Bibles, if you would, to Matthew
chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11. The name of the message tonight
is, Offended with Christ. Or, Offended by Christ. Offended
with Christ. Matthew chapter 11. Let's read verses 1 to 6. And
it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his
twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and preach in
their cities. Now when John had heard in the prison the works
of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said unto them,
Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus
answered and said unto them, Go and show John again these
things, which ye do hear and see. The blind receive their
sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the
deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel
preached to them. And in verse six, this is our
text, and he, or and blessed is he who shall not be offended
in me. Now John's disciples had oftentimes
questioned certain things about the Lord's disciples and about
what they were doing and what they were able to do. So when
he says this, blessed is he who shall not be offended in me,
that's a direct aim right at them as well as us. So tonight our text will
be found in verse six. And blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me. Now in the previous chapter,
our Lord had finished his charge to his disciples, sending them
out. Here in this chapter, we see he has received a message
from John the Baptist. We know that John was at this
time in prison for being honest with Herod. Turn if you would
to Matthew 14. Matthew 14. He was honest with
Herod. in the situation and unlawfulness
of his intention of taking his brother Philip's wife. We see
that over in Matthew chapter 14. We'll just read verses 2-3. Matthew 14 verses 2-4. And said unto his servants, This
is John the Baptist, he is risen from the dead, and therefore
mighty works do show forth themselves in him. For Herod had laid hold
on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake,
his brother's Philip's wife. Look what John had said to him.
For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.
So he had just pointed out that it was unlawful for Herod to
have his brother's wife. And for that he lost his head. So let's go back to our chapter.
And we see here in our chapter that John had sent his disciples
to ask the Master, our Lord and Savior, if he was indeed the
Messiah. Look at verses 1 to 3 again.
And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding
his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach
in their cities. Now when John had heard in the
prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples. And
said unto them, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for
another? Our master, the Lord Jesus Christ, gives abundant
proof that he was, in fact, the sent one. And we'll see that
in the next few verses, that he was the promised one. Look
at verses four and five, and if you could, put your finger
in Isaiah 35. We'll go there right after this.
We'll read these two verses, and then we'll go to Isaiah 35.
Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again
those things which ye do here and see. The blind receive their
sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the
deaf hear, the dead are raised up, And the poor have the gospel
preached to them. Now turn over to Isaiah 35, if
you would, and we'll contrast this statement by our Lord, the
sent one, the Messiah, Emmanuel, with that which is said of the
Messiah in the Old Testament. Isaiah 35, verses four to six. And then we'll turn over to Isaiah
61 after that. Isaiah 35 verses 4 to 6. Say
to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come and save you. And
He has done that, hasn't He? Our God came and saved us, the
Lord Jesus Christ. God incarnate in the flesh, look
at this. Then, when he comes, then the
eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall
be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap
as a heart, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For in the wilderness
shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. Oh my, exactly
what our Lord told John's disciples. Now turn over to Isaiah 61. Isaiah
61, and we'll read verses one Isaiah 61, verses 1 to 3. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto
the meek. He hath sent me to what? Bind
up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives. And
oh, were we captive, weren't we? We were in the prison house
of sin, beloved, and we had no way out, no way out. and the
opening of the prison to them that are bound. We were so bound
up by our sin, we were chained, beloved, by our sin, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord. And we know when the fullness
of time was come, God came into this world, didn't he? The Lord
Jesus Christ came into this world, made of a woman, by the power
of the Holy Spirit of God, the acceptable year of the Lord,
and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn.
to appear unto them that mourn in Zion, to give them beauty
for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and we've got that,
haven't we, in Christ. We have joy in Christ. We used
to mourn over our sin, and we still do mourn over our sin,
but oh, what joy we have in Christ. We have the peace that passes
all understanding, that keeps our hearts and minds on Christ
Jesus our Lord. And then it says here, the oil
of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. that they might be called trees
of righteousness. The planting of the Lord, we're
his planting, we're trees of righteousness, because we're
clothed in his perfect spotless righteousness, beloved. We're
trees of righteousness, only because of Christ, and it's because
of the planting of the Lord. Why? That he might be glorified.
that God might receive all the glory and all the honor and all
the praise. Let's go back to our text in
Matthew chapter 11. So after our Lord has shown them
that He is in fact the sent one, the Messiah, by telling them
of the miracles that He's performed, then our Savior, our Redeemer
brings forth this nugget of gold in Matthew 11, verse 6. And blessed
is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. Here is a soul-searching
question right here before us. It ranks right up there with
what think ye of Christ. Ranks right up there with that.
Are you offended by Christ? Are you offended by Christ? Do
you feel like the Jews felt about Him? How did the Jews feel? Well, we'll look at that pretty
soon. If you do, I pray that God would
draw you to Christ and that you'd be born again by the Holy Spirit
of God and be granted faith and repentance to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Because all who trust in him,
all who trust in Christ, are not offended by him. We're not
offended by him. There was a time when we were.
I admit that there was a time when I was. I was offended by
the gospel, I was offended by Christians, and I was in my natural
state, dead in trespasses and sins. And this is natural man,
natural man in the, in their state of being born dead into
trespasses and sins is offended by Christ. And we'll look at
that tonight. They're offended by the preaching
of the gospel. Again, this is a natural state
of man. Just think back, just think back, beloved, of how you
felt about Christ before he saved you. I know I keep bringing that
up, but that's a good thing for us to do. Think back, just quickly
think back of how you thought of Christ before the Lord saved
you. Were you offended by the gospel? Yeah, I was, personally,
because it revealed my sin. And I used to get mad when people
would tell me that I needed to read the Bible or I needed, because
I had no idea who God was. Didn't want them Christians around
me. And I know a lot of people were that way. A lot of people
were that way. Think of how you felt about the
Bible. before the Lord saved you. Think about how you felt
about the Lord's people before the Lord saved you. Think about
how you felt about the gospel. More importantly, though, think
of how you felt about Christ. Our text proclaims, blessed is
this man or woman who is not offended by Christ. And note
in Christ. In Christ. There are some who
are hardened in their hatred for Christ. Hardened in their
hatred for Christ. And so offended with Him that
they will perish in their sins. They will perish in their sins.
All the Lord has to do is what? Leave them alone. Think of what would have happened
if he had left us alone. Praise God we had mercy given
to us. Praise God that we're not offended
by him. But all God has to do is leave
a sinner alone and they're perished in their sins, beloved. They're
perished in their sins. They go headlong into a Christless
eternity. And you know what? They'll hate
God in eternity just like they hated God here on earth. And
they will. And we who are the redeemed,
blood-bought people will love God in an even greater way than
when we loved Him here while we were on this earth. Who are
some people who are offended with Christ? Well, there were
some even in the days of His incarnation who made it very
evident that they hated Him and they were offended by Christ. The Jews were offended at Christ's
ancestry and birth. Turn, if you would, to Matthew
13. They were offended at the poverty of His parents, and the
manner of His birth by a virgin. They were offended at the supposed
place of His birth, which they thought to be Galilee. Look at
Matthew 13. We'll read verses 53 to 58. And it came to pass that when
Jesus had finished the parables, he departed thence. And when
he was coming to his own country, he taught them in their synagogue
insomuch that they were astonished and said, whence hath this man,
this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's
son? And you know, they didn't say
that in a good way. They said that, despising our
Lord. Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not this his mother called
Mary? And his brethren, James and Joseph
and Simon and Judas and his sisters? Are they not all with us? Once
then hath this man all these things. And beloved, they said
it, despising him. They rejected him, they hated
him. And they, look at this, verse 57, and they were offended
in him. There it is. They were offended
in him. And our text said, blessed is
he whosoever shall not be offended in me. These Jews were offended
in him. But Jesus said unto them, a prophet
is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own
house. He did not many mighty works
there because of their unbelief. Now turn, if you would, over
to John chapter 7. The Jews, the same Jews, were offended
at his education or lack of it, they thought. Little did they
know, here's God incarnate in the flesh. But to them, going
to a school and sitting under one of their famous teachers
was more important, was more important than, than, That's how they got their learning.
I remember Norm Wells told me, somebody asked him one time,
what seminary did you go to? And he goes, the seminary of
the kitchen table. And the guy looked at him and said, what
are you talking about? He says, I learned everything I learned sitting
at the kitchen table. The Lord taught me all this. I've had
people say oftentimes, you grace preachers, you don't go to seminary.
No, seminaries ruin us. No. No. Nothing wrong with learning,
but I remember what Henry said, he said, you go to seminary and
you learn about history, you don't learn about Christ. You
go to church and you learn about Christ, and this is where we
learn about Christ. If you notice, most of our preachers
are raised up right from amongst us, beloved. Look at this over in John 7,
14 and 15. Now about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into
the temple and taught. And the Jews marveled, saying,
how knoweth this man letters heaven never learned? Well, he
never attended their schools, did he? That's what they're basically
saying. How does he know these things?
Because he's God incarnate in the flesh. But they had no clue
who he was. They did not understand who he
was. They had no knowledge of who
he was. But here they are, stumbling over the fact that supposedly
he doesn't know letters. Then they were offended at his
appearance in his public ministry. They wondered how someone untaught
could teach. That's basically what they're
getting at there. And then they were offended in
his person and who his disciples were. Turn, if you would, to
Luke 15. Do you know they were also offended
with the company he kept? Oh, they despised him for the
company he kept. They thought he should be amongst
the religious who's who, but they all hated him. But who's
our Lord with? I love this, because this is
me, and this is you, who are his blood-bought people. Luke 15, verses 1 to 2. Luke 15, verses 1 to 2. Then
drew near unto him who? All the publicans and sinners.
For to hear him, and look at these, look at the, here's the
religious, here's who, here's the Jews, and the Pharisees and
scribes murmured saying, and remember these are the ones who
are offended at him, murmured saying, this man receiveth sinners
and eateth with them. You know, you can just hear the
religious condescension dripping from those words, can't ya? That's
how they felt, beloved. But here's our Lord. I love this. Jen drew near unto him all the
publicans and sinners. There's hope for sinners in Christ,
in Christ alone. For to hear him, and what did
he do? He gives his people hearing ears, doesn't he? And they were
offended also at the doctrines he preached, particularly those
which respected his own deity and eternality. They were offended
about the distinguishing grace of God and living by faith upon
His flesh and blood, not knowing that He was God incarnate in
the flesh. Our Master, beloved, the Lord
Jesus Christ, He wore ordinary clothing of the people. He wore
a garment without seam, woven from top throughout. It served
His purpose. He did not wear the soft clothing
and gorgeous clothing of a prince? No. No, our Lord was meek and
lowly, beloved. And the scriptures declare, he
hath no form nor calmliness, and when we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire him. And for this men hated him, and
they despised him. Look at our text again, and blessed
is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. There are others
who reject Him because of the fewness of His followers. Some like to go where there's
a whole lot of people. But if the Gospel's not being
proclaimed, then what does it profit the believer? Nothing,
does it? Nothing. The Lord told us. What did the
Lord tell us? Broad is the way to destruction,
isn't it? And many there are which go in
that way. But He also said, straight is the gate and narrow is the
way which leads unto life, and few there are that find it. Well,
we know that the way spoken of there is Christ, the King's highway,
beloved. It is He who leads to eternal
life. It is the King's highway. And it's often a few which are
upon it, But many are on the road to destruction. Many. And usually that road to destruction
always has something to do with what they think they're doing
to gain merit and favor with God. And they're being told what they
have to do. They're being encouraged, do this, do this, and live. But broad is the road to destruction. Broad is the road. Again, you
add a pinprick of works to grace, it's no longer grace. It's no
longer grace. It's a deadly error to mix works
with grace. It'll lead to the eternal destruction
of those who trust in their own works. And so many stumble at
this truth, and yet the redeemed of the Lord, all the elect of
all the ages are a number that no man can number. God's ways are not our ways,
beloved. And they're all purchased with His precious blood at Calvary's
cross. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Some are offended with Christ because of the grandeur of His
claims and the fact that He claims to be God. And He claims to be
God because He is God. But people are offended with
that. They say He's just a man. They
say He's just another teacher. And most of the people I've found
talking to different people about it are people who say that and
never read the Bible. They're just parroting what someone
else said. And that's what they do. Turn to John chapter 8. And we'll
see our Lord claim who He was and proclaim who He was very,
very clearly. Very clearly. He proclaimed Himself
to be God. And we know that in the Scripture
it says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. We know in John chapter 1 it
says, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Look at how clear
it is here in John chapter 8. Our Lord proclaims His deity. And then we see the reaction
of natural man. They are offended. Look at this
in John chapter 8, starting in verse 56 and reading the verse
59. Your father Abraham rejoiced
to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. Oh my. He just proclaimed His eternal
deity, beloved. But it gets better. Then said
the Jews unto him, thou art not yet 50 years old, and hast thou
seen Abraham? Oh my, he's God incarnate in
the flesh. And look what he says here. Jesus
saith unto him, verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham
was, I am. He just proclaimed his deity
right there. He told them that Abraham rejoiced
to see his day. Who was Abraham's reward? Christ. Christ. Who did Abraham look
to by faith? Christ. In Christ alone. And he says here, Jesus said
unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was,
I am. And what's the natural reaction
of man? He's just proclaimed his deity.
He's proclaimed he's God incarnated in the flesh. And these are supposedly
religious people who studied the scriptures. You'd think they'd
be dropping and rejoicing, hey, and saying, oh, praise God, our
Messiah's here. But no, they're blind. They're
the blind leading the blind, aren't they? And look at their
reaction here. Then took they up stones to cast at him. Oh,
but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going through
the midst of them, and so passed by. It was not his time, beloved. It was not his time. Look at
how he passed right through the midst of them. Oh, my. Beloved Christ, Claims to be
God, and he is God, over all, blessed forever. He counted it
not robbery to be equal with God, though he made himself of
no reputation and took upon himself the form of a servant. He was
in full submission to the Father, wasn't he? But he's God incarnate
in the flesh, the God-man. Nothing has changed, beloved,
proud, carnally wise man, even today cannot endure the doctrine
that the Redeemer is co-equal. with the Father, very God of
very God. I recently heard someone recently
deny that Christ was God. He said, no, he's just another
man. No, he's not. And he told us himself, he's
God incarnate in the flesh. And for we who are redeemed,
knowing this, knowing that Christ is God, knowing that we have
been redeemed by the blood of the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, we delight in who He is. It brings us great joy, and oh,
the peace this brings us. Oh, the peace that this brings
us, because He who has redeemed me is going to keep me, and He
who has redeemed me is God Himself. Oh my, it's wonderful, the God-man,
the God-man media, the perfect sinless sacrifice, the perfect
Lamb of God. And think of this, if he were
not God, how could he then save us? Because we cannot save ourselves. We cannot save one another. Angels cannot save us. They're
just created beings like we are. No cherubim or serebin has the
power to save. And you know that the elect angels
are kept by the same power that we're kept by? They are. They're kept by the same power
we're kept by, beloved. The power of God. Some angels
fell, didn't they? But others were kept. Others
were kept. The elect angels. God incarnate in the flesh has
saved his people from their sins. He bore our sins, beloved. We
would have perished under our sins, under the weight of our
sins. And God has saved us. And God
alone must save me, the believer proclaims. God alone must do
this for me. His blood-bought born-again people
proclaim this, loving our Savior for what he's done for us. And
we praise his mighty name. God must save us or we'll perish.
And our Lord Jesus Christ was God incarnate in the flesh, the
God-man. Emmanuel, God with us, and it
is He whom we trust. It is He who we place our eternal
souls into His hands, into His hands. Look again at our text,
and blessed is he or she, blessed is he or she, whosoever shall
not be offended in me. This speaks of everyone who trusts
the Lord Jesus Christ. Next, some are offended with
the Lord because of His atonement. Because of His atonement. Turn,
if you would, to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. The Jews were really offended
by Him speaking of Him dying for His sheep. John chapter 10, verses 11 to
21. And you know, people are still
offended when we say today that Christ gave his life for the
sheep. They still get offended about that, don't they? Because
they proclaim false religion proclaims Christ died for everybody.
No, he didn't. He tells us right in the scripture
he died for. He died for his sheep. And a
believer says, praise God, I'm one of them. Praise this name
that I'm one of them, that I'm included in that number. Look
at this in John chapter 10, verses 11 to 21. I am the good shepherd. This is the master proclaiming
this. The good shepherd giving his life for who? The sheep.
The sheep. Verse 12, but he that is in hireland
and not the shepherd whose own the sheep are not, seeeth the
wolf coming and leaveth the sheep. So here's a hireling watching
over some sheep, and he sees a wolf coming, he just takes
right off. But the shepherd stands there and he defends those sheep.
He takes care of them, he protects them. But here's the hireling,
he sees the wolf coming and leaving the sheep and fleeth. And the
wolf catches them and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth
because he is a hireling and careth not for the sheep. He
doesn't love them. He doesn't love them. I am the
good shepherd and know my sheep. Look at this. And I'm knowing
of mine. He knows every single one of his sheep. Every one of
us. We are important to him. Isn't
that wonderful? He knows every single one of
us by name. He knows the very hairs on our
head, they're numbered. He knows us so intimately and
He loves us so much that He gave His life for all His sheep on
Calvary's cross. And look at that, and I'm knowing
of my... He reveals Himself to us and
we know Him, don't we? We know Him. We hear His voice
through the preaching of the Gospel, beloved. And the Father
knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life
for who? The sheep. The sheep. Another sheep I have. Again,
I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago. This is us, the Gentiles.
Another sheep I have, which are not of this fold. Them also I
must bring, and they, what? Shall hear my voice. There's
no doubt. They will. They'll hear the voice of God.
They'll hear the voice of the shepherd. And there shall be
one fold and one shepherd. Therefore, that's my father loved
me because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No
man take it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power
to lay it down. Oh, he has all power, beloved.
And I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. Oh, beloved, we have a savior
who has all power. He's not lacking in nothing.
We lack the ability to save ourselves. We lack the ability to redeem
ourselves, but we trust in one who has all power to redeem us,
to keep us, to take us home to glory. He's got all power, all
of it. And then look at this. There
was a division, therefore, again among the Jews, for these saints.
Oh, he's... Some folks are getting riled
up, beloved. And many of them said, he hath a devil, and is
mad. Why hear ye him? They're offended
at him. They're offended at the fact
that he just told them, I lay down my life for the sheep. I
lay it down for them. Others said, these are not the
words of him that hath a devil. Can the devil open the eyes of
the blind? So there are some who are offended
by the atonement of Christ. and the fact that He is the center,
the object of our salvation, and that He saves us by standing
in our place before God, beloved, the perfect substitute, sinless
substitute, dying in our place, and that He bears the full wrath
of God on behalf of all His people, beloved. He bore it all. Everything that God demanded
for your sin and my sin, He paid it all. Every single thing. What a sacrifice. What love.
Remember the Good Shepherd? He didn't flee. He stands there
and takes it all. What a Savior. What a Redeemer. Natural man hates this though.
You know why? Because it takes away their doing. Because salvation then is wholly
dependent upon Christ, and Christ alone dependent upon what He's
done. A natural man hate it. When people say that their works
gain them merit and favor with God, and there's many religions
out there that do that. We could just sit here and name
a whole bunch of them because they're all the same. There's
only either grace or works. There's only two religions. Grace
or works. That's it. That's it. So when
people say that their works gain them merit and favor with God,
you know what they're actually doing? They're denying the atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're spitting in the face
of God. That's what they're doing. Because the only way a man can
stand before God, the only way a man or a woman can stand before
God is not based upon our works, but based upon what Christ has
done for us. That's the only way. That's the
only way. and religious men deny the atonement
of Christ when they claim that Christ, who is God, died for
all men. That's a denial of the atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ as well. Because we know that if Christ
died for all men, then what would happen? All men would be saved.
Right? Because Christ is a successful
Savior. But the scripture tells us that
broad is the road that leads to destruction. And our Lord
there in John chapter 10 told us he just gives his life for
the sheep. And we know from studying the scriptures that those sheep
are the ones that were given to Christ in eternity by God the
Father. Narrow is the way of salvation
because it's through Christ and Christ alone, beloved. There's
no other way. Through His atonement, the Lord
Jesus Christ shed His blood to redeem His people from their
sins. And that blood is precious to
the believer. It's precious to the believer.
It was shed to redeem us. It was shed to purchase us, beloved. Oh my, and it purchased our pardon,
that blood did. And we know that the life of
the flesh is in the blood. And what does Christ do? Exactly
what he said in John chapter 10, I lay down my life for the
sheep. That's why he came here. That's why he came here, to lay
his life down for his people. And we have no remission. The
gospel preacher gets up and preaches the atonement for God's people
in and through Christ alone, because without the shed and
the blood, there's no remission. There's no remission. We have
no remission to preach unless we preach the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We have no remission for sins
outside the blood of Christ, outside the atonement that he
made. Because we're not redeemed with corruptible things, are
we? That's what the scripture says. Things are silver and gold. You can't buy your salvation
no matter how much religious people think they can or the
world thinks, oh, I'm a good person. I'm not an ax murderer. I'm not as bad as that guy down
the street. Because they can always find someone who's worse. Trust
me, I know. I used to do it. But you know
what? When you get a glimpse of who
you are in the eyes of a holy and righteous God, When He reveals
to us what we are, my, we just, we are in the dirt, beloved.
We are in the dirt. We bow before Him, pleading for
mercy, pleading for mercy. Without the shed and the blood,
there's no remission. We must preach. the atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that He has redeemed His people with
His precious blood. Because again, we're not redeemed
with corruptible things of silver and gold, but what? With the
precious blood of Christ. That's what we're redeemed by.
The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. If one is ever cleansed from
all sin, it must be because of the divine declaration, the blood
of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. What a declaration
that is, beloved. The blood of Jesus Christ, his
son, cleanses us from all sin. That's a divine declaration. and rejoice you who are the beloved
of God, you who are redeemed by the Lord, you being redeemed
by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's go back
to our text, and we see, Blessed is he whosoever shall not be
offended in me. Now some are offended because
of the graciousness of the gospel. You know why? They stumble at
the fact that salvation's by grace alone. Again, you know,
and we know why. Because they want or think that
there's something they have to do. That men are wired for works. We come out wired for works. We really are when we're dead
in trespasses and sins. Oh my. We are just wired for
that. And some are offended because
of the graciousness of the gospel. Again, they prefer their works.
And one commentator brings forth this, that the gospel of God's
grace in Christ to sinners, to some sinners, to those who are
offended, has what they say, too much free grace in it. You
know what? There's never enough free grace.
It's perfect. It's wonderful. The salvation
we have in Christ is perfect. Perfect. It's not lacking anything.
It's a wonderful salvation. And we praise his mighty name
for saving us. We praise his mighty name that
he's had mercy upon us. And you wonder, sometimes you
wonder, how can people be offended at the gospel of God's free grace
in Christ? Well, it's because, again, people
want to do something to be saved. That's the bottom line. They
want to do something to be saved. They want to mingle grace with
works. They think surely it's something they must do or continue
to do. And you see that in religion, right? They just keep working,
beloved. We are so free in Christ. I don't
think we really grasp how free we are in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's incredible. It's incredible. Now we don't use that to go crazy,
do we? No, we don't at all. But we are so free, beloved.
We are free from the condemnation of our sins. We are free from
the penalty of our sins. We're free from the power of
our sins. We still struggle with our sin,
but it's not like it used to be. Oh, we were in such bonds
and everything. And then one day, we'll be free
from the presence. And what a day that'll be for
us. Be free from the presence of our sin. But people think surely there's
something they gotta do. Something they must contribute
to their salvation. Beloved of God, salvation is
by grace alone. And this grace is stripping grace. It's stripping grace. It strips
us. It strips us of any self-righteousness. It strips us right down to nothing.
It strips us of thinking we can do anything for our salvation.
And this salvation comes to us all by the power of the Holy
Spirit of God. And we are showing our desperate
need for Christ. And therefore we preach, Gospel
preachers preach and proclaim that salvation is all by the
grace of God in Christ alone. All by the grace of God in Christ
alone. Let's look at our text again.
Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. Nothing
either great or small, nothing sin or no. Jesus did it all. Did it all long, long ago. He did it all. As one preacher
of old said, we tell sinners who are trying to save themselves
by their own works, doing is a deadly thing. Doing is a deadly
thing. Doing ends in death. And it does. It'll lead to their
eternal doom. To their eternal doom. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe
on the one who's finished all the work in the salvation of
sinners. Believe on the one in whom God's law and justice has
been satisfied. May God give you grace to believe
upon him. And then for the believer, we
just keep believing, don't we? He keeps us and we just keep
looking to Christ. We see our need more and more,
more and more as we grow in the grace and knowledge and truth
of our savior. And we who trust Christ alone
for our salvation, we stand in Him. Salvation is not by the
works of the law, but according to the grace of God in Christ
alone. And never forget that we who
are redeemed are not offended by Christ. Are not offended by
Christ. We love Him. We love Him because
He saved us by His grace. He's given us mercy and He saved
us by the free grace of God in Christ alone. God has saved His
people from their sins. Salvation through eternal love
in Christ. Salvation through the mercy of
God alone in Christ. This is what the gospel preacher
proclaims. Salvation not in any merit of
our own, but all through the merit of Christ alone. Christ
alone. We preach and proclaim and love
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, which tells us again
that salvation is not of the will of man, nor of the power
of man, nor by the works of man, but salvation is by the eternal
purpose. Now let this sink in, you who
are the redeemed of the Lord. Salvation is by the eternal purpose
of divine sovereignty. And it's all according to the
will of God. If you're saved here tonight, it's all according
to divine sovereignty by the will of God. Our scripture proclaims,
I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. And we know that this is in and
through Christ alone. The gospel preacher preaches
salvation by the grace of God, undeserved, undeserved. but given of God to his people
in and through Christ alone, because God delights in mercy
towards his chosen people. And there are many who hate this
gospel, but it is the only gospel which will suit the sinner. It's
the only gospel which will suit the sinner, because it's we who
have broken the divine law of God. We've broken it. And man
will never see this until God reveals it to him. And then we
see ourselves in a hopeless state, don't we? We see ourselves in
a hopeless state. We see ourselves shut up in the
condemned cell. We hear the sentence read, condemning
us to die. And we know that we have no means
to save ourselves. And the gospel is preached, and
we see by God granting us faith to believe and being born again
of the Holy Spirit of God, we see the Lord Jesus Christ, the
great substitute, the great substitute for sinners. And what do we do? Thy people shall be made willing
in the day of thy power. We flee to him. We flee to him. And all through the message tonight
we've looked at those who were offended by Christ and the message
of salvation by grace alone, through Christ alone, by faith
alone. And now let us quickly consider those who are not offended
in Christ. We'll just touch base on this
a little bit because we've already touched on it quite a bit in
the message. And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended
in me. The Scriptures declare that the believer in Christ,
the one resting and trusting in Him, is not offended by Christ. He's a blessed person to us. We love Him. We love Him like
no other. And those who are blessed in
Christ have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. We have
divine care. He's our great shepherd. We looked
at that already. He's our great shepherd. And
we are His sheep. And He ever cares and watches
over every single one of His sheep. He watches over you all
the time. And He watches over me all the
time. Isn't that wonderful? It's absolutely wonderful. He's
purchased us. We're His by creation. and we're
His by purchase, beloved. And the purchase price is His
blood, which becomes precious to the believer. We cast all
our care upon Him, for He careth for us. And just think how blessed
you are. Think how blessed you are, beloved
of God. The Lord Jesus Christ cares for
you. He cares for you. I think sometimes we need to
think about that. We really do. He cares for every single one
of His sheep. My. And that love He has for
us never changes. Never. He's cared for us from
eternity. And He cares for us now. And
He will care for us in eternity. Oh my. We cast all our care upon Him.
and He watches over us and provides all that we need, all that we
need physically and spiritually. Isaiah 28, 16, the scriptures
declare this. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation stone, foundation
stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. And he that believeth shall not
make haste. Always remember that it is Christ
who has saved us and he is the object of our faith. Note those
who are blessed are not offended in Christ or by him. Why? Because he's everything to us.
He's everything to us. Again, let's read that quick.
And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. Tonight we have seen that men That men do not object to Christ
being a part Savior. No, they are offended that Christ
is a complete Savior. They're not offended that Christ
is a part Savior because then they can throw their works in
there. Christ is either a whole Savior or He's not your Savior
at all. And they are offended by this truth, but blessed is
he or she whosoever shall not be offended. Heavenly Father,
we thank Thee for this time that we've had together. We thank
You for Your Word and how precious it is, how it ministers to our
souls. O Lord, when we think upon the wonderful truths that
we looked at, the fact that we are so blessed in Thee, O Lord,
we're not offended in You or by You. And it's only you who
brought that great change, oh Lord. It's only you. Only you
can give us a love for the, in our natural state, we don't love
God. But oh Lord, you regenerate your people. We're born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. And then we love thee and we
love thy gospel. We love thy word and we love thy people.
Lord, may you be glorified through the preaching of your word and
as it goes forth. We love you because you first loved us. In
Jesus' name, amen.