In the following sermon, Glenn Durham shows us Biblically that there are
those who may hear the Gospel with their ears but not with their hearts,
hence "not all who hear, hear." This is a reminder to Christians that not
all who hear the Good News will comprehend it. However this sermon is also
encouragement and exhortation to not give up and to keep hope that one day
the person will eventually hear the Gospel with their ears AND their
heart.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
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Not All Who Hear, Hear
by Glenn Durham
During the last few months we have followed Jesus around Jerusalem as he
interacts with a variety of people, especially confounding his enemies.
Jesus often taught by a kind of paradox - a fact which I have sought to
convey (in part) by the sermon titles. In John 8, Jesus showed us that
"Not
all who die, die." Then he healed a blind man and made the miracle into a
parable by noting, "Not all who see, see" (John 9). Last week Jesus
confronted pastors who failed God's people, and we learned: "Not all who
shepherd, shepherd" (John 10). And we have found more than once that "Not
all who believe, believe."
This morning ends our study of Jesus' public ministry. For three years he
has traveled through Israel, healing, preaching, confronting, discipling,
touching, blessing - demonstrating himself to be Messiah with hundreds of
miracles and countless acts of mercy, proving his deity by his unique
works
and from God's inspired Word. Sadly, however, his own people reject him
and
they will kill the one who came to save. We see why as we read in John 10.
John 10:22-42
22 Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and
Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade. 24 The Jews
gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If
you
are the Christ, tell us plainly."
25 Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I
do in my Father's name speak for me, 26 but you do not believe because you
are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they
follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no
one
can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is
greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and
the Father are one."
31 Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to
them,
"I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these
do
you stone me?"
33 "We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for
blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."
34 Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you
are
gods'? 35 If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came - and the
Scripture cannot be broken- 36 what about the one whom the Father set
apart
as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of
blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'? 37 Do not believe me unless I
do
what my Father does. 38 But if I do it, even though you do not believe me,
believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is
in
me, and I in the Father." 39 Again they tried to seize him, but he
escaped
their grasp.
40 Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been
baptizing in the early days. Here he stayed 41 and many people came to
him.
They said, "Though John never performed a miraculous sign, all that John
said about this man was true." 42 And in that place many believed in
Jesus.
Biblical preaching must meet different needs depending on the hearer. True
Christians need frequent encouragement and steady assurances of salvation.
Life is difficult and we are easily overcome by the weaknesses of the
flesh,
the sins which so easily entangle, and an enemy who seeks our destruction.
Hope and confidence leak from our lives like the helium from last week's
birthday balloons, and we find ourselves deflated and flaccid rather than
strong and courageous.
At the same time, many professors of religion are just that - they profess
to follow God, but their lives insist otherwise. They claim Jesus as Lord
and the Bible as their guide, but they have no life in them.
In the early 1900s, journalist Finley Peter Dunne said, "The job of the
newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." I'm
not
sure from whom he borrowed that line, but pastors have known it for
centuries. The comfortable must be wakened to their danger, while the
fearful and doubting need the calming voice of the divine Savior. Jesus
carefully covers both.
To his own, Jesus preaches the causes and certainty of eternal security:
"Those to whom I give spiritual life will never perish, because no one can
pry my mighty hand lose from their lives." (Some Christians use the
slogan,
"Once saved, always saved," to summarize this Biblical doctrine, but that
may not be as clear and accurate as we can be.) Properly titled, "The
Perseverance of the Saints, this bright truth shines from countless pages
of
Scripture and warms the soul as it reminds us that our hope is not in our
flagging efforts but in God's infinite power to save and sanctify.
Jesus also (in this text) sharply reproves the Jews who refuse to believe.
Glorious truths which should thrill the soul instead quickens their anger.
At the T4G Conference, John MacArthur preached for an hour on "Total
Depravity." MacArthur is not as passionate in form as John Piper, nor as
animated as C. J. Mahaney. He eschews all gimmicks, preferring plain
preaching which is careful, doctrinal, and exegetical. Additionally, his
topic was no lobbed softball. I dare say that few of you are ready to hold
an audiences' attention by describing the depth of sin which deadens the
soul and damns us to hell forever. But at his conclusion, 5000 men
applauded. Why? Because the truth of depravity drives us to Jesus, and
that
always delights the soul of those who hear his voice.
The gospel is the good news that God has come to save his people. But
truth
has implications, and the gospel implies two profound conclusions. First,
we
must be more evil than we would ever dare imagine (since God himself must
save); and second, you must be more loved than you would ever dare hope
(for
God has saved). The offense of the gospel is that you cannot get to God's
love until and unless you embrace your need. For those with faith and
humility to do so, the deity of Christ is good news indeed. That explains
why.
1. God As Messiah Encourages True Believers (John 10.22-30)
The Jewish leaders pretended an desire to know the truth when they
demanded,
"If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." Of course, Jesus had previously
told them, plainly. In fact, he told them both in words and in works. The
Old Testament prophets predicted Messiah would open these eyes of the
blind,
heal the lame, give hearing to the deaf, cleanse lepers, raise the dead,
and
preach good news to the poor. Jesus did all of these, and these all bear
witness that God has become man to live and die. Those who entrust their
lives to this Messiah find great encouragement from the fact that he is
one
with the Father, that he is God in human form.
First, the true believer is delighted to be called a sheep. Last week we
reviewed some of the unpleasant characteristics of sheep: they are dumb
and
stubborn and dirty and needy and easily startled and scattered. So why
would
anyone like that title? Because we would rather hear a hard truth than a
soft lie.
When Hansel and Gretel wandered in the woods, they found a house built of
bread and covered with cakes, and the windows were of clear sugar. Because
they were starving, they began to eat the roof and window pane, when
suddenly a woman as old as the hills came creeping out. Hansel and Gretel
were terribly frightened, but the old woman said, "Oh, you dear children,
come in, and stay with me. No harm shall happen to you." And she fed them
milk and pancakes, with sugar, apples, and nuts. Afterwards two pretty
little beds were covered with clean white linen, and Hansel and Gretel lay
down in them, and thought they were in heaven. But the old woman had only
pretended to be so kind; she was a wicked witch, who wanted to eat the
children.
That is a parable for Satan: he flatters to destroy; God speaks the truth
to
save. Yes, of course, being compared to a sheep is humbling, but whoever
is
brought low there finds a humble Savior who dwells with the meek and lowly
and delights to lift you to heaven.
Second, we are not only sheep, but his sheep. A wise farmer cares well for
the animals that belong to him. There is no profit in mistreating them, in
ignoring their needs, in refusing them healthy food and clean water. When
God says, "These are mine," he binds himself to your comfort and care.
Also, because God is your Messiah, you hear his voice. The rebellious
woman
wants to hear herself speak; the Christian woman wants God's wisdom. When
the unconverted man is in a tight squeeze, he asks himself, "How will I
get
what I want out of this situation?" When the godly man is in a tight
squeeze, he asks himself: "How will I get what God wants?" With God the
Son
as our Messiah, we are assured that the voice we hear is both our Lord and
our Savior. The one who lays down his life and takes it up again is the
same
One who tells you show you shall live. But you trust his word because he
has
given his life for you.
Fourth, because the Messiah is God, he is able to give eternal life. If
you
are thoughtful, you realize that you can never work your way into God's
presence. Heaven sits on a mountain too steep; across a divide too wide;
at
a distance too far. "To the one who works, his wages are not counted as a
gift but as his due." But the wages of sin are death. I need a gift! And
only God has the authority to give eternal life. Cult leaders promise life
to those who serve faithfully. The power of their deceit lies in the lies
told. But they cannot provide what they promise! Jesus is God - therefore
he
can give life as a gift.
True believers are also encouraged by the promise that they cannot be
lost.
Because the Messiah is God, we realize that we can contribute nothing to
salvation - it is all of grace, all of Christ, all of divine initiative.
All
pretense of pride is stripped from us and buried in the dust of our
unwillingness and inability to chose God. Sure we have a free will - you
are
free to chose what we want. But apart from grace, I always chose to sin.
The
will is free; the "want" remains a slave. God must save. But if God saves,
then God keeps!
The gospel is good news - God saves sinners! But the tough implication is
that I am more evil than I ever dared imagine. That is an implication of
the
fact that God must save us - our sin separates us from God a distance too
great for me to span. The Westminster Confession of Faith summarizes this
Biblical truth: "By their fall, our first parents became dead in sin and
wholly defiled in all the parts and faculties of soul and body.. From this
original corruption, we are utterly disinclined, disabled, and
antagonistic
to all that is good and wholly inclined to all that is evil.. Man, by his
fall into a state of sin, has completely lost all ability to choose any
spiritual good that accompanies salvation. Therefore, an unregenerate man,
because he is opposed to that good and is dead in sin, is unable by his
own
strength to convert himself or to prepare himself to be converted" (6.2,4;
9.3, OPC, MESV).
Many enemies of the gospel consider those words virtually self-suicide,
certainly destructive of self-esteem. How can anyone find hope and
encouragement there?
For those with courage to hear the truth about sin, you eventually find
chapter eleven: "Those whom God effectually calls he also freely
justifies,
not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins and
by
accounting and accepting them as righteous. It is not for anything wrought
in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone that they are
justified. It is not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or
any
other act of Christian obedience to them, as their righteousness, but by
imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ to them who receive and
rest on him and his righteousness by faith. Men do not have this faith of
themselves; it is the gift of God."
Because God the Son had to come as a human in Jesus Christ, I am shown to
be
much worse than I would have ever dared think; because God the Son has
come
as a human in Jesus Christ, I am shown to be much more loved than I could
have ever dared hope. So when Jesus says, "I and the Father are one," true
believers are thrilled by the stamp of hope that places on their souls.
But
not everyone cheered this revelation.
2. God As Messiah Infuriates False Professors (John 10.31-39)
At first glance it appears that the gospel is nothing but good news. As J.
I. Packer neatly summarized: "There is really only one point to be made in
the field of soteriology: the point that God saves sinners." So why was
Jesus attacked? Because if God must be our Messiah then my contribution to
salvation is only my sin.
These men dedicated their lives to obeying the law; now Jesus' presence
insists their good works are filthy rags. Their religion was supposed to
send them to heaven; but if Jesus is God, their efforts condemn them to
hell.
Puritan Pastor John Bunyan, famous for Pilgrim's Progress, said that the
best prayer he ever prayed had enough sin in it to damn the whole world.
The
Prophet Isaiah said it first: "We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment" (Isaiah 64.6).
If God becomes a man to save, then unredeemed sinners are both unwilling
and
unable to please God. So simply by standing before them Jesus insists:
.. They cannot love the true and living God;
.. They cannot obey God's law with pure motives;
.. They cannot understand basic spiritual truths;
.. They do not accept the things of the Spirit of God;
Note well: they quoted Scripture; they claimed to be all about the honor
of
God and his church; they reminded Jesus of how they longed for the
Messiah.
But when he arrives, they hate him. It is always so - religious people
hate
grace.
John Calvin: "This story warns us that we cannot escape the tricks and
slanders of the wicked if we are called to preach the Gospel."
But this applies to more than me; it speaks to everyone who follows Jesus.
2Timothy 3.12: "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will
be
persecuted." When your life is transformed by the grace of the gospel and
you can take no credit to yourself, you will be persecuted, even as Jesus
was.
I have counseled women who say they want a godly man who will lead them
spiritually, but when he tries, they find fault and fail to support.
Plenty
of churches search for a pastor to teach them the Bible, but when he
arrives, they complain and criticize. It is simple to quote the Scriptures
and say you want what God does - what will you do when you get it? These
men
saw the Messiah they had so long sought, and they picked up stones to kill
him.
3. God As Messiah Prohibits Hearing Without Responding (John 10.40-42)
John 10.42: "Many believed in him there." How are you responding?
Most of Jesus' enemies counted on their religious efforts to please God.
That problem certainly remains today. We might call it, "Carbon Offset
Religion." I pollute the world with my sin, but I do some good deed to
offset the damage. Many people participate in "religion" in order to
appease
God.
Maybe a bigger issue among Americans is their belief in some form of
eternal
rewards with neither a relationship to the Messiah nor any religious
effort.
Liberalism and universalism promote this false belief.
Within the evangelical church, many professions produce no effect. Many
hear
that salvation is by grace, then quit listening. Every pastor sees it in
the
church and it grieves him terribly - people who mouth the right words but
whose lives are unaffected. We love our comfort as much as any pagan. We
spend our money in the same way as our neighbor. We believe that "things
go
better with Jesus," but we really want the riches of this world. We like
sermons which make us feel self-righteous, churches which do not challenge
us, and leadership which never asks us to change. We will give an hour or
two each week, but commitment and community went out with the WWII
generation. We have not yet learned that "faith without works is dead"
(James 2.17,20,26).
The Bible teaches that the faith which saves also sanctifies. We are saved
by grace through faith alone - for how could sinners add anything to the
wonderful works of God? But the faith which saves is never alone - it
produces fruit in keeping with repentance.
Be encouraged that God has come to save; believe in the greatness of the
gospel and be conformed into his likeness. For Jesus' glory and your sake,
amen.
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