Y'all turn your Bibles to 1 Peter 1. I'm going to read a little bit right there. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the spirit, and to obedience and the sprinkling of blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein you were greatly rejoiced now for a season, If need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than a gold that pairs, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto the praise and the honor and the glory of the appearing of Jesus Christ. whom we have not seen ye love, in whom though now ye see him not yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto us, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it was testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory of that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us that did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into. All right, let's turn. to John chapter 6, the gospel of John, or rather as it's stated on the heading, the gospel according to John chapter 6. This is one of these special places in Holy Scripture where the Holy Ghost is pleased to bring things and clearly define these things. There's no excuse for misunderstanding the things that's stated in this chapter. They're stated so clearly. And he makes them to be clearly understood. Now, I'm under no pressure from God to make anybody believe. That's not in my power. I can't do that. But it is there is a pressure on me to make things understood. I want you to understand what I'm saying. And if you don't understand what I'm saying or I'm making things unclear, please let me know and I'll do my best to clear them up. In this chapter, the Lord reveals himself as the bread of life. He leaves no excuses to men for not knowing this. He goes back in the scripture, back in the Old Testament under Moses, when the Lord rained manna down from heaven, and he likens that to himself. He said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And he said, I'm the bread of life. He that believeth on me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. And then he turns to those that he's was talking to these Jews who have rejected him on every point that he preached. They followed him around to mock him and make men disbelieve in him. Just their presence there was an objection to him as a man of God. And he turns to them and he said, I'm the bread. But he said, Let me tell you something. You've seen me and believe not. Boy, that's clear, isn't it? You've seen me. You've heard me. And yet you believe not. There's a sense in which every man who hears the gospel preached sees Christ. How does he see him? Well, you don't see him in his heart. He sees him as he's set before you through the preaching of the gospel. That's what the gospel is. It's set in Christ before men so they can... I mean, when I was raised in religion, alright, we used words like Jesus and Christ and prayer and God and I didn't understand anything. They were just words. If somebody would come to me and say, define the gospel, and one man did, and I realized for the first time in my life, I didn't know the gospel. What if I were to call your name this morning and say, come on up here, I want you to define the gospel to me. Could you do it? How do you define the gospel? It's a person. It's the Son of God. It's the promised Messiah. It's about Him. We preach Him. Paul said, it's not my mission to preach baptism and force that down your throat. He said, I'm here to preach the cross. The cross of Christ. What's that? That tells me that his death was substitutionary. His death was vicarious. His death was on purpose. It wasn't an accident. It wasn't something that God was trying to do. Isn't that what religion says? God's trying to save you. He's trying to make you believe. God never tried anything ever. God does what he wills to do. And this is what Christ, oh how plain can you get? I'm the bread which come down from heaven. But I said unto you that you also have seen me and believed not. And there's a sense in which men see Him as He's presented. You're going to see Him, when I'm done this morning, as God has set Him forth in the Scripture. Also, in John chapter 6, the Holy Ghost tells us how our election is made known. Well, I don't believe in elections. You don't believe in the Bible. That's your problem. Elections are all in the Bible. If you're going to base your faith on human reasoning and human philosophy, then you don't need a Bible. But I pity your soul when it stands before God. And he said, I left you a book. I inspired a book to be read, and you didn't read it. I preserved this among the people, and you opted not to have one. You laid it on the shelf. You let dust pile up on it. I didn't read it. He tells us how our election is made known in verse 37. He said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. They are going to come to me. And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. He cannot and will not cast him out because he himself came down from heaven and accomplished the redemptive will of God. Look on down in those verses after the one I just read to you. He said, for I came down from heaven. Where? Heaven. That's the dwelling place of God, isn't it? Heaven. I came down from heaven. not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up again the last day." And they murmured. That's what unbelieving folks do, they murmur. They come out, sound like they're talking in another tongue, Russell, and they go out and they murmur. What are they murmuring about? He said, don't murmur. What was they murmuring about? They were murmuring because he said he'd come down from heaven. If he'd come down from heaven, that must have been his dwelling place, and it's the dwelling place of God. What he's telling them is God came down from heaven. God come into the flesh. Isn't that what the scripture teaches? Oh, how plain he says he's saying that. He said don't murmur. No man can. That has to do with ability, right? No man can come to me except my Father draw him. How does God draw sinners? He draws sinners by providence. He draws sinners by His Spirit, by His Word. He arranges. You're here this morning not on whim. Well, you say, I just decided. Well, how come you decided? Is there a power more powerful than your will? Oh, my soul. Christ said, all power in heaven and earth is given unto me. Power over all flesh. What's that mean? That means He has power over all flesh. The thoughts and intents of your heart. You can read about it over in the book of Proverbs. Preparation of the heart. That's of God, isn't it? How does God draw people? How does the Father draw people? In His providence, by His Spirit, by His Word. For it's written, it's written. Here's the foundation of that statement. It's written, they shall all be taught of God. How does God teach sinners? Through the ordained means that He has elected to use. God chose you from the beginning to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth. That's what he's telling us. That's God's means, the preaching of the gospel. Well, I can be saved anywhere. No, you can't. You'll be saved here in a preacher. You won't be saved at all. That's just so. Show me anywhere in the Scripture where it says different. You can't do it. You can't do it. It pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believed. That was God's purpose from the beginning. Read about it over in 1 Corinthians 1. This is a wonderful chapter to read and rejoice in. It is for me one of those go-to chapters like Ephesians 1 and Romans 3 and Colossians 1 and 2. And it's just chunk full of gospel doctrine pointing us to Christ. In my text, I find down in John 6, verse 60, our Lord's preaching to these people. He's already told them He's the bread of life, the water of life. He's the Son of God. And our Lord's preaching to them, and He's telling them and us that he is the meat and drink of his elect. And my neighbor, Brother Walker, he's also a brother in Christ, raises goats. And these goats are forever sticking their head through my fence. Or our fence, you might say. We share the fence. And we have six dogs, and four of them are pretty good size, around 60, 65 pounds. Now the Bible likes goats unto unbelievers. We brought out a fresh piece, I think it was a banana or something we brought out. The goat wouldn't eat the banana, he ate the peel. The Holy Spirit knows what he's talking about when he tells you unbelievers are goats. They'll eat anything. They'll eat anything. And what happens is, they come over and stick their head where they shouldn't, through the fence. Now you stick your head through the fence, you're taking your life in your hands. And unbelievers are always sticking their head where it shouldn't go. Is that right? They're always trying to take God's place and dictate their own lives and their own destinies and all these things. They always stick in their head where it shouldn't be. You do that and you'll lose your head. One nearly lost his the other day. He at least lost an ear. But you see what I'm talking about. And our Lord's telling them, I'm the meat and drink of believers. Faith lives and drinks on me. He's the water, he's the bread. And the Jews murmured at that. And here's what he told them, verse 53. The Jews said unto him, Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I raise him up at the last day. My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. And he that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eateth of this bread shall live forever. Now the key to this passage is found down in verse 63. Everybody, even his disciples, were confused about what he said. But here's the thing. When the Lord, when his Gospels preached, He reveals what this gospel means. And here's what he said to them. He said, it's the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. Now the Catholics have turned the Lord's table into what they call the Eucharist. And what that means is, when you take that piece of bread and put it in your mouth, it actually turns into the flesh of Jesus Christ. And when you drink that wine, it actually turns into the blood of Christ. Now, if that were so, then he really was teaching cannibalism, which he's not. Which he's not. And that's what he's telling them. My words are spirit. Now, you see, if I'm not right on this, an old preacher told me years ago, he said, son, when you see that word spirit and it has a small s on it, you can see it all over the place, it has a little small s on it, it generally means spiritual understanding. Huh? My words are spiritual. Look at it there. They're to be spiritually understood. That's what he's talking about. My words are spirit and they're life. These words are to be spiritually understood. Now let me show you that over in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. This is so important. Now you can go through and take bits and pieces of scripture and make them say anything you want to. And religious people have no conscience toward that. They'll do it all the time. The way it was illustrated to me, and I remember it so well, he said, if we do that, we can say, well, Judas went out and hanged himself, so you do likewise. That's bits and pieces. We don't do that. Now again, the subject here in 1 Corinthians 2 is preaching of the gospel. And he says, These things are revealed to his elect by the Spirit. I have not seen or heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him, but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. By His Spirit. How does the Spirit reveal these things? Through the preaching of the gospel. Now watch this. 2 Corinthians 2 verse 13. Which things also we speak not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Comparing a spiritual resurrection to a spiritual birth. Spiritual things. But the natural man, now watch this, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. They won't receive his word, they won't receive his means, and they won't receive his message. Why? For there is foolishness unto him. You mean I have to listen to a man open a Bible and preach to me? That's what God said. How shall you hear without a preacher? Isn't that what he said? That's what God said, not what I said. But I don't mind repeating it. I have that much confidence in the Word of God. How shall you hear without a preacher? There's foolishness unto him. Now watch this. Neither can he know them. How come? They're spiritually understood. They're spiritually discerned. If a man don't tell you what to mean, you're never going to come to the explanation. You're just not going to do it. You'll find something else. You'll find the free will of man, or you'll find something out of philosophy, or something out of this, or something out of that. No telling. Religious traditions full of stuff like that. And when these religious hypocrites, these false professors of faith, blind leaders of the blind, God told them, When they heard our Lord's discourse on faith, they said, you're teaching cannibalism. That's what they thought he was doing. And so it goes when men hear the gospel of God's sovereign grace, they always misapply what's being preached. They say, well, you're preaching. I preach grace. They say, well, you're preaching a license to sin, telling a man to go sin all he wants to. You're saved by grace. No, that's not what I'm saying. You're saying to folks, let sin that grace may abound. No, that's not what I'm saying. You're saying man's a puppet and God's pulling the strings. No, I'm not saying that. But you can use that same scenario, and if that's not true, then this is. God's the puppet and man's pulling the strings. I'd rather be the puppet. Now I want you to listen to me for a minute and I'll get to my text. The gospel of Christ is a message of grace. Undeserved. Free grace in Christ. Unmerited favor. To the self-righteous Pharisee, it's a stumbling block. to the proud, well-educated, and philosophical, it's foolishness. Now, why would any man perceive a gospel so full of grace and truth, so full of kindness and mercy and love, why would he perceive the truth to be foolishness and unnecessary? That's the question, and here's the answer. Because there's nothing in the gospel to glorify the pride of man. What this multitude heard was the gospel of Christ plainly illustrated, but what these men heard was to them what they said, they called it a hard saying. This is a hard saying. Who can understand this? You know that old king listened to Paul preach and he was sitting there shaking in his boots. And when he got done, he said, Paul, he said, much learning hath made thee mad. Why would a man say that? Well, let me give you five reasons why natural men find the gospel to be a hard saying. First of all, because it forces a self-righteous man to agree with God even to the extent of his own destruction. You can agree with God. not going to agree to disagree. You're going to agree with God. You're going to say, Amen. You know, the scripture says we're set with Christ at the judgment. And some of those being judged are going to be beloved relatives, people we lived with and known our whole life, maybe parents, maybe sisters, maybe brothers. And when he sends them to hell, when he pronounces that final woe, and cast them into hell, you know what the people of God are going to say? Amen. Faithful and true are thy judgments. Amen. But you're going to say it long before then if you're a believer. You're going to say it about your own soul. Amen. You're right. The Lord's right. Look at this over in Psalm 51. Psalm 51, verse 3. David said, I acknowledge my transgression and my sin, my sin, not sins, my sin, the disease of it, is ever before me. He's saying, I take my place before you as the sinner. That's what David's talking about here. I don't stand here having slipped on a few things. Well, I mostly did right, but there's a few things I did wrong. No. No, you did all wrong. Oh, I slipped, but I'm still in pretty good shape. No, that's not what David said. He said, I acknowledge my transgressions. How did he know about his transgressions? From God. The testimony of God. I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin The nature of it is ever before me. He's talking about the cause of it, the love of it, the doing of it, the practice of it. Out of the heart. Oh, the heart. Won't you give your heart to the Lord? He don't want it. He's already cursed it. They said, you're defiling the Sabbath day. He said, you don't defile the Sabbath day by eating corn when you're hungry. He said, I'll tell you what defiles the man, his heart. Out of that comes evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, idolatry. All of these things come forth from the heart. We like to blame Satan for everything, but I'm telling you most of what we blame Satan for is not his fault, it's ours. These natural lusts is what's in man's heart. Satan doesn't cause men to commit adultery. The lust of man causes him to commit adultery. And David said, I acknowledge these things. against thee and thee only, verse 4. Have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight? Why? Why am I saying these things? That thou might be justified when thou speakest. That is, when his word testifies of my sins. That you might be justified when you speak and clear when you judge. What's that? That's getting on God's side, even to the extent of your own condemnation. And David's confession clearly shows the sinner getting on God's side with those things. It's a hard saying because it puts a man in a position to condemn himself. And then secondly, it's a hard saying to the Laodicean who's rich and increased with goods because it commands him to take his place before God as a beggar. You come to God, you're going to stand before Him as a beggar. You don't have anything and you can't produce anything that God wants. You're going to stand there as a beggar. You're not going to make deals with God. And that's what men think. I'd like to know how many times made deals with God when I was growing up. That rich young ruler, he had everything, didn't he? He came to Christ and he went away with his tail tucked between his legs. What happened? The Lord said, take everything you got and sell it. Huh? Take everything you got and sell it, give it to the poor. Take up your cross, follow me. He went away because he had great riches. How many examples do we have of men pictured coming to Christ as beggars? I think about old blind Bartimaeus sitting out there on that blanket that day. I don't know what goes through the mind of a beggar except from my own experience. But here he is, he's sitting there and these people, this was the road that went down to the sea. And these people go down there and have a picnic or whatever they were doing, fishing, whatever, they come back and they were talking. He could hear and talk. Boy, the sea was aquamarine when I looked at it. He's blind. He don't know what you're talking about. And they're talking about the clouds, those big billowing, poofy clouds up over the sea, and the waves, and the noise, and the soothing noise of the sea, and all these things. They're talking about it, but he can't see anything. He's just sitting there on a blanket. He's a beggar. God don't open his eyes, he'll never see, Russell. He'll just sit there in his blindness and keep on begging. Beggars is what we are. That's what a sinner is, a beggar. He has nothing. And he stands before God, shut up to the grace and mercy of God. God has what he needs. Nobody else has it and he can't produce it. But God has it. He's a beggar. And boy, he heard them talking about Christ and somebody said, he's coming by. And he said, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. This is a beggar talking. Now I'm telling you, the entire Jewish nation couldn't cause Christ to stop in his ministry. But that beggar did. And he said, what would you have me do? He said, that I might see. Huh? Oh, the Laodicean, this is a hard saying. He's rich and increased with goods. He don't need anything. This ain't necessarily talking about money and homes. This is talking about what a man thinks he has spiritually. Thinks he's rich. We're spiritual beggars. None that understandeth. None that seeketh after God. Together become of no profit. Helpless, hopeless sinners. The Lord said, what will you give in exchange for your soul? Huh? Alright, thirdly, it's a hard saying to the wise and prudent because it shuts them up to the testimony of God. They've got an answer for everything, don't they? You've dealt with it. They've got an answer for everything. Throw something out. Boom! Here comes the answer back. Pharisees all had a legal document stating their degrees. Approving them for the ministry. Paul said, you believe yourselves to be an instructor of the foolish and a teacher of babes. And you have a form of knowledge and truth in the law. Lawyers. Doctors of the law. Oh, boy, they have a plaque up there, Dr. Pruitt. You couldn't get my head through the back door. Our Lord said, I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto me, unto babes. Little babies in Christ sucking down the milk of divine election. Huh? That's milk. That ain't strong meat. That's milk. Predestination. That's milk. Election. That's milk. Particular redemption. Milk. Eternal justification. Indeed, these little ones have tasted that the Lord is gracious. They had the sincere milk of the word. All but the wise and prudent. I preached a message at a small church up in Fort Smith, Arkansas one Sunday evening. My subject was the necessity of gospel preaching and as best I can remember my text was Hebrews 2.3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? that first began to be preached by the Lord, and then preached by them that heard him. At the end of the service, the pastor, he let everybody leave, and then he came forward, and he said, if what you said here today is true, how do you justify my pastorship? How do you justify my profession? And I said, it's your profession, you justify it. I'm just here to preach the gospel. The wise and prudent, they've read some books, they've heard some sermons, they knew some men. It's a hard saying to the wise and prudent because they must take their place before God as fools, ignorant sinners. Beloved, when a man's called of God, he's called to take his place before God as an ignorant sinner. I need taught. Lord, teach me and I'll be taught. I've read the books. They're empty. And then fourthly, it's a hard saying to a man who's in love with this present world because the gospel tells him he sold his soul for a bowl of soup. Jacob and Esau, they're pictures of God's elect and those who have an overwhelming interest in this world. Esau sold his birthright, his spiritual inheritance, for a bowl of porridge. Demas, that dear man of God, or he said he was, whom Paul called his fellow laborer. He said, Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. In John's first general epistle, he said, To love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that's in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father. It's of the world. And you know how he ended that? and the world passes away. What will you have when it's gone? I can own a car here. I can own a house here. I can have a little bit of bank account to cover me when hard times come. I can have a lot of things here. But what are you going to have when you leave here? Nothing. Naked came out of the womb. Naked will I go to my father. Most of what men and women live for is nothing but a soap bubble. That's all it is. It's here today and gone tomorrow. I was building a house for my wife Yvonne and I and woke up one Sunday afternoon and fell in the floor with a stroke. You think that house meant anything to me? Nothing. I truly believed my life as I had known it was over. Couldn't walk, slurred my speech, couldn't pick up a pencil with my left hand, and the world and everything in it is fleeting. It's going away. You may not detect it now, but you will. You will. It's fleeting at best, and whatever you set your affection on, it'll soon be gone. Do you have a hope in Christ? Are you risen with Him? Paul said in Colossians 3.1, Then seek those things which are above what Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Is that where my hope is? Is that where my treasure is? Wherever my treasure is, that's where my heart's going to be. Is that my treasure? Then set your affection up there, not down here. I know you have to have a home. And it's perfectly fine to build one. Go ahead. But you better not set your heart on it. You set your heart on things above. The man whose heart loves this present world, to him this gospel is a hard saying. It's a hard saying. It's a hard saying because all its errors, All it has to offer is in glory. It's all up there. Oh, but you say there are going to be new heavens and a new earth. There's only one man that's ever seen that. His name was John. You know what he said? I saw a new heaven and a new earth coming down from God out of heaven. Where was it coming from? Such affection up there. If He creates a new earth and lets you dwell on it, praise His holy name. But He's not going to remodel this one. He's going to burn it up. There's nothing in it worth saving. And fifthly, His gospel is a hard saying to a carnally minded man because it commands him to believe. You imagine in your mind your worst enemy. And you come up to him and you want this man to believe. You're preaching to him. But his mind is enmity against God. It hates God. It's hostile. It's not subject to the authority of God, neither indeed can be. Here he is, and he's sitting there, and he's trying to convince this man. Oh, but he's a rebel. He's a rebel. Perhaps the hardest pill to swallow in the gospel is for men to know that they hate God. They hate God. They're going to have to be reconciled to God. Not the God of the world or the God of religion or the God of their imagination, but the true and living God. Men and women that are called of God must be reconciled to God. The gospel demands sinners to surrender. Some of the old preachers called it being arrested of God. But you're going to surrender. You're going to throw your hands up. Listen to this song. Thou hast ascended on high. Thou hast led captivity captive. Thou hast received gifts for men. Yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord might dwell among them. Oh my soul. He led captivity captive. He took them out of an evil captivity and took them captive by the grace of God. Huh? Paul called himself a servant of God. Huh? And he was given gifts to bring it to pass. And you can read about them in Ephesians 4, 8 through 14. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers. Our ministry is the ministry of reconciliation, and it calls for us to be reconciled to God's reconciliation. And then lastly, it's a hard saying for a religious man to believe that in all his traditions, ceremonies, and sacrifices, that he's missed the gospel altogether. He don't know God, and he don't know the gospel. I go to church every Sunday. That's what I told that man that witnessed to me. What do you mean I don't know the gospel? What do you mean I'm not a child of God? Oh, that man is going to have to be convinced that he's never believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord looked at those men who were steeped in those traditions, who kept them religiously. I'm talking about circumcision, I'm talking about the holy days, I'm talking about all those things, all those traditions. And our Lord looked him in the eye, and he said, I said unto you, you've seen me, and believe not. No faith, no repentance, no surrender, no commitment, no hope, no rejoicing. Nothing but hard sayings. That's what they hear in the gospel. Nothing but hard sayings. God says this about His Son. He's all. This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. You hear Him. He's all. When you hear this gospel, what is it to you? How do you see it? How do you hear it? It's either all, and He's the words of eternal life, or it's a hard saying. And you walk away in ignorance and confusion. Continue to walk in the vanity of your mind with the heathens. Huh? I'm telling you from one of the clearest chapters in the Bible, what this thing about believing on Christ Jesus. Actually, you know, he uses two words for faith. One is believing in. That means I'm convinced that Jesus Christ is a real man. There's a man in glory. A real man. A real man. He appeared on this earth over 2,000 years ago. He exactly accomplished the redemption of his people. He satisfied the justice of God, and having done so, God raised him from the dead, testifying that all his people were justified in him. Sent his angels down, and he ascended up into glory, and God set him at his own right hand. And he's sitting there to this day, expecting until his enemies put his foot on their neck. Huh? The other is to believe on. That means to rest in this man that you know and trust. You believe in and you believe on. You say that's a hard saying. That's what most people say. That's a hard saying. But you know what the disciples said? He turned to them and he said, will you go too? Doors open. There it is. They said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And that's how it is with the gospel. It's either God's word of eternal life or it's foolishness. There's no in-between. There's no gray area. Oh, may the Lord be the teacher this morning and not this man.