While you're turning there, tonight
I'll be speaking out of 1 Corinthians chapter 15 upon this subject,
death is not the end. And also, next week in Bible
study, we'll begin going through the book of Galatians. We just
finished the Song of Solomon and it's been such a blessing.
But I feel impressed to begin our Bible study through the book
of Galatians. John chapter 10. I have entitled the message for
this morning, A Message for Skeptics. A message for skeptics. A skeptic
is one who doubts the truthfulness of something. And everybody in
this room has had to deal with skepticism in their own soul,
haven't you? Now the Lord is speaking to skeptics
in John chapter 10 verse 24. Then came the Jews round about
him and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? How
long do you make us to doubt? Obviously they were doubting.
And then we read these merciful words of our Lord in verse 37
of John chapter 10. 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 him." Now, aren't those words of mercy? He says,
I do these works that you may know and believe. that the Father is in me and
I'm in Him. He could have easily left them
in their skepticism because there was no excuse for their skepticism
and unbelief. Look in verse 25 of John chapter
10. And when they said, How long
do you make us to doubt? You know, if you're the Christ,
tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you and you believe
not. Verse 25, The works that I do in my Father's name, they
bear witness of me. Now, he could have justly left
them in their skepticism because there was no excuse for it. His
works proved who he was. There was no even reason for
debate or doubt. But yet how merciful he is in
saying to them that you may know and believe. Now, what led to
this dialogue between the Lord and the Pharisees? Well, look
in verse 30 of John chapter 10. He said, I and my Father are
one. The Lord made this statement
regarding Himself and God the Father. I and my Father are one. All that God is, He's saying,
all that God is, I am. That's a powerful statement,
isn't it? He's also saying all that I am
in my person, He is. I and my Father are one. And they knew exactly what He
was talking about. Let's go on reading in verse 31. Then the
Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered, Then
many good works have I showed you from my Father. For which
of these works do you stone Me? The Jews answered Him, saying,
For good work we'd stone thee not, but for blasphemy and because
that thou being a man makest thyself God." So they understood
exactly what he was saying, didn't they? Now think of what he's
saying, I am one with the Father, all that he is I am, all that
I am he is. That's what he's saying. And
that's a remarkable, remarkable claim. But it goes right along
with this. Look at Isaiah chapter 9. Hold
your finger there in John chapter 10. Look at Isaiah chapter 9
with me. Verse six. This is spoken prophetically
of Christ unto us, a child is born. Unto us, a son is given
this son was not born, he's the eternal son, the child is born,
but the son is given. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the government should be upon his shoulder and his name
should be called Wonderful. Counselor. the mighty God, the
everlasting Father. But isn't He Christ? Yes. Isn't
He the Son of God? Yes. Isn't He the second person
in the Trinity? Yes. Is He the mighty God? Yes. Is
He the everlasting Father? Yes. That's what that Scripture
says. That's who the Lord Jesus Christ
is. Is this denying the Trinity? Of course not. God is one God
revealed in three distinct persons. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. He's God. John 14, verse 8, Philip saith unto him, Show us
the Father, and it sufficeth us. We'll be satisfied if you
just show us the Father. Jesus saith unto him, Have I
been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?
He that hath seen me, it's just as if he saw the Father. I didn't
read that right, did I? He that hath seen thee hath seen
the Father. And how sayest thou, show us
thyself, show us the Father? Now the Father, the Almighty
God, the Creator, did God create the universe as an act of His
will? Of course He did. So too did
Jesus Christ. All things were made by Him. And without Him was not anything
made that was made. Is God omnipotent? Of course He is. He's all-powerful.
With God, nothing shall be impossible. He's the Lord God omnipotent
that reigneth. Is He all-powerful? Of course
God's all-powerful. That's who He is. He's God. So
too is Jesus Christ. He said, all power is given to
me. Is God sovereign? Well, of course
He is. He's God. That's the same thing
as saying He's sovereign. What's the definition of sovereignty?
God. God is sovereign. He's completely in control of
everything. Nothing happens without Him.
He's got a will, He's got the power to perform His will, and
He does perform His will. He doeth according to His will.
In the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest thou? God's
God. Jesus Christ is sovereign. He said, As the Father raises
the dead and quickens them, even so the Son quickens whom He will. Is God just? Justice and judgment
are the habitation of Thy throne. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
That Just One. Is God omniscient? All wise? Of course He is. He's never learned
anything. He knows all things. Oh, how wise God is! Jesus Christ
is the only wise God, our Savior. Is God love? God is love. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son. And Jesus Christ, Paul said,
loved me and gave himself for me. All that God is, Jesus Christ
is to this extent. Hold your finger there in John
and turn to Colossians 2. Verse 9, For in him, in the Lord Jesus
Christ, in his person, in him dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead in a body. Now that's how glorious Jesus
Christ is. Was he exaggerating in any way
when he said, I and my father are one. That's who he is. He is the God man. Now, what was their response
to this? Let's look back in John chapter 10. He says, I and my father are
one. Verse 31, then the Jews took
up stones again to stone him. They've done this previously.
Remember in John chapter 8, where He said before, Abraham was,
I am. And they picked up stones to
throw at Him. And here once again, they pick
up stones again when He makes this reference regarding His
person. Was their response worship? That's the only proper response.
Doesn't this make, when you hear who Jesus Christ is, doesn't
make you want to fall at His feet and worship Him. He's God. He's the God-man. He's the second
person in the Trinity. My response to this, by the grace
of God I realize, but my response to who He is, is worship. You
only worship God, don't you? You don't worship a man, you
worship God. But what did they want to do?
They wanted to pick up rocks and throw at Him. And He uses
some powerful sarcasm in verse 32. Jesus answered them while
they're holding these rocks, getting ready to throw at Him.
And Jesus answered them, saying, Many good works have I showed
you for my Father. For which of these works do you
stone me? You see, you only stone people
for crimes. I've never sinned. My entire
life has been nothing but an uninterrupted series of good
works, even the works of God himself. Now, for which of these
works do you stone me? That's powerful sarcasm, isn't
it? Now, here's the answer of skepticism. Verse 33, the Jews
answered him saying, for a good work we stone thee not, but for
blasphemy because that thou being a man makest thyself God." They
did not believe him. They hated his words. They hated
what he said. This is why we're stoning you,
because of who you say you are. Now, look how the Lord answers
their accusation of blasphemy. Verse 34, Jesus answered them,
Is it not written in your law, I said, you are gods? From Psalm
82, 6. And Psalm 82, 6 does in fact
say that. He says to men, you are gods. As a matter of fact, there's
another passage of scripture that I know of right off the bat,
1 Samuel chapter 20, where Jonathan is speaking to David. And it
says, he said to David, O Lord God of Israel. He called David
that. Now David obviously is not the
Lord God of Israel. David was just a man, but he
was the representative of the Lord God of Israel. And Jonathan
called him, O Lord God of Israel. So what our Lord is saying is
the scripture speaks this way. The scripture speaks this way.
And the scripture cannot be broken. Now our Lord answers their objection
with an, it is written. You see, this book we're looking
at right now, the Bible, is the inspired, inerrant Word of God,
the revelation of God, all Scripture. Scripture claims this for itself.
1 Timothy 3.16 or 2 Timothy 3.16, all Scripture. is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable. It's literally God-breathed. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, said Peter, but holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And the way the Lord
Jesus answers their objection is with a quotation of Scripture,
Psalm 82, 6, where God said, I said, you're gods. Now, if
God said it that way, it's OK to say it. The Scripture is not
being broken. The Scripture is not being violated.
Even our Lord, when He answers somebody, He answers them with
the Scriptures. Just like remember when the devil
was tempting Him. And how did He answer the devil? It is written. It is written. And He quotes
Psalm 82 verse 6 and says, God said to these people, you are
gods. Now, I might not understand that.
As a matter of fact, I don't understand it. I mean, I've got
my thoughts about it, but I don't understand what all the Lord
meant by that. But I know this, if He said it
that way, it's okay to say it that way. It's the Bible. He
said, the Word of God cannot be broken. So what I'm saying,
number one, when I say I'm the Son of God, number one, I am. I'm not telling a lie. I am the
Son of God. I am equal with the Father. I
am God the Son. But number two, what I'm saying
doesn't violate the Scriptures. The Scripture speaks that way.
And this shows the awesome authority of the Holy Word of God. Psalm
82 and 6, God says to me, and I said, You're God's. And of
course, I don't know what all he meant by that, but he meant
something. And whatever God says, I believe. I might not understand
it, but I flat believe it. I love what Donnie Bell said.
If the Bible said that Jonah swallowed a whale, I'd believe
it. And I would, I would. If the Bible says it, I bow. Now, so our Lord says
the way I'm using this language, it doesn't do any violence to
the scripture. Let's go on reading, John 10.
If he called them gods, verse 35, He quoted Psalm 82, 6, where
God said, Ye are gods. If He called them gods, if God
called them gods, unto whom the Word of God came, the Scripture
cannot be broken. It can't fall to the ground.
It's right. Now, that being the case, verse
36, Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into
the world, you blasphemous, because I said, I am the Son of God? Now, if I do not the works, verse
37, of the Father, Believe me not. If my works do not prove
who I am, then don't believe me. But if I do the works of
God, verse 38, but if I do, though you believe me not, yet believe
the works that you may know. Now, here's the mercy of our
Lord. He says to these skeptics, 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 Him. Now, I love to think about
the works of the Lord Jesus Christ, His miracles. His miracles. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ
brought matter into existence that was not there before. Remember
when He made all that food from the five loaves and two fishes? He brought matter into existence
that was not there before. He created something from nothing.
You know, there's only one person who can do that. God Himself. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ
controlled the weather. You think of how helpless we are before
the weather. There's nothing we can do about the weather,
is there? I mean, talking about no control, but he controlled the
weather. He could say to a raging storm,
peace, be still. And scripture says the water
became like glass. Just calm, a great calm. He can
raise the dead. Who can raise the dead? Only
God can raise the dead. I love it. You know, he wasn't
like these faith healers who, you know, they got these phony,
all the phoniness that goes on under the healing. These faith
healers, why don't they go into hospitals where people are really
sick and say, somebody dying in the last stages of cancer
and say, be healed. And they'd get up. That never
happens, does it? Because they can't do it. Lord's good. He gave sight to people who were
born blind. Lepers were cleansed. The deaf would hear. His works
proved that He was God. He controlled demons. You know,
the demons, demonic spirits, couldn't go from one place to
another without asking His permission. Suffer us to go into the herd
of swine. And Jesus suffered them. They couldn't even make
a move unless He let them do it. That's who Jesus Christ is. His works prove who He is. Now, this is such mercy to the
skeptic. I've given these works that you
might know and believe that I'm in the Father and the Father
in me. You have no excuse for your unbelief. And I've performed
these works that you might know and believe who I am. Now, unbelief and skepticism
says, I don't believe that Jesus Christ is God. Now here's the issue. Here's
the issue. There's no issue compared to
this issue. This is the issue. Who is Jesus
Christ? What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is He? That is the
issue. Now, what you believe will be
determined by For instance, do you believe
he's God? Do you really believe that he's
the all-powerful, sovereign God? Now, if you do, you can't believe
that he can intend to save somebody and not be able to save them.
You can't believe that if you believe he's God. You can't believe
that He could shed His precious blood for somebody and put away
for their sins and they wind up in hell anyway. You couldn't
believe anything so foolish as that if you believe He's God.
The issue is who is Jesus Christ? Do you believe that He's God
Almighty? What think ye of Christ? You see, faith is believing His
ability as God. Now, I want to ask you a real
simple question. I want everybody to listen to this question real
carefully. Here's a question. Can I save you? Can I do anything for your salvation?
No, you know there's not a thing I can do for you that I can do
for you. I can't save you. I can't do one single thing for
you. And you can't do one single thing for me. Now, we can be
nice to each other. I realize that. We ought to be. But I'm
talking about eternal salvation. What can I do for you? Not a
thing. And let me ask you another question.
Can He save you? Do you believe in His ability
to save you? Does He have the ability to make
you perfect in God's sight? Does He have the ability to put
away your sins? I love what Paul said. He said
in 2 Timothy 1.12, I know whom I have believed. Not I know what
I believe. That's what most folks would
say. I know what I believe. Well, good. That's not what Paul said. He said, I know whom I have believed
and I'm persuaded. that he is to keep that which
I've committed to him against that day. Now, do you believe
that Jesus Christ is able to save you with no help from you? And
the only way you really believe that is if you believe he is
God. He's the son of God. He's God
the son. Faith is believing his ability
as God. Now, does somebody say, well,
I just don't believe that. Well, that's because you don't
want to. That'd be the only reason. You don't want to. You're willfully
closing your eyes to the truth. And if you do that, is it wrong
for God to let you perish in your unbelief if you don't want
to believe? Is it an unjust thing for God to say, okay, go your
way? Absolutely not. But I wonder
if there's somebody like this. Would you turn with me for a
moment to Mark chapter 9? Verse 14. Remember, this is a message for
skeptics. Verse 14, And when He came to
His disciples, He saw a great multitude about them, and the
scribes questioning with them. And straightway all the people,
when they beheld Him, were greatly amazed, and running to Him, saluted
Him. And He asked the scribes, What question ye with them? And
one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I've brought
unto. Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath
a dumb spirit. And wheresoever he taketh him,
he teareth him and he foams, he gnashes with his teeth, he
pines away. And I spake to thy disciples
that they should cast him out and they could not. And he answered
him and said, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?
How long shall I suffer you? Bring him to me. And they brought
him unto him. And when he saw him straightway,
the spirit tear him and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming.
Could you imagine seeing your kid like that? And he asked his
father, how long has it ago since this came unto him? And he said,
Of a child in all times it hath cast him into the fire and into
the water to destroy him. But if thou canst do anything,
have compassion on us and help us, if you can do anything. And Jesus said unto him, He turns the tables on him. If
thou canst believe. Problems not with me. Problems
with you. If thou canst believe. All things
are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of
the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Now this man was tortured with
his skepticism. Remember skepticism is not believing
the truthfulness of something. And he saw his own belief, that's
the response, that's his natural, Lord help my unbelief. Now let's go to another place
where Christ helped a doubting disciple. Turn with me to Matthew
chapter 11. Verse one. And it came to pass when Jesus
had made an end of commanding his 12 disciples, he departed
thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now, when John
talking about John the Baptist. Now, when John had heard in the
prison. The works of Christ. He sent
two of his disciples and said unto him, Art thou he that should
come, or do we look for another? And Jesus answered and said unto
them, Go and show John again those things which you do see
and hear. Now here we have John the Baptist.
And remember, he is the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is the last of the Old Testament prophets. He's the one of whom
Christ testified, of them born of women there's arisen none
greater than John the Baptist. He's the one who was filled with
the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. That's what Scripture says
about him. He's the one who when he heard of Mary bearing in her
womb the Christ, he leaped for joy in his mother's womb. Now
this was a very special man. Could he doubt? As a matter of
fact, if you read the commentators, most of them will say John wasn't
doubting. There's no way he could doubt what he was doing. He was
seeing how his disciples were doubting, and he was sending
his disciples to Christ in order to have their faith strengthened.
Could John doubt? Surely John couldn't doubt. Well,
let me ask you a question. Was John a man? Did John have flesh? Sure he
did. Could John doubt? Well, about
like you could. About like you could. Same situation. As a matter of fact, you think
about John's position at this time. John had been used by God
in such an unusual way, and all of a sudden he's put on the shelf.
He's put in prison. And he hears all this stuff that's
going on, and the seeds of doubt come in. The wondering comes
in, here I am sitting here in prison. Maybe it was a dream. Is this really the Son of God?
I know I saw the Spirit descend in bodily presence like a dove
on Him. I know I witnessed that. Maybe
I see in things. Maybe none of this is what... Is He the Christ
that He sent to His disciples? Art thou He that should come,
or look we for another? The Lord doesn't chastise John
for his unbelief. He remembers the weakness of
the flesh. The Lord is so merciful. I think
of when he looked at his disciples falling asleep while he was praying
in the Garden of Gethsemane. There they are snoring. I would
have gotten mad. I would have nailed them. But
the Lord says, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. He has some understanding of
what humanity is. And He didn't ball out John.
Look how He answered John. Verse 4, Jesus answered and said
unto them, Go and show John... What's that next word? Again. How many times have you needed
the truth reconfirmed to you? I reckon about every day. Go and show John again those
things which you've seen, which you hear and see. And at that
time, the Lord did a demonstration for these fellows. They come
up and say, Are thou he that should come, or look we for another?
And there's a blind guy over there, he gives him sight. There's
a deaf guy, he gives him hearing. Comes a leper, he cleanses him.
There's a dead person, he raises him up. He gives a demonstration
of his works. He says, You go and show John
again those things which you see and hear. The blind, verse
5, receive their sight. The lame, walk, the lepers are
cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the
poor have the gospel preached to them, and blessed is he whosoever
shall not be offended in me." Now, let me say this first. Do
you know if the Lord Jesus Christ came here in physical form with
us this morning and started performing these miracles, that wouldn't
make one of us believe. Not savingly. We would be impressed. We might even believe who he
is, but as far as true saving faith, that's not really what
that's about. As a matter of fact, if all you
see is the physical miracles, you haven't really seen the meaning
of this. Now, look at this. Yes, he performed
these physical miracles, but it's the spiritual teaching that's
so important. What happened? Well, the blind
received their sight. What's it mean to be blind? If
I'm blind, I truly look at myself and cannot see any reason why
God would look my way in favor. I don't complain with the sovereignty
of God. I don't say, how can it be fair for God to save some
and pass by others? No. All I see about myself is
that if God sent me to hell, I'd be getting exactly what I
deserve. And I truly can't see why God
would look in mercy my way. I'd be like Peter. I love what
Peter said. When he found out who the Lord
was, he said, Lord, Depart from me. I'm a sinful man, you don't
want to have anything to do with me. I can't see why God would
ever love me. Now, that person is given sight
as to why God saves for Christ's sake. Can you see now why God
would save you for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ? Not for
your sake, but for Christ's sake. Because of his righteousness,
because of his precious blood, because of what he did, the blind,
they received their sight. And next he says, the lame walk.
Now, a lame person can't walk. They're unable, they're crippled.
But when he comes in saving power, those who could not walk by faith
now walk by faith. We walk by faith and not by sight. You know, when the Lord gives
you grace to believe, you know what? You believe. You really do. Now, I believe right now, and
I know it's because He said, rise, take up your bed, and walk.
And I'm doing it. I'm walking by faith. It's because
He's caused me to. I realize that, but I do believe. I believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. You know that? Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. I believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and I shall be saved. The lame walk. And then he says in verse 5,
the lepers are cleansed. Now, leprosy in the scripture
is a type of sin. Yes, lepers were literally cleansed,
but leprosy is a type of sin. Lepers are cleansed. My sin,
because of the blood of Christ, my sin is washed away. I'm clean in God's sight. I'm
cleansed. I tell you, there isn't anything
that makes me feel better than being clean. I'm talking about
being clean before God. I do not have any sin. Christ
washed it all away. That's what he did with his precious
blood. He was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is
no sin. If I'm in him, I have no sin.
I'm clean before God. Isn't that wonderful? Lepers
are cleansed. And the dead are raised. People
who were dead in sin. You know, I'm somebody that's
been raised from the dead. I was dead! I couldn't believe, I couldn't
repent, I couldn't love God, I couldn't do anything. And he
raised me up. Resurrection from the dead, and
I do now. The dead are raised. And then next he says, and the
poor have the gospel preached to them. The poor, those who
have no merit, hear this message preached to them. Those who are
nothing but sin have this message preached to them. This is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation. Everybody ought to receive this.
Everybody ought to look at this as the best news they've ever
heard, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
of whom I am the chief. Those who have nothing to recommend
them, they have the good news of the gospel preached to them.
And the Lord finishes in verse 6 by saying, Blessed is he whosoever
shall not be offended in me. Now, there's no doubt in my mind
that the gospel that we preach, the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the gospel of the scripture is offensive to the natural man.
Men are offended by the gospel. You see, the gospel, first of
all, it offends men's wisdom because it says, you can't figure
this out. This is not something that through diligent application
and study you can figure out. No, you're totally dependent
upon a revelation. If God is not pleased to reveal himself
to you, you'll never know the gospel. you're out of control
in this thing. It's up to him as to whether
or not you're going to have any true understanding and faith. That offends men's wisdom. The
gospel offends men's sense of personal rights because it says
you don't have any personal rights. You really don't. You know, if a man is a murderer, are we
violating his personal rights when we put him in prison? Well,
we're taking away his freedom. Are we violating his rights?
No. Man, because of sin, he has no
rights. And he's in the hands of a sovereign
God. He can do with us whatever he's pleased to do. I don't have
any rights. Well, don't I have a free will?
No. No. Well, I thought all men had
free will. You don't get that from the Bible.
Dead in sins, no rights. God can send you to hell. The
gospel offends men's sense of personal righteousness because
it says we don't have any. Nothing but sin before God. The
gospel offends men's love of self because it says we're called
upon to deny ourselves, to take up our cross daily and to follow
the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel offends men, but notice
what our Lord said. He said, blessed is he, blessed
by God. God's done something for you.
Blessed is he whosoever is not offended in me." Now, the only
hope I have right now while I'm speaking to you is that I am
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That when God sees me, He sees
nobody less than Jesus Christ. And I'm united to Him. I'm not offended by that. I'm
not offended by Him. I have glory in Him. I'm not offended by the Lord
Jesus Christ. And He said, Blessed is He whosoever
shall not be offended in Me. And I have no doubt that those
fellows went back and told John the Baptist, that poor doubting
disciple sitting there in the prison, and he heard the Gospel
again. and he rejoiced again, and he
heard it just as if he'd heard it for the first time, and it
blessed him once again. What a blessing that the Lord
has for his poor, doubting disciples. Now, if you die in unbelief,
it's your fault. It's all your fault. You can't
say, it's because God didn't elect me, the cross didn't die
for me. No, if you die, because of your sin and your unbelief.
But isn't it wonderful to know you can cry, Lord, I believe,
help thou my unbelief, and He helps it. Thank God for Jesus Christ who
is God. Let's pray.