Okay, we'll turn to John chapter
10 and I want to look at verses 24 to the end of the chapter,
verse 42 this morning. And I've entitled this message,
No Sitting on the Fence. I don't know if you remember
me telling you about how I first came across what would be regarded
as the Christian gospel. I was at a youth club in the
village I grew up and there was a local Christian community,
let's say, came and presented a play which was called Sitting
on the Fence. And the star of the show, Sitting
on the Fence, was my dear wife. That's where I first clapped
my eyes on her. And the plot of the play was
this. That there she was, typically
like everybody in the world, sitting on the fence of eternity.
weighing up the arguments and then exercising her sovereign
choice over her own life as to which side she would jump down.
And on the one side was the devil preaching to her about the joys
of the world and on the other side was a preacher preaching
the gospel that you must believe Christ because he's died for
your sins and he's done everything possible for you. That was how
I first came in contact with these things and then by the
grace of God dug deeper and deeper. So I've called this message No
Sitting on the Fence because again we see here a tremendous
polarization. You know again and again as we've
looked at the Scriptures you see this polarization. There's
no half measures. Men and women either completely
love and grasp that message or they twist and distort it and
reject the truth of eternal life in the Lord Jesus Christ. In
John chapter 10 we've seen a clear declaration of the deity, of
the man, Jesus of Nazareth, that this man who looked like an ordinary
man walking among them was God, very God of very God. Clear in
these verses of John chapter 10 and elsewhere throughout this
gospel. What do you think of him? And
why does it matter to you and to me? Very few today consider
it of any importance to their lives. They might have heard
of Jesus of Nazareth but very few consider it's got the slightest
relevance to the way they live their lives. But to those who
believe that he is God in the flesh that Jesus of Nazareth,
this God in the flesh, who came to redeem his people, to buy
back, to purchase, to save his people, knowing him is the most
important thing in your life. The most important thing. Absolutely,
you can, there are all sorts of things you would not like
to have taken away from you, but you can take them away, but
don't take that away. Knowing him, knowing him. Because
through knowing him and through believing him, We experience
the eternal life that He came to give. I am come that they
might have life, He said, and that they might have it more
abundantly. Eternal life. He purchased that
eternal life for all for whom He stood surety. He purchased
it. He paid the terrible price, the
dreadful, the awesome price of His own precious blood, that
He might satisfy divine justice. As we saw in Isaiah 5, the judgment
of God and the justice of God, He must punish sin. But for his
elect, for his people, he punished it in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Have your eyes been blessed? As Matthew 13 says, blessed are
your eyes if you see these things. Are you amongst the sheep who
hear the shepherd's voice? My sheep hear my voice. Have
you heard his voice? Is Christ precious to you who
believe? To you who believe, says Peter,
he is precious. there's no sitting on the fence
there's no deciding which side you'll jump down you know this
Arminian gospel that says all without exception can choose
to exercise their will and come to believe in Christ you know
that's not what the scripture says the scripture says this
the scripture says that the door to eternal life is wide open
to all those who are sensible of sin and eternity and divine
justice and accountability. All those and only those, only
those. It's not wide open to everybody
without exception, it's wide open to those that the Spirit
of God has brought to feel such a need of a Saviour, such a need
to be right for eternity. Come unto me, says Jesus, all
you without except, no he says all you who labor under heavy
laden those verses right at the end of Revelation about four
or five verses before the end says the spirit and the bride
say come and whosoever will he makes his people willing in the
day of his power whosoever will shall come whosoever will whosoever
thirsts Those who are thirsting for eternal life, those who are
thirsting to be right with God because of their sins, those
who thirst, let him come, freely. Come, hoe everyone that thirsts,
says Isaiah. Come, buy wine, buy milk, without
money, without price, free grace. Come, those who thirst. Now there
are two polarized responses here. To the same words and the same
works. The same words of the Lord Jesus
Christ, they heard them. The same works, they saw them,
but two completely polarized responses. In verses 41 and 42,
right at the end, you see many resorted, he went in the end
over Jordan to where John had been baptizing. And many resorted
unto him and said, John did no miracle, but all things that
John spoke of this man were true. and many believed on him there.
There was belief, but the rest, as Romans 11, 7 says, that the
election of God has accomplished it, has achieved its purpose,
but the rest were blinded. The rest, there were those who
resorted and believed, but the rest, the religious leaders,
they were filled with hate. They hated him. They sought to
kill him they hated him so much. They sought to be rid of him
because they hated him so much. What made one group hate so much,
and what drew others to him so powerfully? As I said, the same
evidence, the same words, the physically spoken words that
they heard from his lips. and the written words of the
scriptures. You know, he says the scripture in verse 35, Jesus
himself said to them, the scripture cannot be broken. He gave great
high regard of the scripture. Those scriptures and the works
that he did, verse 38, the works verse 38, but if I do and you
believe not me, believe the works that you may know and believe
that the Father is in me. They'd seen the works, they couldn't
refute the works they didn't immediately come back and say
those works were shabby, they couldn't do that for the works
were irrefutable the works were amazing the works were overwhelming
in their power and their effect overwhelming words and works
they both saw the same but the one hated and the other loved. I put on the bulletin here it
is on the back of it a little piece by Spurgeon. Brethren there
is nothing in the gospel apart from the Spirit of God which
can win upon a man for man hates the gospel with all his heart.
That's true. And you say, no, I know lots
of people that love the gospel, I'm sorry, which gospel? We'll
get to that in a minute. Which gospel? Yes, they love
a gospel of their own making, but the true gospel of Scripture,
man hates the gospel with all his heart. Though the reasonableness
of the gospel of Jesus ought to make the belief of it universal,
yet it's plain dealing with human sin. That's what they can't stand.
The human sin excites deadly antagonism, and therefore the
Gospel itself would make no progress were it not for the divine power.
Think about it when we think about the methods of reaching
people. Apart from divine power, the Gospel will make no progress
whatsoever. The difference is made by the
Holy Spirit in individual hearts. What does He do? He shines. God who in the beginning said
let there be light has shined in our hearts to give us the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. He makes his people willing in
the day of his power. He calls irresistibly those who
are in darkness. I forget how Don Faulkner puts
it but they're on this kind of a downhill slippery slope with
no brakes whatsoever heading to hell and he comes and grabs
them. Zechariah 10 verse 8 says this,
there are many other scriptures about his irresistible call God
says I will hiss for them that's that's a way of saying I will
whistle for them and gather them for I have redeemed them he irresistibly
calls them by his spirit he whistles for them he calls his people
like a like a man might whistle for his pet dog out in the field
whistle to call the dog so God says he will whistle for his
people and gather them from out of the world, round the world
for I have redeemed them. So let's look then at what the
believing heart hates so much and what those who believed him
believed him for loved. What does the unbelieving heart
hate so much? They hated Christ and they sought
to kill him because of the gospel that he preached. That's it. What is the Gospel? The Gospel
is the way of acceptance with God. That's what it's about.
How can a man be just with God? How do I get right with God for
eternity? How do I know that it is well
with my soul for eternity? And the Gospel says how. And
because when they heard Christ preach the true gospel, the gospel
that came down from heaven, the gospel that was divinely revealed,
not made up by man, not the invention of man, that gospel, they hated
it. And they hated Him for it. You
see, they didn't hate Him for the miracles, look at verse 33.
He said, when they took up stones to stone Him. I've done many
good works, that I've showed you from my father. For which
of those works are you going to stone me for giving that blind
man new eyes? Are you going to stone me for
feeding 5,000 people with the snack lunch of a young man? Are
you going to stone me for raising that cripple at the pool of Bethesda? Are you going to because I healed
him, are you going to stone me for that? No, they say, no. For
a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because
that thou being a man makest thyself God." You see, it wasn't
for the miracles that they hated him, not at all. They were incensed
about the fact that he performed some of them on the Sabbath day,
but it wasn't for the miracles, it was for the gospel that he
preached. That's why they hated him. The
gospel. What do you mean, the gospel?
I mean the gospel that is summarized in that mnemonic, that aid to
memory that we call tulip or the five points of Calvinism.
I hate putting labels on things like Calvinism, it's biblical
Christianity. Tulip, it's a good thing to remember
because it acts as a memory aid so that we know what is this
gospel that they hated so much? Is it what we've heard in days
gone by or is it the truth of scripture? It's summarized in
this word tulip. First of all, T, total depravity. When did Jesus talk about total
depravity? You remember when he was talking
to Nicodemus? Look back a few chapters to John chapter 3. He
was talking to Nicodemus and In verse 16 of course he says
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting
life. But then in verse 19 or verse 18 he says he that believeth
on him is not condemned But he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only
begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation,
that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil." Their deeds were
evil. Total depravity. He spoke of
total depravity. In John chapter 8 and verse 44,
those who appeared to believe him, he says to them, you are
of your father the devil. Not, oh jolly good for coming
along here, you are of your father the devil. He said to them, in
talking about total depravity, that there was no hope of commendation
from God in themselves. No, as the scripture says, there
is none good but God. There is none righteous, no,
not one. None at all. No hope in themselves
for any acceptance with God. And they hated that. because
the heart of man is proud. We saw it in Isaiah 5, that was
one of the judgments on sinful Israel, was the pride of their
hearts, their pride, their haughtiness, their confidence in the things
that they had done in the name of religion. God hates those
things, totally depraved, without any hope in themselves. And then
that's T, U, is unconditional election. Oh, how men hate unconditional
election. Look at verse 27. Jesus says,
my sheep, hear my voice, my sheep. He always talks about my sheep,
my sheep. And he says in verse 26, talking
to the Pharisees you believe not because you are not of my
sheep not the other way around it's not that they're not of
his sheep because they don't believe he says to them you don't
believe because you're not of my sheep but my sheep I have
a sheep I have a people which I call my sheep my sheep hear
my voice and I know them and they follow me oh they didn't
like that what you mean it's not up to me to decide no It's
not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who
shows mercy. Is this the gospel of how I'm
right with God? Is this what the gospel... Yes,
this is the revelation from God. It's of God who shows mercy.
Show me your glory said Moses I will cause all my glory to
pass before you but you cannot see my face and this is his glory
he will be gracious to whom he in sovereignty will be gracious
and upon whom he will have compassion and so he gives the power to
become the sons of God to those who are born not of the flesh
nor of the will of man but of the will of God it's the will
of God unconditional election but of God who is sovereign over
eternity and the things of eternity. And then thirdly, the L, tulip,
T-U-L. The L stands for limited atonement. We often like to call it particular
redemption rather than limited atonement. You know, it's a glass
half-full rather than half-empty approach. Limited atonement seems
a little bit half-empty, whereas particular redemption seems half-full.
But look at verse 15. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father. Now listen. And I lay down my
life. Who for? for the sheep. Why should
we call him Jesus? For he shall save his people
from their sins. Particular redemption. He will
lay down his life for the sheep and only for the sheep. This
is it. Particular redemption. Oh, we
don't like that. That's not fair. Grace is not
fair. I heard a good sermon by Greg
Elmquist this week. Grace is not fair. Look it up
on Free Grace Radio if you can, it's a good message. Grace is
not, it isn't. We don't want what's fair because
fairness is judgment and justice. We want the grace of God. The
grace of God is what we need. He laid down His life for the
sheep and for them only. And also in that is this, He
alone is able to save unaided by the works of man. It's Him
alone. What, you know, People give lip
service to the words of the great hymns of grace. Nothing in my
hand I bring simply to thy cross I cling. Nothing. Do you really
mean that? No, I don't want to go into his
presence empty-handed. So I'm doing all of these works
so I go into his presence. nothing in my hand I bring simply
to thy cross I cling what did he say he alone is the door of
the sheep back there in verse 7 I am the door of the sheep
there's no other way in it's not a bit of him plus a bit of
you it's him alone read Galatians absolutely clear if you add anything
anything to the work of Christ in saving his people, then Christ
will profit you nothing. Nothing. And I would say to anybody
listening, listen you five point Calvinist legalists. You say you believe all of these
points, but you value your law keeping to improve your fitness
for his presence. to improve your chances of reward
before his judgment seat. Now admit it, don't they? Don't
you? Don't we have that tendency in
our hearts but for the grace of God? We say we believe these
things but we value our law keeping to improve our fitness for his
presence and to improve our chances of reward before his judgment
seat. Limited atonement, particular
redemption and then the eye of tulip. Irresistible grace, verse
16, irresistible grace. And other sheep have I, I have,
which are not of this fold, of this Jewish fold that he was
speaking to, but of the worldwide gentile fold. Them also I must
bring, I must bring. Note that, he's got other sheep.
Not, I'm sure out there some of them will decide to become
sheep. No, that's not what he says. He has other sheep among
them and that he must bring them. There's only going to be one
fold and one shepherd and he must bring them into that one
but it's because he will bring them by his irresistible grace,
by his spirit. He must bring every one of his
sheep including many non-Jewish ones. He doesn't throw out an
offer and leave it to man to decide as God over his own affairs. He whistles for them. Zechariah
10.8 as we quoted earlier. He whistles, he calls them irresistibly
and they come. That's the eye of Tulip. And
then P, the perseverance of the saints, verse 28. verse 28, And
I give unto them, his sheep that is, eternal life, and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man
is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. And just in
case you're thinking that Jesus is not God, I and my Father are
one. And then they took up stones
to stone him. but it's showing the perseverance,
he keeps, he not only chooses, he not only saves, he does all
that's necessary, but he keeps, he promises to keep his sheep
to the end for eternity. He affirmed that he would keep
and preserve his elect sheep, chosen, saved, called, glorified. What does Romans 8 say? Just
following the all things work together for good verse. whom
he foreknew, those he also predestined, those he predestined, those he
also called, those he called, those he also justified, those
he justified, those he also glorified, to bring them to himself. And
they heard this message from the lips of this man, they heard
this message, and they hated him. They hated him. They hated
him because it was not how they wanted to be right with God.
Because they were proud of their own selves, of their own goodness,
of their own tradition, of their own works, of everything about
themselves. They were proud of those things
and they felt that they were good enough for God. and they
had this arrogant attitude that if I'm not good enough for God
then this God's not worth worshipping and God will condemn them and
has condemned them in that situation they heard and they hated just
like Cain hated Abel you know right at the beginning the sons
of Adam and Eve right at the beginning Cain hated Abel there
is the polarization right at the beginning of how does a man
get right with God, their parents had fallen and they were born
and they taught them the gospel because God had taught Adam and
Eve the gospel and he clothed them with the skins of a sacrifice
he clothed them he showed them in that the gospel of his grace
and they taught this gospel to their sons and Abel believed
that gospel but Cain hated it and Cain brought the works of
his own hands Cain brought his own religion, Cain brought his
own goodness, Cain brought his own self-righteousness and God
rejected that offering but Abel said nothing in my hands I bring
but I simply look to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and
he brought a lamb slain, a picture of Christ, a picture of that
substitute and God respected Abel's sacrifice and so we read
in 1 John chapter 3 1 John chapter 3 and verse 12 says, not as Cain
who was of that wicked one and slew his brother and wherefore
slew he him? Why did he kill him? Because
his own works were evil. His own religion was evil and
his brothers righteous. His own religion, his own pride,
his own self-righteousness condemned him but his brothers was accepted
by God and therefore he hated him. And then John goes on to
say, marvel not, don't be amazed my brethren if the world hate
you. Just as Cain hated Abel, just
as all false religion hates true, just as all false gospel hates
the true gospel. It's a completely irrational
hatred. In John 15 and verse 25 Jesus
quotes Psalm 35 and verse 19. they hated me without a cause. That's what it said in Psalm
35, prophesying of the experience of Christ, they hated me without
a cause. And Jesus said to his disciples
in John 15, 8, and they will hate you too. If they hated me,
they will hate you too. Why will they hate you? They'll
hate you for the true gospel of sovereign grace. Understand
this and don't be surprised. You won't be hated for bearing
the fruit of the Spirit. In general, you won't be hated
for that. Okay, there are situations, do you remember Daniel in, under
the reign of Darius in Daniel chapter 6 and Darius made Daniel
the chief over all of those sub-rulers but there was corruption, absolute,
if you think parliamentary expenses was corrupt then you should have
seen what was going on then. It was, that was the way that
they enriched themselves was by corruption and Daniel was
honest. and in his integrity wouldn't
do it. And we read in Daniel 6 verse 4 they sought ways to
get rid of him because he threatened their ability to line their nests
very comfortably out of their corruption. You might find in
the workplace when people know that you are somebody who doesn't
rise to their foul jokes and their crude joviality that you'll
be excluded from certain situations. They'll stop talking when you
arrive at the tea point because there's an unsavory joke passing
between them and they don't want you to hear it because they believe
that you'll be offended by it. You'll get that sort of standoffishness
from people but rarely, rarely will you be hated for being honest.
You won't be, for bearing the fruit of the spirit. You won't
be hated for being fair-minded. You won't be hated for being
gentle, or peaceable, or hard-working. They'll admire you for all of
those things. You won't even be hated for being sober, unless
you're regarded as a party pooper when it comes to the works booze-up.
They won't even hate you for being religious. Do you know
that? People are respected for being religious. You look how
the world respects devotees so long as they're not terrorist
devotees of Islam and of Buddhism great respect oh look at their
devotion oh I really admire that in them I wish I could believe
something those are the sort of things that you'll hear they'll
respect your church attendance oh we go to church on us oh I
wish we could get round to it a bit more than we do is the
sort of reaction that you'll get but all sorts of things crop
up and stop us from getting there they won't even they won't even
hate you for your devotions. They won't hate you for praying.
They won't hate you for reading the Bible. No, no, not for these
things. But speak clearly of sovereign
grace. Speak clearly of total depravity,
of unconditional election, of limited atonement, of irresistible
grace and not sovereign choice of yourself and the perseverance
of the saints. that those he chose before eternity
you will keep into eternity speak of those things and you'll experience
something of the hatred that Christ experienced from these
people and especially from religious leaders especially from those
who have a position in religion especially from those whose God
is their belly as Paul says who make their living out of it and
yet they have a comfortable position that they want to preserve and
they want to keep. The hatred of one is for this
reason it's man left to himself. You know we saw earlier in Isaiah
chapter 5 this principle that grace is free. The wages of sin
is death but the gift of God is eternal life. Grace is free
but judgment is earned. When it comes to the judgment
I don't understand it and I can't explain it but this I know from
this book when it comes to the judgment all of the praise of
God's people will be to him for his grace for his goodness to
them and in the judgment those who are condemned will know that
it was just. Nobody will be able to say God
wasn't fair to me by not choosing me they will all have to say
I got exactly what I deserved in the judgment of God. and it
was my choice to go the way I did and to reject him. These are
somber words, these are somber thoughts. We are responsible
for our own rejection of the goodness and grace and mercy
of God. But bless him for his grace because
there are those who believed. What does the believing heart
see? Others who were made conscious of their true state before God
saw things differently. They were made conscious of their
sin. You know, come unto me all you
who labor and are heavy laden. Are you laboring and heavy laden?
Come unto me all of you who thirst for the water of life. Are you
thirsting for the water of life? For acceptance with God? For
a place in eternity with Him? For the bliss of eternity? Yearning
for salvation? yearning that there might be
one who would represent us before the justice of God, a saviour,
a saviour, that's what we need, I must have a saviour, one who
is able to save me to the uttermost, one who is powerful, more powerful
than the forces of darkness, one with all the resources, one
with the means of payment. Isn't it good when you go somewhere
that's expensive and there's somebody with the means of payment?
Ah, the judgment seat of Christ is an expensive place to be,
but He has the means of payment, and He has paid all, and He has
blotted out the sins of His people from the books of God. He's blotted
them out. They're not there anymore. They're
gone. He's able to credit the righteousness of God, for He
has earned every penny of it for all of His people, and all
of His people in Him. He has done it. He's able to
bear the law-breaking and curse of His people. In their place,
he bore it all. Cursed is everyone who does not
continue in all things that are written in the book of the law
to do them. But Christ bore that curse. Christ has borne that
curse for his people, being made a curse for us, for cursed is
everyone. that hangs on a tree, and he
hung on a cross of wood, a tree, in the place of his people, and
bore their sins. He who knew no sin made sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So that God can
be consistently just, for God cannot overlook sin, for God
cannot just forgive sin. You know, it's the sentimental
story of so much fiction, the sentimental story of the one
who just sweeps law-breaking under the carpet in an act of
forgiveness. God cannot do that, He cannot
forgive sin except the price for it is paid in strict justice. He can only forgive sin in the
Lord Jesus Christ for He has borne it in the place of His
people. And then His miracles, His miracles. They saw His miracles just as
the Pharisees, the unbelieving had seen the same miracles But
they saw what they attested, what they spoke about. What did
they attest? What did they confirm? They confirmed
that Jesus was the Christ, the promised one of Scripture. And
what does that mean? They confirmed that this man
was God our Saviour. Read the Old Testament, read
Isaiah as we are doing. How often do you see those words,
God our Saviour? Who is our Saviour? God is the
Saviour of his people. The Saviour of His people is
God. God our Saviour. Christ is that God, our Saviour
of His people. And that when He spoke, the words
that came from His lips were the Word of God. Him. He spoke the Word of God. These
words that we have written here, they are all His words, for they
are the outpouring of the Spirit of God. They're the things of
Christ, and the Spirit of God has poured them out through the
people that actually wrote the Scriptures down. Inspired, carried
along, borne along by the Holy Spirit. He spoke the Word of
God. And he quoted the Scriptures,
and he held the Scriptures in high regard. And he showed in
verses 34 to 38, look, Jesus answered them, is it not written
in your law, the Scriptures, I said ye are gods. If he called
them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture
cannot be broken, say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified
and sent into the world, you blaspheme, because I said I am
the Son of God. So he's showing the irrationality
of their rejection of him in the light of the miracles that
they'd seen. the unbelievers saw the miracles
and couldn't refute the miracles but they still rejected him you
know Nicodemus came to him and said we know that you're a teacher
sent from God even though we can't, you know, my colleagues
can't stand you we know you're a teacher sent from God, why?
Because no man can do the things you do except God be with him.
There was no refuting of the genuine nature of the miracles
unlike the sham things that are portrayed today in the charismatic
movement in Pentecostalism the nonsense that goes on and the
claims that are made, utterly without any foundation at all,
that they couldn't refute his miracles, absolutely clear. These
miracles confirmed his deity. These miracles confirmed his
sovereign power and showed who he was. But more than that, more
than that, not just that he was physically able to do these things,
yes they showed who he was, but what did that show to the believing
heart? It showed this. It showed his
sovereign power over things spiritual. It showed his sovereign power
over the matters of salvation. You see when he cured the lepers
it shows that he alone can cure the leprosy of sin and make us
right with God. When He healed the blind and
gave them their sight, it shows that He alone is the light of
the world, who gives spiritual light to the people that walked
in darkness, those who have seen a great light in the gospel of
His grace. When He fed those people with
so little when he fed them and spoke of manna from heaven and
how he is that manna from heaven. He shows how he is the one who
feeds our souls with that sustenance that we need for rightness and
acceptance with God. All of these things show that
he is able to save to the uttermost all of his sheep and that he'll
never let one of them fall. Now look, They sought again,
verse 39, to take him, but he escaped out of their hand and
went away again beyond Jordan to the place where John at first
baptized, and there he abode. And many resorted unto him and
said, John did no miracle, but all things that John spake of
this man were true. And many believed on him there.
They heard his words, they saw his miracles, and by the grace
of God, they believed him and resorted to him. What about you? What about you? Have you resorted
to him and believed on him?