Well, last week when we were in John chapter six, it's been a lot more than a week.
It's been a while.
Well, we started in verse 22 because the last time I preached out of John chapter six, which
was many, many moons ago, we went over, if you remember, the feeding of the 5,000.
It's been a while, but then we went over the picture of the rapture where Jesus is going
across the lake and we studied all that.
So now, I mean, this is a giant chapter in God's word and that's why the whole chapter
didn't get done.
And to be honest with you, there's a lot to cover here tonight.
And if I don't cover it all, I'll probably just end up having to kind of just move on
to the next chapter next week, but I will be here next week, Lord willing.
And I'm sorry that I, there's a couple of times I was supposed to be here and haven't
been here and not everything is always gone as planned.
But another great thing about this church plant here is that everybody here is really
zealous for the Lord.
And you guys have just carried on and everything's been going really good here and I'm really
impressed by just the zeal that people have at this church.
And this church, you know, we're, you know, small in number at this point, but you know,
you're big in faith.
And so I'm really excited about this church plant here.
So anyway, and I jumped in on the announcements about Christmas.
I wasn't meaning about the pizza on Christmas.
You guys could do the whatever you want on Christmas day, but are you guys going to do
the modified schedule or are you going to do the regular schedule?
Oh, okay.
So before I get going here, you guys have a specific schedule you have to keep here.
So that's why I didn't change it.
So yeah.
But you guys can do, you could do something in, so that's why I put the eggnog and cookies
and stuff like that.
So you guys are, feel free to do whatever, but if you want to bring some kind of, you
know, savory, whatever you guys can do, whatever you want.
All right.
So, and then yeah, the pizza I've meant for like the new year, but yeah, you guys still
are kept to the same schedule.
So, but yeah, feel free to just, you know, if you guys want to order some pizza, I'd
be glad to, you know, to cover that or whatever.
So anyway, sorry about that.
So let's get into the sermon here.
So I only got so much time, but, um, anyway, so we're going to look at verse 22 of the
Bible reads the day following when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw
that there was none other boat there save the one where into the disciples were entered
and Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that the disciples were gone
away alone.
So this is after the feeding of the 5,000, you know, they're looking for Jesus.
They're like, where's he at?
We want more bread.
This is kind of their attitude, right?
And so point number one of the sermon tonight and point number one's a long point, but is
that Jesus is the bread of life.
But see, they're seeking Jesus for a different reason.
They're wanting a free, they're, they're kind of wanting to get into the bread line, like
the literal bread line, right?
They, he just fed 5,000 people with, you know, some fish and just a few, some little kids
lunch that he brought and he divided that up and did a great miracle.
And you know, people are like, well, Hey, if we can get that free meal every day, that's,
that's great.
Let's, let's go after it.
And verse 23 says, howbeit there came other boats from Tiberius, nigh unto the place where
they did eat bread.
After that the Lord had given thanks.
And you know, it's always good to, to thank the Lord for the things that we have, amen.
And Jesus kind of gave that example whenever he would feed people or do anything like that,
he was always thanking the Lord before he did that.
And so that's something that we should do in our families and hopefully everybody does
that, that we pray for our meals.
And you know, obviously the Bible says that, you know, when we give thanks that God blesses
that.
So verse 24 says, when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his
disciples, they also took shipping and came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus.
And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when
camest thou hither?
Jesus answered them and said, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek me not because ye
saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled.
So see, he knows their heart.
He knows what they're really there for.
They're literally following him around and trying to find out where he's at so they can
get free food.
And so sadly, this is the state of a lot of people in this world.
And they want to try Jesus on so they can see what they can get out of it.
And you know, there's a lot of people that, you know, they'll say, well, I know someone
that they were, you know, they went to church and they said they were saved and then they
left and now they're an atheist or whatever.
These are people that are pretenders.
These are people that just try Jesus.
They're not really saved.
They just want to see what they can get out of it.
They want to see if Jesus is going to fix their marriage.
They want to see if Jesus is going to fix their life.
They want to see if Jesus is going to fix their bratty kids or whatever the situation
is.
Or can Jesus, you know, help me be rich?
You know, there's a lot of, you know, these get rich quick, you know, pastors or whatever
they're saying.
If you just send me, you know, if you just pray to this napkin on the screen and, you
know, send me $10,000 and I'll double that.
And the Bible, you know, they'll just use the Bible to just, you know, make it a moneymaking
scheme for people.
And people just, you know, they'll try to use Jesus for the things that they want and
the material items.
But Jesus did this, you know, He fed them for a spiritual picture that they need the
bread of life, the spiritual bread.
They need to ingest the spiritual bread and the spiritual blood of Christ and have that
applied to their doorpost of their heart.
They need the bread of life that will last forever, not that it'll be a temporary fix
for their empty stomach.
So people will, you know, I mean, even you see most churches today, their program is
not soul winning and going in the dark and knocking on people's doors and, you know,
getting, you know, people yelling at them and following them around the doors and taking
their invitations off to the, you know, the things that we're doing, you know, there's,
it's a thankless job in reality.
I mean, we love it.
We're fired up when people get saved.
But in reality, most people are not very thankful about the job that we're doing because the
fool is foolishness to people that it bothers them.
No, but people just don't like their door getting knocked on.
But you know what most churches are doing?
Handing out free bread, handing out free food, and that is not what the Bible says we're
supposed to do.
And you're like, well, you know, but Jesus gave out free food.
And I'm not saying we should never do that.
But to run a soup kitchen for drugged out and drunk derelicts to just come and we give
them something when they're not even working, then that's the opposite of what the Bible
says.
And people say, oh, you're so mean, Pastor Thompson.
No, the Bible says if a man doesn't work, neither should he eat.
And every single Wednesday at our other church, we have a church in our area that gives out
free food to these homeless derelict, you know, deadbeat bums.
And you know what they do?
They put all their wrappers and stuff and they go in and lay in their filth in front
of our church building, not their church building, but in front of our church building, and empty
their colostomy bags out in front of, you know, and sit there in front of our children
and do drugs and smoke drugs and then refuse to leave and we have to have the police come
and drag them out of there.
You know why?
Because they're seeking Jesus for their free bread.
They're seeking Jesus for whatever, you know, and I get calls from this area here when you
guys put our cards on the door.
And this is the, you know, you guys don't have to deal with this, but I do.
Every week someone's saying, hey, can you pay my rent?
No, I can't pay your rent and I'm not going to pay your rent because, you know, where
did you go to church last week?
Because you didn't come here.
So why am I going to pay your rent?
So this is what I'm talking about Jesus, you know, and Jesus would probably be like, well,
you know, I know you're not seeking me because you wanted to come and get saved or because
you want to hear the word of God.
You came to seek me so you could get your rent paid.
And that's not what the church is here to do.
Obviously we want to help people.
Don't get me wrong, but you know, and Jesus wanted to help people here, but then he had
this faction of people are just following them around for the free food and benefits
that they could get from it.
And then once, once he gets, they get offended by his preaching, then they go away.
Don't they see, and this is why this type of a church is different.
See people will come to this church and they'll sit here and they'll hear a hard sermon get
preached and that'll be the last time we see them because they go away offended.
They get upset over something that we said in the preaching.
And it's funny because a lot of people they'll say, well, they just don't, they don't let
homosexuals in their church services and they don't let pedophiles come in.
You know, pedophiles can be saved too and they don't have the programs for them, all
this stuff.
Those same people will get upset when a church has people that come in and molest their children
and say, it's the church's fault.
No, no.
So we're going to just say, we're going to err on the side of caution and say, no pedophiles
allowed, no homos allowed, which are exactly the same people really.
And then we'll just err on the side of caution.
You can be mad at us about that instead of allowing, of being mad at us for allowing
pedophiles to come in and molest your children, letting the wolves come in, petting the wolf.
Oh, you're such a good wolf.
You know, he wouldn't hurt anybody.
No, he wouldn't.
Oh, what a sweet little pit bull he is.
Here, come play with this little baby right now.
Oh, well, we'll just rub some peanut butter on the baby.
You know, maybe he won't eat him.
What are you talking about?
These people are freaks.
They're pedophiles and they're just like the, the pit bulls and the wolves of the human
world.
Yep.
If that makes sense.
I don't know if that made sense, but look, wolves are pictured as animals that you can't
trust because they're always just trying to hurt other animals and kill them.
Yep.
And of course we know pit bulls are bred.
You know, I know if you have, if you're at home and you have a pit bull and you got the
nice one, then you're, you're just fortunate that it hasn't done anything yet.
But you just never know.
So anyway, anyway, I'm, let's go to verse 27.
It says, labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat that endureth into everlasting
life which the son of man shall give unto you, for, for him hath God the Father sealed.
So he's saying, hey, don't, you're running all over the place trying to find the free,
the free bread.
Why don't you just get the real free bread, the free bread that actually will give you
something that's worthy.
You know, we, our, our mission is not to give out bread that perishes or bread that's going
to fill some person's stomach for one day, it's to, it's to give bread, the spiritual
bread that will last someone for everlasting life.
And people might, might look at that and say, you're not giving people anything of value.
You're, you're tax free, pastor.
Your church doesn't have to pay any taxes.
Well, number one, that's not true.
Every single person in our church that ties and has a job paid taxes on the money that
they use to tithe that, first of all, and then what, you want to double taxes on it
or something and pay taxes again once we've already paid taxes to pay on the tithe.
But every time, you know, anything we do in our church, anything we buy in our church,
every time, every time we purchase anything, we pay taxes on it.
And so we do pay taxes.
We pay more taxes than you do.
Plus we tithe after we pay taxes.
Every time we fill up our gas tanks to drive to church, guess what we pay taxes.
So stick that in your poop and smack it.
So, but then verse 28 says, then said they unto him,
what shall we do that we might work the works of God?
And this is, you know, this is kind of just another one of those things where it's like,
people want to work their way to heaven.
What do we do?
What can we do to re, re, re, work the works of God?
And then Jesus corrects them here.
Look what he says.
Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God.
That ye believe on him who he hath sent.
So you're not working the works of God.
The work of God, God's going to do.
God is the one that does the works for us to be saved.
And you just have to believe on him who he sent.
That's the thing.
God did all the work for us.
All we have to do is believe on Christ.
And he did all the work.
But it's funny, people just, they want to be.
Sometimes, have you ever like got to that person, you're going soul winning,
and they just, they don't want a free gift.
Well, I just want to work for it.
And they have the mentality that they would rather work for
their salvation than to get something for free.
Because they're just like, they have this, I will never receive welfare,
even if it's for salvation.
It's just like, well, I mean, there's no choice.
You don't get the choice.
It's either be perfect in all your works,
from the time you're born to the time you die, which you can't do, or
just receive that Jesus did it for you.
But a lot of people won't accept that, and so they're not going to get saved.
Verse 30, they said therefore unto him,
what sign showest thou then that we may see and believe thee?
What dost thou work?
Our fathers did eat man in the wilderness, as is written,
he gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you,
Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but
my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
So this tells you right here, it's kind of like they brought up the subject,
now Jesus is going to belabor the point for a long time in the rest of this chapter.
He's going to say, you want to bring up the bread from heaven?
Okay, well, that's actually me, by the way.
And it was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ being that true bread from heaven.
The manna was the picture of Christ.
So let's go ahead and turn over to Numbers chapter 11, and
keep your finger back in John, we're going to come back there often.
But in Numbers chapter 11, we see, and we're going to see the attitude
of the people when it comes to the manna itself.
Because they weren't really thankful about it, and as a matter of fact,
they got dissatisfied with it really quickly.
Look at verse 4, it says, and the mixed multitude that was among them fell
a lusting, and the children of Israel also wept again and said,
who shall give us flesh to eat?
We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely,
the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic.
But now our soul is dried away,
there's nothing at all beside this manna before our eyes.
And when you think about it, what is this picturing?
That they don't like Jesus.
That's what it is, because Jesus is pictured in the manna, and
everything about Jesus is pictured in this manna physically for them.
And they're like, we don't want the manna, we want the world.
We want the other food.
We want the food we used to be able to eat freely in Egypt.
We want the good tasting food that we liked before, and
Jesus isn't enough for them.
And so they get sick of Jesus, and they want their old ways, basically.
It says, and the manna was as coriander seed, which is a white colored seed,
and the color thereof as the color of delion, so it's white.
And the people went about and gathered it and ground it into mills and
beat it into mortar and baked it in pans.
So I think of the picture here of Jesus, he was gathered and
ground and he was grounded by men and beat into mortar.
I mean, if you think about it, he was beaten, he was ground,
he was baked in a pan, basically, if you figure hell, right?
And they made cakes of it.
And the taste of it was the taste of fresh oil,
and that pictures the Holy Spirit, obviously.
And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.
And Moses heard the people weep throughout their families.
Every man in the door of his tent and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly.
So the fact that the children of Israel, what is this picturing?
Well, if you fast forward to where we're at in John, what are they doing?
They're doing the same thing that they did in Numbers chapter 11,
where they despise the Lord Jesus Christ, the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And here it is, it's being fulfilled in front of their very eyes,
where they despise the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament.
So they actually despise their Messiah that they've been waiting for
this whole time and reject him.
But it says Moses also was displeased.
And this is where Moses is just like, just kill me.
I'm sick of these people.
If you read on further, it's like Moses is just like, just let me die.
This is how bad these people were treating him.
And he's this great leader, probably one of the greatest men in all the Bible.
And the people just rebel against him the whole time.
And just talk bad about him behind his back all the time.
So Moses, he pictures Christ in a lot of ways also.
Because the people kind of, they followed Moses to a certain extent, and
a remnant followed Moses.
But overall, the people really rejected him and
thought about killing him multiple times, him and Aaron.
So let's look back at our text in verse 33.
It says, for the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and
giveth light unto the world.
Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life.
He that cometh to me shall never hunger.
And he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
Now, he's speaking spiritually here.
He's not talking literally.
And the thing about Jesus is that when he spoke, he spoke in parables.
And the people that couldn't understand are the people that aren't saved and
just can't get it because their hearts either darkened or they're just not saved.
And the people that were intended to understand it understood it, and
the people that didn't, didn't get it.
They took it really literally.
So, but this is Jesus like basically saying, they kind of set him up for
this, but he's saying, I'm the picture of the manna.
I am the true bread.
And so verse 36 says, but I say unto you that ye also have seen me and believe not.
And that the father giveth me shall come to me and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
So there's a good verse for internal security there also.
And of course, John has written so that we would believe and
that we'd have life through his name.
And you know, he, he really just hammers, you know, belief by faith alone for
salvation and eternal security throughout the whole book.
And then he says, for I came down from heaven not to do mine own will,
but the will of him that sent me.
So I mean, he's saying things right here that is pretty spicy stuff to the Jews,
because right here he just says, I came down from heaven.
I mean, he's just not mincing words at all here.
He's like, I came down from heaven.
And then they know that he, what family he grew up in,
he knew who Joseph and Mary were, or the Pharisees did.
So, but that manna was sent from heaven to sustain God's people physically in
the Old Testament.
But clearly, obviously, the picture in the New Testament of that deeper spiritual
meaning of the bread of sustaining life that lasts forever.
So, now, when it says I came down from heaven, go ahead and
turn back to John chapter three.
I'm gonna read Micah 5 2.
Micah 5 2 says, and this is a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ, it says,
But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah,
yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel,
whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting.
So Jesus Christ is, has always existed.
He's the, you know, he's always been the son of God.
He's always been a part of the trinity.
He's always been God.
So to say that he came down from heaven, it's not a big deal for
us to understand, but them there, they don't quite get that.
They don't fully understand that, how he could be God, especially because,
you know, obviously, you know, the things that he says to some people are a stumbling
block, and to some people, they, they have to believe that by faith,
because they, nobody saw Jesus.
You know, I mean, obviously you have the, the thing that happened at Bethlehem's
manger, and all that kind of stuff, but there was only certain people that saw
that, and certain people that experienced that, and of course you had the wise men
that came and talked to Herod, and they saw the star, but not everybody saw that.
So, the people present here probably have no idea that that happened.
So, I mean, obviously they're having to take some things by faith, and
we have to take things by faith.
Yeah, amen.
The things that we don't understand, you know,
the secret things of God sometimes, or just something, there,
there's probably things that everybody in here has wrestled with in the scriptures,
and you're just like, man, I don't really understand that, but you know,
if you have the, the, if you have this in your mind that whatever the Bible says is
right, then you're, you're on good, you're on good standing, you're on good ground.
Look at John 3 13, it says, and no man hath ascended up to heaven, but
he that came down from heaven, even the son of man which is in heaven.
Try to figure that one out.
But, that's what he said, and he's the word of God.
So, he came down from heaven, so here's Jesus saying it before, and
he's also saying he's the only one that's ever come, you know,
he's the only one that's ever ascended up there, but he also is in heaven at
the present time that he's actually saying this, so.
Okay, I don't quite understand how that works, but, you know,
he also told the thief on the cross that today,
thou shall be with me in paradise, and where's paradise?
In heaven.
But then, you know, obviously his soul was commended unto God the Father, and
then, his soul, I mean, his spirit was in heaven with God the Father,
his soul went to hell.
Anyway, let's go back to our text, John 6 39.
I'm trying to get through this really fast,
cuz I, I mean, I really do have a lot of stuff here.
So, John 6 39, and this is the father's will which has sent me.
That of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but
should raise it up again at the last day.
This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the son and
believe on him may have everlasting life, and I'll raise him up at the last day.
So what's he saying?
He's the son of God.
He is the son of man.
He is the son of God, and if you believe in him, he'll raise, I mean,
he's just saying, he's just like drilling it in people's minds in this passage,
isn't he?
So, look at verse 41, it says, then the Jews murmured at him.
And I don't, and, and I don't think that that,
that word, murmured, is there accidentally.
Murmured is like kind of when you're just like talking about somebody, but
you're not really saying it loud enough where they can hear exactly what you're
saying, or they're talking crap about you behind their back, but
you can't really hear what they're saying.
And so when it says they murmured at him, they're just like, you know,
this is like, that's kind of, you know, they're murmuring and complaining,
basically.
It says because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
So that's what they took issue with.
And so that word, murmured, means to express one's discontent
about someone or something in a subdued manner.
So you're not really just, you're not really just being straight up and
just challenging someone on what, something that they said.
You're, you're hearing what they say and then you're just being, you know,
you're just being passive aggressive or you're, you're not really,
not really saying what you want to say and you're murmuring.
So now let's look back at some verses in Exodus and,
and we'll just look at some verses in Exodus.
And, and this kind of goes along with the same theme as when they started
complaining in numbers about Moses.
And so it, it just kind of pictures what we're looking at with Jesus.
They're murmuring, they're complaining about him because of the things he's
saying and they're doing the same thing to Moses back in the Old Testament and
Aaron.
But Exodus 15 verse 24 says, and I'll try to go through these really fast.
It says, and the people murmured against Moses saying, what shall we drink?
So every time something goes wrong, they're always complaining to Moses.
They're always whining.
And it's always like, you know,
it's like God is the most powerful being in all the world.
He took them with a mighty and strong hand out of Egypt.
And every time something goes wrong,
they're always ready to stone the people that are God put in charge of them.
They're always ready to just rebel against God and rebel against his word.
Instead of just saying, hey, Moses, could you ask God if we can just get some water?
Right? I mean,
do you think that like if they had that attitude that God would have been
okay with that?
Hey, do you think we can get some water?
No, it's just like, how do you ask?
Like if your kids ask you for something, they're like, give me some water, dad.
I mean, you're going to be like, go get your own water.
And come here so I can spank you real quick.
But they're doing it to Moses, who God put in charge of them.
Look at Exodus 16 verse 2, it says, and
the whole congregation of the children of Israel.
So now, you got some people murmuring, now you got the whole congregation,
everybody.
The whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and
Aaron in the wilderness, and the children of Israel said unto them,
would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt,
when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full, for
you have brought us forth into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly
with hunger.
I mean, that's some pretty stout words.
Like, they're not just saying stuff against Moses,
they're saying stuff against God.
And like, I mean, to say, I wish you would have just killed us, God.
When we were sitting by the flesh pots, you know, like,
when they're sitting around all the food that they could have ate.
But it's just like, again, so they're whining about not having water, just ask.
Right?
Hey God, can we get some, can we get some food, you know?
Just ask for some food.
Like, God wants you to ask, like, when he wants us to ask, and
sometimes he makes things a little tough on us so that we will ask, so
that we will seek him, so that we will look to him for our sustenance and
not just, you know, that's why he probably doesn't allow us all to be rich.
Yeah.
Because when we're rich, we don't have a need in anything.
Why would we have to ask God for anything when we just have everything we always
want all the time at the tip of our fingers?
But, and we would never have to ask him for anything.
Right, good.
So this is, you know, he's bringing them through the wilderness and
it's a little tough of a road, but all you have to do is just ask.
Look at verse, chapter 17, verse 3.
Notice that it's always murmured, they murmured.
Exodus 17, verse 3.
And the people thirsted there for water, so they're thirsty again.
And the people murmured against Moses and said, wherefore is this,
that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and
our cattle with thirst?
I mean, these people just make me sick.
Yeah.
Like they really, they piss me off because I'm a pastor and so
like I feel like if people in our church talked to me like that,
I would really be upset.
But like this is Moses.
It's not like Moses is like a bad guy.
He's the meekest man on the face of the planet and
like they're just mistreating him and talking bad about him all the time.
Even his own brother and sister kind of go against him and try to usurp him.
But look at Numbers 14, verse 2.
Numbers 14, verse 2.
I'm just trying to show you the pattern of them just murmuring against
the leadership, murmuring against Moses.
And then you have it here in John chapter 6 where they're doing it to Jesus too.
Same type of people.
Numbers chapter 14, verse 2, the Bible says, and
all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron.
And the whole congregation said unto them, would God that we had died in
the land of Egypt, or would God that we had died in this wilderness?
Look at verse 29.
Your carcass, and this is like God finally has had enough.
I mean, God's pretty long suffering, but like he suffered a lot of, you know,
a lot of talk and smack from these people.
And this is finally, he just gets sick of it.
And he says, your carcasses shall fall in the wilderness and
all that were numbered of you according to your whole number from 20 years old and
upward, which have murmured against me.
Doubtless you have not come into the land concerning,
which I swear to make you dwell therein.
Save Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun.
So basically, everybody else is gonna fall dead in that, in that wilderness.
And all the things that they kept saying, well, I wish we would have died there.
I wish we would have died there.
Well, you're gonna die here.
How about that?
And so all that murmuring that you've done, all that complaining you've done.
And let me just say this, as God's people,
because these are supposed to be God's people here.
As God's people, we should just not have a spirit of complaining about us.
But we're always complaining about everything that goes wrong in our lives.
Because look, we live in a fallen world.
We live in a world where we can't control what other people do all the time.
And sometimes we're gonna have a tough road.
And just think about this.
Yeah, things are tough in this world.
And we go through a lot of hard times and hardships in this world.
But there's gonna become a time when God is comforting us.
And what we always do have to look forward to is the fact that we're saved,
the fact that we have everlasting life, and that there's gonna come a time of
consolation where we're not gonna have to worry about all this stuff anymore that we
constantly have to go through.
And yeah, times can get tough, but think about this.
Things can always get tougher.
And the children of Israel are like, I'm thirsty, I'm hungry.
I wish we could have just got killed over here or killed over there.
It's like God finally just like, all right, well, I'll just kill you here.
How about that?
And I'll let these guys over here that aren't complaining,
that have a right spirit, that have the right thankful heart
about the things I do for them, I'll let them go in and they can take the land.
And your children, I'll bless your children.
But think about what Jesus did.
So those Pharisees, did they get to inherit the kingdom of God?
No.
They called them, it didn't just start with, it was murmuring,
then they go on to try to murder him, and then they do murder him later on.
And where are they?
Roasting in hell today.
So we don't want to be part of that
class of people that would be complaining against God and
the things he does for us, because yes, things can always get worse.
You're like, well, it's just pretty bad.
It can get worse.
You know, if you have your health, your health can go bad too.
And then you're financially ruined and in bad health.
I mean, because one kind of leads to the other sometimes.
But anyway, so we don't want to be complainers and murmurers and whiners.
John 642, 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?
See, these are mockers, complainers.
They don't want to just, they just don't want to believe he is who he says he is.
Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, murmur not among yourselves.
So, I mean, like, because the story is connected to Numbers chapter 11,
talking about the manna, he's bringing up the manna.
They murmur against him, and then he says, murmur not amongst yourselves.
It's like, how is that not closely connected and tied together?
It is.
So you can't really mistake that.
It says, no man can come to me except the father which has sent me draw him and
I will raise him up at the last day.
So, and then this flies in the face of Calvinism.
And Calvinists will say, well, he only draws some people.
He only saves some people, only the ones that he's chosen for salvation.
And he hates everybody else and their reprobates or whatever.
And some people just will never get saved because they're destined for hell.
This is what Calvinism teaches.
Calvinism is a sick god.
Calvinism is, you know, is not the god of the Bible.
And so when, you know, it's hard, it's hard for me to say that Calvinists are,
that there's Calvinists that are actually saved.
It really is because it's a different gospel.
It's a different god.
You know, they just believe a lot of weird stuff.
And ultimately, they don't even believe in evangelism.
And, and usually their salvation stories are so bizarre and weird.
It's like, I was sitting in a Sherry's restaurant and
all of a sudden just felt the power of God fall upon me.
And then I knew I was saved or whatever.
It's like, that's not how it works.
It's like, God has to send you a soul winner.
And they have to show you how to be saved from the Bible.
You know, if they have the scriptures memorized, whatever.
But there comes a day where someone leads you to the Lord.
They lead you to Christ.
That's how people get saved.
It's not some weird, you know, thing that just comes out of nowhere and
all of a sudden you're saved.
It's like, that sounds like a demonic experience to me.
If you felt pressure on your chest, you probably got possessed.
Anyway, turn to John chapter 12 real quick though.
Just keep your finger there.
I just want to show you this really quick because it says, you know,
except the Father which hath sent me draw him.
But Jesus also mentions this again in John chapter 12.
He says, and if I be lifted from the earth, I will draw all men unto me.
And does he get lifted from the earth?
Yes, he does.
And so what's it say there?
We'll draw all men unto me.
So all men are called to be saved.
So this whole pygmy in Africa, you know,
there's people that have never heard of Jesus.
That's just not true.
They are drawn in some way, shape, or form.
And maybe people aren't going to necessarily get the gospel.
But even in Romans chapter one, the Bible says that they were without excuse.
Right.
Because you can just look outside and know that somebody made this world.
And nobody looks outside and goes, I wonder if a little infinitesimal
dot spun around for billions of years and then exploded and made all this stuff, man.
Nobody thinks that.
People look outside and go, this is beautiful.
I wonder how this got made.
And that puts you on the right track.
It's not until you get these weird, you know,
these weird schoolteachers that want to teach you all this garbage and
false science until people start believing that stuff.
You have to learn that idiotic stuff before you start believing it.
So can we get somebody to close that door?
Thank you, sir.
All right.
Put them in the mother baby room.
Anyway, so anyway, and you know what?
You know how I know that Jesus draws everybody?
Well, he drew me.
I mean, and more than once, you know, he just kept drawing me.
Come on, dummy.
Get saved.
You know, that was a hard case.
So I'm sure some of you all were too.
Look at verse 45, it says, as it is written in the prophets, and
they shall be taught of God.
Who's teaching them here?
Jesus, right?
Yeah.
But like, it's kind of his way of just saying, well, I am God.
You know, people are like, Jesus never said he was God.
Well, it kind of sounds like he's saying it right there, doesn't it?
They shall all be taught of God.
Every man, therefore, that hath heard, and
hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
Not that any man has seen the Father,
save he which is of God, he has seen the Father.
So this is, you know, nobody has seen God's face besides Jesus Christ.
And then, so, it says, verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
And this is like one of the clearest verses in the whole Bible about
salvation, it's very simple, it's very clear, it's very plain,
it's very truthful, it's very easy, and it's not very complicated.
I mean, verily, verily, or truly, truly, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
Pretty simple.
It doesn't say, he that repents of all the sins has everlasting life.
He that keeps repenting of his sins every time he commits a sin has everlasting life.
He that does works and believes has everlasting life.
It doesn't say that.
And look, anybody that adds anything to this, this is crystal clear.
This is straight up spring mountain water that came off of the clearest glacier.
This is how clear of salvation this is.
And it really pisses me off when people mess with crystal clear salvation.
Get your muddy feet out of our crystal clear drinking water.
And Jesus also says, I am the water of life.
And his water is really clear, it's really clean.
And when you start messing with that salvation, it's super simple, super easy.
That's when I'm gonna have a big problem with you.
This is the problem with Baptist churches.
This is the problem, I mean, today,
Baptist churches, they can't even just simply say what they believe anymore.
Quit dancing around the subject.
Is it faith alone or not?
Or do you have to repent in your sins?
Well, what you gotta understand is that repentance means it's two sides of
the same coin.
Is it faith or not?
Is it belief or not?
Yes or no?
Well, what you gonna, just mean what you say and say what you mean.
But they have an answer for every different church member that they talk to.
They got an answer for their Calvinist church members.
They got an answer for their repent of your sins church members.
And then they got an answer for their faith alone church members.
And look, they're talking out all sides of their mouth.
And this is why people are leaving independent Baptist churches on top of
all just the weird things that they teach on top of all that stuff.
And that's why people like coming to churches like this because, yeah,
we might not have the fancy buildings and the cathedrals and the big buildings and
all this other stuff and the children's programs and
all this other stuff that they got going on in the bus ministry and all that.
But you know what we do have?
Just raw, unfiltered Bible teaching that is just really plain and
simple to follow.
And that's what people really want.
People that really wanna follow the Bible just wanna come to churches like this.
And if they don't, then they just want watered-down Baptists.
They want lily-livered Baptists.
They want let's hide what we really believe Baptists.
And that's just not what we are.
And some people can handle it and some people just can't.
Now, look at verse 48.
And this is Jesus just repeating himself here.
After the Pharisees already whined again, remember?
He says, I am the bread of life.
Jesus is doubling down here.
You wanna complain, you wanna murmur,
you wanna whine about it?
I am the bread of life.
He's like, there, I said it again.
How about that?
How do you like that?
Your fathers did eat man in the wilderness and are dead.
I mean, that probably really pissed them off right there.
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 I will give is my flesh, which I will give for
the life of the world.
And again, he's speaking spiritually here.
His body represents the bread, the bread of life.
And he's gonna let that be beaten and bruised for the life of the world and
killed.
So, verse 52, the Jews therefore strove among themselves,
saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?
So, they have zero perception of spiritual truth.
Zero.
Like, how's he gonna get, he's gonna chop off a piece of his arm and
give us his flesh to eat?
I mean, they just don't get it.
And Jesus said unto them, verily, 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.
I mean, that's a hard saying right there.
Because they're instantly thinking cannibalism, aren't they?
Because, I mean, if you're not saved, that is what he's saying.
But obviously, it's not literal.
He's not literally saying that because there's a provision in the Bible
that says you're not supposed to drink blood.
You're not supposed to eat blood.
And it is the life force, basically, of the man.
It is the life, the blood is the life.
I mean, George Washington should have figured that out before he let him
leak all his blood out.
But so it's not literal,
yet we have a billion Catholics in the world that think it is.
And which is even more weird.
I mean, it's super weird that they think that when they get up and
do some hocus pocus and say some magic prayers, that a piece of wafer
that says IHS on it turns into the literal body of Jesus.
It doesn't look like his body, but it really is.
Wink, wink, nod, nod.
And then they say another prayer, and then the wine that they use,
which Jesus said that he used fruit of the vine,
which is freshly squeezed or just grape juice.
And then when they say their other magic prayer,
then that becomes the literal blood of Jesus.
And that people have to take that sacrament, that means of salvation,
every week, and they have to have all these certain rituals that they do
in order to be able to be saved through the Roman Catholic Church.
A billion people on this planet believe that you have to do that in order to be
saved, to literally drink his blood and literally eat his body.
Like he's saying right here.
But it's not literal, and he actually explains that.
But that doctrine is called transubstantiation, what it's called.
That's the, I guess, theological term for it.
But it means, and here's the dictionary term, and
they really dance around what it really is here.
But it says, the conversion of the substance of the Eucharist elements
into the body and blood at consecration.
Only the appearances of bread and wine still remaining.
So, it's like Jesus, the Muslim Jesus on the cross that wasn't really him or
something, you know?
So, so, basically, you know, they're saying,
they're, it's a tricky way of saying that the bread and
wine are turned into the literal body and blood of Jesus.
So, they don't want to completely say that because then, you know,
the dictionary's gonna make a billion Catholics look like idiots.
But because, I mean, that's just weird.
That is so bizarre that they think that.
And there's a billion people that believe in it.
And look at verse 54, it says, who so eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I'll raise them up at the last day.
They're like, well, it kind of sounds like that's what it's saying, pastor.
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.
That, this is the, that 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.
These things said he, in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.
So, he even says this, you know, in verse 58, this is the bread which came,
this is that bread which came down from heaven,
not as your fathers did eat and are dead.
So, he's not talking about literal bread.
He's talking about spiritually, okay?
Now, point, this is going to roll into point two,
which I know has been a long, really long point.
But, it's not, you know, don't worry.
I'm not going to have you here all night.
I got six months worth of catching up for you guys, so quit whining.
Verse 60.
I've gone through quite a few verses already, all right?
So, and point number two is, are you easily offended?
But, I'm going to carry a little bit of point one into this.
But, are you easily offended by God?
So, verse 60 says, many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this,
said, this is a hard saying, who can hear it?
When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it,
he said unto them, doth this offend you?
And so, obviously, it probably did.
So, even the saved people that he's with are offended at this saying,
because they know that if he's literally saying this, that it's not right.
It doesn't sound right.
When I read it off the page, I'm like, this doesn't sound good.
It doesn't.
It's like, drink my blood, eat my flesh.
Like, that is cannibalism.
That, like, goes against everything that, you know,
it's repulsive to even think about, isn't it?
But, Jesus looked pretty repulsive when he was hanging on the cross too, didn't he?
Anyway, it says in verse 62, 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.
So, what's he saying here?
The words that I just got done saying, they're spirit, they are life.
This is not literal, billion Catholics.
This is not literal, Jews.
This is not literal, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and whoever else is there.
This is not literal.
I'm talking about something spiritual.
And obviously, Jesus has not died yet.
He hasn't been hung on the cross.
So, to picture what he's actually talking about might be a little bit difficult for
even saved people.
And, you know, literally, most of the crowd walks away and
stops following at this point.
Most of his people just like, they don't want, you know, like, that's too much.
You've gone too far.
Now, let's look at Psalm chapter 119.
And, you know, we should just be prepared in our hearts as Christians,
that whatever God says, our baseline is that he's always right.
And no matter what we think in our mind and in our heart, I mean,
think about this, he offended everybody.
I mean, he's just like, well, let me just go ahead and unload the whole truck and
make sure that I offend everybody that's here.
Everybody.
Drink my blood and eat my flesh, how do you like that?
I did come down from heaven, what now?
So he's offending his whole base, everybody, and you know what?
He doesn't care.
If they all walked away from him right then, he wouldn't have cared.
Because he's gonna say the truth no matter what.
And you know what, we should be able to receive the truth as Christians,
no matter how hard of a saint it is in the Bible, no matter how much it
hair lifts us, no matter how much it cringes us out.
Because God is always right, his word is always true, and
when God says something, when it's actually him, not just somebody else
saying something, you know, it's not recording what somebody else said.
Because sometimes that happens.
Just because somebody says something in the Bible doesn't mean that what they're
saying is right.
But when God is saying something, when the narrator of the Bible is saying
something, it is true, it is right.
And we should not be offended by these things.
Psalm 119, verse 162 says, I rejoice at thy word,
as one that findeth great spoil.
When you look at God's word, is that how you feel?
Like, I just found some buried treasure.
I just found the biggest treasure trove I could have possibly found.
I mean, because that's how you should feel when you're going through the Bible and
you're like, so we were talking all the way up about stuff that we're just
geeking out on in the Bible.
And I don't know if you do that or not, but you know what, you should have a love
for the Bible that when you just kind of get on this, you're like, I don't know.
I get on these trails where I'm just like, I gotta find out what, you know,
I gotta find out the truth about this, you know, and I just, you know,
because I've read the Bible a lot of times, but now I just kind of get into
these like studies where I'm just like, I gotta find out more.
And, you know, it's like finding a treasure.
You're like, man, I just unlocked something that I never knew before.
And, you know, wherever that takes you, it's like finding, you know, great spoil.
It says, I hate and abhor lying, but thy law do I love.
Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.
You know, and whatever God says and judges, that's what's right.
He's saying seven times a day I'm praising God because of those judgments.
And it says, great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them.
So what should be our baseline?
Whatever God says should not offend me.
Right.
Now, obviously people can offend you.
People can, can, you know, harm you with Bible verses, you know what I mean?
And you can be offended by what they said in the application of what they said it
with because maybe they're not right.
Maybe they're applying a scripture to you that might not be right.
That can be offensive.
But as far as God's word offending you, like Leviticus 20, 13, that should not offend you.
God said it.
It's true.
It's his law.
That's what he said.
Yes.
All right.
You know, when he says a whore is a deep ditch, he didn't say promiscuous woman.
He says whore for a reason, you know, and that word is just like, look down upon why
are you slut-shaming them?
Because they're a whore.
Because they're a harlot.
Why is Taylor Swift such a whore?
I don't know.
Like, why is every song about all the ex-boyfriends she has?
I don't know, but she just is.
Taylor Swift is a deep ditch and now everybody worships her and idolizes her.
Is that what our young girls are supposed to look up to?
Some whore?
No.
Anyway, it's gotten quiet in here.
You guys got tickets to her concert coming up or what's going on here?
Not Taylor Swift.
Look at you preaching against Taylor Swift, she's a whore.
Don't get offended.
Like, Taylor Swift being a whore is not in the Bible, but no, the way she acts points
to the fact that she's a whore and that is in the Bible.
So I mean, look, getting offended by God's word, even the horrific parts, you know, and
the parts that make us cringe, we should not just feel within ourselves that God's gone
too far.
And if you see yourself feeling that way, just, you know, at that point, when you feel
like God's gone too far, just do, then you need to repent.
Then you need to just do an about face and go, no, I'm wrong, God's right, and I need
to figure out why I'm wrong.
And our baseline should always be that God's right and we're wrong.
That should be it.
Go back to your baseline.
You're like, well, this is really, I don't understand this.
Well, that's because you don't understand it.
And if you don't understand it, that means that you're probably not right about it.
Or you don't understand why God would do certain things in certain situations, and then, or
somebody throws like some impossible question that they try to do God, you know, these atheists
and these Muslims, they try to get these gotcha questions on you all the time.
Well, don't, don't let them entrap you in these things, you know, God, God is way smarter
than they are.
Just because you don't have the answer at the tip of your tongue doesn't mean that they're
right.
Okay.
Proverbs 24 verse nine says, the thought of foolishness is sin.
So you know, we got to think that if we're thinking God is wrong about something, that
is a foolish thought.
It is sin.
So we need to have the attitude that God's always right, no matter what.
And that we got to get on his prog program and his thought process and quit thinking
that we know more than we actually do, because he's way smarter than we are.
His thoughts are better than our thoughts.
We are sinful.
Turn to Isaiah chapter 55, Isaiah chapter 55.
The Bible says in Isaiah 55, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his
thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our
God for he will abundantly pardon.
See, we have our ways, we have our thoughts, but look at what God says in verse eight.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, sayeth the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts.
So that's what I'm saying is that God's thoughts and his ways are so much higher than ours
that when we begin to question his morality and we begin to question things in his word,
we're coming from a way lower vantage point and our mind just can't understand God's holiness
and why he does the things he does.
And when we start to judge God's motives and start to judge his morality, then we're way
off base.
We're way off our baseline and we've got to get on his thought pattern and his way, because
God's ways are better than our ways and his thoughts and our thoughts.
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 3.
The Bible says, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down
of strongholds.
And this is what we need to learn to do when we get intrusive thoughts about God's word
being wrong or we get these thoughts that, you know, when we get off our baseline with
God's word, it says casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ.
I mean, that's so important, such a great verse, because, you know, we have thoughts
that kind of enter into our minds sometimes.
It's just like the Bible saying that we need to bring those thoughts into captivity and
just like get those things out of our minds.
And if you got to pray, if you got to stop what you're doing, you know, because we are
so sinful that we can't even help but have intrusive thoughts like that happen sometimes.
I'm sure that everybody has them.
Whatever that might be, you know, sometimes even just doubting God's word or whatever.
But so we're going to skip, we're going to go back to John now, but I'm going to skip
verse 64 for now.
We'll go back to 64 here in a minute.
I'm just going to finish off the last verses for this point.
And verse 65 says, 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 him.
So here you see the disciples leaving him.
Now it doesn't mean that they're not saved.
And this is the thing, it's like people will quit church, they'll quit on God, they'll
walk away.
It doesn't mean they're not saved.
You know, people that leave our church, I don't just automatically say not saved, reprobates.
Now the ones that I think that they are, are the ones that cause problems when they leave.
The ones that just continue to attack our church and make all these fake profiles and
stalk me online and send me all kinds of weird texts and just like, even on like Thanksgiving,
some weirdo ex-member of ours is sending me text messages with, you know, just bizarre
stuff.
And it's just like, instead of spending time with your family on Thanksgiving, instead
of enjoying the turkey, being thankful for everything you have, you're sending text messages,
you know, anonymously to your pastor of the church that you don't go to anymore and trying
to torment him.
It's just like, how bizarre.
I think when people do that, it's like, I'm sure that that person, whoever it is, I probably
did a lot of nice things for them.
And the reason why they want to be anonymous is they probably know that I know so much
weird and wicked things about them or just, they'd be horrified if it was brought to light
who it actually is.
And that's why, I mean, they're just cowards, but like people like that are bizarre.
But you know what?
There's a lot of good people that just leave churches.
Maybe they just, they can't handle it.
So it's just like this.
This situation, Jesus preaches something that people can't handle and like the Pharisees
are offended, his disciples are offended, his inner circle is offended.
And like, he even has to be like, are you guys offended too?
You guys going to leave too?
Look what it says in verse 67.
And then said, Jesus, under the 12, will you also go away?
And then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?
Thou has the words of eternal life.
Well said Peter.
Well, good job, Peter.
You know, he got a good one in that time.
I mean, that's a great, that's a, that's a great saying right there.
Who, who, who are we going to go to?
You know, thou has the words of life.
And any, and we believe that thou and are assured that thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God.
So some people can handle the hard stuff.
Some people can handle the true unfiltered power of God's word and they're not going
to get offended.
And even if they are offended, they're still going to stay.
And that is how we have to be, and again, I was talking about your baseline.
The baseline is what?
That God's word is true and that we should never be offended by anything it says, even
if it makes us feel uncomfortable.
When we sing Psalm 139, and we don't sing it very often at our church, and I would like
to sing it more, but that's the do not, I hate them, oh Lord, I hate thee.
Do not, I hate them, oh Lord, I hate thee.
Right?
But people, I remember the first time we sang at our church and people were just kind of
looking around like, is this okay?
It's God's word.
Of course it's okay.
It's David's words and he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to pin those down.
It's passed on to our King James Bible today.
Why would we be upset about singing that song?
It's just the Spirit that you're singing it by.
No, the Spirit is the Holy Spirit.
You want to blaspheme the Holy Spirit now and say that it's the Spirit that we're singing
it by?
It's the Holy Spirit.
What are you talking about?
That's why the Pharisees were damned in the first place.
Man, but there's people that just don't like that song being sung.
Well, it would be nice if we had the whole Psalms put to music.
We'd sing them all.
But Peter has the right idea here and the disciples stick with Jesus and they stay with
them.
I would just say this to you.
Things might get hard in our church.
Things might get tough.
You just never know.
How much are you willing to go through in your personal life and still serve God?
Because you're going to get tested.
You're going to get put to the test and how much are you willing to stick and stay and
serve God as one of his disciples?
Because there's going to be something that somebody gets up in this pulpit and they're
going to get up and preach it and you're going to get your little feelings hurt.
They're going to step on every little toe that you have and your big one and your pinky.
They might even step harder, I don't know.
But somewhere down the line, hard preaching affects everybody and should affect everybody
at some point.
Maybe they just haven't got to your particular thing, the goat that you've left out in your
front yard yet.
But eventually someone's going to get your goat and are you going to be so offended that
you're never going to come back?
Or are you going to internalize it and get better?
Because it shouldn't offend you because hopefully nobody preaches sermons in order to make people
offended on purpose.
Sermons should be preached to edify and build up and exhortation is encouraging someone
strongly to do something the right thing.
And sometimes you're rebuked and reproved for things.
But we should be able to handle that stuff as Christians and just because someone preaches
about something and just because someone preaches about something doesn't mean they know specifically
about something that you've done.
Just let me just let you in on a little secret.
The Holy Spirit knows what you've done and the preacher might not know anything about
your situation and just preach it and you're like, someone must have said something.
They must know.
God knows.
That's the point.
And so just internalize it and fix it.
Now the last point and I'll try to make this really quickly or quick.
So the last point is that Judas was never saved.
He was a devil from the beginning.
He was a devil the whole time.
Verse 64, that's why I skipped it, but it says, but there are some of you that believe
not for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believe not and who should
betray him.
See, people have this weird, you know, have you ever heard people say, well, Judas, you
know, he was saved and then he, you know, he lost his salvation.
It's like, no, you've never read the Bible because this verse says that he knew from
the beginning who they were that believe not.
He knew from the beginning that Judas didn't believe and if you were paying attention to
this chapter, it's very clear and every chapter we've been through so far that believing is
what saves you and Judas never believed and didn't throughout the whole thing and Judas
repented of his sin and still died and split hell wide open.
Judas tried to give the money back.
He was sorry for what he did, but he wasn't saved and he didn't have faith.
He didn't believe.
He hanged himself and then he died and went to hell.
So repenting of your sins does not save you, folks.
It's faith in Christ.
Now skip down to verse 70, it says, Jesus answered them, have not I chosen you twelve
and one of you is a devil?
Let me start calling Judas a devil, his own disciple, that he picked.
He spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he it was that should betray him, being
one of the twelve.
So I mean, Jesus is just like, here's the cherry on top.
If I haven't offended all of you by now, here's the last person I want to offend, Judas.
You know, let me offend Judas because nobody knew who he was talking to necessarily and
the disciples seemed to just be like, well, is it me, is he talking about me?
But who do you think knew who he was talking to?
Judas knew.
He had to have known.
Judas knew he was a pretender, Judas knew he was a phony, Judas knew he was there just
to get.
So I mean, all these people are, you know, standing in line for bread and that's bad
enough.
They just want Jesus for their personal bread, you know, the bread and butter or whatever.
But Judas is hanging around just so he can steal money and pretending to be saved in
order to do that.
I mean, that's pretty scummy.
And you think, well, that's not the worst person in the world.
Well, how about giving, selling Jesus's hide and saying, here, here you go, let's also
serve him up on a, you know, on a silver platter, so to speak.
Or 30 pieces of silver.
So now the Bible talks about hypocrites and people talk about hypocrites and they'll say
like, well, you know, I don't want to go to church because it's filled with hypocrites.
And to a certain extent that might be true, but a true hypocrite in the Bible, a person
that is a true hypocrite is an unsaved person that's pretending to be saved.
So now there are, hypocrites are kind of one of those things in the Bible where you
have to kind of know the context of what's being said.
It's kind of like repent.
It's kind of like wine.
It's kind of like, you know, some of these words that are, you know, you have to get
the context of what it's saying.
So a true hypocrite, though, is someone who, you know, they're really just pretending to
be someone and they're not saved and they're like the worst types of people.
So, you know, and we have our own moments of cognitive dissonance in our lives.
And cognitive dissonance, I'm sure you've heard that word, people love to throw that
online on stuff, you know, but the definition, so the definition, a couple of definitions
of it.
The state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs or attitudes, especially as relating
to behavioral decisions and attitude change.
So you have this thought and belief that you have, but then you're ink, but you do
that thing.
And so as sinners, you know, as Bible believing Christians, you believe that lying is wrong,
but you lie sometimes.
Or you believe stealing is wrong and you've probably stolen something if you're saved
or whatever.
Just whatever, you know, we know what we believe, but sometimes we choose to do the wrong thing
and our flesh is in a constant battle.
We still sin, is my point.
And so people would say, well, you're a hypocrite, but the Bible doesn't teach that we are sinlessly
perfect after we're saved.
So that appears to people as if we are hypocrites.
And so I guess in the term that you would find today in modern vernacular, it would
be.
And when people say that to me, I just say, well, you know, I guess you probably shouldn't
go to Walmart either because, you know, Walmart's filled with hypocrites too or whatever.
It's true.
I mean, you still shop for groceries, do you think there's hypocrites there too?
Or wherever you go and do stuff.
But in reality, the true hypocrite is like Judas.
Hypocrite really means actor.
So they're just straight up pretending to be saved.
So Webster's dictionary says in the 1828, it says, one who faints to be what he's not.
One who has the form of godliness without the power or who assumes an appearance of
piety and virtue when he is destitute of true religion.
And so he quotes his verse, and the hypocrites hope shall perish, Job chapter 8 verse 1.
And the second definition he puts in here is a dissembler, one who assumes a false appearance.
So another definition for cognitive dissonance is, this is the definition I hear the most,
when a person believes two contradictory things at the same time.
But obviously we have those moments in our lives, everybody does.
But we're not hypocrites in the sense that we're not pretending to be saved and actually
acting out, hopefully nobody in here is that.
I mean, one out of 12 of the disciples was a Judas, there's how many people in here?
19?
I'm just kidding.
But I'll just give you a couple of examples and we'll be done here because I know I've
been, yeah.
You haven't got quite your six months in yet, but I'll just read you a couple of scriptures.
Job 13, 16 says, he also shall be my salvation for a hypocrite shall not come before him.
Job 27 verse 8 says, for what is the hope of a hypocrite though he hath gained when
God taketh away his soul?
So when it's saying, there's examples, Jesus says thou hypocrite first cast the beam out
of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the moat out of thy brother's
eye.
So there's an example where he's using it where someone actually is saved.
But then in Matthew chapter 23, he goes on his hypocrite rant and those people are not
saved that he's talking about.
So in Matthew 23 verse 13, he says, but well unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites
for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men for you neither go in yourselves, neither
suffer ye them that are entering in to go.
Sounds like that person's, you know, they're not going to heaven.
That's what it says, right?
For you never, you neither go in yourselves.
Verse 14 says well unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites for you devour widows houses and
for a pretense, so they're pretending, make long prayer.
Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
So not only are you going to hell, but you're going to go to hell longer because you're
faking your long prayers.
And then verse 15 says, well unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites for you compass
sea and land to make one prose like, and when he's made, you make him twofold more
the child of hell than yourself.
So, and you know, I'm like, you know, there's a bunch of verses about hypocrites in here.
There's one, two, three, four more just in this chapter alone, but you get the point.
So some hypocrites in the Bible, obviously, you know, they're, they're hypocritical, hypocritical
in their actions, but not necessarily the hypocrite.
Like Judas was a hypocrite, straight up just pretending he was never saved, but I was very
clear about that.
And Jesus knew from the beginning that was the case.
So anytime someone tries to bring up the Judas thing, obviously it's just retarded, but,
you know, you just have to explain that to people, maybe just show them that verse where
it says that he knew from the beginning, which is in John chapter six, right?
So anyway, that's all I got for tonight and move on to chapter number seven next week.
And I just want to say, you know, I won't see you before Chris, you know, it's gonna
be Christmas this week.
I just wanted to wish everybody a Merry Christmas.
Thanks for everybody for attending our church up here, for all the hard work you do.
Really appreciate it.
And God bless.
We'll end it with a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank you Lord so much for this great church up here and for all
the light that they're shining in this dark place, pray that you just continue to bless
the work that's going on up here.
And I thank you for all the hard work that's going on, the preaching, the soul winning,
Lord, just all the people that are supporting this church with their prayers and monetarily
and just everything that's going on up here, Lord, it's just a great blessing to be able
to see all the work happening up here.
And I just want to thank you Lord for all the things you do for us, Lord, in Jesus'
name we pray.
Amen.