Let's open our Bibles again to
John chapter 7. John chapter 7. There's much discussion in the world and in our nation
as to who's responsible for dividing people and who's seeking to unite
them. We'll leave that subject up to
you. I have my opinions about it,
but the pulpit is no place for that. I use that example to make
this point. No one has ever divided more
men than the Lord Jesus Christ. No one has ever been more divisive
than our Savior. Look at verse 43 of John chapter
7. So there was a division among
the people because of Him. Oh, how we want unity. We want unity in our families. We want unity in our communities. We want unity in our church. We want unity among nations.
We don't want there to be wars and conflicts. We want there
to be unity. that there can be no unity without
division. To be in agreement means that
we're in disagreement about something. There can be no unity with God without division from the world. The Lord tells us that friendship
with the world is enmity with God. The Lord tells us that no man
can serve two masters, for he will hate the one and love the
other. For there to be unity, there
must be accompanying division. There's no unity with the truth.
without division from error. There can be no unity, no real
unity among believers without experience some division among
unbelievers or with unbelievers. There was a division among the
people because of him. The Lord Jesus said, I did not
come to bring peace, but a sword. Unity is a wonderful thing, and
it ought to be sought after and fought for as often as it can
be achieved, but not at all cost. Not at all cost. The Lord tells
us that whenever possible, we ought to seek to be at peace
with all men. If being at peace with a man
means compromising the truth, it's not possible for me to be
at peace with him. Life is filled with compromises
and concessions, and we ought to make them as often as we can.
We ought not to insist on our own way. We ought not to be contentious
for the sake of winning an argument. Put those things aside. Trust
the Lord. Trust the Lord to be on your
side. And Well, not to be brawlers. The Bible tells us what the qualifications
of elders and deacons are. And if a man is a brawler, if
he likes to fight and he loves arguments, then he doesn't qualify. Turn with me to 2 Timothy, if
you will. 2 Timothy chapter two. 2 Timothy 2, look at verse 23,
but foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender
strifes. Now, you know, men love to argue the Bible.
They love to argue doctrine. Scripture tells us this, contend
with a fool lest he become wise in his own eyes. And then the
very next verse says, contend not with the fool lest you become
like him. And which is it? Do we contend
with the fool or do we not contend with the fool? Those two verses
side by side teach us this. We tell a man that he's wrong
and we leave it at that. Contend with a fool, lest he
become wise in his own eyes. You let him know when he's wrong. And he's gonna wanna fight you
for telling you he's wrong. And that's when you contend not
with a fool, lest you become like him. That's God's pattern. And I pray
the Lord to give us the grace to follow it. Verse 24, the servant of the
Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach
and patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves.
I love the way the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write those
words. Those who oppose themselves. They think they're opposing you,
but in fact, they're opposing themselves. if God, per adventure, will give
them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Be gentle with
them. Don't be contentious. Don't fight
with them just for the sake of proving yourself right. Tell
them the truth. And be gentle. Pray for them. Maybe the Lord will, per adventure,
Perhaps, here's our hope, that the Lord will change their hearts
and show them the truth. And that they may recover themselves
out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him
and his will. They've been taken captive by
the will of the devil, and by their own will. Adam, you read
Psalm 110, they shall be made willing in the day of his power.
Everything we do is willing. You know, men take a willing
stance in opposing themselves. Turn with me to Romans chapter
12, Romans chapter 12. What is our text? So there was
a division among them because of him. Because of him. He divided men. And he still
does. He still does. There's a great
division in this world because of Christ. Romans chapter 12,
let's begin at verse 17. Recompense to no man evil for
evil. Prove things honest in the sight
of all men. Provide things honest in the
sight of all men. And if it be possible, as much as lieth in
you, live peaceably with all men." Don't be contentious and
cantankerous. Don't be a brawler. Dearly beloved,
revenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it
is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord.
Wait on the Lord. Let him reward you and punish
the other, whatever needs to be done. Don't take that into
your own hands. And if you can't do that, if
you can't do that, Do it for your own self-preservation. You
know, a bulldog can whip a skunk, but it ain't worth the fight. Most fights have turned out to
be for you. It wasn't worth it in the end. You came out smelling
so bad, you wish you'd have never done it. So if you can't trust
God to work things out for you, then back away for your own self-preservation. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourself,
but rather give place unto wrath, verse 19. For it is written,
vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if
thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink.
For in so doing, you shall heap coals of fire on his head. Be
not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. May the Lord
give us this spirit of grace, in dealing with the divisions
that we have to contend with amongst ourselves. And let it
begin first in our own families. Let it manifest itself among
ourselves as believers in the church. And let it rule our lives
in dealing with the contentious men of the world. It's God's pattern. And all that being said, there's
going to be division. There's going to be because of
him. Because of him. If you follow
Christ and you have unity with him, you're going to have discord
and disunity and division with those outside of him. It just is that way. Go back with me to our text. Let's see verse 43 in its context,
beginning at verse 40. Many of the people, therefore,
when they heard this saying, said of a truth, this is the
prophet. Now, what were they referring
to? They're referring to the same thing that those who were
fed at the 5,000 said. Who is the prophet that they're
referring to? It's Moses. The Lord told the children of
Israel in Deuteronomy, I will send unto you another prophet
like, Moses said it, God is gonna send unto you a prophet like
unto myself. Now what did Moses do? He delivered them from political
bondage and he fed them for 40 years in the wilderness. He gave
them deliverance from the taskmasters of Egypt, and he provided for
them their material needs. That's why the Lord Jesus had
to remind them, it wasn't Moses that gave you that bread from
heaven, it was my father that gave you that bread from heaven,
and I am the bread that came down from heaven. But every time
now we see of that prophet spoken of in the New Testament, they
are thinking back to one who's going to be sent of God that
will deliver them politically and provide for them materially.
That's why in the feeding of the 5,000, after the Lord multiplied the
loaves and the fishes, what was there? This is that prophet. Let us make him king. That's
why in Luke chapter 24, when the disciples were coming back
from, were going to Emmaus and the Lord was walking with them,
and the Lord said, why are you so downcast? And they responded
by saying, art thou a stranger in Jerusalem? Hast thou not heard?
And the Lord Jesus said, heard what? And they said, Jesus of
Nazareth. The one that was the prophet
has been crucified. They were speaking to him. They
didn't know it. But even they thought, this is
that prophet. Men are still looking for a savior
that will deliver them from the troubles of this world. The Egyptian
taskmasters, the Roman rule, The harsh realities of life. I want a God that's gonna make
my life easy. And they're looking for a God
that will provide them materially. And so this was one of the opinions
that they had of the Lord Jesus in John chapter seven. This is
that prophet. This is the one we've been waiting
for. This is the one that's gonna set us free from the Roman rule.
This is the one that's gonna provide for us food And the Lord
said, you follow me so that you can have your bellies full. You're
not interested in me. Things haven't changed. People
are still looking for a God that will provide for them materially,
but not a God who will reign over them and save them. Others said, verse 41, this is
the Christ. This is more than the prophet.
This is the Christ. This is the Messiah. This is
the anointed one promised all the way back in the garden and
often repeated by God through the prophets. This is the one
that's going to save our immortal souls. This is the one that's
going to take us to heaven. But then comes the debate over
the Bible. And men love to do that. But some said, shall Christ come
out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture says that
Christ cometh of the seed of David and out of the town of
Bethlehem? Yes, it is what the scripture says. And the Lord
Jesus was born in Bethlehem. But then he came back and lived
his life in Nazareth as a Nazarene. And they wanted to debate what
the Bible said. You see, this is the division
that the Lord Jesus is still making. Some want a God that's
just going to provide for their material needs. Others want to
get an advantage over their peers by proving that they know more
about the Bible than the other person knows about it, and they'll
debate doctrine, and they'll try to argue themselves into
a debate. Nothing's changed. Nothing's
changed. So there was a division among
the people because of him. So much division he has created
and continues to create in this world. Amos chapter, I've titled this
message, No Union Without Division. You know, we look at all the
You can't bring two opposing views together in unity. You know, if I preach the gospel
in such a way as to everything I say is true, but that message
could be preached in a freewill works Arminian church and no
one would be offended by it. That's possible. I've listened
to messages. I didn't have anything about
what was being said. Everything that was said was
true. But it was what was not being said that was the error
of the message. But here's the way, you know,
we could be at peace with all men, but as soon as I preach
a message that excludes error, as soon as I preach a message
that says, no, this is not a way, this is the way. I used to know
men, and I still read about them, I don't know them personally,
but I used to know personally men, including myself, who believed
that the doctrines of grace were just a higher view of the gospel. and that our call in life was
to bring our Arminian brethren up to a better understanding.
And so no one was offended. The offense of the cross was
taken away because everybody felt like that their salvation
was preserved, even though he's preaching a little bit different
message than what we used to or what we like. He hasn't excluded
us. As soon as you say, this is the
way, this is the truth, and this is the life, you see the Lord
Jesus excludes. Yes, he includes, but in including
his people, he excludes and divides men. He divides us from the world.
Amos put it like this, in Amos chapter three, verse three, Can
two walk together unless they be agreed? Can a husband and wife walk together
unless they be agreed? Can brethren walk together unless
they be agreed? Can we really have harmony with
a person who we're... There are times when we just
have to say, you know, we're gonna agree to disagree on that
one. It's non-essential. I'm talking about the essentials.
The essentials. When the Lord said, can two walk
together unless they be agreed, he wasn't talking about men walking
with men. It was a rhetorical question.
It was very much like the question that he asked later from the
prophet Isaiah in Isaiah chapter one, verse 18, when God said,
come and let us reason together. And that word reason means to
make judgments, to judge righteous judgments. And so the Lord is
saying, come and sit down and let me tell you the way it is.
He's not saying, I want your opinion and you're gonna hear
my opinion and we're gonna come to some middle ground. He's saying,
I'm gonna tell you the way it is. And the way it is is not
negotiable. When the Lord said, can two walk
together unless they be agreed, he was talking about us walking
with God. And God was saying, you can't walk with me unless
you're in agreement with me. You cannot walk with me unless
you're in agreement with me. It's impossible. I'm not going to move. You're the one that has to change.
I'm immutable. I don't compromise. You know, preacher, what are
you saying? It's my way or the highway? Well, if you want to put it that
way, you want fellowship with me,
you're going to have to agree with me. Because we can't agree to disagree. I had a brother who was, talking
to a man about the gospel, and the man said, well, we're just
going to have to agree to disagree. And he quickly said, I can't
do that. I can't do that. I can't agree to disagree. It's not for us to decide what's
right or wrong. What's true and what's not true?
That's not our decision. God's already made that judgment.
It's for us to get on his side. It's just that simple. But what does man say? I want
some input on this thing. Well, I think he's the prophet.
Well, I think he's the Christ. No, the Christ was born in Bethlehem,
not in Nazareth. And men divide themselves because
they want their opinions and their viewpoints to be heard
and to be validated. And the Lord Jesus divides men
when he says, no, no, you're gonna agree with me or we're not gonna be able to walk
together. It's just that simple. And someone is thinking, well,
that's unloving and that's harsh. It's the sweetest, most loving
thing that you could ever experience to walk with God. It's the safest,
most blessed place that you can ever be to be made willing in
the day of His power, and to bow to Him, and to believe what
He believes, and to love what He loves, and to hate what He
hates, and to be in fellowship with Him, to be in union with
Christ. There's no safer, more protected,
more sweet, and loving, and beautiful place to be than that. It's not
harsh. God's not being harsh. He's not
being unloving. It's just the opposite. He's
saying to a bunch of stiff neck sinners, you want to be free? You want to be delivered? Get
in my yoke. My yoke is easy. My yoke is easy. Your yoke is hard. You're kicking
against the pricks. You're making it hard on yourself. You're opposing yourself. Don't
we see that in what Paul said to Timothy? You're opposing yourself.
Peradventure, God would give you repentance to stop opposing
yourself. The way of the wicked is hard,
the Bible says. This is not a message of intolerance. This is not a message of an unloving
spirit. This is a message of grace. This
is the greatest message that a rebel could ever hear. Come, all ye that have burden
and heavy laden, come unto me. I'm going to give you rest. Rest for your souls. You're gonna suffer persecution
for it. But count it all joy when men
say all sorts of evil against you for my name's sake. For such
did they to the prophets. You're in the yoke with me, you're
gonna be out of the yoke with everybody else. You can't have union with me
without division. There was division among the
people because of him. The most divisive man that's
ever lived and the only man that's able to unite us to God is none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ. But in uniting us to God, he's
going to divide us from everything else. He's going to divide us
from all of our hope in our works. He's going to divide us from
all of our hope in our will. And there's going to be, yeah.
There's going to be some division with loved ones. And our response
needs to be, I love you. I'm not looking to be at odds
with you. But if you're putting me in a
place where I have to choose between you and him, I'm sorry. That choice has already been
made. That choice has already been made. And I didn't make
it. God made it for me. I'm under the yoke. I'm in with
him. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
10. Matthew chapter 10. Be at peace with all men whenever
possible. Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving. Trust God when you're wrongfully
treated. back away from arguments as much
as you can. Well, you're going to take a
stand for Christ. You're going to find yourself at odds with
a whole lot of folks. And you're going to find yourself
at odds with this world. And you won't have to separate
yourself from them. Don't separate yourself from
them. Be kind to your neighbors, be loving to your family members.
Do everything you can to embrace them and do for them. Love them, pray for them. They'll cut you off. Matthew chapter 10, look at verse 34. As our Lord Jesus is
speaking, Think not that I came to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. For I am not come, for I am come
to set a man at variance against his father, and a daughter against
her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and
a man's foes shall be they of his own household. And he that loveth father or
mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son
or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Now I emphasize
the word more because the Lord is not telling us not to love
our mother and our father. He's not telling us to not to
love our family members. He's telling us when you're put
in a position to choose them over him. And you seek to be
at peace with men by compromising the gospel. And you deny him
before men, he will deny you before his father, which is in
heaven. And you confess me before men, I'll confess you before
my father, which is in heaven. It's pretty clear. Peter said, don't think this
to be a strange thing. The Lord told us it was going
to be this way. You're in Matthew, turn back just a few pages to
Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. By the way,
in Matthew chapter 5, at the beginning we have the Beatitudes.
Blessed is the peacemaker for he shall be called the child
of God." Be at peace with men. Be a peacemaker as often as you
can. Be a peacemaker whenever possible. Verse 10, blessed are they which
are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. I used to think that that meant,
you know, if you live an outwardly goody-two-shoe life, you know,
your worldly friends are going to make fun of you because you
don't participate in some of the things they participate in.
And I'm suffering for righteousness sake because I'm standing for...
That's not what he's talking about. Surely there's things
that people do and that we ought not to be a part of. We don't
wear that as our badge of honor and let people know, well, I
don't do that. We just stay away from it. Being persecuted for
righteousness sake is declaring the Lord Jesus Christ as the
only righteousness that there is to have before God. And he
is all your righteousness and you have no other righteousness.
It is declaring the exclusivity of the gospel. the singularity
of Christ. And there will be divisions among
the people because of him. Because of him. There is an offense
in the gospel. May God keep us from adding our
own offenses to that offense. The gospel in and of itself is
offensive enough to create divisions among the people. Don't be surprised. It's the way it is. But oh, what union we have with
one another and what union we have with God. And if God be
for me, who can be against me? Look at verse 11, blessed are
you when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all
manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great
is your reward in heaven. Not living my life for your approval, living my life for that reward
in heaven. Whatever the Lord ordains in
this world, might we stand true and faithful by his grace
for the gospel. What sayeth the scriptures? You
know, we live in a world where, you know, they say this is okay
and that's okay and this is the way we should go and that's the
way we should go. Lots of division among men. We have the authority. This is,
we don't have to be tossed to and fro by the opinions of men.
We don't have to say, well, I wonder what's right here, what's wrong
there, what we put. God's already, he's already declared
what sayeth the scriptures, that's the only question. I'm gonna
stand with God, whatever God says, that's where we're gonna
stand. And whatever that means in terms
of what other people might think, so be it. There will be a division
among the people. because of him. Always has been, always will
be. Not gonna change. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for your sweet spirit and for the glory and grace of your word
revealing to us Thy dear son, might we find in him our all
in all. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen. 256. 256. Let's stand together.
256.