Part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on is right there at the beginning.
I want to preach tonight about the Word of God,
and what better place to start than John chapter 1.
The Bible reads in verse number 1,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
We already read the rest a little bit earlier,
but look down, if you would, at verse number 14.
Here's where I take the title of my message tonight.
The Bible says,
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.
And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth.
Now, today, people change the definition of words many times,
and they want to corrupt us from the simplicity that's in Christ,
and try to confuse us, and change what the Bible means.
But this is a pretty clear passage.
I remember when I won my wife to the Lord over ten years ago,
before we were married, of course.
I won my wife to the Lord, and the first thing I had her read was John chapter 1.
She'd just been saved the day before,
and I said, now that you're saved, you want to read your Bible every day.
And so I had given her a Bible, and I had her read in the book of John,
and she read John chapter 1.
I remember asking her, she'd just been saved,
but one day asking her to explain to me what it meant.
And she explained to me exactly what it meant,
because of the fact that a person who's saved,
who has the Holy Spirit living inside of them,
can understand God's Word.
It makes sense to them.
And a lot of us that have been saved for a really long time
have been corrupted by a lot of man's teaching,
a lot of man's wisdom,
to confuse us from the simplicity of what this is talking about here.
But I've got news for you.
When the Bible says the Word of God here,
it's talking about the Word of God.
It's talking about the Holy Bible.
It's talking about the words that God spoke.
And a lot of people will try to change the meaning here
and say, well, Word is just a name of Jesus.
No, Jesus is the Word made flesh.
That's what the Bible actually says.
It's not just a name given to him for no reason.
A word is a group of letters that come together
and form something of meaning that's called a word.
Now, if you would, go to Titus 1, 2,
and I'll further show you this.
Look at Titus chapter 1, verse 2, toward the end of the New Testament.
Titus chapter 1 and verse number 2.
The Bible says, in hope of eternal life,
which God that cannot lie,
and watch this last phrase,
promised before the world began.
So when did God promise us eternal life?
When did God verbalize that promise?
Before the world even began.
Because the Bible says, in the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth.
But even before that, the Bible says,
in the beginning was the Word.
God's Word existed before this world was ever created.
That's why Titus could say that God promised us eternal life
before the world even began.
Because in the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God,
the same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made.
You see, because God created this whole world by His Word.
By the Word of God, He spake things into existence.
The first thing we see in Genesis 1,
and God said, let there be light,
and there was light,
and God saw the light that it was good,
and God divided the light from the darkness,
God called the light day,
the darkness He called night,
and the evening and the morning were the first day.
Second day, God said,
let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters.
And He went on and on,
and describes how in six literal days,
God created the heaven, the earth,
all that in the midst,
and He did it with His Word.
He spake them into existence.
In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
You say, well, wait a minute,
how could the Word be with God and be God at the same time?
Look at 1 John 5.7,
sort of the end of your New Testament.
1 John 5, verse number 7,
the Bible reads in 1 John 5.7,
and it's funny,
because anybody who chokes on this truth,
it's just because they've been taught by someone else
that this isn't really what this means,
you know, Word doesn't really mean word,
and so forth,
but the Bible is pretty clear,
and my wife understood it less than 24 hours
after being saved and made perfect sense to her.
But it says in 1 John 5, verse 7,
for there are three that bear record in heaven,
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one.
So now you see how the Word could be with God
and God at one time,
because of, you know,
what we commonly refer to as the Trinity,
the Bible doesn't use that word,
but Trinity simply means try, like three,
unity, meaning one, three and one,
and the Bible says these three are one
in 1 John 5.7.
Now turn to John chapter 6,
and I'm going to show you why this is so important.
John chapter 6 is a chapter
that if you don't understand this truth
that I'm preaching out right now,
you're not going to understand John chapter 6,
and a lot of people get confused
when they read John chapter 6
because they don't understand
what's taught in John 1.1.
And you know, the Bible is given to us
in such an orderly way.
He made sure to explain to us
what His Word is in John chapter 1,
and how His Word became flesh
in the form of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ was God's Word in the flesh.
By the time we get to John chapter 6,
we should already know that and understand that.
Look at this conversation that Jesus has
when He's preaching,
and many of the people that are following Him,
they didn't really believe on Him,
and so they begin to argue with Him,
but look if you would,
let's just start for sake of time in verse 47.
There's a lot in this chapter,
but we'll just start in verse...
Actually, let's go back to verse 40,
just to cover everything.
And this is the will of Him that sent me,
John 6.40.
That everyone which seeth the Son
and believeth on Him
may have everlasting life,
and I will raise Him up at the last day.
The Jews then murmured at Him because He said,
I am the bread which came down from heaven.
And they said, Is not this Jesus,
the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?
How is it then that He saith,
I came down from heaven?
Jesus therefore answered and said unto them,
Murmure not among yourselves.
No man can come to me except the Father
which hath sent me draw him,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God.
Every man therefore that hath heard
and had learned of the Father
cometh unto me.
Not that any man hath seen the Father,
say he which is of God.
He hath seen the Father.
Look at verse 47.
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
Isn't that a great verse right there?
Just really simple, really clear.
Just He that believeth on me,
not will get, not have in the past,
but hath, has everlasting life.
I am that bread of life, Jesus Christ said.
Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead.
Now, remember that part about the manna.
That's going to come into play here.
Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead.
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven
that a man may eat thereof and not die.
So what does He explain here?
He's explaining that if you believe on Him,
you'll never die.
If you believe on Him, you'll have everlasting life.
He said back in John 5, 24,
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth my word,
remember that,
heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me,
hath everlasting life,
and shall not come into condemnation,
but has passed from death unto life.
Let's keep reading in John 6.
He said, Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead.
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven
that a man may eat thereof and not die.
I am the living bread which came down from heaven.
If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever.
And the bread that I will give is my flesh,
which I will give for the life of the world.
The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying,
How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Then Jesus said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except ye eat the flesh of the son of man,
and drink his blood, he hath no life in you.
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood,
hath eternal life,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed.
He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood,
dwelleth in me, and I in him.
As the living Father hath sent me,
and I live by the Father,
so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
This is that bread which came down from heaven,
not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead,
but he that eateth of this bread shall live forever.
These things said he in the synagogue,
as he taught at Capernaum.
Many therefore of his disciples,
when they had heard this, said,
This is an hard saying, who can hear it?
When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it,
he said unto them, Does this offend you?
What, and if ye shall see the son of man
ascend up where he was before,
it is the Spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing,
the words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, and they are life,
but there are some of you that believe not.
Now, you say, what in the world is that talking about?
Well, you see, Jesus Christ here is preaching,
and he begins to use an illustration.
He said, I came down from heaven.
And they say, well, wait a minute,
we know who your parents are,
we know you're, you know, 30-some years old,
we know who your brothers are,
we've seen your mother Mary,
we, you know, we believe that Joseph is your father,
and you're saying you came down from heaven,
what are you talking about?
And he said, no, I came down from heaven.
Because Jesus did come down from heaven.
Jesus Christ did not come into existence in Bethlehem,
you know, a few thousand years ago,
while we're celebrating for Christmas.
No, Jesus Christ was from the beginning.
He was in the beginning with God.
The Bible says that his goings forth
were from old, from everlasting.
He was made flesh in Bethlehem.
He became flesh, but he already existed long before.
He came down from the Father.
He came down from heaven.
And so he begins to explain to them,
he says, I'm the bread of life.
And he's using an illustration
about how the children of Israel
ate manna in the Old Testament.
He said, I was that bread that came down from heaven.
He said, they ate that physical bread,
and they still died eventually.
You know, it didn't give them eternal life
to eat that physical bread.
But he said, he that eateth the meat shall live by meat.
He said, I'm the bread of life.
He said, my flesh is meat,
or food is what that means,
it's meat indeed.
He says, he that eateth meat shall live by meat.
Now these people are confused
because they're thinking of his literal flesh.
Like they're looking at his physical body.
And they say in verse 52,
look at it if you would,
in verse 52 it says,
the Jews therefore strove among themselves,
saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?
You know, they're confused
because they're thinking of the literal flesh.
And he's going to explain to them what he means.
He said in verse 58,
this is the bread which came down from heaven.
Not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead.
He that eateth of this bread shall live forever.
Now again, they murmur, they can't understand it.
He explains it in verse 63.
He says, it is the spirit.
First of all, in verse 62, he says, look,
I came down from heaven,
and you'll see the son of man ascend up back to heaven,
if you don't believe it.
But he said in verse 63,
it is the spirit that quickeneth.
Now what does the word quicken mean?
To make alive, right? To bring to life.
Quick means alive.
He says, it is the spirit that quickeneth,
or makes you alive.
He said, the flesh profited nothing.
The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life,
but there are some of you that believe not.
What he's explaining here is that,
no, you're not going to physically eat my flesh.
I'm not actually saying that you're going to physically eat this body right here.
Obviously, that would be ridiculous.
That would be cannibalism.
He's just using an illustration.
He's using a parable here, and he explains it.
He says, look, the flesh profited nothing.
He said, the words that I say unto you,
they are spirit and they are life.
And he said in verse 63, it is the spirit that quickeneth.
Earlier on, he said in verse number 53,
verily, verily I say unto you,
except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you have no what in you?
No life in you.
Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life.
He's saying, it's not my flesh physically that's going to give you life.
It's my word that's going to give you life.
If you hear God's word and believe on it, you'll be saved.
Now, let me show you this further.
It says in verse 57,
as the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father,
so he that eateth me, even he shall what?
Live by me.
So he said, he that eateth me shall live by me.
Go back to Deuteronomy chapter 8.
We're going to see where Jesus is quoting from here,
because in Deuteronomy chapter 8,
God talks about the manna that came down from heaven,
and Jesus is basically comparing himself to the manna.
He's saying, the manna came down from heaven,
the bread of life sent from heaven.
He said, well, I'm the bread of life.
I've been sent down here from heaven to give you life,
to give you eternal life, to give you everlasting life,
that he that believeth on me would have everlasting life.
He said, your fathers ate manna and the womannest in our day.
He said, if you eat of this bread,
he said, you'll live forever.
He said, it'll be everlasting life.
And he said, he that eateth me shall live by me.
And then he explained to them, wait a minute,
it's not the flesh.
You're not going to physically eat me.
He said, it's the spirit that quicken it or gives life.
He said, the words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit in their life.
Look how this ties in with Deuteronomy chapter number 8,
what he's teaching here, where God talks about the manna.
In Deuteronomy 8, 3, it says this,
And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger,
and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not,
neither did thy fathers know.
So what was he trying to teach them
when he had them eat this manna?
That he might make they know that man does not live
by bread wholly, but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of the Lord that the man liveth.
So what did the manna really represent?
God's word.
He said, when I fed you with manna,
I was trying to teach you that man does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
And that manna pictured God's word.
Getting up early in the morning and getting that manna pictured us,
getting up in the morning and reading our Bible
and getting the manna, getting the bread of life, God's word.
He said, that manna, he said, I was that bread.
He said, that was me.
And they're like, what?
How could you say that you were the manna
that came down from heaven that the children of Israel ate?
Because the manna pictured God's word,
and Jesus is saying, look, I am God's word.
He said, I am the word of God.
I'm the word of God made flesh.
Look at John chapter 14, if you would.
So we see clearly that Jesus was not talking
about physically eating his flesh, was he?
First of all, that would be crazy.
First of all, the Bible tells us never to eat any kind of blood,
even animals' blood.
Obviously, he wasn't talking about them actually eating his body, his flesh.
But he said, I'm the word made flesh.
And he said, that's why you need to eat my flesh,
because he said, it's the spirit, not the actual physical flesh,
but the spirit that quicken it and that gives life.
And the words that I say unto you, they are spirit and they are life.
Look at John 14, 6.
The Bible says this, Jesus saith unto him,
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
So Jesus said, I am the truth.
I am the life. I am the way.
Look at John chapter 17.
John 17, 17 says this,
Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth.
I mean, the very definition of truth is God's word.
I mean, this is truth.
Pilate asked the question a few chapters later in chapter 19,
he said, what is truth?
You know, the Bible says, thy word is truth.
And then he also said, I'm the truth,
because he was the word made flesh.
He was the word in the flesh.
And see, the Roman Catholics will try to tell you,
and it's funny because I just knocked on the door of a Catholic
with Brother Garrett less than a week ago.
I knocked on the door of a Catholic.
And they said, we crucify Jesus every Sunday.
Isn't that what he said?
I said, yeah, we crucify.
Jesus Christ was crucified once for all.
We don't need to crucify him again.
And they every week go through this ritual
where they say, well, we're eating the body of Jesus
because they're eating a piece of bread
and they're drinking wine.
I say, we're drinking his blood and that's how we're saved.
And I've had Catholic priests try to show me John 6,
but what you don't understand, Catholic priests,
is that it's the spirit that quickens it.
The flesh profits nothing.
And that bread that you're putting in your mouth
and that wine that you're putting in your mouth
will not profit you at all.
You're going to go to hell
if you don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
because it's the spirit that quickens it.
It's God's word.
And if you don't believe God's word,
you can eat those crackers until you weigh 300 pounds
and you're not going to heaven
because the flesh is not going to save you.
A physical food that you put in your mouth can't save you
just like the manna didn't save the children of Israel.
Many of them were unbelievers.
Even though they ate that manna every day,
it didn't save them.
And you could go to mass every day
and eat that cracker, it's not going to save you
because it's the spirit that quickens.
He said there are some of you that believe not
and that's the problem
because the only thing you have to do
to have everlasting life is to believe on Jesus Christ.
But you can't believe on Jesus Christ
until you receive his word first.
He said,
He that heareth my word and believeth on him
that sent me has everlasting life
and shall not come into condemnation
but has passed from death unto life.
How can you get saved without God's word
when Jesus said,
If you don't eat the flesh of the Son of Man,
you have no life in you.
And he said,
I'm not talking about a physical body here.
He said, I'm talking about the word.
The word made flesh.
And so you can't get saved without God's word.
Jesus said you've got to have it in John chapter 6.
You've got to have his word to be saved.
But look if you would at Revelation chapter 19.
You're in the book of John.
Go to the very last book in the New Testament.
Revelation chapter 19.
Revelation 19.
You see the word of God was made flesh.
Look if you would at Revelation 19.
And we see Jesus Christ in his second coming here
on a white horse, verse 11.
It says,
And I saw heaven open and behold a white horse
and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True.
So that's the name of the one who's sitting upon this horse.
And in righteousness he does judge and make war.
His eyes were as a flame of fire
and on his head were many crowns
and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself
and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood
and his name is called the word of God.
Now Jesus Christ here on a white horse calls himself by two names.
It says he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True
and then in verse 13 it says his name is called the word of God.
It says he was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood.
This goes back to Joseph in the Old Testament
who was a symbol of Jesus Christ.
Remember when they took Joseph's cone and dipped it in blood?
That was a picture of Jesus Christ.
He was rejected by his brethren.
They basically threw him into a pit
wherein was no water which represented hell.
He was in prison between two criminals.
One of them was pardoned.
The other one was condemned.
A picture of Jesus Christ who would one day be on the cross
between two criminals, one who would be pardoned
and one who would be condemned.
I mean there are all kinds of parallels here.
This is Jesus Christ coming in a second time on a white horse
and his name is the word of God.
His name is called Faithful and True.
But notice the phrase Faithful and True.
Look at chapter 21 verse 5.
Chapter 21 verse 5.
It says in Revelation 21, 5
A he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.
And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful.
Then look what he says in chapter 22 verse 6.
And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true.
And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants
the things which must shortly be done.
Go to Psalm 138.
Psalm 138.
So you see the word of God, the Bible talks a lot about the word of God
and in the Old Testament there's a phrase that's used a lot
because a lot of people say,
Well you're talking about the word of God singular versus the words of God plural
because they'll say, you know, Jesus was not the word of God made flesh
as in the Bible made flesh, you know, God's words that he spake
but rather that's just a name that he has.
But you know this word is used all throughout the Old Testament
and you'll see people going to a prophet and saying to him,
What is the word which the Lord has spoken?
They would inquire at the mouth of the Lord and they would say,
What is the word of the Lord?
And all throughout the Bible they talk about preaching the word of God,
preaching the word of the Lord and they say,
What is the word which the Lord has spoken?
They're not looking for a single word.
The word of God is referring to the Bible, God's word,
the words that he spake before the world even began
and those words were made flesh in the form of Jesus Christ.
You see, Jesus Christ was the living, walking, talking incarnation of the word.
The Bible is the written word.
Jesus was the walking, talking, breathing word of God
but he was the word made flesh, okay?
God's word is Jesus and Jesus is the word and you can't separate the two.
He said at 1 John 5, 7,
The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, these three are what?
And he said in Matthew 28, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and the Holy Ghost.
So he used it interchangeably.
You know, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
These three are one.
He says in Psalm 138, because people will accuse him of this,
they'll say, oh, you Baptist, you fundamental Baptist, you worship the Bible.
Guilty as tar, yes I do.
And they'll try to say, oh, you just worship a book.
Now, look, do I worship this physical book?
Absolutely not.
I mean, this is just paper, this is just leather, it's ink.
You know, this book is nothing.
But let me tell you something,
the words that are in this book are spirit and they are life.
This word right here is the word that created this whole world,
that spoke the world in due existence.
This word is the actual word that Jesus Christ preached
when he said the words that I say unto you,
they are spirit and they are life.
Those are the same words that I'm holding in my hand right now.
This is the Word of God.
Don't tell me that the Bible is not God's Word.
This is God's Word.
And the Word was made flesh 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem.
And that's what the Bible is teaching us.
And people will say, well, you worship the Bible.
Well, of course I worship the Bible.
Of course I worship God's Word.
Because to worship God's Word is to worship God.
Because in the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And so when I worship the Word, I'm worshiping God.
And so it says in Psalm 138 verse 2,
it says I will worship toward thy holy temple
and praise thy name.
Now God really exalts his name throughout the Bible.
Even in the Lord's Prayer, it's pretty famous.
It says our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
And he lifts up a lot of names in the Bible.
He lifts up the name of Jehovah, God Almighty, the Lord God,
a wonderful counselor, Prince of Peace, the mighty God, God Almighty.
But there's a name that's above all other names.
The Bible says he's given him a name which is above every name,
that the name of Jesus every knee should bow
of things in heaven and things under the earth.
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.
That's the name that's above every name, Jesus.
But look what he says here in Psalm 138 too.
I will worship toward thy holy temple and praise thy name
for thy loving kindness and for thy truth,
for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
So right there we see God's word is exalted even higher than his name.
He said he's magnified his word above all his name.
And so my friend, we cannot exalt God's word too much.
We cannot lift up God's word too much.
If God's word has been magnified even above the name of Jesus,
even above the name of Jehovah, even above the name of God Almighty,
because he said he's magnified his word above his name,
don't just worship somebody who has the right name.
Get the right God right here from his word.
You know, just because somebody's name is Jesus doesn't make him Jesus.
I mean, I've met a lot of Hispanic people named Jesus,
but that doesn't make them Jesus.
And if I believe on a guy named Jesus and say,
well, I'm believing on Jesus as my savior,
is that going to get me to heaven?
It's the right name.
I mean, think about it.
If there was a guy named Jesus and he said,
I'm your savior, and I say, okay, I believe that.
Am I going to heaven because I believe in him?
No.
I've got to believe in the Jesus of the Bible.
How else can we separate who has the right Jesus?
I mean, I say, well, I believe in a guy named Jesus.
I mean, the Jehovah's Witnesses believe in somebody named Jesus,
but they say, well, he's Michael the Archangel.
I mean, the Mormons believe in a Jesus who's the brother of Satan.
You know, are they trusting the Lord Jesus Christ in the Bible?
But how do we know that our Jesus is the right Jesus
and that their Jesus is the wrong Jesus?
Because our Jesus came from the Word here, okay?
And so we exalt God's Word above anything else.
Above anything I say is God's Word.
Above any name, even all God's name.
He said his Word is magnified even higher,
and his Word was made flesh.
Now, look at Revelation, chapter number 4.
Revelation 4, very end of the Bible.
Now, we know God is holy, right?
I mean, the Bible says over and over,
holy is the Lord. God is holy.
Be ye holy as I am holy.
Be ye holy as the Father which is in heaven is holy.
We know that God the Father is holy.
And let me tell you something.
We know that God the Son is holy.
We know that Jesus Christ is holy
because he's called thy holy child Jesus in Acts chapter 3.
And we could show scores of other scriptures
showing that the Lord Jesus Christ is holy, right?
He's described as holy.
Do I have to explain to you
why I know that the Holy Spirit is holy,
or does his name kind of just explain that?
Okay, so we know the Father is holy.
We know that the Son is holy.
We know that the Holy Spirit is holy.
And we know that the scriptures are holy
because he said from a child,
thou hast known the holy scriptures.
Let me explain something to you.
God's Word is as holy as God is.
If the Father is holy, if the Holy Ghost is holy,
we know that the Word of God is holy.
That's why he said you've known the holy scriptures.
Look at Revelation chapter 4.
This is talking about up in heaven.
There are these four beasts that are praising God up in heaven,
and they say over and over again the same thing.
Let's look at verse number 8.
It says,
And the four beasts had each of them six wings about them,
and they were full of eyes within,
and they rest not day and night,
holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty,
which was and is and is to come.
You know, I believe those three holies
are for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Because over and over again,
we see them all described as holy.
So let me ask you something.
Do you believe that Jesus Christ was perfect and sinless
and the holy, spotless Lamb of God?
I believe that.
So is the Bible holy?
You know what I mean?
How can we have a perfect Jesus,
a perfect Lamb,
a perfect sacrifice,
a perfect Savior,
a perfect God up in heaven,
a perfect Holy Spirit living inside the believers,
and then you say,
Well, the Bible is not perfect.
How can this be?
If we've got a perfect Jesus,
we better have a perfect Bible.
If we've got a holy Father,
we've got to have a holy Bible.
And I thank God that right now in my Bible
it says, Holy Bible.
You know, I heard somebody say,
I believe the Bible cover to cover,
and I even believe the cover.
Holy Bible.
It's holy.
And let me tell you something.
This book wasn't written by a man.
And it's not interpreted by the customs of man
and the philosophies of man.
People will say,
Well, you've got to get the context
of when the Bible was written.
Are we going back before day one of creation?
Because that's the context in which it was written.
Well, you've got to understand the culture of the people writing it.
What, the culture?
When the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters
and darkness was upon the face of the deep
and God said let there be light?
What culture was there?
What?
This was the culture.
And oh, you've got to go back and say the Greek and the Hebrew
and understand the clothing and what they wore and what they hid.
Wrong, because this book existed
before any of those things existed.
Before Plato even came up with this philosophy
that landed him in hell,
this book was already there.
This book, look, don't you get it?
This book was in the beginning with God.
Don't you get it?
God promised eternal life before the world even began.
This word existed.
Now, did mankind have the whole book in his hand
thousands of years ago?
No.
But see, Jesus Christ had not come in the flesh
3,000 years ago either.
You see, there was a time,
there was a moment in time when the word became flesh,
when the word was made flesh.
That was about 2,000 years ago.
But also throughout the Bible,
God delivered his word unto man
through prophets and holy men of God.
And the Bible says holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
He said no scriptures have any private interpretation.
He said holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
When Jesus quoted Psalms,
he said,
Well spake the Holy Ghost
by the mouth of David the prophet.
When he quoted the book of Isaiah,
he said,
The Holy Ghost by the mouth of Isaiah the prophet said,
and he quotes on and on,
The Lord spake by the prophets.
Hebrews 1-1,
God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake.
Who spake?
God spake.
In time past,
he said,
God who at sundry times and in diverse manners
spake in time past,
of the fathers by the prophets.
So God spake through these holy men of God,
who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
It was written down,
but it was not the word of man,
it was the word of God.
Look at 1 Thessalonians 2.
1 Thessalonians 2.
It says in 1 Thessalonians 2.13,
For this cause also,
thank God without ceasing,
because when ye receive the word of God,
which ye heard of us,
ye received it not as the word of man,
but as it is in truth,
the word of God,
which effectually worketh
also in you that believe.
So the Bible says right there,
that when we hear God's word,
we need to not receive it as the word of man.
We ought to say man wrote the Bible.
Well, you know, man kind of put his interpretation.
You know, people try to say,
you know, when Paul said for women
to keep silence in the church,
he was just, you know,
going by the custom of his day.
You know, oh, that was just something
that, you know, back then,
let me tell you,
why don't we just turn there?
1 Corinthians 14.
You know, I don't want you to take my word for anything.
1 Corinthians chapter 14.
Since this is our first Sunday in all,
no, just kidding.
Anyway.
1 Corinthians chapter 14.
Like it says in verse 34 of 1 Corinthians 14,
Let your women keep silence in the churches,
for it is not permitted unto them to speak.
But their commandment to be under obedience
has also saved the law.
And if they will learn anything,
let them ask their husbands at home,
for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
Well, Pastor Harry said,
you've got to understand the culture,
the bio, when it was written,
and, you know, back then,
every man was a male chauvinist,
and blah, blah, blah.
And, you know, now we've come a long way, baby.
You know, now in 2010, we've arrived.
Now we've got the transgender and transvestite
and trans, you know,
and we live in such a more, you know,
gender-appropriate time.
What?
No.
Yeah, you're right.
This was back when men acted and talked
and dressed like men and women did likewise.
But you know what?
The Bible doesn't change.
And this word that said
that men should be preaching in church
and that women should be silent in church,
this was penned down before God even said,
let there be light.
Because the word was there with God.
And it doesn't change.
And if you don't like this,
then you probably don't like the rest of the Bible either.
So why did he come to church?
You see, God's word doesn't change.
And I'm not going to change
if God's word isn't going to change.
And so here we see God's word spoken here
not to be interpreted within a cultural context,
to be interpreted in a spiritual context.
Because the words that God spoke
are spirit and they're light.
And you know, I don't know why I turned there,
but I did.
So in John chapter 6,
if you go back there,
John chapter number 6,
because we saw that the word was made flesh
and dwelt among us,
and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten Father.
You see, the Bible here is not just a book.
And it's not just a book written by God.
You know, people will say,
well, God wrote the Bible,
but it tells us something about God.
No, the word was God.
And so people try to downgrade
and downplay the Bible's word.
I heard a pastor say,
well, the Bible's one of the books that God wrote,
but there are probably all kinds of other books in heaven
and that's just the one that he gave to us.
This book is the very essence of who God is.
This book was in the beginning
with not this physical book,
but the word was in the beginning with God,
and the word was God.
And so the Bible says here in John chapter 6,
verse 63,
it's the spirit that quickened it,
the flesh profit at nothing,
the words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life,
but there are some of you that believe not,
for Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not,
and who should betray Him.
And He said,
Therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me
except that were given unto him of My Father.
From that time many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with them.
Then said Jesus unto the twelve,
Will ye also go away?
He's saying,
Do you want to leave too?
Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go?
Thou hast the words of eternal life.
And we believe and are sure
that thou art that Christ,
the Son of the living God.
And it's funny because I've had a lot of Calvinists,
you know, trying to tell you,
Oh, see, God, you know, God chooses who's saved,
because He said, you know, He's got to draw.
You know, because He said,
No man can come unto me except that Father draw.
What's funny is that just a few chapters later,
He says,
If I be lifted up from the earth,
I'll draw all men unto Him.
So this isn't just a select few that He's drawn.
And then the other thing is they stop reading
because, you know,
they say God chooses who goes to heaven
and who goes to hell,
and they'll take a part where Jesus looks at the disciples
and says,
You've not chosen me,
but I've chosen you and ordained you
that ye should break forth fruit
and that your fruit shall remain.
But look what He says in John 6.70.
Jesus answered them,
Have not I what?
chosen you twelve,
and one of you is the devil.
So He didn't choose who's going to be saved here.
He chose twelve men to be His disciples,
to be His apostles.
One of them was the devil.
This is early in Jesus' ministry.
But He's already pointing out the fact
that this guy doesn't believe.
He said earlier in verse 64,
here in verse 64, there are some of you that believe not. He said, if not I have chosen
you twelve and want to use the devil, he spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon, for he
it was that should betray him being one of the twelve. And so the problem here is always
just people not believing God's word. That's why they weren't saved. It wasn't that they
needed to physically eat something. It wasn't that they needed to physically drink something.
It was that they needed to hear God's word in order to believe God's word. And let me
tell you something. If you don't have the word of God, you don't have Jesus. Because
Jesus is the Word. You've got no word or no Jesus. And today we live in a time where people
are corrupting and perverting God's word. And they call it a new version. And it cut
out whole verses. They'll change things and totally twist it. Like for example, in verse
Corinthians 1.18 when it says, for the preaching of the cross is then the pair's foolishness,
but to us which are saved, it is the power of God. You get one of these new fangled versions
so called. And the New King James, the NIV will change that to say, well the preaching
of the cross is then our perishing foolishness, but to us which are being saved, it's the
power of God. I'm not being saved. I've been saved. I mean it's not a process. They'll
change it from saying that the way of salvation is narrow. Your ESV and NAS and NIV and NKJE
will say, well it's difficult. It's difficult to be saved. It's funny when Jesus Christ
is approached by a rich young ruler and the man goes away sorrowful and doesn't get
the gospel, he said how hard it is for them to trust in riches to enter the kingdom of
God. Because it's hard for someone who's trusting in riches to enter into the kingdom
of God. The New King James, NIV, NIV, they change it to void. Jesus just says it's
hard to enter the kingdom of God. No, it's not hard to enter the kingdom of God. It's
hard if you're trusting in riches because you've got to be trusting in Christ. But
no, it's not hard because Jesus paid it all. Is it hard to receive a gift? The Bible
says the gift of God is eternal life. Is it hard to eat a piece of bread? He said that's
what salvation is like here in John 6. He said I'm the bread of life. It's as simple
as just eating bread. Just hear my word and believe on Him that sent me and you have everlasting
life. And so many times you go door to door preaching the gospel and explaining to people
how easy it is to be saved. But you know what, many times they won't do the one thing.
Like I'll talk to an atheist and just show them it's so easy to be saved. But I say
it's the one thing you're not doing. And they'll say yeah I know, I don't believe.
They believe not. They're going to perish. If they believe on Him, they'll have everlasting
life. But you can't believe something that you've never heard. The Bible says that
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth to the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thy heart
to God and raise him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. He said for with the heart
man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation
for the scriptures say whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed for there is no
difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that
call upon him for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And listen
how then shall they call on him in whom they've not heard? And 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?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be said
as it is written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and
bring glad tidings and good things but they have not all obeyed the gospel for as I say
the Lord who hath believed our report so that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the
word of God. You can't call on someone that you haven't believed in and God says you can't
call on someone or you can't believe in someone of whom you've not heard and that hearing
has to come by the word of God. It's the only way that somebody can be saved is to hear
God's word. Not just a story about Jesus, not a wordless book, not a picture, but the
word. He said be born again, not a corruptible seed, but an incorruptible by the word of
God which liveth in a bind forever. James chapter 1, of his own will begat ye us with
the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. The Bible
says receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. The Bible
said the sower sowed the word. The Bible says and when he had spoken these words many believed
on him. He to heareth my word and believeth on him and sent he. God's word is what saves
you. God's word is what's going to sanctify you. God's word is exalted above his own name.
God's word was in the beginning with God. God's word was made flesh and dwelt among
us in the bodily form of the Lord Jesus Christ physically on this earth. We can't exalt it
enough. We can't read it too much. We can't love it too much or worship it or memorize
it or love it any more than God would have us to. It's his word. It's the most precious
thing that there is. It's the thing that created this world. It's the thing that saves
us. It's the thing that keeps us. It's the thing that guides us. The Bible says the word
is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. He said that it'll it'll guide you.
It'll be a friend to you. He said when you wake up it'll talk to you. Proverbs chapter
3 I believe. And so the Bible is clear about itself. He's saying the word is God. The word
was flesh. The word will sanctify you. The word is truth. The word is what quickened
it. He said the flesh brought nothing. The words that I say unto you, they are spirit
and they are life and it is the spirit that quicken it or gives life or brings you to
life. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Bob, I thank you so much for your
word, dear God, and thank you that we can think about it this time of year and celebrate
the fact that the word was made flesh, dear God, 2,000 years ago and that thank you that
you gave your flesh to the life of the world as you said in John chapter 6. When you died
on the cross for us, when you were buried and rose again. And Father, just help us to
understand your word for the power that it has and not to downplay it and downgrade.
And what, I don't know what kind of a blasphemer today is going around and trying to downplay
God's word and trying to downplay it and say that it was not in the beginning with God.
God, deliver us from these liars that would twist your simple, clear words in the Bible
and help us to realize that you have magnified your word above all your name. Help us to
put the Bible in its proper place in our lives and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.