Good morning. Let's open our Bibles to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our merciful and gracious Heavenly Father, We come before thee looking in faith to thy dear son, our savior, our righteousness, all of our salvation, and how very hopeful and confident we are that he provided everything that you require for us to be able to call you our father, for us to be able to come boldly before the throne of grace, for us to be able to offer to you, Lord, our petitions, and know, Lord, that you hear the prayers of your people when offered in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, answer for Christ's sake Lord, that we would be able to hear His voice this morning. Lord, so many, so many distractions and so many troubles and so much sin in this world and in our hearts. Lord, how needful we are that we be able to worship Thee and that You would Give us rest and hope and joy in the Lord Jesus. For it's in his name we pray. Amen.

You have your Bibles open to John chapter 10. I started to title this message, Christ is all or he is nothing. but I changed the title to Christ is all or he is worse than nothing. Either the Lord Jesus Christ is all that he professed himself to be and either he accomplished all that he and the whole of scripture declare him to have accomplished. Either he is everything in our salvation, or he is the devil. That's our choice.

Verse 19, in John chapter 10, there was a division. Therefore, again, this wasn't the first time that the Jews were divided over what the Lord Jesus was declaring about himself. There was a division, therefore, again among the Jews for these sayings.

And many of them said, he hath a devil and is mad. Why, hear ye him? This isn't the first time that they said he has a devil. Mark chapter 3, they said that he does the works that he does in the power of Beelzebub. And that's the passage where the Lord said, if a house be divided against itself, it cannot stand. If I cast out devils in the name of the devil, my house certainly will be destroyed. It doesn't make sense that you would accuse me of that. And that's the same passage of scripture that the Lord goes on to say that they were guilty of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.

They saw clearly and they heard clearly the Word of God revealed by the Spirit of God and they denied that it was God and said that it was the devil. Why hear ye him? He's mad." Others said, these are not the words of him that hath the devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? No, he can't.

All that the Lord is saying and all that he did is in response to the miracle that he performed in chapter 9, and taking that man that was born blind and miraculously giving him sight. Clearly a picture of our spiritual condition. We come into this world spiritually blind. We cannot see ourselves for what we really are. We cannot see God for who he is. We cannot see the kingdom of God. It's what the Lord told Nicodemus. Nicodemus, except you be born again, born from above, born of the Spirit of God, you cannot see the kingdom of God. You cannot perceive of it. You can't understand it. You can't enter into it.

That's how we come into this world, spiritually blind. And unless God does a miracle of grace in our hearts, and only he can, the seeing eye and the hearing ear are both from the Lord. He's the only one that can unstop the ears and he's the only one that can enable us to see. Or we will live our lives like all men do, groping in the darkness as blind men and depart from this world just as blind as we were when we came in. Can a devil Cause the blind to see?

No. No. But here's our choice. Now, in almost all things in life, moderation is a good thing. Moderation is a good thing. To be restrained from extremes, to avoid extremes. We all have a tendency when someone might disagree with us to dig in our heels and go farther into our position and double down on what we believe. A lot of times that's a mistake because we find ourselves not being moderate as we ought The Lord tells us in Philippians chapter four, let your moderation be known unto all men for the Lord is at hand. Many things in life, we need to listen to other people's thoughts and we need to be conscious of the fact that we could be wrong and be willing to be to be changed and taught differently.

That having been said, when it comes to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, there are but two positions. There is no common ground. There's no place of compromise. There's no place for concession. Either the Lord Jesus Christ is everything that he professed himself to be, either he is everything in our salvation, or he is the devil. We cannot be moderate about this.

It has been recorded in one of John Wesley's messages where he said the evil doctrine of predestination turns the holy God into one worse than the devil. The evil doctrine of predestination turns the holy God into one worse than the devil. Top lady. Augustus' top lady responded to John Wesley by telling him that his God was his devil, my devil.

There is no other choice. There was a a time when our Lord was boldly declaring himself to be the Son of God. And the scripture says that his brethren, his brothers and sisters, his immediate family, got together and said, he's beside himself. He's lost his mind. They were going to have a family intervention. They were going to pull him back into the fold. and restrain him from the extreme positions that he was taking. What exactly did the Lord say that brought such a response from these Jews?

Well, look at verse 17. Therefore doth my father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take again this commandment have I received of my father and there was a division among the Jews because of these sayings.

And some said he's the devil. Others said we've got to believe him for his work's sake. For his work's sake. We can't deny what he's saying about himself because he has proven it to be true by what he's able to do. Nothing has changed. We cannot deny what the Lord says about himself because he has proven it by what he's able to do.

Give life. Give life. Notice in verse 18. No man taketh it from me. I lay it down of myself. The Lord Jesus Christ was not a victim. When he was in the garden with the disciples, he said, My soul is troubled within me. What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. No. For this cause came I into the world. For this cause came I into the world.

No man took his life from him. The Lord Jesus is not did not do what he did in order for for us to feel sorry for him. All of eternity and all of time was determined for this end. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is the purpose of everything. Men debate what their purpose might be. We look to the cross and we see what God's purpose is, and then God's purpose becomes our purpose.

The Lord Jesus said, I could call 12 legions of angels to deliver me. A legion was over 6,000 Roman soldiers. How oftentimes we see in the Old Testament where God sends one angel and wipes out a whole army of tens of thousands of the enemies of Israel. 12 legions of angels, all standing, I'm certain, on the precipice of heaven with their swords drawn, waiting for the Lord Jesus to just say, come.

That's all he had to say. He said, I could. I could call 12 legions of angels to deliver me. But it was for this cause that I came into the world. This is the will and purpose of God. And everything in time, from the beginning of creation, was all leading to this moment. I lay down my life for my sheep.

No man taketh it from me. when the Lord was 12 years old and his parents mistakenly left him in Jerusalem. They spent, was it two days looking for him? Three days? I don't remember. They found him in the temple. And Mary rebukes the Lord for having for having left them in such worry and concern. And the Lord Jesus looked at his mother and said, woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. If there was anyone who knew who the Lord Jesus was without any doubt, it was his mother, Mary. It was his mother, Mary.

Actually, That happened when the Lord turned the water into wine at the Feast of Cana in John chapter 2, not when the Lord found him. When they found him in the temple at the age of 12, the Lord said to his mother, I must be about my father's business. That's why I've come into this world, to fulfill the purpose of my father. And then in John chapter 2, when when they ran out of wine and Mary came to the Lord and she saw that he had his disciples, it is now time for you to go public. Let everybody know who you are. Perform some miraculous work here that will be undeniable. She was trying to push him into the limelight. And that's when he said, woman, what have I have to do with thee?

Mine hour has not yet come. And only the disciples and the servants that took the water that was turned into wine knew what he had done. It was a very private miracle. His hour had not yet come. And then in the garden, when the Lord Jesus came to the disciples and told them to pray, and then he went off on his own and he prayed and he sweat great drops of blood, And he came back, and they were asleep again. And he said to them, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And then he said, sleep on, for my hour has now come. My hour has now come.

The Lord Jesus Christ was in control of all the circumstances surrounding his life and his death just as he is in complete control of all the circumstances in your life and in my life. This is what he was declaring when he said, no man takes my life from me. I have the power to lay it down. I have the power to take it up again. I'm in control here. And some of them said, he thinks he's in control. Only God's in control. Only God's in control.

No, at the last supper, when the Lord told Judas, go and do what you must do and do it quickly. He was the son of perdition, chosen by God to this end. He was a vessel fitted for destruction, as we read in 2 Thessalonians 2. Judas himself, though fully responsible for everything he did, was a very integral part of the Lord's plan and purpose in going to the cross.

When the soldiers came to the garden, and the Lord Jesus said to them, whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. And the Lord said, I am. And they fell down. These stalwart Roman soldiers fell to the ground. He was in control of them. And then, as one who seemingly was completely overpowered by a by a force of strength, the Lord Jesus, being the one in control, said to those Roman soldiers, though he was in no position as a man to make any demands, he was the one being arrested, but he said to the Roman soldiers, you let these go. And they obeyed his command. The one being arrested obeyed the command, gave a command to those arresting him and they obeyed him.

The Passover, if we go back to the book of Exodus, when God initiated the Passover, when the children of Israel were leaving Egypt, the Passover happened on in the month of Nisan, on the 14th day of the month of Nisan. The month of Nisan being the first month in the Jewish calendar. And the Lord told the children of Israel, this will be the first month of your year.

This is your deliverance. Surely, clearly a picture of what the Lord Jesus did. as our Passover lamb and shedding his blood and putting it on the doorpost that the deaf angel might pass over us. On the 10th day of Nisan, the Jewish families were to choose a lamb. They were to choose a lamb. The Lord Jesus died on Passover. Matter of fact, he gave up the ghost at three o'clock in the afternoon during the very moment of time when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed in the temple. He was in control of that. My hour's gone.

On the 10th day of Nisan, three days before the Passover, the lamb was to be chosen out, they were to go into the flock and inspect the lambs and choose one that was worthy to be offered up as a sacrifice. When the Lord Jesus Christ came into Jerusalem on his triumphal entry, when the Jews all threw down palm fronds and cried, Hosanna in the highest, that happened on the 10th day of Nisan, four days before the Lord was crucified. when the lamb was chosen. In the next three days, three and a half days, that lamb was inspected, just as the Passover lamb in Exodus was to be inspected, to make sure there were no flaws in it. It had to be a lamb that was without spot and without blemish, a perfect lamb.

It couldn't be sick. It couldn't have anything wrong with it. And so we have the Lord Jesus from the 10th to the 14th day of Nisan being inspected, inspected by the Pharisees, interrogated by them, inspected by the Sadducees, inspected by the Herodians, inspected by the scribes brought before the Sanhedrin, inspected by Pontius Pilate, inspected by Herod Antipas at his mock trial there at the end. He was inspected. No one could find anything wrong with him. Why? Because he's without sin. He's without sin. He's the perfect sacrifice. No man took my life from me. I laid it down willingly. Everything the Lord Jesus did and everything that happened was according to his purpose.

Even in John chapter 11, after the raising of Lazarus from the dead in John chapter 10, when Caiaphas, the high priest, called the Sanhedrin together, and they said, what are we gonna do? If we allow him to live, Everyone's going to believe on him, and we're going to lose both our place and our nation. We're going to lose our power, our position.

And Caiaphas, the high priest, stood up. And he said to the Sanhedrin, he said, you know nothing. For it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, that the whole nation perish not. And then the scripture says that Caiaphas, being the high priest, spoke prophetically. That was the Holy Spirit that put those words in Caiaphas' mouth. It is expedient for us that one man die for the nation, that the whole nation perish not. And that's exactly what the Lord Jesus was doing. And he said, no man took it from me. Pilate was a pawn in the Lord's hands. Tell us, are you a king? Are you a king? For this cause came I into the world. For this purpose was I born, that I might bear witness unto the truth. They that are of the truth, they hear my voice and they follow me.

Pilate is still in an eternal place of fiery judgment, trying to wash the blood of Christ off his hands. A pawn in God's hands. No man took my life from me. Those Roman soldiers were only being used to fulfill the prophetic words of Psalm 22, those horrors concerning what the Lord Jesus would suffer at Calvary's cross. The Roman soldiers were being used of God to fulfill that prophecy. No man took my life from me.

The scattering of the disciples, he had to go to the cross alone. When Peter stood on the day of Pentecost and preached in Jerusalem, he said this, speaking of Christ, he was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. The Lord Jesus Christ was delivered up by the determinate counsel and the foreknowledge of God. Did that relieve them of the responsibility that they that they bore for having crucified and slain him? No, because in the same breath, Peter went on to say, you have taken him by wicked hands, have crucified and slain. And that's when they were pricked in their hearts and said, what must we do? What have we done? What have we done?

He set his face like a flint toward Jerusalem. All of eternity and all of time was being fulfilled in what the Lord Jesus did. And he said, no man took it from me. No man took it from me. I had the power to lay it down. Not only was the Lord Jesus in control of the events, the circumstances surrounding his death. But he was in control of what would be accomplished by his death. That's what he meant when he said, I have the power to lay it down. I have the power to take it up again. He had a purpose in laying down his life, and he had the power to accomplish that purpose.

Turn with me, if you will, to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. Verse 12. neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption." And notice, for us, is in italics.

Some might read that and say, he obtained eternal redemption for all men. No, he obtained eternal redemption for those he came to lay down his life for. And he obtained it. He accomplished it. Oh, what a glorious Savior. No. No, only God could do this.

Look over in Hebrews chapter 10 at verse 14. Verse 14, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. He sanctified his people at the cross. The passage we just read in Hebrews chapter nine speaks of him going into the holies of holies, Aaron as the high priest.

The Lord Jesus is being likened as the high priest of the Old Testament. a better priest, a much better priest. Those Old Testament priests made sacrifice after sacrifice. And on the Day of Atonement, they would take the blood of the sacrifice and go in and put it on the mercy seat. And God said, here, I will meet with you once a year. Now, when the Lord Jesus bows his mighty head on Calvary's cross, he cries, it is finished.

And nothing less than the hand of God took the veil that separated the holies of holies. And it wasn't just a thin, it wasn't just a thin veil. We read the description of that curtain that separated the holies of holies from the temple. It was 14 inches thick. It was layered on top of layered of fabric and no one was to enter the holies of holies except for the high priest and that only once a year. And the Bible says that that veil was rent from top to bottom. And that veil is his body.

And now, instead of the priest warning men to stay away, the spirit and the bride, what do they say? Come. Come. The way is open. The blood has been put on the mercy seat. Not on the mercy seat. on the earth made with the hands of men, but on the mercy seat in heaven. And God says here, I will meet with you. If we're to meet with him, we come on the merits of the Lord Jesus blood alone. We come on the declaration of who he is.

No man took my life from me. I had the power to lay it down. Not only was I using my power to control all the circumstances concerning my death on Calvary's cross, but I had the power, I had the divine power, the omnipotent power to accomplish what I died for. And that is the sanctification of my people, the setting apart of my people, the once and for all, having obtained, having obtained, not making us an offer of redemption, but having obtained with his heavenly father, the redemption of his people. What a savior.

These are the words that they said he has a devil. He is the devil. These are the words that the Lord Jesus declared about himself when they said he's a Beelzebub. Either the Lord Jesus is everything that he professed himself to be, and either he accomplished everything that he declared himself to have accomplished, or he is the devil. There's no common ground, there's no in-between place. Imagine, imagine that a person stood before you and made the sort of claims that the Lord Jesus made.

Either he is who he says he is, Or he's the father of lies. That's what the devils call the father of lies. What greater lie would there be than to claim to be God when you're not? I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again. So many prophecies concerning the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the scripture in many places gives to the father the credit for having raised the Lord Jesus from the dead.

Let me show you just one, Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. Look at verse 19. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe? According to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places, far above all principalities, and power, and might, and dominions, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. The Father. And there are many other passages that speak of the Father raising the Lord Jesus from the dead.

Now turn with me, if you will, to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Verse 11. But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you.

The father. is spoken of multiple times of having raised his son from the dead. He could not allow his holy one to see corruption. The father saw the travail of his soul. The father was satisfied. The father in the power of God almighty moved, rolled the stone and raised his son from the dead. The spirit of God is credited here in this verse in Romans chapter eight, verse 11, of having raised the Lord Jesus from the dead.

And now the Lord Jesus is telling us, I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to raise it up again. All three persons of the eternal triune Godhead. Is there anything that God does, anything that God does that all three persons of the Godhead are not participating in? God the Father has spoken of having elected a people. God the Son is spoken of of having redeemed a people. God the Holy Spirit is spoken of as the one who regenerates and reveals Christ to the heart. And then we read salvation is of the Lord. There's no way. There's no way that. God could fail. in what he purposed to do. Let's go back to our text. Verse 18.

No man took my life from me. I'm not a victim here. I laid down my life for the sheep. I loved them to the end. Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friend. Hearing his love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and gave his son to be the propitiation for our sins. I didn't get caught up in something here.

This was my entire purpose. I have the power to lay it down. I have the power to accomplish what I purposed in laying down my life, the salvation of my people. And I have the power to take it up again. The problem with a A free will works gospel is that it denies Christ his power. It puts the power of salvation in the hands of men.

And we know that the only thing that our hands can do is defile it. It's all it can do. There was a division among them because of the words that he spoke, and some said he has a devil. Another said, these cannot be the words of a devil, for a devil cannot open the eyes of the blind. If our eyes have been opened, then we know that these are nothing less than the words of God. And the Lord Jesus said, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. They are life. Oh Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life.