Turn back with me to John 15. I think I can truthfully say
for many years, or as long as I've tried to preach the gospel,
I have been interested not in flowery sermons or impressing
people, but I've been interested in what's going on. I've been interested in what's
going on right now, the attitude which people have toward the
living God. Our Lord Jesus Christ said eternal
life is to know the living God. David said, O Lord, as the heart
or deer panteth for water brook, so panteth my soul after Thee,
the living God. I want to know the Lord. I want
the people to whom I preach to know the living God. And this
week I was looking at John chapter 15, and about two or three verses
just kept like a magnet drawing my eyes to them. Verse 18, the
Lord Jesus said, ìIf the world hate you, you know that it hated
me. The world hated me.î And then
I looked at verse twenty-three, he that hateth me, hateth my
father also. And the last line in verse twenty-four,
Christ said, now have they both seen and hated both me and my
father. Now, it would alarm this religious
generation in which we live if we, in the pulpit today, accused
them of hating the Son of God, or hating the living God. But
Christ said this to His day, His religious day, and I know
it alarmed them. He said, they hated Me and My
Father. And then in the last part of
verse 25, he said, they hated me without a cause. They hate
me. They hate God. And they hate
me without a cause. Now when the prophets of old
wrote of the Redeemer who was to come, Moses called him that
prophet whom God would raise up from the mist of the brethren.
Isaiah called him the one who would be crucified and slain.
They called him God's elect. They called him the prophet.
They called him the shepherd. But anyway, when the old prophets
wrote of the Redeemer who was to come, they wrote that he would
be despised, and that he would be hated, and that he would be
rejected. Let me show you just two or three
verses. First of all, in Isaiah 53. Isaiah, the prophet who wrote
more of Christ, I suppose, than any other prophet. Isaiah, chapter
53. Isaiah said in verse 3, talking
about the Redeemer, talking about the Messiah, the Christ, he says,
he is despised, he will be despised, hated, and he will be rejected,
rejected of men. He will be a man of sorrows,
he will be acquainted with grief, and they'll hide their faces
from him, they will despise him, they will not esteem him. Hundreds
of years before Christ came, Isaiah said, when he comes, they'll
hate him, they'll despise him, they'll turn their faces away
from him. They're not going to exalt him,
they're not going to welcome him, they're going to turn their
faces away from him. And then in Psalms 22, David
wrote, and many of the Psalms, as you read them, you'll find
they are what we call Messianic Psalms. That is, they refer to
the Messiah. David, while in a way speaking
of himself, is speaking of the Messiah. He's speaking of the
Christ. And Psalms 22, if you'll read it carefully later on, you'll
find that the words which our Lord spoke from the cross, this
is the scene of the cross. The words which Christ spoke
from the cross are the words written in Psalms 22 by David. David's writing about the Savior
and he said in verse 6, I am a worm and no man, a reproach
of men and despised of the people. This is the Christ, this is the
Messiah talking here in Psalms 22. I am a reproach of men I'm
despised of the people, hated." Now turn to Zechariah. That's
next to the last book in the Old Testament, the book of Zechariah,
chapter 13, verse 6. He's writing again about the
Messiah. The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed.
As you read the Old Testament, its prophecies and its types
and its pictures, it is revealing Christ. And in Zechariah 13,
verse 6, talking about Christ, and one shall say unto him, What
are these wounds in thy hands? That's the print of the nails.
What are these wounds in thy hands? Now listen to what he
said, and then he shall answer. Those with which I was wounded
in the house of my friends. I was wounded in the house of
my so-called friends. Now the Old Testament prophets
said he will be despised, he will be hated. He will not be
exalted, they'll turn their faces away from him. He'll be wounded
in the house of his friends. Now when the Savior did come,
the hatred began at his birth. Herod tried unsuccessfully to
kill him. He did everything in his power
to destroy this little child. His family had to flee to Egypt
to escape the wrath of the king. Then when he grew up and began
his ministry, first thing off the bat, the religious people
turned thumbs down on him. They ridiculed him, they called
him the friend of sinners. On several occasions, as I'll
read to you in a few moments, they attempted to stone him.
And they cast him out of Nazareth and they tried to murder him.
They paid false witnesses to lie on him. They paid his disciples
to betray him. They despised him so and hated
him so that they spit in his face. And in cruelty, they would
grab a handful of hair and pull it out of his face and his head.
They hit him with the open palm, they beat him with their fists,
and they finally discouraged him with thirty-nine stripes.
And then their hatred took him during one of their religious
celebrations. In fact, the most important and
the highest religious celebration, the Passover. During the Passover,
while they were in Jerusalem, keeping the Feast of the Passover,
the week of the Passover, they took this man, Jesus, outside
the city wall and nailed him to a cross. Didn't tie him to
the cross, they drove spikes in his hands and feet and nailed
him to the cross. Now they hated him, despised
him, and they did everything in their power to destroy him. Why? Why? Well, they didn't hate him because
he He healed people. Turn to John chapter 2. That
wasn't what brought it on. I hear the faith healers and
the professional healers in the merchandise business telling
people that they're hated because they go about healing people. People aren't hated for healing.
If you can heal somebody, more power to you. I'm for you. If
you can relieve anybody's sore toe, you do it. I don't like to see people hurt,
and I don't think anybody here does. If you can heal them with
a pill or whatever you want to heal them with, or with a touch
of a hand or a rag, more power to you. Christ went about doing
good. He healed people. They didn't
hate Him for that. In fact, they followed Him. In
John 2, 23, when he was at Jerusalem at the Passover, this was before
his crucifixion and the feast day, many believed in his name
when they saw the miracles which he did. It was impressive, very
impressive. And they just, multitudes followed
him, and if he'd just stayed in the healing business, he wouldn't
have been crucified, because nobody objects to that. And then
they didn't hate him because he fed them. Turn to John 6. One time he fed something like
5,000 men, not counting the women and the children. Now, religious
organizations aren't hated for their charitable enterprises.
If we can get some care packages across the water and feed some
hungry children, brethren, more power to us. I'm for it. Everybody
else here's got a heart at all. And these Religious people in
the day of Christ, they were in the charity business too.
They were in the alms business. In fact, these beggars sat in
the doors of the tabernacle, of the temple rather, begging.
And at the gates, and the religious people helped them. There's no
objection to that in John 6, 25. And when they found him on
the other side of the sea, they said, Rabbi, when did you come
here? The Lord answered and said, I
say unto you, verily I say unto you, you seek me. Not because
you saw the healings, the miracles. You seek me because you ate the
loaves and were filled. You're following me because I
fed you. That's why you're following me. You want some more food."
And they didn't object to him feeding people, and then they
didn't object to him raising the dead, really. In fact, if
you'll turn to John 12, it was right after he raised Lazarus
from the dead that they wanted to make him king. Did you know
that? in John chapter 12 in verse 10. Now the chief priests were
alarmed because they had a religious political position to defend,
but the chief priest in verse 10 of John 12, chief priest consulted
that they might put Lazarus also to death. They wanted this whole
outfit put to death, Jesus and Lazarus both. But that by reason
of him, many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus. On
the next day, much people that were come to the feast, when
they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took branches
of palm trees and they went forth to meet Him. And they cried,
Hosanna, blessed is the King of Israel, that cometh in the
name of the Lord. Isn't that beautiful? Now these
are the same folks that a little while later cried, Crucify Him,
Crucify Him, give us Barabbas, away with But he'd just done
a marvelous thing. He'd just raised a fellow from
the dead. And they were impressed. And they cried, Hosanna, blessed
is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. They
rejected and hated him, not because he fed them, not because he healed
them, not because he did miracles, not because he raised the dead,
not because they expected kingdom on this earth. I'll tell you
why they hated him. They hated him because of what
he preached. What he preached, what he said.
Now let me show you that. Turn to John 10. They hated him
because of what he said. In John chapter 10, his doctrine
offended them. His doctrine divided them. And it's the same doctrine that
divides men today. It's the same doctrine and preaching
that will cause men either to love Christ or to hate Christ
today. Not this neutral position that
most of the religious world is in. And they're in that position
because they haven't heard his doctrine. They haven't heard
his word. They haven't heard what Christ
actually said. They're worshiping another Jesus.
by another spirit. They're preaching another gospel.
But listen to John 10, down here beginning with verse 14. I'm the good shepherd, I know
my sheep, I'm known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.
And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also
I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and they shall
be one fold, one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No
man taketh it from me. I am sovereign in this matter.
I lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay it down.
I have the power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father, and there was a division. There was a division. Therefore
again among the Jews for these sayings That's why there was
a division. He said something. He declared
who he is and who sent him and what he came to do and why he
came to do it. And there was a division because
of what he said. Now, I want to give you this
morning five things. I want you to remember these
five things. I think they're important. I've gone through
the New Testament. And I picked out the places in
the New Testament when the real anger and hatred of the people
rose up against Christ, when they really vented their wrath
against Him. I picked out the verses where
they actually reached down at this particular time and picked
up stones to stone Him. And I read back the verses preceding
those examples to find out what He said. that made them so angry. What he said that brought out
this hatred, it didn't, what he said didn't make them hate
him. The hatred was already there. What he said brought it out.
What he said revealed the hatred. Now, you say, well people today
don't hate God. If the preachers said what Christ
said, that hatred would be revealed. It's there. But it's under a
religious veneer. It's under a veneer of good works.
It's under a veneer of charity. It's under a veneer of false affection. It's under a
veneer of religious emotionalism. It's there. And the preachers
are doing everything in their power to avoid bringing it out. Like one lady said, our pastor
is really maturing. He found out what we wanted to
hear. And now he's preaching it. Now, that's the reason the
hatred is not being revealed. The preachers don't want to disturb
and divide. Christ did. Now, listen to him.
I'm going to show you why he said, they hated me. And I'm
going to show you what he said each time and how this hatred
was brought out. Now, first of all, in John 10,
right where we are, verse 31, I look down here and it said,
in John 10, 31, the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Now, a fellow's got to be awful
mad to stone you. He's got to be awful mad. And
Christ had said something that made these people so angry that
they picked up stones. And he always said it. He didn't
say it like the ministers today say it so that nobody can understand
it. Just as Paul said, wisdom of
words, that the cross of Christ becomes of knowledge. But he
said it so they could all know what he meant. And that's when
they picked up stone. What did he say? Well, look back
a few verses, beginning with verse 24. Now listen to it. We'll
find out whether or not you hate him. If you'd have been there,
what you would have done. Well, you hear now, listen to
this, John 10, 24. Then the Jews came round about
him. They said, how long are you going
to make us doubt if you are the Christ, if you're the Messiah,
if you're the one for whom we look, if you're the Redeemer
of Israel? Tell us plainly. Now watch it. Jesus answered,
I told you, and you didn't believe me. The works that I do in my
Father's name, they bear witness of me. But you believe not, because
you're not of my sheep." That's why you don't believe me. I told
you, my sheep, my elect, my people, they hear my voice. I know them,
and they follow me. You don't hear me because you're
not of my sheep. You don't know me because you're
not of my sheep. You don't follow me because you're
not of my sheep. This is the Lord speaking now,
fella. Better be careful. What he said made them so angry
they wanted to stone him. The hatred was already there.
And he brought it out by what he said. And this is what he
said. And this is why they hated him. And this is why they wanted
to stone him. And I'll tell you, men are no
different today. The flesh is no different. The
evil, wicked, human heart is no different. And if our preachers
would declare what Christ said right here, They'd find out there's
some folks in their churches that hate Jesus Christ, too.
They don't hate sweet little Jesus boy. They hate the Lord
Jesus Christ. They don't hate Jesus' superstar
who didn't know where he came from or why he came or where
he was going. They hate the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't hate their idols.
They hate the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
not being preached. We're hearing sweet little Jesus
boy. We're hearing Jesus superstar.
We're hearing the idols, another Jesus. He said, My sheep hear
my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them
eternal life, and they shall never perish. And neither shall
any man pluck them out of my hand. They'll never perish, my
sheep. I know them. I've known them with an everlasting
knowledge and love. I've always known them. I know
them now and always will know them. He shall declare unto many
on that day, I never knew you. And he said, My Father gave me
these sheep. My Father is greater than all.
And no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand, you
or anybody else. I and my Father are one. We're one in covenant mercies,
we're one in covenant blessings, we're one in covenant redemption,
we're one in covenant calling, and we're one in covenant confirmation. We're one. And that outfit took
up stones to stone him. Now he said, hold on here just
a minute. Look at the next verse. Now hold
on, hold on. I've done many good works among
you, for which of these do you stone me? And they said, we're
not stoning you for doing good works. We're not against religion.
We've built churches all over our city. We've given our income
to churches. We've supported the poor. We've
tried to get people to quit their meanness and go to heaven, not
go to hell. That's not what we're mad about.
You're a man, and you claim to be God. And it's just not possible
for a man to be God. That ain't possible, and we can't
believe it. You claim to be God. You claim
to be a sovereign God, and we don't believe it. It's not possible.
It can't be that a human being walking around in flesh can be
God Almighty. It can't be. It can't be that
a human being a man clothed in the likeness of sinful flesh,
that in him dwells God Almighty. It can't be. It can't be that
God in flesh would go to a cross and die. It can't be. Can't explain
it. They couldn't either. And they
wouldn't have it. They wouldn't have it. This world
did not, this world does not believe that Jesus of Nazareth
is God Almighty. the sovereign, eternal, omnipotent,
living God. Now the Bible teaches that He
is. All the attributes of deity are in Christ. I'll give you
just a few of them. Omnipotence. What does omnipotent
mean? Omnipotence, it means all power. All power. And Christ said Himself,
I have all power, all authority in heaven, all authority in heaven. With mind, he said, and all authority
upon the earth. He had power over the sea, he
had power over the winds, he had power over the animals, he
had power over the fish, he had power over men. All power. God also is not only omnipotent,
God is omniscient. He knows all things. Christ knew
men's thoughts. Now brethren, we know what happened
yesterday. Christ not only knew what happened
yesterday, He knows what's going to happen tomorrow. And the only
way He can know what's going to happen tomorrow is because
He is Lord and Sovereign over tomorrow. We know what men do. Christ knew what they thought.
That's omniscience. Also, omnipresence. That means
He's everywhere at the same time. And He said to His disciples,
Lo, I'm with you always. John, on the Isle of Patmos.
Paul, down in Ephesus and Corinth and Thessalonica, I'm with you. Lord, how can you be with Paul
and be with John too? I'm God. Holiness in him, no
sin. And he said, none good but God.
Eternal existence. When Moses came to the burning
bush on the mountain, and God told him to put off his shoes,
he was on holy ground. And God told him to go to Egypt
and bring the people out. He said, well, whom shall I say
has sent me? What did the Lord God say from
that bush? He said, tell them, I am. I am. The Lord Jesus Christ,
when He was standing in Gethsemane's garden and the soldiers came
to arrest Him, He said, whom seek ye? They said, we seek Jesus
of Nazareth. You know what He answered? Same
voice from that burning bush. the same words from that burning
bush, because he was the same God who spoke from that burning
bush. He said, I am. I am. They said, well, you're
not, you haven't seen Abraham, you're not fifty years old. He
said, before Abraham was, I am. I am. Jesus Christ is God. He has the power to create. He
has the power to give life. He raised the dead. Thomas summed
it up when he fell at his feet and said, My Lord and my God. Now, brethren, when he said this,
they didn't like it. They hated him. Now, the second
time I read on, and I read over here in Luke chapter in the fourth chapter of Luke,
verse thirty-one, or rather verse twenty-eight and twenty-nine.
Luke four, twenty-eight and twenty-nine. And all they in the synagogue,
and brethren, we're not talking about a bunch of fellas down
on the wharf, a bunch of boat loaders, a bunch of drunks down
on Skid Row. We're not talking here, when
I say men hate Jesus Christ and despise Him, we're not talking
about a bunch of soldiers on a drunken spree in an island
town. It says they were in the synagogue. They were in the church. They
were in the first church of Jerusalem. That's where they were. They
were in the first church of Nazareth. That's where they were. They
were in the first church of Capernaum. That's where they were. The first
Baptist, first Methodist, first Presbyterian, first Nazarene.
They were in the church. That's where they were. And when they heard these things,
when they heard these things, they didn't see him work a miracle,
they didn't see him feed, distribute food to the poor, they didn't
see him raise the dead, they had no objections to those things,
they heard him say something! They heard him say something! And when they heard it, they
were filled with wrath! And they rose up and threw him
out of the city, thrust him out of the city. They led him to
the brow on the hill whereon the city was built that they
might murder him. Now what in the world did he
say that turned a Sunday morning worship outfit into a lynching
party? I know because I've done it.
I've done it, I've said the same thing, and I've experienced the
same response. Turn a bunch of people who have
got up on Sunday morning, dressed up and combed their hair and
put on a little shaving lotion, and little powder and paint and
perfume and a nice Sunday go to meet and dress and got their
Bible out, first time they picked it up that week, and they got
it out and tucked it under their arm, you know, and got the children
all herded together and pinned the kisarge on the lapel of their
dress or suit, you know, and got in the car and drove down
to the church and smiled at everybody and shook hands all around just
to glad to see you. And they went in, they listened
to somebody sing, and the choir sang, and then the preacher read
something, you know, and they sat there and got all settled
down to hear a good sermon. And before that meeting was over,
they were cursing and swearing and spewing and spitting and
fire and sparks were flying from their eyes and hatred from their
mouths and they took a man and pushed him outside the city and
would have thrown him over a cliff. Now what in God's name did he
say? What did he say? Well, let's
look. He said, here's what he said,
in verse 24, Verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in
his own country. I'm going to tell you a truth.
This is the Lord of glory now. This is Jesus Christ, the Son
of God. He said, I speak the things I
do know. I testify the things that I've
seen. I'm telling you the truth. These
people were religious. They thought because they were
religious that God owed them salvation. They thought that
because their forefathers were Baptists or Methodists or Catholics
or Presbyterians, and they were, that God was with their family
and God was with them, they'd built a nice church, they'd kept
the law, they'd done all these things, and God owed them heaven. God owed them salvation. God
owed them life. That's what they thought. They
were sitting there in all their presumption and satisfaction
and assurance, Just knowing that when we die, we're going to heaven.
No doubt about it. We're God's people. He's our
God. We're called Christians. These people are called Israelites. But Christ got up and He said,
Let me tell you something. There were many widows in Israel
in the days of Elias when it didn't rain for three years and
six months, and everybody was starving to death. great famines
throughout all the land of Israel, but under none of these widows
was Elias sinned. God didn't send his prophet,
God didn't send his miracle worker, God didn't send his mercy to
any of them. To any of them. He sent his prophet
to a Gentile woman. unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon,
unto a woman that was a widow. He sent his prophet to a Gentile
woman. What Christ is saying to them
is this. God doesn't owe you anything. God is sovereign. God
will show mercy on whom He will show mercy. He will be gracious
to whom He will be gracious. Salvation, eternal life, mercy
is a guilt. It's not a reward for service
rendered. It's not a debt. It's a gift.
Now read on. He said there were many lepers
in Israel in the days or in the times of Eliseus the prophet,
and not any of them were cleansed. If God passes by the whole nation,
God will be just and God will be righteous. Shall not the judge
of the earth do right? And God passed by all these lepers,
and He healed Naaman, a Gentile, a Syrian. Our Lord is speaking to this
crowd of religious worshipers. He's speaking to this crowd calling
themselves the people of God. He's speaking to these religious
people who had defended the law and morality and organization
in their temples and tabernacles and synagogues all these years.
And He said to them, you're not accepted of God by your works
or because of who you are. Salvation is a gift of mercy
and a gift of grace. God doesn't owe you anything.
He may pass you by, and he'll be just if he does. And he may
reach out to a drunk or to a harlot or to a profane swearer or to
a blasphemer or to a Gentile dog and pass you by. And that's when they grew angry.
You just don't tell a man that God might pass him by. You just
don't tell him that. God's got no right to pass me
by. Like one man said to me one time,
if my mama's not in heaven, ain't nobody there. Hold on there now,
boy. You just hold on a minute. That
may sound pretty, and you may be complimenting mama, but let
me tell you something. The Lord Jesus is in heaven,
and all for whom he died are in heaven, and those who bowed
to his sovereign scepter are in heaven. You may not be there,
but it'll still be heaven without you. It was heaven before you
were born. God doesn't owe you anything.
God doesn't owe me anything. Moses said, Lord, turn to Exodus
33. Moses said, Lord, I'd sure like
to see your glory. Moses had seen the water part.
Wasn't that something? That wasn't enough for Moses.
Moses had seen the sea turn to blood. Moses had seen the hail
fall. Moses had seen the locusts and
the lice and the frogs and the flies. Moses had seen the serpent
made of a rod. Moses had seen the death of the
firstborn. Moses had seen those things.
And here he came down here in Exodus 33 and said, Lord, I'd
sure like to see your glory. Show me your glory. I want to
see the glory of the Lord, that which glorifies thee most, that
in which the Lord of glory is most glorified. Show me your
glory. Give me a preview of heaven.
Give me a preview of glory." And God said, All right, Moses.
Verse 19, Verse 18, Moses says, show me a glory. The Lord said,
I'll make my goodness pass before you. That's my glory, my goodness,
my grace, my mercy. Mercy to the undeserving, grace
to the guilty, cleansing for the defiled. My mercy, God said,
is my glory, not my judgment, not these parting of the sea
and killing of the firstborn and judgments on the earth. My
mercy is my glory, my goodness, mercy, grace. That's my glory? Well, I want to see it, Moses
said. Okay, Moses, I'll let you see it. I will proclaim to you
the name of the Lord. I'm going to tell you who God
is, he said. Now, your preacher ain't got
the guts to tell you who God is. I'm talking to the radio
audience now. But God said, Moses, I'm going
to tell you who God is. I'm going to proclaim the name
of the Lord, not a Lord, not some Lord, not any Lord, the
Lord. You ask to see my glory, Moses,
and I'm going to show it to you. I'm going to show you the glory
of the Lord. It's not throwing songbooks from
one side of the building to the other and jumping up, hollering
whoopee, and beating on a guitar and singing a jivey tune. That's
not the glory of the Lord. I'm going to show you my glory.
Listen to it. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show
mercy. That's God's glory. That the
Lord of glory should reach down on the dunghill of corruption
and lift an old, guilty, filthy vice covered filled, vermin filled,
leprosy filled sinner, and wash him and bathe him in the blood
of his only son, and make him white as the driven snow, take
him to glory and seat him on his right hand, and make him
his son. That's God's glory. That's God's
glory. Don't talk about the raising
of a mountain or the splitting of a sea. The glory of God is
the cleansing of the guilty. And he said, I'll show mercy
on whom I will. I don't owe it to you. If you
think I owe it to you, I'll pass you by. That's what he told these
people in Luke 4. Israel thought that they had
a corner on God. They thought God had to do something
for them. Weren't they Israel? Didn't they
have the prophets? Didn't they have the law? Didn't
they have the ceremony? Didn't they have the tabernacle?
They had it all, but they didn't have God. They didn't have God. You can have all the religious
worship and service and ceremony and ritual. You can have all
that without having God. Israel did. Israel did. And this world today has it all.
They've got all of it, but they don't have God. You want to know
what made them mad? They hated Him. We don't hate
Jesus. Nobody's told you who He is.
If somebody tells you who He is, we'll find out whether or
not you hate Him. But nobody's told you who He is. I'm telling
you who He is. Do you like this? I don't agree
with that too much. I know they didn't either. And
they were a little more emotional than some of you folks. It's
against the law to kill me. But it wasn't against the law
to kill him, so they tried to. You see what I'm saying? All
right, let's find out why they hated him. Turn to John 6, verse
66. And I'm not talking to the 13th
Street Baptist Church, and I talk about people hating God, because
I know you love this gospel, but this message is going over
the radio, and I want everybody in the Tri-State area to know
why they hated Christ. This is why they hated him. It's
what he said. He said, I'm God. not a representative
of God, I'm God, and I'm a sovereign God, and I don't owe you anything. And if you get mercy, it'll be
because I'm merciful." And then another thing, verse
66, John chapter 6, verse 66, says, From that particular time, many
of his disciples, and these were learners and these were followers,
not the twelve, these were followers, went back and they said, We'll
walk no more with you. Now what did he say? Well, turn back to verse 48.
Here's what he said. I'm going to give you two or
three things he said here. Verse 48, he said, I am the bread
of life. I am. Now these people believe
that acceptance with God was in their religious laws. Acceptance
with God was in their religious works. Acceptance with God was
in what they were doing, and how they were living, and what
they were producing religiously. That's what they believed. Just
as men today preach and believe, though the Jews had the sacrifices,
they had the blood. But they still believed that
work saved. They had the atonement. Their
high priest offered the atonement every year. You say, but people
today preached the blood. So did these Jews. They didn't only preach it, they
shared it. They believed in the sacrifices.
They believed in the Day of Atonement. They believed in the Passover.
While they celebrated the Passover more than some churches celebrate
the Lord's Supper. But they still believe that though
they had the sacrifices and the atonement and the Passover, they
still believe that when it came right down to it, that their
acceptance with God was in what they did. That's exactly what
they believe. And men today, sure, they preach
the blood. Sure, they preach the cross.
Sure, they preach the atonement. Sure, they preach the sacrifice.
But when it comes right down to it, to the nitty-gritty of
the whole thing, I am accepted by God, and I remain in the family
of God, and I'm finally saved if I can fix my life up real
religiously and live for God. Ain't that the truth? You know
it's so. He's in heaven, is he? He was a good man. That's what
everybody said. You know it's so. She's a fine
Christian. Why do you say that? She's such
a good woman. That's what you believe. That's
what the world believes. He's a Christian, is he? Yeah,
he lived such a fine, upstanding life. Is that the reason he's
a Christian? Well, no, but you know, yeah, I know. I know that's
what you believe. Sure, well, I know Christ died.
I know the atonement. I know the blood. I know the
sacrifices. These people did too. But Christ
said in verse 40, I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the
wilderness and they're dead. This is the bread which came
down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am
the bread, the living bread. I am, Christ is the bread which
came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he'll live forever. Eat my flesh and drink my blood,
and the bread that I shall give is my flesh. which I give for
the life of the world." That's where the whole thing is. It's
in Christ's blood. It's not in the law. It's not
in my works. It's not in my religion. It's
not in my deeds. Christ said, I am the Passover. I am the bread. I am the water
of life. I am a Christian, my friend,
not because I preach, but because Christ died on the cross for
my sins. I am saved, I am redeemed, not
because I'm a good man. I am not a good man. There's none good but God. I'm a sinner. I'm going to heaven
because Christ took my awful, wicked, evil, sinful deeds and
thought and imagination and paid for them on Calvary's cross. My mother's in heaven because
Christ died for her, not because she's a good woman. If my son
is in heaven, it's because Christ died for him, not because he
was a good boy. You ain't got no good boys. Pardon
the grammar, teachers. But folks, remember that. Like
that woman came to the preacher and said, I didn't like your
grammar in the pulpit this morning. He said, What did I say? She
said, You said britches. But he said, what should I have
said? She said, trousers is what you should have said. He said,
what did I say before? I said, birches. She said, I don't know. He said,
what did I say after I said birches? She said, I don't know. He said,
if I hadn't said birches, you wouldn't have heard nothing, would you? And so we worded it that way.
It's all right to say ain't if you know better. They hated vital
union. That's what they hated. They
hated vital union. The only reason you're saved,
I wish I could show you how dirty you are in the sight of God. I just wish for just a few minutes
that God Almighty reveal your heart to you, just how wicked,
how wicked. There's enough evil in the heart
of the best woman in this congregation to make another devil if God
permitted it. There's enough evil in the heart
of the finest, moral, most moral man in this congregation to make
a living devil if God turns you loose. God just take the bars
off you for a little while. I was in the service in World
War II. I saw some of those bars removed. I saw fellows who were
9,000 miles away from home. away from their pastor, and away
from their church, and away from their wives, and away from their
children, and away from their neighbors, and away from everybody
that knew them. And that's when you find out who a fellow really
is. But God knows who we are, and
what we are, and what we are made of, and what we think, and
what we imagine. Every imagination of the heart
is evil. Well, turn to John chapter 6
again. In verse 60 it says here, In
verse 60, here's the fourth thing. Many, therefore, of his disciples,
when they heard this, they said, This is a hard saying. This is
hard doctrine. Who can hear it? And the Lord
Jesus knew in himself that they murmured at what he said. And
he said, Does this offend you? Me talking about me being the
living bread? Me talking about me being the
water of life and the bread of life? Me talking about salvation
in a personal, vital, living union? And you're feasting on
me, not on your works, but on me? And God the Father surveying
you as you are in me? Is that hard? Read the next verse. You just wait. If you think that's
hard, You wait till you see the Son of Man ascend up where He
was before. Oh boy, if this world doesn't
like Jesus Christ in His sovereign mercy, wait till they see Him
in His sovereign glory. If this world does not want Christ
on the throne of creation and providence and salvation, Wait
till they see Him where He was before," he said. You talk about
being offended. You wait till you really see
my glory. Men are determined to have personal
glory. They're not content for Christ
to have all the glory. But my friend, if these little
simple words that this frail preacher declares this morning,
if they offend you, If my talking, I can't tell you just how great
He is. There's no way. I don't have
the words. I don't have the vocabulary to
tell you about His glory, about His preeminence, about how the
Father hath exalted Him. There's no way that I can declare
unto you how low you really are and how high Christ really is.
But if my frail words offend you and make you angry, Wait
till you see Him as He is." Oh, my goodness. Oh, wait, he said, do you see
me in my original glory where I was before? They're going to cry for the
rocks and mountains to fall on them. They're going to cry for
the rocks and mountains to hide them from His face. They're going to beg for death
because they can't stand His glory. If I could worship with five
people or fifty people or five hundred people who are bound
and determined in their hearts to give Jesus Christ all the
glory for redemption, for salvation, for eternal life, I'd rather
worship with them than five million people by any name, because one
of these days we're going to see Him as He is. And if the words of some minister
trying to tell you how great He is, if that offends you, where
do you get the full view? Where do you get the full view? You're talking about being offended.
And then last of all, chapter 8, let me give you this, verse
59. Why did they hate? He said, they
hate me. They hate me. He said He was
God. He said He was sovereign. His
mercy was sovereign. He said salvation is not in ceremony,
salvation is not in works, it's in God's grace, in God's Son. He talked about His glory, and
then in John 8, 59, then took they up stones to cast
at him again." Now, what did he say this time? You know what
he said? There are two statements that
brought out this second stoning episode. In verse 41, he charged
them with treason against the Holy God. He said, verse 41,
ìYou do the deeds of your father And they said, We be not born
of fornication, we have one Father, God is our Father. And Jesus
said, If God were your Father, you would love me. For I came
forth from the Father, and I didn't come of myself, he sent me. Why
do you not understand my speech? It's because you cannot hear
my words. You are of your Father, the devil.
God's not your Father. God's not your father. Now, that's
a cardinal sin in this day. Everybody believes in the universal
fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man. There's a sense in which
all men are brothers in Adam, and there's a sense in which
God is the creator of all men in that he created Adam and they
came from Adam. But God is not the father of
all men. Christ said that right here.
You are your father, the devil. God is not your father. If God,
verse 42, if God were your father, you'd love me. Brethren, the
Scripture says, as many as received him, to them gave he the right
to be the sons of God. The Bible says as many as are
led by the Holy Spirit are the sons of God. By nature, we're
sons of evil. By birth, we're sons of evil.
By choice, we're sons of evil. By practice, we're offsprings
of evil. And men resent this. They resent
being told they're not God's children, that God's not their
Father. But I didn't start this. The
Lord Jesus Christ said it right here. I just read it to you.
He said, God is not your father. If God were your father, you'd
love me. I came from the father, and you'd
recognize your brother if you were in God's family. I'll tell
you who your father is, Ed. Your father's the devil. And
boy, they picked up some rocks, and they said, we're not going
to listen to that. Well, today, they don't pick up rocks. They
fire the preacher. We're not going to listen to
that. Well, we'll get us another preacher. We'll get us a preacher
who will say what we want to hear. And we'll give him a big
salary and furnish him a car and a place to live, and we'll
pay him well, and he'll keep his mouth shut." They hate that,
but it's true. It's true. He said, "...you are
of your father the devil." Verse 47, now listen to this, "...he
that is of God." Look at it real good now. He
that is of God will not only believe in the law, will not
only believe in miracles, will not only believe in good works,
but he'll hear God's Word. Are you of God? I've been reading
God's Word this morning. I've been reading what Christ
said. He said, they hated me. He said, I didn't know they hated
Christ. People, they don't hate Christ. You tell them what he
said and find out. Some of you got mothers and daddies
that hate Christ. Some of you got brothers and
sisters that hate Christ. Some of you got close friends
that hate Christ. Some of you running around with
people that hate Christ. And you take these five scriptures
that I read this morning, don't read about the stone, and just
read what Christ said. and find out whether or not they
hate Christ. They'll let you know real quick.
These people did. They let them know real quick.
They hated Him. And they said, We're not going
to hear this. Christ said, Well, he that is of God will hear me.
My sheep hear my voice. Our Father, by Thy power and
thy mercy and grace, give us ears to hear thy voice. Let us
not as Eve and Adam listen to the voice of evil. Let us not
as Judas listen to the voice of religion. Let us listen to
the voice of the Holy Ghost. Reveal thyself to us, thy greatness,
thy glory, thy power, thy mercy. Thy blessed Son. We're nothing. Christ is everything. We're unclean. Christ is holy. We're death,
darkness. Christ is life and light. Our
hope is in Him. He's our Redeemer. He's our refuge.
Give us a song of praise on our lips and rejoicing in our heart,
not for what we feel or what we've done, but for who He is. In His name we pray, amen.