Sovereign Grace Chapel, located at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. John 7 and we'll begin in verse 37. In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. Many of the people, therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the prophet. Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? So there was a division among the people because of him, and some of them would have taken him, but no man laid hands on him. Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? The officers answered, never man spake like this man. Then answered them, the Pharisees, are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed. Nicodemus saith unto them, he that came to Jesus by night being one of them, doth our law judge any man before it hear him and knoweth what he doeth? They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search and look, for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. And every man went unto his own house. I like how John Gill said of this account about these Pharisees in Sanhedrin, these chief priests. He said, They thirsted after the blood of Jesus. They could not hardly contain themselves so as to not show how much they wanted to murder him. They did not care what he had to say or what he did. They just wanted him gone for good. They knew not from which he came. They, in fact, knew nothing about him. They did not even take the time to go out and see who he was and to hear him say anything. You know what that is? I think you do, as all of God's people know this once they see it, once they hear this kind of thing. It is hardness of heart. Those who are hard-hearted, and we all are as we are born into this world, what did Stephen say to those who he was preaching to when Saul was standing there holding the coat? Ye uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost." We do always and will always resist the Holy Ghost when we are in such a state as that, that is uncircumcised in heart and ears. But we go on and we read that these officers did not bring Jesus to them, which is what they were sent out to do. We see here the hatred of man against God. This same hatred, which was in my flesh, and he is in my flesh, that manifested forth itself in me saying in my heart, if that is who God is, I don't want a God like that. So when these officers, which one of these was Nicodemus, the one that came to Jesus by night, but when these officers came to the chief priests and the Pharisees, they did not have Christ with them. They were supposed to get Christ and bring him back so he could be interrogated by men. And can you imagine that? But they did not do what they were supposed to. They came back empty, so to speak. So these chief priests and Pharisees want to know why they did not bring Jesus Christ with them. They knew him not as Jesus Christ. Their answer to this question was this, and this is my title. Never a man spake like this man. We know that when Jesus Christ spoke, it brought out anger and hatred to some. We can see it right here in our text. But then there are others who are impressed by his speech. Not to any saving value, but they were impressed. Then yet there are others when he spake that loved his words and loved the one from whom it came, these words came. And I want to simply go through this one point, the voice of Jesus Christ. We here and at other places sometimes have scripture reading and this is a good practice if you will. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it and in fact it is good to do. But there is an account in Scripture where Christ reads the Scripture. Turn with me to Luke 4, Luke 4. Luke 4 and starting in verse 17. Luke 4, 17. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book and gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bear him witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, is not this Joseph's son? When he is done reading, the people respond with, what gracious words. And they were gracious words. But then he begins to expound the word of God and give the sense thereof. Then what do we see? Verses 23 through 28. And he said unto them, ye will surely say unto me this proverb, physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth. Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land. But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elias the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath. So what do we see now? We see fierce anger. Christ told them that God is sovereign and he saves who he pleases to save, even if it leaves some out. At these words, they were filled with fierce anger. That's the meaning of the word. They were not just a little angry. I'm sure they were ready to kill him right there. What about in John 6 when he told the multitude that it is of God's choosing and of God's doing for someone to come to him? What did they do? They left. They did not like what they heard. They were only there for those things he did and mainly for filling their bellies. Christ even turned to the twelve and said, will you also go away? Christ tells us he did not come to send peace, but a sword. His word, his voice, will divide families. This is the Christ that some today say things like this. Give your heart to Jesus. He does not want your old, evil, wicked, hardened heart. He in fact does not want anything from us but submission. This he will force some to do and those he does force will love it to be so because he does this in love. How does he do this? His voice. John 5, 25, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. To hear His voice is to have life. Now, I want to be clear. We're not talking about hearing an audible voice in the night. I remember Earl told someone at some time, he said this, and I think he was talking, his doctor was asking him this. And the doctor asked Earl, do you hear voices? And Earl said, yes, when someone talks to me. That's what we're talking about here. That's what we're talking about. When someone in some way testifies with their voice, of Jesus Christ, and Christ by His Spirit speaks to them in their heart, that new heart given by Him, to tell them this is the one of whom the Scripture speaks, they will hear. Their heart has been circumcised. It is a new heart. I cannot circumcise a man or a woman's heart by speaking to them. They must have a circumcised heart in order for them to hear the truth spoken in whatever medium it might be. What are some of the things Jesus Christ says? The only place we're going to know that is to go to his word. If anyone says they are hearing or they know something and it's not in God's word, they are lying to you. But I am interested in those things that Christ says with his voice, and that to believers. If you're not a believer, you neither care what I'm going to say, and neither can you love what I'm going to say. So I'm talking to believers. Now I will not and cannot tell you everything that Christ says, but I will point out a few. Matthew 11, 28, very familiar. He says, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. We all know this verse, but these are gracious words. But here's the thing, Christ qualifies those to whom he says, come unto me, all that labor and are heavy laden. If you are not laboring, that is doing, doing, doing, and because of that you are so fatigued you have no strength and you are heavy laden with it all so that you cannot bear the weight. If that's not you, then he's not telling you come to him. But if you are, Christ says, come unto me. And in so coming to him, he says he will give you rest. He will do the doing and he will lift off the weight. In fact, you will come to find out that he has done this from the foundation of the world. Isaiah 53, 4 says, surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, past tense. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. What's something else that Christ says? And I have a list here because they were all together and I want to read some of them too. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. And he goes on. And that was Jesus Christ saying these things. All of these things by nature, I am none of these. But by his work and his voice, I am all of these. So we're all all of those whom God the Father chose in Christ to give to him for a bride, because he did bear our griefs and carried our sorrows. So when you hear his voice, what does his voice do? Turn with me to John 11. All these very familiar, I'm not telling you anything new this morning that you haven't heard before. John 11, 38 through 44. Jesus, therefore again groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me, and I knew that thou hearest me always, but because of the people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. We have one here who was dead. He was D-E-A-D, dead, if anyone is a little confused. He was actually physically dead here, but this is a picture of one who is spiritually dead. You know, this is the one thing that those who have not been given life from the dead by Jesus Christ, they do not know this. They just can't. They can't know this. They cannot know they're spiritually dead because they are spiritually dead. A dead man does not know anything. You have to be given life before you ever know you were dead in trespasses and in sin. So what do we see here? He was so dead he was to the point of stinking, decaying, rotting in the grave. We can see that Christ does not do things on his own either. He prayed to the Father for this thing. And guess what? The Father heard and the Father gave him what he asked for. Then what did Christ do? He cried with a loud voice, it says. His words, his voice. Lazarus, then pause. There's a comma there, pause. Breath, life. And then he says, come forth. He is no longer dead. He can now hear the master's voice. So what does he do? He comes forth bound in grave clothes. And what is it that he tells others to do now? Loose him and let him go. That's what we do by the gospel. We loose men and women and we let them go. Those who are labor and are heavy laden, we tell them of who Christ is and what he has done. And those whom by his voice he has called out, hear it. They are freed from those grave clothes. This is something we are constantly doing, removing the grave clothes until Christ takes us home or he returns for us. It is he we must hear. Christ tells us we must believe or we will die in our sins. The Father says this, Matthew 17, five, while he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. The father tells us to hear him, to hear his voice. So who do you think we should listen to? How are you going to hear him? It will be by the proclamation of the gospel to those who have that circumcised heart. We are told in scripture that it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. It does not say foolish preaching. It says through the foolishness of preaching. It is that preaching that is a stumbling block to some. But to others, it reveals their rock upon which they stand. There are many preachers out there today who preach. But it's not just any preacher. It is those who are sent of God and who preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul says, woe unto me if I preach not the gospel. and the gospel is Jesus Christ, that is who he is, and that is God manifest in the flesh, and it is also him crucified, that is what he accomplished on that tree. He said it is finished, it's done, there's no more work. He accomplished it on that tree. There are a lot of men out there who preach a Jesus, a gospel, but it is not another gospel. It is in fact not a gospel at all, but a perversion. These men you should not listen to. There are a lot of them out there, but very few who do preach the gospel. Now you'll know these hucksters because they preach a gospel like this. God has done all he can do and now it's up to you. Jesus Christ has not done all he can do. He has simply done all. They will say, he has no hands but your hands. He has no feet but your feet. But that's a lie. Another one of their little cute sayings that flies right in the face of God. He has his own hands and he has his own feet with which he has worked the work of God to the saving of his people's soul. So he does not need our hands and our feet. Some will say this outright. They will actually say these words that I just told you, but then there are others who will not say it outright, and may, in fact, say they do not believe that. But the gospel they proclaim is one of God doing His part, and then now, once He has done His part, we now have ours to do. But we, even today, cannot do things on our own, even as believers. You all know the passage. I've used it several times here lately. John 15 five, I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. So we do do things. For without me ye can do nothing. We can first only do something if we are in him and he is in us. If not, you have no part with him. But if we are in Him and He in us, even then we can only do it because of Him. Christ tells us that right there. We can do nothing without Him. He must do just as He did with Zacchaeus. He must come and abide in our house. In Him abiding in your house, you will hear Him. And He will enable you to do His good pleasure. So we even now today as believers who have been converted by the gospel have to have his hands and his feet. But to this world, his voice means nothing because they never hear it. In fact, what do we read of this word and what they say about the Christ of God in the scripture? John 10, 20 we read, and many of them said, he hath a devil and is mad. And they're talking about Christ. Christ just got through saying some things. And many of them said, he hath a devil and is mad. Why hear ye him? It kind of sounds like what their father, the devil, who said this, yea, hath God said, Why are you going to listen to God? This world will not hear Him, but we hear Him. This world will not believe, and because of that, they are condemned. God does not condemn them, for all He says to them is to hear His Son. But they will not and cannot, and because they do not believe, they are condemned. That's straight from Scripture, John 3, 18. He that believeth on Him is not condemned. But he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. A man or a woman is condemned of their own selves, because they do not believe God. God tells us to believe Him and what He has said with His voice, that is, the voice of Jesus Christ. But men and women cannot and will not believe Him, the God of Scripture, Jesus Christ, who is the voice of God. God has an elect and they will hear His voice. It will be the God of Scripture or you are hearing another Jesus. I don't know and you don't know who the elect of God are, but God knows them that are His. He tells us to hear Him. Last place I want you to turn with me to is Hebrews 3. Hebrews 3. Hebrews 3. And verses, beginning in verse 7. Hebrews 3 and verse 7. Hebrews 3 and verse 7. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness. When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years, Wherefore, I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. So I swear in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. While it is said today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation. What was it that this is talking about, the provocation? God told them to do something and they said no. They were about to enter the promised land is what it's talking about. And so they sent out these spies to go in and then give them a report back. 10 went in and come back and said, we cannot do this. They were right. They and we cannot do anything of ourselves. But there were two who came back with a good report. What did they say? We can do this, for God is with us.