Alright, go back to 1 Corinthians
15. 1 Corinthians 15. I want to read
a few of these verses again. 1 Corinthians 15. Let's read verses
13 through 19 again. If there be no resurrection of
the dead, then is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen,
then our preaching is 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 Jesus Christ, whom he raised not up,
if so be that the dead rise not. And if the dead rise not, then
is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain. You are yet in your sins. And
they also which are fallen asleep or died in Christ, they are just
perished. And if in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we are of all men. most miserable. And look down at verse 32 as
well. Look at verse 32. If after, Paul
says, if after the manner of men, speaking as a man, I fought
with beasts at Ephesus. I've been in nothing but a fight.
That's what he said. I've been nothing, I've been
in a fight all these years with beasts. He says, what advantage
is it to me? What good did all this do me
if the dead rise not? What good is it if the dead rise
not? Let's just eat and drink. Tomorrow
we die. Why am I doing this, he said.
Let's eat and drink. If this is all there is, then
tomorrow we die. Why are we doing this? So you
see what he's saying there. Now, let me ask you a question,
and I want you to be honest with me, all right? Perfectly honest. Do you ever, in your heart, doubt
the very existence of God? Don't be afraid to nod your head.
I do. Has the thought ever crossed
your mind that there may not be anything
to all this? You're afraid to admit it, aren't
you? I can see that you're all afraid, to be honest. But if
you're a human being and you're a believer, it has crossed your
mind. These thoughts have run through
your mind. What if this is all there is?
Be honest. You know, as time goes by, the
further we get from the millennium, the beginning of the millennium.
See, everybody was kind of nervous. Even unbelievers now, they wouldn't
admit it. But I guarantee you, there was
a collective sigh of relief all over this world when midnight
went by, 2000. And then they all, I see, we
told you. But they were worried. As time goes by and the further
we get from that, Scripture says, many shall depart from the faith. Scripture says, scoffers, in
the last days, scoffers will come saying, where is the promise
of his coming? He said he was coming. You said
he was coming at such and such time, and he didn't. And you know, even religion.
Religion is getting further and further away from the truth. Religion is getting further and
further away from the truth. I mean, further and further away
from a dogmatic narrow message of a holy, just,
angry God who will punish sin, who is to be feared, of man who
is dead in sin, and a helpless, hopeless, doomed creature unless
God in sovereign mercy does something for him that is not in man's
hands. It is totally in this sovereign
ruler's hands. And this one who came to earth
is none other than God Almighty in human flesh, come to save
a particular people. And he did just that and went
back to heaven and sits right now in the circle of the earth,
reigning and ruling among the inhabitants of the earth, doing
exactly what he purposed to do. And in the fullness of time,
according to his purpose, he's coming back to this earth and
going to slaughter it and take his people back. Very few in mainstream religion
believe any of that. You know what? Very few. Even religion. And now what we've
got is a social gospel. A social gospel. God is love. And so the world has no problem
with that, you see. You see, John, the world has no problem
with that. You do good things, Just keep saying love, we like
that. If you're a believer, you believe
what I just said about God, about man, do you really? About Christ, about the end of
all things, do you believe that? Why? Why? Because I said so. Brother Henry did this. That's
right. That's exactly right. This is
it. This is you see, let me let me
I just want to talk to you now. We believe Believing is faith. We believe, we live, we walk
by faith, not by sight. We walk by faith, we live by
faith, we believe by faith from God's Word. Though these things,
now listen very carefully, though these things are not without
proof, though God has not left himself without a witness, though
these things are not without evidence, I mean scientific,
material evidence. I mean, the heavens declare his
glory, the firmament showeth his handiwork, day in the day
uttereth speech, all men are without excuse, God, your fingerprint
says God is. The ant, the termite, anything,
everything says God is. Evidence, proof, only a fool,
a blind fool. says there's no God. So, but
so he got it's not that there's no evidence of proof, but now
what we believe we received by faith. From this book from God's
Word. Right. By faith, faith cometh
by the Word of God, Romans 1017 faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God, we believe Margaret, we believe what we
believe because this book says it. Everything we receive is based
on this book. Everything we believe we get
from this book. We believe this is actually the
written word of our Creator. We believe that this book right
here, I mean every word of it, is not the words of men, They
just took dictation. We believe God Almighty barely
wrote this with his very finger, every word of it. Do you believe
that's fair? But now, wait a minute. Wait
a minute. Modern society, science, so-called,
this is why. You remember when Paul wrote
to young Timothy, he said, you avoid vain babblings and oppositions
of science, falsely so-called. You remember when he said that?
He said, avoid all this vain babbling or these endless questions. He said, avoid that. Don't be
looking at black holes, gracious sake. Only an idiot with a hole
in his head would be looking at black holes. Professing themselves to be wise.
Our rocket scientists are Gazing at black holes. Paul said to young Timothy, don't
be taken up with vain babblings or oppositions of science. It's falsely so called. What
does that mean? Oppositions of science. Science, the word science
means the study of truth. You want to get to the truth
of matter, of things. Science. It's falsely so-called,
because science today is not trying to get to the truth of
the matter. Science exists for the sake of science, because
they've got a blank check. Money answers all that. But he
said, avoid that. Listen. Time magazine, Newsweek, Businessweek,
Roanoke Times. Wall Street Journal several years
ago, I believe it was, they plastered across the front page, life found
on Mars. You remember that? Why? We found
a rock, and if you put it under a microscope, there are little
tubes, little, barely, you've got to magnify them a hundred
thousand times, little tubes, and something in those So there is no God. You know my vain babblings. And
for your information, seven months after that was,
it's printed as fact. You see, they print it as facts.
Don't they, Steve? I mean, it's just facts. Seven months later, in the back
section of our newspaper, another newspaper, a little small article,
it said, seven months later, scientists are no closer to finding
life on Mars. But that's not front page, you
see. You remember Brother Jellett talking about this, this concerted
effort by man to disprove God. Why? Man doesn't want a God. Man doesn't want a creator. Man
doesn't want somebody he has to answer to. Man doesn't want
a judge. We're going to disprove him.
Science falsely so-called. But now every day, every day
in our papers, something is brought up every day. Purported evidence, purported
evidence is brought forth to support their denials. Does that bother you? Anybody? They're going to clone a human
being. Are they? Are they? Well, let me go on. Even religion has twisted and
corrupt. You see, religion is so ignorant
of God's word, they don't know how to answer. Science, science
today. You know, They're so far removed
from God's Word, they can't answer. They bring up questions, and
religion won't try to answer. They're ignorant of God's Word.
Do you know years before Columbus discovered that the Earth was
round? God's Word said it a thousand
years before that. There was an old prophet who
said, he sits on a circle. of the earth. Old man has discovered the earth
is round. Well, do these things bother
you? Do you believe this book? Do
you believe this book? You know, God doesn't prove himself
to anybody. You know, God does not, listen
to this, God does not prove himself to human beings. Why should it? God doesn't prove himself to
human beings. I'll give you an illustration. I'm walking through
my yard, and here's an anthill. And they shake their fists in
my face and say, we don't believe you are who you say you are.
You don't own this place. You didn't build that house. Who do you think you are? We
don't prove yourself to that. Why should I? Step on. Why should I prove myself? God
doesn't prove himself. But now, listen, listen, I'm
talking about faith here, and I'm not here trying to convince
anybody I can't. I can't convince anybody of anything.
That's the reason. All this vain babbling of science
and trying to prove God is bad. We're not trying to prove God.
God doesn't try to prove himself. God reveals himself. I'm not trying to get anybody
to believe in God. If God has chosen somebody, he'll
reveal himself. He'll reveal himself. I'm trying
to state facts. The fact is, faith is a gift
of God. It's a gift of God. A man, by
searching, finds out God. If a man searches, he eventually
believes God, he has to know. You'd think if anybody believed
God, Ginny, you'd be a doctor, wouldn't you? After looking into
this marvelous body time and time and time again, you'd think,
if anybody believed God is, you'd think he'd be a doctor, wouldn't
you? Not many wise men. Faith is a
gift of God. It's a supernatural work. Scripture
says we believe according to the working of His mighty power.
And He gives this to whom He will. And who does He give it
to? Simple people. Childlike people. He said, didn't I say unto you,
if you believe, you'd see the glory of God? See, believing is seeing. Believing is seeing. When God
chooses somebody, he gives them spiritual eyes to see. The first
thing he does is cause them to believe the Word. And then he
proves himself, then he proves himself to his people. God does prove himself to them,
reveal himself to them over and over and over again, time and
time again, gives them eyes to see so that they say, David,
I was blind before. I was blind. I can't believe
I couldn't see this before. No, you were blind. God had to
give you eyes. Was I dead? Was I dead walking around in
a dead man? Yeah, you were. And a mind to understand, a heart
to believe. And now here's the essence of
saving faith, all right? Here's the essence of faith. And I hope I don't sound like
I'm rambling because I'm getting to something here. All right, we believe because
this book says it. What does this book say? What
is this book all about? It's all about a person. We believe what we believe about
a person. It's a person. All of our religion
is a person. We believe everything we believe
is based upon that man that lived nearly 2,000 years ago. Jesus
of Nazareth is none other than God Almighty, and everything he said was the
Word of God, and everything he did was the work of God. He's
the Son of God. Now, listen to this. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the fact
that a man named Jesus walked on this planet, Patrick, his
existence in history is undeniable. Even pagan historians write down
the fact that there was a man named Jesus who walked this planet
2000 years ago. It's undeniable. Undeniable. He lived. Yes, he did. He walked
this planet. Undeniable. Recorded in history. Time is even measured by it.
Time all over the world, everything in all over the world, time is
measured by the life of this man. Think about it. No other
man, time is not measured by any other human being or any
other thing, but by this man, this little Jew that walked the
planet 2,000 years ago. Time is measured by him. His life is the subject of more
books, no library could contain the books written on this one
man's life and work. Though he never wrote a book
as a man, that no library could contain the books written on
him. Strange, isn't it? He is the
theme of more songs than all other songs combined. This little Jewish man that walked,
years ago Nancy, two thousand, little Jew walked the planet.
Not a handsome man, didn't ride a white horse, never had a sword
in his hand, didn't conquer one single village. Think about it. This book prophesied thousands
of years before he was born, prophesied of the very place
that he would be born, the very exact time, the lineage, or his
family tree from which he would come, exacting details concerning
his person, his character, his very words out of his mouth,
his works, how he would die, and that he would rise from the
dead. This book, thousands of years
before it happened. And not only that, but hundreds,
we read here in 1 Corinthians, hundreds and hundreds of people
saw him alive. after they'd seen him dead for
three days. They'd seen him dead for three days. They saw a soldier
stick a spear in his side and rip his intestines out. And every drop of blood come
out of his body. And they took him down from that
grave, from that cross, and stuck him in a tomb where there was
no oxygen and rolled a stone on that door. He's dead. We know he's dead. Three days
later, over 500 persons in one place said, he's alive, isn't
he? And Paul writes here, he said,
most of them are still alive. Paul's writing this letter, he
said, most of them still ask him. They saw him. Paul said,
I saw him. This story was told by men who
didn't have anything to gain by telling this story. See, they
lost their lives for saying this. Paul went around saying, he's
a liar. Paul went around preaching, he's a liar. What did get him? Fame, fortune? No, because his
head cut off. So why would a man want to tell
a lie like that? Why would a man want to tell
a... Paul said, I saw him. He said, was it I or Cephas or
whoever? Well, we saw him. He's alive. And he's talking to believers
now. He's talking to believers. He said, do you believe? You
do well. He's alive. Do you believe? Well, because
he is. We saw him. We'll go down dying
saying that. And we don't worry about dying
then. Why? Because Christ said, now listen,
listen, if that man named Jesus got out of that grave three days
later like he said he would, then everything he ever said
when he was down there is true. You understand? Everything. He said that is true. That proves,
Amy, that one walked out of that grave. It's never happened before.
If he walked out of that grave and said, you can't kill me,
I'm alive. In everything he said, then he's
God, Amy. He's God. He's no mere man. He's God. He's
alive right now. He said, I'm going back. Turn
to John chapter 14 with me, OK? Now turn over to John 14. He's
alive right now, and he's coming back. How do you know? He said so. You see? If he rose from the grave, then
everything he said is so. How could you not believe? I
mean, that's the ultimate, isn't it? That's what Scripture means
when it says he was justified in the Spirit, declared to be.
That's what it means when it says he was declared to be the
Son of God by the resurrection from the dead. Remember that? Now, he said he was the Son of
God. How do I know? He rose from the dead. Old Mohammed
over there says he's from God. Is he? No, it's bones over there. It's bones. Mohammed's bones. Confucius says he's of God, is
he? No, he's bones over there. Buddha,
he's, he's, no, it's bones, big bones. There ain't no bones of
Jesus in that. He said, I'm God. Watch. He's alive. He's alive. And he said, I'm coming back.
I'm going right now back to the Father and I'm coming back. And
so you can believe he is. Why? Because he said so. And those who believe and love
him, there'll be inexpressible joy at his return. Those who
don't. Inexpressible grief. Now. John 14. John Chapter 14 is our Lord talking
to his disciples who are filled with doubts and fears. All right. John 14 is a private conversation. With the Lord's disciples. Judas just left. In Chapter 13,
our Lord said, leave whatever you do, go. And he went out there
and then he turned to his disciples and said, now, now, I want to
talk to you. Three chapters. Oh, did he. They were full of doubts and
fears. All right. Though they walked with him, they walked
with the Lord for three and a half years. Think about this. This will be
for your comfort. They walked with God for three
and a half years. They heard God speak for three
and a half years. He never opened his mouth, but
they weren't just astounded. Jerry, every time
he opened his mouth and said something, They learn something every time
he opened his mouth. This is wisdom, personifying
that. You ever been around somebody you thought was intelligent?
I mentioned Brother Allengellic a while ago. Folks, do you know
that Brother Allengellic is a rocket scientist? He is. He is a nuclear. He's a physicist. He's a rocket
scientist. Oh, but he's so Christlike, you
can be around him and you think he doesn't know anything. But then when he opened, if you
start listening, you listen. Now, that's just the man. This
is God. God spoke every time he opened
his mouth, God spoke. Three and a half years. Now,
surely these fellows, would never have any doubts. I mean, God's
talking to them. Well, they saw him. Listen to
me. There wasn't a day that went
by that they didn't see him do something absolutely supernatural,
phenomenal, miraculous. They saw him take five loaves
of bread and two fish and feed thousands. and then just a little
while later speak more with less. They saw him heal the blind.
I'm not talking about cataracts or nearsightedness. I mean born
blind. They saw him heal those that
never heard a sound ever, the deaf. They saw him heal not people
sitting in wheelchairs. I mean their bodies were absolutely
disfigured. This man had a hand. It was absolutely
gnarled up and atrophied. from lack of use from his birth,
all wrinkled up in his hand, just normal. They saw him heal
lepers. I mean people with the flesh
melting off of their bodies. Lepers. Pristine, perfect, clear,
immediate on the God's Word, on Christ's Word. They saw him
one day walking on the ocean. Like you and I walk outside on
the sidewalk, he was on the ocean walking. They saw him one day
get up on a boat, ten foot waves crashing over the boat, the winds
howling, the sky dark, pitch black. They saw him say to the
woman, And they all hit the deck. What man is this? The winds obey
him. He's God. They saw him raise the dead.
And we love this, Deborah and I love this, the fact that the
Lord never attended a funeral if the person didn't rise. He's life. You can't be in the
presence of life and stay dead. He walked through the funeral
coming out of town. The Lord was walking by and he
touched the coffin and the coffin came open and he said, Get up! They saw all this. They saw all
this. One day he took three of them
up on a mountain, three of them up on a mountain, James, Peter
and John, as if they hadn't seen enough. They go to sleep. They're
going to see him as he is. He's going to remove the veil.
He's going to take away the flesh. They're going to see God as he
is, that no man's ever seen before. The essence, the face of God. He took them up on a mountain
and peeled back that robe of flesh. And they hit the dust. You think about it, what all
they saw. Surely they would have no doubts. Huh? Surely. No fears whatsoever. None. Zero. No unbelief. Surely. They did. Here after three and
a half years of seeing and hearing all that they saw, They sound
like they never heard a thing. They're so filled full
of doubts and fears that they act like they never saw a thing. Now, this gives me comfort. This
gives me great comfort. You know, they're flesh. They're
just flesh, and flesh is flesh. flesh is flesh, and we're subject
to what we see, aren't we? We're subject to it. We're influenced
by it. Let me make a little confession
here. When they announced life on Mars, I thought, oh, uh-oh, until I came into the sanctuary. Until I looked at God's Now look at John 13. He says in verse 33, now he's
just talking to his disciples. Now, if you're a believer, he's
talking to you right now. This is for your comfort. In
verse 33, this is the first time he ever said this to them, little
children. First time he said that, because
he knows They're going to, he says, I'm leaving. He said, I'm
going away. And they're going to be torn
all to pieces. And he calls them, now these
are grown men. Some of them are in their forties
by now, I believe. And he says, little children, little children,
I'm leaving. Dad's going. He's going away. Now do you understand that for
three and a half years they didn't work a job, they never caught
a fish, they never provided anything, they never earned a dollar, they
never did anything yet. He did it all. He was their father,
their mother, their provider, their husband, their everything
for three and a half years. And boy they could walk along
just as confident as I was. Let's call down fire. Let's go
here. Let's go there. Yeah, and now he says, I'm leaving. And they get torn all to pieces.
They do. They get torn all to pieces.
Peter, who'd you expect to speak up, Stan? Peter, verse 36, Peter
said, Lord, where are you going? I'm sure he'd been telling him
where he'd been going for three and a half years. Didn't he? Three and a half years
he'd been telling him. How long has he been telling
us the things he's been telling us? Huh? Forty years? Same things over and over again.
I'm God. I've purposed all things. Nothing
happens. I don't cause it. Where are you
going? Lord, whither goest thou? Our
Lord answered him and said, Whither I go, you cannot follow me now.
Afterward, you will. Peter said, Listen to this, just
like a little child. Why? Why can't I go? Have your
children ever done that? Where are you going? I want to
go. No, you can't. Why? That's exactly
what they're doing. Why? You will. You will. How much longer? When
are we going to get there? Are we there yet? Huh? How many
times have you said that? We used to laugh, handing out
jokes with me. We'll get out of town in about
10 minutes and just say, are we there yet? Just because that's
what she used to do, a little kid. Get 10 miles down the road,
how much further? How about us? Get like little
children, how long? Been 70 years, Henry, been 70
years. Not long, not long. 60 years,
Nancy. How much longer? Been 60 years. 10 more, maybe. Where you going? The way I told you all along. Why can't I go? Because I've
got a purpose for you here. You see that? Little children.
Little children. John said it later on. John was
one of them he was talking to. And John later on said, Little
children, these things I write unto you that you might believe. These things, we're just little
children. I'm going to tell you what he
told us. He said, I'm going. Peter said, where? He said, well,
you can't go now. You will. He said, why? Peter's
troubled. They're all troubled. Chapter
14. And you know, the Lord told Peter, you're going to deny me,
Peter. Peter got real proud and he said, I want to go. And no, Peter, you can't. Well,
he said, I'll die with you. Where are you going? I'll die
with you. No, you won't. You're going to deny me before
this is over. You're going to deny me. Peter said, I will not. Oh, yes, you will. And so we'll wait. May it bless
God. Chapter 14. Now, verse 1, he
said, Let not your heart be troubled. Anybody in here ever have heart
troubles? This is for those with heart
trouble. Trouble over sin. Trouble over
unbelief. Trouble over trouble. Here's
a cure. Our Lord's going to give a cure
for troubles. Cure for doubts. Cure for fear. Cure for unbelief.
Our Lord's going to tell them. Everything He says here, Margaret,
is to dispel their doubts and fears. Everything He says right here.
Will you stay with me just a minute? All right, let not your heart
be troubled. Look at verse 1. I've always
read this wrong. I've always read this like there
was a question mark here. He doesn't say, do you believe
in God? What's he say? Do you believe
in God? Well, you listen to me now. You
listen for your comfort, all right? You with me? Listen to
me. Do you believe in this God that
we've been talking about and preaching here and other places? I mean, God. I don't mean this
pitiful, love-everybody-can't-do-anything sugar daddy. Everybody believes
in a sugar daddy. Everybody wants to believe in
a sugar daddy. Who wouldn't? Everybody wants
to believe in heaven. Who wouldn't? Everybody wants
to go to heaven. That's just natural. But now
the natural man receives, if not the things of the God of
the Bible. Are you with me? The natural
man doesn't believe in this holy, just, sin-punishing God who is
to be feared. Flesh and blood doesn't reveal
that to you, but God himself. Does that make sense, what I'm
saying? Rebecca, does that make sense, what I'm saying? If you
believe in the God of the Bible, then you believe in God. And
God is. Flesh and blood doesn't reveal Him to you. Flesh and
blood doesn't like a God like that, won't have a God like that.
You believe in God, don't you, Rebecca Kensington? You believe
in God, don't you? Huh? Henry Sowell, you believe
in God, don't you? Huh? Yeah, you do. Well, take
courage. Let not your heart be troubled.
God himself is the one that really did himself to you. And he says,
believe also in me. You believe in God. And what
he's saying here, really, is you believe in me. Did these
disciples believe in him? They laughed at him. Did they? They left everything they had.
They just left their homes and families and quit their jobs
and sold them. Didn't sell their boats, just left them. They didn't sell their boats.
They left them to follow Him. They believed
in Him. You believe in God, you believe
also in Him. What did He say in John 17? This
is the turn of God. No God but Christ. Think just a minute how impossible
it would be for the flesh to believe this. Brother John is not about the
same age. He's over 40. He's 40-something. Let's say John and Stan and I
are walking along. We're all the same age. And I
say, fellas, I'm God. That's what this man did. This man, like this man, walked
this planet and a bunch of fellas, his peers, his own age, even
a little older than him, he said, I came from above. I'm not flesh. I'm God. And one
of these days you're going to see me sitting on the throne
of the heavens. That's just impossible for a
man to believe, isn't it? Huh, Steve? Think about it. Peter,
big, rough, I believe he probably looked about like a big old tough
guy, you know, and here's this little teacher. Says, I'm God. You know, fishermen heard everything. Every story there was to hear.
He believed. He believed. You see, he got
down on his knees in front of this 30-year-old man and bowed
his head to the ground and said, My God! Did you ever think about that? I
mean these men as part of a man, a man, Nancy, a man, I mean a
flesh and blood man. They hit the dirt and every one
of them, one of course said, you're our God, you made us. Well, with man, that's impossible,
isn't it? Who could make that big old fisherman
hit the dirt in front of him? God. That's it. I believe, Brother Henry, I believe
a man I've never seen before. I've never seen before. I've
never seen, never seen a picture of him. I don't know what he
looks like. Color of his hair, color of his
eyes, I don't really know. I've never heard his voice. He
has never spoken to me. Ever, never once spoken out loud
to me, ever. He never wrote me a letter, an
actual physical letter, dear Paul. I never heard from him.
And to beat off, he lived 2,000 years ago. I mean, 2,000 years
ago. And all of my future, future,
I base it all, my home, my family, everything I am and have, I'm
dependent on him. That's either of God or I'm an
absolute fool. You see what I'm saying? Man, this is impossible, isn't
it? Not with God. You believe in that? You do.
The only reason you do is because God made you. Read on. He said, In my Father's house,
God has a house. Yeah, he does. Yeah, he does. It's not this
little building. And it's not over in Israel.
He's got a house. He's got a family. He said, My father's house. Father.
Father's got to have children. He's got a family. Now, many
mansions. That means dwelling places. Many
dwelling places. Many. Now, when God says many,
that's a lot. All right, I believe God. I do. I do. Roberta, you believe God? You believe God? You believe
Christ? Yeah. Well, God is your Father, and
in His house are many dwelling places. That is, many, many are
going to go there. Why not you, Roberta? Many. God says many. God says many. the sands of the sea, and the
stars of the sky. Many. Many. Why not many? Many. He said, In my Father's house
are many mansions. If it weren't so, I wouldn't
talk to you. See, our Lord never said anything
that wasn't so. And He says, I go to prepare
a place for you. Who? Who's He talking to? Who's He
talking to? Well, he didn't say, I go to
prepare a place for you, John. I go to prepare a place for you,
Bartholomew. I go to prepare a place for you,
Thomas. I go to prepare... He didn't name a name quite a
bit. Who's the you? Could it be me? Huh? Well, yeah, yeah, yeah, you,
and you. In Ephesians 2, 1, it says, and
you. Have to be quick. Who, me? Yeah, you. You know
why he says, Whosoever believeth? I know there are many that run
with this. They think it means every single
human being. No, it doesn't mean that. The reason he said, Whosoever
believeth, is because there are too many believers for him to
name them all. That's simple. Huh? Huh? Whosoever believeth. Well, I
believe. Well, you then. Who me? Yeah, you. I go to prepare a
place for you. Who? John Davis. Yeah. Christ went to prepare a place
for John Ray Davis. Got to put your name on it. He's
got your name on him. Yeah. I love that story of Ralph
Barnard. Ralph used to love to sing, but
he couldn't sing very well. He couldn't. And he always wanted
to sing well. But he said he dreamed one time,
he had a dream, and he was in heaven. He said the most beautiful
choir he'd ever heard. Oh, 10,000, 10,000 voices in
that choir. Most beautiful, glorious chorus
he'd ever heard. And he said, oh, I want to sing
in that choir so bad. And he said he looked, and way up top
somewhere, an empty seat. an empty seat way up there. And
so he said he made his way through all that crowd, took him a long
time to climb up there, and finally got over there and went over
to the seat, and it said, Rob Barnett. Rob Barnett. Many. Well, there's
an empty seat. Come under me. You'll find your name there.
He's got your name there. Who, me? Yeah, you. Who's to
ever believe? I go to prepare a place for you. How did he do
that? We came to this earth to make us righteous, to establish
righteousness. All right? God said, I'm well
pleased for his righteousness sake. Now, come on back to glory. But he had to die to pay for
our sins. The soul of sin must surely die.
Christ did that. He was made sin for us who knew
no sin. Where is that? Second Corinthians, 521. He was made sin for us who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
And Psalm 24 says, is it somebody coming into the gates of glory?
It says, open the gates into the holy presence of God. Somebody's
coming in. Well, it's a man. Who is it? It's the king of glory. Son of
God, holy, righteous, spotless, approved, man approved of God.
He's coming. Look behind him. There's a train. A whole bunch of people following
him, coming right on in in the presence of the—who is it? It's
me! Yeah, you. And you. I go to prepare a place
for you. That where I am, you may be also. Where is he? Well, where he is, I am. I'm
seated together with Christ. What he is, I am. As he is, so
are we. I may, that you may be also. There's a few missing seats in
this house, isn't there? They've just built some that
were missing up there. Uh-huh. That's where they are.
Right now. Do you believe that? Do you believe
God? Do you believe Christ? Well,
he went to prepare a place. And he came for one of his own,
two of his own, three of his own. Okay, got him. Where are
they right now? Where he is. Right now. Where I want to be. And whither
I go, look at verse four. He further convinces them, further
tells them for their own Assurance. Verse 4. Where I go,
you know. You know. And the way you know. You see that? You do. You know. Oh, but they're letting their
grief and everything get the best of them. They're letting their
troubles get the best of them. Their heart is troubled and they're
letting it overcome them. No, we don't know. Yes, you do. You see that, little children? You do know this. I've been telling
you all along. You do know this. Where I go,
you know, and the way you know. Why? How? Look at verse 5. Thomas said, Lord, we don't know
where you're going. How can we know? Christ said, where I go,
you know, and the way you know, because I'm the way. And you
know me, and I'm talking to you right now. I am the way. I am the way. I am the way. He's not only the
way to get to God, but when we get to Him, He is God. We're
there. We're there. You know, have you
ever thought about this? Adam didn't live in heaven. He lived in paradise, though.
Where'd he live? On this earth. On this earth. He didn't live
in heaven. He wasn't floating around on
a cloud. He didn't have wings on his back. He wasn't playing
a harp. He was digging in a garden. He was in paradise. It was heaven
on earth. Why? What? God. He dwelt. God. God walked with
him. God talks to him. That's heaven. That's heaven. Christ said, I'm
the way. I'm how you're going to get to
God. And I am God. I am where you're going. But show us the way. I am the
way. shows heaven. Christ was in heaven. He never
left the Father, really. Truth. Pilate said, what is truth? Our Lord didn't talk to that
old fellow, did he? He didn't answer Pilate. What
is truth? He didn't answer. Who did he
answer? Us. I'm the truth. I mean, he is
the truth. The truth. I'm the life. Here's what I was trying to say
just now. I'm the life. I'm the life. You
know, God's going to create a new heaven and a new earth. And we're
going to dwell on this earth. Right? A new earth. Much like
the first one. I'm convinced of that. We're
going to know each other. talk to each other, eat, drink,
and maybe many other things. But we're going to be in heaven.
Why? Because it says God's going to
dwell with us, Christ is going to dwell with us, and there'll
be no sin. No sin. What turned this earth
into hell for Adam was sin. What makes this place miserable
to us is sin. Take away the sin, it's a nice
place. God dwelling with us like the
disciples, hey, your God goes away, they're troubled. They say, I'm going to send my
spirit to wear with you, and just remind you of everything
I've said. Heaven on earth, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Life more abundant. Let's sing
in closing, number 51. All right, Sherry, come up. I'm
sorry it took so long, but you know, like somebody said, this
is life. This is right here, what we're
doing right now. And we don't have the capacity to do this
very long. flesh is so weak, but one day
this is all we're going to do. And we're going to say, man,
this is living. You know what? And every now and then we'll
get a little glimpse, and the Lord will speak to us, you know,
a little foretaste of glory divine right in here, like the disciples
would cry. Like they said that day, Henry,
I don't want to leave, let's build three tabernacles, let's
just stay right here. And heaven, who was it, was it
William Cooper said a prison would, a palace appear if he
would dwell with me there. That's John Bunyan. All right,
let's sing number 51. Stand with me. Number 51. Praise the Savior, ye who know
him, who can tell how much we owe him. Gladly let us surrender
to him, for we are and have our strength. Trust in Him, ye saints,
forever. He is faithful, changing never. Neither force nor gall can sever
those who love from Him. Keep us, Lord, O keep us believing,
to Thy servant still believing, till the hour of our receiving. I'll miss it all as great as
these. And we shall be where we would
be. And we shall be what we should
be. Things that are not now nor could
be. So show me our own unison.