I hope I do display some sort of enthusiasm this
morning, following this thing -fest we had. I
guess you have to, once in a while, allow the
younger people to dictate the rhythm and the
speed, although I have a hard time following
at times. But it was very nice. very nice but
tonight you know I was thinking a lot of times
I've talked to people and a lot of the verses
in the Bible speak about the concept what is
meant I put that in what is meant by believing
in Jesus I'm gonna go through a lot of verses
here and I want you to think about this We, you
know, we talk to people and we quote John 3 .16,
neither believers in the son, of course, as eternal
life, he believes not, shall not see life, and
so forth. But in the light that the eternal God
of the universe is ultimately holy, his righteousness
and justice are perfect and justified, his unconditional
love for the children of man is demonstrated
clearly at Calvary. No one has an excuse not
to be reconciled to God. And the truth, of course,
is Jesus is the way. The verses I have today
are very familiar to you. I chose a lot of verses
that we all know. I want to put them all together
in different headings here to come up with the
idea and with an explanation, more or less, what
we believe as far as Jesus is concerned, who
is saying it, and so forth and so on. Let me
read a few verses to get you into this in John.
I have various verses. I don't know if you want
to continue or to follow along, but you can take
notes. John 3 .16, of course you know that, God
so loved the world He gave His only begotten
Son, that whosoever believes in Him, there again
it's the same concept, believes in Jesus, believes
in Him, has eternal life. And, of course, he
that believes not is condemned. Romans 6, 23,
all have sinned to come short of the glory of
God. In other words, this verse declares every
person guilty and condemned before God, who is
ultimately holy. 2 Corinthians 2, 21, But the
Father made him, Jesus Christ, who knew no sin,
to be sin for us, that we should be made the
righteousness of God in him. Conclusion is, Jesus
is the only way to come to God and have eternal
life. Believing in Him, the beloved Son shall
have eternal life, of course, John 3 .16 and
John 3 .17. God testified that through Him the
world might be saved. Why then is not everyone
in the world saved? Of course, the concept is
to believe and to respond to this love that God
has put forth to the world in Jesus Christ. 3
.18. In all these verses, 3 .16, 3 .17, and 3
.18 in John chapter 3, believing is mentioned.
He who believes in Him is not condemned. John
3 .18. He who is not condemned is a child of
God. He who believes not in Him is condemned
already. He does not believe in the only begotten
Son of God. This believing concept is all through
this whole New Testament here. And, you know,
I have no computer at home. And when I have a
topic that I explore, I write usually three studies.
And each study had seven pages. And it was crazy
to try to type one up for me. So I have usually...
21 pages like this, hand written for every time
I come up, you know. It is quite a bit of handwriting,
but I enjoy it. And like I say, it keeps my fingers
limber. John 3 .36. Let me go ahead and flip
a few pages here because... I'm still in my second
study here. All right. Sorry David, I messed
you up back there. All right. So the central
figure of the Bible is Jesus Christ, the incarnation,
the greatest event of Earth's history. And in
John, like I mentioned before, in John, three
times, as I mentioned, believing in Jesus, results
in eternal life. In 318, who believes in Him
is not condemned or covered by God's righteousness.
The child of God who believes not is condemned
already. He has not believed in the only begotten
Son of God. Of course, this concept of righteousness
imparted to us or standing covered in Christ's
righteousness before God, or Jesus imparts to
us sinful men His own righteousness, that is
what salvation is, imparted righteousness, the
righteousness of Jesus Christ. John 3 .35, the
Father has loved the Son, has given all things
into His hand. And 3 .36, He who believes in
the Son has everlasting life. He who does not
believe the Son shall not see life. On this earth
now, on the glorified earth which is to come,
according to 2 Peter 3 .13, and I have put that
in because I want to concentrate on the gentleman
that comes by my place once in a while from the
Watchtower Society or George Witnesses. He is
set to live eternally on this earth, but it is
not possible, we know that, unless one is...
righteous before Holy God, because some day deserves
being part of the dwelling place of the righteous.
What about Jesus in the Bible? And it is a different
thing. Now, let's talk about Jesus Christ, believing
in Jesus Christ. Now, I just picked three prominent
religions, and the question is, there must be
many Jesuses. There must be. For example, the
Mormon Jesus. Question. Do you believe in Jesus?
Oh yes we do. The father greeted him along with
the rest of his spirit sons. He was greeted an
archangel along with Lucifer and Michael. When
Lucifer turned bad and became Satan, God's arch
enemy, Jesus remained the father's good and obedient
son. So then, Jesus and Lucifer, now Satan, are
really brothers. Certainly not the same Jesus,
right? No. Jehovah's Witnesses watched all society.
Oh yes, we believe in Jesus. He began when he
was born in Bethlehem, of Mary. He grew up a
man, and his baptism by John in the River Jordan,
the Spirit of God came upon him in the form of
a dove, sent by Jehovah to anoint him. From this
moment on, Jesus became God's anointed son. Even
though Jesus said, the Father and I are one,
John 10 .30. In other words, his original beginning
was in Bethlehem, not the same Jesus. And one
more is the Muslim religion of Islam. We hear
so much about that. Do we believe in Jesus? Oh
yes, we believe in Jesus. Jesus is a prophet
of Allah, but not to the same stature of Muhammad.
If he did not die, Allah would not permit his
prophet to be crucified by infidels. An imposter
died in his place. Allah took him, this Jesus,
to heaven. In his appointed time, he will come
back to earth and testify for Islam. Of course,
obviously, not the same Jesus, the Bible. So,
who is this Jesus who calls himself the Son of
God? Let the true Jesus stand up, in other words,
the Bible testifies of itself. The true Jesus
of the Bible, Romans 3, 4 of course, we know
that, let God be true and every man a liar. And
all these religions I mentioned are originated
by people, by men. So let God speak for himself.
Of course we have John 11, 25 and 26. Jesus speaking
to Martha, Lazarus' sister, I'm the resurrection
and the life. You believes in me, the same concept.
all through these verses. Of course, Jesus is
not speaking of the physical death, but he speaks
of the condemnation in the lake of fire, which
is the second death, Revelation 21 .8. Revelation
26. Jesus and the Father is testifying. 1st John
5, 11 and 12. Let me read these verses. And this
is a testimony that God has given us eternal
life and this life is in His Son. who has the
Son has life, who does not have the Son of God
does not have life. Indeed these things are written
to you, that believing in the name of the Son
of God, that you may know that you have eternal
life, that you may continue to believe in the
name of the Son of God. Testimony of Jesus Christ.
In Romans 8, 9 to 11, this life is in God's Son.
And this life is imparted to us, and of course
the Spirit of the Son of God dwells us, in Romans
8, 11. And this life is assured to us by believing
in Jesus Christ's redemptive work on our behalf
on the Cross of Golgotha through the interweaving
Holy Spirit. Of course, but if the Spirit of
Him who has strived from the dead dwells in you...
I tell you something, I can quote this verse
every day, except now. Romans 8 -11. The spirit
of Him who raised Christ from the dead dwells
in you. He who raised Christ from the dead will
also give life to your mortal body through His
Spirit who dwells in you. So, the Spirit is empowered
to us and this is eternal life. Psalm 10, 26
to 28. See the teaching in the temple at the
feast of dedication, speaking to the Jewish leaders.
But you do not believe because you are not of
my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, I know them,
and they believe, they follow me, and I give
them eternal life, and they shall never, never
perish. And of course, Pastor Peter emphasized
that by saying, never under any circumstance
perish. with a shell anyone's nest them out of
my hand. Eternal security is in Jesus Christ
and of course the Spirit assures our spirit that
we are in God's hand. And I put on who is making
the statement and who is backing up this assurance.
And here we have the testimony of course in Philippians.
The highly exalted Son of God is above every
name. Let me read this verse here. Philippians
2 .9. Those are all familiar verses, but they
are really important verses to understand this
topic. Therefore, God also has highly exalted
Him, giving Him a name which is above every name.
In verse 10, in the name of Jesus, every knee
shall bow of those in heaven, that's the angelic
beings, and those on earth, that's the human
beings. And those under the earth are the beings,
the spirit beings of the underworld. And every
tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
the glory of God, the Father." Philippians 2,
9, 10, and 11, the exalted Son of God, whose
name is above every name. And this is the one
who makes the claim, makes the claim that in
Him is salvation. As I read earlier, John 14,
6, there is no other way. Back to Jesus Christ.
In Galatians 1, 13 -16. Again, let me read these
verses. They are very, very important, powerful
verses. He has delivered us from the power of
darkness and translated us or placed us into
the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we
have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins. He is the image of the miserable God.
In other words, He is what God is. interesting
because he got a spirit. And Jesus Christ, through
the Incarnation, received a body. And now when
we see Jesus, we see God. And we can see Him.
Of course, someday we will see Him. And so we
can see God. We saw a resurrected body. And that
was Galatians 1, 13 -16. Let me read verse 15
then. He, the son of God, he is the image of
the invisible God, as I've read that. Because
the Incarnation has a body, we shall someday
see him. And Job, Job 19, 25, 27 is beautiful.
Job burst forth with one of the most sublime
expressions of faith ever uttered. Job is a beautiful
book. And you know, it's the oldest book in the
Bible. And when you think of this man, not having
any scriptures. yet his walk was with God. He
said, I shall see God whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold him, and not another,
how many, how my heart yearns within me to see
him. It is a tremendous expression of love and
affection for his God. Job 19, 25, 27. And Hebrews
1, 1 to 3 again, and that is under the heading
of Who is speaking here? Who is testifying? And
who is giving these promises? Not the Jesus of
the Mormon Church, not the Jesus of the Chorus
Witnesses, not the Jesus of the Muslims, but
the Jesus of the Bible. Hebrews 1, 1 -3. God
has spoken in time past by the prophets, but
He has now spoken in these last days through
His Son. And in verse 3, Hebrews 1 -3. who being
the brightness of his glory and the expressed
image of his person. In other words, to see Jesus,
you see God. He's the only one of the Godhead
who has a body. In Galatians 1 .16 .17, I was
thinking, I've got to finish this. For by Him
all things were created that are in heaven, in
earth, and under the earth, the thrones, the
millions, principles of powers, all things were
created by Him and for Him, to exalt Him, to
glorify Him. Jesus Christ, we're talking about
here now, and He is before all things, and in
Him all things consist. He holds all things in
His hand, so to speak. even those people who
blaspheme him. And what Jesus will do for those
who believe. Now we have different testimonies
here and of course it's the testimony of Paul,
Paul's testimony. Philippians 3, 8 to 11 and
8. I count all things lost for the excellence
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. and
be found in Him... Now, everything this world
has to offer is as nothing to know Jesus Christ,
and be found in Him or possess Him, being clothed
in His righteousness, received from God by faith,
and that I may know Him and experience the power
of His resurrection and the fellowship of His
suffering, being conformed to His death. That
means having denied myself will, having taken
up my cross daily, and I'm following him, Luke
9 .23. That is what Paul says, being conformed
to his death. He had put aside all his own self
-will, took his cross upon himself, and went
the path the Father has had for him. The same
thing that we have to adopt to our own, for own
life, philosophy. And verse 11 is, if by any
means I may attain to the resurrection from the
dead, by any means of course would be by the
rapture of the church to see him, 1st Thessalonians
4, 13 -18, or by the common death of every person.
In other words, like Paul says in 2nd Corinthians
5, 8, absent from the body, present with Jesus.
There's no soul sleep. There's no sleeping under
the willow tree. Things like that, you know,
some of them old gospel songs talk about that
a lot, you know, they say, and Bessie is sleeping
on Easter willow tree until Jesus comes and so
forth, but there's no sleeping there. Jesus said,
Paul says, we're absent from the body, not whether
our soul and spirit have left the body, we'll
be present with Jesus. It is very, very encouraging.
2 Timothy 4, 8, and of course Paul... Thank you,
David, thank you. Paul in prison, now this is
the testimony of Paul, and I want you to see
some of these saints. This is 2 Timothy 4, 8.
4, 6 to 8, really. It is all these saints, like
Job and like Paul. Paul in prison in Rome, and
Timothy is pasturing the church in Ephesus. He
says, finally... fall right from the prison.
There's laid up for me the God of righteousness,
which the Lord the righteous judge will give
me on that day, and not to me only, but to all
those who love His appearing. Question then is,
do you and I believe in Jesus so much as to eagerly
long to see Him anticipate His appearance? And
in Hebrews 9 .28 along the same thought here,
to all who are eagerly waiting for Him. And in
Titus 2, 11 to 13, to all who are looking for
this blessed hope. Those are, if you write it
down as 2 Timothy 4, 6 to 8, and Hebrews 9, 28,
and Titus 2, 13, 11 to 13. All this talking about
anticipating to see Jesus. And finally, brethren,
and I have gone very fast through these verses.
Titus 2, 11 to 13. Titus 2, 11 to 13, yeah. To
all the looking for this blessed hope. 1st John
5, and let me go ahead and turn to 1st John.
Finally, brethren, and I do mean that this is
my conclusive thought in this matter. Anyway,
it is 1 John 5, and of course those are very
precious verses in here, and let me pick up here
on verse 11, or verse 10. We don't want, it says
here, making God a liar. He who believes, verses
verse 10, 5. 1 John 5, 10. He who believes in
the Son of God has the witness in himself. That
is the spirit which testifies to your spirit
that you are a child of God. He who does not
believe God has made God a liar. And of course
that is very important to understand. And this
is one thing when you get together with people
of different persuasions and start quoting opinions
and so forth and so on. Let us all be and just...
go back again and stick with God what God has
to say because he has not believed in the testimony
that God has given of his son and this is the
testimony that God has given us eternal life
and his life is in the son. He who has the son
or possesses the son to whom the Holy Spirit
witnesses to his own spirit that they are a child
of God has life. And this life is called His
eternal life that God gives. Who does not have
the Son of God does not have life. Very, very
simple. You have the Son, possess the Son, you're
covered by His righteousness, you have life.
You don't have the Son, you don't possess the
Son, there is no life apart from Jesus Christ.
These things have been written to you with the
Apostle John, who believe in the name of the
Son of God that you may know or have confidence
in. That you have eternal life and you can know
that you know people say ah you cannot know you
have to wait till the time comes and Roman Catholic
Church, you know, they say well, you know You
have to see if you're gonna how long you got
how long you're gonna stay in purgatory What
a terrible thing to do, you know, there is there's
absolutely no I had it this morning we talked
to Sunday school about that the children brought
us this topic up and that Jesus died only once.
We talked about the Old Testament when Moses
struck the rock and I was encouraged that children
in my class for the most part remembered this
and remembered why. The pitch of the Old Testament
referring to Jesus Christ being smitten only
once on Golgotha. I said this is why the Roman
Catholic Church is so wrong because when the
breeze holds up the waver at the highlight of
the mass, the mass kind of... culminates at the
place toward the end, when the priest holds up
in front of the high altar this waver, in Germany
we call it a hostilia, and drinks the wine. In
this very moment, according to the Roman Catholic
Church, the waver and the wine again turn into
the body and blood of Christ. A terrible blasphemous
statement to make, because Jesus only died once.
what we talked about in Sunday School. These
things I've written to you, John says, who believe
in the name of the Son of God, that you may know
the eternal life, that you may continue to believe
in the name of the Son of God. And then let me
go down to verse 18 to close my thoughts this
evening. 18 through 20, and of course 21. We
know that whoever is born of God does not sin
but he who has been born of God keeps himself
and the wicked one does not touch him. Of course
we have the spirit within us and greater is he
within us than he who is in the world. We know
that we are of God and the whole world lies under
the sway of the wicked one. We can see it day
by day in the news. It's terrible. News is terrible.
despite us turning on the news, and it's always
bad news. Anyway, unless it's bad news, it's
no news at all. And verse 20, and we know that
the Son of God has come, has given us an understanding
through His Word, through His Word. And of course,
the spirit and structures. In John 16, Jesus
said, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come,
He will guide you into all truth. And so we take
the Bible and stay with the Bible. and learn
and grow in the knowledge of God through His
Word. We know Him and we understand that we may
know Him who is true, and here is emphasis on
the truth. Jesus Christ said, I am the truth.
I personify truth. I am truth. Him who is true,
and we are in Him who is true, in the Son of
God, Jesus Christ, That is the true God, and
that is eternal life. Will children keep themselves
from idols? And of course, there's John managing
these Christian people there. So, the testimony
of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in whom believing
you may have eternal life. And I ended five minutes
early. Let me say a word of prayer. If you want
some of the notes or some of the references,
again, after you see me, I'll give it to you.
Father, we enjoy. We have family here, the Blue
Ridge Bible Church family. And they have come
out tonight because they love to come out tonight.
We don't come because we are coaxed to come,
but we come because we want to come. And we desire
to hear your word and participate in the singing
of these songs, Lord, and to be enthusiastic
about it, even a little girl. and we thank you
Lord for the atmosphere which is here and this
atmosphere of righteousness which is contained
in this building when the saints come and we
pray Lord that when visitors come they will see
they will experience they will feel your spirit
here amongst us and we pray Lord that you use
us each one of us in your own particular area
of friends or school or wherever it is Lord,
to glorify yourselves and to admonish others
and to be a testimony as Pastor Peter mentioned
this morning that God did not use angels or any
other means but He used us to show forth Jesus
Christ and show forth the way of life, the way
of eternal life. And we know that the whole world
is going down. This broad way, as Jesus said
in Matthew 11, the broad way leads to destruction.
And future be the find the way to eternal life
through this narrow gate, which is Jesus Christ,
which is the door. And Lord, we pray that this
house here, or if you'll be gracious, that allows
us to build a house, a bigger building, will
always stand here on Hall Gap Road as a testimony
of your work. and be faithful to your word, Lord,
and be a stalwart fortress to guide against any
false teachings, Lord, and to be used of you,
Lord, to proclaim the testimony of Jesus Christ
to all those people around us and into the world,
through the missionaries, Lord. Thank you for
allowing us to have missionaries and support
for missionaries, Lord. Thank you again for being
a loving God and thank you for the spirit within
us and amongst us and for the unity of the body
Lord here at Bluewich Bible Church. And we approach
this on Father in the name of the Lord Jesus
whom we love and seek to serve. Amen.