NEVER MAN SPOKE LIKE THIS MAN

My life for more than sixty years has been involved with speakers—some fair, some good and a few outstanding. When I served as the president of a life insurance company, I remember attending a convention where Dr. Sam McFarland was the chief speaker. I thought at the time and I have not changed my mind since that he was one of the most eloquent speakers I ever heard. N. B. Hardeman, the president of Freed-Hardeman University when I was a student there, was without question the most effective preacher I ever heard. He always had something to say and knew how to say it. I have known other good speakers, but few, if any, were equal these men.

The book of Acts briefly mentions a certain Jew by the name of Apollos. He was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and worked in conjunction with the apostle Paul. In fact, Paul tells us that he planted the church at Corinth, Apollos watered it, but God gave the increase (1 Cor. 3:6). Luke says that Apollos was "an eloquent man...and mighty in the scriptures." After he fully learned the gospel, "he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ" (Acts 18:24, 28). The word translated "eloquent" (logics in the Greek) appears only this one time in the Greek New Testament. Charles Williams renders the Greek "learned man," as does the Revised Version. W. E. Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Westwood, NJ: Barbour and Company, Inc., 1940) says the word "primarily meant learned, a man skilled in literature and the arts....It was much more frequently used among the Greeks of one who was erudite than of one who as skilled at words. He had stores of learning and could use it convincingly" (volume 2, p. 23).

The Bible nowhere calls Jesus an eloquent man or a great orator. He almost certainly was both, but that is not the emphasis Bible writers employed in speaking of our Lord. They were far more concerned with the content of his message than with the manner of delivery. There is a story in the book of John that illustrates what some people thought of what Jesus said—not the way he said it. The Jewish leaders wanted Jesus brought before the Jewish council to answer questions they had in mind. I shall read the account from Dr. Hugo McCord's translation. "The temple police returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, Why did you not arrest this man? The police replied, Never has a human being spoken as this man speaks" (John 7:45-46). I shall use as the topic of our lesson today the King James Version's translation of this last verse: "Never Man Spoke Like This man."

We are not told what Jesus said on this occasion. But the officers of the Jewish people had never heard anyone like Jesus. Neither has anyone else in the world. I shall devote our study today to some of the great truths Jesus taught. It would be profitable to examine the books of Matthew, Mark and Luke to find the remarkable teachings of Jesus, but I choose today to focus primarily on what he taught in the gospel according to John. If you have your Bibles handy, please turn to the book of John and study it with me for the next few minutes.

The Jews demanded that Jesus show them a sign. He responded: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews thought he was speaking of the beautiful temple in the city of Jerusalem. They told him that it took forty-six years to build it. Was it possible he could rear it in just three days? He was not speaking of the Jewish temple, but of his body. His disciples did not understand what the Lord meant until he was raised from the dead (John 2:18-21). If the Jews had fully understood what Jesus actually was telling them, they would have thought he had lost his mind.

Our Lord healed an impotent man on the sabbath. Jesus simply said to the man, "Rise, take up your bed, and walk." The Jews probably were not all that concerned about the healing, but they were angry that Christ had healed the man on the sabbath. In fact, they were so angry they took up stones to kill him. Jesus told them: "My Father works until now, and I work." The Jews were even more determined to kill him, not only because he had broken the sabbath, but he was making himself equal with God (John 5:7-8, 16-18). Was Jesus really making himself equal with God? A careful reading of the rest of John five should convince anyone that he was doing exactly that. The Jews believed and so do most of us that only God can raise the dead. Yet that is precisely what Jesus claimed for himself. "For as the Father raises up the dead, and quickens them; even so the Son quickens whom he will" (John 5:21). Later in that chapter, Jesus said to the Jews: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He who hears my word, and believes on him who sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but has passed from death to life. 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, and they who hear shall live. For as the Father has life in himself: so has he given the Son to have life in himself; and has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they who have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they who have done evil to the resurrection of damnation" (John 5:24-29).

The claims Jesus makes in this passage are almost breath-taking. Think of these spectacular claims. If we believe on Jesus Christ, we have everlasting life and will not pass into condemnation. He has the power to call the dead from the grave, power that belongs to God alone. Just as the Father has life in himself, so the Son has life in himself. He will execute judgment—not in one particular case—but for the whole human family. At the last day, Jesus will call all human beings from their graves. He will reward the righteous with life eternal, but he will consign the wicked to eternal punishment. Can you now understand why the Jews believed that Jesus was making himself equal with God?

One of Christ's great miracles was the feeding of five thousand men plus women and children with a lad's lunch of five barley loaves and two fish (John 6:9). The Jews were angry with our Lord because he had said, "For the bread of life is he who comes down from heaven, and gives life unto the world" (John 6:33, 41). Jesus then told the Jews: "I am the bread of life....I am the living bread that came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I shall give him is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world." The Jews asked, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Our Lord explained: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:48, 51, 53-54).

Obviously, Jesus was not speaking of literally eating his flesh and drinking his blood. That would have been a violation of the Mosaic covenant and offensive to all people. And he was not speaking of the celebration of the Lord's supper. But Jesus actually gave his body for the sins of the world, including your sins and mine. If we do not accept the sacrifice Christ made for us, we have no hope of eternal life. The faithful in Christ Jesus will be raised in the last day to receive the crown of life that does not fade away.

In an intense confrontation with Jesus Christ, the Jews claimed to be Abraham's children. Jesus did not deny that they were the physical descendents of Abraham, but he told them they were not his spiritual seed. If they were his spiritual descendents, they would have done the works of Abraham (John 8:33, 37, 39). The Jews told Jesus they had one Father, God, and they were not born of fornication. Christ told them they had a father all right, the devil. Later in their conversation, Jesus said: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad." The Jews probably thought Christ had lost his mind. They said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?" Our Lord's answer must have stunned the Jews. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:41, 44, 56-58). There was no doubt in the minds of the Jews that Jesus was claiming equality with God. They took up stones to throw at him.

The death of Lazarus was devastating to his sisters and to our Lord himself. John says that Jesus groaned in the spirit and was troubled. One of the most moving verses in the Bible is John 11:35: "Jesus wept." If you have ever had any doubt about our Lord's humanity, his groaning and weeping at the death of Lazarus should remove that doubt. Martha gently rebuked our Lord. "If you had been here, my brother would not have died." Jesus assured her that he would rise again. She had faith that her brother would rise again at the last day. Then Jesus boldly proclaimed: "I am the resurrection, and the life: he who believes on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die" (John 11:21, 23, 25-26).

There are adherents of the New Age movement, such as, Shirley MacLaine and Neale Donald Walsch, who pretend to be deity. Shirley MacLaine boasted in a movie made for television, "I AM THAT I AM." As arrogant as some of the New Age people are, they are not likely to claim they can raise the dead at the last day. But we are not surprised when Jesus told Martha: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes on me shall never die." You know our Lord was not speaking of physical death. He was at that very moment standing in the presence of death. He was speaking of the second death, that is, of eternal separation from God.

John 14 contains some of the most profound and comforting words in all of God's book. "Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know." The apostle Thomas did not fully comprehend what Jesus was saying. He said to the Lord, "We do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?" The following words are some of the most challenging and controversial in the Bible. "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:1-6).

It would take far more time than I have in this brief study to explore the ramifications of Christ's statements. But it would be difficult to misunderstand what he taught. We must take note of his use of the definite article "the." He did not say, "I am a way" or even "I am the best way." He affirmed: "I am THE way." If he meant what he said and had the authority to say it, he is the only way to God. Throughout the gospel according to John, there is a constant emphasis on Christ as the only way to God. Some examples will confirm that observation. Jesus told some Jews: "For if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins" (John 8:24). In his Parable of the Good Shepherd, Jesus taught: "I am the door of the sheep....I am the good shepherd" (John 10:7, 11). In the Parable of the Vine and the Branches, Christ assured his disciples: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman....I am the vine, you are the branches: he who abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you could do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered" (John 15:1, 5-6).

Truth exists in many areas of life—in science, in philosophy and in mathematics. Jesus was not claiming to be the truth and to teach the truth in all of those areas, although whatever he said on those topics is true. For example, Jesus specifically endorsed the Old Testament's teaching on God's creation of the world, including man (Mt. 19:3-6). But on matters pertaining to the will of God, Jesus Christ is THE truth. John tells us that many of Christ's disciples deserted him. Christ asked the twelve: "Will you also go away?" The apostle Peter answered for his fellow disciples. "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God" (John 6:66-69).

You probably know there are many so-called "great religions," hundreds of denominations and thousands of cultic groups—all claiming to be teaching and practicing the truth. If you have given any thought to this confusing situation, you know that no two of these groups can both be true. None of them may be true, but it is not possible that all of them or even two of them may be true. The law of non-contradiction will not allow it. A simple illustration should help us understand what is involved. Some Calvinists teach that man is wholly passive in salvation. One prominent Calvinist preacher in Chattanooga reported that a young man came to him and asked, "What must I do to be saved?" The preacher told him, "Son, I am sorry, but it is too late for you to do anything to be saved." The young man asked further, "Do you mean it is too late for me to be saved?" The preacher replied: "O no, I mean it is too late for you to do anything. The Lord has already done it all."

If what the preacher told the young man were true, why did the apostle John write: "The world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he who does the will of God abides forever. ...If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does righteousness is born of him" (1 John 2:17, 29)? The Calvinist preacher's view and John's teaching cannot be harmonized. If we must do righteousness, God has not done it all. Why did he Lord himself say, "Not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Mt. 7:21)?

Our Lord also claimed to be THE life. Christ came into this world to give us eternal life. All Bible students and some who are not Bible students are familiar with what we commonly call the "Golden Text" of the Bible. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved" (John 3:16-17). In the Parable of the Good Shepherd, Jesus contrasted his mission and work of false teachers whom he called "thieves and robbers." He then said, "The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to destroy: I have come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly" (John 10: 8,10). No other religion, no other philosophy and no other way of life can provide for our eternal salvation. There is no other way, no other truth and no other life that saves us from our sins and promises eternal life.

I have shown from John 5 that Christ claimed equality with the Father. He also affirmed: "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30). John 17 records what many of us like to refer to as "the Lord's prayer." Please listen carefully. "Neither pray I for these alone (that is, for his immediate disciples), but for them also who shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me" (John 17:20-21). If these words came from the lips of anyone other than Jesus Christ, we would wonder about his sanity. But Christ proved by his perfect life and by his mighty works that he was what he claimed to be—the Son of almighty God.

Time will not permit identifying other magnificent words spoken by the Son of God. So as I bring my brief lesson to a close, I must examine briefly what Jesus taught about the new birth. Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, came to Jesus by night. He confessed that Jesus had proved by his miracles that he was a teacher sent from God. Jesus revealed to Nicodemus: "Verily, verily, say unto you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Christ explained what was involved in the new birth. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:1-5).

In the great book of conversions, neither Peter nor Philip nor Ananias nor Paul ever told a sinner, "Except you be born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God." The gospel preachers in the book of Acts told alien sinners: "Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). Was Peter telling the believing Jews how to be born again? If the Jews had to do more than repent and be baptized, why did not the apostle Peter tell them what else they had to do? Does that mean then that the water of the new birth is the water of baptism? Absolutely! Finally, notice what occurred in Samaria when Philip had preached Christ to the Samaritans. "When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Christ, they were baptized, both men and women" (Acts 8:12). Were the Samaritans born again? I have no reason and no right to preach any other plan of salvation.

Winford Claiborne

The International Gospel Hour

P.O. Box 118

Fayetteville, TN 37334

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