Thank you to everyone. Turn with me, if you would, back
to John 14. John 14, let's read the first
six verses together. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am, there you may be also. And whither I go, you know,
and the way you know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord,
we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way?
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father,
but by me. Now, I hope that this message
is a help in answering the question, the head scratching question
of what must I do to be saved? And I hope that this message
is a help in answering the question, who should I believe? This preacher says this, that
preacher says that we all know it. So this denomination says one thing
that denomination says an entirely different thing. Who should I believe? Who should
I trust? I hope this message is a help
in answering the questions. What must I do to be saved? Who should I believe? And how can I know if I'm a child
of God? How can I know if I belong to
him? Let's read these verses again.
All right. Verse one, he said, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself That
where I am, there you may be also. And whither I go, you know,
and the way you know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord,
we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way?
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father,
but by me. Now here's the answer to all
three of those critical questions. All right, well, let's just say
it, and then we'll explain it with the Word of God. Verse six,
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father,
but by me. He said, I am the way. What must I do to be saved? How can I be saved? Our Lord said, I am the way. I am the way. Verse six, he said,
I am the truth. Who should I believe? Who should I believe? This one saying this, that one
saying that I got this man saying this, and I've got that man saying
that, how can I know who's right? Who should I believe? Our Lord
said, I am the truth. And he said, I am the life. How can I know if I'm a child
of God? How can I know if I'm really one of his followers,
really one of his disciples? How can I know if I have been
born again? Our Lord said, marvel not that
I say unto you, you must be born again. We must be quickened. You'll hear people say all the
time. You'll hear people say this all the time. I'm a born
again Christian. How do you know? How do you know? How can we know that we have
been born again? How can we know in this dead
flesh that we live in that struggles so much to even just worship
God and just pray to God? And how can we know that we've
been born again? Our Lord said, I am the life. I am the life. He said, no man
comes to the father, but by me, I'm the way I'm the truth. I'm the life. Now let's explain
those three things with and through the word of God. What does our
Lord mean when he says I am the way? What does he mean when he
says that? Turn with me over to Matthew
chapter seven. Matthew 7 verse 21. Our Lord said, not everyone that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that do with the will
of my father, which is in heaven. Now, let me ask this question.
What is the will of the father that is in heaven? What is his
will? Here's the answer. Pick a page. Just pick a page, pick a law,
pick a commandment. The will and the demand of the
father is absolute holy perfection. Who's going to enter in to the
glorious heaven with God. Absolute holy perfection. He
that had clean hands and a pure heart who have not lifted up
his soul into vanity nor sworn deceitfully. Absolute Holy perfection. That's
not what mankind is. We all know that. That is not
what mankind is. And mankind is not going to be
allowed into the glory of heaven just because he says, Lord, Lord. In order to be allowed in that
man or woman has to be absolute Holy perfection. Verse 22, he
said, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils
and in thy name done many wonderful works. They said, we preached,
we cast out devils and we did mission work. Humanitarian efforts. That's
what we really ought to call it, which I'm all for humanitarian
efforts. That's what they are. Now, why
did they do that? Let's get to the heart of it.
Why did they preach? And why did they cast out devils?
And why did they do mission work, humanitarian works? It's because
they thought that was the way. That's the reason why. That's
the whole reason why they thought that was the way they thought
if a man or a woman wants to go to heaven, he or she has to
become religious. You have to get in church and
you have to become religious. He or she has to cast out all
sin. If you want to be saved and you
want to go to heaven, this is what people naturally think.
You got to stop sinning. Get back in church, get religious,
stop sinning. And he or she has to do works
that are pleasing to God. Our Lord said right here, that
is not the way. That's not the way. That's a
shocking thing to realize, that's not the way. Verse 23, he said, then will
I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me ye that
work iniquity. He said, all that is in the flesh
for the glory of the flesh is sin. He said, what you thought
was the way was actually sin against me. That's just amazing.
The pride in thinking that we can do what only God can do for
us is sin against him. Just the arrogance and the pride
in thinking absolute Holy perfection. Sure. I can accomplish that.
What arrogance? The apostle Paul said over and
over again, you've heard this many times. He said, mortify
the deeds of the flesh. People think that means stop
sinning. That's not what it means. It does not mean kill your own
works. Paul was not talking about killing
the works of sin. He couldn't even kill the works
of his own sin. Read Romans seven. First Timothy one, he, he talking
about the works of righteousness. That's what he's talking about.
Trying to perform the works of righteousness. Man thinks he's
doing that. And with that thought, man goes
to meet God in his own works, thinking this is the way I'm
bringing the way here. It is. I have the way. That's
not the way man's anything is not the way
Christ said, I am the way. And what that means is speaking
in his voice, my work is the way his work is the way his righteousness
is the way, not ours, but his. And why is that? It's because
only he and only his work is absolute. Holy perfection before
God. That's the reason why. If we
wonder why does it has to be, have to be his work alone? It's because only his work is
absolute, Holy perfection before God. He is the only one and his
work is the only thing that God will actually accept. And his
blood, his work is the only thing God will accept. And His blood
is the only thing that will actually put away our sin. The only thing,
there is only one way. Christ Jesus, the man, Christ
Jesus, the Lord, He said, I am the way. His death, His suffering,
everything He endured, everything He did, He said, I am the way. Turn to Galatians chapter two
with me. Galatians chapter two, there
are so many scriptures that we could turn to that say this very
thing. This is so many, there's so many
places like this, but Galatians two verse 16, it says, knowing
that a man is not justified, justified means right with God. You know, people say, well, he's
right with God. Well, this says, knowing that
a man is not justified by the works of the law. The law is
the Bible. We really want to enter into
the plain, simple truth of what's being said. A man is not justified
by obeying the Bible. Should we obey the Bible? Sure
we should. Shall we sin that grace may abound? Paul said,
God forbid. But he said, let's know that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of, and that's an
important word, of Jesus Christ. That means it's his, it comes
from him, it's performed by him, it's the faith of Jesus Christ.
It says, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might
be justified by the faith of Christ, And not by the works
of the law for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. None only by looking to Christ,
only by believing on Christ. Look at Galatians chapter three,
verse 11, it says, but that no man is justified
by the law. No man's justified by doing the
law. In the sight of God, it is evident
for the judge shall live by faith. Look into Christ, believing on
Christ. When you get to the heart of
it, what does that mean? Verse 13 says, that means we didn't
justify ourselves. It means Christ did. It means
we believe that we cannot justify ourselves. Only Christ can. He
must do it. Verse 13 says, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for
it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. So us
doing it is not the way. Christ doing it is the way. And he said, it's done. He said, father, I finished the
work that you gave me to do, it's done. All right, well what
does this mean for us? How does this translate to us? Hebrews 4 says, this means that
we can rest from all of our labors as God has from His. That's so restful when God allows
us to do that. Truly rest from all of our labors
as God has from His. If Christ said it's done, trust
Him. Trust him. You know, you know,
I know you do. I talk with you about these things,
but we talked to each other just about how, Oh, why do I still
see what I see in myself? Why do I still do what I do?
This is what the apostle Paul said. Why is there still so much? What am I truly a child of God
is rest from all your works as God has from his. He said, it's
finished. Don't try to do again what Christ
has already done. It's finished. That's what it
is to believe on Christ and to look to Christ and to rest in
the finished work of Christ. It truly is to rest in him. It's to believe he is the way,
not me, him, not my work, his, period. All right, now it won't
take any time at all to answer the second question, and this
one's gonna be quick. Who should I believe? All right, this one says this, and that one says that. Who should I believe? Turn with
me over to Romans chapter three. Romans chapter 3, I want to read
a few words right here, and the first one is the fourth word
of the fourth verse. All right, find the fourth word
of the fourth verse. It says, let, let God be true, but every man
a liar. Let God be true, but every man
a liar. Who should I believe? Here's
the answer. God. God. Who should I trust? Here's
the answer. God. This preacher is saying
this, and that preacher is saying that. Who is right? Here's the
answer. Chalk every man up to being a
liar in his flesh. According to God, you can chalk
every man up. That man in his flesh is a liar,
and that man in his flesh is a liar. Who is true and who is
right? It's the one who will not give
you his own word, but will only give you God's. It's the one who will not declare
an opinion on these things, but will only declare these things
and then leave it alone. Let God be true, but every man,
a liar. John said, try the spirits, whether
they are of God. How can we know if they're of
God? They will only declare God's word. That's it. They won't add anything to it.
They won't take anything from it. They will declare it in the
context He has written it in. Every time the word faith comes
up and the Lord Jesus Christ says to somebody, woman, thy
faith has saved thee, they'll take you back to Ephesians 2.8
that says, faith is not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. They'll clarify. They'll preach
the whole counsel of the Word of God. They won't add anything
to it. They won't take anything from
it. They'll declare it in the simplicity of how God wrote it. Our God wrote this. This is so
important to know. Our God wrote this Word right
here so that a babe can understand it. God does not write with trickery. There was a time in my life when
I was a child where I've, you know, because I've realized that
people didn't really believe the truth. And the scripture
says broad is the way that leads to destruction. And many people
are going that way. Straight and narrow is the gate
that leads to life and few there be that find it. I used to think,
well, you know, the Lord must have written one thing. He must
have said one thing, but meant another thing. That's not so.
Our Lord doesn't write that way. He doesn't write with trickery.
He's not trying to be secretive. He said this thing was not done
in a corner. He writes exactly what He means to say. Where man struggles with it is,
man doesn't like what He said, and man doesn't believe what
He said, and man doesn't agree with what He said. So man tries
to explain it away. Man will add to it, man will
take from it and try to appease the flesh, explain it away. When
man does that, when a man does that, mark it down, he's a liar. When man says, well, I know that's
what God said, but that's not really what God meant. If a man
says that, you remember this, that's what the adversary said
to Eve. I know that's what God said,
but see, that's not what he meant. What he meant was, that's what
the adversary did to Eve. If that's what God said, that's
what God meant. And the only safe thing to do
is to declare what he said and to believe what he said. Paul
said, it's not grievous to repeat these things and repeat these
things. He said, for you, it's safe. It's so safe. So Christ
said, I am the truth. I am the truth and everything
else is a lie. Believe God, believe the truth. If we need answers, get into
the word. If a man is telling you something
and you can read it for yourself in God's actual word, listen
to that man. And this is important to know
too. You all need to know this. You
know, this is a translation I talk about sometimes, italicized words
have been added by the translators and sometimes they help and sometimes
they don't. But the reality is this is a
God-controlled translation from the Hebrew and the Greek into
our language. And man has taken this and they
start translating it into every other It's not a translation,
it's English to English, but it's just explaining away the
truth, explaining away the truth. Let's hold Bibles that declare
God's truth. And if a man is telling you something
and you can read it in God's actual word, listen to that man
and believe that man. But if a man is telling you something
and you can't find it in God's word, and you ask him to show
you where it is, and he can't do it because it's not in God's
word, don't listen to that man. He's not telling truth. Our Lord
said, I am the way, I am the truth, and He said, I am the
life. How can I know if I have been
made alive by God? Turn with me to 1 John 5. 1 John
5. Verse one says, whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ. And that means so much. That
means so much. That means God himself manifest
in the flesh. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. And everyone that loveth him
that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we
know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep
His commandments, hold to His Word, cling to His Word. For this is the love of God that
we keep His commandments and His commandments are not grievous.
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world and this
is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who
is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. And that means so much. The equal member of the Trinity
of God. This is he that came by water
and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water
and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth
witness because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that
bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one. And there are three that bear
witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood,
and these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater, for this is the witness of God
which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the
Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not
God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that
God gave of his Son. And this is the record that God
has given to us eternal life. And this life is in his son. He that hath the son hath life. And he that hath not the son
of God hath not life. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the son of God, that you may
know that you have eternal life. and that you may believe on the
name of the son of God. How can I know and have assurance
that God has quickened me to eternal life? He has given me
absolute, total faith in Christ. He has made it so that Christ
is all I have before God. All I have. He has made it so
that outside of Christ, I have nothing. Christ alone, it's Christ
alone. Sinless living is not a believer's
assurance. That's not where a believer's
assurance comes from. How can I know if I'm a child
of God? Well, here's how I can know. And this is an illustration.
I'm not being truthful. All right. How can I know if
I'm a child of God? It's here. I don't sin anymore. That's not so. I am sin. He is the way. He is the truth.
He is the life. I am sin. That's what I am. And when men and women look to
their flesh and they don't see sinlessness, and then they look
to their flesh and they don't see sinlessness, and they look
to their flesh and they don't see sinlessness, they become
so distraught and so downcast. How can I know if I'm a child
of God? Thank God it's not in seeing
sinless living in ourselves. That's not where our assurance
comes from. Faith in Christ, faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, I am what I am, but I'm looking
to Him. And in Him, I see what I am by
the grace of God. Verse 11 said, this life is in
Him. This life, how can I know if
I have this eternal life, this born again life? It's in Him. In Him, we live and move and
have our being. Paul told the Colossians, when
Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall you also appear
with Him in glory. When He who is our life, shall
appear, will appear with Him in glory. So this is how we can
know that God has quickened us to ourself. Our life won't be
our life at all. When that question is asked,
what gives you the right to enter into this kingdom? It won't be
our anything. It won't be our anything. We
will say, my hope, my life, my all is in somebody else. One
man. Our life won't be our life at
all. Our life will be Christ. He's my death. He who lives and
believes in Christ is not gonna die. It's appointed unto man once
to die. And all those in Him did 2,000 years ago on a cross
in Jerusalem. Paul said, I died in Him. I died
with Him. He is my death. He's my burial. He's my resurrection. He's my
life. Christ is my life. And all who have been made to
be part of that eternal life, all of them will say with absolute
confidence, He's the way, He's the truth, and He's the life. No man comes to the Father, but
by Him. Now, if God has put that resolve
in you, let not your heart be troubled. Let not your heart
be troubled. You believe in God? You believe
in Christ? And if so, that means he went
to prepare a place for you, that he may come again and receive
you to himself. So just wait for him. Just rest
and wait for him. All right, Brother Eddie, you
come.