The Final Rejection part 2

I'll take your Bible this morning, turn to the Gospel of John, John chapter 10. It should be a very familiar place in your Bible. You know that we are in our study through the Gospel of John, verse by verse, line by line, sometimes word by word. We're looking at John, Panus, a very accurate picture about who Christ was and is and his purpose in coming. The title of the series is called Christ the Son of God, Believe and Live. I worked real hard in trying to craft a phrase, I borrowed a little from Warren Wiersby, so that the title of the series would really describe the purpose in John's Gospel.

He wanted to elevate the deity of Christ and he wanted those who would read this letter, hear these words, come to faith in Christ. That's what we've been seeing all through this journey, not just in chapter 10. This morning we'll finish up chapter 10. Last week we started a part one, part one being the final rejection of the Jews and this morning being part two. In the introduction of this section, this portion of scripture, last week I shared with you two facts about chapter 10. First, I told you that we were going to continue in this theme of rejection.

I know that might sound like a broken record to you, might seem like the same old song, but it needs to be said because it's true. All throughout the Gospel of John has been rejection after rejection from the Jewish establishment as Christ is revealing himself not only to them but to the masses. I go back and I touch on the chapters that I expounded on last week. There was rejection in chapter one, chapter three, chapter four, chapter five, chapter six, chapter seven, chapter eight, chapter nine, and chapter 10. What does that show us?

This is that never ending song of rejection and the Jewish leadership publicly rejected Christ as he publicly revealed himself. Now if you've kept up with it, this rejection has gradually intensified. It really starts to get heated around chapter seven. It's just this rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. Now I want you to see that this rejection is very damning. It is extremely damning to these religious leaders because I want you to see what they rejected. They rejected the very words of Jesus and the very works of Jesus. Now think about this. They heard the perfect words of the perfect man, the perfect God-man, Jesus.

No one ever spoke or declared the truths of God like Jesus. Now think about it. You can take the greatest preachers of all of the world, the greatest preachers of history, and you could dissect their lives and their abilities, and you could put them all together to form the perfect preacher, but no man preached the word of God like Jesus. They heard the perfect words from the perfect man, the God-man, Jesus, and they rejected his words. Did you know that at the judgment, the Lord God will replay every word that Jesus ever said to their face, and those words will damn them. Not only did they hear his words, but they saw his works. Now listen.

They saw the perfect miracles of the Son of God. They saw him touch the lame, heal the blind, and cast out the demons, and listen, he did this freely right before them. And listen, those miracles attested to deity in the flesh right in front of them. Now notice this. Also these great miracles were free from pride and free from self-advancement, which was the opposite of the Jewish establishment. And those actions will come before them at the judgment, and they will be damned because they rejected the works of the perfect Son of Man.

So we have this perfection, this perfect combination of perfect words and glorious works that attest to his deity, and they reject it. And then second, we learned last week that we are seeing the end of Jesus' very public ministry all through these chapters. We've seen him moving in and out, different places, but he's been in a very prominent and public place. He's been there at the temple, and he's moved among the great crowds, but now we're going to see that Jesus moves among to more secluded areas and secluded places, and he does minister to people in more quiet settings, and he is preparing for the cross.

As interesting as we will see as we continue, even when he moves in quiet places, the crowds still follow him. And I want you to have that in your mind, because we're going to transition, but before we transition, we're going to look further into chapter 10 at this final rejection. Now I've already told you, I said it last week, this is a part one and a part two. This is the final rejection, part two. We will finish up these verses. We'll be in verses 32 through 42. You see the truths that are before you. We'll take a little more time on some, and some will be rather brief.

We'll see Jesus' charge, then Jesus' challenge, Jesus' consequences right there in verse 39. It'll be very brief, and then Jesus' change. It's change in his setting. Like I said, we'll cover verses 32 through 42. Now I want to call your attention to the verses. I give you adequate time to take notes. I always encourage you to take notes. I want you to study your notes, that'll help you. That'll help you along with the declared word as you study the word written, and you go back to your notes. So I encourage you to develop that habit. But look at these verses. Look at verse 22, which is where we started last week.

Remember there was a division among the people as to who he was earlier. We saw that in verse 19. And then there, the Feast of the Dedication, Jesus begins to address these who were rejecting him. And then down through these verses, he's saying, "You don't believe. You are not in the sheepfold." And then what do we see in verse 31? We covered this last week. And the Jews took up stones again to stone him. See, that's where we get this title, this rejection. We're going to see this really at the end of these verses again. This is that rejection of Christ being deity. But let's pick up right in verse 32.

"Now Jesus answered them, 'I showed you many good works from the Father, for which of them are you stoning me?' He questions them. 'Did you use answer him? For a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy. And because you being a man make yourself out to be God.' Jesus answered them, 'Has it not been written in your law? I said you are gods. If he called them gods, to whom the Word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken, do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, you are blaspheming because I said I am the Son of God? If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me.

But if I do them, though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.' Therefore they were seeking again to seize him." Remember notice there is that rejection. What does it say? "He eluded or he escaped their grasp. And he went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and he came and he was staying there. And many came to him and were saying, 'While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true.' And many believed in him there." Now you already see how we are going to divide up these verses.

And we will look first at the charge. Jesus, his charge to these religious leaders. There in verses 32 and 33. What does he say? He says, "I showed you many good works from my Father, for which of them are you stoning me?" Earlier we saw that they were picking up stones to stone him. So with these previous verses in our minds, especially verse 31, we see Jesus charge these leaders and he charges them to look at everything they have seen in him and in his ministry. Three truths I want us to observe out of these verses. First the revelation by Jesus. Notice this revelation by Jesus. What does he say?

"I showed you." Those words should indicate a revelation. "I showed you many good works from the Father, which of them are you stoning me?" The text reads, "I showed you." Jesus is saying, "I have revealed myself through these many works that you have seen." Now there are two things which emphasize this revelation by Christ to these religious leaders. Notice the phrase good works here in the Scriptures. All of the translations read basically the same thing, good works. Now this phrase good works, it means beautiful, it means excellent, it means noble works. So what is Jesus saying?

"I showed you many, many good, many beautiful, many excellent, many noble things." And not only does the phrase describe the works, but if you study the original language, the order of the wording emphasizes the goodness of these works. Now what were these works? Just briefly, we should know what these works were. He healed the sick, he touched the lame, he healed blind eyes, he even delivered those who weren't demon possessed. And he even fed the masses we learn in John 6. So all throughout his ministry, Jesus does wonderful, good, noble, beautiful, excellent works and many of them were right there in front of these religious leaders.

And what Jesus is saying here is, "I showed you many good things. I revealed my glory right in front of you." Second, notice the question from Jesus. For which of them are you stoning me? With this question, he is forcing them to step up and proclaim why they are seeking to stone him. Because right there in verse 31, they took up stones. They would have had rocks in their hands. They might have had three or four at their feet. So he is forcing them to step up and declare why they want to stone him. And this question, listen, it brings out not only their intentions to the surface, but the condition of their hearts.

Because their intentions are reflective of their hearts. Now what were their intentions? Rejection. They were rejecting him. From the very minute he stepped in front of them to this very day, it was rejection after rejection after rejection. And we've already learned the condition of their heart. Last week Jesus said, "You are not in the sheepfold." So he questions them. And in questioning, he deals with their intentions and reveals the condition of their heart. Third, I want you to notice the accusation of the Jews. Verse 33, "The Jews answered him, 'For a good work we do not stone you.'" In other words, it's not about what he did.

It's about blasphemy, because you being a man make yourself out to be God. In the beginning of the verse, they state that they were not offended by what he did. But they were offended by his words. They were offended by his teaching. They are really saying it like this. You being a mere man, a mortal man, and claiming to be God, you are blasphemous. And this proves that they knew full well his claims. I want you to remember this. Mark this down. This is a truth that you need to know. These two verses prove that Jesus was not vague in any way in his claims to deity.

There are those who will say that Jesus never fully and outright claimed to be God. That's not the case. Because if he had been vague, they would not have picked up stones. These Jews knew full well what Jesus was saying all along. And that's why they hated him. And they are accusing him of blasphemy because he equated himself with God and claimed to be God. So here in these verses, Jesus really charges these religious leaders. He's calling them out. He's calling them out in their intentions. He's calling them out in revealing their conditions. And he is forcing their hand. If I can use that language. He's forcing their hand.

Now for us in our day, how might these verses apply? This charge. We must see that the lost all around us, listen, they are rejecting. Whether it's a lost spouse, a lost son, a lost neighbor, a lost daughter, a lost friend, a lost coworker, those who are rejecting Christ, they are rejecting. Now notice the revelation of God. Now how might they be rejecting revelation? First of all, they are rejecting God by rejecting the evidence of the creation. Romans chapter one says that all mankind are held accountable by the creation. Another sermon for another day is this.

Those who have lived outside of the knowledge of Jesus are held accountable by general revelation. So when our friends and neighbors worship the creation, rather than looking at that as evidence to point them to the one true God, they are rejecting revelation. Also they reject God through rejecting common grace. You know lost people experience common grace all the time. They experience and enjoy health. They experience law enforcement. They experience a wonderful country that we live in. Sinful, yes, but a country that we live in. They have common grace when they go to the doctor and the doctor can meet their needs. See that list is endless.

Lost humanity when they receive and enjoy common grace and they don't allow that to point them to the God that gave them that common grace, they are rejecting. And also they're rejecting the word of God. Many of these have Bibles in their homes. They've heard sermons and they're rejecting the word of God. Many of them might be rejecting the God that they see in you. You might be witnessing to your son or your daughter or your spouse or your neighbor and when they reject that witness, they reject God. I'll never forget the first time somebody outright witnessed to me. I was at my parents' home.

They had a little deck outside on the side of their driveway and there was a man who opened up the Bible and witnessed to me and I opened up my mouth and I used language I'm ashamed of and I rejected that witness and I rejected God. Many of them around us are rejecting the work of the church. What am I showing you? This is revelation, revelation, revelation of God. And these Jews had the revelation of God right in front of them and they rejected and he charged them. And listen, we should never say this with a go get them attitude. They're going to be held accountable. No it should break our heart.

When we see people that we know and we love and we pray for reject God and reject God, it should break our hearts and it should break our hearts to prayer and to fasting and to say, "Lord, would you please give to them? Lord, would you please give to them that which you have given to me?" And what was that? Mercy and grace. So we see the charge. Let's continue. Let's notice Jesus' challenge, verse 34 through 38. The charge and the challenge are very similar. They kind of flow together. With this challenge, go back to the verses, verse 34, Jesus answered them, "Has it not been written in the law?" And he goes and he quotes the scriptures here.

I won't read it again because of time. Now this challenge is really a continuation of the charge. It all goes together. Jesus is challenging them in their conviction of who he is in their spiritual state. They are wrong in who they think he is and he's challenging them. And he is calling them to examine the evidence that has been brought before them. That's the challenge. Two things out of these verses. First his reasoning. His reasoning. Verse 34 through 36, I'll skim through it here. "Has it not been written in your law? I said you are God's." If he called them God's to whom the Word of God came, what is he talking about?

He's talking about the scripture I will explain. Verse 36, "Do you say of him who the Father has sanctified and sent into the world? You are blaspheming talking about himself." And he's doing some reasoning here according to the Old Testament scriptures. Now here this can be confusing for some of you because Jesus uses this word God's, little G, and he references scripture. Now what's going on here? Here Jesus is referencing several things. First the law, which would have been the entirety of the Old Testament, not just the first five books of the Old Testament.

A lot of times when that phrase the law is mentioned it will be talking about the Pentateuch or the first five books of the Bible. Because it will say the law and the prophets speaking of the entire Old Testament. So Jesus is talking about the entirety of the Old Testament scriptures that they had. Second, this word God's, little G. That might be confusing for some. But what we see here is there are places in the Old Testament scriptures that call the leaders of Israel God's little G. And they are representatives of the one true God to his work. I'll give you an example. I'll read you one and I'll reference several others.

Psalm 82 verses 6 through 7. And I said, "You are God's little G." God's little G. "Sons of the Most High." Plural sons. All of you. "Sons of the less like men you shall die and fall like any prince." That is speaking of the leaders of Israel. Not Jesus, but those sinful leaders of Israel. We see this same language in Exodus 4 verse 16 and chapter 7 verse 1. And this language is speaking of Moses and his role there in delivering the people. So that word little G is speaking of those leaders.

So notice in his reasoning with him, he is saying, "If you who are sinful and evil can be called God's little G, then I, the one whom the Father has sanctified," that means set apart and proven through these miraculous works can be called the Son of God. So he is using their reasoning to bolster his position as the Son of God. You see? His reasoning. Second, his evidence. Verse 37. "If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me. But if I do them through, though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father." See this is the evidence.

Here Jesus is directing their attention to his works. That they were signs, remember? John likely used that word signs to point to Christ. That these works were signs that the Father had sent him and that his claims were valid. Jesus is saying, "Don't take my word for it." He's saying, "Don't take my word for it." And he is saying, "The evidence is the works of my Father that he does through me." In other words, don't take my word for it. Look what the Father is doing through me. So what is the purpose of this evidence? That they may come to know him. That they may believe.

Verse 38 says, "That you may know and understand." Now there's some important language here that I want you to see. Go back to verse 38. But if I do them, these works, though you do not believe me, believe the works that you may know and understand. If you write in your Bible, understand that know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father. What was going on here? Let me explain it. Here in this phrase, there are two verbs, but they are in two different tenses. The first verb means that you may come to know. And the second verb, it is in the perfect tense, meaning that you may keep on knowing.

Let me go back and read the verse with that being understood. But if I do these works, if I do them, though you do not believe in me, believe the works that you may come to know and understand, staying in that knowledge that the Father is in me and I am in the Father. That's why what we see, Jesus gives this evidence that they might believe. One Bible commentator that I read, his name is Leon Morris. He says Jesus is looking for them to have a moment of insight and then to remain permanently in that knowledge. You see, I want to elaborate on that. I want you to see this.

Jesus is looking for them to have that moment of insight or conversion and then to continue in that conversion permanently. That's the evidence he is bringing. And the object, the goal of that evidence is that they might believe. So here Jesus is reasoning with them and he is presenting evidence to them. He is challenging them to examine the evidence around them and allow that to bring them face to face with their responsibility to believe. Of course, we know the end of the story. We know the end of the story. We know they do not believe and they will not believe. But how might this apply to us?

If we are really honest and paying attention, we see that Jesus is very, very patient with these leaders. Although he knows they are rejecting, he knows they are rejecting. Last week we saw that he says they are not in the sheepfold. He still continues to present the truth. He still continues to reason with them. And for you and for me, it should motivate us to have great patience with those who are lost around us, not to give up, to keep laboring in prayer, to keep living a gospel witness in front of them, to keep sharing the truth, even when they reject us, even when they revile us, even if they speak wickedly about God and Jesus and the Word of God that we keep on and we keep on and we keep on.

And why did Jesus do this? It was because he loved them. He loved these people? Even though they were going to reject him? Yes, if he rejected those who reviled him, he would reject you and me as well. And we must see that in this challenge, he still sticks with them, wanting them to come to that moment in time when they trust and believe and to remain in that conversion. Going back to that quotation I gave us earlier, Jesus is looking for them to have that moment of insight, that supernatural time, and then remain permanently in that knowledge.

It's exactly what happened to the disciples and that's what he is wanting to see in this challenge. Let's move on. The third truth I want us to see, Jesus' consequences, verse 39, one small verse, "Therefore they were seeking again to seize him, and he eluded their grasp." Just in this one verse we see a lot. If I can say it like this, Jesus pays the consequences for not backing down. From being bold, from challenging them, from charging them, he faces consequences. Now two things out of this verse I want you to see. First, they were constantly trying to seize him.

Go back to the verse, "Therefore they were seeking again." They were seeking again. Every translation uses this word again. If you look at the original language and the original structure, it can read like this, they kept on seeking to seize. They had tried in other times, John chapter 3 verse 30, verse 7 verse 30, and verse 32, and in verse 44. So they were constantly trying to seize him. But then second, notice, he walked through their efforts. "Therefore they were seeking again to seize him, but he eluded their grasp." Really I like the way the English Standard and the King James reads. It uses the word "excaped." So what do we see?

"Jesus our had not yet come." They wanted to seize him again. They wanted to grab him again. They wanted to attack him again, but he escaped. He eluded. Why? Because it was not his time for the cross. And when that time comes, he will not escape their grasp, he will willingly yield to their grasp. And here we see that there were consequences to his boldness towards the religious leadership. His charge and his challenge to them, listen, did not win him any more friends. It won him more enemies. And what I want you to see and I want us to see is this.

If we boldly proclaim Christ, if we boldly witness, and I don't mean just the way we live, but I mean tearfully and tenderly and boldly look at our friends and our neighbors and our loved ones, and if we look them in their face and we say, "I am so afraid for your soul," I'm afraid because the evidence of your life really shows me that you've never been converted. If we really look them in the face and we begin to share Christ with them based on what we've learned from the Scripture, there will be consequences because there will be some who will reject. And we might even lose family. We might even lose friendships.

It might make family reunions more difficult. It might be difficult in your marriage. It might change the way your children relate to you. There could be consequences when we boldly share Christ. And the fourth thing, the last truth, number four, Jesus change. Jesus change in his locality. Verse 40, "And he went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing and he was staying there." Notice he changes his location.

"And many came to him and were saying, 'While John performed no signs yet, everything John said about this man was true.' Many believed in him there." In these verses we see Jesus step away from the public eye. He steps away from that fishbowl ministry that he's been in. He's put himself in that fishbowl right there at the temple, at those different feasts, declaring the truths to the crowds and those religious leaders bearing down on him. And he leaves that fishbowl public ministry and now he goes to a secluded place. Therefore Jesus was making himself known, now he retreats to a quieter place.

Three things I want us to see, observations out of these verses. First it says in verse 40 that he went to the Jordan. He went away again beyond the Jordan. Now what is this place? This is the place of Bethany beyond the Jordan. This is the place where John the Baptist had baptized and he had ministered earlier. If you have a good memory you know that we covered John's ministry in the Gospel of John. So what do we see? He went away to the Jordan. This was a backwoods country type place off the beaten path. Second I want us to see that many came to him. Verse 41, "And many came to him." What were they saying?

"While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man," talking about Jesus, "was true." Although Jesus had retreated to a quieter place that does not mean that he withdrew from ministry. Even though he was not moving among the crowds like he had previously, the crowds were moving to find him. Now notice their reference to John the Baptist. Go back to the verse. "Many came and they were saying, 'While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man," talking about Jesus, "is true." What was the meaning of this? John's impact on the people was still being felt.

John, he performed no miracles, yet he was a powerful and continuous witness to Jesus as the Messiah. And that was almost three years ago. So what do we see? John performed no miracles, but he had a powerful continuous witness of Jesus as the Messiah. Although John was dead, he was still preaching in the minds and the hearts of the people. One commentator that I read said, "Me and Steel treasured John's words and they acted upon them." Another words, John, even though he was dead, was still pointing people to Christ as the Messiah.

And then third, verse 42, it's obvious, "Many believed." "Simply there were many who believed on Jesus as he was there ministering to the crowds that came to him." So here we see the unexpected. This might surprise you. One would expect Jesus to have a harvest back at the temple. One would expect Jesus to have a great move of the Spirit there at Solomon's Portico. One would expect a great crowd to follow Jesus there at the different feasts when he preached. You know, in our American mindset, it's the bigger the better. The bigger the crowd, the bigger the stage, the better the results.

And really the more glory for God, but that's not the case. Jesus withdrew to a quieter, more lonely place and he had a wonderful harvest. Many believed through John's witness and the witness in the testimony of Jesus. Now there are two points of application here that I want to make for us. First, Jesus does not need the big stage or the spotlight. Listen people, you need to write that down. I'm telling you, you don't need to file that away. You need to repeat that to yourself because we can fall prey to that erroneous idea. Jesus does not need the big stage or the spotlight.

As a matter of fact, most of the time the big stage and the spotlight robs him of glory because a lot of times when you got the big stage and the big spotlight, there's somebody else on the stage. There's somebody else in a prominent position in the spotlight. Jesus doesn't need it and we don't need it. We don't need it. If God can save out there by the Jordan in that day, he can save where we are in our day. All we need is the Word of God and the power of God and declare the Word of God and love people and God the Holy Spirit can draw who he wants to be here and he can save them.

Second, many times people come to Christ after a long period of ministry to them. Some of you really need to listen to that. I'm going to say it again. Many times people come to Christ after a long period of ministry to them. These people had been affected by John the Baptist almost three years earlier and his ministry was still impacting them. His sermons were still in their minds and their hearts. His witness was still gripping them in conviction. And so we can say that they stewed in that conviction.

They simmered on the back burner of the convicting work of the Spirit of God until the appropriate time when Jesus came along and they flocked to Jesus and then they believed. But we have an erroneous idea today that people need to hear the gospel one time and be saved. God doesn't always work that way, people. Sometimes people have to sit there under the Word of God and under the prayers of the saints and sometimes we must labor and labor and pray and hope and trust God and sometimes it takes a while and we don't understand the mysterious work of the Spirit but it seemingly takes a while for God to move them from point A to point B.

Is there a problem with God? No, but that is the workings of the Spirit of God. Why didn't they believe as soon as they heard John? I don't know. But somehow miraculously and mysteriously God used John and God used Jesus and they believed. Now, as we move to the conclusion, a brief conclusion this morning, it's a conclusion of application and I want to close the message by making two points of application. First of all, there are some who come to Christ in their preconceived ideas, preconceived beliefs and preconceived positions. That's exactly what the Jewish leadership did.

They did not want Jesus as the Messiah, they wanted their own Messiah. Now we've learned that they had all kinds of ideas. John chapter 6 really shows us how the Jewish mindset worked. They had all types of ideas as to what the Christ should be like. Jesus would never commit himself to that. He rejected it. But what I want you to see is that erroneous mindset, that erroneous false lie is still alive today. And what I'm showing you is sometimes people will come and they will come to Christ with their preconceived ideas, their preconceived beliefs and their preconceived positions. It does not matter your position.

It does not matter your system of beliefs, whether you're steeped in theology or don't know anything about the Bible, it does not matter your preconceived ideas about who God is and what the Bible says and who Jesus should be. None of that matters. What matters is what the Word of God says. A lot of times people will come to Jesus and they'll have a form of goodness. You know, I'm better than most. Horonius. Men have to die out of that. A lot of times people will dress up their lives and they'll get better at this thing called the Christian life and they'll reform outside.

They'll begin to attend church and come to Sunday school and listen to preaching and serve in the life of the church. And they'll think that they can come and clean up their life and you can't do that. That is a preconceived idea. That is a faulty position. Many times people will come and they'll want Jesus to fix their life's problems. Many times they'll have problems with their children, problems in a marriage and they'll come and they'll want God to fix it and they'll come and they'll wheedle and bargain with God. God, I'll give you my life if you'll fix these problems. You can't come to God that way either. I could go on and on.

What am I showing you? There are some who try to come to Christ and that's what these religious leaders did. They had these preconceived ideas about what the Messiah should be like. They had their beliefs and their positions and they thought they were right but they were a million miles away. And I want to say to you, if you are finding out that the Spirit of God under the preaching of God is eroding away at your foundations, if you're finding that the Spirit of God and the preaching of God and the constant witness of God through His Word is eroding away at what you are trusting in, it could be that you are exactly like the religious leaders.

You've come to Jesus with preconceived ideas, preconceived beliefs and preconceived positions and you're just like them. And by God's good grace, He is revealing Himself to you. Be willing to die to those things. Be willing to lay them on the altar. Be willing to count those things as sin. Be willing to count those things even as rebellion against God because anything we do in the flesh is sin. Second, there are some who come in the process of the Spirit drawing them over time. Listen, it takes people time.

If you're here, if you're a man or a woman or a young person and you know if you were to really get honest that the Spirit of God has been drawing you, the Spirit of God has been wooing you, even the Spirit of God has been hounding you, the great C.H. Spurgeon liking the Spirit of God as a hound from heaven. If you, when you leave church and when you are at your job or in your hobbies or in your home or all alone, if the Spirit of conviction is coming to you and dealing with you and unraveling you and convicting you, even when you're out from under the preaching of God, listen, realize and see that it's the Spirit of God that is drawing you.

And you're just like these people in the last verse, verse 42, you're in between John the Baptist witness and standing before Christ. Don't resist the work of the Spirit. Don't question the work of the Spirit. Submit to it. Be willing to submit yourself and humble yourself before God and let him draw you to the feet of Jesus. So what do we see? The final rejection. It's really a sad commentary. It's a sad story. Jesus has been revealing and preaching and loving and declaring and hanging in there with these people and they still reject, not in the fold.

For me, when I study these verses and preach through these verses and go back and listen and study even more, I'm just so thankful that he came because verse 16 says that he has those outside of the fold of Israel. I'm so thankful that he went and he came to me and he saved me. Final rejection. Let's pray and then we'll sing a closing verse. Lord, thank you for your beautiful and wonderful Word of God.