Well, it's good to see everybody
out this morning. Where's Crow? Is he not in the ambulance? Remember those who requested
prayer. Jesse, was Jesse going to be 11? Yes. Wow. That's hard to believe, isn't
it? My goodness. Bless her heart. And I had a
birthday this week. Happy birthday. Thank you. Turned 77. So remember those who requested
prayer, especially remember the Hightower family for the loss
of this grandchild. Yes? Trish Tramper's in the hospital. She fell and hit her head. And they just got in there for
observation. Trish Tramper? Yeah, Trisha Tramper.
How old are you, Tim? 76. 77. 77. I was 32 when I came up here. Loretta was what, 37, 35? Yeah,
about 35 when I came up here. We was all babies back then. All babies. I also remember the Kennedy family,
the Dugan family. The Konohusky family, the Queen
family, and I continue to remember Arlene and her family lost Fred,
so I seek the Lord's help for them. Next Sunday, November the
12th, I'll be preaching at 13th Street Baptist Church in Ashland,
Kentucky. Brother Sam Vance will be preaching in my stead here
in my absence, and there'll be no lunch and no afternoon Bible
study. It'll just be service at 11 o'clock. Brother Sam will
be preaching for you. I look forward to hearing him.
Let's begin our worship service today with hymn number 125, Jesus
Paid it All, All the Debt I Owe. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength
indeed is small, Child of weakness, watch and
pray. Find in me thine all in all. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find Thy power
and Thine alone Can change the leper's spots And melt the heart
of stone Jesus paid it all Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow For nothing good have I Whereby thy
grace to claim I'll wash my garments white in the blood of Calvary's
Lamb. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owe. Sin hath left a crimson stain. He washed me white as snow. ? And when before the Lord ? ?
I stand incomplete ? ? Jesus died, my soul shall say ? ? My
lips shall still repeat ? ? Jesus paid it all ? ? All the debt
I owe ? After Scripture reading and prayer,
we'll sing hymn number 334. If you have your Bibles, turn
with me to the Gospel according to John chapter 6. We'll read verses 67 through 69. We'll
be preaching a great deal from the entire chapter, but take
this as our starting place this morning. John chapter 6, verse
67. Then said Jesus unto the twelve,
will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered, Lord,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Let us pray. Our Father in Heaven,
because You have given us faith, we believe and are sure that
Your Son is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Yea, even
God himself, the very God of heaven, the creator, sustainer,
consummator of all things. We thank you that you sit in
sovereign majesty, having taken your power to yourself and reigned
in this world. Help us, Lord, to bow to who
you are and be thankful in our hearts for what you've done for
us. We pray for those who are sick, those who are going through
trials, those who've lost loved ones. I'll knowest every case.
We pray you'd be minister to them, touch their hearts, help
them and hold them up in these times. Help us, Lord, to remember
each other in prayer and call each other's name out to heaven.
Father, we pray for those who are shut-ins that you'd be with
them, for Wayne and Ethel, We ask, Lord, you would show them
tender mercies. Help us, Lord, to look to you
in all things and trust you implicitly. How weak we are and frail we
are and how weak our faith is. But we can look to heaven for
him who sits at thy right hand, having accomplished the work
of salvation. And be sure, be sure, have full assurance of
faith full assurance of hope, full assurance of understanding
what you've done for us. We stand in hymn complete, and
we are thankful that you left nothing for us to do, but you
did it all, and all for the glory of your name's sake. Help us
now this day to worship you, we pray in Christ's name, amen. Hymn number 334. Be Thou my vision, O Lord of
my heart, Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art. Thou my best thought, my day
or my night. Waking or sleeping, Thy presence
my light. Be Thou my wisdom and Thou my
true word. Thou my great father, I thy true
son. Thou in me dwelling, and I with
thee one. Riches I heed not. Thou my inheritance now and always,
Thou and the only first in the world. High King of Heaven, my treasure
Thou art High King of Heaven, my victory won May I reach Him's
joy, O bright heaven's sun. Heart of my own, whatever befall. Still be my vision, O ruler of
all. Steve, you feel up to it this
morning? You got one arm, stand. Y'all remember Steve, he's had
a, pulled some kind of doohickey in his shoulders, gonna have
to go to the doctor, might be operated on. So remember him
in your prayers, too. Let us pray. Our Father, help us, Lord,
to worship you now in this manner which you've ordained for the
preaching of the gospel here and in other places. We pray,
Father, you'd give us grace to know that all we have, we have
because of your mercy and your grace. What we deserve is eternal
punishment and yet you have given us eternal life in Jesus Christ.
We thank you that our giving reflect our knowledge of what
we've been given. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. and and and and and ? ? you I invite your attention back
to John chapter 6. Many years ago a man named A.W. Pink wrote
a book called The Sovereignty of God. Probably the finest work
that has ever been done on the subject. If you can get a hold
of a copy you ought to get one and read it and re-read it and
thumb through it every once in a while. But to get it published
he contacted Dr. Herringdean and told him he was
going to do a book called The Sovereignty of God. And Dr. Harrington wrote back and said,
exactly what do you mean by that? And A.W. Pink wrote him a note
with this on it. He said, read John 6, 44, which says, no man can come unto
me except the Father which has sent me draw him, and I'll raise
him up in the last day. He said, that's the sovereignty
of God, and he was right. The Word of God, which is a lamp
unto our feet and a light unto our path, is anathema to religion. Oh, I know they use the Bible
and they talk about the Bible, but it's pretty easy for most
of them to say, I don't believe this or that in the Bible. Many
years ago, a lady came to the house of a friend of mine who
was a preacher of the gospel. He was pastor of the church she
was attending. She'd been attending for quite a while. like many
who attend church and who don't preach the gospel or they don't
listen, but even those who sit under the gospel many times never
hear what is said. She was angry, however, and prepared
to straighten out the preacher. He had made the grievous error
of preaching on the subject of predestination, and she meant
to put a stop to it. She finally heard what he was
saying. And after a brief tirade against the man, he opened the
Bible to several passages and put the Bible in her hands and
told her to read out loud the text that he had shown her. She
didn't read them aloud, but she read them. She slammed the book
shut and told him she would never attend this church again. And
in fact, she never attended any church again. the word had done
its work. What had happened? Simply this,
she had actually heard what he said. She had heard what he said. That day religion threw in the
towel, it quit. Not because it didn't hear or
not because what was said was not in the Bible but because
of unbelief. Unbelief hears but it doesn't
believe. Unbelieved cannot believe the
truth. Our Lord said in John 8, verse 45, to those who read
the Bible and searched the Scriptures, He says, You believe not because
I tell you the truth. It is quite an indictment, isn't
it? Because I tell you the truth, you believe me not. When the
truth is declared, it is heard immediately and discounted because
unbelief's view of God is that of an available benefactor kind
and effectless old fellow who wants to give people lots of
stuff if they would just let him do it. Unbelief cannot countenance
a God that operates this universe according to his own sovereign
prerogative, doing as he will, when he will, where he will,
and with whom he will. such a despot cannot be believed
except by a sovereign acting upon a soul and by grace given
the gift of faith and without the gift of faith religion upon
hearing the word throws in the towel throws in the towel it
is the desire of every preacher that if what he preaches is not
believed the hearer will know precisely what he does not believe
And I believe that's always the case. I don't believe religion
is ignorant of what the truth is. It hears the truth. It knows what's being said, but
cannot swallow it. It cannot abide with it, but
it knows what it says. People don't get mad at you because
they don't understand you. They get mad at you because they
do understand you. Our Lord always spoke the truth In our text,
many who had clung to his coattails for a time went back, it says,
and walked no more with him. Were they religious? They had
been following him for quite a while. Yes, indeed, they were
religious. Did they join in and align themselves with Christ
and his followers? Yes, they did. What is it about the truth
that is the gospel that will never fit the carnal nature's
agenda? It is that the element of truth
that totally excludes men. from having any part in the saving
of her soul. And if you believe the truth
today, you believe that you had nothing to do with your salvation,
if you believe the truth. If you believe that you had something
to do with your salvation, you believe a lie. It is that simple. The Bible is very clear. It is
clear that men, from this text and from this passage, men do
not call it quits if they see miracles. Our Lord had done wondrous
miracles. He fed thousands of people back
in verse fifteen. They were so tickled with what
He had done, they wanted to make Him a king. It says this, When
Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take Him
by force and make Him a king, He departed again to the mountain
unto Himself. Then in verse twenty-six and
twenty-seven, Jesus answered, Verily I say to you, Seek Me,
Not because you saw the miracles, but because thou didst eat the
loaves, and were filled. I filled your bellies. Labor
not for the meat that perishes, but for that meat which endureth
through everlasting life, which the Son of God shall give unto
you. For him hath God the Father sealed. Men do not go back because
of the miracles that Christ did, or that He takes care of and
feeds them. They quit because of what He said. That's always
the case. There's no wonder why if those
of your family and friends don't agree with you and hate what
you say, they say, come on and be with us. We're going to all
go to the same place. Just don't mention. Just don't
bring up what you believe in. Everything will be a people.
Well, they bring up what they believe, doesn't it? But I've
actually had people tell me, if you just don't say it, you
know, just be quiet about it, it'll be all right. But we can
be friends. We can get along. Men wanted to kill Jesus Christ
because of what he said. He drew a line in the sand with
every one of his words. He was divisive. Men leave for
the same reason people stay. Words. Words. Words that teach that
salvation belongs to God. That's what Peter understood.
He said, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. We believe and are sure that thou art the Son of God,
Christ the Son of God. Christ said that He did not come
to bring peace, but a sword. He didn't come to bring peace
between factions of men, between family members, between nations
or societies. He came to bring a sword that
would divide families, pitting mothers against fathers, siblings
in conflict. Time and time again when He spoke,
men wanted to kill Him. that wanted to kill him. When
he preached his first message in Luke chapter 4 and took Isaiah
chapter 61 and preached from it, and said, this day, this
prophecy is fulfilled in your ears. And they said, no, wait
a minute, this is the son of Joseph. We know who this guy
is. He said, a prophet's not welcome
in his own country. You say, physician, he or self,
come up here and take care of us rather than preaching in Capernaum.
He said, well, that's not the way it works, you see. There
were many lepers in Israel. God didn't heal any of the Israelite
lepers. He went and healed a Naaman,
the captain of a host of Gentiles. You mean God chose a Gentile
over his chosen race? Yeah. There were many widows
in Israel when God shut up the heavens for three and a half
years. But God didn't go to any widow in Israel. He went to a
woman, a Sarepta. and took care of her all the
way through that drought with a cruise of oil and some flour. He took care of her and took
care of the prophet. What was he saying? God's election
is of whom he will. And just because you have religious
heritage, it doesn't mean you're elected at all. John chapter
10, when he looked at the Pharisees, he says, you don't believe because
you're not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me and I give them eternal life. Then he said, I and my
father won. And they took up stones to kill
him. He says, why do you want to kill me? Because of the works
I've done. He says, no, because thou being a man makest thyself to
be God. Thou makest thyself to be God. He looked people, fine religious
people, in the face and told them that he didn't come to call
them. He said that to the righteous. When they were saying, look at
the kind of people he hangs around with. sinners, Republicans, the
worst of the lot, the off-scouring of the universe. Look who he's
eating with. He told the Pharisees, look at
him. Don't you see what's going on? What a spectacle this is. And the Lord lifted his eyes,
knowing what was in their heart and said, I didn't come to call
you guys. I didn't come for you. Wait a minute, you come for everybody,
didn't you? No. I didn't come for you. I didn't come to call
the righteous. I came to bring sinners to repentance.
He said, I'll have mercy, not your sacrifice. You need to go
home and learn what that means. What brought about this religious
evacuation in John 6, 66? Well, it said many walked no
more with him. They went back. They took it
on the arches because our Lord tells them that their unbelief
does not frustrate the love of God, does not frustrate the sovereignty
of God, or affect the absolute success of His purpose in all
things. The answer to unbelief was seen
in verse 37. He said, I know you don't believe
me. I know you don't believe me,
but all the Father give me shall come to me. And him that cometh
to me, I'll have no eyes cast out. I'll have no eyes cast out. Oh, you see me and do not believe,
so what? No big deal. It changes nothing. All that the Father gives me
shall come to me. When people tell me they don't
believe, I say, I know. I know. And if you ask why, I say,
because you can't. Wait a minute. No, you can't
unless the Father gives you faith. It's that simple. But I know
this about this. I preach the gospel for one reason.
Out in this world there is the elect of God. And the way they're
going to come to Christ is they're going to hear the gospel to be
taught of God. That's how it's going to happen. So I preach
the gospel. I don't get up here and beg men
and plead with men and give all kinds of invitations and altar
calls trying to get them to do something. I preach the word
of God to them. And I know this, the sheep hear
the voice of Christ and they come to Him. And when He comes
to them, He will in no wise ever cast them out. This is why they
left. Though you see me and do not
believe, our Lord said, it changes nothing. All that the Father
gives me shall come to me. And they scurried away because
Christ told them that some would surely come because God had given
them to Christ. Given them. God in eternity past
gave some people to Christ. They're called His sheep, they're
called His church, they're called His bride, they're called His
people, they're called His children. These are all names that are
given to them throughout Scripture, but they are the elect of God.
Greek word, eclektos, called out of, chosen out of. Out of what? Out of a world of
woe. God has chosen some to save. Paul gave thanks for that to
the Thessalonians as he compared them to those who hated God and
who set themselves up to be God in the temples and who denied
the truth and God had sent them a strong delusion that they'd
believe a lie and then damned them for believing the lie that
they believed. He said, That's not the case with you, Thessalonians,
but I'm bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of spirit and belief in the truth,
whereunto He called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, You didn't choose me,
I chose you. He said, If you were of the world, the world
would love his own. But because you're not of the world, because
I've chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. The world
hates you. He said, God has given me authority
over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as God has given
me. As many as God has given me. These left Christ because some
would surely come because God had given them to Christ. His
religionists checked out and left and walked with him no more
because Christ said that faith is God's work and not theirs.
When their bellies were full and they knew that he wasn't
going to let them make him king, they said, well, we'd like to
figure out how he made these fishes and these loaves multiply
so we can do it ourselves. That's what they said over in
Verse 28 and 29 it says, Then said they unto him, What shall
we do that we might work the works of God? And Jesus answered
and said, This is the work of God, that you believe on him
whom he sent. This is the work, you want to
work the works of God? Believe on him whom he sent.
And you won't do it because it's a work of God. It's a work of
God that gets it done. In verse 40 it says, This is
the will of Him that sent me, that every one which seeth the
Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life. And I
will raise him up again in the last day. They shall come to
me. What is coming to Christ? Coming
to Christ and believing on Christ are the same thing. Exactly the
same thing. These people quit because they
had never really come to Him. Because all the Father gives
them shall come to Him. These didn't believe Him, so
they hadn't come. Why didn't they come? Because they weren't
given to Him. They weren't given to Him. They quit because Christ
said that He would save all He came to save. His work would
be an absolute success according to God's will. This was God's
will. Verse 38 and 39, For 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 has sent me, that all He hath given me
I should lose nothing, but raise it up again in the last day. Jesus Christ saved all for whom
He came. He redeemed all for whom His
blood was shed. All whom God gave to Christ in
election will be saved. Not one will be lost. An example
of that is given in John 18 when they came to arrest Christ. And
He said, Whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus of Nathazareth. And He said, I am. And they fell
down. And he let them get up again and said, whom are you
looking for? He said, we're looking for Jesus of Nazareth. He said,
well that's me. He said, but here's the deal.
You can have me, you can take me, but these my disciples you've
got to go free. You take me, the substitute.
Those for whom I substituted must go free. And then he added
that the word of God might be fulfilled, that of all he's given
me I should lose nothing, but raise it up again in the last
day. GOD HAS SAVED US, SCRIPTURE SAYS,
AND CALLED US WITH A HOLY CALLING, NOT ACCORDING TO OUR WORKS, BUT
ACCORDING TO HIS OWN PURPOSE AND GRACE WHICH WAS GIVEN US
IN JESUS CHRIST BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN. Given us, given to His
people before the world began. Did they know about it? No. When
did they find out about it? When God sent somebody to tell
them about it. That's when they found out. They didn't find out
there was something for them to do. They found out something
had been done. Something wonderful had been
done for them. Now those who were listening
proved that they were unbelievers here and blind to the glory of
Christ by again relating everything to the natural life They believed
what they could see. In verse 41 and 42 it says, The
Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which
came down from heaven. And they said, Is this not Jesus,
the Son of Jesus, whose father and mother we know? How is it
then, he said, that he come down from heaven? They can only deal
with what they see. This is the nature of unbelief.
It only sees what can be seen. It does not hear the Word of
God. It does not. In fact, the Lord
told one of the finest of the bunch in John chapter 3, a man
named Nicodemus, he says, you can't even begin to perceive
the Kingdom of God unless you're born from above. You've got to
be born all over again. And what did he say? What am
I supposed to do? Go back to my mother's womb?
Be born again? That's all unbelief can do, is
see the flesh. That's all it can understand.
He says, The wind bloweth where it listeth, thou hearest the
sound thereof, but you don't know where it's going or where
it's coming. So is everyone that's born of God. So is everyone that's
born of God. These people ran away because
our Lord stated that those who come to Him, those given to Him,
do not come on their own power. They don't come on their own
power. Verse 44 said, No man can come to Me, except the Father
which is set in Me draw him, and I'll raise him up again in
the last day. That word draw in the Greek is heilko. It means
dragged, one of the meanings of it. But this does not mean
that they were dragged fighting and screaming against their will.
People like to say sometimes God saved you against your will. No, He didn't. He changed your
will because He changed your heart and changed your mind,
and that's what the will follows. but he says you won't go into
but this doesn't mean they were dragged screaming into the into
the life of the uh... of internal life they are viewed
here is inanimate objects our lord called things people like
stones he said you can take these stones and make sons of abraham
what did he how did he describe the whole human race in romans
chapter nine as a big old lump of clay ain't nothing to it it's
got to be acted upon It can't act. It must be acted upon. It
must be put on the potter's wheel. It must be divided into vessels
that be made to honor and vessels that are made for dishonor. Vessels
that are made to destroy and vessels that are made to receive
the glory of Jesus Christ. What he's talking about is inanimate
object. No man can come except the Father draw him. The same
word is used when Simon Peter drew his sword out in John chapter
10 to cut off Malchus's head. He missed. He cut off his ear.
He's going for his head. You know he was. What happened? Peter drew out his sword. Same word. He grabbed that inanimate
cold steel and drew it from its scabbard. The sword didn't do
anything. Swords don't kill people, people
do. And it's just that simple. He drew out that sword and was
going to use it. What had happened? You as an
inanimate object, dead in trespasses and sin, cold and lifeless, God
reached down and took hold of you, you inanimate object, and
took your feet out of the miry clay and set them upon the rock
of Jesus Christ. That's what that means. No man
can come to Me unless the Father reaches down and grabs him and
brings him to Himself. Those who come to Christ come
by the sovereign power of God and that alone. Translating them
from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's dear
Son. These people who walk with Him no more quit. They quit because
Christ describes how the Father draws those whom He has given.
In verse 45 it says, it is written in the prophets, and that is
written in Deuteronomy, or rather Isaiah chapter 54 and verse 13,
it is written in the prophets, they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and learned of the Father comes to Christ. That's a guarantee.
Everyone whom God teaches, who's learned from God, comes to Christ,
every one of them. This is how God draws them. He
draws them through the preaching of the gospel, through teaching
them the truth of the Word of God. And when they finally have
that light that cuts on in their minds and hearts, they come to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Every one of them whom the Father
teaches comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father teaches them. What
does that mean? The word is didaktos, and the
original, it means to indoctrinate them, to brainwash them, to wash their
old brains. That's what happens when God
saves you, washes your brain, teaches you a whole new way of
thinking, sets your minds and hearts off yourself and on to
Christ. He changes what's in their minds,
just changes their mind. He causes them to see a life
other than the one they possess. All whom God has taught come
to Christ. every last one of them whom God has taught comes
to Christ. These walk no more with Christ
because the man that is speaking to them says that he and the
Father are one and that Christ is the only God that will ever
be seen, and that by faith alone. In verse 46 and 47, he says,
It is not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is
God, he hath seen the Father. Verily I say to you, he that
believeth on me hath everlasting life. Over in John 14, Philip
said, Show us the Father. He said, You've seen me, you've
seen the Father. You've seen me, you've seen the
Father. And the fullness of God, the
fullness of the Godhead dwells fully in the Lord Jesus Christ,
bodily in Him. They quit because Christ said,
I'm God. I'm God. I remember Tom Styron, Tom Styron,
not Tom, that's a fellow I served time, served, not time, served
in service with. Tom Shooter, my brother-in-law,
was sitting up in New York with a bunch of businessmen. He's
a businessman, a tech guy. an IT person, sitting around
the table, there was a Presbyterian, there was a Muslim, there was
a Catholic, there was a Hindu, all these were businessmen, they
were having some kind of conference. And somehow the message got over
to Jesus Christ. And I think it was the mother
said, we believe Jesus was a prophet, a great prophet. And if you read
the Quran, Jesus Christ is mentioned ten times as many times as Mohammed
is even in the Quran, but they believe he was a great prophet.
And Tom said, if he wasn't God, no man will ever be saved. He's
God. Only God can save a man. Only
God can save a man. These men quit because Christ said he was God. They quit because the things
of Christ cannot naturally be understood. They can only be
grasped by God-given faith. You read verses 48 through 58
when Christ talks about some wondrous things. He said, I'm
the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness. They're dead. They're dead. This is the bread
which cometh down from heaven, a man that a man may eat thereof,
and not dine. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat this bread, he
shall live forever. And the bread that I give is
my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." And the
Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give
us his flesh to eat? And Jesus said, Verily I say
unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink
his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up
in the last day. Same bunch, he said, the Father
sent him to get. Those who come to Christ, He'll
raise the last days. Those who believe on Christ,
those who are taught of the Father, all those are the ones He's gonna
raise up in the last day. And now He says, whosoever eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood, I'll raise up in the last day.
For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. Strange language, isn't
it? Strange language. As the Living
Father has sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth
me shall live by me. And this is the bread which came
down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna, nor dead.
He that eateth this bread shall live forever. These things said
he in the synagogue at Capernaum. And many therefore of his disciples,
when they heard this, they said, this is a hard saying. Well,
I don't understand. This is hard. What's he talking
about? What's he talking about? Who can hear this? Who can understand this? And
when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it,
he said, does this upset you? Does this offend you, what I've
just said to you? Does that offend you? He said, well, here's the
kicker. What if ye shall see the Son
of Man ascend up where he was before? What if this is required
of you? To eat my flesh and drink my
blood, but I'm not here for you to do it. But the only way you're
going to have eternal life is to do it. How can you do it if
I'm not here? That's a hard saying. That's
hard to understand. He said this about eternal life. It is the spirit that quickeneth
makes a man alive. The flesh, he said, my flesh, the physical flesh will profit
you nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. Many contrasts he made
in this passage of scripture between life and light. Verses
48 and 49 He says, As I am the bread of life, your fathers did
eat manna of widows that are dead. That's eternal life and
the life of men, which is a living death. In 51 and 52, he says,
I am the bread which came down from heaven. Any man eat this
bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I give you
is my flesh, which I will give for the life. And the Jews therefore
strove among themselves. How does this man give us his
flesh. He's talking about eternal life
and natural life. He makes these distinctions in
verse 53 and 54, verse 55 and 59, eating, believing, eternal
life, natural life, all these things. And this is what he's
teaching them, that there is a man who has natural life. He
has life. And don't begrudge him his life. If he don't know Christ, I hope
he has the very best life he can have here on this earth,
because eternity does not wait for him in a good place. So if
he does well, congratulate him, pat him on the back and say,
enjoy your life. If you don't know Christ, enjoy what you got,
because that's all you're ever going to have, and you're not
even going to take that with you. These people quit because
Christ declared that though he must be feasted upon, he will
not be there for them to do it. you'll not be there for him to
do it my words there you go again words words make the world go
round words are what we have you don't have any proof of anything
I don't have proof of it I can't give you evidence and I'm a child
of God I can tell you and I can act like what people say Christians
act like hang my head down and pray at McDonald's or whatever,
you know, I can do all those things. People say, well, that
must be a Christian. That's nothing. That's nothing. I can't prove
anything. What do I have? What do you have?
And it all boils down to it. You can't say, well, I'm a Christian
because. You are because of words. Words. My words, they are spirit. and they are life. Words. Words make up this thing
called the gospel, which is God's word, God's words to us. And unless you hear the gospel,
you're not going to have faith, because faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. The word is quick and powerful,
quickening and powerful. It's a two-edged sword that cuts.
divides even the joints and marrow and discloses the intents of
the heart. What does that? Words. I can't
touch your heart. I can't reach in there and squeeze
it and make it feel something. But the Word of God can. That's
the wonder of it. Get up here and I'm just nobody.
I'm nobody. I'm soon going to pass off of
this earth and I'll be gone. These words, they do something
to people. They always have an effect. My
words, they are spirit and they are life. And these quit because
Christ declares that if anyone comes to Christ, all glory must
be rendered to God the Father. Many heard and did not believe
but Christ is the author and finisher of faith. Many left
And did so because he said they could not come unless God caused
them to come. You can't come. Religion says
you can. Religion says you must. Religion
says you have to. Religion says you gotta choose
to. Religion says you gotta make a decision to. And God says you
can't. You can't come unless the Father
which has sent me draw him. I'll raise him up again the last
day. You must be given faith, and that faith only comes one
way, through the Word of God. By grace are you saved through
faith. And that's not of yourselves.
It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Of
his own will be that he is with the Word of truth. Those who
turned back and went away and left did so because he said they
could not come unless God caused them to come. You tell a person that, and they'll
leave. They don't know God. Their religion won't hold up.
They'll throw in the towel. They'll leave you and walk with
you no more. David said, Blessed is the man
whom thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee. Causes
you to. Have you been caused to approach
to Christ? You've heard the words. I've
just repeated the words. What God has said, you've heard
the words, and will you also walk away?
Or will you be like Simon Peter and say, to whom shall we go?
Well, you don't have nowhere else to go. Thou hast the words
of eternal life, and we believe in it, sure, that thou art the
Christ, the Son. of the living God.