We're glad this morning for our Florida
vacationers, all of them who have enjoyed the sun for a season. I just couldn't stay away. West
Virginia had to come back. We're glad that they're back.
Glad for each one of you. Thank God for you. Verse 24, Verily, verily, Our Lord is speaking
here. Verily, verily, Verily, verily,
those two words are generally a preface to a truth of more
than ordinary importance. When you see those two words,
verily, verily. In the book of John chapter 3,
and that Third verse, our Lord says, Verily,
verily, I am going to express a truth here
of extraordinary importance. Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom. of God." Important statement by our Lord. Man must be born again or he
cannot see the kingdom of God. Then again in verse 5, "...verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. In verse
11, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know,
and testify that we have seen, and ye receive our witness. Now back over there in John chapter
5 and verse 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." That's so important
that I want to read it again. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth my word, and believeth on him, that's God
the Father, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting
life. and shall not," now that's one
of the shalls of God, "...and shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed from death unto life." Now, when he says, "...he
that heareth my word," I don't think that that means
just mere listening or hearing with the ears. I think there's
more to it than that. Just being a participator in
some Bible reading service and you're participating in that
and listening to the reader and so forth, it means more than
that. It means, I believe, hearing
with the heart. Not just the ears, but the ears. It's coming in the ears and penetrates
the heart, penetrates the very soul of a man, what he really
is. It means hearing with the heart,
and it means hearing with faith. And he who so hears his Word
that way, with his heart and with faith, That man has life,
so our Lord Jesus Christ says. He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath life. Everlasting life. Well, this hearing that I'm talking
about, and the hearing that our Lord is speaking of, is a hearing
such as that of a true sheep. Over in John chapter 10, I believe it is,
in verse 27, it says this. In verse 26, you believe not. You believe not. You've listened
and you've heard, but you don't believe. You don't believe with
your heart. You don't have true faith. to
lay hold of what I said. But ye believe not, because ye
are not of My sheep. As I said unto you, My sheep
hear My voice. My sheep hear My voice, not just
with the hearing of the ear, or mere listening, but they hear
it in their heart, and they hear it with faith. Because the result
of their hearing the Word, they follow Him. And they follow Him
not for just a short distance, but they follow Him all the way.
They follow Him the rest of their life. They follow Him forever. My sheep hear My voice and they
follow Me. forever. And I give unto them eternal
life, everlasting life, and they shall never perish, and neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand." There is such an
indissolvable union between the shepherd and the sheep that there
is nothing in heaven or on earth that can separate or sever or
disconnect the relationship which is a vital union between the
Lord Jesus Christ and His sheep. I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish, and
neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me is greater
than all. and no man is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." Now,
that's the hearing that I'm talking about. And the apostle Paul puts
it this way over in the book of Ephesians chapter 4, I believe
it is. Chapter 4 and verse 21. Paul, in his letter here in this
fourth chapter to the Ephesians, is talking about some that have,
because of the blindness of their heart, because of the deadness
of their life in trespasses and in sins, have not come to the
truth. as in Christ. And he describes
them, who being past feeling, in that 19th verse, have given themselves over unto
lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness. But, he said,
ye have not so learned Christ. so be that ye have heard him."
If so be that you have heard him in the heart, in the soul,
heard him with faith and heard him with love. If so be that
ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth, as
in Jesus. Now that's the kind of hearing
that I'm talking about here in John chapter 5 when he says,
Verily, verily, I've got an extraordinary truth to relate to you here. Verily, verily, truly, truly,
I say unto you, you, say unto you. That collective crowd there,
he didn't say it unto them as a general audience, but he said,
I say unto you, each one, I have a message for you, if you're
interested. If you're interested in it, I
have something for you. He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him, God the Father, that sent me hath everlasting
life, shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto
life. The salvation of our souls then
can be summed up in this one statement. The salvation of our
souls depends upon our hearing the Lord Jesus Christ. That is
about as short a definition that I can give. It depends upon hearing,
hearing not just mere listening, not just the words, hearing in
the soul with true faith to reach out and to receive everlasting, eternal life for
nothing, for nothing. I'll talk about that in a minute. It's the man, the person. When I say a man, I don't necessarily
mean just the male. I'm talking about humankind. I'm talking about men, women,
boys, and girls. It is the man. the woman, the
boy or the girl who hears his word and believes to the saving
of his soul that God the Father sent the Lord Jesus Christ to
save sinners, it's that man, woman, boy or girl who has everlasting
life. Hearing with faith, hearing with
love, hearing with a heart that's ready to do the will of Him whom
God has sent. This hearing is an acknowledgment
that Christ alone saves. Now, that sounds like that's
easy, but that's the most difficult thing that a man can do. That
Christ alone saves, not Christ in me, not Christ in the catechism,
not Christ in the church, not Christ in baptism, not Christ
in the Lord's Supper. It's an acknowledgment from my
heart of hearts and my soul of souls that Christ alone saves. That's the acknowledgment. It's
an acknowledgment that says faith or believing, which are, in a
sense, synonymous terms. They both mean the same thing. Faith and believing to the saving
of the soul. Faith or believing to the saving
of the soul adds nothing to Him by way of healing virtue. Our
believing adds nothing to the salvation that He has wrought
in Himself. Faith is an acknowledgment that
Jesus Christ saves and saves alone by Himself. It does not
add anything to the work that was finished by the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The hearing of His Word not only
as an acknowledgment that He's the Savior, but He's
the Savior whom God has sent. He has the authority from God
the Father to save sinners by the shedding of His blood. And
the hearing of His Word owns the fullness and the sufficiency
and the suitableness of what he's done in himself. It owns
that. It acknowledges that. This hearing
bids, this hearing tells us our restless working spirit to seize
from its toil, to seize from its work, to seize from its labor,
to seize from its doing, and enter into the rest that's in
Christ Jesus. When men really, men, women,
boys, and girls, when they really hear His Word, His Word tells
them that the sinner does not come to Christ, to do anything,
but it tells him that he comes to the Lord Jesus Christ to see
the glorious spectacle of all that He has done by Himself for
their redemption and their salvation. It tells them to see this glorious Savior and
all that He's done, and to receive the completion of what He's done
without a doubt or a misgiving as to the value, to the efficacy
of that atonement. They say, He's enough. He's enough. He's all I need. I see in Him
the suitableness to meet my needs as a poor, helpless, hopeless,
doomed, damned sinner. He hears the words of the Savior
when He says, It's finished! And He says, Amen! It's finished. It's true, valid, valid, truly,
truly. It's true. Amen. where faith begins or where believing
begins, labor ends. You quit your doing and enter
into that which is already done. Faith is a rest. Believing is
a rest, not a work. It's not a work. This is the
work, he said, that you might believe on Him, whom to know
is life eternal. It's a giving up faith, learning,
hearing. It's a giving up. It's a giving
up of all previous and former efforts to do or to feel something
good to induce God to love and to forgive you. It's a giving
up of all of that. It's renouncing all that. It's
turning your back in all of that and saying in your soul, He's
enough. He alone is enough. He's my all and my all. I trust
my soul to Him and what He's done. It's the acknowledgement
of the entire, absolute entire goodness that I think that I have. It's
the renouncing of that goodness, the idea set forth in many assemblies
and places that has to do with religion, seems to leave a man
thinking that there's something he can do to gain favor with
God. Man needs to know that if he
has any goodness or he has any previous ties to some religion
that has given him a spark of hope, he has to renounce all
that. Renounce it and turn his back
upon it. and acknowledge before God of
the entire absence in himself of anything that would stand
him in good stead and favor with God, that he comes as he is with
nothing in his hand, hopeless and helpless. It is coming, believing,
hearing, and making a recognition of the Lord Jesus Christ as a
substitute for all the want on our part as a poor sinner. All I need is found in Him. That's what I'm trying to say.
And that's what I want you to hear, that all you need as a
poor, sojourning sinner, 10,000 miles away from goodness and
vital union, that all you need is Christ and Christ alone. Turn your back on all your doings
and all your so-called givings. Renounce them all. Look upon
them as filthy rags. This belief or this faith that
I'm talking about involved in he that heareth my word." This
truth, this believing saves. It saves. This believing, this
faith saves because it owns. That complete salvation is in
another. It is in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what true faith is. It
does not hang to anything of itself. True faith does not contribute
anything to that salvation that the Lord Jesus Christ wrought.
There is no dividing or sharing the work between our belief and
Him in whom we believe. No sharing of that. He's the
first. to the last, He's from the beginning
to the end, He's the A and the C and all in between. Our faith adds nothing to it.
Faith, true faith, the hearing of the Word and the Spirit that
brings about faith, produces faith in our soul. Believing does not believe in
itself. It does not believe in itself
most. A whole lot of people, I'll say. Not most, maybe. I
think I'm right when I say most, though. There's a whole lot of
people who believe in their faith. If you talk to them about their
eternal destiny, as to where they're going to wind up at,
and what they are now, and so forth. And if they have made
a profession of faith, they immediately go back to their profession,
and they say, well, I made a profession. What they're saying is, I believe
in my faith. I believe in my faith. Faith
don't save you. Faith, faith connects you to
Him who does save the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith does not believe
in itself. Faith rests in Him and Him alone,
the Son of God. It's like the beggar. The beggar
receives everything and gives nothing in return. Faith is always
like the beggar. Faith is always receiving. Isn't
that right? It consents through faith, through
hearing, consents to be a debtor to the free love of God forever
and forever and forever and forever. It's to the love of God. In Christ
Jesus I'm a debtor. It's to God who appointed him
and sent him, who gave me grace in him, who
gave me free favor. who put his hand on me, who put
a mark on me, who set me aside and called me one of his own,
even before I ever heard tell of the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith,
faith is like that beggar, receives everything and gives nothing,
consents itself to be a debtor to the free love of God, and
grace of God in Christ Jesus forever and ever. Its resting
place is in Him alone. It rejoices in another, not in
itself. It has nothing in itself. It
doesn't look to self and say, if I do this and if I don't do
that, then maybe I'll be all right. It rejoices in another
who's already done the work. That's Him, the Lord Jesus. Search the scriptures, He said,
for in them the scriptures speak of Me. It's all Him, isn't it,
Pat? It's all Him. It rejoices in
another and not in itself, and its song is this, not by works
of righteousness that we have done, but by his mercy hath he
saved me. That's the song that true faith
sings. That's what I'm talking about
when I'm talking about he that heareth my word. Then, secondly, how rich and how full are the
privileges of the hearer. Oh, what privileges the hearer
has! that has heard His Word, whose faith has joined himself
to this man. This obedience to His will that
has been manifested to him because of the hearing of the Word. He
has privileges. Our Lord Jesus Christ. We don't
talk about this enough here. The man that receives everything
for nothing in Christ Jesus, he enjoys a present salvation. He enjoys a salvation now, right now, at this present time. everlasting life. He has it now. No more condemnation to Him.
He has life now, and it's everlasting life. Listen, His sins have been
put away. The moment, the very moment,
the man has been given hearing ears to hear what our Lord has
said. From that very moment that he
receives everything for nothing, from that moment he has life
and he has peace and he has the forgiveness of sins. All of his
sins have been forgiven from that moment and shall never rise
up in judgment against him. And he'll have no fear of judgment
for there's no condemnation to them. Is that a real Christ Jesus?
I know during the war, and I was gone a long time. I was out there
in the Pacific for almost three years, or maybe a little more
than three years. I was there day and night, 360
some days. And I wanted to come home in
the worst way. And I remember some long nights.
I never knew anything about God or God's Son. I never knew anything
about redemption. Now you say, if there's a God
in heaven, help me to get home. If there's a God in heaven. I always was afraid. I had a
fear in my heart of judgment. I knew, I knew by nature as a
human being, I knew that there is a time There's a time when
all things must be brought out and judged as they are. And I
knew I didn't stand a Chinaman's chance of coming out of that
judgment. And I had a fear of that judgment,
a fear of it. I have no fear of it now. I have
no fear of that judgment now because He bore my judgment. All that I owed God holy justice
He paid for me. That's what it means to have
a hearing ear. Even now, at this present time,
He enjoys a present salvation. You see, the man who is a believer
in Christ Jesus, this person, is in an entirely new position. before God. He's like one who
has moved from this side of the ocean to the other side of the
ocean. The position that he has been
moved to is from the position of death to life. He's passed
from death unto life. There's life now. New position
before God. He's not dead in trespasses and
in sins. Death does not hang over his
head. He's alive. He has life. He has
the life of Christ. This life that he has is not
a far off distant thing which he's to have in the end. I hope I'll go to heaven when
I die. I hope I will. I hope that God
won't pass over me. No, this life that I'm talking
about is something present. It's not something that you'll
have out there at the end sometime when God gathers together all
the people of Adam's race. tribunal, a great judgment seat
there, and He'll call forth men then to tell them, well, now,
you have eternal life and you don't have... No, it's now. Now,
He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me
hath... He has it right now. Some say, well, get it in the
end. Some say if he does his duty
and he's a good boy. But no, it's right now. Yeah, so, you see, I told you
about them two words, verily, verily. They're a preface to
some extraordinary truth. This is an extraordinary truth.
He that heareth my word hath everlasting life. Ah, it can't
be any more extraordinary than that. See? Oh, yes. It is His own entitlement, the
very moment that He believes. Already forgiven. Already forgiven. The moment that a man believes,
who hears, he's already forgiven. Forgiven. Oh, forgiven. You know, you and I have done
things that there's just no forgiveness for. There's just no forgiveness
for this. We could go to the fellow that
we've offended, and nine times out of ten, he might say, well,
ah, just forget about it, it don't mean anything. But he'll
never forget about it, will he? He'll never forget about it.
Ah, oh my soul, God forgives a man and he forgets about it.
He won't even remember them. And that's something that God
can't do. God can remember, but He said, I'll do something that
I can't do. I'll not remember your sins against
you anymore. He's forgiven. He's already saved. He's pardoned. Though He's not
in heaven, He's not in heaven here. Heaven ain't on this earth.
Heaven ain't in time. Heaven's eternity. That's to
come. Well, we got it here, He said.
You can have it here. You can have everlasting life
while you live, and you can enjoy it, and enjoy Him by whom life
comes, even our dear Savior. Sin is entirely removed, taken
away, blotted out of the book of God by His Son's blood, the
Lord Jesus. And He can look forward to judgment
without fear, and He can say unto anyone and everyone that
asketh Him, Who is He that condemneth? Who can separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? Oh, listen, the
hearing of the Word, the hearing of the Word, the hearing of the
Word of the sent by the Lord Jesus when He says, It's finished! It's finished! Hear that word. In Christ Jesus. It's a believing
on God in Christ. Listen now. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me.
It's a believing on God in Christ. Now listen to me. believing on
God as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
planned and provided our redemption by the blood of His Son. Now,
he who so believes on God the Father is the same man that believes
in God the Son. I and the Father are one. In this sense, in this sense
now, remember what I said, in this sense, God the Father is
just as much the object of saving faith as the Son. In this sense,
see, he that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father,
which hath sent him. 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." One more verse of Scripture and
I'll quit. Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. if I can find it. Chapter 1 and verse 13. He's talking here to those that
He chose unto Himself. There in verse 4 and verse 3,
He talks about how They have been blessed in our Lord Jesus
Christ, all spiritual blessings, and according He has chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, predestinated us
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will, in whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Verse 11 there says this, "...in
whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise
of his glory who first trusted in Christ." Here's the verse
now, "...in whom ye also trusted after..." that ye heard the word of truth. After you heard it. After you
heard it. Heard it! Not just mere listening
to it, but you heard it in your soul. And it caused you to do
these various things that I mentioned. The acknowledgements, the owning
up to the fact that He alone is the Savior, and renouncing
your feeble attempts to find favor with God by something that
you said, or thought, or did, or anything at all. You renounce
all Lamb, and you trust Him after you have heard the Word of Truth,
the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed,
ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. One more verse, Romans chapter
4, Romans chapter 4, verse 24, and it has to do with
this business I've mentioned here about believing on God as
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who planned, planned,
provided redemption by the blood of His Son, And I said, He who
so believes on God the Father is the same man that believes
in God the Son. And I said, in that sense, God
the Father is just as much as the object of saving faith as
the Son. Now, in verse 24 of Romans chapter
4, it says, But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, We believe on Him. That's God the Father. That raised
up Jesus our Lord from the dead. That's in conjunction with what
I read to you in John chapter 5. I'll read it again and then I'll
quit. He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me." Believeth on him that sent me.
That's God the Father. God the Father. I am the Father of one. I know
it's a great mystery. Great mystery. God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. One God. Three persons. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
believe in Him. All right. God sent Him. God
sent Him. He is obedient to the will of
God. He came, lived a pure, sinless life. In this life, without sin,
the taint of sin, gave Himself, satisfied holy justice. Wrath
of holy justice fell on Him. He bore Our sins, the penalty
doomed, borne away, made an end of them, lost in the wilderness,
never rise up to haunt us. He that believeth my word hath
now, now. Think upon these things, if you
will. Let's stand, we'll be dismissed.