I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles now and turn with me to the Gospel according to
John, chapter 7. John chapter 7. This morning I would like to
look at verses 1 to 9, and what I'd like to do is I'd like to
read these verses. I've entitled this message, Do
I Believe in Christ? Do I Believe in Christ? John
chapter 7, verses 1-9, after these things, Jesus walked in
Galilee, for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought
to kill him. Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles
was at hand, and his brethren therefore said unto him, Depart
hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the
works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth
anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show
thyself to the world. For neither did his brethren
believe any. Then Jesus said unto them, My
time is not yet come, but your time is all the way ready. The
world cannot hate you, but it hateth, but me it hateth, because
I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. Go ye up unto
the beast, For my time is not yet full come,
when he hath said these words unto them, he abode still in
Galilee." Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you this
morning for the blessed privilege that we have to call on you and
work to draw near to the true full assurance of faith. We ask
you, Lord, would you bless this word to the glory of Lord Jesus
Christ, and Lord, to our comfort and our understanding. For it
is in Christ's name we ask these things. Amen. I woke up this morning thinking, what if this is the last time?
that I ever preach. What if this is the last time
you ever hear? What if this is the last time
that we ever meet together just exactly like this? If we knew
that this was the last time, what would be the concern of
my heart? Here it is. Do I believe in Christ? That's it. That's it. What think ye of Christ? About three days ago, I knew that there were some storms
going through Tennessee. Kentucky, Indiana. And they were,
uh, that's always a serious thing, you know, watch that on Weather
Channel. And I see, you know, they're
having storms go through. I think, well, that's terrible.
Look at that devastation. Well, I talked to my daughter,
Sarah, And when I called her to see how things were, she said,
Dad, she said we're in the closet right now with the kids. They put some helmets on their
head, they had little riding helmets. She said we've covered
them up with blankets. She said tornadoes are going
through right now, three tornadoes hit Dixon, Tennessee, a little
town that's not as big as Fairmont. Three tornadoes and you know
all of a sudden I got to thinking. I got three grandchildren that's
in that closet right now. They don't know God. All of a
sudden it became very serious to me. about the Lord Jesus Christ. The scriptures this morning set
forth our Lord's ministry. It sets forth that after these
things, now we just finished chapter 6. We've been going through
this book verse by verse. last Sunday, and I started this
verse after these things, but do you know what I realized?
Six months has passed. Six months has passed since the
end of chapter 6 and the beginning of chapter 7. Now the reason
I know that is in John chapter 6, where we were at verse 4,
it says in the Passover, a feast of the Jews was not And then
in chapter 7, verse 2, it says, Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacle
was at hand. And I read and I realized that
those two feasts were six months apart. Now, I don't know. I don't know
what happened during that six month period. The Spirit of God
was pleased to not record six months of our Lord's life on
this earth. I don't know what happened, nobody
knows what's happened now, save the Lord. And now that we stop
and realize that there was to the Lord's good pleasure,
to leave us without a specific record of what happened during
that period. And I do know, according to John
21, that the wish concerning our Lord's ministry on this earth,
the scripture says that they should be written, every one,
I suppose that even the world itself could not He said the world could not contain
the books. Can you imagine? Oh, how many
things were not told. But you know what is important
is what he did say. Oh, what we do have concerning
this ministry. The Lord Jesus, He walked in
Galilee, listen to this, for He would not walk in Judea because
the Jews sought to kill Him. It doesn't say that He could
not, it said He would not. He would not because the Jews
sought to kill him. Not because of fear of death,
but obviously, and he will tell us this in a few minutes, his
time had not come and he wisely and prudently willed them to
not walk where he allowed men to do just exactly what they
wanted to do. They wanted to kill him. Where he has no sheep, where
he's not directed by his father, oh, may the Lord deliver us from
the natural constraint of our old nature to not want him. He would not. I read that scripture and I cannot
but help go back to the thought where two or three are gathered
together in my name. I am in the midst of Him. I absolutely, I believe He's
here. I believe He's here. I believe
that there are some folks that's met together to hear Him, to
worship Him, to praise Him. Oh, the evidence of God's judgment
for the glorious preaching of the gospel of God's sovereign
grace. Oh, the evidence of God's judgment
where God does not allow the gospel to be preached. Never
take it for granted that you have a place to worship. Never,
never, never. Now, the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles
was at hand. I read where on the fifteenth
day of the seventh month, the Jews were to build some little
booths, or little tabernacles that were made out of branches
for a remembrance of their temporary dwellings in the wilderness. That was a feast that the Lord
instituted according to Moses, God's law, they would have this
little time, this feast, and what they would do is for seven
days they had to build these little tabernacles and they had
to temporarily stay in those little dwellings in remembrance
of the time in the wilderness. And what they would do is they
would have this festival during harvest time, right after the
Day of Atonement. They'd have this festival, build
these little tabernacles, these little tents, these little huts,
right at the time of harvest. But, for those giving eyes to
see, what does that mean? Why? Why did they do that? Well,
here's the heart of it. Yeah, they did remember, they
did remember their time in the wilderness. But, remember there's
all things in the scriptures concerning Him, concerning our
precious Savior. And this was a festival that
set forth in time, in shadow, the Lord Jesus Christ, who tabernacled
in this world, in human flesh, harvest of all those that the
Father had given Him in electing grace. That's what the Feast
of the Tabernacles was all about. They did remember their traveling
in the wilderness, but their traveling in the wilderness was
a type, it was a picture of Him. Him. He who was made flesh and
dwelt among us. He who came into this world. under the direct calling of his
Father, to bring back to the Father all those that have been
given him. During this time, the scripture
says in verse 3, 4, it says, "...his brethren." Well, the
Lord was in that beast of Tabernacle, it was that hand, and it says,
"...his brethren, therefore, said unto him, Depart hence,
and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou
doest. For there is no man that doeth
anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If
thou do these things, show thyself to the world." Now probably,
and it's hard to say as debate on exactly who these brethren
were. Some seem to think that it was
part of his immediate family, and concerning the wording, it
could have been. Nonetheless, those that were
somewhat familiar with him, some that had been around him for
a while, his brethren said to him, those that may have been
part of his family. They didn't want to come out
and exactly say, we have no heart for your presence. What they
wanted to do, they wanted to make it sound as though that
it would be a wonderful thought for you to go and share these
things that God said with others. Oh, how obvious is the hypocrisy
of the old man. They didn't want to see him,
they said, doing these things in secret and cause others to
miss out on what he had done. Or for him to even not get the
attention that they thought he needed. Depart hence. Go to Judea. That your disciples can see what
you've done. These things that you're doing
here. Oh, others need to see this.
Others need to recognize what you're doing because, look at
verse 4 again, the latter part, if thou do these things. Boy, out of the abundance of
a man's heart, his mouth speaks that. If you're really doing this,
if this really is what you're doing. These works are real. If they're genuine, how obvious
if these really are his brethren. And when I say his brethren,
I mean, I'm talking about cousins, could have been part of his immediate
family. I mean, the word does seem to
indicate that they were, I mean, not just people that just happened
to knowing maybe a neighbor or something. I'm talking about
people that grew up with him. People that knew something of
what he had done. He fed 5,000 men plus the women
and children. He took five loaves and two fish. He turned water into wine. They'd seen some things that
he had done. You need to go. How obvious that the scripture
sets forth salvations out of blood. Out of blood. You think, well, they watched
him. They saw what he did. Surely,
surely, they would believe. It's not by the will of blood,
not by the will of flesh, not by the will of man, but of God. Almighty God that shows mercy.
Oh, the curse of many is going to be that they heard so much and they
didn't believe. Many will say, unto me, he said
in that day, Lord, And he said, you will see Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob and you yourself shut out. These brethren. But in answer to the pretended
love, and that's all it was. I can tell you this because listen
to the Lord's answer. The scripture sets forth that
our Lord revealed their heart, verse 5, for neither did his
brethren believe in him. He just exposed them. It sounded good. It sounded faithful. But they didn't believe him.
They didn't love him. They didn't appreciate him. Grew
up around him, heard of him, saw him. And then Jesus said unto them,
verse 6, My time is not yet come, but your time is all the way
ready. The world, and here's another
word that jumped out at me, cannot hate you. The world cannot hate
you. because I testify of it, that
the works thereof are evil. Go ye up into the feast. I go
not up yet unto the feast, for my time is not yet fully come. The world cannot hate you. Not that they
will not hate you, they can't. He testified, he set forth that
his time was not yet come. The world cannot hate you, but
me it hates. And here's the reason. Because
I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. Now if you want to know What someone really thinks. If
you want to know, do they believe Christ? Do I believe Him? They didn't believe Him. They
didn't believe Him. And when we talk about believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ, I've said before, I can't stress this
enough. When we say we're believing on
the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm talking about to the exclusion of anything
else. You say, well, I believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, but I feel as though that I must... No,
you don't believe in that. No. Believing on the Lord Jesus
Christ, plus nothing. Plus nothing. The Lord told them,
He said, the world cannot hate you. He said, but me it hates, because
I testify of it, because I set forth concerning the world's
depravity, because I set forth the evilness of their works,
because I set forth for himself, for his word, for
his people. The world hates, hates God's
sovereignty. They hate because I testify that
the world and its works are evil. The only thing that Almighty
God blesses is that which Almighty God does. Because I set forth
that the evilness of this world is manifested in their hating
the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, no, I'm not going. I'm not going. Go ye up unto
the feast. Well, I tell you, when you stop
and think about what it's all said, they said, They said, Lord,
you go up there. They're having this feast up
there, the Feast of the Tabernacle. Lord, these marvelous things.
Oh, how we love, we love seeing what you're doing. Oh, Lord,
these are wonderful things. These are marvelous things. Lord,
why don't you go? No, he said, no, you go. You
go up. You know what he was saying?
I'm not going with you. I'm not going with you. I am not going to travel with
you. I'm not going to give others or you the impression
that I'm with you. Oh, what a painful thought that
Almighty God would not go. We looked at that back in Exodus
33. When the Lord told Moses, he
said, go ahead, I'll send an angel to go into the promised
land. I'll send an angel. He said,
I'm not going with you. And Moses said, Lord, if you don't go,
don't send us. Can you imagine just for a second
a believer saying, Lord, depart hence. Lord, go somewhere else and magnify
yourself. Lord, go somewhere else. If the things that you're doing
are real, how revealing that is. And for him to say, go up hence. I'll not go with you. I'll not
travel with you. I'll not be with you. My time has not yet come. That
is his time to be fully set forth as far as his ministry, his crucifixion,
his substitutionary death. His time was not fully come. Their time is always ready. That's
what he said. He said that my time has not
yet come. Your time is always ready. You know what he meant? This
piece of the tabernacle, it was according to the law. And it
was demanded that they be there. It was demanded that they go
up. You go up. Don't worry. The world can't
help that. I hate you. Don't worry. Your time is all waiting. Go
on up. If you were of the world, John
15, 19, the world would love his own, but me, it hateth, because
I testify of it that the works thereof are evil. The work of God is that you believe
on him whom God has sent. I testify that the works of the
world are evil. What are the works of the world?
What is that? What do you mean? I'll tell you
what it is. It's the endless attempts by
man to justify himself by his own
supposed righteousness. I testify that the works are
evil. Go ye up unto the feast. Verse 8, I go not up yet unto
this place, for my time is not full come. In the Father's good
pleasure, in the Father's will, the Lord Jesus Christ would go
up. Lord willing, next time we'll
see where He did go up. And He will work the works of
Him that sent Him, that He would give Himself. to suffer and die
according to the scriptures, and thereby redeem the sheep.
But not yet. They would go up, they'd go to
the feast, and they would be perfectly satisfied that, A,
he didn't go with them. Now, you stop and think. According
to these scriptures, if men preach not That which the Lord Jesus
Christ sets forth right here. Paul has said in Galatians, if
any man preach any other gospel than that which I have delivered
unto you, let it be accursed. The Spirit of God will bless
the preaching of the gospel of God's sovereign grace. And to
show you the blindness of a man's heart, just like these men right
here, these brethren, they were perfectly satisfied to go up
without him. And there's no difference today. Men, because of the blindness
of their heart, are perfectly satisfied to be without Christ. Perfectly satisfied to not hear the glories of the
gospel that honors God, that honors His Son. When he had said these things,
first man, when he had said these words unto them, he abodes still
in Galilee. A believer looks at that and thinks of the horror of being without
him, the loneliness of being without
his presence. For a believer, the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ is everything. David said in Psalm 46.1, God
is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. David said in Psalm 51, remember
that we looked at this a couple of weeks ago, after the Lord
had sent Nathan the prophet. And he told David concerning
David's sin and rebellion. You're the man. And David penned
Psalm 51. After he penned Psalm 51, he
gave it to the chief musician. He said, put this to words and
sing. sing my confession before God. Let this be sung in praise and
honor to His mercy and His grace. Psalm 5111, cast me not away
from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. If He manifests His presence
to us, But if we know not where He is,
and there's times that He will, lovingly and passionately, cause
His presence to be withdrawn. And a believer knows it. Psalm
or Solomon, have you seen Him whom my soul
loves? If you've seen Him, the bride
says, tell Him, I'm sick with love. My heart aches. Lord, bless this morning with
your presence. Take not your Holy Spirit, the
knowledge of, the awareness of. He's promised he's never going
to leave us. He's never going to forsake us. But Lord, cause
me to know. Lord, bless the work of my heart. Lord, keep me from the desires
of that old nature. that would not want you to be
here.