All right, take your Bibles now
and let's turn to John chapter 6. And the lesson this morning
is about believing unto life. I hear in conversations that
I've had with people over the years, I don't believe that,
or that's not the way we believe. or I'm having some trouble believing
the same way you believe. Well, in this chapter, the Lord,
what He's talking about when He talks about this coming to
Christ, He's talking about believing on Christ. He's talking about
coming to faith in Christ. And I keep resorting back to
that Scripture in the earlier parts of the chapter. I think it's back here Verse
36, where he tells these folks, these were religious people.
These were people who said they believed. And he said to them,
but I say unto you that ye also have seen me and believe not. Believe not. So there is a believing. And there is a believing unto
life. And this believing unto life
is what he's talking about. Man is not born naturally with
the life spoken of in the Scriptures. When he talks about that life
that is in Christ, he that hath the Son hath life. He's not talking
about the life that we have on this earth. He's not talking
about that life in you generated by natural generation. He's not
talking about that. He's not talking about how you
live it. He's not talking about your thoughts
and intents. He's not talking about any of
those things. He's talking about eternal life. And this eternal
life is not something we're born with. This is the first lesson. He stopped Nicodemus, this master
theologian. probably could quote most of
the Old Testament. He could tell you if a period
or a comma was out of place. This man knew the Scriptures. And he told Nicodemus, he said,
Nicodemus, you must be born again. You don't have this life. I don't
care what you know. I don't care how much you've
memorized. I don't care how much you've
learned. This life is not common to you. You didn't receive it
in natural generation. You have to be born again. This
life is something, here's what he's telling them, this life
is something totally different than anything that you've ever
known and anything that you've ever experienced. Man, he said,
is dead in trespasses and sins spiritually. He's dead spiritually. Even if he can memorize the true
doctrines, he's dead spiritually. And before he will take those
things and apply those things to himself, before he can generate
an affection for these things, an affection for Christ, be motivated
by love, be motivated, produce these true fruits of the Spirit,
before he can do that, he has to receive a new birth. Now,
he'll memorize them, and he'll call that salvation. He'll learn
the doctrines. That's why the churches in years
gone by used to have catechisms. A lot of the churches. The Baptist
church has a catechism, and you can go back and read them, and
they're solid as rock. But what they do is they take
their children and make them memorize these catechisms, and
then take a little test. which they called being catechized,
and then if you could pass the test, well, you were a believer.
But that's not so. That's not according to the Word
of God. And this is what the Lord is telling these folks here.
He said, you have seen me and believe not. We're dead. We're dead in this
spiritual realm. He said there's none that understand
it. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, their furbishness to him, neither
can he know them, for their spirits be understood." Why wouldn't natural Israel embrace
Christ? Why were they so opposed to this
One who was so very clearly declared by God Himself? Why wouldn't
they embrace Him? This was a perfect man. He wasn't
like you and I. He was perfect. If you want to, you can find
fault in me. If I want to, I can find fault
in you. But you couldn't find any fault
in him, because there wasn't any. He told his disciples, he
said, I'm not going to talk with you much anymore, because he
said, Satan cometh and he finds nothing in me. There was nothing
for him to find. There was nothing there for him
to distort or deceive. He was pure. He was spotless. He was tempted in this world
in the same situations that you are. He was tempted in all points,
like as we are, yet without sin. Here was a perfect man. He was
perfect in mercy, perfect in love, loved his neighbor as himself. Preferred that his neighbor be
filled first, and then he eat. Preferred first that his neighbor
be housed, and then he would take housing. He said the birds
of the air have nests, and the foxes, they have holes and places
to go. But he said the Son of Man has
nowhere to lay his hand. He truly loved his neighbor as
himself. He loved God with all his heart,
soul, mind, and strength. He loved the Father. This was
a perfect man. Why wouldn't they embrace him?
The difference must be obvious. If a perfect man were to enter
into your life, the difference must be obvious. He said, for
which one of the things that I've done, which one of these
good works do you stone me? We don't stone you for a good
work. They recognized that this man did good works. They recognized
that. They found no fault in that.
They found fault in what he said. And then the miracles that he
did. God confirmed who he was by the miracles that he did.
Why wouldn't Israel embrace him? Why wouldn't they throw their
arms around him and embrace him? Why were they so opposed to the
one who was so clearly declared and foretold? Because they, being
ignorant of his righteousness, were going about to establish
their own righteousness and would not submit themselves unto the
righteousness of God. That's what Paul said. That's
what he said. Spiritual death walks the course
of this world, Ephesians 2.2. It's shut up to man's opinions,
man's ideas, man's reasoning, man's sense of fairness. and
man's sense of right and wrong. Man is pushed and pulled and
motivated by unseen powers. It says he walked before God
came to you, converted you, reconciled you. Before he came, Paul said,
you walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
all those who disobey, in those children. of disobedience. We're
pushed and pulled, motivated by things we don't see, and we're
strongly swayed by natural desires and appetites of the flesh,"
Ephesians 2 verse 3. He said, we all had our conversation,
our behavior in times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And what were the overall results
of these things? We were by nature, he said, the
children of wrath. Now, let me give you three things
this morning concerning this blessing of everlasting life. First, let me see if I can describe
to you the nature of the blessing. This is where folks go wrong. They think that these blessings
have to do with this life. These blessings are spiritual
blessings. You can find it right there in
Ephesians chapter 1, where he said way back yonder in the beginning,
where this whole thing started, the Father blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now, three or four years ago, Kathy and I, she got a phone
call. And this fella said, you want
a free TV and free satellite service for a year. Everything
that's available for a year. And we're going to come out and
we're going to put you up a brand new HD satellite. We're going
to give you a big screen TV and we're going to give you free
service for a year. I just need your social security number.
She said, there ain't no way I'm giving you anything. And
she started calling around and calling around, and pretty soon
she got a hold of the local people. And they said, oh yeah, yeah,
they're having a promotion, and you probably have got this. And
so they confirmed it for her. So she called the guy back and
did all those things. And we got this TV. They come out and hooked it all
up and gave us that free service for a year. And we like to call
things like that blessings. Or, you know, Winston gave me
a little bit extra this morning from the church, and I appreciate
that, and I do count that as a blessing. But when we're talking
about natural things, whether we're talking about a TV, or
we're talking about money, or we're talking about a job, or
whatever it is we're talking about, what determines whether
or not this thing is a blessing is not in itself. What determines
whether or not that is a blessing are these spiritual blessings
over here. You see, money in itself, the
love of money, is the root of all evil. But if you understand
what money is about, Solomon said, money answers all things. How can that be? Because these
spiritual blessings over here know how to treat this money.
They know what it's about. They know what it's for. They
know who gave it. They know it's Him, they recognize
it as a tool, and they use it that way for the glory of God.
You can look at everything in life that way. But if you don't
have these spiritual blessings, then everything in this life
is a curse to you. It's a curse to you. The church
is a blessing, isn't it? We've got an assembly here. We
can meet. We can worship God. We can gather here together,
we can have fellowship one with another, we can come in here
and pray and sing and worship God. But a church, apart from
an understanding, apart from these spiritual blessings, is
a curse. All it does is feed the flesh, feeds the mind, feeds
the natural desires, feeds that type of thing, produces for you
a false refuge. You see what I'm saying? None
of these earthly things are of any benefit without this spiritual
understanding. This spiritual understanding
knows what these things are about. That's what this life is all
about. That's what he's telling us. They had their ceremonies.
They had their churches. They had jobs. They did all that.
They came miles here to worship and do these things that they
were doing. But these blessings are spiritual blessings. The nature of eternal life is
spiritual. He said, My words are spirit
and they are life. The things of God, he said, are
spiritually discerned. In Romans chapter 8 and verse
5, let me read for you a couple of verses of scripture over here.
Romans chapter 8, verses 5 and 6. He said, For they that are
after the flesh, born in it, have its nature, have its desires,
have its mind. They that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit,
the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded, fleshly
minded, left with that old natural reason and logic," that's what
he's talking about here. To be carnally minded is death. Death. Why is it death? Because it won't seek God. It
won't seek God. It won't bow to his word. It
won't submit itself to his witnesses. It won't seek him. It won't ask
questions concerning him. It won't submit. It won't bow.
It's death. In another sense, it's death
because it's satisfied. It's satisfied and easily deceived. It's satisfied. You know, back
in Isaiah, that scripture I read to you the other night in our
Wednesday night Bible study, Isaiah talked about those refuges
and things that we build. We've got an enemy coming, a
strong enemy. He's pursuing the city and we've
got a few onion sacks stacked up and standing behind and people
real safe behind onion sacks. That's the natural mind. That's just a picture of how
the natural mind, it takes that little decision, it takes those
ceremonies, it takes It will take whatever this world offers. It will take it. And it will
stack it up like a bunch of onion sacks and hide behind it and
feel safe before God. It's death. That's what he said. It's death. To be carnally minded
is death. But to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. Because it sees these things
for what they are. And it sees Him for who He is. The nature of the blessing of
everlasting life is contrary to anything the natural man has
ever known. It's foreign to him. It's out
of the scope of his experience. He cannot identify with it except
by way of an experiential knowledge, which is called in Scripture
being born again. I think it's in Titus where Paul
said, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared
unto us Teaching us. Teaching us. I claim to be a pastor-teacher. There are not pastors and teachers. There are pastor-teachers. And
I can teach you on paper. And I can teach you by words. But only He can teach you. You
see what Paul is saying there in Titus? It's the grace of God
that brings us salvation that teaches us that denying these
ungodly lusts, that we ought to live sober in this world. These are spiritual blessings. What is this new birth? What's
he talking about here? What is this everlasting life?
It is the Spirit of God taking up His abode in you. That's what
that is. That's what it is. He takes up
His abode in you. Let's walk with me over here
in John chapter 14. John chapter 14. Now the Lord,
He came with His disciples. He called them out of this world.
He called them to Himself. And when He did, He abode with
them. He walked with them. He lived
with them daily. Daily. Where He went, they went. Where they went, He went. They
went together, they were one. He took up his abode with them,
and they were his. And they walked with him. And
now he's getting ready to go to the cross. Now he's getting
ready to do what he came into this world to do, to satisfy
that judgment of God, to be obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. And he knows that these ones
that he abides with, are going to see what happens, and they
are going to be turned inside out. This one they loved, this
one they trusted, this one they thought was here forever is now
going to go away, and they are not going to understand why.
And so he spends three chapters here talking to them, reasoning
with them. Now listen to this, in John chapter
14, verse 16, And I suggest that you go home
and read through these things and get the whole scope of it. I don't have time to go all through
these chapters. But he said, I'm going to go
away, and when I do, he said, I will pray the Father, and he
shall give you another comforter that he may abide, now listen
to this, with you forever. Forever. That's eternal life. Forever. He's not going to come and visit
a little while and then leave. Forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom
the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth
him. But you know him, for he dwelleth
with you and shall be in you. These things I have spoken unto
you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach
you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever
I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you. My peace
I give unto you, not as the world give I unto you. Let not your
heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid. You
have heard how I said unto you, I go away and come again unto
you. If you loved me, you would rejoice.
But I said, I go to the Father, for my Father is greater than
I. And now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it
is come to pass, you might believe." This new birth is the Spirit
of Christ coming and abiding in us, taking up the things of
Christ and showing them unto us. reproving, he said, of sin,
of sin, of righteousness and of judgment, of sin because they
believe not on me. I don't know how to relate that
to you. It's a showing of God. But in
the face of great evidence, great evidence, why else would God
subject his son to such suffering and such shame and humility,
except he intended to save? You can't find the reason. He
didn't have to send his son and subject his son to these things
to condemn. And what that's all about over
in John 3, verse 16, where he says, For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
on Him might not perish, but have everlasting life. Well,
he said, I didn't come into the world to condemn the world, but
I came into the world to save it. To save it. You can't find
another reason. for God to subject his son to
such humility and suffering except that he intended to save? Why
else would he commission men and women to go preach the gospel
if he did not intend to save? Why else would God send and ordain
the ministry of the Holy Spirit in this world if he did not intend
to save? You can't find any reason in
the gospel, in Christ, in the word of God, to cause you hurt
or humiliation or division. The hurt and the humiliation
and the division is in you, not in the gospel. It's not in the
gospel. It's in you. And when God opens
your eyes to see that, you'll rejoice in it. You'll rejoice
in it. He said, it's the goodness of
God that leadeth thee to repentance. The goodness of God. When you
recognize what you are and who you are, and why you are the
way you are, when you recognize that, then you'll see the goodness
of God in Christ, reconciling men and women to himself. And
he's going to reprove of righteousness. He said, because I go to the
Father and you see me no more. Christ was set forth in this
world as a propitiation for sins through faith in his blood. His
faithful obedience, coupled with his suffering and death, constitutes
our righteousness. I don't have any other righteousness.
All of my righteousnesses, all that I produce, all that I say,
all that I think, Isaiah said, are as filthy rags. It's sufficient. It's sufficient. So I'm going to walk in mine.
I'm going to walk in his. You see what I'm saying? And
you'll walk in his when you recognize what yours is. You can lay it
down. Paul gloried in his righteousness. He said, you think you've got
reason to hope? I more. You're not a Jew. You're a proselyte. You're a
Gentile. I'm a Jew. That's what he said. I'm a Benjamin. I can trace my
blood back. How far back can you go? I was
circumcised the eighth day according to the law. As touching the law,
he said, I was blameless. Blameless. Zeal above all my
equals. And he said, I counted all but
done. That's what he said. What in the world would cause
this man who gloried in his righteousness now to just look at it as garbage? Why would he do that? Because
he saw it for what it was. That's why. And that's when you'll
turn loose of yours when you see it for what it is. And this
is what the Holy Spirit does. He comes and He convinces us,
reproves us of righteousness. He shows us what ours is, what
God demands, and that righteousness that He has in Christ. And then
look at this. He said of judgment, because
the prince of this world is judged. Satan's reign over man is a delusion. It's a delusion that he can somehow
win the favor of God and appease God and satisfy God by something
he does. While the truth of the matter
is that the soul that sinneth, ain't that what he said? Shall
surely die. Shall surely die. He said, Cursed
is everyone who continueth not in all things written in the
book of the law to do them. The disciples watched as the
Lord reproved the rich young ruler. And the rich young ruler
told him, he said, all of these I've done from my youth up. I've
kept all these. That's no problem. You'd be surprised how many people
believe that. This law is not a problem. I've
kept these things since I was little. I've kept it. Well, then you
won't have any problem with this. Sell everything you have. What you have. Whatever it is,
get rid of it. You ready to do that? You think
you can do that? Everything. Everything. Your children, your house, your
job, everything. Can you do that? You're going
to get rid of everything you've got and then take up your cross. What cross? His cross. Take up that cross. Take up that shame, that humiliation,
that point. That point of satisfaction, that
place, the only place where God will ever be said, you put that
on your back and you follow me. And he bowed his head and walked
away. And so will you if you ever see
that. If you ever see that. And his disciples, they looked
at, this was a rich man, a smart man, a moral man, a Christian
man, so-called. And they said, who then can be
saved? What did he tell them? With man,
it is impossible. Ain't that what he said? Then
why are we trying to do it? It's impossible. It's impossible. He cannot and he will not give
himself completely and totally into the hand of his God, to
love him, obey him, trust him, and follow him all the days of
his life. But Christ did. He did. Why not embrace him? You can't
find this in you. It ain't in you. That new birth is an awakening
to the person and glory of Christ. We have the mind of Christ. We
understand who sent him, why, and for whom he came. We understand
his purposes and the will of God. We see the Father in all
that he did and said. Thomas said, How can we know
where you're going? How can we know the Father? He
said, Thomas, have you been so long time with me and have you
not seen the Father? We see in all that he did and
all that he was, we see the Father. We see in his life the beauty
of holiness, and we desire to be like him. I see an attitude
and spirit in him unlike the one I have, and I desire it. I see a walk of life in him far
superior to mine, and I desire it. I see the glory of his sonship
far superior to mine, and I desire it. There is nothing in him not
to desire. not to desire. The new birth
is the Spirit of Christ coming to us through the gospel and
abiding in us. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. It's not some isolated experience. It's a state of being. Now, listen
to this. He said, if any man, I don't
care who he is, I don't care how ignorant I don't care where
the Lord found him. I don't care what he did before
that point. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creation. He's a new creature. Old things
are passed away, and behold, all things are become new. It's a state of being. And then
secondly, where is this life? This life is in Christ. You're not going to find it anywhere
else. It's in Him. It's all together in him. And then thirdly, what is the
way of this blessing? Faith. It's faith. That's what he's
talking about. That's what all this coming is
about. He's talking about faith. If you can see in me. That satisfaction
that God demanded, that righteousness that God requires. If you can
see in me that satisfaction and that righteousness, if you can
see in me that love of God who loved you before the world was,
if you can see in me that pure mercy and grace, if you can see
this, then you'll see what the bread is all about. You'll see
what the bread is all about. And faith is the work of God
in you. It wins the heart. It discovers
the sins. It awakens you to Christ. And
it translates you into His kingdom, causes you to bow, and convinces
you of the truth. It reveals Christ to you. I want to read this to you and
I'll close. This is a comment that old William Jay, he was
a friend of John Newton who wrote Amazing Grace. This was another
preacher of his day who was a friend with him. And he made this comment. He said, Believing is giving
assent to a declaration as true. But that's not all of it. But
he said, Credence itself is much like knowledge. We may know a
thing and not possess it. Or pursue it. We can know it
and not pursue it. Faith always operates toward
Christ as its object in a way of trust, and in a way of dependence,
and in a way of approbation and application, always, always. True faith don't just give assent
to a doctrine, it submits to it. It don't just say, I believe
that you're the Christ, we're going to make you the king. But
it follows him, it embraces him, and it's changed by him. That's
the teaching here in John chapter six. I am the breath, you see. I am the breath. That's believing,
believing unto life.