Would you turn back to John chapter
7? Tonight we're going to observe
the Lord's table together as we bring in the new year, and
I will look forward to that. I'm going to preach on this subject
from Matthew chapter 13, verse 52, things new and old. Let's read this 43rd verse again.
I've entitled this message, A Good Division. A Good Division. So there was a division, a schism, a rent, people taking
sides. There was a division because
of him. There are so many divisions in
the world, in our country, in our homes
that ought not to be. Division. The divisions caused by misunderstandings. This year I got a letter from
a lady that she said, I was so impressed with what you were
saying until I saw that you named the church after yourself. How arrogant. You must be a Democrat. Misunderstanding. But the divisions that are caused
by racism, how evil, economic status, the haves and the have
nots, the social distinctions, the religious divides, the political divisions, each
side demonizing the other. These are the product of sin. Sin brings on these divisions,
divisions within a church. How sad. Can there be a division
in a true church? Well, there was in Corinth. There
was in Galatia. The divisions that take place
in a home between a husband and wife, between parents and children. between siblings, contention
in the workplace, people arguing, fussing, and fighting, and not
getting along. Paul said in Romans 12, 18, if
it be possible, and listen real carefully, if it be possible,
as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men, if it
be possible. The seventh beatitude, blessed
are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children
of God. David said, I am for peace, but
when I speak They are for war, division, trouble, divides. But in verse 43, we read of a
good division. So there was a division among
the people. because of Him. In verse 37, the Lord said what
only He could say. In the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, if any man thirst, A conscious awareness of need. Are you needy? If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. He that believeth on me as the
scripture has said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. That's eternally. But this spake
he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.
For the Holy Ghost was not yet, because that Jesus was not yet
glorified. Now, many of the people, therefore,
when they heard this saying said of a truth, this is the prophet,
the one Moses spoke of. Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, shall Christ come
out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said that
Christ cometh at the seat of David out of that time of Bethlehem
where David was? There was a debate and each side
thought they had a scriptural argument as to what they would
believe with regard to this man. He can't be the Christ. He came
from Galilee. Christ didn't come from Galilee.
They all thought they could prove their beliefs from the scriptures. What they were doing was manipulating
the scriptures in order to prove what they themselves believed.
That's a dangerous thing. It's what Paul called handling
the word of God deceitfully. trying to use the scriptures
to prove the correctness of yourself. Rather than going to the scriptures
to find out what to believe, you go to the scriptures to prove
what you believe. That's a dangerous place to be. They were using the scriptures,
manipulating the scriptures. So verse 43, so There was a division, there was
a divide among the people because of him. He was the issue then and now. There is still today, in here and outside of here,
a division because of Him. Listen to these words of our
Lord in Luke chapter 12 verse 51, suppose ye that I'm come
to give peace on earth, I tell you nay, but rather division. Those are the Lord's words. From henceforth there shall be
five in one house divided three against two and two against three. There was a division because
of him." Now, the message of the gospel
is a message of peace. Aren't you thankful? Having been justified by faith,
we have peace with God. God, through the gospel, is at
peace with me. He's satisfied with me. He's
not looking for anything else because of what the Lord accomplished
for me. It's the peace of justification.
Therefore, having been justified Now, if you're justified, that
means you stand before God sinless, without sin, without anything
to feel guilty about, perfect in his sight. Having been justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in that message of peace,
it creates a division between those who believe and those who
do not believe. He is the issue. Now, people try to mask that. They try to put a veneer over
it and make denominational divisions or Calvinist or Arminian or whatever
man-made terms they can manufactured to put a label on it, but this
is still true. The division is because of Him. There was a division among the
people because of Him. There's a division in this room
this morning and that division is because of Him. There is a division among all
men, and that division is because of Him. Now, this was clearly
established in the first historical event recorded after the Fall. Do you remember what it was?
The story of Cain and Abel. There was a division between
those two men. And that division was because
of him. Abel brought the blood sacrifice
of that lamb. And he knew that that lamb's
blood didn't make him accepted before God. He knew it was what
that lamb's blood represented. the blood of Him who was to come. He would not dare approach God
in any other way, but through the blood of Him who was to come. Cain didn't think that was necessary. He knew he had to have a sacrifice. And he brought his works, the
fruit of the ground, that which God had already cursed. That's
where it came from. And there was a division between
those men. As a matter of fact, the scripture
says that God had respect. I want you to think of the awesomeness
of that statement. God had respect to Abel and to
his offering but in Decayne and his offering, he had not respect. Now, the foundation of a good
relationship is respect. It's more important than anything
else. God had respect unto Abel. The living God had respect unto
Abel and his offering. Unto Cain and his offering, he
had no respect. Now, Abel said, God can only
be approached by the blood of that one who is to come. Cain was offended by that. There
was a division between those two people. Cain's way of approach
was his own works. And Abel said, that's completely
wrong. You won't be saved that way.
This is a salvation issue. This isn't just a difference
in doctrine. This is a salvation issue. If you come into God's
presence, the way you're coming, you'll go to hell. The only way
a sinner can be accepted is through the blood of Christ. No other. way and the division between
those two men was so sharp that Cain murdered Abel. There was a division and that
division was because of him. There was a division because
of him. Churches have split over some
of the silliest reasons. What color are you going to paint
the walls? But here is a good reason. The division was because of Him. He is the issue. He is salvation. What was the difference between
the two thieves? Jesus Christ. He was the difference, not a
difference, the difference. What was the difference between
Judas Iscariot and Peter? The Lord said with regard to
Peter, I have prayed for you. He didn't pray for Judas Iscariot.
but he did for Peter. Jesus Christ himself is the difference. What is the difference or who
is the difference between those who are condemned and those who
are saved? Who is he that condemneth, Paul
said? Somebody replies, I can't be condemned because I made my
decision for Christ. I accepted him as my personal
savior, as an act of my free will. I let him into my heart. Oh? How did Paul answer the question?
Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Who is the difference? Jesus
Christ. It's Christ that died, yea rather
that's risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Who's the us? If God be for
us, who can be against us? He is the difference. And there was a division because
of Him. Simeon understood that. He said,
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant departed peace for mine eyes
have seen thy salvation. Jesus Christ is God's salvation.
He's the difference. He only is the difference between
the saved and I love the way Paul said, he is our peace. He is our life. He is our hope. He himself is the difference. Now there is division. There was a division among the
people because of him. If my hope of being saved is
grounded upon anything that I have done, any experience Well, I know I
was saved then. I remember what I experienced,
what I felt, what I fought. If my hope is based upon anything
right down to an act of my will, that declares my hope is no good. And do you hear that? That says my hope of being saved.
won't work. I will not be saved. I think of what the disciples
said to the Lord after they saw the rich young ruler leave. Who
then can be saved? Who has the ability to be saved?
With men, our Lord said, it is impossible. And if your salvation
is based upon your ability to do anything before you can be
saved, you won't be saved. Listen to this statement. Turn from your sins. You won't
be saved until you turn from your sins. You ought to turn
from your sins. You must turn from your sins.
But if my salvation is dependent upon me turning from some particular
sin or I won't be saved unless I first do, that makes my salvation
dependent upon me. Now, I would not in any way turn
from your sins. Never sin again. I hate sin,
I don't want to sin. But if my salvation is dependent
upon me doing anything before I can be saved. Now somebody
say, don't you believe? Of course you do. But if you've
got to believe before you're saved, I need to first believe,
then I'll be saved. Believe what? That's just confusing
the whole issue of the gospel. Salvation is what He does, you
believe that? Salvation is Him. Now, if your hope is only in
Him and somebody says there's something you must first do to
be saved right down to that act of your will, There's going to
be a division between you and that person because they're taking
away the only help you have. There was a division because
of him. How can two walk together except
they be agreed? They can't. On one side of the
division, there is a dividing line. Don't kid yourself and
think there's not. There is a division. On one side
of the dividing line, he is all in salvation. On the other side, he is nothing
at all. There is a division because of
him. Between Lazarus and the rich
man, there was a great gulf fixed. A division and one could not
pass through to the other. God said against any of the children
of Israel, shall not a dog move his tongue against man or beast?
so that you may know that the Lord hath put a distinction,
a division, a difference between the children of Israel and Egypt."
Law and grace cannot coexist. Faith and works cannot coexist.
Salvation is either by man's will or God's will, but there's
no in between. Scripture says, cast out the
bond woman. Salvation by works. Cast out
the bondwoman and her son. For the son of the bondwoman
shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. Now with regard to the Lord Jesus
Christ, it was not his works that divided men. It was not
his miracles that divided men. It was not him feeding the poor
that divided men or him healing the sick that divided men. It was what he said. John 10, 19, there was a division
among the Jews for this saying. Same word. There was a division.
There was a divide. between the Jews for this Satan. Now I want to give you, it's
actually him, but I want to give you four things with regard to
him that cause division. Number one, when he is preached
as God, there will be division. No one objects to him being a
man, do they? Colossians 2.9 says, in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead. Every attribute of God, all that
God is in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead in a
body. He said, before Abraham was,
I am. Then they took up stones to cast
at him. Many good works have I shown
you of my father, for which of these works do you stone me?
For good works stone we thee not, but for blasphemy, for thou,
being a man, makest thyself God. You see, we will not have this
man who claims to be God to reign over us. You see, if he's God,
that means we're in his hand. If he's God, that means our salvation
is completely dependent upon him. If he's God, we have no control
over him. We can't get him to do what we
want him to do. If he's God, if he's God, he's
God. No, that's where people get upset. No, he's not God. He's a good
man. He's a mighty prophet. He, he's
not God though. You see, if he's God, we're in
trouble. No, if he's God, he's the only
hope you have. It's a good thing for him to
be God, isn't it? Don't you love him being God? Now there's a,
there's a divide. There's a divide. Those who love
him as being the sovereign God over all, the absolute Lord of
the universe, and those who do not believe that. Secondly, if you preach total
depravity the way he did, I'm not just talking about a doctrine,
but I'm talking about the way he did. If you preach sin the
way he did, there will be division. In John chapter six, he said,
therefore said I unto you that no man can come to me except
it were given him of my father. From that time. many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him." Now, let's examine
what he said. He said, no man can come to me. Coming to him is salvation. I
hope you and I understand that. Coming to him is salvation. He
is salvation. Coming to him is salvation. What
does it mean to come to him? It means to believe on him. You
believe on Him. You trust Him. And you're commanded
to do it. Everybody in this room, trust
the Lord is all you need to make you perfectly accepted before
God. You won't be saved apart from that. But the command of
the gospel is believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And thou shalt be saved. That's what it means to come
to Christ. You come to Christ when you trust Him as all that's
needed to make you perfect before God. Perfectly accepted. Perfectly
holy. You trust Him. Now, the Lord
says with regard to this command, and it is a command, and you
and I will not be saved apart from believing the gospel, apart
from trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust Him. You're commanded
to. Don't think, well, am I commanded to? Yeah, you are. You are. What if I'm not one of the elect?
Trust Him. Don't even think of stuff like that. Believe on Christ
right now. That's the command of the gospel.
Trust Him. You trust Him to save you. The Lord says, you can't do that
except it's given to you from my Father. The only way you will
do that is if He gives it to you because you cannot do it
in and of yourself. If the Lord leaves me and if
He leaves you to ourselves, we will not be saved. Now that's just the truth. What
are you going to do? I'm going to say, Lord, save
me. Lord give me the grace to come
to Him, draw me to Him. Now if you tell people you can't
unless He enables you, that's a dividing line, that's a dividing
line. Oh I can, I can do that. No, you can't. No, you can't. That's what it is to preach sin
is He preached it. Let me read a passage of scripture
to you from Acts chapter 7. This is the message that cost
Stephen his life. Would you turn with me there
to Acts chapter 7 for just a moment? Now this is the conclusion of
this message he brings in Acts chapter 7. He says to his hearers,
you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always
resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did so do ye which of
the prophets have not your fathers persecuted and they have slain
them which showed you before the coming of the just one of
whom you have been now betrayers and murderers who receive the
law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it When they heard these things,
they were cut to the heart and gnashed on him with their teeth. Now, what did he say to these
people? You've never kept the law. You always resist the Holy
Ghost. And what did they do? They stoned
him after this. Now, our Lord taught human sinfulness. And the thing that is, this is, This is encouraging that he does
give, that he does draw. Thank God for that. No man can
come to me. That's why you can't come to
me unless it's given to you of my father. You can't do it. How
do you respond to that? Well, what about my free will?
What about my decision? No, if you respond to it the
right way, you'll say, Lord, cause me to come. Right now,
cause me to come for Christ's sake. Cause me to come. Can you say that in your heart
before the Lord? Lord, cause me to come to your
son. Cause me to see him as everything in my salvation. Cause me to
trust no one or nothing but him. Enable me to. Number three, number one, you
preach him as God, there will be divisions. Number two, you
preach sin as he preached it. There will be division. Number
three, you preach his sovereignty and salvation as he did. There will be divisions. When he first came to Nazareth early on, when he first
came to Nazareth to preach after he had done so many things, they
were there to listen to him preach and they were excited about it
and he opened up Isaiah 61. And from that passage of scripture,
he said, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. He hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal
the brokenhearted. He has sent me to give sight
to the blind and deliverance to them that are bruised, to
preach the acceptable of the ear of the Lord. And then the
scripture says, he sat down, closed the book. Everybody looked
at him. He said, this day is this scripture
fulfilled in your ears. They didn't like it. And he looked at this audience
and he said, you don't like what I'm saying? Well, in the days
of Elijah, the prophet, there are a lot of lepers in Israel
and God passed by every one of them and he healed a leper that
was a Gentile. And in the days of Elisha, there
were many widows in Israel and God passed by every one of them
and saved a widow that was a Gentile. And the scripture says, when
he said these things to them, he was saying, you don't like
it. Well, God's passing you by. That's what that means. You don't
like this. God's passing you by. And when they heard these things,
the scripture says they were filled with wrath and they took
him and led him up to the brow of the hill that they might cast
him down head first. They were so hungry. But he passing
through went his way. You see, this is what upsets
people. And it doesn't upset a believer,
but this is what upsets people. when they hear of his absolute
sovereignty in salvation. Now, how do you respond to that?
How do you respond? Lord, save me. If you preach the death of Christ
for his sheep, there will be division. Turn to John 10. I am the good shepherd and know
my sheep. and am known of mine as the father
knoweth me, even so know I the father, and I lay down my life
for thee, sheep. And other 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. Therefore doth my father love
me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No
man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power
to lay it down. I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my father. There was a division
therefore again among the Jews for these things. Now what's
this mean? I lay down my life for the sheep. It means exactly what he says. Who are the sheep? Is everybody
sheep? Well, what the Lord said in verse
24, Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him,
How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ,
tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you
and you believe not. The works that I do in my father's
name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not because you
are not of my sheep. As I said to you, not everybody's
a sheep. Sheep believe. Now here is the
point of this thing of him laying down his life for the sheep.
If Jesus Christ died for you, You must be saved. That's the point. If Jesus Christ died for you,
all your sins have been washed away. You stand before God without
guilt, perfect in His side. When He said, it is finished,
your salvation was accomplished. You know as well as I do that
most of the stuff that goes under preaching says Jesus Christ died
for everybody. He died for all men. He paid
for the sins of all men. He made a sufficient sin payment
for everybody. Well, the Bible doesn't teach
that. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. And if it did teach that, that would make salvation
by works. You see, somebody that preaches that Jesus Christ shed
His blood for everybody, made salvation POSSIBLE for everybody, you might as well be an atheist.
No difference. You might as well be an atheist.
You believe salvation is somehow dependent upon you, you've got
some kind of wrong concept of God. I lay down my life for the sheep.
That's where the division came from. His complete effectual
salvation. The division is because of him. He is the difference. He's the dividing line. He's
the difference between the saved and the lost. in him or not in him. He is either all in salvation
or he's nothing in your salvation. No in between. You either love him or you hate
him. When all the veneer and the religious
labeling is taken away, here is the issue, the only issue. The division is because of him. May God give me and you the grace
to really believe that he is the only difference and to rely
on the fact that he is the only difference. We trust him only. The division is always because
of him. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name. That you. By your spirit. By your grace. Will divinely
enable. Each one of us in this room. to trust Him only. And Lord, enable us to see that
the division is always and only because of Him. Lord, we ask that you would glorify
Him in our eyes. We ask that you would bless Your
word deliver us from the words of men. Lord, a man preached
this and Lord overrule anything that I said that would be contrary
to your gospel and cause us to see that he only is our salvation. In his name we pray. Amen.