1 Timothy chapter 3. The Apostle Paul, as said, is
writing to a young preacher named Timothy, and in these verses
he speaks of how we ought to behave ourselves in the church,
how the pastor and people should behave themselves. He talks about
the character and qualifications for a preacher or pastor and
even the deacons and their wives. And then he talks about the purpose
of the church, what the church is all about, what it's for.
And then he gives one of the, I think, one of the most glorious
declarations of the gospel in all of God's Word, in one verse,
a glorious declaration of Christ. And as said, this is not Paul's
letter merely Paul's letter to Timothy, but it's God's Word
to us, to me, to you. All right, let's look at it. Chapter 3, verse 14, he says, These things
I write unto you. That's the reason we read all
of those verses is so that we might see the things he wrote
unto Timothy, and why he says that you might know how you ought
to behave yourself. He tells us, these things I write
unto you, he says, I hope to see you soon, but if I do not,
if I do not, you need to know, verse 15, if I tarry long, that
thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house
of God, which is The church. How to behave thyself. Now, everyone
here knows what it means to behave. We tell our children that, don't
we? Behave yourself. Meaning, don't act like an animal. Settle down. Behave. Straighten
up. My dad used to say, straighten
up and fly right. Do what's right. Behave yourself.
Religion, and this is so appropriate, isn't it? Because religion has
gone crazy. People are at plum nuts. And it's not religion that you
see today is not according to God's Word. Preachers are the
fault. They're the ones who it started
with because they're the ones that lead, aren't they? They
stand up and how they conduct themselves and what they do is
what the people do. And preachers and people act
like fools because that's what they are. And he tells us, though, how
to behave ourselves. Now, this is not a party. This is not a house of entertainment. When we come here, this is not
a place to come to have fun, per se, to be entertained. Our Lord, the first thing He
did when He went into Jerusalem was to clean that building out
of all of the foolishness and the money raising, fund raising, tactics, and all
the foolishness that was going on in the name of God. He said,
my house shall be called what? A house of prayer. It's not a fun house. It's not
a place of entertainment. It's a house of worship. Is this
necessary? Now more than ever, it's necessary.
If folks are really looking for the truth of what God's Word
says and how to know God, what this book says, how to worship,
approach God, worship God, who are the true people of God, there's
ways you may know. And this is one of them. The
way God's people are to conduct themselves in the house of God. What we are doing here is the
house of worship. Over in Ecclesiastes 5, he says,
God is in the heavens and thou upon the earth, therefore let
thy words be few. He says, be not hasty to utter
anything before God. Scripture also says that God
is to be feared in the assembly of the saints. Everything we
do is to be done with fear and reverence, considering who it
is that we are approaching. We are to do it with joy, yes,
joy and rejoicing. Let us come before His presence
with singing, yes. But even that is to be done with
reverence. This is not a rock concert. This
is a worship service. Nor is it a country music concert. It's a worship service. It's
not entertainment. It's a worship service. God is
holy. God is to be feared. And we are
to do what we do with reverence. We can still do that with joy,
can't we? Fear and reverence. We're approaching
a holy God. We're in the presence of the
King. We don't act like fools. Don't act like fools. So let
the religious world act like the fools that they are, but
let us, he says, behave ourselves in the house of God. That's one way you may know a
true preacher of God. He's not a clown. He's not an
entertainer. He's not a back-scratcher, an
ear-tickler, a man-pleaser. He's not a fool. He's not an
ignorant fool. He's a wise man with a great
message, worthy to be heard. So he says. And we do things
here, and this is to confirm in your own mind and heart what
we're doing, why we're doing it, and whether or not it's the
right thing to do. What we do is we worship God
in the exact way God's Word tells us to do. We read God's Word,
we pray, we sing hymns, and we preach the Word. That's it. That's
it. That's it. No statues, no crosses,
no pictures, no robes, no choirs, no all of this paraphernalia
that man has come up with. We do it the way God tells us
that we may know how we ought to behave ourselves in the house
of God. He calls the church, verse 15,
the house of God, the temple of God, where God dwells. Now
God doesn't dwell in buildings made with hands, does he? That's
what he said. This building is not Holy, this
building is not sanctified per se. This building is wood, hay,
and stubble. It's a place to keep the rain
off our heads. That's all. Nothing holy about this building
any more than there is anything holy about the dirt in Israel.
It's a building. The Church of God is His people. That's what he said. No, you're
not. You are the temple of God. The people of God. The church.
And he calls it the house of God. The church of the living
God. If I'm not careful, I'll get stuck
right here. Meaning, not stuck not knowing
what to say, but I mean, stuck. Stay right here and talk about
the living God. God who is God. But he says here
in verse 15, he says, the house of God, the church of the living
God, the God in whose hands our breath is, in whom we live and
move. The living God, the church, he
says, is the pillar and the ground of the truth. This is what the
church is all about. And I just told Brother Wesley
how we are to behave ourselves, conduct ourselves. And then he
says, here's the purpose of the church, it's the pillar and the
ground of the truth. Don't you love that line? It's
the pillar. What is a pillar? Well, back
when they used to have tents, the thing that held up the tent
was a pillar, a post, a support. And so the church, this is the
purpose of the church, to uphold, to set forth the truth. The truth. What is the truth? The truth of who God is. The
true, the living and true God. The truth of who Christ is. We're
going to see that Christ is the truth. The heart, the soul, the
essence of it. The fullness of it. The truth.
He is the truth. The truth of what man is. No
matter what anybody is saying. It doesn't matter what anybody
else is doing. The church is holding up this
truth. No matter how far people have
turned away their ears from the truth, the church is holding
it up, setting it forth, declaring the truth of how we are saved. The purpose of the preacher and
the church is to declare and uphold the truth. What is the
truth? As I said, Now as he said, Christ
said, I am the way, the truth. Not a truth, the truth. The truth. Not part of the truth,
I am the truth. So, the church is to always at
all times, principally, declare Christ. To lift up, exalt, set
forth. I mean lift up and exalt and
set forth or declare Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is why
the church exists. It's the pillar that holds up
the truth of who Christ is. Like, remember Moses in the wilderness,
the people were dying, bitten by the serpent, and he made a
serpent. in a brass, serpent of brass,
likened to the serpent that bit them, made likened to, and held
it up on a pole, a pillar, a pole, so that all could see one thing.
What's that? The remedy for what it is that's
killing them. And that's what our Lord said.
Very few people know John 3, 14, do they? Very few people. I bet there's not one in 100,000. that know John 3.14. Brother
Groff Barnard used to say the gospel is not in verse 16, it
is in verse 14. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him might not perish. For God so loved. In this way. Lifting up Christ. Crucified. Christ said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw men unto myself. All
men. All sorts of men. All my men.
All Christ's men. I'll draw them. This is how.
This is the message, isn't it? Christ crucified. You've got
to preach that again. John. They came to John the Baptist
one day. Said, who are you? He said, it's
not important. Well, tell us your credentials. Don't have
any. Where'd you go to school? Didn't. Well, what's your name? That's not important. I must
decrease, but he must increase. Here's what you need to hear,
not who I am. Here's who you need to look to, not me. Behold,
the Lamb of God. Here he comes. There comes one
mightier than I, whose shoes I'm not worthy to untie. Here
it is. That's what John preached the
first day. They came back the second day and said, what's your
message today? Same message. Behold the Lamb. If I be lifted
up. The church is the pillar. We're
not trying to get people married off. We're not trying to get
singles together. We're not trying to get this
and that and the other. We're not trying to let our kids
have fun. We want them to know God. Let them go to the YMCA and have
fun. They have all kinds of fun there. We're here to preach Christ,
to hold up Christ, that they might look to Him and be saved. That's the one thing needful,
isn't it? The time is short. We don't have time for this foolishness,
this other foolishness. We've got one message, and it's
an urgent one. And we need to hear it. The world
needs to hear it. Our children need to hear it.
So that's what we're going for. It's a pillar. That's what the
church is all about. The pillar and the ground. I love that. The ground of the
truth. That's an old, like a tent. Many
of us have been camping, many of you, most everyone here has
been camping at some point. And how you keep that thing from
moving. And being tossed about with every
wind that comes along is you ground it, don't you? You take
a stake and you tie it to that pole and you drive it deep, don't
you? The deeper you drive it, the
more settled that thing will be. And it won't be moved when
the wind comes along. Well, the church is the ground
of the truth. Grounded and settled in the truth. Who God is. Who Christ is. What
salvation is. Truth. Grounded. I love what
old Martin Luther said. You know, the Lord taught him
the truth. He didn't know the truth. He was religious for years,
a Catholic monk, devoted, the most devout Catholic monk of
his day, perhaps. Devoted. And the Lord opened
his dark heart and his dark mind and revealed the truth, Christ
to him, that salvation is in Christ, not in the church, not
in works, not in the catechism, not in the ceremonies, not in
all of these traditions and so forth, and the doings and the
holy water and all of this stuff. None of that. God revealed Christ
to his heart. The truth. And in that day, over
in Germany where he was born and raised, that country as well
as nearly every other around him was steeped in Roman Catholicism,
as much of the world is today. with all his traditions and ceremonies
and all the stuff that doesn't come from God's Word. And he
almost stood alone over there. But the Lord used that one little
monk to turn the world upside down, just like the apostles
of old. The Lord used him to translate the Scriptures. People
didn't have a copy of the Bible. That's how religion keeps people
in the dark, isn't it? They used to call the dark ages
back in those days. Why? Because people didn't have
the Word and weren't reading the Scriptures. They didn't have
a copy. Well, Martin Luther said, God's people need to read the
Word, light. And the Lord used him to translate
it. And wasn't he involved in creating
the printing press, the earliest printing press? Turn it out so
the people could have God's Word. He used to be chained in a monastery.
Nobody could see it but a corrupt priest. Martin Luther was one
of them. But God revealed the truth to
him, Christ. And he stood alone practically. Many of you know that story of
him somewhat. And it is a great saying, and
I love it. Oh, I love it. I admire the man.
I thank God for him. The whole world practically,
all the religious world was against him. They said, recant, recant. Turn from this. Like Peter and
the apostles of old says, we can't help but speak the things
we've seen and heard. Peter said, is it right should
we obey God or men? Well, Martin Luther stood that
day before all the thousands that were against him. He said,
concerning the truth, Who God is. Who Christ is. How man is
saved. Not by works of righteousness, but according to His mercy. He
said, Here I stand. I can do no other. The church
is the ground of the truth. One of our brethren, a fellow,
went to school with him 30 years ago. And after coming back in
contact with him, Some thirty years later, he said, you still
believe the same thing you did back then, don't you? Still preach
the same thing, don't you? My, my. The grounds. You know, that's an old military
term, too. Stand your ground. Stand your
ground. Don't give an inch. No retreat. No giving in. Stand your ground. Not going to compromise, not
one jot or one tittle with this world. So, while the world acts
like fools, let us worship and behave as those who know and
fear the living and the true God. And while a religion has
completely compromised God's Word to get a following for money's
sake, and follows and is taken and carried about with every
new wind of doctrine, let us, I believe, the church, the true
church, declare the truth for God's glory, for God's sake,
for Christ's sake, because we are the pillar and the ground
of the truth. Now here is the truth. Okay? Now I'm going to preach Christ
to you. He says it's the pillar and the
ground of the truth. In verse 16 he says it's without
controversy. The truth is without controversy.
Now hold on. You know, the truth causes great
controversy, doesn't it? Our Lord said, suppose ye think
not, He said, that I am come to bring peace on earth, but
a sword. The Lord Jesus Christ said that.
How many preachers have you ever heard even quote that? He said,
I've come to set a man at variance with his father, a woman with
her mother, son, daughter, and so forth. A man's enemies should
be those of his own household. Separation, division. It does cause great controversy.
Opposition, debate and argument. The prophets and the apostles.
All the prophets were killed for the truth's sake. All of
them. Except Elijah, he went on into
glory. They were all killed for the truth's sake. All the apostles
were killed for the truth's sake. Except John. It does cause controversy, doesn't
it? Scripture says of Christ, it
says there was a great division because of him. They were divided. It was controversy. Paul stood
before the Jews and he said, I know, he said, I know everywhere
that this way, or they said to him, they said this to Paul,
they said, everywhere, this way that you preach, this way, this
God, this Christ you preach is spoken against. That's what they said to him.
And the truth does cause controversy, because it's strange. It's strange
to people who aren't really reading God's Word. Paul came into Mars
Hill in Greece, and they said, what is this strange God you're
declaring? This strange doctrine. So it
is controversial. But what Paul is saying here
is it doesn't matter. what men say. It doesn't matter
that there's a great division. It doesn't matter that people
are confused. It doesn't matter that, you know,
remember what Elijah said, that they halt between two opinions.
That these think this and these think that. He says, without
controversy. Let's end the controversy. This
is without controversy. This is the truth. You want to
know what the truth is? Who God is? What man is, who
Christ is, what salvation is, what this book is saying? Here
it is. God was manifest in the flesh. Without controversy. Let it be settled forever. This
is it. Yeah, but, but, but, no, no,
no. It's without controversy. God became a man. Now, People all over, it's a great
controversy, the subject of much discussion, argument and debate,
the controversy surrounding who this man was, right? This Jesus. It continues today, the controversy. Back when our Lord was on earth,
He said, whom do men say that I am? Whom do men say that I, the Son
of Man, am? Here I am a man. Look like you? Sound like you? No, no. No, he
didn't sound like him. No man spake like this man. But
he looked like him, dressed like him as a man, 30 years old, okay?
Whom do men say that I, the son of man, am? Who is this Jesus
of Nazareth? Who do they say? And so they
spoke. Oh, some say you're John the
Baptist risen from the dead. Wow! Wouldn't that be amazing? Some said he's Elijah, one of
the prophets, Moses or Samuel or one great prophet. Now, if you said those things
about me, that would be amazing, wouldn't it? With this church, we'd have to
build a 100,000 square foot building to hold the people to come see
me. John the Baptist risen from the dead. Right? People would be amazed by that.
But that was very demeaning to this man. That brought him down. He said to his disciples, but
who do you say that I am? Who is this? Well, Paul writes
here to young Timothy. Timothy, you're a preacher. You're
standing up before people to preach, and here's what you preach.
And don't back down for a minute. Hold this up. Stand your ground. God, Jesus of Nazareth, is God. Now that's completely different. He's God. Isn't that still the
controversy? You know, Mormons, they go door
to door, compass sea and land, to establish a proselyte. When
they establish them, they're two-fold more the child of hell
than they are. And one thing that they despise tooth and nail,
and they go about spouting it, though they call themselves Church
of Jesus Christ. They do not believe, Tammy, that
Jesus Christ is Jehovah God. They don't believe that. And
they'll fight you for it. And that's where you need to
meet them at. Isn't it Jeanette? Right there. Unto us a child
is born and the son is given. Call his name. Isaiah 9.6. Call his name. Wonderful. Counselor. Can you quote the rest of it?
the mighty God, the everlasting Father. Oh, it's a mystery, but
God was manifest in the flesh. God became a man. You're just
a man. You make yourself God, they said.
You're just a man. You're just Jesus. You make yourself
God. No, you've got it all wrong.
I'm God. I made myself a man. What's the importance of this?
Just doctrine so you believe the right doctrine? Everything
he said depends on who he is. If he's God, you can't just take
it or leave it, what he's saying. Right? You can't be indifferent. If he's God, if he's not, if
he's just another prophet or preacher, you can take it or
leave it. like Mohammed or Confucius or Buddha. But if he's God, I
mean the one that made us. And most folks talk of Jesus
as only a good man, like they would talk of Buddha or Mohammed
or Confucius or any of these. And they like some things he
said and not some other things. They don't like the hard sayings.
They believe some things He said, and they'll take those, but they
don't take all things. You can't do that. He's not just a man.
This is God. There's a great controversy.
Who this Jesus was. Alright, God came to earth. God
came to earth. Our Lord said that. Brother Henry,
you and I know this. We committed this verse to memory.
John 8, 24. If you believe not that I am You will die in your sins." Boy, that's serious, isn't it? I am. I am God. I am what? The way. There is no other way. Islam is not just a different
way. It's not the way. Christ said, No man cometh unto
the Father. But by me. I am the way. Don't
come by Mary. You don't come by this or that
or the other. But by me. Me doing something for you. You in me. Me presenting you. Faultless. Me. I am the way. Only way. I am the truth. Everything else is a lie. Everyone
else is a lie. Let God be true. Every man a
liar. Christ said, I am the truth. Who can say that but God? I am
the life. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son hath
not life. No man. Now why did God become
a man? I'm not going to take it for
granted everyone in here knows this. Once again, very few people throughout
the world know, believe that he was God, or if they do, know
why he came. Why did God come? To try to talk
us into living right? To plead with us? To show us
that if you do like me, then you can get God came, Christ came, it's a
mystery. Great is this mystery. God was
manifest in the flesh, revealed to us. He's revealed himself
to his people, not just this little group, there are many
all over. But he came to glorify God himself as a man. Scripture says all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. God's angry with the wicked
every day. God's not happy with this planet.
God's going to destroy it like He did with the flood. Why? Come short of the glory of God.
Romans 1. I started to preach from Romans 1, 2, and 3. Well,
I am. Romans 1 declares who God is
and why man is like he is. Why America is like it is. Why
is America the vile, Sodom, a place like Sodom that it is. Why? You
just have to look around, people. It's going to, the old saying
is, hell in a handbasket. Because in Romans 1, he talks
about the wrath of God that is revealed from heaven. He talks
about, he may be known by the things that are created, clearly
saying, his eternal power and Godhead. But it says that they
did not acknowledge God. They were not thankful to God,
didn't give God a thought. God was not in all their thoughts,
it says. Romans 1. It says that they professed
themselves to be wise, but they were fools. Only a fool would
say, no, God. Only a fool would think that
all of this brilliant, amazing, complex creation called planet
Earth, and especially mankind, evolved from a primordial soup. What an utter bunch of absurd
nonsense. Professing themselves to be wise,
educated fools. Why? God made foolish, made them
foolish. Hath not God, 1 Corinthians 1
says, I'm going to preach the whole Scripture. Hath not God
made foolish the wisdom of this world? When God reveals the truth,
David said, I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. A thumbprint
will reveal that God is a thumbprint. I've never been to the same,
ever. A thumbprint. I want to tell you that Maybe
somebody hasn't heard that illustration. It's a good one. I had this believer
that was talking to this scientific evolutionist fellow, and he said
to him, he said, that's a nice watch you've got on there. The
fellow said, yes, it's handmade in Switzerland. Paid a lot of
money for it. Handmade. The believer said, handmade?
He said, can I see it? He said, yeah, here it is. And
he looked at it. He said, that's not. He said, it's handmade.
The evolutionist said, yes, yeah, handmade. It's obvious. The believer
said, I don't believe that. No, I don't believe that. I believe
four billion years ago, floating out in space were jewels
and crystals and watch bands and springs and hands, second
hands and minute hands and faces and leather bands and all of
this were floating out in space and it was a huge explosion.
And that's how you have your watch. Man said, you're a fool. It's
obvious from the complexity of it and the creativity of it and
the architecture of it and the beauty of it and the wisdom of
it and the workings of it that a skilled craftsman created this
thing. He said, no man, thou art the
fool. The fool hath said there's no
God. But look at this glorious thing.
Especially this. God's creation in His image.
And say, no, it all just happened. universal conspiracy by man to
try to prove that God is not. Therefore, we don't have to answer
to him. He doesn't own us. He's not our judge. We're masters
of our own fate. No, we're not. The God in whose
hands our breath is, and all our ways, thou hast not glorified."
That's the handwriting on the wall. They use that term all
the time, don't they, Stan? He sees the handwriting on the
wall. No, he doesn't. The handwriting on the wall is
this. You haven't glorified God. And that's the handwriting to
all human beings. You have not glorified God as
God. And Romans 1 goes on to say,
so they made up all sorts of things. about God into images
like beasts and especially man, make God like a man. And he said,
so God gave them over to a reprobate mind, a mind void of judgment,
void of good sense, to do all manner of evil. And they become
like animals, men with men, women with men, men with animals, and
so on and so forth. full of extortion and excess
and wickedness. That's because God gave them
over. Why is America like it is? Because
Romans 1 tells us exactly why. But God. And such were some of you. But
God. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed. But God, who is rich in mercy,
chose some of these unlovely, despicable creatures that hated
Him to reveal Himself to. And He came down and said, Here
I am. And we beheld His glory as of
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The
way to God. The truth of who God is. Life. Christ came to glorify God as
a man. God said, this do and live. We
can't. We haven't. We couldn't. We didn't. He did. This do and live. We couldn't. But as our substitute,
Ed, as our substitute, Christ came down. And for His people,
given to Him by the Father in a covenant, for His people, Christ
said, I am come to do thy will. In the volume of the book it
is written to me. Lord, I am come to do thy will. For thy
glory and for my people. They haven't done it. They can't
do it. I can and I'm doing it for them. I'm their substitute. But they're sinners. God said
the soul that sins must surely die. So God made His soul and
offered Him for sin. God made Him to be sin for us. He who knew no sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God, the holiness of God, accepted
by God in Thee. Substitution. Satisfaction. My pastor preached that, didn't
he, Brother Gale? Three times up in Fairmont. Three times. Same old message.
He'd been preaching that 50 years. Substitution. Substitute. He came to redeem from the curse
of the law. He came to pay the penalty of
sin, which was death. I know everyone doesn't understand
all this, but I'm bound and determined to declare it. I've got to. Necessities
laid upon me. Go home and look these things
up. Learn what these things mean. God was manifest in the flesh.
That was God that came. And look at the next thing. It
says he was justified in the Spirit. I've got one message,
so I'm going to give it all I've got. Justified in the Spirit. justified in the Spirit. Romans
1 says this gospel concerning God's Son declared to be the
Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness and
by the resurrection of the dead. He was declared to be who he
is by the Holy Spirit. There are three people in the
Godhead. Father, Son, that is the offspring, the bodily offspring of God. God doesn't
have a body, but He took one. And in the Holy Spirit. You say,
I don't understand. I don't either. But this is what
Scripture says. And these three are one. One
God. Behold, our God is one God. We don't worship three different
gods. We worship one. That's all I can do with that. But he was declared to be justified
in the Spirit by the Holy Spirit. How do you know this is God who
came? Well, when he was born, when
he became a man, when he assumed flesh, the likeness of sinful
flesh without sin, it says an angel declared who he was to
his so-called mother. Mary did not give him life. Any more than any woman gives
anybody life. Women don't give life. They nurture it. The seed of
man gives life. Right? Isn't that a good picture? I would say incorruptible. God
the Father gives life. Mary was a borrowed womb, a vessel,
just a borrowed womb. She did not contribute to His
being, His existence. No, sir. Could have been a woman
named Martha, could have been a woman named whoever, but the
Lord chose her. And there's nothing sanctified
or special about her any more than any other Child of God. Nothing. She didn't stay a virgin. She had at least seven children
after that. That's right. That's what this
book says. All right? She's not the co-redeemer. There's
but one redeemer. We just read it. One mediator.
She's not the mediator. We don't pray to her. Nuh-uh.
There's one mediator between God and man. The man. Not a woman. The man. Christ Jesus. That's
what this book says. He that is of God, heareth God's
word." Well, when he was born, it says that there was a multitude
of heavenly hosts, angels. That's my next point, scene of
angels. I'm ahead of myself. He was declared to be the Son
of God at his baptism. Remember when John was baptizing
him in the River Jordan? And I'll get back to that in
a minute. John was, we're talking about
the same person, but John was baptizing him and God told John
that whom you see the Holy Spirit descended upon, that's him. Declared to be who he is by the
Holy Spirit, declared by the Spirit of holiness and the resurrection
of the dead. A holy man, the only holy man
to ever live. The only holy man to ever live. The only holy man to ever live.
I mean, thought, word, and deed. That declares who he is. Spirit
of holiness justified in the Spirit, declared to be who he
is. And the next thing, seeing of
angels. And as I said, at his birth multitude of heavenly hosts
said, Glory to God in the highest." This is him. This is him. Scene of angel. This is he. At
his birth, at his baptism also, the angel. In the garden, the
angels ministered unto him. And when he ascended back to
glory, it says the angels conducted him. And it talks about the angels
in the church being preachers. that prophets, apostles, pastors,
and teachers, they all say one thing, this is Him. This is God. Scene of angels. Look at this
next line, preached unto Gentiles and believed on. I'm going to
quit. Preached unto the Gentiles and
believed on in the world. Right now, 2,000 years later,
I'm standing up and talking about a Jewish man that lived way over
in the Middle East, a place that you most have not been and never
will be, and don't know what it's like. And this man lived
2,000 years ago, grew up in a little tiny obscure village called Nazareth,
born in a little place called Bethlehem, in a stable. Two thousand years ago, here
I am standing up declaring Him, and your whole life is being
lived around Him, concerning Him. Now, I thought about this
this morning. I was thinking about this. I
thought, has there ever been a person in the western hemisphere, a man who lives, a great man,
who people over in China or Japan or Israel are right now, 2,000
years, worshipping, following, believing. Huh? Has there ever
been a person that grew up and lived and people way over there? I know the Muslims have their
prophet who was right there in the midst of them. You can understand
that, surely. He's one of them. Take great pride in that. The
Jews hated this. The Jews hated and killed the
one that came among them. But here we are, way in the far
ends of the earth. We say He's God. That man that
lived 2,000 years ago, we say without reservation. And are
willing to die saying it. And devote our lives to Him and
our children and everything we are and give our substance to
that one that lived over 2,000 years. This is God. This is my
life. All my life depends on Him. It's a mystery, isn't it? That's
why He says it's a great mystery. Well, who could it be, Melanie,
but God? Now, this is one instance when
it's all those people can't be fooled. All the billions and trillions
that have believed Him by the grace of God. And it's all because
God said so. He said, I'll call my people
from the four corners of the earth. This was a mystery that
had no airwaves, no way to get the message out way back then,
but this message flew like milkweed in the breeze. And it was planted,
and it's the great kingdom. And we believe. We've preached
unto the Gentiles. Here we are a bunch of Gentiles,
and we believe on Him. And look at the last line. How
do we know who He is? He was received up into glory. Now, that man who came to this planet
and did all that he did and said all that he said, you can't just
take it or leave it. He said he was God. This book
says he's God. Why did he come? You need to
find out. You need to find out. Your life,
your eternal life depends upon it. And if he's God, you better call
on him. Him, nobody else. Because there's
one mediator. And here's one way that this
is indisputable, without controversy. I preached this message in Mexico. It's a word I learned indisputably. Indisputable. Without controversy. That's what that word for them
is. He rose from the grave. This
is how you know. This is what the apostles went
about preaching everywhere they went. Proof of who this was.
Proof more than anything else. And you know, people all over
the world, they celebrate this thing called Easter, whether
they know what it is, whether it's just a pagan thing, whether
they do it out of superstition or tradition or whatever. But
all the world over, at least people are thinking about the
story that this man who died on a Roman cross and laid in
a grave, obviously dead for three days, walked out of it alive. And he was seen by over 500 people
at one time. Indiscriminate. And it says,
they saw him rise, taken up on the clouds into heaven. And the
angels, once again, the scene of angels, the angels said, this
same Jesus is coming again. This proved beyond a shadow of
a doubt, without controversy. A man got out of the grave, just
walked out of the grave, and said, now, I'm not just a man. I'm God. Come unto me. I'm going back to the Father. Oh, it's a mystery, isn't it?
And this poor earthen vessel These stammering lips. I've tried, but the half has
not been told. No man is able to tell this.
This is a mystery. It's a great mystery. But thanks
be unto God that He's revealed unto us something of, part of,
this mystery which is Christ, the hope of glory. Okay, stand
with me. Our Father, Thy Word. Oh, once again, we thank You
for Your Word. We have no light. We have no
life. We have no message. We have no
understanding. We don't know who You are. We
don't know what we are. We don't know how to get to Thee. We don't know what eternal life
is, life after this life, except through Your Word. Thank You
for it. Thank You for the Word. The entrance,
the psalmist said, the entrance of Thy Word bringeth light. The light is the knowledge of
the glory of God in Jesus Christ. Thank You, Lord, for the little
light that we have. We long for more light, more
understanding. But we thank You and we praise
You. And this is our testimony. that
God has given us an understanding that we might know that the Son
of God has come and given us an understanding that we might
know Him that is true, even in Him, the Son of God. Thank you,
Lord. We have met together for the
praise and the glory of Thy name, my Son, and to seek Thy face. It is in Christ's name we have
met here. Amen. You are dismissed. Let me turn this off.