Then Took They Up Stones

 Temple Baptist Church - 5-24-2023

John 8:56-59

 

Introduction:

 

A.  In verse 59, we find the result of rejection and hatred for Christ.  They not only wanted Him gone, but they also sought to kill Him for the words that He spake.  I have often said that Jesus Christ was the most hated man who ever walked on this earth.

 

1.  Hated by the Jews.  These Jews were “His own” earthly people.  This verse would have been easier to understand if Christ had been a Gentile, as the Jews had little to do with other races of people.  (Peter ate with Gentiles until the Jews approached, then he disassembled from them. Galatians 2:11-12.)

 

John 1:11  He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 

 

2.  Hated by Religion.  Mark 15:11-13  But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.  (12)  And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews?  (13)  And they cried out again, Crucify him.

 

3.  Hated by the world. John 15:18-20  If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 

 

Matthew 7:13-14  Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 

 

4.  But so loved by many who came to Him by faith and love.  John 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

 

John 20:28-29  And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.  (29)  Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

 

B.  Their hatred was unfounded.  John 15:25  But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

 

C.  As with most people the problem these people had with Christ was an authority problem.  Many were highly educated so naturally, humanly speaking, thought they knew more that Christ.

 

D.  He was despised, rejected of men. Why did they hate Him so?

 

Isaiah 53:3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

 

1.  They despised who He was.  John 1:29  The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

 

2.  They despised what He did.  John 15:25  But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

 

3.  They despised what He said.  Luke 4:22  And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?

 

E.  Some reasons He Was hated.

 

1.  He was hated by the people He grew up around because He said that God loved the Gentiles as He did the Jews.  Jesus changed their world view.  Though Israel continues to be the Covenant People of God, in the end-time, God broke off the natural branch and grafted in the wild branch, the Gentiles.  Christ died for the sins of the world, not just Israelites.

 

Luke 4:28-30  And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,  (29)  And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.  (30)  But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

 

2.  He was hated by the Pharisees because He challenged their traditions.  The Pharisees were traditionalists, but they had begun teaching their traditions of washing, etc. as a command of God.   When His disciples plucked ears of corn and He healed the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath. (Matthew 12:1-14; Mark 2:23-3:6; Luke 6:1-11)

 

Matthew 12:14  Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.

 

Mark 3:6  And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

 

Luke 6:11  And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.

 

3.  He was hated by the Pharisees when He placed His authority above theirs.  Today’s problem is still an authority problem.  Jesus Christ was and is the Authority and He gave the Sabbath and He is the God of the Sabbath.  He made the lame to walk again on the Sabbath.  (John 5:1-16)  The authority of the Pharisees was not to be challenged but Christ did.

 

John 5:16  And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.

 

4.  He was hated when He made Himself equal with God. Jesus was God!  God is one God, manifesting Himself in three Persons,  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  These three are all co-equal in power and attributes.  (John 5:17-18)

 

John 5:17-18  But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.  (18)  Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

 

5.  He was hated when He called Himself that name that was only for God.  He placed His name above that of the fathers of Israel: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  “Before Abraham was, I am”  (John 8:48-59)

 

John 8:57-59  Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?  (58)  Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.  (59)  Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

 

6.  He was hated because He claimed to be one with the Father and eternal life found only in Jesus Christ.    (John 10:27-30)

 

John 10:31  Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

 

7.  He was hated because the marvelous works that He performed.  The works that Christ did made Him the undeniable Son of God.  (John 10:31-38)

 

John 10:39  Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand,

 

8.  They hated Him because He raised Lazarus from the dead.  As He raised Lazarus from the dead, we who die in Christ will also be resurrected.   (John 11:45-52)

 

John 11:53  Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.

 

9.  They hated Him when He cleansed the Temple.  Christ did not leave their unbiblical practices in His house to stand.  Man loves religion but God does not.  Religion is a man-made set of rules and practices that are not found in the Bible.  (Mark 11:15-18; Luke 19:45-48)

 

Mark 11:18  And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.

 

Luke 19:47-48  And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him,  (48)  And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.

 

10.  They hated Him because He said that the Kingdom of God would be taken away from the Jews and given to the Gentiles.  (Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-2; Luke 20:9-19)

 

Matthew 21:45-46  And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.  (46)  But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.

 

Mark 12:12  And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.

 

Luke 20:19  And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them.

 

Conclusion:  Every word He spoke was gracious.  Every miracle He performed was right and good.  Every message He preached was Biblical.  Every prophecy He prophesied would come to pass.  He fed them, He led them, He healed them, He raised their dead, He calmed their storms, and He loved them—forgave them—and died in their place.

 

They hated Christ and they will hate us!

 

John 15:18-20  If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.  (19)  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.  (20)  Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

The Jew And The Gospel

Temple Baptist Church - 10-1-2017

Romans 3:1-10

Introduction:

A.  In chapters 1 and 2, we have seen:

1.  The Heathen lost and its resulting in outward immorality.

2.  The Religious lost and its resulting in inward immorality.

           

3.  The Jewish lost and deception as to his relationship to God.

            4.  Tonight, the nation of Israel and the Gospel.

B.  Israel is God’s elect nation.  While God is no respecter of persons, He is a respecter of nations!

1.  Nationally Israel is blinded to the Gospel.  (Romans 11:1-12)

2 Corinthians 3: 12-16  Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:  And not as Moses, which put a Vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:  But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.  But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.  Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.

2.  Nationally Israel will turn back to God.

Romans 11:25-29  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.  And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:  For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.  As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.  For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

3.  Individually, Jews are hard to win to Christ.

Acts 28:23-28  And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.  And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.  And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,  Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:  For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.  Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.

4.  Individually, there are Jews being saved.

Romans 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

1.  The Person of The Jew – 3:1  “Jew”

Deuteronomy 14:2  For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.

a.   Abraham was the first Hebrew – HEBREW: one from beyond or a name denoting passage, pilgrimage, or coming from beyond the Euphrates.

b.  Jacob was the first Jew as he was the father of the nation Israel.  JEW – contraction of Judah – comes from a root word that meansEX'TANT,  Standing out or above any surface; protruded.

2.  The Position of The Jew – 3:1-2

            a.  Their Advantage – “much in every way”

Romans 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Romans 2:10  But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

b.  Their Accountability – “committed the oracles of God”

Romans 2:9  Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

            c.  Their Actions – “did not believe”

                        John 5:40  And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

Romans 11:20  Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:

3.  The Providence of The Jew – 3:1-2  “unto them” 

a.  The Inscribed Word was given to the Jew. 

2 Peter 1:21  For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

b.  The Incarnate Word was given was to the Jew. 

Deuteronomy 18:15  The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

Galatians 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

3.  The Problem of The Jew – 3:3; 2:17-29 (Pride)

a.  Their Rejection of the Word of God. 

Matthew 23:37  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

b.  Their rejection of the Son of God.

John 1:11  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

Romans 10:16  But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?

c.  Their rejection of the righteousness of God.

Romans 10:1-5  Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.  For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.  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.  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.  For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.

4.  The Persecution by The Jew – 3:4-8

            a.  They Persecuted the Son of God.

                        Luke 23:21  But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.

            b.  They Persecuted the Saints of God.  3:8

Matthew 5: 10-12  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

5.  The Parity of The Jew – 3:9-10

Galatians 6:15  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

Conclusion:

The Immoral Man Is Damned – 1:19-32

The Moral Man Is Damned – 2:1-16

The Religious Man Is Damned – 2:17-29

The Jewish Man Is Damned – 2:17-3:9

All Mankind Is Damned – 3:10

The Righteous Judgement of God

Temple Baptist Church - 9-24-2017

Romans 2:1-11

Introduction:

A.  We spent quite a while in chapter one of Romans because of its importance.  It sets forth the gospel and accountability to God’s truth.  It sets forth the wrath of God against holding the truth in unrighteousness. 

B.  Romans, chapters 1-3, condemns the unsaved sinners of all types.

1.  Chapter one deals with the heathen lost who are accountable for the light of conscience (inherent or inward light) and the light of creation (outward light).  God condemns the heathen lost.  No sin is off limits to them.

2.  Chapter 2 condemns the self-righteousness religionist and the lost Jew.  God condemns the religious lost.  They are seemingly holy on the outside but filthy on the inside.

C.  The self-righteous do two things:

1.  They look down upon the openly sinful in unrighteous judgement.

Luke 18:9-11  And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:  (10)  Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.  (11)  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

Matthew 23:27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

2.  They despise the longsuffering and goodness of God to the sinful.  They want to see the “sinners” get what they deserve, not realizing that the same longsuffering and grace extended to the “sinners” is also extended to the self-righteous.

a.  God is good to the sinful lost.

b.  God is good to the self-righteous lost.

c.  God is not willing that any perish but that all come to repentance.

D.  The unsaved Jews:

1.  They think that they are right with God because of their Lineage. The Jews could trace their religious ancestry all the way back to Abraham. Somehow, they felt that this lineage gave them an ironclad guarantee of salvation. Nothing could have been further from the truth! One only becomes a Christian by placing his faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross at Calvary!

2.  They think that they are right with God because of their Law.  The Jews somehow felt that the Law and rituals it described gave them a certain higher standing in the eyes of the Lord. They felt that just possessing the Law and knowing it, was enough to put them in a right relationship with the Lord.  What they thought was a guarantee of salvation turned out to be a guarantee of condemnation.

3.  They think that they are right with God because of their promised Messiah.  Jesus Christ was born as a Jew.  Though they looked for the Messiah, they rejected the Son of God.  They still look for His coming instead of accepting the Lord Jesus Christ. 

4.  They think that they are right with God because of their past Leadership. They had Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses.  Because the Jew had a spiritual lineage, because they had the Law, because they felt they were in a relationship with God, they felt superior to everyone else on the planet. They felt that it was their responsibility to show everyone else the way.

5.  However, none of these things could produce salvation for the Jew. There was one thing that saved then, one thing that saves now and one thing that will save forever: Faith in the gospel, the finished work of Jesus Christ!