John chapter 12, the response
of these people in this twelfth chapter
of John, the Jews, the religious leaders, the response of these
people to our Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel was unbelief. Verse 37, John 12. But though he had done so many
miracles before them, though he openly performed the most
convincing miracles in their presence, feeding 5,000, raising the dead, giving sight
to the blind, many miracles, though he spake as no man ever
spake. That's what the soldiers said
when they were sent to arrest him, and they came back without
him, and their leaders said, well, where is he? They said,
never man spake like this man. And he opened the Old Testament
Scriptures, and he fulfilled the Old Testament Scriptures,
and no one could answer him. He left them all in silence,
no matter what they said. When he replied, they had nothing
to answer him with. Though his life was perfect,
holy as no other man, we find no fault with him. Yet they believed not on him. They believed not. The great
majority did not believe that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was
the Messiah. And John 1 said He was in the
world, the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.
He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. And this
clearly reveals the hardness of the human heart, the darkness
of the human heart. By nature, our evil nature is
so deeply rooted in darkness and sin, that the most convincing
miracles, the most convincing arguments, the most convincing
facts, will not bring a person to faith in Christ. Our Lord gave this parable over in the book of Luke about
the rich man in hell who cried out to Abraham and said, send
Lazarus back to earth to warn my brothers that they come not
to this place. And Abraham said, if they do
not believe the word of God, they will not be persuaded, though
one rose from the dead. Unbelief. In verse 38, Isaiah the prophet
wrote this years before. And our Lord said their unbelief
is the fulfilling of what Isaiah wrote when he spake. Lord, who
hath believed our report, our gospel, our testimony? Who believes it? Who believes
it? Who believes our testimony? What
was his testimony? It was of Christ. He said, he shall grow up as
a tender plant, a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form,
no comeliness that we should desire him, no beauty. We hear
as it were our faces from him. We despised him, a man of sorrows
acquainted with grief. Yet he was wounded for our transgressions,
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him by his stripes. Our testimony is of him. And
yet to whom, listen, who believes it? Not many. To whom hath the
arm? What is the arm of the Lord?
The power of the Lord. Christ, the power of God. The wisdom of God. God said,
my arm's not short that I cannot save. The arm of God is the power
of God. The gospel is the power of God
and the salvation. Yet they do not believe. To whom
is the arm of the Lord been revealed? Now watch these two verses. This
quotation is from Isaiah 6, verse 9 through 12. Therefore they
could not believe. They would not believe. Therefore
they could not believe. Now watch this. Because Isaiah
said again, He, God, hath blinded their minds. God hath hardened
their hearts. that they should not see with
their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted,
that I should heal them." Now, to deny this Scripture is inexcusable,
because it's repeated five times in the New Testament. Not only
here, but five other times. Let me
show you some of them. Now, listen to this. Verse 39,
they could not believe, they would not believe, though He
did so many miracles, yet they believed not on Him. And then
it came to the place where they could not believe. Having hardened
their hearts, God judicially blinded them. They can't deny
that. There are five times, let me
turn to some of them, Matthew 13, Matthew 13, this same scripture
is repeated over and over in the New Testament. Matthew 13,
verse 14, listen. And in them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah, which said, by hearing you shall hear and
not understand. Seeing you'll see, but not perceive. For this people's heart is wax
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they
have closed. Lest at any time they should
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand
with their heart, and be converted, I should heal them." Mark, let's
find these places where this scripture, it can't be changed,
it can't be altered, it can't be denied. It's inexcusable to
try it, because it's repeated again and again. Mark 4, verse
12. Verse 11. And He said unto them,
to the apostles, unto you it is given to know the mystery
of the kingdom of God. But to them that are without,
all things are done in parables, that seeing they may see and
not perceive, hearing they may hear, not understand, lest in
any time they should be converted, their sins should be forgiven
them. Luke 8, Luke 8 verse 10, Luke 8 verse
10, and he said to the apostles,
Verse 10, Luke 8, "...unto you is given to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of God, to others in parables, that seeing they
might not see, and hearing they might not understand." Acts 28,
let's go over that. Acts chapter 28, this prophecy
of Isaiah. Acts 28, verse 26. Acts 28 verse 26, saying, Go unto this people,
telling the prophet. Then we read verse 25, And when
they agreed not among themselves, they departed. After that, Paul
had spoken one word. Well spake the Holy Ghost by
Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people,
and say, Hearing you shall hear, and not understand. Seeing you
shall see and not perceive. And now Romans 11, one other. That's six times Romans 11 verse
8. That this prophecy of Isaiah
concerning the hardness and blandness of the human heart on the part
of God. Romans 11 verse 8. Verse 7 says, What then? Israel
hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election
hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. According as it
is written, Isaiah 29, 10, God hath given them the spirit of
slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears they should
not hear unto this day. And David said, Let their table
be made a snare, a trap, a stumbling block, a recompense unto them,
Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and bow down
their back always. Now then, though he had done
so many wonderful works, they didn't believe. Though he spake,
no man ever spake, they didn't believe. Though he walked among
them in a perfect manner, went about doing good, Witness of
God the Father, witness of the Word, witness of John the Baptist,
witness of the Holy Spirit, witness of the works. They will not believe.
So then came upon them what has come upon men for generations,
judicial blindness, the hardness of the heart. Let me give you
some examples. Turn, if you will, to Romans 9. Israel, Romans chapter
9, now listen to this. Israel had so many favorable
blessings. In Romans chapter 9 verse 4,
who are Israelites? To whom pertaineth the adoption,
the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service
of God, the promises, whose are the fathers, of whom concerning
the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God bless forever."
That's the Jew. Where is he now? Where was he even in the days
of the apostles? Turn to Romans 11 and you'll
read it. Romans 11, verse 3. Lord, they've killed your prophets.
Dig down your altars. I'm left alone, they seek my
life. Verse 7, What then? Israel hath not obtained what
he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it. Verse 9, David
said, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling
block, and a recompense. Let their eyes be darkened, that
they may not see, and bow down their backs. When men and women
refuse God's Light, he turns it into darkness. Pharaoh is an example of that.
Moses came to Pharaoh and said, God said, let my people go. And
he gave Pharaoh demonstration after demonstration of his power.
And the scripture said, Pharaoh hardened his heart, hardened
his heart, hardened his heart. And then it said, God hardened
his heart. And his heart became so hard
that even after God had come through the land of Israel, the
land of Egypt, and killed the firstborn in every home, even
his firstborn, and he sent Israel away, he still went after them. God hardened his heart. In Romans
1, turn over there, I preached on this not so awful long ago.
Romans chapter 1. What I'm saying is when God sends
men truth, He did many mighty works, and they would not believe.
Now they can't believe because they're judicially hardened and
blinded. Look at Romans 1 verse 19. Because that which may be known
of God is manifest to them. God showed it to them. For the
invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even his eternal power and Godhead. So men are without excuse, because
that when they knew God, when they had some understanding that
there is a God, and had the truth of God, the word of God, the
light of God, the preachers, the apostles, the servants of
God, They wouldn't glorify Him as God. They wouldn't let God
be God. They wouldn't submit. They weren't
thankful. They became vain in their imaginations. Their foolish hearts would darken. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools. And they changed the glory of
the uncorruptible God into an image. Made like the corruptible
man. Pictures and statues and images
to beasts, birds, creeping things. Wherefore, God also gave them
up to uncleanness through the lust
of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves.
They changed the truth of God into a lie. They had the truth
of God and changed it into a lie. They heard the truth of God and
turned it into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature. More
than the Creator, who's blessed for this cause, God gave them
up. To vile affections, even their
women did change the natural use into that which is against
nature. And men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned
in their lust one toward another. Men with men, working that which
is unnatural and shameful, and receiving in themselves that
recompense of their error, which was meet the consequence of penalty
for such action. And even as they did not want
to acknowledge God, retain God in their knowledge, God gave
them over to reprobate mind. What am I saying? I'm saying
that this nation has had the truth more than any other nation
on the face of the earth. Communities like this in which
we live. down through the years, from the 1600s up through this
day, has had truth and light, the Word of God, and they would
not believe. Now, they can't believe. That's right. God has hardened the heart like
He did Pharaoh. God will fill the cup up. And
their foot will slide in due time. And this is a hardness.
And I want you to look at 1 Thessalonians, or 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.
Now listen to what Isaiah predicted this. He prophesied this. 2 Thessalonians
2. It's true in every generation.
If you won't walk in the light, God will turn your light into
darkness. And how great is that darkness. If you won't walk in
the truth, God will give you a lie to believe. You preach,
yeah, listen. 2 Thessalonians 2 Verse 8, And then shall that
wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the
spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of
his coming. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan,
with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." They wouldn't
receive the love of the truth. The truth. Who is the truth?
Christ said, I'm the truth. I'm the truth. I'm the way, the
truth, the life. Truth. You know the truth. Truth
will make you free. But they wouldn't receive the
truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause, God shall
send them strong delusions. Religion, yes. Preachers, yes. Doctrine, yes. Delusions. And they'll believe a lie. Verse
12, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but
have pleasure in unrighteousness. And that's where we are. And
that's what happened over here in John 12. Our Lord said, I'll be lifted
up. They said, we heard that Christ
lives forever. Who's this son of man that's
going to be lifted up? Though he had done so many wonderful
works, they didn't believe him. That the saying of the prophet
Isaiah might be fulfilled, he blinded their eyes and hardened
their hearts. that they should not see, nor
understand, and be converted. Look at John 12, 41. And these
things said Isaiah when he saw his glory, and spake of him. Turn to Isaiah 6. When did Isaiah
see his glory? When Uzziah died, he really saw
the glory of Christ. Isaiah chapter 6, in the year
that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 6-1, I saw Jehovah sitting
on the throne, high and lifted up. His glory filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim.
One had six wings, with two he covered his face. With two he
covered his feet, with two he did fly. And there cried one
to another, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Lord of hosts, the Lord of the kingdom, the Lord of the people.
The whole earth is full of His glory, the glory of His cross. And the post of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried. The house was filled with smoke.
And I said, oh, woe is me, I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell
in the midst of an unclean people with unclean lips. Mine eyes
have seen the King of kings, the Lord of hosts." Then one
of the seraphims flew unto me having a live coal in his hand,
which he took with tongs from the altar. That's the gospel.
A live coal, took from the cross, and laid it on my mouth, and
said, Lo, this has touched your lips. His problem wasn't his
mouth, it was his heart, but that's where it was coming out
of. And thine iniquity is taken away, thy sin is purged. He purged
our sins by himself, purged our sins. And I heard the voice of him
saying, whom shall I send? Who will go? Who will take this
message, this gospel? He said, here I am, I'll take
it. And he did. And when he saw the glory of
Christ, He spake of Him. Isaiah 53, don't turn there,
but I read it to you. Him, Him, Him, Him. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. Sacrifice, the chastisement of
our peace laid on Him. By His stripes we are healed.
Isaiah spake of Him. Verse 42. Now, here's a situation
here that's interesting. Nevertheless, among the chief rulers, whom
have we here? Among the chief rulers, also
many believed on him, several believed on him. Nicodemus, Nicodemus was one
of the chief rulers. He came to Jesus by night, said
to him, Rabbi, Nicodemus was one of the chief of the Sanhedrin,
cheap rulers. He came to him by night and said,
Master, I know you're from God. We, some of us know you're from
God. You couldn't do what you do.
God wasn't with you. He believed something. He didn't
believe effectually, or he would have confessed Christ. He would
have followed He didn't believe like Paul did. Paul was a Sanhedrin. Paul was a Pharisee. Paul was
in the same office Nicodemus was at. But Nicodemus believed. Joseph of Arimathea. I'll tell
you about him tonight. But he came and requested the
body of Christ. Asked Pilate. He said, could
I have his body? And he anointed it. And Nicodemus
came and helped him. Would you believe it? Nicodemus
and Joseph of Arimathea took Christ down from the cross and
cleaned His body and wrapped it themselves and took Him and
laid Him in Joseph's tomb. Gamaliel. Paul said, I went to
the top school in my day, the top seminary, and my teacher
was Gamaliel. Turn to Acts 5. I'll read you
about this gentleman. He was the top. teacher of theology
and a member of the Sanhedrin and the Jewish bunch that hated
Christ. Acts 5, verse 34. Gamaliel speaks. Read verse 33. This is Peter talking to those
fellows, and when they heard that, Well, let's go back to
verse 30. Peter said, "...the God of our
fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree.
Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a prince and
a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, forgiveness of sin,
and we are His witnesses of these things. And so also the Holy
Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him." When they
heard this, these religious leaders, they were cut to the hide. and
took counsel to slay them. And then stood there one of the
counsel, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, Saul of Tarsus' teacher, a doctor
of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded
to put the apostles forth a little. He said, Leave them alone. And
he said to these men, Ye men of Israel, Take heed to yourselves
now what you intend to do is touching these men. And he defended them. Verse 38,
And now I say to you, Refrain from these men, let them alone. Listen, if this counsel or this
work be of men, it will come to naught. If it be of God, you
can't overthrow it, lest happily you be bound to fight against
God. And to him they agreed to Gamaliel,
and when they had called the apostles and beaten them, beat
them, they commanded they should not speak in the name of Jesus
and let him go. This man was with those men,
and yet he believed something. So turn back here now to my text,
John 12, verse 42. Now listen to this. Nevertheless, among the chief
rulers, I've named three, also many believed on him, but
because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him. I don't know what they believed,
but John said they didn't confess Christ. They didn't come out and say,
I believe this gospel. In my heart I believe this gospel.
This man is the son of God. This man is our only hope, our
only savior. Two reasons why they didn't do
it. Two reasons. Number one, they
didn't confess him lest they be put out of the synagogue. Lest they be put out of present
day religion. That's why, they didn't want
to be put out of formal religion. Now there's religion and there's
Christ. There's formality and there's faith. It's what we do
in religion to make ourselves accepted for God and it's what
He did. And we have to take one or the
other, we can't have both. And Paul, he said, There was a time when
religion, my ancestry, heritage, the law was important to me.
But when I met Christ, I counted these things but dumb that I
may win Christ and be found in Him. But these men were afraid that they'd lose
their office. By confessing Christ, they'd
lose their places of honor. They'd fall under contempt and
wrath of men. They'd lose their friends. They'd
be put out of present day religion. So they didn't confess Him. Here's
the second reason. Verse 43, they loved the praise
of men more than the praise of God. These men loved the honor and
respect and praise which their office and their religious works
brought them. They loved their applause and
esteem of men. How foolish. Like I say, I don't
know what they believed. I don't know how much they believed.
I don't know to what extent they believed. I just know that the
scripture says here, these men saw something to this gospel. this message of Christ to this
Son of God. They saw something. But they
were members of the accepted religion. They went to church
where everybody goes. That's anybody. They had an office. They had a degree. They had praise. They wrote articles. It appeared
in publications. They were important. And they
knew if they confessed Christ, that would all be done. They
would be identified with these hated Galileans. These folks that God said are
the nothings, the despised, and the null. Just can't do it. But how foolish to love the praise
of men more than the praise of God. What will people think of me?
They're not asking, what does God think of me? What does people
think of me? How foolish. But it's a place to which everybody
comes who hears this message. Like these previous verses, they
would not believe. Would not believe. Came the time
when they couldn't. Their hearts were so hard and
their eyes so blinded by divine judicial judgment, they couldn't
believe. And then some of these men, what he preached, they said, that's reasonable, that's scriptural.
But if we believe that, if we confess Him, it's going to cost.
It's going to cost me. And our Lord said, sit down and
count the cost. And then verse 44, I want to
give you this and I'll close. Jesus cried. He cried. And said, He cried out that all men might
hear Him. He cried out. He that believeth on Me, believeth
not only on Me, he believes on Him that sent Me. You see there? The Father. He that believeth
on Me, He does not only believe on me, he believes on him that
sent me. He believes the covenant of God, the grace of God the
Father, the will and purpose of God the Father, the glory
and character of God the Father. He doesn't just believe on me,
he believes on him that sent me. And he that believes not on me, believes not on him. That's what
he's saying to these folks. upon the occasion of their prevailing
unbelief and the hardness of heart, he said, wait a minute,
it's not just me that you're rejecting, it's Him who sent
me. When I believe on Christ, when
I say to this religious world, I believe on Christ, I'm saying
I believe on Him who sent Christ, who made the covenant, made Christ
the surety, made Christ the representative, Him who appointed Him, and anointed
Him and sent Him to be the Savior. He said, that's the seriousness
of not believing on Me, not confessing Me, is you're not believing on
Him or confessing Him that sent Me. He that hath the Son hath
the Father. He that hath not the Son hath
not the Father. Look at the next verse. He that
sees Me, sees Him that sent Me. It's like, we won't have this
man reign over us. What they're saying is, we won't
have this God. Christ said, He that rejecteth
Me, rejecteth him that sent Me. He that heareth not My words,
heareth not His words. That's what's serious about this
thing. You see, verse 46. 6 says here, for verse 45, he that
seeth me, seeth him that sent me. Philip said, show us the
Father. He said, I am a Father of one. Christ came to reveal God's love,
His righteousness, His justice, His mercy. Verse 46 now, I am
come a light to the world. All of us by nature and birth
are in darkness, and Christ came to give us light. That whosoever
believeth on me should not abide in darkness. I came to reveal
the Father. To hear me is to hear Him. To
believe me is to believe Him. That's what he cried to. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
just a prophet, He's that prophet. He's not a way, He's the way.
He's not a son of God, he's the son of God. He's the only begotten,
well-beloved son of God. The kingdom is not a kingdom,
it's His kingdom. Now verse 47, but if any man
hear my words and believe not, I'm not going to judge him now.
They'll go through life prosperous and healthy, unjudged. I didn't come. this time, to
judge this world. I'm going to walk through this
world, and men are going to hear me, I'm going to preach the gospel
to them, and those that do not believe, when I'm not going to
stop to damn them, or people say, well it looks like that
preacher preaching false doctrine, God will just open heaven and
pour out fire on him. He will, but not now. He didn't come now for that purpose.
Came to save. We're preaching the gospel of
grace. Calling out a people, a sheep. And I didn't come to
damn men right now. I came to save them. But verse
48, He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words, he has
one that will judge him. The word that I've spoken will
judge him when? In that day. When the last day
dawns, these words, which men have heard and which have not
believed, they'll come forth in judgment. I know there's a
lot of foolish preaching nowadays, a lot of religious nonsense.
In fact, most of it is nonsense. This is the Word of God. This
is the Word of our Lord, who He is and what He's done and
where He is now. And here's where men will be
judged. Those who hear it now and believe it will be blessed.
Blessed is the man to whom God imputed not sin. But those who
do not believe and do not receive the Word, the day will come they
may go through this journey untouched, unbroken, unchastised. But that day, the
Word will come forth. Now, I'll close with this. I've
not spoken of myself, verse 49. Even Christ said that. The Father
sent me. He gave me a commandment what
I should speak, what I should say, what I should speak. And
His commandment is life everlasting. This is where the life is. The
life, my friends, The life is not in religion, it's in Christ. The everlasting life is not in
duties and ceremonies and all of these things that are being
done today in the name of religion. Everlasting life is in Christ
the Word. The living Word, the incarnate
Word, the written Word. The Word of God. I believe the
Word of God. I believe Christ. If men let
us walk with them, believe in Christ, we'll walk with them.
If men won't let us walk with them, believe in Christ, we won't
walk with them. But I'm not going to court the
applause of men, praises of men. I don't want to stay where Christ
is not welcome, do you? I don't want to be on Sunday
morning where Christ and his word is not cherished and loved
and revered and respected and believed. I don't want to be
that. David said, your enemies are my enemies. If they're enemy
of Christ, they're my enemies. If they're friend of Christ,
they're my friend. But these men would not confess
him unless they be put out of religion. They love the praise
of men more than the praise of God.