Open your Bibles, if you would,
to John chapter 12. John chapter 12, the name of the message is
Christ's ministry. Christ's ministry. Why did Christ
come to this world? What was the whole reason that
he came to this world? Well, we know in Matthew chapter
1, verse 21, it tells us, it says he came to save his people
from their sins. So he came here to die. Why do
some of us believe and other people do not? Well, it's only
because of the grace and mercy of God and it's all by the power
of God the Holy Spirit. There's no other way we would
believe. We would be in unbelief if it wasn't for the regenerating
power of God the Holy Spirit. And our Lord and Savior, he went
about doing good, didn't he? He did good, Brother Dave, didn't
he? He went around doing good in his ministry. A lot of commentators
mention that this little portion of scripture we're going to look
at here, from verse 37 to 50, is the ministry of Christ in
review. Let's look at verse 37, we'll
start there, and hopefully with our time we'll get to verse 50.
Look at this, we'll jump right into it. But though he had done
so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him.
Well, our Lord Jesus Christ, he'd done all these miracles
before them. And we know from the scriptures that our Lord's
ministry was very public. He didn't hide anything. He did
everything in public, everything where people could see, out in
the open, where they could not be denied, in the presence of
the people, so they could not be denied, or so they could not
be disproved. Somebody couldn't say, well,
that didn't happen, because there were people who were right in
the midst who saw them happen. They were eyewitnesses of these
miracles. And remember, too, the apostles were earwitnesses
and eyewitnesses of everything that Christ did. We see here
in verse 37 that he not just did one or two miracles, he'd
done many miracles. Many miracles in the presence
of the people, but they didn't believe. And remember, he gave
sight to a blind man. He healed the lame man at the pool
of Bethsaida. He raised Lazarus from the dead.
All these things that happened before this passage. And there's many other miracles
that he's done. And yet, we see they believe
not on Him. They didn't believe on Him. Now, some people think, well,
you know, if only a great miracle occurred, then people would believe
on God. Here's God in the flesh doing
great miracles, and the scripture tells us they didn't believe
on Him. They didn't believe on Him. Some did, by the grace of
God, but the one spoken of here believed not on him. Supernatural
events are occurring right in front of them. And yet they don't
believe. They don't believe at all. And he raised Lazarus from the
dead at Bethany, which is within two miles of Jerusalem. And we
see, that was in chapter before this, and here we see they don't
believe on him. Oh my. He's doing all these wondrous
things before them. So even miracles can't open people's
eyes to Christ. And you know, apart from an act
of divine grace, yeah Dave, you know, we'd be right there. If
it wasn't for the supernatural regenerating power of God the
Holy Spirit, a divine act of mercy and grace to the believer,
by giving us life, taking us from darkness, darkness to light. Oh my! And if he hadn't done
that to us, we'd still be there brother, wouldn't we? We'd still
be dead in trespasses and sins. Oh my! By an act of divine grace, God
in the flesh, he's among them, and they don't believe. By an
act of divine grace, he's among them. God sent him. Remember
we saw it in John 17? He was sent by the Father to
redeem us from our sins, to do that which we could never do.
Oh, so let us always remember that God's elect, we who are
the people of God, would be no different from these folks in
this text except for an act of divine grace and an act of divine
mercy done by the Holy Spirit of God in us and for us. We must be born again. That's
the key. Right? That's the key. My oh
my. And the scripture says when we're
born again, we become new creatures in Christ. We've been given a
new nature, a new heart. And again, this is all the work
of God the Holy Spirit. We cannot do anything. Oh my, what mercy. What mercy. Without this occurring, people
may get excited. I've seen people get excited.
I've seen them pray a prayer. I've seen them be told they're
now saved. I've seen this happen. Oh, now you're saved. And I've
seen people make a supposed decision, and they fade away. They fade
away. See, there's no root. There's
no root. Remember the parable of the sower? Some fell on stony ground. Which
seed took hold? Brother Zane, eh? The one on
prepared ground, right? Who prepared the soil of our
hearts before we even believed God the Holy Spirit? So when
we heard the gospel and by the regenerating power of God the
Holy Spirit, we believed. We believed. And now you cannot
keep us from Christ. Oh my. But those who fade away
and supposedly make a decision, There's no prepared ground. The seed fell on stony ground. They're not born again. And you
know, if we weren't born again, we'd be as cold as they are to
the things of God. Isn't that amazing? Brothers,
isn't that amazing? Now we love the things of God.
Now we love to hear the gospel preached. It's marvelous. It's wonderful. But left to ourselves,
we'd be just like these unbelieving Jews. Oh my. So let us not be shocked at how
unbelief is in this world, in our time, just as it was in their
time. Because there's nothing new under the sun, the scripture
says. And what does this do? This just brings forth the doctrine
of man's total depravity. that we are evil by nature, sinful
by nature. I was talking to my daughter
this week, and I said, you know, we're all evil. She goes, well,
we're not all evil. I said, we're all evil, sweetie.
We're all evil. We're all sinful. Every one of
us. Every one of us. Oh my. And she received it by
the grace of God. It's evidence that the Bible
is true by man's unwillingness to believe on Christ in our natural
state. The doctrine of man's total deprivation,
just say we have no way to come to God on our own, because the
scripture says there's none that seeketh after God. So not one
of us seeks God by nature. There's none good, no, not one.
We're all together, unprofitable. But God has a people, doesn't
he? who he sent Christ to die for.
I don't know who they are, do you? No. So we preach the gospel
to everyone, right? And let God do the saving. And
when he dies, oh, we're so thankful. And if God saved you, if you're
regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God, then praise his mighty
name that he didn't leave us in this state. Because that was
our natural state. We did not believe. And then
all of a sudden, we believe, because we're born again. And what did our Lord say, right? You must be born again. You must
be. I was talking to a fellow, I
was talking to a fellow this week, or no, two weeks ago. And
he said to me, well, you have to let Jesus into your heart.
And I said, you know, that's not even in scripture. Nowhere in
scripture does it say, let Jesus into your heart. Nowhere, it's
not in scripture. Not. It says we pass from death
to life. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. We've been given faith to believe, but nowhere
does it say. You know why it doesn't say that? Because we
would never do that. Amen! That hunger and thirst after
Christ, brother. Amen! And that comes by the regenerating
power of God the Holy Spirit. So he gets all the glory, doesn't
he? He receives it all. Oh my! Let's look at verses 38
now to 41. So we saw that not all believed,
and look what it says here, that the saying of Isaiah, the prophet,
might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed
our report? Now, the report is the gospel. Isaiah preached the
gospel. He said, look to the Messiah
and live. All the Old Testament prophets pointed to Christ. They
pointed to the Messiah, and Christ is the Messiah. Which he spake,
Lord, who hath believed our report? Well, no one, unless it's the
grace of God. Working, right? Oh boy, but praise God, he's
got a people. And to whom hath the arm of the
Lord been revealed? Therefore, they could not believe
because Isaiah said again, he hath blinded their eyes and hardened
their hearts that they should not see with their eyes nor understand
with their heart and be converted that I should heal them. These
things say Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of him. You've
heard me say this many times. When man goes to hell, it's 100%
man. The reason men go to hell is
because they're sinners and women. But if you go to heaven, it's
100% God. We're just acted upon, beloved.
We have no faith and then we're given faith. And then, do we
run to Christ and do we receive Christ then? Absolutely. But
what comes first, faith or regeneration? Regeneration, every time. The
work of the Holy Spirit of God. And you've heard me say this
too, right? Faith is on one side, repentance is on the other. When
God gives faith, he also gives repentance before God. Always,
every time. And when do we stop repenting?
Once we, oh I repented now. We keep repenting, don't we?
We keep coming to Christ. We keep coming to, we say, oh
Lord, please forgive me, I'm such a sinner. Oh my. Oh, forgive me, Lord, forgive
me. We know we're forgiven, but we
still come, right? And we still confess our sin
to Him. Oh. And this is a reference to Isaiah
53, 1, when it says, who hath believed our report, which is
again the gospel, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed.
Look at that. To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? Who's the arm of the Lord? Amen, brother. It's Christ. It's Christ. He's the arm of the Lord. He's
the one who was in the flesh. We've not seen the Father, but
Christ said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Right? Oh my. And notice, to whom is
the arm of the Lord revealed? Christ has to reveal himself
to us before we ever know him. Because if he don't reveal himself
to us, we'll never know him. We'll be left in darkness. Oh
my, but praise God, isn't it wonderful? He's revealed himself
to us in Christ. Oh, it's wonderful. Then Isaiah
6 verses 9 and 10, I'll read them to you, it says, and he
said, go tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not,
and see you indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people
fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand
with their heart, and convert and be healed. He's blinded them. Did you know we were blinded
to Christ? We were blinded to God before we were saved? Praise God, He showed Himself
to us in Christ. Oh my. So think of this, in the
setting of our text of the Lord, He's performed all these miracles
up until this point in the book of John, right in their presence,
right amongst them. And he preached right in their
presence. He said, behold, the kingdom
of God is at hand. Repent. And he's right there. And we see there was a number who
saw his miracles and heard his words, and yet they are totally
unmoved by his miracles and by his preaching. So the text in
Isaiah comes right before us. Who hath believed our report?
who believed the report, the gospel of salvation by Christ
alone and nothing else. And it's not up for debate, is
it, Brother Zane? The gospel is not up for debate.
We don't debate people over what we believe, we just present it.
This is what the scripture says. It don't matter what my opinion
is, it don't matter what your opinion is. What says the scripture?
That's what matters right there, right? The scriptures. My oh
my, what does the scriptures say? So this report of salvation
in and through Christ alone is not up for debate. It's absolute
truth. It's truth proclaimed. And those who have believed the
report are those who are born again by the Holy Spirit of God.
All by His power. And what have those who are born
again done? They fled to Christ. Right? Could a team of wild horses keep
you from Christ right now? No. because the Holy Spirit's
got a hold of you, and he's given you faith to believe, and all
you want to do is run to Christ. It's wonderful. And think of this, we've been
made to go the opposite way. When I was dead in sins, when
we were, we were going our way, weren't we? Lord, what did you
do? He turned us around, didn't he? Now we're going that way. We look to him, and him alone. Oh, it's absolutely wonderful. And we're going to see next in
these next few verses that those who love Christ confess Christ. They confess Him. You can't keep us quiet. You
can't shut our mouths. Look at this. Now here's some
people who it says they believed, but this isn't real belief. This is a false profession and
we're going to see why. We're going to see why. Look
at this. John 12 42 and 43. Nevertheless among the chief
rulers also many believed on him but because of the Pharisees
they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the
synagogue. For they loved the praise of man more than the praise
of God. Now remember Sunday's lesson, two Sundays ago? Peter
and John are brought before the Sanhedrin. They will not keep
their mouth shut. They threatened them, remember?
They threatened them and they didn't care. They did not care
at all. So here we have the chief rulers.
Some of the chief rulers, it says they believed on him, but
because of fear of men they would not confess him. Well here we
have people with a head knowledge. but not a regenerated heart.
Turn if you would to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. A non-confession
of Christ is a denying of Christ. Do you know that? A non-confession
of Christ is a denying of Christ. Put your finger in John chapter
2 as well. There's a very important passage that we're going to look
at here in John chapter 10. But I want to read this little
portion of Romans 8. Romans 8, 10. Romans 10, I'm sorry. Romans
10 verses 8 to 10. I'm sorry, my mistake. Romans
10 verses 8 to 10. It says this, But what saith
it? The word is nigh, nigh thee,
even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is the word of faith
which we preach, that if thou wilt confess with thy mouth,
now here it is, confession, right? The Lord Jesus Christ, and shall
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. God's people, we confess that
we're born again. And we confess with our mouth
that we're born again. We can't, Brother Scott Richardson,
he used to say, what was it, a Christian be quiet, but it'll
leak out eventually. You can't keep quiet. You can't
keep quiet. You just can't. Oh my. I believe in thine heart that
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. So
confession and belief. And that's all coming from the
regenerating power of God the Holy Spirit. Look at this. For
with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. And you said
we got a new heart, David. There it is. There it is. Our old heart, we wouldn't confess
Christ. Yeah, that's right. Now with a new heart, we want
to praise His name. It's wonderful. Now go to John
Chapter 2. Here's a very interesting portion
here. John Chapter 2. And this will help us understand
when it says they believed on him, but because of the Pharisees
they didn't confess him. They're not true believers, beloved. Look at this. Look at John Chapter
2. Look at verses 23 to 25. And
this will help us in several verses through John. Look at
this. It says here, Now when he was
in Jerusalem at the Passover and the feast day, many believed
in his name when they saw the miracles that he did. Now it
says there, many believed on his name. So right away we think,
oh, they believed on him. But look what it says here. But
Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all
men. It needed not that any should
testify of man, for he knew what is in men. Now these men, they
said, oh, we believe on Christ, right? They saw the miracles. They saw the miracles. They had
a head knowledge, but they didn't have a heart knowledge. They
were stony ground hearers. Well, how do we know that? Well,
they were amazed at the miracles, but they're not born again. They're
not born again. And this text here clearly shows
us a picture, John 2 here clearly shows us a picture of the Lord's
divinity. He knows who are His. He knows His sheep. He knows
all mankind. He knows who his sheep are, and
he knows who the goats are. He knows who the prepared ground
is, and he knows who the stony ground is. He's God. He prepares
the ground to receive the seed of the gospel. And he knew that
their faith was false and temporary, that it was head knowledge and
not a heart work. You know why? Because he didn't
give them faith to believe. See that word commit there? It means to have faith, to entrust.
He's given us faith. He didn't give them faith. He
didn't entrust himself to them, but he's entrusted himself to
us. I remember a friend of mine who reads and writes Greek, he
brought that up to me one time. He says, Wayne, this verse is
incredible. Because that word commit, I don't
know why they said commit, But for some reason the English translators
put commit there. But it means to entrust in the
Greek. My oh my. Paul said we've been
entrusted with the gospel as preachers. To proclaim the wondrous
works of Christ. They weren't born again. They
had the head knowledge. They were amazed at the miracles.
But they didn't hear the shepherd's voice. They weren't given faith
to believe on him, true faith. They weren't born again. He was
right there before them. Now let's go back to John chapter
12. We'll read verses 42 and 43. Again, nevertheless among the
chief rulers also many believed on him. So the same as those
people in John chapter 2. But because of the Pharisees
they did not confess him. lest they should be put out of
the synagogue, for they loved the praise of man more than the
praise of God." Look at that. They were afraid they would be
put out of the synagogue. They feared man more than God. Now they had head knowledge,
but there was a fear of God. The fear of man was greater than
their fear of God. Oh my. See we've been born again
we fear God more than men don't we? Right? Because we know God
has the power to destroy both body and soul and hell. But man
can just destroy the body. Well for us that's a home going
right? I'm out. Oh my. And remember the instant
that, if somebody put a bullet to our head and said, renounce
Christ or die, say, no, I'm going to trust Christ. You're in glory. Isn't that amazing? Oh my. It's amazing. My, oh my. And it's no different today.
It's no different today. They feared to be mocked at.
They feared what would people think. It's no different than people
nowadays who reject Christ and say, well, what would my family
think? Or what would my friends think? Or what would my co-workers
think? It don't matter what they think. It doesn't matter. What think ye of Christ? Not
what think we of Christ. What think ye of Christ? You.
Who are you trusting right now? You've heard me say, It don't
matter what you said 20 years ago, 30 years ago. Who you trusting
right this second? Are you trusting Christ right
now? That's what's most important, right? Right this second. Oh my. Look at verse 44, look at this.
How can ye believe which receive honor one of another, and seek
not the honor that cometh from God only? Oh, they're more concerned
in what man thinks. They're more concerned in the
honor of man than the honor of God. Listen to this. It says this in Proverbs 29,
25. This is just a great cross reference. The fear of man bringeth
a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. We've been seeing that little
shall work. There it is again. Shall. Shall be safe. Not, well,
might be safe if you do enough, or if you keep working hard enough,
or if only you pray enough. No. Just trust Christ. God's not up there keeping an
account of how many times we do different things. Right? Oh my, this salvation is wonder. Again, the fear of man brings
us near, but whoso put his trust in the Lord, that's Jehovah in
the Hebrew, shall be safe. Have you put your trust in Jehovah?
Have you put your trust in Christ? Oh rejoice. Shall be safe. Oh, I love those words. They're
so comforting for God's elect. They're so comforting. Shall
be saved. Like I said, not maybe. Shall
be. Now we go through hard times. Every one of us go through hard
times. But we're still safe, aren't we? Do you go through
times of doubt? Amen, brother. Do you go through
times of unbelief? Yeah? Shall be saved. You know why? It's not dependent
upon us, brother. Amen. Oh my. Yeah, faith is found in,
faith in Christ is faith in God. Do you know that? Who sent the
Son? The Father. My. Jesus cried and said, He that
believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. We believe in God, don't we?
Through Christ. Oh my. And so we see the unity
then. We see the unity of the Father
and Christ. We saw in our study in John 17
the incredible unity in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together.
This is absolutely amazing. Three persons, but yet one in
will, one in purpose, and one in unity. Oh my. And remember, Our faith is not
just in a mere man. Our faith is in the God man,
amen. It's in Christ. It's He who is God in the flesh.
My oh my. And here our Lord declares the
complete oneness between Him and the Father. So that he who
believes on Christ believes on the Father. It's wonderful. Who chose us
in Christ in eternity? The Father. Who came to redeem
us? The Son. Who regenerates us,
brother? God, the Holy Spirit. Father,
Son, Holy Spirit. All salvation is of the Lord. It's all by Him. Oh my, we don't
want to hear nothing else, do we? No, nothing else. My. Oh. The Son is the Savior of
sinners. But to trust in the Son is to
trust in the Father. Listen to this in John chapter
5, it says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my
word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life.
These are the Master's words, Christ's words. And shall not
come into condemnation. There it is again, shall. Well,
we've been rejoicing over that word for months now. But it's
passed from death into life. past with death. Listen to that.
Shall not come into condemnation. No judgment. Remember condemnation
in the Greek is judgment. No judgment. We don't have to
feel guilty about our past. It's our past. And like you said
to me one night when we were sitting out here. We all have
a past. Every one of us. It's all part
of the mix. Baking the cake. It's all stirred
up. And by the blood of Christ, the
guilt for sinners is removed. Listen to this. Who by Him, that's
His God, Christ, do believe in God. So through Christ, we believe
in God. That raised Him up from the dead
and gave Him glory. That your faith and hope might
be in who? God. God. Amen. Yeah, Christ. Our
faith and our hope is in God. Christ is God. It's wonderful,
isn't it? It just makes your heart sing,
doesn't it? It's wonderful. Look at John 12, 45 now. And remember Christ said, I and
the Father are one. Look at this. John 12, 45. And he that seeth
me, seeth him that sent me. He said, if you've seen me, you've
seen the Father. They're one. They're one. Remember in him
all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily, scripture says. Oh my. Here before us, what Christ
is declaring here, beloved, is his divinity. He did not hide
who he was. He's declaring, I'm God. Now
they didn't understand that because they're not born again. And only
by grace are we born again, and we're given to understand. And
we see these scriptures and go, oh my, this is wonderful. God
saved me. God saved my soul. And to believe in Christ is to
believe in the Father, to believe in the Holy Spirit of God, and
to see Christ is to see the Father. Then, if that's true, which it
is, Scripture declares, then Christ is co-equal with the Father.
Right? He must be God in the flesh.
He must be the eternal God. He must be the everlasting God
made flesh. And this scene here is not just
with natural eyes, because many saw Christ. We saw it at the
beginning of the text. Many saw Him. They saw Him do the miracles.
They didn't believe on Him. So the seeing, the seeing is
spiritual. It's with the eye of faith. Who's
the one object of our faith? Amen. That's right, brother,
Christ. He's the one object of our faith.
Not ourselves, because we abandon our works, right? We say, I can't
do nothing good. Amen, everything I do is tainted
with sin. Even after we're saved, it's still. I remember Spurgeon
saying, he said, my best prayer that I offer is tainted with
sin. But God, the Holy Spirit takes
it and offers it up as a sweet smelling savor to the Lord. Oh my, it's amazing. So this seeing here is not with
natural eyes, it's seeing Christ by faith. Seeing Him as our surety. Seeing Him as the surety of the
everlasting covenant, right? And the surety is defined as
someone who agrees to legally be responsible for another. If
another person fails to pay their debt, the surety says, I'm responsible
for that. You see how Christ is the surety
of God's people? He paid our debt, didn't He?
He paid our debt. Listen to this. He paid a debt
he didn't know. He didn't know. He's absolutely
sinless, right? I owed a debt I couldn't pay,
because everything I do is tainted with sin. I needed someone to
wash my sins away. He revealed to me my need. And
now I sing a brand new song. Why? Because we're washed in
the precious blood of Christ. And now praise to God comes from
sinner's lips. The old heart's gone. A new heart
is now in us. And now we just want to praise
God. And that's why we say God's grace is amazing grace. No wonder
John Newton Penn, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. Was blind, but now I see. Oh my. Christ paid a debt that
I could not pay and that you could not pay. And you know how
we know he paid it? It is finished. Complete. In the Greek that means
nothing to be added to it. Perfect. Perfect. It's finished. It's done. Now, Now look here. Oh, we see Christ
by faith, and we see Him dying on the cross for us now, don't
we? We see Him as the sinner's substitute. We see Him redeeming
His people on Calvary's cross by faith. We're convinced and
persuaded that He is the Son of God, that He is the only Savior
of sinners. And look what it says in the
next two verses, in verses 46 and 47. Now look what He's going
to say here. I am come, a light into the world. that whosoever
believeth on me should not abide in darkness." Do you know we
abided in darkness before we were saved? We were in such darkness. You ever woke up in the middle
of the night without a nightlight on or something? We like to leave
a little nightlight on now, because I stubbed my toes too many times
going into the bathroom. But you ever had it where you're
in such darkness you can't even see your hand in front of you?
That's what we were. We were in that kind of darkness.
And look at this. He that whosoever believeth on me should not abide
in darkness. And if a man hear my words, and believe not, I
judge him not. For I come not to judge the world,
but to save the world. He came in here to save sinners,
didn't he? That's why he came, to save sinners. That's the whole
reason. He's Christ the light, he comes
into this world, he's the word of God incarnate, and God in
the flesh, and marvel, marvel, that the light of the world came
to save sinners. Oh my. Marvel in that. Turn if you would to John chapter
1 quickly. Just a few chapters over there. Oh this is incredible. That the light of the world himself
would come into this world to save sinners. John chapter 1. Look at this. Let's start with
the first verse. In the beginning was the word.
So it's going to set before us his pre-incarnate, who he was
before he came to this world. He's God. He's God. In the beginning
was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
And you know God was perfectly content being God before anything
was ever created or made. He was perfectly content. He
didn't need anything. He didn't need no one. But he
created this world and for the redemptive work of Christ to
bring glory and honor and praise to him. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was
life, and life was the light of man. And the light shines
in the darkness, this is when he comes to the world. And the
darkness comprehended it not." Oh my. My, oh my. Now that's our natural state,
isn't it? Look at verse 9 of the same chapter. That was the
true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
Oh my. Yeah. He gives life. He gives life to every man. Saved
and unsaved. Everyone. He is the life. Oh no, no shears. And what a
state of darkness we're in. Look at, turn over two more chapters
to John chapter 3. What a state of darkness man's
born into. Do you know we are in such a
state of darkness before the Lord saves us that we hate the
light? We can't stand the light. Remember
we talked about how we were before the Lord saved us and somebody
come start preaching to us? Oh man, that was fighting words.
Look at this. John 3 verses 18-19. He that
believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is
condemned already. See, man's already condemned.
It's God who rescues us. He's the Savior. My oh my. Because he had not believed in
the name of the only begotten Son of God. That's why man's
condemned. They don't believe on Christ. Christ is the Savior
of sinners. See, men don't believe they're sinners either. That's
the problem. And this is the condemnation,
that light is coming to the world. That's Christ. And man loved
darkness rather than light. Because why? Why? What was I
talking to Crystal about? Because their deeds were evil.
Because we're evil. We're born into this world evil.
We come into this world in spiritual darkness. blind to the things
of God. When we were in our natural state,
we were blind to the things of God, we were blind to Christ,
we were blind to the gospel, we were blind to the Bible, we
were blind to the providential workings of God, even in our
own lives. But he had his eye on us all
the time, didn't he? His people. On his children,
even before we were saved. He was protecting us. He was
watching over us. That's the part that blows my
mind away. Before the foundation of the world, yeah. Chosen in
Christ before the foundation of the world. Oh my. My, oh my. Comfort, comfort, comfort, comfort.
So rejoice, beloved, whosoever believes on Christ. We no longer
dwell in darkness. We're no longer blind. Turn,
if you would, to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. My, we are blind to
what, what, who Christ was. We are even blind. You know,
think of this. I, I preach on something that's
already done. Salvation's already accomplished.
And God, the Holy Spirit, regenerates the sheep of God and they believe.
And it's absolutely amazing. Right? But the work's already
been done. Remember in our study in Galatians,
God sends the spirit of his son into God's people. Whereby now we cry Abba Father.
Not everybody cries Abba Father, but those who are born again
cry Abba Father. I'll tell you that. I'll tell
you that. Do you know the gospels hid from
us until God reveals it to us? Look at this. Look at this. 2 Corinthians 4, 3. But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost. The only reason we now believe
the gospel is because God, the Holy Spirit, has revealed it
to us. Look what else it says here.
in whom the gods of this world are blinded, that's Satan, the
minds of them which believe not. Thus the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them. Now a lot of people give the
devil way too much power. Who's our worst enemy? Amen,
myself, right? Satan has no power unless God
allows him to have power. Either way, he's on a leash,
beloved. The scripture says that at the cross, Christ crushed
his head. And he just bruised the heel,
which means the humanity of Christ. He just bruised the heel of our
Savior. Look at this. Look at this. So,
in whom the God of this world have blinded the minds of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we preach
not ourselves. I don't get up here and preach
myself. That would do no good to you, would it? How can you tell if a man or
woman, not a woman, but how can you tell if a man is preaching
Christ? I'm going to tell you how. Does he talk about himself
or does he talk about Christ? That's how you can tell. A man
talks about himself, he's not preaching Christ. Look at what
it says. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. And
ourselves, your servants, for Jesus' sake. Now look at this.
So it says in verse 4 that the God of this world is blind to
us. Who has more power? Satan's just a... I love what
Sister Diane told me about a year ago. She said, you know, Satan's
just a created being, isn't he? I said, yep. That's all he is.
The only power he has is what God allows him to have. That's
it. That's right. Spurgeon just said,
he's like a bulldog on a chain. Exactly. As a matter of fact,
in Pilgrim's Progress, there's lions that are chained up. And
Pilgrim's going to go through this area. He's afraid. He's
terrified. He says, there's lions. They're going to eat me. And
Evangelist says, nope. Don't worry. They're chained. And he walked right through there
and those things, they could only go as far as the chain allowed
them to go. And he walked right through there. Isn't that amazing? Ah, he's on the least beloved.
He's way more powerful than me. I am absolutely no match, neither
are you four, none of us are. But what about our elder brother?
Amen. And see the salvation of the
Lord. Oh my, it's wonderful. Look at this though, look at
verse six. For God, Here's another one of God's, right? For God,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in
our hearts. Look at, who's done this work?
This is regeneration. To give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So rejoice,
beloved. Whosoever believes in Christ
no longer dwells in darkness. See, that's a ploy that the enemy
uses. He brings up our past all the time. Yeah, we are, but praise God,
it's all covered in the blood. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from what? Some sin? All sin, amen, brother, all sin,
all of it, all of it. Oh, it's wonderful. This is grace,
this is true grace, this is free grace that flows from our sovereign
Father. Now look at verse 47, and if
any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not, for I came
not to judge the world, but to save the world. Well, to God
be the glory. Christ came into this world to
save sinners. Right? Oh my, this is wonderful. You
know, he came to save sinners like you and I, Dave. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't it? I was reading the text this week,
listening to a study, I think it was yesterday. And the fellow
was bringing up the fact that here Christ is, he's sitting
there, and the Pharisees come up to his disciples, and you
just hear them dripping, your master's eating with sinners.
That's kind of the way he said it too. And you could just hear,
they're a bunch of sinners. But what he said was something
marvelous. He said, here are these guys where they thought
they were the great upholders of the law. But the law hadn't
shined in their own face yet. They saw everyone else as sinners.
And yet they didn't even know they were sinners. See, what's
one of the first thing God shows us? We're sinners. We're unworthy
sinners. That's what we are. But praise
be to God. Our Lord saves sinners. He saves
sinners. Oh, it's wonderful. I'll tell
you. It's wonderful. He came into this world. You
know, think of this. Think of this too. At His first
coming, He didn't come as a judge. He came as a Lamb. The Passover
Lamb. The Lamb of God. To give Himself. To give Himself the sins for
all His sheep. Or to give Himself as a sacrifice
for the sins of all His sheep. My, and our sins are imputed
to Him and His perfect righteousness is imputed to us. Oh my. So he didn't come as a judge
then, he came as a savior. But you know, the next verse
is going to speak of his second coming. These next two verses,
or this next verse, verse 48, this speaks of his second coming. Let me see here, John chapter
12, in my notes here. Okay, here we go. look at John
48 John 1248 look at this he that rejected me and receive
it not my words hath one that judges them the word that I have
spoken the same show judge him in the last day now lots at the
word that he spoke the word that he spoke home my there's a great day coming And
this is an appointment that nobody will miss. Just like the appointment
with death. Not one human will miss the appointment
with death, right? Not one human who's ever lived
will miss this judgment. Not one. And this is righteous
judgment. What serious words are here spoken
by our Master, right? Let's read them again. He that
rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judges
him, the word that I have spoken. The same shall judge him in the
last day. Here our great king declares that the words which
he publicly preached to the Jews while he was here on this earth
will witness against them. They witness against him. They
will not just witness against them, they'll witness against
all who do not believe on Christ. Yeah, that's right. And they
will not be able to deny that Christ's words were words of
mercy. His words were words of mercy.
They will not be able to deny that His words were words of
wisdom. They will be left speechless and they will be condemned. Oh my. And think on this, the
word of God does not return void, right? Men may attack the Bible,
they may speak against the Bible, they may despise Christ, they
may despise his gospel, they may even hate a sermon that they
hear. But we know that the word will not return void. Listen
to this. So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please. So if you're
born again, right? Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God, right? Through the preaching of the
Gospel. If you're born again, it's because God had that Word
set to go in. And He prepared the ground already,
He's saying, in your heart. And then you receive that Word. Oh my! It's wonderful. And he says here, but it shall
accomplish that which I please. Here's that little word again,
it shall accomplish. And then it shall prosper in
the thing that I send it. We've been looking at that little
word shall all through the scriptures, shall. It means it will happen,
it's definite. In the Hebrew, or in the Greek,
it means it shall, it is going to pass. It's not maybe, it will. So the man who rejects Christ's
words needs no other judge but Christ's words. That's it. Let's look at verse 49. For I
have not spoken unto myself, but the Father which sent me,
he hath given me a commandment, what I should say and what I
should speak. So again, we look at the union of the Father. We
see Christ bringing it up again, the union of Him and the Father.
And this is an intimate and mysterious union. John 14, 10, it says,
Believest thou that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?
The words which I speak unto you are not of myself, but the
Father that dwelleth in me. He doeth the works. And to reject
Christ's words is to reject the Father. Listen to this, in John
8, 28, Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son
of Man, then shall ye know that I am He, that I do nothing of
myself. And as my father taught me, I
speak these things. And he said, and he that sent
me is with me. The father has not left me alone,
for I do always those things that please him. Isn't that wonderful? Now let's read verse 50. It says,
and I know that his commandment is life everlasting. Whatsoever
I speak, therefore, even as the father said unto me, so I speak.
The commandment here spoken of is not the law, because the law
can't give life, right? There's no life in the law. But
this commandment is the gospel. It is the only thing that can
penetrate the darkness of natural man's depravity. The Word of
God. Oh my. It is the only light that
can shine in the darkness, and all by the power of God the Holy
Spirit, not by anything we do. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation, scripture says. Life comes through the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why it's so vital to preach
the gospel. That's why it's so vital to preach
Christ. I could get up here and tell you 10,000 victorious ways
to be a victorious Christian, but that wouldn't do no good
for you, would it? It wouldn't do you any good at all. Number one, I'd be lying because
I'm not always victorious. Are you? But I'm victorious in
Christ, right? Amen. We're victorious in Christ. Oh, look at this. And think of
this, the gospel is the power of God and salvation. Life comes
through the gospel, the preaching of the gospel by the power of
God, the Holy Spirit, who gives us hearing ears and gives us
seeing eyes to look upon Christ and gives us faith to believe
on Christ and repentance before God. My, it's wonderful. Listen to 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 into life. John 5, 24. Sinner friend, may God give you
a seeking heart and hearing ears. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Isaiah 55, 6. Isaiah
55, 7 says, let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous
man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will
have mercy upon him. Oh God so merciful to sinners
in Christ. And to our God, for He will abundantly
pardon. And we're living proof of that.
He abundantly pardons, doesn't He? How many of our sins are
forgiven? All our sins and trespasses. I mean, every one. And God says,
I don't even want to see them. Because they've all been washed
in the blood, so cast them behind His back. If God don't remember
them, why do we remember? If we've taken them to Christ
and said, forgive me, Lord. Do you know, it's like I said
about a month ago, our sins are buried with Christ in that tomb.
And he rose, but our sins are gone. Right? They're gone. Never to
be remembered again by God. Oh my. So beloved God, what a difference
we've seen tonight in our text. It's Christ's words, our life
to the believer and to the unbeliever condemnation. Here's the beauty of the gospel
in a question. Who made we who believe on Christ
to differ from all those around us? Who made us to differ? Amen. Amen. So it's God and God
alone, in his mercy and grace, who made the light of the gospel
to shine unto you and unto me. May we praise his name forever
and ever and ever when we get the glory. Brother Dave, can
you close us in prayer? Heavenly Father, we thank you,
Lord. We thank you for the light. Your son brought light into this
darkness. His blood made it possible that
we could come unto Thee. We thank You for this place that
we can worship Thee. We thank You for Pastor Wayne
Moore that He brings forth Thy Word. And we ask this thing in
Thy Son, Jesus Christ, Amen.