The Lord Jesus Christ said many
things here in John chapter six, and he was talking to a large group
of people, a mixed group, a mixed group. He was talking to some
believers who were there, his twelve disciples, and unbelievers. There was only eleven believers
there. Right? Now, wherever our Lord
went, he attracted a large crowd. I'm talking hundreds, even thousands.
And before this thing was over with, after what he said, there
were eleven believers left. Isn't that something? Now, what did he say? to drive
the crowd away. Well, he said some hard things. That's what they called it. Look
at verse 60 again. Verse 60. This is what they said. They said in verse 60, This isn't
hard saying. These are hard things. Who can
hear it? Well, I know 11 that did. Hard things. Who can hear it?
Not many, just a few. Only those whom it is given to
receive. Look at verse 66. At that time,
many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.
All the way through, they kept his murmuring, complaining. He
says they strove among themselves Generally it's the case on a
like a Sunday morning. That there's visitors and somebody
there is that who. Does not believe the gospel.
And now, I know there are unbelievers in here, or that is, those who
have not yet confessed Christ and committed to Christ, particularly
some young people in here. But I'd venture to say everyone
in here, everyone in here, at least believes in the head and
acknowledges these truths. I've seen every face in here
many times. And I don't think there's anybody
in here who does not believe in the head, even young children. and acknowledge the truth, everything
what I'm going to say this morning. That's unusual. That's so rare. And that's so nice. That's so
nice. I wish we had visitors. I do.
I wish somebody would hear the gospel for the first time. Maybe,
though, one of these who knows and believes it in their head
will hear it from the heart for the first time. Let's hope that. But I can't imagine being part
or be in the midst of the people all the time of hostile heroes
and hostile faces. Like some do. Well, our Lord
did everywhere he went. Disciples did, too. Oh, my. Well, I want everybody in
here, though, everyone in here to. We're going to go over these
things, same thing. But I want you to examine your
heart, not your head. Everybody in here believes it's
in the head. I want you to examine your heart,
because out of the heart are the issues of life. With the
heart, man believeth unto righteousness, not the head. With the heart. As I give these things that our
Lord says, we go back over these, I want you to examine your heart
and see if you can say with Peter, from the heart, Lord, we believe
and we're sure thou art that Christ, my Christ, the Christ,
the Son of the living God. And you have the words of life. You have words that to me. I want these words to be not
doctrine to you this morning, but life to you. All right, examine
your heart, whether you be of the faith. All right, our Lord said some
things I've kind of say one, two, three, four, five Five things
we're going to look at, he said. All right, look at verses 26
and 27. He said so much, but I've grouped it into five things.
Verse 26 and 27. He said, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, you seek me not because you saw the miracle, but because
you did eat of the loaves and were filled. In other words,
you got your bellies filled. You got a blessing. You got material
things. Verse 27, labor not for the meat
which perishes, but that meat which endureth unto everlasting
life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you. For him hath God
the Father sealed. He's saying don't labor for what
you can get from God, but labor for God, the Son of God. That's what he's saying. He's upbraiding them for seeking
the blessings and not the blesser. You get that? He's upbraiding,
and we should examine ourselves to see who it is that we really
want and seek, or what it is. We want the blessings or the blesser. Over in Romans chapter one, turn
over there quickly. Romans chapter one. You know
these verses, but. Now, you know, just let's let's
apply these verses to ourselves. We know these apply to the world.
No. We know they apply to the world.
Barbara, we know they apply to people you work with and all
that, but let's apply these to ourselves. We won't do us any
good. All right, look at Romans 1, verse 18. The wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness, because that
which may be known of God is manifest in them, or to them. God has showed it unto them,
the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
is eternal power in Godhead, so that there without excuse,
because when they knew God, or they knew that all this was from
God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful. So he's saying here that the
wrath of God is on those who aren't thankful. That's his summing
that up. The wrath of God is reserved
for them who are not thankful people. And what about us? In verse 28
it said, They did not like to retain God in their knowledge. What about us? Is God in our
thoughts? We have a lot of thoughts. We have a lot of thoughts during
the day. Many thoughts run through these
minds. What about God? You know, when you think about,
examine your heart, when you think, when you just stop and
think about blessings, when you walk in your home and it's a
nice home, you think about the one that
gave it to you. Did your heart utter a little thanksgiving? You get in that nice car. And
don't think, do not just think about the payment, think about
the one who provided it for you. Some people don't have the means
to get one, no matter, they couldn't afford a payment. When you walk outside this beautiful
day, this day, when I was down in Crossville, it was warm here
those several days, Brother Don Bell and Brother Charles and
I walked out in the woods and spent A couple of hours or more,
I got sunburned. February. It was February, whatever,
18th. I got sunburned. We were sitting
out in the woods just rejoicing. And one of us said, you know,
God made this day just for three of us. Yeah, He did. Yeah, He
did. What about you? We're going to
walk out today, and we're all going to go to a nice home, get
in a nice car to get there, and it's a beautiful day out there,
and we're going to enjoy ourselves. Does your heart automatically
go out on Thanksgiving? The world doesn't. They don't
give a flipping thought to God. I mean, not a thought. I know
I didn't. For years, I didn't give a thought
to God. Examine your heart. Paul said of some people, I do
tell you now, even weeping their God is their belly. What about you? He can't fake
this. He can't fake it. It's either
there or it's not. It's either there or it's not.
Is your heart full of praise and thanksgiving? No, it's not
so. hourly with us or moment by moment. Flesh is weak, but
it's so with the people of God. It's so. It's just so their heart
goes out to the Creator. They're full of thanks and praise
and worship. They're worshipful people. Thank
you, Lord. Look at that child. Thank you,
Lord. And everyone in here is rich
and increased with good. Here's the next thing, verse
28 and 29. They said, What shall we do that we might work the
works of God? Christ answered and said unto
them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he
hath sent. This is the work of God. So Christ, first of all,
upbraids some for seeking the blessings and not the blesser. Now here he's saying salvation is by grace through
faith alone. And salvation is not what you
do. Salvation is by faith in Him
who did it all. There's nothing required of a
man or a woman for salvation. Nothing required of us for salvation. But faith and that's not of yourself.
That's the gift of God. Now, do you realize that? I believe most of you do, and
he said this faith by grace, you say that is. The super abounding. Grace of God to stop some while. Eighteen nineteen twenty. 21-year-old
boy from killing himself, literally, and casting his own soul into
hell, stopping his wild career like that Gadarene demoniac. No different. That young boy
stopping his wild career, clothing him, sitting him where the gospel
is, in his right mind, molding and conforming and shaping him
into the image of his son and Causing him to grow in grace,
giving him faith and a love and a heart for Christ. Now that's
just not of, that wasn't of himself. I'm talking about somebody in
here, whom that happened to. And that's just not of yourself
now. He, that boy didn't have any interest in God at all, about
like, well, about like many young people. But by grace, so you
say. And through faith, and that's
not of yourself, that faith is not of yourself. Do you realize
that? And this faith says, you know,
the world is asking what they ask the Lord here. What shall
we do? What can we do? Let's give us
something to do. They're asking preachers, what
can we do? And preachers are giving them
something to do, aren't they? If one thing this preacher gives
you to do, trust Christ. Look to Christ. That's it. That's it. One of our men said one day,
he said, is trusting Christ enough to save you? I said, it's the
only thing that will. Anything more than that is adding
to it. Anything less than that, just
trust Christ. This preacher gives you one thing
to do. Trust Christ. Believe. That's what that preacher did.
Huh? That's what this preacher, the
preacher said. This is the work of God that
you believe on him whom he has sent. Is Jesus Christ your wisdom? Huh? Is he made unto you wisdom? Is it? Did you figure this thing
out or was it a revelation to you? Come on, ask yourself. Every
sane person in here would say that the Lord revealed the gospel
to me. I didn't have a... I didn't know
anything. Don't know much now, but I know
this. Christ is my only hope. Christ is all. You know that?
Why, even an old truck driver can know that. Huh? My pump's gas can know that.
An old railroader can know that. An old diesel mechanic can know
that. Huh? Can't wait. An old carman can know that. Huh? That's to know a lot. That's to know a lot. Let me
ask somebody in here. You see now. Some of you got no look at somebody
in here. Margaret. Her face is like the
color of her dress now. What do you know about superlapsarianism? What's your view of it? Do you
believe superlapsarianism or inferlapsarianism? Well, are
you pre-post-omnilist? Come on, Margaret. What's your
salvation, Margaret? What's all your hope of salvation?
She knows that much. That's all you need to know.
He's made unto us a whisperer. As many a fellow who can tell
you what he believes about superlapsarianism, but that doesn't know Christ. And he's going to miss life. Righteousness. What about righteousness?
Is he made under you righteousness? Do you still think that there's
something you need to do? Polly, are you with me? Is there something you need to
do? Are you going to have to clean up your act to get to glory? Your only righteousness is Christ.
You can clean up all you will. You can wear white from here
on out. It won't save your soul. But if you're wearing a white
robe that Christ made for you, a robe of righteousness, that's
the wedding garment. That's it. Do you know that?
Do you believe that from the heart? Sanctification? Well, we've got to be separatist.
Scripture says, Come out from among them, be ye separate. Yeah,
it does. It says we're not of the world.
We can't live like the world. That's right. That's right. But I seriously doubt that most
of these unworldly religious folk know what that really means. Because the Son of God came down
here and he looked just like anybody else. As a matter of
fact, they said the religious people resented it. Well, he's
just an old carpenter. He looks like anybody else. Oh, he was separate from sinners,
wasn't he? Was he separate from sinners? He sure was. There ain't no sin in him. Now,
we're in the world, but we're not out in the world. We live
in the world. The world doesn't live in the
believer. Redemption. A hundred percent
by Christ's death. Somebody asked you, how are you
going to get to glory? You better say one word. You better say Christ. Will you
say that? Blood. I said it, Joe. Blood. It's the blood that makes
atonement for my soul. I'm going to get to heaven someday
because Christ shed his blood for this old sinner. That's it. That's all. That's it. More to
it than that? No, there isn't. That's it. What about you? Look at verse,
here's the next thing, verse 32. Verse 32 through 35, he says
here, Christ said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you
not that bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true
bread from heaven. The bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Then said
they unto him, Lord, give us this bread. And Jesus said unto
them, I am the bread of life. he that cometh to me shall never
hunger, he that believeth on me shall never thirst." Look
at verses 48 and following. Verse 48, I am that bread of
life. Your fathers did eat man in the
wilderness, they're dead. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die.
I am the living And then he says, except you eat my flesh and drink
my blood, you have no life in you. Look down at verse 57. As the living Father has sent
me, and I live by, or in, or through the Father, so he that eateth
me, even he that eateth me, you'll never die. You're alive. You're
alive. What Christ is saying there is
that all true life is in Jesus Christ. True life. True life. I know what the world is saying.
You know, life, live it to its fullest. You know what they're
saying? What's that? You've seen those
commercials. What is it? You take one step at a time.
Live it to its fullest. Grab all the gusto you can get.
Live life, life, life, life. They're talking about life. He
that hath the Son, John said, hath life. He that hath not the
Son, now I don't care how much he's living, or she's living,
or what they're doing. I don't care. It does not matter
how moral they are. how successful they are, how
happy a person is, how content, how sincere, how this or how
that. Boy, he's alive! He's not if
he doesn't know Christ. And it'll soon be found out. You want to know who's really
alive. It's those who are losing this one who are not that concerned about
it. Now, they have life. It's like
that one believer who was dying of cancer said, Life ain't worth
living if you can't worship, is it? There's somebody that
has life. If we're stricken with cancer
this week, and they tell us we've got six months to live, how are
you going to act? I don't know. No, we don't, do
we? But he that hath the Son hath
life. Are we grabbing this because
this is all there is? Now, wait a minute. Christ is
risen and is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
and I'm seated with him, and I haven't yet begun to live yet. I'm glad, in a way, I'm glad
that the Lord let me go through some of Solomon's experience
early on, and able to say, I've tried that,
been there, done that. The old saying, been there, done
that. There ain't no satisfaction in it. I'm telling you, I've
had the best there is. No satisfaction in it. But buddy, there's real living
in Christ. I mean, it's so. To get to the point where you're
sitting on a log in the woods, thinking about Christ, is about
as good as it gets. So you think, this is the greatest
thing there ever was. Ready to die. That's life. That's life. That's life. Well, do you know that Christ? Do you know that joy? Do you
know that? Do you believe that? Do you believe that? Christ is
life. Look at the next thing, verse
36 and 37. Christ said, verse 36 and 37,
He said, You've seen me and believe not. All that the Father gives
me shall come to me. Him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out." Verse 44, "...no man can come to me, except
the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him
up the last day." What he's saying here is he's talking about sovereign
election. He's talking about sovereign
predestinating power. He's talking about sovereign
mercy, sovereign love, sovereign grace, salvation being of That's
what he's told me. He's just stating some facts
here. He's stating some facts. On over
there, Stan, it says that they murmured again, verse 61. See, up in verse 43, he said, Don't murmur.
Don't murmur. No man can come to me, but the
Father which sent me drawn. No murmur. They were murmuring. I could hear this crowd now.
Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. What about, what about, what
about, what about what? No murmur. He's just stating a fact. He's
not, he's not arguing with them. He's not answering all their,
you know, their arguments. He's not trying to get them to
believe election. He's just stating a fact. He
said this is the way it is. All the father gives me shall
come to me. No murmur, no man can come to
me, except the father which hath sent me drawn. Look at verse
61 again. They murmur, and he says, Does
this bother you? Does this offend you? Look at verse 62. He says, Just wait
till you see me sitting on the right hand of the majesty of
God. Wait till you see me sitting on the throne and telling some,
get out, and some come in. Just wait. If you think that
bothers you, you're really going to be bothered now. You're gnashing
your teeth now, you're going to gnash them then. But, he said
in verse 65, he said, So I said unto you, and I'll say it again,
no man can come, except it were given unto him of the Father.
Now, what do you think about this, Nancy Park, what he's saying
here? Why, you're smiling. You're not
gnashing your teeth, Nancy. Well, you're actually smiling. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
it to you, Nancy. Flesh and blood doesn't like
this, Nancy. They just don't like this, Nancy. You know, you've
talked to them, haven't you? They just don't like this. And
they murmur, don't they, Nancy? Huh? But you're sitting there,
she just went. Amen. Oh, my. That's a sign of salvation. Anybody who murmurs against this
truth doesn't know God. They're an unbeliever. Isn't that right? That's just a fact, and I'm not
going to explain it. Just say it. That's what our
Lord did, didn't he, Stan? Is it bother you, he said? I'll
say it again. And we're not doing it or saying
it to bother people. You know, the Lord could. That's his prerogative. He's
good. He did. It sounds like sometimes
he was just antagonizing them, doesn't it? You don't like this?
I'll say it again. No, man. God Almighty chose whom
he would save before the foundation of the world. Only who God chooses before the
foundation of the world will be saved. Don't murmur. That's the way
it is. He sent Christ to die for those people and those people
only. And every one of those persons that Christ died for
will be saved. No possibility of them ever being
lost. We laugh. We smile. That holy
laughter, you know. The world would be murmuring
right now. Oh, blessed are you. Blessed are you, Ed Barberi. Flesh and Blood didn't reveal
that to you, did it? Was there a time, Ed, when you did not
like that? Sure there is. Why are you smiling now? That's
what our Lord did. You know, one of the few times
that our Lord says he rejoiced in spirit, I believe he laughed. And he looked toward heaven and
he said, that's when the Pharisees, you know, they just didn't understand
what he was saying or like it or anything. And he says he rejoiced
in spirit and he looked toward heaven and he said, I thank thee,
Father, that you've hid these things from the wise and prudent
and revealed them to babes. And does it make you smile because
you see your calling, brethren? Huh? Beloved of the Lord, how
is it not many wise men of the flesh, not many mighty, not many
noble are called, but God hath chosen the base things, and nobody's
to do it? The truck drivers and the carpenters
revealed these things unto them, but hid it from professors They are called, but few are
chosen. That just makes me glad. Doesn't it? It just makes me
happy. Not murmur. It makes me happy. All right, look at the next thing.
No explanation. He doesn't give explanations.
He doesn't give any. There it is, he said. Look at
the next thing. Verse 45. He says, now, he said,
it's written in the Prophets. They shall be all taught of God." All taught of God. We looked
at that last Sunday, didn't we? All taught of God. In other words,
all of God's people are taught by God, of God, of Christ, of themselves, of
salvation. They all believe the same thing. They all have one faith. There's
one faith. Right? Why? Because there's one
Lord. There's one hope. Why? Because there's one spirit,
one hope of your calling. And they all are one. His same
mind. All, without exception. Listen
to me. The world would say, this is so bigoted, so prejudiced,
so hard. This is hard. Well, that's just
so. There's one way to believe. There's
one way to believe. I don't care what Billy Graham
says. As a matter of fact, if he said it, it's probably wrong.
As a matter of fact, I know it's wrong. That man's an out and
out liar. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing.
He said there are other ways to God. There's one way. Why? Because Christ said that. I'm the way. I don't care what
Billy says. I do care what Jesus Christ said. He said there's one way. Every
believer believes one thing, one way. Right? There are no denominations. There
are no denominations in the Church. That's the reason, you know,
we have Baptists on earth, and like I've told you before, I'd
like to change it. It's been too long now. I believe
everybody knows what we stand for here. But there are no denominations in
the Church. Denominations are different trains
of thought or different ways of believing or even worshipping. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, And I read this to Brother Pennington,
Brother Bell, when we were down there. We sat in the wood. We
sat in his living room. We sat in the churchyard. We
sat here and walked, walked, walked through the wood, walked
everywhere, talking constantly. We talked for hours. We fellowshiped
for hours around the Word and thinking of John talking and
Charles talking and I talking and so on, just for hours on
end for three days. We never murmured one. There
wasn't a one-sire note. It wasn't one fellow that said,
well, here's what I believe, and those are not. That's wrong.
Wait a minute, wait a minute. Well, you don't believe that.
Not once, not once. And it made me think of this
verse right here. Listen to this. In Isaiah 52, verse 8, it says,
"...thy watchman shall lift up the voice, with the voice together
shall they sing, they'll see eye to eye." That's what it said. They shall
see eye. See, if your whole eyes, your
body is, if your eye be single, everybody, you're narrow. We're
all a bunch of one-eyed believers, strange creatures to the world.
Strange creatures. And we know one when we see one,
though. You go up to Fairmont, West Virginia, you'll see a bunch
of strange creatures, one-eyed believers. You know what I'm
saying, don't you? You can go anywhere where this
gospel is, they'll believe the same thing, without exception,
across the board. No differences of opinion. No
arguments. Nobody's got anything to argue
about. Everybody's got everything to praise about. No discussions. You won't have share sessions.
You'll have people content to do one thing. worship Christ. That's it. Now, wait a minute, preachers,
wait a minute. What? That's it. That's just
the way, that's what Christ says here. Does that bother you? They'll all be taught of God.
Now, he just, Reverend, this is what they said to him. Now,
that's just hard. You can't be that hard in there.
I am. Well, I am. that I am, that I
am. You can't say that, while there's
sincerity. I said it, and I'll say it again.
This is the way it is. Don't you love John? He's not answering anybody. That's
what Paul did in Romans 9, didn't it? In Romans 9, when they said,
well, who can resist his will? He said, just shut up. Just shut
up. He ain't got any right to argue
against God, because this is the way it is. God's a God. And God said it. He said, I'm
in the heaven, you're on the earth. Let your words be few.
Don't anybody say anything, except the preacher, and let him only
say what I said. Is this hard to you, or is this
just, this is life? This is life. Well, that's what
Peter said. Verse sixty-six there in the
text. Many of them went back, all of
them went back, but eleven. And he turned to his disciples,
verse sixty-seven. He turned to his disciples and
said, Picky, there's the door. I don't believe this. Let's talk
about this. I want a discussion. Let's have
a discussion. No. Not this door. You don't like this? There's
another one. There's that door. Free to go? I've known people get so blistering
mad at this. I've seen my pastor do it. Young
men come up after service and confront him. I mean, young,
you know, snotty, muggy, wet-behind-the-ears kids come up and confront this
man and say, And he says, there's the door. You don't like it?
Go somewhere else. I'm going to stand here and argue
with you. Is that hard? What do you say,
John? There's the door. What are you
going to say? Oh, no, no, I'm not going anywhere.
I'm not going anywhere. This is the words of life. That is the words of life. Peter said, Lord, I don't have
any argument with you. This is, that's how you saved
me. Everything you said is exactly
so. It was so with me. Peter and
the boy, James and John, looked at one another and the Lord said,
you got a problem with this? You going to go? James and John
looked at one another and said, we were sitting in a bar one
day. Could care less about God, didn't
know who the Christ was, and you came by and said, come on,
boy, and taught us and brought us and bought us and taught us
and provided for us and did all this. Where are we going to go?
Back to the boat? Back to being old dumb fishermen?
Well, this is life. You went by us like a child in
the field of Ezekiel and said, live, and I'm alive now. Go? Where am I going to go? I'll
go with you. Where you go, that's where I
want to go. Because you're my life now. And we believe and
are sure you're that Christ. Not a Christ, that Christ. Son of the living God. Everything
you say is so, I know it's so, so with me. It's the words of
life. Spirit. I was a dead man until
you came and spoke to me. I don't know about you. Can you say that? Can you say that from the heart?
That was me, Teresa. Who are you? For that matter,
who are you right now? I'm a nothing. I'm a nobody. I was an uneducated preacher
when I came here. I'm still uneducated. I haven't
taken one night class since I've been here. I don't have another
degree behind my name. You will not find me attaining
to the doctorate. We're just studying the good
physician, the great physician. Why, you're looking at a gutter
snipe. I wasn't nobody when he found
me, and I'm still nobody. And where am I going to go? Huh? Go back to that former life?
Not on his life. He is life. And I know, and I believe, I
know whom I have believed. How about you, Jeanette? Well, look at verse 69 and 70,
and I'll quit. And we believe and are sure that
you're that Christ, the Son of the living God. And look what
Christ said. I love John 6. John 7, 670, he
said, Yeah, and I chose you. I'm so glad you accepted me as
your personal savior. I'm so glad you all decided to
give up your boats, and I'm so glad that you decided to follow
me. I'm so glad, I'm so glad, I'm so glad." He said, "...have
not I chosen you?" Do you see that? He stated another hard
fact to them, that it wasn't hard with him at all. That's
right, Lord. You chose me. "'Tis not that
I did choose thee." Lord, that could not be. That's not thou
chosen me. I've never chosen thee. Never. Have not I chosen you? What do you say, John? Yeah,
you did. Thank God, the high heaven, that
he chose me. Hard sayings, who can hear it?
I did. Did you? And received it gladly. Everything he said, I believe.
And it suits my case. And it's just so. And I praise
him for it. If you can, if you did, from
the heart, you have good reason to believe you're one of his.
All right. Brother Joe? You got a hymn picked
out? What is it? 227?