What is it to Believe on Jesus?

Good morning. We're going to be in the 12th chapter of the Gospel of John. If you'd like to turn with me there in your Bibles, John chapter 12. I'd like for us to pray together before we look to the scriptures. Don Williams is in the hospital in Lexington and has some major blockages.

And they are running tests now to find out if they can do open heart surgery on him. And in the process of all that, Mary fell in the parking lot of the hospital and cracked her elbow. And she's in a sling and having a lot of pain from that. I want to pray for Dawn and Mary this morning. Also, if you will, remember our daughter Jennifer. Her oncologist wanted to put her on a chemo and her surgeon has stepped in and said that he thinks that he can do some more to help with the tumors that she has. They're trying to schedule an ablation on her liver this month. And if you could remember her and pray with us about that. All right, let's pray together.

Our merciful Heavenly Father, what great hope and joy we have in lifting our voices together and knowing that the angelic host in heaven join in lifting up praise to Thee. Lord, how blessed we are to have a place where we can come and where we can open thy word and have the promise of thy presence and the power of thy Holy Spirit. Lord, how dependent we are that you would meet with us and that you would bless us with thy presence and with thy power, that you would open the eyes of our understanding, that you would increase the faith of our hearts and enable us to set our affections on things above where Christ is seated at thy right hand. Lord, might we be enabled to worship thee today.

We do pray for Don and Mary. We ask, Lord, that your hand of healing and that your provisions would be given to them, physically, but most especially that you would comfort their hearts and encourage them and give them rest and grace in Christ. We thank you, Lord, for the way in which you have been so merciful and so faithful to answer prayer Lord, we pray for Jennifer and for you to provide that procedure for her this month, and Lord, that your hand of strength and healing would be attended to that, and that you would supply to her heart all the grace and comfort that she needs to rest her hope in Christ. Father, we thank you for the freedoms that we have enjoyed in this country for 250 years now. Lord, you've told us to pray for kings and for those in authority, knowing that our governing authorities were placed there by your sovereign hand. Lord, we do pray that you would give them the wisdom that they need to make good decisions that we might live peaceable lives, and that your gospel might have a place to go forth in freedom. We ask it in Christ's name, amen.

I was telling the men this morning that I spent several days looking at the verses that we want to consider this morning in John chapter 12. thinking that I would bring a message on the willing blindness of unbelief. But the last couple of days, the Lord has changed the direction of my heart, and I believe he's given me a message on what it means to believe on Jesus. If you'll look with me at verse 10, of John chapter 12, but the chief priest consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death, because that by reason of him, many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus. Now it's the second group mentioned in those two verses that I want us to give our attention to, but before we do, let us Consider how obvious unbelief and blindness is a willing choice that men make. Men talk about free will, and here we see in this verse the evidence of what men call free will. They think that they have the freedom to do whatever they will, and they do. And given that freedom, this is what they will do.

Raise their fist to heaven and say, I will not have this man to reign over me. They will ignore all evidence in order to protect their own position of power. Clearly, Lazarus had been raised from the dead. They knew it. And rather than admit it and confess to the power of the one who raised him from the dead, they not only want to have the Lord crucified, but they want to They want to murder Lazarus as well. This is witness tampering at its grossest expression. We're not just going to bribe or threaten the witnesses. We're going to kill them so that we can protect our own position.

It is what the Lord said when he talked about the rich man and Lazarus and the rich man being in hell and crying out from that place of torment for Abraham to send Lazarus to quench his thirst with a drop of water and Abraham responding to that request by saying, a great gulf has been fixed between us. There's no way that we can bridge this chasm. Your destiny in hell is an eternal destiny. And so the rich man said, well then, please send Lazarus to warn my brother of this terrible place.

And Abraham's response to him was, they have Moses and the prophets. They have the scriptures. And if they're not convinced by that, though one be raised from the dead, they will not believe. These priests had Moses and the prophets. They had the scriptures. They prided themselves. in their understanding of the scriptures, but they didn't believe. They did not believe what the scriptures revealed about the Lord Jesus Christ. They did not believe that he was the Messiah.

And now, even after the Lord has obviously raised one from the dead, this is the This is the pinnacle of all the miracles that our Lord performed. And you remember in John chapter 20, the Lord's going to conclude this whole gospel account by saying, many other signs did Jesus that are not recorded in this book. The seven miracles that John records are only a sampling of the miracles that the Lord performed. But then the Lord goes on to tell us, but these had been written. that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ and that believing you might have life on his name.

These priests were willingly blind to the truth. As are all that reject the evidence that the Lord has given. Even after the resurrection, these same men would go to those Roman soldiers and bribe them to testify that the disciples had come and stolen the body of Christ. So not only was it the resurrection of Lazarus that they were denying the evidence of, but they would go so far as to deny the evidence of the resurrection of Christ. Men will do whatever they have to do to protect their own power. They will reject the evidence and truth of the gospel in order to protect their own past experiences, in order to protect their own decisions, in order to protect whatever it is they're trusting in for the hope of their salvation.

They'll protect their works. and they will willingly reject and deny the clear evidence that God has given left to their own free will. If the Lord leaves any of us to ourselves, if he leaves us to our own free will, we will do exactly the same thing. And all the miracles of God will not convince us otherwise. It didn't convince the Israelites. Most of the Israelites died in the wilderness as unbelievers. The scriptures clear on that. And yet those same Israelites observed the plagues that the Lord sent against Pharaoh. in Egypt.

They walked across the dry ground on the Red Sea and saw the wall of water on both sides. They ate of the manna that fell from heaven. They drank of the rock, the water that came from the rock. They saw the mountain quake. They saw the miracles of God. They saw the earth open and Korah and his followers be swallowed up by the earth itself. Every single day they saw the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day, and yet they refused to believe. They raised their fists to heaven.

When Elijah met with those prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, and the demonstration of God's glory was undeniable in the fire that fell from heaven and consumed the altar, they continued their refusal to not believe. When Belshazzar, the king of Babylon, saw the handwriting on the wall and Daniel came and interpreted that handwriting, though his knees were shaking in fear, he did not believe and died in God's wrath and judgment that very night.

What we have here in this verse that we just read is a clear evidence that man left to himself will justify himself and will go out of his way to deny the clear evidence that God has given in order to protect their own position of power, in order to protect their own authority in order to protect themselves as God. Man sets himself up on the throne of God.

What a blessing it is, brethren, when the Lord is pleased to show us what we really are, to show us that not only are we not God and not only are we not in control of our salvation, But there's nothing about us that even comes anywhere close. That everything about us is sinful. And that we are completely dependent upon him to make us willing in the day of his power, to open the eyes of our understanding, to cause us, to bid us to come and to cause us to come, to give us faith, to make us to believe, to turn us. The prophet said, Lord, turn me. If you'll turn me, then I'll be turned. I won't turn on my own. I won't turn on my own.

I'll do exactly what these priests did. Let us not only plot to get rid of Christ, because if we don't, the Romans are going to come, and they're going to take away both our place and our power, our position. That's what men are protecting. When we share the gospel with our lost friends and family members, that's what they're protecting. They're protecting their own righteousness. They're protecting their own experiences. They're protecting their own power.

And until the Lord turns our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning forks and causes us to lay down our weapons of rebellion, we will all do exactly the same thing. What a miracle of grace it is when we are brought to that place where we can just bow with that Canaanite woman and say, truth, Lord. Truth, Lord, that's what I am. I'm a dog. God's not obligated in any way to provide for us such undeniable evidence of his saving grace and of his power. And yet he has, and he does. Jonah had one message for Nineveh. Repent, or in 40 days, the God of Israel is going to come and destroy this city. That's all he said.

And God gave them the understanding to heed that warning. The generation of Noah, for perhaps up to as much as 100 years, watched this crazy man, as far as they were concerned, build a boat on dry ground in a world that had never seen rain, warning them of the judgment and wrath of God. And they scoffed him. They didn't believe. Noah and his three sons and their wives and his wife, the eight souls, were saved on that ark.

Turn with me to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. This is our nature. We would be just like these priests. Many of the people have gone away and believed on Jesus because of Lazarus, because the testimony of the power of God is walking and breathing among us. Let us murder him too. Let us get rid of all the evidence, lest we lose our power over the people. They're leaving us. They're going away from us. Romans chapter one, look with me in verse 18.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Men who do not believe the gospel are willingly blind. They are willingly in unbelief. The truth has been revealed all around them, and they hold this truth in their own unrighteousness. Now, what is their own unrighteousness?

Well, it's when the natural man believes that his righteousness is what recommends him to God. And God's calling it unrighteousness. It's when he says, but Lord, we've done many wonderful works in thy name. And the Lord says, that's iniquity. What you think is your righteousness, I'm saying is unrighteousness. So here the Lord says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven to all men because they hold the truth.

The truth has been made evident to them. But rather than relinquish their own righteousness, they are holding the truth in unrighteousness. Now that describes all unbelievers. Whether they've ever heard the gospel or not, it describes every unbeliever in this world, holding the truth in unrighteousness.

Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. If I come to the light, then the light is going to reprove. It's going to expose me for what I am. Now brethren, the flip side to what we're talking about here with unbelief is what belief is. You see that? It's just the opposite. When the light has come into the world, men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. And if they walk into the light, then their deeds are reproved. They're holding the truth in unrighteousness.

Verse 19, because that which may be known of God is manifested in them for God hath showed it unto them. God has written his law on the hearts of all men. All men come into this world with a moral code written on their hearts. They know right from wrong. They know by conscience that there is a God.

And yet they reject that conscience and they go about in their willing rebellion against God anyway. Look at the next verse. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and in Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Now this describes every unbeliever. God has written on his heart the law of God. He's written the knowledge of God. He has revealed the glory of God in creation.

And so without ever having heard the gospel, without ever having having access to the word of God, God says that those men are without excuse before God. They stand before God guilty because they've rejected the revelation that God has given. Though conscience and creation would not be sufficient to save a man, he must hear the gospel. He must have the special revelation of Christ in order to be saved. What the Lord is telling us here is that the natural man who's never heard the gospel is responsible before God because he has rejected the revelation that God has given him.

He has raised his fist to heaven. and said, let us kill Lazarus, lest we lose our power, and has rejected the truth that God has made. And when God gives grace to bow to the revelation that he has given, then more revelation comes. Verse 21, because that when they knew God, They knew God by the revelation of conscience and by the revelation of creation. They knew there was a God.

Yet they glorified him not as God. Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing themselves to become wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God.

What is the truth of God that's in every man's heart? There is an uncreated, all-powerful, sovereign creator with whom I must do. And he has written his law on my heart, and I am a violator of the law of God. But I'm going to deny that revelation. And instead of that revelation, I'm going to embrace a lie. And the lie is that God needs me to do something in order for him to be able to save me. And the lie is that I have a free will. And the lie is that I can make some contribution to my salvation. And so I'm gonna change the clear revelation that God has made. Brethren, this is what we'll all do. I'm going to take the very, and I'm, and I'm, I'm guilty before God. I'm without excuse before God because I've done this. And they will worship and serve the creature themselves more than the creator who is the blessed one. They'll worship themselves, they'll set themselves up on the throne of God, and they will believe the lie.

Now that's what we have in John chapter 12 with these priests. And I said I wanted to bring a message on What about these who believed on Jesus? What was unique about them? If that's a description of the natural man, then what is the description according to God's word of those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Verse 11. John chapter 12, because that by reason of him, speaking of Lazarus, many of the Jews went away from the priest, from the religion, and believed on Jesus. What did they believe about the Lord Jesus Christ?

Well, first of all, they believed that man has the power to raise the dead. And my conscience and everything that I see in creation and all the revelation that God has made to me, and now in light of the gospel, Out of all the needs that I have, and they are multiple, they are all insignificant compared to the need that I have for one who is able to raise me from the dead. That is undeniably my greatest need. And if God never meets another one of my needs, if he never gives me another breath to breathe, if he never provides for me any comforts or any peace in this world, and he raises me from the dead, that's what I need more than anything.

They saw what the Lord Jesus did in raising Lazarus from the dead. And they believed what the Lord Jesus said to Martha. When he said, Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth on me, though he were dead, though he died physically, yet shall he live. And he that liveth and believeth on me shall never die. Martha, do you believe this? Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ that should come into the world.

I believe that my greatest need is to be raised from the dead. The resurrection, the very miracle that these priests were denying is the miracle. that I believe demonstrates your glory and your power and your grace more than anything else. And Lord, I don't just need to be raised from the dead in the day of judgment. I need to be raised from the dead right now. I need to be born again. I came into this world spiritually dead, dead in my trespasses and sins.

That's what I believe about myself. And Lord, if you left me to myself, I would deny the most obvious evidence of your power and of your grace, and I would hold on to my own righteousness, and I would go to my grave, believing the lie, and never have any hope in being raised from the dead. But Lord, you've shown me This is what it means to believe. This is what the scripture is telling us about these who went away from the priest and believed on Jesus. And this is the pattern of salvation for all that believe on Jesus. This is the first evidence to say, Lord, I'm a sinner.

I've got no claim on God. I've got no righteousness. I've got nothing that would obligate God in any way to save me. Turn with me to Ezekiel chapter 16, Ezekiel 16. Do you see the stark contrast between the willful blindness and the willful rebellion of these Pharisees and these priests and those who went away and believed on Jesus. One said, we're not going to have it. And the other said, that's what I need more than anything else. I need one who is able to raise me from the dead. Ezekiel chapter 16 verse one.

And again, the word of the Lord came unto me saying, son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations and use this parable. Use this parable. to preach to Israel their sinfulness before God. Cause them, if we're gonna be caused to see our abominations, if we're going to be made to believe that we are sinful and that we are dead in our trespasses and sins, the Lord's gonna have to make us to believe this parable about ourselves. And say this, thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem, thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan, thy father an Amorite and thy mother a Hittite.

Now what did the Pharisees say? We're children of Abraham. We've protected our bloodline. We're dependent upon our natural birth and our descent and our connection to Abraham as the hope of our salvation. And God says, no, tell them this. Tell them that their father is an Amorite and their mother is a Hittite. And what would the Jew say to that, the self-righteous Jew? What would he say? Not me. And as for their nativity?

In the day that thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither was thy washed in water to supple thee. Thou wast not salted at all, nor swallowed at all, none eye pitied thee to do any of these things unto thee, to have compassion upon thee. But thou wast cast out into the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast born."

What a graphic, horrible picture. babies born into this world, the first thing we do is embrace that child. First thing we do is put that baby, that newborn baby, on the breast of its mother. We clean that baby up. We swaddle that baby. Everything goes into the precious life of that baby. But here we have a picture of you and me, born into this world, so grossly deformed. that the parents have no pity. The baby is cast out into the field. It's not deserving of life. Do you believe that about yourself? Cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. Tell her this is what she is. Her father was an Amorite. Her mother was a Hittite. And as pagan people, they took this child and just cast it out into the field to die on its own. Verse 6.

And when I passed by thee, and I saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. I caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and had increased in waxing great, and has come to excellent ornaments. And thy breasts are fashioned. and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.

Look down with me to verse 14 in this same chapter. The Lord, in the verses we're skipping over, the Lord's describing what he's done for us, to grow us in his grace and to manifest his glory. And in verse 14, he says, and thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect through my comeliness.

I put my beauty upon you. This is what you look like by nature, a discarded, deformed child with no right to life. I saw thee in thy blood, and I passed by thee, and I said unto thee, live, and I caused thee to become beautiful with my comeliness. I put my strength and my beauty upon thee.

My greatest need, your greatest need, every man's greatest need, and really his only need, is that one have the power to raise him from the dead. In regeneration and in glorification. Turn with me to First Thessalonians chapter four. First Thessalonians chapter four. Verse 13, but I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

Now, some of the believers, these, the apostles, when they stood on the Mount of Olives, and the angels said, men of Israel, why stand you here gazing up into heaven? Well, why were the apostles gazing up into heaven at the ascension of the Lord Jesus?

Because they believed as soon as he got to heaven, he was coming back. They were anticipating his return that quickly. No, you go back into Jerusalem, the Holy Ghost will come upon you, you'll be my witnesses. The time and the season is not yet. And so it has been with every child of God and every generation of God's people, gazing up into heaven, anticipating the return of Christ. And in this first generation of believers, they were convinced that before any of them died physically, that the Lord would return.

But now some of them were beginning to die off. And there was some discussion in the church and some rumors and some doubts being thrown around. Well, maybe the resurrection's already passed. Maybe we missed something. Maybe there's, and so the Lord straightened them all out on that. I don't want you to be ignorant brethren concerning those which are asleep. Those which have, those which have physically died.

Verse 14, those who have no hope, verse 13 But if you believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so also them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a trump and with a shout and with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall raise shall first rise, arise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort ye one another with these words. Here's our hope.

These that went away and believed on Jesus, they believed that their greatest need, yea their only need, was to be raised from the dead, both spiritually in the new birth and physically in the regeneration, in the glorification. And they believed that the Lord Jesus was the only one that could do that. And he proved it by his own resurrection. Secondly, what is it to believe on Jesus? It's to believe that he is the resurrection and the life. He is the resurrection and the life. Secondly, it is to go away from all man-made religion, all self-righteousness, All free will.

These priests were worried for their own position of power because the people were going away. And when they went away, the authorities would condemn them. They would say, if you leave us, you leave what we're providing for you, then you'll never make it to heaven. But they believed what the Lord Jesus was saying was true. And what the priests were offering was a lie. And they went away from the priest and they clung to Christ. They believed on Christ.

If we're going to come to Christ, we've got to believe that he alone has the words of eternal life. We've got to believe that whatever, whatever we have is worthy of God's judgment and wrath and can in no way, can in no way profit us in our salvation, that we cannot add to Christ in any way. We must go away. We must be like that woman with the issue of blood.

She spent all that she had on positions, and she was worse off. Lord, I've tried man-made religion. I've tried free will. I've tried good works. I've tried keeping the law. I've tried believing the religious leaders, and I have no hope. I have no comfort. I have no peace. I don't have any place to go but just to rest in Christ alone. They went away and they believed on Jesus.

To believe on Jesus is to believe wholly on him. It's to cast all your care upon him. It's to believe that he's all of your wisdom. He's all of your righteousness. He's all of your sanctification. He's all of your redemption. He is all and he is in all. You can't add anything to him. You can't take anything away from him.

Thirdly, verse 12 in our text, John chapter 12, on the next day, much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried, Hosanna. Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. First, They believed that their greatest need, their really only need, was to have one that was able to raise them from the dead. Second, they believed that all the promises of religion were lies, and they went away from that and believed on Jesus only. Thirdly, they cried, Hosanna. Hosanna. What does Hosanna mean?

It's a conjunction of two words in the original language. To save, now. coming and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is not listening to the prospects of salvation. It's not saying we'll come back another day. It's not saying, well, you know, I need to think about that. It's not saying, well, I need to have an experience, or I need to have a feeling, or I need to learn more. No, it's crying, hosanna.

Save me right now. That's the only way to be saved. You've never done anything tomorrow, much less be saved. Lord, save me. Lord, forgive me. Lord, have mercy upon me, the sinner. Lord, help me. Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Lord, teach me. Lord, hear me. Lord, deliver me. Hosanna, Lord, save me right now, right this very minute. It's the only time that salvation is experienced. It's the only time it's effectual. It's when we come, right now, right this minute, in your heart. And we keep coming.

To whom coming? What does it mean to believe on Jesus? It means to believe that he's the only one able to raise you from the dead and that's the one thing you need. It means to forsake all other hope, all other false refuges, all other all other religious opinions, and to trust Christ alone.

And it's come right now. Right now. You say, well, I need to understand. No. You need to understand two things. You can't save yourself. All you have about you is sin. You're a great sinner. Christ is the King. The Son of the Living God, He's the resurrection and the life. He's the only one that can save you. Cry, Lord save me. Do we ever quit? Ever quit praying that? No. Faith never quits praying that. All right, let's take a break. Thank you.

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What is it to Believe on Jesus?

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