That great hymn is a favorite
of many of ours, particularly because of the last verse. That
was written by a man named Robert Robinson, who was a preacher.
He died about my age or a little younger, I think. He was a great hymn writer. That was the one he was most
well known for. The story has it that he was, later on, just falling into a bad way of
some sort. He just was falling into a bad way,
like we all get. He was riding a stagecoach, and
there was a woman. who was sitting across from him,
and she was humming that hymn, his hymn. And this man was just
feeling like he was lost and gone, apart, separate, cast out
from the Lord, and he broke down crying. And she said, Sir, do
you know that hymn? He said, oh, do I know it? He
said, I'm the one who wrote it. And oh, that I were as in months
past. It's because I'm prone to wonder. Prone to wonder. But a touching
story. A wonderful hymn. John chapter
5. If a message is from the Lord,
it must come from His Word. Word of the Lord. This one verse
in particular spoke to me and greatly blessed me. And verse
24 is it. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me,
hath everlasting life. and shall not come into condemnation. But it is passed from death unto
life, the word of the Son of God, who cannot lie, whose word
is as sure as heaven itself." Now, much is said here by the
Lord. He just healed a man with an
infirmity of 38 years. It doesn't say what that infirmity
was. An infirmity is some kind of
weakness, sickness, affliction, disease, some incurable problem
the man had for 38 years and the Lord just healed him. The
Lord is still doing that. The Lord is still doing that.
These infirmities that he healed, men of blindness, leprosy, demon
possession, death. Those are all pictures of what
we all are. We have all of those. And the
Lord continually is healing people of that. And He does it for some
after 28, 38 years, doesn't He? Forty-eight. I don't know how
old you were, Brother Henry, when you first heard the Gospel.
Were you in your forties? About 38 years, the Lord is still
doing that. And some men, these Pharisees,
confronted this fellow that the Lord had healed. He was carrying
his bed on his father. The Lord said, pick up your bed.
So he did. And they said, you can't do that.
Ah boy. And they confronted the Lord
in verse 16. They persecuted Christ. He said, you can't do this on
the Sabbath day. And he said in verse 17, my father
worketh hitherto. In other words, he says God never
did quit working. He's still working. And I do
too. God quits working. You know, when God, the Sabbath
day, says God finished the works, it doesn't mean He stopped doing
anything. It means the creation was finished. And as you know, that Sabbath
is a picture of Christ. That the work of God is in Him,
complete, finished, nothing left to be done. He is our Sabbath. Well, got to go. And the Lord
went on to say in verse much about the Father and the Son,
all through here, Father and Son. God the Father and God the
Son. And we're going to see why. Verse 18. Jews sought the Moor
to kill him, because he had not only broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his
Father, making himself equal with God. They heard what he was saying,
and they didn't like it. Making himself equal What our
Lord said and did angered religious people. Religious people didn't like
what He said about Himself, His sovereignty, most of all. And what He said about them,
that their works were worthless for salvation. They didn't like
it then, they don't like it now. I don't like it now. You get
angry when you talk about God the Father or the Son doing,
particularly Jesus, doing as He will, with whom He will, when
He will, because He will. But He's sovereign over all.
Calling that man named Jesus, God, angers a lot of people. There's some people who go door
to door just to try to renounce that. They're called Jehovah
Whipset. And we believe that Jesus Christ
is Jehovah. God our Savior. Equal. He thought
it not robbery to be equal with the Father. He let people worship
Him as God. He let them call Him God. Thomas
did, didn't he? He didn't correct him, did he,
Brother Stan? Thomas fell at his feet and said, my Lord and
my God, and the Lord Jesus Christ did not correct him. He said,
you call me Lord and Master, and you say, well, so I am. I am that I am. The Pharisees,
tell us who you are. Tell us plainly. He said, I told
you, but you believe not, for you are not my sheep. Nice sheep
here, my boys. They know who I am. God manifests
in the flesh. Equal with God. It's a great
mystery. I don't understand it. We don't
understand it, do we? Three separate persons of
the Godhead, yet all one. At least three are one. Got a
father, son. But the Son never had a beginning
or a end. Spirit, God's Spirit, and the
Holy Spirit. Explain that. What's the difference
between God the Father and God the Spirit? They're both Spirit.
Explain that. You can't. You can't. We believe it. We believe it. We're not told that we need to
understand it. Believe it. Great is the mystery
of Godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. And it's without controversy.
It's without controversy. The Eternal One became an infant. The Creator entered a creature,
a creature body, and a body made. And this is what throws people,
not God's people. But we have a Father and we have
a Son, but they're equal. And yet the Son became in subjection
to the Father. You cannot understand it. Just marvel at it. Verses 19
and 20, the Lord said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son
can do nothing of Himself but what He seeth the Father do.
He's not saying there. He's not saying there that I
had no power to do anything, and I don't know what I'm doing.
No, no, no, no, no, no. He's saying that they are so
one together that they do nothing independently of each other.
Everything they do is in connection one with another. They're doing
the same work, the same work. His words are his words. Father's
words, son's words. Son's words, father's words.
You can't separate them. You hear father, you hear the
son. You hear the son, you hear from the father. Father's words,
son's words. Son's words, father's words.
I don't know if this is a good illustration, but my dad and
I do the same work. Right? He's a preacher, I'm a
preacher. Same gospel, same work. He's
a man, I'm a man. I happen to believe he's more
of a man than I am. But I'm still a man, right? Equally man. I don't know if that's a good
illustration or not, but you have God the Father and God the
Son doing the same work of salvation and the Holy Spirit. And when Christ came, he came as
a man and was in subjection to the Father completely. Because
that's what all the sons of God are supposed to do. Supposed
to be. submissive, so he was. But God
said, and he calls me, he brags on me, doesn't he? That's love. He tells me he admires me. He honors me, doesn't he? He
honors me. I don't feel worthy of that,
but he does. Well, God, the Father, in Hebrews 1 verse 8, unto the
Son, The Father said, Thy throne, O God, is forever. A scepter
of righteousness is a scepter of thy kingdom. God called His
Son, honored His Son by saying, You're God. You're God. And look at this. Verse 20, The
Father loved that the Son showeth Him all things that Himself doeth,
and He will show Him greater things than these that you may
marvel are through Him. This is talking about the covenant
between the Father and the Son before the world. How Christ
grew in wisdom, I don't know. He is wisdom. It says He grew in wisdom. I
don't know. Way above me. But I just know
they're equal. Alright, look at this, verse
21. He says, "...as the Father raiseth
up the dead and quickeneth them." That is, gives life. "...even
so the Son quickeneth whom He will." Whom He will. See, they're equal. Their will
is equal. Whom He will. God worked out all things up
to the counsel of His will. Right here it says the Son does
to them. Whom He will. They're equal. Listen, he says,
quickly, that means make a life. Nothing declares God to be God
more than this. When God says, like when He said,
I kill, I make life. I give life, I take life. Nothing declares God to be more
God than that right there. Things don't kill anybody. God
sends those things to take that person. God says, I kill. Say,
I don't believe that. Well, then you're not one of
God's people. They all know that. They all
know that. God says, I kill. I kill. He uses means, but He did it.
That particular moment, that particular hour, that particular
method. God did it. I killed. Nothing
declares Him to be God more than that. And nothing declares Him
to be God more than giving life, spiritual life. I make a life. I quicken whom I will. I give
life to whom I will. I will. I put those articles
in the bulletin about free will on purpose. My brother Ray Gunquist
talking about whose will is free. Whoever's will is free. Whoever can do exactly what he
says, I will do this. That's God. Right? Nothing declares God to
be more God than free will. I can't say I will do anything. I hope. I may. By the grace of God, I will live
another 30 seconds. But I cannot without a shadow
of a doubt will something and know it's going to happen. You
can't do that. I'm not God. Everything about man is according
to God's predetermined will. That's what makes Him God. And
Jesus Christ said, I quicken whom I will. I give life to whom
I will. I love Hannah's prayer over the
first time that I was going to have you turn, but for the sake
of time, we won't. She said, don't talk any more
exceedingly proudly. She said, God kills, God makes
alive, God raises up, God casts down, God raises up the beggar
from the dumb hill to sit among princes and bring the princes
down. Don't be talking so proudly. You're in God's hands, she said.
Oh, I love that. Used a poor woman, a maiden,
to say that. So not only does the Lord God,
the Lord Jesus Christ, physically kill and make alive, but quicken
it, or that is, give spiritual life to whom He will. And everybody's
dead in trespasses and sin. That's not just a doctrine. That's
a fact. Total depravity. If you're dead, that means you're
totally dead. Burned, you're sick. Graveyard
dead. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation
is up to the Lord. His discretion, His will, His
power, His grace, His work, His glory. Salvation is up to the
Lord. Not God and man. It's up to the
Lord. Alright, look at verse 22. He
says, "...as the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all
judgment unto the Son." Jesus Christ is Judge. Judge. All souls. He said, I have the
keys of death and hell. I have them. I decide who goes where. Jesus
Christ said that. Nowhere does it say, if you'll
let me, I'm giving you an option. Judgment. All judgment. All judgment. He and he alone hath all power
to save or to damage. Accept or reject. Raise up or cast down. Promote
or demote. Give or take away. Kill or make
alive. Wound or heal. Give mercy or
pour out his wrath. I have all judgment. All judgment. Judge of all the earth. Judge,
jury, and executioner. Is there any wonder that Psalm
2 says, Be wise now, therefore, ye kings and princes. Serve the
Lord with fear. Come before him, rejoice with
trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry. That's talking about the Son
of God. Alright, look at verse 23. He says, all men should honor
the Son even as they honor the Father. That really just struck
me for the first time, Jeanette. I've always believed that and
quoted it, but he's saying here, not only should you give the
Son honor, but give Him the exact same honor as you give the Father. That struck me. How do you honor
God? You're going to have to honor
the Son exactly like that. God's not going to take you if
you don't call His Son God. That's right. All honor committed
to Him. All judgment committed to Him.
And you honor Him as you honor the Father. He that honoreth
not the Son, how has God honoreth not the Father which hath sent
Him? So be wise now. Honor. For as God is, so is Christ. He said, you believe in God,
believe also in me. Alright, look at verse 24. Now,
our Lord said, barely, barely. The Lord said that only in the
Gospel of John. The only place, the only Gospel
where He says it twice. And He says it often. I forget.
I wrote it down. I didn't put it on my notebook.
Quite often, he said, barely, barely. Emphasis. Barely means this is firm, meaning
unmovable. This is not going to change.
Firm. This means truly, truly, truly. The word is actually amen. That word is the exact same word
as amen. He said, amen. Amen, before he
says it. He said, Amen, Amen, before he
says it. We say it after the fact. That
means, this is it? This is true? This is firm? We're
not going to change this. Rarely? Rarely. Boy, get a hold
of this now, I hope. Dad used to say, Barney used
to say, grab ahold of your pew. These things say the Amen and
the truth. This is irrevocable, unchangeable. Verse 24, he says, Verily, verily,
truly, truly, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent
me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation,
but is. Passed from death to life. Hope we can get a hold of this. He that heareth my word. Now
many have ears to hear. All human beings, nearly all
are born with two ears. But they don't hear. Our Lord
said that, that having ears to hear. But they don't hear. That's
what these are for. But Christ speaks, God speaks,
and they don't hear it. First of all, turn to John 8. Oh, don't you love the Gospel
of John? Brother Henry, right where we're starting, all the
way through, well, to the end. John 1, all the way to the end,
21. Oh my, the Lord. The Lord says so many wonderful
things. John 8. Many do not hear because
they cannot hear. Cannot hear. Our Lord said to
them. Verse 43. John 8, 43. Why do
you not understand My speech? Even because you cannot hear
My Word. But they're listening. They're
not hearing a word He's saying. Have you ever run into anybody
like that? We just did them a minute. We were just talking to somebody.
A neighbor. Plainly. Boldly. Just as plainly. Coming out just as plain as I
could possibly. I think it's high time that we
talk to people boldly. Religious people are taking their
in-your-face religion, their error, their heresy, All over,
it's time we tell people the truth. Tell them that's false. That'll damn you. I remember
Brother Mahan got up at your mother's funeral. And that place
was packed, people from all over the city of Ashland. Packed,
who knew her. And he got up and one of the
first things he said was, you remember that? He said, now we're
not holding a traditional Funeral, like most people do. It was on
a Wednesday night, wasn't it? He said, tradition will send
you to hell. He said, all this religion and all
these practices, all this tradition people are performing. This was
at a funeral. It's time for that. Listen, man, that's going to
send you to hell. They deal with compassion and
meekness and love, It's urgent. It really is. Well, we were talking
to this person, and they were hearing us. They had ears, but
they weren't hearing us. They weren't hearing a thing
we said. You know how it is. They do not because they cannot.
Our Lord said, I cannot. Read on. Our Lord said, my, my,
you're a father of the devil. Barbara, everybody is not God's
child. That's what Jesus Christ said.
I said that to a couple of, right or wrong, I told that to a couple
of Mormons who were sitting on my porch one day. And they looked
at me like I shot them between the eyes. Just quote what our Lord said.
If you don't believe Him, you're not God's children. He said,
if God were your father, you'd love me, believe me, didn't he?
They'd all be taught of God. They'd all be taught the same
thing, same father. We had four children in my family,
all taught by the same father, all believed the same thing.
Same father, same mother didn't believe the same thing. God's
people do too. Read on, verse 45. Because I
tell you the truth, you believe me not. Verse 47, he that is
of God, heareth God's Word. And I'm not trying to, you know,
I'm trying to say this in a way that's not, you know, I can't,
I'm me, I'm sorry that I'm me, but that's me. I can't help it. But you've got to say this in a dogmatic way. There's no other way you can
say it. When our Lord said, this is it. This is it. This is His Word. It's not my
Word. I'm just repeating. Many do not because they cannot.
Why? Because nobody can hear. The hearing ear and the seeing
eye is of the Lord. Proverbs 20. It's of the Lord. Both. He's got to give you both.
Just like He gives physical ears and eyes, He has to give you
spiritual ears to hear. People hear it and say, I don't
see it that way. Well, what do you mean? Right there it is. Many make no effort, have no
desire to hear the Word. They see no need in it. Go back
to our text in John 5. Most people do see nothing in
this book that you hold in your lap, and in what our Lord is
saying here, see no beauty in it, no need for it, no glory
in it, no wisdom in it. In fact, they think these are
hard sayings. These are old, ignorant sayings.
No, most people. No. What about you? See, hearing It's believing. He's a hero. If you really hear it, that means
the Lord has given you life. They have ears, and they hear
it, and they don't hear it, and they don't hear it. How many
times have I told this story about her dad? I won't say it
again. That's not a better one, is it?
Not a better story of a man who had ears, couldn't hear, till
one day the Lord gave him ears to hear. He sat for years, Eddie
Ballard, sat for years and heard and heard and heard and didn't
hear anything. Came to hear the dad preach and
he sat and he heard, didn't hear anything. And one day he told
him at the back door, he said, I heard what you said. I see. He said, actually, I see. Hearing is seeing. Hearing God's Word. Hearing Christ's
Gospel. Hearing is hearing His voice
and seeing. Hearing is seeing. Hearing is
believing. Hearing is life. Faith cometh
by hearing. Hearing is faith. Faith cometh
by hearing. Hearing is seeing. We see. When we hear for the first time, What we'll see is God, and it
will cause us to see ourselves, our sin, and see Christ, our
need of Him, all at the same time. It's miraculous, isn't
it? All at the same time. It's like
it's dawning on you, and that's exactly what it is. Shall I quote
it again, John? who caused the light to shine
out of darkness, has shined in our hearts. Peter said, until
the day dawns. We have a sure word of prophecy,
he said, where until you do well and stay keen as a light that
shineth in a dark place, until the day's spring, the day's star
arise, till it dawn on you. God, who causes the light to
shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts. One day, Mac,
you heard, and you finally heard. And God's fooled us. of time,
His time, you heard. And at the same time you saw
the knowledge of the glory of God and Jesus Christ. You saw
God's hold of it. You saw your sin. And you saw
you knew to cry. I tell you. Hear Him. Come by here. Religion today
is come see, come see, come see. Come see what's going on here.
Come see. Let's hear it. Come here. You don't need all this stuff
to look at, but you've got truth to listen to. All who are hearing,
Christ said, they quicken them. They have everlasting life. Verse
25, look at it. Verse 25, the hour is coming
and now He is. And the dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Now is. You've got people right now, right now, hearing those that
were dead, dead, dead, dead, have heard the voice of the Son
of God, heard the gospel. Now I look at verse 24 again.
It said, He that heareth my word, heareth my word. What word? What did Christ say? What did he not say? He said
everything. The whole counsel of God, didn't
he? Told us who God is. Him. Told us what life is. Him. Told us man's great need. Righteousness. What's that? Him.
My, my. Everything. He's all. He said, I'm the way, the truth,
and the life. Everything. It's all in Him. His Word. Everything He said
about God, about us, about man, about Himself. That's His Word. He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me. See, no man knoweth the Son,
but the Father. Have you ever thought about that?
They didn't know who He was when He came. Son of God. They didn't
know He was the Son of God. The Father did. He said, this
is my Son. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
but the Son. And he whom the Son will reveal
Him. Because God has given Him. It's Him. Nobody's going to see
God, hear from God, know God, except through Jesus Christ.
Alright? Philip, they were even confused,
weren't they? Show us the Father. He said,
Philip, have I been so long time with you? Can't thou hast not
known me? He that's seen me hath seen the
Father. He's seen the Father. To believe
Christ said this, he said, you believe, believe God, believe
also in me. You believe on God, you believe
on Christ. Have to. Have to. God dwelleth
in life, we can't approach it. God's a consuming fire. Well, then how God was manifested
today. So we cast all our care on this
man, Jesus Christ. Cast all our hope, our soul,
our sin, on him, Christ. And then he says, look at this,
hath everlasting life. He that heareth my word and believeth
on him that sent me hath everlasting life. Hearing is a sign of life. As long as you're living physically,
unless you're like my dad and I, we're losing our hearing completely.
But generally speaking, Keep hearing till the day you die,
don't you? Keep tasting, keep seeing till
life is gone and you don't have any of this stuff. Sign of life.
Sign of life. He that heareth my word, and
it's ongoing, hath life. Never quit hearing it. Always
keep hearing it. I always keep hearing and hearing
and continue to hear and need and to hear it is to need it
and to love it, hear it, need it, love it, hear it, need it,
love it. He that heareth, heareth and believeth. Scriptures talks
about these things in the present tense, believeth, heareth, cometh,
in the cometh, cometh, keep coming, keep hearing. A person quits
hearing. He that heareth and believeth. This spoke to me. You know, you want the Word of
God to speak to you. That's how you know that you're
one of His. If it doesn't speak to you, you
say, my sheep are going to hear my voice. If God's Word does
not speak to you and prick your heart, you're not one of His.
You're going to hear His voice. Not one time. But throughout
your life, He's going to speak to you as a father to a child,
as a husband to a wife, as a brother to a brother, as a brother to
a friend, friend to friend. He's going to face to face. He's
going to speak to you through this Word if He does not. And Spurgeon one time told this
story about himself. He said, he got up to preaching,
and we do this. We look for messages and sometimes
they're just sermons. You're just looking for something
to preach and you feel like you're just a pipe carrying water to
others. And you're not giving it up.
You've got to. And Spurgeon said he was feeling
like that one time. He said, I didn't know if I believed
what I was preaching. He was just doing it, going through
the motions. And he said he went somewhere.
The story has, he went somewhere during the week or whatever to
a service and a man got up who was not the pastor, he was just
a, what did he call him? I forget what they called him
back then. Coal heaver. Coal miner or something. Got
up just temporaneously and started preaching this message and Spurgeon
said, it just broke my heart. Spoke to me. Like never before. And so he went up to the man,
went up to the man at the service, to thank him for the message,
and he introduced himself. He said, I'm Charles Spurgeon. He said, Mr. Spurgeon. The man said, Mr. Spurgeon.
He said, that was your message I preached. He said, I know it. And it blessed
my heart. You get what I'm saying, don't
you, baby? I do believe what I pray. Took
somebody else saying it. But anyway, I was feeling like
we always get at that time, we all feel like, He's going to
cast me off. He's going to cast me out. And
I deserve to be saved. And when we cut off, lost. I read that, and it thrilled
my heart. He that heareth my word, I heard
what he said. I heard what he said here, Matt.
I heard what he said. He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sitteth in me, have everlasting life. You wouldn't have heard it. It
wouldn't have meant a thing to you if he didn't have life. And this gets better. shall not
come into condemnation. Shall not. It's the Son of God
saying it. Though they level your conscience,
the adversary, men, everybody levels charges against you. The scripture says who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect. It is God the Son
that justifies it. He said to that woman, woman
where are thine accusers? Does no man accuse thee? She
looked up, nobody there. Wow, he got rid of her. He said neither do I. Shall not,
and there he is right now, therefore no condemnation of them that
are in crime. Man that's good news, isn't it?
Shall not. Barely, barely. Verily, verily, I say, shall
not. But if, sometimes I feel so dead,
don't you? So cold. Is past from death unto
life. Right now. Is past. And I pointed out to you before,
that if you feel cold, good. That's good. Man, you're alive. Dead people
don't feel anything. Our Lord said, I would that you
were hot or cold. If you feel cold, feel so dead,
feel so cold. That blind man really didn't
know he was... You've got to be blind to see. You've got to
have been dead to feel cold. Made alive is to feel cold. He is passed from death to life. It does not yet appear, say,
what we shall be. He says as He is, so are we right
now. He says that, but I just can't
see it in you. He said it, barely, barely. He
is passed from death unto life. Well, I read that and I heard
it. And I believed it. And I heard
it again this morning, I think. I rejoiced. And when I read it
the other day and really heard it, I felt like I was quickened
all over again. Brother James used to say, when
I really hear the Gospel, I'm saved all over again. Did you hear it? Did you hear
what he said? and rejoice in it, you have life. It shall not be condemned. It
shall not. Okay, Brother Gabe, you come
to this.