I heard a story a few years ago that tickled me and I would have no reason to ever pass on this little piece of humor except there’s a line that I’m going to read in the scriptures this morning that just put me in mind of itself. So the story speaks of someone who lived a very remote kind of life, had not been exposed to a lot of modernity and had little experience in a lot of things. And opportunity came for him to fly in an airplane. And so he made his way to the airport and fumbled around to discover how this all works. He really didn’t know anything about this. He was quite afraid of airplanes. He’d heard some pretty frightful stories. He’d heard that if a plane crashes they tend to bury the survivors on the right side of the plane.
So he made his way onto the plane and nervously took his seat and it turned out that he got a seat by the window. And it could hear all kinds of noises. And you’ll hear noises in airplanes when they’re loading all the gear, the luggage and everything underneath. You can hear the screws turning with these big powerful elevators that work on a horizontal light. You can hear the groaning and the carrying on. So he’s quite enamored with all of this. And he looked out the window and he saw a fellow up at the wing of the plane and he’s putting fuel. That’s where they store the fuel for these big birds in the wing. And he noticed that the truck said shell on it.
Shell oil. He was quite taken up with that and thought that guy has a very interesting job. And the fellow finished doing so, putting away his equipment. This gentleman washed out the window and looked as long as he could and the truck disappeared. Then he heard the plane start up and the plane took off and things went very nicely. It was a long trek. And when he finally landed in Toronto, the plane landed safely and taxied and came to the place where people would start to unload and get off the plane. He looked out his window again and there came a shell truck. He got all excited. When opportunity came, he got into the hallway. He found a door that wasn’t locked and down the stairs he went, ran out. And here’s the guy up on the wing pouring fuel into the wing.
He yelled up to him and said, what time did you get here? The guy said, well, I came to work a couple of times. The guy said, well, how was he? I should have come with you. Are you okay? John’s Gospel, chapter 6, Jesus has fed the 5,000 and you heard a lot of rumbling among the people. They were quite taken up with his having fed 5,000 people with such small fragments. To me, by the way, the miracle, it’s okay to realize it’s a miracle. It was a miracle that he took little fragments of fish, a couple of pieces of bread, and 5,000 people were fed. Of course, that’s a miracle. But to me, the big miracle was he said to them with this little bag of lunch, I picture
a little brown bag, holding this little brown bag of bread and fish, he said, I invite you to sit down, we’re going to have lunch. 5,000 people sat down. That is a miracle. They had faith. They had heard wonderful things about him. They had not heard that he feeds large groups of people, but they had faith in him. They sat down. But Jesus heard the murmuring and he heard the clamor. They were quite excited and they thought, this man is a prophet. He’s the one we’ve been waiting for. We should anoint him as king. Let’s get on with this.
And the story is recorded for us that Jesus upon hearing that disappeared from among them and went up in a mountain to be alone with the Father. That evening, the disciples got inside a boat, a single boat, and they crossed over to the other side. And you know the story from there, of course. So the following day now is recorded for us in John’s Gospel 6 and verse 22. On the next day, the crowd that remained on the original side of the sea, they’re the ones who had been there and had seen only one boat. They had noticed that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but his disciples had gone away without him. Other boats from Tiberius came near the place where they had eaten the bread after he had given thanks. I want to pause here just for a moment.
These people who arrived from Tiberius are strangers to the miracle that just took place. They had no idea what had happened. But without a doubt, they were looking to find Jesus. And there’s no doubt whatsoever that they were from Jerusalem, that they had been sent to find him, to listen to what he had to say. They heard that great hordes of people were following him. They heard that numerous miracles were taking place. These were being opened. Many, many illnesses were being cured. This was quite upsetting to the bourgeois who were up in Jerusalem. And so there were some who arrived from Tiberius and it’s really believed by scholars, biblical scholars, that these guys were spies. They were agents.
They were coming to hopefully trap him in some kind of a snare. I want to suggest to you that the people that experienced the dining, the bread and the fish, the miraculous, I want to suggest to you that when they got in the boat, because that’s what it says, when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats, which had come from Tiberius. But they went to Capernaum now looking for Jesus. So I think I hear in my head at least, I hear the journey of the people in the boat, along with the Tiberius people. You know, on a journey like that, whether it would be on a bus or on an airplane, you get talking with someone and they start talking about politics. They start talking about the virus and about the jab. They start talking about things that might have a little bit of a slant to them. Your mind just might get changed.
You might start to see things a little differently than you had. I want to suggest to you that on that journey across the lake, there was a lot of talk going on in that boat. So much so that the people, now there’s no way 5,000 people got in a handful of boats from Tiberius, and maybe there are a couple of other boats. So it’s not like everybody crossed over, as many as could fit into these boats. That’s how many crossed over. When they found Jesus on the other side of the seat, they said to him, when did you get here? Jesus answered them, truly, truly I say to you, you’re seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
Do not work for the food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.
For on him God the Father has set his seal. I want to pause there also and just make commentary so I don’t have to come back to it. Jesus says, the Son of Man is going to give you bread. For on him God has set his seal. When did that take place? He’s talking about something that they should have been aware of and of something that way they will soon be aware of. The first seal I suggest to you that the Father bestowed upon Jesus at Jordan when God the Father broke his silence in the sky. In the Spirit of God rested upon Jesus and stayed upon him and the Father spoke and said, you are my beloved Son. With you I am well pleased.
That was the heavenly Father’s seal. That should have meant a message to everyone if in fact everyone at Jordan had heard it. If they had they would have passed it on to many, many, many. I was there. I was with all of this crowd and so many baptisms. We were down to about three candidates left, now two, now one. But then this Jesus steps forward and as John the Baptist meets him down in the waters, suddenly the most majestic thing happens. We heard a sound from heaven. You are my beloved Son. That news would have traveled far. God the Father had set his seal on him.
So they now respond to what Jesus said. The Son of Man will supply you, Brad. The Son of Man will work miracles. They ask what should we do or what should we be doing to experience the works of God. I pause there to suggest also that they saw something quite, they hadn’t all seen it. They had heard about the feeding of the five thousand and they kind of want in on it. I could have imagined that they might have also heard and you’ve read it that Jesus said, gather up the fragments that are left and there were twelve baskets full of fragments when it was done. Where did the fragments go? Well, I could think of some people that I’ve met in my day who would say, I see some money to be made here. We follow this Jesus around.
We can say, I’ll take that. I’ll look after it. These people who are saying, how do we get in on this? How do we experience these works? You’ve got power. How can we get this kind of power? They’re on a one-track mind. How can we ourselves do these works of God? And Jesus answers, this is the work of God that you believe in Him. So they’re saying, we want to get in. We want to know how to beg, Brad, just like you did. We want to know how to do these things. How do we get into this work?
And Jesus says, the work that counts is belief, belief, believe in the one that God has sent to you, believe in Him who was sent. So they said, then what sign do you do that we may see and believe in you? The Apostle Paul tells us in the book of 1 Corinthians, I believe it’s chapter 10, the Greeks, in order to be won over to Christianity, they want to get into debate. They’re interested in philosophy. They want to think about high, high things. What he said is the Apostle who said, but the Jews, they require a sign. They always want a sign. That’s what they want. You’ll do something miraculous that I can see and then I will believe it. Things haven’t changed a whole lot. When I tell people that God healed my wife of cancer, you can just see their eyes glaze over. Right. She’s probably in remission. I never argue with them on that one. This happened about 1970, 50 years in remission, I’d say that’s quite a miracle.
But people will see miracles. They’ll hear about miracles and yet they will not believe. What sign are you going to do for us? And they went on to suggest to him that maybe he would like to feed them bread. He’d already said to them, you’re looking for the wrong kind of bread. But they’re saying, look, we’ll believe in you if you can do the bread thing. And they tell them, our father’s a man in the wilderness. And as it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Jesus replies, truly I say to you, it was not Moses who gave them the bread, but from heaven. But my father gives you the true bread from heaven for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. And they said to him, great, give us the bread then. Jesus said, I am the bread. Moses gave us bread. I am the bread, he says. Isn’t it something that to me is so inspiring? Jesus never said, believe in me and I’ll give you bread. He never said, there’s a door and I’ll show it to you. If you’re thirsty, I’ll give you a glass of water. I’m going to tell you some truths.
Jesus said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. I am the door. I am the water of life. I am the light of the world. He never gives you something. He gives you himself. He reveals himself to you. I am the bread who comes and he who comes and protects that bread shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet you still don’t believe me. All that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never cast
out. I have to pause there. I want to read it again. The Father gives me, all that the Father gives me will come to me. What was Jesus looking to come to him? What was he looking for? I said, come unto me, oh you who are weary and heavy laden and if you come I’ll give you rest. Here he’s telling us the Father is involved in the coming. He’s involved in the invitation. He’s saying to these people who are listening, the Father, all that the Father gives me, all the people that the Father gives me, all the believers that the Father is giving me will come to me.
They will come and whoever comes to me I’ll never cast them out. I want to pause there and say when he said I’ll never cast them out. I know a little bit of Greek not to speak it but I’ve been studying the word long enough. I have an idea that that word never is in the arrowest tense. That tense is forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever. Whoever comes to me I will never reject. I’ll never reject you on the first moment that you come to me and from that moment when you make your move toward me from that day you and I are locked in and I’ll never give up on you. I’ll never give up on you. I heard prayers this morning in this room in the back, prayers for prodigals and my heart leapt within me and I thought I’m on the right course this morning because that’s what I came to talk about this morning.
There are those who will come and they will see, they will experience, they’ll hear stories about redemption and still they reject it. I remember my friend, good friend, Morrie Blair, you may have heard of him. He’s such a treat just to know him. He’s got a very special story that I will not go into this morning but he’s been an amazing fellow, amazing. His own mother tried to kill him.
His own stepfather tried to kill him day after day after day. He would run away and the police would go and find him because his stepfather would call him and say, he ran away again, go and bring that kid home. I love him, I don’t want to be without him.
And when the policeman would show up with Morrie, the stepfather would carry on, oh, I’m so glad and would take Morrie and hold him in his arms and say, oh, why do you run away on me? Thank you, sir, thank you. And after the cop left, his stepfather would beat him within an inch of his life. He hated him. He hated him. Morrie and I became fast friends in college and I remember saying to myself, I don’t think I could ever be a good pastor. I said, why? I can remember him. I take you to the room that we were sitting in. Because of the room I know is my third year and he only came to college for one year. So there we sat in my third year. And he said, David, I’m frustrated because he said, I want to help people.
I want to minister to people. But what have I got to give them? I said, what are you talking about? He said, I came from a weird family, totally dysfunctional. Like, I didn’t have a father who loved me. I didn’t have a mother who loved me. I didn’t have brothers and sisters who loved me. He said I was an outcast. He said, I don’t even know how to describe love. He said, I’m afraid to get married. What kind of a husband will I be? He said, I’ve never had anybody as a model in my life. How can I be a pastor?
And I remember that very day. He said, Morrie, you’ve got to go to Montreal. Why have I got to go there? I said, I was in Montreal and I worked under David Wilkerson’s ministry on the streets reaching out to hard young people. And I said, I said to him, when I talk to them about Jesus, they say, oh yeah, tell me about your little God. You’ve never been raped by your father. You’ve never had that. You’ve never had that. And here you are, Mr. Goody Tushu. I said, Morrie, they’ll never say that to you.
That was a great day. He went to Montreal, connected with people. And that was the beginning of his ministry. He ended up in downtown Vancouver. He ended up running Teen Challenge in the city of Toronto. And that ministry called Teen Challenge has been so successful over the years. There isn’t another program of any kind of any sort that’s been more successful. The miraculous stories of people who were on the streets, abused, tormented drugs, alcohol, endless stuff. And you would think that person’s totally hopeless. And by the grace of God, by the grace of God, their lives are totally transformed. But didn’t the Ontario government come to him and say, we’re shutting you down? Because you don’t line up with what we believe.
And you know the kind of stuff that they were trying to impose upon him. He said, it’s the word of God that’s working. It’s the power of Jesus. We don’t want to hear about your Jesus. And the government shut that ministry down in the city of Toronto. After they saw the evidence, they got to talk to the young people. They saw the miracles you see and you still do not believe. But there’s a wonderful thing also going on in that Maury, Maury, not being in an austere location, not having any kind of level of success in his life. He was a totally wasted person. When he heard about Jesus, he responded. And he never looked back. He heard.
He heard. Jesus said, the Father has them and they’re going to bring them to me. And when they come to me, they’re mine. And there’s another verse that says that there isn’t a man, there isn’t a devil, there isn’t a power that can snatch us from his hands.He has us in his hands. I’ve come down from heaven not to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me.
And this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. These verses are pregnant with awesome thoughts. I’m here to do his will so that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me. I found a verse. I tracked it down very, very early this morning.
It’s in the book of Psalms. Ask of me, the Father says to the Son, and I’ll give you the nations. Ask of me, and I’ll give you these people. I heard an inspiring story about two young men that heard the clarion call to get into missions. This is way back when transatlantic voyages were a brand new thing, and it was a treacherous thing indeed. It was also a time when so much of the world was yet unexplored, and for most part it was really unseen. There were people who went to South America that became famous at the end of the day. You’ve probably heard the story of how they went to South America to reach a tribe of people, and that they died on the shores right then and there. They paid an incredible price.
These two young men that were on a ship, many had come to see them off. Their own parents had begged them not to go. We’ll never see you again. We know nothing about the people that you feel you’re called to. They were going to a remote place. I can’t tell you where they were headed. And apparently these two young men, as so many people were on the dock, shouting and blessing them as they were pulling out, these two young men apparently shouted in unison. Let the Lamb of God receive the reward for His sacrifice. Let the Lamb of God receive His reward. There’s a beautiful thought in the whole Gospels and the whole redemption story that Jesus paid the price and that we are His reward. We are His reward.
It’s an incredible thought to me. We’re unworthy as we are in our natural state, but He saw something worth salvaging. This is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise Him up at the last day. I’ve been spending many hours going through verses, digging through and finding things that actually have been contrary to some of the thoughts that I’ve had heretofore. I won’t go into a lot of that this morning, but if you know your Bible and if you’ve been around for a while, you’ll pick up as I go. John chapter 6 and verse 35, Jesus says, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger, and He who believes in me will never thirst. If you come to me, I’ll make it worth your while. You’ll never hunger, and you’ll never thirst. He’s not talking about 12-grain bread that you can pick up at food land.
We all know that. He’s talking about food, spiritual food. And in this case in John chapter 6, He’s talking to a group of people who are craving bread. They wanted it for their belly. They wanted to be comforted. And his story goes on as Jesus is talking, they become discouraged and disgruntled, and they walk away. They desert him. The problem was that when they came to him, they came all the way from Tiberius, and before that, they came from Jerusalem. They came for him to validate not just their lifestyle, but their take on theology. And when he did not validate their take, their theology, they would have none of it.
How many people have I run into like that? They say they’re intrigued. They say they want to know. But when you talk to them, they want nothing to do with it. Because you see, it’s going to spoil their party.
I am the bread of life, and He comes to me will not hunger, and He who believes in me will never thirst. I am the light. I’m the door. I’m the gate of the shepherd. I’m the good shepherd. I am the bread of life. I am the resurrection and the life.
I am the way, the truth, and the life. Then the next verse, John 6, 36, I said to you that you have seen me and still you don’t believe. He’s talking to a group of people that apparently have encountered Him here too. He’s saying, you have seen me. You have seen. You heard about it, but you’ve seen me function. You weren’t there yesterday, maybe, for the 5,000. But you’ve been very much aware of me. And even though I’ve come to you in this way that I have, you still don’t believe. And it is intriguing that the Jewish people got set free from Egypt. It was miraculous how they were set free. And out there in the desert, God sent them chickens flying through the air, caused them
to have cardiac arrest and dropped right in their midst. I have quite a picture in my head of when that was happening. They might have had some little kids watching over the horizon. And it was their task if they’d see these birds coming like a cloud and they’d start screaming. The chickens are coming, they’re coming. Because it says they came and they fell in the bed. They didn’t come around and walk around. They hit the ground. I could see somebody experiencing whiplash. He took a chicken on the top of his head. It was a heavy one. What a blessing.
What a blessing. Man, every morning, fresh everything. Water that came out of a rock, a fire to keep them warm at night, a cloud to shelter them from the burning sun in the day. And yet these people turned their back on you. They saw them as miraculous. They saw the Egyptian army wipe down. They were fed. They were blessed. Their shoes never wore out. Their clothes never wore out for all those years. And yet they failed to follow him. Jesus said, you see me and still you don’t believe.
They expected him to validate their thoughts. Verse 37, all that the Father gives me will come. The Father gave you to him. The Father gave you to him. The Father chose you before the foundation of the world. Beautiful song years ago, when he was on the cross, I was on his mind. Way before the cross, the Father and the Son had a plan. All that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me, I’ll not reject. Verse 38, I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of him who sent me. Verse 39, this is the will of him who sent me that of all that he has given me, I lose none.
I’ve never seen this before. You say, well, David, all these years in the ministry, I’m telling you, I never saw this in this way before. Jesus talked so much about the Father’s engagement in the redemption plan. I’ve always heard about Jesus. Jesus died on the cross. Jesus rose again from the dead. I’m not taking away from any of that. But here I hear Jesus before the cross, saying, the Father’s got his eye on people. He’s selecting them now. He selected them a long time ago. And he’s going to cause them to come toward me. And they will come to me.
And when they come to me, I will not turn them away. I will love them. I will embrace them. I will take care of them forever and ever and ever. I will never reject them. 639, this is the will of him who sent me, that of all he has given me, I lose nothing.
You know that prayer. Isn’t it John 17? A famous passage. John 17, he’s praying. And he prays this. This shook me up. This week as I was on this verse, this shook me up.
He said, Father, I’m not praying for the whole world. I’m praying for those you have chosen. I’m praying for those who are coming to me. I’m praying for my sheep. I’m not praying for them all. Did Jesus die for the whole world? He did. How much of the world is coming? Those the Father has selected. How does he determine who he will select? History. Mystery. For this is the will of my Father that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will
have eternal life and I myself will raise him up on the last day. John 10, 29. I read what I wrote in my notes on my Bible. Right in my Bible I wrote this at John’s Gospel, 10 verse 29. I wrote these words. The eternal donation. Listen to this. My Father who has given them to me, my Father who made a donation, my Father who has given them to me is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. There’s no power in man. There’s no power in devils to defeat God’s redemptive purpose. It’s never recorded in heaven.
You just lost one. Write it down, grandpa. Write it down, uncle, auntie. It’s never been reported that that one that you love with all of your heart gave up because he’s not giving up. I feel this morning to bring you a message of hope based on what I have seen in his Word. John 17 and verse 2. If you have given him authority all over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. Jesus, by his cross and resurrection, gained the authority to forgive, and if you will, to forget, to redeem, to embrace, and to escort you to a heavenly calling, to eternal life, all heavenly Father you gave him. Ask of me.
Ask of me. I’ll give you the nations. Ask of me and I’ll give you the Africans. Ask of me. Ask of me and I’ll give you the Chinese. Do you know that there’s miraculous movements all over the world right now? The world today will see probably more people saved today than has ever occurred in all of history. You’re not hearing about it because CNN doesn’t like that message. Media never talks about it. There’s revival going on in Iraq. There’s revival going on in Iraq. There’s revival going all over South America because the Father is sending them.
He’s sending them to Jesus and those people are hearing him and they’re coming. They’re coming. They’re coming. What a beautiful picture. Jesus says, I’m the shepherd. And he says, my sheep know my voice. What a beautiful picture. We don’t get this. Now, I’m really farmed at heart. I would go out at five o’clock in the morning in the summer, five o’clock in the morning it’s kind of chilly and there’s dampness on the ground and sometimes you even see your own breath because that’s kind of cool and those cows come. No, it’s not like they know me.
They just know that I’ve got some silage for them. I’ve got some treats for them in the barn. You go out there, five o’clock in the morning and it’s so dark and sometimes there’s so much fog. You’re not even sure where they are. You know they’re in this field unless they break through a fence. They’re somewhere out here. You can’t see them. You can’t hear them. You just think that they better be there or you’re going to get a call from the farmer of two farms down. You got some cows in my yard and all you do is stand at the gate and yell, go boss, go boss, go boss, go boss and all of a sudden you start to hear their hooves slipping through
the mud and silently they go by. They trust me. But there’s a much more glamorous picture of not the farmer and his cows, but the glamorous picture is a gospel story where the shepherd and his sheep are an item. And the picture is that many shepherds will have their sheep out on the hills and let’s just say it’s near Bethlehem and toward the evening each shepherd will lead his sheep. He doesn’t drive his sheep. We know the shepherd Nairo walks really behind his sheep. He walks before them. They follow him. So he leads them to what’s called the sheep fold. And when I was spending a good time in Africa in order to protect not only the animals but even the locals who lived in the village, they surrounded the village with piles of very ugly thorny bushes. That was to keep the hyenas and the lions and any other predator from coming into the village and taking your cows and your calves and herding and causing a terrible thing. It was called the booma. And inside the booma they built their little mud houses and all around was the booma, the protective, the protective fence. And it was just natural thorns and bushes and no lion’s going to make his way to get in there. You’ve got to have protection at night. And the shepherd needs a little bit of rest. He needs to go home and have a hot meal. And so he will bring his sheep into, let’s say, just a little place just outside Bethlehem to a sheep fold.
And as he’s coming it might look over on the hill on this side, another hill over on this side. And here come other shepherds and they’re leading their sheep. This would never work with cows. No boss, call them anything you want. Those cows would not respond. Now if they’re on another farm and it’s not going to happen, but with sheep it works. So the shepherd comes to the sheepfold and as they’re going through the gate he’s counting them, right? 99, 99, where’s number one? Number one under where are you? So we know he counts them as they’re going in. Hi Minerva.
Hello little Jane. How are you feeling today? He knows them all. He has a name for everyone. He could tell you every one of them say, this one’s mother. I had to be there to help her in the birth. Oh, I love this little one. They love their sheep and their sheep love them and their sheep trust them. In the morning, in the morning, the shepherd goes and there’s one, probably one or two shepherds at the most. It was their duty to guard and mind the sheep overnight inside what I’m going to call the booma, the sheep fold. So in the morning, the shepherd comes.
One by one he comes to the gate of the sheep fold and he starts talking or singing or calling them by name. I don’t know. Jesus said, my sheep know my voice and they come. And you know, when that shepherd is at that gate, and if he’s got as many as a hundred sheep in there and somebody else got another 75, somebody else got another and 25, not one sheep from another shepherd’s group will come. They won’t come. My sheep know my voice and they follow me. They follow me. We hear his voice. You heard his voice. This week I was remembering when I distinctly heard his voice.
In here. I heard, I could take you. The little church is still there. The building is still there. I don’t know how it’s being used now. They built a new building. In Hagersville. I was sitting right in the front row and when the pastor said, every head bowed, every eye closed, moments later he said, I see that hand. It was my hand because at that moment I heard him. I heard him. And what did I do? I came. I came. The father will give them to me. And when they come, there’s no question.
No, I got this. There’s no breed. There’s no divide between. My father will give them to me. And when they come, I will receive them. They’ll respond to my voice. Jesus will not understand. And another voice, they will not respond. Another voice, they will not hear. Why?
Because you see, they’ve been selected. They’ve been chosen. For by grace are you saved? Not by your will. When did you find Jesus? You didn’t have the wit to find him. He found you. You were the number 100 lamb. 98, 99. Where’s number 100? That sheep did not come home on his own. That sheep had to be found. He found you.
He called you. And you heard his voice. You recognized his voice. I’m going to say something right out of, you’re going to think I’m from another planet. I believe that when I heard that voice in that little town in Hagersville, how old was I? Seven. I don’t think I was even eight years. I’m convinced of this, okay? I’m convinced that when I heard his voice on that Sunday, Sunday summer morning, Brian, I believe I heard a voice I’d heard before. And did you hear that voice before, Dave? He says, all souls are mine.
I chose you before the foundation of the world. There’s another verse that says, I’m just talking about David now, just for a moment, okay? He says, David, you are without excuse. No, no, no, I’m without excuse. No, no, I have no experience in it. I don’t know the gospel. So I’m, I have an excuse. I’m a, no, no, David, you have no excuse. Because that which may be known of him is already known. Not a man, not a woman on the planet is with excuse. And I suggest this to you that at some point, you know, when did David become a living soul? Adam became a living soul when God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
It was a moment by moment eyeball to eyeball. It was a glorious moment. Dear God, what a moment he lay there, his body alive, his lungs are moving, but he has no soul until the father comes and breathes into his nostrils. And suddenly man wakes up and says, God, I love you. What a moment. I believe that there was a moment when I became a soul. When was that David? I’m not a scientist. I’m not a medical person. I’m a half-wit. I’m a poached egg. That’s the best I can tell you.
I can just tell you what I’ve looked in Scripture. And I hear this, David, you are without excuse. How come? Because you know me. When do I know you got it? I believe that God would say, we met before you suckled on your mother’s breast. We met and you’re without excuse. I’m calling you now. Come on to me, David. I love you. I’m not a stranger to you. You know who I am, David. And somebody will say, when they stand the job, I never saw you.
I never knew you. The Lord God will say, you knew me. Jesus said, you’ve seen me. You’ve interacted with me. You’ve seen the miracles. You’ve heard the Word of God that I’ve given you. And still you reject me. So David, do you think that God has some kind of a big canister up in heaven? He’s got all these souls. And here’s another one here. Nothing of the kind. Even as Adam had a glorious moment of birth. That was his birth. Cain and Abel. You show me your belly button. And then tell me how you got here. God breathed into me. And I became a living soul.
To me, I believe that abortion is from the pit of hell. And anybody who stands for it themselves have been given over. Their minds are sick. They’re tormented. Because they don’t know the truth. He says, all souls are mine. And when is that little child of soul?
The moment God breathes into them, that’s mine.
When does that happen? Don’t get medical on me. Well, it couldn’t happen here. It couldn’t happen there. Don’t give me that stuff. Because nobody knows. You can’t go back into the womb and watch it all take place. It’s a miracle. The miracle of childbirth. Maybe it just happened when the child came into the world. And I don’t know if they spank on the bum or not. I wasn’t awake long enough to see the birthing of my son. I was there for the whole thing.
You can’t tell this story in Africa. It’s considered pornographic. I’ve had people walk out when I said, I was there for the birth of my son. They saw someone working on it. And the man in tribulation, I can’t say that. I can’t say that. It’s not allowed. When the baby’s being born, the father has to be in another village. It doesn’t even come near. And was never anticipated that April would give birth to a healthy baby boy because she’d had cancer. She had all these problems and the doctor said, you’re going to tell your two, we’ve got to fix you.
You’ll never give birth. Never, never, never, never give birth to a healthy baby boy or a baby girl. And I’m sitting there and they asked me, please be with your wife. They were scared to death because they didn’t think she was going to give birth to anything proper. We didn’t have the technology. We didn’t have all the stuff back then. It was all gas, gas, gas. She was this far out on her belly when they figured something out. It’s not a baby, it’s a cancer and it was too late to fix her. You know, the technology hadn’t caught up. They didn’t believe that she was going to give birth to a healthy child. They said, David, you’ve got to be there. I pass out when a nurse comes at me with a needle.
She says, you okay? I say, no. I’m a wuss. I just flake out. I’m a mess. So all of a sudden the doctor, I could tell you a whole lot more. The doctor’s saying, he’s worried about her and I’m such a mess. I’m sitting up near her head and he said to the nurse, give him a wet cloth. And they gave me a wet cloth. No, no, it’s for her. And I’m watching over here and going like this. He said, don’t smother her. I was such a mess.
And then all of a sudden the doctor held this thing up in the air by an ankle. I won’t describe it for you. You haven’t had your life. This was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Sorry, Dave Jr. , but you were a mess. The doctor held this thing up in the air. And he said, well, there he is, a healthy baby boy. And I came to a room down the hall on a gurney. My wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy and they’re slapping me across the face. Mr. Ford, they thought I was going to sue them. Apparently I hit the floor like a bomb.
So did they spang my son on the bum? I don’t know. But I did my part later on. So when will my son become a living soul? No, my son was a living soul inside the womb. People who know better, people who know can tell you that a mother is going through a healthy time of developing that child. Her stress level must be kept down. It’s good for her to sing to get that little baby in there to hear mama’s song. It’s good for mama to say, honey, we can’t wait for you to come. That kind of thing has passed on to a blob, to a pile of cello. Give me a break. It’s a child.
It’s a child. And I serve you this today. I believe that that child already knows the sound of his voice. Can you handle that? You won’t find it in writing. I don’t know. If anybody else would ever suggest such a thing. David, are you brilliant? No, I had already told you I’m a poached egg. What I tell you, I believe that God was speaking to me before I never came down the birth canal. They cut my mom open and said, this mess, we’ve got to take him another way. My mother bore the scars. Hello?
C-section, D-E-H. But before I came into this world, I believed that I knew who he was. And that one he called me, it was a voice in here. It was familiar to me. My sheep know my voice. When did I get to know his voice? Hello? 17 and 9, I’m praying for them. I’m not praying for the world. I’m praying for those you have given me, he said, to the Father, for they are yours. 17 and 11, I’m no longer in the world, but they’re in the world. And I’m coming to you. Holy Father, I love this.
Holy Father, keep them in your name. Keep them in your name, those which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me, I’ve guarded them. Jesus says, oh, and not one of them has been lost except the Son of Destruction. The one that became truly demon-possessed. 17 and 24, Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me, be with me where I am so that they may see my glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world. Lastly, John 6: 37, they will come to Jesus. They will come to me, he said, in the same verse, and I will not reject them. I remember Betty, I got a call from New Brunswick.
Pastor David, I’ve heard about you. Would you consider visiting this lady? She’s got cancer, she could die. She’s never surrendered her life to Jesus. She’s lived a wicked life, but maybe, maybe, so I went, her name was Betty. When I went in there, I tried to talk to her about Jesus. Don’t talk to me about that. I said, why? Because I’m not worthy. You don’t know what I’ve done, the things that I’ve done. I’ve been a wicked person. I have known one man. I’ve known a multitude.
I’m a wicked, wicked woman. She did not believe that she could be worthy. I said, sweetie pie, none of us are worthy. That’s why he died such a horrendous death. Did he die for me? Of course he did. But he’ll reject me. John 6:37, I will never reject. 6:39, they will not be lost. This is how I want to finish this morning. They will not. They will not. They’ll not be lost.
We have a grandson. He’s the oldest. His grandma and him talk. Text. Here he was up in the oil patch somewhere up, way north, Alberta somewhere. And he wrote these words to April. Dear grandma, I know you pray for me. Please don’t stop. What is in the center soul? No good thing. Is he serving God? He’s not. Is there hope?
You betcha. He wants to. Grandma, don’t give up on me. Don’t give up on me. And he desperately wants to believe that the Heavenly Father won’t give up on him. I want to encourage you, grandmas and grandpas and moms and dads. It’s not over. My sheep, I’m going to put words in. My sheep still know my voice. And my sheep, they will still follow me. This is contrary to some theologians and it’s contrary to everything that I’ve ever preached here too far. But I can’t deny what I’m looking at.
Have you gone Baptist? Baptist to Pentecostal. You call me anything you want. Poets’ take is okay too. My grandson is not serving God. But he’s still hearing a voice. And your son, your daughter, your grandchildren. Good seed was put into them through Sunday school, through youth pastors, through preachers, through whatever medium. Good seed was put there and that seed is not lost. I’ve gone way over in my time but I’m going to ask my good friend Siegfried to come. We’re going to say goodbye to our home audience just now.
Thank you for joining us today.
