John 7:19-24 • They Redesigned the Law to Execute Jesus

📖 John 7:19-24 • Everyone knows "judge not"—but almost nobody knows what Jesus actually meant. What if the Bible doesn't forbid judging, but commands righteous judgment?

⛪ Preached at Pilgrim Baptist Church • Cookeville, TN • February 8, 2026.

📚 Part of our verse-by-verse expository series through the Gospel of John

The Pharisees are plotting to kill Jesus while claiming to uphold Moses' law. They're experts at quoting Scripture, masters at looking righteous, and skilled at judging by appearance. But Jesus is about to expose their entire religious system using their own practices against them.

In this expository sermon, Pastor Fortunato walks through John 7:19-24, connecting it masterfully to Leviticus 12:3, John 8:58, Genesis 17, and Exodus 4. He shows how Jesus used the Pharisees' own practice of circumcising on the Sabbath to expose their hypocrisy in condemning His healing on the Sabbath. The law was meant to escort us to Jesus—but they redesigned it to execute Jesus.

The most misquoted verse in America is "judge not"—but nobody reads the second half: "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." Jesus isn't forbidding judgment. He's commanding us to judge rightly.

This verse-by-verse exposition explains:

• Why the Pharisees couldn't keep the very law they claimed to defend

• The difference between "blameless" and "sinless" (Luke 1:6)

• How they weaponized God's word instead of letting it lead to Christ

• The "lie without lying"—functional deception the Pharisees mastered

• Why circumcision on the Sabbath exposed their double standard

• Jesus's brilliant argument: "one bit" vs. "every wit whole"

• The marks of the devil: lying and murder (John 8:44)

• What "judge not according to appearance" actually means

• How we all have pharisaical hearts that judge by surface-level stuff

• Why Jesus said "Before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58)

• The knockout punch: Jesus predates every law and commandment

• How to judge rightly instead of judging shallowly

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