We glanced at verse 44 of Luke
24 last time. Just to look at this one phrase,
these are the words. I wanted us to see that what
was happening, what they were seeing, the things that were
coming to pass before their very eyes are the words. What's happening this morning?
what the Lord promised These are the words that he said where
two or three are gathered in my name there. I am in the midst
of you That's coming to pass right now everything that he
says comes to pass exactly as He says it would He told them what would happen
They saw all of it happen and And yet he does not appeal to
their sense of sight. It doesn't say in verse 45, look
at verse 45 there, the next verse that we'll look at. It doesn't
say, then opened he their understanding that they might understand what
was right before their eyes. And Things unfolded before the
very eyes of people that they had no idea what was going on.
Those who watched him die on Calvary, most there didn't know
what was happening. Only those that he reveals the
truth to, that he was redeeming his people there. He wasn't giving
mankind a chance. He was redeeming his people there.
He was offering his very soul, a sacrifice for the sins of his
elect. And he accomplished everything. that his precious blood was shed
in order to accomplish. He said it's finished. He didn't
say it's available. He said it's finished. And most
now, when the gospel is preached and the cross, so to speak, is
revealed from the word of God, they don't know what happened
there. That's most people's problem. They don't know what happened
at Calvary. They just don't because God's got to open your understanding. but he did do that, that they
might understand the scriptures, not what they were seeing, the
scriptures. Sinners are not saved by being
given visions or by experiencing new revelations. Notice that
the Lord said, these are the words I spoke to you before when
I was with you. This is something he had already
said. He had been saying that from the beginning. God's message
to sinners does not change. It's the same from the beginning
and always will be. His words are our doctrine now. He said these things a couple
thousand years ago, and these are the words that you'll hear
this morning because his words are our doctrine. Sinners are saved by grace By
the free grace of God through faith in his son if God's going
to show his grace to you Grace is always saving grace There's
no other kind of grace. It saves when God gives you grace
It's not him helping you along the way. It's him saving you
and when he does that He does it through means of believing
on Christ as revealed in the Scriptures and preached in the
Gospel. The Holy Scriptures are able
to make a sinner wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus, 2 Timothy 3.15. So he referred to the Scriptures
even though he was standing right there in front of them. It's
the Word of God. That's the means that the Lord
uses to save his people. The Lord describes the scriptures
here as Moses and the prophets and the Psalms. That's all of
the Old Testament scriptures. Moses is the first five books
of the Bible. Of course, all of the prophets
and then the Psalms, that's everything. All of the Old Testament, what
does the Old Testament say? What does the Old Testament say? A lot of places say, well, the
Old Testament's not valid anymore, we have the New Testament now.
What's the message of the Old Testament? Well, he tells us
that here too, concerning me, concerning me. I'd say that's
relevant, wouldn't you? It concerns God's Son. Also, the gospel message from
the scripture is all musts And no maybes. You see that in there? That all things must be fulfilled. It must be as he has spoken it. His name is Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. So you know what he did? He saved
his people from their sins. It's musts. There's no maybes. Christ must needs have suffered,
was Paul's message in the synagogue. In Acts 17 3, all whom the Father,
God the Father, loved and chose in eternity shall come to me,
he said in John 6 37. That's a must. And all whom the
Lord Jesus Christ redeemed on Calvary with his precious blood,
everybody he shed his blood for. Everybody he represented in John
17 in his great high priestly prayer. He said I don't represent
the world I'm praying for those you gave me As he went to Calvary,
that's who he interceded for that's who he shed his blood
for Those that the father had given him in the eternal covenant
of grace And all that he redeemed on Calvary. He must bring to
himself in salvation. He must listen to it John 10
16 and other sheep I have which are not of this fold that weren't
alive even at the time them also I must bring I must bring them and they shall
hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one shepherd
he said in that same chapter John 10 my sheep hear my voice
and they follow me it's not an offer or some kind of a contingency
plan. It doesn't say, I sure hope my
sheep will hear me and follow me. They will, they do. He must
bring, because he brings them. No man can come except the father
which has sent me. Draw him. Why must he bring his sheep?
Same chapter, John 10. I lay down my life for the sheep. He bought him, he redeemed him
and he's gonna have him. That's why he must bring him.
He redeemed him with his precious blood. He said, I lay down my
life for the sheep and they shall never perish. That's cause and
effect. The reason they will never perish
is because he laid down. Well, he laid down his life for
everybody. No. Whoever he laid down his life
for shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of his hand. You want to know whether that's
you or not? Do you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved, you. It's not a coincidence or a random
arrangement that the words of verse 45 follow the word me. Look at it. Then opened he their
understanding that they might understand the scriptures. What's
the word before that? The last word of verse 44, me. That's not a coincidence. You're
never going to understand the scriptures until you see by God's grace
that every word concerns his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything. Christ is the key to the scriptures
until and unless you know him, the scriptures will always be
a locked and closed book to you. You'll never understand it. You see him as God reveals him
in the gospel. You'll understand the scriptures
and not until And if your understanding of the scriptures leaves you
with the thought here's I believe this happens a lot with people
Pretty sure it does because I'm people You know I've been there
If your understanding of the scriptures leaves you with the
thought, I've got to start living better, I'm gonna have to start
living better, then you don't understand the scriptures. The
Lord hasn't opened your understanding. Your living better will land
you in hell where you belong. That's what it'll do. Your better is sin. All of your righteousnesses,
according to the word of God, are as filthy rags in the sight
of God. You don't got to start living
better. Aren't you glad? You've got to have Christ. That's
what's got to happen. You've got to have the son of
God. And when and if you have Christ, then you're going to
want to honor him. You're going to want to honor
him with your life. If your understanding of the
scriptures has you thinking Christ dying on Calvary has given everyone
a chance to be saved if They'll just make the right decision
about it Then God has not opened your understanding that you might
understand the scriptures So look at verse 45 again then He
said concerning me all of the scripture that had been written
at that time He said concerns me And his word is powerful now. He speaks to your heart through
the gospel now and opens understandings, or not, as it pleases him. Now, that they might understand the
scriptures. They knew who God is, not because
they made a decision for him, Because he did something for
them That's my testimony What he did for them Here in
that verse 45 That's called salvation That's
what you call that Turn with me, please and look very carefully
with me at first John 5 20. I 1 John 5.20. This is the testimony
of every believer. What he did for them there in
verse 45, he does for all of his people. All of those that
he loved from eternity. Look at 1 John 5.20. And we know,
you know that everything you know You think you know some
things, don't you? Everything you know is what God
told you. Everything else you might be
pretty sure about, but you may find out it ain't what you thought
it was. Everything we know is what God said. And we know that the Son of God
has come. He's God with us. and hath given
us an understanding. He has an appeal to us to do
our best to understand. He's given us an understanding
that we may know him that is true. That's how you know the
Lord Jesus Christ. And we are in him that is true.
Even in his son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and salvation. Eternal life for the Son of God
to give you. No man knoweth the Son, save
the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him. Thank God he does that. The Lord Jesus decides who is
saved, who is not. He gives understanding and life
as he pleases. God and all of his persons decide
that. They decide who lives and who
dies. He quickeneth whomsoever he will.
John 5, 21, this is the Lord speaking, for as the father raiseth
up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the son quickeneth, which
means give life, gives life, to whom he will. The religion of this world has
everything backwards and upside down. They say salvation is by
the free will of man. Salvation is according to God's
will. Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. He chose his
people before the foundation of the world. Second Thessalonians
2.13, we're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief. He
chose you to salvation. He gave you faith in his son,
belief in the truth. Salvation is by the free mercy
and love of God without any regard to anything man does or decides. Romans 9, 11. For the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth, of God. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. Somebody said, I don't understand
how God could just love one and hate the other. How can God hate
sinners? Question is, how can God love
sinners? It takes a miracle of his grace to save a sinner. Esau have I
hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? No, there's unrighteousness with
us. God forbid, for he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. That's why he said, I love Jacob,
I hate Esau, because he decides who gets mercy and who don't.
They both needed mercy, and one of them got some of it,
because God loved him. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Well, what are we gonna conclude from that? So then it is not
of him that willeth. Shut up about that. Quit preaching
that if you hear this and you're a preacher or an advocate of
the free will of man. Salvation, who gets mercy and
who don't? It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth or of him that striveth, him that worketh,
him that earns it. nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy." And how does he show mercy? On whoever
he wants to, that's what it just said. Here's what I recommend, that
you beg God for mercy. What the Lord did for these disciples
in our text, he doesn't do for everybody. Matthew 13, 11, he answered and
said unto them, it's given unto you to know the mysteries of
the kingdom of God. Talking to his disciples, it's
given unto you to know. You see how that directly applies
to our text? It is given unto you to know
the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is
not given. He had to open their understanding. Why? Were they low IQ people
or something? That has nothing to do with it.
1 Corinthians 2.14, the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God. We're all born natural of the
flesh. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. And if you know the Lord Jesus, one day, when it
pleased Him, you were born of the Spirit, but originally you
were born of the flesh, and you're a natural man, and you can't
receive the things of the Spirit of God, and there's two reasons
given. First of all, they're foolishness unto Him. To most of this world, what we
believe, our very hope, is ridiculous. Neither can he know them. That's reason number two. Neither
can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. Not naturally, spiritually. God has to give understanding. And I'm not saying that these
disciples didn't know the Lord before this. You might think,
well, they were lost. They didn't even understand anything.
No, what we see here is that just as we need the Lord to reveal
himself to us by the Holy Spirit for the first time, whenever
that happens for you, I'm not sure exactly the day that the
Lord revealed himself to me, but I know he did. And listen,
I need him just as much this morning to open my heart, just
as much to open my understanding, to show us in all of the word
of God, the things concerning himself. If he doesn't do that,
I'll get off on some kind of a tangent. I'll get on a soapbox.
I'll argue with people from the pulpit. I will air personal grudges
from the pulpit and do stupid things like that. The Lord's
got to give me understanding. He's got to show me himself in
every word so that I can proclaim that, proclaim his truth. And we pray for that. I'm nothing,
I have nothing and can do nothing without the Lord Jesus. You know,
he told us that plainly. We were talking on the way over
this morning how plainly in the word of God, things are revealed
and people just do the opposite. We were talking about that brazen
serpent that was raised up in the wilderness. The Lord Jesus
told Nicodemus, like that serpent was raised up in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And that serpent was
made in the likeness of sinful flesh, in likeness of the problem,
in likeness of the curse. It was a serpent that represented
Christ. How can that be? Because the
serpent was the problem and the Lord Jesus was made in the likeness
of sinful flesh and for sin, that he might condemn sin in
the flesh and redeem his people. He had to become a curse for
us on Calvary. And he said, even as that serpent
was lifted up in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted
up and whosoever believeth on him shall not perish, but have
everlasting life. And we were talking about that
later in the scriptures, it shows how that the people started worshiping
that serpent, that brass serpent. And some wise king said, you
know, I'm gonna tear, I'm gonna destroy that thing. We're not
to be worshiping that. It says in the scripture, he
called it Nahushtan. Nahushtan, you know what that
means? A piece of brass. What are you doing worshiping
a piece of brass? What are you doing worshiping a statue? What
do you do in worship in a shape that God never ordained in the
scripture that anybody, even in the Old Testament. And we
don't make a mercy seat this morning. We don't make any of
those things in the Old Testament and worship by symbols and pictures
and types. The Lord Jesus Christ has come
and revealed himself to us. We look to him, not types and
pictures and shadows. And the cross is not even one
of the shadows. What do you do in worship in
a piece of gold or a piece of silver? The Lord clearly reveals
in his word things that we just ignore and deliberately despise. And this is one of them. Listen,
he said, I am the vine and you are the branches. He that abideth
in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. Boy,
that's wonderful, isn't it? If we abide in Christ, he'll
make it so that the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace,
faith, longsuffering, goodness, gentleness, will be born in us, will be brought
forth. But listen to what he said next,
for without me, You can do nothing. We forget that, don't we? Without
me, you can do nothing. I am nothing. I have nothing. I know nothing. And I can do
nothing without him. Acts 16, 14, listen, a certain
woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira,
which worshiped God, heard us, Paul said. She heard us preach,
whose heart the Lord opened that she attended unto the things
which were spoken of Paul. The Lord opened her heart, and
that verse right there says clearly, that she not only wouldn't have
understood anything that Paul preached if he hadn't opened
her heart, she wouldn't have even listened to him. She attended
unto what he said because he opened her heart. I want, with all of my heart,
like Paul, to preach with great plainness of speech, to not ever
be removed from the simplicity, the all-inclusiveness that's
in Christ, but I can't give you spiritual understanding. We pray
that God will do that for all of us. Verse 46, and said unto
them, thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead, the third day. Now, the word behooved,
let's understand what this is saying first and just in the
grammar of it, The word behooved here is a little bit different
than how we use that word. We might say, you know, to somebody,
it would behoove you to do what I told you to do. And what we mean by that is it
would be to your advantage to do that. You're going to regret
not doing it, in other words. But it's important that we understand
this word in the text. It simply means it was necessary. It had to happen. It had to happen. This is exactly what Paul preached
in Acts 17. Paul, as his manner was, went
in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of
the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered. You think about that, what Paul
went through to get in that synagogue. He was a traitor to them, and
yet they knew him because he was one of them before. But he
believed on Christ, Christ revealed himself to him. He wasn't welcome
in places that he was before. The true believers didn't trust
him at first until God told him, look, I've chosen him. I've chosen
him, I've redeemed him. But because they had a relationship
with him before, the Lord opened the door for him to go into that
synagogue. A lot of places Paul went and preached, he was threatened
with his very life. I'm pretty sure they killed him
in one place. It doesn't say he was actually dead, but the
Lord raised him up. He was stoned. And the Lord raised
him up. And so he knew what was at stake
here. But you know why he went through
all of that and went in there? and said what he said, you know
why he did that? And just in order to say this,
Christ must needs have suffered. Christ, the one that you reject,
the one that you despise, the one that you cry to crucify him.
He had to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day. In other words, he was exactly
who he said he was. That's what he went in there
to preach, at risk of his very life. It had to happen. Here's the question. Why was
it necessary for Christ to suffer? I've got several things here,
but I'll be quick with it. Well, it says in the text, the
first one, thus it was written. That's why. Because as we've
already said, everything God says comes to pass exactly as
he said it would. There are no maybes. There are
musts in the gospel. All of the word of God must be
fulfilled. And all of the word of God concerns
Christ's crucify. All of it. If it's not fulfilled,
if everything God says is not fulfilled, then he's not God. Secondly, God's justice demanded
it. With the sins of all of God's
elect laid on Christ, he must suffer the wrath of God. God
must and shall punish sin. The Lord Jesus Christ knew no
sin, but he bore the wrath of God against my sin as my substitute. Thirdly, why did he do that? What, I'm asking another question
on the third one here. Why was it necessary for Christ
to suffer? Because he loved me. Because he loved you if you're
his. That's why. He had to. Christ must suffer
because he loved me and his prayer was that all that the Father
gave him should be with him where he is. that they may behold my glory.
That happens one way. Christ must needs have suffered
and died for my sins on Calvary. The fourth thing, and I'm not
sure I can say this right. I don't know. Even after writing
down what I've written down, I don't know if I could say it
right. But it was necessary for Christ to suffer because of who
he is. Now think about this with me.
I think you'll know what I mean, even if I can't say it right.
We know that God is not obligated to save any sinner. Mercy is
free. He don't have to show mercy on
you. He didn't have to. He's not obligated, but here's
the thing. He obligated himself. And you know why he did that?
Because of who he is. He is mercy. He is love. His mercy and grace is who he
is. It's not just something that
he might do or may not do. You're gonna be who you are.
And who God is, is love. You can say God didn't have to
have mercy on anybody at all. And I understand what you're
saying. He's all sufficient. He doesn't need anybody or anything.
But he did have to, he did have to. You can't be love without
loving somebody. And you can't be the God of all
grace without having grace on somebody. He has done all that
he has done for sinners because of who he is. It was also necessary
that he rise again. How come? Why did he have to
rise again? It says he did. He said he did.
Because his sacrifice on Calvary was accepted by God the Father.
He offered himself to pay for our sins and he paid in full. Otherwise, he don't come out
of the grave. He'll just stay dead and all of us will too.
because he obtained eternal redemption for us. He accomplished all that
the Father sent him to do, including the perfect salvation of all
those that the Father gave him, and now he reigns. He's raised and ascended and
has a name which is above every name. Secondly, why must he rise again
from the dead? Because of who he is. His sacrifice
was sufficient because it's the blood of God. Death has no more
dominion over him because he's the prince of life. And so that's the message. Christ
must needs have suffered and to rise again because God said,
I will have mercy. There's only one way to have
mercy on a sinner. There's only one way for God
to even look at a sinner without putting him in hell. And that's
for the precious blood of God to be shed and wash away your
sins. Verse 47, and that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among
all nations beginning at Jerusalem. It's really the same thing, isn't
it? To preach that Christ must needs have suffered And to preach
remission of sins, it's the same message, of course. Now, the
Lord said this is what should be preached, that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name. This is what should be preached.
And the context of this, of course, is key. Now, think about this.
He described all the scriptures as concerning himself. And to
preach him is to preach repentance. Think about that for a minute.
How is it, how is preaching Christ preaching repentance? Because
repentance is a change of mind. That's just all, that's all it
means. The thing about it is though, you can't change your
mind about who God is and everything that God said, because those
things are spiritually deserved. He's got to reveal them to you.
You can't do that by nature. Repentance is a change of mind.
But what is it that you need to change your mind about? Christ. That's why preaching him is preaching
repentance. Think about it for a second.
You need to change your mind. Let's be specific now. Generally
speaking, it's Christ. Now let's be specific and see
what that means. You need to change your mind
about who God is. Most people think he's just the
grandpa upstairs that is helping me through my life. I might go
to church on Christmas and Easter to show my appreciation for him
giving me a raise this year. You know how people think. You need to change your mind
about who God is. If you ever think that God ever tried to
do anything, you need to change your mind about who God is. We need to understand, we need
to change our mind about the holiness of God. He's got to
put you in hell. That's what you need to understand.
He's got to put you in hell, unless you have Christ. And if he did, he'd be doing
the right thing. You deserve it. That's what mercy
means. not getting what you deserve. How are you going to find out
who God is? You've got to find out who He
is if you're going to change your mind about it. How do you
find out who God is? Christ. Listen, no man has seen
God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. Remember
what I quoted a while ago, no man knoweth the father save the
son and he, to whomsoever the son will reveal him. That's how
you're gonna know who God is, Christ. You're gonna have to
hear from Christ and believe on Christ and see him. By faith,
you need to change your mind about what you are. Because most
people think their good has outweighed their bad, you know. Because
we're masters at justifying ourselves. Even some stupid, horrible things
we've done. We've already justified ourselves
for doing it. We had to do that. It was the right thing. So we,
you know, everybody say, well, my good outweighs my bad. I'm
a sinner. I'm an old sinner, you know, but you don't have
any good. There is in me, Paul said, that
is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Nothing. Even my righteousness is a filthy
rag. But how am I going to know how
sinful and wretched I am? By dwelling on the bad things
I've done? No, I'm just going to end up
justifying myself for those. Or at least think that I've done
enough good to outweigh it. How am I going to know how wretched
I am? Only by seeing Christ and Him
crucified. To see what it cost for Him to pay the sin debt of
His people. You need to change your mind
about how God saves a sinner. How are you gonna do that? By
hearing the gospel of Christ and seeing Christ. You see, people
think that God saves sinners by giving them a decision to
make. Listen to Titus 3.5. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. by the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ, our Savior. He's called Jesus Christ our
Savior because he has saved us in every way that a person can
be saved. You got to change your mind about
that now. Christ is salvation. Salvation is a person, not a
decision. A person. You need to change
your mind about Christ himself. How are you gonna do that? Who
he is? By somebody preaching who he is and what he did and
why he did it and where he is now. You've got to know that he is
your righteousness before God or you don't have any He doesn't
just show you the path of righteousness and then you, you know, go about
to establish your own righteousness. Paul said that was the Jews'
problem. It wasn't the solution. Their problem was they were going
about to establish their own righteousness. And has not submitted
to Christ who is the end of the law for righteousness. To those
that believe on him. You've got to know that his precious
blood is salvation. that he shed his precious blood
for his people and redeemed them with it. It's not a contingency,
it's not left up to you. He obtained eternal redemption
for somebody, according to the word of God. Whoever his sheep
are, he said they're not ever gonna perish, why? Because he
laid down his life for them, that's why. And then remission of sins has
got to be preached. That's what should be preached.
Remission of sins. Remission means release from
bondage or imprisonment, comma, forgiveness or pardon. Pardon. This is what Christ accomplished
on Calvary. This is what he accomplished.
Now, once in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. He put somebody's sins away by
sacrificing himself, Hebrews 9, 26. Remission doesn't mean
that you've got a shot. Remission does not mean that
you have a decision to make. It means your sins are gone.
It means they're put away by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Christ Jesus gave himself for
his people on Calvary. If he did that for you, your
sins are gone. And you stand in the sight of
God, spotless and holy and without blame before him in love. Did he die for me? You reckon
the Lord died for me. I guarantee you this, if he did,
I'm saved. You think he did? You think he
died for me? Did he die for you? When he shed his precious blood on Calvary, did he do that for
you? Well, you're not gonna be able
to answer that question until you answer this one. Do you believe
on the Son of God? You say, well, then we do have
a decision to make. Nope, faith's not a decision,
it's a gift. It's a gift of God's grace, Ephesians
2, 8 and 9. I wanna close with this passage
of scripture, if you'd turn there with me, John 6, 35, if you would,
please. This is the answer to that question,
did he die for me? Here's your answer right here,
John 635. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. In
other words, they'll never lack anything they need. But I said unto you that you
also have seen me and believe not, You've seen me and believe not.
He said in John 10 to the Pharisees, you don't believe on me because
you're not my sheep. You've seen me and believe not.
And look what he said next. All that the father giveth me
shall come to me. And remember now, he that cometh
will never hunger or thirst. He that cometh, coming to Christ
is salvation. All that the father giveth me
will be saved. They're going to come to me.
and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. You see,
they're the same ones. If you come to the Lord Jesus
Christ with God-given faith and believe on his son and cast your
soul before him and say, Lord, if you will, this is not my will,
this is your will. If you will, you can save me.
Have mercy on my soul. He's not gonna turn you away.
He never has. If you're playing games with
God, then you have no hope for now until you don't play games
with God anymore by his grace. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. Come and take the water of life
freely. Are you thirsty? Then drink. drink freely without
money and without price for 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 hath sent me that of all which he hath
given me i should lose nothing nobody he died for is going to
hell are you kidding me nothing is clearer than that
in the word of god and there again we just Religion, the whole
world's religion just utterly rejects that. All that the Father giveth me
are coming to me, and those that he gave me, I'm not gonna lose
any of them. But should raise it up again
at the last day. That sounds a lot like salvation
to me, doesn't it? And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son Do you see him? These disciples saw him standing
in front of them with wounds in his hands and feet, but that's
not what saved him. He had to open their understanding
that they might know who he is from the scriptures. That's what
has to happen for you this morning. God's only ever saved sinners
one way. He saved Moses the same way he
saved me. by grace through faith in his
son, that everyone which seeth the
son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I'll
raise him up at the last day." You see, it's the same thing.
Those who are saved and raised up from the dead at the last
day to meet him in the air and to be with him forever are those
the father gave him And they're those who come to Him by grace
through faith in Him. That's what should be preached.
And this is why we preach Him. There's no remission of sins,
but by the blood of Christ. There's no repentance until you
know who He is. You know Him and you'll repent
of everything wrong. about God and the things of God
that you've ever thought. These are written that you might
believe on Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and that believing,
you might have life through His name. Amen.