Well, now let's open our Bibles
to John chapter 12, and this evening we're looking at verses
37 through 43. John chapter 12, verse 37 through
43. But though he had done so many
miracles before them, yet they believed not on him. that the
saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he
spake, Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom hath
the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe,
because that Esaias said again, he hath blinded their eyes and
hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes,
nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should
heal them. These things said he says when
he saw his glory and spake of him. 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. For they loved the praise of
men more than the praise of God. The title of my message this
evening is A terrible verse. A terrible verse. And I take
this title from Matthew Poole's comment on verse 40. Part of
his comment was, this text we have quoted six times in the
New Testament, and there is not one more terrible in the whole
book of God. A terrible verse. The meaning
of the word terrible, of course, has changed since the scriptures
were translated by the King James translators. Word, as it is used
in the scripture and as Matthew Poole, who lived also, I believe,
in the 1700s, used the word terrible. It means solemn or reverent. In Psalm 47, We read, for the
Lord Most High is terrible. He is a great king over all the
earth. And if you would keep your place
here, but just turn back to the book of Nehemiah, if you would
like. And if not, listen as I read
just a verse or two here in Nehemiah chapter one. And this is Nehemiah's
prayer when he heard of the situation in Jerusalem among his countrymen. Nehemiah chapter one and verse
four says that it came to pass when I heard these words that
I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed
before the God of heaven. And I said, his prayer begins. I beseech thee, O Lord God of
heaven, the great and terrible God that keepeth covenant and
mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments.
A terrible God, solemn, awesome, awe-inspiring God. This is something this generation,
for the most part, knows nothing about. Most people think that
God is my buddy. And that's the way they talk
about him. That's the way they think about him. That's the way
they address him. But we know better. Thank God. By the mercy and grace of God,
we know that our God, the true and living God, that he is an
awesome God. He is a terrible God. And it's a fearful thing, as
the scripture says, to fall into the hands of a living God. Because
our God is a consuming fire to all of those outside the Lord
Jesus Christ. A terrible verse. Now back in
our scripture tonight, there are four truths that I want to
bring out to us from these verses. First, the obstinate sin of unbelief. The obstinate sin in men of unbelief. Verse 37, but though he had done
so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him. The they, as John says, did not
believe on him refers to the Jews, especially the Jewish rulers
and religious leaders. The miracles of Christ, as great
as they were, and they were great, they were witnessed by these
religious leaders in Jerusalem, but it did not produce faith
in them. And there are three miracles
in particular that I believe John has reference to that these
religious leaders witnessed and though he had done so many miracles
among them, yet they believed not on him. The first miracle
of the three was when he went into that hospital-like place
where there were five porches And there was a whole multitude
of sick and hurting people. And he went to one man in particular
who had been lame on his feet for 38 years. And the Lord told
him, take up your bed and walk. And he took up his bed and walked.
And these religious leaders, they said, what are you doing
carrying that bed? that little mat, on the Sabbath
day. Well, the one that gave me strength
to walk, he told me to take up my bed and walk. And they knew
the miracle, witnessed of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the second miracle was
when that man who was born blind, He commanded, go wash in the
pool of Siloam. And this man came back seen. He came back seen. And what did
they want to do? Put him out of the synagogue.
That's the rule. Put him out of the synagogue
if anyone confesses that Jesus is the Christ. And then the third
miracle was the raising of Lazarus, whose body had lain in the grave
for four days. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ
commanded him to come forth, and he did so. Seeing miracles
did not produce faith in these leaders, but the miracles did
evidence his mighty power, which they either denied or attributed
that power to Beelzebub, the prince of the devil. Nicodemus
was one of these religious leaders, one of them, and he acknowledged
when he came to the Lord, no man can do these miracles which
thou doest except God be with him. The sin of unbelief, the
obstinate sin of unbelief, it is in the heart of men and nothing
Nothing but the power of God can remove it. Nothing. Seeing the greatest of miracles
will not remove the sin of unbelief. And all of us by nature are unbelievers. That's the way we come into this
world. Well then, preacher, If the sin
of unbelief is so obstinate in the heart of man, how may it
be removed? How can it be removed? In the miracle of the new birth. That's the only way. In the miracle
of the new birth, according to the promise of the new covenant,
God takes away that heart of stone. He removes that heart
of stone and he gives a new heart. A new heart upon which he writes
his law, a heart that is pliable, a heart that believes. Now, the scripture says, for
by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. How can the sin of unbelief be
removed by the new birth, by the effectual call, by God working
a miracle of grace in the heart of a sinner, giving him life,
giving him a new heart, and he believes, she believes. It's a gift of God. Romans chapter
10, the apostle Paul tells us, faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. And then in 1 John chapter 5
and verse 1, we read this statement. Whosoever, now everybody here,
pay attention. Whosoever. I think that's all
of us, isn't it? Whosoever. Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And every one that loveth
him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. Are
you born again? Am I born again? Do you believe
that Jesus is the Christ? Do I believe that Jesus is the
Christ? John tells us very clearly, doesn't
he? Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. And then he goes on also to say,
and everyone that loveth him that beget. Now, who does the
begetting? God does. Which were born, not
of blood, not of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. And when a person is born again,
He believes that Jesus is the Christ and he loves God, and
not only does he love God, but he loves those others who are
begotten of God. If a man says he loves God and
hates his brother, he's a liar. He's a deceiver. All those who
are born of God love God who does the begetting and love those
who are begotten of God. So that was my first point, the
obstinate sin in man of unbelief. The only way it is removed is
by God performing the miracle of the new birth. These religious,
even though, as the text tells us, though he had done so many
miracles before them, yet they believed not. The second, part of the message,
that the Jews' unbelief was a fulfillment of prophecy. Verse 38 through
40, that the saying of Esaias, the prophet might be fulfilled,
which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom
hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could
not believe because that Esaias said again, he hath blinded their
eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with
their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted
and I should heal them. So the unbelief of the Jews was
the fulfillment of this Old Testament prophecy in the book of Isaiah. Now, notice this. This is so important. It's important
to see that John is not saying that the prophecy of Isaiah was
the cause of the Jews not believing. He's not saying that. He's not
saying that because of Isaiah's prophecy, they could not believe. Some people read it like that.
Some people read it and that's what they see. But that's not
what John is saying at all. They themselves, they had no
one to thank but themselves for their unbelief. Their unbelief,
yes, it fulfilled a prophecy. But the prophecy was not the
cause of their unbelief. The unbelief, the cause of their
unbelief was their hardness of heart. their obstinate heart
set against God. These verses are what the writers
call judicial blindness. Judicial blindness. You see,
men do not have the power in themselves to savingly believe
the gospel, to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that. This prophecy spoke of those
who did not do what was in their power. They did not do what was in their
power to do, but they did do what was in their power not to
do. Let me bring it down to us tonight. A man or woman lost, dead in
trespassings and sins, does not have the power to believe in
and of himself. But a man in that condition does
have the power to go over there to Walmart and buy a Bible. He does, she does. And thank God in this country,
for the most part, has the power to be able to read the Word of
God. They do have the power to seek out a gospel assembly like
this here tonight, where the gospel is preached, where Jesus
Christ and Him crucified is declared from this pulpit. Man does have
the power to seek out a place and to set himself under the
preaching of the gospel. He does have that power. A lost
man does. He doesn't have the ability,
I understand that, to believe apart from the grace of God.
Neither did these men. Do you remember this parable? I want you to look with me in
Luke. The parable of the husbandman. In Luke chapter 20. This parable
is also recorded in Matthew 21, I believe it is. But in Luke
chapter 20, beginning with verse nine, the scripture says, then began
he to speak to the people this parable. Certain man planted
a vineyard and led it forth to husband and went into a far country
for a long time. And at the season, he sent a
servant to the husbandman that they should give him of the fruit
of the vineyard. But the husbandman beat him and
sent him away empty. And again, he sent another servant
and they beat him also and then treated him shamefully and sent
him away empty. And again, he sent a third and
they wounded him also and cast him out. Then said the Lord of
the vineyard, what shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be they will reverence
him when they see him, but when the husbandmen saw him, they
reasoned among themselves, saying, this is the heir. Now these people
in the text in John, I'm not finished reading in that parable,
but let me say this, you remember these people They said, if we
don't do something, we're going to lose our position. We've already seen that in our
study here in John chapter 12. If we allow him to continue doing
what he's doing, that is Christ, continue preaching and working
miracles, we're going to lose our place, our position. Here's
the error. Here's the error. This is the heir. Come, let us
kill him, that the inheritance may be ours, that we do not lose
our place. So they cast him out of the vineyard
and killed him. What therefore shall the Lord
of the vineyard do unto them? He shall come and destroy these
husbandmen and shall give the vineyard to others. And when
they heard it, they said, God forbid, And he beheld them and
said, what is this then that is written? The stone which the
builders rejected. The same has become the head
of the corner. Whosoever shall fall upon that
stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it
will grind him to powder. And the chief priests and the
scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him, and they
feared the people. Now notice this, for they perceived
They perceived that He had spoken this parable against them. In other words, they saw themselves
in this parable. This was a history of the religious
leaders of Israel. God sent prophet after prophet. We read of many of them in the
Old Testament. God sent prophet after prophet.
Sent John the Baptist. And the religious leaders, they
misused these prophets of God. They stoned them, killed many
of them. Now, they were doing the very
same thing under Christ. They were shutting their eyes.
They were hardening their hearts against the truth. Now, how does God blind and harden
hearts? Notice that scripture in verse
40 that Matthew Poole said was the most terrible of all the
verses. He hath blinded their eyes and
hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes
nor understand with their heart and be converted and I should
heal them. How does God blind and harden
hearts? Let me tell you something. He
just leaves them alone. He just passes them by. That's
how. He just leaves them alone, giving
them up to the blindness and hardness of their hearts. And
they go blinder and more hard. That's all God does. He just
passes them by. All right, here's the third.
point I wanted to make from this passage. The glory of Christ
that Isaiah saw, verse 41. These things said Esaias when
he saw his glory and spake of him. Let's look back at that
passage of scripture, Isaiah chapter 6. It was a vision, the
point that we need to understand and recognize this vision that
Isaiah had was a vision of Christ. It was Christ's glory that he
saw. It was Christ's glory that he saw and spoke of him. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted
up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims,
each one had six wings, with twain he covered his face, and
with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And
one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. is Jehovah of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory." Now, who did Isaiah see? He saw Christ. He saw Christ
upon the throne. He saw the God-man upon the throne
and the seraphims worshiping, crying, holy, holy, holy. The scripture here says, his
train filled the temple. In other words, the glory of
the Lord Jesus when he saw his glory. He saw his glory when
he saw that his train filled the temple. That he is exalted
to the highest, the greatest place that he sits upon the throne
of God, that he is God's king who is king of kings and Lord
of lords. Now, if you read on in the chapter
here, we're not going to do it tonight for time's sake, but
if you read on through Isaiah chapter six, you know, in this
vision, Isaiah heard a voice which said, whom, whom shall
we send and who will go for us? And the seraphim took a call
from off the altar, placed it on on Isaiah's lips and sent
him. And he sent him out, and he was
to preach. If you notice in verse 10, let's
just read this. Make the heart of this people
fat, make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see
with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with
their heart, and convert, and I be healed. That this prophecy,
the fulfillment, when Isaiah was sent out to preach, that
he began preaching and prophet after prophet until the Lord
himself came as the prophet and he preached. Who hath believed our report?
Here we have the greatest of all prophets, Jehovah, the Lord
Jesus Christ that he's preaching. and working miracles, and yet
still, who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed? Look at our text back here. I
want to emphasize this. John chapter 12 and verse 41.
These things said Esaias when he saw His glory, whose glory? Christ's glory, and spake of
Him. Have you seen His glory? If you
have, then I know this is true of you. You will speak of Him. When a person truly sees His
glory, he will speak of Him. He's not going to be speaking
about His works and His decision and all of that that religious
people like to glory in. When a person sees the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ, he speaks of Him, of Christ. We will speak of His glory as
the God-man. We will speak of His glory as
the one mediator between God and man. We will speak of His
glory as the suffering Savior and His glory as the successful
Savior. We speak of His glory, of His
righteousness. The psalmist said, I will speak
of Thy righteousness and Thine only. We speak of His righteousness. We speak of His satisfaction,
His blood, His sacrifice that puts away sin. That's the reason
the Apostle Paul no doubt could say, for I determined not to
know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Did you read that article today
in the bulletin by Top Lady? If you didn't, read that article.
an older preacher when he was just a young man, Augustus Toplady,
pastor, preacher in the Church of England, 28 years old, I believe,
and he visited an older pastor in London, and he gave him some
advice, some parting advice. And I believe, if I'm not wrong,
I think I'm right, if I, number one, preach Christ and Him crucified. You can't go wrong there. All
right, here's the last thing here in this passage. The snare of loving the praise
of men. The snare of loving the praise
of men. We read here, 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 far They loved the praise of men more than the praise
of God. In John 5, the Lord Jesus Christ
asked these same people this question, how can you believe? Which receive honor one of another
and seek not that honor that cometh from God only. Now when John here says that
many believed on him of these rulers, it doesn't mean that
they believed on him to the saving of their souls. It means that
there were those who did believe that he could be the Messiah. They gave credence to this truth
of his words, but they loved more their places of authority,
and they feared what men threatened. And that was, you confess Him
to be the Christ and you're out of here. In other words, you're
going to lose your position, your place. Not many of this group, but we do know of two of this
number who did confess the Lord. In fact, two of this group did
confess the Lord when all of His disciples had forsaken Him. Because when the Lord Jesus Christ
died, it was Joseph of Arimathea who was one of this group. who
begged the body of Christ from Pilate to bury that body. And it was Nicodemus who provided
the burying cloth for him. They did come out and confess
the Lord. The snare of loving the praise
of men Our Lord said, whosoever shall
be ashamed of me and of my words in this wicked and adulterous
generation, even so shall the son of man be ashamed of when
he comes in the glory of his father. God help us not to be
ashamed of Christ. Be ashamed of our being ashamed,
but never be ashamed of him. God help us. I trust the Lord
will bless these words to all of us here this evening. We're
going to sing a hymn, David. Let's all stand. Let's turn to
hymn number 255. 255.