Going back to John chapter 12. John chapter 12. The title of the message, The Gospel Rejected
and Its Consequences. The Gospel Rejected and Its Consequences. God takes seriously more than
I can express of our treatment of His Son, His gospel. They're one. They are one. Now,
in these verses before us this morning, we see that miracles
do not produce faith. We see some cannot believe. They
have been judicially blinded. And we see that not all faith
is saving faith. Many believe but they wouldn't
confess it. They would not confess it. We see that rejecting Christ
is the same as rejecting God. As I hear, he said, I speak.
This commandment have I received of my father. What the Lord said,
it was God saying. The message is from heaven. It's
from heaven. And there's a consequence to
the way we handle the gospel. There's a consequence to it.
Verse 37, But though he had done so many miracles, so many great,
marvelous miracles before them, in front of them, with them looking
on, yet they believed not. on him. They did not trust him
at all. They didn't believe on him. Miracles
do not produce faith. Faith is the work of God. It's
the gift of God. It's not, it doesn't come from
seeing a miracle. They saw the dead raised, so
many miracles he's talking about, and it's talking about all the
miracles he performed up to this time. They saw the dead raised,
the blind to see, the lame to walk. He fed five thousand,
twice. Yet in spite of all those miracles
that they saw, it says they believed not on
him. What did they believe not? They believed not that he THAT
HE WAS AND IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD. THEY BELIEVED NOT
ON HIM, IN OTHER WORDS, THEY DID NOT COMMIT THE SAVING OF
THEIR SOULS COMPLETELY IN HIS HANDS. THEY DID NOT COMMIT TO
HIM, NOT AT ALL. WHAT IS IT TO COMMIT? WELL, PAUL
SAID THIS IN 2ND TIMOTHY 1-12, I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." What
did Paul commit to the Lord Jesus Christ? Absolutely everything,
for time and eternity. I'm not committed to Him to save
me when I finally die, when that day comes. I have committed all
things, my every step, my every breath, everything is committed
to Christ. I look to Him and trust Him for
every step. That's commitment to Christ.
He is my life. I don't have a life, He is my
life. He's not part of my life. Jesus Christ is not part of my
life. He is my life, or I don't have
life. You don't find in the scriptures
to make Christ a part of your life. He is everlasting life. Apart from Him, I don't have
spiritual life. I don't have the life of God.
I have natural life. I have the life of this flesh,
just natural, but that's not spiritual at all. And what does this show? That
they believe not on Him. Even though they saw all these
miracles, they witnessed these things. And yet they believe not. This
shows how spiritually dead men and women are. Watching a man
walk out of a grave, Lazarus, watching him walk out, coming
out of that grave. He raised another dead, this
child he raised once from the dead. to watch a blind man receive
his sight. He's sitting at the temple. Everybody
knows he's blind. They've seen him all this time. And now, one day, he sees. They
said, how do you see? He said, a man named Jesus said
to go to the pool of Salome and watch. And I came to see. They
knew that man. They knew him. And yet, they
believed not. They believed not. Religious,
they didn't say they were not religious. They were religious. I told a man one time that not
all religious people are saved. He got upset with me. He really
got upset, visibly upset with me. And I was working for him.
He was my employer. And he came back the next day,
he was upset. Not all religious people are
saved. Being religious is not salvation.
It's not salvation. It doesn't equal that. You know,
the devil believes there's one God. The devil knows the gospel. You know how many times he's
heard it preached since the fall? He was there when Jesus Christ
hung on a cross. He was there when Jesus Christ
rose from the grave. And yet he's not saved. He's
not saved. The devil bleeds and trembles,
but he's not saved. Being religious or believing
there is one God or believing that God is, that doesn't equal
salvation. Everybody that I know, I've never
met anyone who is to my face said, there is no God, I don't
believe that, I'm an atheist. Everybody that I've ever known
believes there is a God. But that's not salvation. Salvation
is believing God, and it's resting, completely resting your soul in the hands of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You completely trust Him to save you. I completely
trust Christ to represent me before God spotless. I trust Him to do that, and you
do too if you believe. You do too. Now, there's a prophecy
that went on years before this that that was given by isaiah
concerning this these people right now that the lord is speaking
to that jewish nation and it's the same over there now it says here in verse 38 that
the saying of isaiah and john is giving this report right here
before the lord speaks again that the saying of isaiah the
prophet might be fulfilled which he spake lord Isaiah 53, 1. Who hath believed our report,
our message, our gospel? Who hath believed it, relied
on him, taken, embraced the report? And to whom hath the arm of the
Lord, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, been revealed? You see,
first of all, their unbelief was no surprise. It was foretold
many, many, many, many years before. There are no surprises
with God, with us maybe, but not with God. This was foretold. And it's a complaint by Isaiah
concerning the unbelief of the Jewish nation. He's prophesying
not only of that period of time he's prophesying, but he's also
prophesying of the time when the Messiah came, the Lord Jesus
Christ, that few believed on him. Only a few followed him. You
know, as a pastor and a preacher, we should never be disappointed
that the pews are not full. I mean, it is disappointing,
but it shouldn't be disappointing, because not many followed Him
when He walked on this earth. He didn't have many followers.
Twelve disciples, and one of them was the devil. He didn't have many follow Him.
For the most part, they rejected Him, and it's been the same ever
since. This will never be popular. Now listen, God did not exercise
some mysterious power over them so that they would not believe
in order to fulfill this scripture. He just left them alone. He just
left them alone. He left them be themselves. God
foresaw, foreknew, all of this you know he he knows the end
from the beginning he knows that and god passed judgment on him
judicial blindness the consequence of rejecting his son god is sovereign
listen god is sovereign mercy is sovereign mercy grace is sovereign
grace god has every right now listen he has every right to
leave me alone And He has every right to save me if He pleases, without asking, without asking. For us to believe, God must do
a work in us as well as for us. If He leaves us alone, no one
will believe. We'll just go off in unbelief
and then die and meet God. But there's a consequence here,
and this is what really needs to be pointed out. There's a
consequence here of rejecting Christ, rejecting the Gospel,
the way we treat it, there's a consequence to it. There's
consequences to choices. You see, God let them have their
will. They did. And what did they do with it?
They rejected the Son of God. If God allows every man and woman
on this earth to have their will that they make so much of, nobody
will believe God. Nobody will believe the gospel.
Nobody will come to Christ. That is what human nature is.
Christ said to the Pharisees, you will not come to me that
you might have life. You will not. You got a will
problem. You will not to come and you won't do it. UNLESS THE
PROPHECY CAN'T BE ALTERED, WHAT GOD HAS SAID IS GOING TO COME
TO PASS. GOD'S WORD IS, WHAT IS THAT SCRIPTURE
IN PSALMS, THY WORD IS SETTLED IN HEAVEN? GOD'S WORD HAS BEEN
SETTLED IN HEAVEN BEFORE CREATION. IT'S SETTLED. THEREFORE, IN VERSE
39, THEREFORE THEY COULD NOT BELIEVE. YOU SEE, THEY WOULD
NOT BELIEVE, THEREFORE THEY COULD NOT BELIEVE. God judicially blinded
him. You know, God can take someone
and this has happened. You go read the book of Romans
chapter 1. When he turned them over to a reprobate mind. And
what did they do? They went after the flesh. You
don't want God to turn you over to yourself. He turned him over to a reprobate
mind. You see, He let them be themselves, and they would not
believe, therefore they could not believe. Because Isaiah said
again, He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart.
You know, all God has to do is leave you alone, isn't it? It says Pharaoh hardened his
heart, and it says God hardened his heart. God left him alone. He didn't exercise that grace
and power that He exercised on those whom He saves. And He has
every right to do either one. He has every right to do either
one. He hath blinded their eyes, hardened
their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor
understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should
heal them. You know, we can only go so far
with what God has revealed. Human nature looks at that and
finds fault. They find fault with God. Child
of God looks at that and bows to the sovereign will of God. It's like this. We know this.
We know God is holy. We know He can do no wrong. We
know that He cannot sin. We know that. We know His judgments
are right. WHAT HE DOES IS RIGHT, WHAT HE
SAYS IS RIGHT. IS THAT SO? THAT'S WHERE WE BOW. I CAN'T COMPREHEND THIS, I CAN'T
COMPREHEND IT, BUT GOD PASSED JUDGEMENT ON THEM FOR THE REJECTION
OF HIS SON MANY YEARS BEFORE THIS. THEIR JUDICIAL BLINDNESS WAS
AND STILL IS THE CONSEQUENCE OF THE REJECTING OF Turn over to 2 Thessalonians,
let me read you something over here. Let me see where I want to start
reading. Let me start reading in verse
7 through 12. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. For the mystery of iniquity doth
already work, Iniquity, there's a real mystery to me to sin and
iniquity since I've gotten older and I think grown up more in
Christ. It's such a mystery to me. Only
he who now letteth or hindereth will hinder until he be taken
out of the way and then shall that wicked be revealed whom
the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall
destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him whose coming
is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and
blind wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that
they might be saved. This applies to them at that
time, and even in our day. They receive not the love of
the truth. And for this cause Because they
rejected the gospel, they received not the love of the truth, God
shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie,
that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but
have pleasure in unrighteousness. You see, there's a cause and
an effect to everything. And the cause here is they received
not the love of the truth, they despised the gospel, and so what
does God do? He sends them a strong delusion. THAT THEY ALL MIGHT BE DAMNED.
WELL THANK GOD FOR VERSE 13. THANK GOD FOR VERSE 13. 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, WHEREUNTO HE CALLED YOU BY OUR GOSPEL TO THE OBTAINING
OF THE GLORY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. THANK GOD FOR HIS SOVEREIGN
MERCY. THANK GOD, BECAUSE WE'D BE RIGHT
THERE WITH THEM. We will be right there with them. And you know,
many of you were in the past. Many of you sat under a false
gospel. You sat under a false gospel. Some of you did. Arminianism. And God brought you out of it.
He brought you out of it, but he left many in it. And they're
still delusion. They're delusional. My, my, my. And then he says
in verse 41, Isaiah said this, these things, when he saw the
Lord's glory, he says, these things said Isaiah, when he saw
his glory, who's he talking about there? John is telling us this,
he's giving us this prophecy. He said, when Isaiah saw his
glory, he spake of him, whose glory? The glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's who Isaiah saw. in Isaiah
chapter 6 when he saw the Lord high lifted up and his train
filled the court and the seraphim were flying saying holy holy
holy the person he saw Jehovah he saw Jehovah Jesus that's exactly
who he saw and when he saw that you go and read I read that chapter
this morning CHAPTER 6, THAT'S WHEN THIS PROPHECY IS MADE. HE
SAW HIS GLORY AND THE REJECTION OF THOSE PEOPLE, AND GOD BLINDED
THEM FOR THEIR CONDUCT AND REJECTION OF HIS SON. AND GOD HAD EVERY
RIGHT TO. HE HAD EVERY RIGHT TO DO THAT. BUT WE SEE ALSO HERE THAT NOT
ALL FAITH IS SAVING FAITH. NOT ALL FAITH IS SAVING FAITH.
Nevertheless, among the chief rulers, John says, many believed
on him. But, boy, there's a problem. When you throw the but in there,
you've got a problem. But, because of the Pharisees, they did not
confess him. You remember the Pharisees made
it known that if anyone confessed him, they were going to be excommunicated
like they did the man who had received his sight. They excommunicated
him. And since they knew that, they
would not confess him, lest they should be put out of
the synagogue. Often it said many believed on him, but they
never committed themselves to him. Paul said this in Philippians
3, I have suffered the loss of all things. I'm going to paraphrase. I have suffered for whom I have
suffered the loss of all things. The apostle Paul was, he was
right on top of his game. He was young. He was a ruler. He was rich. I mean, he had a lot of power.
He had a lot of influence. He sat at the feet of Gamaliel.
He had the best education. And he said, all of it's done.
All of it's done. That I might win Christ and be
found in him. All of these attainments that
I've attained are useless. They stink. They're done. They
stink. And Paul lost everything in confessing
Christ because of his relationship to Christ. But they wouldn't
do it. They believed on him. Many of
them believed on him. Nicodemus said, no man can do
the miracles you did, except God be with him. But they wouldn't confess him
publicly. They wouldn't do it. Publicly ashamed to do it. publicly
embarrassed to do it, wouldn't do it. Remember that rich young
ruler, the Lord said, go sell all you have, give it to the
poor and come follow me. He went away sorrowful because
he was very rich. He just couldn't, the cost was
too great to him. Following Christ, the cost of
it was too great. Our Lord said this, sit down and count the
cost. If you're going to follow me, sit down and count the cost.
He said, will a man not sit down and see if he has enough to build
a house? Unless when he starts, he can't
finish and he's embarrassed. See, he doesn't trick anybody
into, pressure anybody into coming to him. He doesn't do that. Whosoever
will, let him come. That's what he says. You remember
Felix? Paul preached in front of Felix.
Remember how he trembled? He told him to come, he'd call
for him at a more convenient season. Sent him away, said,
I'll call you at a more convenient season. Felix hurt Paul. He heard him and he heard what
he said. And what Paul said was so powerful that it made him
tremble. He literally was shaking, trembling. But I have no doubt
this is what happened. When he heard the message, he
heard Paul preaching, he knew what Paul was saying was true.
But his life, his present life passed before him, flashed before
him. His power, his position, his friends, the way he got his
wealth. His whole life was there in front
of him. He knew, he knew that had to
go. He knew it. Just like when John
the Baptist confronted Herod and said, it's not right for
you to have your brother's wife. He knew it and he chose He chose,
and this is the best way I can put it. He chose corruption over
conviction. That's powerful. He chose corruption
over his conviction. He knew what Paul was saying
was right. He knew it. But he couldn't give up his corrupt
life. Couldn't do it. Christ was not enough. He was
not enough. And here's the root of the problem.
Here's what kept them from committing to Christ and giving everything
up, no matter what comes, no matter what comes. They love
the praise of men, verse 43, more than the praise of God.
They love somebody bragging on them. They love coming in and
so-and-so. You know, I know this, I know
this. When you come to Christ, you
really love and come to Christ, it's gonna change Your company,
I promise you, it's going to change your company. As my friend said to me, he said,
I wish God hadn't saved you. It's going to change your company.
He and I couldn't run together no more. We couldn't do it. Couldn't do it. They love the
praise of men more than the praise of God or the honor. The honor
that comes from God. Son of God. Is that not an honor? To be called a son of God? A
daughter of God? But they love the praise of worms,
maggots, more than God. You know, the scriptures tells
us over in 1 John 2, chapter 2, verse 15, 16, we cannot love
the world and God too. You can't love light and darkness.
You can't love both. Can't do it. They don't go together. Except to agree, how can they
walk together? You have to have an agreement if you're going
to walk together. If you're going to go down the road together, you're
going to have to be in agreement. You'll be in a fight for you. Well,
you get a quarter mile down the road, you'll be in a fight. You
can't do it. And then our Lord speaks, and
Matthew Henry says this is a different occasion. John's telling us,
you know, you go back up at verse 37, and then verse 36 says, While
you have light, believe in the light, that you may be the children
of light. These things spake Jesus and departed, and did hide
himself from them. But here, Matthew Henry says,
he comes back, and this is the last message that he personally
preached there to the Jews. Well, you never know when the
last message is, do you? We never know when the last message we'll
ever hear. I don't know the last message I'll ever preach. But
there will come a day, there will be a last message that I
preach and you hear. But here he comes in and it says,
Jesus cried. Well, this is one of those few
times when the Lord cries out to be heard because it's serious. It's serious. He cried and said,
he that believeth on me believes not on me, but him that sent
me. You're not just believing a man.
This is not my system. He didn't contrive this. believe
on me he's telling them is to believe God is to believe the
one that sent me from heaven that's how serious this is that's
what he's saying it's how serious it is and this is why it's so serious
how we treat the gospel when we hear it He that seeth me, in verse 45,
and he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. You know, he said
to one of his disciples there in John 14, he that seeth me
seen the Father. He said, you see me seen the Father. It says in Hebrew one that he's
the express image of God. You see, they're looking at a
man. Just like you're looking at a man right now. But I'm not
God. He's God. You know, they said,
show us the Father. He said, He that seeth me seeth
the Father. When you really do, when you
really do see the Lord Jesus Christ, you see God for the first
time. You don't see God until then.
I don't care what you believe about God. You don't see Him
until you see Him in Christ. Scripture says, No man knows
the Father save the Son, and He to Whomsoever the Son will
reveal Him. He's the only revelation of the
Father. Apart from that, you can't know Him. And if any man
hear my words, any man hear my words, any man or woman hear
my words this morning, and believe not, I judge him not, And you
can put out from that now. I judge him not now, later, because
all judgment is committed to the Son. But I judge him not
now, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
You know, the Lord God Almighty is going to save the world. He's
not going to save everyone in the world, just like Noah and
the Ark. The animal world was saved. We
have the animal kingdom we have right now. The animal world we
have right now because they were saved in the ark. But not every
animal was saved. Most of them drowned. They drowned. He said, I didn't come to judge
the world right now. I came to redeem. I came to save
a multitude of sinners from all over this world. And in that
sense, he's going to save the world. in that sense and but now listen
he that rejecteth that means continually rejects me here's
what this is so god so merciful after isaiah or after john gave
this prophecy of isaac christ comes along and he preaches to
them he doesn't say he doesn't come in and uh exercise a power
over them so they can't believe he says whosoever will come He that continually rejects me
and continually receives not my words, that's what he means,
receiveth not. He has one that judges him. The
word that I've spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
You know, this book from Genesis to Revelation
is going to stand in judgment against everyone that rejected
the gospel, that would have nothing to do with the gospel. Christ
said, my words, this book is going to rise up in judgment.
My words. You people think so little of
this book, they take it home, throw it on the shelf. The vast
majority never open this book. And most never even open it until
they come to church on Sunday or midweek service or something.
They don't open it until then. I tell you what, if these words
are going to be in judgment, I want them to find out what's
said in this book. It's going to rise up in judgment.
It's only in this book we can find the one who can save us
in that hour. He said, the word that I've spoken,
The same shall judge him in the last day. There is a last day,
believe it or not, there is. For I have not spoken of myself.
This is why this word can rise up in judgment because it's not
a man contrived book, words. This is God. God sent this. God
sent his word here this morning. God's word's here this morning.
I've not spoken of myself. by myself or of myself. But the
Father which sent me, He gave me a commandment what I should
say and what I should speak. No one else can claim that. No
one else can claim that. Our Lord can literally claim
that every word came out of His mouth was God-spoken. And I know that His commandment
is life everlasting. He came to save sinners. It's
the gospel of peace. It's the gospel of life. Do we realize what we have here?
We realize it. The pearl of great price. Riches
of heaven. Contained in the gospel. Whose whatsoever I speak, therefore,
even as the father said to me, so I speak. He was not a vain
babbler. They called him a babbler, didn't
they? They called him a babbler. No, he's not. No, he's not. And what he say, or what he said at that time still
applies today. It still applies today. It's
not, it's not well, you know, that back in Bible times, we're
still in Bible times. We still are. He spoke that which the Father
gave to him. The gospel is the message from
heaven, from the throne of grace, from the throne of glory. where
those seraphims, they fly with two wings covering their face
and their feet, and with two they did fly and they're crying,
holy, holy, holy. And God sent the message of grace
from that place to this place. That's serious business. That's
serious.