You notice when I was reading
that passage of scripture on three different occasions, the
Lord said, verily, verily, I say unto you. I've been looking at
this chapter on a daily basis and couldn't help but notice
that, and this is unique with regard to John's gospel. I say unto you, I've entitled this message, Verily,
Verily. The word verily is actually amen. Whenever you read the word amen
in the scripture, this is the word verily, verily. And this word has been said to
be the most universally recognized word in the human language. Hebrew, amen. Greek, amen. English, amen. In just about every human language,
we have the word, amen. the most universally recognized
word in the English language. Now, when a statement begins
with amen, amen, it means truly. This is a statement of absolute
truth. When it ends with amen, It means
this is the truth. So be it. Let it be so. I think this is very interesting.
The Lord Jesus Christ identifies Himself in Revelation chapter
3 verse 14 as the Amen. The faithful and the true witness. When the Lord uses this statement,
verily, verily, I say unto thee, he's not using hyperbole. This
simply introduces the depth and the magnitude of the truth of
which he speaks. Verily, verily, I say. unto you." This is not merely
man's word, this is MY word. Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Now in this message I want to
attempt to preach this morning, I'll not be shooting a rifle
with only one bullet But a shotgun, praying that the Spirit of God
will take each slug and use it as he sees fit. We're going to
look at where the Lord says in the book of John, verily, verily. And I'm not going to spend much
time on any of these scriptures, but I hope you have your Bibles
open. We're not going to leave the
book of John and look where the Lord says. Verily, verily, I
say unto you. And I love that. I love it in
the Sermon on the Mount, where he said, you've heard it said
of them that are old, and they didn't quote a scripture. But I say it to you. Oh, the
authority of this. And yet when he says, Verily,
verily, I say unto you. Turn to John chapter one. Verse 51, here's the first. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, hereafter you shall see heaven open. And the angels of God ascending
and descending upon the son of man," now that's a reference
to Jacob's ladder, but, oh, he says, verily I say unto you,
you will see heaven opened. Now the only way you'll see it
is if I make you see it. Wouldn't this be glorious if
even today He makes heaven opened to each one of us and we see
the reality of heaven. John chapter 3, verse 3, Jesus answered and said unto
him, now this is talking about Nicodemus. What had Nicodemus
said that our Lord is answering? Verse one, there was a man of
the Pharisees, a religious man named Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews. He was somebody. The same came
to Jesus by night. Now, does that mean he came during
the night because he was ashamed to be identified with the Lord
and didn't want his buddies to see it? It could have meant that. But I believe what this means
is he was in utter and complete darkness. No spiritual light. Darkness. The same came to Jesus by night
and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest,
except God be with him." Well, thanks Nicodemus, I'm appreciative
of your affirmation. No, Jesus answered and said unto
him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of
God. Nicodemus, you know nothing. You come telling me what you
know, you know nothing, and you cannot know anything except you
be born, birthed from above. Now, think of this thing of being
born. How much did you have to do with
your new birth or your first birth? Were you consulted? Did anybody
ask you, do you want to be born? No, you were utterly dependent. You didn't have any say in this.
It was done outside of you. Now for you or I to see the kingdom
of God, we're completely dependent upon God to birth us into his
kingdom. There is no salvation. There
is no understanding of the gospel unless God does something for
me or you. You and I are in his hands. I
can't figure this out. I can't say, well, this is what
I think. No, I'm completely dependent upon God to give me life before
I can see the kingdom of God. Look at Nicodemus' reply. Nicodemus saith unto him, verse
four, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, verily,
verily, there it is again. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, He cannot
enter into the kingdom of God. Not only can you not see the
kingdom of God, you cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you're
born of water. And that doesn't mean water baptism. The water represents the word.
Ephesians 5, 26 calls the washing of water by the word. You're
gonna have to hear the word. And you're not saved without
hearing the word of truth. You're gonna have to hear the
word. And the only way you can hear the word is if God, by his
spirit, births you and enables you to hear. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, except a man be birthed, born of the water
and of the spirit, he cannot enter. The Kingdom of God. Verse 11 of the same chapter.
He's still speaking to Nicodemus. He says in verse 10 to Nicodemus,
Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel?
No, it's not these things. You claim to be a leader in Israel
and you don't even know what I'm talking about. Verily, verily,
there it is again. Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
We speak that we do know, and testify that which we have seen,
and you receive not our witness. Now, I think it's glorious the
way the Lord says, we speak that we know, and we testify that
which we have seen. Who's the we? Well, the Lord
is speaking of every believer and himself. Every believer is included in
this. The Lord speaks as a we. We speak that which we know. And we testify to that which
we have seen. This is not second-hand information.
This is not something that somebody told us. We speak what we know. Now I'm not giving My opinion,
I'm speaking that which I know. And you've got the word of God
to try me to see if I'm speaking what I know. It's one thing for
somebody to say, well, this is what I know and have no scripture
to back it up. But when we preach the gospel, and this is every
single believer, we, we're talking about what we know. When I talk
about salvation being by grace, I know it. When I talk about
Christ being all in salvation, I'm speaking what I know. We
testify, we bear personal witness to what we know and what we have
seen. John chapter five, I've already
read this, verse 19. Then Jesus answered, then answered
Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son
can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do.
For what things whoever he doeth, the Father, these also doeth
likewise the Son likewise." Now, what had taken place? Verse 16,
And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him
because he'd done these things on the Sabbath day. In their
mind, he had broken the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, my father worketh hitherto on
what you call the Sabbath with your lack of understanding of
it. My father's working on the Sabbath and I am too. Therefore, verse 18, the Jews
sought the Moor to kill him, because not only had he broken
the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father, making himself
equal with God. Now they heard exactly what he
intended for them to hear. My father's working, I'm working,
We're equal. What He does, I do. You see, there is a oneness in
the will of the persons of the Trinity. There's no contradiction. They never work independently.
What the Father does, the Son does. What the Son does, the
Spirit does. My Father worketh hitherto. And I work, I can do nothing
of myself. Look in verse 24 of the same
chapter. He's speaking to these same people.
He says, verily, verily, I say unto you. There we have it again,
there's the authority. When the Lord says, I say to
you, all that ought to get our attention. 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 to life. He that heareth my word, not man's opinion, Not man's
religion, but my word. He that heareth my word and believeth
on him that sent me. Now, here's what's gonna happen
when you hear his word. You're gonna believe on him who
sent him. He said, I came down from heaven
not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me." The
Father sent the Son. And let me say this, whatever
it was the Father sent Him to do, He did. The opening chapter of the New
Testament tells us what the Father sent Him to do. Thou shalt call
His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Beloved, He did it. He did it. I came down from heaven
not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me, and
this is the Father's will, which has sent me, that of all which
He hath given me. That's the elect. That's the
elect. Of all which he hath given me,
I should lose nothing. But raise it up again at the
last day. Now, if you hear his word, you're
gonna believe on him that sent him. And you know what's gonna
happen in you believing? You know why you believe on him
that sent him? You have everlasting life. The
only folks who believe are the people who have everlasting life. You don't believe they didn't
get life. You believe because He gave you life. And they came
at the same time. There's no separation. They came
at the same time. Verse 25. Verily, verily, there
it is again, 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 that hear shall live. Now, this is so comforting in
bringing this message. It could be that I'm preaching
to somebody who's dead and trespasses and sins. Matter of fact, I know
I am. I know I am. It's not could be, I know I am.
I'm preaching, there's people here who have life, and there's
people who are dead and sins. But here is our comfort. If Christ speaks to the dead,
they hear. They hear. Oh, I pray that he
speaks to somebody dead in sins right now. So you hear the voice
of the Son of God. You don't just hear the preacher's
voice, that man up there standing, trying to talk. You hear the
voice of the Son of God. John chapter six, verse 26. Jesus answered them and said,
verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw
the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were
filled. Now who's he speaking to? These are the people that
he miraculously fed. 5,000 people. And he created
food at that time. Matter was brought into the universe
that was not there before. And they ate this food from Him. What a miracle! Now, what was
their response? Look in verse 14 of John chapter
6. Then those men, when they had
seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth, that
prophet that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore
perceived that they would come and take Him by force to make
Him a king, He departed. He's not going to have anything
to do with that. You see, he already is king. Nobody makes
him king. We see what he can do for us. Let's make him king.
No. No. And so he says to these same
people, verily, verily, I say unto you, verse 26, you seek
me not because you saw the miracles. Not because of some true conviction
that I am who I am, that I can create matter, that I'm God.
You seek me not because you saw the miracles, but because you
got your bellies filled. You got something to eat, and
you got it for free, and you thought, this could make life
good for me. Let's make him king. We'll get
all the free food we need. He can provide for us. And the
Lord said, labor not for the meat which perishes, But for
the meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son
of Man shall give unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed. Then said they unto him, What
shall we do that we might work the works of God? Now that's
interesting. He said, labor not for the meat which perisheth.
And all they heard is, well, what do we need to do then? Give
us something to do. What can we do? What can we work
that we might work the works of God? And I love our Lord's
answer. Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of
God. Here it is. Are you interested
on what the work of God is? Here it is. that you believe on him whom
he hath sent. That's God's work. You won't
do it unless he works it in you. But this is the work of God that
you're called upon to do. Believe on him whom he hath sent. Look in verse 32 of this same
chapter. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from
heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. Now this picks up with what he
had said. This is the work of God that
you believe on him who is sin. Verse 30, They said therefore
unto him, What sign showest thou then? that we may see and believe. What does thou work? Our fathers
did eat manna in the desert, as it's written. He gave them
bread from heaven to eat, and they misapplied this. They said,
Moses gave us bread. What can you do? Then said Jesus unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from
heaven, but my Father giveth the true bread from heaven, for
the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth
life unto the world. Verse 47. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, he that believeth on me hath
everlasting life. Now, something that is, I think,
very interesting throughout the Gospels, we read of believing in Christ
and believing on Christ. Believing in Christ, believing
on Christ. I believe in Christ when I believe
He is in His presence. isness as the Word says He is. I believe He is. I believe He's
God. I believe He is all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body. I believe He's absolutely sovereign.
I believe He's the all-sufficient Savior. I believe He's independent. He has no needs. I believe He
is. I believe in Him. And you know
what happens when I believe in Him? I believe on. I rely on
Him. I rely on His isness to save
me. Now, believing in Christ and
believing on Christ cannot be separated. You believe in Him. When you believe in Him, you
believe on Him. Now, if you never believe in
Him, you'll never believe on Him. But if you believe in Him, if
you believe His isness, you will believe on Him. Look what he
says in verse 53 of this same chapter. Then said Jesus unto them, 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. Now, is the Lord talking about
cannibalism? Is He saying we actually have
to bite His flesh and drink His blood like we would some kind
of liquid into our body? Well, you know better than that. You know, the Catholic mass,
supposedly the body of Christ turns into His actual flesh that
you're chewing on. And when you drink the wine,
it turns into His blood and you take it into your body. That's
crazy. It's just not so. It's weird. What the Lord is saying with
regard to the flesh, He's talking about His law keeping, what He
did in His flesh. When He's talking about that
blood, He's talking about what His blood accomplished. They
speak of the deceased which he should accomplish. Listen, the
only thing I can live on is his perfect obedience that he worked
out in his flesh as my personal righteousness before God and
his precious blood as paying for all my sins so that I don't
have any guilt before God. That's all I can live on. I can't
live on anything else. I'll starve to death if I don't
have that at all times. except ye eat the flesh of the
Son of Man. That's your necessary food. Drink
His blood, the power, the preciousness of His blood. You have no life
in you. John chapter eight, verse 34. Jesus answered them, verily,
verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin, is the slave
of sin. Now why did he make that statement? Verse 33. Then answered him,
they answered him, the Pharisees, we be Abraham's seed, and we're
never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, ye shall be
free? We're already free. What are
you talking about? We're Abraham's seed, we're already
free. For one thing, they were living under bondage to the Roman
government. They weren't free. But I think
more than anything else, they're saying this. We're free. We got
free will. We got free will. We're never
in bondage to anybody. We can do all we want. We're
free! If you sin, you're a slave of sin. Don't
talk about bondage. Don't talk about freedom from
bondage. You are under the complete bondage of sin. And the only
way you can be free is if I make you free. If the Son shall make
you free, you're free indeed. Lord, make me free. Look down in verse 51 of John
chapter eight. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
if a man keep my saying, he guards over it. Oh, it's precious to
him. This is what he hangs the hope of his salvation in. If
a man keep my saying, He shall never see death. Verse 58, Jesus said unto them, this same
crowd, verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was,
I am. Now, they had said, you're not
even 50. And you say you've seen Abraham?
Abraham lived 1400 years ago. You saying you're that old? No. Before Abraham was, I am. Now that's the name God gave
when he spoke to Moses from the burning bush. He said to Moses
at that time, I am that I am. Now, I love this bush burning
that couldn't be consumed. That bush did not need the energy
of the wood to keep burning. That speaks of Christ as the
independent God. He has no needs. Now, do you understand that?
He doesn't need you. You need him, but he doesn't
need you. He didn't create the universe
out of some form of need. He was lonely. No, he did it
to manifest his glory. He has no needs. And you know
what? That bush couldn't be consumed
by the fire. That's speaking of the perfect
humanity of Christ. The wrath of God could not consume
him. He consumed the wrath so that
it's gone. And he says, from the bush. I am that I am. They knew exactly what he was
saying. Only God can say this, you can't say it. I can't say
it. He's the eternal, self-existent
one. I am that I am. Look back in verse 23 of this
same chapter. And he said unto them, you are
from beneath, I am from above, you are of this world, I'm not
of this world. I said therefore unto you that
you shall die in your sins, for if you believe not that, what? I am. I am eternal God. I am the self-existent one. If you believe not that I am,
you shall die in your sins. John chapter 10, verse one. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, that climbeth
up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. Verse seven, same chapter. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that
ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn't
hear them. I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.
Now, don't you love the simplicity of the Lord's description of
himself? I'm the door. I'm the door. What's a door do? Let you in. He's the way into
the presence of the Father. What's a door do? It opens up
to you, lets you out. Liberty. Freedom. What's a door
do? Keeps you in. Locks you in. If you're in Christ, you can't
leave him. He won't let you. What's a door do? Keeps people
out. Christ is a shut door to anyone
who comes on the footing of their own works. He's shut to you. but he's open to all who come
by him only. He said, him that cometh to me,
I will in no wise, for no reason whatsoever, cast him out. He's the door, John chapter 12,
verse 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a corn of wheat, fall into the ground and die, it abides
alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. This speaks
of the necessity of Christ's death and the fruit that comes
from it. Now listen to me, everybody that Jesus Christ died for shall
be saved. There won't be anybody in hell
that he died for. I mean, his death makes the salvation
of everybody he died for absolutely necessary. John chapter 13, verse
16, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant's not greater
than his Lord, neither he that sent greater than he that sent
him. If you know these things, happy when you do them. Now what's
the Lord? The Lord had been a foot washer. He washed his disciples'
feet. Can you imagine what you'd feel
like if the Lord was washing your feet? Well, he does. He
does. And he says, I'm the master. If I'm a foot washer, you are
to be too. Look in verse 21 of the same chapter.
When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit and said,
verily, verily, I say unto you that one of you shall betray
me. One of you shall betray me. Do you remember from the other
gospel accounts their response? Is it I? Is it I? Who's the one person
who said he wouldn't do it? Peter. Though the rest of this
bunch betray you, I won't do it. Not me. And he meant it. He said, I'd
die for you. He meant it. Look in verse 36, Simon Peter said unto him, Whither
goest thou? Jesus answered, Whither I go,
you know not. You can't follow me now, but you'll follow me
afterwards. Peter said, Lord, why can I not follow thee now?
I'll lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, Wilt
thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto
you, The cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice. That chapter 14 is man-made. That's a man-made division. Let's
leave that out for just a second and let's read what the Lord
says to Peter. Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice. Let not your heart be troubled. What? That's what he said. You see, if I'm a believer, Jesus
Christ died for my sins. And in all times, sin's never
okay. Don't mistake what I'm saying. Sin's never okay. Under any circumstance,
But under every circumstance, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe the
same thing concerning me. John 14, 12. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the
works that I do, shall he do also, and greater works than
these shall he do, because I go to my Father. He doesn't mean greater works
in the sense of more sensational works. He's my, the Lord did
what only God can do. He raised the dead. He created
matter. He controlled the weather. You
can do something greater than that? No, this is what the Lord's
talking about. You know, when he died, there
was only 120 disciples. 120. After three years of public ministry,
that's all the disciples he had. He preached to a lot of people,
but that's all the disciples he had. But after his death,
there will be hundreds of millions believe the gospel. Greater works shall you do. John chapter 16, just a few more.
John chapter 16, verse 20. Verily, verily, verse 20, John
16, 20. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
that you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice,
and you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned to
joy. That's talking about the joy
and the peace of believing. You're gonna know something of
the joy of who I am and my accomplishments. Verse 23, the same chapter. And in that day, you shall ask
me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he'll give
it to you. That's the power of his name.
Somebody says, I've asked and he didn't give it to me. Well,
you didn't ask in his name. If you ask in His name and know
what that means, you'll have mercy. There's no one that's
ever asked in His name for mercy that the Father turned down.
And here's our last one, John 21, verse 18. These are the words of the Lord
to Peter, verily, verily, John 21, 18, verily, verily, I say
unto thee, when thou wast young, Thou girdest thyself, and walkest
whither thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou
shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee,
and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he signifying
by what death he should glorify God. And when he had thus spoken,
he said unto him, follow me. And you know what the Lord's
saying to Peter? Everything's good for you right now, but you
know the time is coming when they're gonna stretch you forth.
And he's talking about his hands being stretched on a cross. As a matter of fact, church tradition
says he was crucified upside down. Because he didn't feel
worthy to be crucified in the same manner the Lord was crucified. And he wasn't. But I love the
way John, when he speaks of him, dying for the cause of Christ
as a martyr. He says, this is how you're going
to glorify God. What glory there is in the Son
of God that if you're crucified rather than renounce his truth, it's called an act of glorifying
God. One of the martyrs in Fox's Book
of Martyrs, when they were putting the fire to the wood to burn
him alive, he said, to die for Christ is an honor I don't deserve. How glorious is Jesus Christ
that to die for him would be honorable and glorious. how glorious he is. Verily, verily, I say unto you. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would take this message and cause it to bear fruit according
to your will. Lord, nothing good will come
unless you do it. And Lord, we pray that you would
take your word and bless it according to your will. In Christ's name
we pray, amen.