Good morning. Take your Bibles and turn to John chapter 10. In John 10, our text begins in
verse 19, where we read that there was a division, therefore
again, among the Jews for these sayings. The people were divided
over Christ, what they thought of Christ, who they thought this
Jesus of Nazareth is. And this is a theme which is
come up multiple times in the Book of John, in the Gospel of
John. In chapter 7, we read that there
was a division among the people, there in verse 43, and then in
chapter 9, in verse 16, at the end, it says there was a division
among the people. And here in 19, it says again
in John 10, there was a division therefore again among the Jews
for these sayings. And the saying is what our Lord
said at the end of verse 18, where he said, this commandment
have I received of my father. And so the Jews were divided
once again over what our Lord said. And what that tells us
is that they were hearing, they were listening to what he was
saying and they had a certain understanding. They had no spiritual
understanding, They didn't believe what he was saying, but they
understood him to be making himself to be one with the Father, and
to declare that he is the Christ sent of God to save his people. And if you look down at verse
30, in John 10 verse 30, he said, I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones
again to stone him. So they heard what he was saying,
they were listening, but they didn't believe him. They didn't
believe that he is the Christ sent of God. In fact, we read
in verses 20 and 21 that what they were saying in the group
of themselves, some said he hath a devil and is mad. Why hear
ye him? Others said these are not the
words of him that hath a devil. and the devil opened the eyes
of the blind. They had seen demoniacs, those possessed with devils and
those that were lunatic. And they heard what they said.
And they said, this man's not only coherent, but he's doing
miracles and giving God the glory for the things which he's doing.
And so they heard him and say, well, never any man spoke like
this man. You've never heard anyone speak
like this before or do the things that he's doing. And what we
see here is that the coming of our Lord reveals the heart of
man. It reveals what's in our natural
hearts, the enmity that's in our hearts and our minds against
the true and living God. It shows that we don't hear God,
that we're not believing what our God has said to us in his
word concerning his Christ. And so the coming of our Lord
reveals that the carnal mind is enmity against God. Paul said it to the Corinthians
in 1 Corinthians 11, verses 18 and 19. He said, First of all,
when ye come together in the church, I hear that there are
divisions among you, and I partly believe it. For there must also
be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made
manifest among you. And so it is that the preaching
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the preaching of our
Savior reveals a savor in them that hear the Word of God. To
some it's a savor of life unto life, to others it's a savor
of death unto death. And it's the Spirit of God that
reveals who they are that believe Him who they are that will not
hear him that will not believe the true and living God. Now
we're told in verse 22 that it was at Jerusalem the feast of
the dedication and it was winter and that tells us that this feast
that they were there celebrating is likely what we call Hanukkah
the festival of lights which came about during the time of
the Maccabees about 200 years before this time here where Christ
is in the temple. And verse 23 says that Jesus
walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. He was there likely because
it had an enclosure that would have protected them from the
elements and the cold and so he likely was there in that place
to get out of the cold and out of the harsh weather that would
have been at that time, it being winter. And we read then in verse
24, it was in this place, then came the Jews round about him
and said unto him, how long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou
be the Christ, tell us plainly. Now, everything Christ said up
to this point, and everything Christ did, their saying was
not enough. to convince them of who he is.
They're saying, you're not speaking plainly to us. And some say that
the reason they were trying to provoke Christ to tell them plainly
was so that they could go to the Roman government and have
him persecuted, have him arrested for being against Caesar. And I don't know, it doesn't
say that that's the reason necessarily, but what stands out to me is
they did hear. Christ did speak plainly to the
people, and they did see, they saw the works, and yet they didn't
believe. They wouldn't hear him, and they
didn't believe what they saw, which was given to them as a
testimony from God the Father, that this indeed is the Christ,
the Savior of my people scattered throughout the world. Now in
verse 25, our Lord answered them saying, And ye believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. And so our Lord always spoke
the truth. He always declared the truth. And some would hear him, and
some would not hear him. And I want to look with you today
with what the Lord told the Jews to this point, and what he showed
them, largely from the book of John. And the question is put
to us this day. Oftentimes, you know, we read
the scriptures and we look at the people who are hearing Christ
and seeing these miracles and we judge them. We look at them
and say, how is it that they couldn't hear that this is Christ? How is it that they could see
these miracles and not believe that this is Christ. And so we
make a judgment about the Jews as though that's what the Lord
is giving us this word for. As though we're to make some
judgment on this story of these Jews in Christ's day. But the
word comes to us. It's a judgment about us. Do
we believe that there is Jesus Christ? Do we believe that he
is the Christ, Son of God? Do we believe that he is the
one He takes away the sin of His people. He was sent of God
here to this earth to put away our sins. And that He accomplished
that. Do we believe it? Do we believe that this is the
Christ of God? That He is the Lamb of God sent
to take away the sin of the world? The sin of His people scattered
throughout the world. And He said there in verse 26,
But ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep, as I said
unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me. And so we see here plainly that
God's sheep, and those are the people of God, the people of
God are the sheep of God, and His sheep hear the voice of God's
Christ, of His Savior, of His salvation, they hear Christ and
they believe Him and they follow Him and are led of the Lord. So do you believe Christ? Is
this Jesus of Nazareth the Son of God, the Christ sent to take
away sin? Are you a sinner? Do you need
salvation? Or is it that you can save yourselves
and you can come to God some other way? You either believe
Christ just as His disciples believed Christ or Just like
these Jews you don't believe them and as our Lord said you
will die in your sins because there is no salvation apart from
the Lord Jesus Christ. So how is it with you? Do you
hear his voice? And that's the title of our message.
Do you hear his voice? Because Christ said my sheep
hear my voice. So let's look now at verses 24
and 25. Then came the Jews round about
him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If
thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and he believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. And so either the works, the
words that he said, or the works were sufficient for them. They
didn't believe what the book Christ is and what he was saying
to them concerning himself. Now Peter, this is important
because Peter spoke of the word and spoke of the works and declared
we're witnesses of these things. When he went to preach Christ
crucified to Cornelius the Gentile, he said in Acts 10 verse 36 through
38, He said, The Word which God sent unto the children of Israel,
preaching peace by Jesus Christ, He is Lord of all. He is declaring
there that Christ is the Word come in the flesh. He is the
Word of God, declaring to us that Christ is the Lord. He is
sent of God. That Word, Isaiah, ye know, which
was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee
after the baptism which John preached. How God anointed Jesus
of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about
doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil,
for God was with him. And so our God has given testimony,
he's given us the testimony that this is the Christ by His Word
and by the works which are declared here in His Word to be a witness
unto us. That this is the Christ. Do you
hear it? Or do you believe? Or do you
not hear it? Do you not believe? So first,
what did Christ say to the people? Did He reveal that He is the
Christ? And the answer is yes, He did.
In fact, there's a a couple times recorded in the scriptures where
he says plainly that he is the Christ. When he was speaking
to the woman at the well, he said to her in John 4.26, he
said, I that speak unto thee am he. I am the Messiah whom
you say shall come, I am he, that one that you're expecting.
I who speak to you am the Messiah. And then in John 9.37, after
it healed the blind man. And the blind man asked him,
do you believe I'm the son of man, I'm the son of God? And
he said, well, who is he, Lord, that I may believe? And then
he said to him, thou hast both seen him and it is he that talketh
with thee. So he revealed that he is the
son of God and that he is the Christ sent of God to the people. Now turn over to John chapter
five. Most of the scriptures here will
just look at John, the Gospel of John. So John chapter 5 verse
27, here he declares, he's speaking
to the Jews, he's speaking publicly, out in the open to them, and
he's declaring that he who is the Son of God is the Son of
Man, meaning he is the mediator, the one whom God sent. to mediate
between God and men, between God and His people, to establish,
to reconcile us unto God. So verse 27, and the Father hath
given Christ authority to execute judgment also, because He is
the Son of Man. And so He's declaring that the
Christ who should come has the authority, has the power to give
life to whomsoever he will. And when he speaks, those whom
he will save, they hear his voice, and they believe. They believe
him. Faith is born in them by the
work of God, so that they hear the word, and they believe. It
says in John 5, 24, look at verse 24. Verily, verily, I say unto
you, He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall
not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. So when Christ speaks, his people
hear him just as he said. And he's declared this to the
Jews back there in John 5. And they were struggling. The
people who heard him were struggling with what he spoke, what he said,
and so he tells them and assures them that he is the one whom
Moses wrote of. He is the one whom Moses spoke
of and wrote of in the word that the children of Israel were to
hear him. He says in John 5, verse 46, he said, For had ye believed
Moses, ye would have believed for he wrote of me." And so here
these Jews are who claim to be staunch believers of what Moses
wrote, of what Moses taught, that they followed him and believed
him. He's showing there that if you
did believe Moses, if you did follow Moses, you would hear
me. And you would believe me. You
would believe that I am the Christ, that I am the one sent of God. because Moses wrote of me, he
spoke of me. In other words, you that look
to the law, if you look to the law, if you hear what the law
says, you know I'm the sinner, I'm the lawbreaker, I need salvation
because I cannot save myself, but God has provided his land
to bear the sins away of his people, to put away our debt,
to make us righteous and accepted with the Father. I need him. Those who hear what the law says
know that by the law, we're condemned. Because even if I do my best
to keep the law as best as I can, yet failing in one part, I now
am subject to the curses of the law. And because we're a lawbreaker,
even if we only break into one spot, we've broken the whole
thing and become subject to the curses of the law. We need salvation. We're sinners. We're sinners
condemned by our own works and our own unbelief and our own
rebellion against God. Now in John 5, 47, John 5, verse
47, he said, if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe
my words? And so apart from the Lord Jesus
Christ, we cannot be saved. And by His Spirit, He makes us
to hear His Word. He makes us to see our need of
Him, and that in Him, in Him alone, is all the sufficiency
that the sinner needs to stand before God, accepted of Him. Accepted of Him. Then our Lord,
over in John chapter 6, John 6, 51, He declares plainly
to the Jews, to the people, that he is the bread of life. He is
our very sustenance. He is that bread from heaven
whereby the new man feeds upon him and lives by his grace and
power. John 6.51 I am the living bread
which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever, and the bread that I will give is my
flesh. which I will give for the life of the world." That
is, for Jew and Gentile, who are the chosen people of God,
He gives His life for them. He gives His life for them. And
so, what we understand, and what our Lord is saying here, is that
He is the strength, He is the nourishment, He is the comforting
food that is given of God to the people, His people, whereby
we know Him. And we know Him because the Spirit
is given. The very down payment, the earnest
of our inheritance, that we are the Lord's people who are trusting
Him and looking to Him. The Spirit is given whereby we
are born of the seed of Christ. We are born again, regenerated,
born anew. And the food that we hunger for,
the drink that we thirst for, is the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
born of His seed. We've all been born of Adam's
corrupted seed, which has no spiritual life, and has no strength
to work righteousness for ourselves. But we're dead to the things
of God, but being born of the Spirit of God by the seed of
Christ, that's how we hear Him, and know Him, and believe on
Him. And so our Lord is the living
bread. Then also he says over in John
chapter eight, look at John eight and we'll see in verse 12, he
declares that he's the one by whom we have knowledge of God. He's the reason we have any understanding
and knowledge of him because he came in the flesh and declared
the father, declared the truth of God, declared the truth of
who we are and who he is and declared that he is all sufficiency
for the people. He said in verse 12, Then spake
Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. So that those
who are born of the Spirit, they will hear Christ and they follow
him. and following him we won't be
left in darkness and ignorant of the things of God we'll know
the true and living God and we'll know and believe that yes I am
the sinner who needs his salvation I need what I need the blood
of Christ to wash me of my sins and apart from him we'll die
in our sins look at verse 24 John 8 24 I said therefore unto you that
ye shall die in your sins, for if ye believe not that I am he,
ye shall die in your sins. And so this is not an indifferent
kind of thing. Christ is either all or he's
nothing. He's not just a component, just
a part of our salvation, just a tool that we use to help ourselves
improve a little bit before before our God. He is all of salvation. He is everything that the sinner
needs to stand before God righteous and accepted of Him. And apart
from Him we will die in our sins. So these words which Christ spoke
were hard for the flesh. They were impossible to the flesh.
They offend the flesh. They offend the pride and the
arrogance and the confidence of man. He thinks He knows something. We think that we're something,
that we've acquired some knowledge, acquired some righteousness,
acquired some standing with God. But what Christ says is, we're
nothing, and He's everything. And without Him, we have no life,
no salvation, no standing with our God. And so hearing him and
being offended, they continued in their unbelief, thinking that
they could come unto the Father through some other way, either
by their works, by the law, by their studying of the scriptures,
by their tradition which they received from their fathers.
But he declares to them that he is the sum and substance of
all that the Father declares in his word, that these things
spoke of Look at John chapter 5, verse 39. John 5, verse 39, Our Lord said,
Search the Scriptures, those which you trust in, and search
the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and
they are they which testify of me. That which man trusts in
to come to God by his studying and understanding of the Word,
it's speaking of Christ. It's pointing us to Christ. If
you're understanding it rightly, you understand that nothing you
do is righteous. Whatsoever is not done in faith
is sin. Even if it has the appearance
of good works, if it's not done in the faith of the Lord Jesus
Christ, it's sin and offensive to God. Instead we read of Christ
in Romans 3, 24 and 25 that we're justified freely by the grace
of our God through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Through
the purchase of his people by his own precious blood. That's how we're justified. That's
how we're washed free and clean of our sins. whom God hath set
forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare
his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through
the forbearance of God. So that all the sin of the people
which was put away, it's all been put away by the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And apart from him, no sin is
put away. So having heard these things,
some believe and some did not believe. Now then, what are the
works? We won't spend as much time because
there's actually a nice summary of the works of what Christ accomplished. Peter spoke of these when he
was talking to Cornelius saying, we're witnesses of all things,
all the works which he did both in the land of the Jews and in
Jerusalem whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Now the summary
I want to show you is in Luke chapter 7. Go to Luke chapter
7 and in verse 19 it's speaking of
John the Baptist who's in prison, who's soon to lose his head. He's going to be beheaded, he's
going to die soon. And John calls unto him two of
his disciples and sent them to Jesus saying, Art thou he that
should come or look we for another? Now John knew that this Jesus
of Nazareth is the Christ. He declared him, he pointed him
out, the one among the crowd of many, he pointed him out saying
this is the behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of
the world. He knew that this is very Christ. This is the Savior. He knew it
and he's going to die soon. But he has disciples whom God
gave to him to minister to him and they followed and helped
and supported John. And because he's about to die,
he wants to make sure that his disciples know who the Savior
is. Who the Savior is. So he sends
them to ask, Are you the one? Are you the Christ that should
come? Or do we look for another? Verse 20, When the men were come
unto Jesus, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying,
Art thou he that should come, or look we for another? And in
that same hour Christ cured many of their infirmities and plagues,
and of evil spirits. And unto many that were blind
he gave sight. Then Jesus answering said unto
them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and
heard. How let the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to the poor.
the gospel is preached, and blessed is he whosoever shall not be
offended in me." And so they saw the works of Christ. These
works were done throughout the land of Judea, and in the land
of Samaria, and up around Galilee. These works were performed, testifying
that this is the Christ. You know, even early in the ministry,
Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee came to Christ in John 3 verse
2 saying, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from
God, for no man can do these miracles except God hath sent
him. So they heard what Christ said,
they saw the works of Christ and knew this is the Christ sent
of God. And again, we're not judging
the Jews and whether they believed or not. The question is, do I
believe? Do I believe? Is He the Christ?
Do I need the salvation that God has provided in His Christ
for His people? Or am I somehow different and
better than all the other people? Am I the sinner? Do I need Him? And that's really what we're
looking at here. Christ said to the Jews back
in John 10, verse 25-27, He answered them and said, I told you, and
ye believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye
are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me. So who is it that hears Christ? Who is that one that hears the
voice of Christ? The one that hears Christ is
a sinner. They are the sinners. They're
the ones who are guilty of breaking God's law. They're guilty and
condemned because they don't work righteousness. We've rebelled
against God. And that sinner knows that they're
a sinner. And they know that in Christ
alone is the salvation whom God has provided. So that one who
hears is a sinner, is in need of His grace. Do you need the
grace of God? provided freely in His Son. Warning,
are you righteous? And have some other way that
you're going to try and come to God, like these Jews who died
in their sins because they thought themselves to be something when
they were nothing. Our Lord tells us in His Word
that those who believe Him, those who trust Him, those who commit
everything to Him, knowing that He is all their righteousness
and acceptance with God, He declares to us that we shall never be
ashamed, meaning we're not going to get up there, standing before
the throne of God on that Judgment Day, only to find ourselves standing
there naked and without a righteousness, because we trusted Christ. Oh
no, you that trust Him will find yourselves completely robed in
the beautiful wedding garment of the Bride of Christ, in that
white, righteous, pure, spotless garment pained for us and put
upon us by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ for those whom He
loves. And so He does that. You that
hear Him know yourselves to be the sinner. And you believe Him. You trust Him. And you look to
Him. That's how you know that you're
hearing Christ. Because you're the sinner. And
He's all sufficiency. But you who indifferent to it
or think you have some other way of righteousness you don't
hear and you don't believe and it's really that simple and so
I'll leave you with this this is the confidence of the believer
it's what Peter said to Cornelius in Acts 10 43 when he said to
him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever
believeth on him shall shall receive remission or forgiveness
of sins. So I pray the Lord bless that
word to your hearing and that you trust the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen. Let's close in prayer. Our gracious
Lord we thank you Father for your grace and mercy. We thank
you Lord for your kindness and your provision of abundant provision
of grace in your Son Jesus Christ. Lord, help us to hear the voice
of Christ and give us faith to believe on Him. Lord, we have
nothing. We see how so many did hear and
saw the works and yet didn't believe. Lord, it's you and you
only that makes the difference in them that hear and them that
believe. Lord, be merciful to us. Don't pass us by. revealed
in us the grace and faith of our Lord and Savior. It's in
his name we pray and give thanks. Amen. I didn't even record that. It's probably on. All right, so we'll take a 15-minute
break and then we'll come back in and start at just two minutes
after 11. Have you heard anything from Scott?
Um, yeah, we saw Johnny. I know Scott was not feeling
well earlier, but I was expecting him today. But maybe, maybe not. How about her? I mean, if I was
going to have a surprise or something. Yeah. Well, because I know she
said something about Christmas. It was for you guys. It was for
Christmas. To do. I know she said to do. And I've had it in the envelope
for two weeks, since we did make it last week. Hello, Hunter.
Do you need to do something? I heard you do that. Thank you.
I usually do, but I'm not sure. Hi. Are you going to do that? I have to work on Tuesday and
on and on. I'll let you know though. I'll
text her. She doesn't show up for second
service. Yeah, they're going to head out. Hopefully her husband is feeling
better. He's taking his shoes and things.
And we have to drive tomorrow, so I hope he's feeling better.
He's hypnotic. What are you reading? I don't know. I'm not doing that!