In John chapter 5, our Lord is here declaring that
He is the Son of God, God in human flesh. Now, it was only
about 50 years after the Lord accomplished the redemption of
His people and returned back to the Father that this heresy
known as Gnosticism had entered in. where they were teaching
that he was not really God in human flesh. He was not really
the son of God. If he came down because all things
are sinful, humans are sinful, if he had been made flesh he
would have been a sinner. So it was just as if he came. And
that still is prevalent today. so-called Jehovah's Witnesses
and different Aryans and different ones that they say He is a God. They say He is, some say He is
a created Son, that He began being the Son when He was born
into this world, but He is not God. In some way they make Him
to be inferior to the Father and not truly one with the Father,
not truly equal with the Father and the Spirit. not truly God. So in John 5, the Lord has been
declaring that he is indeed one with the Father, truly God. We saw these, and I want to just
review them here, but he said in John 5.17 that he's one in
his working with the Father. He said, my Father worketh hitherto
and I work. And then he said he's one in
knowledge and wisdom. He said, verse 20, the father
loveth the son and showeth him all things that he himself doeth.
I mean, whatever the father knows and is going to do, the son knows
and is going to do. The same knowledge they have.
One in quickening his people. He said in verse 21, as the father
raises up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the son quickeneth
whom he will. He's one in judgment with the
Father. He said in verse 22, the Father judges no man but
has committed all judgment to the Son. He's one in honor. He said in verse 23 that all
men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He
that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father who sent him.
They're one in justifying. his people and giving us eternal
life. He said in verse 24 what we saw
Sunday. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life, shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death to life.
He that heareth my word believes on him that sent me. They're
one in will. He said there at the end of verse
30, I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which
sent me. And then we come to our text
and the Lord is going to give some witnesses. He is going to
give some witnesses that bear witness to who He really is. Now He said in verse 31, if I
bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. Now Christ is, He is the truth. He is God who is the truth. He
is immutable, unchangeable God who cannot lie. Why is he saying that? He said
in John 8, over there in John 8, 14, he said, though I bear record of myself,
yet my record is true. For I know whence I came and
whither I go. He's saying that if I bear record
of myself, my record's true. Why did he say here he's willing
to bring forth some witnesses? This is another example of how
fully the Lord Jesus fulfilled the law of God for his people.
He's the truth. He didn't need any witnesses.
But the law required two or three witnesses. And he's made under
the law. And he's fulfilling the law for
his people. And he's going to bring forth
witnesses. Because that's what the law required.
He so fulfilled the law for His people and then justified us
from our sins for breaking the whole law and not fulfilling
the law. But you see here, even in this
detail of having witnesses, He's fulfilling what the law requires.
He really is the end of the law for them that believe on Him.
Now, we're going to see here Christ brings forth five witnesses. These are five witnesses that
Christ is God our Savior. Five witnesses. Now, if you were
sitting on a jury and there were five witnesses that came up and
testified that this man is who he said he is and did what he
said he did, we'd believe him, wouldn't we? Five witnesses come
forward and say, this is who he is. We'd believe him. Well,
he's going to bring forth here five witnesses that the Lord
Jesus is the Son of God, the Christ, the Savior of those who
believe on Him. And I pray that the Lord would
give the Spirit and give faith to one of His lost sheep through
these witnesses. And that us who do believe, He
would give us faith, strengthen us in faith to believe Him more
and trust Him more. Now the first witness He brings
forth is John the Baptist. He says here in In verse 32,
there's another that beareth witness of me, and I know that
the witness which he witnesseth of me is truth. You sin unto
John, and he beareth witness unto the truth. But I receive
not testimony from man. He's saying, I don't need the
testimony of a man. But these things I say to you,
that you might be saved. He was a burning and a shining
light. You were willing for a season
to rejoice in his light. Long before John the Baptist
came on the scene, God declared that he would come before Christ
and declare Christ, that he was coming, and he would declare
the Lord Jesus. Isaiah was speaking of John when
he spoke of the voice of one crying in the wilderness, saying,
make straight the way of the Lord. That was speaking of John
the Baptist, long before John ever came. Malachi wrote the
Lord's will concerning John and called him Elijah. And he said
in Malachi 4.5, behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before
the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And the Lord
Jesus said, if you'll receive it, this is Elijah. John the
Baptist is Elijah, which was for to come. Now that was declared
long before John ever came that he was coming. And then he came
forth. Now the Pharisees came to John.
We saw this back in chapter one. They came to John. to hear what
he had to say. Look back there at John 1 and
verse 29. The next day John seeth Jesus
coming unto him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. They came there and asked him,
they said, Are you the Christ? John said, No. And apparently
John didn't even, he even said he was not Elijah. But he said, here's the truth,
he bore witness to the truth, Christ said, and how did he do
it? He saw the Lord coming and he said, behold the Lamb of God
which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom
I said, after me cometh a man which is preferred before me,
for he was before me. He's God, he was before me, John
said. And John bear record, verse 32,
John bear record saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven
like a dove and it abode upon him. And I didn't know him, I
knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water, the
same said to me, upon whom thou should see the Spirit descending
and remaining on him, the same as he which baptizes with the
Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bear record, this
is the Son of God. This is the Son of God. This
is the Lamb of God. Now Christ said, I don't need
John's witness. I don't need John's witness.
He said, I'm saying this that you might be saved. I'm saying
this that you might be saved. He doesn't need our witness. The Lord Jesus doesn't. He sends
forth the gospel and has his people preach the gospel that
sinners might believe on Christ and we might bear witness of
him. that we might be saved. That's how he's pleased to do
it. But he said to the Pharisees, he said, John the Baptist was
a burning and a shining light, and you were willing for a season
to rejoice in his light. They came there, and for a little
while they rejoiced in what John said. What was the problem? They were stony ground hearers.
They didn't have root in themselves. They sprung up for a little while,
but then they got offended. Then they saw that Christ was
getting all the glory for doing all the works that saved his
people, and they weren't going to get any glory for doing those
works. And he was about to totally mess up everything they had going
in their religion, because he's going to get the glory. And there's
a whole new gospel about to be preached, saying he's the end
of that whole law that they put so much confidence in. And so
that offended them and they quit following him. But I want you
to see this too before we go further. Notice how the Lord
Jesus commends John the Baptist. He said he was a burning and
a shining light. How so? The light that John the
Baptist was shining was he preached Christ the truth. He preached
the truth of Christ. He preached Christ the light.
The Pharisee didn't believe him. They didn't believe him, and
men forgot him. After he was martyred and he
died, men forgot about him. But our Lord didn't. The Lord
didn't forget him. He commended him for preaching
Christ in truth, for being a faithful witness of Christ. Christ cares
for all his believing people, and he never forgets his people.
He knows where his people are. He's concerned for his people.
We may be forgotten. We may be despised by the world.
but we're remembered by our Lord Jesus. He knows his people. A book of remembrance is written
for each of his redeemed. He said in Psalm 56, eight, their
tears are all in his bottle. He knows our tears. He knows
our suffering. He knows our sorrowing that we
don't let anybody else know about. He knows it. He knows it. And
he knows what his people do for him. Even things we don't know
that we do for Him. Things that we don't recognize.
When did we ever do this, Lord? He knows what His people do for
Him. And He only sees what His people
do good for Him. Is that so? Read Hebrews 11. And then go
back and read what happened under the old covenant. And read what
He says about His people in Hebrews 11. He sees, the Lord God sees
his people in his righteousness. And what he's worked in his people.
And he remembered John, and Christ said, those who confess me before
men, he said, I'll confess before my father. And here he is, commending
John, because he preached the truth of Christ. Now, that's
the first witness. Here's the second witness, and
it's Christ's works. He said in John 5.36, but I have
greater witness than that of John. For the works which the
Father hath given me to finish, the works that I do, bear witness
of me that the Father hath sent me. Our Lord Jesus was given
some works to do by the Father, and He came forth to finish those
works. He said that the works that I
do, He came to finish those works, the works the Father sent Him
to accomplish. Now, he finished those works.
There's not a work that the Father sent him to do that he didn't
finish. That's not what you hear preached. It's put into the sinner's
hand, and there's yet something the sinner has to do. There's
some part, especially when it comes to sanctification, you've
got to do your part. If you do your part, you're going
to get some glory for doing your part, and we're not getting any
glory. And God will show us every now
and then, He'll just take that restraining grace that we think
is holiness, He'll take that off of you and let you see you're
really not doing anything by yourself. But He finished the
work and He's going to finish all the works. Now in every work
Christ was fulfilling, He was fulfilling the law and the prophets.
Everything they said, they said that He would be God and by His
power that He would come forth and He would heal. And so Christ
went forth every day. He did something good for somebody
every day. For somebody that couldn't do
anything for Him. He did something good for somebody
every day that couldn't do anything good for Him. He gave the deaf hearing. He
gave the speech to the dumb. He gave sight to the blind. He
cleansed the leper, He gave life to the dead. And everything He did showed He's
God. He calmed the sea. Peace be still,
and it was calm. He turned the water into wine. Everything He did showed He's
God. He fed a multitude with just a few fish and a few loaves. And all these bear witness, He's
God in human flesh, sin of the Father. The Father sent Him to
do those works, He did them all. But more than that, Christ finished
the work of saving His people. He's finished the work of redeeming
His people. And it bears witness, He is who He said He is. He said,
the Father gave me these works to finish. Daniel said, back
in Daniel 12, 7, He said, all these things shall be finished. And then He told us what they
were. For God's elect, Christ finished the transgression. Not
transgressions, he finished the transgression. The transgression is the transgression
by which we all became sinners. He finished it. He undid what
Adam did and made it so we could never come under that transgression
again. He made an end of sins. That means all our sins, past,
present, and future. He made an end of them. We have to deal, we're so accustomed
to dealing with somebody's gotta be right, somebody's gotta be
wrong. We're all wrong. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Here's the thing. Justice has
been satisfied. God's justice has been satisfied. And if we're one in Christ, there
is no division. We're one in Christ. The end
of sins has been made. He finished that. We're one in
Christ. One in Christ. There's no division.
One in Christ. What are you to do when that's
the case? What's he done to us? Been merciful. He's been merciful. He's declared this, declared
this, declared this. This is the power, this is the
strength that keeps you walking after him. He made an end of
sins. The justice is satisfied. Now
mercy can be shown justly. He made reconciliation for iniquity. He brought his people to be reconciled
with God. reconcile, friends, in harmony
with God, and it won't be broken. He sealed up, or he brought in
everlasting righteousness. Not only put our sins away, he
made his people everlastingly righteous, so that God says,
no charge, no condemnation, no curse, ever again. And he'll
stand between his child, and the devil, and every enemy, and
say, who are you to touch my anointed? That's what he's done
for you, brethren. And he sealed up the vision and
the prophecy. Everything that they said would be done, he did
it. Everything the prophets declared, he did it. He finished it. And
he anointed the most holy. And he said to the father, I
have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. I finished it, he said. That's
the good news. It's finished. And greater than
this, all these physical healings he did and all that earthly physical
healing. When he gives you the gospel
and he creates an eternal, holy, new spirit in his child. He raises
dead sinners to life. Spiritual life. New man, a new
man, really a new man. He gives spiritual eyes and spiritual
ears. He gives lame sinners the ability
to walk by faith in Christ, look into Christ. And he keeps leading
us by his spirit. He takes sinners whose carnal
minds are enmity. He don't change that. He don't
change that. There's still a carnal mind in
you that's enmity against God, and there so is in me. But he
puts a new spirit in you that loves God, that loves God. And by his spirit, he keeps you
serving him by faith, looking to him, trusting him. He keeps
you loving him. He keeps your flesh mortified,
giving you strength to mortify it and to fight it without without
doing it in a way to let you feel like you really did it.
So we don't get puffed up and start looking down on others
that we're so strong in our wall. He won't let you do that. He
just won't. But he's going to keep you from
being dominated so as to apostatize from him. That won't happen.
That won't happen. It's this spirit that we worship
God. It's this spirit we rejoice in
Christ Jesus. It's in this spirit that we don't
have any confidence whatsoever in our flesh. None. None. Now Christ finished this
work, and by doing this, you know what this does? This makes
natural men hate Christ, hate this gospel, and hate those who
preach it. You know why? Because it reveals
their sins. It reveals their inability to
do what they claim they're doing by their power and their will.
He said, if I had not done among them the works which none other
man did, they had not had sin. But now have they both seen and
hated both me and my father. And that same work that He did
for His people and that He does in His people for which the natural
man hates Him, His people love Him. They love Him and follow
Him. And love those begotten of Him.
Love those begotten of Him. Now here's the third witness.
We had the witness of John the Baptist. We had the witness of
the works he finished. He said, God the Father Himself
is a witness. He said in verse 37, I think
this is who he was talking about back up there in verse 32 when
he said, there's another that bears witness of me and I know
that the witness which he witnessed of me is true. I don't think
he's talking about John there, I think he's talking about the
Father. In verse 37, and the Father himself which has sent
me hath borne witness of me. You've neither heard his voice
at any time nor seen his shape. Christ is God. The fullness of
the Godhead and the body. No man has seen God, no man has
heard God. Christ is the way we see God. He said back in John 1.18, He said, No man has seen God
at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. That's why
Christ came. But God did speak from heaven
concerning Him. Back there in Matthew 3.16 it
says, at his baptism the heavens were opened and John the Baptist
saw the Spirit of God descend like a dove on the Lord Jesus
and a voice from heaven spoke saying, this is my beloved son
in whom I'm well pleased. The holy God said, this is my
son and with him I am well pleased. I want to be found in him, don't
you? That's who God the Father said, I'm well pleased with him.
And then when they were on that mount and he was transfigured
and they saw him in his glory and he was talking with Moses
and Elijah, Peter wanted to build three tabernacles. He wanted
to build one for Moses, that would be building a tribute to
the law. He wanted to build one for Elijah,
that would be building a tribute to the prophets. And he wanted
to build one for Christ. Both the law and the prophets
are fulfilled in Christ. And so the father spoke from
heaven, and the father said, he overshadowed him with a cloud,
and a voice came out of heaven, and he said, this is my beloved
son, and whom I'm well pleased, hear ye him. Hear ye him. And when Peter looked back up,
there was no man but Christ, just Christ only. And above all,
God bore witness when He raised Him from the grave and set Him
at His right hand. These things really declare He is God. He is our Savior. If He's not
God, we don't have a Savior. If He's not God, nothing He did
is eternal. Nothing He did saves us. That's
why it's so important that He's God. This is not some Oh, we
got that, we know he's God. Do you know he's God? This is
what's so vitally necessary. This is what God's people want
to hear. I want to hear he's God, because this is how I know
what he did is, this is everlasting. He that believes on Christ bears
record that the Father's witness is true. That's what he said. John wrote about this in this
gospel. over 50 years after Christ ascended
to the Father because of this Gnosticism. And he wrote about
it in all three of his epistles. And this was his chief message,
he's God. And he said over there, he said
this, he that believes him has the witness in him and he's saying
God's true, the record's true. And he says, and the person that
doesn't believe Christ calls God a liar. And he said, and
this is the record God's given to us, eternal life, and this
life's in our works. This life's in our ability to
keep ourselves perfect and keep our sin put away. No, that's
not what he said. This life's in his son. This life's in the Son. He will
give you a want to and a willingness to do those things, but don't
you dare trust them, because life's in the Son. He that hath
the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son hath
not life. Here's the fourth witness. It's the word, it's the scripture,
the word of God. He said in verse 38, you have
not his word abiding in you. Now how, what was that? How did he know that? How did
he know that? For whom he has sent, him ye
believe not. Faith is the evidence, faith
is the evidence. Him whom He has sent, you believe
not. That tells me you don't have
His word abiding in you, Christ said to them. And then He said
this, search the scriptures, for in them you think you have
eternal life. And there they which testify
of Me. And you will not come to Me that
you might have life. This Word's the Word of God.
Every bit of it, beginning to end, is the Word of God. Everything
in it's the Word of God. And you know what it speaks about?
What we saw, Sonny, all flesh is grass. Behold your God. Look to Christ. There's God.
There's the salvation, the righteousness, the holiness, the wisdom, the
upholder of all. The glory of God. There He is.
There He is. This is the Word by which His
children are born. This is the Word that abides
in us. This is how we have the witness in us. He said, you don't
have His Word abiding in you. For that reason, you don't believe
Him. That tells you the Word's got to come into you by God first
before you'll believe. And that Word's got to keep us
believing Him. So the Scripture, the whole Bible, the whole Word
of God bears witness of Christ. Not just the Gospels and not
just the Epistles, but the Law and the Psalms and the Prophets.
All the promises made to Adam, and made to Abraham, and made
to Moses, and made to David, and all the prophets, they were
all speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the covenant, He's
the promise, and He's the fulfiller, and everything was promised in
Him. They were all saved believing on Him. The whole book testifies
that He's the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of God's chosen
people, the righteousness God provided, and the message is
salvation is through faith in Christ alone apart from our works. Apart from our work. The scriptures are they which
testify of me, he said. Every bit of it, everything in
it. Everything in it. And then that's why Christ gives
this fifth witness. Moses and the law. That's the
fifth witness, Moses, or the laws, what he's talking about.
He said they searched the law to, and what they were doing
was they were searching for this law to obtain eternal life. They would have said, I'm searching
it so I know how to live. I'm searching it so I can live
a purposeful life in this world. I'm searching it so I can be
a better neighbor. I'm searching it so I can be a better friend. I'm searching it so I can, all
these different things that I can do. But they were trusting in
those things. They were trusting that by what
they did, they were better than other people. Because they didn't
do what other people did. They were better. They were better. And by the time Christ came,
they thought they were better than Christ. Why? Because he
didn't grow up where they grew up. He didn't grow up in their
form of religion. He wasn't amongst their people
that they hung around with. And he didn't have any social
standing in the world. There was nothing about him and
his works that would make anybody look at him and say, I'm going
to believe him. But here was the main problem. They were looking
to themselves, verse 41. I receive not honor from men,
he said, but I know you, you have not the love of God in you. Now before he said, you don't
have the word in you. How do I know? You don't believe.
Now he says, and I know you don't have the love of God in you.
How? How did he know that? I am come
in my father's name and you receive me not. Same evidence, isn't
it? You don't believe me. You don't
have his word in you. What's the result? You don't
believe me. He told him, you don't have the love of God in
you. So what's the effect? You don't receive me. Look, if
another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. What
was he saying? How can you believe which receive
honor one of another? and seek not that honor that
cometh from God only. Don't think I'll accuse you to
the Father. He said, I'm not going to accuse you. There's
one that accuses you, even Moses in whom you trust, that law that
you trust in. For had you believed him, had
you really believed Moses, you would have believed me because
he wrote of me. But if you believe not his writings,
how shall you believe my word? Every sinner such as he trusts
in his works, he's trying to do what they were trying to do.
And this is what you and I have to, we have to be on guard against. As much as we have to be on guard
against our sin, we have to be on guard against this, trying
to get honor from men. Trying to stay in the good graces
of men and have them speak highly of us. It's one thing to do something
so that men speak well of you. It's another thing to try to
do it for that reason. That's what they were seeking.
They were trying to do everything they did so that men would receive
them and they'd be impressive to men and their fellow worms
would give them some praise. The Lord said, when you receive
that reward, that's it. You got it. You got it. Somebody
bragged on you. You got it. Our business is not with men.
Our business is with God. Our business is with God. It's
the God to whom we have to answer. Not men. I'm not going to answer to you
and you're not going to answer to me and we can't answer for
one another. Every man is going to have to bear his own burden.
Every man is going to have to stand before God and give account
of himself to God. Every one of us. We don't have
any priests on this earth. Any priests on this earth. It's
one thing to say I have sinned. I have really
sinned. I have really sinned and I need
mercy. It's another thing to get into
the details. We're never supposed to do that
to each other because you can't hear it. You can't hear it. It will make you despise somebody
that you once loved if you hear it. Certainly will. We have a priest named Jesus
Christ. He's our high priest. We go to
him. Now you go to him and tell him
everything that's in your heart. Everything. And that's not how
we love others as you love yourself. You don't love yourself by just
standing up and saying secret things that would shame you. That's not how you love yourself.
And that's not how we love others either. But you go to Christ
and tell him everything. He's your high priest. A man
can't put himself in that place. That's what the Pharisees were
trying to do. They wanted that honor. They wanted that honor. The issue is not if men accept
us, the issue is does God accept us? That's the issue. That's
the issue. Honor as an accepted son of God
righteous and holy and accepted and complete. That only comes
to those the Father gives it to, and it only comes through
His Son, by His Son, to those that believe His Son. And that honor never stops for
His child. No matter what you do, no matter
how you fall, no matter what you do, that honor does not stop
coming to you in His Son. Never. Christ said the Pharisees
claimed to love the law. They appeared outwardly to obey
it, but they didn't even believe the word of Moses. They didn't
believe him. Proof is, if they had, they would have believed
on Christ because Moses wrote of Christ. You know this, but
go to Romans 3. I want to just show you this
real quick. The law and the prophets bore witness of Christ. Romans
3.20. Everything Moses wrote was of
Christ. The moral law tells us we're
guilty, but the moral law also tells us, shows us the righteousness
Christ is. When you read the law, If Spirit
of God is speaking to us, we know we've never once had a thought
that was righteous according to that law. It's what we are
in ourselves. We get all upset about sins that
other people do. I'm telling you, brethren, we
haven't scratched the tip of the iceberg. You don't even know what's in
my heart. You don't know what, you know,
giving's not based on how much you give, it's based on what
you have left over. Well, a person may appear to
you like, well, they just not mortifying their flesh. You might
not know how much flesh they got that they could be coming
out of them. God does. God does. But look at this, that law tells
us we're guilty and that law tells us Christ is righteous.
It bears witness to him. That's what Moses was writing
and the ceremonial law tells us he's everything in the law.
Look, Romans 3.20 at the end, by the laws the knowledge of
sin. That's where it It convicts us, but then watch this. Now
the righteousness of God without the laws manifested, being witnessed
by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God,
which by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe, because there's no difference. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. We're justified freely by His
grace. through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus, who God set forth to be the propitiation
through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness, that
he's just and justify him that believes in Jesus. That's what
the law says to it. He said, that's what Moses was saying.
And if you'd have believed him, you'd have run to me and thrown
yourself on my mercy and believed me. Because here I am, the righteousness
of God. That's what he was saying. Now
let me end here. Now I want you to get this. Think
of this and I'm done. I'm right here at the end. Here's God in human flesh. Now
think about this. Get with me here on this. Think
of this. Here's God in human flesh. The perfection of the
fruit of the Spirit. The perfection of the fruit of
the Spirit. He had the Spirit without measure.
As a man, He had perfect fruit all the time. And He's declaring
He's the Son, one with the Father. He brings forth, saying He's
the truth and He's God in human flesh. He gives life by His Word. He gives five witnesses, John
the Baptist, the works He finished. He gives God the Father as His
witness, the scriptures, and the whole law of Moses. He said,
here's these witnesses. And the Pharisees didn't see
Christ in Christ. They didn't see His fruit. They
didn't see His goodness. They didn't see His love. They
didn't see any good works that He did. They were going around
saying, won't you do something to show us you love us? Just
show us you love us. Prove to us, give us some sign
that you're who you say you are. And so they crucified Him. Now
why did they do all that? They did not have the love of
God in their heart. They had enmity against God and
His Son. And when there is no love in
the heart and there's only enmity, or when the flesh is reigning
and enmity is reigning and love's not reigning, you can't see good works. You
can only see that which offends you. That's all you can see. They would have been religious
without Christ, but they would not confess they were sinners.
They would not confess their sin. It was easier to condemn Him
and kill Him. Why? He said you don't have the
love of God in your heart. That's the depravity of a natural
heart. That's the depravity that's in
you and it's in me. But he that believes, he has
to witness in himself. That will reign in us. That still
will come out in us. That's why we're, why do you
think we're worn not to give an occasion to the flesh? Why
do you think we're worn not to walk after the flesh? Why are
we worn to love each other and not bite each other? Because
we will. Because we will. But thankfully he has that witness
and bears witness and he makes love win the day. He makes love
when the day. I've seen it. I've seen it. Ever so often there's some some
ripple. Everybody gets upset. Everybody
gets bitter. And a little while the Lord breaks
the hearts. And brings his people to see. See the love of God toward him.
And they go back to loving each other. Somebody get upset, run,
go to another church, but you can't run away from God. He's
gonna still break the heart, and He breaks their heart, and
they end up being better friends with the one they separate from
than they was when they sat on the pew next to Him. I've not
seen this one time. I've seen this from the late
80s to present day. I don't know how other churches
handle it, but I can tell you what I've seen the Lord work
in the saints I've seen. They're just sinners like everybody
else. But the Lord, you reckon there
was any drama when Israel was going through that wilderness?
There's over a million people. We're not told about all the
drama that went on. There was a lot of drama. And
that's how, it's been, if I look back, it's been just a history
of Israel coming through the wilderness. And oh, it just,
everything's, I can't believe this, I can't believe that, and
just a little while, it comes down. And y'all have met some
of these brethren, and you haven't heard them talk about the details
of these things. There's some things that if you heard, you'd
think, you know why they don't talk about them? Ain't no point
talking about it. God used it to teach us love
and mercy and grace, and you just keep believing Him, keep
following Him. And he keeps his people together. Oh, some won't.
Some will get upset, and they just, they too holy, and the
halo's too big to fit in a room with everybody else. And they're
always the ones that end up being the loser in the deal. I've seen
men that were so bent on how bad my pastor was, they could
not have anything else to do with him, and they left. And
now they don't sit anywhere. And one of the men just did exactly
what he was accusing my pastor. They're always a loser for it. But God will. You talk about
mortifying the flesh. When you're so set that you're
right and somebody else is wrong, you can bite and stay that way
and bite. And be right, Mother Henry said,
but lose a friend. Paul said, love one another. That's pretty simple, isn't it?
That's pretty simple. I want, this is the word, if
we're one in Christ, we're not divided. Don't hear criticism. Don't speak criticism. Encourage
reconciliation. Speak of what our gospel is. That's what God's going to bless.
He keeps doing it. He just keeps doing it. He just
keeps doing it. That's what I believe God's going
to do. That's what I have to believe. That's what he's going
to do. He broke my bones. And I just pray that That's what
He does. That's what I've seen Him do
over and over. He does it through these witnesses,
over and over and over, teaching in your heart. He's the love
of God. He is. He's that love that gives
you love. And what we typically think is...
You always think it's... Do you ever think it's an occasion
to your flesh? But you end up seeing it was
when you end up devoured. And you know, well, when this court case is finished,
they show it on television right now. You think that's going to
bring about peace? Somebody's going to be right. Somebody's
going to be wrong. You think that's going to make peace and
unity? No. It's not. Our justice has been
satisfied. We can show mercy. And we can
love, because justice has been dealt with. I pray God will bless
that.