Now, if you'll open your Bibles
to the book of John, chapter 7, once again. John, chapter
7, verse 43. This is my text. So there was
a division among the people. There was a division among the
people. And here are the most important
three words of the entire text. We have division today. People
in churches are divided over names. They're divided over doctrines. They're divided over the color
of the walls that are going to paint the building. They're divided
over what songs that they're going to sing in the congregation. They're divided over which side
of the church the piano and organ ought to be on. They're divided
over all these things. But this division was because
of him. There was a division because
of him. Now when our Lord walked this
earth, he was despised, rejected, and hated of men. Isaiah wrote
in Isaiah 53, he was despised and rejected of men. A man of
sorrows, acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces
from him. There was no beauty about him
that we should desire him. Despised, hated and rejected. And then in John chapter 15,
verse 18, our Lord said to His disciples, John 15, 18, If the
world hate you, if the world hate you, you know that it hated
Me before it hated you. And then in verse 23 of John
15, He said, He that hateth Me hated my father also. If I had not done among them
the works which another of the men did, they had not had sin. But now have they both seen and
hated, both me and my father. When Jesus Christ was upon this
earth, people cursed him. They called him a wine-bibber
and a gluttonous man. They called him a devil. They
said he cast out devils by the power of the devil. They asked
him to leave their cities. On one occasion they tried to
throw him off a cliff. On several occasions they attempted
to stone him. And then they captured him in
a garden and took him to a soldier's hall, and there they scourged
him. With a cat of nine tails they whipped his flesh until
it was bleeding and raw. and that pressed a crown of thorns
down upon his precious brow. And then in hatred and contempt
they spat in his face, and they hit him with their open palms,
and then finally they crucified him on a cross outside the city
wall between two thieves. Yes, when Christ was here on
this earth, they hated him. They despised him. They rejected
him. Now here's the question. Would
he fare better today? Does he fare better where he's
preached in truth and in power? For the answer to that, I want
you to turn to Matthew 23. Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ,
hated, despised, rejected, was on this earth, he told the people
there that their fathers persecuted and stoned the prophets. He reminded
them of that. Every time God sent a prophet
back then, Old Testament days, a prophet like Moses, a prophet
like Isaiah, a prophet like Jeremiah, the people hated that prophet,
and they stoned that prophet, and they would not listen to
him. And these people said to him, they said, why, if we, verse
31, if we had been in the days of our fathers, We would not
have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Isn't that what we're saying now? If we had lived in the days
of Christ, we would not have hated Him. If we had lived in
the days of Christ, we would not have scourged Him. If we
had lived in the days of Christ, we would never have nailed Him
to a cross. Why, we could never do such a
thing. We wouldn't have despised the Son of God. We wouldn't have
rejected Him. This is characteristic of every
generation. Someone said one time, don't
be deceived by monuments to great preachers. It is simply the gesture
of one generation trying to cover up the crimes of their fathers.
For when Moses was here on the earth, they hated Moses and bragged
on Abraham. When Christ was here on the earth,
they hated him and bragged on Moses. When the apostles were
here, they hated the apostles and bragged on Christ. And when
the Reformers, Calvin and Luther and Hux and these men came, they
hated them and bragged on the apostles. And today, we are erecting
monuments to men like Calvin and Luther and Spurgeon and Huss
and all the others, and hating the preachers who preached what
these men preached. If we had lived in the days of
our fathers, these men said, we would never, we would never
have persecuted these prophets. We would never have tried to
put Moses to death. We would never have tried to
put Jeremiah to death. We would never have tried to
put Isaiah to death. Why don't you know, Jesus, we
have monuments to Isaiah and Moses and Abraham and all these
men. At the very same time, they were
seeking to put to death those who represented God during their
day. So don't be deceived by monuments.
They're simply gestures of one generation covering up the crimes
of their fathers. I believe if Jesus Christ were
on the earth today, that he would receive the same treatment that
he received back then. I believe if the Son of God came
to the earth in 1973, and preached the same thing that he preached,
that he would be treated by religious people the same way he was treated
back then. What was it that brought out
their hatred towards Jesus Christ? Now listen, they didn't hate
him when he fed them. He turned to a multitude one
day and he said, you follow me because you did eat of the loaves
and a field. They wanted to eat some more.
They wanted to see him break some fish and some bread and
feed the whole crowd again. They didn't object to his feeding
them. And people today preach a Jesus
that will meet your every material need. That's what most preachers
are preaching. I listened to one on television
last Sunday morning before I went to church. And he got through
with his message. He told how a man needed a thousand
dollars, and how another needed ten thousand dollars, and how
they prayed and God met that need. And when he came to the
end of the message, he said, I want everybody here who has
a need. He said, now my God will supply
all your needs according to His riches and glory through Christ
Jesus, if you believe that, and you have a need. Now you just
stand on your feet right now and claim God's promises. Well,
these people back here, they followed Him. They wanted the
loaves and the fishes. They wanted Him to meet their
physical needs, and meet their material needs, and meet their
hunger. Why, everybody will be glad if
God will give them everything they need. And then they didn't
hate Him when He healed them. There was another crowd who followed
Him. It said in John 2, verse 23,
that they followed Him because of the miracles which He did.
Why, he gave a man sight, he gave a man hearing, he caused
the lame to walk, he raised the dead, and they just paddle along
after him, hoping that he'd heal them, or heal their brother,
their sister, their mother, their father. And we've got the same
basis today for many ministries. We've got ministries going all
over this country who are getting rich. claiming healing of the
body in the name of Jesus Christ. Folks don't object to that. I
hear preachers say, they say, well, don't you believe God heals?
Of course I believe God heals. Of course I do. They say, that's
the offense today, God heals. That's not the offense at all.
It wasn't the offense when he was here before, and it's not
the offense today. I'm going to show you the offense
in just a moment. Nobody in the days of Christ hated him when
he fell. And nobody in the days of Christ
hated him when he healed them. They didn't object to him healing
folks. He could have healed everybody. They wouldn't have cared. And
they didn't hate him when he marched triumphantly into Jerusalem,
and they were talking about setting up a kingdom. You know, these
Jewish people at this particular time were under the oppression
of the Roman Empire. Boy, that old boot of Rome was
right in the middle of their necks! And Rome had them under
oppression, and Rome had them in slavery, Rome had them right
where they wanted them. And when Jesus Christ marched
into Jerusalem riding on that donkey, why, they put palm leaves
in front of him, and they said, He's going to restore the kingdom
of David to Israel! Hosanna! Praise the Lord! He's coming in the name of the
Lord! He's going to be the king! And there are people today who
have no objection to Jesus Christ setting up a millennium kingdom
over in Jerusalem right now. Why, they wouldn't object to
that. In fact, there are a lot of ministries built on that.
Every time the preacher gets up to preach, he preaches something
about the second coming, or something about the millennial reign, or
something about the kingdom of God in Jerusalem, when peace
shall spread all over this earth. I've got no objections to peace,
have you? I've seen enough young men die in war. We've given enough
blood for freedom. I'll be glad to see them beat
their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning
hooks. I've got no objection to that. Who does? Nobody. And
they didn't object to it back when he lived on this earth.
Why, they didn't have any objection to him bringing peace and restoring
power to Israel? None whatsoever. They praised
him when they thought he was going to do that. Then why the
hatred? They didn't object to his works.
Why, one time they took up stones to stone him, and he said, many
good works have I done among you. For which of these do you
stone me? Why, they said, we're not stoning
you for good works. We've got no objection to your
good works. And I tell you, preachers and
churches can go out here and start rescue missions. Why, they
can start hospitals. And they can give to all these
different humanitarian enterprises, and nobody objects to that. Well,
the Church ought to do good work, and I agree with you. But nobody
objects to good works. Then why the hatred? Have you
ever thought about it? It says here, the world hated
Him. They spit upon Him. They scourged
Him. They nailed Him to a cross. He
told his disciples, he said, you're going to get the same
treatment. When you go out and preach what I preach, when you
go out and make the claims that I make, when you go out and preach
this gospel that I preach, you're going to get the same treatment.
He said they're going to throw you out of their churches. Churches! He said they're going to, when
they kill you, they're going to think they're doing God a
favor. Woe unto all men! They're going to hate you! For
my name's sake." Now, you just tell me why. You got any idea?
I know why. Why the division? Why the hatred? Why the rejection? Why such terrible,
terrible treatment of the Son of God? Well, if you got your
Bible, and if you don't, you ought to buy you one, turn to
John chapter ten, the tenth chapter of John. And I'll give you four
reasons. why they hated Jesus Christ.
I'll give you four reasons why they nailed him to a cross. I'll
give you four reasons why they spit in his face. And it wasn't
because he healed some folks either. And it wasn't because
he met the material needs of some folks. It wasn't because
he's going to set up a kingdom on this earth. They didn't object
to that at all. And here it is, in John chapter
10, verse 31, In verse 30, Christ said, I and
my Father are one. I and the Heavenly Father are
one. We're the same one. And then
the Jews took up stones again to stone him. And Jesus answered
them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father. For which
of these works do you stone me? And the Jews answered him, saying,
For good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because
thou," watch it now, being a man. That's all you are. That's what
they say in this Jesus Christ superstar. He's nothing but a
man, a frustrated, bewildered, defeated man who didn't know
where he came from or where he was going. Why, you're nothing
but a man, a good man, but still a man. A moral man, but still
a man. A clean man, but still a man.
A defeated man, but still a man. You're nothing but a man! Watch
it, and you make yourself capital, G-O-D, God. Now, brethren, the
world did not believe it then, and they don't believe it now,
that Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem's stable, who worked in Nazareth's
carpenter shop, who walked Judea's hillsides, who with his disciples
fished in Galilee's sea, and who died on Golgotha's cross,
and who arose from Joseph's tomb, they don't believe that he's
God Almighty. Now, one time right here in this church, I made that
statement. I said, the world doesn't believe
that Jesus Christ is God. The religious world doesn't believe
it. And I challenge the men of this church to go out where they
work the next morning and ask any religious man on the job
if he believes that Jesus Christ is not just the Son of God, or
a Son of God, but is Jesus of Nazareth God Almighty. Is He God Almighty? Is He the
One who, before the foundations of the world, was one with the
Heavenly Father, by whom all things were created, by whose
wisdom and by whose power all things were made, who put the
stars in place, who hung the moon in space, who put this earth
down here and made the valleys deep and the mountains high and
the rivers wet? Is He God Almighty? Is He the
God who marched through Egypt and slew the firstborn? Is He
the God who sent His wrath in waters of flood in Noah's day? Is He the God who made all things? And one of our men went out to
the plant next day, and the first fellow he buttoned whole, he
was reading the New Testament on his lunch hour. And he asked
him that question. Is Jesus of Nazareth God Almighty? Is he God? Is he God incarnate? Is he God in the flesh? And this
man said, why, no. No. He's the Son of God, but
he's not God. Turn to John chapter 1. If he's
not God, he's a liar, and his bones are in Jerusalem in that
grave, and his soul's in hell. I tell you, that's how important
it is. If Jesus Christ is not God, you are an idolater, because
you worship in Him, and if He's not God, He's a creature rather
than the Creator. And that's idolatry. If Jesus
Christ is not God, He can't be the Savior. For the Scripture
says in Isaiah 45, 22, Look unto me, and be ye saved, for I am
God. Only God can save. Only God can
forgive sin. It says in John, chapter 1, verse
1, In the beginning was the Word. That's Christ. That's Christ. Word, a word is communication,
vehicles of thought. Word is that by which we communicate
what we want to communicate, what we think, what we are, what
we believe. And Almighty God, the Heavenly
Father's communication with me, and is by the Word, and that
Word is Jesus Christ. And the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. And the same was in the beginning
with God, and all things were made by him, and without him
was not anything made that was made. And in him was life, and
the life was the light of men. Look at verse 14. And the Word,
who was with God, who was God, by whom all things were created,
and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld
his glory. the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth." Paul said to the
elders, feed the church of God, which God purchased with his
own blood. Which God purchased with his
own blood. In 1 Timothy 3, verse 16, it
says, Great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in
the flesh. Could anything be any clearer?
Who? God was manifest in the flesh. Whom do you say that Jesus
Christ is? Well, he was a great prophet.
That's what those Pharisees said. Well, he was a man like John
the Baptist. That's what the Pharisees said. Well, he was
a messenger from heaven. That's what the Pharisees said.
Well, he did many wonderful works, that's what Nicodemus said. But the disciples said he was
God. In Christ are all the attributes of God. First of all, eternal
existence. He said before Abraham was, I
am. In Christ there's creative power.
All things were made by him and for him. In Christ there's power
to give life. He said, the Son quickeneth whom
he wills. In Christ there's perfect holiness.
There's none good but God. And he said, I always do those
things that please my Father. Christ is omnipotent. He has
all power, all authority in heaven and earth. Christ is omnipresent. He said to his disciples, I'm
with you always, even to the end of the earth. Christ hath
omniscience, he knew their thoughts. That one who came from the virgin's
womb is God. That one who was crucified on
Calvary and shed his blood is God. That one who was buried
in the tomb and rose again and ascended to the right hand of
the Father is God. I can't explain the Trinity,
I wouldn't try. I just know that when God, back
in eternity, before an angel breathed and before a man walked,
that God said, let us make man. Let us, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. I do know that Jesus Christ thought
it not right to be equal with God. I do know that he said on
this earth, when he walked on this earth, I and the Father
are one, and he that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Philip
said, Show us the Father. He said, You're looking at him.
You're looking at him. You're looking at him. That's
the issue. Tell me the last time you ever heard a sermon on this
subject. Turn on your television or radio and you call me up when
you hear a preacher declaring boldly, without fear, that Jesus
Christ is God Almighty in the flesh. God to satisfy and man
to suffer. But he's God. God died on that
cross in the form of a man. Folks don't like that, but it's
so whether you like it or not. That's right. But God can't die.
No, God can't die. But in the flesh he can. And
God Almighty put his nature and his spirit in the body of a man. He died on that cross. And he
purchased his church with his own blood. When I die, my spirit
won't die. My body's gonna die. You can't
kill my spirit. That's right, if I drop dead
while I'm preaching to you here tonight, now the body's going
to be dead. That's what died on that cross.
Christ's body died. He didn't die. You want to get
technical now, I'm never going to die. Because the moment this
body rots and falls down and begins to decay, my spirit goes
back to God that gave it. But I'm still dead, isn't that
right? You still said, well, man died. He died. And when you say Christ died,
when you say God died on the cross, that's what I mean. He
died on the cross. He's God Almighty. All right,
here's the second thing. Turn to Luke chapter 4. You still
with me? That's why they hated him. He
said, I'm God. And then in Luke chapter 4, look
at here, verse 28. And all day in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, were filled with wrath. Now let
me stop here just a minute. These are not drunkards and harlots
and tax collectors here I'm talking about. These are Sunday morning
worshipers. This outfit here was in church
when this happened. They had all met together on
their Sabbath day. They'd come to church to worship
God. They'd come out there to hear
the Word read. They'd come out there to hear
their Bible lesson that morning. And Jesus Christ was there and
didn't preach it. And when that service was over,
that bunch of Sunday morning worshipers had been turned into
Sunday morning murderers. That bunch of people that had
come out there to worship God wanted to kill God. That bunch
of people who had come out there twiddling their thumbs in humility
and piety were filled with wrath. And verse 29 says, They rose
up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him out unto the
brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might
murder him. But he passing through the midst
of them went his way. Now what made them so mad? Something did. And it wasn't
because he fed them. They didn't have potluck dinner
that morning. It wasn't because he healed some lame fellow. That
wasn't what made them mad. And it wasn't because he stood
there and told them about the grand and glorious days when
the kingdom would be restored to the earth and peace would
reign. That wasn't what made them mad. Let's go back and see
what did. Why did they hate him? In verse
24. Verse 25. Our Lord said in Luke
4, verse 25, I'll tell you the truth. I'm going to tell you
the truth. Now let's see your reaction to it. There were many
widows in the land of Israel. in the days of Elias, when the
heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine
was throughout all the land. But unto none of them, unto none
of these widows, was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of
Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. These people in the
church here were organized These people were Jews who claimed
to be the people of God. These were the people who believed
that God owed them something. That they were God's people,
they had a corner on God, that God was obligated, if He blessed
anybody, to bless them. And Christ stood right there
in front of them and He said, Listen to me, you Jews, every
one of you. Listen to me, all of Israel.
There were many widows back there in the days of Elijah. But God
didn't send his prophet to feed a single one of them. He sent
his prophet over there to a Gentile widow, and he fed her, and he
passed by all your ancestors. All right, he didn't quit then.
He went right on. And he said there were many lepers
in the land of Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet.
That's Elisha. And none of them were cleansed.
God didn't save any of them. God didn't heal any of them.
God didn't cleanse any of them. He went over and cleansed a Gentile
by the name of Nahum. Our Lord is saying three things
here. Salvation is not in traditional ceremonies. Salvation is not
in forms and rituals and religious heritage handed down. Secondly,
no man deserves the mercy of God because of who he is, or
what he is, or what he's done, or what he's doing. Thirdly,
salvation and mercy and eternal life is the gift of God through
Christ, and God Almighty will give it to whom He will. He'll
have mercy on whom He will have mercy. He'll be gracious to whom
He will be gracious. And God doesn't owe you anything.
And God doesn't owe me anything. Turn to John chapter 1 again. In John chapter 1, verse 11 and
12, it says here in John 1, verse 11, He came to His own, and they
received Him not. But as many as received Him,
to them gave He power, the right, the privilege to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on His name, which were born,
not of blood, that is, not of family inheritance. not of the
will of the flesh, born not of the will of man, but born of
God. In Romans chapter 9 verse 15,
Romans 9 verse 15, the Apostle Paul writing over here says this,
For God said to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, it's of God that showeth mercy. For the Scripture said to Pharaoh,
Even for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I might
show my power in you, and that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." That's
what he preached. Here we sit like good, pious,
religious people. If anybody's going to heaven,
we are. Don't you bet on it. If anybody's going to this hell,
we will. Don't you bet on it. If anybody's
God's people, we are. We don't know about everybody
else, but we're God's people. Don't you count on it. That's
what these Israelites thought. And our Lord Jesus Christ said,
God's mercy is where God pleases to be merciful. And God's grace
is where God pleases to show grace. Now here, I'm summing
up right here. You turn to Matthew chapter 8.
You say, I don't like that. These folks didn't either. You
say, I don't believe that. They didn't either. That's what
I'm saying. It ain't funny, is it? Why did
they hate him? They hated him. They hated him. They hated him enough to turn
their Sunday morning service into a lynching party. That's
how bad they hated him. Why, he went against everything
they'd been taught, everything they'd believed. He went against
their tradition. He went against their ritual.
He went against their form. He went against everything in
their doctrine. He said, now you listen to me.
If you're an object of mercy, it's because God made you an
object of mercy, not because you deserved it. If you're lifted
from the dunghill, it's because God lifted you. If you're washed,
it's because God washed you. If you're a vessel of mercy,
it's because God chose you. He could just as easily and justify
himself in passing you by. My, my. They said, we don't like that.
In Matthew chapter 8, verse 1, listen to it. When he came down
from the mountains, great multitudes followed him. And behold, there
came a leper, and worshipped him. He, God, that leper knew
it, worshipped him. Only God's to be worshipped.
And he said, Lord, if you will, if you will, you can make me
clean. How long since you heard anybody
talk that way? I believe I'll let God save me. Will you now?
I believe I'll let God take me to heaven. Will you now? Have
you ever thought about God may not be pleased to save you? This leper didn't talk that way.
He didn't say, Lord, I'm going to let you make me clean. He
said, if you will, you can make me clean. And brother, I tell
you, if God will, he can change your heart. If God will, he can
make you a new creature. If God will, he can reveal Christ
to you. If God will, he can take you
to glory. If he will. And you're going
to be brought down to the dust. You're going to be brought down
from that site, that place of pride and arrogance, to the place
of humility. And you're going to fall down
at his feet, and you're going to ask for mercy. Mercy. Why did they hate him? I just
showed you two reasons. They hate him enough to kill
him because he claimed to be God. And secondly, because he
claimed as God that he'd save whom he will. He claimed as God the right to
give eternal life to whom he would. And I'll tell you the
third thing they hated. Turn to John 6. I've got to hurry.
John chapter 6. Here's the third. Do you hate
him? Huh? Come on, have you decided yet
whether or not you believe that? Reckon if he came here this evening
to 13th Street Baptist Church and preached that, you reckon
somebody wouldn't hate him? He's hearing his word. In John
6, verse 66, it says, "...from that time many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him." What'd they get mad
about? They got mad about something from that day. They said, We
quit. We're not going back anymore. We're not going to hear Him anymore.
We're not going to have anything to do with Him anymore. We quit!
That's my last time to hear you, Jesus! What are they getting
mad about? Well, let's go back to verse
48 and see. He said, I am the bread of life.
Verily I say unto you, I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate
manna in the wilderness, and they're dead. That miracle manna
fell from heaven, they picked it up and ate it, and they're
dead. People walk down an aisle, and they come down here to the
Lord's table, and somebody tells them, says, now Christ is present
in that bread and that wine. If you drink that bread, you'll
be saved. If you drink that wine, you'll be saved. The Israelites
ate that holy manna, and they're dead. They're dead, Christ said. That manna didn't have any saving
power. That water didn't have any saving
power. That man is simply a type of him who does have saving power. And that water is just a type
of him who is the living water. Read on. He said, Ah, this is
the bread that comes down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof
and not die. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forevermore. What Christ is saying here is
this, your duties and your works and your doctrine and your tradition
and all outward ceremonies will not save you. We're going to
have to receive Christ within. There's going to have to be a
living, vital, personal union with the living Lord. Christ
has got to come into the heart and into the life. in order for
a man to be saved. We've got to eat his flesh and
drink his blood. Now, you can take away from me
about everything I've got. That wouldn't be too hard. You
can take my car out there. You can take my clothes. You
can take my family. You can take about everything
I've got. Do you know what you can't take? You can't take what
I ate for lunch today. I ate it, put it in my mouth,
chewed it up, it went into my stomach, it was digested there,
and the things I ate at lunch are all the way down here to
my fingertips now. It went into the bloodstream,
and the bloodstream supplied every part of my body with strength
and nourishment from what I ate. Christ is not clothes you put
on. Christ is not a shelter in which you hide. Christ is the
person whom you receive within. who nourishes and sanctifies
and redeems and regenerates every part of you, who gives you a
new tongue and a new mind and a new heart and a new spirit
and a new nature and makes of you a new creature. And you receive
him within. Paul said, I prevail till Christ
be formed in you. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Christ in you, the hope of glory. And this they couldn't understand.
They could understand the bread and the wine at the Passover. They could understand the bowings
and scrapings. They could understand all of
the traditions of religion. They could understand the feast
days and the fast days and the prayer days, but they couldn't
understand vital union, personal, intimate, living, vital union
with Christ. Can you understand that? I memorized a poem when I was
just a child. I remember it so well. It says,
it was battered and scarred, and the auctioneer thought it
scarcely worth his while to waste much time on an old violin, but
he did hold it up with a smile. And he said, what am I bid, good
folks? Who starts the bidding for me?
A dollar? Somebody make it ten. Somebody make it three. Going
for three dollars. Going once, going twice, but
no. From the room way back, a gray-haired man came forward, and he picked
up the bow. And tightening the loosened strings,
he played on that old violin a melody as pure and sweet as
an angel sings. And then the auctioneer, in a
voice that was quiet and low, said, What am I bid for this
old violin? And he held it up with a bow.
And somebody said, a thousand dollars. And somebody said, two
thousand dollars. And he said, who'll make it three
thousand dollars? Going once, going twice, going
and gone, cried he. And the people cheered. And some
of them cried, we don't understand. What changed the worth of that
old violin? And the auctioneer said, the
touch of the master's hand. And many a man with life out
of tune and battered and scarred by sin is auctioned off by a
foolish crowd like that old violin. But the Master comes, and the
foolish crowd just can't quite understand the change that's
wrought in a sinner's life by the touch of the Master's hand.
That's it, Christ in you. Christ in you. That's the hope
of glory. not walking aisles, not going
down beneath baptismal pool, not taking bread and wine, not
the bowing and the scraping, not wearing the uniforms and
garb of religion, not going through all the works and ceremonies.
These things are important in their place, but Christ is the
life, and without Him all these other things are dead, dead,
dead. And these fellows said, we don't
understand that, and we can't enter into it, and we ain't gonna
listen to it no more. And they laughed. Why'd they
hate him? He said he was God. Why'd they hate him? He said
God's got a right to save whom he will. He doesn't owe you anything. If God shows you mercy, that's
mercy. God sends you to hell, that's
justice. And he said salvation is God in you. God in you. And then you know what he said,
made them so mad, turned to John 8. And I quit on this. One other
thing. John chapter 8, verse 59, listen
to it. Then they took up stones to cast
it him. Why'd they do that? They took
up stones. You know why they did it? In
verse 40, in verse 44, he called them sinners. He said in John
chapter 8, verse 44, you are of your father, the devil. Christ
rejected what they call the fatherhood of God, and he said, God is the
father of believers, unbelievers are the children of the devil.
Ye are of your father the devil, and his lust Well, you do. The lust of your father. He was
a murderer from the beginning, and he abode not in the truth
because there's no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks
of his own. He's a liar and the father of
liars, and because I tell you the truth, you don't believe
me, and you are of your father the devil. Boy, if some preachers
preached that on Sunday morning, they'd lose their job, wouldn't
they? They'd lose their churches. You just don't tell a man he's
a child of the devil. That's the reason they hated
Christ, because he did. He told them that. He said in
verse 47, He that is of God, he'll hear God's Word. You don't
hear God's Word because you are not of God. And they took up stones to stone
him. Let me tell you something, my
friend, and I'll say it as kindly as I can. If you're ever redeemed,
if you're ever saved, if you're ever a part of the family of
God, you're going to do business with God Almighty in Jesus Christ. Not with a preacher, not with
a priest, not with an organization, but with God Almighty in Jesus
Christ. He's God. And you're going to
do business as an empty-handed, broken, hell-deserving, ill-deserving
sinner, whom God owes nothing but the wages of sin, which is
death. And you're going to fall on your face in the dust at his
feet, and you're going to cry, Lord, I don't deserve it. But
if you will, you can make me clean. If you will, Lord, if
you will. Salvation's of the Lord. The
salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. I don't deserve
it, but Lord, if you will, be merciful to me, a sinner. If
you ever save, you're going to do business with a holy God as
a guilty sinner, empty-handed. Empty-handed. Can you come that
way? Why do they hate him? You know why they hate him. I've
given you the reasons why they hate him. And they've got monuments
to Jesus Christ raised right now in organizations where if
I walked in and preached this message, they'd throw me out. And if they were truthful, they'd
tear down their monuments, because that's what he preached. And
that's what brought down their wrath upon him. Do you love him?
If any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema
accursed when Jesus comes. Our Father, anoint the Word with
the power of the Holy Spirit, and bring forth fruit to the
glory of Christ the Lord. He is our Lord of lords and King
of kings. We are worthless, hopeless, helpless
sinners, enemies redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. And
our hope is that mercy will be shown to us because of Him. We
don't deserve anything bring us to love Him as He is, and
for whom He is, and to worship and adore Him throughout endless
ages. For He hath redeemed us to God
by His precious blood, out of every nation, tongue, and tribe,
and kindred unto heaven. Thanks be unto His matchless
name. In Christ's name we pray, amen.