Yeah, we'll turn to John 15 again. John chapter 15. You know, big couple weeks going
on. Lord willing, Friday, Brother
Eric and his wife, Michelle Lutter, will be in town with us. Have
a cookout there for whoever feels like coming over, hot dogs and
hamburgers, and you can hang out on Saturday. Yeah, not that
Friday. I'll pick him up Friday night,
Saturday. You can come over Friday, he won't be there, I probably
won't either. I'll be weed eating. Saturday will be... Hot dogs and hamburgers, and
hope the Lord will bring them. And he'll be preaching, preaching
Saturday. They're staying with us for weeks. You can visit with
them next Wednesday some too, but he'll be preaching both messages
Sunday. And then Jared West is gonna schedule to graduate high school
June 8th, so we're thankful for that. I've been seeing that this
time of year, I see it in a lot of bulletins. A lot of young
people go out into this world. Time stands still for no man.
Time moves only one way and you won't always be young. John 15, we'll begin in verse
18. John 15, 18, our Lord was speaking to those 11 right before
the hour was to come. And he says, if the world hate
you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were
of the world, the world would love his own, but because You're
not of the world, but I've chosen you out of the world. Therefore,
the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said
unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they
have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have
kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things
will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know
not him that sent me. If I had not, if I had not come
and spoken unto them, they had not had sin. But now they have
no cloak for their sin. He that hateth me, hateth my
father also. And he said, and if I had not
done among them the works which no other man did, they had not
sin. But now have they both seen and
hated both me and my father. He said, if I didn't come and
say what I said to him, they'd still be looking for a Messiah.
They were still sinned after the similitude of Adam, Paul
tells us. They'd still been guilty in Adam,
but they themselves, they never heard the Lord speak. And if
he didn't come and do the works that he did, do what he did to
do while he walked this earth, while he ministered to people.
They'd have nothing, no proof, wouldn't they? What does all
of mankind have at their fingertips right now? The written word of
God. Without excuse, aren't they?
And they've seen that and they've heard these things and they both
hated me and my father. Verse 25 says, but this cometh
to pass, it's all happening, that the word might be fulfilled,
every jot and tittle. That it's written in their law.
Why'd he call it their law? They're holding it. He spoke
it. You possess it. You have it. It's written in their law. They
hated me without a cause. They hated me without a cause.
Where is it written? Where is it written in their
law? I went and looked it up. He said, God came about his word,
and he said, it's written, they hated me without a cause. Is
that what he said? That's what Christ said, wasn't it? Now,
what was written? David wrote this in Psalm 69.
He said, they that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs
of my head. Now, is that verbatim, they hated
me without a cause? You know, we forego so much assurance
looking for accuracy. being precise, being accurate. Accurate. I was telling somebody
about our cat. Our cat got bit by a rattlesnake the other day,
and it was licking its left paw, and it was smacking that rattlesnake
in the head with his right paw. And it'd lick its paw, and it'd shake
it, and it'd smack that rattlesnake in the head with his right paw.
It was funny. And they said, well, actually,
if he would have been bitten by the snake, there'd have been a wreck. So it must
have been a non-poisonous bite, or it wasn't an actual inserting
of the fangs. Thank you, Dr. Obvious. I was
telling a funny story about a cat killing a snake. He's still alive. He's fine. He shook it off. We
call him Taylor Swift now. We forego assurance for the accuracy,
for the accuracy. He said, they hated me without
a cause. They're more than hairs of my head. They that would destroy
me. Being my enemies wrongfully are
mighty. Then I restored that which I
took not away. I came there. Everybody was against me. That
is going to kill me. My enemies despitefully used
me. They were mighty. And then against
all that, I restored that I didn't take away. What did he do? He restored us. What happened
there? We fell in the garden. We did. He didn't, he didn't take it
away. We did that willfully. and our father Adam and ourselves.
When those prophets of old, they wrote that coming Messiah, they
said that he would be rejected. They said he'd be despised. They
said he'd be hated of mankind. That's what we looked at last
week. We ain't no different. Psalm 22, that's a clear messianic
psalm. They all are, but we know that
one is. It starts out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? That's the very words of our Lord on the cross, wasn't
it? He said, they part my garments among them, they catch slots
on my vesture. That's what they did. He said, my tongue cleaveth
to my jaws. I thirst, didn't I? But verse six of Psalm 22, he
says, I'm a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised
of the people. He's despised. Without a cause,
they hated him. Isaiah said he'll grow up before
him as a tender plant out of a root of dry ground. He hath
no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, there'll
be no beauty that we should desire. He's not a staggeringly handsome
Caucasian man with long, perfect hair and straight teeth and a
lovely beard. That's been the same image for 60 some years
and went out of style. That's not him. He was despised
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. Don't even look at
him. He was despised and we esteemed him not, didn't think nothing
of him. Zechariah wrote this. He said, one shall say to him,
what are these wounds in thy hands? And he shall answer those
with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. Where'd
you get them wounds at? I was in the stead of my friends. Those very ones that hated me.
Those very ones that despised me. Those that were given to
me and they were enemies against God. I was standing in their
house. I was living their life of my
friends. I laid down my life for my friends.
The prophets wrote, they wrote of our Lord, that he would come,
he would be hated without a cause. And then it started. He came,
he was born. Herod got word of it. And Herod
the king, he heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem
with him. That's Matthew two, verse three.
Well, it was just that mean old King Herod. All of Jerusalem
with him, isn't it? What started here at his birth,
it carried all the way to the cross of Calvary. He was hated
in his hometown. What did Nathaniel say? Is there
anything good come out of Nazareth? Make fun of his hometown. They
didn't want him getting puffed up, did they? Because they were
puffed up. So they mocked his occupation.
He come to his own town, his own country, and he taught them
in the synagogues. He got up and preached in so much that
they were astonished. They were amazed. And they said,
well, isn't this man wisdom? And he's mighty works. And they
said, is this not the carpenter's son? Ain't this just an old hod
carrier? Don't know if Joseph. Ain't he
just packing lumber? Isn't that this fella? Make fun
of his hometown, make fun of his job. They discredited our
Lord's holiness to his very own disciples. They went to those
that he called out of the world. And the Pharisees, they saw him
eating with publicans and sinners, and they said unto his disciples,
how is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?
How could this be? How could he? They're sowing
discord. Do you think he would do something like that? Do you
think God would do something like that? Is that who he's eating with? They're
putting a question mark on his righteousness. He was sitting
down there with mafiosos and harlots and sinners and drunkards.
Man of God wouldn't do something like that. No, just cause you
wouldn't don't mean God wouldn't. He's humble. He took, he took
the form of a servant, didn't he? They sowed doubt in the very
act of eating and drinking. He said, John came and he didn't
eat and he didn't drink. And y'all say he's possessed
of a devil. He said, the son of man come eating and drinking.
And they said, behold a gluttonous, behold a winebibber. Friend of
publicans and sinners. Couldn't even take a sip of wine
without being, what he's doing is wrong. He's hated. He's despised. He cast out devils. They found
fault in that too. They said, he cast them out by
the zeals above. Lord healed two men with two
demons, and the whole town showed up. And they said, depart out
of our coast. Get out of here. What's wrong
with you? We can't have you in here talking like that and doing
things like that. Who do you think you are? You're
messing everything up for us. Multiple times they tried to
stone him. They didn't pay for those false witnesses. They couldn't
find somebody against him. He was above reproach. So they
bought somebody. They went to one of his apostles
and said, we'll pay you. We'll give you money. give you
a good job. He ain't taking over his physical
kingdom. We're still running his physical kingdom. We'll take
care of you. Just show us which one he is. Turn him over to us.
They took him down to that house and put crowns on his head of
thorns. They nailed his hands and his feet to a Roman cross
and they crucified him. He was hated. Now the question
I want to ask, last time we looked at us, didn't we, while we're
hated, why was one so pure, one so holy, one so Perfect in every
way. Why was he hated? Why? So much hatred for the Holy One
that was so kind and so good to everyone that was in need.
Was it because he healed the sick? Is that why they hated
him? Turn back to John 2. John 2 verse 23. John 2 23 says, now when he was
in Jerusalem at the Passover and the feast day, many believed
on his name and they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus
did not commit himself unto them because he knew all. and needed
not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in
man." He knew their hearts. It says there they believed in
him, in his name, didn't they? They believed in him. They weren't
believing Christ. They weren't believing him as
the only one with the ability, with the only one with authority
to heal our souls, to feed us. No, they saw benefit in the body,
didn't they? They saw a carnal, worldly benefit. Today, no one
would object. if I could come and heal you
of your physical ailments, would you? If the Lord granted that
gift and I could come and I could, I was teasing earlier, I said,
I stood up, my back started hurting and I said, no, you stop it.
And I said, quit hurting. I said, no, of course it didn't,
it just kept hurting. If I come, just take every bit of your pain
out of you. If I come and take away something you was born with,
had your whole life, not handicapped no more. Mankind wouldn't object
to that, would they? Turn you back to where you were
20 years old again. You can get people to follow and support
a Jesus that makes your body better because our health is
important to us at night. We'll pay anything. Make a pain
stop. Make it quit hurting. So that's
not why they hated Christ. They appreciated him for those
things. That's not why they took up stones. That's not why they
nailed him to a cross. What was the issue then? That wasn't the
issue then, that ain't the issue now. Did they hate him because
he fed so many people? Turn over John 6. John 6, verse 25. He'd fed all those 5,000, he
had to go out in a boat that was thronging him, just getting
close to him. It says in John 6, 25, and when they had found
him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi,
when camest thou hither? And he answered them and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw
the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were
filled. He's saying, I know why you're
seeking after me. You got your bellies filled.
He's hungry, and I fed you. What, is that just food? That's
anything, isn't it? I say, they had to pay taxes. Your master
pay taxes? And he said, Peter, go drop a hook, unbaited. And
inside that fish's mouth is gonna be some money, and we'll pay
taxes. Give Caesars what Caesars. How about it? We'll never have
to pay taxes again. We could save a ton of money.
Anybody that follows somebody might do that, wouldn't they?
You look at all them Ponzi schemes going on in our nation right
now. Give us $10, we'll give you $1,000 back. People line
up to do it. Smart people, wise people. Same
thing on television, give seed money. You get a big return on
your investment. You can get anybody on board. All those huge crowds, they followed
Christ because they got something for nothing. It didn't cost them
a penny. It didn't cost them, they didn't
have to shed none of their pride. They didn't have to shed none
of their status. They didn't have to shed 30 some years of
sitting underneath Orthodox preaching. and become as a child that knows
nothing and be led by the hand, they didn't have to do any of
that. They got something for nothing. Was it because he raised
the dead? We read that in John 11, don't
we, Lazarus? Lazarus, come forth. All them Jews turned and said,
look at him crying. Jesus wept. This boy, he loved him. And then
he brought him back from the grave. That's amazing. He went in Jerusalem riding on
a donkey. And they thought, this is it. This one can heal us.
He can provide for us. He'll prosper us. He'll bring
us back to life. If we was to die, we don't, we'd
stay with our family longer. And he's going to run this country.
He's going to be the king right here. We ain't got to go nowhere.
And they cried, Hosanna, didn't they? Threw down palm leaves.
And then a few days later, the exact same one said, crucify
him. Because they didn't get something out of it. Turn over
John 10. The text says, they hated me
without a cause. John 10. Why did they hate him? In verse 19. John 10, 19. There
was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. They hated him because of what
he said. They hated him because of his
doctrine, because of the message he was preaching. I want to look
at just a couple of those times where they hated him, where they
took up stones to kill him, where they wanted to throw him off
of cliffs, whatever they could do to make him stop because of
what he said. First, they hated the Lord because
he said he's God. He's God. Look in verse 30, John
10, verse 30. He said, I and my father are
one. I want to give you something
precious. My is in italics, isn't it? I and Father are one. You notice that? That was added
by the translator so we could read a little easier, but that's
not what he said. He said, I and Father are one. We tend to think
of it in our natural minds because we live in this world. That God
the Father, that's the dad. And then the Lord Jesus Christ,
that's his son, that's his offspring. And then the Holy Ghost is the
one that's kind of like their assistant or something that helps them
out and comes and does some work for them. That's how we see these
things. That's not so. That's not so. He said, I and
father are one. I and father are one. There in
verse 31, it says, and then the Jews took up stones again to
stone him. And Jesus answered him, said, many good works have
I showed you from my father. For which of those works do you
stone me? What good thing have I done for you? You're going
to kill me over. The Lord said a servant's not
above his master. I know some faithful men that's preached
and they said, you're mean. You don't love us, you ain't
kind to us, you ain't doing right. And then they look at them and
say, what good thing have I done that you're gonna stone me for?
That's what our Lord said, wasn't it? And the Jews answered and
said, for a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy,
because thou being a man, make us thyself God. They knew what
he was saying, do you? I and Father are one. He's very
God of very God. That's the almighty God speaking
to him in a human body talking to him. They heard that in their
ears. He was almighty God in human flesh. And those folks
got angry because they said, he ain't no better than we are.
He's just a man like us. I thought, I can't box Mike Tyson
and win. But now you give me about three
years, maybe I can train up. I got a fighting chance. I got
a fighting chance, don't I? They said, he ain't no different
than us. I'm just as good as that one is. I have good in me
is what they're saying. They're mad at him. They're mad
at him. This man can't be God, could he? That's what John was
writing about in first John. All the Gnostics back then. They
had an intellectual stance on the Lord coming to this earth
and being made a man. They said, well, it wasn't, he didn't really
become a man. It was as if he was, God was made flesh and dwelt
among us. John was dealing with that back
then. Nothing's changed. Brilliant minds that don't know
God. We enter into those things, we
understand how the almighty God could be contained. The heavens
can't contain him. It could be contained in a human
body. That triune Godhead in a body. John said, in the beginning
was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God. And
that Word was made flesh. He came right here to us. Isaiah
said that it wasn't just New Testament. These Pharisees aren't
without excuse. Said, therefore, the Lord himself
shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son. You call his name Immanuel. What's
that mean? God with us. You're going to
be born into a body I prepared for him and it's going to be
almighty God sitting there looking at you. Paul said, without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh
and justified in the spirit and seen of angels and preached unto
the Gentiles. He preached, believed on in the
world and received up into glory. He told these people, I and father
are one. That's who's talking to you. And they wanted to kill
him. I don't know how the Lord was a man and how this great
mystery works. Nobody knows inter workings of
those things, but people think they can get God in a box or
contain him in a man's written book and they'll sell you a copy
for $15. I think they got a handle on
him. I don't know when I needed him. I don't know when I lived
in him and I had new life in me, but I can tell you what I
hope it's today. I hope I know him today. Hope
he's alive in me today. We sing that song, don't we?
I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded. I don't know when
this grace came. I know what hour of the day.
I don't know any of those things. I know it was right. I know he
did it. I know he gets the glory for
it. He said, those that glory, let them glory in this, that
they know me. He's revealed himself to me. I know him. They hated
him for that. They wanted to kill him because
he did not live up to their expectations. He didn't look like the way they
thought he ought to look. He didn't talk the way they wanted
him to talk, that they thought God and human flesh ought to
talk. Would we have despised him? Would I? If I met him? But I thought,
I ain't listening to that fella. He's a, he's a winebibber. He's
a glutton. He's a huckster. Would I have
said those things? Also it offended him because
it's fine. There's a God. There's a God in heaven. There's
a sovereign God. Almighty God's on his throne, heavenly father,
and make some homes and lots of incense and swing some things
around, don't you? But, but you're going to have to deal with him
face to face one day. Almighty God stood to them and
spoke to them and they didn't want nothing to do with that.
Natural man don't want nothing to do with that right now either. Oh,
there's a sovereign God ruling and reign on his throne as long
as I can do whatever I want to do. Mankind don't want to meet him. There's a physical fear in their
heart, isn't there? Old Thomas got that right. He put his hands
on his side. He said, I ain't going to believe
unless I see his hands and I put my hand on his side. Signs and
wonders, wasn't it? The Lord come down and said,
you ain't getting no sign but Jonah. All right, man, we got some understanding
we got to get. He said, come here and put your hand right
here, buddy. And he bowed down. He fell on his face and he said,
my Lord and my God. You're my Lord and you're my
God. He's the omnipotent God that made all things. He controls
all things and he's our Lord. He's the omniscient God. He knows
the hearts of man. He knows everything. He knows the heart of this man. Do you love me? Lord, you know, you know, all
things and the heart of those that speak so kindly to us with
our mouths. They talk so good to us. He knows
our enemy's hearts, too. That one's the one that's our
Lord and that omnipresent God. The great I am the one who is
everywhere. But the one that is. He's the
same yesterday, today, forever. He changes, not the one that
said, Lo, I'm with you always. That's our Lord. He's God. God's the only one who can create
life. Do you know that? And that's him. That's who was
talking to him. They want to kill him. He said, the father raised up
the dead and quickeneth, even so the son quickeneth whom he
will. I give life to who I want to give life to. Only God can
forgive sin. Jesus saw their face. Those were
the sick of the palsy, those all puffed up. He shrunk them
down. And he said, son, thy sins be forgiven. Boy, they got mad. They said, well, what's easier?
Anybody can just say something like that. He said, would it
make it easier for you if I took care of this palsy? He had forgiven sin. Remember that
scribe was upsetting his heart. He said that was a blasphemer.
That's in Mark 2, verse 5 through 12. You can go read it. The Lord
healed him, didn't he? They hated the Lord because he's
God. And secondly, turn to Luke 4. Luke chapter 4. Verse 28. Luke 4, 28, and it says, and
all day in the synagogue, that's in the church, wasn't it? When
they heard these things, he said something, when they heard these
things, they were filled with wrath. and rose up and thrust
him out of the city and led him into the brow of the hill whereon
the city was built that they might cast him down headlong.
This was in a synagogue. What did he say that turned this
wholesome, pious church service where we came to honor God today,
saying their notes and their words, what turned them into
a murderous mob? This was supposed to be the Lord's
people gathered to worship, wasn't it? But Christ stood up to read. He was the reader and he was
the preacher that day. Look at verse 18, Luke 4, 18. He read
out Isaiah and he said, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because
he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath
sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the
captives, and the recovering of sight to the blind, and to
set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable
gear of the Lord. And he closed the book and he
gave it again to the minister and he sat down. And all the
eyes of them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
And he began to say to them, this day is this scripture fulfilled
in your ears. You've read that, today you heard.
Today I stood up and said it to your ears. That's me. And all bear witness, verse 22,
and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of
his mouth. And they said, is this not Joseph's son? That's
that carpenter boy, right? And they said unto him, you will
surely say unto me this proverb, position heal thyself. And that's
what happened. Whatsoever we have done in Capernaum,
do also here in this country. And he said, Verily I say to
you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you
of a truth. Many widows were in Israel in
the days of Elisha. When the heavens were shut up
three years and six months, when the great famine was throughout
the land, but unto none of them was Elisha sent, save to Sarepta,
the city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. So do you remember
that time? He's hitting right where they
live. He threw the dynamite. Martin through the dynamite. Everybody
loves people throwing dynamite dynamite lands in my lap Till
that blows up here. Oh There's pain he's hitting
them right where they live. He said y'all you think he's something
special Cuz in this place you think so special because of who
you're born to and he said that three years and six months as
a famine Lord sustained one that a ton of widows and physical
Israel he said I sustained one that was a Gentile woman and
Many lepers, verse 27, were in Israel at the time of Elias the
prophet, and none of them was cleansed save Naaman the Syrian. There's a whole lot of lepers.
One of them cleansed, except that old Gentile. Oh, that's
who they looked down on. That was Gentile dogs, wasn't
it? They hated the master because salvation's of the Lord. That's
why they hated him. They hate him because he's God,
and they hated him because his grace is free. It's unmerited. They hate him because that mercy
that he bestows, he bestows on whom he will. He'll be gracious
to whom he's gracious. He'll be merciful to whom he's
merciful because he wants to, because he's God. He does what
he wants. Mercy and grace are sovereign
and he'll save who it pleases him to save. And they would rebuttal,
but we're Jews. It doesn't matter who your family
is. It doesn't matter if you're born to believe in parents or
not. It doesn't matter for me. It doesn't matter for nobody
else. God owes mankind nothing but eternal damnation. The wages
of sin is death. That's all he owes mankind, isn't
it? But he delights to show mercy. And they said, but we have our
doctrine right. Everyone in that synagogue that morning, when
he got up to read, every one of them believed in election.
That was the camel's back that got broke when I was a teenager
growing up. That was the big issue, election. Every one of
them believed in a sovereign God. Every one of them. But they did not believe God.
They didn't believe the God of election, they believed in election.
They believed a sovereign God was on a throne somewhere, but
they didn't believe the sovereign God. Didn't believe him. And they
got violent when he told them, your center is just like anybody
else. And every bit of this salvation business is dependent solely
on the mercies of God. He preached that I could preach
that and God, the Holy ghost has to come and reveal it to
people's hearts. Oh, brother Mew said that one
time. He said, when the Holy Spirit comes, it doesn't convict
men of the outside sins of the things we're doing. It convinces
us we're rebels against the Holy God. Not that I did something
wrong. I stole him firecrackers when
I was in kindergarten and put them in my gloves and I got caught,
got paddled in kindergarten. No, I hated God. I was at war
with him. That's what it convinces us. It turned out that Sunday morning
church service became a lynch mob, didn't it? I'm gonna throw
him off a cliff. How do we approach such a God?
One who's holy, one that salvation is all his. I don't recommend
you quote the Pharisee. I don't recommend you approaching
him telling all the good things he did. I thank you. I'm not
a sinner like other people. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not
unjust. I'm not an adulterer. I've never killed a bunch of
babies. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all I possess.
I recommend you come as that leper. The Lord came off that
mountain and that leper came and worshiped him. He said, Lord,
if you will, if you will, you make me clean. I'm dirty. You're the one with the ability.
And if you want to, I could be cleaned by you. And Jesus put
forth his hand and touched him. He touched a leper. I don't recommend
you do that either. Went and touched him. And he
said, I will be thou clean. I will. Those wages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord. That's what we earn is a wage,
isn't it? You get paid for what you earn. We earn death. But
a gift we did not earn, we did not expect, the gift of God's
eternal life through His Son. The Lord told those people that
God is not our hired help just waiting on handouts. He's a holy
God. Salvation is His prerogative.
of this sovereign God, and thirdly tells us we're all sinners in
need of that salvation. Look here in John 8, John chapter 8, verse 59, John 8, 59. John 8, 59 says, then they took
up stones to cast at him. Jesus hid himself and went out
of the temple. Where were they? They were in
the temple, weren't they? Going through the midst of them and
so passed by. The ones that tried to stone him and eventually hung
him on that cross, that was a religious and moral and pious people that
had great understanding. Every one of the apostles except
John, they were all killed by very religious people. People
steeped in tradition, people steeped in understanding and
knowledge of what they thought, ways it seemed right then, isn't
it? Why this time? Why were they going to stone
him this time? Look at verse 24. John 8, 24. It says, I said therefore
unto you that you shall die on your sins. For if you believe
not that I am, you shall die on your sins. Well, that's strong,
isn't it? It says in verse 44, he told
them as after their father, the devil. John 8, 44. You're of
your father, the devil. They might say all day long,
God's our father, God's our father, we're born of Abraham, we know
him, but Christ said your children are wrath. He said you're gonna
die in your sins. You're the father of the devil,
isn't it? Verse 44 says, you're the father
of the devil and the lust of your fathers you will do. He was a
murderer from the beginning and bowed not in truth because there
was no truth in him. And when he speak a lie, he speaketh
of his own for he's a liar and the father of it. He says down
in verse 47, he said, he that is of God, heareth God's words,
ye therefore hear them not because you're not of God. And verse
55 calls them liars. It's every one of y'all a bunch
of liars and hypocrites. Those are strong words. Those are hard sayings,
aren't they? They ain't my words. That ain't my sayings, that's
his. They're Christ's and they hated him for it. He has the
authority to say those things and they hated him for it. Not
for his works, but for his words. They didn't hate him for the
miracles. They hate him for his message. And they said, you get out of
here. We'll kill you. We're just fine. We're Abraham's children.
We'll hold on to our traditions. We're going to keep doing our
ceremonies the way we've always done it. And we're going to end
up just fine. You wait and see. So he picked up stones. First,
they hated the Lord because of what he said he was God. Second,
they said they hated him because he said salvation is of the Lord.
Thirdly, they hated him because we're all sinners, everybody,
A-double-L, in need of salvation. And lastly, that salvation is
to be made one with Christ our Lord. It's not walking an aisle.
It's not getting in baptismal waters. It's not taking the Lord's
table. It's not cleaning up the outside of the cup and living
right and quitting smoking and tobacco and drinking and all
these other things and reading your Bible 45 minutes every day.
That's not it. It's being made one with the
Savior. It's unity with Christ. Turn
back to John 6. John 6, verse 66. He preached again. It says in
John 6, 66, from that time, many of his disciples went back and
walked no more with him. They left him because of what
he said. You get that? It's heavy. It's hard. They left him because
of what he said. And he looked at him and said,
you gonna go away too? He chased him out the parking lot, begging
him. Peter said, to whom shall we go, Lord? What'd he say this
time? What'd he say this time made
everybody want to leave? So many of them walked no more with him.
Look up in verse 53. Jesus said to them, verily, verily,
I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the son of man and
drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth my
flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will
raise him up at the last day. And as we looked at this months
ago in John 6, he's not talking about cannibalism. To eat something
is to become intimate with it. It becomes part of you. You're
a part of it. He's your necessary food. He's your necessary drink. You thirst for him. You hunger
for him. He's put that life in you that has to have it against
everything else. You have no life in you. If you
can take it or leave it and be fine by yourself, you have no
life with you. They left him. They said, well, we're going
to be believers, but we're going to go to our homes and we'll believe Him from there.
They left Him. They left Him. There's no life
in the law. There's no life in the ceremony.
There's no life in tradition. There's only life in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Us in Him and Him in us, isn't it? I say run to
Him. Cast all of your eternal care
on Him. Cast your soul on Him. Forsake
everything. No matter what comes to pass,
Oh, well, you cling to the king, get a hold of him. He's, he's
God of very God. Salvation's his as he sees fit. If he will, he'll save us. And
we need him to, and it puts that desire in us to, to beg for mercy. It's every bit of him. Our text
says there in John 15 verse 25. Said, but this cometh to pass
that the word might be fulfilled. That's written in their law.
You had it. You read this the whole time. They hated me without
a cause. I'm gonna ask a question. It's
hard. Has he saved you from hating
him without a cause? People say, I never did hate
him. You're calling God a liar. John said that, 1 John, didn't
he? We say we have no sin, we're calling God a liar. Did he save
you from hating him? Confess him and cleave to him. Confess him and you stay right
where he is, no matter the storm, no matter what. Get where he
is and hunker down. Stay right there with him. I pray you'll do that today. Take somebody and make a plea
to him. Let's pray together. Lord, as you see fit, reveal
Christ to your people. Give us eyes to see him as our
Lord, our King. Give us eyes to see Christ as
our salvation. He's the one thing needful. Oh,
Lord, make us hug to him, cleave to him, and never leave. We're
prone to wonder, Lord, but if you will, you make us cleave.
We ask that. Oh, forgive us for what we are.
Forgive us our flippantness and our sin and our ignorance and
our willful ignorance. Make us wise. Teach us, Lord. Be with our country,
too, as these trials you've seen are coming. Lord, we ask to live
peaceably with all men, and you gave us so much comfort in this
nation. We're thankful for it. If you'll please to take it away,
Lord, make us thankful for that, too. Make us grateful for all
things. Forgive us for what we are. Because
of Christ our Lord, our King, intercedes for us, we ask these
things. Amen.