Turn with me to the seventh chapter
of the book of Romans, or I mean the book of John, John chapter
7. I had my mind on Romans chapter
7, and I couldn't get away from that 7, and I couldn't get away
from the book of Romans. So, I think I got things straight
now. So, if you'll turn with me to
chapter 6. of the book of John. John chapter
six. Last Sunday morning we talked to you in regard to a
portion of this sixth chapter which states a fact that the
Lord Jesus Himself said, that I am the bread of life. And we talked about that, the
bread of life. And those that, for the most part,
that was in His audience, or the hearers of Him, murmured at his saying that I
am the bread of life. They murmured, and the murmuring
affected the majority of the crowd there. They remained unbelievers. They did not believe that he
is the bread of life, the true and the living bread. They said,
Our fathers did eat manna in the desert. As it is written,
He gave them bread from heaven to eat. The Jewish people reminded
our Lord of that. And Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, You remember I told you some time ago that
whenever you find the two words there, verily, verily, which
really means amen, amen, but it's signifying that something
extraordinary, some extraordinary truth is about to be set forth
and declared. And this is the truth here that
he declares, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread
from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world." And they
said unto him, Lord evermore give us this bread. Jesus said
unto them, I am the bread of life, and he that cometh to me
shall never hunger. And he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. But I said unto you, that ye
also have seen me, and believe not." Now, over in this 44th
verse, let's read that. No man can come to me. Now, that is to be taken in an
absolute sense. Sometimes a word in the Scripture is to
be taken in an absolute sense, and then there's other times
when there's other verses of Scripture that define what you're
saying. Here, when it says, No man, it
means all men. every man, every woman, every
boy, and every girl who is a member of Adam's human race, who is
a human being. No man can come to Me. No man can come to Me, come to
the Lord Jesus. He is the bread of life, and
if a man ever has life, he will have to get it from He who has
it, who was appointed and sent by God to give it. You will have
to come to Him, and a man will have to do business with the
Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot bypass the Lord Jesus
Christ. You cannot talk about God until
you first do business with the Lord Jesus. You cannot know who
God is apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. So He says, No man can
come unto Me. except the Father which hath
sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day." It is written
in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God. Those who
come to God will be taught of God in the drawing, in the drawing
of the Father to the Son. They are going to be taught of
God. They are going to find out who
the true and the living God is. They are going to know the difference
between idols and the true and the living God. They are going
to understand that it was by the Word of God the worlds were
framed. And everything that was made,
that was made, was made by God Almighty. They are going to find
out who He is. And they are going to reverence
His name. For instance, just to give you some idea of how
remote the understanding of this civilization, this generation,
this world, has in regard to God and the requirements of God
and the demands of God. I was listening at the news yesterday,
two or three times I listened to the news, and I think on every
one of the news programs they had the case of the woman in
the Air Force who was a pilot, a bomber pilot. told about what she had achieved
in her struggle to get into the Army Air Force and all. And they all talked about, some seemed
to think that they ought to just leave her, go scot-free and forget
about it. And others thought, well, she
lied to her commander, She wasn't, and she disobeyed
and so forth, and so they ought to just kind of give her a general
discharge and leave her go. And others thought that adultery
had something to do with it, but when they got right down
to it, the generals and all said that we're not charging her with
adultery. She's not being charged with
adultery. She said it's disobedience to
the high command. And she lied, and so therefore
she's not fit to navigate one of these great big bombers that
might be carrying nuclear weapons. She can't be relied upon. And
they made a big thing about that. But nobody and nobody seemed
to care that she had sinned against God. You see, God says, Thou
shalt not commit adultery. That's what God says, Thou shalt
not commit adultery. And if you commit adultery, who's
to sin against? The sin's against God. Well,
what I'm telling you this morning, there's very few people that
know anything at all about God. I mean, He's a fictitious character
to most people. He's outdated, outmoded. But
I want to tell you, He's still on the throne. He still rules
and reigns, and He'll have His way. The man that comes to Him, the
result of Him coming to Him is because the Father hath drawn
Him. And it's written in the prophet
that they that the Father hath drawn unto the Lord Jesus Christ,
they shall be taught of God. They're going to find out who
God is. They'll find out that there is one in three and three
in one, equal yet distinct, equal in their persons, yet distinct. There's God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They're going to find out that
the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is co-equal with God. They're going to find out that
God sent the Son. to accomplish redemption for
the people that God had chosen unto Himself before time ever
was. I was talking to someone recently
here, and they were talking about antiquity. They were talking
about what was ancient. The big thing in Paris, France,
their Leaning Tower. Things there down in Mexico,
built by those Inca Indians and so forth. How old they were. But I thought then, I said, well,
there's something that I know of which is older than all of
them. It's grace. The grace of God. Does not the Bible say, listen,
let me read this to you. Let me just read this in light
of what I've said about grace. It says in the second letter
of Paul, the apostle to Timothy, chapter 1 and verse 9, listen
to what it says. It says, Who hath saved us? Somebody needed to be saved. And it says, Who hath saved us? Now let me read up in the 8th
verse. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our
Lord, nor of me, Paul said, a prisoner, but be thou a partaker of the
afflictions of the gospel. This is the part I want you to
get. The afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God
who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling. not according
to our works, not according to our merits, but according to
His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Grace is older than antiquity. older than time. It was given
to us, that is, those that have been drawn unto Christ by the
Father. That grace was given to those
that are highly favored of God before there was ever a piece
of dust before there was ever a blade of grass, before there
was ever the display of the sun and the moon. Grace was given
us in Him before time ever was. Well, everyone then that hath heard, they shall all be
taught of God. They shall all be taught of God.
All. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father, he comes to me. Everyone that's been taught of
God, who has heard and learned of the Father, he'll come to
the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll come empty-handed like
a poor beggar. He'll come with nothing in his
hand. He'll come without having And
if he had, he will renounce all claims that he ever had on God.
And he will come as he is, hopeless and helpless to do anything about
his state and his condition. Why? Because he has been taught
of God. Not that any man hath seen the
Father, save he which is of the Father, he hath seen the Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
that he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that
bread of life. Now, the words of our Lord Jesus
Christ here make manifest, declare, make known beyond a shadow of
a doubt, make known beyond a shadow of
a doubt the depth the depths of human depravity. Human depravity. Depravity means
crooked, corrupt, immoral. And the Bible teaches that we
are all depraved. Every man is born a woman. Every
member of Adam's race is depraved. Not just depraved, but totally
depraved. There's not a part of His being
that hasn't been affected by the fall of man. Totally, totally
depraved. Now, the words of the Savior
here, the Lord Jesus Christ, manifest the depths of man's
depravity. This depravity of man is from
the human side. It's the human part of him. that
we are talking about, and that is the only thing that will explain
the general rejections of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the only explanation
as to why men hear and read, and the result of it is, say,
we will not have this man to reign over us. That explains human depravity. That's how depraved he is. We
will not have him. It's the only satisfactory answer
as to why Jesus Christ is not gladly, cheerfully, and joyfully
received by all to whom he's presented. It's the only answer. Why do the majority despise and
reject the sent one from God? And why is it he is not rejected
by all men? Let me say how to do this. Why
do the majority of men, six billion people on the face of the earth, grows more each day, every minute
of every day? grow six billion people on the
face of the earth, and the majority of the six billion rejects Him
whom God has sent as the bread of life. They reject Him. Now,
why is that? And I follow that question with
this question, why is He not rejected by everybody? Why is he rejected by some, and
why is he received by others? Well, in the case of those that
believe, the report, the testimony of God, here in the Bible, declared
by the Lord Jesus Christ, in the case of those who believe,
God has, by His supernatural influence, counteracted against
human depravity. In other words, the Father hath
drawn to the Son. No man can come to Me except
the Father which hath sent Me drawing. Now those that believe, Their believing is the result
of the Father drawing it. Does that make sense? Listen,
no man can come to Me. You know, man can come to Me
except, now listen, except the Father which sent Me draw him. He can't come. So I'm saying,
in the case of those who believe, and I believe, Lord help my unbelief,
but I believe. Help my unbelief. I've come to
it just as I am. I have nothing to offer it. My
hands are filthy and my heart is filthy. My mind is filthy. And I come to Him as a beggar
without nothing to give, but only receive, poor and helpless
and hopeless, unable to save myself. I come to Him. I come to the only one that has
the bread of life. And I come because the Father
hath drawn me. Not because there was anything
good in me. I have already told you that
there is no good thing in me. He has drawn me according to
His sovereign disposition. As it pleases Him, He set His
affections upon me. before time ever was, so I take
no credit for it. I cannot glory in who I am. I glory in Him who made me what
I am. And there is a difference, aren't
there? Now listen, the condition of
the natural man, unregenerated man, the man that has not been
brought, to the Lord Jesus Christ, he is unregenerated. He is dead in trespasses and
in sins, and he needs to be quickened unto life that is in the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the bread of life. That is a natural man. Now, the natural man, whoever
he might be, is altogether beyond human repair. He's beyond fixing
up by human beings. To talk about, and I hear them
constantly in literature, on the television, poor souls, they
talk about exerting the will of man. Man must exert his will. Now, to talk about a man exerting
his will is to ignore completely the state of the man behind the
wheel. He's totally depraved. Every
part of his being has been affected by the fall, including his will. His will is going downward, not
upward. Water will not climb uphill,
and neither will the will of a natural man. It's going down. down and down. Oh, listen, every
part of man's being was affected by that fall. And to preach or
to teach the freedom of the will is to deny that man is totally
depraved. To say that man has the power
either to accept or reject Jesus Christ is to repudiate the fact
that he is the captive of the devil. It is to say that there
is at least one good thing about a man, to say that salvation
is according to his will by himself. Over here in Romans 7, that was
what I got messed up with, Romans. Was it Romans 7? Yes, listen to this. All of you
have read this 7th chapter of the book of Romans. And Paul, that great, great man
of God, greatest preacher that ever lived,
apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, most devout, committed man, man
who said, For me to live is Christ, for me to die is gain. He said this, If then I do that which I would
not, verse 16, I consent under the law that it is good. Now
then it is no more that I do it, but sin dwelleth in me."
Now, here's the statement. Listen to this. A man that says,
Exert your will. A man that says salvation is
determined on your will. If it's determined by your will,
then you are your own Savior. Now listen, he says, For I know
that in me, that is, in my body, in my flesh, dwelleth no good
thing. And for a man to say that it
is up to you, your will, you decide or reject by your will,
is to say there is one good thing left in a man. And Paul said
there is no good thing in this body of flesh. No good thing
in me, Paul said. And what is true with Paul is
true with you and I. There is not any good thing in
us. Nothing whatsoever. Nothing. One of the brethren
I talked to here the other night, he came out, and he always says
something to me, and I said, how you doing? He said, far better
than I deserve. Far better than I deserve. Well,
that's music to my ears when I hear people talk like that.
Because this whole world, religious and otherwise, is because The
blessings that they've gained is because of their merit, because
of their goodness, what they don't do and what they do do.
Very few that you hear say, well, I am far better than what I deserve. If I got what I deserve, I'd
have been in hell six minutes after I was born. Ah, listen, man's only hope then,
man's only hope in this business of salvation, this business of
heaven and hell, this business of God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit, this business of religion, this business of
churches, this business of the Bible, listen to me, man's only
hope lies outside of himself. No hope in yourself. No good
thing there. You've got no marriage. You've
got no righteousness. It lies outside in Him. I am the bread of life. That's where it is. Well, now
listen. Let me tell you just this about
believing. Believing is not the cause of
the sinner. who is alienated from God by
wicked works, believing. That is what we are called upon
to do, is to believe, to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, to
lean our souls upon Him, to cast ourselves upon Him as our righteousness,
our obedience, our sin bearer. That is what we are called upon
to do. Coming to Christ and believing in Christ is synonymous terms. They mean the same thing. Believing,
believing is not the cause of the sinner obtaining eternal
life. It is the effect of it. The fact that a man believes
is the evidence that he already has divine life in him. He has it. Well, listen, man
is only hope outside of himself. He needs divine help, divine
help. The words of the Savior were
not intended to close the door of hope. When He said, No man
cometh unto Me except the Father draweth in. He did not intend
them to close the door of hope, but His words were saying, the
only hope is in Me. He is pointing to the direction
where hope lies in Himself. Get away from yourself. Salvation is not by feeling. It is not by feeling. It is not
by doing. Salvation is in Him, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Man's only hope lies outside
of himself, divine help. And he pointed to the direction
of himself. Now, if it be true then, and
it is a solemn fact, no man can come unto me except the Father,
If it be true that I cannot get away from myself, if it be true
that my whole being is depraved and therefore at enmity with
God, if it be true that I am powerless to reverse the tendency
of my nature, if those things be true, what then can I do? What can I do? If these things
are true, where does that leave me? Well, why then acknowledge
my helplessness and cry for help? What would a man do if he falls
down and breaks his hip? He cannot get up. Now, is he
supposed, or will he lie there in his misery and perish? He's
got a broken hip. He can't get up. He can't move. I remember when Martha's mother
fell one time, broke her hip. Fell right in the middle of the
living room floor. Just went out from underneath
her. Must have broke and caused her to fall. But she fell on
the floor. And I stand right there. And
the only thing she said was murder. Murder! I said, Grandma, are
you alright? She says, murder, murder, murder. I get it because
it hurts. Murder. But she couldn't get
up. She couldn't get up. But she
said, somebody help me. We got some help and they took
her to the hospital. Listen, he can't get up, shall
he lie there in his misery and perish? Not if he has any desire
for relief. He won't lay there if he's got
a desire to stop that pain. He'll lift up his voice and call
or cry for help. Help me! Help me! Help me! And he'll do that as long as
his voice holds out. Now, if these murmuring Jews
that we've been talking about, if they had believed what the
Lord Jesus Christ told them about their helplessness. I've told
you that a man must be helpless because it says, no man can come
to Me except the Father which sent Me to draw him. He can't
come to Me. He's helpless. He's helpless
in himself and he can't come. And the only way he can come
is for the Father to draw him. Now that's what He told these
murmuring, unbelieving unregenerate Jewish people. Now, had they
believed it, had they believed that in regard to their helplessness, they'd have cried for help, wouldn't
they? Now, if a man's unsaved, that is, he's still in his lost
condition, and there's lots of them that
way today, and always has been. But if an unsaved person today
would believe what God says in regard to the state and condition
of a man, that he's lost. If a man would believe that,
that he's lost. He's lost from himself, he's
lost from his family, he's lost from everything, and he's especially
lost from God. And if he dies in that lost condition,
He'll go where God is not. Now, if a man will believe that, I believe he'd call for help,
wouldn't you? I believe if a man was reduced to nothing, and something
took hold of him, and telling him it's true, you're lost, you
know by experience that you hate God in your heart. If you know
you're in that condition, I believe you'd cry for help. If I cannot
come, this is what you'd cry. You'd say, if I cannot come to
the Lord Jesus Christ where there is life and help, if I cannot
come to Him except the Father draw Him, then my responsibility
is to beg the Father to draw me. That's my responsibility. Or am I just going to lay there
and perish? Not cry for help. Just lay there and grit my teeth
and say, well, it'll get better. But it won't get better. It won't
get better. It'll only get worse. Ah, listen. What is this drawing that we're
talking about? Let me just make a few statements
here to help you, I hope, help you, help me to understand. These
are hard to say. This seventh chapter of the book
of John, the sixth chapter, these are hard sayings. Who can hear
it? Who can hear it? That's what
these Jews said to our Lord Jesus about, well, He told them who
He was, and they said this. They said, this is a hard saying.
Who can hear it? And many of them turned and walked
no more with Him. And He turned to Peter and the
apostles, and He said, Peter, will you also go?" And he said,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Now, that's the words of life. It's a hard say. God gives you
the capacity to discern, perceive, and to understand, and to learn,
to find out what I'm talking about, to find out what the Bible's
teaching here. What is this drawing? No man
can come to Me except the Father which sent Me draw him. He can't
come unless the Father draws him. All right? It's the power
of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third
person of the Godhead. Third person of the Godhead.
Three in one and one in three. I believe like the Jews. The
Lord, our God, is one God. He's one God and three persons.
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit,
our Lord said, if I go away, I'll send a comforter. I'll send
one that will help you. I'll send the Holy Spirit. And
He sent the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit's chief office
is to show the poor sinner who the Lord Jesus Christ is and
the things of Christ. That's the office of the Spirit
of God. Now, it is the drawing of the
sinner to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the power of the Holy Spirit
overcoming the pride of a man, natural man. Natural man's got
lots of pride. And he'll say in his heart when
he hears what I'm talking about here this morning, the first
thing he'll say is, I'm not as bad as he says I am. I'm not
that bad. There are some good things about
me. I haven't committed adultery yet, or I'm not an idolater. I don't bow down to a piece of
wood or stone. There are some good things about
me. But the power of the Spirit, He comes and He overcomes that
pride that's natural to you. You're born with it. It's sinful
pride. He'll bring you down to the dust
from whence you sprang. Listen, when he overcomes the
pride of a natural man to the extent that this man then, he's
ready to come to the Lord Jesus Christ as an empty-handed beggar. It's the Holy Spirit. It's the
Holy Spirit creating within him a hunger and thirst for the bread
of life. That's what it is. Over here in John chapter 6,
verse 45 is another verse. I commented on it already, but
let me just read it again. It is written in the Prophets. Now, that is from Isaiah chapter
54 in the Old Testament. Isaiah chapter 54. Our Lord Jesus
Christ quoted what Isaiah said. And Isaiah, and he quoted verbatim
exactly what Isaiah said. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall all be taught of God. Written in the prophets,
and they shall all be taught of God. Who are these all that
shall be taught of God? It says every one of them, and
they shall be all taught of God. They are those that have been
drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ. They are those that have had
this grace bestowed upon them before the world ever was. They
are His children. That's what God calls them, His
children. He calls them Mine elect, My highly favored ones. Who are these so highly favored?
His own elect, God's children. Oh, how careful our Lord quotes
that verse. And they shall all be taught
of God. Now, this all here kind of gives
definition to passages of Scripture like John chapter 12, I believe
it is, and verse 32. Let me read that for you. Here it says, Verse 30, it says,
Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me,
but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of the world,
and now shall the prince of this world be cast out. That's the
devil. Now listen to this. He's talking about his crucifixion. And it says, And I, if I be lifted
up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. Now, just think
about that a little bit. He will draw all men unto Me. And then up here in verse 45,
it is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught
of God. Now, it does not mean here when
it says, If I be lifted up, I will draw up. It does not mean that
he will draw every single solitary soul of Adam's fallen race unto
himself. Now, we know that's not true
because people have died and went to hell. People we know
were so wicked that, well, there's Adolf Hitler. They claim he killed
Not by his own hands, by his authority. Six million Jewish
people almost destroyed the whole race. Where did he go? To heaven?
No. He'll draw. All the Father giveth
to me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out. They all shall be taught of God.
They'll learn of Him. It's those, it's that all, it's
that all, that highly favored, those that have been sanctified
and set apart before time ever was. And what's he doing now? The Bible says that he's calling
out. In the preaching of the gospel,
he's calling out a people for his name. I don't know who they
are. I don't know who. I know some
that profess to be his, and I profess to be his. I know them. But I
don't know these out there. They've got no mark on their
back. They're hopeless and helpless. And I preach the gospel to everybody,
anybody that'll listen. I tell them that God's calling
out a people for His name. Oh, my soul. Every man that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh to me. So those drawn are they who have
heard and learned the Father. He's given them an ear to hear
and a heart to perceive." And that's in direct parallel with
what's said here in the book of I Corinthians. Let me read
this to you now in light of what I've said. Chapter 1, I think
it is, in verse 23. Paul said in verse 22, The Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.
But listen to what he said now. But we preach Christ crucified. We preach the person. Now, it's
one thing to preach about Christ, and it's another thing to preach
Christ. I'm trying to preach Christ! I'm trying to preach
Him, whom to know is life eternal. I'm not trying to get people
to learn about who He is. I don't know Abraham Lincoln. I don't know him. Never met him. But I know about him. I know
about him. To know him is eternal life. In other words, you cannot come
back from where you have not been. You've got to know him. Now listen, we preach Christ,
that's the person of Christ. Crucified, that's the work of
Christ. Now listen to this, unto the Jews what we preach is a
stumbling block. Unto the Jews, now, he came unto
his own, but his own received him not. He was a Jew. And he came to the Jews and they
said, thumbs down, we won't have him. He was a stumbling block
to them. And unto the Greeks he was foolishness. And he's still a stumbling block
to the Jews. and to the Gentile world, for the most part, he
is still foolishness. But, listen to this, but unto
them which are called. Now that call is this holy calling
that has to do with this drawing of the Father. It is a call which
is irresistible, irresistible call. Well, what if God calls me and
I refuse to respond? Well, God won't fail you. There's
no failure in God. If He calls you with a holy calling,
He's made you ready to respond. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power
of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
God at His weakest state is high above us. For ye see your calling,
brethren. You see your calling. There's
a call that comes from God. I'll talk about that in a minute.
How that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty men,
Not many noble are called." Now listen, I'll read it again. You
see, you're calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh, the Einsteins of our time, those that have the IQs,
not many of them called. Not many mighty, not many noble
are called, but, thank God for the blessing, but God has chosen
the foolish things. He doesn't say God has chosen
foolish people. Foolish things refers to us as
mere things. He has chosen foolish things
of the world to confound the wise. And God has chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
And the base things of the world and things which are despised
have God chosen. Need I read that again? These
are the things that God has chosen. Not many mighty, not many wise,
not many noble, but God has called those foolish, despised, have
God chosen. Yea, the things which are not.
To do what? To bring to naught things that
are. that no flesh should glory in
His presence. What I'm telling you, and I'm
trying to tell you and doing an awful poor job of it, is that
those that are drawn by the Father, taught of the Father, learned
of the Father, and come to the Son, they've come to the understanding. And they know by the work of
the Spirit in their hearts and by the truth of God, They know
that all that has happened to them has got to be of the grace
of God. And they give all the glory to
God, that no flesh might glory in His presence. The man that
says that salvation is according to his will, then his will is
his Savior, and he robs God of His glory, and God is a jealous
God, and he will not be robbed of His glory. He will reduce
us to nothing. And that's about the sum and
substance of it. When He draws us under the Father,
He reduces us to nothing. And we agree with God that we
are nothing and less than nothing. That we came from the dust. We
came from the dust. That's where we sprang from.
We brought nothing into this world. We'll take nothing out
of it. And we're nothing. Less than nothing. Our first
Father. was made out of nothing. Adam
was made out of the dust of the ground. And Adam's father was
dust. So we've got nothing to brag
about. We can't boast about our religion. We can only boast about
Him whom to know is life eternal, the wisdom of God. Oh, yes. Let me read the next two verses.
"...that no flesh should glory in His presence, Now listen to
this, but of him, how are you in Christ? Who put you in Christ? If you're in Christ, you're saved.
Listen, if you're in the ark, you're saved, aren't you? God
called Noah, didn't He? And his sons, and their wives,
and his wife. Seven souls, wasn't it, Bob?
Eight souls. He called them, and He opened
the door. He said, Get into the ark. And
he went into the ark, and he shut the door. And they were
in the ark, and they were safe. As long as you are in the ark,
you are safe. As long as you are in Christ,
you are safe. Yeah, listen. But of Him... But of God... That's what he's
saying. But of God are you in Christ? You're in the ark. But
of Him are you in Christ Jesus? Who of God is made unto us wisdom,
Righteousness, that's what we need. And sanctification and
redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what I'm talking
about. Well, unto them which are called
both Jews and Greeks, Christ Jesus is the power of God and
the wisdom of God. Calling, calling, refers to the
effectual and irresistible call of God. It's a call which is
heard by the inward ear. Not by this one, but the ear
of a man's soul. He hears this call. A call which is full of divine
power, drawing its object to Christ Himself. That is where
salvation is in Him. Oh, listen. Only those that come to Him have
heard and learned of the Father. But this does not mean now, this
does not mean that those who have learned of the Father and
heard of the Father hear His honorable voice or are directly
spoken to by Him. It doesn't mean that. Don't be
occult. You're the call of God comes
down inward, man. And your understanding of who
God is and what He is and what He done, His attributes, His
immutability, omniscience, His omnipresence, His sovereignty,
His mercy, His grace, all these things you learn from the written
Word. He doesn't speak audibly. Listen
to me, no man has seen the Father. That's what our Lord Jesus Christ
said. No man has seen Him. Hadn't seen
Him? I've seen Him. Jesus said, I've
seen Him, I was with Him. I'm the only one qualified to
tell you about Him. So we learn. We learn by the
written Word. We learn about God in the face
of Jesus Christ, who is God. Those things are true. Those
things are true. Listen, only the Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ, was and ever will be in direct, immediate
communication with the Father. That's right. No man has seen
the Father but our Lord Jesus Christ. He is a member of the
Godhead, Himself, very God of very God, the Lord Jesus. And because He has seen the Father,
He is fully qualified to speak of Him and reveal Him. And He
said, I am the bread of life. Now listen, I am the bread of
life. I am the bread of life. Barely,
barely. Remember I said, about to say
something of unusual importance when he says, barely, barely.
Amen, amen. Listen to what he says. What
he's already said. Tells these murmuring Jews. Well,
I said, if you'd listen to me and believe what I said about
you, that you can't come to me because of your hopelessness
and helplessness and your depravity, if you'd listen, You could beg
the Father, He might draw you. But you won't listen. So He says
here, I'm not shutting the door on you. I'm just pointing to
you how you're going to get there. If you want to find life, I'm
going to point to where life is. Verily, verily, I say unto
you, He that believeth on Me, as He hath revealed Himself in
the Scripture, He that believeth on the Christ of the Scriptures.
There's lots of Christ's around. Hosea. Hosea means Christ. There's lots of Christ's down
in Mexico. Hosea. I told you about that basketball
player up there in the northern part of the United States. Changed
his name. I forget what his name was, but
he changed it to God, Sham God. Sham God was his last name. I
don't know what his first name was. But he so lowered his opinion
and estimation of who God is that he decided to call himself
God. Now on, when they play in the
basketball, the television, they refer to him as God, Sham God. God, Sham God. We are to believe
on the Christ as He has revealed Himself here in the Bible. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, it comes to
me. He who has found out how hopeless
his case is, it comes to me as everlasting life. I am the bread
of life. But no man can come to me except
the Father drawing. Is that right? All right, let's
stand, we'll be this minute.