I hope I'm all wired up correctly. If you will, I'd like for you
to turn with me to John, the Gospel according to John, chapter
6. This is a long chapter. I'd like to read just a few verses
of Scripture from John chapter 6. I encourage you to read it all
when you get home, but there's a lot of things that go on in
John chapter 6. But at the end of our Lord's
discourse, at the end of the day, Our Lord said, it is the spirit
that quickeneth. See it there in verse 63. It
is the spirit that quickeneth. What you've been talking about?
You've been talking about eating his flesh and drinking his blood.
And they're looking at him like he's talking about cannibalism. He's looking at them the way
people look at me when I preach. Where in the world are you talking
about? And he said, if you ate my flesh,
it wouldn't do you any good. If you drank my blood, it wouldn't
do you any good. It is the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. It's not spitting out words. It's not standing up here and
saying things. Wonderful things. It's the spirit
that quickeneth. Paul said we're not sufficient
of ourselves to think anything of ourselves. Our sufficiency
is God. You could say two or three words,
John, if the spirit quickened them, and it pierced the hearts
of those gathered here. It's the spirit that quickens
it. But he said, there's some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not. And he also knew who would betray
him. And he said, therefore I said unto you that no man can come
unto me except it were given to him of my father. And from
that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more
with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will you go also?
And Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And that's what I want to talk
to you about tonight. Words of life. Words of life. I appreciate you
having me up here. I appreciate your generosity. I had a wonderful meal before
church. But it's time now to consider
some things, serious things. Preaching is serious. It's not
funny business. It's serious. Serious business. I want to ask you something.
Do you believe God calls, makes able, and sends his ambassadors
to man? Do you believe that? Do you believe
that God, out of humanity, most of the time from the most
unusual sources, will select man? Teach that man. Arrange that providence so that
that man will confront a people and give him a message for them.
Do you believe that? If you do, you can't help but
believe that every opportunity they have to preach then is arranged
of God. It's arranged of God. And I'm
thankful to your pastor for inviting me and opening up his home to
Mike and I to stay for a few days. And I'm grateful for this
assembly to come out and listen to me. And I know about this thing called salvation
and this man Jesus, whom we believe is the Christ. going to be the
center of my message. My message tonight is about words
of life. To whom shall we go, Peter said,
thou hast the words. The words. He was life. Christ is life. But that life
comes through words because that's how it pleased Him to do it.
I was talking to a man the other day and he got all riled up and
he said, God can save men any way he wants to. And I said,
well, how does he want to? And he just sat there and looked
at me. And I said, well, it says it
pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. That's what God wants. He gets what he wants. I just
want. But he gets what he wants. If
he wants something, he has it. He has it. And when you think
about preachers, do you think about them this way? Most people don't. When you pray
for your pastor or pray for me or pray for John, do you pray
that God will give you a word through him? This vast multitude that had
been following the Lord Jesus Christ, they turned and walked
away. A little bit of trouble came
up and they said, that's it, that's it, he's talking about
eating his flesh, let's get out of here. Away they went. And
the Lord just said, they were still walking John, they weren't
15 feet away. The Lord turned around at 12,
he said, you going too? Why didn't they go? Because he
had the words of life. And that's exactly what Peter
said. To whom shall we go? Where will you go? If God's ambassador
doesn't, if you get fed up with him and you say that's it, that's
enough, I've had enough, where are you going to go? Huh? You see what I'm talking about?
The Lord has the words of eternal life. You can't just go give them.
You can't just go find them. This thing's arranged of God. He's doing what pleases Him.
John, that's exactly what you said. He's got all power. He's got the purpose. He's got
everything. And He's doing what pleases Him.
And it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching. Not
only that, but when he ascended up to glory, what did he do?
He gave gifts to men. What kind of gifts? Well, he
gave them apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. You mean they're the gift of
God? That's exactly what I mean. Exactly what I mean. Years ago, in our old building,
It was narrow like this, and we had a fellowship hall in the
back. I didn't have a nursery, but
the small children, I'd have them go to the back. And my oldest
daughter was visiting with me. And it come time to start the
service, and I was sitting there looking over my notes. And the
song leader was preparing to lead the singing. And one of
the ladies was ushering my two granddaughters back to the back.
They were real little. And the oldest one stopped. And she said, Papaw? I said,
yes, dear. She said, are you going to say
the words tonight? Boy, I tell you, it was like
a knife went through me. And it's funny how the Lord speaks
sometimes through children. I said, oh, I said, I hope so.
I hope so. I come up here in my heart and
in my mind praying that God would give me a word for you. His word. Something about his son, something
about his glory, something that's going to pierce your heart, something
that's going to make this world just fade away. Oh, how this world grips us.
But it won't grip you when the glory of God grips you. This world just fades away. It's
like when the sun comes out and all them stars just disappear. Here in our text, the great multitude
of disciples were perplexed and perhaps even disgusted by what
our Lord had said about eating his flesh and drinking his blood.
And in verse 66, it says, from that time, many of his disciples
went back. If you leave, you're going back.
You're going back. Back to what? You tell me. God called us out of darkness.
If we go back, we're going back to darkness. God called us out of religion,
saved us out of religion. You go back, you're going back
to religion, going back to deceit. He told those disciples, Peter
said, Whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. You believe that eternal life
comes by way of words? By way of words. I've heard men
and women talking about being saved by a kind of, I just listen
to them, I have no idea what they're talking about, but it
seems to me like they're talking about some kind of aura, a spiritual
feeling and it emanates from a place or a groove or a certain
experience or a dream or a vision or whatever it is that they have.
I've heard testimonies of these visions and dreams. These men
say that they come from God and they were so powerful that they
couldn't be resisted. And I can go on and on and on
with those testimonies of deceived men and women to which they attribute
their professions of faith. But the Word of God tells us
a different story. If you're going to believe God,
You need to see what God says. You need to see what He says.
And the Word of God tells us a different story. The Bible
said, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation
which at the first, now listen, began to be spoken. How was it? Spoken by our Lord. and was confirmed unto us by
them that heard him. How'd they confirm it? They spoke
it. They spoke it. The Bible says this. We're talking
about life coming through words. He has the words. Peter said
we ain't got anywhere else to go. We didn't know anything before
we came to you. You got the words. The Bible
said, how shall you believe on him in whom you have not heard,
and how shall you hear without a preacher? I didn't say that,
the Holy Ghost said that. The Bible said, in whom you also
trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation. And the Holy Scriptures tell
us that we're born again of incorruptible seed by the word of God and Peter
says, this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto
you. And Paul said, he's the boldest
of all of them, he said, I have begotten you through the gospel. Life comes through words. Listen to this, when Paul asked
those questions, those four questions, and he come down to the end,
he said, how shall you hear without a preacher? How shall he preach
except it be sent? Here's how he sent them to do
it. So then, faith cometh by hearing. Hearing by the Word
of God. And I'm going to tell you something,
if you hear from God, you're going to hear through a man.
Through a man. Our Lord clothed Himself with
the flesh of a man, and though He was God come into the flesh,
He was still ever with a man. And as a man, He preached to
men. This is the only one of these
stones He could raise up children unto Abraham. He could do anything.
He could walk on water. He could do anything. He was
God. But He didn't do anything. He preached. He preached. He came to those disciples, right
here in John 6, walking in the middle of a storm, in the middle
of the night, high winds, walking on the water. He wasn't running,
he wasn't hopping, he was walking. John, complete ease on a stormy
sea, walking. Walking on water. He could speak
to the winds and the waves and they had to obey him. He stepped
into their boat and immediately the boat was where it was supposed
to go. Immediately! That's what Scripture said. He could feed those 5,000 souls
to their full with two little fishes and three loaves. And He could save men any way
He chose to. And that's just it. He chose
to save men through the preaching of the Gospel. Listen to what Paul told Old
Cicero. And he said, I'm thankful to the Father for you, brethren.
That was the most thankful man I've ever read. Everything he
said, he was constantly giving thanks to God. Why? He knew the source. And he was just constantly thanking
God. And he said, I thank God for
you, brethren. I love the Lord. Because God
has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief in the truth, whereunto He called you
by our gospel. Eternal life comes by way of
words, and these words belong to Him. Thou hast the words. He has the words. Listen to our Lord speak to His
Father as our High Priest in His prayer in John 17. Listen
to this. I have manifested Thy name unto
the men which Thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were, and Thou gavest me, and they have kept Thy word. Now
they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given me
are of Thee. Now listen to this. For I have
given unto them the words Which thou gave me. What did he give? The words. Where would you be
if God hadn't given you the words? Huh? I was on the broad road
to hell where I was at. I was in religion. Thought I
was doing something for God. Totally deceived. Didn't know
who God was. Didn't know his gospel. Didn't
know anything about him. And he arrested me. He arrested
me. And he sent brother Mahan to
tell me the truth and he told me the truth. And God used those
words. He used those words. He said, I have given them the
words which thou gavest me and they received them. They received
them. Turn with me to Luke chapter
10. Let me show you something over
here in Luke chapter 10 and verse 1. After these things, the Lord
appointed other 70 also, 70 preachers, 70 men, selected them, sent them
out. And He sent them out two by two before His face. Now watch
this. into every city and place whether
he himself would come. When you, if you find an ambassador
of God, a man sent from God, you can know that his presence
in a place is a strong indication that the Lord himself is coming
to visit his people. Because that's exactly what he
told us. I'm going to send you out into all these places. I'm
going to send you out two by two. And I'm coming. Everywhere you go, I'm coming.
I'm coming. He sent them into every city
and place whether he himself would come and look down at verse
16. He gives them some more instruction
and then he tells them this in verse 16. He that heareth you,
heareth me. Does everybody say that? He that heareth you, heareth
me. And he that despiseth you, despiseth
me. And he that despiseth me, despiseth
him that sent me. He has the words, and He gives
these words to whom He will, and He makes these words effectual
to save sinners. Alright, so what are the words? He has the words. He preached
the words. And He gave to His ambassador
the words. What are the words? Well, after
our Lord's resurrection, He joined Himself to two of His disciples
over in Luke 24. They were walking along the road,
poor Lorne. This one that they thought was
going to be king and deliver them out from under Roman bondage
was now dead, crucified, hanging on cross. And they were talking
about these things and talking no doubt about their disappointment.
And they was confused and complexed and trying
to make some sense out of what had happened, and they were walking
along the way, and our Lord drew near to them, but He hid Himself
from them. They didn't know who He was.
And He said, what y'all talking about? And they said, well, who are you? Where you been?
Where you been? Art thou a stranger in Jerusalem?
You not aware of the things that have taken place?" And they began
to tell him all about Jesus of Nazareth, and what they believed,
and what had happened, and about their disappointment. And they
said, but He was condemned to death, and they crucified Him,
but we trusted that He had been that one who should have redeemed
Israel. We thought He was the Redeemer. Then he said unto them, O fools,
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into his glory? And so he went back to the cross.
Now that ain't what it says. He went to Moses. You got two men here, they're
confused. People come in here, I know they do, because they
come in at my house. They're confused. They can't make sense out of
what's going on. They can't make sense out of
religion. They're upset. The Lord's working at them and
they come in here and they sit down. So what are we going to
do? We run over here to some favorite
little passage and stuff. I know what he did. He went back
to the beginning. Went back to Moses. beginning at Moses, and all the
prophets. And He expounded unto them and
all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. And I don't
know exactly what He said, but I believe He may have started
in Genesis 1-3. And He began to tell them something
about Himself and creation. Back in Genesis 1-3, when God
said, Let there be light, He's not talking about the sun. He's
not talking about the moon or the stars. In Genesis 1.3 there
wasn't but one source of light that was important before creation
was created and that's Christ. It says over in John chapter
1, he said, or not John chapter 1, I can't even remember the
chapter now. Anyway, he says this, I'm the
light of the world. When did he become the light
of the world? when He created it. He gave a sense of purpose in
creation. This world was created for Him. And He read it to us by Him and
for Him. This world has a purpose. He
created the whole universe. They tell me they send satellites
out with telescopes on them and as far out as they can get them
and as far as they can look, it goes that much further. He
created all of that and then selected this little planet Earth
and set it apart from all the rest of it. And then he created
a people here. Why? Why? Because he's going
to manifest his glory in the salvation of a people through
the person and work of His Son. That's the light. Let there be
light. Because without that light, it's
without form and void. There's nothing to see. There's
nothing to understand. Man, if you stare back into eternity
without the light of Christ, what do you see? It's just a
big empty black hole. It's a mystery. A mystery. He read it to us. He's the image
of the invisible God, the firstborn of everything created. Colossians 1.16, For by Him were
all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible
and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him, and He's before all things. He's the head of the body. In
Romans 8 verse 19 it said, For the earnest expectation of creation. Creation. What's it waiting for?
Why is it being preserved? What's going on? Why? What's
expected of creation? He created it. What's the expectation
of creation? It waiteth for the manifestation
of the sons of God. That's what it is. And this whole
universe was created, and the Earth in particular, to manifest
the glory of God and the salvation of His people. And it was no
accident that sin entered into the world. He tells us there
that creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but
by reason of Him who subjected the same in hope. Why the fall
of man? Why all of these things happen?
God purposed to save sin. When He said, let there be light,
there was light. A light that shines on everything
to show us God's redemptive purpose and His grace in all things from
the very beginning. And then in chapter 2 of Genesis,
He shows us how God rested from all of His works. Have you ever
thought about that? God creates the heavens and the
earth He populates the earth and he puts the fishes in the
ocean and he does all these things and he said on the seventh day
he rested. Well, didn't he know Satan was cast out into the earth? Didn't he know Satan was going
to tempt Eve and cause Eve to take of that forbidden fruit?
Didn't he know that after she was fallen and under Satan's
influence that she was going to come to that man and cause
his fall and cause the fall of all humanity? Didn't God know
that? Didn't God know that in a few
generations, just in a few generations, that every imagination of man
was going to be only evil continually. His ideas of God in his imagination,
he's looking at cows and totem poles and who knows what. Every
imagination of man in his heart was only evil continually. God's
going to have to destroy the world. Didn't he know that Israel
that there's going to be a wholesale rejection of Christ when He come
into this world. They're not going to have Him.
He came on His own. His own received Him not. He came into the world
and He made it. It wouldn't have anything to
do with it. Didn't God know that? Well certainly
He knew it. How could He rest? Because He took everything He
had, John. Before He ever created the first thing. And he put it
into the hands of his mediatory king. He put it into the hands
of his son. And he said, I trust these things
to you. And you read Ephesians 111, and
he's talking about the stewardship of time and salvation and all
things. And this stewardship is being
brought to pass, and he's revealing this great mystery to us And
he tells us in verse 11, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. Why? That we
should be to the praise of his glory. Now listen, who first
trusted in Christ. In whom you also trusted when
you heard. What did you hear? You heard
that God trusted all things into the hands of His Son. If His
Son was not able, if He wasn't sufficient, if He wasn't all-powerful,
if He wasn't able to do what God intended for Him to do, He'd
never trusted it to Him. You find that all the way through
the Scripture. That's the first book. Go over to the last book.
What's it say? It pictures God holding all of
his counsels and purpose in his hand and it's sealed and nobody
can take the book, but one was worthy. And he didn't just take
the book, he took it and he unloosed the seals and he brought it to
pass. In the volume of the book, he
said, it's written of me, I come to do thy will, O God. by which
we were sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. What you talking about? Accomplishing
God's will. That's exactly what he did. He shows us the lamb in the garden.
Reconciling the first man and woman in type, and in the altar
of Abel, and in the ark of Noah, and in the covenant of Abraham,
and in the tabernacle of Moses, and in the blood of the Lamb.
Not to mention the city of refuge, and the kinsman redeemer, and
the year of jubilee, and the feast of the Passover, and on
and on and on it goes. He began at Moses, and he started
to show them that all of these things pertained to Him. All of these things. He began
at Moses and all the prophets and He expounded unto them and
all the scriptures, all the things concerning Himself. And then
He vanished out of their sight. And what did they say? Oh, they said, didn't our hearts
burn within us? When He walked with us, no, that
ain't what it is. When He talked with us and opened
to us the Scriptures, didn't our heart burn? Don't your heart
burn when you open up this book and you see that everything in
it pertains to Him and His glory? That He engaged the whole Godhead
in your salvation? Everything that makes God, God. He engaged in the salvation of
your soul. Can you trust Him? God did. And you will when you hear. When
you hear. When God sends you there. There's
nothing else to preach about. My soul. People running around.
They're all in a uproar. I don't know what I'm going to
preach on. You need to quit preaching. Ain't nothing else to preach
on but Christ. Well, where do I go? Go to Moses. Huh? Go to Ruth. Go to Nehemiah. Go anywhere you want to. Go to
the minor prophets. Go to the major prophets. Go
to the New Testament. To Him give all the scriptures.
Huh? Witness. And I tell you, when
Christ preached to John, Paul said, I'm preaching His person
to you. That's what I'm preaching. I'm
not trying to promote a movement. Somebody said a Calvinistic movement. I don't care about no Calvinist.
I want you to look to Christ. And I can give you a reason.
I can give you a lot of reasons. I've given you a book full tonight. John gave you 45 minutes worth.
My soul. It's everywhere. It's on every
page. On every page. The words are the words of life
and the words are the things concerning the Son of God. His
eternal appointments. Boy, I tell you, I just about
did a double back flip when I found out all the appointments of Christ. That all of these things His
being our savior, and our representative, and our federal head, and our
high priest, and our king, and our lord, and all of these. These
were appointments of God that were given him before the foundation
of the world. His precious prophecies, his
loving promises, his condescension to this earth. to robe himself
in human flesh, his life's obedience, death on the cross, his glorious
resurrection, his ascension, his coronation, and his throne in glory, his
arranging right this very night and bringing to pass all that
he is ordained to be. His words are not a whip to beat
men and women into obedience. They are words of love to point
us and teach us and comfort us and point us to Christ. You want
to get your life right, look to Christ. Everything will just
fall into place. It will just fall into place. Christ is not just an important
part of your salvation, John said. He's not just the way to
heaven. He's the light and glory of heaven.
He's all. Paul said also in that chapter
in Colossians, he said, in him are hid all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge. And as we have received him,
he said, now you walk in him. How did you receive him? He was
my Savior. Walk that way. How did you receive
Him? He's my righteousness. Walk that
way. Huh? He's mercy. He's grace. Grace and truth came
by Jesus Christ. Is that how you receive? Walk
that way. Walk that way. And beware, Paul said, lest any
man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. For in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead. And we're complete in Him. I was talking to your pastor
about a... I was doing a verse-by-verse
commentary through 1 Peter chapter 5. And he said, now you be careful. Because Satan has a roaring line. He walketh about seeking whom
he may devour. And I told our folks, I said,
I'm going to tell you something about Satan. He's not in the
bars. If alcohol's your problem, it's
your flesh. Got nothing to do with Satan.
If adultery's your problem, it's got nothing to do with Satan.
That all comes from your flesh. Don't need Satan for that. Satan
moves only in the realm of religion. Read about him in the scriptures.
You won't find him spoken of except in the realm of religion. When he tempted Christ, he tempted
him religiously. And Satan's walking about. He's
probably walking about right here tonight in this place. What's
he looking for? He's looking for a weak moment.
He's looking for that little troubled area. He's looking for
that little troubled spot. Here he comes. And he'll throw
something sideways at you and you'll swallow it hook, line,
and sinker. He'll devour you. That's what the scripture is.
And that's what Peter told them. You watch out for him. Paul said
we know his devices. We know exactly how he works.
And that's what he does. He finds a little division. He
finds a little somebody upset. He finds somebody lost their
job. He finds whatever it is. And boy, he knows more about
human nature than anybody but God. He knows exactly when to
say those things and you'll just swallow them up. Just swallow
them up. Paul said, you just keep looking
to Christ. Just the same way you received
him. Same way you're saved. Now you walk in Him. You walk
in Him. Why? Because you're complete
in Him. Why? He's the head of all principality
and power. He's your righteousness. He's
your justification. Freely justified through the
redemption that's in Christ Jesus. He's my justification. A couple years ago, after my
wife died, we'd been to Niagara Falls. She always wanted to go
to Niagara Falls. I said, okay, we'll go. And we
went, we looked at the falls and the tunnel of the winds,
and we did the whole circuit, you know. Went over on the Canadian
side and on the American side, and we toured the falls and saw
it, and then we went home. But before we went home, we had
to have souvenirs, so we bought a coffee table book. You know
what I'm talking about. It was a very big book. Niagara
Falls. And she brought it home, sat it on the end table next
to the couch, and it stayed there. And then when I moved down to
Arkansas, I took it down and sat it on the end table and sat
it there for years. And about a year after she died,
I got nobody in there cleaning my house but me. And I noticed
everything get kind of dusty. So I went in and got me some
spray and a rag and I was going to dust everything off and I
got that book and I started dusting it and I saw it was on the pages
and I opened that book up and the title of the page that I
opened to was Niagara Falls Daredevils. Boy, that got my attention. I
wanted to read that. So I opened it up and I started
reading about it and there was, I don't know, there was women,
got in barrels, went over the falls. did all kinds of things
up there on those falls. But there was one man, head and
shoulders, stood above everybody, the great Blandin, that's what
he called himself. And this was, man, 100 years
ago. And he, I don't know how they
did it, but they stretched a rope out across those falls and he
walked those things and had a promoter, Harry, somebody or other, and
he would promote him and people gathered there and big, crowds
to watch him, and man, he'd put peach baskets on his feet and
walk across that thing. He rode a bicycle across, pushed
a wheelbarrow on it with somebody in it, and he was amazing, and
they called him the Great Blandin. Well, one day he was there, and
Harry, his promoter, was there, and of course, Daredevil was
a show-off to start with, so He got out in the middle of that
thing and he already had it rigged up with the maid of the mist,
that little ship that brings you up and you can see the falls.
And he got out there and he took out this little line and he lowered
it down and they put a glass and a bottle of wine. And he
pulled it back up, poured him a glass of wine, and sat down
on that rope out over that water, treacherous water. and drank
that wine just like nothing, like he's sitting in your living
room. And lowered that line back down with the bottle and the
glass. Everybody applauded, you know, and he walked to the other
side. And there's old Harry giving him a standing ovation. Man,
he's clapping his hands and he said, well, Harry said, what
do you think now? What do you think about me now?
He said, can I do everything I told you I can do on that road?
Harry said, you can. He said, I'm a believer. I know
you can do anything, everything that you told me you could do
and more. And so he turns around and he
bent down and he said, get on. And old Harry did. And he carried
him back across that falls and put him on the other side. You
believe what I'm preaching to you? You believe God sends eternal
life to men through the preaching of the gospel? Get on. Get on. And you will, when you're
convinced. You get on. God persuades men. Did you know that? Through the
preaching of the gospel, He persuades men. Paul said, I'm persuaded. Well, ain't nobody persuaded
Paul. God persuaded him. I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. And
he got on. God help us to do so.