Christ, The Divider of Men

I'm turning for our scripture
reading today to the book of John, chapter 7, verse 43. I'd like for you to take your
Bibles and open them with me to this particular scripture.
My subject is Christ the divider of men. Christ the Lord, the
divider of men. Now listen to John 7, 43. So
there was a division among the people because of him. And then in John chapter 10 verse
19, John writes again about this division. There was a division
among the Jews for these sayings. Many said, he hath a devil and
he's crazy. Why do you listen to him? Now
when our Lord walked this earth in human flesh, he was despised
and rejected of men. In fact, Isaiah predicted in
the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, verse 2 and 3, that this would happen.
He said in Isaiah 53, verse 2 and 3, there's no beauty that we
should desire him. He's despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And our Lord made
this statement in John 15, 18, if the world hate you, you know
that it hated me. before it hated you. And then
in John 15, verse 23, he said, He that hateth me, hateth my
Father also. And then in John 15, verse 25,
our Lord said, They hated me without a cause. So when our
Master was here on the earth, they did not love him, they did
not receive him. He said he came to his own, and
his own received him not. He said, Let another come in
his own name, and him you will receive. I have come in my father's
name, and you receive me not." He was in the world, and the
world didn't know him. And Isaiah said, when he comes,
he'll be despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. In fact, they cursed him. They
called him a winebibber, a glutton. They called him a devil. They
asked him to leave their cities. They tried to stone him on three
occasions. They spat upon him. They tried
to throw him from a cliff. Finally they hired false witnesses
to testify against him at a mock trial, and then they took him
outside the city walls and crucified him between two thieves. They
hated the Master. They hated the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now here's the question that I want to ask you. Would our
Lord fare better today? Would he be hated today if he
came and preached the same thing that he preached then? Which
he would, of course. Would he fare any better? Now,
we like to say why. No, we wouldn't hate the Lord. We wouldn't hate the prophets.
We wouldn't stone the prophets that are sent unto us. Our Lord
said, O Jerusalem, thou that stonest the prophets and killest
them that are sent unto thee. We wouldn't do that, but that's
what these people said then. They told him in Matthew 23 verse
30, now listen, you say, if we had lived in the days of our
fathers, this is what they said, if we had lived in the days of
our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in shedding
the blood of the prophets. We would not have done this.
Now the prophets of God who had been sent by God to bring his
message to the people were stoned and cast out, and finally when
he sent his son, They attempted on many occasions to murder him,
finally did nail him to a cross. My friends, don't be deceived. Don't be deceived by monuments
and recognition given to preachers of the past. Someone said this
is simply one generation trying to cover up the crimes of another
generation. The natural mind is still enmity
against God. In fact, when Moses was here
on the earth, they hated him and bragged on Abraham, Abraham
was dead. And when our Lord Jesus Christ
was here, they hated him and bragged on Moses, Moses was dead. And when the apostles came to
preach, they hated the apostles and bragged on Jesus. And then
when the Reformers were here, Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, all
these men that hated them and bragged on St. Jude and St. Matthew and St. Thomas and St. John and all the rest of them.
And today what are we doing? Today we are erecting monuments
to Luther and Calvin and Hus and Owens and Bunyan and all
these men who were hated in their day. And we despise the men who
preached what they preached. Now I say unto you, would our
Lord fare any better today? Well, let's find out why they
hated him. Let's find out what caused this
extreme hatred for the master. Let's find out what caused this
division. Everywhere he preached, the scripture
says, when they heard these sayings, there was a division among them
because of him. There was a division among the
people because of these sayings. He was despised, he was rejected,
he was hated to the point of nailing him to a cruel Roman
Now, I want you to take your Bibles and follow along with
me. This is a Bible study. This is
a preaching hour. And I want you to follow along
with me as I read the Scripture. And let's find out why these
people despise Christ. Let's find out why they were
divided because of Him. Today we got the idea that everybody
loves Jesus. Well, let's see if we do. Let's
see if you do. the Christ of the Bible. Now
let's read his own words and find out why he was hated and
despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. Now turn with me to John 10,
verse 31. John 10, verse 31. Now listen
to it. Then they took up stones to stone
him. What had he done? What had he
said? These people, you think about
this hatred. They were so filled with hatred
that they reached down on the ground and picked up stones,
large stones. They were going to dash his brains
out. They were going to club him with these stones till he
lay lifeless at their feet. What had he said? What had he
done? Well, let's find out. Look back
up one verse. John 10, verse 30. This is what
he said. He said, I and my father are
one. Now read it right there in your
own Bible. He says, I and my Father are one. Then, then they
took up stones again to stone him, and he said, many good works
have I showed you from my Father. For which of these works do you
stone me? And they began to say with their
rocks in their hands and their anger on their faces and their
hatred in their hearts, they began to say, we're not stoning
you because you do good work. We're stoning you for blasphemy,
because you are a man and you make yourself God." They understood
what he was saying. What was he saying? This is what
he's saying. Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus born
of Mary, Virgin born, Jesus Christ who walked the shores of the
Galilee and the streets of Jerusalem was saying this, I am God Almighty
in human flesh. I am the Father he that hath
seen thee hath seen the Father." That's exactly what he said.
You want to know why they hated him? Why there was a division
because of him? Because he said, I'm God. Now,
my friends, I ask you, is Jesus of Nazareth God Almighty? I'm
not asking you, is he a son of God, or the son of God, or a
messenger from God, or the elect of God. I'm asking you this.
Do you believe that he is God Almighty, in human form, in human
flesh, who actually walked on this earth. This is what he said.
And this is what the Bible teaches, and this is why these people
picked up stones to stone him. He said, I and my father won.
And then they took up stones to stone him. Now, listen to
the Scripture. 2 Corinthians 5, 19. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself. It just doesn't say that God
sent Christ. or bless Christ, he says, God
was in Christ. Now listen to this scripture,
John 1, verse 1. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. Look, if you will,
at Acts 20, verse 28. Paul is about to leave these
elders of Ephesus, and he said, Men, you feed the church of God
which He purchased with his own blood. Who purchased the church?
God did. How did he do it? With his own
blood. It's the blood of God that was
shed for sinners. That's right. In 1 Timothy 3.16,
now listen to this. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. Jesus Christ is God Almighty.
That's who he is. And that's the reason they were
divided. Now if he's not God, now listen to me. If he's not
God, he's a liar. Because he said, I am the father
of all. He told Philip, he said, you've seen me, you've seen God.
And he let Thomas fall down at his feet and worship him and
call him God. And if he's not God, he's an
imposter. And he's a liar. And if he's not God, he can't
save anyone, not even his own self. And if he's not God, you
are an idolater, and so is everybody else who worships him, because
only God is to be worshiped. But we find in the Scripture
that every attribute of God was revealed in Christ. Every attribute. Take the attribute of eternal
existence. Only God is eternal. Before the
world, before the stars, before the moon, before the sun, before
the universe, before the clouds, only God. And the Scripture says,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And
Christ himself said, Father, glorify me with the glory which
I had with thee before the world was. Eternal existence. Here's
another attribute of God, and that's creative power. All things
were made by him. Only God can create. You and
I can discover. We can put things together, but
only God can create. He created all things out of
nothing, and Christ claimed that power. He created. He said all
things were created by him. And then watch this. Power to
give life. Only God can give life. And Christ
himself said, the Son quickeneth, maketh alive whom he will. And
then the attribute of holiness. He said himself, only God is
good. Somebody came to him one day and said, good master. He
said, now wait a minute. Why do you call me good? Only God
is good. If I'm not God, I'm not good.
But he was God. He is God. He is good. He is
holy. Which of you convinced me of
sin? The Heavenly Father said, This is my Son in whom I'm well
pleased. The only flesh with which God
the Father was ever pleased was that worn by his Son. Omnipotence. He said, All authority is given
unto me in heaven and earth. All power over all flesh. And
then omniscience. Jesus knew their thoughts. That's
right, he knew men's thoughts. Only God knows men's thoughts.
Men look on the outward countenance, God looks on the heart, and Christ
knew their hearts. He's God. And then omnipresence. Only God is everywhere, and Christ
said to his disciples, I'm with you always. Always. So this is the first reason there
was a division, I'm telling you this. That right now, as I'm
preaching this message, Jesus Christ is God, there's a division
being set up right now. Some of you believe that, some
of you don't believe it, so there's a division. And there was a division
then because of it. They said, why, he's crazy. He
has a devil, he blasphemes, he's a man. Why, we know his mother
and father, we know his brothers and sisters, his name's Jesus,
he came from Nazareth, he worked in a carpenter shop, we know
this fella, how can he be God? He is God. All right, the second
thing. Now turn to Luke 4. Now this
may shake you a little bit, but you just sit there and listen
and follow in the Bible. Luke 4, verse 28. Listen to it.
And all that were in the synagogue. Now this is a church meeting.
These folks are religious folks. They're all that were in the
synagogue when they heard these things. This division was always
because of what he said, not because of what he did. When
they heard these things. They were filled with wrath,
angry. And they led him, now listen
to this, and they led him to the brow of the hill on which
their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong,
that they might murder him. Now I want to know what he said
that turned this Sabbath morning congregation into a bunch of
murderers. I want to know what Christ said.
that caused these people who had come to the house of God
on the Sabbath day to worship their God to turn into a raging,
angry, murderous mob. Now, what do you suppose he said?
Well, let's find out. Now, let's find out. These people
were an organized religion. They were there that morning
to worship God, and Christ stood up to speak. He read the Scripture,
and then he said, in Luke chapter 4, look at it, then he said,
There were many widows in the land of Israel in the days of
Elijah, but none of them, unto none of them, was Elijah's sin,
except to a widow, a woman of Sidon, who was a widow, a Gentile. And then he went on. He said,
And there were many lepers in the land of Israel in the days
of Elisha, but not a one of them was he, not a one of them, except
Naaman, a Syrian a Gentile. In other words, he's saying this
to these religious worshipers, these religious Israelites who
thought they had a corner on God, who thought God Almighty
was obligated to them, who thought they deserved His grace. He was
saying to them that a salvation and mercy and the grace of God
is not in your traditional ceremonies and ritualism and customs and
traditions handed down through generations But salvation is
in the hands of God, who giveth it to whom he will." That's what
Paul taught in Romans chapter 9. He said, God said to Moses,
I will be merciful, but I will be merciful to whom I will. God
doesn't owe you grace. He doesn't owe you mercy. He
doesn't owe you life. He doesn't owe you heaven. He
just owes you the wages of sin. God Almighty must be just. He
may be merciful. God Almighty must punish sin.
He may show mercy. But if He shows mercy, He'll
show mercy to whom He will. That's what the Scripture teaches.
And that's what Christ was saying to these people. Nobody deserves
the mercy of God, whether he's Jew or Gentile, whether he's
educated or uneducated. No matter who he is, he doesn't
deserve the grace of God. You don't and I don't. No one
else does. We're sinners, sons of Adam,
rebels against God. Salvation is the gift of God.
And he will show mercy on whom he will, when he will. That's
what the scripture teaches. Salvation is of the Lord. Read
Romans 8 verse 28 through verse 31. And we know that all things
work together for good to them who love God, who are the called
according to his purpose, for whom he did foreknow. He also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. And
whom he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son, he called. And whom he called, he justified. Whom he justified, he glorified. Now what shall we say to these
things? I'll tell you what we say, Paul said. If God be for
us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son,
but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not freely with
him give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. That's
what our Lord was saying to these people. He says, God doesn't
owe you salvation. God doesn't owe you mercy. God
doesn't owe you grace. And boy, that made them angry.
Why, their fathers were brought up in that land, and they were
special people, and they had a corner on God, and they were
religious, and they were going about the ceremonies, and they
were playing church every Sabbath day. And he came and told them,
in the days of Elijah, many widows, but only a Gentile was Many in
the days of Elisha, many lepers, only a Gentile was healed. It
made them mad. And I'm telling you this, that
same Christ, that same message, will divide men today. It'll
divide them into camps of those who believe salvation is all
of grace and those who believe it's all of works. And I'll tell
you this, a man can get his dander up even in religion to the point
of murder. You know that most all the blood
of martyrs that was shed through the years was not shed by government
leaders and military, shed by the church. Hating men who disagreed
with them. Hated men who gave God the glory.
That's right, and they hated Christ. He said, I'm a sovereign
Christ. I'll be merciful to whom I will. And they hated him. And
despised him. All right? Grab ahold of your
chair there, we're going to read another scripture now, John 8,
59, listen to it. Then, then, they took up stones
to cast out him. This is Jesus Christ I'm talking
about. This is the Son of God. This is God in human flesh. These
people hated him, despised him so much that they tried again
to stone him. Here are religious people, and
you know where this took place. This took place right in the
midst of their so-called temple, their place of worship. And here
they are picking up stones again, to stone him. Why? What had he
said? Well, I'll tell you what he said,
and I'll let you read it, John 8, 41. But here's what he's saying.
He rejected their doctrine of the fatherhood of God. That's
exactly what he rejected. He rejected their doctrine of
the fatherhood of God And he called them children of wrath.
Now you listen to it, I'm going to read God's Word. You say you
believe the Bible, you believe the Bible is God's Word, listen
to the Master. Listen to Christ Himself. John
8, 41. These people said now, they were
angry with Him, and they said, We be not born of fornication.
We have one Father. All of us have one Father, even
God. And Jesus Christ, you listen,
said unto them, If God were your Father, if God were your Father,
You would love me. You would love me. You are of
your father, the devil. This is Christ speaking. This
is not a fanatical, radical preacher. This is Christ speaking. You
are of your father, the devil, and the lust of your father you
will do. He that heareth God's word is
a child of God. You hear them not because you
are not of God. Now you talk about making them
angry. That's when they picked up stones again. And they were
going to stone him. But my friends, this is what
God teaches in his word. Now you look at John 1 verse
12. As many as received him to them, not to all men, but to
them who receive him, who love him, who believe him, to them
gave he the right, the privilege, the power to become sons of God. Sons of God are those who are
born of God. We're born of Adam's race. Those
who are born again are born of God. Those who are in unbelief
and rebellion, now listen to me. And this is what made them
hate Christ. This is what divided them. This
is what made them pick up stones. I read it to you. They took up
stones to stone him. And they said, we've been not
born of fornication. You tell us that God's not our
father. We have one father. That's God. And he said, you
are your father the devil. My friends, those in unbelief
and rebellion are not children of God. The Bible says they're
children of wrath. Ephesians chapter 2, 1 through
3, listen to it. And you hath equipped them who
were dead, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in times past
you walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the fire of the air. the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, among whom we all had our conversation,
our citizenship, not in the kingdom of God, not in the family of
God, but we were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."
That's offensive, and I know it's offensive, but Christ our
Lord declared it, and they hated Him, and He said, My brethren,
marvel not if they hate you. They hated Me long before they
hated you. why they hate him. I've been
reading it to you. Now one other scripture, turn
to John 6 verse 66. Now here in John 6 verse 66,
from that time, from that time, many of his disciples, now these
were people, not the twelve, but learners, followers, people
who had listened to him, people who had been attracted to him,
people who were interested in what he had to say, but from
that time they went back and walked no more with They quit.
They took out on him. They resigned, you know. They
left him. They weren't going to follow him anymore. Why? Why? John 6. Read the whole chapter.
But Christ preached to them the way of life. He preached to them
that he was the bread of life. He said, I am the bread of life.
He taught them that his body must be broken, and his blood
must be shed for the remission of sin. And that in order to
be saved, in order to have life eternal, that they must take
into themselves, not a doctrine, but a person. That they must
take into themselves, not a teaching, but a person. That they must
take into themselves by faith to receive. You know the scripture
says, as many as receive him. receive Christ. Now people read
that as if it's to receive a doctrinal system or a denominational program
or a catechism or a creed or mental facts about Christ. It's
to receive a person. Salvation is a person. Jesus
Christ came down here into this world, was born of a virgin,
took on himself human flesh, met the law and obeyed it perfectly
for every believer, went to the cross and there the judgment
of God and the wrath of God was poured upon him for our sins.
He shed his blood for us. He met the justice of God and
obeyed it. The wrath of God and satisfied
it. He was laid in a tomb and on the third day he rose again
and he ascended to the right hand of God where he intercedes
for us. And salvation is believing him
and receiving him. Actually to receive him into
myself to be brought by God's grace and God's power into a
vital living union with a person. Salvation is not just to quit
a few bad habits and take on a few religious habits. Salvation
is not to go down to the church on Sunday and play church for
an hour, hour and a half, to join in to the social crowd,
make out like you know God. Salvation is to know God and
to walk with God and to love God in the person of His Son,
Jesus Christ. Salvation is not in laws and
rules and regulations and personal righteousness. Salvation is in
Christ. It's in Christ. Listen to the Word of God. Colossians
chapter 22 verse 9 and 10. In him, in Christ, dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him. In him. That's what he's saying
to them. Except a man eat my flesh and drink my blood, he
hath no life in him. That's not talking about cannibalism,
a physical eating of Christ and drinking of his blood. He's talking
about the soul. spiritually to receive Christ
like I received my bread tonight. It's to receive Christ's teachings,
and Christ's person, and Christ's substitutionary work, and Christ's
promises, and Christ's blessing. Christ liveth in me, Christ in
you, the hope of glory. It's to be vitally united, not
with an organization, but with a person, with Jesus Christ the
Lord. And that's what made them angry,
but I'm telling you this, if you are to be saved, You're going
to have to deal with Christ who is God, with Christ who saves
whom He will, with Christ as a guilty sinner, and with Christ
as an effectual substitute. Now, the Lord willing, tonight,
get this announcement at 7 o'clock. I'll be preaching at the Riverside
Baptist Church in Richwood, West Virginia, tonight, Monday, Tuesday,
and Wednesday night. I'd like to have you come and
visit. The Riverside Baptist Church, Richwood, West Virginia.
Now, if you want these messages on tape, cassette tapes. They're available. Three dollars
for a tape with two messages. We'll be glad to send them to
you. The address will be given to you by the announcer. And
until next week at the same time, I bid you a very pleasant good
day.

Christ, The Divider of Men

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Christ, The Divider of Men

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book