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[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. This is the next message in our series on the book of John entitled, Jesus is God.

[0:15] Take your Bible, go to John 12, 37. I want to talk to you tonight. I want us to look at the scriptures. I want us to realize it is time for us to accept our responsibility.

[0:25] In my opinion, the passage of scripture we're about to read could be one of those most confusing scriptures that you could read. One part of it is extremely clear. And one part of it is the kind of scripture that you could be confused by.

[0:40] But if you'll listen tonight, you'll realize that God has in mind that we should accept our responsibility. Read with me John 12, 37, down to the end of the chapter. The Bible says, And I should heal them.

[1:20] These things saith his eyes when he saw his glory and spake of him. Nevertheless, among the chief rulers also many believed on him. But because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him.

[1:32] Lest they should be put out of the synagogue. For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.

[1:45] He that seeth me, seeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not.

[1:58] For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him. The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

[2:12] For I have not spoken of myself, but the father which sent me. He gave me a commandment that what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that his commandments, his commandment is life everlasting.

[2:25] And whatsoever I speak, therefore, even as the father said unto me, so I speak. Father, I pray that you would now deal with our hearts and teach us. Lord, I pray that everyone would open their hearts and minds to learn some deeper, almost Bible college style things that they need to learn tonight.

[2:45] To understand your word. I hope to help avoid some confusion. And I pray, dear God, that your name would be glorified. And that we realize that when we see Jesus, we do see you.

[2:57] When we believe in Jesus, we do believe in you. And I pray, God, that your name would be glorified and honored in all of it tonight. In Jesus' precious name, amen. Go with me if you would.

[3:07] And if you're taking notes, go to verse 37. You can write this. They refused to believe no matter what Jesus did. They refused. That's a key word.

[3:18] They refused. I'll read verse 37 with me again. You can just circle the main words. I'll just hit main words. In verse 37, he had done so many miracles.

[3:29] They had seen Jesus do everything. You've been in the book of John. It started out with turning water into wine. We've seen Lazarus raised from the dead. We've seen miracle after miracle take place.

[3:42] He has done so many miracles, yet they believed not on him. In verse 37. They could see it, and he didn't do it. Now, today, just for your knowledge, some of you honestly believe that, you know, you get caught up in some Pentecostalism, and you think if people saw miracles, they'd believe.

[4:02] Well, they didn't in Jesus' day, and they didn't when the real miracle worker was alive. And the real miracle worker did miracles, and they still didn't believe. I just think that might be an interesting side note.

[4:14] Not even the message tonight, but look at it. He said, though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him. In verse 38, he's quoting Isaiah.

[4:26] He's quoting Isaiah, and Isaiah said, Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? So just notice a few things real quickly of this point.

[4:39] No matter what Jesus did or said, they refused to believe. They refused to believe. Look in verse 37, underline. They believed not on him.

[4:50] They believed not on him. God's word had prophesied this response in Isaiah and in other places. And I want you to realize, can I help you tonight understand something?

[5:02] Jesus believed the Bible. Jesus believed the Bible. He had no qualms quoting Scripture. He had no qualms saying, this is what the Bible said.

[5:15] And the apostles believed the Bible. I find it shocking that today we tend to question the Bible, and yet Jesus and the apostles didn't have any problem doing that.

[5:28] And these two verses, and if I had all night to preach on a while, I would show you that they were miracles and they didn't believe. And when that happened, he just says like this, well, this is just like what Isaiah said.

[5:43] It's just Isaiah being fulfilled. And he quotes it. He even tells us what book he's getting it from. He says, verse 38, that the saying of Isaiah, he says, the prophet might be fulfilled.

[5:54] So the Old Testament, they are telling you clearly they trust the Old Testament. The guys in the New Testament trust the 39 books you got in the Old Testament.

[6:06] Just for a pause, Genesis 1 through 11 is often doubted by anybody who's a liberal. Anybody who's a liberal. A liberal means a person who would doubt truth.

[6:17] A person who would cast a doubt on the Bible, and they always like to attack Genesis 1 through 11. And yet he quotes Moses in the Bible, and he has no qualms about it.

[6:28] And the other apostles quote the Old Testament, include Moses, and have no qualms about it. Another story that would be highly doubted in the Old Testament would be the story of Jonah. And yet Jesus quotes the story of Jonah.

[6:38] So Jesus believed the story of Jonah. Now, if it was good enough for Jesus to believe, I think I'll just go ahead and believe it too. Now, you could come up with another way. You and Muhammad can come up with your own doubts. But me and Jesus will stick with the book.

[6:50] Can you say amen right there? We need to understand that people will reject Jesus today no matter what we say or do. Man has a rebellious heart that says no to God and the things of God.

[7:03] When you witness, you should know that people do not want to believe. It'll take a work of the Holy Spirit to break their hearts and cause them to believe. Now, I want you to understand, you know, you're going out witnessing.

[7:16] And some of us give up because we witnessed and they wouldn't get saved. We witnessed and they showed no interest. We gave them a gospel track and they were rude to us. And we told them the truth and they didn't believe us.

[7:27] And so we've gotten discouraged because it's like, I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Well, could I just say Jesus had the same experience? He did many miracles and they still didn't believe.

[7:41] You give out many gospel tracks and they still don't believe. But Jesus didn't quit, but you do quit. We need to accept our responsibility. Can you say amen right there?

[7:52] I mean, you know, you say, well, I've talked to my aunt. I've talked to my uncle. I've talked to my cousin. I've talked to my brother. I've talked to the people that I work with. I've talked to other people and they just simply won't accept Christ.

[8:03] They simply don't want to accept Jesus. And I don't know what to do because I've done everything I can. Well, it doesn't sound like it's all that much of a new problem. I even hear people say things are a lot worse now than they were then.

[8:16] Well, they might be because Jesus was working a lot of miracles. And even though he was working miracles like raising people from the dead, they still wouldn't believe. So I'll not be shocked.

[8:28] I ought to just accept my responsibility. I was sent to be a witness and he has to do the dealing with their heart. Can you say amen there? Now, if you would look back at John chapter 12 and look at verse 38 and notice this, that the saying of Esaes, the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report?

[8:47] So Isaiah was having the problem. And to whom at the arm of the Lord been revealed? And then right here, we're fixing to move into a section. It's going to say something that's really shocking. And I want you to learn this tonight.

[8:58] And I'm glad it falls on a Thursday night, but I want you to learn this tonight. But I want you to see this. They reject Jesus. In the very next verse, they will be hardened. And somebody even asked me, did I really believe that a person could get to the point that he couldn't be saved anymore?

[9:15] And I have no idea when that happens or how that happens, but it obviously has happened. There was a guy named Pharaoh in the Old Testament, and he started out hardening his heart towards God and saying no to God, holding his fist up in God's face.

[9:28] And finally, in the story, God hardened his heart. In this story right here, they have rejected Jesus. They refuse to believe Jesus. And in the next passage of Scripture that we're about to read, the verses, he's going to say, you can't believe now.

[9:42] So you need to understand we ought to tell people about Jesus. We ought to realize they're not going to accept Jesus when I preach necessarily. They're not going to accept Jesus when I witness necessarily.

[9:53] I'm going to pray and pray and give and give and go and beg and ask, and they might not believe, but my job is to get the gospel to them. Look if you would in verse 39. The second thing, now they cannot believe.

[10:08] They refuse to believe, number one, now they cannot believe. Do you have your Bible open? Put on your seatbelt. We're about to read the Bible, the book of John. Look if you would at verse 39.

[10:20] Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts that they should not see, with their eyes to understand with their heart and be converted, and I should heal them.

[10:37] These things said Esaias when he saw his glory and spake of him. Do you have your Bible open? Would you look at verse 39 and underline this? They could not believe.

[10:50] And the Bible said that back in Isaiah. And Isaiah had said, you know what? God is going to, look in your Bible and underline these verses. These are hard words.

[11:00] God says in verse 40, he blinded their eyes. He hardened their hearts that they should not see with their eyes, that they should not understand with their heart, that they should not be converted, that they should not be healed.

[11:17] Isaiah said that was going to happen. Now then, are we in shock yet? They rejected him, and then he said, now you can't get saved, and it's a fulfillment of what Isaiah said.

[11:33] What a wild statement. They could not believe. God had done all of those things. He fixed it where they couldn't understand, and they couldn't be converted. I'd like to just say to you, there's a limited time for people to believe.

[11:48] And by that I mean, you know, we don't know when a guy's going to die. I read the obituaries. I receive a blog. It gives me all the obituaries in the coming area. And you know, they die all the time, my age and younger.

[12:00] They die all the time in their 20s. They die all the time in their teens. Hey, if you're just a little three-year-old kid, you could get shot by somebody in your family. That happened just this week.

[12:12] So just know that it's a limited time, and people need to believe while the door of salvation is open. And I'd like to give you two verses. It ought to give us a sense of urgency.

[12:23] In verse 36, John 12, 36, he said, While ye have light, believe in the light. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of the light.

[12:35] These things spake Jesus and departed, and did hide himself from them. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 2. For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and the day of salvation have I secured thee.

[12:48] Behold, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. Now just let me give you two or three truths, basic truths you need to know. You ready? Number one, once a person dies, there is not one little itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny chance they can be saved.

[13:07] No priest can pray them out of purgatory and into heaven. Nobody can give enough gifts or do anything to gain them salvation. Your decision to accept or reject, your decision to believe or not to believe, to trust or not to trust, is happening now.

[13:24] And the only time that you have to believe is this exact second. You're not guaranteed the next one, and the past one's already gone. Too late for you to believe there. But the first thing we all ought to get straight is, you know, that's why we would never say as a church, somebody died.

[13:42] Let's say George died. We would never come in here and say, oh, George died. Y'all pray for George. We would never say that. You know why we wouldn't say that? Because it's too late to pray for George.

[13:53] George because George is now where George will be for all of eternity. George is now where George will be for all of eternity.

[14:04] George made his decision. He either rejected Christ or he believed on Christ. He either rejected or he believed, but he made his decision, and it's too late to pray. We can pray for his family and pray that God would comfort them.

[14:15] We can pray for his family and pray that they would get saved. But it's too late to pray for George. If George is dead, it's over for George. We need to get that straight. That ought to give us a sense of urgency.

[14:28] And I'm not sure when a person can sin against God so much and commit the sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and continually reject the Holy Spirit until he quits working in their heart.

[14:38] But notice what Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 2 that's right there in front of him. He said, behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.

[14:49] And in God's economy, the principal word is always now. Now is the time to be saved. Now is the time to send missionaries. That ought to give us a sense of urgency. That ought to emphasize the importance of our children's ministry and our youth ministry.

[15:03] I think some of you guys are working with children and youth, and you have absolutely no idea that those people, that very day may be the day they can be saved. That very day is the time. And we do know this from statistics in America.

[15:16] The great majority of people that get saved get saved either as a child or as a teenager. And the older you get, the harder it is and the more rare it is and the more unusual it is that a person believes in Christ.

[15:27] How many of you were saved in here under the age of 20? Hold your hand up. How many of you were saved under the age of 15? Keep your hand up. How many of you were saved under the age of 10? Keep your hand up.

[15:39] How many of you were saved over the age of 20? Put your hand up right quick. One, two, three, four. Four of you. Four of you out of this room. Somebody counted. How many are in here? 75 people.

[15:50] So less than 10% of you got saved above the age of 20. How many of you got saved above the age of 15? Hold your hand. 15 or above? That ups our odds a little bit. But see, it's just unusual.

[16:01] Let's just be honest. We need to take seriously. You take that children's ministry. I think maybe you walk in and you're a babysitter and you don't consider, man, I'm sharing the gospel. I'm telling people about Jesus.

[16:12] I'm getting the gospel to them. Now is the day of salvation. It ought to urge us to send out missionaries. It ought to urge us to send out gospel tracks. It ought to urge us to get the gospel to as many people.

[16:23] But I want to show you what's happening in this passage of scripture, if you would. I really want you to understand. There's a wild statement made in this passage of scripture. Go to verse 39 with me and I want to show you what I really believe.

[16:35] I'm going to tell you what I really believe. I'm more than open to have questions and answers about it. I'm more than open to have discussions about it. But something happens here and God blinds hearts.

[16:46] He blinds eyes. He blinds ears. He keeps people from being able to believe in this passage of scripture. It says in verse 39, therefore they could not believe because that Isaiah said again, he hath blinded their hearts and hardened their heart, their eyes, hardened their heart that they could not see or should not see.

[17:06] With their eyes don't understand with their heart and be converted and I should heal them. These things said he says when he saw his glory and spake of him. What I want to show you is this.

[17:16] Maybe if you just listen tonight, I think it'll help you. Some people get off into Calvinism because they read a verse like that and they realize God's hardening hearts and closing eyes and keeping people from understanding.

[17:31] And they think God's picked out who's going to go to hell. And so he's sending them to hell. And then they actually believe that God didn't even, Jesus didn't even die for everybody and that Jesus doesn't love everybody.

[17:41] And I think I could clearly show you in the Bible that there are verses that you hear constantly. He does love everybody. He did die for every man. He tasted death for every man. And he is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

[17:54] And Timothy is very clear that God, it's acceptable. It's good in God's eyes that Jesus died for all. And he is the Savior. And so men, men want to reject him.

[18:06] So they find this verse and I want to show you what I think is happening. I want to show you what I think is happening. And here's what I believe is happening. He's blinding the nation of Israel's eyes.

[18:16] And I want you to just understand real quickly. I want you to understand it from a federal head. That's what it's called. The head of the family, it's the name. For example, there are two main men in the Bible.

[18:29] This is just really Bible study. This is like pretending I'm with Bible college with you. There are two main men in the Bible. There's the first Adam and the second Adam. And all that are born to the first Adam will die and go to hell.

[18:41] And all that are born again to the second Adam will live and go to heaven and live forever. All of us were born to the first Adam. Not all of us are born to the second Adam. I was born to the first Adam on August the 21st, 1954.

[18:54] I was born again to the second Adam on May the 6th, 1962. So I was born to die here and born to live here. Do you understand the difference in that?

[19:06] Do you understand that or not? How many of you have been born twice? Say amen. I was kind of questioning it there for a second. I mean, how many of you were born to Adam so you're a human being? Say amen.

[19:16] And how many of you are born again? You've been saved by what Jesus did on the cross. And now you're a born again, new creature, child of God. Say amen.

[19:27] And so in the Bible, he uses the term Adam. But when he says Adam, he's talking about the whole human race. He's not talking about just men. He's talking about everybody. And when he uses the second Adam, he's talking about Jesus.

[19:38] And he's talking about all of us that will be accepted, that will get saved and be in him. And we will be in him. If you don't understand this part, much of the Bible becomes very difficult to understand.

[19:50] God used Israel. Then he set them aside to start the age of the church and made us responsible. I want you to go with me to some Bible verses. Walk with me. I'm going to take my time. If I don't finish, I don't finish.

[20:02] And we're going to go through some stuff, and I hope it'll help you. Go to Matthew 9, 16 and 17. Write this down somewhere. Matthew 9, 16 and 17.

[20:12] There was no way to put grace and world evangelism back into the Old Testament in Jewish culture. When Jesus comes to earth, he comes with a New Testament.

[20:23] That's why your Bible is divided into two books. Old Testament, New Testament. Testament means covenant. Testament means pact. And so there was an old covenant, an old pact, an old testament.

[20:36] It's like your last will in Testament. That's the idea even. The fact is in Hebrews, you'll use that term, and you'll say a testament is of no value without the death of the tester. And so a man, somebody had to die to make the testament real.

[20:49] And so I want you to read with me this passage. You see what happens is we got Old Testament. We got Old Testament, and there was some major confusion that came about. Now, it was always saying the same thing, and God was always saying the same thing.

[21:02] But he hadn't revealed it fully because the Bible's built on a gradual revelation of God. We have what we call general revelation, which means what I can see with my eyes.

[21:13] We have specific revelation, what I can see in the Bible. But you know, God slowly reveals himself to us until we get the whole Bible. Now, when we get the whole Bible, we got him. We got all he's going to reveal.

[21:23] But you understand, when Genesis 1-1 was given, man didn't know a lot about God. In the beginning was, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. Okay, I don't know much except this.

[21:35] He's a God. That's what they call him. And he's a creator. And that's how the earth got here. And that's all I know about him. I don't know about the sun yet. I don't even know about human beings yet. I don't know about animals yet.

[21:47] I don't know about sin yet. I don't know about hell yet because it's in Genesis 1-1. But as he keeps writing his book, that's why you got to read the whole book from the Old Testament to the New Testament. And some of you have yet to read your Bible.

[21:59] You can't understand. He wrote a whole book. He didn't write some. He didn't write just John and Romans. He didn't write just the book of Psalms. Some of y'all think God wrote Psalms and all the other books are just like the index or something.

[22:12] I don't know what you think. He wrote a whole Bible. Say amen. And you're supposed to read it all. And so what happens is there's a New Testament. And look at what he says in Matthew chapter 9 verses 16 and 17.

[22:25] No man putteth a piece of new cloth into an old garment. For that which is put in to fill it up, taketh from the garment, and the rent or the tear is made worse.

[22:37] Neither do men put new wine into old bottles, else the bottles break and the new wine runneth out and the bottles perish. But they put new wine into new bottles and both are preserved.

[22:48] All right, listen to me. The Old Testament clearly pointed to and taught what the New Testament says. Now listen, I need you to look at me in just a second. There's no contradiction between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

[23:00] There's further revelation and further explanation, but no contradiction. Further revelation, further explanation, but no contradiction.

[23:11] There's no contradiction in any part of the Bible. The fact is if you don't understand something in the Old Testament, you can go to the New Testament and he'll probably make you understand the Old Testament. The fact is there'll be times you'll read something in the New Testament and you won't understand it.

[23:24] But if you go read the Old Testament, all of a sudden you say, now I get it because I'm reading what's going on back there. So it's all clearly pointed to and taught what the New Testament says. But here's what happened.

[23:34] The Jews had become focused on the details and they lost the big picture. The Jews had become focused on the details and they lost the big picture.

[23:45] They were more focused on their blessings than on their responsibility. They were more focused on their blessings than on their responsibility. They saw what they were doing instead of what he did on Calvary.

[23:58] Now I'd like to stop a second and make sure you understand that. Because I realize that I just said a lot of stuff that you might not get if you're not thinking this thing through. You know what happened in the Old Testament? Can I just tell you that everybody in the Old Testament ever got saved?

[24:11] They got saved by grace. Because what was the answer for when you did wrong? I need you to talk to me right now. What was the answer for when you did wrong? You were to go get a what? I can't hear you.

[24:22] You were to go get a lamb and you were to take that lamb and you were to take it to the priest. And the priest would sacrifice that lamb. In fact, there's all kinds of pictures.

[24:33] You put your hands on the head of the lamb and you confess your sin. In other words, the man who sinned, he either had to die for his sin or a substitute had to take his place and die for him.

[24:48] If you understand that, say amen. No, no. Do you understand that? For example, let's just take a Bible story. Let's take the Passover. Moses said, God's going to send his angel all across Egypt and the firstborn in every house will die.

[25:06] And the firstborn in every house will die. Now listen to this. And they did in every house, including the house of the children of Israel. Maybe you didn't know that.

[25:19] But even the Israelites firstborn died. You say, how'd that happen? He said, I have a solution for you. So your firstborn doesn't die.

[25:31] Go get a firstborn lamb. And I'll let the firstborn lamb take the place of your firstborn. And when you put the blood on the doorpost and on the lintel of the house and the death angel comes, he'll know the firstborn's already died.

[25:46] The lamb died. Because all through the Bible, here's the way it works. You sin, blood has to be shed. You sin, somebody has to die. In the Old Testament, Adam and Eve sinned and were cast out of the garden.

[25:59] And when they were cast out of the garden, they went and they made themselves clothing out of grass, out of leaves. They tried to cover themselves up with plants. And if you'll remember, the angel of the Lord comes down and he brings them skins.

[26:11] Most skins, most animals don't freely give up their skin without dying first. Say amen. You ever met an animal that would just say, here, skin me alive? I mean, we may use that subject, but you don't skin them alive without them dying.

[26:25] Somebody died. And that's a picture all through the Old Testament. Jews got caught up with, man, we're God's chosen people. We're God's chosen people. God always forgives us.

[26:36] God always loves us. God doesn't love other people. They saw all their blessings and they forgot their responsibility. In Genesis chapter 12, God told the Jewish nation, you're to be a blessing to the world.

[26:50] And they were a blessing to the world. Don't get me wrong. They were. They gave us the Bible. They gave us, they gave us Jesus. They gave us all the Old Testament. They gave us the foundation of the whole New Testament church and all the apostles.

[27:03] But see, somewhere along the way, they had slowly moved away from it. And they got caught up on themselves, in themselves, and in their money, and in their job, and in everything else that was more important to them than God was.

[27:16] And they're now focusing on blessings and not responsibility. On details and not the big picture. They're focusing on what they did and not what happened when the lamb died. Every Jew had to know, on the day of atonement, a lamb paid my price.

[27:33] You say, I don't know if you can say that biblically. Okay, I was glad you asked that. Open your Bibles, if you would, to Romans chapter 10. Paul thought that. Romans chapter 10, and we'll read verses 1 through 4, if you would, with me.

[27:47] Romans chapter 10, verses 1 through 4. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. They weren't saved just because they were Israel and they were Jewish people.

[28:00] He was asking for them to be saved. Verse 2. For I bear them record. I go on the record saying, I give you my word about what I'm going to say. They have a zeal of God.

[28:11] They really do love God, and they try their best to do things for God. I mean, these guys are feverishly active. It will remind me, maybe, of the shriner that stands down on McFarlane on the other side of 400.

[28:27] That guy, it doesn't matter what the weather's at, he's out there. He's got a zeal for the shriners. It would remind me, it would remind me of the Jehovah's Witnesses that have a zeal for getting their message out.

[28:41] They had a zeal. But look what it says. But not according to knowledge. They were, now look at me, listen to me. If I get bored, I'll quit. They were excited about moving around.

[28:52] They had a lot of activity, but they didn't know why. They didn't know why. And look what he says in verse 3. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

[29:09] Now let me show you what was happening. Read that verse. It's up here behind me. Look at the verse behind me. Here's what they were doing. It was like they were ignorant. They were ignoring God's righteousness.

[29:21] What was God's righteousness? The lamb. What was God's righteousness? The sacrifice. What was God's righteousness? You're not good enough to save yourselves no matter what you do. You guys always mess up.

[29:32] So I will let a lamb take your place. Or a goat. Or a bull. Or even a dove. Or even sometimes it was an offering of flour or meal. And he said, but I will let a sacrifice.

[29:44] Take your place so that you won't suffer the consequences of your sin. And here's what they were saying. I don't need your sacrifice.

[29:55] I'm a pretty good guy. I mean, do you understand? I pray five times a day. I wash my hands with exactly the right amount of water. I get up at the exact right time.

[30:06] I pray at the right time. In fact, this one guy went into the temple. He looked up his eyes and he said, man, I sure thank you. I'm not like this poor loser here. I fast and I give money. I'm a good guy.

[30:17] You see, that's what they were doing. They were going about establishing their own righteousness. Because it's a bit humbling to admit that as educated as you are. And as smart as you are.

[30:27] And as powerful as you are. You can't. Goes against your pride. Your pride is I'm the man and I can. Your pride is I'm a good man.

[30:38] And I really don't need somebody dying for me. Because I ain't ever done that much wrong. You're ignoring his righteousness. And you're refusing to submit to his righteousness. That's what it's saying.

[30:50] Look at the verse. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness. And going about to establish their own righteousness. Have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. And so here's what God was doing.

[31:01] God was going to move the nation of Israel to one side. And bring in the church. Now he knew this all along. They didn't know it. And you know everything you read in the Bible.

[31:12] You have to look at it from two viewpoints. Whenever you look at it from up here. God always knows everything. So there is no question. If something's happening. God's up there like I knew this all along. And nothing surprising.

[31:23] But when you're down here on this side of the thing. And you're looking up towards him. A lot of stuff is surprising to us. The facts are you're in the middle of a big mess right now. And your life is in a quandary. Your life is in a mess.

[31:34] And you're like I don't know where I'm going to go. And I don't know what I'm going to do. And I can't figure out what to do with my life. But up in heaven God's like hey if you just quit sweating it right around the corner. I got all this solved. But we don't want to see.

[31:47] We want to look at it from our perspective. And that's where Israel was. And so they weren't looking at it. They weren't looking at it from God's perspective. So God's hardening their hearts. In just a second I'm going to show you in the passage.

[31:58] And boy our time's almost gone. But I'm going to show you in the passage. Individual Jews are going to get saved. Even after he said they can't be saved. Even after he said they can't believe. The next verse he's going to tell you that individuals were getting saved.

[32:11] So it wasn't that he was saying none of y'all can get saved. He was saying United States you can't be saved. Our president speaks for us. He goes all over the country.

[32:21] All over the world. And when he stands up whoever our president is. Whether you like him or don't like him. He represents all of us. He's our man. Our governor is our man. They represent us. And so God look at verse 4.

[32:34] Romans 10 4. For Christ is the end of the law. For righteousness is to everyone that believeth. And here's what happened.

[32:44] Listen to this. The law was the. All the law was was a means to get you to the end. All the law was was a means to show you that Jesus was everything.

[32:55] Everything. And here's what the whole testament new testament's about. The lamb in the old testament was Jesus. They didn't know it yet. They couldn't understand that yet. But God could understand it from up on top.

[33:05] And when God wrote the book he understood it. And then when John the Baptist saw him and pointed at him and said behold the lamb of God. All of a sudden it started making sense. And if you go all the way to the book of Revelation. Revelation. We're going to find the lamb is slain from the foundation of the earth.

[33:17] He's standing there. And we haven't seen that yet. That hasn't even happened yet. But the Bible already sees it like it's done. Because when you're looking at it from God's place. Everything's already done. Everything's finished.

[33:28] I mean he has no beginning and he has no end. So here's what they were doing. God was moving them out. I want you to go over to Romans 11. Romans chapter 11.

[33:40] And I don't have time to read all the scripture. I got here. So I'm going to give you just highlights. Romans chapter 11 and verse 11. The Bible says. I say then have they Israel stumbled that they should fall?

[33:52] No way. God forbid. But rather through their fall salvation has come unto the Gentiles. For to provoke them to jealousy. Now watch this.

[34:04] The salvation wasn't that all Gentiles are going to get saved. It was that the ministry was moving out of the hands of Jewish people. And into the hands of Gentile people. That it was no longer the nation of Israel.

[34:15] But it would be the church that would pick that up. And the church. Us. Which is made up of Jews and Gentiles. Who are born again and brought together into a congregation to serve God.

[34:26] They will. We will provoke him. We will provoke them. Look at verse 14. Paul said. If by any means I may provoke to emulation. I want to make them want to do what we do.

[34:37] Make them want to do it. Make them want to serve God. Go to verse 25. For some time sake. If you read all this later. It sure help.

[34:48] Verse 25. For I would not brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery. Lest you should be wise in your own conceits. That blindness in part has happened to Israel. Until the fullness of the Gentiles become in.

[35:02] Let me show you something real quickly about that. You see. Mysteries. Mystery is a. Is a word he uses in the New Testament to say. Nobody knew about it. Now he knew about it. We're talking about you and me.

[35:14] We didn't know about it. The Jews didn't know about it. The people living in the Bible times. They didn't know about it until God told them. Paul's going to explain this mystery a whole lot. In Ephesians. He's going to explain the church.

[35:24] But here's what happened. You would have thought it was God's people Israel from Genesis 12. All the way to Revelation 22. But there was this mystery. God had a plan that he hadn't let them in on yet.

[35:35] They didn't know about yet. There was this mystery. And that was going to be that the Gentiles would come in. And he would give them a full game time. Fullness. The fullness of the Gentiles.

[35:46] And so on Pentecost. And before Pentecost. As he started the church. The day of Pentecost. Especially Acts 13. All of a sudden the church is spreading out. It's becoming a Gentile church. And from Acts 13 on it's full of us.

[35:58] Gentiles. Gentiles. And what he's doing is he said. I'm letting you guys run the clock. Letting you guys play the game. Letting you guys take your responsibility. I hope you'll provoke them to emulation.

[36:11] I hope you'll provoke them to jealousy. I hope you'll see. They'll take their responsibility seriously. Let me give you just a couple more things. And I'll quit.

[36:21] But we must take seriously our responsibility to take the gospel to the world. We are prone to fall into the same trap that Israel fell into. Thinking that we are doing things and have done things to get us where we are.

[36:34] It is so easy in America to think. We drove up here in nice cars. We live in nice houses. We wear nice clothes. And we eat nice food. We build nice church buildings. And even though our building is only a warehouse.

[36:45] Most places in the world would be honored to have our building. And all of a sudden we're like, look at what we've done. And we're doing the exact same thing they did.

[36:56] We're trying to establish our own righteousness. We're getting wrapped up in the privileges and forgetting the responsibilities. We have a head knowledge of scripture. But we don't allow it to truly affect our lives, impact our lives.

[37:10] Can I just tell you this? Those Jewish people, they knew a ton about the Bible. And you know a ton about the Bible. But somehow what you know here won't even let you give out a gospel track.

[37:21] What you know here won't even let you mention the name of Jesus during your work week. What you know here doesn't seem to get out. Something ought to be changed about that. Something ought to be, why did he give you life?

[37:32] Why did he give you talents? Why did he give you the money you have? Is it for your pleasure and your fulfillment? Or did he have something for you to do with your life for him? Do you understand how important you are?

[37:44] Go back with me to John chapter 12 and I'm going to finish up these verses. I'm going to take a little bit extra time tonight. John chapter 12 verse 42. Individually some still believed.

[37:55] Do you remember what he said? In John chapter 12. In John chapter 12 and verse 39. Verse 39. Therefore they could not believe.

[38:06] And he hardened their hearts and he did all that. But look what he says in verse 42. Nevertheless, even though God did all that. Among the chief rulers some. Also many believed on him.

[38:17] But they wouldn't confess him. Lest they should be put out of the synagogue. They loved the praise of men. More than the praise of God. So God said you guys can't believe. But it wasn't the individual.

[38:28] It was the nation. It was the nation. He wanted the nation to reject him. He wanted the nation to because they needed to be put to the side. But he was allowing those who would to believe in him.

[38:38] So individuals are still getting saved. Individuals are still believing. But look what's happening to them. And it so scares me about us. It so scares me about our church.

[38:50] And that is look at verse 42. He said they would. They believed. But they wouldn't tell anybody they believed. Because they didn't want to get put out of the synagogue.

[39:01] They said man the synagogues are center of our social life. And our family life. And if we announce Jesus. We might lose friends. And we might lose contacts. And so let's don't talk about Jesus.

[39:12] In verse 43. They loved the praise of men. More than they loved the praise of God. It was like hey. I'd rather. I'd rather you all like me. Than to stand up for Jesus.

[39:23] You know that's. Can you imagine. You know I put this in my notes. And this is just. I didn't get to preach it like I wanted to. But are you being 007. Instead of Tebow.

[39:36] You know Tebow gets on our nerves. You know everybody. They just about hate him in this country. Amazing. They all want to see him fall. Because this guy's an idiot. He goes around all the time.

[39:47] Said I love Jesus. I just love Jesus. They say. You like playing football. Yeah I like playing football. But I like Jesus a whole lot more. And I like football. Well how you like making all that money.

[39:57] I like making money. But I like Jesus. I really like Jesus. I just like Jesus. I mean. And they're all like. Could you just talk about football. He said. I would. But without Jesus. I couldn't play football. And it wouldn't have any meaning anyway.

[40:08] It's just Jesus. It's Jesus for me. It's Jesus. And everybody's like. We don't even want to interview you. But here's what we do. We walk in. We've been saved. Hey Tebow's no more saved than us. But we walk in.

[40:20] And they say. Hey. You like football. We go. I sure do. Well. What makes you like it? I make a lot of money. People like me. Put my picture on there. Heard Donald Trump say last night on the news. He said.

[40:30] People just like me. He said. Everywhere I go. People just like me. He said. I just. I don't know why it is. People like me. You know.

[40:41] Tebow would never say that. Tebow would be like. Hey. I just love Jesus. I don't know how to play football. I just love Jesus. That'd be Tebow. Here's. But here we are. Here's Vision Baptist Church.

[40:53] Yeah. Yeah. I like my job. Well. Would you have a religious preference? Hey. This is a workplace. We don't bring that up. I mean.

[41:05] I wouldn't want to offend anybody. Don't put me out of the synagogue. Y'all. I don't. I love these next verses.

[41:17] Maybe I'll save them. I will save them. But I'm going to mention them to you. Anyway. Would you read verse 44 with me? If you have not caught on to this verse right here. Verse 44 is going to say it so plain.

[41:29] You got to be. Missing a screw or two to not get this. In verse 44. Jesus cried and said. If you believe on me. You're not believing on me. But you're believing on him that sent me.

[41:40] Look at that verse. Would you read that verse from me? Look at it. He said. If you believe on me. You're not believing on me. You're believing on him that sent me. So I ain't sure what that means.

[41:51] Well. Then read verse 45. Because he says. If y'all are dumb. I'll repeat it. Verse 45. He that sees me. Sees him that sent me. Verse 46. He says. I have come a light into the world.

[42:02] That whosoever believeth on me. Should not abide in darkness. I just want to stop. And just say this. I just want to say this. He's God. You don't. Do you know that? Amen. He's God.

[42:12] He died to pay all of our sin debt. He died to carry the gospel. Give us the gospel. He died to give us eternal life. He has placed the nation of Israel to one side. He's now using the church to get the job done.

[42:24] You should take your responsibility seriously. I'm afraid. I'm afraid. I'm afraid. That if we were alive in the days of Paul. When he and his crowd turned the world upside down.

[42:36]  We'd have been down to synagogue. Not telling anybody we'd have believed yet. Father in heaven. I ask you to work and move. and I pray that your people would feel Holy Spirit conviction and a desire to serve you tonight and that your name would be glorified and honored and I'll magnify you for what you do show your power, work among us God You have been listening to Austin Gardner, pastor of Vision Baptist Church For contact information location, service times or more audio and video recordings log on to www.visionbaptist.com