The lesson this morning will
be taken from John chapter 5. The Gospel according to John
chapter 5 and verse 24. This verse is placed in order
after the healing of the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda.
That's the setting of it. That's what's going on. Our Lord
came and found this man at the mercy of men, waiting for someone. The power was there, the means
was there, everything was there, but he had no man. He had no
way to get into the water. He needed the Lord's teaching
of something about means here. And then he walked upon this
man, and the man told him his difficulty. He said, arise, take up your
bed, and walk. I don't need the pool. You don't
need anything but me. Arise, take up your bed, and
walk. And he did this, and he did it
on purpose, because he doesn't do anything that's not on purpose.
He did this on the Sabbath day. knowing that this man was not
permitted, according to their traditions, to carry his bed
on Sabbath day. They were very particular. We're
not particular nowadays. Even the Sabbatarians, they're
not particular. But back then they were. And
this man was carrying his bed. He was leaping, praising God.
They totally overlooked the work that the Lord did in this man
and for this man and condemned him because he was carrying his
bed on the Sabbath, and the Lord told him to do that. Now let's
read our text together. John 5, 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me,
hath everlasting life. and shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed from death unto life." Now here's my subject. Passing from death unto life. Something has to happen. We're
dead. You have it quickened who were dead. How'd we get that way? We were
born that way. and a thousand other reasons
in between. We're dead in trespasses and
sins. There has to be a passing from
death unto life, and the Bible's filled with pictures symbolic
of this passing. Wonderful pictures, great pictures,
all through the Old Testament. Noah must enter into a vessel
and pass through the judgment and wrath of God on a condemned from a world dead in trespasses
and sins to a world preserved for them that have found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. The reason the water subsided
and the ark landed on dry land and Noah was permitted to step
out is because God is preserving this world for his elect. That's what he's shown him. Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Everything else is dead.
The wrath of God fell on everything else. Nobody survived who wasn't
in that vessel. And when he stepped out, he stepped
out knowing this is a world preserved by the grace of God. And the
first thing he did was offer up sacrifice. Wonderful pictures of this passage. Abraham must leave his father's
house and pass through a hostile world living in tents. This was
a wealthy man. He could have built anything
he wanted to build. He was wealthy. But he traveled living in tents,
and the scripture said he looked for a city that had foundations,
whose builder and maker was God. He wasn't going to find that
in this world. He wasn't going to find it. But perhaps the clearest
picture given is that of Israel passing through Egypt, passing
through the wilderness, passing through Jordan into their promised rest in Canaan. In God's purpose and providence,
Israel found themselves living in a place where God will manifest
his mercy and his grace. You remember the story how they
got into Egypt to start with by the hand of God. They weren't
there by accident. They were there on purpose. They
sold their brother into slavery. And then he was imprisoned. And
like a cork. That's the way God's elect are.
They're like a cork. You shove it under water and
it bobs back up. You shove it down and it bobs
back up. And that's the way it was with Joseph. No matter what
happened to him, The Lord would bring him back up, bring him
back up. And so in the providence of God,
without getting into a long story, Joseph becomes second in command
in all Egypt. And when they come there looking
for corn, Pharaoh said, you see Joseph. Joseph has the ring,
he has the seal. You see him. Isn't that what
God tells us? You see my son. See my son. This life's in him. Preservation's
in him. Everything's in him. You need
corn, see Joseph. They were there by the hand of
God. And in God's time, You see, here's
the thing, we're born into this world, and this world, the wrath
of God abideth on this world. Men are dead in trespasses and
sin, but we don't realize that when we're young, do we? The
world is full of potential, the world's full of treasure, it's
full of promises. I don't see, where's the wrath
of God? The wrath of God is in the hearts
and minds. of those who believe not. That's
where the wrath of God is. They don't know God. It don't
matter what you attain here, you're not taking it with you.
It's just temporary. Eternal things are all balled
up in the person of Christ. That's where it's at. And they were raised in Egypt.
Well, Egypt was friendly at the time. Egypt was full of promise.
It was full of potential. Everybody rejoiced. Their brother
was on the throne. What happened? All of a sudden,
they realized who was in charge, and it wasn't the same payroll. There was an evil payroll in
charge. And all of a sudden they realized,
this was soon learned, that they were making monuments for men
who believed themselves to be gods. That's the way it is in
religion. You're a member of a church out
there, you're making bricks for them to build monuments under.
on the men who think they're God. They think they are in charge
of everything. They're in charge of salvation.
They're in charge of bounty in this world, provision, all things.
You're in charge. They're making monuments, these
big buildings, monuments to those who think they're God. Now these
men and women in Israel had a being, they had a life, if you will,
but it was an existence without any hope. No godly hope, no comfort of
the Scripture, no life. They were told where to live,
how to live, what to eat, where to eat, when to eat. Everything
was dictated to them. And that's the sinner. He's learning. He's learning now that God's
in charge. And this world's cursed of God. They were brought by the hand
of God to be shut up to His mercy and power. And they cried unto
the Lord. And the Lord heard their cry.
And God sent to Israel a Deliverer. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that's what God has to do to deliver you? He has to send a
Deliverer. A Deliverer. In order for their
passing One man must be sin of God, and by the word and power
of God cause the reigning power in Egypt to release the elect
of God. It's going to be a one-on-one
confrontation. Every believer has to learn this. You know in the Bible it just
talks about two men, Adam and Christ? Don't deal with anybody in between.
Just deal with Adam and Christ. And Adam all die, and Christ
all be made alive. You're dealing with two men. It's going to be a one-on-one
confrontation. One head will stand for Egypt,
and one head will stand for God and His people. And the fate
of all will rest on these two men. He's going to show us something
about the will of man and the will of God. He's going to show
us something about the power of man and the power of God.
He's going to show us man's king and God's king, and man's religion
and God's religion. An armed force against an omnipotent
God, and nothing will come to pass until God manifests His
power through His deliverance. That's what you have to see.
You have to see the hand of God. You have to see this deliverer
and you have to see what he's manifested. And I'm talking about
Christ, not Moses. Moses is just a type. And then
the next thing God showed them was a lamb slain. They got all
happy about the deliverance and got all happy about now God's
manifesting his power and they're starting to see it. And then the Lord said, take
a lamb, not just any lamb, but you go out and look. You seek until you find him.
This lamb has to be perfect. No blemish. You check him out. You roll him over. You look at
him from one end to the other. If he's got a blemish, set him
aside. It's not going to do it. It has to be perfect to be accepted.
It has to be a lamb without blemish and without spot. A healthy lamb
of the first year. A particular lamb is what is
showing us in this time. A particular lamb. And then the
next thing God showed them was this lamb had to be slain. And the slaying had to be by
their own hands. They had to slay this lamb. And God commanded that the blood
of this perfect lamb be struck on the doorpost and the lintel
that crossed between what he calls the upper doorpost. That
blood had to be struck on both sides and the top of that door. What's he telling us? He's telling
us that the way is through the blood. That's what he's telling
you. The blood. and the lamb had to be roasted. He gathered his blood and then
the lamb had to be roasted and the lamb had to be eaten. And
he goes into great detail to tell you that you have to eat
the whole lamb. You're not going to eat lamb
chops and you're not going to have a nice leg of lamb, but
you're going to eat his head and his legs and all the pertinence
of the whole lamb has to be eaten. When you feast on Christ, you
feast on the whole lamb. You don't pick and choose what
you're going to eat. You eat the whole lamb. And as they ate the lamb, here's
the part I want you to see now. We're talking about a passage,
and I'm giving it to you in figure. As they ate the lamb, a darkness
came upon Egypt. You ever seen the connection
to them two? Not going to be any darkness until you eat the
lamb. What's that talking about? That's
talking about the preaching of the gospel. We eat that. Except
you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you.
When does a man convince to sin? When he sees Christ! When he
becomes partaker of that gospel that's preached unto him, that
man that's preached unto him, he begins to feast on it. And
when he begins to feast on it, that's when the darkness comes.
And boy, it ain't just a regular darkness. The Scripture said
it was a darkness that could even be felt. You been there
yet? Oh, my soul. And here's what
God says. I'm going to send the death angel.
And I ain't what he said. He said, I'm going to pass through
Egypt. I'm not sending an apparition.
I'm not sending a ghost-like creature. I'm coming. I'm not
sending an angel. I'm going to come through Egypt,
and all the firstborn that's not under the blood, I'm going
to slay. God said that. He's going to
slay the lamb. Oh, death's coming for all those
not under the blood of the Lamb. And God said, when I see the
blood, not your good intentions, and not your decisions, and not
your owl walking, and not your packing up your clothes, and
here's what he's going to look for. When I see the blood, I'll
pass over you. The blood. And then deliverance came. Pharaoh
is a picture of Satan. I know a lot of people use Pharaoh
as a picture of the law. He's not a picture of the law.
He's a picture of Satan. That's right. And he rules the
roost, don't he? In the hearts of unbelieving
men, he's the one who rules the roost, or so he thinks. And Pharaoh wouldn't grant their
leave And God's going to do something to make him release them. He's
going to do something to force Satan to release his people. You know what he's going to do?
He's going to kill his son in his own house. That's what he's
going to do. He's going to slay his religion.
He's going to slay Antichrist and leave him laying in the crib.
That's what God's going to do. And when he does it in the hearts
of men, they don't want you anymore.
I don't want you anymore. You go into any church up and
down through here, they'll welcome you, put their arms around you,
tell you how much they love you until you bring this gospel before
them. And when you do, you need to
leave. You need to leave. Satan releases God's saints when
his son lies dead in his own house, and as the lamb is being
eaten, The son of perdition is being slain. That old man of
sin comes to his end. And God manifests a deliverance
so full and so complete and so of God that there's not a doubt
left in anybody's mind he wouldn't even allow the dogs to bark in
resistance to it. Not an arrow was shot, not a
spear was picked up, not a chariot was rowed in. God went down there,
sent his deliverer, and through his word, those people were released. Most powerful nation in the world.
Turn them loose. And not only that, God said to
the men and women through Moses, He told them, He said, you go
over there and borrow all their jewelry. Their silver jewelry,
their gold jewelry, you go there and borrow it, and they're going
to hand it to you. They're just going to hand it to you. You think about that. These were
servants. These were slaves. These were
men out there gathering their own straw and making bricks,
and now they're over here at the elite's house, and they're
saying, can I borrow some jewelry? Here, take it all. Take it all. And so they left. And boy, it
was just a short journey to the sea. And God shut them up to
the sea. What's the sea? Oh, I tell you,
Abraham told the rich man what the sea was all about. He said,
there's a great gulf fixed between me and you. I can't go where
you are and you can't come over where I am. There's a great gulf
fixed. And here they are. You're going
to get shut up to see. He brings Israel up there, and
here's Pharaoh and all his army, and they've decided now they're
just going to wipe them out. They're not going to return them
to be slaves again. They're going to kill them. They're
going to slay them out there. And here they come, and they're
thundering up behind them, and the Lord brings them up between
two sets of mountains so they can't go left or right. And now they're at the edge of
the sea, and Pharaoh's behind them. The only way out, Russell,
through the sea. And boy, they started murmuring,
you should have just left us down there. At least we're sitting by the
flesh pots eating meat, you know. God said, what's the hold up? And we told Moses, what's the
hold up? What are you waiting for? Well, there's a sea out
there. I'm God. You think I don't know
the seas out there? I put it there. I arranged for
it to be there. I brought you to this place,
and I brought you here on purpose. Now hold out your staff over
that sea, and tell those murmuring people back there to stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord. And he held out that staff. And that sea split right down
the middle. Stood up in a wall. Somebody
said it was only six inches deep and the wind blew it up. What
a miracle. He made six inches of water stand
straight up and down that wall. And took the whole nation of
Israel across on driving. Huh? Oh. No way out unless God reveals
one. And salvation is an impossibility
without God. God said to Israel, the Lord
shall fight for you, and you're going to hold your peace, and
you're going to shut up. So stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord, which He's going to show you this day. That's
what this crossing of the sea is all about. He's going to show
you salvation. And salvation is a passing through
the sea, that great gulf fixed. And this way is the way of God's
elect, and all others attempting to follow them in the way will
perish in the midst. I was thinking about this all
week. I need to think about it some more, but I'm going to share
it with you anyway. I think when Pharaoh, knowing who he symbolizes,
he's symbolizing Satan, and this is religion with him, that's
his army, and he's pursuing Israel, and he comes up and he sees the
way standing up, and he says, here's the way. and across the
way he goes. But he's coming for the wrong
reasons. He's not coming to assist God's elect, he's coming to wipe
them out. He's not crossing that thing
looking to the glory of God, he's crossing that thing for
his own glory. And to me, this is a picture
of Calvinists who don't know Christ. They know the way, they
see the way. They lead their people in the
way, but for the wrong reasons. For the wrong reasons. They were following God's elect,
but not to a system. And then they cross this sea
and they turn around and look and here comes Pharaoh and his
army and God just buries them. He just destroys the whole. Moses
said you'll not see Pharaoh and his army again after today. What he told them. And they went
through the sea and they turned and they saw God's salvation. All these things were buried.
Buried. All their enemies. Gone. And
then the next thing they do, they got to face this wilderness
called sin. That's where we live, isn't it?
A wilderness. Nothing out there to eat. Nothing
out there to drink. Everything out there will bite
you or scratch you or something. It's a wilderness. It's a wilderness. And they get out there and they
ain't got anything to eat and God gives them bread from heaven.
Eat this. Well, we ain't got no meat. Well,
you come out this evening and there's going to be quail out
here. You can eat quail. Heavenly bread and quail. Wow,
what a meal. And then he teaches them in that
same wilderness how to worship God. Now you think of all places,
if you're going to build a a place of worship, do it in Canaan.
No. He's going to teach you how to
worship in the wilderness. That's right. That's where he
gave them instruction on how to build the tabernacle and all
those typical things of Christ. They come on the pool of bitter
waters and he sweetens it and on and on it goes, typically. In 1 Corinthians 10 verse 1,
Paul reminds us that all Israel were under God's cloud, and all
passed through the sea, and were all buried in the cloud and in
the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat and drink
the same spiritual water. For they drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Hebrews chapter 4, we're told
that they all, now listen, had the gospel preached unto them. When? From the time He delivered
them in Egypt to the time they entered into Canaan. Huh? They
had the gospel over and over and over and over. The gospel
was being preached to them. Typically. but was not mixed with faith
by some that heard it. And their passing came to an
end in the wilderness. The lives of Israel become a
journey, a pilgrimage to the promised rest. And so in God's
time, they survived in the wilderness, crossed the Jordan at flood stage,
drove out the occupants of their inheritance, and were established
under the authority of God's King, all by the hand of God. They went from being owned by
the world to owning the world. Isn't that what God says visibly? You worried about what preacher
you heard when you say, my soul, he said, it's all yours, Paul's yours,
and Apollos is yours, Timothy's yours and the world's yours.
All things are yours. They went from being owned by
the world to owning the world. They're heirs of God. And there's
a passion pictured from Genesis to Malachi, but here in John
chapter 5, he shows us the fulfillment of these things. There's four things. I'm not
going to get through all these things this morning, but there's
four things that I want us to see in this verse. I'll give
you the points even though I can't get through them. I want us first
to see the authority of it. And then I want you to see the
means of it. And then the object of it. And
last of all, the benefits. So let's take these precious
truths and see if the Lord will teach us something about this
passage. and establish us as his elect. The first thing we
need to see concerning this passing is whose authority is behind
it. You know, there was a Pharisee, a very well-renowned teacher
called Gamaliel. And boy, they despised these
apostles. Multitudes were following them,
and nobody was coming out to hear them. And their authority
over them began to shrink down and they were angry and they
started talking about what all they were going to do to the
apostles. And Gamaliel said, wait a minute, wait a minute. He said there was a little group
started up here a while back. Do you remember them? And they
had a few followers and it didn't amount to anything and pretty
soon they disappeared. And another group, and he gave
them another example. And he said in Acts 5.38, refrain
from these men and let them alone. For if this counsel or this work
be of men, it'll come to naught. But if it be of God, you cannot
overthrow it, lest happily find yourself fighting against God. And oh, what authority! can we rest our hope on when
we read this passage? Whose authority is involved in
this promise of this passing? Is this just another clever saying
of religion? Religion's full of such things,
you know. Empty promises like a Like a carrot dangling before
a horse so he'll pull the wagon. All my young life, I heard this
saying, God helps them that help themselves. No he don't. He helps the helpless. That's
who he helps. The helpless. You take the first
step and the Lord will take the rest. How's a dead man gonna
step at all? Without me, he said, you can
do nothing. God's only obligated to call
you one time. Have you ever heard people say
that? They used to say it all the time in the church I went
to. God's not obligated to call you at all. He said, I'll show mercy to whom
I will show mercy, and whom I will I'll harden. God's not obligated. So upon whose authority does
this journey rest? Here it is. Verily, verily, I
say unto you. What makes a difference who's
talking or not? I say unto you. What God says is going to come
to pass. What God says is going to last forever. And what God
says, He can't change. He said, I say unto you. And the whole of this gracious
promise rests on the authority of one whose name is the Word. He is the Word. All power is
given unto me in heaven and earth. Now you go preach my gospel. Told in Romans 13, there is no
power but of God. And the powers that be are ordained
of God. And the power and authority of
this gracious promise is the source of all power. One man told one of our visiting
preachers during the conference, oh, this had been several years
back. He said, you know, John Gill disagrees with what you
said. And he said, well, I just told you what God said. Whose
word do you think we ought to take? Think we ought to take
God's word over John Gill's? I like John Gill. But John Gill's
not God. Let God be true in every man's
life. And then here's the second thing I want us to see in this
verse, the means of the passion. It was a life-altering revelation
to me when God began to show me His ordained means of grace.
Religion brainwashed me into believing that God would and
does lead men and women to their own imagination as to how He
works. That's a lie. That's a lie. On the authority of the word
of God and upon the word of our Savior, the scripture says, He
that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent
me, hath everlasting life. Romans 10, 17 says, So then,
so then, Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of the
Lord. And the words, so then, refer
back to what he previously said. How shall you hear without a
preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? So then, faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of the Lord. Born again by the word
of God, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached
unto you. And then our Lord sent out seventy
of his disciples to preach in places where he himself would
come. That's where his gospels always
preached, in places where he himself should come. Were two
or more gathered together in my name, I'd be in the midst.
And here's what he told them. He said, He that heareth you,
heareth me. That's what an ambassador is.
He goes in the name of who sent Him, not preaching in His own
name. And I know that don't fit in
with Reformed doctrine, and I know it doesn't fit in with a lot
of grace preachers, but it's so anyway. It pleased God through
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Our Lord said in the book of
Revelation, oh, what a clear revelation this is of Christ.
And he said, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith to the churches. Thousands followed him, journeyed
far to hear him, and some, by the grace of God, did hear. God has a means ordained, a means
He's established and confirmed over time, and we're not left
to our imagination to encourage men to do anything else. We tell them, I'm there representing
Him. I'm going to tell you what God
said. And then thirdly, I see the object
of these means, Him that sent me. The object of faith is God. It's God. He that cometh to God
must believe that He is and is a rewarder of them that sent
Him. And then lastly, I see in this
verse, heavenly benefits. And oh, what benefits they are.
Everlasting life, or as he calls it in another place, life everlasting. And this life is a saving knowledge
of God, and this is life eternal, he said, that they might know
thee the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou sent. Now keep
thyself in mind. If we say we have fellowship
with Him and walk in darkness, we lie. That's what John said. Love one another, for love is
of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
That's what this faith in God, He's describing what it is. And then listen to this one,
1 John 4 verse 17. Herein is our love made perfect,
that is, perfectly manifested. Because as He is, so are we in
this world. And having a boldness even concerning
the judgment of God. And he that believeth on him
that sent me, are ye listening, hath everlasting life. Nothing
can take it away from me. And isn't that the greatest fear
of the sinner? To die in his sins. To die without
a hope. and face the living God without
a refuge. Nothing after death, but fixed
eternity. Let him that's filthy be filthy
still. Him that's righteous, let him
be righteous still. And listen to this. He shall
not come into condemnation, but is passed. He's passed. Well, you can say what you want
to. I'm going to tell you what the
Scripture says. is past. Ain't that what that
says? Yeah, but I still have a life
to live. I know. But God's eternal. God's eternal. And he said, that man that believes
on him that sent me, Christ said, he passed from death. He's never
going to enter into condemnation. Never. Never. And you can take
all your what ifs and what abouts and everything else and you just...
If I were you, I'd take a silver chain and I'd put it around all
them ifs and then hang it right around the neck of Christ. That's
what you need to do with it. He passed. Yeah, but he ain't
passed yet. Yeah, but he passed. Israel was
passed into the promised land before a foot ever touched the
Jordan River. In the mind and purpose of God.
Isn't that what Caleb said when they come to us the first time?
He said, this is like a story I already told. Let's go. Who cares about giants and walled
cities? We got God. God's going with
us. This is God's work. Let's go in. All right. Thank
you.