I want you to turn back with
me, if you would, to the book of John, chapter 5. Terrence
read my text to me, to us. I just want to add one verse
to it. If I don't preach to you this
morning, you have heard one of the best messages already that
you could possibly hear. That was the message from the
Prince of Preachers himself, the Lord Jesus. From verse 29
through verse 71, Terence read the message that our Master preached. The Lord often preached. He was
a preacher. The Father sent me to preach,
he said. And we have many of his messages
recorded. Some of them are very long. Chapters 5 through 7 of Matthew
record what we call the Sermon on the Mount. I'm a little bit
afraid to call the Master's messages sermons, but he preached the
Sermon on the Mount. He preached the Sermon in Matthew
chapter 13 about the sower and the seed, went out to sow the
mysteries, he said, of the kingdom of heaven. The 23rd chapter of
Matthew, he preached another message, a powerful message,
but it's a very negative message. Those who never lacks anything
said that's negative should go read the message our Master preached
in Matthew 23. He preached the whole message
against the scribes and Pharisees, where he denounced them and pronounced
woes upon them. And then we have this wonderful
message here in John chapter 6, which really begin with the
same people in John chapter 5. I want to read just one verse
to you in John chapter 5. I want to compare these with
John chapter 6. John chapter 5 and verse 24.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and
believeth on Him that sent Me hath everlasting life, and shall
not come unto condemnation, but is passed from death unto life."
Now this is another message that our Lord preached. He preached
it to this group of people here, a great multitude. He left them
and went across the sea, the Sea of Tiberias, the Sea of Galilee,
and they followed Him over there. And when they found him, he preached
to them again in John chapter 6. The reason they followed him,
turns red to us, is because the Lord fed them. He fed them five
fish. and loaves of bread, five loaves
and two fishes, fed many thousands, five thousand of them. And they
were still hungry, so they followed Him there. And then in John chapter
6, He preaches to them again. And let me say this about the
messages of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes He lifted up His voice
so He could be heard. Sometimes He sat down and talked
to people. Sometimes he walked to people
and preached to them as he walked with them. But no matter how
the Lord Jesus Christ preached, there's one thing that I've often
noticed about his preaching. If I had been there, and I've
often imagined myself sitting, listening to the Master preach,
one thing I know about his preaching If you ever understand what he's
talking about, he's going to have to open your heart to hear
it. I think if I'd have gone to hear
him preach, and I had known that he was going to be there to preach,
I'd have somehow or another got to him and I'd have said, Lord,
please, I beg of you, let me hear and understand and believe
what you're going to preach today. How necessary that is. There are two things concerning
the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, which you and I must
realize if we're to enter into it and be profited by it. And
the first thing is this, and look back here at John chapter
6 again, the whole John chapter 6. The first thing is this. that when the Lord Jesus Christ
preached, one of the things that you quickly realize, when He
preaches, it's spiritual preaching. He takes you away from this world,
He takes you out of the natural realm, from ceremonies that we
can perform with our bodies, from our natural food and natural
drink, and He takes us into a spiritual realm, a heavenly realm, out
of the natural realm into the heavenly realm. Now, He tells
them this here in verses 26 and verse 27. Look at this. Before
He preaches, He tells them, Verily I say unto you, you seek Me not
because you saw the miracles that I did of those loaves and
fishes, but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled.
Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat
which endureth unto life everlasting, which the Son of Man shall give
unto you, for Him hath God the Father sealed." He says, if you
fellows are going to hear what I'm saying, and you're going
to be profited by it, then you better forget about this natural
man. You better forget about what can satisfy your belly.
Forget about this natural world because I'm going to take you
up into another realm. I'm talking to you about life
eternal, about spiritual things. Look what he said over in the
same chapter in verse 63. Look at this. It is the spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak
unto you, they are Spirit and they are life. And the natural
man cannot understand what I am saying. So there is a warning
before the Lord Jesus ever begins His message, and there is a warning
this morning, for this poor preacher begins. What I am going to preach
to you this morning, as what I always preach unto you, you
may set here and not be profited, from what I preach. Because when
you open this Bible and begin to preach from it, it's not preaching
to the natural man. It's not talking about natural
religion. It enters a new realm, a heavenly
realm, a spiritual realm. Do you know why the world don't
like preaching in our day? You know why we've left the preaching
of the gospel and gone to doing everything else? Look in your
papers, talk to your neighbors that go to some of these churches,
and find out what has replaced the preaching of the gospel.
I was talking to my neighbor just this week, and she said,
where they go to church? She said, we didn't even have
preaching last week. We had something better. Well,
that's something. That's something. Now why is
that? It's because of this very thing.
The words I speak unto you, they are Spirit. You enter a different
realm. You leave the natural realm into
a spiritual realm. There's the first thing the Lord
Jesus told His hearers. If you're going to be profited
by what I'm ready to preach unto you, get out of this natural
realm that you're in. Forget about your hungry belly
for a while. Or you won't profit from what
I'm going to tell you. And secondly, this is very evident from this
message here, if we're to be profited by the preaching of
the Lord Jesus Christ, one must simply believe what He says. We're not going to profit if
we don't simply believe these proclamations that He makes unto
us. Look what He says in verse 29.
This is the work of God that ye believe on Him whom He hath
sent. Look what he says in verse 41.
I am the bread which came down from heaven. Ain't that a wonderful
mystery? Ain't that a wonderful truth?
I am the bread. He doesn't explain. all the way
to our intellectual satisfaction. How? He came down from heaven.
He makes this proclamation, I am come down from heaven. And if
you don't believe it, you won't be profited by it. It's not explanation that faith
needs. It's simply proclamation. The
Lord Jesus doesn't go through His message stopping and qualifying
everything. Did you notice that? He just
makes these mysterious statements and He moves on. And He leaves
it to us in a way for our faith to grasp hold of this proclamation. I come down from heaven. How
are you going to get a hold of such a truth? Just believe it.
Just believe it. And these fellows here in verse
42 says, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and
mother we know? How is it then that he saith,
I come down from heaven?" This is a mystery that he's talking
about. We can't understand this. Our intellect can't receive this.
How can he say this? Well, this is a mystery. Brothers and sisters, can anybody
tell me this morning how the eternal Son of God, can come
down from the high heaven and be implanted in the womb of a
virgin, the eternal Son of God, and inside her womb develop a
body, a real body, have a real soul, a real human nature? Can
anybody here this morning grasp intellectually the virgin birth? Mary couldn't. The angel came
to her and said, Mary, you're going to have a child. You're
going to call His name the mighty God, Emmanuel. She said, how
can this be? I don't even know a man. And
He said, the Holy Ghost shall come upon you. And the power
of the High shall overshadow you. And you know what she said? I can't understand this. I can't grasp this. But I believe
it. I simply believe it. That's what
the Lord Jesus is telling His hearers. If you're going to enter
into what I'm going to tell you, you must simply, with a childlike
faith, receive it. And then you'll be profited by
it. And notice this. Notice what
these Jews did. I read there in verse 42. They
kept blaming the Lord Jesus Christ. They kept blaming Him because
they couldn't understand what He was saying. How is it that
He says, He come down from heaven? He's confusing us. And then here
in verse 52, they said, how can this man give us His flesh to
eat? How can He do this? And then
verse 60, they said, this is an unheard saying We can't understand
what He's saying. We can't grasp this in our intellect. They said, you're to blame for
it too. You've confused us to death because of these statements
that you're making. Why do we have to think about
these things? They said, you're to blame for it. You're confusing
us. You're making us to doubt. How
long do you make us to doubt? And you know what the Lord Jesus
turned right around and did? He said, your trouble is not
your intellect. That's not your trouble at all,
he said. These words that I'm speaking to you, they're plain. They're plain words. Your whole
trouble, he says, I'm laying at the heart and at the door
and at your feet of unbelief. That's your whole problem. Isn't
that what he told them? In verse 36, look what he said,
I say unto you, that you also have seen Me, and you've been
listening to Me, but look at this, but you believe not. That's your whole problem. You
believe not. And then he says over here in
verse 64, there are some of you that believe not, for Jesus knew
from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should
betray Him. You know it comes right back
to this, doesn't it? Faith, a childlike faith, doesn't need everything
explained to him. He just needs to hear it proclaimed
to him. That's it. And these people went
away. They went away. Why did they
go away? The Bible tells us why they went
away. Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief in departing from the living God. They did not take
the Lord at His word when He said, You must believe. This
is the work of God, that you believe on Me. Believe Me, what
I'm saying. Prudence always has to figure
everything out intellectually. And then He says, I'll believe. I'll believe. But that's not
faith, is it? God takes the wise in their own
foolish wisdom. He's brought to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. The prudent's got to figure it
all out intellectually. He's got to have it all explained
to him. But that's not faith, brothers
and sisters. You can't get a hold of these mysteries intellectually. You understand them by believing
them. And that's the only way. When
the Lord went to Abraham dwelling down in Ur of the Chaldeans,
He said, Abraham, you get up out of your house, out of your
family, your dad and your mother, away from your country, and you
come into a land that I'll show you later. And the Scripture
says, Abraham believed God. And he went out, not knowing
where he went. That's faith. He went out because
God proclaimed to him, get out and I'll give you the country.
The Lord came to Noah and He said, Noah, it's going to rain.
Never had rain before. But I'm going to destroy all
the flesh whom I have made, build you an ark. Lord, could you please
explain to me how you're going to drown this world in a flood? If you can just give me some
more information, let me intellectually comprehend what you're saying.
And then, no, that's not faith, is it? When God says, I'm going
to do it, that's all it took for faith to get a hold of it
and grab a hammer and a saw and go to building an ark to be saved
from God's judgment. Back here in this verse 24 of
chapter 5, I want to bring out three things quickly about this
message the Lord Jesus preached. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth My word. There's the first part. This
message that Terence read to us this morning. Thank God that's
the words of Jesus Christ. His prophets came and spoke to
us, the apostles spoke to us, but thank God He sent His Son. And from His own lips we have
heard the words of the Son of God. Ain't that wonderful? He
that heareth My words. And here are His words. Ten times
in this message that turns red to us, The Lord Jesus proclaimed
this word to us, that I am the bread of life. I am the bread that came down
from heaven. I am the living bread. I am the life-giving bread. If
you eat of this bread, you shall live forever. This is His words
that He proclaims about Himself. And He tells us what this bread
is. He tells us exactly what it is. He said, the bread that
I will give you is my flesh, which I will give for the life
of the world. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood hath eternal life. We know what he's talking about,
don't we? He's talking about his body being crushed. His body
being torn and broken upon the cross of Calvary. He bore our
sins in His own body upon the tree. And God punished Him. God crushed Him upon the tree. He was made a curse to deliver
us from the curse of the law. And on that tree He made satisfaction
for our sins. He put them away by the sacrifice
of Himself. And He did it by Himself. And
Christ says, now. Now. You eat of that flesh. You drink of that redeeming blood.
You live forever. That's the bread. That's the
bread. He began here and He took this
wonderful message. He's so unlike me. Or I'm so
unlike Him. I have to open my Bible and get
my commentaries out and just study and study and take all
kinds of notes And here someone comes to the Lord Jesus and mentions
bread. And what does he do? He preaches
this wonderful sermon about bread. And he says, I am the bread. Lord, we're hungry. We need to
be fed. This bread sustains our physical
being. He says, I am the living bread. I sustain the life of your soul. You eat of this bread and you'll
live forever. That's the words of Christ. He
that heareth My words And the Lord Jesus tells us here
in verse 32 of chapter 6, look at this. This is the words of
Christ. I love to just read them. I love to just sit and read them,
because they're His words. He tells us where this bread
came from. Look what He says. Verily, verily,
in verse 32, I say unto you, Moses didn't give you that bread
from heaven, but My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven,
for the bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven and giveth
life unto the world." The same God and Father that gave that
manna to the children of Israel back there in the wilderness,
that sustained them for 40 years, that's the same God and the same
Father that give to us this heavenly bread, this spiritual bread. His own Son to give us life and
to sustain the life that He gives. Where did Christ come from? He
came from heaven. Who sent Him? Who gave Him? God
His Father. Now that's the words of Christ.
That's what He says to us Himself. He that heareth My words. He that heareth My words. He
doesn't ask us to do anything. I'm not asking you to do anything
this morning. I'm just asking you to sit and
be still and listen. Listen to what He says. He that
heareth My words. And here they are. Aren't they
wonderful words? Peter said, Lord, I tell you
this about them. He said, I've never heard anything
like it. These fellows are going away. He said, I can't go away.
You've been preaching and I've been listening to what you're
saying, and these are words of life to me. Words of life. But secondly, in chapter 5 and
verse 24, he says this, "...he that heareth my words, and believeth
on him that sent me." This is very important. Why didn't he
say, believe on me? He's done said that here in chapter
6. In chapter 5, He said, "...he that heareth My words, and believeth
on Him that sent Me, believeth on God My Father who sent Me."
Why did He say this like this? Because these Jews, these Jews
now and the Jews of the Old Testament, were always misjudging God. They were always mistrusting
Him. He led them out in the desert,
out of the land of bondage, And when they got hungry, they said,
can God provide a table to feed us? Can He do that? Being the
old hillbilly I am, I'm just going to turn that around and
say, God can provide. But they didn't believe Him.
They mistrusted Him. And they misjudged Him. Every
time they got in trouble out in the desert, they said, He's
brought us out here to kill us. He hates us. He hates us. What an awful thing to say. How
awful to misjudge God who delivered them from the land of bondage
and was bringing them into the land of Canaan to give it to
them. But they always misjudged Him. Always, always mistrusted
Him. And these Jews in the New Testament,
they did the very same thing. They looked upon God as being
just a stern, hard, judgmental God. That's what they thought
about it. Look here in chapter 5 and verse
45. Look in verse 45 of chapter 5. Here's what the Lord Jesus
said concerning them. This is what they thought. Do
not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuses you,
even Moses, in whom you trust. They thought more highly of Moses
than they did Christ. They said if God has sent Him
at all, it's because He sent Him to judge us and condemn us. And now the Lord Jesus is telling
them this. You not only must hear my words
that I'm preaching unto you, but you must change your opinion
of God the Father. You must change your opinion
of Him. And here's what you must believe. Here's what you must
believe that's in God. You must believe that He is love,
that He is good, that He is mercy. You must believe that He never
sent His Son to accuse you and to judge you, but He sent His
Son to deliver you from your sins and the wrath to come. He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me." He sent me. And you must believe
why He sent me. Out of great love and tender
mercies to save. To save. I wonder what it is. that would
motivate a man or a woman to persist in an attitude like this,
that it's not enough. I don't see enough in the heart
of God to freely save me. I don't see enough love there.
I don't believe there's enough goodness there. to save me freely
and lovingly. What is it that would make a
person think that about God? I don't believe there is enough
in the heart of God. Surely some people will think this is not enough. I must do
something. I must somewhere or another appease
God myself. I must earn something from Him. I must add my part. Why do they say such things?
You know why? They don't believe in the Father
who sent the Son to save us. Oh, there's got to be more to
it than that, they say. I don't believe God has such a big heart
to do something that marvelous. So because they won't believe
there is goodness enough in God's big heart to save them freely
by Jesus Christ, they go about trying to work out some sort
of righteousness to appease God with. Some self-righteousness. Some frame of mind to do things
or to abstain from things to win God's favor. And what is that? It's just the
fruit of unbelief in the love and goodwill of God. That's what
it is. Peace on earth and goodwill from
God to man. God has sent us a Savior. And if we don't recognize it,
if we don't bow to Him and receive Him, There is but one reason. We doubt that God truly has a
heart to do it. Ain't that so? I lived all my
teenage years and I was so miserable because I kept trying to win
God's favor. Kept trying to do something to
appease Him for my guilt. without having any idea that
in His big heart of love and goodness and mercy, He had already
sent His Son because He loved me. And there was nothing else I
could do but just bow and believe it. And that was the most difficult
thing I ever did in my life. I could not do it without grace,
and neither can anybody else. And we go about doing all these
things and trying to establish this righteousness and trying
to prepare ourselves to come to God. I've got to get my act
together. I've got to get my life straightened
out. I've got to do that and that. In that way we say, then
we can see how God would receive us. Then we think there's mercy
for us. Then there'll be goodness in
God's heart when we've done something to win it. But to just sit still
and believe it's there, without us doing anything. That's difficult,
ain't it? He that heareth My words, and
believeth on Him that sent Me. Why did He send Him? Why would
God send His Son? For us. You mean God is that good? God
is that gracious? Oh, these Jews were sad in themselves. No, we can't see that in God. We don't believe God is that
good. We don't believe God is that much love. Paul then went and preached to
the Galatian church and preached the grace of Christ
to them. The grace of Jesus Christ. Saved
them so freely. They believed it. And these false
apostles come down and say, no, that's, you know, God expects
you to do your part. Christ didn't do all. God sent
Him, but He just sent Him to do part. You've got to do the
rest. So what did they do? They went back to all these ceremonies,
keeping feast days, and were circumcised. And Paul writes back to them
and says, you've left the grace of Christ. You've left it. You've left it. You've left the
very heart of God. You've taken your eyes off the
very heart of God. You can't see the heart of God
anymore. You've ceased to believe who God really is. And he writes
the epistle back to them, and he begins to correct this error. And here's what he says. To restore
their faith in the love and goodness of God, here's what he says.
Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ
our Lord. And listen to the very next verse.
Who gave Himself for our sins. He didn't give Himself for us
because we were good. He gave Himself for our sins. Paul said, to deliver you from
this present evil world, and listen to this very next word,
according to the will of God our Father. God knew what we
are. He knows our frame. He remembers
that we're just dust. And when He sent His Son, He
didn't send Him for good people. He knew the cost that would have
to be paid. But His love, His goodness of
His heart was so great, He sent Him anyway. He sent Him. Do you believe there's love enough
in the heart of God to save you this moment? Do you believe that's
the cause of His sending His Son to save you? Except you believe, hear my words.
Except you hear my words and believe on Him that sent me.
Look over in 1 John. Hold John chapter 5. Look here
in 1 John. I'll hurry. Look in 1 John. Look in chapter 5. Chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4. Look in verse 8. 8 through 10 in verse 16. Look at this. This is what I'm
saying. 1 John 4, verse 8, He that loveth
not knoweth not God, for God is love. Do you believe that? Do you believe in God? What kind
of God do we believe in? Do we believe a God that fills
this universe? that inhabits eternity. What
kind of heart does he have? Love. Love of God is not really
an attribute. It's his nature. It's who he
is. God is love. Do you believe that? Look what
he said in verse 9. And this was manifested, the
love of God towards us. He's opened His heart towards
us. He's made us to know that He loves us because that God
sent His only begotten Son into this world that we might live
through Him. Through His giving Himself upon
the cross of Calvary. Through His broken body as a
penalty for sin. Through the pouring out of His
blood to atone for our iniquity. Lived through Him. And look what
He says in verse 16. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love. And he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." I see Jesus Christ
upon the cross of Calvary, and I believe His Word that I'm given
my life for Yours. I am the bread. You eat of me,
you'll live forever. I just take Him in His Word.
And I believe in the Father that sent Him. He did it because He
was willing to save me out of great love for my soul. Do you
believe in such a God? I just got a hunch. If you leave
here this morning, and you leave like you come in, you leave lost, It's not because you said, I
just can't understand those words. They're plain. I come down from
heaven and give life unto the world. That's plain ain't it?
I just got a hunch. If you leave here lost this morning,
it's not because you simply don't understand. I think the case is this, you
will not believe what he says. You've heard the same words that
I've heard. We sat and listened while the
message was read to us. And it's simple, ain't it? Here's
the problem. Here's the problem. If men don't
believe it, if men don't believe in God, who sent the Son, they'll
never be profited by it. It's not so much about the intellect.
Oh, I'm not discounting that. I know that. But I'll tell you
what it's really about. Simply with a childlike trust,
saying, I believe it. I believe in Him. I believe the
Father that sent Him. In John chapter 5, the last list
is this. We have the Word in verse 32
of chapter 5, verse 24 of chapter 5. He that heareth. He that heareth My Word. And
secondly, he that believeth on Him that sent Me. Here's the blessings that's connected
to it. Look at this. He hath everlasting
life. He hears. He believes. And He hasn't moved a muscle. He hasn't moved a muscle. Here
He sits. And He hears the words of the
living Christ. And He believes on the Father
that sent Him. And what's the effects of all
that? He hath. everlasting life. Life. Life. I tell you, that's
just not the duration of it. That's the quality of it. The
life of God in His soul. A life that will never diminish.
A life that will never end. A life that never will be destroyed. Death. Death cannot destroy this
life. It's the life of God. The second
death, when the unbelievers are cast into the lake of fire, this
life will not be hurt by that second death. The devil cannot
hurt this life. This life is incorruptible. It's
undefiled. It's the life of God Himself. He hath given to us eternal life,
and this life is in His Son. When Christ who is our life, they shall never perish. Why?
Because they have this life. This life. He that believeth
in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And he that liveth
and believeth in Me shall never die. Life. Life. And look what else he said. He
shall never come into condemnation. Oh, he'll struggle with sin.
You know he'll struggle with sin. But he'll never be judged
and condemned because of it. He may even fall. David did. Peter did. And God the Father
may chasten him sore, but he'll never condemn him. He'll never
condemn it. He shall never come to condemnation. Ain't that a wonderful thought?
It's hard to believe, ain't it? But there's no other way you
can lay hold upon it except by believing it. You come here and
you try to figure all this out and you'll rack your brain trying
to do it until you just finally come to the end of yourself and
say, Lord, if you said it, I believe it. Here I am struggling. Here I am doubtful. Here I am
so uncertain, facing my life and family troubles and the troubles
of this nation. But through it all, through it
all, there is no condemnation. There is no guilt. Isn't that
a wonderful thing? No condemnation. But He is past. from death unto life. There was a time in your life,
dear child of God, when you were dead in trespasses and sins. But you has He quickened. You
were in a dead state of sin. You were in the kingdom of darkness,
the kingdom of the devil. And what happened? What happened? You passed. You passed out of
that dark kingdom. You passed out of that spiritual
cemetery. Oh, isn't it a wonderful thing
to wake up and there you are in the cemetery? And you look
back down in your spiritual grave and you say, oh, look where I
was. That's usually the way it happens.
It's sort of like this. We never know where He brought
us from until He brings us out of it. Then we turn around and
look back in it and say, oh, my soul, that's where I was.
I knew it was bad, but I had no idea until now I'm looking
back down in my spiritual grave. You've passed. You have passed
from death unto life. Unto life. He that heareth my
words, and believeth on Him that sent me." He hath. He hath. You leave here this
morning, dear child of God, with life in your soul. You have it. You possess it right now. And
though this old outward man perishes day after day, oh, your hope
just gets brighter and brighter and brighter because you possess
life. that can never be lost or destroyed
or even diminished. Bless God for His Word. Let's
pray.