Gospel of John, chapter one. Scriptures record in Acts, chapter
seventeen. About a people named. Athenians
from Athens. And it said about those people
that they spent their time. And nothing else than the telling. To either tail or to hear some
new. Thing. That these people delighted
and. Took pleasure in and did nothing
more than sit around or meet together to either tail or hear
something new. And our generation is no different,
we're no different. The most common form of greeting
when you see somebody is, what's new? Right? Hello, how you doing
Joe, what's new? Right, we all do that, what's
new? News tabloids are the most popular publications in existence. But it's especially true in religion
today that the newer something is, the more fantastical something
is, the more different and unusual something is, the better. And
people go after it and flock after it like flies. Modern preaching
is full of new visions. Every preacher on television,
on radio, has a new vision, doesn't it? New revelations, new miracles,
new age. There's a new age movement going
on right now, a new order and a new and improved gospel. Did you know there's a new and
improved gospel? It's a four square gospel. You
see, people for the last 1900 years have had a A triangular
one, I guess, three point. We've got the four square now.
They've been missing it. Yet in spite of all of that,
in spite of all this nonsense, all this talk about new things,
there are still some true preachers of the gospel today who insist
that old is better. As a matter of fact, they insist
that the message that be preached today better be as old as God
himself. It better have started first
with God, the message he preached in the garden to the first man
and woman. It better be as old and it better be the same content
as the message God first started preaching. The old, old story,
the song says. Tell me the old, old story. I don't want to hear anything
new. And these true preachers denounce all new visions and
revelations. There are no more new, there
are no more new visions and revelations to be had. There's no new word
to be had. God has spoken once, yea, twice,
and man perceiveth it not. He's not going to speak again.
God's only spoken one way, and that's through his word, through
his Son. And this is all that's going
to be said is what's written in this book right here. And
true preachers denounce as heresy and as being the doctrine of
devils all of these new visions and revelations that's going
on today. And they stubbornly and dogmatically, that is these
true preachers, are stubborn and dogmatic and insistent that
their message is the one and only message, just like Paul.
They say the same thing with Paul, that if any man preach
any other gospel than what I'm preaching right now, let him
go to hell. He's a false preacher. Now, wait
a minute, that's talking about a brother, and Christ says, Judge
righteous judgment. There is some judgment to be
had. And the true preacher of the gospel says, There's only
one Lord, and he is Lord. There's only one hope of your
calling, and that's through the Holy Spirit. There's only one
faith. Only one faith, and not many
ways, not many different beliefs and so forth. These denominations
are foolishness. There's only one denomination.
One common denominator, the Lord Jesus Christ. One faith, one
baptism. Is that what it says? There's
not another. There's not a second baptism. There's one. As many as have
received the Lord Jesus Christ, have put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
have been baptized in the Christ. There, the true gospel preacher's
record is a broken one. They've got a broken record.
They're saying the same things over and over again. Understand? They play the same song over
and over again. It's stuck on middle C. That record is stuck on middle
C. The true gospel preacher, Christ,
not abortion, that's A. Christ, not politics, that's
P. Christ, C. Stuck on middle C. It's like one lady said about
one gospel, true gospel preacher. She said, all you preachers,
Christ, Christ, Christ. One lady said this to Scott Richardson
in a derogatory fashion. She said, she went up to him,
railing on him, said, I just, I'm going someplace else. She
said, all you preach, I got it written right down here, is gospel,
gospel, gospel. Gospel, gospel, gospel, got it
written down. One lady, Henry, one lady said
this about my pastor. She said, she left and all, went
off somewhere else, and she said, he's made an idol out of Jesus
Christ. Man, I hope somebody says that
about me, don't you? Those people down there, all
they preach is Christ, Christ, Christ. Don't they know there's
nothing else? That's right, there's nothing
else. There's no one else. And such was the case of the
greatest man who ever lived, John the Baptist. That's what
Christ said about this man. He says he's the greatest preacher,
greatest man who ever lived. John the Baptist, verse 19. Look
at it with me. And this is the record of John. Now, John was a preacher. I know
preachers are the off-sky on the earth today,
and most of them rightfully so. But John was a preacher, and
I read a quote by one man that said, you know, God Almighty
had one son. You know what he was? A preacher. That lends dignity to this office,
doesn't it? But he was just a man. He was
a preacher. He was uneducated. He had no
real credentials to recognize himself with or to
advertise himself. But this, verse 6, it was a man
sent from God. His name was John. Boy, those
are good enough credentials for me, aren't they? He was uneducated. He had no real credentials, but
this, God sent him. Whoa. I want to listen to that man,
don't you? Though he was not worldly wise, though he was not
worldly mighty, though he was not in the worldly sense a noble
man, yet God called this man and sent him. And I want you
to notice this about John. You know, John never said God
sent him. He never said God sent him. We're
going to see that in a minute. People keep asking, who are you?
I'm nobody. I'm a nothing. He could have
said, God sent me. Do you know the Son of God said
I was the greatest man ever walked on the face of the earth? He
could have said that. That's what Christ said about it, but
he didn't. And any man who readily says,
God sent me, don't listen to him. John didn't. Christ even said, he that is
of God speaketh God's word. Christ was even careful to talk
about a man doesn't sanction himself, God sanctions him. The message is what proves a
man sent from God. He doesn't prove himself. Right? That man doesn't talk about himself. John didn't. Christ even said this. Christ
said, the words that I speak, they're not about the Father.
This is what proves who a man comes from, right? A man puts
his name all over something. Watch out. Right? Watch out. The church that puts anything
over top of their building, but something praiseworthy to God.
Watch out. Don't go in that building. Free
will. Oh, man, they're exalting and
and worshiping man, aren't they there? Anybody's got free will
on top of their building. That's man worship there, isn't
it? I'm not going in there. But when I see a sign that says
Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, I'm going to go in there. Chances are, they're worshiping
a sovereign God there. Might not be, but I'd go in there
a lot faster than I would at Upland. But John the Baptist
never said anything about himself. He never said that he was sent
from God. God said he was, and his message proved it. He was
just a plain, ordinary man. Let's go over with me to Matthew
11. Just a plain, ordinary, even a crude man by civilized standards. He wore a camel hair coat and
ate locusts and wild honey and lived out in the desert. God
doesn't tell his preachers they have to do that, but I'm thankful. But this first one did, this
harbinger, this one who prepared the way did, and Christ said
here in Matthew 11, Verse 7, as they departed, Christ began
to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What did you go out to
see? Y'all went to church this morning, I hear. What did you
go see? What did you go out to see? A reed
shaking with a wind? A little effeminate, silly, smiling,
syrupy, smiling, bless you, brother, water sprinkling A reed shaking with a little,
silly, womanly fellow? What did you go out to see? A
man clothed in soft raiment, with robes and crosses and fish
hats to impress you, he said? What did you go out to see? Verse
nine, a prophet? What did I say unto you? More
than a prophet. But this is he of whom it is
written, Behold, I send my messenger," God's messenger. He ain't no
weakling. He ain't no effeminate fellow.
Verse 14, he says, If you'll receive it, this is Elijah who
was to come. Who'd you go out to see, a rogue,
soft-spoken, silly, smiling, weakling? No, he's a man, just
a man, but he's a man. He's a man, he's hard working,
he's down to earth, he's plain and simple, straightforward,
plain speaking, a man with a purpose, with an ambition, with a goal,
with one aim, one message. Now look at it back at the text.
And this is his one aim and one message. Not to make a name for
himself, that's for sure. Look at it. Now this is the record.
This is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites
from Jerusalem out to ask him. Now, these fellows didn't go
out to hear his message. This is so typical, so typical, like
folks who go to hear who go here preaching that are more interested
in the man than the message and more interested in what's going
on down there than how many you know you got and all that then
the message is so typical and these Pharisees sent these priests
to John the Baptist not to hear him preach but to ask him about
himself and they said who art thou And John readily, immediately
confessed, he boldly, clearly stated, so that there would be
no doubt about it, verse twenty. He confessed, he denied not,
but he confessed, he said, I'm not to Christ. I'm not to Christ. Perhaps someone had been impressed
with his preaching, as everybody is about somebody. I don't care
how bad the fellow How bad his preaching is, somebody somewhere
will be impressed with him. I have to admit, I wonder sometimes,
not only about myself, but when I hear some of these fellows
preaching, I wonder, how in the world did they get anybody to
sit and listen to them? You ever wonder that? How in
the world can anybody in his right mind sit and listen to
that fellow more than five minutes? Well, at any rate, Some people
were probably impressed with John's preaching and with his
preaching, and they may have said this to him. He may have
overheard them comment to somebody else, Boy, he's a great preacher.
Yeah, he's a great preacher. He sure is. Like a woman said
to John Bunyan after he stepped down out of the pool pit one
day. A woman came up to him and said, Brother Bunyan, you've
never been better. He said, I know it, dear madam.
The devil just told me that. But John said, he may have heard
somebody bragging on him and his preaching, and he said, I'm
nobody. Now wait a minute now. I'm nobody.
I'm not the Christ. This is not my word. It's not
my message. It ain't my preaching I want
you to be impressed with, John said. I'm not the Christ. I'm not the one you're to bow
down to. Even that angel in heaven who John fell before, that angelic
being, he was glorious and bright. He was a beautiful creature far
above John. But when John fell down at his
feet, he said, since you do that not, man, I'm not the Christ. There he is. You better get to
him and worship him just as fast as you can. Get up off of him. If that pope was any kind of
man at all, oh, I'd like to go kiss his toe.
I'd like to cut it off. Wouldn't you? I'd like to bow
down and mock you a million, but it's tough. Excuse me. I can't help myself. Wouldn't
you? Yeah, you would. But it's tough. Well, they said they kept you
home, but who are you then? They asked me, verse 21, are
you Elijah? Now listen, Barbara, you and
I were talking about this one day. They said, are you Elijah? We just read over there in Matthew
11 where Christ said, if you'll receive it, this is Elijah. Are
you Elijah, they said, a prophet? And even though Christ said he
was. And listen, preachers today are
no less than the prophets of yesterday. Henry Mahan is Moses. Yeah, he is, and if you despise
him, you're doing the same thing the Israelites did to Moses,
bragging on the dead and killing the living. Maurice Montgomery
is, if you'll receive it, he's Samuel. We'd better listen to
him. Donnie Bell, if you'll receive
it, is Elijah. Yeah, he is. Todd Nybert, a young
man. Yeah, he's young, younger than
most. This is Jeremiah, young Jeremiah, preaching to our generation.
Right? If you'll receive it, that's
who that is. Peter, James, and John, they're some men like sons
of thunder now today. Ambassadors for Christ, Paul
said. But if you ask those fellows,
if you ask Maurice, who are you? What would he say? I ain't nothing. I ain't nobody. Well, you're an ambassador for
Christ. Yeah, you are. No, no, not me, not me. Now,
Donny Bale, he is, but I'm not me. Right? And this is what they said to
John. Well, who are you? Are you a
prophet? No. Yeah, he was. He was the
last prophet, but he wouldn't admit it. That's the reason God exalted
this man like he did. He abased himself. Verse twenty-two,
who are you then? They weren't interested in his
message. Who are you? Tell us about yourself, that
we can give an answer to them that send us. What do you say
about yourself? Where did you go to school? Well,
let's see, I went to Hager Grade School, elementary school. What? No, but beyond that, well, I
did graduate from high school, Paul G. Blaser. What do you think
about that? Who's ever heard of that place?
That's not what we want. What are your credentials? Have
you got a master's? Well, no, I know a master. I've
got one master. I'm a slave. I know a master. Well, perhaps you're a doctor.
He said, No, I ain't no good practical nurse, even. No doctor. There's one great
physician. The audacity of a man to put
that behind his name. Christ said it to the Pharisees.
They loved his titles. Love them. Well, what then? They just kept pressing the matter.
What then? What sayest thou of thyself?"
He said, verse 23, I'm just a voice. I'm just a common, everyday,
ordinary preacher. And I got the same message that
Isaiah had. Look at this, I'm a voice of
one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the
Lord, as saith the prophet Isaiah. I'm crying in the wilderness
trying to get somebody in this dark land to hear this message.
Proclaiming as boldly and as plainly and as loudly as I can
what Isaiah said in chapter 40, Behold your God, if somebody
will just listen to me. Behold your God reigns and rules
among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. And not until then, not until
after I've said those things, will I tell you, now behold the
Savior, in chapter 42. Behold God's servant. This, Terry,
is how true preachers and prophets approach men. They don't come
talking of the love of God and Christ dying for all men. No.
No. In Isaiah 40, he said, you comfort
my people. But he said, you cry in the wilderness,
behold your God. And I tell you what, that's what
comforts God's people, is that we behold our God. And we know
we're grass. And then we behold the Savior.
Not until you know who God is and what you are will you want
to behold the Savior. Right? And John said, I'm just
like Isaiah, saying the same thing. Well, they which were sent, verse
24, were of the Pharisees. This would be like a pulpit committee.
from the local Southern Baptist Church, coming down to hear this
fellow. Brother Byrd told me that some
did that not too long ago. A pulpit committee from a local
Southern Baptist Church. Well, this is what this was.
A pulpit committee come down to hear old John's preaching
and all, and they're asking his credentials. Verse 25. And they asked him, said, Why
baptizest thou thee? Or they could have said, Well,
how many? Couldn't they? They could have easily said,
They probably did. How many did you baptize last
month? Well, they don't ask me that. None. What? Billy Bob down there is baptized
28. None? Well, what about last year? Let's see. Oh, so many, you can't
count them. No, I'm trying to remember if
I baptized any. Yeah, I think one. Like Paul said, I just don't
remember. I'm not keeping track, you know.
I think I baptized. You don't remember? How do you
know if you're doing any good? How many times do they ask you
that? They've asked me that. You don't know how many? How
do you know if you're doing any good? I ain't doing any good. It's mine to do if good. No,
not one. And even though we've got all these names on our roll
and so forth, we don't keep a roll here. There'd be a whole lot
more names on it than there are here this morning. It's always
the case. Who's on the roll? Who's sitting
right here right now? They're eating the roll. They're
eating the roll right now. It's those who've got to have
the roll every dinner time. Well, they asked John, they said,
how many—they may have asked him this—how many of you are
running in Sunday school? How many of you running down
there? John might have said this, we ain't running no cattle ranch
here. Ain't interested in the body count. We're interested
in the souls and the hearts of men and women. Ain't counting
heads, we're counting blessings down here. How many of you running? This ain't no cattle ranch, this
is the souls of people who go out to meet God. If there's just
one there, I'm going to run into Christ is what I'm going to do. Well, they might ask him, what's
your stand on the law? John would have said, guilty. Well, what about prophecy? Are
you a pre-, post-, or omnilentist? Two ladies came in here last
week and asked that to me. First thing they asked out the
door, are you a pre-, post-, or omnilentist? John might have
said, yes. Barnard said, I've been all three
of them at one time or another, I've been right somewhere. Barnard
used to say, I'm a pan-melanomist. It's all going to pan out from
one way or another. Well, what about baptism? This is what they
were asking here, verse twenty-one. What about baptism? What are
you baptizing in? Why are you baptized? Are you
just baptizing in this name or that name? John said, no, you
listen to me, verse twenty-six. John answered him and said, it's
just water. Listen to me, you, uh, what's
their names? Uh, Campbellites. They call themselves
the Church of Christ. Listen to me, you Campbellites.
It's just water. It will not remit your sins.
The only thing that will is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Right? It's just water. This is the
reason we don't count how many we've been baptized, because
half of them are gone. But those who've been baptized
into Christ are here. That's just water, just the answer
of a good conscience toward God. And God said, here's the question,
boys, verse 26, there's standing somebody among you, you don't
know. Here's the issue, not the water,
not my credentials, what think ye of Christ? Not if you've got curtains on
your window. Not how many you're running. My soul, what think
ye of Christ, the one whom God will judge the universe by? That
standard of righteousness. Do you stack up to his righteousness? Do you know him? Do you know
anything about him? What about this gospel? Oh yeah, we preach
that at times. Oh, that's the issue. Do you
know the Lord Jesus Christ in saving faith? This is the issue. This is the question of all questions.
And that was the message of John the Baptist, is the message of
John the Baptist. Jesus Christ and him crucified. Not himself, not baptism. Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Look at it with me. In verse 27, John says, It don't matter who I is, he it is who cometh after me is
preferred before me. He it is, he is what? The only
way to God. No man comes to God but by him,
by his righteousness, by his shed blood, by his intercession,
by his mediatory work. He it is, he is the way. Not
your works, not your righteousness. He is the way, the only righteousness
God will accept. He it is that is the truth. Everybody
else that's preaching anybody or anything else, plus or minus
Christ, is lying to you. He is the truth. The whole truth
and nothing but the truth. So help me, this is what God
is saying. He is the truth. All other Gospels are perversions. any other Jesus, but the Lord
Jesus is another Jesus. He it is that is the life, and
he that hath this Son hath the life. He that hath not the Son
hath not life. He it is, because he lived, we
live. Because he died, we are justified. Because he now lives before God,
we can come into God's presence. He it is, Here it is that is
the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the Author and
the Finisher of all. Here it is that is the Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Here it is—not me, not anybody else—here it is that is all and
in all. That's the question. That's the
issue. Here it is. What is? All and
in all. That's John's preaching in three
words. He it is, not who are you. Who is he? Now, these things
were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan when John was baptized.
And verse 29, the next day, the next day, John seeth Jesus coming
unto him. The next day, John was preaching
again. And he might have said to the
folks, turn with me to John, chapter 1, verse 27. I'm going
to preach to you. Here it is. Wait a minute. He just preached from that yesterday.
Yeah, and we'll preach it again tonight. Tonight, he preached
the same thing over again. Because there's one message.
one Lord, one faith. And everybody that came to hear
John, they heard the same thing. Oh, he preached Henry's story
with Christ, Christ, Christ, didn't he? Huh? He hid his, and
look at it, when he saw Christ coming, he said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. Behold the Lamb of God." Oh,
my! Oh, my! Lord, give us liberty
here. Just like Sarah said about Abraham, it could have been said
about John, he's a bloody man. His religion was a bloody religion,
right? His was a bloody religion. John
spoke often of the blood. of the blood. Why? He knew God
ordained it. He knew God required it. He knew,
John, that God started it, and that God requires it. He knew
that it was God who first preached the gospel, and how he did it
was by not saying a word, but by slaying. God required blood. He believed
God when God said it's the blood that makes atonement for the
soul. He knew that. He believed it. He believes God. John did. He knew and he believed
that when God said without the shedding of blood there is no
remission of sin, he knew that. He believed it. So he preached
it. He believed when God said, when
I see the blood, not your works, not your faith, not your baptism. When God said
in Exodus 12, I see the blood, I'll pass over you. John believed
him. So he preached the blood. He knew that like God established
in the beginning, the Passover, that everyone had to have a lamb.
Everybody, in order to be passed over by God's wrath, had to have
the blood on their doorpost and linen, representing the heart
and the head and the mind. The blood must atone or cover
the naked, the sinful soul. John knew that, and he preached
it. He knew we had to have a sacrifice to get before this holy God,
just like the priest and the wilderness. He knew that. But
he knew it was not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats
should take away sin. He knew it was not possible that
mere lambs' blood could atone for the sins of a man. He knew
that all those lambs and bullets and goats and turtle doves that
were slain, those rivers of blood down through the eons of time
that was shed, were only typical. types, pictures, prophecies of
one who should come and make one sacrifice for sin forever. God's lamb. He knew, he heard
where Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for
the sacrifice. He knew that animals couldn't
clear him of his blood. God had to come down. God, his
Savior, had to save him. And upon seeing Christ walk one
day, John, he said, There he is! the lamb we've been waiting
on. Put down all the rest of these
lambs and turtle doves and boogie works and that's it. Behold! Oh my, I wish we could behold
the Lamb of God. Set your eyes, your heart, your
affection, all your praise, adoration, worship. God sent His Son, the
Lamb, your only hope, your only help, your only sacrifice, your
only way to God. The blood, you don't have to
shed any more blood. Not your blood doesn't have to
be shed even. There He is. You know, Henry John lost church
members? Yeah, he did. Later on, there
were two of them. Two of them had joined up his church. What
would this committee have said about this? How many members
you got? Well, we had two, but we lost
them. Isn't that great? What do you mean? Yeah, they quit following me
and started following Christ. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, I wish we could behold the
Lamb, and not men, and methods, and ceremonies, and churches,
and curtains, and drapery, all this stuff. Oh, behold the Lamb of God, God's
Lamb. We need to behold the Lamb of
God like the children of Israel did back in that wilderness. Now, folks, if we'd have been
there, you've got to picture this. Those children of Israel,
you know how wicked they were, how rebellious they were to God.
God had miraculously delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians
through the spread, the sea, the Red Sea, and rained down
bread and meat and just keep naming it, water out of a rock,
and brought pestilence and famine upon them because of their rebellion.
And every time, God had mercy on them, every time. But these
people, surely now, Henry, surely some of them, when they traveled
through the wilderness and all these things were happening to
them, and they pitched their tent somewhere for about two
months, and they started erecting that tabernacle over there for
the sacrifice, surely some of them in that period of time began
to sit down and reflect upon what God had been doing for them. Surely somebody in that million-some-odd
bunch sat down and began to ponder their own sin and corruption.
Oh, I've been so rebellious. Look how good God's been to us.
And we've been so rebellious, so sinful. Surely somebody in
that bunch got a sight of their own sinfulness. And listen, now
listen. And when Aaron And this man was
sitting there beholding, thinking about his sin and beginning to
loathe himself and to feel horrible and wanting so much for God's
forgiveness, to forgive him. He began to cry out, Lord, God,
forgive me. Please don't destroy me like
you did the sons of Korah down there. I'm no different than
they were. I just didn't speak out like they did. Lord, please.
You're liable to give me what I deserve. I don't need that."
And when Aaron came into the camp one day, and Aaron said, I'm looking for
a lamb to sacrifice for the atonement. God's going to forgive our sins.
God's going to forgive our sins. Did you hear that? Did you hear
what Jesus said to me? God's going to forgive our sins.
Aaron came into the camp and said, I need a lamb. Surely somebody
said, here, I got one. I got one, take mine. I need
my sins forgiven. Isn't there somebody with a heart
like that? Here, my Lord, take me. Huh? And, buddy, when Aaron said,
All right, grab that lamb, and he started taking off with it,
that's always the hold in that lamb, you see? Oh, boy! God's doing a tongue for my sins,
my house, my children. And he said to Aaron, Take good
care of that lamb. And when he walked into that Eastern Gate and slew that animal's
blood. Yes, that blood! That's what
I mean. And poured it in. And then he
went into that Holy of Holies with that. And the smoke went
up. God had accepted it. That man
went, Whoa! God has accepted the sacrifice. Have you beheld the Lord Jesus
Christ like that? Huh? On the cross? Behold! The only way you're going
to get to God. I want to behold him like that,
don't you? When Aaron, when God, when Moses told Aaron, tell the
people, lay your hands on the head of the sacrifice. Oh, God
tells me the same thing. Lay your hands on the sacrifice.
Lay hold on Christ. Sherry, I want you and I to be
down on the front row. It's to confess my sins. Yeah, I've sinned, not we. I've sinned. Take my sins out
in the wilderness and do away with them. You see? And John, oh, I'd like to have
heard him preach this. Behold, the Lamb of God is only
going to be one, too. John didn't say, y'all come back
tomorrow and we'll pick up work. No, now, today's the day of salvation. There he goes walking by. Behold
him. Reach out and touch the Lord,
the song says, as he passes by. Blind Barnabas did it, didn't
he? He's a blind man. All he wanted was to see. That
was his life's desire. And when he heard, Jesus is passing. Who? Jesus of Nazareth. Some
call him the son of David. He's healed other blood. Jesus!
He wasn't going to wait until tomorrow. He may not be here tomorrow.
Here we go again. I preach as one
who may never preach again, as a dying man to a dying man. Behold the name of God. John didn't ask them if they'd
like to receive him as their personal Savior. John didn't
say, no, if you'll let him, he'll save you. He didn't say, accept
him. Oh, he said, behold him. Bow down and worship him. Behold,
like Pilate said, the man. Old Peter said it from Pentecost,
didn't he? Greatest words ever been heard. You men of Israel,
y'all better listen up. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God. A man approved of God? Yeah,
a man approved of God. Like David said in Psalm 24,
Open those gates. Open those gates. I know they've
been barred to men from the very beginning. God cut off the presence,
His presence for man. Nobody's allowed in to sin for.
I know they're rusted on their hinges, but David said, open
them up. Somebody's coming in. Well, who
is it? He looks like a man. He looks
like any other man. Made like unto the Son of Man.
But on a closer observance, examination, as he walks in, we say, this
ain't no ordinary man. This is the King of Glory. Open
these gates and let him in. Well, look behind him, would
you? And here we are. Hanging on to that coattail. You mean we get to come in? Yeah.
Everybody that's with him gets to come in. Open those gates
up, a man's coming in, and a lot of other men and women with him. A man. Well, I've quit. Verse 32, verse 31, John said,
well, you know, verse 30, he says it again, he said, this
is he. John opened his Bible up and said, I've got another
text for you, a new one. What is it? This is he. It sounds
just like the other one. Yeah, it all talks about Him.
This is He. John said in verse 31, you know,
I didn't know Him either before. I didn't know Him. I was just
like you are, no different, no better than anybody else. But
the Spirit, the Holy Sovereign Spirit came to me. And it anointed
my understanding, my heart, and my eyes to see who this was.
I've been blind just like everybody else. I'm no different, no better
than him. The Spirit, it's a revelation, you see. I didn't figure this
thing out on my own. No, it's a revelation. The Spirit
said to me, upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining
on him, the same as he was baptized with the Holy Ghost. And John,
verse 32, said, I bear record. I saw him. And I saw, verse thirty-four,
and bear record that this is none other than the Son of God,
God's Lamb, the Son of God. That was John's message, and
that's the message of every true preacher of the gospel, or rather,
who is the message. And look at this, verse thirty-five.
Again, the next day, they had a four-day meeting there, he
said. John preached a four-day meeting. He took the same text
every day. Again, the next day, after John
stood and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he
walked, he said, In case you didn't hear me the
first time, in case there's somebody here who wasn't here last night,
Behold, the Lamb of God!" And He went back through those
sacrifices. He got that blood. He got that blood. And that's
when those two old boys said, Hey, we're leaving this place.
Where are you going? I'm going to Him. I'm going to
follow Christ. Where do you dwell? We're going
to go where He is. Wherever He's preached, that's
where we'll stay. The Lamb of God. Have you seen
Him?