Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the Gospel according to John chapter 7. John chapter
7. I'd like to deal with verses
10 to 13 this morning, and I've been tidying this message. Can
I go up with him? Let's read these verses, John
7, 10-13, and then we'll ask our Lord for justice. But when his brethren were gone
up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as
it were in secret. And the Jews sought him at the
feast, and said, Where is he? And there was much murmuring
among the people concerning him. For some said, He is a good man. Others said, Nay, he deceiveth
the people. Howbeit, no man spake openly
of him for fear of the Jews." Our Father, we thank You this
morning for this time to be able to worship to come together to
hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we are convinced
that your gospel is the power of God of salvation. Lord, would
you bless it. Bless it today to the comfort
of your people, the salvation of your people. Lord, I pray
that Christ might be honored. For it is in his name we pray.
Amen. Our Lord has remained in Galilee,
and the scripture says in verse 1 of this chapter, the beginning
of chapter 7, that he would not walk in Judah, because the Jews
sought to kill him. Not that God's will and God's
purpose is going to be thwarted, but Almighty God allows men to
do what they will. He's going to
leave a man to himself. He's going to allow men to do
what they want to do. But it's going to be according
to his timing. Remember this, he works all things
after the counsel of his own will. Eventually, his time, that
is the time in which he was going to willingly place himself into
the hands of wicked men. The old man takes his life on
him. He said, I lay down my life. There was coming a time when
he was going to place himself and allow men to take him. But
that time was not yet. So the scripture says, He wouldn't
walk in Judea. Well, he was talking to a group
of people that were referred to as his brethren. There in
verse 3, his brethren said unto him, Depart hence, and go into
Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou And
then they started giving him reasons why they thought that
it would be wise for him to go up. Verse 4, they said, ìNo man
that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be
known openly, ifÖî What a sad word they used. What
do you mean ìifî? ìÖif thou do these things.î If
these things are really real, if that healing that you performed
on that fellow back over there by the pool of Bethesda that
had that infirmity for 38 years, if you really did heal it, if
you really did take five loaves of two fish, feed 5,000 men plus
the women and children, If thou do these things, show thyself
to the world, for neither did his brethren believe on him." They gave him what they thought
was some good advice. You need to go on up. Let the others see. Show thyself
to the world. Who did they think they were
talking to? But the scripture says, and this
is where we'll begin this morning, that when his brethren were gone
up, the Lord told them, he said, no, you go up, I'll come, I'll
be along. But when his brethren were gone
up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as
it were, in secret. There's coming a day when having
His fellowship is going to be the only thing
that matters. That I am allowed by His grace,
by His purpose, by His will to be with Him. There's coming a
time when I know this, the only thing that will matter is that
I'm openly shown His brethren were allowed to
go on up. Our Lord told the people to go
on up to the feast. He said, Go ye up, verse 8. I go not up yet unto this feast.
My time is not yet full come. You go ahead. He told them to
go on up, but their going revealed something that was very sad,
something that was tragic. What they did was they left Christ
for the festival. They left Christ for the ceremony. They left Christ for empty religion
that could do nothing to save them. They left the Lord of glory, and they suffered for it. 2 Corinthians, I want to
show you something. 2 Corinthians. Turn with me to
2 Corinthians 6. 2 Corinthians 6. did something here that we're going to see the significance
of what he did. Remember, they didn't believe
him. They told him, you go on, you
go on, go show yourself, but if you're doing all these things,
they're going to really enjoy what you're doing. And he said,
no, you go. I'll come up later. You go ahead. You do what you want to do. They
didn't believe him. They didn't believe him. You
go and do what you want to do. 2 Corinthians 6, I mean 1 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14. Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light
with darkness? And what concord hath Christ
with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth
in him today? And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk
in them. I will be their God, They shall
be my people. Therefore, come out from among
them, and be ye separate, sayeth the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing, and I will receive you." Now here's the significance of
what the Lord Himself was doing. If Almighty God allows a man
or a woman to do what they want to do, they'll walk away. What did they want to do? They
wanted to do it. They wanted to go. They wanted
to go to this festival. It was the Feast of Tabernacles. Every Jew was required to go.
That was a requirement. Almighty God had set forth, this
is what you will do. But the problem was, is that
they were willing to go without Him. Here was the Lord of Glory. And they desired, they wanted
to go without Him. And He knew it. And He allowed them to do it. Thanks be unto God that Almighty
God would in His infinite mercy and compassion and longsuffering
and grace give a man a heart. That a man has a heart that he
wants to hear, that he wants to listen, that he wants to be
where Christ is. That's owing totally to the grace
of God. Lord, I know this. I know that in me, I'm talking
about martyr now. I'll be the example this morning. I know that in me, That is, in
my flesh. There's two natures in a believer. That old man that I was born
with and a new man that Almighty God has created in power and
mercy and grace. Two men. There's an old man in
me that will do just exactly what these men want him to do.
He wants to leave. He wants to go. Why would he not allow me to
go? only because of grace, only because
of His mercy and His kindness would He allow me not to leave. Yes, there is an old man in me
that's prone to wander, prone to leave the God that that new
man loves. Lord, help me, keep me. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He
asked the Twelve over John 6, He asked them, he said, because
see a lot of them, a lot of the folks back in chapter 6, when
he told them, he said, no man can come to me except it were
given unto him of my Father. Boy, they heard that and they
thought, oh. You start setting forth God's
sovereignty and men are, they don't want to hear that. That's
a hard saying. Who can hear that? And it said, And from that time
many walked no more with him. And he asked the twelve, Will
you go away also? And Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Remember when Elijah said to Elisha, Elisha was going with
Elijah, and the Lord had revealed to Elijah, that he was going
to take him. And Elisha knew it. He was going
to take Elijah into heaven, and Elisha knew it. And Elijah told
Elisha, he said, ìTarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord hath
sent me to Bethel.î And Elisha said unto him, ìAs the Lord liveth,
and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.î Whatever Godís
going to do, I want to be there. Whatever the Lord is pleased
to do, I can't go. The Lord's people, they follow
Him. They desire to be where He is,
where He's honored, where His gospel is preached, where His
people are assembled. I just want to be there. I just
want to learn. I'm an ignorant man. I want and
desire and pray that God teach me something. Teach me something,
Lord, of Yourself. I realize this. I know in part. I prophesy in part. What does
that mean? That means I don't understand all things, but there's
some things that I do know. There's one thing that God in
His infinite mercy and grace has done for me. Lord, wherever
you are, wherever you're honored, Lord, I want to be that place.
I want to be where Christ is preached. The Lord's people,
they love Him. They desire Him. Psalm 1611,
David said, in thy presence is fullness of joy. Psalm 5111,
cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit
from me. Not that the Spirit of God will
leave a man after the Spirit of God has sealed that man and
taken up residence. That's not what, take not the
realization. I've told you many, many times
what Brother Maurice Montgomery told me. There's times that God
will put a man out on a limb and make him think he's going
to leave him there. And that is a lonely place. It's a lonely
place when you wonder, what is the Lord pleased to do with me?
He knows how to draw His people to Himself. Boy, what a joy,
what a privilege. The mark of a believer. is that
that believer desires to arrange his life around the preaching
of the gospel. I've got to hear. I've got to
know. There's no substitute for his
presence. No substitute for hearing that
which honors him. Where else are we going to go,
Lord? What are we going to do? The Lord's people in heart In
prayer and spirit, they want to be where he is. But when his brethren were gone
up, then went he up into the feast, not openly, but as it
were, in secret, that is, privately. The Lord would not give those
that believe not on him a false hope by traveling with them. That's what he did. I read in
2 Corinthians, the Lord Jesus Christ would not allow them to
have a false hope by going up with them. They didn't believe
him. He knew they didn't believe him. And he sent them by themselves
and came up later because he would not give them a false hope
that he was with them in spirit. Wisdom. But he must go. He must go to that feast. He was made under the law, the
scripture says. Under that civil and judicial
law, he was a Jew. He was a Jew. He came into this
flesh, made flesh, and was a Jew in everything that was required
by the law of a Jew. He had to fulfill Under that
ceremonial law as a son of Abraham and that moral law as a man,
here he is, the surety of his people. Everything that was required,
there could not be one point in which he was not obedient. He had to be there, obeying God. It was of necessity that every
jot and every tittle of God's law be obeyed. Here he is. establishing the righteousness
that shall be imputed, charged, given to every man, every woman
that believes Him, that trusts Him. Believers don't stand before
God in their own righteousness. Believers, they struggle, they
realize. I need a righteousness that I
cannot produce. God is not satisfied with me
and myself. He is satisfied with one man,
the man, the God-man, the man Christ Jesus. He's the only one
that has ever pleased God. And here He is. He came to this
feast, not openly. followed in perfect obedience
his father's timetable. He said, I do only, always those
things that please him. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. All that the father had given
him, he must bring them to himself. He must present them to the father.
I and the children He is going to be crucified as
God's Lamb. He is going to be God's Passover. He is the Redeemer of his sin. He came in the volume of the
book that was written of him. Scripture says that he came up
to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret, and in
verse 11 it says, Where is he? We kind of lose
something in that translation right there. I looked it up. I looked up the original, the
literal of that to see what it said. And it was so disrespectful. This is what they said. Where
is that one? Another interpretation said,
where is that fellow? They knew that he was going to
be at the feast. Scripture says they sought Him
at the feast, not out of respect, not out of love, not out of concern
for their own souls, but they were resentful. Isn't it amazing
when we read in the Scriptures and we see the heart of a man
born in Adam, how resentful we are. That's how we all are. I
mean, let's just be honest. We all have a heart that's just
like this. But there is a new heart in a
believer that does love Him, that does desire Him. But here's
some men left to themselves. Where is that fellow? You know,
instead of being at that feast that they worship God, they religiously. sadness of a man in himself. He uses religion and tries to
use religion as the dagger to get to God. Here they are when
they crucified the Lord. They were trying to hurry this
thing up. Let's get this thing over with. We'd probably might
as well go ahead and break his legs. because the Passover was coming
and we certainly don't want to desecrate worshiping God. So let's just break his legs
and just get it over with. He had already died. He had already
given up the ghost himself. See what I'm saying? They use
religion and they're actually using this time or this beast
ordained of God. And there they are in all of
their pious Where is this fella? Oh, the
animosity found toward Christ and His people. It's always been
there. Cain against Abel. There was
Noah preaching. He preached 120 years. 120 years. And God was pleased
to allow Noah and his wife and his three boys and their wives rest of the world perished. 120 years. Noah built an ark. He told me, he said, God said
it's going to rain. It's never rained before. They'd never seen
rain. God's going to send judgment. But you see this world, in that
final judgment, this world's never seen it. Oh, I don't think
it's going to be like that. I don't think it's going to be
like that. I'm telling you, when God opened up the heavens and
opened up the earth, and that water started coming up out of
the earth, and that water started coming out of the skies, and
people started at first, they figured, I'm sure that we'll
climb a tree. We'll get, we'll get a, you know,
I'll get a tree. Well, maybe we ought to climb
this mountain right here. And the water just kept rising
and kept rising. And all of a sudden they realized,
you know what? I don't think this is going to
be good. Noah! Noah! Hey! But the scripture says,
but the Lord had shut the door. These men came up to him. Where
is that fellow? Where is he that claims these
things? Where is this woman? The Lord
himself said to him, Matthew 10, 39. Think not that I have
come to send peace on earth. I have not come to send peace
with a sword. But you say, well then, is He
not though the Prince of Peace? Yes. Is He not the Prince of
Peace of His people? Yes. Absolutely. Well then what does He mean,
think not that I have come to send peace on earth? There is
no peace on this earth between Almighty God and those that hate
Him and despise Him. He is the Prince of Peace to
His people, but His Word is that which separates. It separates
between flesh and spirit, between friends, between family. It divides. It does. It just does. It divides. There is no compromise
with His Word, His glory. Wherever the glorious gospel
of God's grace is proclaimed, opposition is always going to
be there. It's just in a man to hate God. He hates God. The problem is not God's truth.
The problem is man. He's going to have to make a new man.
He's going to have to rebirth a man. He's going to have to
make a man new. He's going to have to give him
a new heart, a new spirit, a new mind, a new desire, a new love. You see a man or a woman that
hungers and thirsts after Christ, that's a miracle of God's grace. It's a joy. God's people rejoice
to see when Almighty God creates a hunger in a thirst for Christ. Val. 12 says there was much murmuring
among the people concerning him. Some said, he's a good man. Others
said, nay, but he deceives the people. I want you to notice
the difference between their opinions concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. They were murmuring among themselves.
They were talking, kind of talking themselves. They had a favorable,
outwardly favorable, but wrong opinion. Some of them said that
he was a good man. Well, that is, that has an element
of truth about it, doesn't it? It does, there's no doubt about
that. He's a good man, but that's not the whole truth. He's not just a good man. He is the Son of God. This is
Almighty God. This is Jehovah. Personified. The Lord said, you see me, you
see the Father. All the fullness of the Godhead. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Spirit. All the fullness. I can't even
enter into that. Here was God Almighty in Christ Jesus the Lord. John said, we saw Him. Our hands
handled the Word of Life. We touched Him. We beheld His
glory. The glory as the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Someone said, well,
He's a good man. I mean, he did some good things.
He said some good things. Well, I mean, that may sound
honorable. But I'm telling you, that is
in itself as disrespectful as those that said, nah, he deceives
the people. Neither one of them knew him. What does a believer say? As
Peter said, John 6, 69, we believe and are sure that thou art that
Christ, the Son of the living God. Lord, this is who you are. It takes a new heart to believe
that, a new heart to admit that. Too often, those that exhibit
no outward ill for Christ really manifest nothing less than true
disregard for His dignity. We do think far below His dignity. We don't even know how to speak
consistently of Him. Matthew 16, let me read this
to you. Matthew 16, 13-17, when Jesus came to the coast of Caesarea
Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Who do men say that I,
the Son of Man, am? And they said, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets,
and he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."
Just stop for just a minute as we are coming to the close here.
Let's stop and think for a second. That I do believe that I have
a heart that believes that Almighty God lives within me, dwells in
me by His Spirit, God the Spirit, and has taught me, and has everlastingly
loved me, and chosen me, as my Redeemer. And upon that
cross, there hanging, now this is God Almighty that says, I
knew you. Before I formed you, I knew you. Known you from the foundation
of the world. That hanging upon that cross, the holy, harmless
Lamb of God made sin. There was sin. And God dealt with him in my
stead. And there he was made what I
am. And I was on his heart. And I was on his heart. And he
laid down his life for me. Is he a good man? He's God. He's Almighty God. Howbeit, verse 13 in closing,
no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews. Howbeit, no
man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews. What a solemn warning this is
to us. They didn't want to speak openly.
They didn't want to be frank about it. They didn't want to
be just Why? Because they were scared. They were scared of what somebody
was going to say. Are you kidding me? You actually
believe that? Are you kidding me? You actually
believe that Almighty God is God of creation, salvation and
providence, and that God Almighty has seen fit to show mercy to
some and to allow others to do what they want to do? Are you
kidding me? No, I'm not kidding you. I'm not kidding you. How
in the world can you believe that? Because God said it. And I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. For it is the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to
the Greek. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom, but the fear of man is a snare. Lord, grant me the grace to be
able to proclaim with a heart after you, a desire
after you, the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
power of God and salvation. Lord, I soon will stand before
you, and I know that. Just a few more days for me,
I know that. Lord, teach me to number my days. That's all, that's all. Not months, not weeks, my days. I'm going to die. I know that.
And I'm going to stand before God Almighty. And standing before
God Almighty in Christ. He's all my hope. Lord, would
you bless these words to the comfort and salvation of your
people for Christ's sake.