Alright, John 11, right after
the Lord healed, raised Lazarus. It says in verse 45 and 46, these
verses caught my attention. It says, Then many of the Jews
which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed
on Him. But some of them went their ways. I went to the Pharisees and told
them what things Jesus had done. Now, that caught my attention. Do I believe on Him? Do you believe on Him? He that believeth on the Son
hath life, everlasting life, eternal life. He that believeth
on the Son. Do I believe on Him? Or do I
hear this and just go my ways? A vital question of it. Now,
seeing is not believing. It says when they'd seen the
things that He had done, they believed on Him. Seeing is not
believing, but hearing is. Romans 10.17 says that, Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord, 10.13, shall be saved. Well, how shall they call on
Him? in whom they have not believed,
and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard,
and how shall they hear without a preacher?" And it goes on to
say, faith cometh by hearing. and hearing by the word of God.
We must hear the word of God. And Peter said, this is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you. It's not just hearing
the Bible, but it's hearing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to them that believe
it. So we must hear His voice. The
Gospel is His voice. The Word is His voice. Okay? We're born again, Peter said,
by the Word of God. The Word of God. Born again.
It is His voice. It's how He speaks to us. Go
back to John chapter 2. Let's just look back a little
bit at some of the things we've already seen. John chapter 2, verse 23. John 2, 23, when He was in Jerusalem
at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in His name
when they saw the miracles which He did. And that's still true
today. Oh, we believe in Jesus. Jesus,
Jesus, Jesus, they believed in Him. But now, verse 24, He did
not commit Himself unto them. He knew what was in them. He
knew all men. Meaning that they just believed
in His miracles. They didn't believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. They didn't cast their soul upon
Him. They didn't trust Him for their
salvation completely on the Lord Jesus Christ. But they believed
in Him. Chapter 3, verse 2, Nicodemus,
this Pharisee, this religious ruler, this Jew, but he was blind
and he's lost, but he said in verse 2, He came to Jesus by
night, said unto him, Rabbi, teacher, and right there you
know he doesn't know who this is, or else he would be bending
his knee and calling on the Lord. He said, teacher, we know that
thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these
miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. So they saw
these miracles. And it says they believed in
him, but no, they weren't true believers. Chapter 4, verse 40. Chapter 4, John 4, verse 40. Now here's salvation. Remember
the woman at the well? How was she saved? She heard
the Lord preach to her, speak to her, reveal Himself to her
through His Word. She heard His voice. Our Lord
said, My sheep hear My voice. He said, The day is coming and
now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and
live. You must hear His voice, the
Gospel, the Word of God. Well, she went running back and
told all these men, I've heard him and I believe him, and look
at verse 40. The Samaritans come unto him,
they came to him, besought him, he would tarry with them, and
he abode there two days. What did he do? He preached to
them. He taught them. And it says,
many more believe because of his own word. Read verse 42. Now, and said unto the woman,
Now we believe, not because you told us, but we've heard him
ourselves. And we know indeed, this is indeed
the Christ, the Savior of the world. Chapter 5, look at this. Chapter 5. Verse 24, our Lord
said this, "...verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth
my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting
life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from
death unto life." So you can't hear His voice unless you have
life. Faith is not the cause of life,
faith is the result of it. You understand? Faith is just
another word for life. You hear, you have ears to hear,
you have eyes to see His glory, have ears to see of faith that
He's given you, because it comes by the preaching of the Word.
The seed, the incorruptible seed is sown by the Spirit of God,
and the Spirit of God, when it's time, when God says it's time,
Life is produced. It's like a child born in the
womb. The child is born, but that child
really doesn't know it has life until it's cast forth out of
the womb. And then finally opens, its eyes
are open, its ears are open, it cries. Life began before the
cry did. Same with this life of faith. The cause of life, it's the evidence
of it. It's the proof of it. It's the
result of it. His Word is life. You must hear
His Word. You say, what about these people?
It says they believed on Him when they saw the thing. And
they heard Him. They were there. Go back to our
text. I was going to show you several. Well, look at John 8. You've got to see this. I had
15 or 20 verses I wanted you to look at, but not time. John
chapter 8, verse 28. We've already looked at these
verses. John 8, 28. Jesus said unto them, when you
have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that I am.
And I do nothing of myself, but as my father hath taught me,
I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me.
The father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things
that please him. As he spake these words, many
believed on him." See that? And he said in John 10 several
times, my sheep hear my voice. And I pray, I hope and pray that
everyone in here would hear his voice, that he would be pleased
to speak life to them. Go back to the text. So John
11, they just heard him. He came, remember? He said there
were Jews all about. A morning with Mary and Martha.
And verse 34, He said, Where have you laid Him? And they said
unto Him, Lord, come and see. And they said, verse 37, Could
not this man, which hath opened the eyes of the blind, have caused
that even this man should not have died? And our Lord groaned.
And they heard everything He said. Now He prayed, He prayed
to, and He said to Martha first. In verse 40, said I not unto
thee, if thou wouldst believe thou shouldst see the glory of
God? Take away the stone. He lifted up his eyes and prayed
to the Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. I know that
thou hearest me always. Everyone heard him. But because
of the people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe
that thou hast sent me. I said this, that they might
hear me. You see that? Faith doesn't come
by miracles. Sight is not. We walk by faith,
not by sight. Faith doesn't come by miracles.
I saw this at this local religious place down the road. It says,
come see what's going on here. Come see what's going on here.
And I'm sure they've got many things going on. What we tell
people is, come, hear the gospel. Come, hear the word. Faith cometh
by hearing. That needs to be labored, doesn't
it? So they not only saw, but they first heard. Like John on
the Isle of Patmos, we said that. That John, he said, I heard the
voice. And I turned to see him that
spake to me, and he saw that great vision of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So he heard first, didn't he? And, you know, seeing is a result
of faith. Didn't our Lord say, verse 40,
said, I not unto thee that if you would believe you would see? If you believe, you would see,
see His glory. See Him, not with these eyes,
but with the eyes of faith. All right? Verse 45. And many of the Jews, and they'd
seen these things which He did, first they heard, they believed
on Him. They believed on him. And I believe
that they did. I believe some of them did. Most
did not. Most did not. Shortly after this,
the whole world is going to be crying, crucify him. Crucify
him. Kill him. But he had his people. He has his people. And they believed
on him. But now verse 45 says, verse
46, but some of them went their ways. They went their ways. They went where? Where'd they
go? Back to their home. Back to their job. Back to their
life, so-called. Back to the world. Back to this.
They heard him. They were interested. They were
curious. They marveled. They were amazed
at what he said, what he did. There's no denying that this
man is special. No denying. And there's no denying. No one in this world can deny
the existence of one in history named Jesus of Nazareth. No one
can deny the words that he spoke. They're written and they've tried
to get rid of them and here they are. You're faced with it. No
one can deny the miracles, the stories that are written and
recorded of marvelous things that he did. No one can deny
these things. The calendar revolves around the existence of this
one. Jesus of Nazareth, B.C. and A.D. No one can deny it. Paul said they've all heard. They've all heard. He said they're
without excuse. But most, many, don't believe
on Him. They go their way. They may come
hear the Bible, they may come hear the Word, they may come
to church, so to speak, and hear something about Jesus and God
and all that, but after it's over, they go their ways. Unmoved. Unconcerned. No broken heart. No faith. No life. And they'll
die in their sins. And God will cast them into outer
darkness someday. What about you? This is the way of God's people. We're going to see in the next
message that this is the life of God's people. When you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, when He creates life in you, He is
your life. He's not a part of your life.
He is your life. And you don't go your ways. It's
like a fellow asked a man one time, he said, what do you do
for a living? He said, well, I'm a plumber
to meet expenses, but Christ is my life. Don't do anything
to make a living. I got to earn some money to pay
my bills, but Christ is my life. In Him I live and move and have
I been. He's my life. The life I now
live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, which loved me
and gave Himself for me. That's a fact. You live on Him,
you feed on Him, you believe Him, you trust Him, you talk
to Him, commune. It's a marriage, a husband and a wife. You commune
together. You talk together. Well, we're poor wives. We're
poor spouses. There are days we go without
giving Him much thought. Not He us. But then He won't
let us, if we're married to Him, He won't let us forget Him. And
He turns us. I may preach on that Wednesday
night, turn oh so Lord, turn us again. Psalm 80 says it three
times. Turn us again, O Lord, and cause
Thy face to shine upon us, and we'll be saved. He doesn't keep
turning us. Where does He turn us to? To
Himself. Look at me. Don't look at Him.
Look at me. Looking unto Jesus. The Son went
their way. It was just controversy. It was
just interesting. They sold out. They went to the
Pharisees. Are you seeking this Jesus? We
know where He's at. On the end of this chapter, the
Pharisees gave the command, verse 57, they gave the commandment,
if anyone knew where he was, that they should show it, that
they might take him. They want to pay. They want to
pay anyone who would sell him. They want to pay anybody, pretty
good money, to sell him out. What do you take? That's what
Judas did. What will a man give in exchange
for his soul? If Jesus is just, you know, interesting, you'll
sell him out for something. They'll give in exchange for
his soul a bowl of pottage like Esau. Give up the birthright.
Not give any thought to God. Not give any thought for his
soul. Not care. They'd care if Jesus lived or died. What do
you give me? I'll sell him out. I'll take
anything. What about you? God's people won't take anything.
They sell everything. This is what our Lord said. He said, sell everything you
have and come and follow me. And that's what they're willing
to do if necessary. Some in this room have done just that, left
everything and everyone. Like Abraham, like Jacob, all
of them, they left their families and home and went where God is,
where the gospel is. That person loves crying. These just went their way. All
right, let's go on. It says here in John 11 verse
47, Then gathered the chief priests and Pharisees a council. and said, what are we going to
do? What do we? This man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all
will believe on him and the Romans will come and take away our place
and our nation. What are we going to do about
this? See, they saw miracles and they
didn't believe. Our Lord one time said, remember the story
of the rich man and Lazarus? Remember that? The Lord told
that story. It's a parable. Lazarus was in glory in the bosom
of Abraham, it says, and the rich man was in hell and being
tormented in the flames said, send Abraham that he might dip
his finger in the water and touch it on the tip of my tongue. I'm
tormented in these flames. And then the man in hell said,
send Lazarus to my brothers that don't come here, that they might
stay out of hell. Send Lazarus to my brothers to
warn them about hell. That won't save you. Salvation is not being saved
from hell, it's being saved from sin. It's to be broken hearted
over sin, your own sin against God. When salvation comes, you'll
think, I deserve to go to hell. That comes before you go there.
But our Lord said to Lazarus, They have Moses and the prophets.
Let them believe them. Let them hear them, the Word
of God. They do hear them, but they don't believe. And the rich
man said, oh, but no, if one that came from the dead would
speak to them. Oh, no, they won't believe, though one rose from
the dead. And many saw Lazarus raised here. In the next chapter,
it says they got together and they wanted to kill Lazarus too.
We've got to put this thing, we've got to quiet it. And they had a council, they've
got a council together, councils of men. He that sits in the heavens
laughs at the councils, the gatherings. Barnard used to say, people,
men and women get together and gang up on God, demand things
of God. They think strength's in numbers.
If all of us get together, He's bound to hear. No, He'll hear
you for one person, Jesus Christ. For one reason, be calling him
in the name of Jesus Christ. For mercy and grace and salvation
in the name of Jesus Christ. Give him thanks in the name of
Jesus Christ. That's the name. That's the one he heard. There
was a Southern Baptist president, convention president one time
years ago that made this statement and it caused a furor all over
the world. He said, God doesn't hear the
Jews. And it caused a furor. And what
he meant by that was true. He meant that they don't believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, so God doesn't hear them. And that's
true. It's true. More men would say things like
that. But in Psalm 2, it says, the kings of the earth set themselves
rulers take counsel together against the Lord, against His
anointing. They take counsel together. All through the scripture
says things like this. In Psalm 62 verse 4, they only
consult or take counsel to cast him down from his excellency.
They delight in lies, bless with their mouths, but curse inwardly. All over the world right now,
religious meetings in the name of God, in the name of Jesus.
They don't believe God. They don't believe God is God.
They're saying and doing what they do in the name of God, but
they're taking His glory to themselves. Talking about man's will, man's
works, exalting, praising man. Oh, it's good to have brother
so-and-so here, brother so-and-so there. This is talking about
man and what he does. We're not here to exalt man.
We're here to exalt the Lord. And they talk about Jesus. Jesus
wants to. Jesus can't. Jesus tried. Jesus
failed. If you'll let Him... That's blasphemy. We're here to talk about the
victorious Lord, the sovereign Lord, the One who came to save
His people from their sin. Those that are dead and trespassed
in sin. Those that are blind, deaf, lame, lepers that only
Jesus Christ can save. They can't save themselves. We're
here to exalt the One who does the saving. Put man in his place
and put God in his rightful place. On the throne and man in the
dust. These councils, these meetings,
these religious gatherings, that's what they do. Listen to this,
in Psalm 83 verse 5 says, "...they've consulted together with one consent,
their confederate against thee." David said. David knew him. David
heard all these people saying what they said, pretending what
they were pretending to do. David knew. He knew God. He knew
the truth. And he knew man. And he said,
I said in my haste, all men are liars. They took counsel. They took
counsel. They said, what are we going
to do if the Romans are going to come and take away our place and our nation? Take away our
place, our position. You know what these Pharisees
were concerned about? Their position of authority. Their position
of rule. Their jobs. What this man is saying, if everybody
believes him, we'll be out of a job. They won't need us. They won't be under our rule.
Oh boy, the sooner the better. And take away our nation. You
know what the Lord says about the nations? Take away our nation. Was the Jewish nation at this
time a noble people? Was it a noble nation? A godly
nation? Was it a godly nation? Let me
read to you what God said about this nation. And the same applies
for this nation. that we live in. Now Isaiah chapter
1 says this, Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity,
a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors, they forsaken
the Lord, they provoke the Holy One of Israel into anger, they've
gone way backward. And he went on to describe them,
said to them, the whole head is sick, the whole heart is I do want you to turn quickly
to Isaiah 45, where the Lord speaks about the nations. Oh man, how can I leave that?
Chapter 40. Let me read it to you while you're
turning. In Isaiah 45. In Isaiah 40, verse
15, listen to this. Listen, I'm quoting to you from
God's Word. Behold, the nations are as a drop of the bucket.
Nations counted as a small dust of the balance. If they're laid
into balance, the Scripture said, they'll be found wanting. Put
them all together. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there were any that he'd understand. See, Catholic God says there's
none. He said if you put them all in the balance of equity
and justice against God's Word, it won't even weigh. It's like the dust. Come far
short of the glory of the nations. The nations. Verse 17 of Isaiah
40 says, "...all nations before Him are as nothing." Now look
at chapter 45. He's talking to His people. Chapter
45 verse 20, "...assemble yourselves and come, draw near together,
ye that are escaped of the nations." You know, all of my The men in
my family served in the armed forces. It's an honorable thing.
I guess I'm a patriot as much as anybody. Men and our family,
and I wish I had. I didn't serve. But the fact
of the matter is, this is a sinful, evil nation, laden with iniquity
like Israel, a seed of corruptors. The whole head is sick. Our society
is sick. There's more religions ever been,
but it's corrupt. Mostly false prophet. We have here no continuing city. This is not our nation. This is not our country. Hebrews
11 says of His people, they look for a country. There is a nation. And it's a nation of Christians,
God's people, the people of God. Christ said of Israel one time,
he said, my kingdom is not of this world. He said, if it was,
my servants would fight. We're not fighting to save this
world or even our nation. We're fighting for another kingdom.
And we're not fighting to save it. We're fighting, hoping that the
Lord might save you and put you in that kingdom. It's up to Him.
Totally up to Him. We're defending His honor. We're
defending the gospel. Set for the defense of the gospel.
We're defending our God's honor. Yes, we are. But He really doesn't
need our defense. Oh, they're going to come and
take away our nation. Look what all has happened to Israel. Why?
No one's endured more Why? They rejected the Lord Jesus
Christ. They still reject him. And they're
just an emblem, proof of God's absolute
sovereignty. And they're an illustration of
God's church that's little in the eyes of the world and small
in number compared to the people of this world. And God says,
you're going to try to put them away, Psalm 2. They're going
to get together against them. And they're not going to take
my people. Try as you may, be surrounded.
They're not going to take my people. Well, go back to our text. Time's
up, but let me just go on down through here. See, all they were
concerned about, they weren't concerned about their souls,
they weren't concerned about the truth. One of them, verse 49, Caiaphas,
the high priest, the same year, said unto them, you know nothing
at all. You don't know what you're talking about. Yet he does. But this is amazing. He's about
to say something, he doesn't know what he's saying. This comes
out of his mouth and he doesn't have a clue what he just said.
And God made him say it. I love this. You want to talk
about free will? This right here. There's so many,
so many that all the Bible refutes this nonsense called free will.
Scripture says, Proverbs 16, 1 says, the preparations of the
heart and the answer of the tongue is of the Lord. In other words, when the Lord
says, say this, you'll say it. Repentance is the gift of God.
Faith is the gift of God. Calling on the Lord is the gift
of God. Call, and you'll call. Come, and you'll come. Speak,
and you'll speak. Live, and you'll live. And even
the enemies of the Lord. Scripture says the King's heart
is in the hands of the Lord. Yes, like the rivers of water,
he turneth it whithersoever he will. Aren't you glad? God's
people are glad. The world hates that, the sovereignty
of God. The absolute sovereignty of God
over all things. They hate that. I love it. That
means that nothing and no one can do anything but what our
God says to do. And it's all according to His
will and according to His purpose and for the good of His people
and the furtherance of His kingdom. And nothing, not hell or high
water, can stop it. God will work and He will let
it. When God speaks, it happens. Where the voice of a king is,
there's power. This man says, God don't know
anything at all. And so he starts talking. He's
the high priest, he has the floor. And verse 50, consider this,
it's expedient for us that one man should die for the people,
that the whole nation perish not. Now this spake he not of
himself. Meaning, he doesn't understand
what he's saying. There's a scripture that says,
the wrath of man shall praise him, and the remainder of wrath
he'll restrain. One time when the Lord was hanging
on the cross, they came by and said many things. There is proof
more than anything of God's absolute will and sovereignty over all
things. Men did what they would do. Men did what their evil wills,
what they wanted to do. They took and crucified the Lord
of glory, but God said they did what he determined before it
would be done. They fulfilled everything that was to happen
to him on the cross. It's almost like one of them
was standing over the side reading the Bible and said, what are
we supposed to do next? We're supposed to part his garments.
Cast lots for His garments. Yeah, that's what the Scripture
says. We're supposed to give Him vinegar to drink when He
says out there. Yeah, that's what the Scripture says. No, they weren't reading it,
but God was in absolute control. Do this, that the Scriptures
might be fulfilled, that it might be known that God is God, that
it might be known that this One is Jesus the Christ who was to
come, who is who He is. Do this. Say this, Caiaphas. This is what the Spirit of God
said. Say this. Verse 51, he's a high priest
that year. He prophesied Jesus should die
for that nation, but not for that nation only, but also he
should gather together in one the children of God that were
scattered abroad. And he's talking about all Isaiah,
I wrote it down, Isaiah 35. Isaiah 49, where it says that
He'll gather together in one. And this wicked pretender, this
high priest, like men today, many are standing up quoting
God's Word and reading it. Most of the Bibles they use are
perverted translations of Scripture. They don't even resemble the
true Word of God. Nevertheless, some are speaking His Word, preaching
His Word, that the truth might be heard
by all, that men might be accountable. To hold men accountable. One
time, our Lord was standing before Pilate, and Pilate said, Are
you the Christ? Our Lord said to him, Thou sayest. In other words, the words of
your mouth are going to condemn you. And every time men and women
say, well, Jesus Christ, I say, oh my God, you said it. One time a man I used to know
and love, a believer, he worked in a body shop. He had a body
shop manager. When I was a teenager, he took
me in and I'd go there after school and he'd teach me things.
He was a zealous, outspoken, believer, and he was working
in that shop one day and some men were taking the Lord's name
and name, just loud, and he walked over to the midst of those men,
and I love this, he said, men, he said, if you stay out of hell,
it'll be only by that name that you're calling right now. He
said, I urge you to call on the name of the Lord, not curse,
call. You reckon they did? Don't think
so, maybe. Don't know. This man said what he said to
fulfill God's word because God commanded, he said, and that
men might be accountable. And he walked no more openly
with among the Jews, but he went into the country. Here it is again. Here he is
again. He went into the country. He left that big city of Jerusalem. He left that crowd of religious
people. Oh, we're waiting on the Christ.
Oh, we believe God. No, you don't. And our Lord left
them. Where did he go? To a city called
Bethlehem. Ephraim. Where's Ephraim? You
know where Ephraim is? You know where Ephraim is, Dan?
I don't either. I had to look it up. We all know
where Jerusalem is, right in the heart. Where's Ephraim? You're
going to have to look and find it. That's where he went. You want to find him? That's
where he is. We just got back from Crow. Anybody
know where Crow is? Anybody? I just went there, and
I still have to have a GPS to find him. But there's a little
group meeting up there in a converted house. And inside that place,
y'all were there. You've been there. It's just
a kind of glory of God. That's where Jesus Christ made.
It's a heavenly place. That's what Ephesians 1 said.
He's made us to sit together in heavenly places. Little places
here and there that the world scoffs at, looks at. He's in
Ephraim. He can't be the Christ. He'd
be right here in Jerusalem where the rest of us could be. That's
not who He meets with. He meets with nobodies, from
nowhere. Sinners. Common people hear Him
gladly. That's who He gathers with. And
that's where you'll find Him. Is that us? I hope that's this
little group. Call us Ephraim, Lord. Call us Capernaum. Call
us Nazareth. Can anything good come out of
Rocky Mountain? Oh, if Christ is here, it can.
Okay.