We'll begin the message. We'll go to God in prayer again. I want to ask. Oh, thank you. There you go. See? Yes. Now, last time, I thought I cut it on, and I didn't. I cut it off, and I want to make sure I got it this time. We'll begin. I want to go to God in prayer, and I do ask your prayers for me. I long to preach the gospel to you. But I know and am convinced of this, that only the Spirit of God can deliver it. Only He can make it powerful to you and me. Only He can take the Word and apply it in such a way as to meet every need. Isn't this astounding?

We all have many different needs, but really it boils down to one. We need Christ. If we have Christ, then we have everything. If we have Christ, we have everything. And surely He supplies our every need, doesn't He? He supplies all that we need. I'm sure not all that we want, but I am positive all we need.

I need to hear Him. I know people would say to me, and they're very well-intentioned, I don't even think they mean what they're saying. They say, well, I just can't wait to hear you. You don't want to do that. Please don't do that. I beg you, don't do that.

My hope is that you hear him. Because I know what you need, because that's what I need. I have to hear Him. What an empty ritual this is without Him. You must have Him. I long to preach Him. You long to hear Him. Pray for that. ask God to give us that. Pray for God's men wherever they are preaching the gospel. How long that this gospel would go out in power and demonstration of his spirit and that many would be brought in.

But we have no No control over that, and the fact is I don't have any wisdom about that. I don't. It's not my business. My business is simply to declare the gospel to whoever God gives to hear it. So I pray that God would, though, that he would send out and that many would come. I would long to see our families come. I would long to see our friends come and love to hear the gospel. We're gonna find out that they have to hear Him or they'll never have that desire at all. Have to hear Him. He has to speak to them.

You ever spoke to somebody until you just blew in the face? You can't speak anymore. You done exhausted the whole counsel of God. And they just look at you like you ain't said a word. That's alright. Just hearing you ain't gonna do it. They have to hear Him. And listen, He's gonna speak to whoever He will. You don't get to determine who He speaks to. He speaks to whomever He will.

And let's ask Him to do that tonight. Pray for those that are sick. Pray for Jean and Miranda as a procedure tomorrow. Pray for her. And Terrence, pray for those that are not with us. Some are missing and I just, my heart breaks when people aren't able or cannot avail themselves or they will not avail themselves to the word of God. It's a very sad thing. I pray that God would open that opportunity and bring them again to us. Pray for Deborah and Tony. Don't forget them in your prayers concerning Tony and his pain and Gene. Pray for Patty's mom and the family. Your brother-in-law, is he progressing? Keep praying for him.

God give him liberty. I pray that God use these difficulties and tragedies to bring man to himself. That's what he does. He uses these things and I pray he will. Let's go to him in prayer. Our gracious Father in heaven, we bow ourselves again seeking mercy. Asking for grace. I have no strength in myself, Father.

I pray that you would give me strength. that you would give me your spirit, that you would pour into the words, Father, my mouth and mind, that you would have your people to hear. By the same power and same spirit, make it applicable to their hearts and minds that they should believe and trust.

We should bow ourselves and not doubt concerning the perfect work of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Father, pray for those that are not with us, that are sick, that you would lift them up out of the sickness and bring them again, those who are hindered physically, mentally, those who are hindered in their own minds and hard hearts, that you would bring them again to worship with us, whatever the reason. Father, that you would, for the glory of Christ and the encouragement of your people, allow us to worship together again. Father, I pray you'd forgive us our sins and lead us.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, take your Bibles and turn back with me to John chapter 5. John chapter 5, and my text will be found in verse 24. John chapter 5 and verse 24 have entitled this message, Hearing and Believing the Word of Christ. and believing the word of Christ. Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I'm sorry, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed, from death to life. Now, here in this chapter, the Lord Jesus Christ heals this man at the pool of Bethesda. Remember, there was a pool there that the angel were to come down, touch the water, the first one that was to enter.

This man had been there, I believe, 38 years. 38 years this man had sat at this pool, waiting. the waters every year had to wait a whole year and he said I can't get in nobody's there to Jesus come said well you you want to be healed the guy said well how can I no man's ain't gonna push me and they go down before I do Jesus said take up that bed and walk and immediately this guy hadn't walked 38 years hadn't had any strength in his legs and he hopped up immediately and took his bed. But the problem was it was on the Sabbath day. Can you imagine that? Poor guy's been there 38 years and the Lord Jesus Christ heals him and nobody's happy. Nobody's rejoicing. They healed him on the wrong day. It was a Sabbath day.

And our Lord reveals something because of this. He did this on purpose. I love when the Lord Jesus Christ sticks it in them on purpose, just pokes them. Because He did this on purpose to reveal something to us about Himself. Now what is He going to reveal? Listen to this, He's going to reveal His deity. Look at what He says in verse 17, He answered them, they got mad.

And He said, He answered them, He said, The Father worketh hitherto, and I work. What in the world does that mean? He means this, that I and the Father are one in our work. Whatever the Father does, I do. And whatever I do, the Father does. I'm God. That's what He said. How do you know that? Look what happened in verse 18.

The Jews therefore sought the Moor to kill. They wanted to kill Him before, but they sought now the Moor to kill Him. He said, I'm going to kill you. I'm really going to kill you." Not only because he had broken the Sabbath, but he said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. Jesus said, I work and the Father works. They sought to kill him because he made himself God. He said, I am God in human flesh. That's what he said. He said, look, you're mad at me for doing something on the Sabbath. It's my Sabbath! I am God, manifest in the flesh, and as the Father works, I work, we are equal.

Jesus Christ is declaring His equality with the Father in will, in power, in work, in judgment, He's the Son of God. Look what he says in verse 19, Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself. But what is he that the Father do? For what thing soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. Unity. Unity. He's not saying that the Son is powerless. He's saying this, that they're one in their work, one in their will. Everything the Father does, I do, because we are one in purpose, one in will, one in power. And Jesus goes even further. He said, The Father judges no man, but committed judgment to me. You can imagine that? He said, all judgment. The father said, I'm not going to judge him. You judge him. He gave committed judgment to his son.

And so what does this mean? This means this, the word of the person speaking in our text is himself God. Does this not lend weight to our text? When he says, truly, truly, you know who's saying that? God's saying this. God says, truly, truly. In this text, Jesus Christ says stop and listen to what I'm telling you.

Forget what everybody else says and listen to me. I am God in human flesh. I am God and there is none else. There's none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, from ancient times of things not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure.

That's who's speaking. That's who's speaking. God. is speaking. And so if God is speaking, listen to me, it should interest everyone that is hearing. I'm not speaking, listen to me. I'm not speaking, it's not me. I am declaring to you, thus saith the Lord. I'm just a voice, just a vessel. Nothing in me, nothing good to hear from me. I am telling you what God says. And you should you should pay attention. This is God speaking. This should interest everyone, because in this portion of Scripture, listen, he's dealing with these three things.

He's dealing with with passing from death to life. He's dealing with with no condemnation. He's dealing with everlasting life. He's talking about things that should matter to every man. This word should matter because of this. All men are dying and need life. This should matter to everybody because all men need life. They're dying. The scripture says all flesh is grass and the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withered, the flower faded away. But what stands? What lasts? The word of God endures forever. This word endures forever.

You and I, my friend, are now closer to death than we ever were. Isn't that right? We are. This is a statement of truth that every child of Adam, because we have sinned against God, we by nature are born under condemnation. This should interest man because we are born under condemnation. We are born sinners. We are born dead. What does man need more than anything else? He needs life, not just physical life. He needs spiritual life. And that's the life God is talking about here. Spiritual life. Jesus said that in John 3, 17.

He said, I came not to condemn the world. Now, why not? Aren't we worthy to be condemned? Don't you condemn the world every time you cut on the news? Don't you condemn it? I can't believe those people over there do it. I just can't. Probably need to put up a mirror because they're a reflection of us. Jesus said, I came not to condemn the world. Why? It's already condemned. It's already condemned. And this is the condemnation. You want to know the proof? You want to know the proof the world is condemned? Men love darkness rather than light. They love sin and the things of the world more than they love the light of Jesus Christ.

That's natural. That's what we are by nature. And yet Jesus says here, hey, some of them will not come to condemnation. Shouldn't that interest us? Does everlasting life, freedom from condemnation, spiritual life, are these things needful to you? This truth of being passed from death to life, You know, we were all born in sin, dead in sin. God's not ambiguous about this. You were born dead. That's how it is. We're forced by one man's sin into the world and death by sin. What happened? So death passed. That's what happened to us. We died. Spiritually died.

Incapable of pleasing God. Incapable of even coming to Christ. We say, Come to the Lord. Come unto me, all you that are labored and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Problem is, it's impossible. Jesus said, No man can come to me. Why? He's dead. Listen, if you don't have any interest in these things, I want you to understand why. You're dead. If you've not heard His voice, if you've not believed on Him, why? You're dead. You're dead.

Either outside of Christ or dead. Now you can be as religious as you want to. A man can reform his life and say, turn over a new leaf. Isn't that what they say? Turn over a new leaf. Problem is, it's just the same old leaf. You just turned it over. It's still the dead leaf that it was before. There's nothing changed. You can reform your life, you can make as many decisions for Jesus, but listen, unless you're raised from the dead, you'll never hear His voice. You'll never hear His voice. Why? Because you cannot hear His voice.

Listen to how the Apostle puts it in 1 Corinthians. Remember, we've been studying from this a little bit. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. He says it's written. It's written, this is settled, 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 9, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

What's the only hope of man? But God hath revealed them to us by His Spirit. That's the only hope for you. And if you don't hear these things, He tells you why. Look at verse 14, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. Outwardly, they're foolishness to him. But here's the real root of the problem. Neither can he know them because he's spiritually condemned. You don't know these things. You can't hear these things. You can't hear the word of Christ because you're dead. Now, say that.

If God would show you this, that you are incapable of seeing this, do you know that? Do you know about your nature, the condemnation of your nature, the deadness of your nature? Do you know about the judgment of God? Have you seen the deadness of your soul and the need of life?

Then listen to me, this word of God is for you. This is the word of God for you. Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, God says unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me. I'll tell you this, if you need life, may God give you grace to ask him for it.

I've yet to find one broken and contrite heart that came to Christ that he rejected. You found any? I don't find any in this book. I find all those that come with something, they're always rejected. That lawyer, you know, he came, good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? See, he was trying to earn something. He was coming with something. That man was rejected. He went away sorrowful.

Man, if you have a need of mercy, then look, come to Christ for mercy. If you have need of everlasting life, of being justified, of being raised from the dead, you realize you can't come to Christ. What a revelation that is. If a man realizes he can't come to Christ, what is he going to ask? Give me grace that I might come to Christ.

That's what he'll ask. What he'll ask, it's what I asked. When I found out I couldn't come, that's the first thing I asked. Lord, give me grace to come. One thing about a man like that, he can't stop asking until he gets it. I wouldn't stop asking until he gave it, because I needed it. You need it?

This, my friend, is the work of God. Now, I want you to understand that this is not the work of man. If you ever know these things and reveal these things to you about your deadness, about your condemnation, about your inability, that's a revelation. That's a revelation. It's a work of God.

Now when God works on the heart, now this is getting to the meat of the message here, when God works on the heart, there are two things He's going to do. According to this text, He's going to cause you to hear the voice of Christ. And secondly, he's going to cause you to believe on him. To believe on him. First of all, he that heareth my word. So what God says is what God manifests in his flesh. He that heareth my word. What is his word? Now there were a bunch of people listening to his words, right? He was talking to the Jews. at this time.

He was telling them this, and yet He condemns them later on. He says, you know, in verse 38 He says, You have not His words abiding in you. You have not His words abiding in you. For whom He sent, Him you believe not. Now they heard His words, but they didn't hear Him.

Now how is that? Because this is talking about the gospel. He's talking about the gospel of himself. Isn't this book totally about Christ? Well, that's what Christ said. I don't have to guess that this book is all about Christ. In Luke 24, he told those disciples, beginning at Moses, Genesis, and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures things, what? Concerning himself. how Christ ought to have suffered and died and entered into His glory. All of the scriptures is about Christ. So this word he's talking about is the gospel. We say this, hey, come hear the gospel. You know, we flippantly use the word and it seems to be drownded out because nobody knows really what it means. They say gospel. I say, what's that? They have to really start scratching their heads and think about that. I'm going to give it to you simple. Here it is.

Salvation is of the Lord. There's the gospel. What isn't this good news? Seeing that man can't save himself. Here's our hope. Salvation is of the Lord. It's not a cooperative effort. This is good news. This is good news. Salvation is of the Lord. You see, the scriptures are clear about man's condition. They're just crystal clear. I've said this a thousand times.

He's dead! Now, how much more debilitated can you get when you're dead? Is there any greater picture? I mean, we've got leprosy, we've got lameness, we've got blindness, we've got deafness, we've got dumb. You know, there's a whole bunch of illustrations we use for the natural man, but I think the greatest is dead!

A rotting, stinking corpse, useless, good for nothing, but dung healed. That's all we're good for. It's good news because no man by nature will seek after God. No man by nature will seek after God. No man can earn the righteousness God requires. That's why this is the gospel.

It's why it's good news. Salvations of the Lord. Here is the gospel that God has chosen a people from eternity. This is the gospel. This is not an aside. This is not a debatable point. You know, people say, well, let's just preach the gospel and forget about election. There is no gospel without election. There is no gospel without God making a sovereign choice. choosing a people to save before the foundation of the world. That's the gospel. That's the good news, man. That's not bad news. That's good news.

Why? Because if he had not made choice, none of us would be saved. God chose a people, and listen, the reason why he chose them, for his own glory. He didn't choose them for their For them. It's nothing about them. It's for His own glory. That means nothing of this salvation is dependent upon me. God chose me because He would. There's no other reason. Y'all won't find one. And not only did God choose a people, He gave them as a gift to His Son in a covenant. covenant, a pact made between the Father and the Son, and the Son in love took us.

He said, I'll be surety for them. I'll be their high priest. I'll be their offering. When Christ was doing this, He was doing this willingly. He was doing this out of love. He came into the world to die in the stead of His people to suffer for the guilt of their sins and then give them a righteousness they could never earn. This is the Gospel. This is His Word. God the Holy Spirit agreeing in a covenant of grace purpose to call everyone that God chose everyone that Christ redeemed. This is a glorious truth that none of those chosen, none of those redeemed shall fail to believe. This is good, right? Often times I feel such like a failure. I think maybe I just didn't communicate it right, you know? No, that ain't it.

If God speaks to him and he can use it, he can use an ass, right? He can use an ass to speak. But I know this, God will save His people from their sins. Jesus said, of all that the Father giveth me, I should lose nothing. This is good news that He's not going to lose one of us. So then God who ordained salvation, who purposed it by Jesus Christ, who purposed to call us By the Spirit, listen, He also chose the means by which we should hear His voice.

Now none of you, and none of us, have ever audibly heard the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. One day we will. It's going to be a glorious day when you hear that voice that you've never heard. Come, Thou blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom. prepared for you from before the foundation of the world. That's what He'll say to us. He told us what He's going to say to us. One day we're going to hear His voice just like these guys heard His audible voice.

But that's not what He's talking about. He's not talking about an audible voice. He's talking about the voice of Christ through the Spirit of God, but the means. How can we hear His voice? God's means is what we're doing right now. I am simply declaring to you the Word of God. And yet it is not an academic thing. It's not a mental assenting thing.

You can hear my words just like they heard the words of Jesus. They heard His voice audibly, but they didn't hear Him. I cannot tell you how many years I sat in a pew hearing the Word of God, but not hearing Him. Thousands and thousands of times it seems I was hearing the Word of God, but I didn't hear Him until He came to me. Until He opened my ears. Until He gave me life. And he did this through the preaching of the Gospel. I just quoted that in 1 Corinthians. We've been studying there. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 21.

It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. You see the means? The means is preaching. How is one going to hear the Word? Except some man come and You know, I like what that Ethiopian unit boy, he said it right. He's sitting there reading the word of God. Philip comes alongside of him. He said, You understand what you're reading? He said, How can I let some man come explain it to me? This is how God purpose to do it. Look at Romans chapter 10. I think this is even clearer. Romans chapter 10. Look at verse 13. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Glorious gospel message there, isn't it?

But listen, how are you going to call on Him in whom you have not believed? You're not going to call on somebody you don't believe. But then how are you going to believe on Him that you've not heard? How are you going to hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sinned? As it is written, how beautiful the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed the gospel.

For Isaiah said, Who hath believed our report? So then what? Here's a conclusion. Faith cometh by what? Hearing. And hearing by what? Word of God. We preach the gospel of Christ to you, but it is the work of the spirit that makes the word effectual. He that heareth my word. The gospel. The message of the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Listen, this message is a hope for the hopeless. Only for the hopeless. Any hopeless? Helpless. It's help for the helpless. It's comfort for the comfortless. It's forgiveness to the guilty. It's joy to those who sorrow over their sins. It is the message of the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Why do we preach this man, Jesus Christ, There is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved. You know how narrow that is? The apostle said in Acts chapter 4, he said there is none other name. There's no other authority by which man may be forgiven. There's no other hope for a man who is dead but this, the name, Jesus Christ.

People use that as an incantation, right? They say in the name of Jesus. Just like hocus pocus. It's not what it means. We preach with authority because I'm preaching to you the word of the living God. And it's him you must hear. He that heareth my voice, heareth my gospel. Have you heard his word? If you heard his word, then you know your need. You know from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet is nothing but sin. You know that? I know that. That's not an academic thing. That's a real thing. That's who I am. I know that there is no righteousness in me. When a man hears the voice of Christ, the first thing he does, he abases him. He strips him of all of his helps, all of his crutches. all of his religion and he puts him in the dust. Have you heard him? Have you heard him? And all who hear him hear his gospel of hope.

I think of Mephibosheth a lot. Man, how that man was dragged from his house and thrown at the feet of David, expecting a sword at any moment, and knew he was worthy to get it. That's how I felt when he came to me. When I heard his voice, that's what happened to me. But instead of the sword, I received mercy. Instead of what I deserved, I received forgiveness and righteousness. Now, not only when you hear him, listen to this, You believe Him. Everyone who hears Christ believes on Christ.

We believe. We believe. What do we believe about Christ? He said, He that heareth me believeth on him who sent me. We believe Him to be sent. We believe him to be God manifest in the flesh. Just what he says here about himself, I believe that. You heard his voice. If you heard his voice, you know this. He's God. He's God manifest in the flesh. That's what we know. And he is sent. What was he sent to do? He was sent to obtain righteousness. You know, when Jesus was obeying the law, he never did it for himself. He never had to. You know, when Christ was obeying the law, he was only doing that which is natural.

For us, it would seem hard, right? Impossible. You and I try, and we fail. It's natural for us to sin. That's natural. Well, in the other way, it was just natural for him to be righteous. It's not hard for him to be righteous. He suffered being righteous, but it was not hard. It was his nature. Why was he doing it? He was making a righteousness for us. We believe this, that Jesus Christ is all my righteousness. All my righteousness. And not only this, we believe that his blood actually atoned for my sins. When I hear his voice, I hear this, that he by his one offering hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. By his one offering. Where was I when he made that offering? I was in him, but I was not yet made. I wasn't around. Yet, he perfected me before I even came into this world. We were perfected.

You hear His voice. You believe on His blood. You trust your soul to His righteousness and blood. We believe this, that when He was hanging on the tree, God's mercy, God's justice was forever satisfied. Satisfied. Isn't this what troubles us about death and what troubles us about afflictions? Is God satisfied? Well, according to the Word of God, He's satisfied only in one offering, the offering of His Son. And we believe that God raised Him from the dead as proof of His acceptance. You want to know if God is satisfied with us? Is the tomb empty? If it's empty, then God is well pleased with His offering. And so then, what do I do constantly? I point you to the Lamb of God.

So have you heard? How do you know if you've heard His voice? Do you believe? Do you believe on Jesus Christ alone? That is the proof of the resurrection of the Holy Spirit, is if you've believed on Christ. And if you believed on Him, know this, you believed because you were born again of the Spirit of God. Look what He says. Go back to your text and look at this. He says in verse 25, He says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God.

And they that hear, what? Shall live. They that hear, believe. And they that believe, have this promise. You live. You that have heard my voice, you live. You're alive. I don't know about you, but I don't always feel alive. Sometimes my heart gets so cold and dead, I don't think that there'd be a difference between me and the rest of this lost, condemned world. But here's a difference.

I believe Him. I trust Him. And those who hear His voice shall live. And there are many making professions, right? Isn't that easy, to make a profession? But God's people, we not only hear Him, we continually desire to hear Him. I don't want to hear anybody else. I really would like to hear Him. So when His gospel is preached, what am I listening for? I'm listening for Him. Now then, what are the benefits of those that believe? The benefits of those that believe.

Look at your text again. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, listen to this, half everlasting life. I like this. That word there is a past tense. He already's got it. I want you to see this, you that believe and hear His voice. You have a past hope, you have a present hope, and you have a future hope. Here's your past hope. You already have eternal life. Now why? Because God purposed to give it to you. before the world began. Look at Titus chapter 1. Look at Titus chapter 1. Look at verse 2. In hope, that word confidence, that's what it means, in confidence. In confidence of eternal life.

Which God that cannot lie promised. When did He promise it? Before the world began. When did you have eternal life? You that heard His voice and believed. When did God give you eternal life? He gave you eternal life. He promised it to you before the world began. Isn't that a good hope? Before there was anything to screw it up. God already purposed that you should have it. eternal life. That's when he said when he said in first Corinthians, but of God, are you in Christ Jesus? That's when he put you in Christ Jesus before the world began. And then what before you began? Jesus Christ purchased your eternal life. He paid for it. It's purchased, it's done. He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me already has eternal life. It was promised and it was purchased.

Listen, and you have confidence right now. Listen to this confidence. The confidence you have today, in this present moment, is that you are passed from death to life. You are, right now, you that hear his voice and believe on him, you are passed. from death to life. When Jesus Christ gives us spiritual life, no one can take it from you. You are, right now, passed from death to life. You are quickened by the Spirit of God.

Look over at John 10. It's real fast. It's over there, a few pages. John 10, he said, my sheep, what do they do? Hear my voice. They hear my word. And listen, I know them. Why does he know them? There he is. And what do they do? They believe. They follow me.

And I give unto them eternal life. Result, they shall never perish, 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. Here's that same theme, I and my Father are one, same will, same purpose is this, that you have eternal life, and you believe you are past. You have the gift of eternal life, and nobody can take it from you.

Not life, nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nothing can separate us from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus. You are passed from death to life. Notice this future thing. You shall not come into condemnation. Now, the apostle in Romans 8 says this, there is therefore now no condemnation. That's just true. You are in Christ Jesus. There is no condemnation. Do you feel that way? Do you feel like there's no condemnation? How often do you condemn yourself? We need to read that over and over again, don't we?

There's therefore now no condemnation. Listen, there's therefore now no condemnation. There's therefore now no condemnation. Those are in Christ Jesus. You say that until you die. But when you do, then shall you come into a place where there really is no condemnation. You shall come into a place where there will be no condemnation or judgment.

I'll give you an illustration of this, closing with just what our Lord did. Our Lord's coming in judgment. There's no doubt about it. He said, when the Lord, when when the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his angels, he shall separate all men. He shall judge all men. This is coming. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming and he will judge all men in our text. He said the father committed all judgment to the son. He will judge all men in strict, holy judgment.

Anyone who enters into heaven is going to, of necessity, be holy as God is, or He won't enter. How then can we come to a place of no condemnation, seeing that all we are is sin? Because God hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. This is how when he separates a sheep from the goat, he's going to go to his sheep. And you say, come, you're blessed to my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you on the foundation of the world.

When I was hungry, you fed me. When I was naked, you clothed me. When I was sick in prison, you visited me. And what is the answer? When did we do any of that? You did it to the least of these. You've done it to me. The love of the brethren is the evidence of it. But our righteousness is him. He's all my righteousness. He's all my justification. I am going to enter into heaven without any condemnation because He was condemned. My sin didn't get by God. He condemned it. He condemned it in the offering of His Son.

I thought of this hymn. Because I'm often troubled about this. I don't know about you, I'm just often troubled about this matter of condemnation. Because I see my sin more clearly every day. Every day I feel more of my unworthiness to ever be accepted of God or be counted among the saints of God. From whence this fear and unbelief?

Hast thou, O Father, put to grief thy spotless Son for me? And will the righteous judge of men condemn me for the debt of sin which the Lord hath charged thee? Complete atonement thou hast made to the utmost farthing thou hast paid what heir thy people owed? How then can wrath on me take place if sheltered in thy righteousness and sprinkled with thy blood?

You see, God cannot twice payment demand. First at my bleeding, sure at his hand, and then again at mine. God won't exact twice payment. If my sin is already paid, he's paid. He's paid. And I'll tell you this, our Lord Jesus Christ's blood was so precious, God said that he had received double. It's not just barely good enough, it was double what we owed.

Have you heard His voice? You've heard His voice, you know your need of Him. And when you hear of Him, you believe on Him. You believe on Him, you've heard His voice, you've been raised from the dead, and listen to this. There is therefore now no condemnation. Why? Because He's already given you eternal life. That's your past hope. grounded in election, grounded in the purchase of Christ. Your present hope is that there is no condemnation because of him. And our future hope is this, there will never be any condemnation. We are passed from death to life. How do you know all this?

The word of the Lord. It's the word of God. The one who's speaking is who? God. Truly, truly, I say in you, he that heareth my word. and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come to condemnation, but is passed." Already passed, already done, from death to life.

May God comfort us in this, because the trials and afflictions seem always to oppose it. My own flesh seems to oppose it. But why do I care what the flesh says or the world says? If I have the Word of God, all that's going to pass away in it, what's going to be left? The Word of God.

I pray God give us grace to believe it. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Mitch, would you dismiss us please? We thank you for it. Send in your son to die for your chosen people, to fill your wall. We thank you for it. Give us faith to have you. Proclaim your word. We pray, Lord, that you would leave it not for ourselves, but give us your understanding of your word. Reveal it unto us. I pray that you would allow us to go out to this world and proclaim the mighty work that