John chapter 10. Our subject
this evening is why don't men believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't men believe on the
Son of God? We're about roughly halfway,
well, not even roughly, we are halfway through our studies in
the Gospel of John. All you've got to do is do a
little bit of math on this. It's 21 chapters. to the Gospel
of John, and we are now halfway through chapter number 10, which
means we're halfway through the book. But as far as the life of the
Lord Jesus is concerned, we are well into the ministry
of our Lord Jesus. In fact, He only has three more
months before he will give his life a ransom for many. In the
verses that we've already studied, he has said that he's the good
shepherd. He's identified himself as being the good shepherd. He
said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. He talked about laying down his
life for the sheep. It's only going to be in just
a matter of 90 days or so before he does that. Actually, if you don't mind writing
some notes in your Bible, I would say to you between chapter 10
and chapter 11, there are about three months that take place. We don't know where our Lord
went. We don't know what He did during
these three months. We know He went to Bethabara
because that is identified toward the end of John chapter 10. And
then at the beginning of John chapter 11, he goes to Bethany. And when he goes to Bethany,
we know that he raises Lazarus from the dead because he was
so fond of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. And the Lord was often
to be found at their house. And Lazarus took sick and died,
and our Lord raised him from the dead. And that takes up pretty
much all of John chapter 11. Then we'll get to John chapter
12, and that begins what most of the writers call the week
of passion. Our Lord's week, wherein this
will be the week that he will suffer, bleed, and die. In chapter
12 of John, he makes his triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem,
which does fulfill Old Testament prophecy. And that takes up a
good bit of John chapter 12, He's also confronted by some
Greeks. Some Greeks are seeking him.
And our Lord has some final words for the Pharisees, which are
really just kind of words of a summarization of what He had
to say to them throughout His ministry. And then He gives chapter
13, 14, 15, 16. Those chapters are spent. with his disciples in the upper
room. Those of you who were here in the Sunday School class Sunday,
you know that in our notes we talked about how most of the
Jewish houses had a large upper room where families could meet
together and visit and so forth. And our Lord had a couple of
his disciples go and look for such a room. And now his disciples
meet with him in 13, 14, 15, and 16. He has the last Passover
with them. And he also implements or institutes
the Lord's Supper. Chapter 17, still the last week
of his life. And of course, this is the night
before his death. And 13, 14, 15, and chapter 16,
the night before his death as well. Chapter 17 is his high
priestly prayer. And then you get into chapter
18. Chapter 18 is his betrayal and his arrest. Chapters 19 and
the next chapter, chapter 20, there's his death and his resurrection. And chapter 21, Our Lord goes
after His disciples who had quit the ministry, and He has some
specific words to say to Simon Peter, and so the book is finished
up there in John chapter 21. So, though we're only about a
halfway through the book of John, we're well past the halfway point
of our Lord's public ministry. He's only gonna have, after this,
three months left of His public ministry. Now, as we focus on
John chapter 10 in verse 22, you'll notice that it says here,
John 10, 22, is that Jerusalem, the feast of the dedication,
and it was winter. Now, you would do well to remember,
and if I could try to emphasize this, kind of teach you a little
bit on this passage of Scripture, that everything from back in
the chapter 7, And the second verse, if you want to look back
there, everything from chapter 7, verse 2, which says, now the
Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. Everything from there
up to chapter 10 and verse number 21 all happened at the Feast
of Tabernacles. If you were here this past Sunday
evening, we talked about from Leviticus chapter 23. We talked about the feasts, the
festivals of Israel, of the Jews. There were seven of them in all.
We know that the Feast of Tabernacles was the last one of the year
because that is the end of the harvest. And our Lord Jesus has
been, this is all the setting is Jerusalem. And so from the
very beginning with the second verse of John chapter 7 all the
way to verse number 21 of John chapter 10, that all happened
during the Feast of Tabernacles. You remember that was a feast
which reminded all of the Jews of the days when their forefathers
lived in tabernacles or booths or tents. during their wilderness
journeys, and God gave them such an abundance of meeting their needs during those
times. Not that He gave them everything that they wanted,
but He gave them everything that they needed, which is what God
does for His people. He gives us everything that we
need. And so they, for eight days, they had this Feast of
the Tabernacles as God gave word to them, gave the law, concerning
this feast to Moses, and then Moses gave it to the children
of Israel. It was a feast that lasted eight
days. It also reminded them that when the Son of God came into
the world, that is, Messiah, he would himself be God tabernacling
in flesh. The word was made flesh. John
1 says, and he dwelt among us, that is, he tabernacled among
us. So all of these things, chapter
7, 8, and 9, and about half of chapter 10 does happen at the
Feast of Tabernacles. Now even though the verse number
22, even though it begins with the word and, We need to understand
there is once again a change of time. And again, if you don't
mind writing in your Bible, there's a two month interval between
verse 21 and 22. About 60 days goes by. You say, well, how do you know
that? We know that because the next
feast that is mentioned, which is in verse 22, the Feast of
the Dedication, that was two months after the Feast of Tabernacles. So we can kind of get a better
grasp of these things when these things happen. John doesn't write as to what
our Lord did during these two months. We don't know where He
went. Some people say He stayed in
Jerusalem. Some say He went somewhere else.
We don't know, so we can't definitively say. And it isn't necessary to
say. The Spirit of God didn't give
us that information. We've got to remember this concerning
all the deeds and the actions of our Lord Jesus Christ. If
all of them were mentioned, In the gospel of John, for instance,
as John will say later in the book, all the books in the world
could know them all. Our Lord was always busy, always
preaching the gospel. He's going here and there performing
miracles and teaching in parables. So He's always busy. He's always
laboring in the work of God. And John is led by the Spirit
of God to inform us what the Savior was doing during this
two-month interval. But he does pick up again at
verse 22, and he says, now this is at Jerusalem, the Feast of
the Dedication, and it was winter, the Feast of the Dedication.
Now, you were here Sunday evening, most of you were. Here's a question,
was this one of the seven feasts that we mentioned this past Sunday
evening? Well, I'll help you a little
bit on this. The answer is no. No. This is not one of the seven
feasts. In fact, you can go all the way through the Old Testament.
You'll never find this feast mentioned in the Old Testament. I'm absolutely certain that you
know between the Old Testament and the New Testament, there
are 400 years of silence. God didn't speak. God didn't
send any inspired prophets to Israel. A lot of things happened
during those 400 years that we have to learn from historians,
not from the scriptures, but from historians. They tell us
many of the things that happened regarding Judah. Israel had already
pretty much dissolved as a nation because of their idolatry. And
we just don't have any more record of them. But as for Judah, Judah,
the two tribes in the south, Benjamin and Judah, we know that
they fell into idolatry. Most all the people. And throughout
this 400 year period, with the exception of just a few folks,
most of them didn't worship God. They had no interest in Messiah,
no interest in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, and one who
would come into the world to give his life a ransom. in order
to save his people. But about 170 years before our
Lord Jesus was born, so make it 170 B.C., give or take a few
years, Israel really ran into difficulties. And once again,
it was because of their own idolatry. You know, as you read through
the books of the Old Testament, the historical books concerning
Israel, they often ran into great difficulties from other nations,
and the reason was because God was using those other nations
in order to punish Israel. Because Israel had fell away
from the Lord. They didn't respect the worship
of God. They had no interest in God's
glory. They didn't have any real interest
in the Word of God. Oh, they continued many times
to go through the motions of religion, but the Lord says you
have no heart. You have no heart, interest,
or worship in Me. And therefore, God would raise
up heathen nations and leaders who would come in and they'd
make life miserable for Israel. And then Israel would seek God's
face and the Lord would show them mercy. Our brother read
to us back in the study this evening about how God showed
mercy to them. They did things that got themselves
in trouble, like we all do, and then they called on God to show
mercy. God showed them mercy and things
went well for a while. And then they fell into idolatry
again. The same thing happened over
and over again. Well, it happened during these
400 years of silence as well. Well, about 170 years before
our Lord Jesus came, God raised up another nation who was going
to punish Him. That's the nation of Syria. Especially
a ruthless ruler by the name of, well, what was his name? Antiochus
IV, a real bad guy. He had already conquered Egypt,
just to give you a little history here. It won't take up a lot
of time, but he had already conquered Egypt and conquered other nations
as well, and then he set his sights on Judah. And that was
an unusual, and it is an unusual now because all of the countries
in the Middle East, they've always set their sight on Israel. It
hasn't changed today, has it? It's the same way today. And
this man, Antiochus IV, That's what he wanted to do, he wanted
to conquer Israel or Judah. Now he thought himself to be
a great, great leader and in many ways I suppose he was because
he conquered many of the nations but he thought so much of himself
In addition to being Antiochus IV, he gave himself another name,
and the other name that he added to his name was Antiochus Epiphanes,
which means the greatest one, the greatest one. That was what
he added. It's an interesting just kind
of a side note, a historical side note. People of other nations
called him Antiochus Epiphanes, Epiphanes, which means the madman. They just dropped one of the
letters. They called him the madman, for that's what he was.
But he really wanted Judah. And so he goes in, he attacks
Judah, and it was because of their idolatry. Listen, you can't
forsake the worship of God without reaping the wrath of God now. And so he made life awful for
the Jews. The first thing he did, he went
into the Holy of Holies and set up a statue of Zeus. Interestingly
enough, he's the only leader who's ever attacked Judah for
this reason. He hated their religion. They believed in one God. He
believed in many gods. Zeus being the main one. And
then he offered sacrifices of pigs on the altar. He forbade the Jews to observe
the Sabbath day. Anybody who had Scripture, some
of the Old Testament Scripture, he took it and burned it. And
you either worship the gods of this man Antiochus IV, Antiochus
Epiphanes, either worshiped his gods Or He would behead you. Awful times. Awful times. Well, this rule over Judah lasted
three years. But during these three years,
back kind of behind the scenes, so to speak, there was a movement
among some of the believers. You know, God has a remnant according
to the election of grace. He always does. And there was
some men, one of them was a priest, and he had a son whose name was
Judas Maccabean. And Judas Maccabees, I should
say, Maccabees, he was a great warrior. And so he led some other
men, and they began to attack the Syrians in other locations. Finally, after defeating the
Syrians in several places, They came into Jerusalem. They drove Antiochus IV out of
Jerusalem. Then they began to get rid of
all the idols in the temple. That is, they dedicated the temple
again to the worship of God. Okay? Here's another interesting
fact. It was exactly three years to
the day, to the day when Antiochus Epiphanes attacked Jerusalem,
three years to the day, there was liberation. Liberation by
this man. By several of the Jews, but headed
up by Maccabeus. There was a dedication to the
temple again. in recognition of this great
celebration, driving the Syrians out of the city of Jerusalem
and once again restoring the temple to the worship of God. And in order to kind of commemorate
this, There was a light in every house at night. This feast also
lasted eight days. How many days did the Feast of
Tabernacles last? Eight days. How many days did
the Feast of Dedication last? Eight days. Same thing. Two months
later, in the winter, in the winter, the Jews still celebrate
that today. The Feast of Dedication, it's
called the Festival of Lights, or some of you know, Hanukkah,
or Hanukkah, we would call it. And this year it's going to be
from December 12th through December 20th. Eight days. Eight days. Now, this was not a God-ordained
festival or feast. But it was something that was
on the Jewish calendar to commemorate when Israel or Judah was liberated
from Syrian captivity. Our Lord Jesus, he wasn't obligated
to go to this feast. He's only obligated to go to
three feasts, Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, right? Those are
the three. And he did, in fact, attend those.
But He also goes to this one. After all, and it seems only
fitting that He should because He's the light of the world.
He is the light Himself. And you know what that temple
is? That temple's a picture of Him. And He is, you know, the
book of John essentially divides itself, first ten chapters are
spent in identifying who He is. He's the Word of God. It begins
this way in John chapter 1, in the beginning was the Word. Who
is this Jesus of Nazareth? Who is He anyway? Well, He's
the Word of God. He's the one who's from eternity. And he establishes his identity
throughout the first ten and a half chapters, or even throughout
all ten chapters, he establishes his identity by his works. But when we get to chapter number
eleven, and especially those afterward, he begins to show
his that He set Himself to the cross. He is the temple of God
who is dedicated to do something. He's dedicated to die. He is
the temple of God. That Old Testament temple, Solomon's
temple, and the temple now that has been rebuilt and restored,
this temple is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as it
has been rededicated, our Lord Jesus, especially beginning in
chapter 12, but chapter 11 as well, He dedicates Himself again
to this mission. In fact, He was set aside for
this. Go back, look at chapter 10 and
verse 36. Say ye of him whom the Father
hath sanctified... What does sanctified mean? Set
apart? The Father set Him apart. Set
Him apart to do what? To do a work of redemption. The
work of reconciliation. That's the reason He came into
this world. And so especially beginning in chapter 11 and 12,
and then all the way to His death, He is dedicated to this work.
He is the temple of God. who is dedicated, and I think
that's why the Spirit of God, at least this is one of the reasons
I believe that the Spirit of God, I'd like to get rid of that
guy right there who's bothering me. No, I'm not turned Pentecostal,
I'm just, and I'm not seeing things, I don't think, but our
Lord Jesus, he is the temple of God who is dedicated to doing
the work that he's been set aside to do. Notice this in verse 22, it was
winter. As it will be this year, December
the 12th through December the 20th. It was winter. Not only
does that tell us exactly when this happened, but it tells us
something in a figurative way of the conditions, spiritual
conditions that existed then. own as people are. They don't have any feelings
toward God. They're dead. They're lifeless
by and large. I mean, we've been studying about
the Pharisees. These are the bad shepherds.
These are the thieves, the robbers, the strangers, the hirelings
who have no interest in the people, no interest in the glory of God. They despise Jesus of Nazareth. In fact, get this, they would
rather honor Judas Maccabeus who was a mere man. Now God used
him. But He was a mere man. They would
honor Him and yet they're going to murder God's own Son who's
standing in their midst. That's how twisted their minds
were. That's how depraved these men
were. And all men are by nature. Winter. Jesus walked in the temple
in Solomon's porch. Look at verse 24. Then came the
Jews round about him. And we know this every time the
phrase the Jews is mentioned. It's talking about the Jewish
leaders, talking about the Pharisees, talking about their preachers,
the hierarchy of their religion. The Jews, they came round about
him. The idea is they encircled him. They ganged up on him. They're
all around him. And not in a nice way. This is a bloodthirsty mob. Now,
lest the people who are there for the Feast of Dedication get
some indication of their intent, they act like they're nice. Listen
to their hypocrisy. They say, how long dost thou
make us to doubt? How long do you keep us in suspense? That's what doubt means. to keep
in suspense. How long do you keep us in suspense?
If thou be the Christ. What does that mean? If you're
the Messiah. If you're really the Son of David. If you are. If you're God incarnate. Well, just say it openly. Say
it publicly. As though they're really interested
in an answer. But this is just hypocrisy. They despise Him. They have no
interest in Jesus of Nazareth. They have no interest in the
sacrifice He's going to offer. They have no interest in Him.
They believe He does His works by the power of Beelzebub. That
is said back in chapter 10 and verse number 20. Many of them
said of Him, He hath a devil. He's mad. He's a crazy man. Only a madman would say he's
the Son of God. That's what they thought of Him.
But now in front of so many, they pretend they're polite. But they're ruthless. They're
like wolves around the Lamb of God. And even before this chapter
is over, they will seek His death again. But this is not the time
for Him to die. That will come later. That will
only come by God's appointment. It will come according to God's
purpose. God has already ordained Christ
as the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. It is
ordained that He died, not by being stoned. but being crucified. Cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. He's got to be hung on a tree
in fulfillment of the Old Testament. And he will die according to
God's purpose. Well, our Lord Jesus says in
verse 25, Jesus answered them, I told you. I told you. And ye believed not. Oh, how
many times He told them. He told them. He said, my Father
worketh hitherto and I work. That's back in John chapter 5.
They didn't believe Him. They knew He was saying He was
the Son of God and they took up stones to stone Him then. He told them, the Living Father
had sent Me from heaven. He said, I am the bread of life.
He said, I am the light of the world. He said to them back in
John chapter 8, before Abraham was, I am. He told them over
and over and over again. They didn't believe Him. And
in addition to that, as He says here, the works that I do in
My Father's name, they bear witness of Me. All of the works that
He did. Do you remember when The disciples
of John the Baptist were sent to our Lord Jesus. John's in
prison. He sent these disciples to Christ, seeking to find out if He's the
Messiah. John wanted them to know for
themselves. He said, you go back and tell
John the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, the dead
live. The works that I do, they show
who I am. How do we know that Jesus of
Nazareth is the Son of God? The Messiah, the Son of David. We know by His works. His works. He said back in John chapter
5, if I'm the only one who bears witness of myself as being the
Son of God, you don't have to believe me. But there's another
witness, the witness of John the Baptist. He said he was a
burning and a shining light. John preached me. John said,
Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. That's
what John said. Did you hear him? Did you rejoice
in his message? Would you submit to John's baptism,
which was a baptism of repentance, acknowledging your sinfulness,
needing God's mercy, casting yourselves on God's Christ, believing
Him and confessing your faith in believers' baptism? Absolutely
not! They wouldn't do that. They didn't
believe him. And then he said, the works that
I do, look at the works that I've done. They all bear witness
to me. Further down in John chapter
10, our Lord will say, for which
good work would you stone me? And they said, for a good work
we stone you not. But because you being a man,
you say you're God. Now listen to me, His deity,
His deity, that is a fact, that's a doctrine upon which we cannot
budge a bit. He is God over all, blessed forever. If He's not God, He can't save. If He's not God, He can't satisfy
the Father. If He's not God, He can't do
anything for you and me. If He's not God, He can't raise
the spiritual dead. He's got to be God and He's got
to be man. He is the God-man, Christ Jesus,
eminently qualified to be our Savior. That's who He is. But he says in verse 26, but
you believe not. What is their problem? Lack of
evidence? Oh, they would have us to think
that it was a lack of evidence, but he said, the works that I've
done, that's a bunch of evidence. It's all laid out for you. Here's
all the works that I've done. You believe not. You believe
not. And then, that raises this question. Why didn't they believe? Our Lord Jesus had not only told
them who He was, but He gave abundant evidence of being the
Son of God by the works which He did. He said, you want proof of who
I am? Look at what I've done. Look
at the things that I've done. And yet, you don't believe Me.
Now, why didn't they believe Him? Now, our Lord could have
noted several reasons why they didn't believe, and they would
all have been valid reasons. He could have said, you don't
believe Me because you don't have the ability to believe Me.
That would be a fact. John 6, 44, no man can come to
me except the Father which has sent me draw him, and I'll raise
him up the last day. He could have said that, but
he didn't. He could have said, you don't believe me because
you are unwilling to believe me. He could have said that and
that would have been correct. John 5.40, and ye will not come
to me that ye might have life. He could have said, you don't
believe me because you're dead in your trespasses and sins. And that is an accurate statement
as well. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
1. He could have said, you don't
believe me because you're of your father the devil. He said
that back in John chapter 8, but he didn't say it here. He
could have said, you don't believe Me because you're alienated from
God. That was a fact. He could have
said, you don't believe Me because you were fallen in Adam. That was true, but He didn't
say that. He could have said, you don't
believe Me because you're born rebels against God. All of those
things would have been factual. But what did He say? What did he attribute their unbelief? Verse 26, but ye believe not
for this reason, because you are not of my sheep as I said
unto you. You're not of my sheep. I know
many tried to weaken this verse and say, well, what he's saying
is, Because you believe not, you're not one of my sheep. But
that's not what he said. That's doing an injustice to
the Word of God. You see, men always turn the
things of God upside down when they find the Word of God distasteful. That's when they twist it, rather
than meekly submitting to it. Our Lord Jesus, He just gets
right down to the bottom of the issue. Here's the reason. You want to know why they didn't
believe? Because they weren't His sheep. That's the reason. They weren't His sheep. He goes
back to the very origin. You see, the reason those who
do believe, believe the Gospel, the reason we believe, the reason
we embrace it. If you believe the Gospel of
Christ Jesus tonight, if you believe Him as Lord, as Savior,
as Master, as Prophet, Priest, and King, if you believe the
record that God has given concerning His Son, the record of His blood,
the record of His sacrifice, the record of His righteousness
imputed to unworthy sinners. If you believe, here's the reason
you believe. It's because you're His sheep.
And you became His sheep before the foundation of the world when
He chose you in Christ Jesus unto salvation. That's the reason,
if you believe, that's the reason you believe. You have been ordained
to salvation. Acts 13.48, and as many as were
ordained to eternal life, that's who believes. That's who believes. Now I know all men are responsible
to believe. We've already talked about the
key verse in the Gospel of John. These things are written that
you might believe on the name of the Son of God. And that believing
you might have life through His name. But if you go all the way
back to the origin of salvation, we find the reason why some believe
and why some do not believe. And the origin is God's eternal
purpose. You see, hath not the potter
power over the clay? Make some vessels of honor and
some vessels of dishonor. It brings us right back to the
foundation of all things, God's sovereign, eternal purpose. And
he says, here's the reason you don't believe. You're not my
sheep. You weren't chosen unto salvation
before the foundation of the world. Now I know there are some
people who say, now wait, wait, wait, don't preach the doctrine
of election to a mixed group. First of all, I don't know who's
a believer and who's an unbeliever. I can't read anybody's heart.
But this is what a lot of people say. This is what I was told
in preacher school many years ago. Don't preach these deep
things to people who are unbelievers. Well, I don't know who's a believer
and who's an unbeliever. I can't read people's hearts.
And more than that, I'm just going to follow the example of
the Savior because He has before Him unbelievers. Unbelievers. And his disciples are there as
well. And before unbelievers and believers also, he preaches
the doctrine of election. God's sovereign election. I'll
tell you, if you believe the gospel of substitution and satisfaction,
attribute your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The free and sovereign
grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus according to 2 Timothy
chapter 1 and verse 9. The grace that was given to you
in Christ Jesus before the world began. You owe it all to the
grace of God. And don't ever, ever put up with
anybody bad-mouthing the doctrine of God's sovereign election unto
salvation. Anybody who knows anything about
God's holy character and their own sinfulness will never argue
with this salvation of the Lord. And you know that. If God has
really saved you, you know that. And you're not going to attribute
your salvation to anything that you've done. You see, God wasn't
obligated to show mercy to anybody. But He's gracious. And God is
love. And He purposed to save a multitude
of Adam's fallen race. And He saved us in Jesus Christ. And the reason you believe, the
reason you believe, you're His sheep. Lost sheep, but sheep. And the reason so many people
go to their grave with their fist in God's hand is simply
this. They're not His sheep. Now that's
just a fact, isn't it? That's just a fact. And you can
fuss about that. And if you want to fuss with
God about it, you go ahead. But it won't end up well with
you. Best to bow. Best to bow and
submit to the Word of God. You got the right to do whatever
you want to with everybody. And thank you for giving me grace
in Christ Jesus.