Alright, let's open our Bibles
back to the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 29. Jeremiah 29. I want to begin at verse 15, and
the title of the message is, No Hope Without God's Word. No Hope Without God's Word. Now, you know the whole life
of a believer here on this earth is a series of events that are
ordained by Almighty God and intended to teach us, His children,
the believers now, people of God, to teach us to learn more
and more to trust in the Lord and to lean not to our own understanding,
to teach us to learn more and more, to look to Christ and Christ
and Him alone for our whole salvation, the forgiveness of our sins,
all our sins, the cleansing of our unrighteousness, our standing
righteous before God, trust Christ and Him alone, Our eternal life,
our assurance of glory to rest in Him alone for salvation. That's what our life is about.
Following Him, trusting Him, honoring Him. And in order to
accomplish that, God has given us two things. He's given us
the mind of grace. That is, He's changed our hearts. He's changed our thinking. He's
changed our motives. He's changed our centers. He's
changed our goals. By the power of the Holy Spirit,
as He in the new birth has imparted spiritual life and knowledge,
the gifts and the graces of the Spirit, knowledge in true conviction
of sin, and driven us to Christ to see that we have no hope without
Christ. We have no hope of salvation,
of any of these things, any of these blessings. except that
which is gained for us and maintained for us by the power of God's
grace in Christ. And that's the way we're to think,
our thinking. That's what I believe the Apostle
Paul was talking about in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 when he talked about
bringing every thought into the obedience of Christ. He's not
just talking about obedience in the way of morality there. That's included. Because we are,
without doubt. There's no argument there. We
who are recipients of the power of God's grace, we're to live
moral lives. We're to be ethical people. We're
to be kind and generous and compassionate in every way, forgiving people.
Not just at given times, but all the time. And listen, don't
get me wrong. I mean, that's a struggle for
us. That's a warfare for us. We're to be obedient, bond slaves,
willing, loving bond slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
to be impressed upon our hearts, upon our minds for the glory
of God. And He gives us that mind. That's not in us by nature,
is it? I mean, that's not the way we're
taught by false religion. False religion makes men legal
slaves who are trying to pay a debt, who are trying to win
God's favor. by their works, who are trying
to establish their own righteousness before God, rather than submit
to Christ for all righteousness. You see, the natural way is to
make men and women mercenaries, trying to earn their way into
God's favor. At least a bigger mansion in
heaven, you know, I want one bigger than yours, I know that,
you know. That kind of thing. And that's not the mind of grace.
You see, we have the mind of Christ. Remember that in Corinthians
2 how in the world can any of us honestly without shame and
embarrassment Say we have the mind of Christ his mind was perfect
well what he's talking about there is the mind of grace and
So he's given us that but then secondly he's given us the means
of grace and We could talk about several things there, but what
I want to talk to you tonight about is the Word of God and
and that's what I want us to be impressed with out of this
passage because the Word of God is so beautiful and so powerful
and so amazing and so necessary for us not only in our salvation
but in the whole life of a believer here on this earth and the Bible
shows us there's no hope for any of us without the Word of
God Without the Word of God, we'd always be like sheep who've
gone astray. Now with that in mind, let's
read these verses, then I want to come back and make a few comments
on two things that I want you to see out of this. First of
all, I want you to look at the state of Jerusalem in sin because
they ignored God's Word. And I'll tell you something,
this is the state of everyone spiritually who does that. ignores
the Word of God. Here Jeremiah is told by God
at the beginning of this passage to write a letter to those who
are in Babylon in captivity and to tell them the truth that he'd
always been telling them. that what they were suffering
was the just wrath of God against their sin and they should submit
to that punishment, take sides with God against themselves if
they're going to live. That's an emblem of repentance.
Repent or perish. Take sides with God against myself. That's what we've got to do.
That's what the Holy Spirit brings us to do in salvation. God, if you were to judge me
based on my best efforts to keep your law, what would I get? What
would I deserve? It would be eternal damnation
and punishment. And then there were false prophets
who were telling them another message that's saying that everything's
okay. There's still a king in Jerusalem.
Zedekiah was still on the throne at this time. There's still a
king sitting on the throne of David. The temple's still standing
and you're not going to be here long. Peace, peace when there
is no peace. Now listen to the letter, verse
15. It says, Because you have said, The Lord hath raised us
up prophets in Babylon. Now there were prophets in Babylon.
Know that thus saith the Lord of the king that sitteth upon
the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in this
city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into
captivity. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
Behold, I will send upon them the sword. That's the people
who are left in Jerusalem I'm gonna send upon them the sword
they didn't submit to God's will to God's wrath against their
sin they didn't submit to Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar behold I will
send upon them the sword the famine the pestilence this is
going to be the The punishment that God would bring to those
in Jerusalem. And I will make them like vile figs. Poisoned,
rotten figs that cannot be eaten. They are so evil. These are people
who are claiming to their own hope. People who are clinging
to the temple. Clinging to the throne of David
here on earth. And he says they are so evil.
Now what's the problem? He said, I'll persecute them
with the sword, with the famine, with the pestilence, I'll deliver
them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth to be a
curse. Not a blessing, but a curse. And an astonishment. People are
going to be bewildered by this. And then hissing. There'll be
like something people hiss at. And a reproach, he says, among
all the nations whether I've driven them. Now I underscore
this in verse 19. What's the problem? Here it is.
Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the Lord. They didn't listen and obey the
word of God through Jeremiah. Which I sent unto them by my
servants, the prophets, Jeremiah and others, a few others, rising
up early and sending them. This is no delayed message. This
is no last minute ditch effort. You see, this was the message
all along. This was not hidden. It was open. But you would not
hear. The natural man, you see, will
not receive the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he
know them. They're spiritually discerned. You would not hear,
saith the Lord. Now, how important is the Word
of God there? Well, there were false prophets.
Now, hear the Word of the Lord. Hear it. Obey it. Listen to it. That's a crucial covenant issue
there. No hope of salvation. No hope
of life. In this case, there was no hope
of being blessed of God in that land. There was no hope of retaining
physical life except by submitting to the Word of God. The Word
of God. Well, look at verse 20. Now,
here's a warning against the false prophets. He says, Hear
ye therefore the Word of the Lord. Now, that's how it starts
out. See, that's the continual theme here. Hear the Word of
the Lord. all ye of the captivity, all who are in Babylon in captivity,
whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon. Thus saith the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel, Ahab, the son of Coliah, and
of Zedekiah, the sons of Messiah, which prophesy a lie. These are
prophets and priests who tell a lie to the people. They preach
a false gospel. And they do it in my name, he
says. They preach a lie unto you in my name. It's just like
I told the folks in our Sunday school this morning. These false
preachers, they don't come wearing t-shirts that say, beware false
preacher. Or danger false gospel. But they
claim to be preaching in the name of God. And it says, behold
I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king
of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes. God has
a special punishment in mind for these false preachers. And
it's severe and it's public. Their message was public. They
stood against God publicly. And he says in verse 22, And
of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah
which are in Babylon, saying, The Lord make thee like Zedekiah
and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire.
In other words, that will be like a watch phrase of a curse.
May the Lord burn you like he burned this fellow Zedekiah and
like this Ahab. And then he says in verse 23,
because they have committed villainy in Israel, they've committed
adultery with their neighbor's wives, they've spoken lying words
in my name, which I have not commanded them, even I know and
am a witness, saith the Lord. Now, hold on to that. God is
a witness. What does a witness do? He testifies
in a court that the charge against the accused is true. That's what
a witness does. That's what this is about. So
what's happening? They're being charged. They're
being charged. And who's charging them? The
Lord is. That ought to make you shutters
shut. You know, it's bad enough when men charge you. Even worse
when men charge you falsely. But when the Lord charges, He
judges according to truth. Hold on to that thought. Now
look at verse 24. Now it gets a little more specific here in
verse 24. He's talking to a about a specific false prophet that
he names by name. Now that's not the popular way
of doing things today. You don't name names, do you? According to the word of God,
we're supposed to. God himself did by the prophet Jeremiah.
Here's a man named Shammai. Look at verse 24. Thus shalt
thou also speak to Shammai, the Nehelamite. We don't really know
what that word Nehelamite, if that's the place that Shimei
was from, or if that was something like his father, or anything
like that. But you know what the name Nehelamite
means? It means a dreamer. So it may
be talking about his message. He preached a lot. Remember back
in verse 8 of this same chapter, Listen to this, he says, For
thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Let not your
prophets and your diviners that be in the midst of you deceive
you, neither hearken to your dreams which you have caused
to be dreamed. And then back in chapter 23,
he says, He that hath a dream, let him tell his dream. He that
hath the word of God, you preach the word of God. So that may
be what it's referring to there, alluding to the fact that he's
a dreamer. He's not preaching God's Word.
And look at verse 25, he says, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent letters in thy
name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem. Now this Shammai
apparently was in Babylon and he sent letters back to the people
in Jerusalem and to Zephaniah the son of Messiah the priest
and to all the priests saying this. Now here's what Shammai's
letter said. He said, the Lord hath made thee priest in the
stead of Jehoiada the priest. Now these were all priests and
captains of the temple now, these names. And he sent this to this
man named Zephaniah and said, the Lord put you where you are
as a captain of the priest in the temple. In other words, you
are where you are because that's where the Lord wants you. Now
remember what Jeremiah's message was, you submit and you submit
to the punishment you deserve, take sides with God against yourself
and you go to Babylon. That's what he said. But Shimei
says no, don't do that, you're where you are because that's
where God wants you. And he says that you should be
officers in the house of the Lord for every man that is mad,
that's a way of saying every man that's crazy, something like
that. and maketh himself a prophet.
Now who do you think he's talking about there? He's talking about
Jeremiah now. He says that thou shouldest put
him in prison and in the stocks. You take guys like Jeremiah who
are telling you not to stay there, who are telling you to submit
to God's word, who are telling you to take sides with God against
themselves and submit to that punishment you've earned and
deserve. You take them and arrest them and shut them up and put
them in stocks and in prison. That's what you do to Jeremiah.
This is what Shimei is telling these captains of the temple.
And he says in verse 27, Now therefore, why hast thou not
reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, which maketh himself a prophet
to you? Why haven't you already done this to Jeremiah? For therefore
he sent us into Babylon, saying, This captivity is long, remember?
He said, Build ye houses, dwell in them, plant gardens, eat the
fruit of them. And Zephaniah the priest read
this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet. He read it to Jeremiah.
Look at verse 30. Then came the word of the Lord
unto Jeremiah, saying, Send all them of the captivity, saying,
Thus saith the Lord concerning Shimei the Nehalemite, because
that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not,
he's not speaking the word of God, and he caused you to trust
in a lie. Therefore, thus saith the Lord,
behold, I will punish Shemaiah, the Nehelamite, and his seed.
He shall not have a man to dwell among his people, neither shall
he behold the good that I will do for my people. That's what's
coming later on after the captivity, remember, after 70 years. Shemaiah's
not going to be around to see that. And he says, he says, the
good that I will do for my people, saith the Lord, because he hath
taught rebellion against the Lord. So there's a specific punishment
for that man. Another false prophet, a leader,
who would not bow to the word of God. Now what's the problem?
The number one problem, obviously, is what he says back here in
verse 19. Look at it again. Because they
have not hearkened to my words. Hear the word of the Lord. No
hope of salvation. No hope of righteousness. No hope of forgiveness, of life
eternal, without the word of the Lord. It's what the scripture
says. There is no hope without His
Word. One of my favorite outlines,
and I go back to it quite often when I preach on this subject,
and if you want to, I want you to turn over to 1 Peter chapter
1 that I read in the opening, is this outline on the Word of
God. And it begins this way, the Lord
Jesus Christ is the Word of God personified. He is, the scripture
tells us, the living Word of God. That's the point number
one in that outline. And of course, you can go to
passages like John chapter one, obviously. I'll bet that came
to most of your mind. John one. In beginning was the
Word And you know, I'm no Greek scholar, and I don't try to impress
anybody with Greek words, but that's a word that most everybody
knows, the logos. We get our word logic from it,
English word. Somebody said, well, the gospel's
not logical. Let me tell you something, the
gospel's the only logical thing there is. It's the problem is
we're all illogical by nature. That's right. Salvation by works
is the most illogical message there is. You want to know why? It doesn't work. It brings wrath
and damnation. Christ is the logic of God. Somebody
said He's the alphabet of God. Because anything you want to
know about God, put it together in the Word of God and it's in
Christ. To know God is to know Christ.
Christ said this is life eternal that they might know thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. That's life
eternal. He's the Living Word. In beginning
was the Word and the Word was with God. That's His person as
the second person of the Trinity. One with the Father and the Spirit.
Yet distinct in His person. And we can't explain that, but
we know it's true. In beginning was the Word and
the Word was with God and the Word was God. So Christ is the
Living Word of God. If you want to hear from God,
If you want any communication from God, if you want to know
any words, plural, from God, you must have a working, living,
gracious, powerful relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that's why most people misinterpret this book here that's before
us. You know, people, they look at the Scriptures and they say,
well, you interpret it your way and I interpret it my way. My
friend, when you look at this book, through the living word,
who He is and what He has done and why He did it in His redemptive
work, there will be very little disagreement, I'll tell you,
there will be no disagreement on the vital foundational truths
of the gospel. Now there may be some differences
in certain verses or something like that, but there will be
no differences between God's people on what we call the fundamentals
of the faith. Salvation by grace. who we are as sinners. Because
it's all measured by Christ. How do I know I'm a sinner? I'm
not just talking about how do I know I'm less than perfect.
Everybody here knows you're less than perfect. Just like the fellow
down in Georgia told me one time. He said, I know I'm not perfect,
but I haven't done anything bad enough to deserve hell. That's
what he told me. Let's look at that subject of
who I am as a sinner as I measure up to Christ. Now what do I deserve? If I don't measure up to Him,
you say, well, I love everybody. No, you don't. But if you think
you do, do you love them perfectly like Christ did? You say, well, I do my best. Well, the Bible says man at his
best state is altogether vanity. By deeds of law shall what? What's that next phrase? By deeds
of law shall what? Know what? No flesh. Now is there
any flesh that's accepted there? Well, my flesh. No, no, no. By deeds of law shall no flesh
be justified in God's sight, because God measures it all by
Christ, doesn't He? Acts 17, 31, He hath appointed
a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom He hath ordained, in that He hath given assurance
unto all men, and that He hath raised Him from the dead. It's
not how we compare to one another, it's how do we measure up to
Him. What does that tell you? That the only way that a sinner
like me can be accepted before God is to stand in Christ, washed
in His blood and clothed in His righteousness. You see what I'm
saying? That's the fundamentals of the
faith. Christ met all the conditions of the salvation of His people.
He fulfilled them. He made an end of the law. He
made an end of sin. and that's what this is all about.
So Christ is the living word. Well, Christ, in order to do
that, for his people, what does the Bible say? Well, he had to
be made like unto his brethren. In our name and in our nature,
without sin, therefore we see Christ as the what? The incarnate
word. There's the second point. He's
the incarnate word. John 1.14, the word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. Now you want to talk about a
mind-boggling truth. There's one right there, isn't
it? But it's so. And that's who He is. And that's
why we sing that hymn, Man of Sorrows. What a name for the
Son of God who came. Ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah. What a Savior. What a Savior
we have. You reckon a person could know
God without knowing that? Well, of course not. Great is
the mystery of godliness. God manifests in the flesh. God
with us. He's the Word incarnate. The living Word, the Word incarnate.
And then thirdly, here's the third point. Christ is in reality
the preached Word. Isn't He? Because that's who
we preach. We preach Christ. Now look back
here at 1 Peter 1. He's talking about being born
again, in verse 23. He says, being born again, not
of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. Now this seed that he's talking
about is something that cannot be corrupted. And it's, what
is it? He says, by the word of God,
which liveth and abideth forever. Now that word word there in verse
23 is the word logos. It's the same word in John 1.1.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. Same word in John 1.14. The Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. Well, who's that talking
about? It's talking about Christ. In
other words, being born again is the product, the result, the
fruit of Christ, the incorruptible living Word of God. The Holy
Spirit, who is the sovereign agent in the new birth, comes
forth from Christ, the living word, the incarnate word, to
give life from Him. Our life comes from Christ. He
is our life. And the Holy Spirit applies that
life and imparts that life to His people. We're born again.
And then He says in verse 24, For all flesh is as grass, for
all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
the flower thereof fadeth away. But the word of the Lord endureth
forever. Christ is forever and ever. Anything
else? As far as salvation is concerned,
it's not going to last. And men and women can tell themselves
till they're blue in the face that they're saved and they're
alright and they have peace with God based on their works and
their religion and their baptisms and their professions and their
experiences and their dreams just like those false prophets
in Jeremiah's day. They can tell themselves we're
okay, we're okay, we're okay, we're Americans, we're Baptists,
whatever. They can go through a whole list of things but it's
never going to last. Only the Word of the Lord. And
then look at verse 25, and this is the word. Now that word there
is a different word for word. It's the word for the uttered
word, the preached word. It's Rehema. And it's the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you. Now, what does that
tell us? Well, the gospel is the power
of God unto salvation. How does the Holy Spirit communicate
and impart Life from Christ, the living word, to a sinner.
Well, it's through the preaching of the gospel. Over in the book
of James, James chapter 1, verse 17 there, he says, Every
good and every perfect gift is from above. And cometh down from
the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow
of turning. Look at verse 18, James 1, 18. of his own will,
that's not of man's will, that's of God's will, begat he us with
the word of truth. That we should be a kind of first
fruits of his creatures. So he says, wherefore my beloved,
let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to write.
Be ready to hear. Be ready to hear that preached
word. That's the preaching of Christ.
We preach Christ, we preach not ourselves. We preach the gospel,
the uttered word of God. When we open our mouths and speak
of eternal life, what are we talking about? We are talking
about the word of God. And Christ is the preached word.
And then turn back to the passage that brother Aaron read in 2
Timothy 3. Here's the fourth thing. Christ is the living word,
Christ is the incarnate word, Christ is the preached word,
and listen to this, Christ is the written word. Now anytime that written word
is used, it's the word scriptures or scripture. That means written. That's what it means. And here,
you know, now think about the parallel here. Jeremiah was preaching
to Jerusalem and Judah in the last days of that nation prior
to their captivity to Babylon. Paul is preaching here, he is
talking to Timothy and he is preaching to the church, writing
to the church in the last days. Even back then. And he talked
about perilous times when men would be deceivers, covetous,
boasters, proud blasphemers, truce breakers, all those things.
having a form of godliness. But he says in verse 10, look
at verse 10, he says in 2 Timothy, but thou hast fully known my
doctrine, now you know my teaching. That's what he's saying to Timothy.
You know what I've taught you. And he says, you know my manner
of life. And my purpose, my faith, long
suffering, charity and patience. Paul's not bragging here, he's
just simply telling Timothy, you know me Timothy. And the persecutions and afflictions
that I've gone through in various places. He tells him in verse
12, listen to this one. Yea, and all that will live godly
in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Comes with the territory. But he says in verse 14, now
here's the answer. To living a godly life in the
last days. And he tells Timothy verse 14,
Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and has been
assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from
a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus. What he's saying there is this, that this written word
here, is the Word of Christ. He's the subject of it. He's
the theme of it. His blood is the red thread that
runs through all of it from Genesis to Revelation. It's the preaching
of His righteousness. It tells us how God can be just
and justify the ungodly. Do you know that if you're a
believer, everything that you believe that's right is based
right here in this Word? Everything you know about Christ
comes from this Word right here. This is the standard. This is
the foundation right here. How do I know that He is Emmanuel,
God with us? Because I read it in Matthew
chapter 1 and other passages. How do I know that He is the
only way of salvation? The only way of righteousness?
How do I know the difference between man's works righteousness
and Christ's righteousness imputed. How do I know that? From this
word here. Look over at Romans chapter 4. And that was Old Testament doctrine
and it's New Testament doctrine. It's the same. Different times,
different viewpoints, but the same message. Listen, men are
the same by nature. Sinners in need of mercy. And Christ is the same Savior. God's saved by the same grace
that He's always saved by. It's never changed. If you want
to talk about salvation, talk about Abel who brought the blood
of the Lamb. There's grace. If you want to
talk about salvation, talk about Noah. Here the whole world, the
whole world was wicked but one man named Noah and the first
thing it said about him is he found grace in the eyes of the
Lord. That's grace. Now what that tells you about
Noah right off without knowing anything else about him except
his name is that Noah didn't deserve it and Noah didn't earn
it. God didn't favor Noah because Noah was a better man than the
rest. Now how do you know that preacher? Because he found grace
and that's the only kind of people who need grace. Now where do
I get that from? I get it from Genesis chapter
6. Written. That's the written word. Don't
get it from anywhere else. I didn't see it in a dream or a vision.
And I don't get it by, I didn't get it because that was the public
opinion of the day. I didn't take a vote or a poll. Because God's word says it. But
look here in Romans chapter 4 verse 6. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without work. Now listen, I wouldn't know a
thing about this righteousness imputed which is Christ That's
who that is, that's Christ and his obedience unto death. I wouldn't
know anything about that except by this word right here. I wouldn't
know it any other way. Listen, you go, don't do this,
but I did it and I suppose it has some merit because it's helped
me to really appreciate the word of God. You study all the great
religions of man. And there is nothing even close
to this. There is nothing even close to
it. God being a just God and a Savior.
That concept never even entered my mind until I heard a man preach
it from the Word in Isaiah 45. It never even entered the annals
of my thought processes. Because that's just not native
to the natural spiritually dead ruined center, you see. But here's
David talking about a righteousness imputed. You go back and read
that in Psalm 32, it doesn't even say the word imputed, but
it's there in David's mind, how do I know that? Because God tells
me that right here in His Word. And he's saying this, this is
what David meant when he said, verse 7, Blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now did you remember
back over here in Jeremiah 29? When he spoke of being a witness
against these false prophets. There in verse 23. He says they've committed villainy
in Israel. They've committed adultery with
their neighbor's wives. That could be physical adultery,
could be spiritual adultery, either way it's adultery. I'll
tell you one thing, I know it is, it's S-I-N. And all sin deserves
death, doesn't it? And they spoke in lying words
in my name, which I have not commanded them, even I know,
God knows, the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword.
It goes to the thoughts and the intents of the heart, doesn't
it, Hebrews 4. And I'm a witness, saith the Lord." God's a witness. The charge is true. Now, do you
suppose there's any way under heaven that we who are sinful,
sinners, such sinful people, that we could stand before the
holy court of a just God who knows our thoughts and our intentions,
do you suppose there is a way that I could stand there and
not justly be charged with sin? If there is, you can search the
world over, the history of mankind and his religion, and you won't
find... First of all, here's the thing, you won't even find
the issue brought up. let alone the answer. Like I
told Brother Henry one time, I said, I thought I knew the
answers and I found out I didn't even know the questions. Do you
suppose there's a way, where am I going to find, there's only
one place to find that. In this Word, preached out in
the Gospel, in the living incarnate Word, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who took my place on Calvary's cross, being charged with my
sin justly and rightly by a holy God, being made sin, and in return
gave me a righteousness that answers the demands of God's
law and justice. Now where did I come up with that? I didn't
come up with it. It's in God's Word. Let me show
you one more verse and I'll quit. I want you to turn to John 6. John chapter 6. I told Brother Joe Bryson, he
read a portion in the study from Luke chapter 5. You turn to John
6. He read a portion from Luke chapter 5. I told him, I said,
that's a real precursor to this message. And you remember when
the disciples were out and they were fishing and they fished
and they didn't catch any fish and they were coming in tired
and the Lord told them, He said, now you go back out and you cast
your nets. And they were so frustrated and
remember Peter, Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have
toiled all night, and we have taken nothing. Nevertheless,
at thy word, I will let down the net. It didn't make any sense
to let down the net, actually, if you think about it. They had
fished all night. They hadn't caught anything. But he said,
at thy word, You know what happened, don't
you? They came up with all those fish. They had a real haul that
night. And you know why? Because the
gospel is the power of God and the salvation. That's what that
illustrates. But look here in John chapter
6, and we'll close with this. This is our Lord speaking to
the multitude. He talked about love over in
verse 63. He said it's the spirit that
quickeneth. The Holy Spirit gives life. The
flesh profiteth nothing. Remember Christ said that. He
said you must be born again because that which is born of the flesh
is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. He says
the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are
life. Did you hear that? He said, the
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are
life. Now how much plainer can you
get? And he says in verse 64, he says, but there are some of
you that believe not. Now that doesn't diminish his
words being spirit and being life at all. He says, for Jesus
knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who
should betray. My friend, that was ordained
from the beginning. And he said, therefore said I unto you that
no man can come to me except it were given unto him of my
father. Some didn't believe. He knew why they didn't believe.
It wasn't given to them. They didn't have the gift of
faith. They weren't God's of that. And it says in verse 66,
from that time, how do I know that? Because God's word says
it. And you can argue with it, you
can fuss about it, you can cry about it, you can scream against
it, but it doesn't matter. It's still right here. There
it is. And then it says in verse 66,
from that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more
with him. And Jesus said unto the 12, will you also go away?
And then Simon Peter answered him saying, Lord, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Now there's no hope. There was
no hope for Jerusalem and Judah in Jeremiah's day. Because they
would not heed the word of the Lord. Well, my friends, it's
always been the same. There's no hope today for salvation
for any sinner without the word of God. Christ, who is the word. All right. Trust and obey. Hymn
number 261 is our hymn tonight. Trust and obey.