If you take your Bibles and turn
with me to 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5. We'll be looking at the first
verse, and specifically just the first part of that verse. The Scripture says, Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. I know this, that every believer
in Christ, sometimes we have many doubts and fears as to our
standing. Many times we fail and we fall
into divers sins and troubles. We often are like Newton who
said, "'Tis a point I long to know." Often it causes anxious
thoughts, do I love the Lord or no? Am I His or am I not? This is a very troubling thing
at times for believers that we might know our calling and election. Paul said, make your calling
and election sure. Is there anything more important
to the believer than that? I said, to this lost generation,
they make their decision once and they move on and they don't
really care. They can always look back and say, well, look
what I did. And looking back at something
that they did, believers, we can't do that because our faith
must be present. We must believe now. And listen
to what the Scripture says, that you may know this, that you may
know you are born of God. That you are one of His elect. That you were redeemed by the
blood of Christ. Listen what John said. He says,
whosoever. That's a very inclusive statement. He just, he puts it out there.
Listen. Whosoever, listen, believeth. That's a present perfect tense
word. You have believed, you are believing,
and you shall believe whosoever believeth and continues to believe. What? That Jesus is the Christ. What's this the evidence of?
You're born of God. You're born of God. So, do you
this night believe that Jesus is the Christ? The Christ. And that's what I want to focus
on again tonight, and we did this last Wednesday. We were
looking at this term, Christ. He that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ. This word has to do with anointing. He is the anointed one of God,
the Messiah. The Messiah. The word means anointed one in
the word of God. Now, we know this, anointed for
what? to save His people, to save Israel. Now, in the Scriptures, in the
Old Testament Scriptures, there were three offices that were
anointed. Three offices in the Old Testament. And in order for Jesus to be
the Christ, He said, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ,
is born of God. In order for Jesus of Nazareth
to be the Christ, He must, of necessity, fulfill all of the
types, all of the pictures, and all of the prophecies of the
Old Testament. And He fulfills all of these
types, all of these shadows, in these three offices. He fills the prophecies and shadows
and types in the office of the high priest. He fulfills this
in the office of the prophet, and he fulfills this in the office
of the king. He is the prophet, priest, and
king. These three were anointed in
the Old Testament. Now, two of them were anointed
with oil, and that's going to be the high priest and the king. These two were anointed with
oil But there is nowhere in Scripture the prophet being anointed with
oil, yet we read this often, that he is anointed with something
greater than oil, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. Now first
of all, I know we didn't get this message last week on video,
so I'm doing this for the sake of those that have not heard
this part. So I'm going to go back over
the office of the high priest just a bit before we go into
the second office. of prophet. Now Aaron was chosen
to be high priest of Israel, wasn't he? Aaron was chosen to
be a high priest and all his sons were anointed to be priests
and this was manifest to all Israel when he was what? Anointed
before them. Over in Exodus 28 it tells us
of his anointing. And what a wonderful, joyous
occasion this was. Because the children of Israel,
they had come to Sinai and they could not commune with God themselves. They needed someone to mediate
between them and God. And so God, in the law, gave
them a mediator. He gave them someone to offer
sacrifices acceptable to God so that the union with God. And that man, that priest, was
Aaron. And what a joyful day it was
when Aaron was anointed priest. We read that in Psalm 133 in
verse 1. He said, How pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity. It's like the oil that
ran down Aaron's beard onto his garment. What a joyful day. They
had someone to mediate between them, someone to offer sacrifices
on their behalf. Well, listen, Aaron was only
a type. Aaron was only a picture. The
sacrifices he offered were not going to bring anyone to God. They only pictured the offering
and sacrifice of another high priest after another order. Not after the order of Aaron,
not after the order of Levi, but it was after the order of
Melchizedek. which Paul tells us that that's
an eternal priesthood. That's not one that took place
in time. It was one that he was anointed
priest forever. Forever. And the second office
that we're going to look at tonight is this office of prophet. The prophets weren't anointed
with oil, but they were anointed with something greater, the Spirit
of God. You remember Moses was a prophet.
We're going to get into this a little bit. Moses was a prophet
under God. He spoke. He went, got the message
from God, got the law from God and and was able to communicate
that law to the people. That's what a prophet does. And
we know that Moses had the spirit of God, because that time that
Moses, he was he was tired. He was tired. And he said, I
can't do all this by myself. You remember what God did? He
he split the spirit among the elders. He was anointed with
the Spirit, but then God took some of that Spirit and gave
it among the elders. A greater picture of that was
Elijah and Elisha. Elijah was about to go to be
with God. And he said to Elisha, what will
you have that I can give you? And he said, I want a double
portion of the Spirit. And he said, I can't give it
to you. But if you see me go into heaven, the Lord is going
to give you what you asked for. And he did. He saw him go into
heaven and the Lord gave him a double portion. He was anointed. He was anointed with a double
portion. And the last office is king.
And you know that picture of David. Samuel came and he was
looking for God's anointed king. And he went through all of those
brothers. We know this, that David was
the one, not the brothers, and he came and anointed him to be
king. And listen, so Jesus Christ was
also anointed with the Spirit of God, and He was anointed king. Now, like I said, I'm going to
go back over to the high priest, Jesus Christ. So when we talk
about Jesus being the Christ, we must understand and believe
that Jesus is anointed of God. chosen of God to be our High
Priest. He was chosen and anointed of
God to be the Prophet of God. And He was chosen and anointed
of God to be the King, the King of His people, the Deliverer,
the Protector of His people. Now, Jesus Christ. So when we
say, Whosoever believeth in Jesus is the Christ, we are saying,
do you believe He is God's anointed High Priest? Anointed high priest. Now, what was the purpose of
a priest? What's the purpose of a priest? Go to Hebrews chapter
5 and the apostle Paul here will tell you exactly what the purpose
of a high priest is. He says in chapter 5 and verse
1, he says, For every high priest is taken from among men and is
ordained for men. For what purpose? in the things
pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices
for sins." That's what he does. That's his whole purpose, to
offer gifts and sacrifices for sin. And also, listen, he was taken
from among men. He wasn't an angel. He wasn't
somebody that couldn't relate to us or understand our infirmities. That's what he said in verse
2, who can have compassion on the ignorant. Aren't you glad of that? God's
people, we know this by nature, we're ignorant. That old nature
still resides in us. And how many ignorant mistakes,
how many ignorant things have we done? Yet we have a high priest
who is compassionate. Long-suffering on them that are
out of the way, for that He Himself is compassed about with infirmity.
And by reason thereof, He ought for the people, so also for Himself,
to offer for sins. And no man taketh this honor
unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron."
See? Aaron was not called. He didn't
do this by himself. He didn't take this office. God
anointed him. And look what he says. So also,
notice the word, Christ. He used that word very particularly,
Christ. Why? Because Christ is the anointed
one. He is anointed what? High priest. He glorified not himself to be
made an high priest, but he that said unto him, Thou art my son,
this day have I begotten thee. He saith in another place, Thou
art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. You see, Christ. He was anointed
priest of God. But who is He? He's the Son of
God. This high priest is not just
any man, He is Himself the Son of God. And yet in another place
He said this, Thou art a priest, forever. In other words, this
Son of God must have taken our nature, Our human nature, not
our sin nature, our human nature. So as to be a high priest to
offer gifts and sacrifices unto God. Now Aaron offered sacrifices,
didn't he? He did. Many sacrifices. But Aaron's sacrifices, we know
this, was not sufficient. Look at Hebrews chapter 7 and
verse 19. It says, "...for the law made
nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the
which we draw nigh unto God." You see, Aaron, he made nothing
perfect. Those sacrifices could never
remove sin. But what did? A bringing in of
a better hope. A better confidence. And that
was Christ, our High Priest. And Christ Jesus, when He came
into the world, He had that one purpose, that one goal, and that
was to die. You remember when Peter wanted
to cut off the ear of that servant and defend Christ and get Him
out of there. When Christ told Peter, He said,
I'm going to Jerusalem to die. And he said, Be it far from you,
Lord. And he said, What? Get thee behind me, Satan, for
thou savest not the things that be of God. You see, our high
priest had the things of God in mind to present himself an
offering, to bring in a better hope, a better confidence. He
was taken from among men so that he might represent us and offer
an acceptable sacrifice unto God. You see, he was a perfect man. Aaron, he had to offer sacrifices
for himself, didn't he? He had to offer sacrifices because
he was not perfect, he was a sinner. Yet this man, he had no reason
to offer sacrifices for himself. He was a perfect man. He was
a perfect man so that he might be a perfect offering. He was not only the one that
offered the sacrifice, He Himself was the sacrifice. You see how
He's the Christ? He fulfilled all those types.
Every sacrifice, you go back in the Old Testament, you pick
out any sacrifice you want to, it all pictures Him. It's Him. He is the sacrifice. He is the
priest. Therefore, what? He is the Christ.
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, do you believe
He's the high priest of God? What do you believe about His
offering? What do you believe about His offering? Go to chapter
10 of Hebrews. Chapter 10 of Hebrews, it says,
For the law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not
the very image of the things, can never, by those sacrifices
that they offered, year by year continually, make the comers
thereunto perfect. For then, wouldn't they cease
to be offered? Because that the worshippers
were purged should have had no more conscience of sin. But in
those sacrifices, there's remembrance made again of sins every year. Why? For it was not possible
that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Therefore,
when He, Christ, cometh into the world, our High Priest, He
says what? Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest
not, but a body thou hast prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, here's what Christ
said, lo, I come. Christ says this in the volume
of the book it is written of me. To do thy will, O God. And He explains it now above
when He says, "...sacrifice and offering, and burnt offering,
and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither had pleasure therein,
which were offered by the law." He said, "...Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God." What did He do this for? He said He'd take
it away, the first, that He may establish the second. That He
may establish a better covenant. The old covenant. It had its
place, its purpose, in that it pictured Christ. But when Christ
came, He came to fulfill that covenant. To make that covenant
effectual. To make a covenant of mercy,
a covenant of grace. One that actually took away sin. So He said what? By the witch
will. I come to do Thy will. And by the witch will, Paul says,
we are sanctified. Holy. You got that? You that whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ, I want you to understand this. You are
holy. You are sanctified. How in the world could I possibly
say that? It says it. I didn't have to
say it. You are set apart. You are holy, sanctified. In other words, you don't have
to go around sanctifying yourself. You are sanctified. A bunch of religious
people run around trying to sanctify themselves, make themselves holy. The vernacular is they want to
become more holy. Have you ever asked, how can
you become more holy? Isn't holy itself perfect? You're either holy or you're
not. It's an all-or-none principle here. We are sanctified. Now,
how in the world are you made holy? Paul tells you how. Not by you doing anything, but
by the work of your high priest, Christ. By the work of Christ,
you and I are sanctified through the body of Jesus. What? Christ. Once for all. Once and forever. Has He already
made the offering? Is the offering already accepted? Who can undo the offering of
Christ? That's what it would take to
make His people unholy, unsanctified. You can't do that. Once for all,
Paul said. He said, and those priests, they
stand at the ministering oftentimes, the same sacrifice, never take
away sin, but this man. After He had offered one sacrifice
for sin, what did He do? He sat down. He sat down at the
right hand of God, henceforth expecting till His enemies be
made His footstool. Why is He expecting it? Because
He's victorious. He actually accomplished it.
And that's what He says in the next verse. For by His one offering,
He hath perfected Forever. That's a mighty long time, isn't
it? Forever. Perfected forever, them that
are sanctified, sanctified out through the body of His offering
once for all. You that are sanctified, you
are now made perfect. And wherefore the Holy Ghost
also is a witness to us after He said this before. This is
the covenant I will make with them after those days. Sayeth
the Lord, I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write
them in their minds. Will I write them? And their
sins and iniquities will I remember no more. And where there's remission
of sin, there's no more offering for sin. Isn't that good? There's
no more offerings. There's no more offering for
sin. How do you know that? The Holy
Spirit testifies by the writing of His law in our heart. What
is that law? It is the law that John said,
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.
You believe that Jesus is the Christ. Well, that's the law
that is written in our hearts. And so now then, we need to move
on to the second office. Now, that's the first office.
Do you believe that He is the Great High Priest? Do you believe
His offering is sufficient? Now, to believe that, I want
you to understand this. You bring nothing and add nothing to it. When you believe that Jesus is
the Christ, you are saying that His offering is sufficient, and
I need add nothing. To add anything to the offering
of Christ, it is to count the blood of Christ as an unholy
thing. You know who does that? apostates.
They count the blood of Christ as a common thing. It's not a
common thing. It's not for everybody. It's
for his people, which means it's sufficient. We believe it's sufficient.
Now, secondly, the office of the high priest, I'm sorry, the
office of the prophet. To believe that Jesus is the
Christ is to believe that he is the anointed prophet of God. Now, how were those priests anointed?
As I told you before, they were anointed not with oil, but with
the Spirit of God. So when I say that Jesus is the
Christ, we are saying that He was anointed with the Spirit
of God. And the Scriptures conclude this,
that to Him was given the Spirit of God without measure. Without measure. He had the spirit,
he had the anointing of God without measure. You know that John witnessed
that. He said he saw the spirit like
a dove descending upon him. Not part of the spirit, the whole
spirit descending upon Jesus Christ. Matter of fact, Christ says this
in the prophecy says this anyway in the Old Testament in Isaiah
61 in Isaiah 61 He says this he says the Spirit
of the Lord is upon me There's the prophecy the Spirit of the
Lord is upon me now why was he anointed with the Spirit of the
Lord because I He hath anointed me with that Spirit to preach
good tidings to the meek. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, the opening
of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God. For
what purpose? To comfort all that mourn. All those that mourn for their
sin, listen, Jesus Christ has come with the full anointing
of the Spirit to declare to you the Word of God. Now that's what
a prophet does. A prophet, he doesn't come with
his own word. A prophet, the whole purpose
of a prophet, now the whole purpose of a priest was to make an offer. The whole purpose of a prophet
was to declare what God would say to man. And I'm so thankful He has a
good message to declare. A message of good tidings. A message to those that mourn
over their sin. He has a message of grace. Now,
if you go to Hebrews chapter 3, the apostle in Hebrews chapter
3, he compares Christ and His office of prophet to that of
Moses. Moses was a prophet of God. Look
in verse one of chapter three, the apostle, he's talking to
believers. He said, wherefore, holy brethren,
there's that word again. Look at that. Holy Scott, that's it. Holy brethren, partakers of the
heavenly calling, consider you, you consider this. If you are
a holy brethren, you are partakers of His calling, listen, you need
to consider, you need to dwell on this, you need to think on
this. What? You need to think on the apostle and high priest. We just dwelt on the high priest,
we've just considered his priesthood, now what are we going to do?
Let's consider his apostleship. Apostle means one who's sent,
sent with a message. Consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession." Notice again, he uses this verse. Christ. Jesus. Christ is his office. And who is it that takes this
office of Christ? Jesus. And look at verse 2. He says, who was faithful to him that
appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.
For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch
as he who hath built the house hath more honor than the house. For every house is built of some
man, but he that built all things is God." Moses was highly esteemed
among the Jews. He was the prophet of prophets. So when you mention His name,
that got their attention. And he said, look, Jesus Christ
is a prophet of more honor than Moses. How much more honor? He said, you take a house. You
have a man build a house. Who's going to get more honor,
the house or the man that built it? I mean, the house didn't
build itself. You give honor to the man that
built the house. Even so, God is the one that
sent Moses. Who gets the glory? God gets
the glory for sending Moses. If Moses had any spirit, had
any message, it was from God. It was from God. And Moses was
faithful in all his house as a servant for the testimony of
those things which were spoken after. In other words, Moses
was given a testimony of who? Christ, that's what he was given
a testimony. When God spake to Moses and gave
him all that law and all of those types and shadows, what is he
testifying of? When he said, Aaron, go and this
is how you're going to offer a sacrifice, and this is how
the tabernacle is going to be built, and this is how the Holy
of Holies, this is the furniture that's got to go in there, this
is how they're going to be built, this is how they're going...
the spices and all... Who is he talking about? He was
talking about that which should come after. He's talking about
Christ. He's talking about Christ. But Christ, as a Son over His
own house, whose house are we? If we hold fast with confidence
and rejoicing, of hope firm to the end. You see, we are the house of
this prophet. This prophet has a house. And
he was faithful to testify the things of God to his house. More than Moses. Worthy of more
glory than Moses. Jesus Christ is our great apostle. He was sent with the message
of God. Sent with the message of God.
And all the Old Testament prophets, what did they do? They spoke
of Him. Now I'm going to show you this,
that Moses testified of this prophet. Go to Deuteronomy chapter
18. This is a very important text
because it's mentioned in the New Testament several times,
and I'm going to show you that as well. Deuteronomy chapter
18, and look at verse 15. Look what the Lord God told Moses. He said, The Lord thy God. will
raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy
brethren like unto me. Unto him shall you hearken according
to all that thou desirest of the Lord thy God in Horeb in
the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice
of the Lord my God, neither let me see the great fire any more,
that I die not. And the Lord said unto me, They
have well spoken that they have spoken." Remember that day at
Horeb, again, they heard the voice of God, they saw the justice
and holiness of God, and they said, we need somebody to go
up there and get God's Word for us. And Moses did. Moses went up there for them,
received the law of God for them, and then came, what? Came and
spoke that to them. But he said, look, there's another
prophet coming, like me. He's another prophet, and you
need to listen to Him. More than you listen to me, you
must listen to Him. Why? Because all I'm speaking
of is Him. And He said in verse 18, I will raise
up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, and
will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them
all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever will not hearken to My words which he shall speak
in My name, I will require of him." You see, the Lord Jesus is that
great prophet who was to come. As a matter of fact, if you want
to see that to be true, go over to Acts chapter 3. I've got a few verses in the
Gospels, but Acts chapter 3 and 7 would be sufficient. Look at
Acts chapter 3 and verse 22. Peter here preaching. Let me
see if I got that right. Nope, I'm in the wrong book.
That would probably be why it's not coming out right. I mean,
get into the right book and it will come out right. So, Acts chapter 3 and verse
22. He said, For Moses truly said
unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto
you of your brethren like unto me. Him shall you hear in all
things whatsoever he shall say unto you. It shall come to pass
that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed
from among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from
Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken,
have likewise foretold of these days." You see, He is that prophet. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
is that prophet. And then what? from Samuel all
the way to the end. They spoke of these days. They spoke of Christ's coming. And if you go over a couple more
pages in Acts chapter 7, you read that Stephen also spoke
of this in verse 37. He said, this is that Moses. which said unto the children
of Israel, Prophet, shall the Lord your God raise up unto you
of your brethren, like unto me, him shall you hear. This is he.
He's saying, look, this is he. This is he that went with them
in the wilderness. This is Christ, the one you've
crucified, the one you've slain. This is that prophet which should
come. But I know this, man by nature
will not hear Christ. He has good tidings of great
joy. He brings a good message of forgiveness
and pardon and mercy, a message of a high priest, a message of
an offering. That's what Christ came to preach,
a gospel message. But man, because of depravity,
cannot and will not hear Christ. Over in 1 Corinthians, Paul speaks
of this in 1 Corinthians 2. He says in verse 14, the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. They're
foolishness to him. That's what they are on the surface.
The Word of God, the Word of Christ, the Word of the Prophet
is foolishness. And I'll tell you this, we all
identify with that. We who believe, it was once foolish
to us. We were all steeped in religion.
We heard of God's election, of God's sovereign mercy, of His
grace, and we mocked it, we laughed at it, we scorned it. Why? We thought it was foolishness.
Why do men think it's foolishness? Neither can he know them because
he's spiritually judged. We're spiritually condemned.
We're spiritually dead. That's why man will not come
and hear this message. It's a great message. It's a
message for sinners. It's a message for the blind.
It's a message for the lame. It's a message for those who
cannot come to God by their works. That's me. That's a message for
me. When God reveals our nature to
us, we then, our ears perk up. He said, the prophet said this,
I came not to call the righteous. Well, that's good. Who'd you
come to call? I come to call sinners to repentance.
Well, that's me. Then that message of the prophet
is what? It's for me. It's for sinners. How then could I hear this message
except by the voice of the prophet, except by the voice of Christ?
Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. Why? He's the prophet. He's the
one that testifies. He's the ones that manifest the
gospel of God's grace. Go to 2 Timothy. Go to 2 Timothy.
2 Timothy chapter 1. And look at verse 3. I'm sorry, verse 8. Verse 8.
He said, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony... Of
who? Our Lord. Of the prophet. Don't be ashamed of the message
of the great prophet, Christ. Nor of me as prisoner. But be
thou partakers of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God, who hath saved us. Here's the message, isn't
it? Here's the message. Who hath
saved us and called us. Notice the order. He saved us. Why? He was our high priest.
He saved us. He chose us. He saved us, and
then what did He do? He called us. He called us. What kind of calling? A holy
calling. An effectual calling. A perfect
calling. Not according to our works. But according to His own purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. But now is made manifest How? How is that salvation and calling
made manifest? How is it that salvation is by
the power and grace of God that was given us in Christ before
the foundation of the world? Were you there before the foundation
of the world? Did you see it? Well, how do
you know it was given you in Christ Jesus before the world
began? Well, it's been manifest to me. How? It's now been manifest
by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished
death. That's what He did as priest,
isn't it? He abolished death. By the death of the cross, He
hath abolished death, putting away our sin. Why is it you're
going to die? Why would men die and go to hell? Sin. Well, where there is no
sin, there is no death. He abolished death. He removed
our sin from us as far as the east is from the west. Therefore,
there is no death for the believer. "...and hath brought life and
immortality," notice, "...to light." What does light do? If the room is dark, can you
see anything? No, light manifests something,
doesn't it? It exposes. It reveals something. When Jesus Christ came, He abolished
death and He brought life and immortality to light. How we can have life and live
immortally with Christ and with God forever, He brought it to
light. How? Through the Gospel. His
Gospel. The fulfillment of that passage Isaiah 61 was in Luke chapter
4, wasn't it? When the Lord took the book,
He opened it right to the page on Isaiah 61, verse 1. He says,
Spirit Lord, it is upon Me, because the Lord hath anointed Me to
preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. To who? The blind, the captives, the
lame? He anointed Him to preach the gospel, to bring light Life
and immortality to light. To manifest this to His people.
And it is by this Gospel. The mystery of God is manifest. The mystery of God. They don't
have to go over there. Romans chapter 16 and verse 25. Now to Him that has the power...
I'm sorry, I'll make sure I've got that right. Now to him that
is of the power to establish you according to my gospel and
the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of
the mystery which was kept secret since the world began but now
is manifest. How is manifest? By the coming
of the great prophet. The great prophet came to declare
this gospel to men. The mystery of the gospel. Now
manifest by the scriptures of the prophets according to the
commandment of the everlasting God made known to all nations
for the obedience of faith." Now, Christ came in to manifest
this gospel, the mystery. What is the mystery? Here it
is in a very simple statement, question. How can God be just
and justify the ungodly? That's the mystery. That's the
mystery. All the types and shadows pointed
to it. But when Christ came, He revealed
that those types and shadows were just a picture of Him. How
could God be just and justify the ungodly? Through a substitute,
a mediator, a representative. That's how God can be just and
justify the ungodly. That's the mystery. And Christ
is the answer to that. And so, I'm going to go over
just a few things that this great prophet has said. The things that he had been given
of God. What had Christ spoken? That's
important for us. If we're going to believe he's
the prophet, we've got to know what he said. It's not just enough
to know that he's the prophet, but what did the prophet say?
Jesus said this, He that heareth my word, and what? Do it. He said, I'll liken that man
to a man who's built his house upon a rock. But he that doesn't
hear My Word or doesn't do My Word, he said, that man's built
on sand. Have you heard the Word of Christ?
Have you done the Word of Christ? Well, what is His Word? What's the message that He sent?
Well, first of all, let's flip through the Scriptures. First
of all, he declares himself to be God. The prophet of God declares
himself to be God. Go to John chapter 8. Look what
the prophet said. John chapter 8 and verse 58.
He said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham
was, I am. I am. Do you believe he's the
prophet of God? then you have to believe this,
He is God. Because that's what the prophet
of God said. Before Abraham was, I am. And they took stones to
throw at him. They kill him because he made
himself equal with God. Why? Because he was equal with
God. In the beginning, John testified,
in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word, what? Was God. This prophet also said
in another place, he said, except you believe that I am, you shall
die in your sin. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is God, manifest in the flesh? Because that's what it means
to believe He's the Christ. You have to believe He fulfilled
Scripture unto us, a child is born. In that manger, there was
a child born, wasn't there? But who was this child? He was
a Son given. He was a Son given. A Son that
eternally existed with the Father, one with the Father, equal in
power and dominion. And He came into the world to
be the Savior of His people. Do you believe He's God? You
should believe that if you believe Jesus is the Christ and you believe
what He said. I believe He's God. I believe
He's God because the prophet said what? I am. Second of all, this prophet of
God says that you must have the righteousness of God to enter
into heaven. Go to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew
chapter 5. I'm moving quickly now. I've
got to move quickly. Matthew chapter 5. Look at verse 20. Notice what the prophet said.
The great prophet. He said this. I say unto you, except your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall
in no case enter into the kingdom of God. Hear the word of God. Accept your righteousness. Exceed
the righteousness of the most holy men that ever walked on
the face of the earth. Physical obedience to the law. Now, we make fun of the Pharisees.
We look at them and we say, man, those self-righteous. Nobody
said that about them. Not in that day. You couldn't
point out sin. Christ had to actually point
out the sin that was in their heart because outwardly they
looked perfect. As a matter of fact, Jesus testified
to that, didn't He? He said, you are whitewashed
tombs. On the outside, beautiful. Flawless. I mean, they were out there counting
their mint leaves. Who of us could ever attain to
such obedience of the law? None of us. And Jesus said, listen,
that's not enough. except your righteousness exceed
that, you shall in no case..." There won't be anyone. This is
why Paul said, "...therefore by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in God's sight." Because the law is the
knowledge of sin. It cannot help you to God. That's what the prophets say. Yet we have this. that the prophet
himself said, I have come to fulfill what you couldn't. Look
at the verse up in 17, the verse above this. He said, think not
I've come to destroy the law and the prophets. I am come not
to destroy, but what? Fulfill. You see, that righteousness
that you and I need, the prophet said, I'm going to do it. I'm
going to fulfill the deeds of this law in your place. That's why Paul said in Romans
chapter 3, I told you, "...therefore by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in the sight." He said this in verse
22, "...but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifest,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ." That's how
righteousness comes. by the faith of Jesus Christ,
and then this righteousness watch unto all, and upon all them that
believe. Whoso believeth that Jesus is
the Christ, the prophet of God, you hear his word, and what?
You hear this, that I'm a sinner and have no hope of ever earning
God's favor. But my hope is not in me, it's
in the word of the prophet who said, I came to fulfill the law. By His righteousness and blood,
He did fulfill the law. Jesus said this in John 8, verse
12, I am the light of the world. He that followeth Me shall not
walk in darkness, but have the light of life. Just before that
passage, you remember it was the woman caught in adultery. And He said, which of you is
without sin? You cast the first stone. See
what the light of the world is revealing? He's revealing that
we are all by nature sinners. We're all by nature sinners.
And then what? They left. They threw down their
stones, but they left and left that woman alone with Christ.
Now listen, where does a sinner need to be to be saved? He needs
to be alone with Christ. That's the best place a sinner
can be, is alone with Christ. And He said to this woman, who
is that condemned thee? She said, no man. He said, neither
do I condemn thee. How can He do that? How can He
possibly honor that law and not condemn that woman? He said, look, I'm the light
of the world. I'm the light of the world. I'm
the only means by which God can be just and justify ungodly sinners. And if you walk in that light,
you don't walk in darkness. If you follow me, you're not
going to walk in darkness. Jesus Christ is the light that
reveals that He is the only Savior of man. Fourthly, this prophet
said, I am the good shepherd. I am the good shepherd. You know
what the good shepherd says? I have sheep. I have sheep. He said, my fold, those that
sheep, the Father gave them to me. What is he talking about? His elect. He said, I have a
people. I am a shepherd and I have sheep. The Father gave them to me. And
what did I come to do? He said, the prophet said, I
came to lay down my life, not for everyone, but for the sheep. He said, you know what I'm going
to do after I lay down my life? I'm going to call them. He said,
my sheep hear my voice and I know them. And they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. I dare you. You say, I dare you. What a statement. Do you realize
that if one sheep were ever plucked out of his hand, he is not the
prophet? If there was one he has saved, and that person somehow
ends up lost, he is not the prophet? The prophet said, I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. Is he the prophet? Have you heard his word? Have you obeyed his word? What
is to obey his word? It's to believe it. It's to trust
him. He is the good shepherd. I'll
tell you this, last one is, he is the bread of life. He said
that, didn't he? I am the bread of life. That
man that came down from heaven is just a picture of me. I came
down from heaven to be the bread of life, to give my flesh and
my blood He said, My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is
drink indeed. Whoso eateth My flesh and drinketh
My blood shall have everlasting life. They shall never hunger
and thirst again. That's what the prophet said.
Do you believe what the prophet said? Well, how do I know if I believe?
Well, have you tasted? Have you eaten his flesh and
drank his blood? What does that mean? It means
to believe on him. Whosoever believeth Jesus is
the Christ, what? Is born of God. I believe he's
the prophet of God. I believe he has the word of
God. I believe he is the word of God. I believe that he is the bread
of life. I believe he is the good shepherd.
I believe he is the great I am. I believe he is the light of
the world. I believe he's the only way to
God. Now, how could we be so dogmatic about that? We are. They were called in the Acts
of the Apostles, they were called the people of the way before
they were ever called Christians. Why were they called people of
the way? Because we were adamant about
this from the beginning. Jesus Christ is the only way
to God. Broad is the way and wide is
the gate that leadeth to destruction and many go in there. To them there's many ways to
God, but to us, Straight is the gate, and narrow is the way.
What is it? Singular. Christ is the only way to God.
Now, how do I know it? Because the prophet said so.
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to God. No man comes to God but by me. See, they say, me and you. You
don't go to God by him and you. It's not a combination of the
two. It's Him alone. Very narrow. No one comes to
God but by Me. And we know this, we who have
come to God by Him, we know this, He is able to save them that
come to God to the uttermost. Uttermost. I believe He's the
Christ, do you? He's our High Priest, and He
surely is the Prophet of God. Our gracious Father, I do pray
that this night you would open our eyes to this, that we should
praise Christ, honor him who is our high priest, who is the
offering that is accepted, he who is the prophet who came to
deliver the word of God, by which we hear the gospel, by which
we know how you may be just and justify the ungodly. Help us
even now to consider our apostle and high priest, Jesus Christ.
to believe on Him. And may those that do not believe,
you may give them light that they may believe. And I ask this
in Jesus' name, Amen.