Those Self-Justifying Thoughts | John 7:21-24

Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” — John 7:21-24 So back in chapter five, John is going to present the healing of the lame man on the Sabbath as the leading reason that Jewish officials are going to begin to plot against him. And Jesus knows this. So many months later, as he is teaching on Temple grounds at one of their largest gatherings, he takes the time to present his case publicly. And he uses their reasoning against them. Here's what he does. He cites the practice of circumcision. And the reason he cites this is it was a practice required by religious law to be done on the eighth day after the birth of a male. Well, sometimes, this eighth day fell on a Sabbath day. This was unfortunate because this required excessive amounts of work to be done and more than allowed in their oral tradition. Therefore, Jesus is pointing out a flaw in their traditions and practices. What he states could be said this way: You are willing to justify work on a Sabbath to cut away a tiny part of a man's flesh so he can be holy. And now you justify killing me because I healed a whole man's flesh to make him holy when I didn't lift a finger? This is a surgical dismantling of their malicious justification. Gentlemen, we all have self-justifying thoughts. We will justify a reason for doing just about anything we want to do. But next time you have one of those thoughts, I would challenge you to remember this moment. And then play back that self-justifying thought as if you are standing before Jesus. And then remember this. There is only one who can justify, and it's not you. ASK THIS: What self-justifying thought have you had recently? DO THIS: Confess it to Jesus below. PRAY THIS: God, I give you my self-justifying thoughts. Justify me. PLAY THIS: Justified By Faith Alone. Check out other all Vince Miller's videos and audios for small groups at: https://beresolute.org/ Get Vince's most widely read resources The Daily Devotional at: https://beresolute.org/mdd Check out more ALL IN products like the one Vince is wearing at: https://beresolute.org/product-category/all-in-hats/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Connect with Vince socially: FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/millervince INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/vinceleemiller LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vincemiller TWITTER: https://twitter.com/vinceleemiller