Alright, well, let's take our
Bibles and turn with me to the gospel according to John, chapter
7. John, chapter 7. I'd like to look at verses 25
to 31 this morning. But before we begin, let's ask
our Lord's blessing. Our Father, we are so thankful
that we can call upon you this morning. And Lord, we ask, we
ask. You said we have not because
we ask not. And we ask, Lord, would you bless the services
today? Lord, would you cause your word to go forth in power?
We know that it's not going to return void. It's going to accomplish
the purpose for which it was sent. Lord, I pray you'd have
mercy. Call, I pray, Lord's sinners. Lord, out of the spiritual darkness
of unbelief, comfort your people. Lord, we thank you for Christ's
sake. Amen. Where we ended last Sunday was
in verse 24. The Lord said to those hearers,
He said, Judge not according to the appearance, but judge
righteous judgment. Don't judge, don't make a decision
on the way things appear to you. Let me read something to you
here out of 1 Samuel. Whenever the prophet Samuel had
gone to, he was going to go to anoint King. And Samuel, in 1 Samuel 16, verses
6 to 13, here's what happened. It said, it came to pass when
they were come that he looked on Eliab and said, Surely the
Lord's anointing is before me. The prophet Samuel looked at
one of the sons. But the Lord said unto Samuel,
Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature,
because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man
seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. Then Jesse called
Abinadad and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither
hath the Lord chosen this. Then Jesse made Shammah to pass
by. And he said, That is Samuel the
prophet. Neither hath the Lord chosen this. Again, Jesse made
seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto
Jesse, The Lord hath not chosen these. And Samuel said unto Jesse,
Are here all thy children? And he said, Well, there remaineth
yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth sheep. And Samuel
said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down
till he come hither. And he sent, and brought him
in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and
goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint
him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of
oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren, and the Spirit
of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose
up and went to Ramah. The prophet had been sent to
look at the sons of Jesse, going to anoint one of them as the
king. What happened was, the Lord told Samuel each time, seven
of those boys came by. The Lord told them, He said,
these are not the ones. It's David. So David came. The Lord said,
this is the one right here. God had set His decision, His
will, on David. Now, our Lord had healed. Remember this? Back in chapter
5, He had healed this man at the Pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath
day. And these Jews, they took offense
at that. They said, you've broken the
law. You can't possibly be one disobedient to God. And the
Lord told them, and that's where we looked. He said, judge not
according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. You know, when we set forth the
glorious gospel of God's free grace, the scriptures set forth
in Ephesians 1 verse 4, that Almighty God chose a people before
the foundation of the world to show mercy to. God said that. Almighty God set
forth that God chose a people that He was going to show mercy
to. Chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
The Lord Jesus Christ said, I lay down my life for the sheep. And then told a group of Pharisees,
He said, now the reason you don't believe me It's in John 10. He
said, because you're not My sheep. He said, My sheep, hear My voice.
Now let me ask you this. Who said that? Almighty God said
that. Now men may say, I don't believe
in that election. I don't believe in predestination.
I don't believe in that particular redemption. I don't believe that
the Spirit of God effectually, powerfully calls out Those that
the Father gave the Son and that the Son redeemed. What did the
Lord Jesus Christ say? All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. Let me ask you this. Did God
say that? Yes. The answer is yes. Okay. Then what do we do? Well, judge
not according to the appearance. Don't judge things the way that
men say things are. But judge righteous judgment. We don't distinguish our state
or our salvation or God's work according to the way that we
see things. We judge Almighty God's Word
as being so. The Lord has said, and that's
the way it is. Righteous judgment means you
take the Word of God, and you take God's Word against anything
else. What difference does it make?
I've said before, everybody's got an opinion, but what difference
does it make? The only thing that matters is
what Almighty God has to say. God's Word, God's will, God's
purpose. Well, the Lord had told this
group of people that He was talking to, the truth concerning Himself. That He is who He is. Sent of the Father. That His
work was not His own, it's Him that sent me. My words, I speak
that which I have heard Him." Here is the God-man mediator
as our absolute perfect substitute. The substitute, the representative
of all that the Father had given Him. And here He is walking,
and wonderfully, mysteriously, God's people in Him at this time. Boy, there are some things that
we just can't grasp hold of in the fullness. I've told you before,
I remember, Brother Scott, you do too, saying this, where God
puts a man, that's where God keeps a man. If we were chosen
in Him before the foundation of the world, then we've always
been in Him. Here we are, mysteriously, wonderfully,
in Christ, as his body, and here he is the God-man mediator, doing
exactly the perfect will of Almighty God. And here, in that perfect
obedience, is the Lord Jesus Christ earning the righteousness
that is imputed to everyone that believes, robed in his perfect
righteousness, Believers don't stand before God in themselves.
There's not a one of us here that wants to stand before God
in ourselves. There's not one here that knows Him that wants
to stand before God Almighty and have God Himself judge us
based on our best. I'll promise you this, I know
what my best is. It's just filthy racks. I'm pitiful. Pitiful. I can't even think consistently. I've told you before, I try to
pray. Try. Derek is pitiful. Pitiful. I try to speak. And the next thing I know, I'm
just all over the place. And I'm thinking, can I not even
speak to Him with respect and keep my mind fixed on Him? No, I can't. No, I can't. Oh,
if the Lord would mark iniquity, who could stand? Who could stand?
He told them, Judge not according to your peers. Judge righteous
judgment. Then said, verse 25 to 27, then said some of them
of Jerusalem, Is not this he whom they seek to kill? But lo,
he speaketh boldly. And they say nothing unto him.
Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? Howbeit
we know this man whence he is, for when Christ cometh, no man
knoweth whence he is." Now here, the Lord, having spoken to them,
told them who He is. And they absolutely have set
forth their ignorance. Isn't this the one they want
to kill? Well, verse 1 said this of 7, John 7, verse 1, After
these things Jesus walked in Galilee, for He would not walk
in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. Now, we know who
this guy is. Do you really? Do you really? John 17 says, this is life eternal,
that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. Knowing God. This is life eternal. I know this, life eternal is
not a profession of religion. It's not a reformation of manner.
Or it's not even knowledge of facts about God. The Scriptures set forth that
eternal life is the very experience. I know a lot of times we don't
like to use that word experience, but God's people do. In regenerating
grace, they do experience something. Life is important. And they're
different. God does something for them they
couldn't do for themselves. Eternal life is the very experience
of power and regeneration in the revelation of the true and
living God in the heart. God's people know Him. They know Him. I mean this. I don't mean that they know about
him. Let me prove this. James 2.19. James says, Thou
believest that there is one God. Men will say, I believe that
there is God. James says, Thou doest well.
The devils believe that. The devils also believe that
there is one God. And they tremble. There's an
understanding that there is a God. People will say, well, I'm an
atheist. No, you're not. No, you're not. No, there's a knowledge that
there is a God. There's a conscience. It's the
very essence of a man having a conscience. Knowing right from
wrong. There's a witness within himself.
that there is a God. But to know the true and living
God, to know Him, to love Him, to believe Him, to receive Him,
takes Almighty God doing something for a man or a woman that they
can't do for themselves. No man has the ability to regenerate
himself. No man has the ability to do
anything concerning his regeneration. These people had heard him, and
they didn't know him in regenerating grace. They said they did. We
know this man, which he is. All they were saying was, we
know where he's from. Verse 25, it said some of them
of Jerusalem, some that knew the rumor about killing the Lord
Jesus Christ. They knew. Is this not He? Whom they, and I don't know,
just the wording of it, it could have been maybe some of the higher
ups, maybe some of the Pharisees were standing there. I don't
know. I don't know. It could have been an emotion
to them. Is this not He whom they seek to kill? This question about who He is. It wasn't in the dark. The Lord had told them. He said,
I'm telling you, you go about to kill me. That's what he said
in verse 19. Did not Moses give you the law
and yet none of you keep the law? Moses said in his law, thou
shalt not kill. And you say that we're keepers
of the law and you want to kill me. And they disputed him. They said, you've got a devil.
In verse 20, who goes about to kill you? I promise you, when Almighty
God says that man by nature hates God, you know what we do? We judge righteous judgment.
If God Almighty says that the carnal mind hates God, is enmity
against God, that's the way it is. That's the way it is. Men
will say, I don't hate God. God said we do. We do. It's because of a carnal heart
and a hatred for Christ that these raised up themselves in
anger for their rulers to do what the rulers said they wanted
to do. Verse 1 said they sought to kill
Him. And now these right here, they couldn't help themselves. The Lord had set forth who He
is. They said, this man is speaking boldly. This man is preaching
things that are going against the grain. Back in chapter 6,
verse 65, when he had said, Therefore said I unto you, No man can come
to me, except it were given unto him of my Father. No man has
the ability to come to me. The man said, I can come to Christ
any time I want to. No, no, the Lord said no man
can except it were given unto him of My Father. Judge righteous
judgment. Don't judge his appearance. Don't
judge what men say. Weigh everything by the Word
of God. Well, it said from that time many of the disciples went
back and walked no more with Him. Can you just imagine how
that spread? And how they would talk, and
he said, do you hear what he said? Not only is he making himself
out to be God, but he's saying that we can't come to God unless
the Father draws us, except it was given unto us. Well, wait
a minute. That's kind of starting to step
on my will. and my toes, and my ability. I don't think I like that. This
man is speaking boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers now know that this
is indeed the Christ? We know this man, verse 27. Hereby,
we know this man, which he is. We know the origin of this man. They weren't speaking so much
concerning the place of his birth or his residence, but they were
speaking because they thought that they knew where he's from.
We know this. It's not Matthew 13.55. It's
not this, the carpenter's son. It's not his mother called Mary
and his brother and James and Joseph and Simon and Judas. We
know. that this can't be the Christ. Because when Christ cometh, they
said in verse 27, no man knoweth whence he is. Look at John 6.42. We know this
can't be. We know this can't be the Christ.
I don't care what he's saying. He cannot be the Christ because
when Christ comes, nobody will know. When Christ comes, he'll
be after the order of Melchizedek. No beginning of days, no end
of days. No heritage from mama. No heritage from daddy. No time
of his birth. No time of his death. Nobody's
going to know when he comes. This can't be the Christ. Look
at John 6.42, and they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of
Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that
he saith, I came down from heaven? How is it? We know that this
is not. And then the scripture says that
the Lord Jesus Christ exposed their willful rebellion. Verse
28 said this, Then cried Jesus in the temple, as he taught,
saying, You both know me, and you know whence I am. And I am
not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom you know
not. Now this is an amazing thing. The Lord Jesus Christ told them. He said, you do know me. You do know me. And you know where I'm from. Really? How? How? John 5.36 says, but I have greater
witness than that of John. John had set forth. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world." And the Lord said, I've got greater
witness than that of John for the works which the Father hath
given me to finish the same works that I do bear witness of me
that the Father has sent me. They had argued and they said,
this can't be the Christ. Not with what he's saying. claiming
to be God. And when the Messiah comes here,
nobody's going to know where he's come from. The Lord said,
yeah, you know me. Yes, you do. And you know where
I'm from. These works that I do, they argue and said that this
couldn't be the Christ and the very healing of that certain
man with an infirmity for 38 years, that witness right there
said, this is the Christ. The Lord said, yes you do. Yes
you do. That you won't bow. That's your
decision. That's what you decide to do.
That you will not come, that's what you decided to do. But he
said, you do know. Yes you know. That miracle bore
witness concerning who He is. And here we have this witness. We have this witness. Let me
tell you what's amazing. We have a greater witness. Now, we do know that the apostles
bore witness of Him. They did. John said, that which
we have seen, which our eyes have beheld, our hands have handled
of the Word of Life. You think, boy, I'm telling you,
there's an eyewitness right there of the glory of God. I'm going
to tell you something. We've got a greater witness than
that. Let me show you. Turn to 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1. We have a greater witness today. even greater than the eyewitness
accounts of the apostles. 2 Peter 1, verse 16-19. Peter says, For we have not followed
cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power
and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. For he received from God the
Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him
from the excellent glory." What he's talking about, Peter said,
I was standing there on the Mount of Transfiguration on that day. I was there. John was there. Peter was there. James was there. Three of them. And Peter said,
I was standing there that day. And he said, I, with the other
two, looked at him. And I'm telling you that while
we stood there and looked at him, his raiment, his face was brighter
than the noonday sun. And Peter said, I was standing
there. And there in verse 16, being
eyewitnesses, He said we beheld Him from the excellent glory
and heard this report from heaven. He said we heard God speak. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven we heard when we were with Him in the Holy Mount. Now
listen to this. He said, we have also a more
sure word of prophecy, whereunto you do well that you take heed,
as unto a light that shineth in a dark place unto the day
dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts, knowing this
first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation,
for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man,
but holy men of God's faith as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. We have a more sure word of prophecy
than the very eyewitnesses that were standing with him that day
on the Mount of Transfiguration. Peter said, these Scriptures
bear witness of him. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ
told those people that railed on him, No, no, no, no, no. That report you're giving of
yourself, that can't be so. No, you're not fitting the description.
You're not bearing up with what we know, what we've been told.
No, no, no, no, no. The Lord says, yes, you do know.
Yes, you know. Let me tell you something. We
have God's Word on this. This is so. He's the Christ. He's coming back. We're going
to stand before Him in judgment. Almighty God, the Scripture says,
is going to open the books. And everything is going to be
brought out in the light. And we're going to be dealt with
according to these Scriptures right here. And if we stand before
Him without a substitute, without a mediator, I told you about my cousin. I
found out a couple of weeks ago. He's about two or three years
younger than I am. He died last Thursday, Friday,
Friday. And I thought to myself, as far
as I know, as far as I know, I never said
unto the gospel, as far as I know, and I thought to myself, That
man left this world. As far as I know, according to
these Scriptures, as far as I know, according to this Word, he's
in hell right now. And that grieves me. But I know
this, the judge of this world is going to do right. He's God. And I'm going to bow to that. I'm going to bow. If he puts
me in hell, He's right. He's right. And my tongue is
going to confess that He's the Lord to the glory of God, Corey.
He's right. You have this witness before
you. But the Scripture sets forth that they didn't know Him in
heart. They knew Him. They knew Him. Scripture bears witness. He said,
I'm not coming myself. But he that sent me is true,
whom you know not." That's what he said in verse 28. But I know
him, verse 29, for I'm from him. And he has sent me. I'm the Lamb. Remember when Abraham and Isaac
was growing up? God had told Abraham, He said,
Abraham, I want you to take your son, your only son. And he said,
I want you to sacrifice him unto me as a burnt offering. And Abraham
took that boy and they went to that mountain. And when they
got to that mountain, God said, this is the one right here. Abraham
told those that were with him, he said, the lad and I are going
to go up here and we're going to worship God. I'm going to go up here and worship
God. And Abraham was going to sacrifice that boy. And here
was Isaac. He had some fire and he had some
wood. And he said, Father, here's the
fire, here's the wood, where's the lamb? You've got to have
a lamb to have a sacrifice. My Son, God, will provide Himself
a lamb. And the Lord Jesus Christ, here
is God's Lamb. That's what he said in verse
29. I know Him. I know His will. I know His purpose.
For I am from Him, and He has sent me, sent Him, coming to
this world to seek and to save that which was lost. When He
said, I know Him, I am from Him, here's what He said, I'm God. I'm God. And His will is in my
hand. God's will, he said, is in my
hands. Here's God in human flesh speaking
of God's eternal purpose. All power has been given me by
the Father that I should accomplish that
which He sent me to do. In closing, in verse 30 and 31,
then they sought to take him. But no man laid hands on him,
because his hour was not yet come. And many of the people
believed on him and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more
miracles than these which this man doeth? Or when he stood up and told
them, I am Almighty God. Just the very essence of their
being. They could not help it. When He declared Himself to be,
verse 30 said, they wanted to take Him. I'm not believing what
you're saying. I cannot believe what God... They sought to take him, but
no man laid hands on him. Why? Because God Almighty wouldn't
allow it. His hour was not yet come. Until
His hour was come, no man could lay a hand on Him. And neither
can any man lay a hand on any of God's sheep until Almighty
God ordains it. I told Satan, have you considered
my servant Job? He's a perfect man. He hates
evil. Hates it. Upright. Satan said, well yeah, but you've
got a hedge about him too. I can't get to him. You take
that hedge away from him. You let me get at him, and he'll
curse you to your face. The Lord said, you can have him,
you can't kill him. And you know the story. Satan
did all he could, but by the sustaining grace of God, God
kept him. He didn't disrespect God. His wife even told him,
why don't you cuss God and get this over with? He told his wife,
woman, you're speaking as one of the foolish. In all these
things, Job sinned not. I didn't disrespect God. Kept
by the power of God. Some of them wanted to take Him.
They couldn't because His hour was not yet come. Oh, but verse
31, many of the people believed on Him. And they said, when Christ
cometh, will He do more miracles than these? Could Christ do more
than we've seen this man do? They believed Him. Oh, I know
this, and I don't doubt for a second, I'm sure, that they expressed
weak faith. Many of them believed and said,
when Christ cometh, will He do more miracles than this man doth?
Let me ask you this. Have we all not experienced The
weakness of our faith. Little faith. But bless God,
if there's any faith there, if you had faith as a grain of mustard
seed, I've thought on that Scripture before. You could say to this
mountain, be moved and it be moved. If you had faith as a
grain of mustard seed, the Scripture said that people believed on
Him. I think about that. The thief
that was beside him. Boy, what a miracle of God's
grace. Here's a man getting ready to leave this world. He's going
to die. He's getting ready to die. And Almighty God, according
to His everlasting purpose, showed mercy to that one in his dying
moments. I pray God have mercy today.
called His people out of darkness, blessed the Word to their eternal
salvation. I pray so. I ask Him to. I expect,
I expect that God's going to do something today. I expect
He will. You know why I expect that? Because
He said, My Word's not going to return void. It's going to
accomplish the purpose for which it's sent. So I know accordingly. I'm not trying to be presumptuous.
God helped me to not do that. But to believe that Almighty
God is going to do something today, I know He is. Lord, help
us and thank you. Even though there may have been
some weak faith, thank you for the day of small things. For
Christ's sake, amen.