All right, open your Bibles back
to John chapter 6 now. John 6. John chapter 6. And it should
be very easy to follow along this morning. We're going to
stay right here. As far as I can remember the whole
time, John chapter six. And what I want to do with this
message this morning is just do a running commentary
of these verses here in John six. I just want to repeat what
the Lord said, what the Lord Jesus Christ said, and make a
comment here and there. He said so much here, and it's
impossible to deal with all of it fully. But I do want to comment
on some of these things. I don't want to leave any of
it out, out of the context that he was speaking in. Now, our Lord was preaching here,
and preaching is declaring truth. Preaching is More than anything,
preaching is just declaring the truth. Thus saith the Lord. This
is it. It's not begging, not pleading,
not trying to jerk tears out of people, not trying to give
a little emotional speech, and not trying to impress it. It's
just declaring truth. OK? And that's all I want to
do this morning, is just go down through here and repeat what
he said. Repeat what he said. And if he's
If he's willing, he can speak to you. The first thing I want you to
notice, though, is look at verse 41. The first thing I want you
to notice is the reaction to what he said. While he was preaching,
I want you to notice the reaction to what he said. Verse 41 says
the Jews murmured at him because he said, because of something
he said. Look at verse 52. The Jews therefore strove among
themselves. They argued back and forth and
argued against what he was saying because of something he said. You notice it says the Jews,
don't you? Well this is, the Jews were religious people. The
Jews were like today, or like Sunday morning Christians. All right? No different. No different. Sunday go to meeting people,
religious people. All right? Good moral, upstanding,
religious. That's who the Jews were. That's
who they represent. The Jews got mad. You understand that? The religious
people were the ones that got mad at what he was saying. And
they were the ones that murmured and complained. And those are
the people today murmuring and complaining about what? About
the same thing. Common people. It says the common
people heard him gladly. Common, old, ordinary, everyday
sinners. They didn't think they were holier-than-thou,
didn't think they were somebody or something or knew something.
They heard him gladly. They rejoiced in what he was
saying, but the religious now that had it all figured out and
they were moral and upright and didn't need anything just to
be told how good they were, they murmured at what he was saying.
You understand that? That's who these Jews were. Whenever
you read of the Jews, The Jews are alive and well today. Not
well, but they're not alive either. They're dead and trespassed and
sinned. But what I'm trying to say is
that there are still a lot of these religious Jews today, Pharisees. Look at verse 60 and 61. It says,
"...many therefore of his disciples." Now, these were not his true
disciples. These were ones who professed
to be his disciples. All right? There's a lot of those
today, too, aren't there? A lot of professing Christians.
Everybody he talked to is a Christian. Surveys say one out of every
two American adults are Christian. There wouldn't be any crime if
that were so. Well, these were professing disciples. They heard this, verse sixty,
and they said, This is hard saying. Who can hear this? Verse sixty-one.
Christ Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at
it. He said, Does this offend you? Are you offended? Verse
sixty-six. Verse sixty-six. Since from that
time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with
him. After he kept talking, or preaching, some of them said,
we're not going to have this anymore. They left. You see,
they weren't his disciples, were they? His true disciples. Look at verse 67. Christ turned
to the twelve. Those twelve apostles said, do
you want to go too? And Peter spoke for all of them
and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast words of eternal
life." The title of this message, Words
of Eternal Life. Lord, we believe. We believe
and we're sure that you're the Christ, the Son of the living
God. And Christ said, Yeah, I know. Verse seventy, I know you do.
Because I chose you. You see that? Huh? Lord, we believe. Where are we
going to go? We're not going to go anywhere. We believe and
are sure you're the Christ, the Son of the living God. Christ
answered him and said, Yeah, have not I chosen you? Sure you
believe, because I chose you. The only reason. All right, now
let's look at these words of eternal life. Controversial,
hard words, words that cause people to gnash their teeth.
Every time Christ preached, people gnashed their teeth. You know
that? They didn't go with a smile on
their face, and tears in their eyes, and, oh, wasn't that a
lovely sermon? They messed their teeth. Do you know that? Every time he preached, they
wanted to kill him. Why? Every time the prophets
preached, somebody wanted to kill them. Every time the apostles
preached. Everywhere, you look it up in
the Book of Acts, every time they preached, somebody was out
to get them. Why? They must've been preaching
more than God loves you and Christ died for you. Right? That wouldn't offend anybody,
would it? God loves you. Who would be offended at that?
Christ died for you. Don't you let him...nobody's
going to be offended at that. They didn't say that. I think you'll find his message
a little more than...he never mentions the love of God. Never
mentions little more than what the world is saying. Now, he
had just miraculously fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread
and two fish. OK? He had just, the first part
of this chapter, just fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread
and two fish. A miracle! And it says, well,
look back there at the first part of chapter 6, it says, verse
2, It says a great multitude followed him because they saw
his miracles. Do you see that? And that was before he fed them,
but that was when he healed some people. And then he fed them,
fed five thousand people, and that attracted even more people.
So there were upwards of maybe five thousand people following
him around. All believers? No. No, not for a minute. They
were following him. Now look down at verse 14. It
says in verse 14 of chapter 6, then those men, when they'd seen
the miracle that Jesus did, they said, this is of a truth, that
prophet that should come into the world. Well, that's a good,
that's true. He is that prophet. That's a
good testimony there, fellas. But it won't last. What they
said won't last. That was based on what they'd
seen. The just shall live by faith.
They don't walk by sight, and I'll tell you more about that
in a moment. They based their opinion of him on what they'd
seen him do, on the miracle. Multitudes of people followed
him and so-called believed in him
because of the miracle. Now, a little later in this chapter,
They were following him, and the disciples got in a boat and
went across the Sea of Galilee. And he hid himself, went up in
a mountain or something, and later on walked on the sea. This
is when he walked on the water to them, and he went to the other
side eventually. And this big multitude of people
started getting in boats and crossing over the sea. Well,
they got over there. They never did see him get in the boat.
And they said to him, how did you get over here? Verse 25.
Rabbi, teacher, when did you come here? How did you get here?
Huh? They heard about it. The disciples,
the word got around quickly. He walked across the ocean. He
didn't run, but he walked. And they heard about this. Wow! We've just seen him heal people. We've just seen him feed 5,000.
He walks on the water. Wow, this is him! That's not faith. That's not
faith. Verse 26, Our Lord said this.
He said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me now. He's
saying this, you're seeking me now, not because of the miracles.
You're following me now, not because of the healing and so
forth, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled."
In other words, he's saying, you're seeking me not for what
you see in me, who I am, but what you can get out of me. And that pretty much describes
modern-day religion, doesn't it? And that's what preachers
are preaching today. If you'll just accept Jesus,
God will make you happy. All your troubles will be over.
He'll make you healthy. Well, he'll give you that new
car. Send me that seed, faith. Send me. I'll make sure God gets
it. But you send it to me, and God
will give you a new house. God will give you a job. Where
does it say that, preacher? That's what they're preaching,
isn't it? If you do this and do that, God will bless you,
God will make you healthy, wealthy, and all of this, what you can
get out of God. In other words, you're preaching
God like a sugar daddy. Just a sugar daddy. So everybody's,
yeah, yeah, I'll take that. You mean if I give a dollar,
I'll get a hundred back? Yeah, well, that's better than the
banks are offering. Sure, I'll do that, Oral or Richard. I'll send it to you. Huh? And nobody desires Christ. Huh? There's nobody taking up with
the beauty of Christ. There's nobody. You hear preachers
talking about the work, the person and the work of Christ. Huh?
You hear men standing up for the court in the course of one
whole message talking about the glories and the majesty of the
person of Jesus Christ. Huh? Just talking about his work,
dwelling on his person and his work. Huh? Talking about the
character, the attributes of God, his holiness, his justice. His immutability, his sovereignty,
his power, his mercy, his grace, and all this? Huh? You hear anybody
talk? Nobody interested in those things.
Just tell me what I can get out of God. Is that right? What are your motives for being
here this morning? What do you want to get out of religion?
What's religion all about? Seriously. God doesn't look on
that account. He's not impressed with us being
here on Sunday, is He? Is God real pleased because we're
here this morning? That's the blasphemy in it. We'd
better be here because we need God, because we've got a lot
to be thankful for. There's no better reason to be
here this morning than we've got a lot to be thankful for.
Look at what all God has done for us. We've got a reason to
thank him. We've got a reason to come in and worship him. And
especially, though, if you see Jesus Christ and you're new to
him, his glory and his majesty, you'll want to come hear more
about him. You want to like the Scripture
talks about growing in grace and in the knowledge of Christ.
Knowledge of Christ. Verse 27. Now, he says this.
He said, You ate the loaves and were filled. He said, Now labor
not for the meat which perisheth. But for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto
you, for him hath God the Father sealed." Don't labor for that
which fills the mouth only, but the heart. Don't seek after that which gets
your belly full, but that which will fill up your soul. Labor
and seek for something lasting, lasting substance. Not just food,
animals try to get their belly filled. Surely there's more to
man than a beast, isn't there, getting his belly full? All right? Verse 28. They didn't hear what
he said, but they said, verse 8, "'What shall we do?' Okay,
you're saying we're to be religious. What shall we do, then, that
we might work the works of God?' We want to be religious. We're
interested in these things. What can we do? What can we do
for God? How can we get to God? What shall
we do that we might work the works of God, get to God? What
do we do? Verse 29, Christ answered and
said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him
whom he hath sent. Now, I could stop right here
and dwell on this for the rest of the time. There's so much
that he said here. You see, Christ is God. Jesus, this man walking, is God. And he went on to say, my words
are spirit in their life. We'll get to that in a moment.
But what he's saying is primarily has a spiritual meaning to it.
OK, there are deep, hidden meanings, mysterious. Remember us talking
about the mystery one whole Sunday, the mystery? There are hidden
things in what he's saying here that the average, the carnal,
natural man can't figure out. Right? It's things he's saying
that he's going to have to tell us what he's saying here. What
he's saying here, listen, he said, this is the work of God.
that you believe on him whom he hath sent." This is what he's
saying. He's saying this is what God
must do for you. Right? They're saying what can
we do that we might work the works of God? What can we do
for God? How can we get to God? He said the work of God is just
that. He's going to have to do the
work in you. He's going to have to work, and
this is the work of God. This is what God does to everybody
he's going to save. They believe on him whom he has
sent. Are you with me? Are you following
me? This is the work of God that you believe on whom he has sent. This is God's work, and this
is how you're going to get to God. You want to know how to
get to God? You believe on him, faith in
Christ. It's God's work, and it's also
God's gift. That's how you get to God. Well,
read on, verse 30. Maybe you don't understand. Maybe
you're not with me, and I'm sure you won't be if these people
weren't either. They didn't know what he was
saying. They weren't following it. Verse
30, they said therefore unto him, OK, you say you're supposed
to believe you. your command from God. Verse
30, Then what sign showest thou then, that we may see, and believe
you? What do you do? What's your work?
OK, you want us to believe you, and what have you done? What
do you do? What's your work? What sign do you show us? Verse
31, Our fathers did eat manna in the desert. Manna in the desert. As it is written, he, or Moses,
gave them bread from heaven to eat. They were talking about
Moses, weren't they? They were talking about miracles,
bread coming down from heaven. They were still thinking about
miracles. You see that? And people, isn't that what people
are interested in today? In preaching and all? You say
you're a man of God, show us something. You say you're a man of God up
there, show us something. We're going down to the First
Baptist Church of the Heretics and that preacher there he he's
he's waving his hand They've got a big choir and they're doing
this and they're doing that and he's healing people and he's
Annoying people and they they've got something there. What do
you got? This is the work of God Huh? This is all this is all about
huh? God's not worship with man's
hands. I from the heart. And this is the
work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent, that
you believe Christ. Somehow, I'm going to have to
stand up and preach Christ. And how are you going to get
to God if you don't believe Christ? How are you going to believe? God's going to have to make you
believe. It's the work of God. Well, show us the sign. That's
not enough. Show us the sign. This will be the sign. And you're going to see this
in a moment. Remember when they said, Christ said, an evil and
adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. Isn't it? An evil
and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. He said no sign
is going to be given except the sign of the prophet Jonas. As
Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights,
even so must the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three
days and three nights." In other words, he was talking about Christ
crucified, wasn't he? He said, that's the only sign
believers are going to get. That's the only sign they need.
And that's the sign that they are believers. You say, you've lost me. Well,
maybe you're lost. Well, let's read on, all right?
He says, they said, verse 32. Well, Moses,
verse 31, our fathers did eat manna in the desert. You all heard the story of manna,
haven't you? How it rained bread is called manna. All right. And
it says that Moses gave our fathers bread from heaven, verse 32.
Christ said, verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses didn't
give you anything. No man ever gives anybody anything. The man can't do anything. He
said, My father gave you that bread, which is from heaven.
You know, they didn't believe Moses. Do you remember reading
that in chapter five? He said, You didn't believe Moses.
Here they are bragging on Moses. And they wanted to kill Moses,
didn't they? Huh? God had to make an earthquake
and swallowed most of them up and killed most of them with
a plague. And most of them didn't enter into the promised land,
right? Because they hated Moses and
hated what he said. They didn't believe Moses. Christ
said, had you believed Moses, you'd believe me. Moses wrote
to me. Moses didn't show you a sign. God just gave you bread
because you were hungry. And Moses didn't give it to you.
God gave it to you. And what did he give it to you?
It's about me. He gave it to them to point about
me, point to me. Are you with me? They weren't. Are you? All right, let's read
on. Moses didn't give you that bread.
My Father gave you that bread, which is from heaven. The true
bread from heaven, the bread of God, is he which cometh down
from heaven, giveth life unto the world. Verse 33. The bread
of God is he which cometh down from heaven, giveth life unto
the world. Not just They knew when he said, world, that he
meant not just Jews, but Gentiles as well. They hated that. They hated that. All right? The
bread is he which cometh down from heaven. Now, one of the
first things he said there, did you catch it? One of the first
things he said there, he said, Moses didn't give you that bread,
but my Father giveth you the true bread, the bread of God.
You see, first thing he said was all things come from God.
God's sovereign. God is sovereign. God's grace. That's what he said. First thing
he said, John, was God Almighty is sovereign. And everything
you get must come from God. That's called sovereign grace. That's what we preach here, sovereign
grace, that we have what we have, Paul said, by the grace of God,
that everything is given to us, that we don't earn it, we don't
deserve it, but he just freely gives it to us. It all must come
from him. Of him, through him, to him,
by him are all things, the Scriptures say, Romans 11. From God, cometh
down. You see that? Everything comes
down. James said that. Every good and perfect gift cometh
from above, from the Father of lights, with whom is no bearableness
or shadow of turning. Huh? We sang that in that hymn. Did you notice it in that hymn,
verse 2? It says it all breathes in the air. It shines in the
light. His marvelous provisions to men and women. Everything
we have, God gives it, gives it, gives it, gives it. He doesn't
need a better reason for sending people to hell than that. Giving
them everything, and they've never given him a thought. Right? And then he said, the bread is
he which cometh down from heaven. Now, he didn't catch this either,
did he? He said, I came down from heaven. What he's saying
is, I'm not just a man. Right? I'm not just a man. I'm not just
a rabbi. You called me rabbi a while ago,
and so you should. I am a teacher. I'm the only
teacher there is. I'm the truth. I'm not only the
teacher, but I'm the truth. I'm the lesson. You called me
rabbi, and you did well. I am the only teacher. the true
teacher. Well, they said, verse 34, they
said, well, Lord, and they're not saying Lord or Master or
King or Ruler, they're saying here, Sir, like you would call
one of the men over in England in the House of Parliament, Lord.
That's what Lord, that's an old saying, Lord, Sir. They recognize
his authority. They say, Well, Lord, evermore
give us this bread, this miraculous bread that we'll never eat and
we'll never have to hunger again. See, they're still thinking about
miracles. They're still thinking with the flesh. Are you with
me? Some of you are so sleepy-eyed
right now. Come on. Browse yourself. I'm just repeating
what the Lord Jesus Christ is preaching here, not Paul Mayhem.
And that's the reason I prayed a while ago, and I hope you prayed
with me. Lord, you speak. You speak. If
he doesn't, I can't make you understand that, this, can I? I'm trying, but I can't do it. I can't make this interesting
to you. I can't make it interesting. Right? And I told you, I'm just
going to repeat what he said. I'm just going to repeat what
he said. All right? They said, Lord, give
us this bread that we may never hunger again. This bread. Lord, give it to us. This miraculous
food. Now, do something. Verse 35,
Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh
to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. I am the bread of life." It's
not a substance. Religion is not a doing anything. Religion is not in a substance. It's not in doing things. It's in a person. Religion is a person, true religion. He said, come to me and you'll
never hunger. He said, Believe on me, and you'll
never thirst. Now, he's not asking them to
do anything here. He's not asking them. He's just
stating the fact. He's not pleading with them,
John. He's not pleading with them,
saying, Won't you please believe on me? Won't you come to me?
No. If he said, Come to me, they
come. This is the Lord here. He's stating
the fact, Barbara. He's just stating the fact. He
said, He that cometh to me will never hunger. He that believeth
on me will never thirst again. Ever. Verse 36. But he said,
But I said unto you. Look at it now, getting into
the heart of it. Verse 36. He said, I said unto you that
you have seen me, but you don't believe. They saw his miracles. They saw his power. They heard his voice. Some men came away and said,
No man spake like this. You remember that? Soldiers tried
to apprehend him, and they came back. The leader said, Where
is he? They said, We couldn't. Nobody
spake like this. We were spellbound. They saw
him. They saw his miracles, they heard
his voice, but they were still blind. They saw him, but yet
they were still blind. And he said, and you believe
not. Now, this is two things, two
things that are clear from the Scriptures. Depravity, and this
is inability. Depravity and inability. Look back at chapter 5, verse
40. Look back there. Verse 40. This is depravity. Verse 40,
he said, You will not come to me that you might have life. See that? You won't come. You
just won't come. You will not. You will not come
to me. And that's what Christ said in
verse 36, chapter 6. He said, You believe not. You
don't believe. You will not. And you do not
believe. Paul said in Romans 1, let me
read this to you. He said the things of God from
the creation of the world are clearly seen. Even his eternal power and Godhead
by the things that are made, the world only a fool. That's the reason the Scripture
says only a fool would say there's no God. To look at this world
and say that a big explosion happened? Come on, now. Only a fool would
say that. Only an absolute ignoramus would
say that, hey, all of this miraculous, complex world, just one day there
was a kablam and it happened. Come on, man, that's an insult
to my intelligence. I've given you that illustration
of the watch before. You know, a fellow was talking
to a man that believed in evolution. And the believer said, let me
see your walk. I played 699 for mine at Radio
Shack. Now, this is not a Rolex, but
the fellow said, That's a Rolex, an oyster, a perpetual, whatever
they call it. Forty-eight diamonds in it. Boy,
that's beautiful. He said, Wow. He handed it back to him. He
said, Boy, whoever made that sure was a good craftsman, weren't
they? The fellow said, Yeah, the best.
Swiss made. He said, Do you really believe
that? And I said, well, yeah, look at it. Can't you tell? Boy,
if you could open the back and see all those jewels and all
these things in it and the way it's made and all, you'd see.
Boy, those Swiss craftsmen, they know what they're doing. A fellow
believer said, I don't believe that. He said, I believe, here's what
I believe about that watch, how it's made. He said, I believe
that out in the sky where springs and gears and and crystals and
watch bands and jewels and just all screws and nuts and bolts
and all of a sudden, boom! And that's how you got that watch.
That's what I believe. A man said, you're a fool. He
said, so are you. If you believe that this complex
world was just an explosion. Huh? An explosion. Well, Paul
said in Romans 1, he said, things that God made are clearly seen. Just look at your thumb. Nobody
in this room has the same thumbprint. Accident! No, it's so that we can catch
criminals. God did it that way. Nobody in the world has the same
thumbprint, for that matter. Nobody that's ever been born
has ever had the same thumbprint you have. Only a fool would say,
No, God. Well, here's what they say. Paul
said they're without excuse that when they knew God, they didn't
glorify Him as God. And Paul went on to say they
didn't like to retain God in their knowledge. That's Romans
1.28. He said they didn't like to think about God in their knowledge.
Why? Why don't men like to believe there's a God? Why don't men like to believe
that there's one creator that he made all things? Huh? Why
don't they like to believe that? Why won't they believe that?
Because that means we're creatures. Because that means he made us
and he can do with us what he wants to. Right? Can't you? You make something? He said that
in Jeremiah 18 and Romans 9. He said that cannot the potter
do with his own what he will? said, You're a lump of clay.
I can do with you whatever I want to do, and he does. Men don't
like that, so they say, No, I won't have that. We will not have a
God. No God. No God for me. I'll believe in
evolution. Well, that's depravity, isn't
it? That's what you call depravity. You will not believe. No, I won't
have that. Christ came, and they saw his
power, and they saw his miracles. They heard his voice, and they
said, No, we won't have that. They heard what he said, and
they said, No, no, we don't like that. Men hear the gospel today,
and they say, No, I don't like that. I don't like a sovereign
God. It doesn't matter if you like it or not, it's so. We won't
have God to be God. It doesn't matter if you have
him or not, he is. Scripture says we're dead in
trespass, we're condemned, we're worthy of hell by nature, and
men say, I don't like that, I won't believe that. It doesn't matter,
it's so. Right? Scripture says that Jesus Christ
is not all love and mercy and forgiveness and all that. We
read it in John 5. He says judgment is committed into his hands.
He's the judge of all the earth. It's going to be him to cast
men out. Men say, I don't like that. I
like that Jesus is all love and wants to and can't and all that.
It doesn't matter whether you like it or not. It's so. That's the
way he is. Now, it does matter if you like.
It matters concerning your soul. That shows the state of your
soul. You see, that's depravity. The other is inability. Depravity
is clear throughout the Scripture. Our Lord said that in John 5,
40, and he said it in verse 36 of chapter 6. You will not. You
will not. You will not. But John, he also
said this, too. He said, look at verse 44, chapter
6. Look at this, verse 44. He said,
No man can come. I don't like that. I don't believe
that. I believe man has a free will. No, I didn't say that. Preacher, I don't like that.
It doesn't matter. That's the way it is. Then no
man can come, doesn't it? No man can come. Now, do you
see why they started murmuring? Oh, now wait a minute now. I
can do whatever I want to. No, all you can do is sin, unless
God does something for you. This is the work of God. See
that? Read on. Look at verse 37. He
said, All the Father giveth me shall come to me. You see that? All that the Father
giveth me, verse 37, shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. People like to quote the last
part of that verse, don't they? Oh, come, preachers get up and
they preach their little, oh, won't you come? Won't you accept
Jesus? You know what scripture says?
Him that cometh to me I'll in no wise cast out. Won't you please
come? As we sing 44 verses of Just
As I Am. Won't you come?" After verse
20, somebody says, somebody please come. That's about the size of
it. Joke all nighter so we can get
this thing over with. Give that preacher something
to tell a board of so many more. That's not what this says, does
it? It doesn't say that. It says, no man can come unto
me except the Father which hath sent me draw him. No man can. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me." That's what it says. I'm getting ahead of
myself. It says, No man can come. But all that the Father giveth
me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, who's
going to come? All that the Father gave him. Now, when no wise cast out. Boy,
there's a lot there, isn't there? I'd like to stop right there
and preach a while. All the Father giveth me." What's that? That's
election. Isn't it? Is that election? All
the Father giveth me. How are you going to give something
unless you have it? It's something that you pick out. I'm going
to give my wife a gift, okay? I'm going to go to T.J. Maxx. I know she'll like it. And I'll go there and I'll find
that it's cheap, too. I get by. What God gives is not
cheating now. But I'm going to give her something.
I go to the store and I purchase it. It's mine. I choose it. I
go on all the racks and I choose it, and it's mine now, OK? I'm going to give it to her.
What is that? I elected that dress. I elected
that dress. I chose that dress, right? I
chose it, and now I chose her to give it to. I could have given
it to Nancy or Sherry, right? No, I'm going to give it to her.
What is that? That's selection, that's predestination, that's
all these things in it. All that the Father giveth me.
And God Almighty, before the world began, this is Scripture.
Amy, this is Scripture. Their names are written, the
Scripture says, in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation
That Revelation 5, it's written twice, whose names are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life. Who wrote the names there before
the world began? God, right? God elected a people. That's in the Scriptures 27 times. He elected a people. He chose
a people. Men say, I don't like that. It doesn't matter. It's
so. God's people say, I like that. You see? Let's go on. I've got
to go. That's election. That's predestination.
All the Father gives me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. That's preservation of the
saints, perseverance of the saints. It's all right there, isn't it?
Do you see what Christ was preaching here? Do you hear his voice when
he's preaching? It all comes from God, and God
must do the choosing, and God did the choosing. All the Father
gave to me, God Almighty chose a people. He chose to save a
people, didn't have to choose anybody, didn't need anybody. Thank God he chose some people.
He chose a lot of them, too. And he chose a people and gave
them to Christ. That's what it means when you
say, Give them to me. He gave them to Christ and said, Son,
you go down and save them, and don't come back until you get
the job done. Did you read that over in chapter
5 when Christ said, He's given me a work to do? He said, He's
given me something. That's what that preacher said
in Friday's paper, made me some boiling mad, I could have spit. He said, Jesus came
down and did the greatest work ever attempted. Does it say that
anywhere in the Bible that Christ came down and tried to do anything? He said, He gave me a work to
finish. God loved and chose a people.
He gave them to Christ. He said, you go down and save
them. Don't come back until they're saved. And when Christ was hanging
on the cross, what'd he say? It's finished! And he went back to heaven and
said to the Holy Spirit, said, round them up. Don't try. Get on. Huh? I've got a sheep. Say I'm a shepherd. And I've got some sheep. I've
got a hundred. All right? I've got a hundred. I love my
sheep. I chose my sheep. They've got my brand on them,
all right? I lose one of them, what am I going to say? Well,
hope he makes it. Please, sheep, come back! Oh,
sheep!" That's what preachers are saying about the great shepherd.
No, Scripture says the great shepherd, he says, I've got a
lost sheep. I'm going after him. What does
he do? What does it say there? It says
he went and found him. Why? He's the great shepherd.
He's the great shepherd. It says he went all the way out
in the wilderness for the wine, and when he found him, what does
he do? Come on now. Come on. Follow me. Come on now. Turn around. Come
on. Follow me. You old black sheep,
you. What does it say? He picks him
up, puts him on his shoulders, and says, You're coming with
me. We're going to get there. You
see, that's the great shepherd. Now, you can have this Jesus
who tried and failed. You can have him. I don't want
him. You can have this Jesus who wants to and can, only if
you let him. You can have him. I don't want
him. You can have this shepherd, you know, who goes out calling,
and boy, if you'll just hear his voice. I want the one the
Scripture talks about. He said, My sheep shall hear
my voice. I know them. I know them. They're mine. I'll have them.
I want the Christ who came down here to save people, and he actually
did it. Don't tell me what he can do.
That's what preachers are preaching about all the time, isn't it?
Huh? He can. God can do this. God can do that. I don't need a God that can do
and won't unless I let him. I need a God who does. Huh? I need a God who does what he
sets out to do. That's all my hope and all my
salvation. Christ said, look at verse 38. He said, I came down from heaven, not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which is sent me, and of all which
he hath given me. What does he say? I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day. lose nothing. Preacher, you talk about election.
What's the use of preaching? Why are you preaching, then,
if I'm elect, I'm elect? Is that the reasoning you may
be using? If I'm one of the elect, then I'm elect. Is that right? Yeah, that's right. That's right. If you want to elect, you have
only a say. You're right. But this is how
he elects. This is how he calls the elect.
This is how he lets them know their election. You see? They
hear his voice. They hear his gospel. This is
how they, the elect, answer the call. He said, My sheep shall
hear my voice. This is how they hear it. This is how they respond
to it. Isn't it? It's not them. It's
the power of the voice. It's not the power of their hearing
that they have better ears than others. No, it's the power of
the voice. It's the effectual call. It's
the one who's doing the calling. Right? I speak to Stan over here. Stan will hear me. Right? Somebody over here might not
have heard me. Why? I'm speaking to Stan. You see that? That's the reason God doesn't
say, oh, everybody, please. No, no, no, no. He comes to his
sheep and says, hey, Henry, here's the gospel. Believe it. Henry
says, think it will. Yeah, I do. I believe that. Why? Shepherd says, you're my sheep.
You're going to hear my voice. I like that. Those who reject
it, they don't believe. Right? Those who don't believe,
they're not the elect. Right? Huh? Why preach? Because Christ said, go in all
the world and preach the gospel. He that believeth shall be saved.
He that believeth not shall be damned. Who's going to believe?
My elect. Christ said, go out there. Preach the gospel. I've
got some elect out there. I've got some sheep out there.
They're going to hear my voice. Go out there and preach it. They
will hear my voice. Who are they, Lord? None of your business.
You just preach. You'll know them when they come
to Christ. You'll know. So you preach the
gospel, the elect say, hey, I like that, yeah, hey, include me. That's my God, I believe that. Whatever God, I believe that.
The non-elect say, I don't believe that, I don't like that. But,
but, but, but, but, but, but. Goats say, but, but, but, but,
but. And go on their way. Right? Remember what the disciples,
when he said that to the disciples, you're going to go away? No,
Lord, where are we going to go? Well, he said, I came down not
to do my own will, verse 38, but the will of him that sent
me. And this is his Father's will, which is, Sent me of all
which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, and raise it all
up again at the last day. That sounds like to me, once
in grace, always in grace, doesn't it? Doesn't that sound like that
none that God has chosen to save are ever going to be lost? Eternal
life. It not only sounds like it, it
is. Verse 40, he said, This is the will of him that sent me.
Look at it. This is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son, and believeth on him,
may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last
day. Everyone that seeth the Son.
Everyone that seeth the Son. Who is going to come to Christ?
All the Father giveth him. Who will believe on Christ? All
the Father giveth faith to. Faith is a gift of God. Who will
see and know and understand and see something in Christ and the
gospel? Who? He to whom the Son will reveal
him. That's what the Scripture says. Well, these religionists
heard him now, and I'm going to wind this up just a minute.
These religionists started hearing him now. They were hearing what
he was saying. It's like I told, I don't know
who I was talking to the other day. I said, you know, I hear
preachers preach sometimes, and I don't know what they're saying,
and I really don't believe they know what they're saying, and
the people don't know what they're saying, and everything's just
fine that way. There's no fight. There's no
problem. He can go on and get his salary,
and everything's just fine. I even know men who profess to
believe the gospel and stood up in various places and preached,
and I thought, you know, he could preach that anywhere. I mean,
he could preach that at a Catholic place as well as down here, right? Haven't you? And I said, you
know, a man ought to get up. Barnard did that. Rob Barnard,
he said, boy, when you preach, he said, a man ought to go away
knowing what you're saying. I said, maybe man ought to get
up and say the same thing, just keep saying it over and over
and over and over and over and over again, until finally somebody
says, hey, what did you say? It's like God elected a people
before the foundation of the world, and only those that God
chose and elected are going to be saved, nobody else. That's
what makes him God, you see. God can do it. That's what God
does. That's what makes him God. That's
what makes the God we preach different from the one they're
preaching out there. That God elected the people. Did you hear
me? God elected the people for the fact. I mean, God handpicked
and chose some people and left the rest of them alone. Hey! Did you say that, do you know
what I mean? Man, I'll just stand up and say,
this is what I'm saying, and what God say. All the Father
giveth me shall come to me." Did you hear me? They finally
heard him. The Jews finally heard him. The
Jews murmured and said, Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait
a minute. They murmured, verse 41, because
he said, I'm the bread which came down from heaven. Listen
to me. One more time. Listen to me. They said, is not
this Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father and his mother.
He said, I came down from heaven. Now, he started saying that a
while before, didn't he? They finally heard him. Wait,
wait, wait! You say it. You came down from heaven. This
is, now, it's just Jesus. It's just Jesus. You say you came down. Brother
Todd Nyberg, a man came into his study one day, and he said,
you know, I noticed something different about you. Listen to
this. I wish people would notice this
about me, about us. The man said to him, he said,
I notice you never call Jesus Christ Jesus. I never hear
you call him Jesus. You always call him Lord or Christ. I wish people noticed that about
us. That's the whole difference. That's the whole difference.
That's what I'm trying to say. That's how we try to preach.
That sums up the whole difference. See, the one that we worship
here, The one that we believe and the one that we preach was
a Jesus for thirty-three years. That's a man. That's a man, right?
That's just a man. He's more than a man, and the
name meant something. But he's not just Jesus anymore. Then the scripture says, "'At
the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall
confess.'" What? He's Lord. He's Lord. He's now the sovereign Lord on
the throne, the judge of all the earth. Not sweet little Jesus,
not a baby in a manger. That's the reason we don't have
these silly little pageants with doll babies in the cradles. That's
not the Jesus I worship. One time he was a baby. Just for a little while, it says
he grew in stature and so forth. Now what is he? The one we worship
is now. We worship him as he is now,
not as he was a baby. We don't wear crosses around
our neck. Why? He's not our cross. If I was
going to wear anything, I'd wear a throne. Huh? People wear a cross. What
proves you're a Christian? No, it doesn't. Rock singers
wear them in their ears. It proves you're superstitious
is what it proves. It proves you got some jewelry
at T.J. Maxx. It doesn't prove anything. It doesn't prove you love the
Lord Jesus Christ and bow to him in your heart. It proves
you've got an idol around your neck. Like I said, if I was going
to wear something to prove, it still wouldn't prove it. God's
not worshipped with jewellery. God's worshipped with the heart.
But if I was going to wear something that would, for me to tell people
what I believe, I'd wear a throne. That makes sense to you? A big
fool, he's got that fool running around all over the world carrying
this cross. What does that prove? It proves he's a fool. Only Christ
can carry the cross and our sins on his back. We don't carry that
cross, man. Acting like a fool, you're trying
to show off what you're doing. You're showing off to people.
Why? Because that's where my eye is.
That's the God I worship. I worship Jesus Christ who is
on a throne, Lord, Sovereign, Ruler. Don't call him Jesus.
That's his earthly name. I call him Sir. I call him Lord. I call him King. I call him Master. And I don't say, What will you
do with Jesus? We can't do anything with Jesus. But the Lord Jesus Christ of
glory He's got us in his hands. You see, that's what this thing's
all about, John. That's what this is all about.
That sums up the difference. You want to know, if you haven't
heard anything else, the difference out there is the one that we
preach is sovereign. He's in control. The so-called
church bulletin board down the road said last week it had on
there, let go and let God. It said, let God. You know what
they have on there this week? Same church multiple. You know
what they have on there this week? They had, God is in control. Rejoice. I'm confused. Preacher, you say
I've got to let God do something. You say, let go, let God, Gad,
can't if I won't. Let God, okay, that it, that
it? No, God's in control. Rejoice. Which is it? Huh? What are you talking about talking
out of both sides of your mouth? Which is it? I tell you which
it is. God's in control. Rejoice. Why do you preach that? Why do
you insist? Why do you always talk about the sovereignty of
God? That's what I rejoice in. I rejoice in the Lord. You know
what Paul said? Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice
in what? The night God reigns. This thing
isn't happening by luck or chance or accident. The devil doesn't
do anything but what God allows him to do. Hurricanes, tornadoes,
earthquakes and all that, it's in God's hands. God reigns, God
rules, God's in control. This is what Christ was saying,
what he was saying. He said, I came down, I'm God.
I'm God, I came down. Well, I don't have time to deal
with all of it, but he went on to talk about eating his flesh
and drinking his blood. Look on down there. He said in
verse 51, I am the living bread which came down from heaven.
If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. The bread
I give is my flesh. I give to the life of the world,
not just Jews. The Jews murmured at that. They said, How can he
give us this flesh to eat? Read on. He said, Except you
eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have
no life in you. Do you all know what this is talking about? We need to know, don't we? He's the one that said that.
He said, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his
blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood hath eternal life. What's that talking about? That's
what these fellows say. Well, I don't understand this. How can he give us his flesh
to eat and his body? It's spiritual. Look down at verse 63. He said,
The spirit quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words
that I speak unto you are spirit, they're life. He just told them something spiritual.
And to see if I can sum it up real quickly, he said, what he's
saying is, to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of
God is to, when you eat something, what do you do when you eat something?
Well, first of all, you're hungry, aren't you? That's the first
thing. Nobody eats unless they're hungry. Everybody does. But really now,
the first thing, if you're really going to eat something, most
of us just eat, just be eating, you know, popcorn. I'm the worst. Man, I could eat popcorn all
day long, if I was hungry or not. And, you know, popcorn. But if you're hungry now, you'll
eat something, won't you? I mean, if you're really hungry,
and I'm getting hungry. You got something ready? Getting
it ready? All right. I'm going to go home,
and she's going to prepare something, and I'm going to sit down, ready!
What you got, little lady? Feed it to me! And she's going
to prepare it, and I'm going to eat it. Oh, that's good. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Mmm, that's good. Why don't we take one bite and
say, Boy, that was good. I know you wouldn't stand it.
Give me another helping! Give me that!" Then they say,
I drink a lot of fluids with my meals. I like to drink, wash
it down. Wash it down, and you drink some more, and eat some
more. It's good, oh, I like that. And it goes down into my body,
and oh, it's good. My hunger is abated, my thirst
is satiated, and I've got a need. What I'm saying is to eat The
flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God is to feel your
need of Christ. I'm a sinner. Oh, Lord God. You mean God is hope. Oh, I see
all that from the Scripture. How can I come to this holy God?
I want to worship. I want to thank God. You say
there's no other way, but how? Jesus Christ, He came down and
He did for you what you needed to do or couldn't, and He did
it all for you. Come to Him. Believe Him. Trust
Him. I do. I do. Eat Him. Drink his blood. Drink in what
he's done. Oh, it's good. I like that. What'd
he do again? He saved sinners. He fulfilled
a righteousness for his people. And imputed it. What? Imputed
it. Covered you. You're naked. You're
hungry. You're thirsty. Yes, yes, yes. Christ did all
that. Let me have it. See what I mean? I like that. It's not just a
one-time bite. You say you're going to serve
it up again tonight? Yeah, I'd like to come back. Give me some
more." Same thing, same thing. My wife makes homemade bread
all the time. And she makes it all the time.
She's got a loaf in the house all the time. I eat it nearly
every day. Stan, I can eat it every day.