John chapter 12, let's read verses
31 through 36. John 12, 31 through 36. Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world, or Satan, be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men unto me. Now this, he said, signifying
what death he should die. The people answered him, We have
heard out of the law that Christ abided forever. And how sayest
thou the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Then Jesus said unto them, Get
a little while is the light with you. Walk while you have the
light, lest darkness come upon you. He that walketh in darkness
knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe
in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These
things spake Jesus and departed and did hide himself from them."
What weighty, serious, sobering things our Lord just said. Now is the judgment of this world.
Walk while you have the light, just a little while. You have
the light, just a little while. Walk in the light. If you don't,
you'll be in darkness. Now, our Lord said, now is the
judgment of this world. And we looked at that. At Calvary,
at the cross. As Paul said, in Adam all die. But in Christ, all made alive,
all those in Christ, all those who were crucified with Christ,
buried with Christ, risen with Christ, quickened by Spirit,
drawn to Christ by the preaching of the gospel and believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, have life. They have life. They have light.
Life and light in Him. They live. In Christ all live,
all those in Christ. And someone said, but what about
repentance? What about faith? Yes. Yes. You must repent. God commandeth
all men everywhere to repent. You must repent. You must believe.
He says, believe. This is a command. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. But no one will
repent unless God gives them repentance. No one will come
unless God draws them. No one will believe unless God
gives them this blessed gift. Why do we say that? Because it's
so. Why do we say that? Because to God be the glory. If anyone does believe, anyone
does repent, God gave them that. But all men and women are responsible.
Look at Psalm 96. You turn over to Psalm 96. Psalm
96. And let me just quote something
I quote all the time. Paul said in 2 Thessalonians
that Some receive not the love of the truth, that they might
be saved. They receive not the love of
the truth, that they might be saved. Meaning, they reject it. They don't receive it. John 1.12
says, As many as received him, to them gave he the right, the
power to become the sons of God, which were born, not of the will
of flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. If anyone receives
Christ, receives the truth, God gave them that faith. Okay? But
it also means they receive not the love of the truth. It also
means they don't love the truth. They reject it. They hate it. And so did we. And so it says, since they reject
the truth, God sends them strong delusions. that they believe
a lie. The false gospel leaves them
under a false gospel. Blind leaders of the blind. And they have strong delusions.
They have, Paul said, they're zealous, they're moral, like
Saul, he was. Very enthusiastic, devoted, Paul was. He said, I didn't know God. I
didn't know Christ. I didn't know the truth. See,
they're ignorant of the truth. Ignorant of God's righteousness.
Going about to establish their own righteousness. That's what
Scripture said. And God sends them strong delusion
to believe a lie. In other words, if they reject
the truth, reject true preachers of it, God lets them have preachers
that they heap to themselves, having itching ears, prophesy
a smooth thing, and they believe it. And he says, they'll all be damned
who believe not the truth. But we're bound. That's why he
says we're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren,
beloved Lord, foreloved, foreknown, because God has from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. Put your name in the Lamb's Book
of Life. chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit, the Holy Spirit. God said, that's one of my leg.
Christ said, that's one I died for. Sends the Holy Spirit through
the preaching of the truth, the gospel, our gospel, Paul's gospel,
our gospel, the truth. Sends that gospel to you and
says, that's one of mine. And he sets them apart, pulls
them out of false religion like a brand, blood from the burning,
and says, believe the truth. Belief of the truth. He called
you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. The glory. You see His glory. The light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in one place, one face. Jesus Christ. John 96. It says this same thing in Psalm
98, 9. It says in verse 13, Before the Lord he cometh, speaking
of Christ, he cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the
world with righteousness and the people with his truth. He shall judge the world in righteousness. Whose righteousness? His righteousness. That's what
Paul, I just quoted in Romans 10, Paul said, the ignorance
of God's righteousness. Holy, holy, holy, righteous,
the righteous Lord loveth righteousness. And you and I don't have it.
And you and I can't produce it. And no amount of working and
changing can make you righteous. We're righteous in Christ. He
is made in the Lord. How many people understand that?
How many people understand that? You do. Oh, that's why we're bound to
give thanks always. Always giving thanks for sovereign,
electing, choosing grace, revealing grace, calling grace, faith-giving
grace, understanding. We know the Son of God has come
and given us an understanding that we might know Him that is
true and we're in Him that is true. In Him. Of God are you in Him. How many
people know that? How many people care? We do,
don't we? This is that no flesh should
glory in His presence. You'll judge the people. Our
Lord said, now is the world judged at Calvary. At Calvary. I'm actually going to deal with
this a little more in the next message. Righteousness. Acts 17 says, God has appointed
a day when He will judge the world in righteousness by that
man whom He hath ordained, Jesus Christ. In other words, everyone
is going to be judged either standing beside Christ, measured
by Him. You must measure up to the stature
of the fullness, the perfection, the holiness of Jesus Christ.
There are heavens gates won't open for you. You'll be cast
out. You must be just like Jesus Christ. God won't let you in
His Holy Head. Or stand in Him. Stand judged by God in Christ
when He was killed on Calvary's trail. Beside Him, Or in him, what will
it be? Did you ever hide under your
mother's apron when you were a kid? Or a skirt when you were
a little kid? You'd get under there and hide, you know? Remember
that? Where's Paul? Where'd he go? God's people are covered by the
blood of Christ, by the righteousness of Christ. All right, that's
in a nutshell what our Lord is saying there. And I had to say
it again because I love it. It's my salvation. Is that yours?
In Christ. Now is the judgment of this world.
Now the prince of this world cast out. We were under his dominion,
but now Christ came through the preaching of the truth and the
truth has made us free. We're redeemed from the curse
of the law where he took captivity captive. taken us away from Satan,
who has people captive at his will. But God, according to his
will, said, deliver that man, I've found a ransom. I'm going on and on with that,
because I love it. And you do too. All right. Now
he said, if I, verse 32, if I be lifted up from the earth will
draw all men unto me." Now notice this he said signifying what
death he should die. He's talking about being crucified.
Notice the word men is in italics. And you know this, but whenever
a word in the King James is in italics, that means it was not
in the original Hebrew or Greek, and the translators added it
thinking that it helped the meaning or helped it be readable, but
they weren't always correct. Okay? Whatever's added could
be very faulty, couldn't it? But if I be lifted up from the
earth will draw all men unto me. Christ crucified. Are all men and women drawn to
Christ? No. Who is? Well, He already
said in John 6 verse 44, No man can come to me except the Father
which hath sent me draw him. And I, will raise him up at the
last day. This is the Father's will which
hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, in a covenant for the world,
in a covenant of grace, put their names in the Lamb's Book of Life.
He's elect. He chose them. Gave them to Christ,
their covenant head, who came down here to die for them. And
he did it. And he paid for all their sin. And then he sends
the Holy Spirit through this gospel. And it is no gospel that
doesn't preach God's sovereign election. It is no gospel that
doesn't preach God's sovereign love. It is no gospel that preaches
that Christ died for everyone. That's a false gospel. Nobody
said none of that. It is no gospel that preaches
God loves everybody, that some go to hell anyway. That's not
the gospel. That's not Immunoclaus. That's another God, another Jesus,
another gospel, and all who believe that are lost. No man can, no man will, no man
will unless God does the drawing. God... I told myself I wasn't
going to holler today. God said to Isaiah, lift up your
voice, lift it up with strength, didn't He? What I'm doing is,
you know, He... God's truth deserves to be shouted
from the rooftop. It really does. With authority,
if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God, not mealy-mouthed
and poor, won't you tell, poor Jesus, God loves you so much.
Be damned with that. We will be if we believe that
nonsense. That's not God. It's another
God, another Jesus, it's another gospel, and nobody's saved under
that. Millions are following that. Millions are believing
that. We're bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. This little flock,
this little upper room, this little church of Noah's Ark. Once again, Noah was a preacher
of righteousness. And how many people believed
him? Eight. Many are called, but few are
chosen. If you believe the truth, not
only that, but you love the truth. Buddy, if you're a sinner, if
you were dead and trespassed in sin, if you were blind, if
you were deaf, if you were haught, you were lame, you were a leopard,
buddy, you love this gospel. And you can't hear it, you can't
tire of hearing it. And you know that if God hadn't drawn you,
you wouldn't have come. You know that if God hadn't broken your
heart, you'd yet be hardened, hard-hearted and unbelieving
in the truth. You know if God hadn't drawn
you out of false religion, you'd still be in it just like your
mama, just like your dad, just like your brother and sister.
You know that. Told myself, by the grace of
God, on the radio, I'm going to preach this until... I'm going
to preach the truth in such a way, so plain, that I'm either going
to get shot, or somebody's going to come, or somebody's heart's
going to be broken. Somebody's going to come and
say, hey, this is radically different than what we're hearing today.
That's right. They killed Jesus Christ for
this. They killed the prophets for this. They killed the apostles
for this. None of them said God loves you.
None of them said Jesus wants to save you. None of them said
that. They told the truth and they killed them for it. We must proclaim the truth. This
is what breaks proud man. This is what breaks the hard
heart. This is what brings sinners down in the dust. The lofty looks
of man bowed down to where they come to the feet of a holy God
and ask Him, have mercy on my... Hell-bound soul, have mercy on
me through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Have mercy on me. May the righteousness of Christ,
the precious blood of Christ, cover my sin-sick, sin-filled
soul. Have mercy on me, O God, according
to Thy loving kindness. Blot out my transgressions. This
is the only gospel that will do that. Christ and Him crucified. The
people, now look back at our text. The people said, we've
heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever. How sayest thou
the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? They didn't know Him. They didn't
believe Him. They didn't hear Him. Why couldn't
they hear Him? Why didn't they hear what He
said? Why didn't they believe Him? Let me read it to you. Okay? Our Lord says to Simon
John chapter 8, He says, He says, Why is it? Why do you not understand
my speech? Because you cannot hear my word.
He said, He that is of God, heareth God's word. He said, You're therefore
not of God, but you don't hear. He said, My sheep hear my voice.
You hear it, don't you believe it. We're bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved Lord, because God has
from the beginning... Can I keep quoting that? Do you see? Why do you see? God gave you eyes. Opened your
eyes. Do you hear this? Do you love
what you're hearing? Why? Why? There was a day Probably some
of you in here heard this and you didn't like it. You hated
it. Hated it. Wasn't it? Now you love it. Paul did. He hated it. He said,
I hate it that way. I hate it that way. Paul said,
I love my righteousness. I love my works. I love my church
going. I love what I did for God. I
loved it all. Now he says, I hate myself. And everything I ever did was
lost. Dung! For the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. Why do you love it now? God must
love you. Our Lord said in verse 35, Yet
a little while is the light with you. Walk while you have the
light. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon
you. What is light? What is light? Now over and over
in scripture, it speaks about light. Light, light, light, light,
light. We're blind if we have no light. We've got a room in our basement
that has no windows. No windows, a bedroom. We put
one of the preachers in there, I think it was Bruce, and put
him in there. Have you ever slept in a room
where there's no light? I mean, none coming in. You can
sleep like a baby. I for one, if there's any light
coming in the room at all, I wake up. As soon as the sunlight creeps
in a crack in the window, I wake up. That's a good illustration. The world's asleep. The world's
in darkness. What is light? God's Word. No more. The entrance of thy
Word giveth light. Isaiah 8, 20. To the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to
this Word, it's because there's no light in them. No light in
them. All right? Psalm 19 says, the
heavens declare His glory. The firmament showeth His handiwork.
Romans 1 talks about this. The creation of God. In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. And verse 3 says, God
said, number one, Let there be light. And there was light. What did the light do? It showed
His creation. It declared His creation. Heaven declared His glory. The
firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day and the light speaketh,
shall speak. Night unto night. There's no
language or voice where this voice of creation, the light
of God's creation is not clearly seen. Romans 1 says, it's clearly
seen. They're without excuse. And then
Psalm 19 says there's a book. The law of the Lord, the word
of the Lord, the entrance of thy word giveth light. We know
nothing about the character of God. We know nothing about the
ways of God, that is His mind, His will, His purpose. We know
nothing about how to approach God. We know nothing about salvation,
if we need it or don't need it, except through His word. All
right, John 1 says, the Word was made flesh. John 1 says,
light shone in darkness. John 1 says, the light of the
world. And Christ said it, I think it's
24 times in John's gospel alone. Light. He said, I am the light
of the world. Amen. If you want to know anything
or see anything, understand anything, you can only see and know and
understand in light of Jesus Christ. In light of Jesus Christ. The world says, no, God. The
world says, this is foolishness. The world says, no, it all evolved.
The world says, it all came from some ethereal slime. We all were
little maggots. Well, they got that much right.
We're maggots, all right. The world rejects a creator,
the world rejects a judge, the world rejects guilt. We don't
have any guilt. The world rejects Christ's need
for a substitute, the need for a blood sacrifice, the need that's
old-fashioned, that's archaic, that's bloody religion. God's
not that holy, man's not that sinful. We don't need somebody
to die for us. They're rejecting Jesus Christ. He's the one that said that.
He's the one that said that. The only way. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. How's that? A sacrifice. A blood atonement. He's the Lamb,
you see. He's the Lamb. No one gets out
of Egypt alive but by the Lamb. by the blood of a lamb. You understand
that? You believe that? You're nodding
your head like you do. Why? Because God hath revealed this
unto us. You must be the Israel of God. Can I quote it again? We're bound
to give thanks always to God for you. Walk while you have
the light. That's an ominous thing. And
while you have the light, darkness will come upon you. Romans 1,
I was going to have us turn over there and see this, but it says,
God gave them over. God gave them up. God gave them
up. God gave them up. Look at our
society. It's a society, a reprobate society,
given up. That doesn't mean God tried all
He could and they wouldn't cooperate so He just gave up. That's not
what that means. It means they have the truth,
they have the Word, they have the light of creation, but reject
it. Thumbs down, reject it. They will not have this man reign
over them. So God says, okay. And He leaves them alone. And they're people that sit under
the sound of the preaching. And here, let's sit under the
sound of the gospel time and time and time again, year after
year after year after year. The light of the knowledge and
the glory of God is preached from this place. The light of
God, the light of His Word, the light of the truth, the light
of the gospel. They sit and they sit and they sit and they sleep
and they're in darkness and they don't believe and they don't
confess Christ. And there might come a time when God says, okay,
it's over. Leave them alone. God hardens
hearts. Look at it. John 12 says in verse
37, Though he had done many miracles before them, yet they believed
not on him. How much gospel has been preached
here? How much glory has been seen? How many gospel messages
have been preached here? So many miracles, yet the Lord
believed not on him, that the saying of Isaiah the prophet,
in Isaiah 6, might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath
believed thy report? To whom hath the arm of the Lord
been revealed? Therefore, they could not believe.
Isaiah said it again. God 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. These things said Isaiah when he saw His glory
and spake of Him." Now God says, leave them alone. God says to
His Holy Spirit, don't strive with them. Don't open their eyes. Leave them asleep. Let them stay
there. Leave them in darkness. Don't open their heart, they're
out. Don't break their heart. Don't do it. Leave them alone. And then finally, they're gone. No life anymore. That's why the scripture says
today is the day of salvation. If you will hear his voice, Harden
not your heart, as in the day of provocation. Many years did
they provoke him in the wilderness. And he finally said, okay, today
is the day of salvation. Walk in the light while you have
the light. Believe. believe while the gospel is being
preached. Verse 42 and 43. Nevertheless,
among the chief rulers, also many believed on him. Did they? Read on. Because of the Pharisees,
they did not confess him. What did the Lord say about that? If you confess me not before
me, and I won't confess you before the angel." That's what he said.
If you don't confess me, go into all the world and preach the
gospel. He that believeth and is baptized, confessing, cry
publicly, shall be saved. He that doesn't, won't be. He
said, if you're ashamed of me, I'll be ashamed of you. If you
don't confess me, I reject you. Why did they not confess him?
Look at verse 42. Verse 42, they'd be put out of
the synagogue, they'd be put out of their, they would lose
their friends, they would lose their influence, they would lose
their advantages, they would lose worldly contact, they would
lose all these people that they're so fond of. They'd lose, because
they love the praise of men, verse 43, then the praise of
God. Are you telling me these people
believe Christ? They love the praise of men? You know, you only love, you
only follow, believe someone that you love. You only defend
those you love. You only talk to those you love. You only talk
about those you love. If you don't talk about the Lord,
you don't know the Lord. If you don't tell other people
what you believe, you don't believe it. We've got some in this room
that are very zealous for the truth of the gospel. They tell
their family. They tell their loved ones. They don't justify
their family before God. They don't defend their family
against the truth. They defend the truth against their family. And they tell them about the
truth. And they don't make excuses for their family that don't know
the gospel. They don't. And they tell people about the
gospel. They want people to come hear this gospel. They believe
this gospel. They believe that if you don't
know Christ, you're lost. That this is the truth. If you
don't know this, you're lost. They believe that. And so they
tell people. You don't really believe what
you don't talk about. If Christ is not your life, you
don't have life. We're ashamed of him. We love
the praise of men. We love the world. Christ said,
anybody love anyone more than me, you're not my son. That's
what he said. Fact. Oh Lord, deliver me. Deliver me. Christ stood up,
verse 44, cried out, and I'll not try to imitate him here.
They said He hollered. When you cry, cry aloud and spare
not. He shouted this out, John, didn't
He? He stood and cried and no man
ever spoke like He did. He stood up somewhere and He
cried with a loud cry. He that believeth on Me, believeth
not on Me, but on Him that sent Me. What does that mean? You
believe that I am, that I am, that I am God. And all I say
is God's Word and the truth. And he that seeth me seeth God,
seeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world.
He that believeth on Christ sees the light. And that shows everything
else is darkness. Really. And you don't love darkness. That's the world. You remember
there was only one window in that ark, right? One window.
If anybody wanted to see outside, they'd go to that window. Right? Noah's wife, sons, daughters,
they wanted to see things as they are. That's the only source
of light. What would they see? If they
went up to that window mentally, what did they see? Looking out
on this world, what did they see? Death! Destruction. Right? Christ is one that said
it. Peter, James, John, all of them,
Paul, these apostles all just repeated what he said. Get in
the ark. This place is going down. And
all the religion and all the people in it. It's one way. He said, Verse 47, If any man
hear my word, and believe not, I judge him not. I came not to
judge the world, but to save the world. Now, you know good
and well that doesn't mean Christ said, I came to try to save everybody.
No, He never said anything of that sort. What he's saying is,
I came into the world not for judgment at this time. Christ
came the first time to save a people out of every tribe, kindred,
nation, and tongue under heaven. The world. God sent Christ because
He loved the world. That is, a people out of the
world. And gave them to Christ, Jew and Gentile. And Christ came
to save them the first time. When He comes back again, it's
not to save anybody. It's to damn everybody. In verse 48 he says, He that
rejecteth me receiveth not my word, he hath one that judges
him, the word that I have spoken. The same shall judge him in the
last day. God's word. You see that? This
is the judge. It's not sincerity. It's not
morality. It's not doing the best you can. It's not, well, they're just
ignorant. They just don't love the truth.
They just don't love that doctor. You can't not know and believe
the truth and not know the truth, not love the truth. You can't.
It's what Christ said. It's who God is. It's who Christ
is. It's what we are. It's the truth.
When the woman, the Syrophoenician woman, the Lord called her a
dog, the Lord ignored her, the Lord said, no, only for the elect
she. And what'd she say? What'd she say to all that? Truth,
Lord, truth. Everything you said is the truth. That's true. That's good. But
I have some... No. Everything you say is truth. And I love it. I believe it.
She said, I just hope I'm one of your dogs. She received the love of the
truth, not even knowing if she was one of God's people. But
that's how you know. They don't reject it. It's out of the mouth of Christ.
And our Lord said, my word's going to judge you. You heard
it. You heard it. And in the last
day, how many gospel messages were heard? How many scriptures
were read? All of them going to condemn
those that don't believe Christ. Going to condemn them. You heard
it. You heard it. He said in verse 49 and 50, I
have not spoken of myself. The Father which sent me, he
gave me commandment what I should say and what I should speak.
He said everything that God gave him to say. And I know that his
commandment is life everlasting. Oh, he gave commandment, John,
to save us, didn't he? God gave commandment to Christ
to go save his people. Did he do it? Well, if he didn't,
he didn't. If it wasn't finished, then it
wasn't. Well, he did. And everything he said is the
absolute truth. And he says, whatever I speak,
therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. Why? Because he's God. He is God. He's the Word of God. In fact, there in the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. The first thing God said
when he spoke, was, let there be light. God spoke, the word
of God came out of the mouth of God and it was light. Christ
said, that's me. In the beginning, you know what
the Bible is about? You know what the first words of the first
verse are in the beginning. You know what the last words
in the Bible are, the very last words, the very last two words
in the Bible are? The end. And you know what Revelation
said? I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. There's a man in Kingsport that
A well-known musician travels all over, a bluegrass player.
If I say his name, some of you know him. Well-known, well-thought
of, you know, liked by, listened to by many, and he heard Gabe
Bridger on the radio, all right? Came, started listening. This
is an intelligent man, an educated man. He teaches music in a college. well-known, well-liked, loved
by so many, followed by many, all right? This is not any dummy
now. This is an educated man, a well-to-do
man with many friends and much influence and a world following. World. He heard Gabe preach this,
this truth. Gabe preaches this, nothing more,
nothing less, all right? And that man came after a little
while and said, it didn't take long. He said, my eyes have been
open. He said, I want to confess the
Lord Jesus Christ in baptism. He said, I had no idea that Christ
was in all the Bible. He said, I had no idea. I read
all those stories. Just that's what you said. I
had no idea. I read all those stories and
heard all those stories. I thought I knew God and I thought
I knew Christ. I had no idea that Christ is
all and in all. He said, I got to confess him.
This is the truth. And now he's counted the cost
and he stands to lose for it. Lose? What would it profit a man to
gain the whole world and lose his soul? But no, if any man
hath left father or mother, houses or land or fame or fortune for
my sake, says he gains everything. Everything. Today is the day of salvation. All right.