I will go first of all to 2 Timothy
chapter 4, and then we will go over to the Gospel of John chapter
5, and then we will go back to Hebrews
and stay there. So I won't have you turn to too
many scriptures, but I do want you to see these, all right?
2 Timothy 4. 2 Timothy 4. Let's read the first
four verses, all right? 2 Timothy 4, the first four verses. The Apostle Paul is writing,
and he says here, to young Timothy, this young preacher or pastor.
He says, I charge thee therefore before God, or in the presence of God and
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick, or that is,
the living and the dead, at his appearing in his kingdom. And
this is his charge to young Timothy. Preach the Word. Preach the Word. Be instant, or that is, consistent,
constant. Be constantly preaching the word
in season, out of season, or that is, whether anybody else
is doing it or not. In season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come, he says,
when they will not, the people will not endure sound doctrine. They won't listen to doctrine,
but after their own lusts or desires, shall they heap to themselves
teachers having itching ears or hiring teachers or preachers
to tell them what they want to hear. Verse 4, and they shall
turn away their ears from the truth, won't listen to the truth,
and shall be turned unto fables. Well, that is what everybody
thinks, what the average person believes. Not the truth, but
what the average person believes. So this is the charge to young
Timothy and every true preacher of the gospel. To preach the
word. Preach the scriptures. Go through
the scriptures. Line upon line. Line upon line. Verse by verse. Don't take a
verse here and a verse there and run with it. Preach it. All of it. Paul said that, didn't
he? He said, I have not shunned to
declare the whole counsel of God. I preached it all, regardless
of who was there and what it said. I said it clearly, plainly. And he said, the time will come,
the time is going to come when people won't sit and listen to
that. And folks, the time is now. That's why religion is so taken
up with entertainment and, you know, singing and you name it,
entertainment. And there's very little verse
by verse by verse preaching. A man standing up and declaring,
this is what God said. All right, he says now, preach
the Word. What is it to preach the Word?
Turn over to John 5 with me now, John chapter 5. What is it to
preach the word? Every fellow who stands up who's
called a preacher would say he preaches the word. Right? Every person who sits in a so-called
church house would claim that their preacher preaches the Bible.
Isn't that right? Sure. I'm reminded of that fellow,
one time I asked this fellow what he believed. He said, what
do you believe? He said, I believe what my preacher believes. He
said, well, what does your preacher believe? He says, he believes
what the church believes. He said, well, what does the church
believe? He says, we all believe the same thing. Well, what? He preaches the Bible. Well, everybody says that, don't
they? Well, here our Lord says, our Lord here tells us what the Bible is written
all about. This is what Jesus Christ said.
Look at John 5, verse 39. John 5, verse 39. Now, he's talking
to some religious fellows. He's Pharisees. And he says,
search the Scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life." He said, you do read the scriptures, and they
did. As scribes, that was their job,
is to read and make copies of the scriptures. And the Pharisees,
they could quote whole portions of the Old Testament. And our
Lord looks at them and says, you search the scriptures, search
the scriptures, and in them you think you have life. You look
at it as a book of do's and don'ts and morality and church history. And if you abide by it, you have
life. You have eternal life. You're
going to be all right. Now, here Christ says, now, this
is what Scripture is all about. Look at verse 39. They are they which testify of
me. He said, they are they, the scriptures,
are they which testify of me. In other words, he says the Bible
is written about me. One time, two of his disciples,
this was when he had died and they had buried him and they
didn't know he had risen again. Two of his disciples were walking
along a road and he appeared to them. They didn't know who
he was. And he said, what are you talking
about? And they were sad and they were
talking about the restoration of Israel and this and that and
the other. And it says, beginning at the books of Moses, that's
the first five books of the Bible, and the prophets and the Psalms. Now, that's a whole Old Testament,
isn't it? It says, "...he expounded unto
them the things concerning himself." And then he went on to say, "...they
are they which testify of me." All Scripture pertains
to Jesus Christ. That's what this book is all
about. That's why God wrote this book. This is all about Jesus
Christ. Who He is. Why He came. what
he did, where he is now, and what that means to us. That's
what this book is all about. My pastor, who has been in this
business a long time, he said the Old Testament is saying somebody
is coming. That's what the whole Old Testament
is about. Somebody is coming. The Gospels were written, four
Gospels, by four fellows, fishermen. The Gospels say he's here, he's
here. And it says, and he said the
epistles, that is Romans, Acts, Romans all the way through and
Revelation are saying he's coming back. So he's coming, he's here,
he's coming back. All right, who is this? Who is he talking about? Who
is it written about? Who is Jesus Christ? Why did
he come? Where is he now? What does that
mean to us? That's what this book, who this book is all about. Jesus Christ is the language
of Scripture. If we don't understand that every
portion of this book refers, relates in some way to Jesus
Christ, we don't understand what this book is all about. We don't
understand what Let me give you a simple illustration
of that. Some of you probably don't know
anything about computers, do you? I'm sure there's somebody
left in here who doesn't have a computer. I'm just certain
of it. Well, in order to operate computers, you have to understand
the language. You know that? It used to be
more so than now. Now you've got little pictures,
you know, like they call it windows, you know, you just point. That's
for dummies. Windows is for dummies. That's
the reason it was created. Because everybody's a bunch of
dummies, you know, they point at a window and it does it for
you. When you first, when computers first came out, you had to learn
the language, didn't you, John? John over here works for them,
DOS. Right? If you didn't, John, if you didn't
know what the cursor and the sub-director and the directory
and the, if you didn't know what the, man, you press the first
button and you're gone. Aren't you? You press the first
button and you, ah, what did I do? You're lost from there
on out. If we, you see what I'm trying
to say? If we don't understand that this book is all about And
in everything God Almighty does in this universe, from time beginning
to time end, has some reference or something to do with His Son,
we don't have the foggiest notion what's going on or what this
is saying and what it may as well do. All right, now back to the book
of Hebrews, or turn to the book of Hebrews now. And this is what the writer of
the book of Hebrews starts out by saying. This is exactly what
he starts out saying, all right, that God speaks in the language
of his Son. All right, let's look at it,
okay? Hebrews chapter 1. God. He begins with God, as he
should. Because everything begins with
God. All things begin with God. Creation
began with God. Salvation began with God. Everything
began in the mind and purpose of God. Alright, read on. God
who at sundry, that word is at other times, past time, and in
different or diverse manners. God who in past times and in
different manners spake in time past. unto the fathers by the
prophets." In modern language, he says God used to speak to
men through other men who were called prophets. Okay? God in the beginning spoke to
Adam and Eve out loud, didn't He? But when they fell, when
they sinned, Noah. Then he began to speak
through a mediator. Or that is, through someone he
chose to speak for him. And these were the prophets.
And you have all these prophets in the Old Testament. Noah. Abraham
was a prophet. Moses, Joshua, Daniel, Ezekiel,
and so on. Isaiah. Alright? You with me? Still with me? God
used to speak, it says, through these men. And God, in different
ways, spoke in time past through different speakers, spoke in
time past unto the fathers by the prophets, all right? What
did He say to them? What was God saying? Well, He
said many things, but principally, it was the same message. God
said the same thing to people in the Old Testament as He said
to people in the New. Same thing, same message, same
message. Now, the message was not this.
Listen carefully now and see if this doesn't ring a bell. The message was not to the prophets,
go out and tell everybody God loves you. And has a wonderful plan for
your life. And if everybody would please accept him. That was not the message of the
prophets. You won't find the prophets anywhere
going out and telling people that God loved them. You won't find any of the prophets
going out and soft-soaping the people. telling them what they
wanted to hear. You won't find any of the prophets
telling people, God loves you and He needs you bad, you're
a wonderful person. You won't find them telling that.
As a matter of fact, it was just the opposite. Every one of them
went out preaching, whoa, whoa, whoa, God is in the head and
angry with the wicked every day, and we're all gone astray, and
we're all none good, no, not one. He bowed down and asked
for mercy and so forth. None of the prophets ever went
out saying that, nor did the apostles. And that's why, you
know, every one of the prophets were killed. The world took them
and killed them. Why? They didn't like what they
were saying about God and about themselves. And then the apostles
came along, all right, in these last days, spoken through apostles. The apostles came along, and
you won't find them saying that either to the people. Look over,
well, I lied to you, didn't I? I said I wasn't going to have
you turn. Look at Acts chapter 2 with me. Acts chapter 2. You won't find the apostles going
out preaching in public, telling everybody what these preachers
are telling people today. You won't find anywhere them
going out preaching, telling people how much God loves them
and that Jesus died for them. You won't find that. As a matter
of fact, now this may shock someone, but in the book of Acts, Now
the book of Acts is recorded all the public preaching
of the apostles, right? The book of Acts is recorded
all the public preaching of the apostles and others. There was
Stephen that preached and Philip. Not one time will you find the
word love mentioned in the whole book of Acts. Not one time. Because that's not what they
said. That's not what they went out preaching. And I'm going
to tell you why here in a minute, and I'm going to buy it from
God's Word. All right, look at Acts chapter
2. Now, the whole world is familiar with this message here, this
preaching. This is Peter at Pentecost. This
is the Apostle Peter preaching at Pentecost, which whole denominations
have taken this very scene and just run wild with it, literally. Literally gone crazy with it. The people, they're not preaching what Peter
preached that day. Now, let's look and see what
it was, what happened here at Pentecost, what was said there
at Pentecost, alright? Acts chapter 2, look at verse
22. You men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of God among you, a man, he says. Yes, he was a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God
did by him in the midst of you. Every one of you see, you know,
yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God." In other words, God Almighty
determined for Jesus Christ to be put in your hands according
to a purpose of God. All right, verse 23, he says,
"...you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain,"
keep reading, "...whom God hath raised up." He says, God hath raised him
from the dead, and he goes on to tell these people where he
put him. Not in their hands. Not standing
over to the side, wanting, hoping people will let him have his
way. Down to verse 32. He said many
things, but for the sake of time, I'm going down here. Verse 32. This Jesus, this one you know
as a man. This Jesus, hath God raised up,
whereof we are all witnesses, therefore being by the right
hand of God exalted," he's at the right hand of God, exalted,
and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,
he hath shed forth there. What you're seeing and hearing
right now is what God has done because of him. Read on now.
Read on. Don't stop. David is not ascended into the
heavens, but he said, he said, David said, the Lord said unto
my Lord, sit thou on my right hand. Now he's quoting from the
Psalms that David is writing of someone whom God said, sit
on my right hand, verse 35, until I make thy foes your enemies,
your footstool. In other words, Peter is saying,
God, this Jesus, whom you think is a man, he is more than that. God hath raised him up, put him
on his very right hand, right beside God Almighty, whom God
hath raised up, and he said, sit here until I make all your
enemies, put them under your feet, your footstool. Read on. Therefore, let all the
house of Israel know assuredly, let everybody know that God hath
made that same Jesus, that man whom you crucified, a man that
you laid hold on, a man, flesh and blood man, that you grabbed
a hold of, spit in his face, beat him in the face, pulled
out his beard, nailed his hands through a cross, Stuck him up
on the cross, he said, God did that, or you couldn't have done
it. God did it. And the one whom you put his
body in a grave and put a stone over the door and thought, we're
through with him now, God raised him. And he is right now, Peter
said, right now sitting on a throne. And you are in his hands. Not vice versa. It's not what
are you going to do with Jesus, like these fools say. God hath made this same Jesus,
look at it, verse 36, whom you crucified, Lord and Christ. You don't make him Lord. Have
you heard preachers say that? Make Jesus Lord? This says, God made him, Lord,
whether men make him that or not. He's sitting on a throne. All right, what did this message
do to the people? Now, God the Holy Spirit took this fisherman's preaching. Peter just is a fisherman, a
nobody, a nothing. But he took what he said about
his son, what Peter was saying about God's Son. God the Holy
Spirit took that and drove it home to the hearts of these people,
pierced their minds, their thick heads. And you know what they concluded?
Look at verse 37. When they heard this, they were
pricked in their hearts, or that is, convicted in their heart,
and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren,
what shall we do? What are we going to do? We're
in a mess. Peter didn't go down front and
tell the people, now come on down if you'll accept Jesus,
come on down, shake my hand, join the church, be baptized,
come on down now, dedicate, consecrate. Peter didn't offer anybody, Peter
didn't give an invitation. Did he? Peter didn't give an
altar call. Peter didn't say, won't you,
won't you, won't you, anything. Peter said, that's who Christ
is, and that's where He is right now, and He stood back. And the people said, oh no. What are we going to do? Right?
Look at what Peter said. Verse 38. Peter said unto them,
repent. Man, oh man, I don't know when the last time
I heard that word. I can't crawl. It's out of vogue, isn't it? Out of fashion, isn't it? Ain't nobody going to be saved
unless it happens. Repent and be baptized, every
one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin.
And on down, look down at verse... And what happened? They did.
These people did. By God's grace, by God's Spirit,
they did. They confessed what they were
and who Christ was. And verse 43 says, "...and fear
came upon them." Fear. And Paul later on is writing,
and he said, there's no fear of God before people's eyes. Romans 3. God said there's no fear of God
before they're out. That's the reason people act
like they do. No fear of God. No fear of God. Why should they? Preachers are telling them God
loves them. Why should anybody fear God?
God loves them. No, he doesn't. All right, now back to the book
of Hebrews. Back to the book of Hebrews. Now, he says here, all right,
stay with me. He says here, this is what God
began saying by the prophets. I know you're saying that God
We read it in Psalm 2, didn't we? I've declared the decree,
this is my Son, I've set Him on the throne. He's not this
Jesus that men say He is. That one we read about in Psalm
2, He's a whole lot different than the one they're talking
about today, isn't it? Who's walking the floor over
you. And wringing His hands. And just
so upset because so and so won't let them in His heart. That ain't the Jesus of Scripture.
We're going to see what He's doing. He ain't walking at all.
That's right. Read on. Alright, God, in verse
2, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath
appointed heir of all things. Christ said in John 17, Christ
said, Thou hast given me power over all flesh, authority over
all flesh. That's what Christ said. Thou
hast given me authority over all flesh. Listen to this. This
is John 17, 2. That I should give eternal life, that I should say that I should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given me. He didn't say, as many as will
let me do it. Uh-uh. He said, you have given me authority
over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as you gave me. All power is given unto me, he
said. Alright? Read on. Hebrews 1,
verse 2. By whom also he made the world. He made the world. Do you know
that most people really, most people don't believe that Jesus
Christ is God. They don't, people. They just
don't. Ask them. Point blank. There's big, huge
denominations. There's one who call themselves
Jehovah's Witnesses. There's another one who call
themselves the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
Mormon. They flat deny. They flat tell
you Jesus Christ is not God. Well, this right here says He
is. God's Word says He is, by whom He made the worlds. Listen,
let me quote to you from Colossians 1. All things were created by
Him and for Him. He is before all things, and
by Him all things consist. Listen to John 1. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. And all things were made by Him.
Without Him was not anything made which was made. The Word was with God and the
Word was God. And He created all things. And
Christ is that Word. All right? Why is it important
that we believe Jesus Christ is God? Because this is salvation. That's what He said. In that
same John 17, he said, This is eternal life, that they might
know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He sent,
who He is and why He was sent and where He is now. This is
life. This is eternal. This is salvation
for a human being to come to know God, the real God and the real Christ and the real
gospel. as opposed to all this fakery
that's going on today, all right? All right, let's keep reading
here in Hebrews 1. Hebrews 1, look at verse 3. God,
who spoke in times past, hath in these last days spoken unto
us by His Son, the appointed heir of all things, by whom He
made the world, verse 3, who is being the brightness of His
glory and the express image of His person. See that right there? It says that he is God. He is
God. God created man in his own image,
didn't he? Isn't that what it says? In his
own image? That he is in the likeness of God. Something like
God. Here it says Christ is the express image. It came from God. He is God. That's what it says.
Read on. The express image of His person,
the brightness of His glory. And you know, I see people, I
see these pictures of Jesus everywhere. You've seen them too, haven't
you? And that just astounds me. Because there's no description
of Christ anywhere in the Bible. Except Revelation 1. Revelation 1. They paint these
pictures. It's supposed to be Jesus, you
know. He's long-haired, Caucasian fellow with blue eyes. He's so
handsome. Isn't he? He looks so handsome.
On these Sunday school boards, you know, he's standing there
with all the little lambs and children all around him. He's
so good-looking. That's not what Scripture says
about him. It says there's no beauty about him. That would
be... He was dark-skinned, dark eyes. The average so-called white person
wouldn't have anything to do with it. That's true. That's so. Well, but they paint
these pictures of him. There's only one description
of Christ in all the scriptures, and it's Revelation 1. And it's altogether different
than this picture we see on the wall. The one that John described
there, he says, his face shone as the sun in all its strength.
He couldn't even look on him. He says his feet were like brass
that burned in a furnace. He says his eyes were like a
flame of fire. That's what Christ looks like
now. Well, he says he's the brightness of
his glory, the expressed image of his person. Upholding, look
at this, verse 3, upholding all things by the word of His power. Jesus Christ upholds all things
by the word of His power. He controls all things. He directs
all things. He does all things. And none, the Scriptures say,
can stay His hand or say unto Him, what doest thou? He does
what he will, with whom he will, why he will, when he will, how
he will. He's Lord. That's what makes
him Lord. That's who he is. I don't see why people have any
business, have any need for religion at all today. when they've got a God like they've
got. I don't see how people get any
comfort at all in this God who didn't have anything to do with
what's going on. Preachers telling people, you
know, when something bad happens in their lives, that God didn't
want that to happen. Telling people that God loves
you so much and doesn't want you to be sick, and then they
get sick? Why do they have any need for a God like that? If
God loves me so much and doesn't want anything bad to happen to
me, why doesn't He stop it? Huh? Preachers say, no, God doesn't
want that to happen. The devil did that. then the
devil is more powerful than God, isn't he? Think I'll start worshiping
the devil. Why would anybody have religion
like that? It's Jesus Christ that came down here and did everything
He could do, and He tried His best, and it really doesn't count
for nothing unless you live right and people realize, I can't do
what is required of me. I can't do it. What do you mean? Why would I go? I wouldn't go
sit and listen to that stuff. Huh? What comfort is there in that?
What wisdom is there in that? What kind of God is that? Why
would anybody worship a God like that who is just standing back
idly while bad things are happening? The God of the Bible. Well, don't take my word for
it, all right? Let's look at Deuteronomy 32 very quickly. Deuteronomy 32. Turn over there. This is the God of the Bible,
not the old Bible, the whole Bible. Look at Deuteronomy 32. This is Moses' song of God. Got it? Deuteronomy 32. Verse
39. Got it? Deuteronomy 32, 39. He says, See now that I, even
I, am He. There is no God with me. I kill. Anybody dies, no matter
how they died, God did it. Can you believe that? How could there be any reason
for anything if it were not so? I have experienced and I have
known numerous people to lose loved ones. The Bible is full
of incidents in which, let me give you one, Eli, the priest,
was sitting in the temple and they came running to him and
said, both your sons have been killed, dead, both of them. What
did Eli say? Oh, how could this happen? No,
he didn't say that. He said, it's the Lord. Let him
do what seems good. How are you going to cope if
you don't believe that? That God did it and he knows
what he's doing. Like Abraham said, shall not
the judge of the earth do right? Yeah, he does. Job was sitting
in his house. He lost every one of his sons
and daughters. They came running. All your whole
family was killed and you've lost everything. What did Job
say? The Lord gave them to me and he took them away. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. I can give you modern examples. young preacher, had one child,
a daughter. She died. Brother Scott said later on in
life, he said, if you knew what God knew, he said, if you knew what God
knew, if you could see what God sees, if you knew what God knew,
he said, you'd order your life. You'd order your own life just
exactly. Like God did it. Now people, he grieved. Do you reckon he grieved over
that child? I know numerous people, numerous people. My parents themselves
have lost two children. It's the Lord. That's the God
of the Bible. He said, look at that, verse
39, I kill, I make alive, I wound, anybody gets sick. Why do they
get sick? The devil did it. No, he didn't. No, he didn't. God said that. There's no God with me. There's
nobody, nobody in control but me and my son. He says, I wound. If you've come
down with cancer, what are you going to do? Some preacher's been telling
you all this time. He said, you don't have enough faith. If you
have enough faith, you won't get sick, and then you'd get
cancer. And I've known many believers to do so, and wither away to
nothing, and die an undignified, horrible death. Who did it? God did it. He said, I don't
believe that preacher. That's the God of the Bible. And that's Jesus Christ. This
is, he said, upholds all things by the word of his power. This
is Jesus Christ. Says God has given all things
into his hand and he's the one. He's the one. All right, read
on. In Hebrews chapter one, Hebrews one. Back there now. I'm going
to close with this verse, all right? Hebrews one. He upholds all things by the
word of His power. Now, let me say one more thing
along those lines. And over in Isaiah 45, verse
7, you'll read that for yourself sometime. Just jot that down.
Isaiah 45, 7. Scripture says, I create peace
and I make evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
That's what it said. Isaiah 45, 7. People don't believe that because
they can't figure it out. They can't understand why God
would do such a thing. They can't understand why God
would allow this, or God would do this, or however you want
to put it. They can't understand. They can't
figure it out. They can't logically explain it. They can't reason
it out, so therefore they don't believe it. They think God is
like me. He does things like I do. When
God said, My ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your
thoughts. He said in Psalm 50, you thought I was just like you,
but he said, I'm not. God's ways are mysterious. And
here's what one wise preacher once said. He said, if I had
a God I could figure out, I wouldn't believe him. I'd make him like
me, wouldn't I? He'd be no more powerful than
me. And people, that's the God and that's the Jesus that fell
as a preacher today. But, folks, for your comfort, God and Christ are pacified today. And they're seated on a throne,
and He's absolutely reigning and ruling and doing what He
will, why He will. And, folks, it's the only way
to do it. It's the only way to do it, or
He's done it differently. and concerning his people. This is
why it's necessary you know and believe this God, because all
things, Romans 8, 28 says concerning his people, we know all things
work together for good to them that love this God, that know
this God, that bow to this God, that worship this God, for good,
not bad, good. It's going to turn out absolutely
for their best, and they're going to be in eternity in the end,
praising Him for eternity because He did it just like He did it.
And thanking Him that He didn't do it any other way. Do you believe
that? Job right now standing up there
doing it. He lost all his family there. Job standing there now,
thank you, thank you, thank you. I was just ignorant. I didn't
know. I was blind. I didn't understand. David, who
lost his son, he loved. David said, I was ignorant. I was a fool. Now I know, he
said, that you do things according to your all-wise purpose that
I don't understand, but I don't have to understand it. I just
need to know for my comfort that you know what you're doing. And everything you do concerning
me is right, or it wouldn't have happened. Can you believe that,
Joe Park? When you laid in that hospital
bed for how many weeks and months? I don't know. When the surgeon's
knife clipped, they think, and put you in a bad way, you didn't
think you were going to recover from it. Who did that? If you
thought it was physicians, you'd never go to another doctor.
And you probably attempted not to, right? Well, who did it now
for your comfort? How could you have any other
comfort, Roberta? You can't. What's the preacher going to
stand up and tell you? What am I going to tell you? God's on the throne. And he doesn't answer all our
questions. He doesn't have to, because He's God. Bow to Him. Christ is God. And I should have
gotten to this. I'll get to it. He says, He upholds
all things by the word of His power. When He had by Himself
purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high. Jesus Christ is right now sitting
down. Sitting down. Like I said, he's
not walking the floor. He's not walking, leaning over
the banister of heaven. Oh, so-and-so, please, try it. Sit down. He's not wringing his hands.
His hands are folded. He's not hoping and wishing and
wanting. He's expecting. And then what
Psalm 2 says, he's expecting everything.