I suppose to take a text, we'll
look at one verse in Matthew chapter 1. This is as good as any, but we're
going to be going through the scriptures, looking at a lot
of scriptures, what's necessary. Matthew chapter 1, verse 23. And as we said about John 1.1,
if this was the only scripture in all the Bible that spoke of
the deity of Christ, it would be enough, wouldn't it? It's
about as clear as you could possibly make it if you have eyes to see.
Even a child can see this, can't they? Matthew 1. Behold, a virgin shall be with
child. This is a quote of Isaiah 7,
verse 14. A virgin shall be with child,
and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name
Emmanuel, which being interpreted, he has God with us. God. Emmanuel. God with us. God with us. Now, the scriptures
exhort us, exhort the believers, to study, to show ourselves approved,
a workman that needeth not be ashamed. But the fact is that
all of us, even me, including me, have every reason to be ashamed
of our lack of biblical knowledge and our lack of understanding,
and we find ourselves quite often embarrassed and at a loss for
words when we're confronted with people about the things that
we believe. Don't. Everybody in here will admit
to that, including this man. But the scriptures tell us to
study, to show ourselves approved, a workman that needeth not be
ashamed. Now, let me say this, from the
very start. The scriptures are not for argument's
sake. They are not to be argued or
debated, nor are they to be used merely for pretext, to look up
ammunition. to validate our position, our
beliefs. That's not what the scriptures
are written for. God's word is to be believed. To be believed. And all of God's
true children do believe it. All of it. All of it. They believe
his word. All of it. They may not understand
it, but they believe it. Every bit of it. And they certainly
don't try to explain it away or change it to make it appear
to say something that they would rather have it say. So that they
can understand it. Now, it's certain that there
are many people who are deceived into believing lies. Many people. Many people are
ignorant of the truth by reason of the devil's work, the devil's
dominion. Because that's his job, to take
the scriptures and twist it. He's the great quoter of scriptures.
He quoted scriptures to Eve. And he does the same thing now,
he takes God's word and twists it and turns it. And many people
are deceived and are ignorant of the truth by reason of the
devil's work and by reason or persuasion of his ministers.
The devil has preachers out there in the world, many of them, preachers,
ministers, call themselves angels of light, the scriptures call
them that. There are also, like I said,
there are many people that are ignorant and are deceived, and
we can have some pity on these type of people. People are just
ignorantly deceived, the followers of these leaders. But there are
many perpetrators that men and women People are going around
spreading deceitful and treacherous doctrines of devils, going about
the world, encompassing sea and land, to make proselytes to their
religion, their false doctrine. Many of them, to their blasphemous
religion, knocking on doors. And you know exactly who I'm
talking about. I speak plainly of those who call themselves
Jehovah's Witnesses. I didn't really, I've never really
done an in-depth study into this thing. And I've sort of been, I've sort
of thought that perhaps we should be as compassionate and loving
and understanding and caring or whatever. of these people,
but I'm about to come to some different conclusions based upon
God's Word. Jehovah's Witnesses. These people
have taken this title upon themselves. They are not witnesses to the
true Jehovah. The name means God our Savior,
and that's the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. But they're rather
Jehovah's blasphemers. That's what they are. I want
to get real, real plain. of Jehovah, and they're blasphemers
of the name Jehovah. They're not his witnesses. And
it's time that we arm ourselves with knowledge concerning what
we believe and put these heretics and these people in their places.
Now, it's hard for me to, like I was just saying, it's hard
for me to talk in terms of love toward these that purposely attack
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I can say with David's
holy zeal, do not I hate those that hate thee. And some of you
experience their hatred toward the gospel when you bring up
the truth to them. Now, I understand that all men by nature hate the
gospel, but as John said over in 2 John, if any man come into
your house and bring not this doctrine, the doctrine of Christ,
John got real plain and said, don't receive them into your
house and don't even bid them good day. Now, I used to try
to explain that away. But what that means is people
that go about house-to-house perpetrating this false doctrine.
That's exactly what it means. And John said, don't even bid
them good day. That is, he said, he that bids
them good day, or God's feet, is partaker in their evil deed.
In other words, you say, well, have a good day. See you later. Goodbye, which is a derivation
of the word God bless you. That's where goodbye comes from.
God bless you. Goodbye. No, God not bless you. God stop your mouth, man. You're
going about the world teaching a false doctrine that's damning
people's souls. Now, I want to show compassion. Man, it's getting
my ire up just thinking about it. I want to show compassion
but not weakness. I want to show love but not compromise. I want
to show men the truth, but I don't want to cast this great pearl
before swine to have them trotted under their wicked and sinful
feet. Now, God will just have to grant
us the wisdom to deal with each person accordingly. He'll just
have to grant us the wisdom to deal with each individual. And
I'm not going to go—this message is not—I'm not going into the
beliefs or history of this cult, and that's what it is. It's a
man-made cult, a religion, because they're not worthy of our time
and our attention. It's not worthy of it. Besides,
if we give our time to the study of the truth, error will automatically
be exposed. We don't have to study a crooked
stick to see that, well, this stick is crooked. Just lay a
straight one down the side, and you'll see very clearly it's
crooked. So they're not worth our time to go into it. There
are followers of a man named Russell, and they came up with
all sorts of blasphemous heresy, and I'm not going to talk about
them. What we're going to talk about is our sovereign Lord.
We're going to see from the scriptures that Jesus Christ is none other
than God Almighty, and that these people are blaspheming him. Now, our text plainly states for all
to see, if anybody desires to know the truth, he'll see it.
It plainly states for all to see that Jesus Christ is God
Almighty. And as we read in John 1, that
the Word was made flesh, that God was in Christ. Now, it's
not that men don't see or understand these scriptures. That's not
the problem. They've got the same, you know,
even the Jehovah Witnesses, they've taken the Bible And I'm just
using that term because everybody knows who I'm talking about.
I'll call them Russellites. But they've taken the Bible,
and some of their supposedly Hebrew and Greek scholars have
taken it and translated it in the way that they would have
it. I'll say this much about that. They were exposed not too
long ago by some real scholars. Hebrew and Greek scholars as
not having any credentials whatsoever as being a scholar. Their so-called
Hebrew and Greek scholars had no credentials whatsoever for
their translations. But anyway, they have taken the
Bible and translated it into how they would like to have it,
taking out words here and there, but not all of it. They've missed
some things. They've missed a lot of things,
because you can't turn the whole Bible around without missing
something. But, like I said, it's not that
men don't see it or understand it. It's just that they don't
believe it. They won't have that. It's like
the Jews of old. It's not that they didn't understand
what Christ was saying. It's just that they wouldn't
believe it. They knew exactly what he was saying. Now, let's
look at this word, this name, Jehovah. Jehovah. Now, you can turn over to Exodus
chapter 3. This is the first mention of the name Jehovah. Jehovah. Now, it's taken from
three Hebrew words. I'll not bother to try to pronounce
them for you. It wouldn't help you much anyway.
But the meanings from these three different words are he who is,
he who is to come, and he who was. He who was, he who is, and
he who is to come. That's what the word Jehovah,
or the name Jehovah, means. Now look at this in Exodus 3
verse 14. This is the first mention of
the name Jehovah. Moses said unto God, verse 13,
When I come unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,
The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, And they shall
say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And
God said unto Moses, Yah, that's what the Hebrew word is, I am,
that I am. And he said, Thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, Yah hath sent you, hath sent
me unto you, I am. has sent me unto you." Now, over
a couple of chapters, Exodus chapter 6, another mention of
it in verse 2. God spake unto Moses and said
unto him, I am the Lord. I need to mention it there, that
word am is in italics. And I appeared unto Abraham. unto Isaac and unto Jacob by
the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not
known to them." Now, this is the first mention. Now look all
the way over to John, the Gospel of John, chapter 8. That's the
first mention. God told Moses, you tell them,
I am. Yah has sent you, sent me unto
you. Look at John, chapter 8. John chapter 8. Many people,
many people to this day say, well Jesus Christ never said
that he was God. Don't they? You've heard that
said by some. He never said that he was God, but some people say. That's heresy. Yes he did. You can see it right here about
as plain as you could possibly see it. John chapter 8. John
chapter 8 verse 57. Now, the Jews said unto him,
these self-righteous Pharisees, said unto him, You are not yet
fifty years old. Have you seen Abraham? And Jesus
said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham
was, I am. They knew what he said,
because they took up stones. So blasphemy. We don't stone
you for a good work. For a good work we stone you
not because you're a man and you call yourself God. Surely
he was God. Right there it says he said that. Look over John chapter 18. This
is even more plain. Even more striking. John chapter
18. You remember when they were in the garden and they came to
get him. John chapter 18 verse 3. Judas received a band of men
and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, and they came
with lanterns and torches and weapons. And Jesus, therefore,
knowing all things," how does he know all things? Only God
knows all things. "'Knowing all things that should
come upon him, went forth and said unto them, Who are you looking
for?' Whom seek ye? And they answered him, Jesus
of Nazareth. And Jesus said unto them, I am." That word, he, is in italics. He didn't say that. He said,
I am, in verse 6. And as soon as he said unto them,
I am, it says, they fell backward to the ground. Never say he was God. Look over
at Revelation chapter 1. Revelation the revelation of
Jesus Christ, chapter 1. Revelation chapter 1, beginning with verse 8. This
is Christ speaking. Now, remember, the name Jehovah
means He who was, who is, and who is to come. He who was, who
is, and who is to come. Now, this is Christ speaking.
Everybody will admit to that. He says in verse 1, the revelation
of Jesus Christ. And down in verse 8, he's talking,
he's speaking here, and he says, verse 8, I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the ending, which is, which was, and which
is to come, the Almighty God. Never said he was God? Oh, yes
he did. Oh, yes he did. Look at this,
verse 12. John said, I was in the Spirit
on the Lord's day, and I heard a great voice. Verse 11, saying,
I'm Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. And verse 12, And
I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And let somebody
say this was God talking. John said, I turned to see who
was talking to me. And I being turned, I saw seven
golden sticks, candlesticks, and verse 13, in the midst of
the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man. He was doing the talking. It's quite clear if you have
eyes to see. Verse 18, he said, I am he that
liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Oh, boy. Let's look at the name
God. Now, the Jews of old, they took
seriously the commandments that said, don't take the Lord's name
in vain. And when they heard this name
Jehovah, rather than repeat the name Jehovah too many times,
they thought to repeat his name two, three times in succession
would be to use it in vain. So they spoke of him in different
names, and they called him by the name Elohim, Elohim, which
is God. Now turn over to Isaiah chapter
7. This is where this name is found. Isaiah chapter 7. Elohim is the name right here
for Immanuel. Isaiah 7 verse 14. We just quoted
that over in Matthew chapter 1. Therefore the Lord himself
shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son, and shall call his name That is, God with us,
or Elohim, God. Now over to chapter 9, verse
6. He uses that name again over
here. Chapter 9, verse 6. Under us a child is born, under
us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders. The government of what? The government
of the universe. upon his shoulders, and his name
shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Elohim." A child? A son? Who's that talking about? Jesus Christ. There's no doubt
about it, is there? No doubt about it. Now look over
at Isaiah chapter 25. Isaiah chapter 25. Isaiah chapter 25, look at verse
1. Isaiah 25, verse 1. I love this scripture. Look at
this. Oh, Lord, thou art my God. I will exalt thee. I will praise
thy name, for you've done wonderful things. Thy counsels of old are
faithfulness and true, for thou hast made of a city an heap,
of a defense city, a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city. it
shall never be built. Therefore shall the strong people
glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee. For thou hast been a strength
to the poor," verse 4, a strength to the needy in his distress,
a refuge from the storm. If you will study this sheet
I gave you later on, you will see every one of these references
You'll see them in the New Testament referring to Christ, nearly every
one of them. A refuge, a palace, a strength, a shadow from the
heat when the blast of the terrible ones is a storm against the wall.
Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers as the heat in a
dry place. Even the heat with a shadow of
a cloud, the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low. Now
look at this, verse 6. And in this mountain, where? Mount Calvary. Shall the Lord
of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, his body,
and a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the leaves, his blood,
of fat things full of marrow, wines on the leaves well refined,
pure, holy, spotless blood. And he will destroy in this mountain
the face of the covering," he'll rip that veil in two, that covering
that's cast over all the people, that middle wall of partition.
and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow
up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears
from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away
from off all the earth. For the Lord has spoken it."
And verse 9, this is, "...and it shall be said in that day,
Lo, this is our God." We waited for it. And he'll say thus, this
is the Lord we've waited for and we'll be glad and rejoice
in his salvation. And what did Simeon say in that
temple? Now I can depart, I've seen your salvation. He held
up a baby, yes, but he was holding up God. Phew, man. In the beginning, the Word was
God. You remember over in John chapter
20 when When Thomas, when the Lord appeared to Thomas and said,
Thomas, reach out. Remember Thomas said, unless
I see those, put my fingers in the nail prints in his hands
and see that scar on his side, I won't believe. Remember when
Christ came back and appeared and came directly to Thomas and
said, Thomas, reach heavily your finger and touch the scars and
thrust your hand in my side. What did Thomas say? He said,
My Lord. He said, Jehovah, my God. Fell on his face. My Lord and
my God. Did Christ correct him? Now, he'd have been guilty of
blasphemy if he hadn't. No, no, no. Thomas Ammon was
the son of God. He didn't correct him, because
Thomas spoke the truth. He spoke the truth. And this
is the foundation of our faith, and this is what I'm trying to
show. I'm not just trying to prove that the rest of life's wrong,
but I'm trying to show that this is the foundation of our faith.
This is the heart of our salvation, that Jesus Christ is God, and
only God can save. That's what he said over in Isaiah
several times. We'll turn over to Isaiah 43.
He said, men don't realize this now, and the Jews didn't realize
it then. That only God can save. And God had to come down here
Himself to save us. The Jews didn't realize it then,
and men don't realize it now. And we'll see how that this is
the heart of their erroneous doctrine. Their self-righteous
doctrine. Look at Isaiah 43, verse 3. God
says, I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. Thy Savior. Look at verse 11.
I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no Savior. Right? Boy, now wait a minute. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
which he be interpreted as Savior. How could he take that name upon
himself? God said, didn't he say right there, there's no other
Savior. I'm the only one. Didn't he? And over and over
in the scriptures, look at Isaiah chapter 45. Over and over in
the scriptures he says, I'm the Lord. There's none else. Isn't
there? Isn't he? Over and over. Look
all the way through Isaiah and you'll see that. Look at verse
21. He says it here. Look at the
middle part. There's no God else beside me. A just God and a Savior. There's none beside me. Look
unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For I
am God, there is none else." Well, I plainly remember a scripture
over in Hebrews 12 that says, Look unto Jesus. You're looking
at the same person. Looking at the same person. Men
don't realize this. Here's the problem. They don't
realize they're dead in sins, and God, who is life, must come
and give them life. That's where the whole problem
is. They're not dead in sins. They're not dead in sin. They
don't realize themselves to be totally unable to help themselves.
Therefore, they don't see the need of God coming to save them.
They just need a superman, a superstar, you know, a great man. Yes, they don't need God to come.
Just help us, show us a little bit, give us a little help and
we'll get there. You know, you take the first
step and we'll meet you in a quick way, or vice versa. They don't see the need of God
coming down and being their very righteousness. And look at it
here. But he says in verse 24 of Isaiah
45. Look at verse 23. He says, I
swore by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness
and it won't return. It's written with a pin of iron
in a rock that unto me every knee shall bow and every tongue
shall confess. Oh, wait a minute now. I plainly
remember over in Philippians chapter 2 where it says that,
at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. Now either there's a contradiction
here or it's saying the same thing. Huh? It's the same person. Well yes, and like I said, everybody
doesn't see this, but some chosen few do. And blessed are you Your
eyes, for they see. Look at verse 24. You are one
of these that shall surely say unto the Lord Jesus Christ, have
I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall
men come, and all that are incensed against him, all the so-called
Jehovah's Witnesses, and Mormon and whoever else are incensed
against this one and refuse to bow to him, shall be ashamed
in that day. In the Lord Jesus Christ shall
all the seed of Israel, the chosen people, be justified, and shall
glory in him." Well, like I said, some see by
his Spirit, and it's only by the Holy Spirit. Don't you remember
the verse of Scripture that says, No man calleth Jesus Lord, but
by the Holy Spirit? See, the Holy Spirit comes to
some people. and reveals to them who He is, O Lord God. And they're able from their heart
and from their head to see, to believe He is God. He is God. That Jesus Christ
is Lord God, Savior, God our Savior, our Righteousness. And
some people are enabled by the Holy Spirit to see that God had
to save the church with His own blood. You know what the Scripture
says in Acts chapter 20, verse 28? which he purchased with his
own blood, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to that
in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead in a body." Bible. And it is a mystery. I can't
begin to explain it. I'm not trying to explain it.
I'm just quoting Scripture. We're just going through the
Scriptures and seeing how it is sold. It is a mystery, but
it is without controversy that God was manifest in the flesh.
That's what 1 Timothy 3.16 said. Without controversy. That is,
nobody can argue the point. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. It's without controversy. And
anybody that says anything different, they're not of God. And that's
what John is saying in 1 John chapter 4. Try the spirits. Any man that says that Jesus
Christ has not come in the flesh, that is, that God Almighty has
not come in the flesh. And the same man that wrote that
wrote the Gospel of John. and wrote John, 2 John, talking
about coming and not having the doctrine of Christ, that is,
the doctrine of his deity, of his person. Well, God was manifest
in the flesh for the purpose of saving his people from their
sin. He had to. Now look at these
three scriptures. I tell you, it just gets plainer
and plainer. Do you have eyes to see? Look
at Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2. I'm not getting mad, I'm getting
excited. This is so clear. I wish these
scriptures were indelibly printed on our heads and in our hearts.
Titus chapter 2. And it's not, like I said, for
argument's sake, but for our comfort, our strength, that God
came down here. God. Not just a mere mortal man.
And the fact that God came down here means that, you know, whatever
God does is forever. He works all things under the
counsel of his own will. If he came down here to save
the people, he did it, didn't he? Yes, he did. Titus chapter 2, verse 9. Now
he says, Paul says to Titus, exhort servants to be obedient
unto their own masters and to please them well in all things,
not answering again. Not talking back. That is anybody
in authority, placed in any position, don't talk back. not purlawning,
that is, feeling, showing all good fidelity, that they may
adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. That's not all it says. For the
grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching
us to deny ungodliness and worldliness. We should live soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. the great God and our Savior. A servant and an apostle of Jesus
Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith, that is,
precious God-ordained, Holy Spirit-given belief and trust in the person
that he's about to describe here. Like precious faith with us,
through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. And my margin says just what
Titus said over there, of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Christ. One more over in Jude
chapter 1. No, it's not one more. I've got
several more. Jude chapter 1. Jude. There's only one chapter. Jude 1. Jude 1. Verse 4. Well, I have got it down to Jude
1. It's Jude 4. Jude verse 4. There's only one chapter in the
whole book. Jude 4. Now, if you'll read this
passage of Scripture, well, all right, we'll read several of
it. You'll see how this pertains to exactly what we're talking
about, these heretics. He says, "...there certain men
crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained in this condemnation,
ungodly men, that turned the grace of our God into lasciviousness,
and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus." They denied their Lord and our
Lord, Jesus Christ, the Lord. He says, I will therefore put
you in remembrance that though you once knew this, how that
the Lord, that same Lord, saved the people out of the land of
Egypt afterward, destroyed them that believed not. The same Lord
that destroyed the people for not believing Him back in the
wilderness, the children of Israel, is the same Lord that came and
went back and is going to destroy them again for not believing.
destroy other people for not believing. The angels which kept
up their first escape. And verse 8, likewise also these
filthy dreamers defile the flesh, they despise dominion, speak
evil of dignities. They're speaking evil of the
Lord Jesus Christ by dominating his character, his person, his
office, aren't they? Speaking evil of dignities, deities,
dignity. Well, remember this. You can
jot this down. This is very easy to remember.
If you ever need some scriptures to refer to, Matthew 1, John
1, Hebrews 1, Ephesians 1, 2 Peter 1, Jude 1, Revelation 1, I'm
not bothering to give you the verses, all you need to do is
skim through them when you see them. Referring to the deity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 1, John 1, Hebrews 1,
Under the sun he saith thy throne, O God, is forever. Hebrews 1,
Ephesians 1, 2 Peter 1, Jude 1, Revelation 1. Is it any coincidence
that the Lord put it in the first chapter in all these epistles
and gospels? Right up front where you can
see it very plain, where you can find it very easily too.
Just look at the first chapter of any book. Now, we can carry
this study on through into a series of messages very easily. I got
started on this, and I just thought, wow, you got yourself in on your
head. Let's take four or five messages. We're not. We're not going to
do that. But I want you to look at this piece of paper that I
gave you. I want you to look at all the
names in here and the attributes of God that are ascribed very
plainly to the Lord Jesus Christ. We looked at the name Jehovah,
and we looked at some of those scriptures up there, but he's
called the Lord of Sabbath. Do you remember when Christ said
the Son of Man is Lord over the Sabbath? Do you remember that?
He's called Lord Sabbath. in the Old Testament, isn't it?
Lord Sabaoth is his name. We've seen that song. Lord Sabaoth,
he's called Almighty. He's called Lord. Lord. Emmanuel, the Most High, Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father. And you see it all in
New Testament scriptures that pertain to these same references.
Prince of Peace, the Anointed, the Christ, Redeemer, Believer,
a Deliverer, I mean. Glory of the Lord, the Name of
the Lord, the Word of the Lord, the Arm of the Lord. Wisdom,
prophet, priest, just go on and on. And you could take each one
of those and make a message out of it. Each one of those and
make a whole sermon out of it. You know, it's futile, really.
It's futile and it's needless to try to prove to anyone that
Jesus Christ is God. It's futile, and it's really
needless. It's like trying to prove that
the sun is the source of all light and heat. Only a fool would
say, no, it comes from somewhere. Gracious sakes. Only a fool would
say, well, you've got to prove it by me that the sun is where
we get our light. Now, he's called the son of righteousness,
isn't he? that arise with healing in His
wings. But it's good for us to be able to draw proof from God's
Word for our own sake. And it's comforting and it's
profitable for us to see Him more clearly. And as Paul said,
Oh, that I might know Him, know Him a little better. And I hope
as a result of this we might know Him or see Him a little
more clearly as being who He is, my Lord and my God. My Lord and my God. Let me ask
you a couple questions. Why is it necessary for Christ
to be God? Why? We tried to answer that
a little while ago, but why must Christ be God? What does his
deity do for us? Well, and I'll try to say this,
we're dead. Only God can give life. Right? We're sinful. Only God, who is
holy, can impart this holiness. Isn't that what Christ said to
the rich young ruler who came to him? Give Mass, he said. What
do you call me good for? You know the word God comes from
the word good? And that's what Christ is saying. What do you
call me good for? There's none good but God. But you had it right. You had it right. And we're sinful,
and only God can impart me righteousness. In the Lord, surely shall one
say, in the Lord have I righteousness, or goodness, from God himself. We are men. And only God, as
we saw there in John 1, can make us sons. Only the Father can
make sons. We're lost. We're lost. Only God, who sees all and knows
all, can come find us. Only God. We are flesh. That which is flesh is flesh.
Only God, who is Spirit, can make us living spirits. Right? can breathe, and just
like he breathed into Adam, that breath of life, and he became
a living soul, he must do the same thing for us. The Lord Jesus
Christ must breathe his Spirit into us, and we become a living
soul, alive under our God. Now, there's two religions, works
and grace. Man and God, the religion of
man and the religion of God. All works religion make man equal
to God. All works religion, I don't care
what name they go under, whether it's Ressalites, Jehovah's Witnesses,
Mormons, Southern Baptists, I don't care what name they go under.
If it's a works religion, it makes man equal to God, God no
greater than man. And from the most blatantly blasphemous
forms, like who we're talking about, the Ressalites, to the
most subtle, such as the Fundamentalists. the most subtle, from the most
blatantly blasphemous forms down to the most subtle, that which
is so very close that if it were possible it would deceive the
very elect. From those to those, the issue is still this. God
alone must say, or God and man cooperate. That's the issue.
Always has been, always will be. A religion of Cain or Abel. You bring your works, or you
bring that which God provides. That's the issue. Man, they say,
man can save himself. And they make Jesus just a superman. Now, in closing, I just want
to read from Revelation 17. This is the final word. This
is it. God, after he wrote this, he
closed the book, sealed it up, that's all that's going to be
said about the man. Revelation chapter 17. Now, he's talking about, in Revelation
17 on through a couple of chapters here, he's talking about Babylon
the Great, the mother of harlots. Now, this is talking about the
false church or false religion, no doubt about it. I heard Jim
Byrd preach from Proverbs 7 on that woman that enticed a young
man to come in to her. Very clear description of the
false religion. And look at this. In light of
our study, you'll see that this is very plainly speaking of false
religion, which includes the people we've been talking about
tonight. Revelation 17, verse 1. We're
going to read a lot of Scripture here, so try to pay attention.
And there came one of the seven angels, which had seven vows,
and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither. I will show
unto thee the judgments of the great whore that sitteth upon
many waters. with whom the kings or the rulers,
the leaders of the earth, have committed fornication." They
like to sit on their podiums with them during the revival
meetings, you know. And the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk
with the wine of her fornication, her false doctrine. So, he carried
me away in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman
sitting upon—and it is mostly a woman's religion, by the way.
It's false religion. Mostly women. And a woman stood
upon a scarlet-colored beast full of the names of blasphemy."
My co-pilot, the man upstairs. The names of blasphemy, having
said seven heads and ten horns, and the woman was arrayed in
purple and scarlet color. They liked to wear robes and
so forth. And decked with gold and precious
stones and pearls. You know, Jim and Tammy wearing
the rings. And having a golden cup in her
hand, a silver chalice with a holy water. full of abominations and
filthiness of her fornication and false doctrine. And upon
her forehead was a name written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the
mother of harlots and abominations." And what is a Catholic? They
call it Mother Church, don't they? The Mother Church. The
Mother Church. And I saw the woman drunken with
the blood of the saints. Look at this. She was drunk with
the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
It's religious. false religions down through
the years that have killed the martyrs, the saints, the apostles,
all down through the years. And they'd kill us if they could.
They'd kill us. I'm drunk with the blood of the
martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered.
She looked pretty good. Said some good things. I wondered
with great admiration. You see that? Even John was taking
a... She looks pretty good. Pretty impressive. Look at this
big building. Well, God must be in there. And
the angel said unto me, verse 30, Why are you marveling? Isn't
he rebuking him there? Why did you marvel? I'll tell
you the mystery of the woman or the beast that carried her,
which is the seven heads and ten horns. He says, The beast
you saw was and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless
pit, the devil himself behind all this, and go into perdition.
And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were
not written in the book of life and the foundation of the world."
And on down here, and it says in verse 13, verse 14, these
people that are aligned with this false religion, they'll
make war with the Lamb. And the Lamb shall overcome them,
for he is Lord of lords. And T, they're making war over
what? What is the chief issue which
men will fight you today? The sovereignty of God? The sovereignty of His Christ?
Is that not the issue that they'll fight you tooth and nail? God's
election and so forth, predestination power? Yes, it is. They're making
war with the Lamb. He's Lord of lords, King of kings. And they that are with Him, are
called and chosen and faithful. Look at chapter 18, verse 1,
And so after these things I saw another angel come down from
heaven, having great power. And the earth was lightened with
his glory. And he cried mildly with a strong
voice, saying, Babylon, the great is fallen. He's talking about
the destruction of false religion. false church. His problem has
become the habitation of devils and hold of every foul spirit
in the cage of every unclean, hateful bird. And you see it
now, don't you? Isn't this a description of today's
religion? Everywhere it goes, every foul spirit in the cage
of every unclean bird is in religion today in the name of Christianity. Look at verse 3. And all nations
have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. It's
everywhere. All nations are drunk with her
wine and have committed fornication, joined up with her. And the merchants
of the earth are waxed rich through religion. Isn't that a commentary? Waxed rich through the abundance
of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from
heaven saying, Come out of her, my people. Did you listen to
that other side of that tape, Rick, on coming from him out
of the camp? That's what he thought. We must
go, therefore, unto him without the camp. We've got to come out
of present-day religion to go to Christ. Come out of the camp.
Everybody seems to be in it. And this voice said to me, Come
out of her, my people. Come ye out from amongst her,
that ye be not partakers of her sins, that ye receive not of
her plagues. For her sins have reached unto
heaven, and God hath remembered." You better believe God's aware
of what's going on, and it's a stench in His nostrils. And
He's got it all taken care of. And He'll reward her even as
she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to
her works, in a cup which she hath filled, fill her to double.
Look at verse 7, "...how much she hath glorified herself." Isn't that it? Glorified herself
and lived deliciously. God wants you to be rich. Lived
deliciously. Oh, so God's going to give her
too much torment and sorrow. For she says in her heart, I
sit a queen. Yes, God's the king, but I'm
a queen. And am no widow and shall see no sorrow. We made
a covenant with hell and death, somebody said. And her plagues
are going to come on her one day. Look down at verse 15. The
merchants of these things, of religion, which were made rich,
when she finally is destroyed, they're going to stand afar off
for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing. They lost their
prophet from their religion. Verse 20. Rejoice over her, heaven,
over her destruction. You holy apostles and prophets,
for God hath avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a
stone, like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying,
Thus with violence shall that great city of Babylon be thrown
down. And it is a great city, it swept
the world, and be found no more at all. And the voice of the
harpers and musicians and the pipers and the trumpeters shall
be heard no more, no more text of Christ, no more gospel quartets, not be heard any more, none of
that. blasphemous sound, whatever craft
he may be, whatever he sounds like, the sound of that millstone
will be heard no more at all in thee, the workings. And the
light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee, and the
voice of the bridegroom and the bride shall be heard no more
at all in thee. For thy merchants were the great
men of the earth, and thy sorceries were all the nations to see.
and in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of
all that were slain upon the earth." After these things I
heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying, Hallelujah! Praise to Yah! Praise to the
Lord in heaven saying, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and honor
and power unto the Lord our God. For true and righteous are his
judgments. For he has judged the great whore
which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and abends the
blood of his servants at her hands."