John chapter 16. Our text will be found in verse
1. The scripture says, the Lord
Jesus Christ said, these things have I spoken unto you that ye
should not be offended. offended. The title of the message
this morning is the offense of Christ. The offense that you
should not be offended. I know in this wicked and perverse
generation this might come as a shock to them who have never
heard the gospel. The gospel of Christ is an offense
to the natural man. The gospel of Jesus Christ is
very offensive to the natural man. And we're going to see this
as we go along. But you remember the Lord Jesus
Christ speaking to those Pharisees about the washing of hands. He
said, that's not that which goes into a man that defiles a man,
but that which comes out. He's telling them that the heart
is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. Who
could know it? He's telling man the gospel, the depravity of
his nature. And you know what the apostles
said? Lord, don't you know you offended them? The gospel is an offense to the
natural man. Don't you know you offended them?
Paul said this. He said, if I preach the gospel,
If I preach circumcision, why then am I persecuted? I'll tell you why. Because the
cross of Christ is an offense. And if I should preach circumcision,
then should the offense of the cross cease. If a man preaches
works religion, then the offense of the cross will cease. But
as long as a man preaches Jesus Christ and Him crucified, there
will be an offense. It will be offensive. Matter of fact, the Lord Jesus
Christ being the rock, you know what Peter said, he quoted that
passage, I believe in Isaiah, he said that he would be a rock
of what? Offense. Offense. "...have spoken these things
unto you, that you should not be offended." Now, In these chapters,
and this is how I want to break it down, first of all I want
to show you the heart of Christ for His people, for His apostles,
for His disciples. The heart and love of Christ
for His disciples. These things have I spoken unto
you. What is He speaking to them of?
Of His love, of His grace, the gospel. These things have I spoken
unto you that you should not be offended. And I'll tell you
this, nobody that is a believer in Christ is offended by the
gospel. We're not offended. These things I've spoken of you
that you should not be offended. There are many who are going
to be offended at this. but not the people of God. So the first
thing we want to see is the love of Christ for His disciples,
the care that He takes in these three chapters to show forth
His love and His desire for them. Then I'm going to preach to you
the gospel, these things that He spoke, the gospel of Christ. And then for a very practical
reason, I want us to see that you who are believers in Christ,
what we need to know so that we should not stumble that we
should not stumble at the gospel. So first, the love of Christ.
Here it is. In these previous chapters, chapter
13 all the way through chapter 16, the Lord Jesus Christ was
preparing his disciples for his departure. It was time was coming. His death was drawing near. It
was imminent that he should depart from them, and he knew this.
They should not fully understand what was going on. They should
be very fearful. And the Lord desired that they
should not fear. So He's telling them of His departure
before it happens. He told Peter that He would deny
Him and all the apostles would forsake Him. And look back at
chapter 14. Even though this is coming, He
says this to them, Let not your heart be troubled. Even though you forsake Me, even
though you don't understand, Don't let your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And when 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." Where was he going?
He said, you know I'm going to the Father. And the way you know. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man comes to God but by me. He tells them he was going away,
but he promises them something. He promises them that when I
go away, it was expedient for me to go. I must have died for
your sins. I must be raised again for your
justification. I must ascend to the Father to
intercede for you. But when I go, I am going to
give you something so that you should not be afraid, that you
should not fear, that you should not be offended. And what is
this that He gives? Go to chapter 14 and look at
verse 16. See what He promises them. He
says in verse 16, And I will pray the Father. When I go, I'll
pray the Father. And He will give you another
Comforter that He may abide with you forever. Who is this Comforter?
Verse 17, Even the Spirit of Truth. Whom the world cannot
receive. Because it seeth him not, neither
knoweth him, but you know him. For he dwelleth in you, and shall
be in you. Look at verse 26 about this comforter
again. He says, But the comforter, which
is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will
teach you. Now this is what he's going to
do when he comes. He's going to teach you. Isn't that great? The Spirit of God whom you know,
whom you have experienced by the grace of God in the new birth,
He is going to teach you. He's going to teach you what? All things. And that's something.
I'm going to teach you all things. And bring all things to your
remembrance whatsoever I said unto you. And this is what He
said, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you, not
as the world give, give I unto you. Listen to this again. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. Can you see the heart of Christ
in this? You see what He wants for His people? He wants His
people to not be afraid. And He's going to send the Comforter
so that they may not be afraid. So they might be taught. You have heard now, I said unto
you, I go away and come again unto you. If you love me, you
will rejoice, because I said, I go unto my father, for my father
is greater than I. And now I have told you, before
it come to pass, that when it come to pass, you might believe.
I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. See then the heart of the Lord
Jesus Christ, how He tells us these things before they come
to pass, so that when they do, we should be strengthened. He did this to cause our fears
to subside. Therefore, He says in chapter
15, He says this, Abide in Me. Abide in Me. And I in you. union. He is the vine and we are the
branches. Without Him, we can do nothing. You see, you who are in Christ
should not fear because you are in union with Him. He's telling
His disciples, I'm going away. You're going to be troubled.
You're going to sin against Me. Don't be afraid. Don't be troubled
by this. The Holy Spirit is going to come
and I'm going to give Him to you so that you should not fear.
And He's going to teach you. And this is what He's going to
teach you. He's going to teach you union. He's going to show you
the union between you and Christ, that strong bond of union that
God has set between you and the Son. And you who are in the Son,
abide in the Son. How? By faith we continually
abide in the Son. And what does this union by faith
produce? It produces fruit, as in the
branches produce fruit from the vine. And this fruit of this union
is this, righteousness. You who are in Christ, you are
righteous. You who are in Christ are redeemed.
You who are in Christ are sanctified. You who are in Christ have all
wisdom and understanding. How? By your union with Christ.
Your union with Christ. But not only the fruit that is
inside, but also there will be fruit that is poured out, which
is the fruit of the Spirit. He said, when you're in union
with Me, you're going to yield fruit. The fruit of the Spirit,
love, joy, peace, meekness, temperance, faith, all the fruits of the
Spirit, you will produce them. Oh, we don't produce as much
as we desire. But I know this, everyone who
believes in Christ yields these fruits of the Spirit. You believe
in Christ? Is that not a fruit of the Spirit?
Yes, it is. You love Christ? Is that a fruit
of the Spirit? Yes, it is. Do you love the brethren? That's a fruit of the Spirit.
Do you have joy in the Gospel of Christ? That's a fruit of
the Spirit. And this is by the vital union
of Christ. It's not natural. No man can
produce his fruit outside of the vine. And so you that have
this fruit, rejoice, because your union is with Christ. That's
what He's teaching His disciples. So that they might be comforted
when they don't understand things, when circumstances are going
to surround them that they're not going to understand, that
they might be comforted. He tells them, you are in Me,
and I am in you, and we are going to produce fruit. And the chief fruit of that is
what? Love. If you love me, keep my commandments. This is his
commandment, that you should love one another. Verse 12 of
chapter 15, this is my commandment, that you love one another as
I have loved you. See then the love of Christ.
You see the love of Christ, you see His desire, you see His heart? There's nothing that would break
our hearts, our cold hearts, more. than to see the love of
Christ for us, the care, the concern, the desire of Christ
for you, as a believer in Christ, is that you should yield the
fruit, that you should abide in Him, that you should continue
in the faith, He is going to send the Comforter unto you.
He went away for you. And He's going to send the Comforter
to you, so that you should not be fearful, so that you should
not fret when you are compassed about with trials and difficulties.
He encourages you. Abide in Me. How by faith we
abide in Him. By faith we are in union with
Him. By faith we receive all of the blessings of the Spirit.
And what is this Spirit of God going to teach? Well, these things
have I spoken unto you. The Spirit of God is going to
teach you only what Christ has spoken. The Spirit of God is going to
preach to you the Gospel. The Gospel. And our Lord Jesus
Christ, in these many verses, in these three chapters, He is,
all the way through this, threading the Gospel throughout this whole
message. The Gospel. First of all, the
Gospel is this. The Gospel is, I have chosen
you. This is the gospel that the Spirit
teaches. This is the gospel that gives
comfort to His saints. Election. The gospel concerning
the election of God is for the comfort of the saints. He has
chosen us. He has ordained us that we should
bring forth fruit acceptable to God, which comes only by Jesus
Christ. Let me ask you this. Are you
in union with Christ? Are you in union with Christ?
Well, the only way to know that is, have you been born again
of the Spirit of God? Has the Comforter come and have
you received Him and believed His message? Have you? If you
have, that is evidence of your union. Now, that faith did not
put you in union. That faith is an evidence of
your union with Christ. And the message of the Holy Ghost
is Christ Jesus and Him crucified. The message is Christ and Him
risen from the dead. The message is He is the way.
The only way to God. The only way to God. And except
you believe on Him as all your salvation, you shall never be
accepted of God. Now you mark this down. That
is offensive to the natural man. The natural man says, there must
be other ways. There must be other means. No,
the Scriptures are clear. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. Listen, no man comes to the Father
but by me. The only way to God is through
Christ. The only way to God is faith
in Him alone, apart from works or your obedience. Now just as the union of the
vine and the branches, he uses that illustration, if the branch
abide in the vine, it will produce fruit. Isn't that right? Now
if the vine, you have a good vine, you have a good vine, if
the branches are in a good vine, they're going to put out fruit.
Now you pluck the branch from the vine, you set it aside, and
how much fruit will you get? None. The branch will wither
and die if it is outside the vine. And so it is with man by
nature. He is outside of Christ. And if he abides alone, if he
tried to please God by his own works, he will wither and die. And what is a withered branch
good for? Our Lord said nothing but to
be gathered and burned. That's all a man is good for
outside of Christ, is to be burned. Would to God that men would hear
this. I would that God would give the Holy Spirit to men so
they may hear it and believe on Christ. There's only salvation
in Christ. There's only righteousness in
Christ. There's only redemption and forgiveness
of sins in Christ. Only His offering to God for
sins was accepted. And by that, you listen, the
Lord Jesus Christ obtained eternal redemption. He obtained it. He
didn't make redemption possible. He obtained redemption. He got
it. He bought it. It's His. The Apostle says that in Hebrews
9 and verse 12, "...neither by the blood of bulls and goats
or calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption." And this is the message that
is taught of the Holy Spirit. Salvations of the Lord. Salvations
of the Lord. These words have I spoken unto
you. What words? I am Salvation. That's the Word. This is the
Word the Holy Spirit preaches. He preaches Christ. He testifies
of Christ and not of Himself. But yet, men will not receive
this message. Isn't that what He said back
in John 14? Look at verse 17 again. When He said, I'll send
you the Spirit of truth. You listen. Whom the world cannot
Receive. Do you get that? Cannot receive. Because it seeth
him not, neither knoweth him. Isn't that exactly what our Lord
Jesus Christ spoke in John 6, 44? No man can come unto me,
except the Father which hath sent me draw him. Isn't that
what exactly the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2 and verse
14? He's talking about in that chapter,
actually, the Spirit of God. He said, we receive the things
of the Spirit of God. But he said, the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they're foolishness
to him. Neither can he know them. because
he is spiritually judged, spiritually condemned, spiritually dead. This is the message of the Spirit,
that man by nature cannot receive the things of God. He is incapable and unwilling
to receive the things of God. Behold, the depravity of man
is so great that he will not receive the only Christ, the
only Savior, and the only way to God. I've told you there's
only one way. Why will you not receive Him?
You listen. Why? Because you're dead. If
you can't receive Him, it's because you're dead. And except the Father
give you life, you will never receive Him. You will never come to Christ
except the Father draw you. The gospel, it shines like a
light on a hill. The gospel shines as bright as
the noonday sun and as clear as crystal. To those who see
it, to those who know it, to those who believe it, Christ
is all. Christ is all. And it's clear to us, He is all.
He is the way. We know where He went and we
know the way He went. And we know the way to go. And
you know what we're doing? We're following the way. We are
going the way. Faith in Christ. The just shall
live by faith. That is the way we go. That's
the way the Spirit taught us to go. That's the way we go.
It's not confusing to us, is it? The Gospel's not confusing.
The Gospel's singular. There's only one thing in the
Gospel. It's Christ. Christ is all. But yet, no man can see it. No
man will receive it because by nature He is dead. But you know
what gives me hope? These disciples, they saw it. They saw it. They knew it. In that same verse He says, but
you know Him. Isn't that comforting that somebody
did? Though the world cannot receive Him, yet they did. They
were able to. You know Him. You know the Spirit
of truth and He dwelleth in you. How do these believe and know
the truth? Now, if a man's ever confronted with his depravity
and his inability, this should be the question. How may I know
the truth? How may I receive sight? How may I, who am dead, receive
life? Isn't that a good question? I
know that's the question I ask when God opened my eyes to my
sin. How can I be received? How can I come? How did these come? Let me tell you the reason why
they come. Look at chapter 15, verse 16. Here's why they came. Jesus said, you have not chosen
me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you. that you should
go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain,
that whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, He may
give it you. You have not chosen Me. Behold,
the salvation of God is by sovereign grace. It is given to all that the Father
had chosen. It is given to all that the Father
gave to Christ. This is to whom it's given. Man
by nature cannot and will not receive it, but some do. And
how is it that they receive it? This is how they were chosen.
They were ordained of God to receive it. This is clearly stated in our
Lord's Prayer. Flip over just a couple of pages there to John
17 and see his prayer. Listen to his words. He said,
"...Jesus, as He lifted up His eyes to heaven, said, Father,
the hour has come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify
Thee, as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He
should give eternal life." To who? to as many as thou hast
given him. Can you get any clearer than
that language? Is there any language that's
clearer than that? Can you? I believe I would just
mess it up to try to delve in too much to that. As many as
the Father gave Him, He is going to give them eternal life. And
listen, this eternal life, this is eternal life. That they might
know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast
sent. You see, the glory, the honor, the power of salvation
belongs to God alone. This is the gospel of the Holy
Spirit that if any of Adam's race are to be saved, seeing
we are born dead and we could not receive the things of the
Spirit of God, then God must have first chosen us to receive
it. He must have ordained that we
receive it. He must have first loved me because
I would have never loved Him. He must have purposed, ordained,
and decreed our salvation before the world began, otherwise we
never would have known Him or the way. We never would have
believed on Christ. Which the Scriptures are very
clear, this is what happened. Ephesians 1, Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, according as He has chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. For what purpose? That we should be holy and without
blame before Him. In love, this is how He would
do it. In love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ, unto Himself, according to the praise of the
glory of His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. That's clear, isn't it? Salvation
is by the election of God, that God has ordained some to salvation. And these elect were given to
Christ, and He should come and be their representative man. Well, the Scriptures are very
clear concerning the work and purpose of Christ. Sacrifice
and offering thou desirest not, a body hast thou prepared me. Lo, I come, in the volume of
the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. What was
His purpose? To do the will of God, which
was to save His people from their sins. That's what He came to
do. Wasn't that the pronouncement
when He came into the world? The angel said in Matthew 1.21,
he says, "...and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call
his name Jehovah Saves." Jesus. Why are you going to call Him
that? For He shall save His people from their sins. His people. I like this verse in Psalm 130,
it says, "...let Israel hope in the Lord." For in the Lord
there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. And
He shall redeem Israel from all her iniquities. Now when Jesus, the Jews, you
remember the Jews, they heard those scriptures that God would
redeem Israel. What did they think though? They
were thinking national. They were thinking the seed of
Abraham, that Jesus would come, that Christ would come and redeem
national Israel. This is what stumbled poor old
Nicodemus, wasn't it? When Jesus came and he said,
for God so loved the world. that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life." You see, they only thought the Jews were
to be saved, not the Gentiles. So when Christ said the world,
what He meant was men without distinction, the world without
distinction, not everyone without exception. For God so loved the world, Jew
and Gentile. that He gave His only begotten
Son. The Apostle makes this very clear
that it's not just national Israel, for he said, not all they that
are of Israel are of Israel. He was talking about spiritual
Israel, the elect. So when Israel in the Old Testament,
he says he shall save Israel from all his iniquities, what
he means is all his elect. When He came to save His people,
that is exactly what He came to do, to save His people from
their sins. And you mark it down, that's
exactly what He did. And all of His elect are out
of every kindred, nation, tongue, and people. Therefore, Jesus,
in that high priestly prayer, that same passage you're there
in John 17 still, you can see this in verse 6, He said, I manifest
Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world. Thine they were, and Thou gavest
them Me. They have kept Thy word. Now
they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given are
of Thee. For I have given unto them the words that thou gavest
Me, and they have received them." Not the world. They have received
them. "...and have known that I have
come out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst
send Me." Listen to these. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou hast given Me, for they
are You see, Jesus prays not for
all the world with that exception, but rather those that God has
given Him out of the world. You see, who are they that God
has chosen? They're sinners. He said they
come out of the world. They're not any different by
nature than any other man. They're not any better. There's
nothing special about them that God should choose them They're
sinners, dead and depraved like all other men. Yet God had chosen
them of grace. Gave them to Christ by grace.
And Jesus said, those that you gave Me, they, I give them Your
Word. They receive Your Word. They
receive Your Spirit. They believe on Me. And in verse 20, he says, "...neither
pray I for these alone, but for them which shall believe on me
through their word, that they may be one." The joy of this text, then, is
for us who believe now. The confidence that we have in
preaching the gospel of Christ is this, that there's a remnant
according to the election of grace. There's always a remnant
as long as this world spins, as long as this world revolves
and Christ has not yet come. You mark this down. There is
a remnant. There is a people. And the purpose of preaching
is that we should call those people to faith in Christ. We
preach this Gospel. We declare that Christ is all.
And you know what? I am confident that God will
save His people. I am very confident of that. We are sure that none that the
Father gave Christ shall perish. None of them shall miss out.
That's good news. None of them shall be lost. Our
Lord says, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Is there any variable in that? Is there any shadow of turning,
any doubt in that statement? No, my Lord was confident. And
He said this in that same passage, that all that the Father gave
me, I will lose nothing. I won't lose one of them. When
I go to the cross and I redeem them and I return to my Father
and I send my Spirit out, they will hear and they shall believe
on me. Not one of them will I lose.
Every one of them will I keep. This is the message that is confident. It's a message that's yay and
amen. Not maybe and I hope so. That's
the religion of the world. Maybe and I hope so. Our religion
is yes and amen. The Apostle Peter says this,
that the Lord is not slack concerning His promises. Some men count
slackness. but is long-suffering." Listen to who? To usward. Who
is God long-suffering with? Usward. To believers. To those of us who know Him to
be precious. He said to usward. He is long-suffering. "...not willing that any should
perish, but all come to repentance." Who is God not willing that should
perish? Us. He's not willing that any
of us perish. But that all of us should come
to repentance. Now you mark this down. If God
wanted the whole world to repent, you listen, the whole world would
repent. If God wanted every man without
exception to repent, every man without exception would repent.
He said, My counsel shall stand. I'll do all My pleasure. If that
was the pleasure of God, Then you mark it down, it would happen.
But this is what the pleasure of God is. That His elect, He
is not willing that any of them should perish. That all should
come to repentance. Now, how should they come to
repentance? This is the means. Preaching the gospel. In these
three chapters, Jesus testifies to His apostles that they should
go and preach the gospel. He said, when the Spirit of God
comes, and you receive Him, and you're anointed of Him, what
are you going to do? You are going to testify of what
He taught you. He said, when the Comforter comes,
He is going to teach you all things concerning me. Now why is it that we always
preach Christ? Why? Because this is what we're
taught of the Spirit. to preach Christ, to magnify
Christ, to honor Christ, because it is Christ alone who died for
our sins, who was raised for our justification. It is Christ
alone that we worship, we honor. He's the Savior. Therefore He tells them, go you
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature
Wait a second, Pastor. If God is only going to save
the elect, if Christ came and died only for the elect, why
are we to preach to every creature? Because we have no idea who they
are. That's not for me to go out and
pick the elect. I don't go around picking people.
I preach to anyone who will hear. Anyone who hears. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. That's what I preach. You know
why? Because the elect will believe.
And they will follow the Lord in baptism. They will obey Christ. They will continue in faith in
Christ. And he that believeth not shall
be damned. This is the message we preach. We preach the gospel because
this is the means God has ordained to call His elect. And see all
this summed up. And I want you to see this summed
up. Go over to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Look
at all this gospel message summed up in these two verses. All that
I've just told you. Verse 13. 2 Thessalonians 2 and
verse 13. For this cause, also we... I'm sorry, 2 Thessalonians 2,
verse 13. Am I in the right place? I'm in the wrong place. There
it is. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. You see, the election of God,
chose from the beginning. You see, the truth, the preaching
of the Gospel, the Christ is the truth. He's the message.
And how are these elect called? Through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. Where unto He called you? How?
By our Gospel. To the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see the whole of it all?
This is the gospel. These things Jesus said in our
text. Go back to your text just for a second. And then I'm going
to apply this really practically to us. John chapter 16 and look
at these things have I spoken. What? The gospel. I've spoken
the gospel unto you. the election of grace, the redemption,
the calling of the Spirit to faith in Christ. I've spoken
these things unto you that you should not be offended. Our Lord, knowing the hearts
of His disciples, is going to be broken and confused. Now,
believer in Christ, let me ask you this. How often are you broken
and confused? If we keep our eye on the singular
gospel, we should not be so confused. It's only when we take our eye
off of this that we become confused. When we set our eye on the circumstances
of time and the providence of time, and try to trace that back
to the love of God, we are confused. Aren't we? You can't do that. You won't
be able to trace the love of God based on providence, based
on things and circumstances. How can you know the love of
God? How can you know your election of God? How can you know of your
redemption in Christ, of your receiving of the Spirit, and
if you have true faith in Christ? How can you know it? Because
you continually keep your eye on Christ. Only from Christ can
you trace the love of God for you. Only can you from Christ
trace your redemption, your election, your sanctification. All in Christ. But yet we become confused. And
the Lord says, so that you're not offended. This word means
to stumble. It means to stumble. He said, I speak these things.
I preach to you the gospel so that you're not stumbling. so
you don't stumble. He seeks to comfort us that we
should not stumble at the obstacles in our way. What was the obstacle
that they would face? What was this that the disciples
should be tripped up and stumbled concerning the gospel? Now let
me be clear, the apostles were not offended at the gospel of
Christ, as I told you before. Many people are offended by the
message that I just preached to you. That's going to be a
very offensive message to some people. Our Lord was very offensive
to people. You remember in John 6, that
whole passage is about the sovereignty of God. That whole passage in
John 6 is the gospel. He said this, I got a people,
they're going to come to me and I'm not going to lose any of
them. You can't come to me because you're dead. No man can come
to me except God. Draw him. And you know what happened?
They were offended. Jesus said, are you offended
at this? Now I'm going to ask you this
morning, are you offended at what I told you? Not if you believe. But some
people are offended and they're going to go away. They're not
going to want to hear this. They're going to get mad and
upset. They're going to turn away and no longer walk with
Christ. That's going to happen. And listen, believer, when it
happens, don't stumble at it. Our Lord is preparing his disciples
for the result of their preaching. He said this, the world will
hate you. But know this, it hated me before
it hated you. The Christ that I just preached
is hated by the world. Loved by the saints. But yet,
do we not stumble at this that people don't believe it? Aren't
we confused? This is so simple. It's so plain. Why then can men not understand
it? Why do you hate it? Why do men despise it? It is
the cherished love of our life, this gospel. We love it so. I was chosen of God. Me. I was ordained to be saved by
the blood of His Son. I did not deserve any of this. I could not merit it. And He
gave it to me. Me. Most precious. And yet why are men offended
about it? But so that you're not stumbling at them, know this,
they will not like it. They will hate you for it. Therefore, believer, let us never
compromise. Isn't this the temptation of
our flesh to compromise? We want them to receive it so
much that we would be willing to compromise some of it. Let's
shave off some of these rough edges so that it would make it
more acceptable. No! No! Just understand. They will not
receive it. They will not love it. They will
hate it. And they'll hate you for preaching
it. Don't be offended by this. Don't stumble at this. I'm telling
you, Jesus said, I'm telling you before it happens. So that
when it happens, you're not offended. You're not stumbling. Our Lord, when those disciples
went away from Him, was He upset? You suppose he was shocked? The Scripture says he knew from
the beginning those who would believe and those who would betray
him. He knew! So he was not stumbling,
and neither should you stumble at it. You shouldn't stumble
at it. Don't do it. You remember the Lord was... I think I lost my place, but
it was in, yeah, Matthew chapter 15. Matthew chapter
15 and verse 12, the Lord, when I told you that those, He preached
the gospel to those Pharisees, and the disciples said, Lord,
knowest thou not that they were offended? And you know what Jesus
said? Leave them alone. Don't meddle with them. The blind that lead the blind
will both fall in the ditch. Let them fall. Because the minute you try to
make it palatable, you erase the power of the gospel. You eliminate it. The Apostle
said in Galatians 5.11, he said, if I should preach circumcision,
then would the offense of the cross cease. No! Never to compromise the gospel. Jesus said, I've spoken unto
you these things, and I'll tell you this, He said, they're going
to come and kill you. Persecute you. They're going
to take you and throw you out of their synagogues, excommunicate
you. Don't stumble. I told you before it would happen.
So when it happens, you're not offended. You don't
stumble. You're not surprised when it happens. Do not stumble even unto death,
believer, for God has spoken to you the
gospel. True believers, we do not desire
as others to kill or try to enforce or entrap others to believe,
but rather we desire to simply preach the gospel as it is given
to us by the Spirit of God, without compromise. May God help us not to stumble,
to keep our eye completely on Christ, who is all our salvation. May God bless this to your hearts.