This is an unusual way to introduce
this message, but I want to introduce it by reading a passage of scripture
in Matthew chapter six, beginning in verse 31. Therefore, take no thought. Do not be anxious. Do not worry. Saying, what should we eat? Or what should we drink? Or whether
at all should we be clothed? It's talking about needs. Perceived
needs. For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly father knoweth
that you have need of all these things. Whatever it is you may be feeling
anxious about, stop. Your father knoweth what you
need. He already knows. Isn't that
a wonderful thought? He knows what I need. I don't
know what I need, but he does. And my prayer is that he will
give me what he knows I need, and he will give me what he knows
I need. But seek ye first the kingdom
of God. Quit worrying about needs. Just
as the Lord enables you, blot all that out. Seek ye first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be
added to you. Take therefore no thought for
tomorrow. No thought for tomorrow. Wouldn't
it be a blessing if the Lord enables us to do that? Carefree? Carefree. Take no thought for
tomorrow. For tomorrow shall take thought
for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof. You've got enough to deal with
today. You don't need to be thinking about tomorrow. So with that
in mind, all the things that you're troubled about, Realize that he already knows
what you need and he's gonna supply it So quit thinking about
it and thinking about this and start thinking about this message.
I want to try to bring Now turn back to John chapter 6 Now the Lord had just performed
what some people call his greatest miracle, the feeding of the 5,000. We considered that last week. There were 5,000 men, not including
women and children, that he fed. It could have been 15 to 20,000
people. Matthew and Mark's account both
let us know that it was not, that the 5,000 represented just
the men, not the women and the children. And he brought matter
into existence that was not there before. Only God can do that. No man could do that. Only God. He called matter into existence
that was not there before. And he fed this great multitude. And not only did they see the
miracle, they experienced it. They put their hand down into
that basket and food was multiplied and their bellies were filled
from eating that food. They experienced that miracle. They saw the miracle and they
experienced it. And here was the conclusion that
they correctly came up with, verse 14. I'm not gonna say they
came up with it. This was their scriptural conclusion.
These men reached a right conclusion after experiencing, seeing and
experiencing this miracle. Then those men, when they had
seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, this is of a truth. that prophet, the one Moses spoke
of in Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 13, a prophet shall the
Lord your God raise up, likened to me, him you shall hear. They were familiar with that
prophecy. And after experiencing this miracle, they come up with
this conclusion. Then those men, when they had
seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, this is of the truth, that
prophet that should come into the world. Can you find any fault
with that statement? Verse 15, when Jesus therefore
perceived. Oh, his perception is the only
real perception. what you and I perceive, he sees things as they are. When Jesus therefore perceived
that they would come and take him by force and impose their
will upon him to get him to do what they wanted him to do. When Jesus therefore perceived
that they would come and take him by force to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain
himself alone. Now, when these people saw the
miracle that he did, they spoke that which was right. but they
believed that which was wrong. I've entitled this message Speaking
Right and Believing Wrong. There is such a thing. And I'm
certainly capable of this. You're capable of this. Speaking
right, saying the right thing. Believing, in a sense, the right
thing without really understanding what it meant. These people perceived
that he was that prophet, and they were correct about that. But what they did was wrong when
they tried to take him by force and make him a king. They proved
in that action that they did not even have a clue as to who
he was. Speaking right, believing, Now
the first thing that I would notice about this is seeing a
miracle never produces saving faith. I don't care what kind
of miracle it is. Just seeing a miracle will never
produce true saving faith. Not only do they see the miracle,
they experience the benefit of the miracle. Their hunger was
satisfied by this miracle, so they correctly reached this conclusion. This is of the truth, that prophet
that should come into the world. Quoting Moses in Deuteronomy
18, 13, a prophet shall the Lord God raise up like unto me of
your brethren. Him shall you hear. What's a prophet? You've heard
the word, no doubt, a prophet. What is a prophet? A prophet
is a man that speaks for God to men. A prophet is a man that speaks
for God to men. He speaks God's words to men,
thus saith the Lord. That's what a prophet is. Thus
saith the Lord. These are not my words. These
are the words of the Lord. And there is such a thing as
a true God-sent prophet. There is such a thing as a true
God-sent preacher. Someone that the Lord has sent. Speaking God's words. And there is such a thing as
a false prophet that claims to be speaking for God, but is not
speaking for God. When the Lord said, strive to
enter in at the straight gate, what is the first thing he said
after that? Beware of false prophets. You see, if I believe the message
of the false prophet, if I follow the false prophet, I will have
the same end as the false prophet. That's a sobering thing to think
about, but it's true. If I believe the message of the
false prophet, I'll be damned right along with the false prophet. Now, here's the question. How
can I know if who I'm listening to is a God-sent preacher, a
God-sent prophet. Well, you don't have to simply
go on that guy's Word, I'm a God-sent prophet, I'm a God-sent preacher.
Don't believe me unless you can verify it from the Word of God.
Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter 8 verse 20, and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to this word, it's because there's
no light in it. I'm going to read a passage of
scripture from Acts chapter 17. This is when, verse 10, you can
turn with me and look there if you want. And the brethren immediately
sent Paul and Silas by night into Berea, who came together,
went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these They were more noble than those
in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness
of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were
so. And that's how I can tell if
somebody's sent from God. Can I go to the scriptures and
find out that what he's saying is what God is saying? I would never say, believe me.
I would say, believe the word of God. Now, there is a true
prophet and he is that prophet. And he is a prophet like no other
prophet. Every other prophet said, thus
saith the Lord. He never said that once. He said,
I say unto you. You've heard it said of them
of old, and they don't quote a scripture. I said, but I say
unto you, he is the word of God. He is that prophet. And they rightly concluded that
Christ is that prophet. Christ means God's anointed,
God's prophet, God's priest, God's king, God's anointed. saw him perform this miracle,
and they give a correct and scriptural answer, you can find no fault
with what they said. This is of a truth, that prophet,
after seeing what he did, this is of a truth, that prophet that
should come into the world. Verse 15. when Jesus therefore perceived
that they would come and take him by force. You know, I am a sports fan. If you know me, you know that.
And one of the things they say on TV when they're talking about
sports, you want to impose your will on those people. That's really offensive. Impose
your will on somebody. But that's what these people
thought they could do with the Lord. I guess they were really athletic
or something. We're going to impose our will upon him. We're
going to force him to be a king. We're going to make sure we got
our bellies filled. This would be a good king for
us. We wouldn't have to work anymore. We wouldn't have to
go out and make a living. We just wait for him to come
and fill our bellies. As a matter of fact, when they
came searching for him the next day, look what he said in verse
26. Jesus answered them, these same people, Jesus answered them
and said, Verily I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw
the miracles, not because of any true conviction of who I
am, but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled. That's
why you sought me. You got your bellies filled.
You see a way of being provided for. And that's what you want
out of me. And this is exactly the type
of person we want to be king, somebody who can fill our bellies
and make it easy for us. Therefore, they sought to take
him by force to impose their will upon him and to make him
king. And all they proved when they
did that is they had no idea of who he was. Not even a clue. Now, they made a correct deduction
from looking at the miracle, but remember this, faith doesn't
come by seeing. How's faith come? By hearing. Not by seeing, but
by hearing. Oh, would to God that every one
of us would hear what's being said, that we might be given
ears to hear. He that hath ears to hear. let
him hear. Now these men, and this is troubling,
they made a correct scriptural deduction and nobody can find
fault with what they said. This is of a truth, that prophet
that should come into the world. However, they had no idea what
any of the words they said even meant. Let's come take him by force
and make him a king. You see, you and I can't make
him a king for this reason. He already is king. He's the
eternal king. Nobody makes him a king They
actually believe they could take him by force to impose their
will on him and make him king. Really? The king is the one who
imposes his will on you. Don't you want that? Do you want
him to impose his will upon you and make you willing? You know, that's a amazing concept. God's people should be willing.
How do you make somebody willing? Only God can do that. I can make
you willing. You know that scripture, you
can lead a horse over water, but you can't make him drink?
God can. Lord, make me willing. Now somehow, these fellows had
the idea, they were under the illusion, that they had a free
will. and had because of that some
measure of power and control. If you believe you have a free
will, that means you believe you have at least some measure
of power and control. And they got that idea from their
father, the devil. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
14. They thought they could impose their will on Christ and get
him to do what they wanted him to do. Isaiah 14. Verse 12. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? Now, I have heard people say,
well, this is talking about this Babylonian king. It is. It is. But it's basically talking about
the devil, Satan. There was one time when he was
not a fallen angel. And after this, he was a fallen
angel. He was kicked out of heaven and
Let's read this, verse 12. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the
ground which did weaken the nations? For thou hast said in thine heart,
I will. I will ascend into the heaven. I will. Exalt my throne above
the stars of God. I will set also upon the mountain
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. Five I wills. Yet. Thou shalt be brought down
to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall
narrowly look upon thee and consider thee saying, is this the man
that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms? I will. And that's what these
fellas said with regard to the kingship of Christ. We're gonna
take him by force. We're gonna impose our will upon
him, make him king. It's gonna be to our advantage.
Now, this is what this one we just read about in Isaiah chapter
14 tempted our first parents with. This thing of, you'll have
a free will. Turn with me to Genesis chapter
three. Genesis chapter three. Now the serpent, speaking of
the devil, was more subtle than any beast of the field which
the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, yea,
hath God said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Now the first thing he did is he changed what God said. God
never said that. God said there's one tree you're not to eat of,
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And he's trying
to make it sound like God's withholding something from you that would
be for your benefit if you had it. You'd be better off. Verse 2. And the woman said unto
the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden,
but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the
garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall
you touch it, lest you die. And the serpent said unto the
woman, You shall not surely die. That's not going to happen. For
God doth know that in the day you eat thereof, Then your eyes
shall be opened, and you shall be as gods. You'll be on the
same level of God, knowing good and evil. Now, what's going on
here? Satan says to Eve, you don't
even know the difference between good and evil. You're like a
robot, programmed to do God, and there's really no moral virtue
in your doing of good. You're just doing what you're
programmed to do. But here's what'll make you like
God. If you eat of that tree, all of a sudden, you'll have
the knowledge of good and evil. And you'll be able to choose
the good over the evil, and that's what'll make you like God. You'll
have a free will. You'll have a free will, and
that and that alone is what'll make you like God. God, your
free will. Now I liken that to what people
say about the Lord Jesus Christ. They say, well, if he couldn't have sinned, where
was the temptation? If he couldn't have sinned, how
could he have been tempted? Because if there wasn't a temptation
in this thing to sin, and if it was just his nature to not
sin, and it wasn't something he had to overcome, where's his
moral virtue? That's the same thing as what
the devil is saying at this time. There's no moral virtue in your
obedience, but if you choose the good over the evil, if you
know good and evil and choose the good over the evil, that
is what will make you like God. The great majority of mankind
believe they have a free will. Therefore, some power. and some
control. If you've got a free will, that
means you're not subject to God's sovereign will. That means you've
got some power. That means you've got some control.
Free will is rebellion against God's will. This notion of free
will. When I say man doesn't have a
free will, I'm not saying that you don't do what you want to.
You do what you want to. Isn't that so? When you sin,
it's not because the devil made you do it. You're doing exactly
what you want to do. When I'm talking about there's
no such thing as free will, yeah, you do what you want to do, but
I'm saying your will is not free, it's controlled by wicked nature.
That's what makes us so bad. That's why we're so evil. We've
got a will that's inclined to evil. What if a murderer said,
I couldn't help murder. It's my nature to murder. Well,
OK, you ought to get off then. Let's set him free. He can't
help it. No. Put him in jail and throw
away the key. The will. If you believe you
have a free will, you're delusional. It's anti-Christ. It's the lie
of Satan. There's no such thing as free
will. Now, what it comes right down
to is these men obviously had way too high an opinion of themselves,
didn't they? Now think about these men. They thought that they could
come by force and make Christ the king. How foolish. You make Christ
the king. Who's really the king then? You're
the king maker. You have more power than the
king. How foolish these men believe this about themselves. Now men's
high opinion of themselves is rooted in their low opinion of
Jesus Christ. If you view Christ rightly, you
see him high and lifted up, sitting on a throne exercising absolute
sovereign dominion, absolute control. Do you see him that
way? In absolute sovereign control
of everybody and everything. And if I see him that way, I'll
see myself as I really am a sinner. in the hand of a sovereign savior. You wouldn't dare think I can
impose my will upon him and make him king. If you know who he
is, you wouldn't think anything like that. And if you know who
you are, you wouldn't think anything like that. Now these fellows
are an example of somebody who spoke right, but they believed Have you ever heard of Nebuchadnezzar? He had a dream. He was the king
of Babylon. This is when Israel had been taken into captivity
according to God's purpose. He said, this is what's going
to happen to you. And they were taken into captivity. Would you
turn with me to Daniel chapter four? Daniel is right after the book
of Ezekiel. Now Daniel had interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's
dream and he began speaking in verse 22 of Daniel chapter 4. I'd like you to read this with
me. It is thou, O King, that art
grown and become strong, for thy greatness is grown and reaches
unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. And
whereas the king saw a watcher and a holy one coming down from
heaven and saying, you the tree down, and destroy it, yet leave
the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band
of iron and brass in the tender grass of the field, and let it
be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the
beasts of the field till seven times or seven years passes over
him." Now this is the interpretation, okay? And this is the decree
of the Most High, which has come upon my Lord, the King, that
they shall drive thee from men and thy dwelling shall be with
the beasts of the field. and they shall make thee to eat
grass as an oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven,
and seven years shall pass over thee, till thou know that the
Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever
he will. And whereas they commanded to
leave the stump of the tree roots, thy kingdom shall be sure unto
thee after that thou hast known that the heavens do rule. Wherefore, O King, let my counsel
be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness,
and thine iniquity by showing mercy to the poor, if it may
be a lengthening of thy tranquility. All this came to pass upon the
King Nebuchadnezzar, and at the end of the 12 months he walked
in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake and
said, Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house
of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of
my majesty? while the word was yet in the
king's mouth. There fell a voice from heaven
saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom
is departed from thee and they shall drive thee from men and
thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall
make thee to eat grass as an oxen and seven years shall pass
over thee until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom
of men and give it to whomsoever he will. Take him by force and
make him king. Really? Verse 33, the same hour
was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar and he was driven
from men and did eat grasses and oxen. His body was wet with
the dew of heaven till his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers
and his nails like bird claws. And at the end of the days, I,
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding
returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised
and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his
will. in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? Give an account for yourself.
Explain to us why you're doing this. At the same time, my reason
returned unto me. And for the glory of my kingdom,
mine honor and brightness returned unto me and my counselors and
my Lord sought unto me. And I was established in my kingdom
and excellent majesty was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar,
praise and extol the honor of the kingdom of heaven, the king
of heaven, all whose works are truth and all his ways judgment. And those that walk in pride,
he is able to abase. Come by force and make him king. He is king of kings and he is
Lord of lords. I love these scriptures. Now
unto the king eternal immortal, invisible, the only wise God. In His times, He will show who
is that blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and the Lord
of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light that no
man can approach to, whom no man can see or has seen, to whom
be honor and power everlasting. Amen. force him, or impose our
will upon him, nor can we make him king. And the Lord departed
when they tried that foolishness. He's not gonna have anything
to do with that. He departed and went on a mountain himself,
alone. He did that then, and he'll do
that now. You can't make him anything. I can't make him anything. He is who he is, whether we perceive
it or not. Now, I want to close by looking
at Revelation chapter 17, verse 13. These have one mind. They're united in what they want.
And they shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These, the beast and all these
people who have one mind shall make war with the lamb." Isn't that what war is? Imposing
our will on somebody else. We may have a good reason for
doing it. I'm not saying all wars are unjust. They're all
a part of the sinful condition. But when somebody goes to war,
they're seeking to impose their will on somebody else. And that's
what was going on here. These had one mind, they gave
themselves to the beast to impose their will upon Christ. These make war with the Lamb. And I love the way these make
war with the Lamb. What is it they were upset with?
What's the Lamb of God all about? The Lamb of God is the Lamb who
takes away the sin of the world. They were opposed to Christ in
His atonement, the Lamb. You see, the atonement does two
things. Number one, the atonement tells us who God is. Every attribute
of God is displayed in the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's
the Lamb of God. And the atonement tells us that
salvation is altogether by what He did and not what we do. Are
you happy it's that way? Salvation is all together by
what He did as the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sins of the world. Well, these were opposed to the
Lamb. And look what verse 14 says. These shall make war with the
Lamb. Is there any way they can find victory? No. No. The Lamb shall overcome them. For he is Lord of lords and king
of kings. The king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth
it wither, so ever he will." Make him king, fight against
him as king, won't work. He's the Lord of lords. He's
the king of kings. And look at this description
of those who are with him. He's the Lord of Lords, the King
of Kings, and they that are with him. That's who I want to be,
don't you? I want to be one of these with
him. Not against him, but with him.
Look how they're described. They that are with him are called
and chosen and faithful. Now there's the description of
every believer. Called by the irresistible, invincible
grace of God. I can't remember if it was out
here or back in the back, but somebody read 1 Corinthians chapter
one. The Jews require a sign and the
Greeks seek after wisdom. The religious fellows need a
sign of proof. The intellectuals, the Greeks,
seek wisdom in how to make this world a better place. What can
we do to make this world a better place? How can we improve our
station in life? But we preach. Christ crucified,
the Lamb, the atoning work of Christ. We preach Christ crucified. Down to the Jews, that's a stumbling
block. To the religious people, you
mean to tell me that if Jesus Christ died for my sins, that's
all that's needed to make me perfect before God? What about
my good works? What about, you're saying that, you're saying my works don't
count. Well, what motivation do I have to serve God? This
is a stumbling block to me. I can't believe this, that simply
having Christ die for you makes you perfect before God. And the
Greeks say, well, how's that gonna improve education? How's
that going to improve our healthcare? How is that going to improve
our government? Well, I mean, that's, that's
not doing anything for us, but Paul said unto them, which are
called. There's the difference to them,
which are called Christ, the power of God, Christ, the wisdom
of God. He's the power of God unto salvation. He's the wisdom of God to make
a way to be just and justify the ungodly. To them which are
called. Now, what you say next, they're
called, they're chosen. Chosen. You know why they were
called? Because they were chosen. That's talking about election. They were chosen. I tell you
one thing, the chosen will always do. They'll call. Nobody's going
to say, well, if I'm elect, God will save me. See what happens?
No. If you're elect, you have to have Jesus Christ. You have
to be found in him. And you call, you call, Lord,
save me. You call. And the third description,
called, chosen, and faithful. You know what that means? They
believe. And they can be believed in this. They really do believe
they're sinners. This is not just talk. They really
believe this about themselves. They really believe Christ is
all in their salvation. They can be believed. Called,
chosen, and faithful. Now, these fellas thought, let's
make him king. We can do it. Let's impose our
will upon him. Make things better for ourselves.
Make it till we get meals. Make our society a better place.
Let's come and take him by force and make him king. No, no, no,
no, no. Here's the way a sinner approaches
Christ. Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Can you come into the Lord's
presence right now just like that? Not with this presumption
of making Him anything. He is who He is. Let me say this,
He is your Lord whether you know it or not. You belong to Him.
You're in His hands. He can do with you whatever He's
pleased to do and whatever He does is right. Amen? Do you believe
that? You come saying, Lord, you acknowledge
his lordship and his kingship. He's the king. Lord, if you will,
my salvation is utterly in your hand. If you will, you can. His ability, if you will, you
can make me clean. You see, the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's son, cleanseth us from all sin. And everybody he saves,
he makes clean. You're clean, you have no sin
in him. I pray that every one of us would
not be like these fellas who thought they could come and impose
their will upon him, but we want him to impose his will upon us. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. Let's pray. Lord, deliver us from saying right things, but believing
wrong things. Deliver us from high opinions
of ourself that arise from low opinions of you and your glory
and your person and your power. Lord, give each person in this
room the grace to say, Lord, if you will, You can make me
clean. And let us hear in our heart
that word. I will. Be thou clean. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.