What Will You Do With Jesus?
This is a transcript. It may contain small inaccuracies.
What will you do with Jesus? That is the question. What will you do with Jesus? People imagine that they can ignore Jesus. People imagine that they can make no decision about Jesus—put Him on hold. People imagine that they can be confronted with the truth about Jesus, and if they choose to do so, choose to do nothing with Jesus.
There are some people, in all likelihood, who sit in our midst week after week after week after week. We imagine this. And they've been confronted with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ numerous times, but they've not trusted in Him as their Lord and Savior. Yet, they would not say that they reject Him. They would not say that they just don't believe the things that they're hearing concerning Him. They just imagine that they sit in some sort of a no-man's land and have time to do nothing with Him. That they can straddle the fence.
Some imagine that they could do this for a lifetime. I really don't know what they imagine exactly. I know they don't want to go to hell, if you talk to them. They want to go to heaven, but I guess they imagine they're going to live forever. So they can kick the can down the road a little bit more. And so for as long as they choose, they just choose to do nothing in their own mind with Jesus. Some actually have thought about it more than that. And they have consciously decided to put off the decision concerning Jesus. They say something like this: Well, you know, one day I would like to become a Christian. One day. One day I plan to trust in Christ. But it's just not right now. This is just not the right time for me.
Some even, in a sense, ignore the gospel by saying, I'm waiting for God to make the decision. It's in His court. You know, I just don't sense that He's called me yet. I just don't sense that He's called me to faith in His Son. So I'm just waiting for God to make this decision for me.
And what they ignore when they think that way is the fact that the gospel contains a command. The gospel contains a command. We're commanded to repent of our sins and to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're told that "today is the day of salvation." "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart." So God puts this before men in terms of a decision that they have to make, that they are to make. What will you do with Jesus?
And we know, we've studied this together, that when men do decide for the Lord Jesus, when they embrace Christ as Lord and Savior, it's only because God has been at work in His grace in a secret way by His Spirit doing the work of regeneration. That's why they desire to obey that command and to trust in Christ, to repent and believe. And yet it is still accurate to say and right to say and biblical to say that this choice is put before men.
What will you do with Jesus? Will you repent of your sins and trust in Christ as your Lord, as your Savior? Or will you reject Him? And whether you know it or not, when you do nothing with Jesus, you are doing something. Let me say that again. Whether you know it or not, when you do nothing with Jesus, you are doing something. And whether you know it or not, when you decide to do nothing, you are making a decision.
And you are being very foolish, and I say this lovingly and biblically, if you say, well, one day I would like to become a Christian. You are being foolish, according to Scripture, when you say one day, because you are not guaranteed another moment, according to Scripture. And if your life ends and you are not in Christ, you have not trusted in Him with saving faith, then you will spend eternity separated from God in a place called hell forever and ever and ever. And there are no re-do's. And there are no second chances.
The Word of God tells us that one day, every single human being who has ever lived will acknowledge the truth concerning Jesus. Isaiah 45:22 says this, Isaiah 45, 22 says this, : "Turn to Me and be saved. Turn to Me." That's a command. Turn to Me. It's a command, it's an invitation, but it's a command. "Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, the Word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance."
Every human being who has ever lived will acknowledge the truth about Jesus. The New Testament equivalent of this is found in Philippians 2, in verse 9: "Therefore God has also highly exalted Him," referring to Christ, "and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee, without exception, every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father." You see, either you will acknowledge the truth about Jesus as His disciple, as His follower, or you will acknowledge the truth about Christ even as you are among those who are damned forever in Hell. What will you do with Jesus? What will you do with Him?
Every human being will one day acknowledge the truth about Jesus. Jesus, now in verses 37 through 42—and especially 37 to 39—He brings people face to face with a decision that is set before them. In verses 37 through 39, He is addressing those who accused Him, you remember, of blasphemy. He tells them in these verses that there is a decision to be made. And that's where I want us to begin this morning—verses 37 through 39—and I want us to begin to consider this portion under this heading: the call for decision. The call for decision. What will you do with Jesus?
There are several things that I want us to see about this call for a decision. The Son of God is calling men to decision, and the question is, what do you see about this call? Verse 37, He says, "If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me." And so the first thing that I would note about this call is that it is a confident call. This call for decision is a confident call. You know, they wanted to focus on His words; they wanted to ignore His works. And the reason they did so is because His works confirmed the truthfulness of His words.
His works demonstrated that He was worthy of the title: the Son of God. God the Son. He was indeed the Son of God. He and the Father were indeed one. He was truly God incarnate. He was truly the God-sent God. And His works demonstrated exactly that truth. And so He says to them, if you don't want to listen to My words, then pay attention to My works. Behold My works. And He says, if I'm not doing the works of My Father, if these are not good, noble, beautiful works, wholesome works, as He described them earlier—if they're not truly that—then reject Me. Walk away from Me.
Would you honestly consider My works? That's what He's saying. Would you take an honest look at My works? It's a confident call, isn't it? It's a confident call. You know, one of the things about truth is that it never has any reason to fear examination, right? The truth has no fear of examination—no reason for that. If you're speaking the truth, then it will stand up to the examination. Always. The truth indeed will set you free.
Jesus is not afraid for His works to be examined precisely because they were of the nature that He's described them to be. To be of. They were indeed the works of God. They were noble. They were God-glorifying. Something else that stands out to me in that 37th verse—when He says, if you determine that they're not the works of the Father, then don't believe. "Don't believe Me." Something you see about the Lord Jesus is He wasn't afraid to let someone walk away from Him. You see, this is exactly the case with the rich young ruler, right? Remember that encounter? Jesus loved him, but He lets the rich young ruler walk away from Him. And this needs to affect really the way we think about evangelism. This needs to affect the way we do evangelism and share the gospel. We need to know that we have the truth, that we hold in our hands the truth, that we have in our hearts the truth, the truth of the gospel. I mean, what we have in the Scripture is the God-inspired record of the words and the works of Jesus. And then you have the New Testament commentary upon those words and the works, the application of the truths that have to do with His words and His works in the epistles.
We have nothing to be afraid of when it comes to our witness to the world. We just need to speak the truth in a straightforward way, knowing that it's the truth. God's truth. God's Word. And we need to challenge men to examine it, challenge men to give honest thought to it. And we can say to them, if you don't believe it to be true, then walk away. And then we must be willing to let them walk away.
See, I'm afraid what has happened instead is the church of our generation has become a church full of salespeople. And we think that we have to sell the gospel. We think that we have to sell the Lord Jesus. You know, we have to make a good pitch. And so we press people for a decision. A decision. Parent a prayer, raise a hand, walk an aisle. We twist arms. We bring superficial professions of faith in Jesus and the evidence is left thereafter that they were not truly His disciples. No transformed lives.
We would do better to evangelize the way that the Lord Jesus shared Himself. But not only is it a confident call, notice the second thing that we notice about this call, that it's also a decisive call. It is a decisive call. I mean, He calls for a decision right then. He says in verse 37, "If I am not doing the works of My Father, then do not believe Me." What's it going to be? Are you going to believe or not? "But if I do them," verse 38, "even though you do not believe Me, believe the works." If you discover that these are indeed the works of God, then believe them, which leads, of course, to belief in Him. Because notice the next part of verse 38, "so that." That's the end in view. That's the purpose. "So that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me and I am in the Father." In other words, if you find that My works are not what I've described them to be, then walk away from Me. But if you find them that they are indeed as I've described them to be, then believe them so that you may know something about Me and something about My Father. It's a decisive call.
Now notice a few things about this particular statement that Jesus makes. When He gives these words, when He says these words to these people, I want you to notice with me that these are gracious words. These are gracious words coming from the lips of the One who's full of grace. The One who's full of grace. Think about this. I mean, this is the Son of God. This is the Word incarnate. This is God in human flesh. This is the Son of God condescending to reach out to these rebellious men. These men, get the picture in your mind, they're standing there with stone in their hands ready to kill Him.
And what does Jesus do? He's reaching out to them with these gracious words, challenging them, calling them to believe in Him, to turn to Him and be saved. And He appeals to them in a way that is designed to clear away their unbelief, to clear away the debris of unbelief. And when I say He condescends, this is what I mean. He says, listen, if you're stumbling over the words, if the words would seem too incredible to you to believe, then believe the works. Examine the works. Behold the blind man who now can see. He's clearing away obstacles to bring them to the place of faith.
These are gracious words. But they're also humble words. They're humble words. One of the things that has to be challenged in us, beloved, one of the sinful things in us that has to be challenged when we look at the life of our Lord is His humility compared to our pride. Because there are men who would be offended if we're not willing to hear their words and would never consider saying, well, if my words are the issue, then set them aside, just examine the works. In other words, the Son of God is willing to be tested, have His word tested by His works. These are mere creatures of the dust. That's humility. If you're stumbling over My words, then look at My works. Gracious words, humble words.
But notice something else. Even though they're gracious and humble words, these words are non-negotiable words. They're non-negotiable words. Because whether you're convinced by His works or whether you're convinced by His words, there's a definite place of understanding you must be brought to. Verse 38, "But if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works so that you may know and continue knowing, continue to know that the Father is in Me and I in the Father." This is where you must arrive to be a Christian. You must recognize the truth about the person of Jesus. You must recognize the truth about His nature, who He truly is.
You must believe Him when He tells you what He tells you in verse 30, "I and the Father are one." And what does it mean when He says, "The Father is in Me and I in the Father" in verse 38? He means they are one, one in substance, one in essence, one in purpose. Very God of very God. And this is what you must believe in order to be saved. You must believe that Jesus is the Son of God. You must believe that He is God in human flesh, God incarnate. You must believe that He lived the life that the Bible says that He lived. That He died the death that the Bible says that He died. And that He was raised from the dead victorious. And that He is the only way to the Father. You must believe this to be saved concerning Christ.
So whether His works lead you to this understanding or His words lead you to this understanding, this is the place that you must come to. There is no other way to be saved. You cannot be saved. You cannot come to God while rejecting the truth about the Son of God, the Christ. Mormons desire us to consider them Christians. But Mormons are not Christians, are they? And why are they not? Because they do not understand the nature of God. They do not understand the nature of Christ. They would have us to believe that there are many gods.
Jehovah's Witnesses, same thing. In fact, they are false witnesses. And they would like to use the same language that you use and have you believe that they are real. They would like to use the same language that you use and have you believe that they really don't believe that much differently than you believe and I believe. But their beliefs are so different, far different than yours and mine. Aren't they? Because they deny God being one, is a triune God. They deny that Jesus is one with the Father, co-equal, co-eternal, always existing as God along with the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. They deny this. Are they Christians? Absolutely not. They are not Christians.
You see, whether by His works or by His words, this is what you must understand: that He and the Father are one. That God is one, yet He always existed as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—three distinct persons, one God. The Son of God came to earth. He lived a life the Bible says that He lived and died the death the Bible says He died and was raised from the dead. He died on the third day and is the only way to the Father. He shed His blood, and His shed blood is the only way for sinners to have their sins remitted. The only way.
And so this is a confident call. Jesus says, examine My works. If they're not as I've described them to be, then walk away from Me. But if they are as I've described them to be, then you must believe the works and understand that the Father is in Me and I in the Father. It is a decisive call.
Which gets to the third thing. You see about this call that it was a rejected call. Sadly, it was a rejected call. Though He was gracious with them, exhibited humility toward them, what was their response? Rejection. They rejected Him. How did they respond to these words? How? Again, they sought to arrest Him. They went on seeking what they sought in the first place.
Look at verse 39: "Therefore, they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp." Now, we're not told here how He eluded their grasp, how He did this. It really doesn't matter what form it took, does it? Here's the bottom line: His hour had not yet come. God operates according to His own divine timetable, right? And so they're not able to seize Him. He leaves.
But I want us to see something very interesting—the play on words here. The contrast between that statement and the preceding statements earlier in this chapter. Go back to verse 28 and look at this with me together. Jesus said, "I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish, ever, and no one is able to snatch them out of My hand." Here is the Greek word. "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand." Verse 39: "Therefore, they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their hand." Of course, when you're in the hand of the Father, it doesn't make any difference whose hands are seeking to lay themselves upon you, does it? If you're in the hand of God, you will escape out of the hands of all of those who seek to hurt you, to lay hold of you. You're safe and secure in the hand of God, and nothing—absolutely nothing—will come into your life, child of God, without it first passing through the sacred desk of God. Absolutely nothing.
So a call to decision. And before we move on, I just want to say again today that if you are not a child of God, if you are not in Christ, if you are not a Christian, and you have sat in this place before many, many times and you've heard the gospel in this place—perhaps you heard the gospel in your home from your parents, from your husband, from your wife, from your family member, from your friend—over and over again, I want you to know that as long as you go on doing nothing with Jesus, you've done something with Jesus. There is no middle ground. If you don't believe in Him, then walk away from Him. But if you believe His works, that they are noble and beautiful and God-glorifying, then you must trust in Him, because the day is coming. You either will bow the knee and confess that Jesus is Lord as His disciple, or you will do so as one who is part of the multitudes who are damned in hell. By bowing and confessing, you will and you must.
What will you do with Jesus?
Will you please now notice with me the contrast that we see in verse 40? Now, the contrasting picture: “And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there. And many came to Him and were saying, ‘While John did no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true.’ And many believed in Him there.” Now, we've talked about this before, but I want to remind us of it again. See, if John wanted to record everything that Jesus did and everything that Jesus said, there was no way for him to do it.
In fact, he says in John 21:25, “There are so many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written one after the other, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” Listen also to how he put it with the purpose clause in John 20:30: “Therefore, many other signs Jesus also did in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in His name.” John says, I didn't write everything that I could have, but what I've written is written with a design, with a purpose—that you may believe that He is indeed the Son of God, God the Son, that believing in Him also you may have life in His name.
So there's much about the life of Christ that we don't have in the Gospel of John. Yet guided by the Spirit, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he sees fit to record after this conversation—this confrontation with these hard-hearted men, ready to kill Him—this portion in verse 40 to verse 42. He went back to Perea, also known as Bethabara, to the place where John was first baptizing, and the Scripture says He was staying there, He was abiding there. And then we have a brief description of what took place.
Now why? Why does John record this? Well, why is it there? I believe one reason the Holy Spirit gives us this is that it is in such contrast—stark contrast—to what we've just read. I mean, it's night and day difference, isn't it? In verse 40, notice Jesus is welcomed in Perea. “He went away again beyond the Jordan,” we read, “to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there”—*meno*, abiding, remaining there. That is to say, He was able to stay there, to abide there, to rest.
In Jerusalem, Judea, Jerusalem—they're constantly seeking for His life, but He's able to remain here for a time. See the contrast: Jerusalem and here in Perea. And notice what's going on while He's there. Verse 41: “Many came to Him.” Many came to Him. Now, they're not coming to Him because they're settled in unbelief. They're not coming to Him because they're trying to entrap Him, find something against Him, undermine Him. They're coming to Him because they're open to faith in Him. They're seeking Him. They're genuinely interested, genuinely wanting to know who He really is. It's a marked difference—a stark difference, isn't it—between the two?
In Jerusalem, there they are, spying on Him. They're trying to entrap Him. He's walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon, verse 23, and they encircle Him like sharks. They surround Him like hyenas, and they begin to pepper Him with questions. This is the atmosphere in Jerusalem. But when He goes to Perea, oh, it's completely different. Totally different. He's able to rest, He's able to stay there, and we read, "And many came to Him," and not because they're settled in their unbelief, but because they are open to believe in Him. It's different, and I always marvel at the detail of God's Word, really. It's always marvelous. It just always—it just makes me happy when I discover these things as I read the Word of God.
Because notice what verse 41 says: "And many came to Him and were saying," notice this, "While John did what? No sign." Stunning, isn't it? "While John did no sign, yet everything John," what's the next word, "said," "said about this man was true." Do you see the contrast? You catch it?
In Jerusalem, they won't believe a thing Jesus is saying, and though they've seen many signs—the last one was the man born blind receiving his sight—they don't believe what they see. But at this time here, in this place, in Perea, what they have to go on at this point is, as Jesus comes to them, what they're remembering is the witness of His forerunner, John the Baptist, what he said concerning Jesus. And they said, "John did no sign," yet even though they had no sign of John the Baptist to go on, these people believe everything now that they met Jesus. They believe everything that John said about Jesus.
The witness of John the Baptist is effectual in their case. The words have found a home in their heart. The words have found fertile soil in their heart, and the words have become effectual in them without signs. Without works, they were willing to believe the words, which gets to the 42nd verse: "And many believed in Him there."
Despite the works, despite the words of Jesus, they don't believe in Him in Jerusalem. But now, based upon no works but the words of His forerunner and what they've experienced as Jesus is in their midst, many believe in Him.
Listen to what S. Lewis Johnson said concerning this section here. It's really very helpful for us. He writes, "Now notice the last statement, and many believed on Him there. In other words, not in Judea where they had the Bible, where they had the priest, where they had the tradition, where they had the temple, where they had the knowledge, but many of them believed on Him there," referring to Perea. In the original text, there's a bit of emphasis upon the adverb, "many believed upon Him there."
He goes on to say, "One of the saddest things is to see a congregation in which the Word of God is proclaimed in truthfulness, harmony with the Scriptures, in the Holy Spirit, accurately, and the congregation is indifferent, and lethargic, and cold, and unresponsive. And then to go to another assembly where the Word of God is not preached very strongly, where there are no real depth of teaching, it's somewhat artificial, superficial, and yet there they are—hungry, spiritually hungry individuals who are responsive to the Word." He says, "That's great, but what a condemnation it was for Judea that many believed upon Him there in Perea, just as there might be no responsiveness in Believer's Chapel," referring to the church which he's serving. And we can really easily substitute this with Grace Chapel, "but some believing on Him elsewhere. But it's very possible that there's responsiveness to the Word of God in places where they don't really have the opportunity that some of us have had. It's something to thank God for, but it's something also to weep over." End of quote.
So you have a call for decision, and the Holy Spirit sets before us a contrasting picture. People who don't believe despite the works and words of the Son of God, and people who do believe, and they've been influenced, according to this text, by the words—and no works—by the words of John the Baptist, the forerunner. And the day of decision is still with us. Still here. What will you do with Jesus?
Here we are 2,000 years later, and we have the record before us, and the time of decision is still here. What will you do with this record? What will you do with this record? What will you do with the gospel? What will you do with Jesus? What will you do with the words concerning Jesus, the words of Jesus, and the works of Jesus that have been preserved for us by God in this book? What will you do? What will you do with Christ? What have you done with Him? What have you done with Him?
In light of what we've seen today in these verses, I'd like to finish and conclude this morning with five observations by way of application. Five observations. And first of all, the first one: notice that faith—first of all—faith is something worked internally, not externally.
Faith is something worked internally, not externally. That is, if external evidence alone is what brings men to Jesus, then you would be able to say wherever you have the more powerful external evidence, then you will find greater faith, right? Greater external evidence, greater faith—that's what you would expect to find if that's what brings men and women to faith in Christ. And yet, we find right here in this text that that doesn't match up, does it?
In Jerusalem, they've seen His works. "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?" (verse 32), right? They've seen much undeniable signs, and yet they don't believe. And here you have people in Perea who have been influenced by the words of John the Baptist. They've seen no sign; they just heard words concerning Christ, seen it confirmed in their midst as Jesus is abiding there with them, and they're willing to believe.
As I thought about this, I thought, isn't it amazing? Isn't it amazing that after three years of public ministry, in spite of the fact that multitudes, multitudes, multitudes followed Jesus, multitudes were intrigued by Him, isn't it something else that gathered together in that upper room after His life, after His death, after His resurrection, as they were waiting for the gift of the Holy Spirit—Isn't it amazing that there were, how many people? 120. Just 120. That's it. 120.
Not 20,000, not 30,000, not a stadium full of people—120 people. That's it. And that's after dead men had been raised like Lazarus. That's after blind men had been given their sight. Deaf people were able to hear. People who had bodies maimed by disease were made whole. And what do you have there in that upper room? 120 people. That's it.
Beloved, it's not external evidence, it's not the power of external evidence that produces faith in sinners. It's the work of God. It's the work of God in the heart that produces faith—not something set before their eyes, not something they hear with their physical ears on a physical, external level—but God's regenerating work in the heart, the ears of the heart. That's what produces faith. And that is not to say that God works faith apart from His Word being heard. No, no, because Romans 10 verse 17 says, "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the words of Christ."
But what it is to say is that the Word of Christ and the works of Christ will be ineffectual; they will not produce faith in natural men apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the sinner. Faith isn't produced by something external, Beloved. It's produced by the work of the Holy Spirit, and it's an internal work. It's a heart work. And again, this is important for our thinking concerning witnessing and evangelism.
Think about how some Christians approach the subject of apologetics. They act as if somehow we're going to argue someone into the Kingdom of God. Apologetics has a place, but, Beloved, you will not bring someone into the Kingdom of God by the power of argument. The only way any argument will ever be convincing to anyone is when the Holy Spirit makes someone willing. Apart from that, all your arguments will be ineffectual, won't have any impact whatsoever.
This also gets to the idea of what you are hearing today in the charismatic circles. I'm referring to the idea of what is called as power evangelism. This is the belief that the reason why we need signs and wonders—and they must still be in existence—because this is the way that God uses to bring men to faith in His Son. They call it power evangelism.
I really want to say to such people, have you read the Gospels? Have you really read the Gospels? Because who could do more than Jesus did when He was on earth? And what do you have—120 people? And even those who followed Him because of the fireworks, right? When He fed the multitudes and did all these miracles, Jesus did not actually commit Himself to them. He did not believe in their belief. He did not entrust Himself to them. The people of His day looked right in the face of those miracles, and they did not believe Him.
In fact, as we will see next time in John 11—I mean, well, actually, you'll see it at the end of John 11—look over for just a moment. At the end of John 11, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, and the verse immediately following that miracle—look at verse 45—notice: "Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what He had done believed in Him." And I'm amazed at verse 46. Look at verse 46: "But,” not a good one, it's not a good but, “but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done." Can you imagine that? That you could be witness to such a thing, such an incredible miracle, and the conclusion you come to is, we've got to go and turn Him in. Verse 47: "Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Sanhedrin together and were saying, 'What are we doing? What are we going to do? For this man is doing many signs.'" You talk about self-condemning—a self-condemning comment. He's performing many signs, so what are we going to do?
Can't help but think, well, why didn't someone speak up and say, what are we to do? We're to believe in Him. We're to believe in Him. But no, that's not what they say. That's not even what they meant, because we're told what they meant in verse 48. Look at verse 48: "If we let Him go on like this, all will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." We're going to lose our place. We're going to lose our sway. We're going to lose our control, our authority. People are going to actually believe in Him. This is in the face of One who has raised a dead man, and he's been dead for four days, verse 39 tells us. No, that's not how men are brought to faith in Christ—not externally. It's internal. That's the first observation by way of application.
Second observation that I want us to notice: notice, however, having said that, that God uses means in bringing men to faith. God uses means. Now, the means are not salvific. They are simply instrumental. But He uses means. The means are unable by themselves to bring men to faith, but God has chosen to use means to bring men to faith in His Son.
God used here the testimony of John the Baptist to prepare the way to Christ on this occasion. Only God can bring men to faith, but God will do this through the preaching of the gospel, through the witness of His people, through the prayers of the saints, through our life's testimony, through the testimony of our words. God will use this to bring men to Himself.
Jesus, in John 17 and verse 20, praying for His people, He says this: "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word." Word. How are they going to come to believe? Through the means of the word. The word. Their word, their testimony, their evangelism.
So only God can bring men to faith, but how is He going to do it? He's going to do it through the preaching of the gospel. He's going to do it through the prayers of His people interceding on behalf of sinners. He's going to do it through the testimony of our lives.
Yet all of that—and this is where we can rejoice in God as Savior—all of that we recognize will be completely and utterly ineffective apart from the Spirit's work, working in the hearts of dead men. We can preach all day long and no one will be saved if the Holy Spirit does not do His mighty inward work. We are dependent on the Spirit of God. And you can live a testimony before somebody forever and ever, but if the Holy Spirit does not open their heart, they won't see, they won't understand, and they won't come.
And as that gets into your mind and gets into your heart, it will help you, Christian. It will help you because it will set you free in many ways. Believers are often frustrated. Why? Why don't they see? Why? Why don't they listen? Why don't they come? Can't they see the difference? Can't they see the difference that God has done in my life? Can't they see how the Lord has changed my life? They should be able to, but if the Lord doesn't open their heart, they won't be able to. They won't recognize it for what it really is, just like they don't recognize the works of Jesus for what they really were.
But there's a third observation I want us to notice. Notice that God can use a witness given a long time before. God can use a witness given a long time before. What a tremendous hope. What a tremendous hope. Instead of remembering the words of John the Baptist—he's gone, right?—"While John did no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true." Words spoken long before. Bear in mind, John is dead. John is off the scene, but he's still speaking. His words are still having an effect. He spoke the word of God, he spoke the truth of God, and God's truth goes on in its effect. It's unstoppable.
Though he was dead, he was still speaking, and this is what we read in Hebrews 11:4, testimony of Abel: "By faith, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he was approved as being righteous, God approving his gift." And then the Bible says this: "And through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks." Isn't it wonderful to know that God's word has a life of its own? Isn't it? And you know what? You can't lock it up. You can't. You can lock up the messenger, but you can't lock up the word of God.
Isn't that what Paul said in 2 Timothy 2:9, talking about the gospel? He says, concerning the gospel, "I endure hardship even to chains as a criminal, but the word of God has not been chained." The word of God has not been chained. The word of God is not chained. The word of God is not bound. It cannot be locked up.
Let me encourage you, beloved. Maybe you witness to someone, and you say, you know, I've witnessed, and I've witnessed, and I've witnessed, and I've witnessed, and there's no effect. Beloved, listen. Until the person you've been witnessing to has died, it's not over. It's not over. And God may use the words that you've spoken long after you have forgotten about it, and even long after you've gone. Even if you were to go to glory, those words can be used by God. Long after you've spoken what you spoke, long after you've shared what you've shared, God may quicken that word to their hearts many, many days, and many, many, many years after that, because God's word is not bound. God's word is not chained.
So here God is using words spoken by John the Baptist long after they were spoken.
That brings us to the fourth observation, and I want us to notice in this text—and we know this, but it rejoices our hearts to really say it. I want you to remember that the identity of Jesus is not determined by the people making the decision. The identity of Jesus is not determined by the people who are making the decision. This is really important for us to remind ourselves of.
We can ask, what is the difference between Jesus in Jerusalem and Jesus in Perea? What has changed about Him? Have His words changed? Have His works changed? No. Not at all. The difference is not in Jesus. The difference is in these two groups and what they were able to recognize. The group in Jerusalem did not recognize the truth. The group in Perea did. But He hasn't changed. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's the Savior no matter what you think of Him, and He's the only Savior no matter what you decide about Him. There's only one Savior. He is the Savior.
And I pray that the church would again get this character to Her preaching and teaching and witnessing. I pray that we would send a clear message, crystal clear message, that Jesus is not a beggar in need of your approval. We are the beggars in need of His acceptance. Jesus isn't saying, oh, oh, oh, would you please accept Me in the sense that somehow He needs us. He doesn't come to us because He needs us. He doesn't come to us—whether we know it or not—because we need Him desperately. We desperately need Him.
And it's gracious and it's merciful that the Son of God would offer Himself to those people. It's not out of need. It's out of love, out of grace, out of mercy, out of compassion, out of pity. And one group decided that He wasn't worthy to be believed and followed, and the other believed in Him. But Jesus was the same. One group was saved. The other was lost.
A fifth observation that I want us to notice. It's simple and it's on the surface, but it needs to be said. Notice that Christ is offered to both groups. Christ is offered to both groups. He was genuinely offered to the group that rejected Him as well as the group that accepted Him. And this is the wonder of God's mercy and grace to our own day, to this day.
The Gospel will be preached by God's will and design and purpose and plan. It will be preached not only to those who believe and receive Him, but to those who don't believe Him and won't receive Him. And the offer in both cases is absolutely genuine. Remember the words of Christ? "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem" (Luke 13:34), "the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you did not want."
This is the truth that's hard for us to grasp in our finite mind—that though men, because of what sin has done to us, though men cannot see, cannot understand, and will not understand the things of the Spirit of God apart from the sovereign saving grace of God and the working regeneration in their soul—even though that's true, men are still responsible to believe and they're offered the Gospel freely.
Child of God, aren't you grateful today that you're found among the many who believed in Him there? In verse 42. May your heart be filled with gratitude. You were dead in sins. You were dead in trespasses until quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit and were enabled to answer the call and embrace the grace offered in Christ. And this enabling power is no less power than that which raised up Christ from the dead.
What happened to you if you're a Christian? What happened to you if you're a child of God? You were made alive together with Christ. You were raised from the dead spiritually. You heard the voice of the Son of God, the language of John 11, and you lived. And you were enabled by that power to hear the call, to respond to the call. You were enabled by the power to desire Christ. And so you embraced Him.
Oh, child of God, consider afresh what your Lord God has done for your soul. He quickened you when you were dead in trespasses and sins. He gives you light and peace to your soul. He feeds you with the bread of life. He cures all your spiritual diseases. He quells all your manifold enemies and temptations. And He strengthens you with His grace day by day. He does all that is done in you by grace. And He will never cease working in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
What's the difference between these two groups that we've seen today? It's not explained externally. One group had less evidence than the other. The group that believed had less evidence than the group that didn't. No, the difference was in that secret work in the soul wrought by the Spirit of God that enabled men to see what another group could not see and understand what another group could not understand and believe what another group did not believe.
You see, this is in your own witnessing experience. You see the same thing if you just think about it for a minute. Isn't it amazing how you meet with people? You even sense the Lord working in you, in your witness to them. I mean, He brings things to mind, clear, cogent arguments are presented to them and you're able to articulate this with precision and they're not convinced. And they're not convinced. And you meet other people who are every bit as intelligent as the others, who may have even been from just external dealings with them. You thought they're more hardened to the gospel than others. And yet, as you begin to share, and you could tell the Holy Spirit has prepared the soul of the heart because it's not hard for them to see and it's not difficult for them to believe. And you don't need all these overwhelming apologetic arguments to convince them and they are receptive, responsive and you're scratching your head, it's like, how can this be? They see, they hear, they understand, they believe. And how did they come to believe? God worked in their heart. Have you believed? If you have, it's the Lord's work. If you haven't, the Lord calls you to decision today. Even today. What will you do with Jesus?
You see the words of Jesus. You see the words of Jesus. What will you do with Jesus? May your response be in the language of the words of the song: "Your word is living light upon our darkened eyes, guards us through temptations, makes the simple wise. Your word is food for famished ones, freedom for the slave, riches for the needy soul. Come speak to us today."
You see the words of Jesus and you see the works of Jesus. What will you do with them? What will you do with Jesus? The greatness of these words consisted in this. They were all outward signs. John's favorite word with reference to miracles: sign. Pointing to a spiritual truth, a spiritual reality. They were outward testimonies of the far more noble operations of His grace within the soul.
Just to remind us, when He gave sight to the blind, He gave sight to the blind that He might display to all men His sovereign power in giving light and understanding to the mind, that He's the light of the world. When He opened the deaf ear, He opened it so that men might know that by whom alone they can hear aright the good news of salvation and live forever. The lame He caused in a moment to walk that His people might learn that we can only move as well as and live and have our being in Him, and that without Him we could do absolutely nothing.
He cured the foul leprosy of the body in order to show that only by Him can men be healed of the far more deplorable leprosy of sin, which covers and defiles the soul. And all sicknesses vanished at His command that we might have hope in Him as the restorer of our souls. And He cast out unclean spirit that He might teach us that He alone delivered and can deliver His people from the powers of darkness.
The hungry multitudes were fed by His miraculous power to explain this marvelous truth: that He is not only the giver of spiritual life but the constant sustainer and the nourisher of it every single day, moment by moment. And He did it by small insignificant means that the excellencies of the power might be known to be His and not in the creatures, however sanctified, however blessed and used. And the winds and the waves were instantly obedient to His word that His beloved might rejoice in Him as the stiller of all spiritual waves and tumultuous madness of this world, and the ragings of Satan and his demons, and the confusion of all things.
These can roar and foam no longer than it pleases the Master. And when they foam and roar at all, it shall turn out in the end for the good of His people and the glory of His name. And the dead were raised to proclaim His power as our risen, exalted Lord and to declare that the issues also of spiritual life and spiritual death are altogether in His hand.
What will you do with Jesus? When is the time for decision? It's now. What must I do to be saved? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." Turn from your sins. Trust in Him, and the Lord will save you. And God is calling you this day. That's why—did you know that?—that's why you sit under this message today. God is calling you. Will you obey the call?
Let's pray.
There are some people, in all likelihood, who sit in our midst week after week after week after week. We imagine this. And they've been confronted with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ numerous times, but they've not trusted in Him as their Lord and Savior. Yet, they would not say that they reject Him. They would not say that they just don't believe the things that they're hearing concerning Him. They just imagine that they sit in some sort of a no-man's land and have time to do nothing with Him. That they can straddle the fence.
Some imagine that they could do this for a lifetime. I really don't know what they imagine exactly. I know they don't want to go to hell, if you talk to them. They want to go to heaven, but I guess they imagine they're going to live forever. So they can kick the can down the road a little bit more. And so for as long as they choose, they just choose to do nothing in their own mind with Jesus. Some actually have thought about it more than that. And they have consciously decided to put off the decision concerning Jesus. They say something like this: Well, you know, one day I would like to become a Christian. One day. One day I plan to trust in Christ. But it's just not right now. This is just not the right time for me.
Some even, in a sense, ignore the gospel by saying, I'm waiting for God to make the decision. It's in His court. You know, I just don't sense that He's called me yet. I just don't sense that He's called me to faith in His Son. So I'm just waiting for God to make this decision for me.
And what they ignore when they think that way is the fact that the gospel contains a command. The gospel contains a command. We're commanded to repent of our sins and to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're told that "today is the day of salvation." "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart." So God puts this before men in terms of a decision that they have to make, that they are to make. What will you do with Jesus?
And we know, we've studied this together, that when men do decide for the Lord Jesus, when they embrace Christ as Lord and Savior, it's only because God has been at work in His grace in a secret way by His Spirit doing the work of regeneration. That's why they desire to obey that command and to trust in Christ, to repent and believe. And yet it is still accurate to say and right to say and biblical to say that this choice is put before men.
What will you do with Jesus? Will you repent of your sins and trust in Christ as your Lord, as your Savior? Or will you reject Him? And whether you know it or not, when you do nothing with Jesus, you are doing something. Let me say that again. Whether you know it or not, when you do nothing with Jesus, you are doing something. And whether you know it or not, when you decide to do nothing, you are making a decision.
And you are being very foolish, and I say this lovingly and biblically, if you say, well, one day I would like to become a Christian. You are being foolish, according to Scripture, when you say one day, because you are not guaranteed another moment, according to Scripture. And if your life ends and you are not in Christ, you have not trusted in Him with saving faith, then you will spend eternity separated from God in a place called hell forever and ever and ever. And there are no re-do's. And there are no second chances.
The Word of God tells us that one day, every single human being who has ever lived will acknowledge the truth concerning Jesus. Isaiah 45:22 says this, Isaiah 45, 22 says this, : "Turn to Me and be saved. Turn to Me." That's a command. Turn to Me. It's a command, it's an invitation, but it's a command. "Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, the Word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance."
Every human being who has ever lived will acknowledge the truth about Jesus. The New Testament equivalent of this is found in Philippians 2, in verse 9: "Therefore God has also highly exalted Him," referring to Christ, "and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee, without exception, every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father." You see, either you will acknowledge the truth about Jesus as His disciple, as His follower, or you will acknowledge the truth about Christ even as you are among those who are damned forever in Hell. What will you do with Jesus? What will you do with Him?
Every human being will one day acknowledge the truth about Jesus. Jesus, now in verses 37 through 42—and especially 37 to 39—He brings people face to face with a decision that is set before them. In verses 37 through 39, He is addressing those who accused Him, you remember, of blasphemy. He tells them in these verses that there is a decision to be made. And that's where I want us to begin this morning—verses 37 through 39—and I want us to begin to consider this portion under this heading: the call for decision. The call for decision. What will you do with Jesus?
There are several things that I want us to see about this call for a decision. The Son of God is calling men to decision, and the question is, what do you see about this call? Verse 37, He says, "If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me." And so the first thing that I would note about this call is that it is a confident call. This call for decision is a confident call. You know, they wanted to focus on His words; they wanted to ignore His works. And the reason they did so is because His works confirmed the truthfulness of His words.
His works demonstrated that He was worthy of the title: the Son of God. God the Son. He was indeed the Son of God. He and the Father were indeed one. He was truly God incarnate. He was truly the God-sent God. And His works demonstrated exactly that truth. And so He says to them, if you don't want to listen to My words, then pay attention to My works. Behold My works. And He says, if I'm not doing the works of My Father, if these are not good, noble, beautiful works, wholesome works, as He described them earlier—if they're not truly that—then reject Me. Walk away from Me.
Would you honestly consider My works? That's what He's saying. Would you take an honest look at My works? It's a confident call, isn't it? It's a confident call. You know, one of the things about truth is that it never has any reason to fear examination, right? The truth has no fear of examination—no reason for that. If you're speaking the truth, then it will stand up to the examination. Always. The truth indeed will set you free.
Jesus is not afraid for His works to be examined precisely because they were of the nature that He's described them to be. To be of. They were indeed the works of God. They were noble. They were God-glorifying. Something else that stands out to me in that 37th verse—when He says, if you determine that they're not the works of the Father, then don't believe. "Don't believe Me." Something you see about the Lord Jesus is He wasn't afraid to let someone walk away from Him. You see, this is exactly the case with the rich young ruler, right? Remember that encounter? Jesus loved him, but He lets the rich young ruler walk away from Him. And this needs to affect really the way we think about evangelism. This needs to affect the way we do evangelism and share the gospel. We need to know that we have the truth, that we hold in our hands the truth, that we have in our hearts the truth, the truth of the gospel. I mean, what we have in the Scripture is the God-inspired record of the words and the works of Jesus. And then you have the New Testament commentary upon those words and the works, the application of the truths that have to do with His words and His works in the epistles.
We have nothing to be afraid of when it comes to our witness to the world. We just need to speak the truth in a straightforward way, knowing that it's the truth. God's truth. God's Word. And we need to challenge men to examine it, challenge men to give honest thought to it. And we can say to them, if you don't believe it to be true, then walk away. And then we must be willing to let them walk away.
See, I'm afraid what has happened instead is the church of our generation has become a church full of salespeople. And we think that we have to sell the gospel. We think that we have to sell the Lord Jesus. You know, we have to make a good pitch. And so we press people for a decision. A decision. Parent a prayer, raise a hand, walk an aisle. We twist arms. We bring superficial professions of faith in Jesus and the evidence is left thereafter that they were not truly His disciples. No transformed lives.
We would do better to evangelize the way that the Lord Jesus shared Himself. But not only is it a confident call, notice the second thing that we notice about this call, that it's also a decisive call. It is a decisive call. I mean, He calls for a decision right then. He says in verse 37, "If I am not doing the works of My Father, then do not believe Me." What's it going to be? Are you going to believe or not? "But if I do them," verse 38, "even though you do not believe Me, believe the works." If you discover that these are indeed the works of God, then believe them, which leads, of course, to belief in Him. Because notice the next part of verse 38, "so that." That's the end in view. That's the purpose. "So that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me and I am in the Father." In other words, if you find that My works are not what I've described them to be, then walk away from Me. But if you find them that they are indeed as I've described them to be, then believe them so that you may know something about Me and something about My Father. It's a decisive call.
Now notice a few things about this particular statement that Jesus makes. When He gives these words, when He says these words to these people, I want you to notice with me that these are gracious words. These are gracious words coming from the lips of the One who's full of grace. The One who's full of grace. Think about this. I mean, this is the Son of God. This is the Word incarnate. This is God in human flesh. This is the Son of God condescending to reach out to these rebellious men. These men, get the picture in your mind, they're standing there with stone in their hands ready to kill Him.
And what does Jesus do? He's reaching out to them with these gracious words, challenging them, calling them to believe in Him, to turn to Him and be saved. And He appeals to them in a way that is designed to clear away their unbelief, to clear away the debris of unbelief. And when I say He condescends, this is what I mean. He says, listen, if you're stumbling over the words, if the words would seem too incredible to you to believe, then believe the works. Examine the works. Behold the blind man who now can see. He's clearing away obstacles to bring them to the place of faith.
These are gracious words. But they're also humble words. They're humble words. One of the things that has to be challenged in us, beloved, one of the sinful things in us that has to be challenged when we look at the life of our Lord is His humility compared to our pride. Because there are men who would be offended if we're not willing to hear their words and would never consider saying, well, if my words are the issue, then set them aside, just examine the works. In other words, the Son of God is willing to be tested, have His word tested by His works. These are mere creatures of the dust. That's humility. If you're stumbling over My words, then look at My works. Gracious words, humble words.
But notice something else. Even though they're gracious and humble words, these words are non-negotiable words. They're non-negotiable words. Because whether you're convinced by His works or whether you're convinced by His words, there's a definite place of understanding you must be brought to. Verse 38, "But if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works so that you may know and continue knowing, continue to know that the Father is in Me and I in the Father." This is where you must arrive to be a Christian. You must recognize the truth about the person of Jesus. You must recognize the truth about His nature, who He truly is.
You must believe Him when He tells you what He tells you in verse 30, "I and the Father are one." And what does it mean when He says, "The Father is in Me and I in the Father" in verse 38? He means they are one, one in substance, one in essence, one in purpose. Very God of very God. And this is what you must believe in order to be saved. You must believe that Jesus is the Son of God. You must believe that He is God in human flesh, God incarnate. You must believe that He lived the life that the Bible says that He lived. That He died the death that the Bible says that He died. And that He was raised from the dead victorious. And that He is the only way to the Father. You must believe this to be saved concerning Christ.
So whether His works lead you to this understanding or His words lead you to this understanding, this is the place that you must come to. There is no other way to be saved. You cannot be saved. You cannot come to God while rejecting the truth about the Son of God, the Christ. Mormons desire us to consider them Christians. But Mormons are not Christians, are they? And why are they not? Because they do not understand the nature of God. They do not understand the nature of Christ. They would have us to believe that there are many gods.
Jehovah's Witnesses, same thing. In fact, they are false witnesses. And they would like to use the same language that you use and have you believe that they are real. They would like to use the same language that you use and have you believe that they really don't believe that much differently than you believe and I believe. But their beliefs are so different, far different than yours and mine. Aren't they? Because they deny God being one, is a triune God. They deny that Jesus is one with the Father, co-equal, co-eternal, always existing as God along with the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. They deny this. Are they Christians? Absolutely not. They are not Christians.
You see, whether by His works or by His words, this is what you must understand: that He and the Father are one. That God is one, yet He always existed as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—three distinct persons, one God. The Son of God came to earth. He lived a life the Bible says that He lived and died the death the Bible says He died and was raised from the dead. He died on the third day and is the only way to the Father. He shed His blood, and His shed blood is the only way for sinners to have their sins remitted. The only way.
And so this is a confident call. Jesus says, examine My works. If they're not as I've described them to be, then walk away from Me. But if they are as I've described them to be, then you must believe the works and understand that the Father is in Me and I in the Father. It is a decisive call.
Which gets to the third thing. You see about this call that it was a rejected call. Sadly, it was a rejected call. Though He was gracious with them, exhibited humility toward them, what was their response? Rejection. They rejected Him. How did they respond to these words? How? Again, they sought to arrest Him. They went on seeking what they sought in the first place.
Look at verse 39: "Therefore, they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp." Now, we're not told here how He eluded their grasp, how He did this. It really doesn't matter what form it took, does it? Here's the bottom line: His hour had not yet come. God operates according to His own divine timetable, right? And so they're not able to seize Him. He leaves.
But I want us to see something very interesting—the play on words here. The contrast between that statement and the preceding statements earlier in this chapter. Go back to verse 28 and look at this with me together. Jesus said, "I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish, ever, and no one is able to snatch them out of My hand." Here is the Greek word. "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand." Verse 39: "Therefore, they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their hand." Of course, when you're in the hand of the Father, it doesn't make any difference whose hands are seeking to lay themselves upon you, does it? If you're in the hand of God, you will escape out of the hands of all of those who seek to hurt you, to lay hold of you. You're safe and secure in the hand of God, and nothing—absolutely nothing—will come into your life, child of God, without it first passing through the sacred desk of God. Absolutely nothing.
So a call to decision. And before we move on, I just want to say again today that if you are not a child of God, if you are not in Christ, if you are not a Christian, and you have sat in this place before many, many times and you've heard the gospel in this place—perhaps you heard the gospel in your home from your parents, from your husband, from your wife, from your family member, from your friend—over and over again, I want you to know that as long as you go on doing nothing with Jesus, you've done something with Jesus. There is no middle ground. If you don't believe in Him, then walk away from Him. But if you believe His works, that they are noble and beautiful and God-glorifying, then you must trust in Him, because the day is coming. You either will bow the knee and confess that Jesus is Lord as His disciple, or you will do so as one who is part of the multitudes who are damned in hell. By bowing and confessing, you will and you must.
What will you do with Jesus?
Will you please now notice with me the contrast that we see in verse 40? Now, the contrasting picture: “And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there. And many came to Him and were saying, ‘While John did no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true.’ And many believed in Him there.” Now, we've talked about this before, but I want to remind us of it again. See, if John wanted to record everything that Jesus did and everything that Jesus said, there was no way for him to do it.
In fact, he says in John 21:25, “There are so many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written one after the other, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” Listen also to how he put it with the purpose clause in John 20:30: “Therefore, many other signs Jesus also did in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in His name.” John says, I didn't write everything that I could have, but what I've written is written with a design, with a purpose—that you may believe that He is indeed the Son of God, God the Son, that believing in Him also you may have life in His name.
So there's much about the life of Christ that we don't have in the Gospel of John. Yet guided by the Spirit, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he sees fit to record after this conversation—this confrontation with these hard-hearted men, ready to kill Him—this portion in verse 40 to verse 42. He went back to Perea, also known as Bethabara, to the place where John was first baptizing, and the Scripture says He was staying there, He was abiding there. And then we have a brief description of what took place.
Now why? Why does John record this? Well, why is it there? I believe one reason the Holy Spirit gives us this is that it is in such contrast—stark contrast—to what we've just read. I mean, it's night and day difference, isn't it? In verse 40, notice Jesus is welcomed in Perea. “He went away again beyond the Jordan,” we read, “to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there”—*meno*, abiding, remaining there. That is to say, He was able to stay there, to abide there, to rest.
In Jerusalem, Judea, Jerusalem—they're constantly seeking for His life, but He's able to remain here for a time. See the contrast: Jerusalem and here in Perea. And notice what's going on while He's there. Verse 41: “Many came to Him.” Many came to Him. Now, they're not coming to Him because they're settled in unbelief. They're not coming to Him because they're trying to entrap Him, find something against Him, undermine Him. They're coming to Him because they're open to faith in Him. They're seeking Him. They're genuinely interested, genuinely wanting to know who He really is. It's a marked difference—a stark difference, isn't it—between the two?
In Jerusalem, there they are, spying on Him. They're trying to entrap Him. He's walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon, verse 23, and they encircle Him like sharks. They surround Him like hyenas, and they begin to pepper Him with questions. This is the atmosphere in Jerusalem. But when He goes to Perea, oh, it's completely different. Totally different. He's able to rest, He's able to stay there, and we read, "And many came to Him," and not because they're settled in their unbelief, but because they are open to believe in Him. It's different, and I always marvel at the detail of God's Word, really. It's always marvelous. It just always—it just makes me happy when I discover these things as I read the Word of God.
Because notice what verse 41 says: "And many came to Him and were saying," notice this, "While John did what? No sign." Stunning, isn't it? "While John did no sign, yet everything John," what's the next word, "said," "said about this man was true." Do you see the contrast? You catch it?
In Jerusalem, they won't believe a thing Jesus is saying, and though they've seen many signs—the last one was the man born blind receiving his sight—they don't believe what they see. But at this time here, in this place, in Perea, what they have to go on at this point is, as Jesus comes to them, what they're remembering is the witness of His forerunner, John the Baptist, what he said concerning Jesus. And they said, "John did no sign," yet even though they had no sign of John the Baptist to go on, these people believe everything now that they met Jesus. They believe everything that John said about Jesus.
The witness of John the Baptist is effectual in their case. The words have found a home in their heart. The words have found fertile soil in their heart, and the words have become effectual in them without signs. Without works, they were willing to believe the words, which gets to the 42nd verse: "And many believed in Him there."
Despite the works, despite the words of Jesus, they don't believe in Him in Jerusalem. But now, based upon no works but the words of His forerunner and what they've experienced as Jesus is in their midst, many believe in Him.
Listen to what S. Lewis Johnson said concerning this section here. It's really very helpful for us. He writes, "Now notice the last statement, and many believed on Him there. In other words, not in Judea where they had the Bible, where they had the priest, where they had the tradition, where they had the temple, where they had the knowledge, but many of them believed on Him there," referring to Perea. In the original text, there's a bit of emphasis upon the adverb, "many believed upon Him there."
He goes on to say, "One of the saddest things is to see a congregation in which the Word of God is proclaimed in truthfulness, harmony with the Scriptures, in the Holy Spirit, accurately, and the congregation is indifferent, and lethargic, and cold, and unresponsive. And then to go to another assembly where the Word of God is not preached very strongly, where there are no real depth of teaching, it's somewhat artificial, superficial, and yet there they are—hungry, spiritually hungry individuals who are responsive to the Word." He says, "That's great, but what a condemnation it was for Judea that many believed upon Him there in Perea, just as there might be no responsiveness in Believer's Chapel," referring to the church which he's serving. And we can really easily substitute this with Grace Chapel, "but some believing on Him elsewhere. But it's very possible that there's responsiveness to the Word of God in places where they don't really have the opportunity that some of us have had. It's something to thank God for, but it's something also to weep over." End of quote.
So you have a call for decision, and the Holy Spirit sets before us a contrasting picture. People who don't believe despite the works and words of the Son of God, and people who do believe, and they've been influenced, according to this text, by the words—and no works—by the words of John the Baptist, the forerunner. And the day of decision is still with us. Still here. What will you do with Jesus?
Here we are 2,000 years later, and we have the record before us, and the time of decision is still here. What will you do with this record? What will you do with this record? What will you do with the gospel? What will you do with Jesus? What will you do with the words concerning Jesus, the words of Jesus, and the works of Jesus that have been preserved for us by God in this book? What will you do? What will you do with Christ? What have you done with Him? What have you done with Him?
In light of what we've seen today in these verses, I'd like to finish and conclude this morning with five observations by way of application. Five observations. And first of all, the first one: notice that faith—first of all—faith is something worked internally, not externally.
Faith is something worked internally, not externally. That is, if external evidence alone is what brings men to Jesus, then you would be able to say wherever you have the more powerful external evidence, then you will find greater faith, right? Greater external evidence, greater faith—that's what you would expect to find if that's what brings men and women to faith in Christ. And yet, we find right here in this text that that doesn't match up, does it?
In Jerusalem, they've seen His works. "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?" (verse 32), right? They've seen much undeniable signs, and yet they don't believe. And here you have people in Perea who have been influenced by the words of John the Baptist. They've seen no sign; they just heard words concerning Christ, seen it confirmed in their midst as Jesus is abiding there with them, and they're willing to believe.
As I thought about this, I thought, isn't it amazing? Isn't it amazing that after three years of public ministry, in spite of the fact that multitudes, multitudes, multitudes followed Jesus, multitudes were intrigued by Him, isn't it something else that gathered together in that upper room after His life, after His death, after His resurrection, as they were waiting for the gift of the Holy Spirit—Isn't it amazing that there were, how many people? 120. Just 120. That's it. 120.
Not 20,000, not 30,000, not a stadium full of people—120 people. That's it. And that's after dead men had been raised like Lazarus. That's after blind men had been given their sight. Deaf people were able to hear. People who had bodies maimed by disease were made whole. And what do you have there in that upper room? 120 people. That's it.
Beloved, it's not external evidence, it's not the power of external evidence that produces faith in sinners. It's the work of God. It's the work of God in the heart that produces faith—not something set before their eyes, not something they hear with their physical ears on a physical, external level—but God's regenerating work in the heart, the ears of the heart. That's what produces faith. And that is not to say that God works faith apart from His Word being heard. No, no, because Romans 10 verse 17 says, "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the words of Christ."
But what it is to say is that the Word of Christ and the works of Christ will be ineffectual; they will not produce faith in natural men apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the sinner. Faith isn't produced by something external, Beloved. It's produced by the work of the Holy Spirit, and it's an internal work. It's a heart work. And again, this is important for our thinking concerning witnessing and evangelism.
Think about how some Christians approach the subject of apologetics. They act as if somehow we're going to argue someone into the Kingdom of God. Apologetics has a place, but, Beloved, you will not bring someone into the Kingdom of God by the power of argument. The only way any argument will ever be convincing to anyone is when the Holy Spirit makes someone willing. Apart from that, all your arguments will be ineffectual, won't have any impact whatsoever.
This also gets to the idea of what you are hearing today in the charismatic circles. I'm referring to the idea of what is called as power evangelism. This is the belief that the reason why we need signs and wonders—and they must still be in existence—because this is the way that God uses to bring men to faith in His Son. They call it power evangelism.
I really want to say to such people, have you read the Gospels? Have you really read the Gospels? Because who could do more than Jesus did when He was on earth? And what do you have—120 people? And even those who followed Him because of the fireworks, right? When He fed the multitudes and did all these miracles, Jesus did not actually commit Himself to them. He did not believe in their belief. He did not entrust Himself to them. The people of His day looked right in the face of those miracles, and they did not believe Him.
In fact, as we will see next time in John 11—I mean, well, actually, you'll see it at the end of John 11—look over for just a moment. At the end of John 11, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, and the verse immediately following that miracle—look at verse 45—notice: "Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what He had done believed in Him." And I'm amazed at verse 46. Look at verse 46: "But,” not a good one, it's not a good but, “but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done." Can you imagine that? That you could be witness to such a thing, such an incredible miracle, and the conclusion you come to is, we've got to go and turn Him in. Verse 47: "Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Sanhedrin together and were saying, 'What are we doing? What are we going to do? For this man is doing many signs.'" You talk about self-condemning—a self-condemning comment. He's performing many signs, so what are we going to do?
Can't help but think, well, why didn't someone speak up and say, what are we to do? We're to believe in Him. We're to believe in Him. But no, that's not what they say. That's not even what they meant, because we're told what they meant in verse 48. Look at verse 48: "If we let Him go on like this, all will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." We're going to lose our place. We're going to lose our sway. We're going to lose our control, our authority. People are going to actually believe in Him. This is in the face of One who has raised a dead man, and he's been dead for four days, verse 39 tells us. No, that's not how men are brought to faith in Christ—not externally. It's internal. That's the first observation by way of application.
Second observation that I want us to notice: notice, however, having said that, that God uses means in bringing men to faith. God uses means. Now, the means are not salvific. They are simply instrumental. But He uses means. The means are unable by themselves to bring men to faith, but God has chosen to use means to bring men to faith in His Son.
God used here the testimony of John the Baptist to prepare the way to Christ on this occasion. Only God can bring men to faith, but God will do this through the preaching of the gospel, through the witness of His people, through the prayers of the saints, through our life's testimony, through the testimony of our words. God will use this to bring men to Himself.
Jesus, in John 17 and verse 20, praying for His people, He says this: "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word." Word. How are they going to come to believe? Through the means of the word. The word. Their word, their testimony, their evangelism.
So only God can bring men to faith, but how is He going to do it? He's going to do it through the preaching of the gospel. He's going to do it through the prayers of His people interceding on behalf of sinners. He's going to do it through the testimony of our lives.
Yet all of that—and this is where we can rejoice in God as Savior—all of that we recognize will be completely and utterly ineffective apart from the Spirit's work, working in the hearts of dead men. We can preach all day long and no one will be saved if the Holy Spirit does not do His mighty inward work. We are dependent on the Spirit of God. And you can live a testimony before somebody forever and ever, but if the Holy Spirit does not open their heart, they won't see, they won't understand, and they won't come.
And as that gets into your mind and gets into your heart, it will help you, Christian. It will help you because it will set you free in many ways. Believers are often frustrated. Why? Why don't they see? Why? Why don't they listen? Why don't they come? Can't they see the difference? Can't they see the difference that God has done in my life? Can't they see how the Lord has changed my life? They should be able to, but if the Lord doesn't open their heart, they won't be able to. They won't recognize it for what it really is, just like they don't recognize the works of Jesus for what they really were.
But there's a third observation I want us to notice. Notice that God can use a witness given a long time before. God can use a witness given a long time before. What a tremendous hope. What a tremendous hope. Instead of remembering the words of John the Baptist—he's gone, right?—"While John did no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true." Words spoken long before. Bear in mind, John is dead. John is off the scene, but he's still speaking. His words are still having an effect. He spoke the word of God, he spoke the truth of God, and God's truth goes on in its effect. It's unstoppable.
Though he was dead, he was still speaking, and this is what we read in Hebrews 11:4, testimony of Abel: "By faith, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he was approved as being righteous, God approving his gift." And then the Bible says this: "And through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks." Isn't it wonderful to know that God's word has a life of its own? Isn't it? And you know what? You can't lock it up. You can't. You can lock up the messenger, but you can't lock up the word of God.
Isn't that what Paul said in 2 Timothy 2:9, talking about the gospel? He says, concerning the gospel, "I endure hardship even to chains as a criminal, but the word of God has not been chained." The word of God has not been chained. The word of God is not chained. The word of God is not bound. It cannot be locked up.
Let me encourage you, beloved. Maybe you witness to someone, and you say, you know, I've witnessed, and I've witnessed, and I've witnessed, and I've witnessed, and there's no effect. Beloved, listen. Until the person you've been witnessing to has died, it's not over. It's not over. And God may use the words that you've spoken long after you have forgotten about it, and even long after you've gone. Even if you were to go to glory, those words can be used by God. Long after you've spoken what you spoke, long after you've shared what you've shared, God may quicken that word to their hearts many, many days, and many, many, many years after that, because God's word is not bound. God's word is not chained.
So here God is using words spoken by John the Baptist long after they were spoken.
That brings us to the fourth observation, and I want us to notice in this text—and we know this, but it rejoices our hearts to really say it. I want you to remember that the identity of Jesus is not determined by the people making the decision. The identity of Jesus is not determined by the people who are making the decision. This is really important for us to remind ourselves of.
We can ask, what is the difference between Jesus in Jerusalem and Jesus in Perea? What has changed about Him? Have His words changed? Have His works changed? No. Not at all. The difference is not in Jesus. The difference is in these two groups and what they were able to recognize. The group in Jerusalem did not recognize the truth. The group in Perea did. But He hasn't changed. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's the Savior no matter what you think of Him, and He's the only Savior no matter what you decide about Him. There's only one Savior. He is the Savior.
And I pray that the church would again get this character to Her preaching and teaching and witnessing. I pray that we would send a clear message, crystal clear message, that Jesus is not a beggar in need of your approval. We are the beggars in need of His acceptance. Jesus isn't saying, oh, oh, oh, would you please accept Me in the sense that somehow He needs us. He doesn't come to us because He needs us. He doesn't come to us—whether we know it or not—because we need Him desperately. We desperately need Him.
And it's gracious and it's merciful that the Son of God would offer Himself to those people. It's not out of need. It's out of love, out of grace, out of mercy, out of compassion, out of pity. And one group decided that He wasn't worthy to be believed and followed, and the other believed in Him. But Jesus was the same. One group was saved. The other was lost.
A fifth observation that I want us to notice. It's simple and it's on the surface, but it needs to be said. Notice that Christ is offered to both groups. Christ is offered to both groups. He was genuinely offered to the group that rejected Him as well as the group that accepted Him. And this is the wonder of God's mercy and grace to our own day, to this day.
The Gospel will be preached by God's will and design and purpose and plan. It will be preached not only to those who believe and receive Him, but to those who don't believe Him and won't receive Him. And the offer in both cases is absolutely genuine. Remember the words of Christ? "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem" (Luke 13:34), "the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you did not want."
This is the truth that's hard for us to grasp in our finite mind—that though men, because of what sin has done to us, though men cannot see, cannot understand, and will not understand the things of the Spirit of God apart from the sovereign saving grace of God and the working regeneration in their soul—even though that's true, men are still responsible to believe and they're offered the Gospel freely.
Child of God, aren't you grateful today that you're found among the many who believed in Him there? In verse 42. May your heart be filled with gratitude. You were dead in sins. You were dead in trespasses until quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit and were enabled to answer the call and embrace the grace offered in Christ. And this enabling power is no less power than that which raised up Christ from the dead.
What happened to you if you're a Christian? What happened to you if you're a child of God? You were made alive together with Christ. You were raised from the dead spiritually. You heard the voice of the Son of God, the language of John 11, and you lived. And you were enabled by that power to hear the call, to respond to the call. You were enabled by the power to desire Christ. And so you embraced Him.
Oh, child of God, consider afresh what your Lord God has done for your soul. He quickened you when you were dead in trespasses and sins. He gives you light and peace to your soul. He feeds you with the bread of life. He cures all your spiritual diseases. He quells all your manifold enemies and temptations. And He strengthens you with His grace day by day. He does all that is done in you by grace. And He will never cease working in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
What's the difference between these two groups that we've seen today? It's not explained externally. One group had less evidence than the other. The group that believed had less evidence than the group that didn't. No, the difference was in that secret work in the soul wrought by the Spirit of God that enabled men to see what another group could not see and understand what another group could not understand and believe what another group did not believe.
You see, this is in your own witnessing experience. You see the same thing if you just think about it for a minute. Isn't it amazing how you meet with people? You even sense the Lord working in you, in your witness to them. I mean, He brings things to mind, clear, cogent arguments are presented to them and you're able to articulate this with precision and they're not convinced. And they're not convinced. And you meet other people who are every bit as intelligent as the others, who may have even been from just external dealings with them. You thought they're more hardened to the gospel than others. And yet, as you begin to share, and you could tell the Holy Spirit has prepared the soul of the heart because it's not hard for them to see and it's not difficult for them to believe. And you don't need all these overwhelming apologetic arguments to convince them and they are receptive, responsive and you're scratching your head, it's like, how can this be? They see, they hear, they understand, they believe. And how did they come to believe? God worked in their heart. Have you believed? If you have, it's the Lord's work. If you haven't, the Lord calls you to decision today. Even today. What will you do with Jesus?
You see the words of Jesus. You see the words of Jesus. What will you do with Jesus? May your response be in the language of the words of the song: "Your word is living light upon our darkened eyes, guards us through temptations, makes the simple wise. Your word is food for famished ones, freedom for the slave, riches for the needy soul. Come speak to us today."
You see the words of Jesus and you see the works of Jesus. What will you do with them? What will you do with Jesus? The greatness of these words consisted in this. They were all outward signs. John's favorite word with reference to miracles: sign. Pointing to a spiritual truth, a spiritual reality. They were outward testimonies of the far more noble operations of His grace within the soul.
Just to remind us, when He gave sight to the blind, He gave sight to the blind that He might display to all men His sovereign power in giving light and understanding to the mind, that He's the light of the world. When He opened the deaf ear, He opened it so that men might know that by whom alone they can hear aright the good news of salvation and live forever. The lame He caused in a moment to walk that His people might learn that we can only move as well as and live and have our being in Him, and that without Him we could do absolutely nothing.
He cured the foul leprosy of the body in order to show that only by Him can men be healed of the far more deplorable leprosy of sin, which covers and defiles the soul. And all sicknesses vanished at His command that we might have hope in Him as the restorer of our souls. And He cast out unclean spirit that He might teach us that He alone delivered and can deliver His people from the powers of darkness.
The hungry multitudes were fed by His miraculous power to explain this marvelous truth: that He is not only the giver of spiritual life but the constant sustainer and the nourisher of it every single day, moment by moment. And He did it by small insignificant means that the excellencies of the power might be known to be His and not in the creatures, however sanctified, however blessed and used. And the winds and the waves were instantly obedient to His word that His beloved might rejoice in Him as the stiller of all spiritual waves and tumultuous madness of this world, and the ragings of Satan and his demons, and the confusion of all things.
These can roar and foam no longer than it pleases the Master. And when they foam and roar at all, it shall turn out in the end for the good of His people and the glory of His name. And the dead were raised to proclaim His power as our risen, exalted Lord and to declare that the issues also of spiritual life and spiritual death are altogether in His hand.
What will you do with Jesus? When is the time for decision? It's now. What must I do to be saved? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." Turn from your sins. Trust in Him, and the Lord will save you. And God is calling you this day. That's why—did you know that?—that's why you sit under this message today. God is calling you. Will you obey the call?
Let's pray.
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