Matthew 11. Gospel of Matthew
11. Title, subject. Go show John
again. That's what the Lord told the
men that John sent. Go show John again. I thought
if we had three Johns in here listening to this tonight. And
maybe, Johnny Parker, are you listening? John Chapman maybe?
Maybe someone else? Brother John Sheasley Sr. always
tells me after nearly every message, he says, that's all I want to
hear. That's all I want to hear. Because we preach the same message,
don't we? Every time we preach Christ.
And our Lord said, go show John again. Show him again. Go show
Stephen again. Go show Michael again. Go show Kara again. Go show Margaret again. Again. We've looked at this many times.
This is the thing. The gospel means good news. And if the gospel is truly gospel
to you, then it's always good news. It never ceases to be good
news, right? Now, not every time. We don't
always delight and rejoice every time because it's not the gospel's
fault, it's ours. Okay, we're just not ready, we
haven't prepared, we're just not ready, we're just rotten
is the problem. The gospel is good news. And
here's one way you know that the Lord has really revealed
the gospel to you. You want to hear it again and
again and again and again. You're never tired of it. Those
people that got tired of the manna, the Lord tired of them,
they didn't go in to promise that. Many of them died when
he sent the snakes to bite them all, you know. And if we've tasted,
Scripture says, of those who've tasted that the Lord is gracious,
And even more than that, our Lord said, except you eat my
flesh and drink my blood. You take this in. You love the
taste of it, but you have to have it. It's nourishment. You
hunger. Blessed are those that hunger.
You know, you don't just, you know, if you're alive and you,
if you're hungry, you don't just taste food. You love the taste
of it, but you take it down and you keep eating it and you keep
eating it. We eat the same things over and over again. We love
the taste of it. You know, taste for food is often
quite personal, isn't it? You can't be too adamant about
taste. You can't say, this is the taste,
this is the best. Well, that's your opinion, right? Tastes are very personal. Changes
with age, doesn't it? Your tastes change. I remember
my parents used to eat tomatoes when I was a little boy, and
I did not like tomatoes. I wanted to like tomatoes. I
watched them eating tomatoes, and I envied that. I didn't like
them. I do now. I love them. Tastes can be acquired. You know that? It can be acquired. You can make yourself like something.
You can if you keep eating it. But this is not an acquired taste.
And it doesn't change. It doesn't come with age. This
is God-given. He's given you a real love for
the gospel. That's a gift from God. That's
a sign that you've been born again. And you never lose this
taste. It's always a sweet savor. Of what? Of Christ. The taste of the Lord is gracious. You know, I started drinking
milk from birth. I'm still drinking. I had a glass
today. Scripture says, desire the sincere
milk of the Word that you might grow thereby. We never tire of
the Word of God. All right, here's the story.
An old, familiar story. We've looked at this together.
And John was in prison for telling the truth, for speaking the truth.
And look at verses one and two. It came to pass when Jesus had
made an end of commanding his twelve disciples. He departed
thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now, you see
what our Lord came to do first. He came to teach and preach.
Our Lord was a preacher. A teacher. That's what he did. And that's
what he has ordained. That's what he purposed to use
to save people. The preaching of the gospel.
And he sent these twelve disciples out and they were out preaching
while he himself was teaching and preaching in this city. Okay. Verse two. Now when John
had heard in prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his
disciples and said unto him, Art thou he that should come
or do we look for another? Now, John was in prison, and
I thought of this. That's what prisoners need to
hear. They need to hear the works of Christ. Listen to Isaiah 42. You know
what Isaiah 42 is? Behold my servant. You bring
forth judgment to the Gentile. It says in Isaiah 42, I have
called thee in righteousness, given thee for a covenant of
the people. to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners
from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison
house. So what do prisoners need to
hear? Those who are in bondage to the law, those who are in
bondage to sin, those who are held captive by the God of this
world, they need to hear the works of Christ. And that's what
every line is significant in. But he heard in prison the works
of Christ. And boy, when we hear the works
of Christ, you'll know the truth. The truth will make you free.
Bring you out of the prison, Asimov. Well, he sent two of
his disciples to ask our Lord this question. Are thou he who
should come? That should come. Or do we look
for another? Art thou he? Go to John chapter
1. Art thou he that should come?
John chapter 1. Let's go over here. John Davis read this earlier. John the Baptist, he knew the
Lord. There's no doubt. He preached
Christ, didn't he? He said, I did not know him until
The one who sent me to baptize said, the same one you see the
spirit descended upon, verse 33. I knew him not, but the one
who sent me to baptize, upon whom thou shalt see the spirit
descending and remaining on him, the same is he. This is he which
baptizes with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bear record, that
this is the Son of God. John knew who Christ was. He knew. You don't forget who
Christ is. You don't have any doubts about
Christ. No, no, no. You may doubt yourself, but you
don't have any doubts about Him. But I am certain of this. I am
certain of this. That John said this, and the
Spirit of God wrote this down, not for John's sake, but for
those disciples' sake, and for our sake. This was written not
that John did not know Him, and John was in doubt whether or
not He was a Christ. No, John preached Christ over
and over and over. He preached Christ. He was saying
this. He sent His disciples for the
Lord to tell them again and to tell us again. This is for us. Do you remember the Scripture
in Romans 15? Whatsoever things were written were written for
what? Our learning, our learning, that we through patience and
comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Hope in who? In Christ. So, I am certain that John sent
and asked this for the disciples' sake and for our sake. Our sake. I certainly need to hear again
and again the works of Christ, don't you? I need to have my
doubts and fears relieved. I do. The strongest believer
has some doubts and fears, some questions. And maybe John in
prison did not fully understand why he was being silenced in
prison. But then again, I believe he knows that his ministry
as the forerunner of Christ, the messenger before the messenger,
was over. He's not needed anymore, like
Elijah. And Elijah's gone, and so John's
gone. Now the Christ is here. The Lord has suddenly come. That's
Malachi. We're probably going to look
at that Sunday. But he said this, I believe, for the disciples'
sake and certainly for our sake. When the Lord hung on the cross
and said, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Does he
not know why God forsook him? Of course he did. Why is he saying
that then? For our sake. For our sake. That we might know that God forsook
him. That the scriptures might be fulfilled. Psalm 22. So, David was a strong believer. He knew the Lord, didn't he?
But how often did he say things like this? Lord, why do the wicked
prosper and your people suffer? He asked a question, didn't he?
David, David had the heart of God and the heart for God. And
he said in Psalm 77, he said, is his mercy clean gone? He said,
Lord, have you forgotten to be gracious? No, David forgot. And he said, this is my infirmity. He went on to say, I remember
the works of the Lord, I forgot. But I'm certain that John sent
these disciples for their sake and for ours. This is written
for our learning to tell us again and again and again that this
is the one who should come. This is the Christ. This is the
Christ. Now if the Lord keeps showing
you these things and keeps you coming back to hear these things
and keeps you asking and seeking Him. If you keep coming, He keeps
calling you. That's why you're coming. If
you can leave, you will. But not if you belong to Him.
This ought to give somebody some comfort. If you can't stay away
very long, then you belong to the Lord. If He keeps showing
you these things over and over and over again and again, the
same thing, the world gets tired of it. The world doesn't even
want to hear these things. But some stay for a while and
like to Parable of the Sower, trials come up and they go away. If you can't go away, like Peter,
Simon Peter, he said, will you also go away? And Simon Peter
said, to who? Where? Why? Why? You're my life. One of the sisters was at our
house recently and she said, it's so good to believe What
a blessing it is to believe that it's not of yourself, it's a
gift of God. John, his name is mentioned seven times here. The
Lord speaks of John seven times in this one chapter. Why is that? Because John spoke of him. John
honored him. John loved him. John said the
bride, the friend of the bridegroom rejoices that the voice of the
bridegroom. He said he must increase, I must
decrease. John said, behold, the name of
God. John said, I'm not the Christ. There he is. Look to him. Two
of his disciples quit following John, followed Christ. And John
said, Hallelujah. John spoke of him. So what did
our Lord do? He honored John. Lord, honor
those that honor him. If you believe Him and trust
Him, He'll confirm Himself to you. He'll keep you. Yes, He will. Yes, He will. John was no more special than
anybody else because our Lord said, He that's least in the
kingdom is greater than he. Isn't it? But He mentioned Him
seven times. And your names are written in
the Lamb's Book of Life. Yes, it is. So if you trust Christ,
it's because he chose you. If you believe Christ, it's because
he chose you. He gave you this faith. If you
love Christ, it's because he first loved you. If you keep
coming, it's because he sent for you. He chose you. If you want to hear these things
again and again, it's because he's given you ears to hear.
And what the Lord gives are gifts and calling of God without repenting.
He doesn't take it back. That ought to be a real comfort
to somebody. I told you the other day, I'm
very candid with you, very honest with you, there's times I don't
feel like coming here. And you do, too, don't you? And there's
times when you make yourself come. Who made you? But you do. You put some effort in, you're
tired and you're weary, and I get tired, too. You know, I'm over
here all the time, and sometimes, you know, this is where I stay,
and it's a solitary job. If it wasn't for Ruth and Grace, But, you know, and sometimes
I'm ready to leave this place. But I come right back. Why? Because
the taints are going to get there. The family's going to get together.
We're going to have a family reunion. Wednesday nights and
Sunday. I've got to come. Whether I feel like it or not,
I've got to. Can't stay away. How about you?
That's the gift of God. Go show John again. Go show Kara
again. Doesn't she know this? Yeah,
but tell her again. That's a blessing in it. And
this is the question. Is this the one? Isn't this the
issue? Isn't this what all men and women
should be asking? Is this the one that should come?
Or do we look for somebody else? Should we be looking somewhere
else? Look at Isaiah 25. What one that should come? What's
he talking about? What one? The one of whom Scripture
speaks. The one of whom God spoke in
the beginning, in the garden. The woman's seed. God's the one... I believe it was Christ preaching
that message to Adam and Eve. It was Him who in the very beginning
said, the woman's seed is going to come and crush the serpent's
head. And He'll bruise his heel. That's of Christ. To Him give
all Scripture. All Scriptures are written of
Him. To him give all the prophets witness, the one of whom Moses
wrote. That's who he's talking about.
That prophet. Moses said in Deuteronomy 18,
a prophet the Lord will raise up like unto me, except it's
capital P. And the woman at the well met
him, didn't she? That prophet. The prophet to end all prophecy.
The prophet to fulfill all prophecy. The prophet who is who speaks the word of God,
the very words of God, because God is in him. The one of whom
Abraham rejoiced to see his day, and he saw it and was glad. This
is who he's talking about, Isaiah 25. How many times have we read
this together? Don't you love this? I think
of this all the time. And look at it, Isaiah 25, it
says in verse 6, in this mountain, what's that, Mount Zion, Mount
Calvary, shall the Lord of hosts, that's Jehovah, isn't it? Anytime
you see capital L, capital O, capital R, capital N. Isaiah 7, 14, Isaiah 9, 6, John
1 clearly says Jesus Christ is God, doesn't it? Without a shadow
of a doubt. Well, so does all the Scripture. Notice with me here. This is
spoken, O Lord, thou art my God. Down in verse 6, In this mountain
shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat
things. Who did Christ talk about feasting
on? Himself, didn't He? Verse 7, He'll destroy in this
mountain the face of the covering cast over all the people, the
veil that's spread over all the nations. The whole book of Hebrews
is about that. Hebrews begins with, Unto the
Son, He saith, Thy throne, O what? God. Verse 8, clearly speaking
of Jesus Christ. He will swallow up death and
victory, and the Lord God will wipe away all tears from all
faces. The rebuke of the people shall
he take away from all the earth. For the Lord Jehovah has spoken. And it should be said in that
day, lo, this is our God. That's who came. The one who
was to come, the Jews knew it, is going to be God. The Jews
knew that. The Jews were waiting for God
to come on earth in a body. Yes, they read these scriptures,
but they didn't believe it was Jesus of Nazareth because he
didn't do and say and the things that they thought he was going
to do, restore the kingdom of Israel and all that. Because
his kingdom is not of this world. It was spiritual all along. His
people are not Jews outwardly, but inwardly. They didn't recognize it, but
God did come to this town. And they didn't believe it. They
said, you're just a man. You're Joseph's son. You're Mary's son.
No, he's not. He's God. He's the son of God.
He's God manifested in the flesh. This is our God. He will save
us. This is the Lord. This is Jehovah. Show that to
the Jehovah witnesses that come to your door. Is there any doubt? Who this is speaking of? Jesus
Christ. That's the one who was to come.
We need not look for another. God has come. The Jews are still
looking for the Christ, aren't they? Oh, but we're glad, aren't we?
And we rejoice in His salvation, salvations of the Lord. Jonah
said that, didn't he? Yes, salvations of the Lord.
That's Jehovah. Who's the Lord? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. He's the one. He's
the one that should come, who God said would come. Through
all the Old Testament type, how many times have we looked at
type after type after type that speak of Christ? I jotted down
a few things. If anybody's interested in hearing
any, just raise your hand. Mephibosheth. Mercy for Christ's sake. How
many times have you heard that? Do you want to hear it again?
I guarantee you, if the Lord blesses it, you'll be like the
first time you ever heard it. What was that all about? That
the king on the throne was going to show mercy for somebody else's
sake, for Christ's sake, according to the covenant. Naaman. Anybody want to hear of Naaman
the leper? Huh? Strip and dip. What about the eunuch, Philip
and the eunuch? I'm really trying to preach that
what does hinder us from confessing Christ. Are we offended by him?
Don't you believe him? That's what the eunuch said.
What does hinder me from being baptized? The only thing that
can is unbelief. Hindrances to confessing Christ.
Maybe we'll look at that. But maybe Malachi 3, for those
who delight in the Lord, the Lord in whom you delight shall
suddenly come to his temple. Do you delight in the Lord? Do
you delight in hearing Him? Do you want to hear it again
and again and again? These same old stories? That's a good sign. I'm checking your Bible signs. Woman's seed? Oh, man. No, we don't look for another.
You need not look any further. As he said before in Isaiah 35,
are you still in Isaiah? He said in Isaiah 35, he says,
say to them a fearful heart, be strong, fear not, God will
come. Is that what he said? Is that what he said? God will come. He did. God will come and the eyes of
the blind will, God's going to open their eyes. Who? God. Jesus Christ. There's so many
scriptures. But Matthew 11, I'll go back
to the story here. No, we don't look for another.
He who God said should come, whom scriptures prophesy of,
he has come. And he's coming again. And we're
looking for him, waiting. And Jesus answered, verse 4,
and said unto them, Go and show John again. Go show John again
those things which you do hear and see. You see what comes first? Hear. Faith cometh by hearing. Religion today, come see what's
happening. Come see what's going on. Come
see, come see, come see. No, no, no. That's not where
life begins. The seed of the Word is planted
right here. It goes down in the heart. And that's where faith
is created, with the heart man believes. Not the eyes. No, no. We walk by faith, not by sight. We love and we believe one we
don't see. Okay? So we hear of his voice. And like John on the Isle of
Patmos, a voice spoken to me. And boy, and I turned to see
the voice that spoke. And he saw Christ. Did he see
a poor, helpless, Fellas outside somebody's heart's door hoping
they'll let him in. Oh, no. He saw one whose countenance
shone as the sun in all its strength. A picture of Christ you cannot
paint. There's a fellow, silly fellow named Kincaid. You call
him the painter of light. Oh, brother, you can't paint
the sun. Try it. You can't look at it
long enough. Try it. You can't paint the glorious
Son of the Most High God. It's idolatry anyway. It's a
graven image if you do so. God plainly said, don't do it.
But we're going to see Him one day, as He is. And we've gotten
a glimpse of Him, like Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. When he saw Him, it blinded him.
Blinded him to his own glory, blinded him to all the glory
of this earth and everybody in it. blinded him so that he only
saw the son of righteousness. Well, in verse five he said,
go, verse four, go show John again those things which you
do here and see. Verse five, the blind received
their sight. Now, all these things our Lord
actually did, and I was going to, when I first started preparing this message, And if
you'll notice in your margin, beside each of these, there are
many scriptures given instances of the Lord, where the Lord healed
the blind, like Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus could have sung that
song, Open My Eyes. He would have been singing that
louder than anybody in here, old Bartimaeus. Pass me not. He would have been singing that.
He did. Then pass me not, Jesus, our son of David, pass me not. Blind receive their sight. The blind. All these things our
Lord actually did. He came to do. That's what we
read in Isaiah 35. It's what God alone can do. That's
what we read. God is the one who's going to
give eyes to the blind, sight to the blind, wipe away all tear.
And that's what Christ did, proving He's God. Okay? He who made the eye has to give
eyesight to it. The ear, the tongue, the foot.
And what He did on this earth is a picture of what He does
for all His people. All of His people are blind when
He finds them. They're blind. They're lame.
They don't walk by faith. They're lepers. Filthy. Stinking. They're deaf. They
cannot hear the voice of the Son of God. They're dead in trespasses
and sin. And boy, are they poor. So all
these are a picture of all of God's people and what Christ
does for all of His people. To make them know Him. This is
how they know it's Him. Only God, who made the eye, can
make it see. Right? Some people are born blind. Why? God did it. Some people
have good vision. Why? God did it. And on and on
it goes. Some people are born lame. Why?
God did it. So God's people will know when
they're healed, they'll know who did it. And they'll tell
everybody who did it. They'll give him all the glory
for it. You ask Bartimaeus, that man in John 9, remember? You're
not him. Yeah, I am. Yeah, I'm him. No,
the fellow we knew was blind. He said, yeah, I was blind, but
now I see who did it. He did it. He did it. It's to make all his
people know, go show John again the things you do here and see.
How do we know this gospel is the gospel? The Gospel I preach. The Gospel you hear. The Gospel
you love. How do we know this is the Gospel? Well, number one,
we preach Christ every time. Why? Because there's blind people
that need their eyes open. There's deaf people that need
their ears open. There are lame people that are not walking by
faith. And only the Lord can do that. Christ said, if I be
lifted up, I'll draw all men to me. He said to the disciples,
go into all the world and preach the Gospel and heal the sick.
What heals the sick? The Gospel. What raises the dead? The Gospel. Nothing else. We don't convince people into
the Kingdom of God. We preach Christ. He doesn't. We don't educate
people. We don't try to reason people
into the Kingdom of God. We don't bribe people into the
Kingdom of God. We don't ask people to accept Jesus. make
bargains with people and try to get them to accept, oh, no,
no, no, no. You must be born again. How are
you? How are you born again? By the word of truth, the gospel
of our salvation, which is Christ. For we preach God. And, Buddy, when you hear the
gospel, first comes by hearing. It was a long time. You couldn't
hear it, didn't hear it, didn't believe it. And when you hear
it for the first time, The voice of the Lord, when He speaks to
you, He wakes the dead. You hear Him. He said, He's speaking to me.
Conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment. And it all has
to do with Jesus Christ. That's how it goes. Blind. You're
blind to who God is. People think God's this way,
God's that way, you know. God's like a man, you know. God's
just like us and wants this and wants that. You're blind. Blind
to God. You were too. Most of you were
in a religion. You were blind to God. Blind to yourself. Blind, he didn't know God was
absolutely holy and just and pure and righteous, will by no
means clear the guilty and angry with the wicked every day. That's
the God of the Bible. He didn't know that God. Blind
to His holiness. Blind to Him. He was a burning
fire. Blind to His judgment. Blind.
Blind to yourself. You don't think, I'm that simple.
I'm not that simple. Blind to yourself. Blind to the
wiles and the tricks and the gimmicks and the tactics and
the traps and the snares of the God of this world. Everybody,
every pit that people are falling. Blind, blind, blind, blind. What
has to happen? The light has to shine. In darkness,
doesn't it? People that walk in darkness
have seen a great light. Upon them hath the light shined.
What's that? Not a watch. It's a person like
Saul of Tarsus. He thought he was righteous.
He thought he kept the law. He thought he was doing God a
favor. He thought he was serving God. He didn't even know God.
He sure didn't know he was going to put Jesus out of business.
Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ, put him out of business. He was
blind. What did the Lord do to him?
He blinded him. First thing. You've got to be blind to see.
If you're blind, you have no sin. Go learn what that means.
That's what the Lord said. Blind, blind, blind. Deaf, deaf,
deaf, deaf. Can't hear, won't hear. Why did
our Lord say? Why is it that you will not hear? He says you cannot hear. He said,
God's people hear His voice. Christ said, My sheep hear My
voice. He has an elect people. Oh, I don't want to hear that.
Then you're deaf. Because that's one of the very first things
that you will hear from your Lord. You did not choose Me.
I chose you. That's what all the disciples
first heard. They didn't choose Him. They're fishing. And that's why salvation is in
these two words. But God, the Lord Jesus Christ
said, you will hear my voice. And you will hear that I'm God,
you're not. That you didn't choose me, I
chose you. You didn't accept me, I have accepted you. You
played no part in this salvation. It's all mine. That's what you'll
hear. And that's what you'll taste
of His absolute grace, sovereign grace. And you'll hate the taste
of everything else from then on. When you hear preaching that
doesn't magnify and glorify God alone in everything, Christ alone,
you'll say, that's not the gospel. Blind, deaf, lame, walking by
faith. No, no, no, no. Walking by faith. Faith means you believe God no
matter what. The religious world doesn't believe
God does bad things. The religious world doesn't believe
God makes people sick, that God kills people, that God drops
bombs on nations, that God causes famine and hunger and all of
that. The religious world doesn't believe that. They say God didn't
have anything to do with that. They don't believe God. They're
blind. They're deaf. They haven't heard
the words of this book. God said, I kill, I make alive, I wound,
I heal, I make poor, I make rich, I bring down, I raise up. That's
the God of this battle. And when you hear from Him, that's
what you hear, Him. Isn't it so? It's absolutely
so. Then you'll believe God like
Job, though he slay me, I'll trust him. You'll know that though
it was the Chaldeans and the Sabeans that wiped out your home
and your family and took everything you got, it wasn't them. After
all, it was God. The world doesn't believe that.
We do. Why? Because God gave us this
faith. And there is no comfort, no peace
anywhere else but in a God who is God. How could you possibly
have any comfort? in a God that doesn't want these
things to happen and they happen anyway. Is that the God you believe
in? Then you don't know God. Bless God He's given us this
faith to believe the true and living God and the true Christ. Oh my. I've seen people come in here
who are blind as a bat. A bat's not completely blind. Why do I always say that? I've
seen people come in here who were deaf. They didn't hear a
thing. All of a sudden, one day, they
hear. I've seen people that didn't
know God now walking by faith. I've seen people dead in sin. You're looking at a fellow that
was dead in trespass. Dead. Dead to God. Very much alive in this world.
Loving every minute of it. But yeah. But yeah, salvation
is the Lord. He does the saving. And this
is what he does to every single person that he chooses. He opens
their deaf ears to hear of who he is and who Christ is and what
you are and what salvation is. He opens your blind eyes to see
who he is, what you are, to see the truth from God's Word. There's
so many people that look at Romans 9, Ephesians 2, and places like
this, and look and say, and it's as plain as a nose on your face,
we'd like to say. And they'll say, I don't see
it that way. What do you mean you don't see it that way? It's
not of him that willeth or him that runneth. Not of the will
of the flesh, not of the will of the man. What do you mean
you don't see it that way? Well, they're telling the truth.
They don't see. Why? God blinds their minds. That's what the scripture said.
He said that to Isaiah, didn't he? Isaiah said, go blind their
minds. Let's say believe. That's the God of this Bible.
You're not going to see unless he says see. No man can see unless
God gives him eyes to see. And that's what Jesus Christ
came to do so that those that were blind might see. Those that
were dead were going to be raised to heaven. And the poor have
the gospel preached to them. How does religion appeal to the
people of this world? God needs you. You have something
to offer. You're special. You're worth
something. You just need to exercise your
talents and all that. You're special. No, you're not. No, I'm not. There ain't a person in this
room, ain't a person on the top side of this earth that's worth
nothing. That's what Isaiah 41 says. Behold,
you're nothing. Behold, there's so many beholds.
Behold, my servant. Isaiah 44. Behold, you're nothing. Isaiah 45. Behold, you're God. We're all a bunch of zeros. And we're worth nothing. We're
not worth saving unless God saves us. Then if Christ saves us,
we're worth something. Still not worth something in
ourself, but we're worth something to Him because of the price He
paid to save us. The blood of Jesus Christ. Didn't the scripture say after
we've done all that's required of us, we're still what? Can
you quote it? unprofitable service. Because how are we going to make
up for all that time that we spent dishonoring, blaspheming,
rejecting our God, trespassing against Him? Can't do it. You
can't redeem yourself. We're redeemed one way. And the
price He paid, the high price. And what we're worth to Him is
to give Him glory. Give him all the glory. That's
what. And that's what God's people do, and that's how you know when
God's done something for them. That's how you know God's done
something. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Who redeemed? The Lord did. Who chose? The
Lord did. Well, who revealed the truth?
The Lord did. Not I got saved. Not I accepted. No, no, no, no, no. The Lord
saved me. The Lord had mercy upon me. The
Lord revealed himself to me. The Lord sent a preacher to preach
the gospel. The Lord, the Lord, the salvation
of the Lord. And if the Lord saves you, that's
what you'll say. That's what you'll do. You'll
go home and tell people what great things the Lord has done
for you. That's how you know the gospel.
That's how you know who's heard it. Every time they give him
the glory, who's getting the glory? That's how we know that he's
the Christ. That's how we know this is a
gospel. That's how we know that he's done this for us. He keeps
telling us again and again and again and again and again. The
same old thing. And I never get tired of it.
Do you not tell stories that you experienced when you were
young over and over again? Some of you definitely do, because
you'll tell it to me the next time I see you. You don't repeat yourself, do
you? Surely not. Well, brothers and sisters, we've
got nothing else worth telling. I've got nothing worth telling
except this story. Tell me the old story. Old, old
story. Tell it to me again. Oh, my. And look at verse 6. I close. Blessed is he whosoever
shall not be offended in me. Our Lord offended everybody on
this earth when he came, except those he chose. Everybody was
offended by him. Weren't they? especially religious
people. There were only a couple of Pharisees
that were not offended because I believe they belonged to the
Lord. Nicodemus and Saul of Tarsus. But see, the claims our Lord
made of who He was, who He is, they didn't believe that. It
offended them. You're just a man. His claims, John 5, 6, 8, sovereign claims. John 14 said,
I am the way. No man comes unto the Father
but me. No man can come unto me except the Father which hath
sent me draw him. He said, you believe not because
you're not my sheep. I am from above. You're from
beneath. What do you mean from above?
We know who you are. Now you don't. No man knoweth
the Son, but the Father, and he to whom he will reveal. They
were offended by him. Oh my, they were offended by
him. But brothers and sisters, if you've truly been saved by
him, if you've had your ears open, your eyes open, your lame
feet walk by faith, if you've been raised from the dead, been
cleansed as a leper, you're not offended by him. The glory in
him. Is there anything in this book
that offends you? I've asked you that before. Is
there any passage in this whole book that offends you, that you'd
like to take it out of the Bible? There are whole chapters of religion
I'd like to take out. That's why they've got so many
perversions of scripture. They're changing the words to
take away the offense. Modern version. We've got a version
for sports enthusiasts. We've got a version for NASCAR
people. We've got a version for women. Let's take away all the
offense. This is an offense to the natural
man. Does anything offend you? Does
it offend you to say that you're a worm and worthless and not worth saving?
Does that offend you? Well, it's true. Paul one time
said, I'm going to become your enemy because I tell you the
truth. You're not offended. Blessed art thou, Jacob, thou
worm. That's what our Lord said. You're
blessed if you're not offended. Are you offended if To hear that
your righteousness is filthy rags, that nothing you've ever
done for God, nothing you ever have done or will do, accounts
for anything with God. No merit, that God's not pleased
with you because of anything you do. Does that offend you? That God is well pleased for
Jesus Christ's righteousness and His alone. Does that offend
you? And you get the blame for what
Adam did. Does that offend you? Well, you sinned just like him.
But no, you were born a sinner. Your mother's a sinner. Does
that offend you? That's what our Lord said. He's
saying that. Does it offend you that the only
way you're going to get to heaven is by somebody else? There's
just nothing you can do. Nothing you can do. and make
yourself acceptable to God Almighty and earn your way into heaven.
Does that offend you? That's what Christ said. An old
man comes in and talks about it. It offends... I'll tell you who it offends.
It offends self-righteous Pharisees, good people. It doesn't offend
sinners. You can't offend the chief of sinners. You cannot. The sinners heard him gladly.
The harlots in the publican heard him gladly. And I tell you this,
and let me close with this. Offended, blessed are they that
are not offended, our Lord said, those that confess me, I'll confess.
If you don't confess him, you're denying him. But how can you
not confess the one who laid down his life? How could you
not give the one who laid down his life to save you all the
glory and honor? How could you not? How could
you possibly speak of anything you've done when it's strictly
the death of Jesus Christ to save you? You can't. You can't. And I'll tell you where you'll
be found. You'll be found in that pool. You won't be offended. The word offended means scandal. It means that what men say of
you, that you lose your reputation. You've been made a public disgrace. You don't believe that sovereign
grace, do you? Surely you don't believe that,
do you? Are you one of those Calvinists? Are you? Yes, I am. Well, nobody believes like I
do. You lose your reputation, you
lose your friends, you lose your family, you lose your contacts,
you lose all this stuff. That's what scandal means. All your reputation is gone.
I didn't have one to begin with. Right. In that what our Lord
did come down here made himself of no reputation for a bunch
of nobody no worth not worth saying. And he was baptized. And he went to the cross to save
worthless people like that. But we did. That the whole world. Laugh at me and I'm crucified
to the world in the world to me and I will confess cry. If
you don't You've offended him. You've offended
him. So you'll be found in the pool.
You'll be found in his church. You'll be found in the fold.
You'll be found with his disciples. You won't be offended. You'll
be glad. You'll be glad to be one of those people. Go show John again. Blessed if you're not offended.
Oh, if you were blind, how blessed you are, you see. If you were
deaf, stand with me.