It is Father's pride. Oh, the love that brought me. Oh, the love that brought me. Oh, the grace that brought me
to the home. Oh, the grace that brought me
to the home. Let me make one announcement
before I get right into the message. Margaret Torrance's arrangements for her father,
James Stone. The visitation is tomorrow between
7 and 9 o'clock at Lynch Funeral Home. The funeral is Tuesday at 2 o'clock. Visitation tomorrow between 7
and 9, and the funeral is Tuesday at 2 o'clock. Alright, John chapter 2, first of all. Let's look at John
chapter 2. Let's ask the Lord to help us
tonight. Our Heavenly Father, we do need
your help. We know from experience that
the flesh lusteth against the Spirit. You said concerning us that while
the Spirit is willing And the flesh is so weak. And we feel our weakness. And you, our high priest, you
are touched with feeling of our infirmity. You know our frame. You remember that we're dust. As the disciples of old grew
tired and you had pity upon them, as they could not watch for a
little while. We need that same pity. We need
your same mercy. Not one whit better than those
first disciples. So we ask that you would hold us up by the word of your
power. Break the bread of life unto
us. open it to our understanding,
cause our hearts to burn a little bit tonight as we read it. And
it's in Christ that we pray. I mean, His name
is met together. Amen. John chapter 2, it says here
in verse 23, John 2 verse 23 through 25. It says that many believe in his
name when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not
commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not
that any man should testify, or that any should testify of
man, for he knew what was in man. Now turn back to the text
in John 5. He did not commit himself to
them, it says, because he knew all men, and he needed not that
any should testify. He knew what was in man. And
here in John chapter 5, verse 38, he's speaking to some people, and he says in verse
38, you have not his word abiding in you? For whom he hath sent,
speaking of himself, You believe not him you believe not. And it's the same today. No different. Many most believe. In Jesus says they believed in
his name like they most believe in Jesus. But only a few chosen. Believe on. the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord, the sovereign
Jesus, successful Christ, God made. Only the chosen few. And the reasons are twofold.
He said there in verse 38, you have not his word abiding in
you. And back in chapter 2, it says they believe when they saw
the miracle. Those are two reasons. Men and women have not the Word
abiding in them. Peter said that we're born again
by the Word. We're born again by it. And those
who have had this Word revealed to them, they see Christ all
the way through it. Our Lord said, if your eye be
single, if your eye be single, That's the eye of faith. Your
whole body is full of light. And that's the belief of it.
It's not an eye. They truly have an eye to Christ.
They see Christ all the way through this body of divinity. The whole
body is full of light. It's full of Christ from start
to finish. And men don't have the word abiding
in them. Our generation doesn't use it.
And they seek after signs. The second reason why men don't
believe is because they seek after signs and wonders and miracles. Now, I want you to look at two
scriptures with me that confirm what our Lord said. Isaiah chapter
29. Isaiah 29. I want you to turn over there. Second Thessalonians 2. Find both of those scriptures,
and we're going to see how they're paralleled. Isaiah 29 and Second
Thessalonians chapter 2. Let's compare these two scriptures
with one another. Now remember what our Lord said
there. He said, you have not the word abiding in you. You
have not the word abiding in you. And you don't believe. And back there it says they look
for signs and wonders. Well, look at Isaiah 29 and look
at verses 10 through 13. And Isaiah 29, verse 10 through
13. Henry, you were talking about
this very thing. in the study. It says in verse, well look at
verse 9. Stay yourselves in wonder, cry
ye out and cry. They are drunken, but not with
wine. They stagger, but not with strong
drink. And in religion today there's a lot of this going on,
isn't there? For the Lord, verse 10, hath
poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep. The Lord did this. have closed your eyes, he says,
he blinded their eyes. The prophets and your rulers,
the spiritual leaders, the seers, have he covered. The vision,
verse 11, of all is become unto you as the words of a bookless
seal, which men deliver to one that is learned, is supposed
to be. Saying, read this, I pray thee. And he said, I cannot. It's secret. You know what you were saying,
Brother Henry? In verse 12, the book is delivered
to him that has not learned. Saying, read this, I pray thee.
And he said, I'm not learned. I don't know. I don't know. Look at verse 21
there in Isaiah 29. It says, They make a man an offender for
a word. Now, they don't know the word
and don't believe it, but if you say it and declare it, they
call you a troublemaker, an offender. And all you've got to do is say
one word, right? Just pick a word, any word. Sovereignty, election. And it
said, read on there in verse 21, "...and lay a snare for him
that reproveth in the gate," that's the true believer and
true preacher, "...and turn aside the just for a thing of naught."
Now turn over to 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2. Now keep that
Isaiah 29. We're going to go back to it.
2 Thessalonians 2. Is this making a noise? I'm sorry.
Second Thessalonians 2. Let me turn that off. Stephen Parks had an awfulest
look on his face just now. He was hearing voices. Second Thessalonians 2, look
at verse 10, and it says that the working of Satan, the spirit
of antichrist, with all deceivableness and of unrighteousness in them
that perish. Why do men perish? Because they
receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. They
don't perish because Necessarily because God ordained them to
hell. They get what they want, or they
get what's coming to them. I had a man argue with me one
time about that. Every man deserves a chance,
and you've heard that before. Every man deserves a chance,
and I say, OK, I'll give you a chance. And I began to tell
him about the God of the Bible. and salvation of scriptures and
he said I don't believe that said you just you just you put
your check. That's it and. God doesn't. He said here it is and I said
I don't want to. So they were if they want to
use that term he offered it to them and they rejected. Right
they received not the love of the truth that they might be
saying anybody receives truth we say. That's true. They got to receive truth. They
can't reject any of it. We've said this before, how much
does a man have to believe to be saved? The answer is in the question. Believe. He's either a believer
or he's not. Right? Scripture doesn't call
on us to understand everything, just believe it. And look at
verse 11, so for this cause, see they reject the truth, for
this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should
believe a lie. God sends them what they're looking
for, signs and wonders. They believe a lie, that they
all might be damned, verse 12. that they all might be damned
who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
Unrighteousness is self-righteousness, isn't it? There's only two righteousnesses,
true righteousness and unrighteousness, or self-righteousness. Go back
to Isaiah 29, back there again, Isaiah 29, but some people. Now why does anybody receive
the truth? It was a time Henry you said
this while ago you rejected it why did you all of a sudden one
day. Like the thief on the cross. Receive it. Bow to him. It's a day yesterday of the day
of your salvation when the Lord said in the day of his power
you will be willing verse eighteen in that day. shall the deaf hear
the words of the book." There was a day when you were deaf
to this. You turned away a deaf ear to
the truth. I don't believe that. But there
was a day when you heard. And the eyes of the blind shall
see out of obscurity. I like that verse. Obscure little,
out of darkness, dark, obscure, tiny little passages hidden over
him. Book of Obadiah. You see glory
in it. Verse 19, the meek also shall
increase their joy in what? In the Lord. The poor among men,
poor in spirit, shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. And
back to 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2 again. And this is what Paul says. He
said, now some people, they reject the truth. So God sends them
strong, blinds them. Look at verse 13, and Isaiah
said, but some people who were deaf hear, blind see, and meet,
rejoice. In verse 13, Paul says the same
thing. We're bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren. And that's the order of it. We
can give thanks to God for you. We don't thank you for accepting
God. We thank God for you, brethren and beloved of the Lord, because
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. There was a
time before the world began, as God said, so and so down there, I'm going
to send the truth to him. He's going to reject it and I'm
going to just leave it that way. And but there was another there
was a time also when he said Joe parks down there and we'll
send the truth to him. He's going to. We thank God from the beginning
chose you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth. And I quoted to you this morning
from First Thessalonians good way to learn that. 1 Thessalonians
2.13 and 2 Thessalonians 2.13. He gives thanks to God for the
brethren for two things. Well, the same thing. They heard
the word and it was the word of God. It's basically the same
thing there. All right. But it's who makes
us to differ. That's the difference. It's not
in us, it's in Him. Who maketh us to differ? And
the world, back to the text there in John 5. The world, and you know it so, the world
is seeking a miracle, a sign, a wonder. And they're getting
them, aren't they? They're getting more and more
far out, more and more absurd and ridiculous. But God's people
are seeking a word from Him, and they're getting it. They're
getting it. They're seeking out a word, and
they're finding it. And most people are remaining
in darkness and ignorance, and it's getting worse and worse.
Men, the darkness of men. Our Lord said in one place, He
said, if the light that is in you be darkness, or that is what
little bit of light you think you have, if that's darkness,
how great is the darkness. And our generation is so far
gone that There's no life, there's just no life of the knowledge
of the glory of God as seen in Christ. There's just none. We're of all people most blessed
in this place. Oh my, God's people, as the world
grows in darkness and goes on and on in darkness and gets more
and more deeply in darkness and ignorance and superstition and
religion gets more and more perverse and wild and chaotic, God's people
are growing in grace and knowledge and are becoming grounded and
settled and know something, learning the truth, the truth set in the
flesh. You know, most people you talk
to, our Lord said here in a text, he said, you don't have his word
about it anymore. He was talking to some religious
people, didn't he? He was talking to some religious
people. Of course, anybody he talked to is religious. But these
Jews were religious and Fred Wood and I had an argument about
which, who lived in the most religious area. whether it was
Virginia or North Carolina. We didn't argue about the Cavaliers
or the Tar Heels. We argued over who had the most
religion, not the best basketball team. And they might win out
down there. If you've ever driven down through
there, you turn your radio on and that's all you hear. If you've
done it, you've wrecked. You've done it. Just zip across
the dial. That's all there is. And our
Lord said to that religious generation that he was in, he said, you
don't have his word about him in you, because he whom God has
sent, you don't believe him. And most people you talk to,
most people I talk to, are completely ignorant of the word of God,
aren't they? They only know a few isolated
verses that pertain to their denominational beliefs or Whatever
they think. And the most the Bible is a book
of Jewish history. A book of the morals of Jesus. That's all the Bible is. It really
is now. That's all the Bible is. The
morals of Jesus and the book of Jewish history. That's about
it is. But look at John 5 verse 39. But our Lord said, and he's
talking to these religious people, and he says, search the scriptures.
He's not asking them or telling them to search the scriptures.
He's saying, you do search the scriptures. That's what you do.
You read your Bible. People read their Bible. And
he says, for in them you think you have eternal life. But they are they, and they are
they which testify of me. And people who search for the
paths to right living and missing the way of life. You hear that? People search
for the path to right living and missing the way of life. Looking for the way, the way
to live and they're missing life. The old saying, we've all heard
that old saying, can't see the forest for the trees. You can't see the forest for
the trees. That's a lie, isn't it? You can't see Christ for
Bursitis. Isn't that right? As long as anybody's
reading the Bible as a guidebook or a rule book or a history book,
they're going to miss Christ. They're going to miss life. Christ
said, they are they which testify of me. They are they which testify
of me. Now, everyone in here, I think,
Me excluded. Grew up in Armenian religion. Most everybody, you didn't. But
most everybody, wouldn't most of you say that? Grew up in Armenian
religion. Heresy. Let's call it heresy
for short. Right? False religion. How many
of you heard the story of creation and heard things from Genesis,
but never heard about the woman's seed? Huh? Did you hear the woman's
seed when you were coming up through religion? How many of
you heard of Noah's Ark? Everybody heard Noah's Ark growing
up. How many heard of Noah's Christ?
Huh? Did you ever hear a preacher
talk about Noah's Ark is a type of Christ. Ever? Anybody? Come on, I want you to be honest.
Did you ever? Everybody's heard of Abraham's
faith, haven't they? How he went and took his son
that he loved and took him up on Mount Moriah. Did you hear?
That's the most glorious type of Christ possibly in all of
Scripture. Genesis 22. Did you hear? Did
anybody hear? Christ expounded from there,
or did you just hear him talk about Abraham's great thing?
Is that it? Be honest with me now. If somebody
has, I'm going to look that preacher up. Nobody? What about Ruth? Everybody's heard the story of
Ruth, and preachers and people like to talk about the story
of Ruth, and what do they talk about? What your preacher, Henry,
what did he talk about? He got in Ruth, didn't he? Did
he get in Ruth, Roberta? Did you grow up in religion?
Where'd you grow up? Methodist or Baptist? Same thing. Did your pastor talk about? He
talked about Ruth, didn't he? Did you ever hear the story of
Ruth? Not really? Well, some of you did. Somebody
did. He talked about Ruth's great faith, didn't he? They know that
one verse. and treat me not to leave thee.
Whether you go, I'll go. Your people will be my people."
Wonderful verse. But did you hear about Bruce
Redeemer? Did you? Terry, did you ever hear about
that? That Kenton Redeemer? Do you know a more glorious picture
in all of Scripture than Boaz? I get chills. I got a chill just
now of saying that name. Oh, my. But he said, the eyes
of some of the blind shall see out of obscurity. Delivered the
book to the learned, and he's going to tell you about Ruth's
faith. But some chosen. Oh, God has
chosen you. Open your eyes to see glorious
things out of obscurity and out of darkness. Back in Luke 24,
we've looked at this many times, Brother Ralph Dale, Went back
and read it to us, New Year, Luke 24. I never grow tired of
reading this account. Luke 24, you remember the story,
the two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus and they,
they didn't know much about scripture either. They'd heard Noah's Ark. They didn't know it was Christ.
They were just like you, Stan. They were just like you. They'd heard of those things,
but they didn't hear Christ in them. Well, they were walking
along, verse 27 says that, verse 25, Old fools and slow hearts
to believe all the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have
suffered these things, to enter into his glory, and beginning
at Moses," that's the Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
"...and all the prophets," that's all the prophets, and over in
verse 44, it says, Psalms 2, "...he expounded unto them in
all the scriptures." the things concerning himself." Now, and
read on, it says, they grew nigh to the village, and I don't know
how long they, how far walk it was or how long he preached.
It's bound to have been a while. And they couldn't get enough
of it. And they came near, and he thought
he made as if he was going to walk on by the city, and they
constrained him. Verse 29, old stay with us, abide
with us. They wanted to hear some more
of what they'd been hearing. And he went in to tarry with them.
Verse 30, And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them,
he took the bread, and blessed it, and gave to them. And their
eyes were opened, and they knew him. And he vanished out of their
sight, and they said one to another, It did not our heart burn within
us as he, while he talked with us by the way, while he opened
to us the scriptures. What did he open up? He revealed
himself to us. Now Terry, wouldn't you have
liked to, wouldn't you have liked to heard Christ preach on the
kinsmen redeemer? Now that's one time when the
whole story would have been told, not the half, the whole. Wouldn't
you have liked to have heard Christ? What a sermon they heard. They heard Boaz the first time,
Stan. And your heart burned when you
first heard it. But when Christ, they heard him
preach about the serpent on the pole. And they were like two little
kids, you know, John. They heard Christ preach on the
smitten rock. They heard Christ preach on Abraham
taking his Isaac up on that mountain. They heard Christ preach on Gomer
and Hosea and Gomer. They heard Christ preach from
Isaiah 53. They heard Christ preach from
Psalm 23, Psalm 45. They heard Him preach. Now that makes your
heart burn. We've heard the shadow, we've
got a shadow, we preach in part, and we get heartburn when we
just hear it in part. You can just imagine how they felt
hearing it the first time, and oh my. Our Lord said, they are they
which testify of me, and to think that This generation wants to
do away with it. They want to do away with the
old man. That's how ignorant men are. That, this, oh my, oh my my. Do away with the song? Do away
with the gospel of Isaiah? Oh my. It's pitiful. Look at verse forty and let's
go on. I'm going to get through this if it kills me, if it kills
you. Verse forty, and you will not
come to me, he said, that you might have life. Oh, they come
to the Bible, they come to the front, they come to religion,
they come to this and that and the denomination. Salvation is coming to Christ.
He said, you will not come to me that you might have life.
He said that of these religious people, but he said of his people,
you will come to me. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And that's who we keep coming
to. To whom coming? But these people would not come.
You see, only sinners need Christ anyway. And that's the bottom
line. That's the root of the problem.
Isn't it? Religion? Sinners get a sake. You get that? Take a note. Sign seekers seek
a sign. sinner seek a savior, and they
get a savior. Verse 41, he said, I receive
not honor from men. Boy, he doesn't, does he? He sure doesn't. And I know you,
he said, I know you, but you have not the love of God in you.
And they general more this not this is not the Jesus they think
they talk about the day John is he just doesn't he he talked
to those Pharisees one time he said. Woe unto you Pharisee hypocrites
said how many times he say that. He only had good things to say
to bad people sinners. Right. The Lord of the religious. I
know you, he says, you don't have the love of God in you. Who was telling me today? Somebody
was telling me today about someone that told them how much they
love Jesus. Jesus said they don't love him. You don't love me.
You don't love God. You have not the love of God
in you. They love their God. Men love their Steve. Those fellows
you work with love their conception of God, don't they? They love their religion. They
love their Jesus, but they don't love the sovereign God of Scripture,
do they? Because when you tell them about
Him, they get mad at you, and you're just a paperboy. Right? You're just bringing the news.
You didn't write it. They hate God is what it is,
and that's what Christ said. He said, it's not you they hate,
it's me. Just declare who God is. Just read the scriptures.
You know it's so, isn't it, Henry? Just read the scriptures and
men will gnash their teeth. Well, who maketh thee to differ,
Henry? So we read the scriptures and you smile. If you don't gnash
your teeth, you smile. This is all of grace, isn't it?
It's all of grace. You do have the love of God in
you, John Davis. John Bar-David. Why? Because
God shedded abroad in your heart. God did this. You love him because
he first loved you. Right? Because he set his love
on you. Because he said, you will love
me too. And he drew you. He drew you. No man's going to
come to him except the Father. Right? You will not come. But
God's people do. Verse forty-three, he said, I'm
coming in my father's name and you receive me not. If another
shall come in his own name, him you will receive. That's, that's
our day. How can you believe? Verse forty-four,
how can you believe which receive honor one of another? How can
you? Which receive honor one of another? You know, religion is just a
big budding system. It's a place where men like to brag on one
another. Brag on one another. You brag
on me, I'll brag on you. You scratch my back, I'll scratch
your back. You scratch my ear, I'll fill your pocket. That's what the Scripture said.
I'm paraphrasing what Scripture's already said. A heap unto themselves,
teachers having itching ears. And he says, How can you believe
that you receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor
that cometh from God only? Verse 45, Do not think that I
will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you,
even Moses, in whom you trust. Had you believed Moses, you would
have believed me, for he wrote of me." Moses wrote of me. All those books which Moses wrote,
Moses didn't write them, but he wrote them down. Our Lord,
it's his word that Moses wrote of Christ. And yet they trusted
in Moses. And the law of the men trust
in the law, but yet the law is a schoolmaster to bring us to
Christ. Had you believed Moses, you would have believed me, but
he wrote of me. Moses wrote of me. Moses wrote
of the Passover lamb, and the leper, and Leviticus, and the
brazen serpent, and the cities of refuge, and on and on and
on Moses wrote. And you know, I was talking to
someone recently about this. Look at verse forty-seven. If
you believe not his writings, how shall you believe my word?
If you believe not, there you go. If you don't believe the
Old Testament, how are you going to believe in that? That's exactly what you're talking
about. If you believe not his writings, how shall you believe
my word? See, you can't have You can't have an understanding
of the New Testament without an understanding of the Old.
That's what the apostles used to write the New Testament by. Right? That's what they used.
That was the only scriptures they had. And the Old Testament
proves that he is the Christ. The Old Testament proves that
he is the Christ. It's the foundation of the faith,
the Old Testament. Well, Moses wrote of me, he said. If you believe not his writings,
how shall you believe my word? But verse 45, in closing, he
said, there's one that accuses you, even Moses, in whom he trusts. And I was talking to someone
about this, and I really believed this. I believe that people in hell, people in hell, I believe they
have, how can I phrase this, I believe they are enlightened
now. I believe people in hell have enlightenment now. They
see clearly. I believe from that illustration our Lord gave of
the rich man in hell looking up and seeing Abraham. I believe
they can see what's going on. I believe they can see who's
there and recognize who they are. Right there's Moses, there's
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Elijah, Elisha, all the prophets they
rejected. I know they see the one that
they pierced sitting on the throne, Christ. There's Jesus, whom they
rejected. There's Apostle Paul, a beheaded.
There's Peter, whom they crucified. I believe that. And I believe
they might be forced to have this same word read to
them again as a sentence upon them. Do you believe that? I believe
that. He said, Moses accuses you. He's going to accuse you. I believe men are going to hear
the gospel again and see clearly that it's true. Every word of
it. And yet it can't save them now. Isn't that sobering? You see, today is the day of
salvation. That's the day of condemnation.
And as we read from the psalm, he said, I'm going to set things
in order before you write. In Proverbs 1, you remember that
Proverbs says, he that sitteth because I've called and you've
refused and rejected and so forth, he said, I'm going to get the
last laugh. You're going to call on me. He says, you're going
to call on me. He said, he's not going to answer. That's sobering. Blessed are your eyes, they say.
Your ears, they hear. Heard the joyful sound. And the
meek shall increase their joy in the Holy One of Israel and
in the Lord. And see out of obscurity and
blindness." We had nothing to do with it. There was nothing
to do with it. Nothing. My dad, whom I heard
the gospel from, grew up in Armenian religion. And an old hitchhiking,
one gallus evangelist came in one day, off the back of a pickup, and made him quote Romans 8.
And he could quote it, but he didn't know it. And one word
in it, the key to it all, he didn't know it. And that old
hitchhiking evangelist told him, son, go home and get your Bible
and start in Romans 1 and ask the Lord, ask the Lord to reveal
himself to you. And he did, and my mother, too. Dad told me the story one time,
and I'll quit with it. He told me the story one time.
He was in big-time religion, went to
Baptist school, went to a Bible college, and got out, you know,
gung-ho, and they put him in an approving ground. That's what they do. They take
him out of seminary and put him in these little I'm not doing
that on purpose anymore. I'm saying they put them in these
little churches, you know, to kind of get their feet wet. Isn't
that cruel to the people of those places? But that's what they
wanted. Put them in there to get their feet wet, you know,
and then once they get a little experience under their belt,
they find them something big. And he did. He found the largest
Potter Baptist church. Your granddad was there. Steeped
in it. Was he a deacon there at that
time? And he began to be assistant pastor of the, had the largest
membership in southeastern Kentucky, a thousand members. And just like all the rest of
them, you know, the plaque up there and how much offering,
how many people in attendance and this and that and the other.
And they'd have their revival meetings. Dad told me one time,
he said, They had a big revival meeting, and I forget how many
hundreds of people got saved. You know, got saved. And oh,
he said it was wonderful, but he said, you know, the very next
Sunday morning, he looked around and he said,
where are those people? Where are all those people that
came down front and all that? And he said, right then and there,
he began to question. There's something wrong here.
Something wrong here. And then old Roth came in town,
you know, not too long after that. And split that thing wide
open. Your granddad, by the grace of
God, was one of those that took the right split, that went the
right way. And the rest is history. That's where I came from as a
result of all that, you know. What I'm saying is the man I
heard it from, he didn't know it at one time. He's just as
ignorant, just as blind, just as steeped in that stuff as anybody
else. He'd have been a big Billy Graham
fan if it had been in our day. They'd have had him preach there.
Who'd make a theater difference? Who? Who? Who? All right, let's
stand and be dismissed in prayer. For the record you dismiss. Our.
We have. The. And here's a gospel that God
knows and I hear it from. Lord, we thank You. We owe it all to You. We thank You, Christ, for this
grace and the freedom of life. Lord, we The answer is, if you take this,
this God-worthy, unblessed person, who God says is the true God-worthy
person, and give glory to Him, that I
may, of course, glory to God Almighty, grace in my heart,
worth more to you than this world can make. PRABHUPĀDA – Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Okay. I'm sorry, I lost the audio.
I'm sorry. you I don't know. I don't know.