An Offensive Message - Who Can Hear?

Now I want you to turn back in
your Bibles to the sixth chapter of John and let me read my text
again. I hope you'll listen most carefully
to the message today. I'm prayerful and hopeful that
the Lord has a word for me and for you. and that he will speak that word
in the power of his Spirit, not in the wisdom of our own understanding. John 6, verse 60 says, when our
Lord brought this message, that many of his disciples, these
people who had been following him, listening to him, learners,
when they heard this, when they heard this, They said, this is
a hard saying. Who can hear it? Now, the Amplified
reads like this. Now listen to this. This is the
Amplified translation. When his disciples heard this
message, this word, many of them said, this is a hard, difficult,
and strange saying, an offensive, an unbearable message. Who can
stand to hear it? Who can be expected to listen
to such teachings? This is an offensive message.
Who can be expected to listen to it? Why is it, haven't you
often wondered, why is it that preachers today are not confronted
with this type of opposition? Now, I know preachers have opposition,
but isn't it usually because of their own peculiarities, not
because of what they preach? He said, if you be buffeted for
your own faults, your own peculiarities, your own strange personality,
your own strange way of doing things, what thank have you?
But our Lord was not buffeted and persecuted and hated, especially
for what or strange characteristics of personality, but for what
he said, his message. When they heard this, when they
heard this, they departed. Many walked back, left, walked
no more with him. Isaiah complained that no one
believed his report. He said, Lord, who hath believed
our report? To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Who's believed
my message? It's his message they rejected.
The multitude rushed upon Paul, gnashing their teeth because
of what he preached. All of the disciples, except
John, were martyred. John was exiled to the Isle of
Patmos, but the rest of them were murdered, martyred, because
of what they preached. Why is it that today preachers
are not confronted with this type of opposition? You're preaching
an offensive message. People say to us, you're an offensive
person, which most of the time is true. Your personality is
offensive. The way you do things is offensive.
The things that you advocate are offensive. But how often
has someone come to us and said, your message is offensive? Your message. This is what they
said to Christ here, your message is offensive. This is what's
unbearable, your message. Who can listen to what you're
saying? Who can be expected to believe what you're saying? Well,
the nature of man has not changed. It's 1977, but the nature of
man is the same. The Bible says the natural mind
is enmity against God, hates God. Our Lord said, brethren,
marvel not if the world hate you, it hated me before it hated
you. This nature of sin has not changed. Sin is still the same. It's rebellion
against God. It's transgression of the law
of God. It's the cry, we'll not have this man reign over us.
That's the nature of sin. David said, against thee have
I sinned, against thee only have I sinned. The nature of sin is
against God. It resents God's sovereignty,
it resents God's government, it resents God's law, it resents
God's right to reign. The nature of sin is against
God. Not my God, but the living God. Not the God of my imagination
or my idols, but the nature of sin is an offense against the
living God. Hatred for the living God. You
can preach any kind of God, and men will praise you, but the
God of the Bible is the one they hate. Christ said, I come in
my Father's name, and you do not believe me. Let another come
in his own name, and him you will receive. That's not offensive.
Well, the nature of man is the same. He hates God. The nature
of sin is the same. It's an offense against God.
And the way God saves sinners has not changed. It's by the
cross. It's by substitution. It's by
grace. It's the free gift of God. The
way God saves sinners has never changed. If Adam was saved, God
saved him by grace through Christ, by the blood of the Son of God.
If Abel was saved, God saved him by grace through faith in
the blood of Christ. If Isaiah was saved, all of these
men. If you're redeemed, you're redeemed
by the blood of Christ. If I'm redeemed, I'm redeemed
by the blood of Christ. God has never changed His way
of saving sinners. And the gospel has not changed.
Paul said, if a man preach another gospel, I don't care if it's
an angel from heaven, let him be accursed. Well, why is it that our Lord
brought this message to people, and they rose up in anger, and
they said, this is an offensive message, this is unbearable,
we can't hear this. And yet we preach. And no one's
offended. It's not unbearable to our generation.
It's not a hard saying to them. It may be. Let's present this. It must be that we're not sounding
the note as clearly as he did. You say, but men can't understand
the gospel except as it's revealed by the Holy Spirit. That's true.
But they understand it in their head. They understood what Christ
said. These were unbelievers, these
were unregenerate, these were people who had not had the Holy
Spirit reveal anything to them, but they knew what he was saying.
When he said, I and my Father are one, why, they picked up
stones to stone him. He said, now wait a minute, many
good works have I done among you, for which of these do you
stone me? They said, well, we know what you said. We're not
stoning you for good work, we're stoning you because you're a
man who claims to be God. They knew what he was saying.
They didn't believe it, they didn't rejoice in it, they didn't
understand it, but they heard it. And when he said right here,
all that my Father giveth me shall come to me. No man can
come to me except the Father draw him. I am the bread from
heaven. You must eat of my body and drink of my blood, or you
have no life in you. They didn't believe that, they
didn't love that, they didn't rejoice in that, they didn't
receive that, but they heard it. And they knew what he was
saying. And it must be, this must be
the problem, that men today are not sounding the note as clearly
and distinctly. Maybe we're covering it up with
our words of wisdom. Maybe we're covering it up with
our enticing words of man's wisdom, or our intellectualism, or our
theology, or our denominationalism, or our ceremonialism. Maybe we're
covering it up so that we're not saying it as clearly and
distinctly as we perhaps ought to say it, in order not to offend. In order,
as one fellow says, to slip up on a fellow's blind side and
catch him unaware. In order, perhaps, to persuade
men of our position. Perhaps we have taken the edge
off the message. And people go away really not
knowing what we say. Are there a lot of reasons? Not being prepared. Not spending
time in prayer. Not having the Spirit of God
with us. maybe being afraid of the flesh,
pleasing men. But I want you to listen to seven
statements of our Lord. Turn, first of all, to John chapter
3. Now, I want you to listen carefully to this. Here are seven. Listen to the Master preach.
Listen how clear it sounds, how plain it is. And let's see if
we can preach this way. Lead this message with our heroes.
If it's an offensive message, then all right. But if it's a
comforting message, we rejoice. John 3, verse 3, listen to this. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. There's no possibility of misunderstanding
those words, is there? except a man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of
God. Whatever the new birth is, Christ
is saying it's necessary to salvation, whatever it is. Whatever the
new birth is, our Lord is saying if you don't possess it, if you
don't experience it, you'll never enter the kingdom of God, no
matter how religious you are, no matter how sound theologically
you are. no matter how faithful and loyal
to your religion you are. If you're not born again, you're
not going to see, you're not going to enter the Kingdom of
God. Those words are plain and forceful and clear and cannot
be misunderstood. And that would be well for me
and for you to find out what the new birth is. It would do well for us to find
out what it is. Well, the Bible has some answers.
Turn to John 1. Let's see what the new birth
is. Let me see if I can give you some clues. What is the new
birth? Our Lord said, unless a man is
born again, he shall not see the kingdom of God. He shall
not inherit the kingdom of God. All right, first of all, I know
this about the new birth. It is of God. It is of God. Look at John 1, verse 12. But
as many as receive Christ, To them gave he the privilege, the
right, to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name, which were born, not of blood, that is, I didn't
inherit this new life from my mother and daddy, by natural
generation. It's not of the will of the flesh,
it's not of the will of man, but this new birth is of God.
It is of God. Whatever the new birth is, first
of all, it is of God. We're born of God. All right? Secondly, John 3, verse 6. Go back to where we were a moment
ago. I know this about the new birth. Secondly, it is of the
Spirit of God. It's a work of the Spirit of
God. It's a miracle of the Spirit of God. God sent the angel to
Mary and said to her, that you'll conceive and bring forth a son. And that son shall be the Messiah,
the Redeemer, the Christ. And Mary made this observation.
She said, how can this be? How can I bring forth a son?
I don't know a man. I can't conceive a son without
a man. I can't give birth to a son without
a man. The seed of man must be planted. There must be the life-giving
seed. I can't give life to a man without a man. And God said to
her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee. The Holy Spirit shall
overshadow thee. And that which shall be born
of thee shall be called the Son of God. And this is what happened
in the dead heart and dead life and dead nature of man. There's
no way that we can bring forth spiritual life. We lost spiritual
life in the garden. We died when Adam sinned. But the Holy Spirit comes upon
us. And the Holy Spirit begets life. That's what he says here
in John 3, verse 6. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. When a man plants a seed in the womb of a woman, that's
flesh. That's conceived of the flesh,
born of the flesh. It is flesh. It can be nothing
but flesh. It's shapen in sin. It's shapen
in iniquity. It's brought forth speaking lies.
It's flesh. But that which is born of the
Spirit of God is spirit. It's not flesh. No part of it is flesh. It's
all Spirit. And that's the life of God. That's
what God Almighty conceived in Mary's womb was the life of God.
And that's what Almighty God does for a sinner when he's born
again. It's of God, and it's by the power of the Spirit. All
right? All right, turn to 1 Peter 1.23. I know this about the new
birth. The seed by which the new birth comes about. Now, man can't just look at a
woman and say, conceive a child. There must be a seed planted.
And even so, Almighty God uses a seed. That's what the Scripture
says, 1 Peter 1.23. Listen to it. We are born again,
not of corruptible seed. It's not of the flesh. It's not
of man, but of incorruptible. by the Word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever." That's where this life comes from, the
Word. The living Word, the written Word, Christ the Word of God.
You can't separate the written Word from the living Word. This
Bible is Christ. This gospel is Christ. And the
Holy Spirit takes the Word. The Holy Spirit is the agent
and the Word is the instrument, or the seed, which brings life. And then in Galatians 6.15, turn
there, Galatians 6.15, I know this about the new birth. I know
it's of God. I know it's by the power of the
Holy Spirit. I know it's through the Word of God, of His own will
beget he us through the Word of truth. I know that the life
of God does not come apart from the Word of God, whose service
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how
shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? And how
shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard? Faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. I know the
old begatting, and then later on hearing the Word, and the
giving of ears and eyes, but I'm telling you this, you study
God's Word carefully, you'll find there's never any life without
the Word. A man cannot have life unless
he has Christ, and he can't have Christ without the Gospel, and
he can't have the Gospel without the Word of God. Christ is the
Gospel, all right? Watch this, Galatians 6, verse
15. Paul says, for in Jesus Christ
neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature. What is this new birth? It's
of God. It's by the power of the Spirit
of God. It's through the Word of God, and it's a new person. It's a new life. It's a new creature. It's neither form nor no form.
Somebody says, well, I have the form of religion. Well, you can
have the form and not have life. Well, somebody says, I don't
care anything about the form. I've rejected the form. I've
rejected the ceremony. I'm just a free, independent,
undenominational, unsectarian, free spirit. You can do all that
and not have life. It's not circumcision nor uncircumcision. It's not Catholicism nor Protestantism. It's not form nor no form. It's
not ceremony nor no ceremony. It's not theology or no doctrine. It's Christ and a new creature. That's the saying of the New
Birth. Are we sounding that note in an unmistakable fashion, in
a clear, plain, positive way? Our hearers may not understand
it, they may not partake of it, they may not rejoice in it, they
may not believe it, but at least when they get up and walk out,
they know what we say. They knew what Christ said. Ye
must be born again. Except a man be born again, he
cannot enter the kingdom of God. He can strive, he can fall on
his knees, he can beat a mortar's bench, he can go beneath that
water, he can drink the wine and eat the bread, he can do
his good works, he can study his doctrine, he can go to college
and the seminary, he can be a deacon, an elder, a preacher, but except
a man born again, he shall not inherit the kingdom of God. That's
clear, isn't it? All right, turn to Luke 13. Luke 13. When our Lord preached, they
were offended. When our Lord preached, they
raised up and said, hard doctrine, unbearable, who'd be expecting
to listen to that? But not so today. All right,
listen to Luke 13. Our Lord said, verse 3, I tell
you nay, but except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. Verse 5, I tell you nay, but
except you repent, you'll perish. That's clear, isn't it? If words
mean anything, it cannot be misunderstood. Now, whatever repentance is,
Now, I know we can sit around and spend our time arguing about
repentance. Somebody says it's for John the
Baptist day or the day of some other day, not for today, not
for the kingdom age, not for the millennium, not for this,
that, and the other. Repentance is this or repentance is that,
and repentance is a turning, repentance is a change. And Brother
Barnard said one time, when you try to define repentance, you
destroy it. When you try to define love,
you destroy it. When you try to bring faith down
to a definition, you've defeated your very purpose. Well, whatever
repentance is, our Lord said, if we don't repent,
we're going to perish. Well, let's see what the Bible
says. Let's see if we can find a clue. Let's see if the Holy
Spirit will help us. Turn to Acts 11. I know first
of all, I know this, I'm persuaded of this beyond a shadow of a
doubt, that repentance is the gift of God. I go back to this
very place where I started about the new birth. We're born of
God. It's not something I can do.
The disciples said, well, who can be saved? Christ said, with
men it's impossible, but with God all things are possible.
And this thing of the new birth, as well as repentance, is the
gift of God. Listen to Acts 11, verse 18.
When they heard this, they held their peace and glorified God,
saying, Then, how about that, then hath God also to the Gentiles
granted repentance unto life. We expected him to give it to
the Jew, but he says, think about it, he's given it to the Gentiles.
He's granted repentance. He's chosen to show mercy to
the Gentiles. Let's turn to another scripture,
Romans 2 forward. Romans 2, 4. Listen to this.
Repentance is the gift of God. Romans 2, 4. "...or despisest
thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering,
not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth you to repentance."
Now, if I have repented, if I know something about Bible repentance,
if you know something about Bible repentance, if I have repented
toward God, It is because God in His goodness and God in His
grace hath led me to repentance, and been pleased in His mercy
to grant me repentance, because by nature I'll never repent.
By nature I'd rather go to hell than give up my pride and give
up my self-righteousness. By nature I'd rather go to hell
than to give up my idols. That's so. And if I'm ever broken,
God'll have to break me. If I ever have a contrite heart,
God will have to crush it. If I ever have a spirit that
surrenders to the will of God and submits to the will of God,
God will have to break me. I cannot be broken by any person
other than Him. I can't even break myself. There
are a lot of us who think we've been broken who've never been
broken. What's the gift of God? Secondly, turn to 2 Corinthians
7. I know this about repentance.
I know it's of God. Secondly, I know that it's born
of godly sorrow. I know this about repentance.
Paul tells me this, that it is born of godly sorrow. True repentance. There's two
kinds of repentance. Esau sought repentance with tears. Judas was sorry he got caught.
Herod was sorry he cut off John's head. Ahab was sorry that he
chased Elijah, let Jezebel get out of hand. These men had a
sorrow, but it didn't lead to repentance. There's a different
type of sorrow. Look at 2 Corinthians 7, verse 9 through 10. Now, I
rejoice, Paul said, not that you were made sorry, but that
you sorrowed to repentance. For you were made sorry after
a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance
to salvation, not to be repented of. But the sorrow of the world
worketh death." What does that mean? It means just this. When I'm made aware of my sins,
when my sins are revealed to me, not just when they're exposed. Now, this earthly sorrow that
bringeth death, when we're caught, when we're exposed, when we're
discovered, when our sins are revealed, we cry and we weep
and we do penance and we make restitution. We've been caught.
That's no good. But when my sins are revealed
to me, whether anybody else knows them or not, whether anybody
else is aware of them or not, whether they've been exposed
to anybody else or not. I can cry with David, O God,
against thee have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
Godly sorrow is recognizing that all sin is against God, whether
it's secret or open, whether it's of the word or the flesh,
whether it's in the imagination or whether it's in the attitude.
It's against God. It's a terrible, wretched, corrupt
condition before God. And I'm sorry, and I repent,
and I weep before God over my sins. That's what leads to repentance.
I know that. That's what leads to repentance.
It's the gift of God. And secondly, it is born of godly
sorrow. Godly sorrow. I hear a man is
given to drink, and he's losing his job, he's losing his family,
and these things because he's an alcoholic, because he's dishonest,
and he feels bad about it, and he keeps saying, I'm going to
turn over a new leaf. He goes to church, and he goes
down and shakes the preacher's hand and says, I'm done with
it, I'm done with it, I'm never going to do it again, it's wrong,
all this. You see, he's not sorry before God, he's sorry before
himself, his family, me and thee. It's a fleshly thing. But when
our sins become a reality to us, they're against God, they're
an offense against God. If there was not another creature
in the world, my sins are against God. David said that he might
be just when he speaketh and clear when he judges. My sins,
you, God Almighty, you've required justice and righteousness and
I haven't produced it. And before God, I'm sorry. All
right, notice 2 Timothy 2. Not only is repentance the gift
of God, not only is repentance born of godly sorrow, but repentance
acknowledges the truth. Listen to this, 2 Timothy 2.25. In meekness, instructing those
that oppose himself, if God, peradventure, will give them
repentance, to the acknowledging of the truth. To the acknowledging of the truth.
The only man who really believes the word of God says about himself
is the man who's truly repented. The only man who believes what
the Bible says about God is the man who has truly repented. The
only man who believes what the Bible says about Christ, about
salvation, about the atonement, about redemption, about perseverance,
the only man who really acknowledges the truth, who bows down in the
face of the truth, who submits and surrenders to the Word of
God, who does not bring his opinions to the Bible to prove them, but
who brings the Bible to his opinions and disproves them, that man's
repented. People come to hear a preacher
preach who preaches the Word of God, and they bring a little
mole, and they say, now, if he fits his message in this mole,
I'll take it. If any of it hangs out on any
side, I'll reject it. You've never repented. You've
never repented. The man who's repented is the
man who's repented to the acknowledging of the truth. I'm not saying
everything the preacher says is so by any means, but I'm saying
this, that we're not to bring our theology to the house of
God and say, now, Lord, if you transgress this in any way, I'm
done, I'm walking out, I'm through. We come as those who don't know
anything. Turn to 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 10. This thing of repentance. Second Thessalonians 2.10, it
doesn't only deal with open rebellion and open sin, but deals with
secret pride and self-righteousness. It deals with secret opinions
and imagination, attitude. If you can harbor hatred against
a race, you haven't repented. If you can hold bigotry against
a people, You haven't repented. This thing of repentance, it's
breaking the wild ass's coat, breaking his spirit, his will,
his pride, to the acknowledging of the truth. And here in 2 Thessalonians
2, listen to this, verse 10. with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish, because they receive not the love of
the truth that they might be saved." Repentance will lead
a man not only to acknowledge the truth, Cecil, but to love
it. I love it. Go on, preacher, preach God's
sovereignty. I love it. Go on, preach man's
inability. I love it. Go on, take the Word
of God and lay it across my back with the rod of rebuke. I love
it. It's God's Word. I love it. I
love thy truth, O Lord. That's what David said, I love
thy Lord. All right, let's go to Matthew 5. But I'll move along
more quickly. Matthew 5, verse 20. I said that
just to let you know I'm aware of the time. Our Lord said in
Matthew 5.20, I say unto you that except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
you shall in no case enter the kingdom of God. No way. That's
preplaining. How long has it been since you've
heard preachers in this day really Express anything that clearly
that's clear it can words mean anything then these words are
clear you understand them here Don't you it's clear in other
words Christ is saying these religious leaders these Pharisees
have a righteousness They have a goodness. They have a morality.
They have a standard But unless yours Exceeds theirs you won't
enter the kingdom of God. Well, what was theirs? Well,
first of all, it was theirs and It was theirs. It wasn't God's.
It wasn't God-given. It was theirs. Paul said they're
going about to establish their righteousness. All right? Secondly,
it was not only theirs, but it consisted of abstinence from
certain sins and performances of certain duties. Turn to Luke
18. Let me give you an example here.
Their righteousness, their standard, their holiness was theirs. They produced it. They established
it. And it consisted in abstinence
from certain sins and performances of certain duties. Listen to
the Pharisee. Here he expresses it himself, Luke 18, 11. The
Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank you
I am not as other men. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not
unjust, I'm not an adulterer, I'm not even a despot because
that's abstinence from certain sins. Here is performances of
religious duties. I fast twice in the week, I give
tithes of all I possess. There is his righteousness. Lord,
I'm a Christian. I don't go to the show. I don't
drink liquor. I don't commit adultery. I don't take God's
name in vain. I don't steal. I don't lie. I
don't bear false witness. I don't bow before idols. I go
to church on Sunday. I tithe. I teach Sunday school.
I preach the gospel. That's my righteousness. And
our Lord said it's got to be better than that, Charlie. It's
got to be better than anything a man can produce. And it was
outward. Theirs was outward. Christ said
they made clean the outside of the cup, but on the inside it
was full of extortion and excess. He said they were like a grave,
you know, that the flowers and grass is beautiful, but on the
inside full of dead men's bones. I know you, and you know yourself,
and I know me. And I know most of our righteousness
is nothing but veneer. It's as phony as a three-dollar
bill. And most of this outward piety
and outward religion is as phony as it can be. And when a man
who's an honest man gets alone, he bemoans the fact. He weeps
over his inward thoughts and imaginations, his attitude, his
pride. What is this righteousness? All
right, turn to Philippians 3. Quickly, Philippians chapter
3. What is this righteousness that exceeds theirs? Philippians chapter 3. First
of all, it's not mine, it's Christ's righteousness. It's the righteousness
of somebody else. Of somebody else. Philippians
3 verse 8, the last line, Paul said that I may win Christ and
be found in him, not having my own righteousness which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God. It's Christ's righteousness.
He is my righteousness. He is my holiness. He is my sanctification. And this righteousness which
I have, which has by God's grace been charged to my account and
imputed to me, is not something that I've done. It's not by works
of righteousness which I've done, but it's by His obedience. Wherefore,
by one man's sin entered the world, and death by sin, so death
passed upon all men. And by one man's disobedience
we were made sinners, by the obedience of one we were made
righteous." This righteousness is Christ's righteousness. It's
by His obedience. And listen, it's twofold. It
is imputed unto us. It is imparted unto us. We have a righteousness before
the Father that's perfect, a holiness that is perfect. We are before
God holy, unblameable, and unreprovable. But we are also indwelt by his
Spirit and made new creatures and given an honest heart and
a truthful heart and a God-loving heart and a Christ-praising heart
and we walk a path of the Spirit and not the flesh. It's a progressive
sanctification that goes along with a permanent sanctification. All right, quickly, John 6, 44,
turn over there a minute. Are we saying, are we saying
as positively and clearly and plainly the things of God as
our Lord did? If we were, there's a good possibility
that folks would rise up in our congregations and say that's
offensive. That's a hard say. Listen to this, John 6, 44. I
read this a moment ago. Our Lord said, No man can come
to me except the Father which has sent
me draw him. Now, people can call this high
doctrine. They can call it deep doctrine.
They can call it hyper-Calvinism. They can call it fatalism. Call
it what you will. It doesn't really matter. What
you call it doesn't alter it. You say, well, I don't understand
it. Doesn't make it any less so. Somebody said one time, well,
my testimony is God said it, I believe it, that settles it.
Well, let me tell you something. One thing wrong with that. God said it, and it's so whether
you believe it or not. God said it, I believe it, and
that settles it. No, sir, God said it, and that settles it
whether you believe it or not. God's truth doesn't hinge upon
the fact you believe it or don't believe it. That doesn't make
it any less. So listen to what Christ is saying. No man, no
man, whatever his intelligence, whatever his titles, whatever
his guilt, whatever his nationality, whatever his denomination, no
man can, is able, has the power or the will to come to me. that is, believe on me, receive
me, trust me, except my Father, not excluding the Holy Spirit
and the Son, except my Father, which sent me, draw Him, savingly
convict Him, awaken Him, reveal Christ to Him. I'll tell you
this, the Apostle Paul stood before that church body and those
group of elders, and he said, now, I've been among you for
so many years, And he says, I have not shunned declaring to you
the whole counsel of God. And I've kept back nothing that's
profitable unto you. Nothing. It would seem to me,
now listen to me, my friends. It would seem to me that you
out there would be sitting there this morning saying this. Not
preach it, I believe certain things, and if you don't preach
it like I believe it, I'm not going to hear you. But it looked
like you'd be sitting there saying, Spirit of God, be my teacher.
Preacher, if you know anything about God, tell me. If you know
anything about salvation, tell me. If you know anything about
life, tell me. If you know anything about how
God redeems sinners, tell me. I want to know. I don't want
to miss Christ. That's what Paul is saying. I've
kept back nothing profitable unto you, all right? Is it profitable
unto me to know that God's on the throne? Is that profitable?
Then why don't we preach it? Is it profitable to our congregations
to know that God ruleth in the armories of heaven among the
inhabitants of this world and giveth it to whomsoever he will?
Is that profitable? Then why don't we preach it?
Is it profitable to know that God said, I kill and I make alive? I wound and I heal? I make men rich and I make men
poor? I raise the beggar from the dunghill
and sit him among the princes? Is that profitable? I create
light and darkness, good and evil. I, the Lord, do these things.
None can stay in my hand and say to me, what doest thou? I'm
the potter, you're the clay. I have power over the clay to
make of it what I will. Is that profitable? Then why
in heaven's name don't we declare it? Is it profitable to know
that men are sick in sin, and diseased with sin, and permeated
with sin, and corrupted in sin, and depraved in sin, and have
not the knowledge of God nor the Word of God dwelling in them?
Is that profitable? Is it profitable to know that
from the sole of our feet to the top of our heads there's
no soundness in us, nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores? Is it profitable to know that
God Almighty from all eternity determined to save a people?
He said, I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. I will
be gracious to whom I will be gracious. Is that not profitable?
Is it not profitable to know that God in eternity past gave
the Son of people, and our Lord said, all that my Father giveth
me shall come to me? And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that of all which He hath given me I'll lose nothing?
And in the garden, in that great priestly prayer, he said, I don't
pray for this world, I pray for them which thou hast given me,
thine they are, and thou gavest them me. Is that profitable? Then why don't we preach it?
Is it profitable to know that Christ died an effectual death,
a sufficient death, that by one offering he perfected forever
them that are sanctified? that he made one sacrifice for
sin and went to the right hand of God and sat down, having finished
his work, expecting to his enemies be made his footstool, is that
profitable? Is it profitable to know that
men have no ability to please God in the flesh, that in my
flesh dwelleth no good thing? That I could spend my entire
life in religion, serving God, and when I've done everything
God Almighty commanded, which I cannot do, I would still be
an unprofitable servant. That all of my righteousness
and holiness and sanctification and redemption is not in what
I've done or will do or shall ever do, but in Christ the Lord.
And Christ the Lord, is that profitable? Then we'd better start being
profitable in our ministry, because those things are profitable.
Paul said, I didn't keep them back from you. I didn't keep
them back. No man can come to me. You may
tell that sinner if you want to that salvation is an act of
the human will. God says it's of the will of
God, not of him that willeth, not of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. I'm not going to tell him that.
You may tell him salvation is all fixed up and sitting on a
shelf, and when he gets ready he can come by and take a drink
of it and fix himself up and meet you in heaven. I'm not telling
him that. I'm telling him that if God gives him what he deserves,
he'll send him to hell. If God Almighty gives him what
he doesn't deserve, he'll take him to glory. If he goes to hell,
it'll be his fault. If he goes to heaven, it'll be
God's fault. And the thing for him to do is fall on his face
at the feet of Jesus Christ as did the harlot, as did the leper
who cried, Lord, if you will, you make me whole. As did the
thief on the cross who said, Lord, if you will, remember me. That's my only hope. is that
God Almighty will look down here in His mercy for the glory of
His Son, not because of anything He foresaw or foreknew about
me, but for the glory of Christ and set His affections upon me
and call me to Himself. That's my only hope. Because
look at Romans 9, if you will. Paul says this in Romans 9, verse
27. I'm going to show you where our
Lord repeats the same thing. Romans 9, 27. Turn over here. Verse 27, listen to this, Romans
9, 27, And Isaiah said before, Except the Lord of the Sabbath
had left us a seed, we'd have been as Solomon Gamara. Do you
believe that? Unless the Lord Himself visits
this congregation and calls out a remnant, a people, This whole
outfit will be like Sodom and Gomorrah in which Abraham couldn't
find ten righteous men. That's right. Unless the Lord
of the seven, and our Lord Jesus called him in Matthew 9, the
Lord of the harvest. Why, he said the fields are ripened
to harvest. You go pray that the Lord of
the harvest will raise up, raise up laborers. Unless God Almighty
leaves us to see This city, this town, this nation is going to
be like Sodom and Gomorrah. All right, John 6, 53, and I'll
close. John 6, 53. Our Lord said in John 6, 53, Verily I say unto you, except
you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you
have no life in you. Our Lord didn't say, except you
walk down the aisle and shake the pastor's hand, you have no
life in you. That's not what he said. He didn't say, except
you do the best you can. He didn't say, except you be
baptized. He said, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood. What is this? This is to partake
of Christ. It's like Bill Clark said last
Sunday morning. You can take away my clothes.
Just take them off of me and I won't have them anymore. You
can take away my car, it's sitting right out there. You can turn
the key and drive it off and I won't have it anymore. You
can take my family, take them all away and I won't have them
anymore. But I'm telling you this, what I ate last night for
supper this morning for breakfast, there's no way you can get it.
It's gone to every blood vessel, it's gone to every artery, it's
gone to every muscle, it's gone to every part of my body. I took
it within me, and I ate it, and it gave me life and nourishment
and strength. And the only way you can destroy
what I ate for breakfast is to destroy me. And I'm telling you
this, when a man receives Christ, it's more than shaking a hand,
it's more than making a decision, it's more than joining a church.
We have today a permissive religion. It doesn't matter about your
occupation or your lifestyle or your attitude, just believe
on Jesus. That's not so. That's not so. This thing of salvation is not
to take the God Jesus and put him on the shelf with all the
other gods. It's to receive him in here. You can cut into a believer's
mind, you'll find thoughts of Christ. Cut into his heart, you'll
find love for Christ. Cut into his soul, you'll find
the commands of Christ. Cut into his very being, it's
Christ from beginning to end. The life which I now live in
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me." This is what our Lord's talking about,
loving mother, father, brother, sister, husband, wife. Yeah,
you own life more than me. You cannot be my disciple. When
a man receives Christ, Christ becomes his life. He can no more
leave Christ than he can continue to live and not breathe. Christ
is his life. I know people who live in a certain
place and Somebody comes along, offers
him a raise of $100 a week to move to another place and take
a job. The believer can't do that. He
can't move off and leave his family of believers, his church,
his gospel. Wouldn't go to a place where
no gospel is preached. There's not all the money in the world
that can convince him to do that. Because Christ to him is worth
more than money. Christ is his life. When these
decisions are made, it's not how will it affect me, it's how
does this affect my relationship with Christ, the Lord? You see
what I'm saying? He is my life. It's not something
that I have on Sunday morning or Wednesday night. It's not
some theological position that I've taken on myself. Christ
is my life. He's my hope. He's my Lord. He's
King. He's Master. He reigns. When you spit on Christ, you
spit on me. When you curse Christ, you curse
me. I can't find any comfort in a place where Christ is not
welcome because Christ is me. If people had this experience
where the Lord preachers wouldn't have to force Adam to keep him
out of this place and another place and with this companion
and that companion, they'd be as uncomfortable as Christ would.
Because where David said, now listen to him, David said, Lord,
do not I hate them that hate you? David didn't mean by that
he hated people. David didn't hate people. God commands us to love our enemies.
What did David mean by that? Do not I hate them that hate
thee? Lord, he's saying this. I don't
approve of them. I don't find delight in them.
I don't find any delight in these people who have no delight in
you. They're not my companions. I don't find my joy with them. I find my joy with them that
love thee. Christ is my life. And this is salvation. Except
you eat my flesh, he said, and drink my blood, you have no life.
You may have a doctrine, But you have no life, you may have
a religion. But you have no life, you may
have a profession. But you have no life, you may
have a refuge, you may have a hope for heaven. But you don't have
life. You don't have life till Christ
becomes your life. And when Christ becomes your
life, that is your life. There isn't any other life. When
Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we appear
with Him in glory. You don't come down here this
morning and say, I believe in Jesus, I'm all fixed up for heaven.
No sir, you go home and seek the Lord. And when you sit down
and count the cost and determine, is this man Jesus Christ going
to reign in my life? That means you girls can't marry
an unbeliever. No siree, you couldn't any more
marry an unbeliever than Jesus Christ could marry an unbeliever.
There ain't no way, not if he's your Lord. I'm telling you the truth. Other
preachers may tell you something else. This is the truth. What
fellowship hath light with darkness? Baal with God. When you girls
walk down an aisle with an unbeliever, or when you boys walk down an
aisle with an unbeliever, you tell me one thing. You don't
know Christ. That's what you're telling me. And I hesitate to
marry you. I do it sometime anyway. But you're telling me you don't
know Christ. You could no more take into your bosom one that
hates God and hates Christ any more than Christ could take for
his bride one that hates him. That's what David's talking about.
Do not I hate them that hate thee. When you men take a job,
when you take an opportunity, a business opportunity that compromises
your principles, your Lord, you're telling me one thing. You don't
know Christ. You couldn't do that any more than God could
do it. That's so. Christ is my life. That's what
the Lord's saying here. And it's time we told this generation
that it's more than just raising our hands and walking down an
aisle and saying we believe some doctrine and going on in our
miserable ways of trying to live a Christian life without Christ.
This thing of life. That's the reason our Lord said,
count the cost. Somebody said, well, wait till
I go bury my father. He said, let the dead bury the dead. I'm your
father now. Well, Lord, I married a wife.
I'm your wife now. Well, Lord, I bought some land.
I'm your inheritance now. If I know anything about this
book, that's salvation. Maybe I don't know anything about it.
That's what this thing says right here. It's not just getting religion. It's something happened when
I met the Lord. Ain't no turning back. Maybe we're not This is a hard
saying. Who can hear it? Huh? That's
what they said. They heard him say that, and
they said, we can't take that. Can't take it. It's offensive. It's unbearable. It's not what
we're used to. It's not what our fathers put.
Well, maybe it is. Maybe it's offensive. But is
it so? All right, they left. Now, wait
a minute. They left, and then he turned to the 12. He turned
to you elders, deacons, and he turned to this preacher and this
song leader, and he said, will you also go away? That's all right. That's all
right. He said, will you? They've all gone now. They couldn't
take it. It's too hard for them, all 5,000 of them. Now, Mahan,
you can go too. If you want the world, you can
have it. You go right ahead. And these disciples looked at
him and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of
life. They may be offensive words,
but they're words of life. They may be unbearable. They
may chafe the flesh. They may make me gnash my teeth.
They may make me go home from this sermon this morning and
say, that preacher's full of baloney. All right, maybe so.
But they're life. They're life. Christ is life. And that little old girl came
up to Brother Barnard, and he said, have you saved? She said,
no, sir. He said, why not? She said, I'm afraid God will
send me to China as a missionary. He said, I'd rather go to China
than go to hell. And it's worth that, isn't it?
Our Father anoint the Word with the power of thy Holy Spirit.
We're weary of religion, that religion that's filled with so
much evil and rebellion and self-righteousness and pride. That religion which
exalts not nor glorifies our Lord Jesus Christ. How we long
for that to be true of us. When our Lord said, I'm the vine,
you're the branches. I'm the head, you're the body.
Without me you can do nothing. Any man that puts his hand to
the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God. Any
man love mother, father, husband, wife, brother, sister, yea, his
own life more than me, he's not fit to be my disciple. Take up
thy cross and follow me. Lord, do for us a work of grace,
a miraculous work of grace. Bring us to know him whom to
know is life eternal. For his glory we pray. Amen.

An Offensive Message - Who Can Hear?

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An Offensive Message - Who Can Hear?

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