Would you look with me this morning
at the Gospel of John, chapter 7, or at least listen very carefully
as I speak to you from God's Word? How different is the Christ
of Scripture than the Jesus being preached today? How different
is the true Gospel than the counterfeit one? today. The true Christ of
Scripture was despised and rejected, was hated by nearly everyone
except those he chose to know him, to love him, to see his
glory. But the Jesus today is received
by anyone and everyone and hated by no one. Why is that? Is it because there has been
great revival through the land? No. Because it is, as the Lord
warned and as the Apostle Paul said, there would come another
Jesus. They would preach another Jesus
and another gospel. You see, scripture says in Hebrews
13.8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The same Christ today reigns
and rules, is the one who walked this earth and was hated and
rejected. He's the same, and mankind is
the same. If Jesus Christ came at this
time, at this point in time, if he walked upon this earth
this time as a man, this generation would hate him and reject him
as they did before, especially the religious. How do I know
that? What makes me believe that now?
Because what he said. Because if you merely say what
he said, this generation will hate you and reject the truth. The Lord said that to his disciples.
He said, Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. They hated me, they'll hate you. If they receive me, they'll receive
you. But they hated me, he said, for the truth. And you will become
the enemy of people for telling the truth, just as it was with
Christ and his disciples and all the prophets before him.
In chapter 6, before this chapter 7, he said many things concerning
himself, concerning man, mankind, things like this. He said, No
man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw
him. He said things like this. He
said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. He said
things like this. No man can come. And from that
time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with
him. And before that they said, These are hard sayings. Who can
hear them? Because what he said caused everyone
except those he had chosen. to walk away angry and to want
him dead. Before that, he said some things
concerning the Sabbath day. Those strict Sabbatarians, those
who kept the Sabbath day or thought they did, law keepers, he broke
the Sabbath day and said some things about the Sabbath. And
it made them all mad and want to kill him. Here in chapter
7 it says, beginning with verse 1, After these things Jesus walked
in Galilee, for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews
sought to kill him. The religious people sought to
kill him. After these things, that is,
after what he said. And at one place they said, For
a good work we stone thee not. but because thou being a man
makest thyself God." You're just a man. Well, you're just Jesus.
You're in our hands to do it as we please. You can only do
what we let you do. You're just a man. You're not
God. You're not on the throne. You're
not reigning and ruling. We're not in your hands. You're
in our hands. You're just a man. But you call
yourself God. And so they took up stones to
kill him because they didn't like this talk about his sovereignty. And man is no different today.
Men will receive all this talk of Jesus as a healer, a friend,
a provider, but away with any talk of a sovereign Lord on a
throne, doing according to His will, not man's, His will. The one who has all power, he
said in John 17, over all flesh to give eternal life to as many
as God gave him, not as many as will let him. The one who
has the keys of hell and death at his side, that is, meaning
he is the one who sends men to hell, who damns as well as saves. That's what scripture says about
Jesus Christ, people. Has the keys of hell and death.
You have any keys in your pocket? That means you open and no man
can shut. You shut and lock it and no man
can open. You have the power. It's in your
power. We don't have the keys. He has
them. Somebody comes in your house,
you must unlock that door. He has the keys. He is the one
who does the accepting and rejecting. He's not up for our acceptance. We are the ones on trial. Well,
the Jews heard him say these things about himself, that he
was God, and they wanted to kill him, the
religious people. They wanted to kill him. And
man hasn't changed. It's the same today. Just as Christ is the same. Well,
it says in verse 2, "...the Jews' feast of Tabernacles was at hand."
Stop right there. It says, "...the Jews' feast
of Tabernacles." This was taken from Leviticus chapter 23. Yes,
Leviticus chapter 23, in which it says in every verse, that
this feast of the tabernacles was unto the Lord. It was unto
the Lord. Unto the Lord. Every verse says,
before the Lord. Unto the Lord. Well, here it
says, the Jews feast. The worship of God at this time
had so degenerated, was so far from what God set forth in his
word. that it was now being called
the Jews' Feast. The worship of God had been replaced
with religion of man. They had rejected the strict
requirements which God set forth in His Word, how to worship Him,
in favor of what they liked, their own traditions and so forth.
The Lord said this four times in Mark chapter 7. Listen to
me. He said, in vain, talking about
these Pharisees and scribes, the leaders of religion, he said,
in vain do they worship me. That is, it's just a show. And
they teach for doctrine, that is, as dogma, the commandments
of men. Not God. Men. Verse 8 in Mark
7, the Lord says, Lay aside the commandments of God. Set aside
the word of God to hold the tradition of men. He went on to say they
reject the commandment of God, the word of God, to keep their
tradition. Well, it's called here the Jews'
Feast. The Jews' Feast. Oh, how many
of these we have today. We have our Easter pageants,
and we have our Christmas pageants, and this and that and the other,
none of which God ordained as ways to worship Him. My, my. How degenerated is religion today,
just as it was then. Man hasn't changed. Verse 3,
it says, ìHis brethren therefore said unto him,î his brethren,
this is talking about his earthly flesh and blood brethren, those
other sons of Mary. Mary had other
children, contrary to what Some say she had other children. And it says, His brethren said
unto him, Leave here, and go up to Judea, that thy disciples
may see the works that thou doest. There is no man that doeth anything
in secret. He himself seeketh to be known openly. If you do
these things, show yourself to the world. Go up. Make a show. And verse 5 says that his brethren
didn't believe on him. If you seek to be known, they
say, show yourself. Go show yourself. Prove yourself.
But he did not seek to be known openly then nor now. Therefore, he did not preach
openly in the streets. The prophecy says that of him,
he shall not cry or lift up his voice in the street. He didn't
go about trying to get people to believe on him. No. Sovereign
King doesn't try to get people to believe him. The Lord said in John 10, I know
my sheep and am known of mine. My sheep hear my voice and follow
me. Do you have a dog? Anyone listening have a dog?
Does he mind you? Does he come when you call? If
you're a good master, he does. If you've trained him, he does.
Well, that's what the Lord of glory is. He's the good shepherd
and his sheep. He's the master of the sheep.
And his sheep, when he calls, they come. Many people heard his voice back
then, didn't they? Many people heard him speak the
Sermon on the Mount other times, yet they ended up walking away,
didn't they? Why is that? Because they were
not his sheep. He said that in John chapter
8, you hear me not. John 10, you don't believe because
you're not my sheep. John 8, he says, he that is of God heareth God's
word. You therefore hear them not because you're not of God. If they were God's children,
they would love God's Son. That's what he said. He said,
but no, you're of your father the devil. Everybody's not God's
children. Christ said that. That's what
made them hate him and kill him, because he said that. But he went about walking, finding
his sheep. The good shepherd left the ninety
and nine and came after the lost sheep in this wilderness, and
he found them. He found them. He finds every
one of them he seeks, like Matthew. He said to Matthew, follow me.
He did. Simon, Andrew, follow me. James, John, follow me. They
dropped everything and followed him. Zacchaeus, come down. Mary, she said, Rabbi. And though most heard the gospel
back then and didn't believe, yet Christ, His sheep heard His
voice and followed Him. because he called them, he chose
them. He said, Did not I choose thee? And there will come a time when
Christ will show himself openly and every eye shall see him.
But he said in verse 6, My time is not yet come. Your time is
always ready. My time is not yet come. Your
time is always ready. The time when Christ will set
himself forth publicly, openly, is not yet come. But man's time
is right now. The most sought after thing of
all things over riches is honor, glory, recognition, position,
and all that. Christ said, How can you believe
which receive glory one of another? My, my. But whoever seeks his
glory, Christ's glory, whoever really wants to know the truth
will know it. Who's getting the glory? That's the question we
need to be asking. This is the Christ of Scripture.
May God reveal Him to you is my prayer. Amen. Okay.