Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to 2 Peter 3. Beginning in verse 10. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night. in which the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. The earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up, seeing then that all these
things shall be dissolved. What manner of persons ought
ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking far and
hastening unto the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in
peace, without spot, and blameless. And account that the longsuffering
of our Lord is salvation. Even as our beloved brother Paul,
also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written
unto you, as also in all his epistles speaking in them of
these things, in which are some things hard to be understood,
which they that are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do
also the other scriptures unto their own destruction. Ye therefore,
beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware, lest ye
also being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from
your own steadfastness, but grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both
now and forever. Amen. Let's pray together. Our Father, this evening, for
Christ's sake, we ask You to bless the Word that's preached
tonight. Lord, bless it by Your Spirit. Cause it to be heard with power. And Lord, may we be comforted.
And we ask You this evening, Lord, save Your people. Call
them out of darkness. Lord, perhaps tonight would be
the day of salvation to one, one of Your own, one of Your
sheep that have to this night been lost. if it please you according
to your mercy and grace. Lord, call Your own. Speak to
us, we pray, for Christ's sake. Amen. Grow in grace. Grace is altogether of God. Verse Peter 5, 10 says, But the
God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by
Christ Jesus, after ye have suffered a while, make ye perfect, establish,
strengthen, settle ye. God's grace is freely given to
whomsoever He is pleased to give it, and it has absolutely nothing
to do with man's ability or his merit, nothing to do with man's
acceptance of it or man's worth in himself. God, grace. It's the gift of God. For by
grace are you saved through faith. that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God. The bestowing of grace evidences
that I was in need of grace. So to see and believe what God
has done for me is to see and believe something of the depth
of my need. I need God to be gracious to
me, Bob. Grow in grace. What has God done for His people? He has been gracious. That is what He has done. I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Compassion on whom I will
have compassion. The grace of God is a person. We speak of grace
as if it's an act, and it is. But God's grace is the Lord Jesus
Christ. That is His grace. He is all in all. So to grow in grace is to grow
or to increase in my knowledge, in my understanding,
in my love, in my appreciation of the Lord Jesus Christ? How do I grow in Him? What is it to grow in my understanding
of who He is? How is that? Growing in grace brought to a
deeper understanding of the plague of my own heart. I have absolutely
no ability to grow in grace of myself. What
am I going to do, Darrell? How am I going to increase myself? He said, through Peter, growing
grace. But I'm going to tell you something.
If He doesn't grow me, I don't grow. Faithful is He who calleth
you who will also do it. The Lord told His disciples,
without Me you can do nothing. Here's a commandment, growing
grace. And I'm reading this, and I realize
that in me, that is, in my flesh, there dwells no good thing. And
I realize it. How is this done? How is this
accomplished? How are we matured? How are we
increased? How do we grow in grace? What is that? Have you ever thought
about that? Grow in grace, OK? Now what? I've got three things that I'd
like to say, and then I'm going to sit down, about growing in
grace. What is it to grow in grace? How does one grow in grace? Well, here's the first thing. To grow in grace, the first thing
that must happen is Almighty God must make me alive. Dead things, dead people don't
grow. Only life grows. So the first thing about growing
in grace is you must be born again. It is impossible. To take an unbeliever and to
teach them something of the things of God, they're foolishness to
them. They don't understand. God must birth a man. You must
be born from above. Verily, verily, Nicodemus, I
say unto thee, except a man be born again, that is, from above,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. I must have Christ in me. Christ. Who is our life? He is our life. When He shall appear, you shall
also appear with Him in glory. I've got to be made alive. Unbelievers
don't grow in grace. Believers grow in grace. They've
got to be born again. Secondly, growing in grace. Let me ask you this. We just
got through going over here and eating supper. Why? Well, he's hungry. Do you know what's going to happen
if you don't eat? If you don't eat, you're going
to die. The second thing of growing in
grace is Almighty God must feed me. He must feed me. We must
eat. 1 Peter 2.2, His newborn babes
desire the sincere milk of the Word. What? that you may grow
thereby." You must, you must, you must hear the gospel. You must hear Christ. A believer
hungers and thirsts for the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord told His
disciples, He said, except you eat My flesh and drink My blood,
you have no life in you. Do you know what that means?
Except you eat My flesh. Except you eat. by faith, ingest
and live upon His flesh, His life. The life that He lived
in perfect obedience before Almighty God, unless His flesh, His walk,
His life is my life. Except I drink of His blood,
except I drink by faith of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no life in me. For me
to grow, I've got to eat of Him. We come together here, down there
where you are, Greg. People of God come together to
eat. I want to eat. I want to feed. Don't tell me anything, but you
tell me of Him. Tell me of Him. Thirdly, for
me to grow, I've got to be kept alive. I've got to be kept by
God. Jude 1.24, Now unto him that
is able, to keep you from falling and
to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with
exceeding joy. What God has begun, God maintains. What God starts, God keeps. What God purposes, God fulfills. Philippians 1, 6, being confident
of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. And how do you
know that God Almighty has done something for you? How do you
know? You believe Him. You believe
Him. I believe that God Almighty as
apart from anything that I've ever done or ever desired to
do initially. I wasn't seeking Him. I wasn't
hungering after Him. When it pleased God, Paul said,
it separated me from my mother's womb to reveal Christ in me.
When it pleased God, this is how God births one of His own. When it pleases God to cross
paths with one of His elect, He puts them under the sound
of the gospel, a message of free, sovereign grace. And by that
message, the message of Christ that honors Christ, the Spirit
of God imparts life. And you believe Him. He births
you. And He gives you a hunger. He
gives you a hunger to eat one thing. To eat of Him. That's all I want to eat. You
say, that's all I want to eat. I want to eat of Him. He births
you. He feeds you. He keeps you. And you grow. You grow. by faith you believe Him. Peter says, ìGrow in grace and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.î When
itís all said and done, the believer will say this, ìLord, Youíre
worthy. Youíre worthy. Of myself, I could
do nothing. Lord, You created me in righteousness. Lord, You sustained me, fed me
along." Thank you. You have to endure a man like
me after having sat under a man like Scott. It's going to be
a real work of grace for you tonight. Turn with me in your
Bibles to 1 John 5. 1 John 5. Trish and I have been Looking forward to coming up
here. We've been wanting to see where Carl and Ivalou visit when
they leave their home in Florida. We're happy to see that they're
welcomed here like they are at home. We love them and enjoy our fellowship
with them and with you through them on the plane Coming here, we
had a very pleasant conversation with Sam and Sam asked where
we were going and what we were about. And I told him somewhat
reluctantly, I hate to get into these conversations with people
on an airplane. I told him I was a preacher and
we were coming up here and he said, oh, you're going to preach
on Easter Sunday. Y'all going to have a sunrise service. I
said, no. We're going to have service tonight, tomorrow night,
Sunday morning. He said, oh, you're having a
revival. And I said, with all seriousness,
I hope so. I hope so. Now, Sam didn't understand
what I meant when I said that, but you do. And I say amen with
your pastor and hoping that the Lord will be pleased to bless
his word to our hearts this weekend. I have a very short and sweet
text. For the message tonight, it's
found in First John, Chapter five, verse one, one that I hope
will not only be committed to memory by us all. But one that
will declare the glory of the gospel to our hearts. In its simplicity, in its simplicity
and the glory of the gospel is seen in the simplicity of Christ,
this is a verse that I'm sure many of you already know by heart.
But one that will look at word by word tonight and trust that
the Lord will teach us the meaning of it and give us his grace to
believe it. The Scripture is this, and we're
not even going to use the whole verse, as a matter of fact, for
right now. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born
of God. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Now, the question that this verse
begs of you and me is how can I know for sure that I've been
born of God? Your pastor quoted from John
chapter three, our Lord's conversation with Nicodemus. When he told
Nicodemus, you must be born again. You must be born of the spirit,
you must be born from above, you must be born of God, that
which is of the flesh, that which has been born of the flesh is
flesh, and the flesh profiteth nothing, but that which is born
of the spirit. Now, that's another story. That
comes from above and the spirits like the wind, he listeth whithersoever
he wills. Has he blown your way? Has he
breathed life into you? Have the qualifications that
the Holy Spirit inspired John to write in this very brief declaration
of truth been brought to life for you? Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. You say, well, that's
awfully simple. That's a lot of people would say they they
believe that. Well, Let's let's consider it. Word for word. And I'm certain
that there is a great misunderstanding among many people, not among
God's people, but among many people as to what this verse
really means. We begin with the word whosoever. Men read this word and they believe
that, well, that opens up salvation for everybody. Opens up salvation
for everybody. If I'm a breathing member of
the human race, I have as much right and chance to salvation
as anyone else. It's not what this word does
at all. This word whosoever does not open up the possibility of
salvation to everybody, but rather it limits salvation to those
who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whosoever says that if the following conditions
in this passage fit you then all other factors and circumstances
in your life are irrelevant. That's what this word whosoever
means this word whosoever means it doesn't matter what you've
done or what you haven't done. It doesn't matter what you have
or what you don't have. It doesn't matter what you know
or what you don't know. That's what the word whosoever
means. It limits salvation to those who believe that Jesus
is the Christ, they are the ones that are born of God and them
only. This word whosoever tells us
that salvation, I know that I've been born of God. If I am not
looking to anything in myself to even so much as to improve
my position with God, much less merit me salvation. Believing that. Something you've
done disqualifies you from salvation. Yourself is self-righteousness.
It is. Read this, we talk about people
who trust in their good works for their merit before God. But
to believe that somehow something you've done in your life prohibits
you from being saved is just as self-righteous as trusting
something that you have done as a means of your salvation.
It really is. What is self-righteousness? Self-righteousness
is looking to self as the source of righteousness and believing
that something you've done prohibits you from being saved, says that
had you not done it, you'd be more qualified for salvation.
That's what this word whosoever does. This word whosoever. Declares that all other conditions
and all other. Circumstances. Apart from believing
that Jesus is the Christ is irrelevant. When it comes to being born of
God. It doesn't open the doesn't open salvation up for everyone
it limits salvation to those who simply believe that Jesus
is the Christ. Jew Gentile the male or female
rich or poor. Educated, uneducated, religious,
irreligious, moral, immoral. This word says that whether you
are. A notorious center like Mary Magdalene. Or a virgin like
Mary, the mother of Jesus. You must believe that Jesus is
the Christ. You must believe that Jesus is
the Christ. And in believing. You give evidence that you've
been born of God. A poor nobody like blind Bartimaeus
or a wealthy landowner like Joseph of Arimathea. Whosoever believe
that Jesus is the Christ. A harlot like Rahab or a virtuous
woman like Esther doesn't matter. It's irrelevant. It's irrelevant
what you've done or what you haven't done, what you know or
what you don't know, what you have or what you don't have.
That's what this word whosoever means. That's what it means. Whosoever believes that Jesus
is the Christ. Is born of God. You see, this
word whosoever is a limiting word. It's not a broad word that
opens up salvation to everyone. This word says that whether you
are a self-righteous persecutor like Saul of Tarsus or whether
you are like the thief on the cross getting his just reward. You must believe that Jesus is
the Christ. Timothy, so thankful that. Parents teach their children
the scriptures like Eunice and Lois did for young Timothy growing
up and the Lord took those scriptures and used them to bring the gospel
to his heart later in life. But whether you're a Timothy
taught the scriptures from a child or a wild eyed demoniac like
the one in the gatherings. You must believe that Jesus is
the Christ. That's what this word whosoever
means. Abel offered an acceptable sacrifice
to God and he became the first martyr. For the gospel because
of that Aaron on the other hand led the children of Israel to
worship a golden calf. Didn't matter. Must believe that Jesus is the
Christ. That is the tax collector to
Zacharias the priest. Whosoever is not a positive condition
for salvation, it's a negative one. It doesn't open salvation
for everyone. It limits salvation to only those
who believe that Jesus is the Christ. You see that. What do we see in the man centered
will worship religion? They don't they do just the opposite,
don't they? They make this word whosoever
to make to be the condition for salvation. Well, if I'm a breathing,
living member of the human race, I'm a candidate for salvation.
And they make the whosoever. Whosoever will, yeah, but the
problem is not with the whosoever, it's with the will. It's with
the will. Whosoever believe us. Believe it. Now, what God commands. Is always
impossible for man to produce. Always it's the reason he commands
it, God commands the impossible in order to make us depend on
him for the ability and what he commands he provides. And
when God says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, come to the
Lord Jesus Christ, You can't. You can't. That's that's the
gospel call come, but you can't. You say, well, that doesn't make
sense. Well, if you've tasted of the heavenly gift, you know
that it makes sense. You know that God's commanding
you to come is what brought you to your knees to depend on him
for the ability to come. Whosoever believeth, Lord, I
can't believe. The ability to believe is of
God. In John, chapter six, there were
some. Self-righteous men who thought
they could do something to earn favor with God, and so they asked
the Lord Jesus Christ, what can we do to work the works of God?
And the Lord said to them, this is the work of God. He didn't say to them, this is
what you must do to work the works of God. You must believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and if you'll believe, then you'll
be doing the work of God and God will reward you for that
faith with salvation. That's not what he said. He said,
this is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has
sent. If you are unable to believe,
it's because God did a work in you. That's the work of God. Your pastor quoted from Ephesians
chapter two a little while ago for by grace are you saved through
faith that faith is not of yourself. It's a gift of God not of works. Who do men say that I am Peter.
Well some say that you are Elijah some say that you're John the
Baptist or one of the prophets that come back. Whom do you say
that I am. What Peter say. Lord, thou art
the Christ, the son of the living God. The Lord Jesus said to him, Peter,
you've learned well, you've listened carefully, you've you've decided
to receive what I've told you. Is that what he said? No, he
said, Simon Bar-Jonah, he said, you've been blessed with a father.
You didn't learn this by flesh and blood. My father, which is
in heaven, has taught you that truth. And upon this rock, I'll
build my church and the gates of hell shall not be able to
prevail against it. To believe the whosoever, how
do I know that I've been born of God? How do I know that I've
been born of God? Because that whosoever fits me.
I've heard what that whosoever says. That whosoever doesn't
embolden me to be proud and thinking that because I'm a member of
the human race, I'm a candidate for salvation. No, that whosoever
has shown me that salvation is limited. And that everything
that I've ever done or haven't done in my life is irrelevant
when it comes to the salvation of my soul. That the condition
for salvation is believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Believing
that Jesus is the Christ. And that believing. Is by grace. That believing is a gift of God. That believing is not mere intellectual
assent. To believe that Jesus is the
Christ is you see Sam on the airplane would have said Jesus
is the Christ. Tends a free will according to
his own confession, a free will Baptist church thinking that
we're having a revival. And he would have readily said,
well, I believe that Jesus is the Christ. James said it like this, you
believe that there is one God, you do well. The devils believe
also and they tremble. Turn with me in your Bibles to
Luke, the fourth chapter, Luke chapter four. We've considered the word whosoever,
and we are now considering what God means by comparing the spiritual
to the spiritual. And that's how we interpret the
Bible, isn't it? We interpret God's word by God's
word. We don't interpret it by our
opinions or by our feelings. We're not it. We're not. Well,
you know, I say interpret. We're not interpreting the Bible.
We're just declaring it. We're understanding the scripture
by the scriptures. You know, people say, well, that's
your interpretation. No, that's not my interpretation. It's just
what God says. Here it is. And here's plenty
more proof for it. Here's other scriptures that
say the exact same thing. Look at Luke chapter four at
verse thirty three. And in the synagogue, there was
a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil and cried out with
a loud voice saying, let us alone. What have we to do with the Jesus
of Nazareth? Are thou come to destroy us?
I know thee who thou art. You are the Holy One of Israel.
You're the Holy One of God. Now, that was a devil speaking.
That was a devil speaking, saying to the Lord Jesus Christ, I know
who you are. You are the Holy One of God.
Well, doesn't the Bible say, whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God? Look in that same chapter, look
with me at verse 41. And devils also came out of many
crying out and saying, Thou art Christ, the Son of God, and he
rebuked them and suffered them not to speak, for they knew that
he was Christ. That's pretty clear that doesn't
need any interpretation. That's language is just as simple
as language can get. The devils knew and know that
Jesus is the Christ. The Holy One of God. Do they
believe? That Jesus is the Christ, what
does it mean to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Lord
himself said in Matthew chapter seven, not everyone who says
unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but
then that do the will of the Father, which is in heaven. Well,
the very next verse says. That they will say to him on
that day of judgment, but Lord. But Lord, we did the will of
the Father. We cast out demons in your name.
We did many wonderful works in your name in the name of Jesus
Christ. We did many wonderful works.
And the Lord is going to turn to them and say, depart from
me, you workers of iniquity. Now, that's a very key word in
this in understanding this passage of Scripture. You workers of
iniquity, I never knew you. The Bible uses a couple of different
words to describe our sin nature. And this word iniquity has a
very special meaning to it. It means exactly what it says
in English. Inequitous. You have equity in your home.
The equity in your home is the amount of money between what
you owe on your home and what it's worth. That's your equity,
and that's what balances out the balance sheet, doesn't it?
And the word iniquity doesn't have to do with the things that
men are ashamed of. It doesn't have to do with the
things that men don't want other people to know about. It has
to do with those good works that the Lord speaks of there in Matthew
chapter 7, when he says, Lord, we did many wonderful works in
your names depart from me, you workers of iniquity. You are trusting Jesus as your
Christ, as your Messiah, you were trusting your good works
as the hope of your salvation. You didn't believe that Jesus
was the Christ. You believe that somehow God
would merit you with favor because of your Good works, which in
fact are dead works and in the sight of God, filthy rags and
iniquity. Your works do not balance out
the scale. Men think God has a balanced
scale in heaven with their name on it. That's the way people
think. And every time they do something
bad, God puts it on one side, and every time they do something
good, God puts it on the other side, and they hope that in the end
it's going to equal out. The problem with that is that
what they think is going on the good side is going on the bad
side. And they're getting more and more in an iniquitous position
than when they started. Their good works are piling up
as their evil works. And God says it's iniquity. Depart
from me for I never knew you. The devils believe the religious
believe the self-righteous believe they say they do. But what is
it to believe? What is it to believe? The Lord, after feeding the 5000.
Said to them, if you're going to be
my disciples, you must be willing to take up your cross. Die to
yourself. Follow me. I'll be everything
to you or I'll be nothing to you. And the Scripture says that
they all turned around, went home. Now, the disciples, not knowing
what was going on. Had some things to be taught.
But the Lord turned to them. And said, will you leave me also? And, you know, in religion, preachers
are always begging men to come, begging men to believe. Begging
men to let God have his way in their life. You know, when the
Gospels preach, we can say not with a mean spirit, but we can
say with great confidence, we can say with great confidence
to God's people, leave if you can. Leave if you can. Believing is the inability to
not believe. Believing is the inability to
not believe. You can't not believe, can you?
You have to. Will you leave me also, the Lord
said to the disciples, and what did they say? To whom shall we
go? To whom shall we go? Thou alone has the words of eternal
life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, Lord, we've
got no place else to go. You see, believing is not a choice. Believing is what you do when
you don't have any choices. You don't choose to believe.
You believe when you've got no place else to go. And as long
as you've got another option, you'll choose it. What is it
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? It is to look to him
alone as your only standing before God, to trust his body and his
blood, his life, his righteousness and his sacrificial death on
Calvary's cross as your only acceptance before God. Lord,
where should we go? They went out from us, John said.
But they went out from us because they were never of us. For if
they had been of us, no doubt, no doubt, no doubt about it,
they would have remained. Why? Because those who believe
can't do anything but believe. They don't have a choice about
it. They've been made to believe. They've been caused to come.
They've been made willing in the day of God's power and the
Spirit of God has breathed life into them and caused them to
come and they can't do anything else. They can't do anything
else but believe. That's what Paul meant when he
said, Oh, I know whom I have believed. I know whom I believe,
and I'm persuaded. I am persuaded with all my heart
that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him
against that day. Now, Was so believing his commitment. Is that what you're saying, Pastor?
No. No, as a matter of fact, that
word committed unto him against that day is really not a good
translation in English. A better translation would be
deposited, deposited. That's what the word means. It's
an accounting term that's used in that passage of Scripture.
Now, I hear that if you have a lot of worldly wealth, that
it's probably not a good idea to invest all of it in one particular
thing. Diversify your investments in
case one thing goes bad, you know, perhaps something else
will make up for it over here. And at the end of the day, when
everything balances out, you'll be at the good. You put everything
in one, put all your eggs in one basket, you're liable to
lose everything. That's what that word means.
Paul said, I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that
he's able to keep that which I have deposited in him against
that day. I got all my eggs in one basket.
You see, men of religion, they say, well, you know, I believe
in Jesus. And I believe in that prayer I prayed back there and
that experience I had and these works that I'm performing and
this and that. They've disqualified themselves under the word of
whosoever. They've disqualified themselves
under the word of belief. They haven't put all their eggs
in one basket, they're not trusting Christ alone as the hope of their
salvation. They're. They're hedging their
bets, they're diversifying their assets, they're they're thinking,
well, you know, just in case I didn't do enough over here,
well, I got Jesus to help me over here. No. Believing is trusting Christ
alone. alone. Without any help or aid
from you whatsoever. His life of righteousness. His
sacrificial atoning death on Calvary's cross as your only
acceptance before God. Now, whosoever believes Jesus. Jesus, we're looking at each
word in this verse. Whosoever believes Jesus is the
Christ is born of God. How do I know if I'm born of
God? Well, men talk about Jesus. But they say Jesus and don't
mean Jesus. They honor him with their lips,
but their hearts are far from him. What do you mean? Well, his name means Jehovah
saved. That's what his name means, and
that's what believing in him means. We believe that all of
our salvation is of the Lord. That's what Jonah said. Salvation
is of the Lord. We believe that he's the Alpha
and the Omega of the beginning and the end. We believe that
he that the only hope of our salvation is that he chose a
people in the covenant of grace before the foundation of the
world. We believe that what the Lord Jesus Christ did in his
In his righteousness, in his obedience to the father is the
only hope of our righteousness before God. We believe that when
he shed his precious blood on Calvary's cross, that that blood
is the only covering, the only covering to make up for my unrighteousness,
all my iniquity, all my sin is covered only by the blood of
Christ, the Lamb of God. which taketh away the sins of
the world, that lamb that was slain before the foundation of
the world, that lamb that the father was was pleased to bruise
on Calvary's cross, that lamb that cried out. It is finished. It is finished. He came to do
the father's will, and when he accomplished everything the father
sent him to do, he declared victoriously, it's finished. Nothing left to
do. Nothing left for you to do. He
did it all. Whosoever believeth Jesus, Jesus is the Christ. And here's the
crux of the matter. Here's the crux of the matter.
Jesus is the Christ. In Luke chapter 2, we find that
That old man who faithfully waited for the consolation of Israel,
Simeon, there in God's providence in the temple when the Lord Jesus
Christ was brought in to be circumcised. The Scripture says that he had
been waiting for the Lord's Christ. The Lord's Christ. And once he
saw him, he said, Lord, it's It's OK now, you can take me
home. I know all is well now. I've seen your Christ. That's
what Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. John in chapter 20 said, Many
of the things did Jesus that are not recorded in this book,
but these have been written in order that you might believe
that Jesus is the Christ and that believing that He's the
Christ, you might have life in His name. The disciples The Scripture says
in Acts chapter five daily in the temple and in every house,
they cease not to preach and to teach Jesus as the Christ. The Christ. Now, here's the this
is the crux of this text. Put aside the whosoever and the
but I don't put aside this. It's important we've just talked
about, isn't it? But. Christ. Christ. It means anointed one
when the Lord Jesus Christ inaugurated his public ministry in the in
the synagogue in Capernaum. The scripture says they had they
handed him the scroll and he opened it up. You remember where
he opened it to Isaiah chapter 61 and he read from that passage
of scripture term with me there. Isaiah chapter 61. Christ means anointed. Anointed by the Spirit of God,
sent by the Father in the power of the Spirit to accomplish the
purpose for which the Father sent Him. It's also translated
in our Bibles, Messiah. Messiah, Christ, anointed one,
all means the same thing. The Scripture says that he is
anointed with the Spirit, with the oil of gladness. Oil is the
picture of the Spirit all throughout the Scriptures. He's anointed
with the oil of gladness above his fellows. He came in the full
power of the Spirit of God and the Spirit of God lighted upon
him like a dove. There it is, baptism. And God
confirmed, this is my Christ. This is my anointed one. This
is the one who has come in the full power of the Spirit of God
to accomplish The purpose for which I've sent him. And that's
where the Lord read from. Look here in Isaiah, Chapter
61, verse one. The spirit of the Lord God is
upon me. The spirit of the Lord God is
upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound. You know, even the woman at the
well who was but a half Jew. Believed that when Messiah came
that he had fixed everything. That's what she said. She said,
I know that when Messiah cometh, which is called the Christ, when
he has come, he'll tell us all things. There is no concept throughout
all of God's Word. Of a Christ who can do anything
but succeed in what he came to do. That's what his name means. That's
the whole idea of the anointing. That he's come in order to accomplish
the purpose of the father. You're there in Isaiah. Turn
back with me in Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah 42. Verse one. Behold, my servant whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth, I have put my spirit upon him,
and he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He's going to
show the Gentiles what God requires in order for the scales to be
balanced, in order for my righteousness to be met and my justice to be
satisfied. He's going to do it. He's the
Christ. He's coming in the full power
of the Spirit of God. I put my spirit upon him and
he shall bring forth judgment. He shall not cry. Nor lift up
his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets. He's
not going to go around begging men to let him have his way.
He's not going to play tricks on people and do all sorts of
things to pull on men's heartstrings in order to deceive them into
In the coming, like people doing religion, you know, play the
soft music and all these sorts of things. You know, we'll sing
one more stanza, have an invitation, come forward, you know, pray
this prayer, all these sort of things. No, he doesn't do that.
He doesn't do that. You know, I like to fish and
I fish with lures a lot of times. And if fish won't bite one lure,
I know I need to change them. I've got hundreds of them. You
know, I just keep changing lures till I find one the fish will
bite. You know, that's how men in religion try to catch people.
That's how they try to catch fish for their Jesus, don't they? They throw one lure and another
lure and they'll have this program and that program until they find
something that men will bite. What's the pattern of catching
God's fish in the Word of God? Cast the net. Cast the net. That's what we're doing right
now. We're preaching the gospel. We're casting out the net. We're
not trying to trick anybody. We're just telling you what God
says. You know what? God's fish are going to get in
that net. They just are. They're going to get in it. Every
one of them. Not one of them are going to be lost. That's
why the Lord, when they brought in that great rod of fish, they
count them how many? 156. Why did they count them?
For that very purpose. Not one fish. Every fish is important.
Not one fish will be lost. Everyone's going to get in the
net. So he doesn't cry or lift up his voice in the street and
try to beg and plead and manipulate people. A bruised reed shall
he not break and a smoking flax shall he not quench. Now flax
is what they use in those oil lamps as a wick. And when the
oil gets low and the wick begins to go burn down, And the flame
is almost out. There's only the only thing left
is a little tiny ember on that. You know, the temptation is to
wet your fingers and just go ahead and put it out. And there's
your life and my life, oftentimes, isn't it? The fire of the spirit
of God burns low sometimes, doesn't it? You know what he does? He doesn't come put out the light.
The smoking flax he does not quench. No, he puts more oil
in the lamp and he breathes on it with his spirit until that
flame comes back. Fire will never go out, not for
his people. He takes care of those that he
came to save. Look what he says. He shall bring
forth judgment unto truth. He shall. Not he might not. He's going to try. He shall. This is what Christ means. The
anointed one. That's what he was saying when
he read that passage from Isaiah chapter 16 chapter 61 in the
temple, when he said the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because
the Lord hath Christed me. The Lord hath Christed me. The
Lord hath made me his Messiah. He's anointed me with his spirit.
Why? Look at verse four. In Isaiah 42, he shall not fail
nor be discouraged till he has set judgment in the earth and
the isles shall wait for his law. Somebody asked me one time,
is the United States of America mentioned in Bible prophecy?
Yeah, there it is right there. Isles. That's us. And every other nation outside
of Israel where God has a people, every people, land, tongue, nation.
Those are the isles. Those are those people out there.
And God, the Lord's going to save them. He's going to save
them. Why? Because he's anointed of
God. He's the Christ. He cannot fail. He cannot do anything but succeed
of the increase of the government and peace. There shall be of
his government and peace. There shall be no end. He's the
anointed one of God. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Brothers and sisters, I know
from my own personal experience that there are times in times of doubt and fear and
weakness when I wonder Did Christ die for me? It's something the Lord God did
in my heart when He saved me that's never wavered, even in
those moments when I wonder if He died for me. One truth that's
never wavered, one truth that changed the moment the Lord made
Himself known to me, and I believe the moment He made Himself known
to every one of His people. They've never doubted that those
for whom he did die are saved. They don't believe in a little
Jesus. They can't. They don't believe
in a Jesus who wants men to be saved, but, you know, he just
can't get his way unless they help him out. You know, he's
in heaven wringing his hands, just wishing it meant nothing.
They don't believe that. They used to believe that way.
They used to believe that way. But they can't believe that way
anymore. Why? Because Jesus, Jehovah saves,
he shall save his people. He is finished. He's done the
work, the Alpha and the Omega. You believe him to be the Christ.
And as the Christ, he's the anointed one of God who cannot fail. He cannot fail. Now, Did he die for me? Did he die
for me? Well, that question is answered
in this verse also. It is. In the Old Testament,
God had three offices, three particular individuals that were
anointed by his spirit in order to accomplish the purpose
that God had given them, the Lord gave them an anointing.
Now, those prophets and those priests and those kings in the
Old Testament of Israel that were anointed by the Spirit of
God and ceremonially anointed by oil in order to show God's
blessing on them, well, they were a fleeting meteorite flashing
a light into time and space, but compared to the son of righteousness
who raised like the morning star with healing in his wings, they
were nothing compared to him, were they? They were but types
of the Lord Jesus. They were they were Christ. Those
those prophets, priests and kings in the Old Testament were they
were they were a type of Christ. They were they were type of the
Messiah. They were used of God in order to bring salvation to
Israel, prophets, priests and kings. They were the anointed
ones of God. And they all foreshadowed. Never
did one man serve in all three roles. Until the Lord Jesus Christ
came on the scene and then he fulfilled and satisfied prophet,
priest and king as the Christ, the anointed one. Who needs a prophet? You still have your Bibles open
to Isaiah 61? Who needs a prophet? Those who have no way of knowing the
will or word of God apart from God speaking to them through
the prophet. The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
to the meek, to bring the Word of God. And
the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory
as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." You
see, the blind, the ignorant need a prophet. When the Lord told the Pharisees
that he was the word of God and that that only those who could
see could could believe that. They in indignation said, are
you suggesting that we're blind? And the Lord said, if you were,
then your sins would be forgiven you, but because you say you
can see your sins remain. How do I know? That Jesus of
Nazareth. Is my Christ. Because he is my
word from God. He is the Word of God to me.
He is the message of truth and hope to me. Those prophets God
in times past and in divers manners spoke to our fathers through
the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his
son Who is the express image of his glory? He is the word
of God. I've heard his voice. I've heard
what he has to say. I believe his word. I've bowed
to him. He's my prophet. I'm a blind
man in need of a prophet to tell. You see, the natural man doesn't
need a prophet. Natural man thinks he knows the
will of God already. He's imagined a God in his own
mind that's altogether as himself. And he's created a message from
that God that he's satisfied with. And he's spoken peace to
his own heart. He doesn't need to hear from
God. And if he ever decides that he needs a prophet, well, he'll
he'll come up with somebody other than the Lord Jesus Christ to
be his prophet. Whosoever, that's a limiting
term. Believe it. Jesus is the Christ, the anointed
one, the prophet is the Lord Jesus Christ. Your final and
authoritative word of truth. Is he your priest? Is he your
priest, your only priest? Your forerunner, who has entered
into the into the heavens for you and put his blood on the
mercy seat. You see, only a sinner needs
a priest. Only a sinner needs a priest. Men don't believe themselves
in need of a priest. They think that they've got something
they can offer God that will earn them some acceptance before
God. They're going to make their own
sacrifices. They're going to offer up their own good works.
They don't need a priest. If they ever decide they need a
priest, well, they'll create a priest out of another man.
Priestcraft is very popular in religion, and it's not just those
guys who walk around a long black robe and call themselves father.
You find priestcraft in every form of religion where somebody
will stand up and say, you know, you want you want access to God,
you come through me. How do I know that I've been
born of God? Because I believe that Jesus
is my prophet. And my priest. And my king. And my king. He is the anointed one of God. All the heathen rage and the
kings of the earth imagine a vain thing, don't they? But God has sent his son on his
holy hill and he reigns sovereign as king. And he brings deliverance
to his people. What do men say? We'll not have
that man reign over us. We'll not have him reign over
us. He won't be my king. I'm going to have it my way. I'll do what I want to do, when
I want to do it. I'll come to God under my own
terms. No, you won't. No, you won't. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, the anointed one, prophet, priest and king. All men are so foolish. Won't
bow to Christ. When I was a boy, my brother
was a couple of years older than me, and he got his driver's license
when we lived in Cuba, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. You get where they've
got that thing going on down there now. And they've got this
nasty creature down there, it's called a land crab. And they
were nocturnal, they just got out at night and they'd get out
on the roads. And they were a pest. And as teenage boys, the thrill
of the night was to ride around the car and see how many land
crabs we could run over. Just little things, you know,
little crab. But those land crabs would get
out on the road at night, and when they saw the headlights
coming, they would take their stand in the pavement, and they'd
look straight at the car and throw up their pinchers. Just
like that. Of course, it was a big game
to us. But that crab didn't last two
seconds. The light of the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ as God's Christ, prophet, priest, and king. The
light of God's gospel shines forth from his word. And manly
in their unbelief, in their unbelief, The Lord, the Scripture says
in Psalm Chapter 2, laughs at them, holds them in derision,
and one day will crush them with a rod of iron in judgment. How do I know I believe that
Jesus is the Christ? How do I know that I'm born of
God? I'm one of those whosoever's does not trust in anything but
him believes. Salvation is accomplished in
Christ. He's my prophet. He's my priest. He's my king. And by the grace
of God, I bow to him.