All right, brethren, let's go
back now to John chapter 2. And let's read those last few
verses, John 2.23. And when he was in Jerusalem
at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name
when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit
himself unto them. Those two words there, they believed,
and he did not commit himself. They're the same word. In other
words, they believed in his name, but he didn't believe them. Because he knew all men. And
he needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what
was in man. Now, the Lord Jesus knows the
heart of all men. He knows the heart. Man looks
on the outward, the Lord looks on the heart. He knows the heart. He doesn't need two or three
witnesses to testify concerning a man. He knows us. He knows the heart. He knows
exactly what you're thinking right this minute. He knows what
you're thinking right this minute. He's the word who is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any
creature that's not manifest in his sight. But all are naked
and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. The
scripture tells us in the day of judgment, God shall judge
the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel. Not just
the outward, he's going to judge the secrets. He's going to judge
the hearts, that which nobody else knows but God. That's what
he's going to judge, by Jesus Christ. And so our Lord knew
that these folks here, they only believed because they saw the
miracles He did. There was something outward they
saw, and that's why they believed. He knew they were spiritually
dead. He knew their minds were enmity
against Him, just like all sinners who are unregenerate. They're
spiritually dead. carnal mind's enmity against
God. Men are easily swayed to something
they see outward. Men are naturally contentious
and so you show a man a doctrine that's opposed to something they
don't like and they'll latch on to that and take that system
of doctrine. There's just all different kinds
of things outwardly that make men believe. But the Lord knew
that and he knows that. And he knew the hearts of the
rulers. He had just said that destroy this temple in three
days, I'll raise it again. And they mocked him because they
thought he was talking about the physical temple. And he knew
their hearts. It was obvious that they didn't
believe. That was pretty obvious. But he knew their hearts too.
But these also that claimed to believe, he knew their hearts.
He knew they didn't believe. Now brethren, the fact that Christ
knows the heart of all men terrifies unbelievers. It terrifies the
hypocrite. It terrifies them. But it's a
great comfort to a believer. A great comfort. And here's why. Notice that after he spoke of
raising himself from the dead, Now these are his true disciples.
These are those he regenerated and gave life and faith who really
believed him. Now watch this, verse 22. When,
therefore, he was risen from the dead, not until then, not
until then, but then his disciples remembered that he had said this
unto them, and they believed the scripture. and the word which
Jesus had said. He knew they didn't believe.
He knew they did not believe when he spoke that word. He knew
these disciples did not believe. They didn't believe he was going
to die and they didn't believe he was going to rise again. And yet, he committed himself
to them. Do you see why a believer delights
that he knows our heart? He knows our unbelief. He knows
our sin. He knows all that about us. But here's the thing. He knows
them that are His. He knows the inward motive of
the heart He's created. He knows that. He knew they were true disciples.
He had found them dead in sin, just like the rest. And He had
given them a new heart. He'd given them life. He'd given
them faith. And He knew the heart He had
made. and he committed himself to them. That's a blessing, brethren,
to know that our Lord says, I know my sheep. I know my sheep. They were chosen of God and given
to him before the world was made. He was laying down his life for
them, shedding his blood for them. He had come to them personally
and in spirit, and he had given them life, and he knew them,
and he was committed to them. The foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. My subject is grace to unbelieving
believers. And that's a good description
of every believer. We're unbelieving believers. That's what we are. We're unbelieving
believers. The Lord Jesus gracious to those
he's given faith despite how little we know and how full of
unbelief we are. Now, first of all, as sanctified
believers who are taught of God, we know very little, very little. They were regenerated by the
Holy Spirit. They were given faith. They believed
Christ. They had an unction from the
Holy One and they believed all things. That is, they believed
Christ was all. They believed that Christ was
the salvation God had provided. They believed that He was their
only righteousness and in Himself they didn't have any. He believed
that he was their provider and their protector. They were safe
when he was around. They knew they were. And they
knew that all provision came from him. We have received of
his fullness, brethren, grace for grace. He's our full provision.
He's our protection. He's the rock. He's the refuge
of his people. We believe that. We know that. Our only holiness, our only acceptance
with God is our Lord Jesus Christ. They believed this. Peter, when
those disciples went away that time and said, this is a hard
saying, who can hear it? He said, will you go away? And
Peter spoke for all of his true disciples. And He said, Lord,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. They believed Him. You have the
words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure you are
the Christ, the Son of the living God. They believed Him. Just
like you believe in, believer. Get this, salvation's not in
what we know. Salvation is not in how much
we know. Salvation is who we know. Salvation
is Christ. God makes you know you're a sinner
with no good in you. Christ is our only salvation,
our only righteousness. and it's all of Him. Salvation
from election to redemption to regeneration to preservation
to glorification is all of the grace of God only. We don't contribute. And so he makes you know Christ
is all your salvation. Christ is. And that word commit
there is to personally commit it all to him. And that's where
he brings you. He brings you to commit it all to him. It's
not how much we know. It's not what we know. It's who
we know. But here's what's more important
than that. It's being known of him. It's having him to know
you. You may not know him one day.
I know some people right now that have believed the gospel
a long time, and they don't know themselves right now. But he knew them, and though
they knew and believed the Savior, they knew very little, and brethren,
we know very little, very little. Now we see through a glass darkly. It's a riddle. Now we know in
part. Our Savior taught them plainly.
Our Savior told them plainly. Look at Matthew 20. I mean, you
can't be more plain than this. Matthew 20. And look at verse
17. Jesus, going up to Jerusalem,
took the 12 disciples apart in the way, and he said unto them,
Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed
unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn
him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and
to scourge and to crucify him, and the third day he shall rise
again. Now he told them plainly. He taught them plainly, but they
were full of prejudice. Pre-Eudice, they had a prejudgment
based on carnal reasoning, false teaching, false assumptions.
They prejudged and their minds were set that one who could work
such powerful miracles, one who could do such mighty acts as
the Lord Jesus Christ, he's not going to die. much less rise again, they thought
right up to the end that he was going to establish an earthly
kingdom with an earthly throne in earthly Jerusalem. That's
what they believed. And because they had this notion
preset, this ideal of what it was going to be like, they couldn't
receive the Lord's word. Couldn't hear it. Pink likens
it to the the parable of the sower and how that when the seed
is sown, the devil comes real quickly and snatches away the
seed sown. And that's how this doctrine was for them. They just
couldn't understand and grasp and believe that he was gonna
die and rise again because of this preconceived idea they had. And we're just like them, brethren.
Our flesh so greatly hinders us greatly hinders us. We have our preconceived ideals
of how things will be based on false assumptions and other things
and carnal reason. And what happens? Just what happened
to them? When their ideal didn't come
to pass, when our Lord laid down His life and was crucified and
buried, their hope was devastated. They thought it was over. We're
just like them, just like them. You've heard people in the past,
people will say, well, you know, we want a church like the New
Testament church, like the early church, and they have this ideal
of how it is. But if you read the scripture,
you want a church like the church at Corinth? You want one like
the church at Galatia? There's just all kinds of problems. That's the reality. But in light
of this, think how gracious, think how long-suffering, think
how patient and forbearing Christ is with us, brethren. He knew
they did not believe this word concerning his death and resurrection,
and we see grace toward us despite our ignorance. Grace is given
to unworthiness. And we're not just unworthy,
we have totally demerited fully. We're not only undeserving, we
deserve hell. And brethren, you know, I know
we don't want to be judged according to our works, but we certainly,
we certainly, we don't want that. But think about this, you don't
want to be judged according to what you know and what you believe.
Because we're ignorant. We don't know much, not much
at all. The Father chose us by grace,
though. He chose His people by grace.
Nothing in us so that salvation will be of Him that called and
not according to our works. And so when we fell in at Him,
grace didn't change. And thankfully, brethren, when
we're full of ignorance and full of unbelief, His grace does not
change toward us. It doesn't. The Lord Jesus is
gracious to his feeble, weak saints. He said in Psalm 106.43,
many times they provoked him with their counsel. They provoked
him with their counsel. They were brought low for their
iniquity. Nevertheless, he regarded their affliction. When he heard
their cry, he remembered for them his covenant and repented
according to the multitude of his mercies. In other words,
He didn't just kill them because of their unbelief. We see His
long-suffering and His patience in this. They didn't understand,
they didn't receive His word, but He was long-suffering, He
was patient, He taught them over and over, and He does so with
us. Why do we need to hear the gospel
over and over and over? Why do we come here the same
message over and over and over? don't half believe what we've
heard. And what we do believe, we forget
it. We've got to be taught over and over and over. In John 14,
let's look at a few of these passages. In John 14 and verse
4, he said, let's read verse He
said, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also. And
whether I go, you know, and the way you know. Listen to this
answer. Thomas said to him, Lord, we
know not whether thou goest. How can we know the way? Now
you just think about this. The Lord had taught them this.
He had been so plain in teaching this. Do you know how that He's
touched with the feeling of our infirmities. You know how it
is when you've taught and taught and taught somebody something,
and they don't believe what you taught them, and manifest they
don't, they didn't get it. The Lord heard that. He knew
that. Thomas didn't understand, and he says patiently, long-sufferingly
again to him, I am the way. the truth and the life. No man
comes to the Father but by me. Don't you know he did that tenderly,
patiently, long-sufferingly, though he realized, Thomas has
not heard anything I've taught him. Look at John 16 and look
at verse 16. He said, a little while and you
shall not see me, and again a little while and you shall see me. because
I go to the Father. Then said some of his disciples
among themselves, what is this that he says to us? A little
while and yet, and you shall not see me, and again a little
while and you shall see me. And because I go to the Father,
they said, therefore, what is this that he says? A little while? We can't tell what he's saying. Look down at verse 28. He says,
I came forth from the Father, and come unto the world, and
again I leave the world and go to the Father. His disciples
said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly? Don't speak a proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest
all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee? By this
we believe that you came forth from God. They believed that
part. He said, I'm going back to God. They left that out. And the Lord
said, do you now believe? Behold, the hour cometh. It is
now come that you shall be scattered. Every man to his own and shall
leave me alone. Yet I'm not alone because the
Father is with me. These things I've spoken unto
you that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall
have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world.
All this time, brother, they didn't believe that he was gonna
die. They didn't believe he was going
back to the flock. They just couldn't grasp it.
Before our Lord, we are little children. Now you think about
how much more that you know than a little child. How do you deal with a little
child? That's how our Savior deals with
us. We see a little child is doing
something and it's incorrect. We see what he's doing is gonna
either have to be undone or redone. And sometimes you correct him
and teach him. Sometimes you just let him do
it. Teach him that way. But you know it before he does
it. You already know it. And that's our Lord dealing with
us. The other day, a couple of weeks ago, a certain little one
in this congregation was taking some books out of the back of
the pew. And I just sat there, and he was showing me he could
do this, you know. Boy, he was just, you'd have
thought he was building a tower or something, you know. I mean,
it was serious. He was doing it, and I sat there
and watched him do it, stacked them all on the pew. And I said,
now, what are we gonna do with these? I got an idea, let's put
them back in there. He went to put them all back
in there, put every one of them back in there. Now brethren,
that's me and you and all these decisions that we think are so
monumental in this life, that are monumental, that we're making
before God, before our Savior, we're just that little child. And He deals with us just that
tenderly, and that long-sufferingly, and that patiently. When He sees
that what we're doing is all we're doing, but the way we're
going is we're just taking all the hymnals out of the back of
the pew, and they're going to have to all be put right back
in there. And He lets us do it. And then He teaches you they
got to all be put back. He just deals with us that way.
He teaches us that way. And we're so little and we're
so small and we're so ignorant. It's partly what our Lord meant
when He said, except you become as little children, you can't
enter the kingdom of heaven. We have to be that way toward
Him and toward one another because that's what we are. But you know,
when our Lord was facing His greatest sorrow, the most, I
mean, He's going to the cross, when He's telling them these
things, He's on His way and knows what He's fixing to suffer and
what He's fixing to do, being forsaken of God in the place
of His people. And His heart was on His disciples.
His heart was on these little, small children that just didn't
understand and didn't believe Him. Oh brethren, He overrules our
unbelief, He's faithful to us when we're not faithful to Him,
where sin abounds, grace much more abounds. If we believe not,
yet He abideth faithful, He cannot deny Himself. When I preach to
you, and when any of these men preach to you, when any pastor
preaches, brethren, when you preach things like this, you're
saying, I failed. You're not saying, I've done
this. You're saying, I failed because I failed. But here's
the thing. He knows it. He knows it. And he's still going
to deal with his children like little children and teaches. And we see his wisdom in teaching
his children according to our need. He could have made them
believe just like that. He could have. But he didn't
because for purposes and reasons known only to him and by his
wisdom, they couldn't bear it at the time. They couldn't bear
it at the time. He had to go to that cross. They
had to be scattered. There was scripture that had
to be fulfilled which involved them not believing and being
scattered. And he was fulfilling that scripture
by not teaching them. They couldn't bear it. Look over
at John 16 and look at verse 12. He said, I have yet many things
to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when
He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he'll
show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine, and shall show it to you. All things that the
Father hath are mine, therefore said I, that he shall take of
mine, and he shall show it unto you a little while, and you shall
not see me again a little while, and you shall see me, because
I go to my Father. And they proved they couldn't
bear it. They said, what's he talking about? We see our Lord's tenderness.
He wouldn't press upon them what he had not yet prepared them
to receive. He wouldn't force it on them,
because he hadn't prepared them yet. He hadn't prepared the ground
yet for them to receive the seed. He waited till the time appointed. Isn't that a good example for
us? We need discernment and we need
wisdom, not only to know what to say, but the season to say
it. And you know what you have to
do? You have to wait on Him. You have to wait on Him. He's
got to prepare us to receive the word, and then even after
He's given us the revelation, He has to prepare us to have
the revelation. He raised the Apostle Peter to
the third heaven, and if he would have left the Apostle Peter just
to himself, I mean Paul, just to himself having this abundance
of revelations, Paul would have been puffed up in pride. So what
did he do? He prepared him to receive that
abundance of revelations and go on with it. What did he do?
He gave him a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet
him, to keep him from being lifted up in pride. Isn't he wise? We should expect that the Lord
will patiently wait. We should expect that he knows
what each of us needs to keep us at his feet. He does. And we see his faithfulness,
brethren. He went to the cross just like
he said he would. He redeemed all his elect just
like he said he would, made us righteous in him, and then just
like he said he would, he came to his disciples. And he taught
him that he indeed has risen from the dead. He taught him
that and he gave him faith to believe it. He first appeared
to Mary Magdalene. She was the first to come to
him. You know why she was the first to come looking for him
after he was crucified? Because she had been forgiven
most. cast seven devils out of her,
and she was a horrible sinner, and whoever's forgiven most gonna
love most. She came looking for him first.
And he revealed himself to her, and he sent her to these apostles. And we think of the apostles
as being so wise. And it's Mark 16, 11 says, and
they, when they heard he was alive and had been seen of her,
believe not. John, attentive John, John who's
laid on the Savior's breast and hung on every word and was so
studious to learn of him. They came to the sepulchre and
they got to the sepulchre and Peter runs in and John goes up
and looks in and it says, then went in also that other disciple
which came first to the sepulchre, that was John, and he saw and
he believed for as yet they knew not the scripture. that he must
rise again from the dead. They didn't know. It taught him
over and over and over. But it wasn't until then that
he taught them affectionately. If John remained ignorant of
this truth after he heard Christ teach him for three years, none
of us should ever be surprised if you meet with a fellow brother
who doesn't understand something. That shouldn't surprise us. It shouldn't surprise us if we
don't understand and find out we were wrong about something.
That shouldn't surprise us. Christ appeared to Cleophas,
go to Luke 24, on the road to Emmaus, and boy, they were so
cast down. Verse 20, they said, have you
not heard, and they said in verse 20, Have you not heard how the
chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned
to death and have crucified Him? He had held their sight. They
didn't know it was Christ, you know, and so they're saying,
you hadn't heard this? They delivered Him to be condemned
to death, they've crucified Him, but we trusted that it had been
He which should have redeemed Israel. Beside all this, today
is the third day since these things were done. Yea, certain
women also of our company made us astonished, which were early
at the sepulchre, and when they found not his body, they came
saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said
that he was alive. And certain of them which were
with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women
had said, but him they saw not. And he said unto them, O fools
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things that enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, he expounded unto them all the scriptures
of things concerning himself, and he opened their understanding
so they could understand and believe. And then they went and
told the others, And in Mark 16.12, after that he appeared
in another form unto two of them as they walked and went into
the country, they went and told it to the residue. Neither believed
they them. The rest of the apostles didn't
believe him. All these witnesses. Christ appeared to them and showed
them he was alive, all these infallible proofs, and Thomas
wasn't there. And Thomas said, I'm not gonna
believe it, fellas. If I can't put my hand in the
wounds, I'm not gonna believe it. Listen to this long-suffering,
patient faithfulness. Christ said, come here, Thomas. Come here, put your fingers in
the wounds. Don't be doubting, but believe.
That's, ah, man. In the family of God, there are
dispositions and temperaments, just like in an earthly family.
Christ knew the tender heart of that woman who broke open
that box of ointment. He knew how tender her heart
was. And he knew Peter's temperament. And they were totally different.
Each one were redeemed, each one justified, each one been
sanctified, washed in the blood. They lived by the Spirit and
they sought the glory of God. But they were different and they
were gifted with a different measure of grace. But Christ
knows each of his sheep He won't allow us to be tempted above
that which we're able. He knows what we need to be taught,
when it's best to teach us, and He's faithful to do it. And He
prepares our heart to receive His word, and He never fails
to teach His people, ever, ever. If we're gonna remember this,
or if we will remember this, you know what it'll help? save us much trouble, save us
much unkindness, to know Christ is wisdom, that
he knows the heart of each of his people, that he's teaching
each of his saints. And it'll help us to remember
that we ought never judge one another harshly. I failed at
that, miserably. We ought never doubt our brother's
faith simply because they don't know or see or feel or understand
something. I felt it that. But he just keeps teaching his
people. He's long-suffering, he's patient,
he's faithful. And here's another thing to remember.
Our Lord has not prepared us for things that have not yet
come to pass. He's not prepared you for things
that have not yet come to pass. Maybe something has come to pass
to you and he's prepared you for that, but somebody else,
another brother, he's just like a shipwreck over it. He doesn't
prepare you for something that he hasn't brought you to yet.
He won't bring you to it until he's prepared you for it. What I do now, thou knowest not,
he said, But thou shalt know hereafter. That's what he told
them when he washed their feet. What I'm doing now, you don't
know what I'm doing. Peter argued with him. Lord,
wash me all over. He said, you don't know what
I'm doing right now. But when you see me on that cross and
you see me shedding my blood and you see me washing you every
wick clean in my blood, then you're going to understand what
I was showing you here by washing your feet. When we don't see the Lord working,
He's working for us. When we think He's forsaken us,
He's with us. When we think He's loaded us
with trouble, He's loaded us with mercy. That's just so. When we think that a brother
or sister just don't believe and can't believe, He's preparing
their heart and He's gonna teach them. Just wait on Him. In His time, He's going to make
each of His saints know and believe on Him and rejoice that He did
it the way He did it. I'll give you the grand example.
When you get to the end of this life, you're going to say, I
wouldn't change a thing. And every trial he's ever brought
me through, if you're a true believer, every trial he's ever
brought you through, you look back on it and say, I wouldn't
change it. Every bit of it was necessary.
Every bit of it was necessary. And when he was glorified, the
Holy Spirit guided them into all truth, just like he said
they would, and then remembered they these things which were
written of him, and they believed the scripture and the word that
Jesus had said. Then they believed. It's a great
comfort to a believer that the Lord knows our heart. He knows
your true motive. He knows your motive. When others
don't believe you, when others accuse you, whatever, He knows
your motive. He knows your heart. That's a
comfort to me. The Lord knew Peter's heart of
love even when Peter's flesh made him thaw. He knew his heart. He said, I've prayed for you
that your faith fell not. That's the only reason Peter's
faith didn't fail. Looked to us like it did, didn't
it? If we'd have been there, we'd have said, Peter fell away. Because when the Lord came to
him, when he was fishing, that is not where the Lord told him
to be. The Lord told him to go to a mountain and wait on him.
And Peter wasn't even where the Lord told him to be. Peter left
and was gone. And you and I would have judged
that and said, he's gone, he's fallen away. And the Lord came
to him and the Lord said, Peter, do you love me? Why did he ask
him that? The Lord made Peter acknowledge
that the Lord knew his heart to remind Peter that the Lord
knew his heart and to remind me and you that the Lord knows
our heart. He said, Peter, do you love me?
And here was Peter's comfort. Yes, Lord. You know I love you. When you've denied the Lord three
times, here's your comfort. You know, Lord, that I do love
you. And he made him say it three
times. And at the end, Peter said, Lord, here's where he brought,
Lord, you know all things. You know I love you. Now, Peter,
Go feed my lambs. Go feed my sheep. Go feed my
sheep. Lord, we thank you. We thank you, Lord, that you
know You know. You know the best season. You
know the best way. You know the hearts in all of
your people. You know how to teach us. You know, Lord, when we don't
appear like we love you, You know the heart you've given. Lord, help us to trust in your knowledge rather
than our knowledge. Help us to trust in your ability
rather than our ability. And Lord, we have failed this,
but help us to remember that we're children and help us to treat each other with grace and patience and long-suffering
and faithfulness like you treat us. Lord, we ask you to work a miracle. You can. And Lord, we ask you, work those
miracles that only you can work. Bring glory to your name. Bring glory to your name. And Lord, whatever you're willing
to do, help us to know it's best, help us to know it's right, because
you did it, and give us grace to trust you. We thank you, Lord,
for our Redeemer. Thank you that you've given him
to be the head over the church, Teach us, and lead us, and guide
us, and oh Lord, you put us in faithful, good hands, and we're
so thankful. Help us now, Lord, to remember
these things. We thank you for the day. Thank
you for our brethren. Thank you for every trial, and
every good time, and everything that you do, we thank you. Forgive
us, Lord, our sins. Forgive us for not knowing and
believing and just being ignorant. Teach us, Lord, we ask you. In Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, Brother Greg.