THE LIGHT OF THE GOSPEL* BELIEVERS AND UNBELIEVERS ARE ALWAYS DIVIDED* Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done. JOH 11:45-46. / These Scriptures give us such a blessed revelation of where the great distinction lies between believers and unbelievers. Both had seen and confessed that a notable miracle had just been performed, but the distinction between them was what they saw in that miracle. Those who believed saw deliverance from the power of death in the miracle of raising Lazarus. They saw the truth of what Jesus had said to Martha in JOH 11:25: “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” But those who remained dead in trespasses and sin saw this miracle as a threat. They did not see in it a deliverance from the power of the grave and the power of sin. JOH 11:46-48 says, “But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done. Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.” The distinction between a believer and an unbeliever is shown in JOH 3:20-21. “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” What will the believer and the unbeliever see when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come in the clouds? The believers will rejoice to see Him coming, but see what the unbeliever will do. REV 6:15-16 says, “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.” The unbelievers saw the light shining into their hearts, and they could no longer conceal their sins. Instead of coming to Christ to be cleansed from their sins, they will flee to the mountains and to the rocks to hide them. In these most important truths, we must see God’s free and sovereign electing love, which makes this distinction. ROM 9:13-18 says, “As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.” The light of the gospel threatens those who hide sins in their hearts and are not willing to come and confess before God. They feel threatened by the light of the gospel that reveals those sins. By nature we are all born spiritually blind, but it is those upon whom God will show mercy, who have their eyes anointed with eye salve, who will believe. The man who was born blind had his eyes anointed with eye salve. He went to Siloam and washed and returned seeing. And in a spiritual sense we need that spiritual eye salve that we might see that we need to be delivered from the power of sin, that we see Christ and the resurrection of Christ as a raising out of the oldness into the newness of life. Amen.
Posted on: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 17:01:25 +0000
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