Consider it. Now, this morning,
from John chapter 6, I want to focus on one verse. We'll be mentioning some others
in the introduction, but notice verse 63 again. Our Lord said, It is the Spirit
that quickeneth. It is the Spirit of God. God
Almighty that gives life, that gives salvation. It has to be
that way because He said, the flesh profits nothing. The flesh
profits nothing. The word that I speak unto you,
they are. They are spirit. They are life. Spirit and life. Now I'm taking the title from
that verse. And the title of the message
is, Prophets, nothing. Nothing. Nothing. I think of
that Psalm 39, where it said, man at his best state, man at
his best state, at your best moment, your best thought, man
at his best state is altogether vanity. Nothing. The flesh, prophets, nothing. What part does our sinful and
wicked fleshly nature contribute to God's salvation? Now, the
answer is obvious to you who have been taught of God. Our
wicked and sinful nature contributes absolutely nothing. Nothing. Do our fleshly deeds
of self-righteousness subsidize or add to God's salvation? No. Absolutely not. Salvation as it is made known
and revealed in the Word of God. This book we call the Holy Word
of God, the Bible. Salvation that is made known
in God's Word is totally and completely the doing and work
of God Remember back in chapter 5 verse 29 He said this is the
work of God that you believe on him whom he had sent Even
our believing the gospel is the doing of God. We believe according
to the working of his mighty power Man contributes nothing and the accomplishment of salvation.
Salvation is always dependent upon, determined by, and accomplished
by the Lord God Almighty alone through the doing and dying,
the blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
It's by His grace and by His mercy alone. Justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, I quote this scripture all the time. I think every sermon
I bring, this scripture is in the body of that message somewhere.
When Paul reminds young Timothy, it's, don't be ashamed of the
gospel, for it's God who saved us and called us, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. And then in Titus
chapter 3 we read, it's not by works of righteousness which
we have done, not, not, not. A preacher shouldn't be so negative.
I won't be negative where the scripture is negative. It's not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
His mercy. He saved us. There's an article on the back
of the bulletin, don't read it now, but later on, And the article
is written, and the title of it is, What Christ Must Do. Salvation
depends upon what Christ does, not our doing. Not our obedience. Upon the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Now this is exactly the doctrine
that the Lord declared here in John chapter 6. Under the self-centered,
self-serving, Religious Jews, and you know what? It didn't
make them happy. They got mad. They got angry.
They argued among themselves, and they finally said in verse
60 of John chapter 6, they eventually said, this is a hard saying. This is hard. This is harsh. Who can hear it? Who can hear it? And you know
what eventually happened to most of these people? Remember what
it says in verse 66 look there from that time many of his disciples
So called they went back They went back They went back remember
what Paul said for getting those things which are behind these
folks went back. Where did they go back to? Where
they came from? They went back to their Judaism.
They went back to the laws of Moses. They went back to their
religious ceremony, their experience. They went back. They walked no
more with Him. They quit. Now, what exactly
did the Lord publicly declare in their synagogue? You see verse
59? These things said He in the synagogue. I mean, He didn't get them out
in a corner and secretly tell them these things, He publicly
taught them in their assembly, the assembly of the Jews in Capernaum. What exactly did the Lord declare
unto them publicly that so offended them? It did offend them. Many times they picked up stones
to stone Him. You remember in Luke chapter
4 when He went back to Nazareth? and picked up, they gave him
the book of Isaiah, and he said, now these things are fulfilled
in your ears? Do you remember their response? They took him
outside and attempted to throw him off a cliff to murder him.
What so offended them that caused them to get so angry, so mad,
led them to say, this is a hard saying? Meaning, this is harsh. This is unkind. Well, you offended
us. This is unpleasant. Well, this
is disagreeable to our flesh. This is disagreeable to our carnal
reasoning. What did he say? The truth. The truth. What do we need to
hear? The truth. The truth will set you free.
I noticed one thing in particular they did not say. One thing that
they did say, this is a hard saying, who can hear it? But
one thing I noticed they did not say. They did not say that
He lied to us. They did not say, well, He didn't
speak the truth unto us. I think that's significant that
it's not there. They could not accuse Him of
not speaking the truth, because He is the truth. He can speak
nothing but the truth, the whole truth. After all He speaks, after
all He knows is truth, absolute truth. It's impossible. There's
something God cannot do. It's impossible for Him to lie
because He's God. It's impossible for God to lie.
They couldn't accuse Him of lying. He told the absolute truth. And
they couldn't take it. They couldn't hear it. You know
what a true repentant heart does? A true repentant heart, when
confronted with the truth, the truth of God, agrees. Agrees
with God. A true repentant heart takes
sides with God against your own self. When He says, guilty, a
repentant heart said, you're right, I'm guilty. When the Lord
says, your best deeds are filthy rites, a repentant heart said,
you're right, I'm filthy. When the Word of God says that
salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ alone and all else is
done, you're right. A repentant heart looks to The
Lord Jesus Christ alone. Now who can hear such a message?
I tell you who will. His sheep. He said, my sheep
will hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. Now what did he tell them that
got under their skin and caused them... I mean, it just got to
them. You know, all through the Gospels
we see this confrontation. The Lord confronting those confronting those self-righteous
people with the truth, and they got mad, upset. Now, six things
we find here that the Lord declared unto them that led them to get
mad and led them to walk away from Him who was life. Six things. Let me get them to you quickly,
then we're going to camp on the sixth one. He declared unto them
His deity, that He came from the Father, that the Father and
the Son are one, that He's going back to where He came from upon
finishing His redeeming work. Look back at verse 33. For the
bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and gives life
unto His people in this world. Look at verse 38. For I came
down from heaven, What is that telling us? He's God Almighty. He declared His deity, I came
down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him
that sent me. Look at verse 46, Not that any man hath seen the
Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. He declaring,
I and my Father are one. And then verse 62, What if you
shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before? You remember he prayed in John
17, Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory
which I had with Thee before the world was. Where did he come
from? Who is this one? He declared
in no uncertain terms, his deity, I am God Almighty, manifest in
the flesh. Secondly, he declared unto them
man's total inability and sinfulness. Look at verse 44. No man can
come unto me, except the Father which sent me draw him, and I'll
raise him up at the last day. And he repeats himself in verse
65, Therefore said I unto you that no man can come to me, except
it were given unto him of my Father. He declared the total
depravity of sinners. Sinners don't have a free will.
They have a will, but the will is in bondage to their dead nature. Southward, downward, never Godward
and upward, no man stirreth up himself to take hold of God."
So he declared man's total inability, total depravity. Secondly, he
declared the election of grace. Now aren't these familiar? The
Lord declared the doctrine of grace. He declared unto them
His electing grace. Look at verse 37 of John chapter
6, "...all that the Father giveth me shall come to me." Who's he
talking about here? All the Father had given him.
Well, that's those covenant people. Those that God from the beginning
had chosen unto salvation. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. There he declares the sovereignty
of God in salvation, His elected grace. Look again at verse 45. It is written in the prophet,
and they shall all be taught of God. Who is he talking about
here? He's talking about those people
given to him. Every man therefore that has heard and learned of
the Father comes unto me. Fourthly, he declared unto them
his complete, particular, and successful atonement for those
people given to him. Look at verse 38. I came down
from heaven, Not to do my own will, but the will of Him that
sent me. And this is the Father's will, which hath sent me, that
of all which He hath given me I'll lose nothing." There's nobody
in hell for whom the Lord Jesus Christ died. That cannot be. Can the blood of Christ be shed
in vain? Is His blood shed for those that
He paid their sin debt and then God sends them to hell anyway?
That cannot be. He shall save His people from
their sin. That's the message from heaven.
Matthew chapter 1. I should lose nothing, but raise
up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son, and believeth on Him,
may have everlasting life. I'll raise Him up at the last
day. The Lord Jesus Christ cannot fail to save all of His covenant
people. Cannot. He declared unto them
His successful atonement. Not an attempt to save. He didn't die to make salvation
a possibility for all men if they will meet certain conditions.
That's a lie. He accomplished the salvation
of God's covenant people. That's what the Word teaches.
Fifthly, He declared unto them that salvation is in a person.
Salvation. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ
as the preacher of the Gospel is the only one that could preach
Himself and get away with it. And tell the truth. That's what
he preached. He preached himself. We've seen
it in John chapter 6. He said, I am the bread of life.
He that cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on
me shall never thirst. He preached himself. He declared that salvation
is not in Judaism. Salvation is not you keeping
the law. Salvation is not in your particular
synagogue or church. Salvation is in a person. See
what he's saying? I'm the bread of life. I am the
living bread, verse 51, which came down from heaven. If a man
eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread which
I will give is my flesh, my body, which I'll give for the life
of those people in this world, His covenant people. He declared unto them that salvation
is in a person. That's the fifth thing. Sixthly,
He declared unto them that salvation is of His doing. Salvation is
of the Lord. Now, we're going to camp on this
thought right here. In verse 63. Now, I've said this, and
I've repeated this verse on purpose. On purpose. I want us to get
hold of this. Lay hold of it. And may God bless
it to our heart. It is the Spirit of God. It is the Gospel of God that
gives life. It is the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ that gives life. It's the truth of God that gives
life. The flesh profits nothing. The word that He speaks, the
word that He gives, they are spirit because they're truth.
They are life. They are salvation. Now, two
things. This message has two points.
Number one is this. We'll begin with the negative.
The flesh profits nothing. The flesh profits nothing. Now I'm talking about your flesh. I'm talking about you. And I'm
talking about me. All flesh. All flesh. Nothing. Yours, mine, anyone else. In
the Kingdom of God, in the spiritual realm, it makes no contribution
to our salvation. None. None at all. That which
is born of the flesh, our Lord said to Nicodemus, that self-righteous
Jew, that which is born of the flesh, that's all it is. That's all it ever will be. Flesh. Flesh. Flesh. Flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The flesh profited nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Now
turn to Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40. Isaiah chapter 40. Remember the
message from Isaiah 40? Verse 6, And the voice said,
Cry. And that word there I think in
the original means confront. That's what the Lord did. He
confronted those Jews with their sins. And the voice said, cry. And
he said, what shall I cry? What's our message? All flesh. All flesh. White, black, young,
old. Bond free. All flesh is grass. And the goodliness thereof is
as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely
the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth. But the word of the Lord standeth
forever. In Isaiah 40, look at verse 15. Isaiah 40 verse 15. Behold, the
nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as a small dust
of a balance. Behold, he taketh up the isle
to the very little thing. Lebanon is not sufficient to
burn, nor the beast thereof sufficient for burnt offering. All nations
before him are as nothing, they are counted to him less than
nothing, and vanity, and vanity. All flesh is grass." Now turn
to Romans, the book of Romans. That is sinful, wicked, defiled,
depraved, ungodly, whatever adjective you can add to it that describes
what we are by nature, in Adam, all sin, in Adam, all have come
short of the glory of God and we all have sinned. In Romans
chapter 3, little verse 9, He said, Are we any better than
they? No, and no wise. We have proved
both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin. As it is written,
there is none righteous. No, not one. There is none that
understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They're all gone out of the way. They are together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. All flesh is grass. The flesh
profits nothing. Turn to Romans chapter 7 verse
18. Now here's the Apostle Paul now.
Now here's this Saul of Tarsus who's been taught the gospel,
made a new creature in Christ, raised up to be a mighty preacher
of the gospel. Now what's his testimony now
concerning his flesh? It's not changed after the Lord taught him the
truth. Now it's changed from when he was Saul of Tarsus because
he trusted in his flesh before. But look at verse 18. I know
that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. No good thing. For to will is
present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not.
For the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would
not, that's what I do. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. No flesh shall glory in His presence. Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter
1. We could spend the rest of the
morning reading verses concerning the sinfulness of our flesh,
how the flesh profits nothing, profits nothing, profits nothing,
nothing, nothing, nothing. Look at verse 1 Corinthians chapter
1 verse 27, but God had chosen the foolish things of the world
to confound the wise. God hath chosen the weak things
of the world, and found the things which are mighty, and the base
things of the world, and the things which are despised hath
God chosen, yea, and the things which are not, to bring to naught
the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence."
You got the idea? All outward religious ceremonies
of the flesh, all doing of the flesh, profits nothing, counts
for nothing, Turn to Galatians chapter 5. Those Galatians, having been
delivered from Judaism, and then those Judaizers came along and
said, well, you know, Christ is not enough. You've got to
go back to the law. And then Paul said in Galatians
3, verse 3, Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit? Are
you now made perfect? By the flesh? No. Turn to Galatians chapter 5.
Turn over there. Our Lord said to those self-righteous
Jews in Luke 16, You are they which justify yourselves before
men, but God knows your heart. That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in God's sight. Now look at Galatians
chapter 5. Get a hold of this now. Stand
fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free, and be not tangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold,
I, Paul, say unto you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall
profit you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised, he is a debtor to do the whole law.
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are
justified by the law, you've fallen from grace, you've departed
from the gospel, for we through the Spirit wait for the hope
of righteousness by faith. If you go about by the deeds
of men, by the religious ceremonies of men, Christ shall profit you
nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. Now turn over here to 1 Corinthians
chapter 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. That's why the Apostle Paul said,
We are the true Israel which worship God in the Spirit, that
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and we have no confidence in the
flesh. None whatsoever. The flesh profits
nothing. The flesh profits nothing. Look
at 1 Corinthians chapter 13. 1 Corinthians 13. I hope I told you the right reference.
Though I speak with the tongue of men and of angels, and have
not charity, have not love, have not Christ, I am become a sounding
brass and a tinkling cymbal. Though I have the gift of all
prophecy, understand all mysteries, and have all knowledge, though
I have all faith, so it could remove mountains, and have not
love, have not Christ, I do all these things in the flesh. I
am nothing. Though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, surely that counts for something. And though
I give my body to be burned, surely that counts for something.
And have not Christ, it profiteth me nothing." Get a hold of that? It profiteth me nothing. Without
Christ, we're nothing. All that is in the world, 1 John
2, the lust of the flesh, The lust of the eyes, the pride of
life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. Now, you know
this scripture in John, or rather, Jeremiah, if you want to turn
there, Jeremiah 17. The flesh profited nothing, Jeremiah
17. Look at verse 5. Thus saith the Lord, Jeremiah
17, 5. Cursed be the man that trusteth
in man, that maketh flesh his arm, his power, his strength,
hope, whose heart departeth from the Lord. He shall be like the
heath at the shrub in the desert. It shall not see when good cometh,
but it shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in
a salt land not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in the Lord. whose hope is in the Lord. Now,
you see the difference? The flesh profiteth nothing.
Now, I realize that that's a hard saying. The flesh profits nothing. And I realize that this is offensive
to this old flesh. I mean, it's offensive to this
old man. Nevertheless, it's true, isn't it? Who will hear that
message? Who will hear that message? I
tell you, His people. You're sitting there this morning.
Have you heard these things? And you're saying in your heart
and in your mind, you're saying, what are you saying? Amen. You're agreeing with this because
that's what a repentant heart does. You know, the first lesson
in Holy Spirit conviction is this. He teaches us, Jerry, what
we are. Sinners! Sinners! Sinners! I remember years ago, it reminds
me of something. When I first met you, when I
first came here and started preaching almost 19 years ago, pretty soon
to be 20, he met me at the door and he said, I remember what
you said, he said, I'm a sinner. And I said, I give thanks. That's
good news. That's good news. I didn't teach
you that. God did. I'm a sinner. What does
a sinner need? Salvation. Salvation. We are
sinners. There's nothing possible in us.
You know, that's good news. That's good news. If you know
that in your heart, oh, I tell you, I thank God. And not many
people know that. In reality, it's good news. You
know why? You know why it's good news? Christ died for sinners. Christ
died for the ungodly. God committed His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Good news. This is a faithful
saying, worthy of all acceptation. Christ came to save sinners,
sinners, sinners. Now, that's the first part. Here's
the second part. The flesh profits nothing. The
second part of this, because of the fact we're dead in sin,
dead in trespasses, and it is the Spirit of God, it is God
Himself that must raise the dead man and give him life. It's God
the Holy Spirit that quickens. It's God the Holy Spirit that
gives life. You remember we looked at this before. Turn back to
John chapter 5. John chapter 5. Verse 21. For as the Father raises up the
dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickens whom He will. He quickens whom He will. You
hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sin." Because
we're totally depraved and dead in sin, salvation must be entirely
and completely His doing. His doing. He must quicken us
or we'll never believe. He must quicken us. Turn to Ephesians
2. He must quicken us. He must give us life. He must
bring us out of darkness into His marvelous light. It's not something we do. Salvation
is not something we do. The flesh, prophets, nothing. Less than nothing. Vanity. All
of our righteousness, those in God's sight are filthy, ugly,
smelly rags in His sight. He's away with it. Away with
it. Now look at Ephesians 2. Our Lord is teaching us that
salvation is His doing. That's why all this eye-walking
and decision-making and coming forward and all this hand-raising
stuff is tommyrot. That's what the old English preacher
called tommyrot. Charles Spurgeon called it tomfoolery. It's the invention of men. It's
not taught in the Word of God. So that's why we here preach
the Gospel and leave folks alone. I'm not afraid to do that. God will convict you and convince
you that you're a sinner and that you need Christ. And until
He does that, everything else is just flesh. Flesh, flesh. Look what it says in Ephesians
2 verse 1. You hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and
in sin. Wherein time passed you walked
according to the course of this world. How is that away from
God? According to the prince of the power of the air, you
were inspired by Satan. What does he inspire us to do?
To establish a righteousness of our own. The spirit that now
worketh in children of disobedience, among whom we all had our conversation
in time past, in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of
wrath, even as others." Now that's after our That's God's description
of what we are in Adam. But, verse 4, read on, "...God,
who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved
us, He loved us even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened
us together with Christ. By grace are you saved." Now,
you cannot read into there anywhere where the flesh profits something. where the flesh contributes something.
We were dead in sin. Dead in sin. Dead in Adam. Even when we were dead in sin,
He quickened us together with Christ, by grace are you saved,
raised us up together, made us sit together in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might
show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness poured
out through Christ. Turn to Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 2. Turn to
Colossians chapter 2. It's the spirit that quickeneth.
Now, this is just as cut and dry as
it can be. I mean, this is just as black
and white as it can be. Isn't it? It is to me. I hope
I'm conveying this in a way that you can understand. Look at Colossians
2, 9 and following, "...in Him dwelleth all the fullness of
a Godhead body." That is in the Lord Jesus Christ. All the fullness
of God is in Christ, because He is God. "...and you are complete
in Him, which is the head of all principality and power, in
whom also you are circumcised with a circumcision made without
hands." There's that true circumcision. "...and putting off the body
of the sins of the flesh, Now how are you going to put away
the sins of the flesh? He's got to do it. By the circumcision
of Christ, by the operation of Christ, we're buried with Him
in baptism. Wherein also you're risen with
Him through the faith of the operation of God, who raised
Him from the dead, and you being dead in your sin. And the uncircumcision
of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven
you all trespasses. blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which is contrary to us,
took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. Having spoiled
principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing
over them in himself. If the spirit is quick enough,
the flesh profits nothing." The flesh profits nothing. Dead men
don't give themselves life. Dead men don't see, hear, speak,
or eat, believe, or repent. until they are made spiritually
alive by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord
said that to Nicodemus. Except a man be born again, you
cannot see the Kingdom of God. Except a man be born again, you
cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. You see, believing is
the fruit of being born. We don't believe to be born.
We believe because we have been begotten of God. 1 John 5 verse
1. The Lord said, the word that I speak unto you, back to the
text, and I'll wind this up, the word that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, and they are life. My friend, we have no weapon,
but the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. This
is my sword. We speak, and preaching is just
simply repeating what God's already said. Paul, when he writes his
second epistle to the Corinthians, he said, The weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. What is the weapon we come with?
His Word, His Truth, His Gospel. The Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You remember what Peter said when the Lord said to them,
Will you also go away? Simon Peter answered and said,
Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the Word of eternal
life. You see, when he sends forth
the gospel to his own, they hear not in word only, but they hear
in power, in the Holy Ghost, with much assurance and conviction
of heart. We don't use the art and device
of men to minister the gospel. We don't use the attraction of
the flesh to try to get a crowd. I'm not interested in filling
a building. I'm not interested in filling
these pews. That can be done by next Sunday. I guarantee it. This would be
standing room only. I could do it in one week. I
could do it. I'm not interested in filling
a building. I'm interested in preaching the gospel of God.
and never compromising. We don't use the art and device
of men to minister the gospel. Charles Spurgeon said this, if
the simple, clear declaration of the gospel of Christ crucified
will not draw people, let them stay away. We have no message
here but Christ crucified. His person, His work. I'm determined
like Paul to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and Him
crucified." I told you this last week in my Bible study. Someone
asked me last week, the week before the holiday, said, well, have you had your play
yet? Have you had your play at church?
You know what I said? I said, we don't play. We don't
play. She said, well, what do you do?
We preach. We preach the gospel. We don't play. We don't entertain
folks on the road to hell. We preach the truth, my friend.
God has ordained a simple, clear preaching of the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I know this religious world has
relegated preaching to the scrap heap. But my friend, God ordained
this to call out His people, to call out His sheep, and He
will bless it. He will bless it. Let me show
you something right over here in John chapter 12. I'm almost
through, just give me a minute. John chapter 12. When Christ is lifted up and
exalted in the preaching of the gospel, you know what happens?
God will honor it. God will bless it. He will. Look
what it says over here in John 12, 32. He said, "...and I, if
I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me." How do
we lift Him up? Now here He's talking about being
crucified, being lifted up. How do we lift Him up? In the
preaching of the Gospel. God will honor that preaching
that honors Him. God will bless that preaching
that honors Him. His Word will not return unto
Him void. It is a spirit that quickens,
the flesh profiteth nothing. It is the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, it's the power of God unto salvation, the flesh
profiteth nothing. God, now listen to this, God
does not use the lies of Satan to teach men the truth. God does
not use the lies of men to teach the truth. Well, God wants to
save you, but you won't let Him. That's a lie. What kind of God
is that? It's one you manipulate. A God
you manipulate's an idol. Our Lord said here in John 8,
32, and I'll let you go. And you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall set you free." The truth of who God is, almighty
and sovereign. The truth of who we are, flesh. The truth of what Christ accomplished
for us, all salvation and all righteousness. It's the truth
that sets us free. Aren't you glad the Lord sent
you, a gospel preacher, with the truth?