John chapter 10 if you would
please Throughout the Word of God, we read words where the Lord
speaks through the prophets. Our Lord moved in the hearts
of men to write His Word down. And throughout that Word, our
Lord speaks through those prophets regarding the hearing of men. And in all cases, mankind comes
up very short. Dull of hearing is what the scriptures
describe it. It means you hear something, this
is something my wife can attest to, you hear something but you're
not paying any attention to it. People preach the gospel. God
has sent his messengers out to preach the gospel of Christ throughout
the world. Many have come into this very
building and heard the gospel preached. but they were dull
of hearing and walked away, not paying any attention to what
they had heard. Mankind come up short of hearing
the word of God unless something or someone intercedes. Adam,
the first man to walk this earth, the very first one to walk this
earth, turned from the Word of God, and he would not hearken
to what God's warning. God said, do not eat of this
tree, for in the day that you do, you shall surely die. Adam didn't listen. And so all mankind, women, children,
old and young, follow the very same suit. I don't remember it, but I have
been told that the man I grew up listening to when I was a
child, a man by the name of O.C. Harris, some of you know his
son, Ian, the big, big guy who used to show up here and sing
a lot. I remember that guy when he was so little he just barely
fit into a diaper. His dad was a preacher. First
Missionary Baptist Church of Fair Oaks. My mom and dad would faithfully
take us to church all the time, all the way up to the fact where
finally Kathy and I got married. I never heard nothing. My mom would ask me to, I would
ask my mom, I would say, you know, what do you want for Mother's
Day? Oh, come to church with me. OK. And I'd go to church to make
my mom happy. And I shared this with her after
I had heard the word of God for the first time, sitting right
here in these pews. I told her, I said, Mom, all
those times, I never heard anything. That's the way everyone is. That's
the way every single man, every single woman that has ever walked
this earth. All mankind come into this world
spiritually deaf, spiritually dumb, and spiritually blind. Scripture is declared to be dead
in trespasses and sin. All throughout Scripture we can
go through and see where our Lord describes the depravity
of man by death or blindness. What were the most things that
our Lord healed when He walked this earth? Blind people. Deaf people. Dumb. Lame. But do not be misled. All things... I said this in my prayer. Our
Lord knows the number of every hair on our head. Even if it's
a wig. He knows it. He knows everything. So do not be misled about mankind
turning a deaf ear to God. All things are purposed by the
Lord of hosts. He who rules all that is was
not sleeping when Adam sinned. He knew exactly what Adam was
going to do, and he purposed it to happen. You say, well, John, how can
you say that? I say, well, because the Bible declares our Lord Jesus
Christ to be the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
That means that God knew what was going to happen before anything
was ever created. So that means God created everything
to happen exactly how it has. He wasn't asleep when Adam sinned. When the day that thou eat that
fruit thou shalt surely die is telling us that He knew Adam
was going to die that day. And He knew that day was coming. Our Lord uses the words in Scripture
in Ephesians 1, predestinated. Also again in Romans 8, predestinated. That means predetermined. There's a book of life that was
written before the world ever was. And every single one for
whom God the Father sent God the Son to spill His blood for
was written in that book of life. When our Lord says, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, that means every single
one that His blood was shed for shall come to Him. I'm talking about a God who deserves
to be called God. Not a weak God who's waiting
for you or me to do something to help Him. But one who is truly
God. He wasn't waiting to see what
Adam would do. He knew what He would do. And
He's not waiting to see what men will do. He knows what we
will do. He knows everything. God is not
the author of sin, no. But He does allow it to serve
His purpose. How many times in the Old Testament
have we seen nations being raised up, becoming these powerful nations
so that they could move in and take this nation out? That was God's purpose for that
to be done. Joseph, thrown into a pit by
his own brothers, and then sold. I may not get along with my brothers
and sisters as well as I'd like to, but I can't imagine doing
that to any of them. That was purposed by God. It was purposed that Joseph would
be a picture of Christ, bringing His people unto Him, forgiving
those who threw Him into that pit, and showing you and I that no
matter what we have done, our Lord, if He paid for our
sins, they were all laid upon Him. Total forgiveness of His people. The God of glory has ruled and
is ruling over all that comes to pass, right down to the slightest
detail. He is Lord of all. He raises
up nations and He tears them down as it serves His purpose,
the purpose of the Creator. In Amos 8 verse 11 we read, Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send famine in the
land. Famine. I will send famine, he
says. It's not a chance that it happens.
It's not because the global warming. It's not because mankind is causing
something to happen on the earth. God sends famine into the land. And our Lord goes on to say,
he says, not a famine of bread. No, it's not going to be just
a famine of bread. You're going to have plenty to eat. nor a
thirst for water." There's plenty of water in the big old river
that's running right there through the land. He sends a famine of, but the
hearing, the words of the Lord. Did you
catch that? God sent a famine into the land
of the hearing of the word of the Lord. That means there's a whole bunch
of people running around and they don't hear that Word. It
was preached to the ones in the wilderness. The Word of God was
preached to them. But it profited them nothing.
They heard it not. You might be sitting there today
thinking to yourself, well, what are you saying, John? Does God
cause men to hear? And others not? I'm not saying
that at all. God is saying that. Don't take my word for it. Look
into God's Word and see it. That's what God said. Listen
to what He said in Romans 9, verse 17. For the Scripture saith
unto Pharaoh, for the Scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, that guy who had all that wealth, built the pyramids
of Egypt, and all the stuff that we see over there in Egypt, and
all the glory of it. For the Scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. God raised up a nation called
Egypt. Great power, great wealth. Don't think that he couldn't
do this with America, folks. Don't think that he couldn't
do this with the United States of America. He raised them up
so that he could destroy Pharaoh and his army, and that the whole
world would know the power of God. And there's all kinds of
lessons and messages we can come through with just from those
verses of Israel being delivered from Egypt. Not all men, though,
have ears, do they? Not all men have ears to hear
these words. In fact, to be quite honest with
you, none do. Oh, we can hear with the ears
of the flesh, but the Spirit is dead, and cannot, and in fact
does not even want to hear these words. We don't want to have one who
rules over us And most will go through that doormark death,
shaking their fists, saying, I will not have this one rule
over me. In your bulletins today, I'd
like to read an article from today's bulletin. It's a rather lengthy one. I
hope you're not in a hurry. Pastor Tommy Robbins on the inside
middle page, top left hand article. The natural heart of man is concerned
only with natural, temporal things. The desire of the flesh and mind
are by natural origin self-centered. Man, that sure sounds like John
Rhys to me. Man is a habitual self-serving creature. He may
be at times, especially when in the presence of the Gospel,
consciously aware of this, but he finds it impossible to change
because this is his love. In 2 Timothy 3 verses 2 and 4,
men shall be lovers of their own selves. Lovers of pleasures
more than lovers of God. It's all about my little world.
Or at least it used to be. Going on, Pastor Robbins writes,
he may reform outwardly for a while and try to adjust his priorities
or even strive to think differently. But alas, he is like a dog and
its vomit, or the soul and its muck. He is not a heart for Jesus,
His gospel, or His church. This is not His love. This is
not His desire. He has only a desire for the
vomit and the muck, as we read in 2 Peter. The only way one
will ever have a heart for the things of God will be if God
gives him a new heart and a new spirit. God's promise to His
people is this, a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit
will I put within you. The new heart which God gives
has preeminence over the old one. Oh, yeah, the old heart
is still there to aggravate and even temporarily distract us.
Yeah, we have to fight that battle. However, ye are of God, little
children, and have overcome them. Because greater is He that is
in you than he that is in the world. Yeah, we battle that battle. But greater is God Almighty than
the little God of this world. The new heart is one of faith,
love, and commitment. The new heart embraces Christ,
His gospel, and His church. This comes as natural to the
new heart as embracing self and the things that are in the world
comes to the old heart. If we have not a new heart and
the Spirit when temptation comes, when care comes, when it's time
for self-denial, then we will take the low road to fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and the mind. And it will be revealed
that we are yet servants of self rather than servants of God.
We will be in our heart true to what our treasure is most. As it says in Matthew 6.21, for
where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. We do not want to have one who
rules over us. When the Gospel of God is revealed
to the hearts of His people, the first thing we see is that
we love that darkness that we once walked in. We don't want
the light of Jesus in our hearts because it shines on that darkness
that we once loved. takes the power away from us. It's my decision to come to Christ. It's my will that brings me to
the Lord. No, it's not. Your will is not
above God's. If so, then He is not God. You might say, well then, John,
who can be saved? Scripture tells us that there
is a people. A people that God has set His
love upon before the world ever was. A people that He has purposed,
purposed to show His mercy unto. He calls them, My people. My elect. He calls them My chosen. This is God's Word, folks. This
isn't John standing up here giving you some fleshly interpretation. Those for whom the Father hath
given unto the Son, given to Him before the time itself, and
this people, a people from every nation, every tongue, throughout
time, When the day of love is at hand, the day that God has
chosen, has purpose for His people, He comes to them and quickens
them, He gives life, and He reveals the Son of the ever-living God
to them. And they see, and they hear,
and they believe, and they call upon the name of the Lord. How
are you going to call upon the name of the Lord if you've never
heard of the true and living God? People call on what they believe
to be the Lord all the time, don't they? They think that they're
coming down to the front of the aisle as calling upon the Lord.
They think by doing their good works and feeding the poor as
calling on the Lord. Our Lord says, it's not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that shall
have mercy. Do you hear? Do you hear the
Word of the Lord? My question this morning is that.
And it is also my title. Do you hear? Look at our text here in John
chapter 10 verse 23, if you would. And Jesus walked in the temple
of Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about
Him, the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees who had a righteousness
of their own. Look at me, I wear the cloak
of righteousness, the cloak of priest. I swing the incense as
you have told me. These are all the things that
God has given me to do, and look it, I do them all. Just like
that young rich man who said that he had never murdered, had
never done anything wrong since he was young. We talked about
it in Bible study this morning. And God said, go sell everything
that you have. Take everything that you have,
all that you do, all your good works, all your self-righteousness,
and throw it out. Give it to the poor. Then came the Jews round about
him and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? God Almighty stood in their midst
and He proved it by all the miracles that He was performing. A man's hand all withered up
and gone. And right before the people's
eyes it became whole. A man who had not walked since
he was a child got up, picked up his bed, and walked away.
Another man who had never seen the color blue before he was
blind from birth saw his mama for the first time,
or whatever relative you want to put in that place. The miracles of God were open
to everybody to see. How long do you make us to doubt,
they say to God Almighty. If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. And here's what God Almighty
said back to them. I told you, verse 25, 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 My sheep. As I said unto you, you didn't
hear Me the first time, I doubt you'll hear Me this time, but
I'm going to say it anyway. My sheep hear My voice, I know them,
and they follow Me. That's the Word of God. That's
His Word. Do you hear the Word of God? Maybe, maybe there's hope for you yet. And oh, what a hope that is. Have you ever read God's Word
and wondered, why doesn't everybody else see that? Same reason you and I didn't
see it until the Lord opened our eyes and our ears to hear
it. Because I belong to God. Because I had belonged to Him
before time began. The day of His love I came into
this building that He has provided and I heard God Almighty. And he told me, John, sinner, you who have nothing, you who deserve my wrath, I took it all for you. I took all that you have done
and I have taken it upon myself because I have loved you. because
he loved you. He took everything. My sheep hear my voice and I
know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal
life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave me is greater
than all, and none know is able to pluck them out of my Father's
hand. I and my Father are one." Do you hear? My question to you this morning
is do you hear the Word of God, not with just these ears, not
from just this man who stands before you, because all I am
is a sinner, just like everybody else. The difference is we happen
to be saved by our Lord and Savior. We happen to be loved by the
Creator of all things. A distinction between sheep and
goats is made. You are not My sheep. My sheep
hear My voice. God's chosen blood-bought children
and the world around them. The Word of God is clear in Romans
9, 13. It says, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. That's one of those verses I
was talking about a moment ago. Have you ever wondered why the world
doesn't see that? How can there be such huge buildings
filled with thousands of people three or four times a day in
the Sunday morning messages? And they say, God loves everybody. He's waiting for you to make
your move. Come down to the front. What
do they do with that verse? What do they do with God's Word?
They ignore it. Their ears are all plugged up.
I don't want to hear that. I like a God who does love everybody
and gives me the authority to make the choice. That's what
the world does. They say this because they will
not hear the true Word of God. They would rather do something
with their own hands than trust the ever-living One. Cain. What did he do? He made some
kind of a stew or porridge or something out of the vegetables,
out of the herbs of the ground. Their father, their daddy, Adam,
taught them that he had to have shedding of blood because Abel
knew that you brought an animal in and killed it. Sacrificed
the animal, spread the blood. Yet Cain would not listen, would
he? And when God turned His back on that young man, He did exactly what you and I would
do if God had turned His back on us. We would get angry. And
there was gnashing of teeth. What do you mean? What do you
mean I'm not good enough? None of us are good enough. But the Lord Jesus Christ is.
fulfilling every jot, every tittle, every point of the law for us,
establishing our righteousness for His people. They say this because they will
not hear the true Word of God. They would rather do something
with their own hands rather than trust the Ever-Living One. They
say God loves everybody and is waiting and wanting you to do
this or to do that. What a weak God. What a weak
God man comes up with when left to his own understanding. Look
at verses 28-30. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." Now that's one who has purposed
it, and it so shall come to pass. There's no ifs, there's no maybes,
there's no mights. I give unto them eternal life,
he says. And none shall pluck them out
of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." Turn
over to Isaiah chapter 1, please. Men have been trying to cover
their sins ever since Adam sinned. He tried to cover his own nakedness
with leaves, yet God showed him the only way there shall be a
remission of sin is death. The shedding of the blood. These two children of God had
their nakedness covered by the shedding of blood. God provided
the skins of a slain animal that Adam and Eve would be covered.
This was not their salvation, but a picture of it. A picture
of the only blood that would satisfy the justice of God. In
a short time, we're going to come to this table right before
me, a table of remembrance. It is not a table that saves
anyone by doing what we're going to do, does not save, it doesn't
add to or take away anything of our salvation. But it points
us to the One who did save us. It points us to what He did.
It reminds us that everything of our flesh is worth nothing,
but what our Lord and Savior did is everything. So was the shedding of blood
for that slain animal. It covered their sins. The blood
of Christ covers the sins of His people. But as men do, those after Him,
after Adam, would not hear. The law given, the sacrificial
law, was to point away to the true and pure and sinless sacrifice. Yet men would not hear it. They would turn even their sacrifices
into an abomination of God. Are you with me in Isaiah? Chapter
1, verse 11. To what purpose is the multitude
of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I am full of burnt
offerings and of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight
not in the blood of bullocks, or of the lambs, or of the he-goats.
When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at
your hand to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an abomination unto
me. The new moons and the Sabbaths,
the calling of the assemblies, I cannot away with it. It is
iniquity, even the solemn meeting. For your new moons and your appointed
feasts, my soul hateth. They are a trouble unto me. I
am weary to bear them. And when you spread forth your
hands, I will hide mine eyes from you. Yea, when you make
many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.
Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings
from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do
well. Seek judgment. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead the
widow. Plead for the widow. Come now
and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be
red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing
and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. But if ye refuse
and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword, for a mouth of
the Lord hath spoken it." That's the natural man. We take
the things of God and we will subvert it to ourselves. Can you imagine what men would
do if they ever found a piece of something that they think
is part of the Ark? Whoa! We've discovered where
the Ark was! There's people out there looking
for it all over the place. They really are. I actually saw an
article on this sometime back where they think because the way the dirt goes
like this, and then it goes like this, and it goes a ways, and
it comes up down here. Never mind that it's too small
for what the ark is supposed to be. It still looks like something
sat there, doesn't it? People are flocking to that place
to worship it. And it's not even the same size
as what the ark is supposed to be. Imagine if they found a board
or something. They would turn it into something
to worship. This is why God tells us there shall be no likeness
of the image of Christ. That hippie, that guy with the
long hair that everybody pretends is Jesus. Look at the people
who worship that. Look at what they did with a
piece of toast. It's easy for us to laugh at
now. But have any of us fallen into
that same, same trap? Making a God of our own imagination
rather than the God that is spoken of in the Word. Oh, what men will do rather than
hear the truth. Folks, there is not one of us
who were not in the very same camp at one time. It was not
until the day of mercy and love that we too heard the gospel
news, the doctrine, the teachings of Christ. In Romans 9, 15, for
he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then
it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth. It is
not of him who exercises his will. It is not of him who says,
it's my will to follow Jesus. It's not of him who runneth,
one who works for it. I've earned, my Lord and Savior,
look at all the good things I do. No, it is of God that showeth
mercy is what the Word of God says. Do you hear the Word of
God? Turn to John chapter 2 and I'll
try to bring this to a close. 2 John. That's those three small
epistles right before Jude, right before Revelations. If we hear God, if our ears are
open, the ears of our heart are open to the Word of God as our
Lord and Savior is portrayed right here, this book, all about
Him. It's only because of Him. It's only because of what He
has done. God Almighty is holy, folks. So holy that He cannot
even look upon sin, let alone be in the presence of it. He cannot look upon us unless
we have a mediator. One who has gone between us and
Him. All blessings come to us because
of Christ and through Christ. No one comes unto the Father
but by Me, saith the Lord." The question is, do you hear it?
Not with just the ears of the flesh, but do you hear it with
the heart? Does the Father, and does the Son, and does the Spirit
abide in you? Well, the answer is very simple.
Look at verse 9-11. 2 John. Verse 9, Whosoever transgresseth
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any
unto you, and bring not this doctrine, Receive him not into
your house, neither bid him God's speed. For he that biddeth him
God's speed is a partaker of his evil deeds." You want to
go down here to the church down here because it's real big? Because they have a band instead
of a recording like us? Or because they help the poor
in ways that we don't hear and rescue? Well, they don't preach about
the sovereign God that we read about in Scriptures. And if you
worship with them, then you're just as evil as they are. Do
you hear God's Word? God humbled Himself and became
a man. Do you hear? His name shall be
called Jesus. Do you hear? The sinless blood of the Son
of God shall purge, wash away the sins of His people, do you hear?
There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus
the Lord, do you hear? I have loved you with an everlasting
love, sayeth the Lord, do you hear? The grave could not hold Him.
He lives ever to make intercession for those for whom He died. Do
you hear? 2 Corinthians 5.21 For He, God
the Father, hath made Him, God the Son, to be sin for us, His
people, His chosen, His predestinated. He who knew no sin, that we might
be made righteous of God in Him. Do you hear the Word of God? Our Lord said this, He says,
My sheep hear My voice. Do you hear? We've been doing a series of
messages from 1 Timothy. Turn over there, if you would,
please. 1 Timothy. We've been going through
and expounding from Scripture the things that are of Christ. And we've come to verse 14. 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 14, And the grace
of our Lord was exceeding abundant, with faith and love, which is
in Christ Jesus, that is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. That Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I am chief, Paul says. How be
it for this cause I obtain mercy that in me first Jesus Christ
might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on Him to everlasting life. And what I want you to
hear is this. Now unto the King Eternal. Our Lord and Savior is King Eternal. He's not going to go away tomorrow,
He's here forever. And He has chosen a people unto
Himself, God's children, to be with Him forever. And by His mercy and grace, He
has called us out of that darkness that all mankind has walked in.
And only because of His love and grace do we hear the Word
of God. Now unto the King Eternal, Immortal,
Invisible, and only Wise God, be honor and glory forever. Amen. All the glory goes to our Savior. You want to go to one of these
other churches, the first thing I ask you to listen for is, do they
glorify the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, or do they glorify
men? That's how you tell the difference
between one of God's preachers. If they weren't a son of God,
they'll stand up there and they'll glorify what men do. A true man
of God will give God the glory for everything. including the
hairs on our head, right Rick? Stand if you would.