The Bible is to the book of Isaiah
for a moment. I want to show you something
over here in Isaiah 53. When the Old Testament prophets
wrote about the coming Messiah, when they wrote about the coming
Christ, our Redeemer, They all wrote
that he would be hated, despised, and rejected. Isaiah
said in verse 1, chapter 53, Who hath
believed our report, our doctrine? To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? For he shall grow up, born of
a woman, made in the flesh, grow up before him as a tender plant,
as a root out of a dry ground, he hath no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, the
Messiah, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of
sorrows acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces
from him. He was despised, and we esteemed
him not. And then, don't turn to it, I'll
just read you a verse in that Psalm 22 that records the words
of Christ from the cross. in which he said, My God, why
hast thou forsaken me? But down in verse 6, I'm a worm and no man, a reproach of men. I'm a reproach and despised of
the people. Zechariah, we'll let you turn
to this one. Zechariah chapter 13. This is next to the last book
in the Old Testament. Zechariah 13, verse 1. Now, you know about whom this is written.
In that day there shall be a fountain. We sang about it. There is a
fountain filled with blood. In that day there shall be a
fountain open to the house of David. and unto the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." That's Christ. Down here in verse 6, and one
shall say unto him, this Redeemer, this fountain, what are those
wounds in your hands? Then he shall answer, those with
which I was wounded in the house of my friends. Now, when the Lord Jesus came
into the world, when he was born in Bethlehem, this hatred was expressed even
from that moment, while he was an infant, an infant, lying in
a crib. Everybody loves a baby. No, they
don't. They didn't love this baby. It says in Matthew 2, verse 13,
And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord
appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Now arise, and take this
child, this young child, and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and you be there
until I bring thee word, for Herod will seek the young child
to destroy him. When he walked on this earth, they ridiculed him. They called
him a winebibber, a gluttonous man, a friend of sinners, companion
of publicans and sinners. They tried to throw him from
a cliff when he went back to his hometown and preached for
the first time. to the people among whom he grew
up. They tried to stone him several
times. One group of people actually
requested that he leave their city and never come back. You
remember that? Just go away. Go away. I'm talking about Jesus Christ. They paid one of his disciples
to betray him. They hired false witnesses to
lie on him. They spit upon him. They scourged him with a whip.
They placed on his head a crown of thorns and nailed him to a
cross between two thieves. And I'm asking this morning why. In our text it says they hated
me without a cause. Why? Why? Well, they didn't hate him because
he healed the sick. Let me show you over in John
chapter 2. He went about doing good. He
healed the sick and the lame and the blind and the halt and
the maimed. In John chapter 2 verse 23, Now when he was in Jerusalem
at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name.
When they saw these miracles which he did, they thronged about
him so that he could scarcely move. When he healed the sick,
everybody thronged about him and brought
the lame for him to touch them. And then he fed the hungry. John chapter 6, he fed 5,000
people here. And they didn't hate him because
he fed them. It says in John chapter 6, verse
25, that he went across the sea and they followed him. Strong,
5,000 men, not counting the women and children, followed him to
the other side. In verse 25, when they found
him on the other side of the sea, they said, Rabbi, Master,
when did you come over here? We've been looking for you. And
he answered and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek
me. Not because you saw the miracles. Those other people loved the
miracles. But you loved the food. You did eat of the loaves and
were filled. They didn't hate him because
he raised the dead. He raised the widow's son. He
raised Lazarus. John 12, listen to this, verse
10. After he raised Lazarus from
the dead, the religious leaders wanted to kill him, and Lazarus
too. They wanted to remove the evidence.
He raised Lazarus, and John 12, 10 says, but the chief priests
consulted that they might even put Lazarus also to death. that by reason of Lazarus many
of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus. And the next day many,
much people, much people that would come to the feast when
they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took branches
of palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried, Hosanna,
blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the
Lord. These are the same people that
a few days later cried crucify, crucify. Now why? See if we can get to the bottom
of this hatred, this greatest extreme bitterness and hatred
that would lead these people to spit in his face, whip his
back till it ran blood down on the floor. hire liars to testify
against him, and take him out outside the city walls, strip
his garments, and nail him to a cross, and laugh at him while
he died. Why? Well, I'll give you a clue. John chapter 10, verse 14. And our Lord is speaking here.
He's preaching. He said in John 10, 14, I'm the
good shepherd, I know my sheep, I'm known of mine. As the father knoweth me, even
so know I the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Other sheep I have which are
not of this foe, the Jewish foe. Gentiles, them also I must bring,
and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one foe and
one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. And
no man takes 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, and there was a division. Therefore, because of what he
said, what he preached, not what he did, healing and feeding and
raising the dead, going about doing good, relieving distress,
but there was a division among the Jews for these sayings. And
many of them said, he's got a devil. He's satanic. He's crazy. He's mad. Why do you listen to
a married man? Others said, these are not the
words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the blind eyes,
the eyes of the blind? Now listen, but he don't. And
it was at Jerusalem, the Feast of the Dedication, it was winter,
and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. And then
these Jews, among whom There was such a division. And then came these Jews round
about. These are religious men now.
These are Bible scholars and religious people. And they said
to him, now how long do you hold us in suspense, in doubt, if
you be the Christ, if you be the Messiah, if you be the seed
of Abraham, the line of the tribe of Judah, the one for whom we
look. Tell us plainly. And he said, listen, I told you. I told you plainly, I am he. If you believe not that I am
he, you'll die in your sins. My father sent me. I came to
seek and to save the lost. I'm the seed of David. I'm the
Lion of the Tribes of Judah. I told you. I told you who I
am. Now listen. And you believed
not. You didn't believe me. The works
that I do in my Father's name, they tell you who I am. That's
what those people, other people said. They said a devil can't
open blind eyes. Nicodemus said the works that
you do, no man can do these works except God be with him. The works
that I do, listen, They bear witness of me. Listen, Captain,
but you believe not because you're not of my sheep. He didn't say you're not of my
sheep because you don't believe. He said you don't believe because
you're not of my sheep. That's why you don't believe.
You see, my sheep, hear my voice. I told you that a little while
ago. Other sheep I have. which are
not of this foe, them I must bring, and they'll hear my voice,
my sheep will hear my voice, and I'll give them eternal life.
And I told you who I am, and you didn't believe me, but you
don't believe me because you're not of my sheep. You're not ordained to life because
you believe, you believe because you're ordained to life. You
see what he's saying? You believe not. The reason you
believe not is you're not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. He's preaching and teaching divine
election. He's preaching divine purpose.
God chose a people, gave them to Christ, made Christ their
surety. He came to redeem them. And my
people will hear my voice. Well, you don't. My sheep hear
my voice. I know them. They follow me. And I give them
eternal life. Freely. They don't earn it. They don't deserve it. They don't
merit it. I give it to them. And they'll never perish. And nobody will ever pluck them
out of my hand. You see, my Father gave them
me. My Father gave me to them and them to me. He prayed in John 17, I've manifested
your name unto the men which you gave me. Thine they were,
and Thou gavest them me. I pray not for the world, I pray
for them which Thou hast given me. For all mine are Thine, and
Thine are mine, and I am glorified in them." That's what he's saying
here. My Father gave them me. My Father
gave me to them, and them to me. And He's greater than all. And no man can pluck them out
of His hand. You see, I and my Father are one. He that has seen
me has seen the Father. Under us a child is born, under
us a son is given, and the government's on his shoulders. And his name
is Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. God was in Christ. Every attribute of deity is in
Jesus Christ. What are the attributes of God? All power. I'm God. Can I not do with my own what
I will? Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he pleased
in the heavens and the earth among the inhabitants of this
earth. None can stay his hand. All power is God's. What did
Christ say? All power is given unto me in
heaven and earth. All authority. Omnipotence. What
are the attributes of God? Omniscience. He knows everything. Christ said he knew their thoughts. Only God knows a man's thoughts. Thou knowest my thoughts. Omnipresent. God is everywhere. What did Christ say to Nathanael?
When you were under the tree, I saw you. Lo, I'm with you always. Holiness. God knows no sin. He knew no sin. Eternal existence. He said before Abraham was, I
was. No, I am. That's eternal existence. Not I was, I am. Creation. In the beginning was
the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all
things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything
made that was made." The power to give life. Only God can give
life, and it says the Son quickens whom He will. One day He said
to a man, a crippled man, a man who could not walk. He was born
into the presence of Christ by four friends. Lying there on
a bed, helpless, helpless, helpless. And Christ said, Thy sins are
forgiven thee. There was an uproar. They said,
You blaspheme! You blaspheme! Only God can forgive
sin! He said, Which is easier? Which is easier? To say, Thy
sins be forgiven thee? or take up your bed and walk. It's a lot easier to say, Ronnie,
I say to you, your sins be forgiven. But that's another matter to
say, take up your bed and walk. But he said that you may believe.
He said to the man on the bed, take up your bed and walk. And
he got up, picked up his bed and walked out. Did they believe?
They hated him more. Verse 30, I and my father won. What was their reaction? Then
they took up stones to stone him. There's the answer to the question,
why did they hate him? Not for what he did. They hated
him for what he said. They hated him for his message. And it's no different today.
The religious world has no quarrel with religion. Religion is knee-deep, waist-deep, nose-deep. Religion has no quarrel with
good work, feeding the hungry, healing the
sick. building hospitals, even worship. Religion's quarrel is with the
Lord and his Christ, who he is, what he came to do, and where
he is now, and whether or not he did it. That's where religion's
quarrel is. Religion has no quarrel with
Madonna and her child. nativity scenes or wise men. Religion has no quarrel with
sweet little Jesus, boy. Religion has no quarrel with
an example or martyr who died on a cross. Religion's quarrel
is with one who died, who willed his death, who ordained his death,
who was bruised by his father to fulfill righteousness and
justice, and who gave his life, it wasn't taken by anybody, he
laid it down for his people, who was buried and raised himself
by his own power, and took an Emancipation Proclamation
to glory, sealed in his blood, and said, all my people, my people
are free. And he sat down. waiting for
what he did to be revealed and manifested. And the day when every knee will
bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus of Nazareth, the hated,
despised Redeemer, is Lord to the glory of God. That's right. Turn to Luke chapter 4. Let me
show you another example of this. Luke chapter 4. It's not what
he did, it's what he said. And this is what the religious
world has done in the churches. They've got all the activities
of religion that the world adores and can accept, with which they
can agree. Activities, entertainment, emotionalism,
And they've stopped saying from the pulpit what he's saying. The offense is what they say. So we'll quit saying it. We'll say what the world wants
us to, what they want to hear. We'll keep them happy. We're
not going to say those things that divide, those things that
are extreme, those things that glorify God. would say what men
want to hear. And they're loveless. For a while,
until they meet that man in judgment and say, you damned my soul by
denying the gospel. It's different than warning.
But listen to Luke 4. Now this is a typical Sabbath
day gathering. Luke 4, verse 16. Came to Pius,
and he came to Nazareth where he'd been brought up. And as
his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath
day and stood up for to read. Verse 14 tells us where this
is. Jesus returned in the power of
the Spirit to Galilee. There went out a fame of him
throughout all the region. He taught in their synagogues,
being glorified of God, so then he came home. And there was delivered
to him, verse 17, the book of the prophet Isaiah. When he opened
the book, he opened it deliberately to Isaiah 61. A messianic prophecy. A prophecy dealing with who the
Messiah is. What he would come to do. And
he read it. Verse 18. Here's what it said.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. I'm the Messiah. He hath anointed
me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal
the brokenhearted. This is spiritual deliverance. He has sent me to preach deliverance
to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to set at
liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year
of the Lord. That's the work of the Messiah. And they knew that that scripture
was a Messianic prophecy. And he closed the book. gave
it to the minister and sat down. Back then they stood up to read,
sat down to preach. And the eyes of all them that
were in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began to say unto them, now
here is the offense, listen. This day is this scripture fulfilled
in your ears. The Messiah is standing right
before you. This scripture is fulfilled in me. And all bare
him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded
out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's
son? Is not this the carpenter? Is
not this the young man that grew up in the community? Son of Mary? And he said to them, Ye shall
surely say to me this proverb, Position, heal yourself. Whatsoever
we've heard done in Capernaum, they heard about his ministry,
the miracles, all these things. Do it here in this country. He
said, verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his
own country. But I'm going to tell you something.
Oh boy, listen now. Now remember who these people
are. They're Jews. These people are
people who felt they had a claim on God because they were Abraham's
seed. They felt that God owed them
something because they kept the Sabbath, and the tithes, and
the feast days, and the ceremonies, and circumcision, all these things.
They felt the Lord was obligated to them, that they were His people,
that the Gentiles had no part with God. They were the Jews. He said, I'm going to tell you
something. Listen. This is the truth. You know it. Many widows
were in Israel. Jews in the days of Elias, when
the heavens were shut up three years and six months and great
famine was throughout all the land, but unto none of them,
not one of these Jewish widows was Elias sent, except to Sarepta,
a Gentile city, a city of Sidon, unto a Gentile woman that was
a widow. God sent his prophet in those days of famine to show
mercy to a Gentile widow, and he passed by the Jews where there
were thousands of widows. And there were many lepers in
Israel, in Judaism, in the days of Eliseus the prophet. Not any
of them were cleansed. Many lepers. God passed by every
one of them, and he saved a Gentile general by the name of Naaman
and clenched him." In other words, our Lord is saying what God said
to Moses, and they read this. Moses says, show me your glory,
and God said, I'll be merciful to whom I will be merciful. I
will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. So then, it's not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, it's of God that
shows I'll show mercy to this one,
to that one, to the other one. I'll pass by many, but I'll do
it because I will." What was their response? That's true,
preacher. Wonderful message. That's what
the Bible says. Exodus 33, I know it like the
back of my hand. And all that were in the synagogue
when they heard these things were filled with wrath And they
rose up. Now, this is Sunday morning,
Sabbath morning, Saturday morning. They all met there to worship
God. And this preacher had the audacity, the boldness to say,
God doesn't owe any of you anything. God's mercy is sovereign and
free. And he'll give it to whom he
will, even a Gentile. And he'll pass you by and leave
you in your free will. and leave you in your Arminianism,
and leave you in your self-righteousness, and show mercy to a heathen.
And they rose up and thrust him out of their city, his hometown
folks, and led him to the brow of the hill where on their city
was built, that they might cast him down headlong." This is hatred. But the hatred, verse 28, tells
you from where it sprang, from where it came, and all that were
in the synagogue when they heard these things." What did they
hear? God's sovereignty, God's covenant, God's mercy to Gentiles,
God's particular redemption. That's what they heard. You see,
it's no different today. hated me without a cause. The
leper came to him, came to our Lord when he came down from the
mount, and a leper came to him and fell at his feet. And lepers
weren't supposed to do that. The law said a leper was not
to approach any man, not even let his shadow fall on a man,
not get that close. But he was to go away saying,
unclean, unclean. But this leper came to the feet
of the master and fell at his feet, worshipped him. And he
said, Lord, if you will, if you will, you can make me clean. It's all in your power and in
your will. Salvation is not of him that
will it nor of him that run it, it's of God. We're born not of
the will of man, not of the will of the flesh, we're born of God.
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. And that's what we all better
say. If you will, you make me whole. John Newton, who wrote Amazing Grace, said
there are three things that will amaze me in glory. Number one,
I'm going to be amazed to see some people I didn't expect to
see there. I'm going to be amazed at the
absence of folks I surely thought would be there. But he said more
amazing will be the fact that I'll be there. Amazing grace,
he wrote. How sweet to sound. It saved
a wretch like me. I was lost. Now I'm found. Who found me? He did. Was it
an accident? He did it on purpose. He works
all things after his own will and purpose. John 6. Let's go
over here. You see now why they despised
our Lord. And why he said, marvel not,
my brethren, if these religious people hate you. They hated me
before they hated you. If they receive my words, they'll
receive yours. But if they reject my words,
they'll reject yours, if it's the same words. Now, what people
have done is changed the words. They're not saying what he says. I can change the word by words
and win their fellowship and friendship. Because if you robbed
the world, the world would love its own. But when you preach
His word and His message, you get the same response He got.
And let me tell you something. When I was 21 years old, I was
pastor of a church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. At the time I was
21, but I was 24, three years. going to school, pastor of the
church. And I used to read those scriptures, John 10, marvel not
my brethren, John 15, that the world hate you. And I thought,
nobody hates me. I read about how they hated Christ
and despised him and turned thumbs down on him. I thought, everybody
loves me. I'm accepted anywhere. I go all
over this place preaching. Nobody, my message doesn't stir
up anybody. I wasn't preaching anything.
I was preaching what they all agreed
with. Poor God, He wants to save you, but you won't let Him. Jesus
is knocking at your heart's door and you won't invite Him in.
They loved that stuff. And then when I came here in
1950 and heard this message, my question
was answered. Oh, now I know why they didn't
hate me. I didn't say anything. I left
salvation in their hands. That's where they think it ought
to be. But God taught me the gospel
and I put salvation where it is, in his hands. And they said,
we don't listen to that. So they called a vote over here
in 1954 to vacate the pulpit. Let's get rid of that fellow. Nobody ever voted on me before.
I felt kind of honored to be voted on. I won. But wow, you never win with this
world religion. The only people you win with
is the sheep. They hear his voice and they
follow him and love him. I finally just had to get out
from among them. Just had to leave. Two churches can't meet
on the same roof and worship God. John 6, let me just show
you something here. John 6, verse 37. All that my Father giveth me,
this is the Lord declaring himself to be the bread of life. He says,
all that my Father giveth me, they'll come to me. And him that
cometh to me, I'll in no wise cast out. I came down from heaven
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. This
is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he
hath given me I'll lose nothing. I'm going to save every one God
gave me. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone
that seeeth the Son, who he is, what he did, and believes it. They have everlasting life, and
I'll raise him up to the last days." And they murmured at him. They hate that doctrine. Because he said, I am the bread
that came down from heaven, they said, is not this Jesus? This
is a man. This is the son of Joseph. We
know his father, we know his mother. How is it he said, I
came down from heaven? And the Lord answered. Now here's
the reason he said, you don't believe it. Yet I came down from
heaven, that God is in the flesh, that God manifested himself in
Christ Jesus to redeem sinners. Murmur not among yourselves,
verse 44, no man, no man, no son of Adam, whatever his talents,
gifts, or education. No man can, has the ability or
the desire to come to me, to believe on me, to receive me.
to find rest in me, come to me, except the Father which sent
me draw him, woo him, quicken him, and I'll raise him up at
the last day. It's written in your law, in
the prophet, and they shall all be taught of God. And every man therefore that
hears and learns of the Father, he comes to me. See, verse 48,
I'm the bread. Your fathers ate manna in the
wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die.
These people, these Jews in the wilderness, 40 years, how were
they sustained? The desert gave them no food.
God gave them food. God gave them bread from heaven
and water from the rock. And they were sustained for 40
years. How are we sustained? Christ is the bread. Our spiritual
life is sustained not by anything we do here, or cultivate here,
or gather here. It's given us from heaven. I'm
the bread from heaven. A man eats of me, he lives forever. I'm the water of life. Out of
your belly shall flow rivers of living water. And you'll be
sustained from within by the Christ in you. Your hope is not
being in the church, your hope is Christ being in you. That's
what he's telling them. That's what he's telling them.
Let's move on over here to John chapter 6, verse 59. These things
said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. And many
therefore of his, the word disciples is not the twelve, it's the followers,
when they heard these sayings, They said, this is a hard saying.
Who can hear it? Many, therefore, of his disciples,
when they heard this saying, they said, this is hard. Who
can hear it? Verse 61, when Jesus knew in himself that these followers,
these people he had fed, 5,000 of them, murmured at it, he said,
does this offend you? Does God's sovereignty pre-grace,
purpose, divine providence, eternal covenant, his gift to his son
of his people, his son's redemption, Christ the bread, Christ the
water, Christ our hope, Christ our mediator, Christ our high
priest, Christ in you the hope of glory, the eternal covenant
of mercy. Does this offend you? Wait a
minute. What? If this offends you, if
what I'm saying offends you, wait till you see the Son of
Man ascend up where He was before. If my words offend you, wait
till you see that time. And everybody in here and everybody
out there is going to die someday. That day is very near. We're
going to close our eyes here, and we're going to open our eyes,
and you know whose face we're going to be looking at? Either a redeemer or a judge. It's going to be the same person,
Jesus Christ. Now, does this offend you, what
I'm saying about my work, my life, my person? Wait till that
day when you open your eyes and you find out that your judge
is the very one whom you said didn't have the power to save
you. Couldn't accomplish his will
and his purpose. Had no might. His arm was short. It couldn't save. His ear was
heavy. He couldn't hear. His blood was lax. It couldn't
redeem, couldn't cleanse without your help. Now then, who's going
to help you? He's not your savior, he's your
judge. And I'll tell you this, he's
got the power to damn you. The power you say he didn't have,
he'll show it. God said he has appointed a day,
appointed a day in which he'll judge this world by that man,
Jesus Christ, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead
and gave proof to the world in that he raised him. Does this
offend you? Wait till you open your eyes
and see me where I was before. And I'll tell you, it's the spirit
that quickeneth, your flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak
to you, the truth, the gospel, this is spirit, this is life.
But there are some of you that believe not, for he knew from
the beginning who they were that believed not. and who they were
that would betray him. And he said, Therefore I said
unto you, that no man can come to me, except it were given him
of my father. And from that time they went
back, and walked no more with him." So he turned to the twelve. The inner circle here. I say,
does this offend you? Will you go away? He turned to
the twelve and said, will you go away? I'm not changing the
message, Christ said. I am the message. Will you go
away? Bless your heart. Listen to old
Peter. Lord, to whom shall we go? Ain't
nothing out there. There's nobody saying anything.
Nobody preaching anything. There's no hope out there. Come
down the aisle, some of you went down 10 or 12 times, get in the
water, eat the wafer and the wine, pay your tithe and keep
us in new suits and cars, big home, support your local, not
policeman, but preacher. won't work, won't work. To whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of life free, gift of God, and we believe and we're
sure you're the Christ, the Son of the living God. I'm glad I
can say I'm not offended