HOW JESUS DISARMED THOSE

THAT WERE ARMED WITH THE BIBLE

WITH THE WORD

Thought for the book taken from the

Message delivered on January 3, 2010

Dawsonville, Georgia U.S.A.

©2010 by Ben Howard

All rights reserved. This book cannot be sold, nor in any way be used

for the soliciting of funds.

All scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version Bible

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HOW JESUS DISARMED THOSE

THAT WERE ARMED WITH THE BIBLE

We're reading today in the Book of Saint John. I love Saint John because it presents some of the things in a way that is more personable than some of the other books. He talks about the love of God more than the other apostles and he speaks much about the Son of God a lot and our relationship with God, and I like that.

Someone asked me to explain this about being the bride saying, "How could we be called the bride and be sons and daughters too?" That is a good question, because the Word talks about being sons and daughters of God. So what I answered was, "To God, all His children are sons and daughters, whether Jew, Gentile, or Tribulation Saint; it's all the family of God. So you can say they are sons and daughters of God. From God's view point we are all sons and daughters of God. But from Christ's standpoint we are His wife; we're up close and personal. Remember the message, Being up Close and Personal? So that answered the question.

I'm going to read now in Saint John, Chapter 8… How Jesus Disarmed Those That Were Armed with the Bible. How Jesus disarmed them, those that were armed with the Bible, those that could quote the Bible better than any other human being living. (I'm talking of the religious Jews here.) They had people that did nothing except be sure they had every Word interpreted right. And so when Jesus came, they began to talk about Moses. "Moses said this and Moses said that. We're children of Abraham." Jesus said, "If you knew Abraham you would know who I am." They had the Word, but He disarmed them by the spoken Word. And that is what God is doing in this hour; He's disarming this religious Gentile world now with the spoken Word as it comes forth in this hour.

Now we are living in a particular hour, to you that have computers and know about the different programs of the Bible, where you can take any word and bring it up instantly. You can get little chips with the whole Bible in it and any scripture you need to know. So the Word is just everywhere and in abundance; I'm talking about written Word, Bible, here. But there is a famine in the land for hearing the living Word. I preached a message in the city of Kampala, Uganda, entitled, They Were Tried by the Word until the Word Came. That's what the Bible says, "God gave them the Word until the Word came." We've had the written Word, but now the living Word has come. The Bible says in Saint John 1:1-2 and 14, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." Now that is the Word. This written Word had its time where much of it is fulfilled; and we understand there is much yet to be fulfilled… but there is 'something' (the Word) that is living, breathing, talking, and walking. And Paul said, "Ye are living epistles," as he was talking to the people. See, you are the Word. If we have only the letter of the Word it will kill, but it is the Spirit of the Word that will give life. So let's pray before reading.

Heavenly Father: I pray now that as we are about to read your Word that you will give us that anointing, because it takes the anointing, Lord, to understand what you are talking to us about. It takes the anointing to bring it in a way that the people can receive it in the proper way. So I pray, Lord, that you will give us that anointing to preach the Word and also grant the anointing to everyone who hears this they will understand. We ask it in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

All right, how Jesus disarmed them: You're going to find out in this chapter here that they called Jesus illegitimate and having a devil; Him being the very Word and them being the most word-wise people in the entire world (as far as the letter of the Word). The priests didn't work. They did nothing but study the Word and teach the Word as they did the sacrifices, and that's what their lives were about. They were born and raised in the Word and yet when the Word came they said, "He has a devil." It's about the same way today, because God's Word has come back and they say it is of the devil. So I'm reading Saint John 8:32-33, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (I like that scripture.) They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?" Notice they began to argue with Him to begin with because what He had was going so far beyond what they had they couldn't even get in the same place that Jesus was spiritually speaking. Jesus said, "I go away and you cannot come." They said, "Where will He go where we can't go?" Well, it's the same thing now because we've gone where they can't come, in the spirit; so those with just the Word can't go.

Verses 34-37, "Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. I know that ye are Abraham's seed (natural seed, Jews): but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you." What is He talking about? They've spent their lives, since they were little boys; they spent their lives in the Word. And yet here came this man, He didn't have on a priestly garment. He didn't act like a high priest. He talked to the common people. He ate with publicans and sinners. He associated with sinners. But here He came, the real Word. And He said to the religious of that day, "My Word has no place in you." Yet, as you will see as we read, they were the most learned people that ever walked on the face of the earth with the Bible in that day and time. They spent their entire lives doing nothing but studying it, being sure they got it; they could quote scripture and get it just right. But when the Word came they denied it and they called it the devil. Thus we came up with the title of the message, How Jesus Disarmed Those That Were Armed with the Bible, and He did it with His living Word. See, they were armed to the teeth with the Bible. They could quote you more scripture and turn you backwards and forwards with it so long as it was the written Word. But here came the Word in human flesh, a humble man, riding into Jerusalem as a King. They said, "He is not our king. We have but one king; he's Caesar."

He said, "If the Son makes you free, you are free indeed." They said, "We are Abraham's seed." Jesus said, "I know you are Abraham's seed (natural seed)." Verse 38, "I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father." Oh my goodness, that pinched right there real hard. "I'm doing that which I've seen with my Father and what you're doing is what you've seen with your father." And you will find out who He said their father was. Now this is the very Word of God, the Son of God, talking. It wasn't some religious fanatic that didn't know his way around. But God manifested Himself right through this man. It was God speaking. He said, "What the Father shows me is what I tell you."

Let's read on a little bit more here, Verse 39, "They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father, Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham." See Abraham's son, Isaac, was the one who had the promise; but Paul let us know that Jesus was our Isaac, He was the promised son. "If you were Abraham's children you would do the works of Abraham." Watch as we read. Verse 40, "But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham." In other words, Abraham loved the truth. You say you're Abraham's son; I come and tell you the truth from God. Abraham didn't do this. You say you're Abraham's children? Yes they were Jews, they had the temple, and the priest had to wear certain linen britches and everything was so sophisticated. But their time was expiring for operation with the written Word as the living Word had arrived.

Recently, I watched on television some of the funeral of one of our senators. The priests came by and they sprinkled a little water, and did a little of this, and a little of that. I said, "If he didn't get to heaven it wasn't their fault because they worked two days on him, sprinkling water and smoke, trying to get him there." That is exactly the situation that Jesus came into. Moses gave the Word and the rituals and they were to last until the seed should come. God knew they wouldn't move on from their temple worship to accept His Son Jesus Christ and the gospel would go to the Gentiles. Paul covered it in Galatians. The law was until the seed came. And here stood the seed saying, "Here I am; the one Abraham said would come. Here I am; the one God said would be here. Here I am; I've come to set you free." Oh they got so angry, "We're already free. We've never been in bondage. Who are you? You don't even have the priest robe on. You're dressed in common clothes." And the Bible says one of the things that Jesus did was to preach to the poor. (I preached a message on this entitled, Jesus Preached the Gospel to the Poor over in Eldoret, Kenya in 2009.) When John who baptized Him, when he was in prison asked the question, "Is this Him that is to come, or should we look for another?" He said, "Go tell John the poor has the gospel preached to them, and the sick is healed." He said more than once that He preached the gospel to the poor. Well that was one of the things the religious people had against Jesus. He didn't come to the temple. He didn't go to the high priest. He didn't announce Himself as a prophet or priest. He just went out there and started preaching and doing what God said to do. This was the Word that has come. The religious Jews were armed to the teeth with the Word of God and no one could stand against them at all from the standpoint of the letter of the Word. But here came the Word Himself; in the beginning was the Word and the Word was made flesh, see. He said, "My Word doesn't even have a place in you." And they were glad because they didn't want His Word; they would rather have their Bible. They didn't want the Word; they just wanted their Bible. So when the Word came, Jesus began showing them what the Bible said would come; they didn't want it. They didn't believe this was what the Word said.

Let me read a little further, Verse 41, "Ye do the deeds of your father." You didn't say that, did you, Jesus? You didn't say that to these priests. You didn't say that to these folks that have studied all their lives, given their lives, and dedicated their lives to God, and dedicated their lives to Moses. Surely you didn't say that. That must have been a mistake, a misstatement. You didn't say, "You're of your father; you do the deeds of your father." But He did say it. (Now watch, He will tell you who their father is as we go along.) Continuing Verse 41, "Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication: we have one Father, even God." We know about your mother. We know she was pregnant before they ever got married. You come in here and try to tell us what to do, you little low down rascal you. We know you were born of fornication. Who are you to come in here and tell us what to do? We've given our lives. We've studied all of our lives; and here you come in talking like that. No wonder they said, "Kill Him." But Jesus totally disarmed them. Here stood the Word. They had the Word, the Bible, the written Word, but Jesus was the living Word of God. Watch this as we go. They said, "Oh, get out of here. We're not born of fornication like you are. We have one father even God." We saw the movie they made on Mary and Joseph. They even got stones to stone her. Joseph didn't know what to do about it, (Matthew, Chapter one) how he could he put her away so she wouldn't be stoned to death. See that rumor was ablaze in Jerusalem. "Joseph's espoused bride has been unfaithful to him. She's pregnant. She should be stoned to death. Joseph, do you mean you're going to disgrace yourself by marrying her?" Joseph thought, "How am I going to put her away? They're going to give me trouble all the way through if I don't." Joseph began to think on these things. But here came God sending divine intervention. God sure knows how to disturb our human plans. Joseph lay down and went to sleep and in a dream here came an angel. The angel said, "Joseph, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; because that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." Now God didn't tell the religious world this; He told only Joseph. So the religious world went on thinking that Jesus was an illegitimate child and therefore when Jesus came to give testimony they said, "We're not like you. We're not born of fornication. We know all about your birth. Don't come in here telling us what to do. You are illegitimate. You're bastard born. Get out of here." He said, "I'm sent from my Father."

One of the things that was said to Jesus over and over was this, "We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God." Verse 42, "Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me." Jesus also said, "If God was your Father you would know who I am." But their father was a denominational spirit. Just like the churches today, their father is a denominational spirit. If you take this Word to them; they're ready to kill you! Now they can't legally do it here in the United States, but they do it legally in some other countries. In some of the Muslim countries you can't even take a Bible. Some of the places we (the United States) send our soldiers into; they can't bring a Bible. I say, "If they can't bring a Bible they don't go." Can you say, "Amen"? So Jesus was saying to them here, "If God were your Father…" See Jesus was disarming them. They thought they had Him. When they got mad enough they said, "You are a bastard. You are illegitimate. We know all about your mother. We know about the birth. We know that Mary was pregnant before she ever got married. Don't come in here telling us what to do." God always hides His Word in simplicity. It's so amazing that in Israel, the people who were of the lowest occupation were the shepherds. They lay out in the hills and they didn't take a bath very often and they smelled like the sheep. People didn't want to get around them much. Can you think of one of those shepherds going to the temple? They would have met him at the door and told him to go get bathed before you come in here. "You can't come in here like that." But do you know what happened? When Almighty God got ready to make the announcement that His Son was born, He didn't go to the religious people, He didn't go to the church, but He went to the lowest occupational people that were in Israel. He went to the people that lived there with the sheep. They smelled like the sheep. They lived in the mountains. And here He sent an angelical choir to sing to them. "This day, in the city of David, Christ the King is born! Hallelujah!" There's your Word now. Everybody else had a Bible, but the shepherds had the Word revealed to them. Then, not one, and please don't miss this, not a single one of all the religions of that day, which was Judaism, not a one of them knew the Savior was born - not a one of them. But to think these few people up here on the mountain knew; just a few that most of the people would probably hold their noses as they walked by. They wouldn't want to get that stench on them. But God didn't care. The angels didn't care. He saw hearts in them that was waiting on the Messiah. He sent the angels to sing to them. But when He was thirty years old or so, He goes into the temple. He wants to introduce this (the Word) to the people who had the Bible. In other words, here came the Spirit of the Bible right in the temple; but they rejected it. They believed the Bible but they couldn't go anywhere without that spiritual Christ Jesus. It is the same thing today.

In Verse 42 He tells them, "If God were your Father, ye would love me: (you would know who I am) for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me." And He told them as we just read in Verse 41, "Ye do the deeds of your father. Verse 43 says: "Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word." In other words, what Jesus was saying didn't make sense to them; because they couldn't understand the Word. And what is the Word? Jesus said, "My Words are Spirit and they're life." Here came a life-giving message, Jesus knew scripture, He could not only quote scripture, but He had the life of the scripture. And Paul said, "The letter killeth but it's the Spirit of the Word that makes it live." Notice the next verse now. Jesus is talking back to them. They said, "You're born of fornication. We have one Father; it's God." But watch what Jesus said. Verse 44, "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 is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." Oh my! Could a man talk to other human beings like that? Yes, the Word can. Yes, the devil was a liar even back as far as anyone can gleam anything from history and even further back. Satan was a liar. He was a murderer. But he was the most religious person, and still is today. You will never find a person more religious than the devil. You will never find an institution more religious than an institution that's of the devil. It's called the anti-christ spirit. If you will read there in the Book of Revelation about the mother whore which is Catholicism (she had daughters which are Protestant churches) she put to death that Word. So here came the Word right to that Jewish group; He came to bring the life of the Word. But they did not want the life of the Word. That's what Christ Jesus did in Revelation, Chapter 10, from heaven came a Mighty Angel and brought the revelation, the little book, and said, "Now eat it!" But they said, "We don't want it! We already have plenty to eat," so the foolish rejected it.

Let's read another scripture now. He said, "You are of your father. Your father is a liar, and a murderer from the beginning. He's the father of liars. He can't do anything but lie." Verse 45 says, "And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not." Now watch, the truth and a lie. Again, I want to bring this in: He disarmed them. They were armed to the teeth with the Bible, the Word; that was their life. They lived in and around the temple and studied the Word in their schools. That's why they said about Jesus, "How can this man tell us anything, knowing not words. How can He know these things? We know who our father is. We've studied. We've got Caiaphas the high priest." A priest had to be raised up in the linage and get all his degrees. But here came the Word. Here came the Spirit to make that written Word live. They said, "You're born of fornication. We know nothing about you." But watch how He disarmed them. He disarmed them with the living Word. He disarmed them with the spiritual Word. He disarmed them with the life that the Word should have produced. All the way through the Old Testament the prophecies were to produce the Messiah. Isaiah said, "A virgin shall conceive." Why didn't they know that? They could probably quote it, but they thought, "This is not the man. If He was the one He would come to the high priest. He would come and get the training necessary to be a priest." Well He didn't have to get trained to be a priest. God made Him the Apostle and High Priest of our profession the Word says (Hebrews 3:1).

Let's go on. Verses 46-47, "Which of you convinceth me of sin? (In other words, who can show where there is any unbelief in me?) And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's words:…" They said, "You get out of here. We've got the Word. We were born and raised with a Bible in our hands. We came into the world with a Bible in our hand." We say this sometimes about someone that is a good mechanic, "He was born with a wrench in his hand." These people were born with a Bible in their hand. But Jesus came with the Word and He said in Verse 47, "He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God." Keep in mind now that He is talking to the most religious learned Bible believing people that there was in the world at that time. But they only believed it through their carnal mind. They only believed it by their interpretation. But here came something else. If you will read the Word of God you will find that there is something that comes down that hadn't been here before. We are obtaining that which was previously unobtainable. It wasn't available before Christ came and brought down the little book that was sealed up in heaven and says, "Now you eat it." It was the same when Jesus Christ came to these people that had only the written Word; they had the Word until the Word came. They were all right until Jesus came. He tells them that because, "You say that you believe. You say that you're in light, and because you say that, you're in your sins." Because here was the Word standing right before them. Verse 47 again, "He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God." Well, who are they of? Verse 41 said, "You do the deeds of your father," showing their father was the devil. Yes, they were religious. That's the thing today; there are a lot of religious people. There are a lot of people who know the Bible inside and out. They'll talk about the Bible. They'll tell you about Paul; you can see on the television where they'll trace Paul's journey out. That's all right. But they know as much about Paul, the spiritual Paul, as a June bug would know about putting shoes on a horse. Because you know where Paul went doesn't make you believe his message. Because you know there was a man called Jesus doesn't mean you believe His message. They were up close with Him here and He told them who they were, and He told them what the Word means. He told them, "The Word said I would come." When He fasted forty days and nights and came out and went into the temple, He found a place in the book and read it, and it said, "The anointing of God is upon me. He sent me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has anointed me to loose them that are bound." Then He closed the book and gave it back to the priest and said: "This day this scripture is fulfilled (before your very eyes)." Not a one of them believed it. You say, "Why did He say it if not a one of them believed it?" God had to give a witness. The Word said the Word would come, so the Word came. He had to be there as a witness. And on the Day of Judgment they'll stand there and Jesus will say, "I came and showed you where I fit in the scripture and you said I was of the devil. You rejected me. You crucified me." It's the same thing today. God said there would be an apostolic ministry in this last day to bring the Word of God. Here it is! They do the same thing they have always done, reject it. When Paul came with the Word and went into Asia; do you know how many stood with him? He said, "No man stood with me. Only the Lord stood with me." Another time he said, "All hath forsaken me except he gave a couple of names." It was the same as they did with Jesus. He said, "Except ye eat my flesh and drink my blood you've got no part with me." They said, "This is a hard saying. He is a cannibal. He's talking crazy. He's lost His mind." And the Bible says, "They walked no more with Him." So there stood the twelve; and Jesus said, "I've chosen twelve of you and one of you is a devil. Will you also go away?" But there was a man there that had revelation. That was Peter. He said, "To whom can we go? Thou hast the Words of eternal life." He didn't say the priest had it. Peter knew better. He was just an ole rough fisherman with a temper, ready to fight. Because when they came to get Jesus he grabbed a sword, and he was good with it; he cut the ear off of one of those that came to get Jesus. Yes, Peter was ready to defend Jesus. But Jesus said, "Put away your sword. This is not my kingdom; my kingdom is not in the natural." Thus God gave Peter a revelation. He was the spokesman on the Day of Pentecost. He became the apostle to the Jews. The roughest one, an ole fisherman who probably couldn't even write his name, but God used him just the same.

Continuing on to Verse 48, "Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?" Remember they said, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" It was the other side of the tracks we would say. Mary and Joseph weren't rich people and they lived down in Nazareth. They said, "You are a Samaritan and you've got a devil. What are you doing here in this temple anyway? You ought to be somewhere in a slum house. You Samaritan, you've got a devil." Now that's the Word they were talking about. Yet they had the Bible. There was nobody in the world that knew more of the written Word than they did. But Jesus disarmed them with the spoken Word. See, their heart wasn't right. They just wanted knowledge. They wanted to quote scripture. They wanted to be religious. They wanted the praise of men. That's what the Bible says, "You want the praise of men more than the praise of God." But here came the Word, walking, talking, living, just like it was in the days of Paul. He said, "Ye are living epistles." You are living Word. The Word is alive; it's walking, it's talking, it's not just the book (the Bible). The book is our foundation. The written Word is the garden that this Word of life grows out of. And in the days of Jesus the book said He would come. It said what He would do and all about it, and yet when He came just like the Bible said He would come they said, "You're a Samaritan. You're of the devil. You're born of fornication." That's what they thought of the Word in that day. It hasn't changed either. Why? Because the devil was ruling that religious system and He is still doing it today. See, even in the days of Paul he said, "The spirit of iniquity does already work among you. And when I'm gone there are men that are going to rise up and draw disciples after themselves, and make a denomination." And he said, "But stay with what I told you."

Let's go on with Verse 48, "… Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?" Now is that blaspheming? If it's not, it's so close to blaspheming that I sure wouldn't want to be involved with it. "Thou hast a devil," those religious Jews said. Now let's go on.
Verse 49, "Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishouour me." But did they believe Him? No. "I don't have a devil; I'm honoring my Father." They said, "How are you honoring the Father like you are doing? You come in here telling the high priest these things, acting like he doesn't know what is going on. You have to have a devil." Jesus said, "No, I've just come to honor my Father. I'm honoring the Word. The Word said I would be here. The Word said I would do it. And here I am; I am doing just what the Word said, I am honoring God. And you do dishonor me." Verses 50-51, "And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death." This turned them upside down and inside out. The spoken Word disarmed them. He so disarmed them, opened it up, they were naked before Him. He disarmed them with the real Word and the real Word, the spoken Word, has always been the original Word (it comes first). Once it becomes written it is good, but then carnal man can get a hold of it. And they'll make their own organizations, they'll get their Bible, and they'll learn to quote scriptures and send preachers to the seminaries to learn to preach, that's living from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Just like a lady told me who read my book, The Trail of the Serpent. She called me and said, "Ben, I cried all night." I said, "What's wrong?" She said, "I read that book, The Trail of the Serpent, and you said Eve had an illicit affair with the serpent, and said the serpent was like a man. I cried all night. So I waited until the church office opened (which was the First Baptist) and I called Doctor So-and-So and told him what I had read and asked if that was what happened in Eden." He said, "We've got the best books and the most learned men; and when we went to the seminary they didn't teach us that, so sister stay with what we've been teaching you!" So as far as she's concerned there is no such thing as serpent seed. But it is there in the Word, isn't it? I have never seen a snake that could come up and talk to somebody. Amen? And, I have never seen a snake that could do the things which that serpent was doing. See, he was cursed and then he was brought down from a man serpent to being a crawling reptile. But before then he was just like a man except he wasn't a son of God. Ok, let me leave that there. The same thing with these religious leaders here, they were seeds of the serpent, religious seeds of the serpent that could not receive revelation, but could only receive head knowledge.

"If a man will keep my saying he will never die," Jesus said. Why, we just had a funeral last week; one of the priests died. And you say we can believe on you and never die?" Watch as we go along. Verse 52, "Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil…" Keep in mind, they were the most learned people there was, the ones that knew the Bible better than the whole world, the most holy people in the world. There's a saying that goes like this: There; where? In Jerusalem. They; who? The most holy people in the world. Crucified; who? Him; the King of Kings. There they crucified Him. The most holy people in the world crucified the most holy man in the world. That's when Jesus came and said, "If you believe on me you will never die…" I believe that, don't you? If you believe upon Him, accept Him, you shall never die! But when the Word came and told those Jews that, they said, "Now we know you've got a devil." Continuing Verse 52, "…Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death." Watch Verse 53, "Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?" Those people should have known. Well, they should have known, and also the people should know today, when we tell them Christ Jesus has come back in Spiritual form as the Mighty Angel of Revelation, Chapter 10; the Spiritual body for us to be baptized into. He has an apostolic ministry. He has a wife and He is getting ready to glorify her and take her in the rapture." They'll say, "You've got a devil." They might not say it in that many words but basically that is what they are saying. But see, they were learned, they had the Bible, but Jesus disarmed those that were armed to the teeth with the Bible.

Verse 54 says, "Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God:" He's saying, "The one you're calling your God He is my Father; He is the one honoring me." Keep in mind in order to get the full benefit of this, these were the most holy people, priests, dressed in their priestly garments and they had studied the Word all their lives; and here came the Word. And He totally disarmed them with the Word. Notice Jesus said, "My Father is the one you say is your God." Verse 55, "Yet ye have not known him;…" Oh, my! Did you hear that? "You don't even know God." You talk about hard. It would be, but He is bringing them life. He's trying to give them life. He's trying to shake them and wake them up. Well, He did; there was a few like Nicodemus and Gamaliel. And there was a few (Saint John, Chapter 7) that He shook to the teeth, almost shook their teeth out, we would say. And a few of them said, "Never spake a man like this man," but only a tiny fraction of them. They said, "How could a man with a devil talk like He's talking? How could He do these things that He is doing if He has a devil?" And one of the big priests came up and said, "I'll tell you exactly how He's doing it. He's beelzebub. He is the devil himself among us. He can cast out devils because He is the prince of devils and the devils will obey Him." Wow! The very God manifested in the flesh. See when John baptized Jesus, the Father incarnated Himself in Jesus. That's why Jesus said, "These things I'm saying, it is not me but the Father which sent me; He's the one doing the talking."

Verse 55, "Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying." Watch that; "If I said I didn't know Him I would be just like you, a liar." Now He is talking to the most religious learned people in the entire world. And here He stands, He doesn't have a priestly garment on; He doesn't have any credentials showing who He is. He was born in Bethlehem, and raised in Nazareth. He came from a lowly place. His mother was pregnant before she was married; so He is an illegitimate child as far as they knew. And here He is saying that He knows God. No wonder they were ready to kill Him.

Let's read another one here. Verse 56, "Your father Abraham (They were Abraham's children in the natural) rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad." Do you hear what He is talking about? Abraham had been dead physically hundreds and hundreds of years. And here come this fellow saying, "Your father, Abraham, the one you call your father, he rejoiced to see my day." Well, see it was the seed of Abraham. God told Abraham, "In thy seed shall all nations be blessed." And Abraham rejoiced when Isaac was born because in Isaac was a prophecy concerning Christ. That birth was a supernatural birth. It typed out something. But remember there were two born to Abraham. One was named Ishmael, born from the bondswoman; that's denomination. Paul told us about it in the Book of Galatians; he typed it out for us. But there was Isaac; he was born after the promise. He was born right through Sarah, an old woman many years past menopause, too old to have a child; but God said, "I'm going to come about this time next year and Sarah is going to have that baby I told you about." That's the seed he is talking about. "Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it." That threw them; that blew their minds. They didn't know what to do with such a guy as this; we could throw Him out, but He is entertaining us with all of His crazy talk. We know He's got a devil. But He was the Word! And they still think the same thing about the Word today. Can you say amen?

Let's get Verse 57, "Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" Now think about this, folks, unless you were spiritual you would think the same things they are thinking. So they said, "You're not yet fifty." The fact that they used the number fifty years old indicated that He must have looked older than He actually was, because He had a lot on Him, He being weary went out into the wilderness and tarried all night. He strained to do this thing that He done. You say, "Really?" Well, in the garden when they were about to crucify Him, the man part, he prayed, and He prayed, and He prayed until His sweat became as though they were great drops of blood. And He said, "Father, if there be another way to do this, let this cup pass from me." He was a man facing death. He said, "Nevertheless, (I love that word, nevertheless, especially in this setting) not my will but Thine be done," and when He said that the angels came and strengthened Him. Then He said unto His disciples, "Let's rise and get going. Let us go." He went and drank the bitter cup. He strained, see. Some of you are not willing to strain a little bit. Some of you want to get on the flowery bed of ease and lay down and float on down the river on your painted canoe that's decked out in flowers. No, if you should reign you must fight. Sometimes you've got to strain. You've got to put forth an effort to believe this Word. I'm talking about to believe this is it! This is God speaking just like it was in that day! He didn't come to religion. Religion didn't respect Him. All of them left Him many times. He was alone. Twelve people there that God called, one was a devil and the other ten just kind of kept their mouths shut, but only one of them, one ole rough guy, a fisherman, with a temper that could fight a buzz-saw answered when Jesus asked, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter said unto him, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Peter knew by revelation! Jesus said, "I'm going to be smitten and every one of you will leave me." Peter said, "You just leave that alone, Lord, don't you talk like that. You're looking at ole Peter now. I'll go with you to death. I'll go with you wherever. If they get you they've got to come through me." But when the soldiers came and took Jesus, ole Peter began to back off and warm by the enemy's fire. Jesus said, "By the time you hear the cock crow you will have denied me three times, Peter." When he heard that rooster crow something struck his heart. He said, "This was the Son of God. He told me I would do this." The Bible said, "He went out and wept bitterly," while Jesus submitted Himself to the cross. I like this: When Jesus rose from the dead He said, "Go tell my disciples (and then He put a special note in) and Peter…" Peter had denied Him. But He said, "Tell Peter to come on.

I'm going to finish this chapter. They said, "You're not yet fifty." Verse 58, "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." He's talking about that I AM Almighty God speaking through Him. Let's get the next verse. They had been entertained all they wanted to be entertained. They weren't going to take anymore of being told their father was the devil. And watch what they did now. Verse 59, "Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, (Notice He went out of the temple; He's right up front in the temple talking to the big boys) going through the midst of them, and so passed by." They wanted to kill Him, but it wasn't time. He said, "My hour has not yet come."

God bless you today. How Jesus Disarmed Those That Were Armed with the Bible with the Word. When He walked out of there they were all naked, I'm talking spiritually. He took that Word, the real Word, to those that knew the Bible; and when He got through they were standing naked before God and He revealed what they were. He showed by their anger and their pitching a fit and by their lack of understanding of the real Word they stood naked before God, and it showed they were murderers; they took up stones to kill Him. He came for one thing, to bring life; but they wanted to kill Him. It's the same thing today. God bless you.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father: Lord, I pray that this message as it goes forth, the first message of the new year (2010), that it will accomplish that which you have ordained and it will prosper where you send it. Bless everyone that has come this way that got out in the cold weather to hear the Word. May they go with their cups filled and running over with the good things of God. Lord, we just bless your name and praise you. In Jesus Name. Amen.

AUDIO/VIDEO SERMONS AND BOOKS

All sermons by Brother Ben Howard are recorded on Cassette tape, CD's, DVD's, and Mp3 formats. Also, there is a collection of published books that are available for download or by request as well. Please feel free to visit us at our website often as new materials are constantly being added, or write to our postal address below.

Sound Of Liberty

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