The Pharisees’ Big Mistakes John 7:40-53 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

The problem with the religious Pharisees is that they were often judgmental and proud and so they attempted to discredit and destroy anyone, or anything, that didn’t match their narrow understanding of religion. It was because of this that they missed the fact that Jesus was their Messiah. The Pharisees were so convinced in their minds they were right that no amount of evidence to the contrary would change their minds. Their big mistakes were that they disregarded some very important facts.

They disregarded His preaching

The officers that were sent from the chief priest of the Pharisees as well as the common people who were there to hear Him preach knew that Jesus was no ordinary man.

John 7:40 “Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.”  John 7:45-46 “Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.”

Matthew 7:29 “For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”

They disregarded His birthplace

John 7:41-42 “ Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?”

Psalms 132:11 “The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.“  Matthew 1:1 “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.“  Micah “5:2  But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

Because Jesus had spent much time in Galilee “some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?” choosing to recognize his residence rather than His birthplace.

They disregarded their own deceit 

Basically, the Pharisees had chosen to believe a lie. Once they had committed themselves to a lie they were unable to recognize the truth even when it stood boldly right before their eyes.

John 7:46-47 “The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?”

The Pharisees had been deceiving people for some time and then Jesus Christ came along preaching the truth. As a result the Pharisees had to go to greater depths of deception to maintain their customary lie. Therefore, in deceiving others they in turn deceived themselves.  2 Timothy 3:13 “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”  Being so deceived they made plans to prevent any evidence of Jesus’ resurrection before it happened.

Matthew 27:63 “Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.”  The Pharisees accused Jesus Christ of being the deceiver and the guards of being deceived, but it was the Pharisees who were the deceivers and who became victims of their own deception. The Pharisees of today get so entrenched in their creeds, works and religious doctrines that when you preach to them the simplicity of salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ they then say that you are the one who is deceived.

Notice this.  In John 8:46, the Jews  “said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?”  He wasn’t a Samaritan and he wasn’t a devil.  He was born in Bethlehem which is in Judea.  He lived in Nazareth and Capernaum which  are in Galilee.  The Samaritan woman at the well instantly recognized that Jesus was a Jew and not a Samaritan. Yet the Pharisees lied calling Jesus a Samaritan.  To make matters worse they blasphemed the Holy Spirit by saying that He had a devil.

They disregarded their dishonesty

The Pharisees asked the officers a dishonest question.  John 7:48 “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?”  Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, did.  There were also other Pharisees who believed on Him, as well.  John 12:42 “Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue”

They disregarded their misjudgment

John 7:49 “But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.”  The Pharisees were proclaiming a curse on others when they were in fact the ones who were cursed.

Deut. 27:24 “Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen.”  The Pharisees violated this verse when they secretly plotted against Jesus and smote him during His trial and judgment.

Deut. 27:25 “Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen.“  The Pharisees violated this verse when the paid Judus Iscariot to betray Jesus.

Deut. 27:26 “Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.”  The Pharisees violated this verse by violating the previous two verses, not to mention their many other violations that are recorded in scripture.

They disregarded their law

John 7:50-51 “Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,) Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?”  They wrongly accused Him of blasphemy and unjustly crucified Him thus violating their law. The law was placed there to lead them to Christ, but instead of following the law they used it to further their own worldly schemes.

They disregarded their own ignorance

John 7:52 “They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.”

Matthew 12:39 “But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas”

Jonas, or Jonah, lived in Gathhepher…2 Kings 14:25 “He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher.”

Gathhepher is in Zebulun…Joshua 19:10 “And the third lot came up for the children of Zebulun according to their families: and the border of their inheritance was unto Sarid”  Joshua 19:13 “And from thence passeth on along on the east to Gittahhepher, to Ittahkazin, and goeth out to Remmonmethoar to Neah”

And Zebulun is in Galilee.  Therefore, Jonah was from Galilee and was a type of Jesus Christ. The Pharisees were not as wise as they presumed and so had not figured this out because they disregarded their own ignorance.