experienced during that summer would last a lifetime.
It would be enough for a lifetime of memories and changed lives. What they saw, they would write about in the generations to come. Take the transfiguration, for example. Peter would write about that in 2 Peter, saying, We didn't follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
When that voice from God the Father came down from the excellent glory, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. So following Jesus was hard, but what they learned would last them a lifetime. Here's the point I want to make.
Here's the principle in this layer. Following Jesus Christ, really following Jesus Christ, is hard. But it sure beats the alternative. Following Jesus is hard, but it beats the alternative.
Hey, you know what? The Lord has led me into places that are highly uncomfortable. He has led me into places that are even painful. But it's always been fruitful.
It's always been profitable. Not easy, but it beats the alternative. What's the alternative? Living a boring life. Living an unimaginative, boring life. And you know what? Last time I checked, everybody's doing that.
Everybody around that I see has got that pretty well covered. The things that Jesus said in John chapter 6, they were so shocking to people. Some of those disciples said, We're leaving.
We're not going to follow you anymore. They loved His works. They didn't like His words. They loved the miracles. They loved the food.
They loved the healing. They didn't like what He said. And so they turned and followed Him no more. So Jesus said to His inner circle of apostles, Will you also leave? Do you remember what Peter said? Did those words still ring in your memory from last time? Where else would we go, Lord?
You alone have the words of eternal life, and we are convinced that you are the Christ, the Son of God. Hey, you know, after all that I've experienced, as good as it's been, as hard as it's been, as difficult as it may be, where else would I go? Nowhere. It's the best life. Talk about an adventure. You want an adventure, follow Jesus. My wife, along with some of you, were on a little team over to Iraq last week.
How's that for an adventure? In Jordan and Iraq, five playgrounds were built with Reload Love from all of the finances that we've collected through your generous giving. Five playgrounds for children who've been impacted by terrorism. And so I was thinking, I don't think there's been a lot of people last week that I know who have been in Iraq. I think if I went to Starbucks and said, How many of you guys have been to Iraq building playgrounds?
I probably wouldn't get a single taker. But that group was there. And they were there because they followed Jesus who took them there. So two layers we've covered, the when and the what. After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee.
And when you follow that one, it's not boring, it's exciting. Now let's consider the where. It says after these things, Jesus walked in Galilee because he did not walk in Judea, for he did not walk in Judea. Now just let's think about that. He didn't walk in Judea.
Why? Did he not like Judea? Did he think the Judeans were just like second class citizens? I don't want to be around those Judeans.
That had nothing to do with it, right? I mean, wasn't Judea the heart of the Jewish nation? Who knows what city was in Judea?
Any takers? What city was in Judea? If you know it, shout it out. Jerusalem, capital city. The place where all the action is, the temple is there. It's the epicenter of religious life for the nation. But Jesus walked in Galilee, he did not want to walk in Judea. We're glad you've joined us today. Before you go, remember that when you give $25 or more to help reach more people with the gospel through Connect with Skip Heitzig, we'll send you Nate Heitzig's new children's book, Christmas Under the Tree, which includes a companion audio experience.
Just in time for Christmas, this book will help young readers understand why Jesus left heaven to be born under and die upon a tree. To request your copy, call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. For more from Skip, be sure to download the Connect with Skip Heitzig app, where you can access messages and more content right at your fingertips. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.
