To hear people speak of him today,
politicians, the news media, religious people, you have to
wonder how it is that the Lord Jesus Christ was ever crucified. Because everybody speaks of him
as if he's admired and loved and followed. as if he were a
great leader, a man to be followed in the example that he left on
this earth, as if men embraced his doctrine while he walked
on this earth. But we know that the Jews despised
him, hated him, and gave him over to be crucified to the Romans. And the Romans joyfully shed
his blood in the most horrible way possible upon the cursed
tree. Because Jesus Christ is God incarnate. And man by nature hates God. Man by nature hates God. And if he could, if you could
get your hands on him, some of you here this morning, If you
could get your hands on him, you'd kill it. Man by nature
hates God, not his opinion of God, not what he's been taught
to think of God, but he hates God. And when he could get his
hands on God and human flesh, look away to Calvary and you'll
see what man would do with God at every moment of his existence. Did you ever ask yourself, you
who are gods, why was Christ so hated? The fact that our Lord
Jesus Christ, while he walked on this earth, was utterly hated
of men is obvious. As soon as they had opportunity,
the princes of this world crucified the Lord of glory. Why? That's the question I want to
answer from the scriptures in this message this morning. Why was Christ so hated? Turn with me to John chapter
7, and in the opening verses of this seventh chapter of John's
gospel, you will see very plainly why Christ was so hated. John chapter 7, verse 1. After these things, Jesus walked
in Galilee. For he would not walk in Jewry. What a strange way the Spirit
of God inspired John to describe those people and that religion
that was once the people of God. and the people's and the worship
of God, the Jews and Judaism. But now their religion and the
people had degenerated to that which John simply calls Jewry. Our Lord Jesus would no longer
walk among the Jews and he would no longer walk in their religious
ways because the Jews sought to kill him. The Jews, the people he brought
out of Abraham's loins, the people he brought out of Egypt, the
people he brought through the winners, the people he brought
into the land of promise, the people among whom alone he established
his worship, the people who had the temple, the tabernacle, the
priesthood, the sacrifices, the Passover, the Jews sought to
kill it. Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles
was at hand. And his brethren, therefore,
said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples
also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that
doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known
openly. If thou do these things, show
thyself to the world. For neither did his brethren
believe on him. I believe in him. Then Jesus
said unto them. My time is not yet come. But
your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you. But me it hateth. Because. I testify of it, that the works
thereof are evil. Go ye up unto this feast. I go not up yet unto this feast,
for my time is not yet full come. When he had said these words
unto them, he abode still in Galilee. But when his brethren
were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly,
but as it were in secret. Then the Jews sought him at the
feast and said, where is he? And there was much murmuring
among the people concerning him. For some said, he is a good man. Others said, nay, but he deceiveth
the people. Howbeit, no man spake openly
of him for fear of the Jews. This chapter opens with the Jews
seeking to kill the Lord Jesus. He was so hated so viciously
despised that the Jews, that is the religious leaders among
the Jews, the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the priests and
the elders, both the liberal Jews and the conservative Jews,
both those that were theological academics and those that were
ordinary everyday religious leaders. The Jews sought to kill him.
They were looking for a way. These folks in the name of God
were looking for a way to murder this just man with no appearance
of guilt. They were looking for a way to
murder a man whom they knew to be a just man with no appearance
of guilt. for just one reason. He exposed
their religion as evil. He exposed their religion as
evil. We'll get to it in a moment.
Let me show you five things in these opening verses of John
chapter 7. Number one, it's obvious that this passage
demonstrates clearly that multitudes, multitudes in this world have
a form of godliness who have no knowledge of God whatever. Multitudes of people are religious
but lost. Everybody's religious. Everybody's
religious. You're not going to find any
folks who aren't religious. There are some who wear their
religion like a badge and they wear their religion openly so
you can see clearly their practice of religion and they'll show
you how godly they are by the way they pray and the way they
dress and where they go and where they don't go and all that nonsense
folks practice in religion. Some are less openly religious,
but all are religious. But most people, most people,
religious as all get out, are lost. We read in verse 2, the
Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand. What a scathing description
of the Jews' religion. A scathing description. This
divinely ordained feast of tabernacles is here referred to by the Spirit
of God as the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles. No longer the worship of God,
no longer the Feast of Tabernacles, the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles. This blessed ordinance of divine
worship had so degenerated that it was no longer observed as
an ordinance of divine worship at all, but it was simply a custom
of the Jews. a tradition of the Jews by which
they had advantage, by which they, how do they call it, you
folks who are in business, make contacts with one another? It's
a good place to make business contacts, you know, you go to
church, find out the best one to go to, find out where everybody
goes, and that's what you do. And if you want to go to any
place, go to the Feast of Tabernacles. That's where you'll find all
the Jews. gathered in Jerusalem at one
time for a big religious party. Go there. But the Jews' Feast
of Tabernacles was not always observed that way. It was not
always the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles. This feast was ordained by God
and given in the law, requiring that the children of Israel go
up to Jerusalem. This is one of the three times
every year. when they were required to go
up to Jerusalem and worship God for a week. You can read about
it in Leviticus chapter 23. It was held on the 15th day of
the seventh month of every year after the Jews had gathered their
fruits in the land. They were to go up to Jerusalem
and there for seven days dwell in tents, in booths. just pitch a tent and live around
the temple for seven days with your brethren in remembrance
of the fact that for 40 years, God led you through the wilderness
as pilgrims. He led you with the pillar of
cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. He used that same
pillar of cloud and pillar of fire to consume your enemies
and to confuse them. But for you, it was light, it
was protection, and it was guidance. And the Lord provided for you
those 40 years. You ate manna every day. God
spread a table for you every day and you never went hungry.
Your shoes never wore out and nobody ever wore them second-handed. Miraculously, the shoes were
adapted to the people. Your clothes never got moldy
or ragged. Brother David had a brand new
pair of bitches this morning, ripped them right yonder. He
said, don't tell Celeste, it's out. They spent 40 years in the wilderness
and never tore a thread. Now you go up to Jerusalem and
dwell in booze and remember that I'm the Lord, your God, who brought
you out of Egypt, the Lord, your God, who provided for you and
protected you. And I want you to understand
this before I go any further. Those Old Testament saints, Those
men and women who in the Old Testament believed God understood
what these various symbols of the Old Testament law were designed
to teach. Moses was given a pattern and
the pattern he was given was Jesus Christ himself. It wasn't
a physical image, it was the finished work of Christ himself.
Abraham, you remember he went up to Mount Moriah with his son
Isaac? You remember what he said to
his servants? When they went up to the mount, he said, I and
the lad will go yonder and worship God. And we will return to you. Skip, he's going up there to
sacrifice his son. He's going up there to kill him
because God said kill him. And Abraham fully believed, he
fully believed that when he killed his son, God would raise that
bear from the dead. because he understood that Isaac
is the seed through whom the seed Christ Jesus must come who
would die and be raised from the dead. What does the book say? Abraham
rejoiced to see my day and was glad. These Old Testament saints
understood what these things symbolized. They understood that
it symbolized more than just the remembrance of how they had
come out of Egypt and dwelt in booze. They understood that this
symbolized the coming of the Redeemer in human flesh and God
and man dwelling together forever in the presence of God in heavenly
glory. Let me show you. Turn to Psalm
72. Psalm 72. These booths, these tents, the
feast of tabernacles represented the incarnation of our Redeemer.
In fact, that's the very word that's used to speak of the incarnation.
The word was made flesh and dwelt. That word, Doug, is tabernacled,
dwelt, pitched in a tent. Here among us, And we beheld
as the word stood before us in this tent of human flesh. We
beheld his glory as of the glory of the only begotten of the father,
full of grace and truth. Now look at Psalm 72 verse 16.
There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top
of the mountains. The fruit thereof shall shake
like Lebanon and they of the city shall flourish like grass
of the earth. His name shall endure forever. His name shall be continued as
long as the sun, and man shall be blessed in Him. All nations shall call Him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the
God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things." There's more in that than I've
ever gotten said yet or understood yet. God doesn't do anything that's ordinary. He only doeth
wondrous things. He only doeth wondrous things.
And blessed be His glorious name forever, and let the whole earth
be filled with His glory. Amen and amen. Now let's see
the fullness of this, Revelation chapter 21. And I saw a new heaven and a
new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea." No more sea. I left England a few weeks ago.
My dear friend, Brother Sid Buggins, he said, soon there'll be no
more sea. Seas separate people. be no more
sea. And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem. Now this is not like the carnal
pictures you get in these dispensational books of fiction, a picture of
a city dropping down out of the sky. Read the chapter, you'll
find that's talking about the church of God. It's a spiritual
picture. I saw the holy city, the New
Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a
bride adorned for her husband. You see, this is God's church. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with
men. The dwelling of God is with men,
and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people.
and God himself shall be with them and be their God. Now, back to our text. How sad,
how horribly, horribly sad it is to see multitudes doing exactly
what the Jews in our Lord's day had done, clinging to a form
of godliness while denying the power thereof. clinging to outward
ceremonies while despising spiritual worship. Let me tell you something I do. I'll let you in on a little secret. As I'm preparing a message, it
doesn't matter whether I'm planning to preach an ordination message
in New Canada, Texas, or preach in a place where I've never preached
before, or whether I'm going to be preaching to some teenagers
at a Bible club in high school or talking to children in kindergarten,
or whether I'm talking to learned theologians and pastors and educators
in the kingdom of God. I try my best to have pictured
before me my wife or my son-in-law or my
daughter, one of the grandchildren, a sister, a father, a mother,
someone dear who's lost and will soon meet Christ in eternity
in judgment to spend eternity forever in the bliss of God's
presence or in the pit of the dam suffering his torments. And
I ask myself, would you preach this message then? And if the answer's no, Skip,
I scrap it and throw it away. But it's theologically correct.
It's just a theological game. But it's a historically important
thing. It's just a historic piece of
trash. But it's significant for our
denomination. It's just a denominational delusion. Preaching is ministering to the
souls of men spiritually. in the power of God's spirit,
that which is necessary for their souls. I speak to you that which
is necessary. We practice, God give us grace
to practice the worship of God spiritually, not carnally. What are you getting at, Pastor?
Public worship is meaningless. I look out this morning, see
you coming in, sitting here. Some of you come for different
reasons. Some come for one thing or another. I hope some of you
have come because you want to worship God. But it's meaningless if your
heart's not in it. It's a mockery. It's a mockery. I mean a mockery. Without heart,
there's no worship. Baptism. I have an article on
front page of the bulletin, I urge you to read it very brief. If
God's given you faith in Christ, you must confess the Lord Jesus
and believers baptism. But baptism. Is an empty ritual. This immersion in water. We've
gone through so much trouble to to do this this way, it's
not not convenient to some folks swash a little water on your
head, but this has to be done is immersion. And you got to
change clothes and get dried off and it's not not convenient.
And we go through this ceremony because this is the way it ought
to be done. Yeah, but it's meaningless. Unless you're baptized into Christ. It's just meaningless. Tonight,
we'll come together, as we do every Sunday evening, and we
will eat the bread and drink the wine at the Lord's table.
We insist that we have unleavened bread. We insist that we use
wine because that's the way it was done in the New Testament
and because of the thing symbolized by the bread and the wine, the
body and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. But you can have
everything just exactly right and eat and drink damnation to
yourself. If you eat without faith in Christ
and drink without faith in Christ, Our worthiness at the Lord's
table is Christ the Redeemer. And unless you see that, you
eat and drink damnation to your soul in the practice of religion. These Jews had been practicing
religion for so long, somehow over a course of time, their
religion degenerated to nothing but an outward Just an outward form. Now, they didn't miss church
service. They didn't quit going to church. No, they went regular.
They didn't miss any of the feast days at Jerusalem. Oh, no, they
kept them meticulously. They observed the Sabbath day,
and they observed the ordinances, and they observed the ceremonies,
and it was just an outward form. And when He stood in front of
them, of whom the form spoke, they didn't have a clue who He
was. They didn't have a clue. Now, they were looking for Him.
They were looking for Him. They were... Their law spoke
of Him coming. They were anticipating the Messiah
to arrive just about that time. There were a few among them who
understood that. When Simeon saw that baby, and he saw Mary
and Joseph bring that baby into the temple, he picked up that
baby, and he said, I've got God in my hands. Lord, now let your servant depart
in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Did he really believe that wrong?
He really did. A few did, but most folks, They
didn't have a clue. They didn't have a clue. Let
us ever seek grace from God the spirit. Pray that we may pray
in the spirit. And sing in the spirit. And read in the spirit. And preach
in the spirit. And hear in the spirit. Who has
reading out here tonight? Which one of you men? But the
ladies, I know we've got to read it back in the auditorium. One
of you out here, don't take it casually. Read
a passage. And read the passage in the spirit. I'm not talking about pretense.
I'm talking about ask God to read his word through you. You
sing. You folks who sing and help to
lead the way in worship, what a great song. Beautiful voice. Do it right, by all means. Do
it right. Do it right. Don't sing like
I would. Do it good. But sing in the spirit. And when you lift your voice
as a congregation, sing in the spirit. Oh, God, help us to worship
in spirit and in truth. All right, here's the second
thing. Our Savior's brethren stand here as a glaring demonstration
of the fact that it's impossible for anyone to believe on him. I meant to say it just that way.
It's impossible for anyone to believe on him. His brethren
here are not his brethren in the spirit. They're his brethren
after the flesh. These same brethren are described
by Mark in Mark's gospel as saying when they wanted to distance
themselves from him, things were getting pretty tight, and the
Jews were looking to crucify him, and they were after anybody
who was identified with him, anybody who was associated with
him. And they said, really, we think he's a little nuts. He's
beside himself. He's gone mad. We'll pay attention
to it. These brethren, they had hoped
that if these things were indeed true, if the Lord really did
perform these miracles and they weren't just things that were
fooling their eyes, if he really did these things, he's really
the Messiah, the King, then he wants some notoriety. He's got
no business down here in this country village. He needs to
go up to Jerusalem and show himself. And it wouldn't be a bad thing. We could get on. We could write
a book about it and make a lot of money. Go up to Jerusalem,
show yourself. Look at it. Verse 5, verse 3. His brethren therefore said unto
him, Depart hence and go into Judea, that thy disciples also
may see the works that thou doest. For there's no man that doeth
anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly."
Now, if you want to be known, you're going to have to do this
thing openly. If thou do these things, it's just a hint of suspicion. If thou do these things, show
thyself to the world. For neither did his brethren
believe in him. These were folks close kin to
God in the flesh. Close kin. They were raised with
him. They watched him as a boy never
once say or do anything wrong. They watched him even as he grew
as a boy growing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God
and with men. They watched him all the days
of his life constantly doing his father's will. Now, he never
made any show. He never made any outward display
of anything. For 33 years, he walked in this
world And for 30 of those years, he never indicated to anybody
who he was, except his mother and his father, when he said,
I must be about my father's business. Ever. Folks these days, they want to
act religious. I do my dead level best here
to get you not to do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't
ever act religious. Well, I want people to see Jesus
in me. No, you don't. You want people to see you. See
how good and godly and holy you are, how devoted you are. I love
what Brother Mahan said when I was at a restaurant and somebody
asked him, he said, aren't you going to pray? He said, why?
Well, folks have a good testimony. He said, leave a good tip. Don't pretend. before men. Don't do it. If there's one thing
our Lord is so plain about, Matthew chapter 6, he said, when you
fast, don't tell anybody you're fasting. Don't tell anybody you're
fasting. I heard that Yehu from up north
the other night on television, just flipping the channels in
Sharpton. He said to whoever was interviewing
him, Hannity, he said, I was fasting. Well, you weren't then. No, you weren't then. I don't
care who you are. Don't tell anybody you're fasting.
You're praying, don't tell anybody. Y'all be quiet now. Wait just
a minute, I've got to finish praying, then I can come out
and visit with you. I've been in houses where folks tell me,
when I've got my prayer time and I can't do this right now,
y'all waiting. No, you weren't praying, you're
just showing off. You're just showing off. You go to the restaurant,
you got to get attention from everybody. Well, let's pray.
Brother Don, don't you think folks are sincere? Folks can
be sincere and still show off because they're deluded. Well,
I wanted folks to see Christ in me. Larry, his brethren didn't
see Christ in him. How do you think they're going
to see him in you? It's impossible to believe on the Son of God
for any man. For any man. It's impossible. Doesn't matter if you're related
to Jesus Christ himself. Earthly relations are no advantage
in the kingdom of God. Spiritual privileges are no advantage
in the kingdom of God. None whatever. If it happens to get out on me
when I'm traveling, Somebody finds out I'm a preacher. Do you know what I hear more
often than I hear anything else? My daddy was a preacher. My granddaddy
was a preacher. I had a great-great-grandfather
on my mother's side who was a preacher. There was a fella in our family,
we did tracing the family tree, back a hundred years ago who
was a preacher. Because fools think. That's going to give a
one-step, but I've got a little hold on God. None whatever. None whatever. Well, preacher, if it's impossible
for any man to believe on the Son of God, how is it you believe? With God, all things are possible. Is that what our Lord said about
every young ruler? He's talking about this thing of faith. With
God, even a fellow like me can believe. With God, even a doomed,
damned, dead, dog sinner like you can believe. If my Father
which has sent me draw him, our Master said, you will believe. If not, you won't. Faith's impossible with men.
Well, don't you think we can train folks in faith? No. Don't
you think we can educate folks in the kingdom of God? No. Don't
you think that if we if we do enough, we can we can get folks
to believe? No. Faith is the gift and the
operation of God. It is the fruit of life bestowed
by God, the Holy Spirit. It is the spirit that quickens
the flesh profit of nothing. Third. We're reminded again that
everything comes to pass at God's appointed time. To everything
there is a season and a time to every purpose under the sun.
In verse six, Jesus said to them, my time is not yet come. But your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but
it hateth me because I testify of it that the works thereof
are evil. Go ye up unto this feast. I go
not yet up to this feast, for my time is not yet full come. Everything in this world comes
to pass according to God's purpose at God's time, exactly as needed
for the salvation of all his people. And nowhere is this more
clearly demonstrated than in the work of grace and salvation,
in redemption by Christ, and in the call of God's Spirit.
For when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his
Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that
were under the law. And in due time, at exactly the right time, when
everything had prepared the way, Our Lord said it's not time for
me to go up there yet and have a confrontation direct head-on
with these Pharisees. It's coming, but it's not time
yet. It's soon, but not time yet, because my time not yet
fully come. But in due time, in due time,
Christ died for the ungodly. My friend, Brother Tim James,
often says, When we part, well, I'll see you when it's
time. I'll see you when it's time.
And that's the way it is with everything. I'll leave here when
it's time. When it's time. Everything according
to God's time. And at the time appointed, He
calls out his own by the power and grace of his spirit. Let
me leave that for another time. Here's the fourth thing. Our
Lord tells us in verse seven and tells us plainly that he
was hated of the world in which he lived simply because he showed
that its works are evil. He says to his brethren, his
own kinsmen after the flesh, The world cannot hate you. Can't
hate you. Can't hate you because you practice
the same thing it does. It can't hate you because you
embrace the same traditions it does. Can't hate you because
you trust in the same works it does. Can't hate you because
you think you're righteous because of what you do or because of
who you are. The world can't hate you. But
me, it hateth. It hates, it always has hated,
and it will continue hating. For one reason, for one reason,
because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. Now,
does this refer to murder and adultery and fornication and
drunkenness and lasciviousness and robbery and all that? Yes, by all means. Yes, by all
means. If you want somebody to get upset with you, just give
them a hint that there's somehow something that they're doing
that you don't approve of. And they will get upset. But Merle,
that's not what he's talking about here. He's talking about
the religious practices of the world. And the religious practices of
the world are the same world over. Doesn't matter whether
you're talking about Judaism or Islam or Christianity. Doesn't
matter whether you're talking about animism or Hinduism. Doesn't matter what you're talking
about. Religious practices are the same the world over. Doesn't
matter whether you're talking about Baptists or Methodists
or Pentecostals or Presbyterians or Catholics. The religious practices
are all the same the world over. They all practice the same religion.
Listen to the book of God. There is a way, just one way,
which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways
of death. It's one way and one end, but
it has many paths leading in the same way. Some are conservative
and some are liberal. Some places they wear a costume
and preachers look like clowns, or somebody in Masonic order
costume, or they wear some kind of sissified gown, and some places they don't. Some
places they wear ties with gravy spots all over them, and they
walk on three or four inches of the britches. But it's all the same
stuff. It's all the same. Some places
they speak in tongues, and some places they're post-speaking
in tongues. Some places they've got female preachers, and some
places they say, no, we won't have any women preachers. Some
places they baptize and some places they sprinkle. Some places
they observe the Lord separate, some places they don't. Some
are pre-millennial, some post-millennial, some are millennial. But it's
all the same way. It's religion based on what you
do. Somewhere, somehow, at some point
in the work of salvation, there. I did that. I know a man can't save himself,
but bless God, don't tell me there's nothing for me to do.
I know it's not possible for a man to give himself life, but
once he's got life, he's got something to do. I know that
we're justified by grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone.
But once we're justified, there's something we got to do or we
can't have any peace with God. We can't have any hope before
God. Don't tell me that my works count for nothing. Everybody
knows, everybody knows you've got to live righteously and godly
and you've got to do and do and do and do and do. Everybody knows
that except folks who worship God. everybody except folks who worship
God. You've been a preacher. Salvation
doesn't depend in any way on anything I feel or think or do
or experiences I've had or relationships in my family. Because my daddy
was a good man, my mama was a good man. It's got nothing to do with
all that? Nothing. Nothing. The way you talk, Brother Don,
the only way anybody can ever be saved is to trust Christ for
everything. I thought I could put it that
simple. The only way. The only way. And this is offensive to me.
And I'll tell you why. It puts everybody on the same
level. And the level it puts you on
is a downhill slope in the dung of fallen humanity with your
face in the dirt before God's sovereign throne. And nobody
wants to put there. And it's all right if you put
me there, just don't put me down quite as low as you put her.
Just don't put me down quite as low as you put him. Now don't
tell me, I know I'm a sinner, but don't tell me I'm a sinner
like he is. There's some things I just wouldn't
do. I told you the fence. It declares that your works will
never be accepted before God. Your best works are just sin.
Just sin. What did Abel do to enrage his
brother Cain? What did he do? Cain, now boy,
you ought to quit lying to mom and daddy. No. Cain, I'm going
to tell daddy what you've been doing. No. What did he do? What was it that Abel did? He
worshipped God. That's all he did. That's all
he did. And Cain, Cain and Abel going
up to worship God like the daddy Adam taught her worship. And
Cain said, here, Abel, I've got some cabbage heads out here in
the garden. I'll give you some of mine. Abel said, no, I'll just
take blood. Well, here, take some corn. No,
I'll just take blood. Abel, the corn's prettier. The
cabbage is nicer. I'll just take blood. Abel, are
you telling me that God won't accept my works? Cain, I'm telling
you nothing except God won't have anything but blood. That's
all he'll have. The precious blood of his darling
son. That's all. One last thing. You can read verses 10 to 13
again at your leisure. Here we see that men everywhere,
women everywhere are divided from one another. by three very
strong opinions about the Lord Jesus. Some folks say, he's a
good man. Yes, sirree. Oh, I honor Jesus. He's a good man. Others, you
young people get ready to go off to college, you mark it down,
you'll get some professor in the school to do his dead-level
best to convince you, no, mama and daddy been deceiving you
all these years, he's a deceiver. Just what happened right here.
Some say he's a good man. Others say, no, he's a deceiver.
And they both equally despise him. They both equally despise him. Those two groups of people will
always find some way or another to get along with one another.
Kind of like, I've always been astonished, haven't you? the
most conservative politicians and the most liberal politicians
get together and have dinner to each other. You think, well,
man, how does it work? They're politicians. So they
do what they have to do to get along because this is where the
rubber hits the road. Nothing really matters but me. Nothing else. Believers, on the
other hand, will never be accepted of either. Because believers
know and are sure that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the
son of the living God, who alone is the way, the truth, and the
life. And Bobby, we just keep coming
to God by him. Amen.