Good morning. A few people we
need to remember in prayer. Think about our sister, Polly,
injured, severely injured her hand at work. And she's home
and has to keep it elevated. And she's due to see a surgeon
tomorrow, isn't she? Let's remember her very, very
painful, very serious injury to her hand. Brother Todd Nybert
has been in the hospital with a combination of pneumonia and
something else that he's had a problem with in the past. We remember him. He's not feeling
very well at all. You know, he's been a sick man
for years. Brother Dale Simpson also was
put in the hospital with pneumonia on top of his other So let's
remember them and others that we don't know. But I've asked
Brother John, if he could lead us in prayer. Very much gracious, Heavenly Father,
we thank You, Lord, for bringing us here this morning. We pray,
Lord, that you put on our preacher's heart your words for this day.
Lord, we pray for these ones that he mentioned. We pray for
others, Lord, that are sick. We know not of them. You know
each one, Lord. We pray that you'll deal with
each one according to your will, Lord. Lord, we just ask for your blessing
this day on your word, Lord. Lord, the ones that may be traveling
or whatever, you know each one, Lord. Lord, whenever we ask,
we ask according to the flesh. You know all things. You know
what's right. Lord, we just pray that your will has done everything,
Lord. We thank you, Lord. We ask all
things in the name of Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you. John chapter 7. John
7. Read with me the first nine verses. I know I sent many of you the
bulletin, but the text and the messages changed
on Friday. The message didn't change, but
the text. And Lord willing, Wednesday night,
we'll finish up 1 Peter chapter 5, God of all grace. But this
morning, look at John 7. Let's read the first nine verses. After these things, Jesus walked
in Galilee, for he would not walk in Jewry or in or around
Judea, Jerusalem, because The Jews sought to kill him. Now
the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand. His brethren, his
earthly family, born of Joseph and Mary, they said unto him,
therefore said unto him, he wouldn't go to Jerusalem, and they said
unto him, depart hence, leave here, and go into Judea, that
thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. There
is no man that doeth anything secret, and he himself seeketh
to be known openly. If thou doest these things, show
thyself to the world. For neither did his brethren
believe in him. And then Jesus said unto them,
My time is not yet come. But your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but
me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof
are evil. Go ye up, you go up unto this
feast. I go not up yet unto this feast,
for my time is not yet full come. And when he had said these words
unto them, he abode still in Galilee. Now, the Lord used this word
world, and they used the word world, and this is another clear
example of how the word world does not mean every single person
in the world, does it? They said, show yourself to the
world. They knew he couldn't be seen
by every person in the world. What he was saying was, there
are people in Jerusalem out of every nation and tongue under
heaven. And God did save thousands of
them at Pentecost in Jerusalem. And then he said, the world hated
me. Now, every person in the world
did hate him. He had some disciples right then
that did not hate him. They loved him because he first
loved them. So, here's another clear example. John 3, 16 does not mean every
person in the world, does it? All right? So that's something
to consider there. But all men, by nature, All men,
you and I included, by nature, hate God, hate the truth. Paul wrote that in Romans 1 and
Romans 3 very clearly. Our Lord said it Himself in Psalm
14. You look down and see if there
are any. All by nature do hate God, the true God, hate the truth,
because men and women and young people love sin. They love themselves. And this underscores what our
Lord is saying here, underscores the need to be born again. This is absolute proof that man
must be given a new nature to love God. Some have. And what
this, again, is another evident proof, another clear evidence
of those who have been chosen of God, those who have been born
of God, those who are His people, they love Him. Others do not.
Not even his earthly family. Not even his blood kin, so to
speak. They didn't believe him. And
no one will. And if you do... You see, this
is to the praise. The gospel, salvation, from first
to last, is to the praise of the glory of his grace. Of his
sovereign, electing, choosing grace. Here it is, who maketh
thee to differ? Nobody in the world would love
God unless God first loved them and chose them and called them. All right, verse 1 says, After
these things, Jesus walked in Galilee. He would not walk in
Judah because the Jews sought to kill him. After these things,
after all was said and done, After all the miracles, after
all the benevolent acts of kindness He showed, after offending so
many people, after all these things, after all that He said,
He said many things, didn't He? And He said many hard things,
or that's what the people called them, hard things. After all
these things. After that, many walked no more
with Him. Many went back, it says. What
did they go back to? They were supposed to be his
disciples. What did they go back to? They're
walking no more with him. They're not believing him. They're
not looking at the world, because that's what they were of. They
were of the world. If they had been of us, John
said, they would no doubt have continued with that. But they
were not of us. They went back to the world.
They walked no more with him. After many things he said, they
found them hard things and they walked no more with him. Well,
he did not walk in Jerusalem, but he walked in Galilee. You remember we started looking
at this, how the Lord says he went down to Galilee. He was at that wedding feast
and he had to go down a long journey to Galilee. Remember
that? How he passed by Magdala? And he went to Galilee. What's
Galilee? It's a no place. It's a nowhere. Nobody lives there. Nothing good
came out of Galilee. Just a bunch of poor fishermen
is all there was. But that's where he went. And
that's where he stayed. And that's where he walked. In
fact, the Scriptures call it his city. That's who he came
for, the poor, had the Gospel preached unto him. The poor in
spirit, the nobodies, the nothings. He hides himself. You see, he
didn't walk in Jewry in Jerusalem. He walked in Galilee with his
chosen poor people. The Jews, verse 1, sought to
kill him. Who are the Jews? They are the
sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Believers in the Bible. Believers
in Moses. Keepers of the law. Strict Sabbatarians. Strict law keepers. They loved
the law and they loved God. No, they didn't. They hated Jesus
Christ. He is God. Are any Jews left
today? Huh. These Jews were religious. They
were moral. They were law-keeping. They were
Sunday go to meet, Saturday keeping people. Good church-going people. And they're still alive today. Dead and sinned. There are the
Southern Baptists, there are the German Baptists, there are
the Free Will Baptists, there are the Methodists, Catholics,
Presbyterians, Pentecostals. Good church-going fathers and
mothers and good citizens and all that. Like Scott said to
a man one time who was talking about his uncle, I believe it
was, a man was talking about his uncle and said, he's a good
man, he's a good father, good this and good that. Scott said,
there's one big problem. He said, what's that? Brother
Scott said, he hates God. And that's a fact. And so did
you. Huh? This is the test. So did
you. But God. But God. The Jews' Feast, verse 2. Look
at it. The Jews' Feast. The Jews' Feast
of Tabernacle. That was not the Jews' Feast
of Tabernacle. It was the Lord's Feast of Tabernacle.
Just like it was the Lord's Passover, but it had degenerated and now
it is called the Jews' Feast. People, what do people, whose
name do people call their churches by today? Their denominations, Lutheran,
Methodist, Wesleyan, Free Will Baptist Church, just blatantly, it's the Lord's Church. And all
that is done in the Lord's church is unto the Lord, is to be unto
the Lord. This is the Lord's day. This
is the Lord's house. These are the Lord's people. This is all about the worship
of the Lord. Now, they said so. They said
this, but their feasts were not unto the Lord. It was for themselves. The Jews' feast. It was a big...
See, if this doesn't ring true, their big feasts were not to
worship God, though they said they were. They were not to worship
God, but to socialize. It was the Jews' feast. In other words, family fun time. That's in that religion. But
His brethren, verse 3, His brethren said unto Him, Depart him. I'm just faithfully dealing with
it. And if this doesn't apply now,
we don't need to look at it. Oh, it's the same. Got nothing changed. God has
a people. They're not in the majority. They're in the minority. God
has a people. They're not found in mainstream orthodox religion,
but they're without the camp. Hebrews 13 says, Let us go therefore
unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. That's what it
said. And to find Christ, you had to
go to Galilee, amongst a bunch of poor sinners, not where all
the vast crowd of religious people were. Verse 3, his brethren,
that's his earthly brethren, said, leave here and go to Judea,
that your disciples, everybody believes in you, everybody wondering
where Jesus is, your disciples, that they may
see the works that thou doest. Leave him. Matthew 13. Go over
there and we'll see who this is talking about. Matthew 13.
This is talking about his supposed blood kin, those brothers and
sisters that were born of Joseph and Mary, which Catholicism vehemently
denies. But here it is. Mary had at least
six other children. Look at it. Matthew 13, verse
55. Is not this the carpenter's son,
they said, the Jews said that? Is not his mother, called Mary,
and his brethren, James, Joseph, and Simon, and Judas, or Jude,
and his sisters? Are they not all with us? That's
at least two, isn't it? Probably three, probably more.
They didn't even list, didn't name women by name, very few. Wentz then had this, the word
man is in italics because they help him with this name, this
fellow, all these things, and they were offended in him. Didn't our Lord just say that?
Does this offend you? It did. Everything he said, everything
he said about himself, about salvation, offended him. And
he said unto them, a prophet is not without honor, saving
his own country and in his own house, his own household. This is a
clear prophecy, a fulfillment of prophecy. And Psalm 69 is
one of the Psalms of the cross. Listen as I quote this to you.
Psalm 69 is one of the Psalms of the cross. It's a clear Christ
could have quoted every word from Psalm 69 from the cross,
Psalm 22. And in Psalm 69, verse 8, he
says, I am become a stranger unto my
brethren and an alien unto my mother's children. My own kin doesn't even know
me. None do, none will, unless He
reveals Himself. Isn't that? This is such an undeniable
proof of this, that we must be born again at a Jews' feast.
Now, verse 3, they didn't believe on it. They said to go up to
Jerusalem. Verse 4, there's no man that
doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeks to be known
openly. They're saying if you want to be known, if you want
others to believe in you, you've got to go where the people are.
You've got to go where the crowd is. You've got to prove yourself
to them. You've got to make yourself known to everybody. You want
people to believe you, don't you? That's why you're here,
isn't it? To try to get people to believe you and follow you? No, it is not. No, it is not. Verse 5, neither
did his brethren believe in him. They didn't believe in him. They
saw what he did. They heard his voice, didn't
they? No one saw more than they did
for 30 some years. They didn't believe in him. Seeing miracles, seeing signs
won't save you. Hearing with these ears, O Savior,
salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is a sovereign act
of God according to the working of His mighty power. Salvation
is His choice. Salvation is Him revealing Himself
in a supernatural way. Salvation is to be born of God.
Salvation is not... You're not born of blood. Remember
John 1, verse 13? Not of bloods. Not of the will
of man. Not of the will of the flesh. None were clearer examples of
that than his blood kin. They didn't believe him. They
didn't believe him. You'd think if anybody would,
they wouldn't. And it's proof of what our Lord
said. Absolute proof. What advantage, though, doth
the Jew have? Paul asked that in Romans 3. What advantage doth the Jew have? Many advantages, he said. The
Jews didn't believe. They hated him. They sought to
kill him. What advantage, then, did the Jews have? Many. They
were committed to the oracles of God, the prophecies, the word
of God. The prophets came to them. They
heard the prophets of God. And it goes on to say in Romans
3, that's where he said that. What advantage did the Jews have?
It goes on to say there's none that doeth good. No, not one.
It keeps going on. You've read it, haven't you?
clearly telling us that irreligious in Romans 1, religious in Romans
2, are we any better, any of us any good at all by nature?
None. Salvation is up to the Lord.
It's just a fact. Religious, irreligious, hate,
hate this, hate the truth, hate God. St. Petrus is hard. I didn't say it. The Lord Jesus
Christ did. He said, the world hates me.
Didn't it? But I don't hate Him. Do you?
I don't. Romans 3 talks about the way
of peace they don't know, that none seek after God. Well, I
do. I know the way of peace. It says, none calleth on God.
I do. The way of peace I know. I don't hate God. I love God.
All things work together for good to them that love God. I
love God. Why? There was a time when I didn't
love God. Rome was one. There was a time when God was
not in any of my thoughts. But here's my salvation. I was
in His thoughts. He loved me, even while I was
yet a sinner. A sinner. Christ died for the
ungodly, not the good, not the religious. A fellow said to a
martyred fellow one time, Are you saved? He said, Yes, I am. He said, How long have you been
saved? He said, All my life. The martyr said, That's too long.
You can't be saved unless you're lost. You can't be alive unless
you're dead. What advantage had the Jew? What
advantage did the Lord's brethren have? What advantage? Oh, my
brethren. Think about it. I want you to
stop and think about the advantages that His earthly brethren had.
They witnessed, they looked at and beheld and heard the perfect,
pure, sinless... They watched Him from a child
in His perfect... He was perfect. Sinless. Pure, loving, kind, merciful,
gracious. That'll save people if you just
be kind to them. No, it won't. Wise. Oh, he was wise. They saw wisdom
in him as a child. Well, they were foolish little
kids, you know, and they saw he's not like us. Understanding. Honest. They never
heard a lie come out of his mouth. Nothing but perfect honesty and
truth and sincerity and compassion and mercy. Never murmured, never
complained, never upset, never agitated, never mad, never angry
at anybody. Never! Ever! Think about this. They had to
say, where did he come from? He never lifted up His clean
hand, a pure heart, never lifted up His hands under vanity or
swore deceitfully. Psalm 24. Never irritable. Never upset. Never unkind. Never impatient. Ever. Ever. Once. Always loving, kind, gentle,
meek, mild, lowly, that they didn't believe it in. Why? Because man is dead. Dead as hell. Depraved. He hates God. He hates holiness.
He really does. Man likes his concept of it. Now this is the sovereign Lord.
This is a clear, clear, clear, could not be a clearer example
of the sovereignty of our Lord in salvation. Could not He have
saved His own flesh and blood? This is a clear example, a clear,
undeniable scripture that tells us He doesn't love everybody. And this is the test, that this
is your God, if this is the God you know and the God you love.
Does this offend you? Now, He did save some of them.
Did you read some of those names? James, Jude, they were two apostles. That's who those men were. Jude,
the other one, not Judas Iscariot, the other one was the Lord's
brother. He was merciful to his own, but
he was no respecter of persons. He didn't love his own flesh
and blood more than other people. He didn't choose them or prefer
them over other people. He saved Mary Magdalene, and
there's no evidence that he saved any of his sisters. Well, you
say that. I have two granddaughters that
I love dearly. No one loves their children more
than I love them. Do you know the advantages that
they have? Their great-grandfather, one of the best, greatest preachers
this generation has ever known. Both of their grandfathers are
preachers, Pastor. Their father is a mighty good
preacher. Their uncles are preachers. Their
aunts, aunts, aunts are believers. They're cousins. But if the Lord doesn't show
sovereign mercy and grace to them, They're going to perish. And he doesn't have to, because
it's my daughter. I hope he does. But if he doesn't,
you know what I'm going to have to say? Like Eli said of his
two boys, it's the Lord. That's who's on the Lord's side. That's who knows the Lord. That's
whose experience who personally receives sovereign mercy and
grace themselves. They know if the Lord hadn't
chosen me, I wouldn't be here. If the Lord hadn't set His love
on me, I wouldn't love Him. If the Lord hadn't revealed His
truth to me, I wouldn't believe it. I wouldn't love it. Salvation
is up to the Lord. To the praise of the glory of
His sovereign grace. I hope he does. I hope. But if
he doesn't, I'm out. The Lord is not seeking to be
known. The Lord is not trying to get people to believe him.
That's what they said to him. In fact, the opposite is true.
The Lord does not seek to be known. Man does not seek to know
God. God is not trying to get people
to seek him, to know him, to believe him. God is not trying
to get people to believe Him, to let Him be God. People are
dead. You hear people all the time
say, God is trying to tell me something. Well, that's the wrong
God. That's a God who can't save you
if He's just trying to tell you something. Now, the God who does
the saving is the one who told the light to be light. Let there
be light. He said, I've spoken it, I will
do it. This is the God of the Bible. The one who speaks, and
it happens, the one who purposely said, I'll do it. The one who
says, I will call my sons, I will say unto them, come, and they
will come. If he doesn't, they won't. But
everyone he calls, they come. This is the God of the Bible. This is the God of the Bible.
He's not seeking to be known, but He has a people who He knew
before the world began and came into this world to find them
and to make Himself known to them. You see, He's a God, remember
this, that hideth Himself. He has hid these things from
the wise and true that revealed them to whom? whom He willed.
Babes. Came to His people to make Himself
known. Oh, look at this. I'm going to
hurry. He said, verse 6, My time is not yet come. Your time is
always ready. The world cannot hate you, but
Me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof
are evil. You go up to the feet. I go not
up yet unto this feet. My time is not yet full come.
And so he stayed right there, he abode in Galilee. My time
is not yet. Yours is always, he said. Now,
our Lord's first coming to this earth was in humiliation. He came to be made sin for us. He came to be made a curse for
us. He came to fulfill the law for
His people. He came to die. He came to be
made a curse, to be put on the cross by God. By God, to be made
a curse for His people, to be made a sin on them, for His people.
By God, for His people. He came to be humiliated. He
came to be put to death as a substitute for God's people. And the next
message is, huh, substitution. Please stay for it. He said, I came not to make myself
known, but to be a substitute for my people. In fact, he was
meek and lowly and hidden in a flesh and all that, but God
knew him and God's people are going to know him too. He came
to die. You remember many people wanted
to make him king, and he hid himself. Why? They wanted him
to be their king. They wanted to let him be their
Lord. He always has been Lord. He was
then Lord. He doesn't try to let them, wanting
them to make Him Lord. He is their Lord. But He came
the first time to be the Lord their righteousness. And He hid
Himself from them. And they wanted, you know, to
make Him king and all that, but He wouldn't do it. He hid Himself.
He came, and several, remember He said to several that He healed,
He said, don't tell them. Don't go tell him who did this.
Remember that? He's not trying to get people
to believe him there. He's going to send his Holy Spirit
out after he does this work on the cross, and he's going to
send him out to all of his elect, and they're all going to know
him, all of them, through the preaching of the gospel. And
he said, your time is always, man is a vainglorious creature.
He's always showing himself, wanting to, flaunting himself,
glorifying himself. Look at me. Pride of life. Look
at me. Look what I've done. And religion
is the greatest offender. Look what we've done for the
Lord. Look at us. Your time is always. But the
Lord's day is coming. And he said before this, he said,
they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven
with his glory. And you know what he said the
world's response will be? Behold, he cometh with clouds,
and every eye shall see him. They also that pierced him out
of every kindred on earth shall wail because of him. Do you not see what great mercy,
what great grace, what great love, what great kindness that
He has shown to you, if right now you receive Him, if right
now you believe Him, if right now you bow to His softened will
and all things, if right now you say, let God be true in every
man of life, if right now you bow the knee and you confess
that He, not you made Him Lord, but He is Lord and He let you
be one of His, that He accepted you. Oh, does this not underscore
Our Lord, in verse 7, said, The world cannot hate you. It doesn't
hate its own. Remember, John said that. Our
Lord said, If you are of the world, the world would love its
own. John said, We're not of the world. They're of the world.
The whole world lies in wickedness. John said, He said, If you are
of the world, the world would love you. They speak of the world,
and the world loves them. False prophets and false gospels,
they love to hear it. It's not offensive to anybody.
But since you're not of God, they hate you. He said, The world
cannot hate you, but me it hateth. Because why? What did he say? Verse 7, I testify of this world
that the works thereof are evil. Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
Hebrews 11 said by preparing that ark, what did he do? Noah,
by preparing the ark, was telling the world how much God loves
them. That's not what that says. It says he condemned the world. Condemned it. Fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. To all that fear Him, they will
hear the message, God loves you. Are you in this ark? God loves
you. The love of God is in Christ. It's nowhere else. It's not outside
of Christ. It's in Christ. And he testified
of the works of this world and everything about it that it is
evil. He called it, this present evil. God doesn't love evil, and therefore
God doesn't love the world in that sense. He said, don't love
the world. Any man who loves the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. All that is in the world, lust
of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of
God. It's of men, he said. And he testified of the works
of this world, that they're evil. What does it say? What a reputation
this is of modern thought, that Jesus never condemned anybody.
Isn't that what they say? Jesus never condemned homosexuals. Jesus never condemned harlots. Jesus never condemned any of
that. That's not what he said. He said, my whole life is a condemnation
of sin. God will judge the world in righteousness
by that man, the perfect righteous man. You've got to be as perfect
as him to get to heaven. Go learn what that means. You
know what it means. You know. He said, I condemn
this world. I testify of it that the works
thereof are evil. But to his people, he lets them
know that he came not for their condemnation. They're condemned
already. That's what John 3, 18 says. They're condemned already. But
God so loved the world, not everyone in it, but a people out of every
kindred, nation and tongue, under heaven, tribe, out of every,
His chosen people. He came for their condemnation. He came to be condemned for them.
He lets them know that, not first. He lets them feel their condemnation
first. He lets them feel their unworthiness
first. He lets them feel that they're no better than anybody
else first. He lets them feel like they ought
to send me to hell. And for everybody that he does
that for convinces them of sin. Then he says, I came for you. I came for you. You're the ones
I came for. Not the righteous, but sinners. So he said, go up. You go up
to the feast. I don't go up yet. My time is
not yet full come. And look at verse 9. This is,
every word is significant. When he said these words, after
he said these words, he abode still in Galilee. Oh my. Our Lord. Oh His sovereignty. Oh His majesty. Oh, his calm, firm, resolute
will and purpose. Later on it says he set his face
like a flint to go to Jerusalem. His disciples didn't want him
to go. They knew they were out to kill him and they would kill
him. But he said, no man takes my life from me. I'm not coming
to try to get people to believe me. I'm coming for my people.
I'm coming to do God's will. This is the will of God. Of everyone
He has given me, I should lose nothing. And my time is not yet. Knowing the will of God, knowing
the purpose of God, knowing the time that was given him is not
yet time, but in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son,
calm, resolute, went straight into the face of his foes and
his danger, knowing full well what was going to happen, but
knowing it was all of God. Knowing that God sent him for
a particular people, set his face like a flint, went all the
way to the cross, I'd love to go on for another hour. Fulfill
God's will and purpose and law on every jot and tittle for His
people. The Redeemer of His people, the
sovereign captain of their salvation, went to that cross. And buddy,
He finished that work. Having obtained eternal redemption
for His people, bowed His head in sovereign majesty. It's over. The job is done. Laid his body
in the ground like they said it would. Three days later, put
his clothes back on and came walking out of there. I told
you. And went right back to heaven
and there he sits right now. And yet, he's still in Galilee.
He still dwells with. Not in Jewry. Not in the midst of the mainstream
religion. No, it's not where he's at. He's
still in Galilee with his poor people. To this man would I look,
the Lord said. To this man would I look. This
is who I look to. This is who I go to. This is
who I say, came to say. This is who I dwell with. This
is who I reveal myself to. This is who I came to say. Heaven
is poor and of a contrite heart and trembling, that my word. That's retained. OK.