All right, let's go back to John
7. John chapter 7. Last week we looked at the first
13 verses and the Jews had their feast of tabernacles. And the
Lord went up to the feast by Himself, it said, because the
Jews sought to kill Him. And it said his hour was not
yet come. So he went up by himself. Verse
10 in John 7 says, But when his brethren were gone up, then went
he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. Now it's time for him to make
himself known at this feast. So verse 14 says, Now about the midst of the feast,
Jesus went up into the temple and taught. Don't you wish you could have
heard that? Don't you wish you could have
heard that? This feast, you know, and they're doing all these things
and I can just see these people gathered in little clumps talking
like we do. We got a little clump here and
a little clump there. And all of a sudden, God walks through
the crowd, into the temple, up to the pulpit, and he says, hear the word of the Lord. I wish I could have heard that.
I wish I could have seen that. Those were a blessed bunch of
mortals that day. You know that? Mercy himself stood up and declared
grace to all those people. Can you imagine the horror that
will be to those people who did not believe when they find out
on the Day of Judgment, God preached to me? In mercy, in grace, God
preached to me and my flesh would not believe it. Isn't that something? That goes to show you that unless
God gives ears to hear, we think we can take a sinner and let's
just sit down together and open up this word and we're going
to work this thing out. Okay. God preached the gospel. Do you believe He preached the
gospel? Absolutely. Clearly, simply, plainly, the
greatest message ever preached. And except God give ears to hear,
it will not be believed. It just will not be believed.
One of these days, if we belong to Him, we are going to get to
hear Him preach. We're going to get to hear that. There's going to be a number
there that no man can number in the congregation. And somehow
everybody's going to be on the first row. There won't be anything
between me and my Lord. Nothing. I have no idea how that's
going to be, but that's going to be. We're going to be enthralled
in his beautiful voice. I can't wait to hear his voice.
I can't wait. I can't stand to hear my own
voice. I can't wait to hear His. We're
going to be taken up with His beautiful words. And those words
are going to feed our souls. And they're going to bring joy
to our hearts. And when He's finished, we are going to be
allowed to hug Him and kiss Him and say, thank you for the message.
Isn't that amazing? That's amazing. Verse 14 says,
Now about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple
and taught. And the Jews marveled, saying,
How knoweth this man letters having never learned? How does
this man know so much about the Word of God? He never went to seminary. He
was never taught. These deep, intricate verses
of Scripture, how does he understand the meaning of all this Scripture? What they're saying is, he wasn't
taught by a man. Aren't you glad? We saw this morning, who was
my counselor? Who gave me knowledge? Our Lord answered their question
in verse 16. Jesus answered them and said,
My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. My doctrine. Doctrine is the words of God. That's what doctrine is. People
want to get together and talk doctrine. Let's get together and talk some
doctrine. Doctrine is the words of God. These are the words of God. This
recorded what He taught, and this is doctrine. This is our
doctrine. As we teach God's Word, we are
teaching doctrine. Doctrine is not an opinion on
the Word of God. That's what people think doctrine
is. An opinion on, what's your opinion on the Word of God? You
know, that's your doctrine, this is my doctrine. Doctrine is not
a theory. It's not a theory. God said,
My doctrine shall drop as the rain. And what He means is, My
words. The words that come out of My mouth are going to drop
as the rain. And it's His doctrine. His doctrine
because He's God. My doctrine. How does He know
so much about it? Number one, He gave it. Every
bit of it. He is the author. of it. How does he know so much about
Leviticus? You know, they're talking about
these laws, all these laws that were given. How does he know
all this? He's the author of it. He's the one that wrote it.
How does he understand the meaning of scripture so well? It's all
about him. I thought about this. If I wrote
a book called the life of Gabe, How do you know so much about
Gabe Stoniker? Well, number one, I wrote the
book. And number two, the book is all about me. It's all about me. That's what
this whole book is all about. He is the author of it. He's
the subject of it. These letters are all speaking
of Christ and Him crucified. And as the servant of God that
these scriptures are talking about. This is what he said.
He said, my doctrine in verse 16, he answered them and said,
my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. Here's the
amazing mystery of the gospel. We said it this morning, the
high God of heaven humbled himself. And He became an obedient servant
even to the death. And He did this for sinners just
like you and me. Look over at John chapter 8 verse
28. John 8 verse 28 says, Then said
Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, Then
shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself,
but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things." He humbled Himself. He became
an obedient servant, subject to His Father. We sang Amazing Grace this morning. How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. that God would humble himself
down and take on the form of a servant. Man, that is... You
have to ask yourself, would you do that? The answer is no. It's no. We would never do that. Amazing grace. Back over in John
7 verse 17 says, If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine,
Whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. If any man
will do his will, he will know the difference. If any man will do his will,
he will know the difference. Whether the messenger is of God,
whether the message is of God, or whether he's come in his own
name. It's one of the two. My dad up in Fairmont, West Virginia,
right after he moved there, he's been there about 10 years, and
right after he moved there, he saw maybe in the phone book or
somewhere an advertisement for Fairmont Sovereign Grace Church,
or just Sovereign Grace Church or something like that. So dad
called him and said, you all are a Sovereign Grace Church?
And the guy said, yeah. And he said, well, do you mind
me asking, what do you preach? What do you all believe over
there? And so the guy told him and dad
said, but you're not sovereign grace at all. And the guy said,
well, no, not per se. And dad said, well, why do you
call yourself sovereign grace? And he said, I just kind of liked
the sound of it. Don't be fooled by what's on
the outside. Really, you see a place and the
name looks good, let's go check it out. I listened to somebody on the
radio this week and he said something good, something good, something
good, it was good, good, good. And I was like, man, this guy
is saying a lot of good things. But he wasn't being truthful
because he didn't tell anybody the other half You understand? He did not tell the truth about
man. And therefore you can never tell
the truth about what God did for man and how far he came down. If man is almost right there
with God, then God just kind of, you know, just scooped him
in. God had to come all the way down
to the cesspool. And it brings God's glory down.
17 says, If any man will do his
will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether
I speak of myself. He will know. What is his will? If any man will do his will.
Turn back over to John 6 verse 39. John 6 verse 39 says, And this
is the Father's will, which hath sent me, that if all which he
hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day." First, the Father's will involves Christ
doing something. First, before we talk about us
at all. All which he hath given me, I
should lose nothing, but should raise it up. First, Christ has
got to quicken. Christ has got to call. Christ
has got to work. Then verse 40 says, And this
is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth
the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life, and
I will raise him up at the last day. This is His will. That all that He gave to Christ,
should have their eyes opened, and their ears opened, and they're
going to see, they're going to hear, and they're going to believe
the Lord Jesus Christ. If any man will do his will,
he'll know the difference. If any man sees Christ, and if
any man believes the Word of Christ, he will know the difference.
If Christ performed the operation, he's gonna know that difference.
He's gonna know the savor of life. Have you ever heard a message
and think it sounds real close? I can't put my finger, something
is... You know what's missing? The
savor of life. To say it in man's words, the
doctrine seems to be there. You know, he's preaching election
and total depravity, but it's missing the savor of life, Christ
Himself. Well, over in John 7, verse 18
says, He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory, but he
that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true and no
unrighteousness is in him. That fully supports what our
Lord just said in verse 16 when He said, My doctrine is not mine,
but His that sent me. By God's grace, every true called
messenger says the exact same thing. My doctrine is not mine,
but His that sent me. The words I preach are the words
of God. Preach the word. Preach the word. You'll hear men have no liberty
whatsoever. And I don't even know what liberty
is sometimes. You know, we think liberty is
really getting into it. And the Spirit doesn't have to
bless that at all. But you'll hear men, whatever
this means, have no liberty. And they'll stammer, and they'll
stumble, and when they've finished, your soul
is going to realize, everything that man told me glorified the
Lord Jesus Christ. And your soul is going to say,
Amen. Amen. And then you're going to hear
men say the sweetest words that this English language has ever
known. He's going to deliver something
that's going to make your mind say, what a speaker. Man, that
guy can preach. And then when he's finished,
your heart's going to say, where was Christ? Where was Christ? I've glorified that man. Where
was Christ? That's the question. Where is
Christ? Verse 18 says, he that speaketh of himself, seeketh
his own glory. But He that seeketh His glory
that sent Him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in
Him. You listen to a man tell you that you're fit for nothing
but the dung heap. But Jesus Christ had mercy on
you in spite of that. And He reached down and He pulled
you out of that cesspool. And He cleaned you off. By Himself. And He purged you by Himself. And He did every bit of that
for His own glory. Not to share any of it with you. And the lover of Jesus Christ
is going to say, Amen. Amen. Don't tell me how good
I am. I'm not interested in that. Tell
me how good He is. That's what I want to hear. Verse
19 says, Did not Moses give you the law? And yet none of you
keepeth the law. Why go ye about to kill me? He
says, All of this is in the name of obeying the law. And He says,
You're trying to kill me. Doesn't the law say, Thou shalt
not kill? They're angry with Him. in their
mind for not keeping the law. And he's saying, you are doing
everything you can to kill me. Doesn't the law say, thou shalt
not kill? Verse 20 says, the people answered and said, thou
hast a devil. Who goeth about to kill thee?
Our Lord knew their hearts. The hearts of all those sweet
religious people. Bless their hearts. And he just told them, you want
to kill me. And this is what they said. You're crazy. You
have a devil. We're not trying to kill you. And this is still the same case
today. Listen to this statement, okay? True or false? Answer in
your own mind. True or false? Men and women, by nature, hate
God. What a sharp statement. Men and
women by nature hate God. Turn over to John 3. Verse 19 says, And this is the condemnation
that light, and the light is Jesus Christ. This is the condemnation
that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that
doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. The true answer is man by nature
hates God. He hates God. He hates Jesus
being the Christ and he hates Jesus Christ being God. But you
go out and tell men and women that and this is what they're
going to say. You're crazy. We don't hate God. That doesn't
even make any sense. I don't know one person that
hates God. When the scripture says man by
nature hates God, is enmity against God. Enmity means hate. And do
you know why the natural man thinks that? It's because he
doesn't know God. He does not hate the God he's
made up in his mind. But as soon as he comes to know
the true God of Scripture, I don't like that God. I won't have that
God. He doesn't know who He is. He
doesn't know what He's done. Verse 21 in our text back in
John chapter 7 says, Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done
one work and you all marvel. They're still upset over Him
raising that lame man on the Sabbath day. Back in John 5,
when He went to the pool of Bethesda, And that man was crippled, the
palsy, and he said, take up thy bed and walk. And he did it on
the Sabbath day, and they still won't let that go. They're trying
to kill him for that. Verse 22 says, Moses therefore
gave unto you circumcision, not because it is of Moses, but of
the fathers, and you on the Sabbath day circumcised a man. What he's
saying is Moses purposed He passed along the purpose of God that
a child should be born circumcised on the eighth day. And if that
circumcision falls on the Sabbath, you circumcise him, that the
law of Moses won't be broken. You're not supposed to do any
work on the Sabbath. But if he needs to be circumcised, you
circumcise him, and the law is not broken. But this is what
he's saying. Circumcision wasn't given to
Moses. He passed it along, but it wasn't
given to Moses. It was given to Abraham. Everything
that was given to Moses is law. Everything that was given to
Abraham is grace. Verse 23 says, If a man on the
Sabbath day received circumcision, that the law of Moses should
not be broken, Are you angry at me because I've made a man
every whit hole on the Sabbath day? Judge not according to the
appearance, but judge righteous judgment." This is one time that our Lord
is saying, judge. Make a judgment call, but don't
do it according to appearance. Don't do it by what the eye can
see. And what the eye sees is flesh. Don't make a judgment according
to this flesh. Make the call. That's it. Here's where I stand.
I forgive you. I know the whole situation. Here's
my decision. I'm going to love you anyway. Why? Because it's a righteous
judgment. Verse 25 says, Then said some
of them of Jerusalem, Is not this He whom they seek to kill?
But lo, He speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto Him. Do
the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? He's standing right there. Everybody
knew the Jews wanted to kill Him. And he stands up in the
middle of them and he starts preaching. And the people say,
don't they see that the one they're trying to kill is standing right
there? Don't they realize the one they've been looking for
is standing right there? They must believe him now because
they're not taking him. Verse 27 says, How be it We know this man whence he is. But when Christ cometh, no man
knoweth whence he is. We know who he is. They want
to kill him for raising this man on the Sabbath day. They
want to kill him for saying he is the Son of God. But we know
who he is. We know where he comes from.
We know his parents. We know his brothers. This is
not him. We see him and there's nothing
in him that we should desire him. I pray that that will never be
us. You know what I'm saying? They
were, let me tell you what they were. They were familiar with
him. Familiar with him. I've known him all my life. I
talked to him. I talked to his brothers. I don't see anything in him that
I should that I really desire. Made that never may God keep
us, keep us, keep us. From growing lukewarm. to the
subject of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Verse 27, Howbeit we know this
man whence he is, but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence
he is. What they were quoting is, I've
got a marginal reference right there, whence he is, it's Isaiah
53. Turn with me over to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 verse 8 says, He was
taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare His generation? I've got a marginal reference
right there. Who shall declare His generation to John 7, 27.
That's where we just came from. So they were quoting this. Who
shall declare His generation? Who will know Him? Who will know Him? No man can
know the depths of Him. No man can know the true origin
of Him, except He reveal Himself. They saw the man, but they didn't
see the Christ. We know Him. We know where He
was born. He was supposed to be in Bethlehem,
but we know He grew up in Nazareth. They saw the man, but they didn't
see the Christ. The world needs to have this
question asked to them. Every person that I ever get
to preach to, or any man gets to preach the gospel to, every
person who comes into this building, every person whom God crosses
the path, their path with the truth needs to be asked this
question. They saw the man. They didn't see the Christ. Here's
the question. Do we? That's where men and women
miss it. They see the man, they don't
see the Christ. They don't see the Christ. Do
we see Him high and lifted up, really? Is He the altogether
lovely one? If the answer is yes, then look
at Isaiah 53 verse 5. If the answer is yes, then Isaiah
53 verse 5 was written for us. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. That is the gospel. That's the gospel that God would
come and do that for us. That was God that did that. The man, Jesus Christ, God in
the flesh. I pray that the Lord will have mercy on us as we, um, As we continue, as we keep going,
I pray that the Lord will have mercy on us and bless us and
help us, cause us to rest in Him, cause us to see Him, cause
us to love Him, and cause us to enter in to the glory of His
gospel, His good news. I hope the Lord will bless that.
Let's stand together.