YP Address—C. Hendricks
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Singing 124.
Jesus, the one who trod the earth.
The lowly subject 1. Obedience unto death was Thine God's well beloved Son Jesus. What memories thrill our hearts of thy blessed footprints here, while now to heaven our eyes we turn and gaze upon thee there 124.
Excuse me?
Thank you so much.
We had some very precious things before us from Hebrews 1.
I was lying awake quite a bit last night.
Pondering asking the Lord for this is quite a responsibility to be addressing so many.
What to speak on?
Just an hour.
Turn to second Peter chapter one.
Two Peter chapter one.
And verse 16.
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables.
When we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His Majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory.
This is my beloved Son, and whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven, we heard when we were with him in the holy mouth.
Why does he? Why does he tell them?
That we have not followed cunningly devised fables.
In the Epistle of Jude.
The fourth verse, it says certain men have crept in unnoticed amongst the Christian company, ungodly men.
Turning the grace of God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. They're guilty of two things. And we see those two things every everywhere about us today denying the authority of the Lord.
And free reign for the flesh, turning the grace of God into loose living. If you don't have anyone to answer to 1 Sovereign Ruler such as the Lord Jesus, then you can do as you please. And this is the New Age movement. This is the philosophy of the day that we're living in.
And young people, you who are going to college and school, high school and college and universities, you will meet with those that do everything that they can do to undermine.
The authority of Scripture. They even go so far as to attack.
The Lord Jesus to the point of saying that he never actually lived. It was a it was a concocted story that men of a later day came up with and he's just a figment of man's imagination.
Now I want you to consider that we're going to look at that in Scripture, and we're going to look at what he said when he was here in this world, Those wonderful words that proceeded out of his mouth we had in Hebrews One God has spoken to us in the person of his Son. And John's Gospel starts with in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
00:05:28
The same was in the beginning with God the Word, the very expression of God, and all that God gave him to express when he was here below the Word of God.
I turned back with me to John Chapter 7.
John's Gospel Chapter 7.
And verse 32.
The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him. And the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him. And then we go down to verse 45 Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees. And they said unto them, Why have you not brought him?
The officers answered. Never man spake like this man. They were used to listening to the Pharisees, and they didn't speak with authority. But this man spoke with authority. He knew whereof he was speaking.
And I want you to consider this, especially young people. It's addressed to all, of course.
Could anyone of the sons of men who are fallen sinners?
Have created the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Absolutely impossible. Could anyone have?
With cunningly devised, Fables put the words in his mouth.
Which he spoke when he was here again, utterly impossible. Never man spake like this man. I spoke on this once, more than once, shortly, but we have an hour this afternoon so we can look at more passages this afternoon. Let's turn back to John, Chapter 3, John's Gospel, Chapter 3. And we're going to, we're going to to look at what?
He said what the writer of this gospel says, he said.
And the other Gospels as well. But I'm going to concentrate on John's Gospel.
We know the account. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Now whenever you you read these two words, verily, verily, he's He's trying to get your attention. What he's going to say is very important, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
Nicodemus.
Though he was a ruler of the Jews and a master in Israel, yet he didn't understand the Lord's words at all.
He took them in a natural sense, which was absurd. And so he says, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Of course not, Jesus answered. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, he doesn't answer his question directly, but he expands upon the term born again. And he says, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, You must be born again now. He's not saying to Nicodemus, you have to turn over a new leaf and amend your ways like we we, we see people do on New Year's.
They make New Year's resolutions, which they always break, but he's saying that.
In order to see and enter the Kingdom of God, you need a completely new life, a new nature that you are not capable of even seeing the Kingdom of God with the eyesight that you have by nature.
Now just consider for a moment if some men who were sinners had written this. Would they have written such words? Of course not. They condemn all of us.
00:10:01
Because they say that by the 1St birth, we're all gone, we're all lost and we need to be born again. We need a new life.
Born of water and of the Spirit. The water is the word of God. Peter tells us that he says, being born again, knob of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever the Spirit of God, using the word of God, bringing it to bear upon the conscience of the individual, and when that word is brought home in power to the soul of man.
A wonderful thing.
Happens that person is born again. He believes the word.
Faith is there, life is there, and he becomes a new creature in Christ.
A new creature in Christ.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
And flesh can never be changed into spirit. You can train it, you can educate it, you can sublimate it, you can give it every possible advantage.
But it's still flesh, and they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
That which is born of the spirit is spirit. It partakes of the nature of the source, its spirit, and that is what is required in order to see and enter the Kingdom of God in college. Your professors, your teachers, your instructors, if they haven't been born again, they can't see nor enter the Kingdom of God. They might be very educated and they might be very intelligent and have far more smarts than you have. But when it comes to this book.
The natural man understand this, not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they're spiritually discerned.
So man by nature is outside of the realm of the spirit, of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is entered by the new birth and by believing the word of God. Now let's go on a little bit, he says. Marvel. Not that I said unto thee. Now he's speaking through Nicodemus personally, but then he expands it, and he says he must be born again, You Jews.
You see, the Jews could say we have Abraham for our father, and they thought that that was all that they took and they were better than the Gentiles because.
The Gentiles couldn't say such a thing. And he says to Nicodemus, You Jews, all of you need a new life, a new birth, a new beginning with God. You can't count upon your natural heritage, because it won't get you into the Kingdom of God. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, and canst not tell When it cometh and whither it goeth, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master, a teacher of Israel, and knows not these things?
Ezekiel said that God would give them a new heart and that was a picture of of course the new birth. But now notice verse 11 very profound verse is probably the most profound verse in the whole Gospel of John.
Verily, verily, I say unto thee.
We speak that we do know and testify that we have seen, and he received not our witness. And then he goes back to the singular. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe? If I tell you of heavenly things, Who's the we in verse 11? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, You into thee, Nicodemus, we speak.
That we do know now. Only God knows. Only God knows intrinsically and essentially.
We learn and we can say we know when we speak according to scripture, but we don't have it in ourselves.
God does we speak, that we do know, but we as the Trinity, the we as the, the knowledge of divine persons. And the Lord speaks as one of them, the Father, the Son. And then in John 1415 and 16 the Spirit of God has brought in all three persons involved in this week.
We speak that we do know and testify that we have seen.
00:15:02
And what about us? And ye receive not our witness? Now that's the state that man is in by nature. He does not receive the truth that God brings to him very solemn indictment upon that.
Man is incorrigibly evil is lost, and there's nothing sound, there's no soundness to him from the from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, nothing but wounds and bruises and totifying sores. No good in man we speak that we do know, God says and testify that we have seen and you receive not our witness. That's man's state. And unless the Father draws us.
We will not come.
If I've told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe? If I tell you of heavenly things? No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
Now these are these are the words that the Lord Jesus spoke. Can you fancy? It's absolutely impossible for a man to have written verse 11, to have put those words into a fictitious Jesus that never really lived and existed. We speak, that we do know and testify that we have seen and you receive not our witness. No, He spoke those words. He was a true man and he was hearing this world. And if, if I can do one thing this afternoon.
To increase your strength in your faith that you realize that this is indeed the word of God, and the one that we believe on is indeed the Son of God, the eternal Son of God. And he said what he said, and he meant what he said.
Wonderful to have the truth.
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of man be lifted up. I believe the Lord still speaking here, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have eternal life, And then that well known verse John 316 That we all know. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Before we get apart from this chapter, I want to just read you the last verses of chapter 2.
It says in verse 23 of chapter 2. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover in the feast day, many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men and needed not that it should testify of man. For he knew what was in man. He knew that man was evil from the very root of his nature.
Now chapter 3 should start with a but but there was a Man of the Pharisees.
Nicknamed Nicodemus, he seemed to be an exercised soul. Well, let's go on to the 4th chapter. We're looking at words that the Blessed Lord spoke never man fake like this man in the 4th chapter.
We know the account. I won't read it all just to save time.
Verse He had asked this woman of Samaria for a drink of water. Give me to drink the end of verse 7. Verse nine. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being at you, ask his drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans? Jesus answered, and said unto her.
Oftentimes he's asked questions that he does not answer directly, but he makes a statement that immediately awakens in the soul of this woman a response, he says. If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
Immediately, she says.
Sir, thou hast nothing to draw within the well as deep. From whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her.
Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. Now you know what I mean. You know what he meant, Whosoever drinketh of this water.
00:20:04
Shall thirst again.
We know what that is. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well, or a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. Oh, she wanted that, Sir, The woman said unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hitherto draw.
Neverman spake like this man never man spake words such as he spoke.
These were not invented. This was not a person that was the result of cunningly devised fables. Never in 1000 million years could that be true.
This man one said it this way. It would take a perfect man to create Jesus. A perfect man would take perfection to create perfection. And we're so far from perfection in ourselves. Now he was here, a real person. Why is this book so hated? Because he who is the truth tells us exactly what we don't want to hear by nature. It tells us what we are.
It tells us that we need a new life, a new beginning altogether. You can't mend the old life.
Then try to do that and they deceive themselves into saying we are seekers after truth. That's not true at all. If they were, they would receive him.
They would receive this Blessed One.
So she wants this water. Ah, but there was something needed. Now, who would have thought of this if they were writing the story from scratch?
Sir, she, he says to her. Go call my husband.
And come hit her.
The woman asked her to say I have no husband.
Of course he knew that Jesus said unto her, Thou his head well, well, thou hast had five husbands. And ye whom thou hast is not thy husband, and that sets thou truly.
And then she says, Sir, I perceive thou art a prophet.
And she turns the story into a religious one. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where man ought to worship.
And the Lord says, ye worship, you know not what we know. What we worship for salvation is of the Jews. The Savior came from that nation, came from that people.
But the hour cometh, he says, When And now is when ye shall, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father.
In spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Never man speak like this, man such words as this.
Words of truth, words of intense.
Value I want to ask each one of us here this afternoon. You know him? You know this man?
You know this man who spake as no man ever spake in job.
It says, Acquaint now thyself with him, Be at peace, thereby good shall come unto thee. Paul said in Philippians 3 that I may know him.
Power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His suffering, that I may know Him. Do you know him? The way you get to know a person is you. You. You're in their company, You talk to them, they talk to you. You hear what they have to say. And as they utter words, you know something about the heart. Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh, and as we hear what He said, precious, wonderful truths.
That came forth from that blessed one We not only know who Jesus is, we know who the Father is. We know who God is.
Because he's the perfect expression of God.
That in Hebrews one, didn't we? God speaking to us in the person of his Son?
The woman then leaves her water pot, goes into the city and says come see a man that told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Indeed he was.
00:25:07
Well, let's not dwell too long on anyone of these portions.
In the 5th chapter.
In the 1St, 5th chapter he had just.
An infinite man.
Verse eight, he says to him, who is at the pool of Bethesda, he says.
Rise up, take up thy dead and walk.
And immediately the man responded. It doesn't say he had any faith he wasn't looking for.
Anything to happen to him? And yet the Lord immediately did this.
He didn't even know who it was.
Afterward, Jesus findeth him in the temple, verse 14, and said unto him, Behold, art made whole.
Sin no more, lest the worst thing come unto thee. Verse 17 He says These very profound words. Jesus answered them. My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Then answered Jesus, and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself. He had become a man. He'd taken the position of a servant, and it would have been improper for him to have acted independently. So he doesn't do anything of himself. But what he seeks the Father do, or what things so ever he do it, these also do it to some likewise these were words to telling telling us of the place that he took, and lowly grace, and becoming a man.
Well the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth, and he will show him greater works than these that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them Even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, That all men notice this verse, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. Can you imagine some man?
Fabricating this story and writing such words that came forth out of his mouth. Of course not impossible.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me an everlasting life, shall not come into condemnation or judgment, but is passed from death unto life.
Verily, verily, here's another. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. They that hear shall live The Son of God's voice. He makes his voice heard in the soul of a dead Sinner, and he lives.
He lives. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
Only God can do that. Only God can effect such a marvelous transformation. It's another way of speaking about the new birth communication of life by the voice of the Son of God. Though hath he given to the Son to have life in himself, and he hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of Man. Now listen to these words. Marvel not at this, He says, For this the hour it is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice.
And shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil.
Unto the resurrection of damnation.
Nevermind. Speak like this. Man speaks with authority, knows the end from the beginning, can look into the future and speak of it as with the certainty as the past or the present.
Because of who he is.
And yet he was here as a man. If he hadn't become a man, we wouldn't be able to get a hold of him. We wouldn't be able to to understand God, that he had remained in the in the inscrutable essence of Deity in the form of God. We wouldn't really be able to understand him. So what does He do? The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
It came to where we were. He became a man. He laid aside the form of God and assumed the form of a servant. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
00:30:12
Do you know him?
Do you know him? Don't you want to know him more? Don't you want to know him better when I was coming out here yesterday, Thursday?
Two days ago.
Left at three, picked up my grandson at 3:30 and Laura came with me and she took Steve's car home and I took Steve's to say Louis. We went to meeting at in the evening and then we went to Turkey's house. We stayed there for the night. We woke up Friday morning in Saint Louis, two above 0.
And had drove us to the airport, drops Steve off and then dropped me off and when I got to Phoenix it was 60 above 62, in fact a rise of 60°. When I got to Burbank it was 64.
Sitting next to me when I took my seat on the plane from Saint Louis to Phoenix, there was some clothes on the outside, seats next to the window. I sat next to the hallway, to the pathway in the center, and I noticed there was a book lying there. And I saw the name of the author, Kim Lehane, Not somebody. They know who he is. I've never read any of his works. I've heard a little bit about him and he's written 8.
Fiction. Christian fiction, Novels.
And the first one was quite stirring. And it turns out that the person that was right across the aisle for me, they had the same book. They were reading the same book. And the person that was right in front of the lady that was sitting next to me, they had his first book. And the people that were sitting behind me, they were Christians too. So we had quite a few Christians. And I introduced myself. I stuck a tract in this book and then when she opened it up and found the tract, I said I put that there.
And I'm a Christian. Do you know the Lord Jesus as your savior? Oh, we sure do.
She and her husband.
They were all reading this book, a Christian fiction novel.
That was the only one reading this book.
This isn't fiction. This is not cunningly devised fables. This is the word of truth.
Every word of God is pure. Every word of God is true. And I had the better part. We had a nice talk.
But how often do you read this book? Don't you want to get to know him better?
Don't you want to get to **** to know your savior?
Listen to what he said. Listen to his words.
Trace his footsteps. Everything he said was given to him from the Father. You know the father all about the Father. I don't know how many times I've been asked will we ever see the father in John 12 he said. He that seeth me seeth Father.
Philip said, Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. And he says, Have I been so long time with you?
And yet hast thou not known me, Philip, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father, Yes, will see the Father in the Son.
And we're going to be in the presence of that glorified man for all eternity.
When you get into his presence.
Don't you want to enter the presence of one whom you know real well?
You know him. You've heard his words. You know what he's like. You've traced his footsteps in the four Gospels.
You know the Fathers. What characterized the Fathers is that you have known him that is from the beginning. That's Christ as he was down here. The epistle of John starts out that which was from the beginning, Christ down here, which we've heard, John says we heard him, which we've seen with our eyes.
We've seen with our eyes he was here, a real man, which we've looked upon. We've contemplated him. He wasn't just a passing vision or a voice from heaven. No, he was a man down here.
And John says, We heard him, we saw him, we looked upon him, our hands handled him of the word of life, For the life was manifested. And we have seen and declare unto you that eternal life that was with the Father.
00:35:05
And was manifested to us.
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship was with the Father and the Son.
And we're so foolish. I'm so foolish that I've allowed myself times too often to go out after the trash of this world.
Not everything is bad morally.
But it's of no eternal value.
But everything you learn of him.
Everything.
You hear that? He said.
You know more of him.
The world knows nothing of him.
I was privileged to be reading the book that told me about him.
How often do you read that book?
Yes, he was a true man. He was here. He spoke these blessed words. If you come home and the Bible is sitting on the table and the newspapers right next to it, what do you pick up?
Generally, it's the wrong one.
Oh, if we could fortify ourselves and lay aside the the trash of this world and fill our souls with Christ.
With the precious truth of God.
It's not a legal thing. You can't force anyone to do it.
It has to be a desire, Desire in our hearts.
Let's turn to Chapter 6.
In chapter 6.
He says in verse 20.
27 Labor not for the meat which perisheth these are his words. But for that meat, that food which endureth unto everlasting life, which the son of man shall give unto you. For him hath God the Father sealed.
And said they unto him, Here's a wonderful question they put to him, What shall we do that we might work the works of God?
Dad always wants to do something, doesn't he? He wants to to feel that he's done his part. And notice the answer, Jesus answered and said unto them. This is the work of God.
That ye believe on him whom he has sent.
Sent one of the Father to reveal the Father to believe on him.
If that's been your experience and you've received him and believed on him, have faith in him.
You're on the right road now. On that road, you want to know more of him. You want to become better acquainted with him.
You want to know so much of him that you become like him.
Live in his presence. You walk with them as you go down the road.
Lord Jesus, walk with me, talk to me and you have sweet communion.
Do you know anything of that?
We're living in a world that's full of trinkets, worthless trinkets to dazzle the eyes of the youth especially.
These things are really of any of no eternal value whatsoever. But what you learn of Him, the better acquainted you become of Him, that's something you'll have for all eternity.
Going to be in the presence of that man. You're going to gaze upon the face where we're going to gaze upon the face of that blessed man.
Will we be embarrassed? What would be in our glorified bodies?
But.
If there is one regret we could have in heaven, it would be that I didn't that I didn't get to know him better.
The fathers are characterized by.
Knowing Him, that is from the beginning. That's all it says. It repeats it twice. Nothing more. To add to that, Christ is everything to the Fathers.
What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he hath sent. Now notice this next verse. They said therefore unto him, What sign show us thou, that we may see and believe thee? What does thou work? He had just fed, 5000.
00:40:21
With five loaves and two fishes, and I asked him for a sign for a miracle.
Blind Underneath is sure to error and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter.
You will make it plain. Statement was made this morning which was wrong.
It doesn't matter who said it. It's not important. It was wrong.
Because it imputed to man some good motive, and he has none.
There's none that doeth good. Don't act on outside of Christ.
Man can't do anything. Yeah, build any building. You can't do anything. That's for the glory of God, everything that man does for the glory of man.
The glorious man.
We're here for the glory of God.
So they asked him what sign our fathers did eat man in the desert. As it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. They were probably saying, that was a lot greater than what you just did with the five loaves and two fishes. Moses gave them bread for the whole wilderness journey. And what does the Lord say? 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, For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven.
And give us life unto the world. A fabrication of man's mind, No.
These were words that were spoken by the godman.
I ask you one question again. Do you know this man?
Do you want to know him better?
I do, and yet I'm still guilty of foolish things.
Wasting time on things with no eternal value. Some are very necessary, we know that.
Don't make them the object before your soul.
Set Christ before your soul.
Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, But my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread, than he had awakened their appetite, their desire, just like the woman in John 4.
Or give me that water that I thirst not, neither come hit her to draw. And so they say the same thing. 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.
Never thirst What works?
He's the giver. He's the giver. He gives eternal life. He gives the bread of life.
Great giver. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Christ gave himself as a sacrifice for our sins. He's given us the Holy Spirit, everything that is for blessing.
But I said unto you, that ye also have seen me.
And believe not verse 38 For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. You can search the world over, Search the world over. Spend the rest of your time looking for that person that came down from heaven not to do his own will, but the will of the Father that sent him. You'll not find him because he's not here. He was here.
Yes, he was. And he spoke these precious words, and everything he said was the truth, for he was the truth.
Well, I'm going to go to the 7th chapter.
The 7th chapter.
He says in verse 16 Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine, my teaching is not fine, but his that sent me any man will do his will. He shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak.
Of myself.
Sent to the Father to reveal the Father, and he did it in perfection.
Now in the 7th chapter, verse 37, in the last day, listen to these words that he spoke that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man first let him come unto me and drink.
00:45:18
He that believeth on me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly, out of this inmost being shall flow rivers of living water.
But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive for the Holy Ghost who is not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified, never man.
Speak like this, man.
Chapter 8.
Verse 12 Then spake Jesus again. Oh, how wonderful to hear what he said. He the Word, this gospel that begins with him as the Word, the one that told us in words what God is like.
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness.
But you'll have the light of life.
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Is the light and if we follow him.
We will walk in the light, John tells us in his first epistle. He says. If we walk in the light.
As he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another in the blood of Jesus Christ. His Son cleanseth us from all sin, three essential basic truths of the Christians position. He walks in the light, he has fellowship with one another, and the blood cleanses.
From all sin making him fit for that light.
He's the light of the world.
The.
Now, towards the end of the chapter, think of these words that he spoke.
Verse.
31 verse 30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Then said Jesus to those that which believed on him. If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples? Indeed, you can't continue in His word if you don't know His words, if you don't know what he said, if he doesn't, you don't know what expresses himself.
You know that you'll know what's pleasing to him, and you'll know what's not pleasing to him without him even telling you. Because he's already told you it's right here. It's right here. Not What would Jesus do that thing? That's that depends on what I think he would do, or what did he do.
Do you want to know how to walk? You ask. What did Jesus do? And it's all here. It's all here, but you've got to search for it.
And is there.
Verse 32 And ye shall know the truth.
And the truth shall make you free.
They answered him. We, the Abraham's seed, were never in ******* to any man. Can you imagine a Jew the leader, saying that they were in ******* to the Egyptians? They were in ******* to the to the Babylonians. They were in ******* to the Beads and Persians. They were in ******* to the Grecians, and now to the Roman Empire. And they said we were never in ******* to any man.
Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin, he goes to something far deeper, A deeper, deeper, deeper ******* than just to an external enemy.
This the the the ******* to sin.
And the servant abideth ever, Whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house forever. But the son abideth ever. If the son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free Indeed are you free?
Are you free from sin? Are you free from from the evil that's all around you in this world? Because you've got Christ as your life. You've got Christ as your object. You've got Christ as your.
Your liberty, your truth.
The truth living in a day when there's no such thing as absolute truth.
In the 18th chapter of this gospel, and I'll just you don't have to turn to it. I'll just read it to you. He's standing before Pilate.
00:50:00
Verse 37 verse 36 Jesus answered John 1836. My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews? But now is my Kingdom not from hence? Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then?
Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king, and when he says that, he's saying very strongly, yes, that's the truth.
To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? I can hear the sneer in his voice. What is truth or no such thing as truth? Absolute truth. Everything is relative. Everything is expendable. Everything is negotiable.
No, there is the truth. Brother wrote a book and he set before the reader the the the the basic principles of Christianity and the truth. And this this liberal New Age interviewer said to him, Well, Mr. Smith, I'll call him. How do I know that what you wrote is the truth?
And he says, Madam, you can never know that what I wrote is the truth if you don't know the truth yourself.
And you can never know the truth yourself if there is not a truth to death.
And here's the truth. Thy word is truth. The Lord Jesus is the truth. The Spirit of God is the truth. And if they if they speak not according to this word, it's because there's no light in them.
Don't listen to them.
Man is out to destroy. Your soul is out to lead you Into Darkness. You're in it already if you're not saved. But if you are saved, you're in the light. Walk in the light. Learn more of Christ.
I am the light of the world. Notice what he says.
The son Therefore verse 36 of chapter 8 shall make you free. Ye shall be free indeed.
I know that ye are Abraham's seed, but she seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my father, and you do that which you've seen with your father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth which I've heard from God. This did not, Abraham ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they unto him, We have my fornication.
With one Father, even God.
Jesus said unto them, If God were your father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God. Neither am I of myself. But he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot under hear my word, Ye are your father the devil. Stronger words were never spoken. Ye are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth, because there's no truth in him.
When he speaketh the lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar, the father of thee, because I tell you the truth, you believe me not. Which of you convinces me of sin? Which of us would dare to say such a thing? Who can convince me of sin? Be easy.
Would be easy because we're all sinners. But he says Which of you can convince with me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He that is of God hipeth God's word. He therefore hear them not because you are not of God.
And that was more than they could stand.
No, man is not a seeker after truth.
They crucified him who was the truth.
I remember when I was a young man.
Pumping gas gas station and it's tracked to the.
Driver got into a conversation with him and he said, well, he said I told him what I believed and gave him the gospel and he said, oh, that's all right, but I don't believe that way. Every one of us has a different belief and we'll all get to heaven, our own way. And as long as you're sincere, get to heaven.
And I said, no. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the father, but by me. And then he was about to leave. And he said, by the way, this was in Wilmette. That's the second suburb north of Chicago even since the first one. And he said, how do I get to Evanston from here?
00:55:19
And I said, just take any roads you want. As long as you're sincere, you'll get there.
And he said, no, that won't work. I said, That's right, it won't work. You just told me that. So we can get to heaven on your sincerity, even if you're on the wrong Rd. No. How can man be so foolish about spiritual things and so sensible about mundane things?
I wish we had more time.
Precious savior.
Precious savior.
174.
174 in closing.