I've heard before and I'm sorry
I don't know the man's name. It doesn't really matter anymore
to me now. I've heard his messages before.
Most of the time I agree completely with what he says. Most of the
time he preaches the gospel. Yesterday he got away from himself
a little bit. in the attempt to make and declare
eight points that the Bible makes of the works that men do, works
that do not bring or merit salvation, but works that do not make men worthy
of heaven, but works that prove that they are worthy, And then
he made a bold statement that caused me to turn the radio off. A statement that I cannot agree
with. He said this, he said, we are worthy of heaven when
we come to Christ. Statements people make, as you
well know, can be said one way and taken another, unless you're
bold about it and very clear. By making that statement, this
man has opened the door for what most religions have already stepped
through. Oh, okay, so that means if I
come to Christ, if I make a decision, if I do the works of what I think
I should do, then I can come to Christ and I'll be worthy
of heaven. Now that may or not be what he was meaning. I'm going to tell you now, he
might have gone on to be more clarifying of what he said, but
when he said that, he opened the door for anybody who stopped
listening to him at that moment and think that very thing. And
God's preachers have to be bold. Pastor Gene Harmon stood in this
pulpit for almost 38 years and declared that free will is a
false teaching. In our Bible study this morning,
the Lord Jesus Christ himself taught his disciples that the
Pharisees and the Sadducees and all the religious pompous people
of that day, and they were religious. They followed the law the best
that they thought they could. They were doing all the things
that they thought they were supposed to. They thought they were righteous.
But our Lord Jesus told him, no, you're just a bunch of proud,
self-righteous people. And he taught his disciples to
speak boldly about that. My title this morning is this,
Worthy of Heaven. I would not agree with what that
man said. Works do accompany as a result
of God's grace in us. I love people around me now where
I didn't love them before. Now I'm not going to sit here
and try to confuse you and make you think that I love people
just because I started loving them. I love people because I see what
my Lord has done for me. I see what my God has done in
forgiving John. And when we know what our Lord
has done for us, for those that He has loved from before the
world began, when we see the wonders of our Lord and Savior
that He went to the cross and shed His own blood for us, how can we not turn to those
of the world and say, I was just like that? Maybe God will save
you too. Lord have mercy on this one.
Lord have mercy on that one. Grace gives us grace. But nothing man can do at any
time, in any way, or in any form can make us worthy of going to
heaven. And that most definitely includes
our coming to Christ. Dead men don't get up and come
to anything. And God's Word declares all men
to be dead and trespassers in sin. All, not just some, and
you can't get up and walk away from it. You are born in sin. Our coming to Christ is a result. Turn in your Bibles to the book
of 1 John, if you would, chapter 4. Our coming to Christ is a result
of His love for us. Lazarus came forth bound, hand
and foot, in His burial clothes. just to prove that it was the
power of God giving him life to hear, to hear the Lord of
Glory say, Lazarus, come forth. To prove that it wasn't Lazarus
coming up on his own free will. He came to God wrapped in his
burial clothes. And it wasn't until he came to
the Lord Jesus Christ where the Lord said, loose him. Let him
go. That's what Jesus does. He gives life to dead people.
It's called quickening. That's what the old word is.
It's giving life. And he does it through the preaching
of his gospel. How are you going to call on somebody who you've
never heard? You're not hearing it from most
of the churches in today's world. In today's world they're talking
about a Jesus who wants you to do this and if you'll do this
he'll give you this. Salvation is not an offer. Salvation
is a declaration. You see, the truth of the matter,
folks, is if you belong to God, if you're one of His children,
if He has chosen you from before the world began to be predestinated
to be like Him, you were worthy of heaven before
the world was ever created. You say, well, how can that be,
John? I wasn't even walking the earth then. God the Father looked
down and He said, My Son is going to pay your sins. in full. I look on you right now as worthy
as He." I know that's hard. That's hard stuff to believe.
That's hard stuff to wrap our little minds around. But it's God's Word. There's no interpretation to
it. I don't have to stand here and tell you this is what this
means. It's His Word, plain and simple.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and those that
come to me I will in no wise cast out. That's His Word. How often we speak of God's love
for His people, an everlasting love, a love that was placed
on a chosen people before the world was. Coming to Christ is
a result of that love. Look at verse 10, if you would,
of 1 John chapter 4. Herein is love. Not that we love God. Folks,
I love my Lord for what He's done for me. And I would assume
and presume that you do too. If He's died for you and He has
shown you His mercy and grace, I would assume that you love
Him just as much as I do. But folks, our love is filled
with sin. Until the day that our Lord takes
us out of this body of sin, we will continue to have sin in
our bodies. We'll continue to be nothing
but sin in this flesh. But in our spirit, in our spirit
Christ dwelleth in us. In our spirit we are as perfect
and holy as He is. Herein is love. Not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation,
the expiation, the payment, the cost for our sins. Now with that in mind, you may
ask, am I really worthy of heaven? And I tell you, if you belong
to God, yes you are. Right now. Here in 1 John, we
see this most assuredly. Look down at verse 17 with me
if you would. Herein is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Now look
at these next words. Look at these words close, folks.
This is talking to you and I. This is talking to us. We can
boldly say this very thing because as He is, as our Savior is, my
question to you is, is Jesus Christ worthy of heaven? Is this
Lord of glory worthy of heaven? What's He tell us here? Because
as He is, so are we in this world. Not when we get to heaven, right
now. God the Father looks down on
each and every one of His people. He looked down on Jacob and Esau
before they were born, before they ever had a chance to do
good or evil. And He says, I love that one.
Why? Because my son died for that
one. This one is mine. My son will
make a payment for this one. I see no sin in him. He sees no sin in us. Are we worthy of heaven? Yes,
we are, right now. As He is, so are we in this world. God the Father looks upon us
as we are as perfect as His Son. When the covenant between the
great three and one was made, long before a star ever twinkled
in the sky, God the Father looked upon that which God the Son would
do as though it was done. Why would God the Father think,
you know what, we'll just wait until you become a man and go
to the cross and pay that price and then I'll, okay. That's what
we would do, isn't it? But God the Son is God Almighty
in the flesh. When He says something's going
to happen, it's going to happen, doesn't it? See, that's the thing
about sovereignty. I know the word sovereignty is
never used in Scripture, but every page in this book, as we
pointed out in Bible study, every page points to the sovereignty
of God. He is God Almighty, and He walked
in the flesh. What God says will come to pass. In Jeremiah 24 verse 7 it reads
this way, And I will give them, speaking of those that were a
picture of God's people, speaking of all of Jerusalem, the spirits
of Jerusalem, you realize that we're Jewish in God's eyes? We
are the Israel. That's what Israel is. It's the
chosen people of God throughout all time. From every tongue,
from every tribe, from every nation, God has a remnant people
for Himself. Chosen before the world was,
that He would come in the day of His power and call them to
life in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I will give them
a heart to know Me. No, it doesn't say, oh, and maybe
they will accept me, maybe they'll make a decision for me, maybe
they'll get baptized for me, maybe this, maybe that. No, it
says, I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord,
and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. all over the world now on sermon audio. There may be this very moment, this very moment, somebody may
be listening to this, and they're, what are you talking
about, John? I'm talking about this. They
shall be my people, and I will be their God. In Luke 1 verse
68 it says this, Blessed be the Lord of Israel, for he hath visited
and redeemed his people, and hath raised up a horn of salvation
for us in the house of his servant David. as he spake by the mouth
of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began, that
we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that
hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to
remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to our father
Abraham that he would grant unto us, that we, being delivered
out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear.
in holiness and righteousness before Him in all the days of
our lives. Look at verse 18. 18 of our text
in 1 John chapter 4. There is no fear in love, but
perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He
that feareth is not made perfect in love. Folks, we have nothing
to fear. We are worthy of heaven right
now, not because of anything that we could do, not because
of any decision that we may have made, not because of anything
of this flesh. For in me dwelleth no good thing. That's what Paul said. And if
Paul says that, how should we not also? In me dwelleth no good thing.
We have no confidence in the flesh. Remember that? That means
our mind, that means our thoughts, that means our feelings. We have
no confidence in that stuff. Our worthiness is not in anything
of this flesh. Our worthiness is in our Savior.
It's what He has done. If we are in Christ, if Christ
is in us, we have nothing to fear. Judgment has been done. All that you and I are in the
sinful flesh has been laid upon our Savior that day that He went
to the cross. That day that He shed His blood. It was like in old Israel when
they were in Egypt, in bondage. What did they do? They took the
blood and they put it up here and bring it down all the way
along the door there. Now go inside, kill the lamb. No, I'm sorry. Go inside first,
kill the lamb, and then paint the door with his blood. Now
go inside. Stay there. And then the angel
of death came through. The angel of death is going to
come through. What side of the door are you
on? We do have a reverential fear. My daddy was a big man. And I feared my daddy when he
took the switch out. But I had a reverential fear.
I remember when I was a little kid and I would look up and see
that big, huge man. I remember a time when I was
afraid. I was out hunting. Dad took me
out hunting. It was the first time I'd ever shot a shotgun. Oh, that hurt. I didn't really
like shooting shotguns again after that. Don't get me wrong.
Have your guns. I'll go to war for you to have
your guns. I believe in the freedom of the Second Amendment. I just
don't exercise it myself, that's all. But Dad took me out in the
woods, and it got dark. And I was scared. I was afraid. There were animals out there,
real big ones. And when Dad came back to the
truck, after he and Lee had been out hunting and sat down next
to me, I just remember, oh, my dad is with me again. He's such a great man. He's so
big. That's what reverential fear
is. Our God is so great, folks, when He sits down in our hearts.
And He makes Himself known to us, we have nothing to fear. People go to the grave fearing
what's on the other side. Have you ever seen someone who
knows not the Lord? Passing from death, from life
to death, there's a great fear. God's people have nothing to
fear. judgment. And all mankind know
what they deserve. That's why there's so many different
religions. If all of mankind didn't know what they deserve,
then why have any religion at all? There'd be a bunch of atheists,
is what it would be. But no, we've got a bunch of
man-made religions because everybody knows that they're guilty before
God. Our judgment, the very judgment
that we deserve and have earned in this flesh has been laid on
our Savior. We love Him without fear. We do not fear His wrath. I knew
there was something there that I'd forgotten on that page. The
wrath of God was laid upon our Savior. The wrath that we have
all earned has been taken by our substitute, Christ Jesus
the Lord, the Son of the living God. And when He was raised from
that grave, when He was raised from death, He sat down at the
right hand of God. All power belongs to Him. We who believe God, We who have
been given the gift to believe, the gift of faith, have nothing
to fear. In Romans 8, 31, we read these
words. What shall we say then to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? I ask you this, is the Christ
worthy of heaven? As He is, so are we in this world. The Lord of Glory pleased God
the Father in all that He did. In Luke 30, verse 22, we read
this, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove
upon Him. And the voice came from heaven,
which said, Thou art my beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased. Is He worthy of heaven? Absolutely.
The God the Father is as pleased as can be with Him. Has not the
Lord of glory put away the sins of His people? Has He not taken
those sins and left them not to be seen again? Does not God
the Father look upon us as though we have never sinned? That's
what Scripture says. God the Son was raised for our
justification and we are now seen just as though we had never
sinned. Romans 4.25, who? who was delivered, speaking of
our Lord and Savior, who was delivered for our offenses and
was raised again for what? For our justification. Folks,
this is good news to one that is a sinner. Everything's been
paid for. You know who our Sabbath is,
right? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't worship on Saturday.
Saturday's just another day in the week. Our Sabbath is the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's where our rest is. Put
away your works, put away your whatever it is you want to try
to do to make yourself worthy of heaven, because it won't work.
The only way to be worthy of heaven is to be in our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. We see this sin in our flesh,
but our spirit is free from it. free from the bondage of it,
free from the wrath of God for it. He looks upon us as he would
his own son. When the angel of death comes
and passes us by, for the blood of Christ is on our doorpost."
Turn to the book containing the revelation of Christ given to
Saint John, if you would. Now, I read it that way purposely.
The world would like to say it this way, turn to the book of
Revelations. But that's not what it is. When you realize that this book
is a revelation of Jesus Christ, it takes a whole different meaning. Oh, how many men have taken this
book and said, see, when this happens, God's coming again.
Oh, but if you calculate this, God's just around the corner,
it's not going to be long. It's the revelation of Jesus
Christ to Saint John. And John was told to write these
things. Look at verse 1, chapter 1. The revelation of Jesus Christ
which God gave unto him, unto John, to show unto his servants
the things that must shortly come to pass, and sent to signify
it by his angel unto his servant John. who bear record of the
word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things
that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and
they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things
which are written therein. For the time is at hand, John,
to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you, and
peace from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come,
and from the seven spirits which are before His throne, and from
Jesus Christ. who is the faithful witness,
and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince and the
kings of the earth, unto Him that loved us and washed us from
our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests
unto God His Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and
ever. Amen. He has made us to be priests
and kings right now. as He is. So are we in this world. Worthy is the Lamb, is the cry
from heaven. And in Christ the Lord, I too
am worthy. There is no worthiness of this
flesh. There is nothing that I can do or think that can make
me worthy. My worthiness is in Christ alone. And because my worthiness is
in Him, nothing I can do can take that worthiness away. Once
again, I must declare this in no way means that we live in
sin without remorse. We love this One who first loved
us, and now we live under the rule of love. Look at verses 1 and 4 of our
text again. Go back to 1 John. Look at verses 1 and 4 of that
chapter 4. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many
false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the
Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that
Jesus Christ is coming to the flesh is of God. And every spirit
that confesses not that Jesus Christ is coming to the flesh
is not of God. And this is that Spirit of the
Antichrist, wherefore ye have heard that it should come, and
even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little
children, and it overcome them, because greater is He that is
in you than he that is in the world." Now hold your place and
turn back to verse 15 of chapter 2. Read along with me to verse 21.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father,
but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and
the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth
forever. Little children, it is the last
time And as ye have heard that the Antichrist shall come, even
now are there many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the
last time. They went out from us, but they
were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that
they might be made manifest. They were not of all of us. But
ye have an unction. Anointing, in other words. From
the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto
you because ye know not the truth, because ye know it, and that
no lie is of the truth. Now go back to our text, chapter
4 of 1 John, and let's look at verses 5-8. They are of the world, therefore
speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are
of God. He that knoweth God heareth us.
He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit
of truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and
knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love." Now once again, hold your place, and this
time turn over to Matthew 22. Matthew 22. We've been looking at this in our Bible
study. Look at verse 36 with me if you
would. This is a man asking this question to our Lord and Savior. He's come with the Pharisees
and the Sadducees who came together. They came together to plot against
our Lord and Savior. Our Lord tells us in verse 35
that it's a lawyer, one who is to be sure that the congregation
is following the law. He says to our Lord, Master,
which is the great commandment in the law? And our Lord says unto him, Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind. Is there anyone here today who
can do that? He says in verse 38, this is
the first and great commandment. The second is like unto it, thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Ooh, I even fall worse than that. On these two commandments hang
all the law and the prophets. On these two commandments. hang
all the law and the prophets. Love. My Lord and Savior has fulfilled
all this for me. I want to love my neighbors. I desire to love everyone I see. Yet I can't fulfill these commandments
any better than I could any of the others. And there's a lot
more than ten. Can any of you realize if we
fail at one commandment, we have failed them all? But we have a substitute. One who has fulfilled it all
perfectly for us. Do you see where our worthiness
is coming from? Our worthiness of heaven is not
coming from the flesh. It's coming from the love of
our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave Himself
for us. Keeping this in mind, return
to verse 8 again and read through verse 5 of chapter 5 in our text
back in 1 John. I won't be much longer. They are of the world, therefore
speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. In this was manifest the love
of God toward us. Because that God sent His only
begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Herein
is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God
so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man has
seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and His love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we
dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and do testify
that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believe
the love of God that hath to us. God is love. And he that
dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is
our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day
of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There
is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because
fear that hath torment, he that feareth is not made perfect in
love. We love him because he first loved us. If a man say,
I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth
not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom
he hath not seen? And this is the commandment have
we from him, that he who loveth God loveth his brother also.
Whosoever believeth that Jesus Christ, verse 1 of chapter 5,
whosoever believeth that Jesus 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.
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? Who do you say Christ is? Peter said, thou art the Son
of the living God. And our Lord and Savior turned
to Peter and said, blessed are you. For flesh and blood hath
not revealed this, but my Father is in heaven." Are you worthy
of heaven? If you're in Christ, if Christ
is in you, then these words from 1 John 4, 17, Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment,
because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear
in love, but perfect love casteth out fear. Because fear hath torment,
he that feareth not is made perfect in love." We love Him because
He first loved us. And I'll close with these words
from Revelations chapter 5, verse 11-13. If Christ's love is in
us, If we love the Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ because He first loved us, if we rest in Him,
then we can hear what John saw and sing with him where he says
in verses 11 of chapter 5, And I beheld, and I heard the voice
of many angels round about the throne, and the beast and the
elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands
of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb. There's our worthiness. Are you
worthy of heaven? If you're in Christ Jesus, you
absolutely are. Worthy is the lamb that was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor
and glory and blessings. And every creature which is in
heaven and on the earth and under the earth as such are in the
sea and all that are in them. Heard I saying, blessings and
honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the
throne. and unto the Lamb forever and ever. Amen. Stand with me.