I don't want you to do it right
now, but when you get a chance, read the words to that hymn on
page number 394 in the hymn book, and then listen to that one.
There's a big difference. You know the song, I Surrender
All, and then read what that says. That was wonderful. That was a blessing. Turn to
John chapter 7. Verse 1, After these things Jesus
walked in Galilee, for he would not walk in jewelry, because
the Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles
was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto
him, Depart hence, and go into Judea. that thy disciples also
may see the works that thou doest, for there is no man that doeth
anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If
thou do these things, show thyself to the world, for neither did
his brethren believe in him." Then Jesus said unto them, My
time is not yet come, but your time is always ready. Now here's
our text. The world cannot hate you, but
me it hateth, because I testify of it, that
the works thereof are evil." I've entitled this message, Why
Men Hate Jesus Christ. Why men hate Jesus Christ. Now, you cannot love without
hating. And you cannot hate without loving. Whenever you love, there's also
something that you hate. And whenever you hate, there's
also something that you love. Now, this was not a message that
was easy to prepare, and it's not going to be a message that's
easy to preach. But hear what the Lord says in
verse 7. The world. Cannot hate you. It lacks the ability to hate
you. But me, it, the world, hateth. Because I testify of it that
the works thereof are evil. Now there's no mistaking of this
language. There's no ambiguity. The world cannot hate you, he
says. It lacks the ability to hate you. But me, it hateth,
because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. Now, the Lord is speaking to
his unbelieving brethren. Look what verse 5 says, for neither
did his brethren believe in him. He's talking about his physical
brothers and sisters who did not believe. You know, they were
raised up in the same house as him, and yet they didn't believe.
They didn't get it. They didn't see any beauty in
him. So he says in verse 6, Jesus said unto them, his unbelieving
brethren, My time is not yet come, but your time is always
ready. And then he says to them, The world cannot hate you, but
me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof
are evil. Now, the first question is what
Or who is meant by the world? The world cannot hate you. But me, it hates. What does the Lord mean by this
word, the world? Now, I got these definitions
of the world from Vine's Greek Expository Dictionary. It's a
good dictionary. It gives these meanings of the
word world, which It's the Greek word cosmos, and it's used a
whole lot in the New Testament. And here's the dictionary definition
of the word world. It has many meanings in scriptures. It means the planet. The earth
in contrast to heaven. The human race. Mankind. The Gentiles. as distinguished
from the Jews, the sum of temporal possessions, the present condition of human
affairs in alienation from and opposition to God. And that's
what the world means right here. It's that world that is in opposition
to and hates the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me for a moment to
1 John chapter 2. Now, the Lord says to these people,
the world cannot hate you. It cannot hate you, but me it
hateth, because I testify that the works thereof are evil. 1
John chapter 2. Look what John says about the
world. Beginning in verse 15. John says, Love not the world. Now, you know, when he says this,
he's talking about that world that hates the Lord Jesus Christ,
that world that's in opposition to God, that world that's in
opposition to his word. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, The love of the Father is what?
Not in Him. Now, there's no mistaking in
that language. If I love the world, the love of the Father,
the love of God is not in me. There's no love for God. Verse
16, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the desires
and cravings of fallen human nature, the lust of the eyes,
being concerned about what other people think, The pride of life,
self-righteousness, is not of the Father, but is of the world,
and the world passes away, and the lust thereof that he that
doeth the will of God abideth forever." Now, worldliness, you've
heard that term, worldliness. Worldliness takes many forms.
It may be dealing drugs. It may be in the streets. It
may be in the halls of academia. It may be high class. It may
be low class. It may masquerade as moral. It may be immoral. It may speak
in the name of Christ and be very religious, or it may speak
as an atheist. It takes many forms, but it has
one agenda. It has no love for God. No love for the God as He is
revealed in the Word. It has a God, but no love for
the God of the Bible. And remember, the absence of
love is hate. The absence of love is hate. You cannot love without hating
and you cannot hate without loving. Now, why does the Lord say to
these unbelieving brethren of his, the world cannot hate you? It lacks the ability to hate
you. Why does he say that to them?
Well, turn to John chapter 15. This will answer that question.
John chapter 15. Beginning in verse 18, now the
Lord is speaking to his disciples. And he says in verse 18 of John
chapter 15, If the world hate you, you know that it hated me
before it hated you. If you were of the world, the
world would love his own. But because you're not of the
world, but I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world
hateth you. Now, the world lacks the ability
to hate that which is of the world. If I'm of the world, this
world's not going to hate me. But if I'm not of this world,
and the Lord has chosen me out of this world, the world will
hate me. Now, the Lord says concerning
the world, Me it hateth. Now, that's strong language.
Be it hated. Was the Lord being paranoid?
You know. Some people are. They think everybody's out to
get them. And you know, people accuse the
Lord of this. Look in John 7, verse 19, with Aaron John, look
in verse 19. He says to this same crowd, Did
not Moses give you the law? And yet none of you keeps the
law. Why go you about to kill me? This is what they thought
of the Lord. They wanted to kill him. Now look at their reply.
In verse 20, the people answered and said, You're demon possessed. You have a devil. You're crazy.
Who goes about to kill thee? We're not doing that. But the
Lord said they were, they were, weren't they? And he knows exactly
what was in their heart. Jesus answered and said unto
them, I've done one work and you all marvel. But the Lord
was certainly not being paranoid. Men actually hate Jesus Christ. Now, I want you to zero in on
what I'm getting ready to say. Listen to me real carefully. This is what you and I have been
guilty of. Hating Jesus Christ. That is my sin. That is your sin, hating Jesus
Christ. This is why God sends men to
hell. The punishment must hit the crime. God doesn't send men to hell
because at the They were overcome by some temptation and gave in
and gave in. I'm not excusing that in any
way. But that's not why God sends men to hell. God sends men to
hell because they hate His Son. And that is what you and I have
been guilty of. And that's what the Bible says.
Now, the Lord says this. It's so concerning you and I.
That's the way we were born into this world. Hating His Son. I have one daughter. And if you
have children, you'll be able to identify. You can understand
this if you don't have children. I have one daughter. I love her. And if somebody hates my daughter
so bad that they want to kill her, how am I going to feel about
that person? That's the issue. That's the
issue. That's the issue between you
and God. Men have been guilty of hating His Son, and my dear
friends, the cross is the proof of that. The one time men were
left alone, when God took away the restraints and let men do
what they wanted to do, they took nails and drove them through
the Son of God, and they hung Him up on a cross to kill Him.
Now, would you have done that? If God left you to yourself,
and let you be what you are, would you have done that? The
answer to that question is yes, you would have. The cross is
proof that all men hate the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there are many
scriptures that refer to men hating God. I read the second
commandment against idolatry. Why do men make idols? Well, he says those who do that
are those who hate me. That's why men make false gods.
That's why men make false imaginations of God, because they hate God
as He's revealed in the Word. Jesus Christ is God. And men hate God as is revealed
in his word. That's why men make idols. There are so many references
to this in the scriptures. You know, several times Moses
said, Rise, O Lord, let thine enemies be scattered and let
them that hate thee flee before thee. But I want you to turn
to this scripture, Romans, chapter eight. Romans, chapter eight. Verse six. For to be carnally minded. Now, what does that mean before
we go on? Carnally minded? Does that mean somebody's just
real fleshly, likes to get drunk and likes to have illicit sex
and stuff like that? Well, that's part of it. That's
part of it, but that's not what carnally minded means. Carnally
minded means fleshly minded. It's the way I was born into
this world. It's me just following my nature.
It's just the way I am, the way I am by nature. To be carnally
minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace because,
verse 7, the carnal mind is enmity against God. Now that word enmity,
you know what it means? Hatred. The fleshly, carnal mind. Notice it doesn't say it's at
enmity against God. It doesn't say that at all. It
says it is That's what it is, the carnal mind, the way I'm
born into this world. I'm born into this world and
you're born into this world hating God. You know, that's a hard
pill to swallow, isn't it? Romans 1.30 calls us haters
of God. Now, I realize men do not hate
the idols and false gods they make. You know, men don't love
God as He's revealed in His Word, so they make a God they feel
comfortable with, a God they can control. A God they can stick
in their back pocket and they can pull Him out whenever they
want, maybe rub on Him like a genie and get their wish and put Him
back and not have to do anything about it. Nobody hates that God. Who's afraid of that God? I'm
not afraid of that God. But the God of the Bible, the
God as He's revealed in the Word, that is the God that men actually
hate. And I can remember I remember when I was confronted
in my own heart, in my own mind, I wouldn't have said, I hate
God. I wouldn't have said that. I'd
have been afraid to say it. As a matter of fact, I've never heard anybody say,
I hate Jesus Christ. Have you ever heard anybody say
that? Maybe they have, but I haven't heard anybody. I'm not saying
there isn't people that have said that, but most folks would
be afraid to say, I hate Jesus Christ, or I hate God. Most folks
won't say that. But I can remember when I was
confronted with the God of the Bible. I can remember when I
was confronted with the fact that God is God, that He's in
absolute control, and I can remember what really set me going when
I found out that God had elected a people before time began, and
they were the only ones who would be saved, and there wasn't one
thing I could do to make myself one of them. And you know what
my reaction was? And this is what scared me to
death. It scared me to death when I found out I hated God
for that because there's nothing I could do to save myself. I
was totally in His hands. And that's when I found out that
I was a sinner. That's when I found out how evil
I was, that I would not bow to God for who He is. And it was
only when I found out I was nothing but a sinner, nothing but an
evil person who has hated God. It was only then that I cried
out, God be merciful to me. I'll be damned if you're not
merciful to me. Do something for me. Have mercy
on me. I sure can't be saved by my works.
I've been guilty of hating you. Have mercy on me. Now, have you ever dealt with
that about yourself? That you have been guilty, not just of
doing bad things, or falling before temptation, and I'm not
excusing that in any way, but what you've been guilty of before
God is hating His Son. That's man's sin, to hate the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how did we get in a mess
like that? Well, when Adam fell, you know the story. When Adam
fell, the Scripture says he died. In the day you eat thereof, you'll
surely die. You'll become spiritually dead.
And this death manifests itself in enmity toward God. It's not
dead like a block of wood. It's dead in the sense of dead
in sins. And because of that, we've been
guilty of hating the living God. And you think about what happened
to Adam. Right after he fell, what's the first thing he did?
He went and hid from God. Wherever God was, he didn't want
to be. There was a time when he relished God's presence, when
he loved God's presence, but when he received this evil nature
in the fall, he wanted to hide from God. He didn't want to be
around God. Wherever God was, he didn't want to be. And what
did he do? He blamed God for the fall. The
woman that you gave me, she gave me the fruit and I did eat. If
you wouldn't have given me this woman, this wouldn't have happened.
It's your fault. That's what Adam said to God.
He no longer loved God. He had no desire for God. And
we're born into this world hating the living God. Now, do you believe
that's true about you? Beloved, believe it just because
the Bible teaches it. That's enough of a reason to
believe something, isn't it? If God's word says it, it's so. Now, my question is, in John
chapter 7, Turn back to our text. Why do men hate Jesus Christ? Why? Now, we already know it's
their nature to hate him. It's the nature of a tiger to
eat meat. He's not going to eat grass.
It's the nature of a cow to eat grass. You're not going to eat
meat. You're going to obey your nature. Why do men hate Jesus
Christ? We know it's their nature to
it because of their fallen nature. But generally, when men hate
somebody else, there's a reason. There's a reason. We've hated
people because of their rank overs. We've hated people because
of their rule, we've hated people because of their pride, their
selfishness, their hypocrisy. But, you know, there's no reason
like that to hate Christ. His character is without flaw. He is altogether lovely. There's no reason for a man to
hate the Lord Jesus Christ. But you know what He said in
John chapter 15, verse 25? And here once again is our sin.
They hated Me without a cause. That's what I've been guilty
of. Hating Jesus Christ. Without
a cause. That's my sin. Now in our text in John chapter
7. The Lord gives the specific reason
why men hate him. Look in verse 7. The world cannot
hate you, but me it hated. And here's the reason why. Because
I testify of it that the works thereof are evil. Now that's why men hate Jesus
Christ. That's the one reason he gives.
He doesn't give one of the many reasons. I'm sure we could give
all kinds of reasons, but he gives this one reason. The world
hates me because I testify of it, that the works thereof are
evil. Now, you would agree that many
of the works of the world are evil. Murder is evil, isn't it? Rape is evil. Child molesting,
oh, how evil. These are obvious enough. You
know, stealing is evil, isn't it? Lying. is evil. Covetousness and greed is evil. Being power-mad is evil. We all recognize those things
to be evil, don't we? But the Lord said, the Lord did
not say most of the works thereof are evil. He didn't say that,
did He? He said the works thereof are
evil. Everything, everything that a man does is
evil. Everything that a man does is
sin. A man cannot not sin. Have you ever seen your good
works as evil? Have you ever seen your spirituality
as evil? Have you ever seen your good
motives and good deeds as evil? Have you ever seen that everything
about you, without exception, is evil? I'm not talking about
somebody else. You know, it's easy to see the
problems with somebody else. I'm talking about you. I'm talking
about you. I've said this before. You know,
it's one thing to believe in the doctrine of total depravity,
and it's quite another thing to believe that you are totally
depraved. Big difference. Big difference.
Have you seen this regarding yourself? Have I seen this regarding
myself and all the works thereof? are evil. Let me show you a couple
of scriptures. John chapter 3, verse 19. Our Lord says in verse 19, this
is the condemnation, that light has come into the world. And
who is light? Jesus Christ is the light of
the world. You know, when I talk about Before
I go on reading with this, when I talk about, oh, we're all evil
and so on, everybody, you know, it's just negative and morose.
And can't you talk about something more positive? And that's just
such a morose way of looking things and depressing and heavy. If you see who Jesus Christ is,
the light of the world, you'll know exactly what I'm saying.
You see, it's only seeing who he is that you see who you are.
If I just talk about sin, it just seems negative and just,
oh, this is just depressing. But if you see who he is, you'll
see who you are. No question about it. But look
what he says in verse 19, John chapter three. This is the condemnation
that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness
rather than light because their deeds were evil. And everyone
that doeth evil, how does he feel about the light? He hates
the light. Neither comes to the light, lest
his deeds should be reproved or exposed. But he that doeth
the truth cometh to the life that his deeds may be made manifest
that there wrought in God, that God did them. Turn to Genesis
chapter 6. This is a scripture that we all
ought to commit to memory. Genesis chapter 6, verse 5. And God saw That the wickedness
of man was great in the earth. And that what's the next word?
Every. Every. Imagination, he's not
even talking about the deeds right now, he's talking about
what goes on in the mind and in the heart. God saw that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was what? Only. What? Evil! How often? Continually. That's what God says when He
looks at my heart and yours. Every imagination of the thoughts
of His heart was only evil, non-stop. Romans chapter 3. Don't get depressed. I'm getting
to the better part in a minute. If this is all I talked about,
let's just go ahead and kill ourselves. But I've got I've
got something better to say, so don't stay with me. Romans
three, verse two. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. There is how many that understands
none. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all, A-double-L, all gone out of the way. They
are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Now, how do you respond to this? If you're hoping to be saved
by your works in some way, you will hate this. Because it takes
away what you're hoping. It says that what you're hoping
in is evil will not do you any good. If I say all your works
are evil, what's your response? Anger? Or do you say that's the truth? That is the truth. It's only when you really believe
that that is the truth regarding you that you'll sue for mercy. You've never asked for mercy
until you've seen this is true regarding you. And when you do
see this is true regarding you, you will sue for mercy. It's
only when I have absolutely no merit that I'll take my place
as the publican and cry out, God, be merciful to me, thee
sinner. It's only when I have absolutely
no righteousness, I mean none, it's only then that I can actually
trust Christ. as my righteousness before God. And listen to me, beloved. It
is a blessing to be nothing but a sinner because it is easy to
trust Christ as my only righteousness before God when I really believe
I don't have any righteousness. It's easy, isn't it? It's simple. Now, the testimony of the Lord
is true. All the works of the world are evil. Men hate Jesus
Christ, and there are several rock-solid conclusions we can
draw from this. That's true. The world hates
Christ. Men, by nature, hate Jesus Christ,
as is revealed in His Word. Now, what can we conclude from
this? Well, here's the first conclusion that we can make.
Salvation by merit or works is altogether out of the question.
Man, if left to himself, he's just going to hate Christ. He
doesn't even want to be saved by Him. Doesn't even want to
be saved by Him. Now, if any aspect of salvation
is dependent upon man in any way, nobody will be saved. You know, people talk about free
will. God loves everybody. Christ died
for everybody. God wants to save everybody, but it's up to your
free will as to whether or not you'll let Him save you. Foolishness. There's not a bit of truth to
that. Your will is controlled by your nature. And this is our
problem. This is our problem. We have
a nature that hates the Lord. Now, if salvation is in any way
dependent upon me doing anything, I won't be saved. Our Lord said in John 6, 44,
No man can come to me. He lacks the ability to come
to me except the Father which has sent me draw him." Now, secondly,
salvation must be by grace. The only way a man can be saved
is by grace. If man is such that he hates
God and cannot change his heart, Can the Ethiopian change the
color of his skin or the leopard his spots? How then can you do
good or accustomed to doing evil? That's what the prophet said.
If that is the case, salvation must be by grace, by sovereign
grace. Well, if this is true, and it
is, the only hope I have and the only hope that you have is
for God to unconditionally elect a people. If God doesn't choose you, you
won't choose Him. You know that, don't you? The
only hope you and I have is for Christ to actually pay the sin
debt of those He died for. Christ died, listen to me, Christ
died for the elect. He didn't die for somebody that
goes to hell. He didn't die for somebody who continues in unbelief. No, He didn't pay for their sins,
because if He paid for their sins, they wouldn't do that,
would they? No way. Now, my hope, understand this,
the only hope I have is that Christ died for me. If you tell
me He died for people that end up in hell, you've taken away
my hope, because my only hope is that what He did, without
any help or contribution from me, what He did is enough to
save me completely. And I rejoice in this. Do you
rejoice in the death of Christ? The only hope I have is that
God's grace is invincible and irresistible and gives me life. That's the only hope I have.
There are no other hopes. The only hope I have is that
he will preserve me all the way to the end. Now, grace. You can
call it sovereign grace, you can call it free grace, which,
you know, really, in a sense, those terms, grace is great. If it's grace, obviously it's
sovereign or it's not grace. If it's grace, obviously it's
free or it's not grace. So really, the best word is just
grace. Grace saves. It's the only hope any sinner
has. But it's a complete perfect hope. It's not like I'm just
going to barely get in by the skin of my teeth with grace.
No, God's grace saves. By grace you are saved. And this
is good news. This is wonderful news. This
is not just old, hard doctrine. This is wonderful. Now, the last thing that I'd
like to say, which is termed the John 3, I've been talking
about this world that has been so guilty. Guilty of hating the
Lord Jesus Christ. This world. Look what verse 16
of John chapter 3 says. For God so loved. Who? The world. the world that hated him so. He so loved the world, or loved
the world in this manner, that he gave his only begotten Son,
the Son of His love, that whosoever, thank God for that word, I'm
one of them. that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son
into the world to condemn the world. The world already was
condemned. But that the world through him
might be saved, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but
he that believeth not is condemned already. Because he has not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Now, I don't care how sinful or evil any man is. I don't care if you are one of
the actual murderers of Jesus Christ. If you believe on him,
you'll be saved. If you trust Him as all you need
to make you altogether lovely in God's sight, you will be saved. That's a promise from the Word
of God. May God give each person here
the grace to rely on His Son. Isn't it amazing that God loves
sinners so much He gave His Son that whoever believes to have
everlasting life. Let's pray together.