For our Bible study this morning,
I would like for us to study the Bible. Last Sunday morning, I had a
brother bring the Bible study to us because I was traveling
so much and I needed some help. And so he was preparing for the
Bible study and I started preparing for the morning message. And
I felt led to look at John chapter four on come see a man, the woman
at the well. And I got to thinking about the verse
in that chapter that said, he must needs go through Samaria. That word must. He didn't just
happen to go through Samaria. He must needs go through Samaria. And I got to thinking and studying
and looking up scriptures on the word must. I started studying
that word must. And it led me ultimately to another
text. It led me to second Corinthians
16. And ultimately I felt like that's
where our message needed to be. So I prepared that message. And
when I was finished, I called our brother and I said, what
are you planning on bringing for the Bible study? And he said,
John chapter four, the woman at the well, come see a man. And I thought, well, now I know
why the Lord led me somewhere else. But just in studying the
word must. It was such a blessing to me.
The word must. As God has written it here in
this Word, I want us to look at that word this morning. I
just want us to study that word must Specifically regarding what
it says concerning our Lord and his accomplishment while he was
here on this earth So we begin right here in Luke chapter 2
with his birth it says in verse 6 And so it was that while they
were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling
clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for
them in the inn. That's unimaginable, isn't it?
God manifest in the flesh. God selected the womb of a virgin,
entered this world and had to be born in a feeding trough because
no one would have him. Immediately rejected. Verse 21
says, and when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising
of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of
the angel, Before he was conceived in the womb. He said call him
that because he shall save his people from their sins Verse
40 says and the child grew and waxed strong in spirit filled
with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him and Now his
parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of Passover.
They kept all the law. He kept all the law. And when
he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom
of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the
days as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem
and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they, supposing
him to have been in the company, went a day's journey, and they
sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they
found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass that after
three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst
of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished
at his understanding and answers. And I'm gonna tell you this,
whenever a sinner starts to, when God goes to work on that
heart, and that sinner starts to seek the things of eternity
and the things of salvation, there's a lot of questions in
the heart. And this is the only place for
answers. If a sinner will just sit and hear the word of God,
hear this 12-year-old. God sits. And if a sinner will
just hear the word of God, all his questions will be answered.
Every single question will be answered. And here he sits. Verse
48 says, And when they saw him, they were amazed. And his mother
said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold,
thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto
them, How is it that you sought me? Oh, we were so worried about
him. We got we got to take care of
Jesus now We got to watch over Jesus now you got to protect
Jesus Don't let anybody hurt Jesus and they went seeking him
and he said how is it that you saw me? That's the question That's
the question David said King David said this is how it happened
when you said Seek ye my face My heart said, Thy face, Lord,
will I see. When he moved, that's when a
sinner said, I believe I'm gonna start seeking the Lord. So he
said in verse 49, how is it that you sought me? Know ye not that
I must be about my father's business? I must be about my father's business. Our Lord came here on business. He came here on business. He came to accomplish his father's
business. He said, I must be about it.
I must be about it. What was his business? What must he do? Well, in chapter
4, if you look at chapter 4, verse 43, chapter 4, verse 43, he said
unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities
also, for therefore am I sent. I must preach the gospel. This is my father's business.
I must tell sinners the good news. I must tell sinners the
good news. Every man that God calls to declare
this gospel, that's what he puts in his heart. I must tell sinners
the good news. I must. This works-based salvation
is the most horrible news a sinner could ever hear. I must, I must,
I must, even though the flesh is naturally offended by it,
I must tell sinners the good news. He said, I came to announce
and reveal the good news. What good news? What is the good
news? Go with me over to chapter nine. Chapter nine, verse 22, saying
the son of man must suffer many things. And be rejected of the
elders and chief priests and scribes. That means religion. I must be rejected by religion. And be slain. And be raised the
third day. He said, I must suffer. I must
be about my father's business. of preaching the good news, the
wonderful news that I must suffer and be rejected and be slain
and be raised the third day. You know, the gospel really is
such good news. It is such good news. And the
reason is because it's certain news. It is certain news. It is ordered
and sure news. It's not maybe, it's must. Must. When men talk about Christ
making salvation possible, that's maybe. When they say He wants to save
you if you'll let Him, that's maybe. That's maybe. Look with me at
John 3. John chapter 3 verse 14 says, And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Why must the Son of Man be lifted
up? It's because that's what His
Father sent Him to do. For this cause came I into the
world. and he shall not fail. Those
poisonous snakes back in the wilderness, because of their
sin, because of Israel's sin, God allowed those poisonous snakes
to come start biting the people and start killing the people. Spiritually, they represent the
poison of sin that has bitten every single man and every single
woman and every single child on this earth. We have all been
bitten. Every single one of us. And the
scripture says, the soul that sinneth, we've all been bitten
with sin, we have been injected, infected with sin, and the soul
that sinneth must surely die. It shall die. It shall die. God told Moses, who represents
the law, Moses wrote this law, These commandments, these do's
and these don'ts. God told Moses, this is the only
hope that the people have of living. You lift up one of those
snakes on a pole. You make a brass snake that looks
just like the snakes that are killing the people. The very
thing that is causing the death, you take the very thing that's
causing the death and lift it up on a pole, which represents
the law pointing to Christ. It represents this law lifting
up Christ. The law was never given to save
anybody or bring life or health to anybody. It was given to expose
the bite. It was given to expose sin. That's the only reason. And all
of this law lifts Christ up. All of this law points to the
only man who ever kept the law. This is what it takes to enter
into heaven. And the law lifts up Christ and
points sinners to Christ as the only hope. It says, that serpent
says, Christ was made to be the very sin that is killing the
people. I'm going to preach the same
thing in just a minute. The very thing, Christ taking
that sin before the judgment throne of God. He took that sin
and became that. And he was lifted up before the
judgment throne and he suffered and he died. And through that, in him taking
the death, he gave his life. Substitution he said in verse
14 as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must
The son of man be lifted up. I've never heard better news
than that I've never heard better news in my life Why is that good
news It's because through that, I adore this. I love this. Through that, right here in John
three, verse seven, the end of it says, you must be born again. You must. If the Father gave
you to Christ, and if he came to suffer for you on that tree,
then you must be born again. I have always read that up until
now. I've always read that as the
condition to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And it is. You must
be born again. But the good news and the glory
of the gospel is in the work that Christ accomplished on that
cross. Salvation is not an option. It's not an option. It's not
just put out there for you to accept it or reject it. You must
be born again. You don't have a say in the matter.
It's irresistible. Now let me show you this verse.
I'm going to quote it in a moment in the message, but let's look
at it right now. Go to John 10. John 10 verse 15 says, as the
father knoweth me, even so know I the father, and I lay down
my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring. They're coming. They are coming. You know, come the end of every
single message that I preach here, I don't have to give an
invitation. I wouldn't insult the word of
God by giving an invitation. Nowhere in this book does God
give an invitation. He said they're coming. They're
coming. This is an announcement. This
is an announcement. They are coming. I must bring
them. My father says, in me making
them sinless, they have to enter. They must come. You think I would
disappoint my father? They're coming. He said, them
I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and they will. God will open the ear to the
word of God, the truth of the gospel, and they'll hear it. They'll hear my voice and they'll
be one fold and one shepherd. He said, I must be about my father's
business. I must preach the gospel. The good news, which is that
I must suffer. I must be lifted up. Therefore
you must be born again I must bring every sheep that my father
gave to me into the sheepfold I must now look with me at Acts
chapter 3 Acts chapter 3 verse 20 says
I And he shall send Jesus Christ,
which before was preached unto you, whom the heaven must receive. Heaven must receive him. Why must heaven receive him? It's because all the work is
finished. All of the work is finished. He accomplished every bit of
it. He did not fail. God the Father is satisfied,
and He's well pleased. He is well pleased. I love how
Psalm 24 ends by saying, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, Don't
you love this? Here he died on the cross, was
buried for three days. God raised him from the dead.
He ascended back up on high, and here he comes in Psalm 24,
Christ. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
and be ye lift up, and the King of glory shall come in. The King of glory will come entering
into heaven. Heaven must receive him. And I was going to have you turn,
but I'm running out of time. Over in Hebrews 4, it says that
all those who are in Him must enter in with Him. He must enter
in, and they must enter in with Him. Now, this is the word that
we are to preach to all the world. Acts chapter 4, verse 10 says,
Be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel,
that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified,
whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand
here before you whole. This is the stone which was set
at nought of you builders, which has become the head of the corner.
Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none
other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved. His name alone. And we're about to see that in
a minute. His name, no other name. No other name will bring
salvation to a sinner, but by his name, sinners must be saved. Now go with me to first Corinthians
15. We're almost done first Corinthians 15 If you notice the heading at the top of my
page, if yours says the same thing, it says, by Christ's resurrection,
the apostle proveth the necessity of our own. Because he was resurrected,
he approves, he proves the necessity of our resurrection. All right,
so beginning in verse one, he said, moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel. which I preached unto you, which
also you have received, and wherein you stand, by which also you
are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless
you believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures, exactly as the scriptures said
he would, And in total agreement with the scriptures in total
agreement with the law the law was satisfied And that he was
buried and that he rose again the third day according to the
scriptures And that he was seen of cephas peter Then of the 12,
after that he was seen of about 500 brethren at once, of whom
the greater part remain under this present, but some are fallen
asleep. After that he was seen of James,
then of all the apostles. And last of all, he was seen
of me also as of one born out of due time. For I'm the least
of the apostles, and I'm not meet to be called an apostle,
because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God,
I am what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed
upon me, was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly
than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with
me. Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach, and
so you believe. Now if Christ be preached that
he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there's no
resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And if Christ be not risen,
then is our preaching vain? And your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses
of God, because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ,
whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For
if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised? And if Christ
be not raised, your faith is vain, you're yet in your sins.
then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all
men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. For
since by man came death, and by man came also the resurrection
of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. All who are in Christ,
in Christ. That's the key to that verse
of scripture. But every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits,
afterward they that are Christ at his coming, Then come at the
end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the
father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority
and all power. Now this is just glorious. He's
going to gather all his elect to himself and he's going to
bring them back to his father and present them to him. Perfect,
glorified as he is, so are they. He will have put down authority
all rule all power verse 25 says for he must reign he must reign till he hath put
all enemies under his feet throughout the resurrection of eternal life
all eternity He must reign. That is so comforting. Nothing
will ever overthrow him. Nothing. No one will ever be
able to conquer him. No one has yet. The adversary
tried, he cast him out. No one will ever be able to take
his kingdom from him. He must And in His resurrection,
with His resurrection, here's the last one. Verse 53 says,
right here in 1 Corinthians 15, because of His resurrection,
it says in verse 53, this corruptible must put on incorruption. And this mortal must put on immortality. Must. Verse 52 says, in the moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, the trumpet shall
sound. Just wait till you hear that
trumpet. The dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed. Changed with him, into the likeness
of him. Must. Must. That's a glorious
word, isn't it? Must. It's a glorious savior. And I will tell you, we don't,
we just read, we are what we are by the grace of God. There's
no, wherein do we boast? Nowhere. We're just sinners saved
by grace. But thank God, I'll tell you,
we have the most glorious gospel there is. We have the most glorious
message there is. We have the only gospel there
is. Glorious news. All right, you're
dismissed.