Alright, let's take our Bibles
now and turn over to 1 Peter chapter 2. I want to continue a little bit
along the subject line that I've been looking at over the past
several weeks. We began over in the book of
James talking about a faith that must produce what we don't have
the ability to produce. You know, there was a missionary
who served as a missionary of God up in upstate New York years
ago. He died at the age of 27. Brainerd was his name. And he
run into four things that really made him mad. When he first heard
them, they just made him angry and mad. And one of those things
was that God demanded a faith from him, and he couldn't produce
it. He couldn't produce it. And that's
what this book of James is about. This book of James is telling
you that there is a faith that will stand against odds that
you can't stand against, against cause. It's going to go through
a fire that you can't bear up under. It's going to be tested of God.
It's got to stand the judgment of God. Now, you think about what he's
talking about there when he talks about the judgment of God. The
all-seeing eye of God, he said, where every secret thing is brought
out into light. This faith has to stand that
judgment. This faith has to stand all these
obstacles. It has to stand against what
he calls principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness and
spiritual wickedness in high places. This faith has to stand
in a constant abiding with a nature that's enmity against God, constantly. Read Romans chapter 7. The apostle
Paul said, everything I desired to do, he said, I did to vary
off. Everything that I said in my mind and will not to do, he
said, that's the very thing I did. This faith has to survive that
constantly unto death. This faith has to stand up in
death. We've got a life to live, but
we have a death to die. And we've got a judgment to face.
And it takes real faith. Now, we might sit out here while
the sun is shining and play games, but I'm telling you, at the first
clap of thunder of God's judgment, it's a whole different ball game. I'm telling you, that's what
this kind of faith has to stand. A doctor is going to come out
one of these days with a long face, and he's going to shake
his head. And boy, the game is over now. Playtime is over. Now what are we going to do?
I don't have to go home in the privacy of my house and the privacy
of my kinfolk and relatives and stuff and try to get them to
pat me on the back because I think I'm right or I think somebody's
wrong. That's all over now. That's all
over now. You see what I read to you there
in Acts 17? Paul said, God has appointed
a date. in which he is going to judge
this world in righteousness, not your idea of it, but according
to that man whom he hath ordained." He talks over there in the Old
Testament about the plumb line. Hell, you carpenters know what
a plumb line is. Boy, it's straight. There ain't
no bends in it. There ain't no curves in it. There ain't no
give in it. Whatever it is up here, that's
where it's at down here. That's what he's talking about.
This faith has to stand that judgment. It's got to stand in
that judgment. And this faith, it rests everything
in the hands of Christ. This faith lays everything at
the feet of Christ. This faith owns everything to
be of Christ. And this faith, this faith, its
only confession is Christ. It's just Christ. It never talks
about what it did. It just talks about what Christ
did. I don't have anything to say about what I did unless I'm
talking in the negative. Now, I can illustrate sin all
day in myself, but I can't illustrate righteousness unless I go to
Him. I can't illustrate obedience
unless I go to Him. You see what I'm saying? Paul
said, all my righteousnesses, all these things that I called
righteousnesses, all these things that I once found pride in, All
these things that I once confessed to be my hope, he said, they're
just filthy rags. This faith must include a new
birth. It must include a new heart,
a new mind, a new will. This faith must stand in the
power of God because before whom it stands and who it stands against. And
I tell you this, it involves the name of God and the reputation
of Christ and the validity of the Word of God. This faith does. Now, I'm going to tell you something. These false professors of faith,
I'm one. I'm one. Over and over in my lifetime.
Professed and pretended and found false refuge and all those kinds
of nonsense, everybody goes through it. Everybody does. We hear this,
we hear that, we want this, we want that, we're sorry about
this, we're sorry about that. We run down here and we adopt
what the old writer called some useless kind of religion. And
that's all it is. Some useless kind of religion.
And we adopt those things. This faith, it involves the name
of God, the reputation of Christ, the validity of the Word of God.
And if all you have is a false profession, if you go home, the
only thing you lost is your reputation. That's all. Well, he's just playing
games. He's just playing games. Like Winston went home and told
his wife that time and she said again. That's all that is. Again. You just lose a little
reputation. That's all it is. You be a laughing
stock for a few days and then they go on. But for a believer,
now let me tell you something, for a believer to lose his faith
would mean that God would have to cease to be God because God
gave him the faith. Huh? You see what I'm talking about?
It's a whole different ball game. Now, I'm telling you, this ain't
religion. This is real. This is the real thing. This
is real faith. There is false faith everywhere. You can see it everywhere. I
can look at my history and see it. I can read it to you. I can
talk to you about it. I know what it is. I can identify
it. But there is a real faith. And
this real faith is the gift of God. This real faith includes
life. You see, you back up over there
in the book of Peter, go back over there to chapter 1 and those
first two or three verses and look who he is talking to. He
is talking to strangers. I just read to you about those
strangers over there in Athens. That's what these folks were.
They're just strangers. They're scattered abroad. They're scattered
all over the place. Here a little and there a little.
There's everywhere. Some of them worshiped sun gods.
Some of them worshiped moon gods. Some of them worshiped snake
gods. I used to go down to Mexico and visit Brother Walter Gruber
down there. His base then was over in Medica
and we'd go out there in the Yucatan jungles. And they had
a god out there called Kukulkan. He was the feathered serpent,
the old Mayan Indian god. And they built temples and offered
human sacrifices and all them things. You see what I'm talking
about? This ain't that. This involves
the name of God and the reputation of Christ and the validity of
God's Word. And this faith has to stand opposition
and temptation and human reasoning and enticement. Faith must withstand
the storms of doubt within and without. Doubt. You ever doubted? Oh, that's a horrible place to
be, ain't it? Doubt. Worldly attractions, worldly
comforts, worldly advantages, worldly situations. To be the
faith of God's elect, this faith must persevere to the end. These
all died in faith. Every last one, I read just a
few of them to you while I go out of Hebrews chapter 11, that
roll call of faith. They all died in faith, every
last one of them. None of them went back. And Paul says this, he said,
done all. He said, stand. That's what faith
does. It just stands. It will do everything
in its power to do, but when it gets done doing, it will just
stand. I'm telling you, He stood. I
talked to you about it a little bit last week. He stood. He stood
before the enemies, and He stood before lies, and He stood before
opposition, and He stood before all those things. And when the
time came when he could do no more, he just stood there silent.
But he never quit standing, did he? He never did. He stood. He stood. Take unto you, he said, the whole
armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil
day. Put on the whole armor of God
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with the truth,
and having on the breastplate of righteousness," here is righteousness,
Ephesians 6, verse 15, "...and your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace. And above all," now listen, "...taking
the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked, and the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Faith
is a real and living union with Christ. That's what it is. That's
what it is. It's not just a profession of
faith. It's not just something you do. It's not an isolated
act. He said back here in chapter
1 of 1 Peter, up here in verse 23, being born again. Being born
again. He talks about that a little
earlier in the chapter. God would have to cease to be
God if that faith failed. He's got to face all the evil
of this world and the lust of the flesh and death itself. How important is this faith? And how important is how He comes? Let's go over here to 1 Peter
and let me talk to you for just a little bit about an appetite
for Christ. In 1 Peter 2, verse 1, he said,
Wherefore, laying aside all malice. Now, that's an old term, malice. You can find it on the law books.
You can still find it on our law books. If you go back, they've
got certain crimes, and they use the word malice in there.
But we don't use it a whole lot in our day. in our average conversations. Well, what is malice? It's the
intent of heart to do harm to somebody. That's what it is.
To do injury to somebody. It's to have the intent in your
heart, and especially in the context that he's talking here,
it's about causing a man injury or harm to his reputation. That's
what he's talking about. Well, he said, just put that
aside. Just get rid of that. Get rid of that. Somebody says
something to you, they get crossways of you and maybe lose their temper,
and for 20 years you're trying to hide that. That's malice.
Boy, they're going to get theirs one day. I can't wait. I can't wait. If God singles
them out and does something to them, that's malice. Put that
aside. That's part of them old rags
of self-righteousness. Just take it off. Just take that
off and lay it down. Lay it aside, Peter said. Get
rid of it. And to all God, the word means to disguise. To disguise
one's intentions. To conceal one's true feelings. To appear one way, but actually
feel another. You ever have folks do that?
look at you and smile and all the while, boy, they like to
just, mmm. That's what they're talking about. You see, believers have been
exposed to all the blackness, all the potential, all that evil
that's inside. Natural man, he just gets a whiff
of it. He gets caught stealing a watermelon
or whatever it is he's done. He's selling drugs. Nah, he's
sorry. You know, he's sorry he got caught.
He ain't sorry for what he did. He's just sorry he got caught.
That's not so with a believer. God shows a believer who he is.
He shows him all the blackness in here. He shows him the only
reason he ain't one of them people down there in Sodom and Gomorrah
or out here in Los Angeles. The only reason you're not just
like them is because God took the reins and pulled you back.
That's right. And so when he sees that anger
and that evil and that hatred in somebody else, he knows it's
only God that makes him to differ. Only God. And he's not going
to have that. He's not going to have that in
his heart. Peter said, just lay that aside. Get rid of that too. Lay that aside. And he said,
get rid of all evil speakers. What in the world is he talking
about? Well, I'll give you one example. He's talking about these
false professors of faith and these preachers of false religion,
and he said they speak evil of dignities. What on earth is he
talking about? He's talking about seated government
officials. He's talking about kings and
princes and all these kinds of people. Now, let me tell you
something. You read Romans chapter 13. These
men, I'm talking about seated officials, not people running
for office. I'm talking about once they get seated, once they're
there. Once they're there, that's God's
man. And I'm telling you, you better keep your hands and your
mouth off of him. God will punish you for it, I'm
telling you. I'm warning you. Just lay that aside, he said.
Lay all this evil speaking. They speak evil of dignity, authorities,
parental authority. Children, they sass their mothers.
They sass their fathers. I'm telling you. You speak evil
of dignity. That's what he's talking about.
He's talking about all authority. All authority that's been established. You've got children. Their reaction
to you. That's what he's talking about.
You've got a job. You've got a man out here that
you work for. And you go off and you say, boy,
I tell you one thing about him. That's what he's talking about
right here. Evil speaking. Get rid of it. Get rid of it.
Well, I tell you what, we've got a sheriff down here. But
get rid of it. Get rid of it. These people are not there because
they're holy. They're not there because they're righteous. God
didn't put them up there to show His name. He put them up there
to keep you from being as evil as you could be. He's established
laws and authorities to keep us from being as evil as we could
be. And the believer knows this. And Peter said, put that aside.
Lay it aside. Don't exercise it. Don't give
in to it. Lay it aside. And over in 1 Timothy 6, he talks
about railings and evil surmisings. What's he talking about over
there? Evil surmisings. Well, that's a man who just finds
evil in everything. I had a young fellow I worked
with up there. I think he was a Southern Baptist.
But anyway, I asked him one morning, Monday morning, he asked me what
I preached on. I was filling in for Don that weekend and I
told him. And I said, what did your pastor preach on Sunday
morning? I just wanted to see if he could even remember. And
he said, Harry Potter. Some of you may not even know
who he is. That's a movie that comes out, a children's movie,
Harry Potter. And to this man, that was the epitome of evil
because this guy was a wizard. And that's evil surmising. They
find evil in everything. They find evil in a short dress
or a long dress or in long hair or short hair. They find it in
Saturday as opposed to Sunday. They find it in everything. There's
evil in that. There's evil over there. Let's
go out here and we'll have a campaign and go up and down the road.
We're going to keep this place dry. Well, the evil isn't in
the alcohol. The evil is in the man that drinks
it. It's not that which goes into the mouth that defiles the
man. It's what comes out of his heart. Everything that goes in
your mouth just gets cast out into the drought. That's what
he said. It doesn't affect anything. It might make you sick. It might
make you wish you hadn't drank it. But it's not going to defile
you before God. You're already defiled. You're
born defiled. It's what comes out of his heart
that defiles him before God. Evil surmises him. They just
find evil in everything except themselves. Huh? Put that aside, he said. Get
rid of it. Get rid of it. They surmise things in an evil
light, a false light, an unreal light, and they make a public
declaration out of it. They'd love to get over to the
side with two or three guys and butt and hold them over there
and go to talking about whatever it is. They'd build some kind
of straw man and just beat it to death. Put these things aside. He said,
verse 2, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word
that you may grow by there. Believers thieve from the breast
of Israel, now listen to me, on the whole sweet mother's milk
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. They don't want nothing else.
Don't fix me a bottle. I don't want a bottle. I want this milk. I want Christ. Why? Because I've tasted it.
That's why. I don't want nothing else. I
can go anywhere I want to go. I don't have any chains on me
except what God puts on me. I can go. They let me in the
door. I've been invited down to the little church where I
wear a tailor. I guarantee you I can go in there. They'll probably
let me start teaching Sunday school I kept a lid on what I
taught. But I tasted. Isn't that very
story? If so be you tasted that the
Lord is gracious. Now, let me tell you your problem.
Let me tell you why you won't come to Him. Let me tell you
why you won't approach the living God. Because in your conscience
you know that He's rigid and severe And he's going to punish
sin. That's why. That's why you won't
go to him. And I don't blame you. I don't blame you. He said, nobody's going to come
to Christ except the Spirit of my Father draw him. He ain't
going. Well, how's he going to draw
him? He's going to show you the goodness of God. That's what
he's talking about here. These guys tasted of the grace
of God. They tasted the goodness of God. It's the goodness of God that
leads a thief to repentance. Huh? They saw the goodness of
God in election. Everybody else sees the severity
of it, the unfairness of it. That ain't fair. Huh? Oh, it
would be fair if you were sitting on death row and he'd come down,
there's twelve of you, and he'd say, well, you, you, and you,
you come with me. Boy, it would be fair then, wouldn't it? Huh? I'll tell you why it's unfair,
because we see ourselves worthy. Yeah, we think we're worthy. But then we look at that severity
of God. I better not go. I better not
go. No, you better not. But off He
shows you His goodness. You won't go anywhere else. If so be you tasted that the
Lord is gracious, That mother takes that little boy, that little
girl, holds it up into the bosom, and they drink in that milk.
I'm telling you, that little kid, when he gets hungry, it
wants its mama. That little boy of mine, he's
the youngest of my children, and she breastfed him. And I
tell you what, that little boy, when it come feeding time, he
didn't want a bottle, he didn't want daddy, he didn't want sissy,
he wanted mama. He wanted mama. Why? Because he tasted it. He tasted
it. And I'll tell you why else he
wanted it. Because he got everything he needed. I went to a prepared
childbirth class and they told me all this stuff. I was dumber
than a box of rocks. They told me that this baby,
through that mother's milk, gets all of its immunities. Did you
know that? You know what you get out of
the milk of Christ? All the immunities. Huh? Satan like a roaring lion, he's
going up and down seeking whom he may devour. I'm immune. I ain't just holler and dance
and jump up and down all he wants to. I'm immune. I'm in Christ.
And if I get outside of Christ, it's a whole different ballgame. You see what I'm telling you?
That mother's milk goes into that child, it becomes a part
of that child. I've got two girls, and their
temperament ain't nothing like that boy's. And I'll be convinced
till the day I die that that's the difference between bottle
feeding a baby and breastfeeding a baby. It gets a calm temperament. We take that milk of Christ,
and what's it do? The wave seeks. He comes in the
vessel, boom, the sea just went calm. That's what it says. You get all the immunities in
him. You get a calmness and a peace
from him. You ain't going to get it anywhere
else. Brother, I've been in religion. There ain't nothing peaceful
about it. It's a war from the get-go. It's just a fight from
the get-go. That's all it is. Pastors ain't
pastors. They're peacemakers. They get
up there and just try to keep each other from strangling one
another. Keep feuds down. That's all they do. That's all
they do. There ain't no peace. Peace is
in Christ. My peace, he said, I give unto
you. All these things in the milk,
if so be you've tasted. Now let me tell you something.
Before there can be a drinking, there has to be a begatting.
There has to be a birth. Then there's going to be a tasting.
And then there's going to be a drinking. Born again, he said,
verse 23 of chapter 1, not by corruptible seed, but incorruptible
by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. That's the
eternal Word. That's that Word of light I've
been teaching you about over there in John chapter 1. That
Word. And I don't care if you're talking
about this Word or that Word, it's the same Word. To Him give
all the prophets witness. When you understand that, like
the apostles of old, then he'll open your understanding that
you can understand the Scriptures. And a begetting, it leads to
drinking, and a drinking leads to a coming. Now he's talking
about a coming. Look here in verse 4. To whom
coming? He was born, he tasted, he drank,
and that word is perpetual. It means coming. He never quit
coming. He never quits coming. He just keeps coming back. Keeps
coming back. To whom? Coming. Not a one-time
encounter, but a frequent visit. That's what he's talking about.
Coming. Not an isolated incident, but a perpetual coming. He's
always coming to Christ because his faith exists by eating his
flesh and drinking his blood. Read John chapter 6. That's what
our Lord was talking about over there in John chapter 6. He comes there because Christ
is his intercessor. And he knows that Christ can
enter into his sufferings. He can identify with his pain
because he was tempted in all points like as we are. He can
enter into it, John. I don't come in there and pray
and in my mind just get up and say, well, you know, he's God.
He couldn't understand what I'm talking about. Oh, he was made
perfect through his suffering. A perfect intercessor. He knows
exactly what you're talking about when you pray. There's nothing
you can experience that He doesn't know exactly. You can enter right
into it. Enter right into it. He comes
to Christ for cleansing because He's still in a world filled
with death. Read the Old Testament laws of the unclean. If you touch
the dead body, if you touch the minstrel woman, if you touch
anybody, sick, whatever it was, if you touch them, you're unclean.
You had to be cleansed. You couldn't do anything before
God until you were cleansed. Well, you had to go to the priest,
and he had to perform the ceremony, and you had to be cleansed. Meanwhile,
you went outside to camp. We come to Christ because we
are uncleaned. Uncleaned. I've got to come to
Him all the time. I just have to keep coming and
keep coming. Everything he brings to God must
be made acceptable to God by Jesus Christ who cleanses us
from all sins. He said if you say you have no
sin, you are a liar and the truth is not in you. But if you confess
your sins, he is faithful and just to cleanse you of your sins
and to forgive you. We come to Christ for understanding
because we are so ignorant and cannot perceive We can't perceive
the things in the Bible apart from the person of Christ. They
don't make any sense. You go through and read them.
You can't make any sense out of these kingdoms rising and
falling and all these kinds of things. Back in the days of Joseph
and that, back when Israel sold him into slavery and all those
things, there was a dearth that came upon that. What in the world?
What's that got to do with anything? That famine was part of the purpose
of God to put Joseph down in Egypt. He was put into prison
because he was sold there by his own kin, his own brothers
and sisters sold him. They sold him, his brothers did,
into slavery. He went down there and he suffered
on their account in a prison. But God took him out of prison
and raised him up until he was second in command over all Egypt.
Now, ain't nobody going to get anything in Egypt apart from
Joseph. That's Christ. That's Christ. I'm telling you, we're ignorant.
We're ignorant of the Scriptures apart from Christ. We come to
Him for understanding. And we come to Christ to stir
our hearts to worship. You'll never truly worship God
until you see Christ. You won't do it. You'll sing a song. You'll dance
a little while. Raise your hand. You'll get in
harmony. Somebody plays the drums. You'll experience all kinds of
things. But you won't ever worship God until you see the perfections
of God in the crucified Christ hanging on that cross. You'll
never do it. You'll never do it. You won't
worship God. You won't worship God until you see the perfections
of His character in Christ, until you see that perfect love that
will use enemies He manifested that love in sending His Son
into this world. You won't worship God, but you
will if you ever see Him. I see the perfections of God
in Christ, the perfect righteousness, perfect justice, perfect holiness,
perfect kindness. And I see all these things in
a harmony, which I believe is what He is talking about when
He says, holy. I think holy is not a specific
thing like justice. That's not what he's talking
about. It's not like righteousness, although it is righteous. Holiness
is a description of the whole character of God in harmony. That's what holiness is. And
those angels hovered above him and above the sacrifice and above
everything that declares the name of God, and they just sat
there with their eyes closed and cried, Holy, holy, holy is
the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth, he said, is
full of his glory. the harmony of His perfections.
And we come to Christ for preservation. I wouldn't last ten minutes apart
from Christ. How long would you last? Until
the opposition come down. Boy, you'd throw in the towel.
I quit. Christ left. He died. And He
left. Took Him down and put Him in
a tomb. They all went fishing. They quit. That's about how long we'd last.
We'd be gone. Gone. God doesn't have to point
some evil for you. I read that to you in the book
of James the other day. He doesn't tempt men with evil.
He's not tempted with it and He doesn't tempt you with it.
All He has to do is just turn you loose. That's all He has
to do. Look over here in John chapter
6. The Lord talks about this in verse 44. John chapter 6,
he said, No man can come to me except the Father which hath
sent me draw him, and I raise him up at the last day. We come
to Christ, now hear me, because everything in the eternal counsels
and character of God is engaged to that end. That's why you come. That's why His providence led
you here this morning. That's exactly right. That's
why the Spirit of God comes in. Why would He come in to you,
John? Huh? Something about you that draws
God to you? Oh, no. Oh, no. I'm telling you,
everything in the character and attributes of God is engaged
to draw you to Christ if you're His. And you come. Sure, you might come kicking,
but you're coming. You're going to come, and then
there's going to come a day when you quit kicking. It's not luck, it's not chance,
it's not circumstance that brings us to Christ. Nobody's going
to come to Christ except my Father which sent me, draw Him. Who's the Father? That's the
purposer of all things, isn't it? He's given the account of
the purpose and counsel that designed everything that is.
It comes from the Father. Paul was always thanking the
Father for those. He said, I thank God. He said,
I thank God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit, the belief of the truth. Wherefore, He called
you by name. He knew who was going to draw
Him. He knew how He was going to draw Him. The Father brings
you to Christ. Now, watch this. These men were
strangers. They were scattered all over
creation that Peter wrote to. They were elect, he said, by
foreknowledge of God the Father. They are elect through a sanctification
of the Spirit. I'm reading back here in 1 Peter
chapter 1, the beginning of the book. They are elect through
a sanctification of the Spirit. And this election of sanctification
is unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
My daughter was up in the ice storm the other day and was without
power and water for several days. No heat, no nothing. They had
a little bit of electric logs, and they weren't the kind that's
ventless, so they had to have the vent open, and what little
bit of heat they put out went up the chimney. Finally, she
went up to Washington, D.C. and spent a few days with my
son. When she came back, there was another snowstorm coming,
so she went down south and got on I-64. And it's kind of like
20. It just runs east and west. She got on I-64. I-64 from Lexington,
Virginia goes unto Lexington, Kentucky. That's what it does. You get on that road, you never
turn. It goes right straight to Lexington. That's what he's
talking about here. This sanctification of the Spirit
of God Purposed by the Father before the foundation of the
world is unto obedience. It goes straight to it. Huh? Goes straight to it. Obedience.
And then from obedience to the sprinkling of the blood on that
unclean conscience that purges it and gives you a clear bill
of sale before God. It's gone. Sins are gone. That's all from the Father. Now
listen to this back over in John chapter 6, verse 48. He said, I'm the bread. Your
father's out there in the wilderness of sin, wandering around. There
wasn't anything to eat out there. Let me tell you something. Out there
in that wilderness of sin, they sit out there, and it's a funny
thing how men do this. I heard a fellow doing this one
time on a trip, and I just sat there and bit my tongue. They
started talking about them old leeks and things, them old vegetables
and seasonings and things. I just don't think they ate all
that good back in Egypt, do you? Back there making bricks, they
wouldn't even let them have straw to make the bricks. They were
back there in bondage and oppression. But that wasn't how the memory
was. Boy, you remember them old salads we used to make? And that
stew we used to stir around here? And the old flesh pot back there
in Egypt? We had that stew. You remember that? Man, I wish
I had some of that now. There wasn't anything to eat
out in that wilderness. Cactus. Sand. A few lizards and things
running around. Snakes and scorpions. That's
about all that was out there. But God rained down bread for
His children. And they just went out and picked
it up. They didn't have to raise it. They didn't even ask for
it. He just gave it to them. And
they recognized it. And they went out there and they
picked it up under Moses' instruction and they ate it. They ate that
bread. And when he got done and got
hungry again, the bread come down. And they'd eat some more.
And then the bread come down. And they'd eat some more. And
they stayed out there for 40 years eating that bread. He preserved
a nation of 3 million people in a desert by bread sent from
heaven. Christ said, I'm the bread. He knew they could understand
what he was talking about. I'm the bread. I'm the bread of life. Your fathers
did eat manna in the wilderness, verse 49, and are dead. This
is the bread which cometh down from heaven that if a man eat
thereof, he ain't going to die. He ain't going to die. I'm the
living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of
this bread, he's going to live forever. And the bread I'm going
to give is my flesh that I give for the life of the world." They didn't make any spiritual
application here. They didn't fall down in humility
and ask him, like the disciples did, to explain himself. They
didn't do that. They didn't even go home and
give this declaration some time and thought and prayer. They
just denied it. He's crazy. How can this man
give us his flesh to eat? He's crazy. And he went on, and
he pressed this thing home. He pressed it home. And he said
down in verse 63, it's the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth
nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they're spirit and life. This thing has a spiritual message.
It's for spiritual men. It's spiritual food. This is
the food of faith. Real faith. This is spiritual
food. And he told them in verse 65,
because he knew there were some of them there that didn't believe
what he was telling them, couldn't enter into what he was telling
them. And he said, Therefore said I unto you that no man can
come unto me except my Father draw him. Now listen, verse 66. From that time, many of his followers,
disciples, had a big crowd before. Boy, the whole outfit walked
off. That's what happens. That's what
happens. The whole outfit walked off. They went back, it said. Went
back and walked no more with it. They went back to old Judaism.
They went back to them old sacrifices. They went back to that old priesthood.
They went back to them old traditions and ceremonies. They went back
into the darkness. Huh? And Jesus turned around
and He looked at the twelve and He said, you going to go too?
The door was open. And Peter said, where are we
going to go? Huh? We've got an appetite for
Christ. Where are we going to go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Where are we going to go? You
see what Peter's talking about over here? If so, be ye tasted. There's got to be a begatting.
And when there's a begatting, there's going to be a tasting.
And when he tastes, there's going to be an appetite, and that appetite's
going to bring him back. He's just going to keep on coming,
and keep on coming, and keep on coming. Because that's the
only place he can be fed. That's the only place faith can
feed is on Christ. It can't feed on this junk, I'm
telling you. Real faith feeds on Christ. That's where it's
born, that's where it's raised, and that's where it dies. On
this bread. Our Father, we thank Thee this
morning for these words. Father, create an interest in
the hearts of those who come to hear. create a hunger. I know it's a hard thing to experience,
but I pray that you bring them down, that you show them what's
inside. Show them that all flesh is grass, all the goodliness
of men, just like the flower of the grass and it withers and
God blows it away. Show us what's inside that we
might see there. We might seek You. We might come
and taste and keep coming to have this appetite of Christ
in our heart. I ask You for Christ's sake.
Amen.