In John chapter 10, verse 30,
the Lord Jesus makes a declaration. It was a declaration made at
the conclusion of his tremendous discourse about the good shepherd. He says in verse 30, I and my
father are one. He declared himself to be God,
one with the Father, perfectly one, eternally one, equal with
the Father in person, in being, in power, in existence, in eternality. This man standing in the temple
of God says, I and my father are one. And the Jews who heard
him were enraged. They were enraged. Like a mob of men who had been
betrayed at some kind of a political rally, they were enraged, enraged. like a mob of men who had somehow
been treated unjustly and criminally, they were enraged. Because he
said, I and my father are one. The problem was not that they
misunderstood him. That was not the problem. The
problem was they did understand him. They understood exactly
what he said. And this was just the culmination
of the things he had been declaring. And when they heard his doctrine,
the doctrine that he taught them, they hated him for preaching
it and hated him because this religious crowd of rebels hated
God. Our text this morning is John
10, verses 31 through 42. Let me remind you of the things the
Lord Jesus has just declared to this multitude of religious
rebels, these God-hating Pharisees in the temple. These Pharisees
and Jews were gathered in the temple on this occasion to keep
one of their man-made festivals and ceremonies. It was called
the Feast of the Dedication. This feast was a feast that began
on what we, in our calendar, would call December the 25th.
It was an eight-day feast of remembering the purging of the
altar after Antiochus Epiphanes had sacrificed and slaughtered,
not after Antiochus Epiphanes, but after the thing had been
slaughtered. They slaughtered hogs on the
altar by Antiochus Epiphanes. And so the Jews were keeping
this feast that was invented by the Maccabees, and they observed
it with great care, great pomp and pageantry. They were here
showing by a ceremony, not one that God had required, not one
that God had established in the law, but one that they had made
of their own accord, one of their customs and traditions. They
were in their house, calling it the house of God, worshiping,
they said, God Almighty, celebrating and showing their dedication
to the Lord. In their pomp and pretense, as
they pretended to be devoted to the Lord Jehovah, before their
festivities were over, they tried to murder the God they claimed
to worship. They tried to murder the God
they professed to be dedicated to. What made these men mad enough
to pick up stones and murder the Son of God in the very temple
of God? I can picture the scene. I hope
you can. The Lord Jesus is in Solomon's
porch. It's midnight, wintertime, and
he's speaking. His message is addressed specifically
to the Pharisees, he tells us in the opening verses. It's addressed
specifically to them, but his disciples are standing by. They're
hearing every word. And as the Lord declares his
message, these fellows get upset. And they begin to grind their
teeth. And they start to look at each
other. And their faces turn red, and
their veins begin to pop out, and their fists clench. And before
he's done, they're reaching down, grabbing rocks. What made them so mad? In verse
9, the Lord Jesus declared that he and he alone is the single
door by which sinners may and must enter into life everlasting. He's the only door. There's no
other way. There's no other way. Religious people are very tolerant. of everything except dogmatism. Everything except absolute truth. As long as you set before them
one choice among many, one option among many, one way among many,
So that there's room for men to wiggle and work themselves
into the picture. Room for men to give themselves
some honor and some dignity before God. They'll accept most anything. They'll put up with folks being
Islamic or Jewish or Catholic or Protestant or Baptist. They'll
put up with folks being fundamentalist or liberals. They'll put up with
folks saying that Jesus Christ is very God of very God, or saying
that Jesus Christ isn't God at all. They'll put up with anything,
anything, as long as you have a little wiggle room. But let
someone stand up and declare, frankly and boldly, this is the
truth. And everything opposed to this
is error. This is the way and there is
no other way. This is God and there is no other
God. This is the Savior and there
is no other Savior. Men are enraged because it exposes
their refuge as a false refuge. A refuge of lies that exposes
their God as a false God. And I'm going to tell you something
I've learned. It didn't take me long to learn it. I'm learning
it more and more every day. Men will kill you for their gods. They'll kill you to keep their
gods. Then the Lord Jesus declared himself to be the good shepherd. These Jews were very familiar
with the prophets. God and the prophets had promised
in Jeremiah and Ezekiel specifically that he would raise up over the
house of Israel one shepherd, one shepherd who comes like David
and out of David's lawns, one shepherd who is identified by
the name of David. And to him, all the sheep would
be gathered, for he will gather his lambs in his arms and carry
them in his bosom. And there'll be one shepherd
and one foal. And the Lord Jesus says, I'm
the good shepherd. I am that one of whom the prophet
spoke. I'm the good shepherd. And I
call my sheep. And they follow me. And I give
unto them eternal life. I lay down my life for the sheep. No man can pluck the sheep out
of my hands. My father which gave them me
is greater than all. No man can pluck them out of my father's
hands. I and my father are one. The sheep, I know them. And they
know me. There are no others. I'm the
good shepherd. And these Jews despised him for
it. Then the Lord Jesus declared
to these proud, racially bigoted Jews that the sheep he came to save
were not just Jews, but Gentiles too. Verse 16, he says, of the
sheep I have, which are not of this fold, Them also I must bring,
and they shall hear my voice. And there shall be one fold and
one shepherd." It's much like what our Lord said to Nicodemus,
that proud Pharisee who came to the Lord Jesus by night, that
man of the Sanhedrin, that ruler of the Jews. And the Lord said,
Nicodemus, you need to learn something. God's love isn't just
for you Jewish boys. God so loved the world. He's
not intending by any sense, not by any stretch of the wild imagination
of rebels who can't stand the truth about God's everlasting
love for his elect. He's not suggesting God loves
everybody in the world. He is declaring God loves a people
scattered through all the world, no matter what their race, no
matter what the color of their skin, no matter what their race
is. And the Jews couldn't stand it. He says to these Pharisees,
other sheep I have which are not of this Jewish fold. Them
also I must bring, and there should be one fold and one shepherd. And the Jews couldn't stand it.
Couldn't stand it. And then on top of all that,
he makes this statement in verse 30. I and my Father are one. The man Christ Jesus, that man
standing in front of them, dared to say, I'm God. And they understood it. Look
at verse 31. Then the Jews took up stones
again to stone him. Just as they had back in John
chapter 8, they took up stones to kill him. The more he talked,
the more anger they got, and soon their anger turned into
rage, and their rage broke forth in attempted murder, and that
inside the church building. Read on. Verse 32. Jesus answered
them, many good works have I showed you from my Father. For which
of those works do you stone me? The Jews answered him, saying,
for a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy. They dare accuse God the son
of blasphemy? And because that thou being a
man makest thyself God. And the first thing displayed
in this last portion of John chapter 10, the most uncomfortable fact,
but a fact that cannot be denied. It is the hatred, the horrible,
deep-seated, violent, vile hatred of all men for God Almighty. I'm letting that sink in for
a minute. Men do not even dislike their notions about God. Men
love their rabbit foot Jesus. Men love to pray unto a God that
cannot save. Men love to talk about a God
they can control. Men love to act religious and
pretend to worship a God who is under their rule and their
dominion. A God who is subject to their
will and their whims. But God all men hate. Here we see a display by example
of that which is plainly declared in Romans chapter 8 verse 7. The carnal mind is enmity. Not the carnal mind is at enmity,
the carnal mind is enmity against God. The carnal mind, the heart,
the mind, the soul, the internal man, that man of nature is enmity
against God. One of the old writers put it
this way, unconverted men would kill God himself if they could
just get to him. Oh, the extreme wickedness of
humanity. Man hates his maker. The creature
hates his creator. As one who is enraged by something
that's just bitterly, bitterly opposed to. Men hate God. These unbelieving Jews of Jerusalem
were not moved by our Lord's miracles. Their hearts were not
melted by His message. They were determined not to have
Him. They were determined not to have
Him as their King, the Messiah, the Christ, the Shepherd of Israel.
So they took up stones to stone him. They wanted to kill him. Our Lord, remember, had for 33
years gone about doing good. That's what we're told in Acts
chapter 10. For 33 years, he went about every
day doing good. He was holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners. He was not a criminal. He wasn't
dishonest. He wasn't a crook. He wasn't
a politician who lied to him and said he'd do one thing, then
did another. He was a man who did nothing but good. Never behaved
in any way except a way to benefit men. Never did anything except
that by which men were profited. He fed hungry folks. He befriended
sinful people. He was kind and gracious. The Lord Jesus was one man who
was perfect. There had never been one like
him before and never one since. And yet the Jews hated him. They thirsted for his blood.
They couldn't be satisfied until he was dead. As the psalmist
said, and as John tells us in chapter 15, they hated him without
a cause. They hated him though there was
no cause in him. And so it is that men today hate
God without cause. God's done nothing to deserve
the hatred of any, but men hate him. Now, I've said all that
to say this. We ought never be surprised when
we meet with that same hatred, that hatred that our Lord met
with at the hands of these zealous Jews. We ought never to be surprised
when we meet with it at the hands of men, particularly religious
men. Now, preparing this message the
last several months, I've read a good many commentators, and
most of them seem to have the idea that this is a good place
to take off and talk about how good you are. And men get in
trouble because they behave not just that. We're told that men
will hate you because you act like the Lord Jesus, because
you're good, and you're righteous, and you behave well. And people
are encouraged to bolster their self-righteousness and think
that they are persecuted and opposed because really. Now, I realize I'm a sinner,
but I'm not quite like you. I'm really a little better than
you are. See how I dress? See how I talk? See how I behave? See how I act? And if you act
right, then men are going to hate you for it. Well, that's
not what's taught here. And that's not what's taught
anywhere in this book. Nowhere. Now, don't misunderstand me.
I'm fully aware that if you are known for behaving uprightly,
for behaving in a manner that other people know is right, that
other people know is right, but they refuse to behave as their
own consciences demand is right, and they ought to behave. Then
folks are going to be upset with that. We have a very good example
of this. I was surprised that anyone in
the news media picked up on it. Sarah Palin, like her or don't.
It doesn't matter to me. But like her or don't, she was
and is continually despised. Women are wrinkled. Liberal women. Here's a woman standing in the
position where women throughout this country have been clamoring
to get all my lifetime. The women's lib group. Man, we
want a woman to run for president and vice president. Ah, now we
got one. Whoopee. Oh, no. Let's kill her. Why? Why? Charles Krauthammer
was watching one night on the news. He said, I'll tell you
why. Because she gave birth to a child she knew had Down syndrome. And these women know they ought
to, but they'd rather kill the baby. Oh, now that'll enrage
you. That'll enrage you. That'll enrage
you. But that's not what's going on
here. That's not what's going on here. These people didn't hate the
Lord Jesus because of his goodness as a man. They had no quarrel
with him feeding the multitudes. They were right there to eat
the loaves and fish. They had no trouble with him healing the
sick. They had no trouble with him raising the dead. They didn't
have any trouble with him calming the storm, the raging seas. Now they were enraged when he
did those things on their Sabbath day, but not because he did them.
And no one will ever hate you for doing good things. I'll tell
you what I have never seen in my life. I've never seen anyone
who was hated because he was honest. I've never known anyone
to be hated because he was charitable. I've never known anyone to be
hated because he was gracious, because he kept his mouth and
didn't gossip and slander people. I've never known anyone to be
hated for those things. I've never known anyone to be hated
for wearing clothes instead of going naked. I've never known
anyone to be hated for being sober rather than drunk. I've
never even known anyone to be hated for reading the Word of
God, Unless, of course, they got him a great big family Bible
and carried it down to the public square and read out loud while
other folks were trying to watch a ball game. They might be hated
for that. But not for reading the word
of God. Never knew anyone to be hated for praying, going to
church. Never knew anyone to. Well, what
was it that enraged these Jews? What is it that enrages the world
against God's elect today? It's that very same thing that
enraged these men. Turn back to Genesis chapter
4. It's the very same thing that
enraged Cain to murder his brother Abel. The gospel we believe,
the gospel we preach, the testimony of Jesus. Now in 1 John chapter
3, you can look at it later, John speaks of Abel's righteous
works for which his brother Cain hated him. What were those works? John said, just listen now. In
this the children of God are manifest, and the children of
the devil. Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God,
neither he that loveth not his brother. For this is the message
that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love
one another not as Cain. Not love one another like Cain
did. Cain didn't love his brother.
If you could have asked him an hour ahead of time, oh, well,
of course I love my brother. Who doesn't love his brother?
What do you think I am, a dog? Not as Cain, who was of that
wicked one and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because
Cain's works were evil and Abel's righteous. Marvel not, my brethren,
if the world hate you. All right, let's see what the
works were. Genesis chapter 4, verse 3. In the process of time,
it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an
offering unto the Lord. Fruit of the ground. He was a
fellow who tilled the ground. He was a farmer. Brother Scott
Richardson preaching one time, he and I preaching together,
I said, now he said, Brother Don, do you know what kind of
farmer he was? I said, no. He said, he's a turnip farmer.
You can't get blood out of a turnip. He was raising his turnips. And
he brought the best turnips he had to the Lord, the best thing
he could produce. And Abel, he also brought the
first fruits of his flock, the first Remember, Christ is the
first fruit, the firstborn. He brought the first fruits of
his flocks, the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. Now watch this. And the Lord
had respect unto Abel and his offering. That is, the Lord accepted
Abel and his offering. But unto Cain and his offering,
He had not respect. God wouldn't have it. He wouldn't
have Cain, and he wouldn't have his best sacrifices, and he wouldn't
have his best works. But Cain came to worship God.
No, he didn't. He came for God to praise him. Cain came to show his devotion
to God. No, he didn't. He came for God
to see his devotion to him. He wanted God's approval of his
works and of his righteousness. And Cain was very wroth, and
his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain,
why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen?
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou
doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall
be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked
with Abel his brother, and it came to pass, when they were
in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and
slew him. Cain was enraged because God
accepted Abel. enraged because God accepted
Abel through the blood of a lamb graciously and freely without
Abel doing anything and God refused him because he attempts to win
God's favor by what he did and that enraged him. He couldn't
get to God so he killed Abel. Now, you sure that's exactly
what's meant by Abel's righteous works? Turn to Hebrews chapter
11. Let's see. Hebrews chapter 11.
Verse 4. By faith, Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous. Oh, look at Brother Abel. I can
see him. Oh, listen to how he talks. He's
a good man. Look at the way he dresses. He
doesn't wear any of that new garb. He dresses like the old
folks used to. Oh, he's a good man. And look at Brother Abel.
Why, he doesn't have long hair. He's got short hair. That's the
way folks ought to wear their hair. Look at Brother Abel. He's different from other people.
He doesn't go to the picture show. Well, I've never seen him
drunk, even smell liquor on his breath. He's got to be righteous.
Is that what the book teaches? Where did Abel obtain this witness? Where did he get it? I don't
read that Cain said anything about him being so good. Did
you find that in Genesis 4? I don't read anybody talking
about Abel being a noble good man in his outward behavior,
though I'm certain he was. That was not the witness that
he was righteous. He received witness from God
himself that he was righteous. Witness in his conscience. Watch
it now. God testifying of his gifts. God testifying. Abel, I'll take
your substitute. Abel, I'll take the blood of
the lamb. Abel, I'm as good as my word. I'll take the skins of the slain
victim by which I close you. Abel, you're accepted in the
beloved, in the substitute. I'm trying to make a point. The
world, especially the religious world, All the religious world
outside the realm of those you know as those who believe the
gospel of God's free grace. Am I clear enough? All the religious
world around you, mom and dad, brother, sister, son and daughter,
all the world around you hates God just as these Jews did. They hate God and hate the gospel
of God. They took up stones to stone
the Lord Jesus in the very house of God because of his doctrine. His doctrine left them without
hope. Left them without hope in themselves. Left them without
any cloak for their sin. Left them without any righteousness
to which they could cling. Left them with no blankets to
wrap up in, no bed to stretch themselves on, no place of rest
for their souls. Left them empty and desolate
and hopeless. And for that, they took up stones
to stone him. The same thing happens today.
These Jews were enraged and lost religious people everywhere are
enraged when we preach God's free, unconditional election. The Lord Jesus talked about sheep
and goats. And the sheep were his sheep
because they were given to him, given to him by his father, and
they couldn't stand it. They are enraged when the Lord
Jesus is declared in his singleness. the simplicity, the singleness
of Christ Jesus. He's the only way. There's no
hope for your soul except Christ. His blood, His righteousness,
His obedience, His grace, His merit, His power, there is no
other. Our Lord declared that which is the core of all gospel
truth, limited atonement. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. And the Pharisees, they were upset. We don't like
that. He said, we're talking to you. You're not my sheep.
He never backed up for them. He never gave them a corner.
He preached free and irresistible grace. Them also I must bring. They shall hear my voice. They
shall follow me. But what if they don't want to?
They will. But what if they choose not to? They won't. But what
if they resist your will? They can't. They must be brought. They must hear my voice. They must follow me. He preaches
unconditional salvation. And the Lord Jesus says they
shall never perish. Why would anybody get upset with
that? Why? Because they believe salvation
condition don't deal. Why would anybody be upset with
that? Because they really do believe that there are conditions
that they must meet. Conditions by which they qualify
themselves to get God's grace, to keep God's grace, or to have
a better standing in God's grace. Our Lord Jesus preached free
forgiveness. They shall never perish. And
folks get upset with that. They get upset with that. Years ago, Brother Mayhem and
Pastor Church in Ashland, Pollard Baptist Church. This is back
in 1949, 1950, somewhere in there. And a lady of ill repute had
been converted. And they were planning a meeting,
and Henry had her scheduled to sing. And one of the good men
in the church, he said, Pastor, I don't think you ought to do
that. Why? Well, she hadn't had time to
live it down yet. That was the wrong thing to say
to the right fellow. And Brother Mahan gave him to understand
that forgiveness is free, free, full, free, final forgiveness. And folks who want work salvation
can't stand it. They just can't stand it. They
just can't stand it. They were upset because the Lord Jesus,
being God, made himself a man. They weren't really upset that
he, being a man, made himself God. That wasn't really their
problem. They were lying. They were upset
because he, being God, made himself a man. He became all that we
are to make us all that he is. No, God can't do that. God can't
become flesh. God can't be made sin. God can't
suffer and die. He, being God, made himself a
man. If the world hate you, our Lord
said, you know that it hated me before it hated you. But don't
pretend that When you act like a horse's rear, self-righteous,
pompous, religious zealot with no care for men, and, well, I've
been persecuted for Jesus' sake, now you're getting what you earned.
The preaching of the gospel enrages men. Believers, let us walk before
men and before God with true humility, acknowledging what
we are and whose we are. preaching the gospel of God's
free grace, and you'll have trouble enough. Now here's the second
thing. I'll have to rush. Our Lord places
high, high honor upon Holy Scripture. Look at verse 34. Jesus answered
them, is it not written in your law, I said ye are gods? That's in Psalm 82, verse 6.
If he called them gods, that is magistrates, judges, and kings,
and princes who are made to rule over men and exercise judgment
and justice in the name of God. That's what judges, and rulers,
and magistrates are ordained to do. And they'll answer to
God if they fail to do so. Moses was one. Joseph was one.
David was one. He said they're gods. That is,
they are gods in the sense they have the authority of God himself. If it's written in your law,
Isaac, ye are gods. If he called them gods unto whom
the word of God came, and scripture cannot be broken, say ye of him
whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, thou
blasphemous, because I said I am the Son of God. Our Lord's point in all this
is twofold. What he said in quoting Psalm
82, I looked at that thing and looked at that thing, and I thought
to myself, if I were among those Pharisees and I had just made
this statement, thou blasphemous because thou being a man makest
thyself God, and he quoted Psalm 82.6 to me, God said ye are gods,
I'd look at him and I'd say, what's that got to do with what
I just said? They didn't have the frazzled thing to do what
they'd said. Not one thing. He was not interested in answering
their cavils. These caviling imps of hell were
not given a word to answer them, to satisfy them, or to gratify
them. In fact, it would appear that
what he said only stirred up their wrath. Because the very
next line we read, they tried to kill him again. And he escaped
out of their midst. Verse 39, they tried to kill
him again. So what he said in quoting Psalm
82 had nothing to do with answering those Pharisees. That was not
his intent. What he spoke was for the benefit
of his disciples who were standing by. For our benefit in this day
and the benefit of his disciples in every age. Larry, the scripture
cannot be broken. This here, if you've got one
in your hand, this is the book of God. The Holy Bible. The Holy Book. That's what the word Bible means.
It can't be broken. Now this is what that means.
Joe, whatever God says, anywhere in this book, is so. Whether
you understand it, I understand it, or we don't. Our understanding's
got nothing to do with the validity of the book. Our understanding's
got nothing to do with whether or not what God says is true.
What God says is to be bound to and accepted as fact because
God says it. Well, and I just can't do that.
I've got to have something beyond the Bible. Well, go get what
you've got to have and take it to hell with you. But that's
what our Lord said. The scripture cannot be broken.
Turn with me, if you will, over to 2 Peter 1. This is a matter of vast importance.
Grasp it firmly and never let it go. Every word in this book
inspired of God. Inspiration extends not to thoughts
and ideas but to every word in the book. Find one word that's
not true and you've destroyed the validity of the whole volume.
2 Peter chapter 1. Peter describes in verse 16 the
great revelation they had when our Lord Jesus took them to the
Mount of Transfiguration. We have not followed cunningly
devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
Now, Vincent, that's pretty good confirmation. That's pretty good
confirmation. I'm not telling you what I heard
John say. I was there. I saw it with my own eyes. I'm
not telling you what somebody told me according to factual
history. It must have been so. I'm telling
you what I saw. What I experienced. Now watch
this. For he received from God the Father honor and glory when
there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory. This
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice,
which came from heaven, we heard when we were with Him in the
Holy Mountain. We know that the Father is well
pleased with His Son because we heard God say it ourselves. Is that how you know that, Alan? Let's see. Let's see. We have
also a more sure Word of prophecy, wow, something better than experience,
something better than feeling, something better than science,
something better than logic, something better than argument.
We have also a more sure word of prophecy. Something better
than miracles and wonders? Whereunto you do well that you
take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until
the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts, knowing
this first, that no prophecy of the scriptures of any private
interpretation, it can't be interpreted by itself, got to meet the whole
book. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man,
But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Martin Luther put it well. Feelings
come, and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. I trust the written
word of God. Nought else is worth believing.
We have a more sure word of prophecy. All right, here's the third thing.
I want you to see the great importance that our Lord Jesus attached
to the miracles he performed. He appeals to his miracles as
irrefutable evidence of his divine mission as the Son of God and
of his manifest deity in human flesh. Verse 37. If I do not
the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though you
believe not me, believe the works that you may know, and believe
that the Father is in me, and I in the Father. We read our
Savior doing miracles throughout the four Gospels. There were
not a few of them. More than 40 times. More than
40 times in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We're told of our Lord
doing things that were utterly beyond the reach of anything
that can be explained in scientific earthly terms. Utterly miraculous. He caused deaf men to hear, blind
men to see, sick people to be healed, dead people to rise up
from their graves who had been dead for four days. Not somebody who had passed out
on the sidewalk, somebody, well, he's dead, and he comes back
again. Glad he's been dead for four days. He raised him from
the dead. He spoke the word, and the storms
calmed. Seas raging settled down and
obeyed his voice. He broke bread and fish, multiplied
loaves and fishes to feed thousands of people. It was a miracle.
They were performed, some of them in private, but most of
them were not performed in a corner, but rather in a public place,
and performed before the scrutiny of men and women who despised
him and if they could have found any way to deny one thing he
did that had done it. Don't you know those Pharisees,
when our Lord healed that blind man back in chapter 9, and again
back in chapter 5, healed them both on the Sabbath day, and
they were enraged. They said, this man's a sinner.
He did it on Sabbath day. Don't you know if they could
have found some possible way to discredit the miracle, they
would have discredited it? He wasn't really blind. We called
his parents. We told them, no, it's not our son. They couldn't
discredit it. They could not possibly discredit
it. But they were enraged nonetheless. Now, our Lord's miracles, then,
with one voice declare, Jesus of Nazareth is himself God Almighty
in human flesh. They declare it. But that's not
the grandeur of the miracles. Every miracle our Lord performed was designed and brought to pass
by God's purpose and God's providence to demonstrate something of his
grace and his works of grace in the hearts of chosen sinners.
Did the Lord Jesus give sight to the blind? He alone has sovereign power
to give light and understanding to poor sinners. Did he open
the deaf ear? He alone can bless your ears
and cause them to hear. Did he cause the lame to walk? Just like that. Raise them up
off of their couches and cause them to walk. He alone can cause
us to move. as well as live by him. Without me, he said, you can
do nothing. Many of you can enter into what
I said as I began to pray at the beginning of our service
this morning. Lord, our hearts are cold, and we can't do anything
about it. Bob, I would if I could, but
I can't. OK. Try reviving your own heart.
Try refreshing your own soul. Try melting your own stubborn
will. Try breaking your own soul. Only he who says to the lame,
take up your bed and walk, can say to my lame soul, take up
your bed and walk. He cured lepers. to show us that
he's able to cure us of the deep-seated leprosy of sin within us. He healed all the sicknesses,
causing them to vanish at his command to make us know that
he is the restorer of our souls. He cast out unclean spirits. And I just read this weekly. who cast out those unclean spirits
before He did, they prayed to Him. They said, Lord, let us
go over to this herd of swine. And He let them do it. Why? Why did He do that? To teach us that He alone could
cast out the devil of fallen humanity from our souls. the uncleanness that rules our
hearts by nature, which cast into the world causes
them to run violently down the steep slope and course of time
into everlasting destruction and woe in hell. His miracles, feeding the hungry,
Show us that He still feeds us with the bread of life. He does it with most insignificant
means so that no glory is given to anybody but Him. The winds
and waves are immediately obedient to Him. To teach us that every storm
and every adversity, every heartache and every trial, Every affliction
and every sorrow he controls absolutely. He sent his disciples into the
eye of the storm. And he came to the walking on
the storm. And he calmed the storm all exactly
according to his purpose for their best good and his glory. The dead were raised up. by His
power to teach us that He, the Son
of God, quickeneth whom He will. And when our load was done, the
folks who were standing by, they said, John didn't perform any
miracles. But everything John said about
this man is true. And they resorted to him. And many believed on him there. Oh, God, let us now resort to
your side and believe on him. For the glory of God in our souls,
God.