Do you know that most modern
hymnals have changed that first line from such a worm as I to
such a woman as I? I took the word worm out. And
Amazing Grace saved a wretch like me. They changed that too. Knowing not that they're wretched,
miserable, poor, blind, and naked. How blessed we are if we know
that. That way, that's the only thing that makes grace amazing. John 7, as I say it, I want us
to read between the lines. I want us to, as His disciples,
they're listening to this, and I want us to marvel if we don't hate Him. Although he said here, he said
so much in verse... Now it says the Jews' feast was
at hand. He didn't walk in Jerusalem.
He didn't walk there in Judea. He walked in Galilee. We've seen
that. He kept saying that he was in
Galilee, you know, that's where he did most of his miracles,
and Capernaum, and he spent, that was called his city. That's
where a bunch of poor fishermen, laboring, nobody's from nowhere
that the whole world looked down on. And those were his friends,
those were his disciples. That's who he called, that's
who he came to, that's who he dwelled with all the time, like
Rocky Mount, Virginia, of all places. This ain't New York City,
that's for sure. As far as I know, there's no
gospel in New York City. And our Lord was not in Jerusalem.
He's outside the camp with a bunch of outsiders. Marvel, marvel
at that, that the Lord hadn't left you, that you were not in
the midst of that mess out there. It says the Jews sought to kill
him. And down in verse 7, he said, the world hates me. The Jews hated him. I don't hate you. Do you? I'm ashamed of my love, and that's
why I don't talk about my love. You don't talk about your love
either, do you? You don't go around putting a slogan on your
shirt, how I love Jesus. You don't do that. That's blasphemy.
That's people bragging on themselves. But we do, don't we? Simon, son
of Jonas, lovest thou me more than thee?
Yes, Lord. You know. You know. Why did Simon
know? Because he put that love in him. Simon didn't love him. There
was a time he didn't love him. He didn't care about him. He
didn't even know him. The Jews hated him. He said,
the world hates me. That's what he said, didn't he? Didn't he say that? You know,
that's what Romans 1.30 says. Haters of God. When you tell
people that, that people hate God by nature, they say, oh no,
preacher, what do you mean? I've always loved God. Men love their conception of
God. Men love, Romans 1 talks about their vain imagination,
how they've imagined God to be. And this is what man imagined
God to be, that he just loves everybody, he's just a kind old
father upstairs, he just loves everybody without exception,
and he just wants to save everybody, and just hoping, wishing that
they'll believe on him and let him save them. That's what most
people say about God. That's not the God that's bad. And what they say about man is
he's basically a good creature and his environment, you know,
and he's raised bad and they just need to get this goodness
out of him. He's got faith. He wants to believe
in God. We just have to pull it out of
him. We just have to convince him of it. If he'll make his
decision, if he'll let go and let God, you know, let Jesus
into his heart. That's not in this Bible. That's
not man. That's not God. That's not salvation. Salvation is a holy God who reigns
and rules over every creature on this earth, who purposed everything
that happens on this earth before the world began, who upholds
all things by the word of His power, and everything is in His
hands to do with as He pleases, that nothing is left up to anybody
or anything, not even devils, certainly not man. Everything
is in the hands of the God of the universe, and that God is
Jesus Christ. He's not a helpless, frustrated
old man upstairs. He's not a helpless, frustrated
martyr standing outside anybody's heart's door. He's seated at
the right hand of the majesty on high on the circle of the
earth, everything in his hands. He's coming back someday. Now
wrap it up. That's the God of this Bible.
And the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. They didn't fear Jesus when He
was walking on this earth. They thought He was just a man.
And men don't fear Him now because they think the same thing. He's
just a man. So they call Him Jesus. His disciples
saw Him clearly. Why? How did they know Him? How did they know who He was?
Why did they love Him? Because He revealed Himself to
them. He chose them. He elected them. The world hates sovereign election. Not His disciples. We love sovereign
election. Why do disciples know him? Why
do disciples bow to him? Why do the disciples, are you
with me? Why do the disciples, why do you love the truth of
who God is? Who Christ really is? Why do
you know who God really is? Why do you see the scriptures
as it is and not the way you think it is? Because God chose
you. He said in chapter 6, in the
chapter, he said, have not I chosen you twelve? Oh, if you love God, ask God. All things work together for
them that love God. Well, most people don't. The
God of the Bible. People mad at the God of the
Bible. How could all this happen to
such good creatures? Why do bad things happen to good
people? You got it all wrong. Here's the question. Why would
anything good happen to such bad creatures? That's a fact. But God. See, salvation is by
mercy, not giving what we deserve. Salvation is by grace, completely
given to you. Sovereign mercy. I'll be merciful,
God said. Reserving mercy for thousands
on whom I will. And you know, I'll tell you who
it's for. It's for those who think I don't deserve this. That
Pharisee, speaking of smiting on your breast, that Pharisee
went in the temple. God, here I am. Aren't you glad
to see me? I'm here Sunday morning. I accepted you. I believed you.
I let you in. I've let you be Lord of my life.
I've given up this. I've given up that. I'm not like
that old fellow over there. Well, all he can do is smile
on his face. The publicans over there, he
wouldn't even look up. He'd say one thing, seven words.
God be merciful to me, the sinner. And he went out of that place
justified. That's who Christ came for. That's
who Christ hung on the cross for. That's who God chose because
that's the only person that will marvel that God would save such
a wretch as him. How about you? We're here this morning. Why?
These Jews went to this feast. Turn with me to Leviticus 23.
The Feast. The Feast. What Feast? This is
the Feast of the Tabernacles in Leviticus 23. Look at it with
me. Leviticus 23. What was this Feast
all about? It's the Feast of the Tabernacles.
They were to take branches from trees, palm trees, thick trees. That's oak tree. Oh, there's
so much symbolism. Willows of the brook. That is
a tree planted by the water. You're with me, sister. I see
it in your faith. and rejoice before the Lord always. And they
would make these booths, these little tents that they all dwelt
in around the temple. Okay? They were all in these
little tents made from trees, covered limbs, leaves of the
trees covering them. Are you with me? And for seven days, seven days,
this is what they were to do. Look at verse 36. Seven days
shall you offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. On the eighth day shall be a
holy convocation. Here in John 7, our Lord is on
the eighth day. Brother Ed, on the eighth day,
He's going to stand up and He's going to cry. Read on in verse 37. And made
by fire unto the Lord. a burnt offering, a meat offering,
a sacrifice, a drink offering, everything upon this day. Verse
39, you'll keep the feast unto the Lord seven days. Verse 36, holy convocation. That means a holy, consecrated
meeting unto the Lord. We're offering by fire. Fire,
burnt offering, fire, burnt offering, burnt offering, burnt offering,
fire. You get in your tent in your
little tabernacle and you gather around, are you with me? You
gather around where this burnt offering is being made and you
rejoice to the Lord and you thank the Lord for this burnt offering. And there's no All through the
Gospels, you don't hear of one lamb being sacrificed. Do you? Do you see it anywhere?
I can't. I've searched and studied. Turn
to page Leviticus 23. It says in verse 42, dwell in
these booths, these little tabernacles. You know we dwell in a tabernacle,
a tent. God's folding up His tent. Then
what? Well, those who have been burnt
with the sacrifice and are going to go on to glory, Jerusalem. You know what we're going to
be doing? We're going to have a tabernacle not made with hands.
And you know what we're going to be doing? Gathered around
the burnt offering. Rejoice. that I made the children of Israel
to dwell in booze, tabernacles, tents, when I brought them out
of the land of Egypt. That's what this is all about.
That's what this is all about. That's what this is all about.
That's what we're doing here today. Why do we preach Christ?
He's the burnt offering. Why do we meet here? The Jews,
go back, the Jews were having a feast. That's all they were doing, is
living it up, feasting. Spaghetti dinner. They were probably
charging money. They were charging money. The
first thing the Lord did was went in the temple and cleared
it out. He said this, you've made it a den of thieves. It's
a house of prayer. It's a house of worship. It's
a house to gather to do one thing, see the sacrifice. And they weren't
doing it. They were holding a feast, just
like religion today. Spaghetti dinner, you know. Bake
sale. And our Lord wasn't a part of
it. He wasn't a part of it. And He's not in this mess today.
He is where God's people are gathered around the sacrifice,
around Christ crucified. That's where He is. His brethren look at it, his
brethren, you know he had six, at least six brothers and sisters. You know that Mary had at least
six more children. You go and stand, if I went up
and stood up in that St. Francis of Assisi place and said
that, they'd hang me. She's still the Virgin Mary to
them. No she's not. She was a virgin because he's
the woman seed, born of a virgin, Isaiah 7. She didn't stay a virgin. And she was a sinner saved by
grace, by the one whom God put in her. And she was found in him. Explain that. We've got Marys
in here that know that. Well, his brethren, they didn't
know him either. Verse 5, they didn't believe
on him. And they said, go up to the feast if you want people
to know you. You see that? If you want people,
if you want to be famous, do these things where everybody
can see you. Our Lord, and I hate that term, famous. I know it's
in the Scripture, but not in this sense. Our Lord didn't come
here to be famous. He became infamous. He made himself
of no reputation. He said. He came into a world
that hated him. Why? Because God hates some sinners. There's some people that God
hates. You know who God loves? Those that love His Son. You
know that? Everybody else God hates. Is
that right? Yes, it is. Well, they said,
go up if you want to be known. Our Lord didn't seek to be known.
Our Lord didn't come here to try to get people to believe
on Him. He came here for His own. He came here for His elect. He came here for His people.
And He said, My sheep know Me. They'll know. They're going to
hear My voice and they're going to follow Me. And they're going to love
Me. And they're going to bow to me. And they're going to believe
me. And they're going to hope in me. And all their trust is
going to be in me. And I've come to save them. And
I'll do it. He did it. His people. Now in verse 10,
it says there's much murmuring because of Him. Not among His
disciples. They weren't murmuring. They
were marveling. Marveling. Well, here's something
I want you to see. He had six brothers and sisters,
by Mary that is. Two of them were named Jude and
the other one was named James. I believe he had at least three
sisters and probably three brothers. There's no evidence that the
Lord saved... Jude and James were apostles.
Do you know that? He's earthly bread. There's no
evidence that He saved any of the rest of His family. He's no respecter of persons.
You understand? And there's no family. We're
not saved. We're not born of blood. We're
born of God. And they witnessed Jesus Christ
as the most glorious. They saw Him grow up. They never
heard Him angry. They never heard him lie. All
they saw was beauty. All they saw was glory. All they
saw and heard him say was wonderful, kind, compassion, mercy, grace. He was the most obedient child.
He was a model child to his parents. He served his brothers and sisters
all his day. He served them. Does that remind
you of anybody? Joseph, his brother. And they
didn't believe him. Because that's not what saves.
Observing morality and observing goodness and all, that's not
what saves. It's the sovereign mercy and grace, revealing grace
of God that saves. And He saves whom He will. And
He chooses whom He will. And so He did. And Mary had to say, It's the
Lord, isn't it? I marvel that He saved me, Mary
said. I marvel that He saved Jude and
James. I marvel that He's my Lord. He didn't have to save me. When he went into the temple,
I love this, he hid himself for a while and he was there before
anybody knew it. He was there, observing, watching. And nobody knew him. Now, he's
a public figure. Why didn't people recognize him?
Huh? He was everywhere. Why didn't
they recognize him, Father? Right there he is. He hid himself. He hid himself. His disciples
knew him all along. They knew him. He's not hidden
from them. He's robed in flesh. He looked like most other people,
but they knew him. Then he went into the temple.
I love this. It says about the midst of the
feast, verse 14, he went straight into the temple. First they said,
go up to the temple. He said, no, my hour has not
yet come. It's not mine. Yours is always
ready. You're always ready. They wanted him to go up into
the temple and make himself known and be famous because they were
his brethren and they would have made some money on that. They
would have been famous too. He's our brother. Like some people
talk about Christianity. Oh, I'm a Christian. It does
me business good, you know. Everybody that was a disciple
of Christ back then was killed. You know it? Persecuted. Well, he went into the temple
when it's time. It was his time. And his time to be known, to
be shown, to be revealed, His time, He revealed Himself to
His disciples here and there, here and there. He came for His
own, His disciples, and revealed Himself to them like He has you,
not everybody. And then when He was hanging
on the cross, this was His time for which He came. The fullness
of time, God sent forth His Son, made of woman, made under the
law for this cause, to redeem them that are under the law.
And his time for all to see him was him hanging on Calvary's
tree to look to the burnt sacrifice. That's why he came. That's his
greatest time on earth, okay? But then he went higher than
that. He went from there to the grave and then the Lord He ascended
up on high. He led captivity captive. He
ascended on high where he sat down at the right hand of the
majesty on high. And then the next time everybody
sees him, oh, he's going to be famous all right. Every eye shall see him. Now here's what I want us to
marvel at. Have you seen Him hanging on
that cross? Have you seen His glory hanging
on that cross? Have you? Have you seen why He
came and who He came for and what He did? Why would He do
that? This is His glory. This was His
cause. This was His glory, Sister Tammy. You see this, don't you? You've
seen the sun. And have you seen the sun and
everything else? It's darkness, isn't it? That's His time. And it was a
time of love when He showed you. I passed by you and you were
dead. And I said, live, how? Look into the Son. Look into
Christ. Time of love. See, God loves
those that love His Son, those He's revealed Christ to, those
that know they need a sacrifice, those that know that they need
somebody to die for the rich, like me. We're so blessed. The disciples
are standing over there listening to everything he says. And Simon's
thinking, I'm so thankful. I don't hate him. I'm so thankful.
I was right in the middle of all these people. I was just
like everybody here. Oh, he chose me. He came to where
I was. He revealed himself to me. Oh,
blessed are my eyes. Blessed are my ears. Blessed
is my heart. He revealed himself to me. Is
that you? He's God. He's not just Jesus. If the Lord had let Simon Peter
speak at this time, he'd say, what's wrong with you all? This
is God. Hit the dirt. This is God who's
come down. He shouldn't have. He should
have destroyed us all. But God, He's so merciful, so gracious. And Simon, Peter and Thomas and
James and John and Bartholomew and Thaddeus and all of them
said, Matthew, live for money. Matthew, live for money. But
God came by his table one day and said, Matthew, you're going to die like everybody
else, trying to make money. Stop, Matthew. Follow me. Matthew. Matthew's standing over there.
Thank you. Oh, if you left me alone, I'd be rich, but I'd be
poor. I'd be alive in this world, but
I'd die without God. You see? Are you listening? He's condemning
the whole world here. Condemning the whole world. They
hate God. They hate Christ. Some of them, he brought up the
law. He said, you love the law, don't you? You love Moses' law,
don't you? He said, you don't keep the law?
Now he's really going to make them mad. You don't keep the
law? You Jehovah's Witnesses, you
don't keep the law? You Mormons, you don't keep the
law? You Sabbath-day Adventists, you don't keep the Sabbath. Who is the Sabbath? Somebody
say it. What's that mean? Rest. What do you mean rest? Stop your works. By the deeds
of the law, no flesh will be justified. By works, no man is
saved by grace. None of works lest any man should
boast. It's his work. You see that? You know how blessed you are?
Do you see that all the law says is guilty? Don't holler, preacher. No, open
the windows. Let me holler it loud. Maybe
somebody passing by, there's nothing to them, maybe they'll
hear it. The law. The law. They don't
keep the law, these people. They say they do. And here's
the severity of it. Stephen, you know this. Stephen,
Stephen. Stephen, that's a good name,
isn't it? Stephen, you know this, don't you? If righteousness come
by the law, Christ died in vain. We've got all these poor yet
rebellious people running around with black hats and beards thinking
they're keeping the Levitical law. And I do feel sorry for
them, I do. But what they're saying is, Jesus
and me. His work and mine. It's going
to get me lower. That's what they say. Our Lord
said, you don't keep the law. To offend in one point, guilty
of it all. To think it, you've broke it.
That's what our Lord said. And people hated that. These
religious people, oh, hell, they hated it. What do you think,
man? What's your hope? Hope? Hope? Do you hope in your goodness,
in your works? Do you keep the law? Then what's
your hope? It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not concerned. I have hope. In who? In what? Jesus Christ. It's the
only hope there is. They said, we know you. We know
where you're from. You're from Nazareth. You're from Nazareth. Who is this? It's he that was
with him from the beginning. You see, in the beginning was
the Word. The Word was with God and the
Word was God. All things were made by him.
Without him was not anything made that was made. And the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. God was manifest in the flesh. No, he's not from Nazareth. He's
from heaven. And he kept saying this. I've
come down. And people said, what do you
mean you've come down? And those that are born of God
know that, and the true prophets of God, 1 John 4, say that he's
come in the flesh, that this is God, not just The Son of God,
mind you, but very God of very God. God to be honored and worshiped
just like God the Father, the same, the One. That He's come
in the flesh, that He was God before He came, He was God when
He came here, and He was God when He left, and He'll be the
same yesterday, day, forever. He's God our Savior, Jesus Christ. Hasn't changed. And he said,
look at verse 24, he said, judge righteous judgment. Oh, men don't
understand. Most people just don't understand
that God has appointed a day in which he will judge all men
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. That's
what Paul preached, didn't he, John? Acts 17, Mars Hill. You just don't understand the
unknown God. the holy and righteous God. Stephen,
he said, y'all don't understand the holy and righteous God in
whose hands our breath is and all our way. And we need mercy
from this God. And God has made a day in which
he will judge this world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained,
the man, Christ Jesus. What does that mean? It means
he's the only righteous man who ever lived. The only holy man
who ever lived. The only man God will accept.
The only man approved of God. That everybody else is unacceptable.
Everybody else is rejected. Except those who come to Him
and ask Him to accept them in Him. To cover them in Him. I am naked. I need a covering. God sees everything I think and
do. And I'm guilty. I need a covering. What's that? It's Jesus Christ. His righteousness. In verse 28, I'm going to close.
He cried in the temple and said, You know me. You know where I
came from, Nazareth, but I'm not come of myself. He that sent
me is true, whom ye know not. And I know him, I'm from him,
and he hath sent me." What about you? Do you know him? This is the point I wanted to
make and the thing I want us to leave here rejoicing if we
know him. Why would we know Him? Why? And I may preach Wednesday
night on growing grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Peter's last words. His very
last words. Why, how do we know Him? Well, no man knoweth the Father
but the Son, neither knoweth the Son but the Father, and vice
versa. And no man knows Him save Him
to whom He will reveal Him. He reveals Himself to His people,
those He loves, those He came for. And they know Him. They
know Him. They know where He's from. He's
from glory. He came down. And they know why
He came. Not to try to save anybody. To
save them. And it says that many sought
to lay hands on him. See that verse 30? Many, an old
man laid hands on him. I talked about Thomas laying
hands on him. Thomas would let go. Mary, when
he arose, Mary Magdalene. Any Mary Magdalenes in here? You know who Mary Magdalene was?
The Lord cast out seven devils. You talk about somebody hopeless.
You talk about somebody who knew who saved her. You talk about
somebody who knew they were worthless, a wretch. You talk about somebody
that loved the Lord for choosing her and saving her, Mary Magdalene. And when our Lord rose from the
grave, Sister Bonnie, He revealed Himself first to Mary Magdalene. And it says, She grabbed Him
by the feet and would not let go. He says, Mary, let go. I've got
to go back to the pot. I'm coming back. And I'll never
leave you. He wouldn't let go of those crucified
feet. Those beautiful feet that had
brought her glad tidings of great joy from heaven itself for such
a wretch like her. What about you? What about you? It says many believed on Him.
Did they? About the miracles. It was all about the miracles.
They said when Christ comes will He do more miracles than them?
No, they didn't believe on Him. Here's what it is to believe
on Christ. Here's what it is to believe in Him and on Him,
okay? I gave the illustration of water. You believe in it, it's water.
You believe in it, yeah, it's water. But to believe on it is
to drink it. To believe in Christ, to believe He came to save sinners.
To believe on Him is to believe, I'm a wretched sinner, no good,
I can't save myself. And it's to cast it. Rest. I can't walk, son. I can't get there. I can't take
the first step. Well, just sit down over there
then and see the salvation of the Lord. Just sit still. Just rest. Be seated like Mary
Magdalene at His feet. And listen as He tells you what
He did for you. make you sing. How many people
know the song, Free from the Law, Happy Condition? They ain't
singing that at the Sabbath Day Adventist blessing. They ain't
singing that at the Mormon so-called blessing. Uh-uh. We are. Why?
We know. Free from the law, happy condition,
the Lord Jesus hath bled and there is remission. Cursed by
the law, bruised by the fall, Christ hath redeemed me once
for all. Sinners believe it. Sinners receive
it. Here's the miracle. that God's
people will never get over. The greatest miracle of all that
all of God's people marvel in and glory in, they know that
the Lord Jesus Christ is who He is and why He came. The greatest
miracle of all is us! That He would come for me! That He would reveal Himself
to me! that he would save a wretch like
me. That's a miracle. You're looking
at God's miracle. The greatest miracle of all is
to save sinners that hate him. That's a miracle. Is that you? Oh, let us never lose sight of
that. All right, John, let's sing a closing hymn.