Let's open the scriptures to
the Gospel of John, chapter 2. The Gospel of John, chapter 2. We've said several times that
John has set out in this book that the Spirit of God led him
to write. He has set out to assure us that
Jesus of Natareth is indeed God's own Son. He's God manifest in the flesh. My subject this evening is Undeniably
Divine. That's the title of the message.
Undeniably Divine. I'm talking about the Savior,
of course. He is the Divine One. Now, I'll start off this way
by asking question that you know the answer to, and really I just
answered it. Is Jesus of Nazareth God? Is He God Almighty? Well, listen to some things said
about Him in the Holy Scripture. First of all, creation is ascribed
to Him. Actually, go back in chapter
1 here of John, look at verse 3. Where we read John 1, 3, all
things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that
was made. John 1, 3, everything was made
by Him. We know the only one who can
make things out of nothing, create things out of nothing is God. Well, therefore, Jesus of Nazareth,
who is God's own son, who is the eternal word, he must be
God because he's the creator. We read in Hebrews chapter one
that God made all things by his son. So creation is ascribed
to him. Secondly, divine providence is
ascribed to him. In John chapter 17 the second
verse, "...as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that
he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him."
He's got power over all flesh. In other words, it doesn't matter
who you're talking about, it doesn't matter what age you're
referring to, what period of time through history you're referring
to, whoever has lived back then, whoever's living now, whoever
will live in the future, they're all under the dominion of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Only God can have providential
control over everybody. And He not only has providential
control over everybody, He has providential control over everything
that exists. We read in the book of Colossians
chapter 1, by Him all things consist. That is, He made all
things and now He keeps everything together. Things are not unraveling. The sun is not going to burn
out. The earth is not going to fall
out of its rotation. You don't have to worry about
these things. Why not? Because the Lord of glory, our
Savior, He keeps these things in existence to fulfill His eternal
purpose. What is His eternal purpose?
The glory of His name and the salvation of His people. That's His purpose. Got dominion
over everything to fulfill that which He has already determined. And then His miracles. The miracles
are ascribed to Him. Go over to John chapter 5. Let
me read you one verse over here. John chapter 5 and verse 36.
These are the things that are said about Jesus of Nazareth. Creation is ascribed to Him,
divine providence is ascribed to Him, and these miracles are
ascribed to Him. John chapter 5 and verse 36.
The Savior said, but I have a greater witness than that of John. For
the works which the Father hath given me to finish, those same
works that I do, they bear witness of me. They are undeniable evidences. They give undeniable testimony
that the Father has sent me into the world. He is God's own Son. He said God is His Father, thereby
making Himself equal with God. And if God is His Father, and
He is, then He is equal with the Father. There is the everlasting
Father and the everlasting Son of God. His works, His miracles,
they attest to who He is. In Matthew chapter 11, you remember
when John the Baptist, he sent a couple of his disciples to
the Lord Jesus, With this inquiry, he said, you go ask Jesus of
Nazareth, art thou he that should come or do we look for another? And the Savior said to those
disciples of John, you go tell John the blind receive their
sight, the lame walk, the lepers they are cleansed. The dead,
they hear. The dead are raised up. You go
tell John those things. In other words, these are undeniable
evidences of His deity. He is undeniably divine, Jesus
of Nazareth is. All of His works, they testify
this. This man is God in the flesh. He is the one who calmed the
raging The raging billows of the sea. He's the one that told
the wind to be still. He's the one that took some loaves,
five little loaves and two fishes and fed thousands of people.
Two little sardines. Five little cakes of bread. And
he just multiplied. He just kept giving it out. Who
can do that but God? He is undeniably divine. And then redemption. Not only
does creation and providence and the miracles, not only these
things ascribe to Him, but redemption is ascribed to Him. And the only
one who can redeem us, you know he's got to be God Himself. Because
a brother can't redeem a brother, a man can't redeem a man, only
God can redeem men. Only God can pay our sin debt.
Only God can settle the issue that He has with us, the issue
that we broke His law, and the law demands the penalty for sin
be carried out. Well, God redeemed us. We are
redeemed by the blood of God the Son. The Apostle Paul said
to those Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20 that God purchased
His church with His own blood. That's God's blood. That's innocent
blood. That's pure blood. It's the blood
of the Son of God. Only God can redeem. Only God
can save. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. And the Lord Jesus said, I've
come to seek and to what? To save. than that are lost. Well, nobody can save but God.
Well then, if nobody can save but God, and Jesus came into
the world to save sinners, then we must therefore draw this conclusion,
Jesus of Nazareth is undeniably divine. He's God in the flesh. And He redeemed us. Galatians
chapter 3, He redeemed us from the curse of the law. How did
He do that? Being made Himself a curse for
us. If He wasn't the mighty God,
He could never have been able to have wrought out and obtained
the redemption and the salvation of His people. In Isaiah 63 verse
5, Christ said, And I looked, there was none to help, and I
wondered that there was none to uphold. Therefore mine own
arm brought salvation unto me, and my fury it upheld me. My own arm brought salvation.
Well, nobody can save but God. And He says, My own arm brought
salvation. Then His arm must be the arm
of God Himself. Then forgiveness is ascribed
to him. In Mark the second chapter, four
friends brought another friend to the Savior. Our Savior, he
was in this house preaching and they just had so many people
packed in there they couldn't get anybody else in there. And
here are these four men and they brought their dear friend who
was a paralyzed man. He couldn't walk. They got him
on a stretcher. They tried every which way to get in to see Jesus
of Nazareth, the Great Physician. They couldn't get in. And they
are like the Marines. They improvise and adapt and
overcome. And they went around, went up
on top of the house and tore the thatch out and lowered Him
right down, lowered their friend right down in front of Jesus
of Nazareth. And the Scripture says, when
the Savior saw their faith, The very first thing He said to that
man was this, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Now the man is
still on a stretcher. But our Lord, He took care of
the greater problem first. The greater problem is a sin
problem. The man could live the rest of
his life still being all paralyzed. He doesn't have to walk, but
he needs a Savior. He needs forgiveness. He needs
righteousness. He needs the Lord. He needs a
mediator. So our Lord dealt with the most
severe issue first. Thy sins be forgiven thee. And then some of the scribes
in the group who witnessed what had happened, they reasoned this
in their heart. Why does this man speak blasphemies? Why, who can forgive sin but
God alone? And you know what? They were
right. They were right. Who can forgive sin but God alone? And our Lord Jesus forgave this
man. Listen, the only one who can
forgive sin is the one who's been sinned against. It's like
David said in Psalm 51, Against thee, thee only have I sinned
and done this evil in thy sight. David didn't say I sinned against
Bathsheba. He didn't say, I sinned against
Uriah, her husband. He didn't say, I sinned against
all the congregation of Israel. He said, against God and God
only have I sinned and done this evil in God's sight. All sins
against God, therefore only God can forgive it. And our Lord Jesus said, your
sins are forgiven. What does that mean? That means
Jesus of Nazareth is God. That's what that means. It means
He is undeniably divine. Have you heard that this Pope,
Pope Francis, he said this is going to be what he calls a holy
year of mercy. It starts December the 8th of
this year and it goes to November the 20th or something like that
of next year. That's a holy year of mercy.
And every priest is instructed that they can grant absolution
to any woman who's had an abortion if she repents. He's given them
instruction. You forgive them. That's a holy year of mercy. You can forgive them. You can
forgive them during that year. But he doesn't have the authority
to grant forgiveness. And he certainly doesn't have
the authority to grant the power to forgive to the priesthood. The only one who can forgive
sins, he is a priest, but he is the great high priest. the
Lord of Glory, Christ Jesus the Savior. You've heard this story,
I'm sure, but it bears telling again. A woman who lay dying,
a dear believer who lay dying in a Catholic hospital. And one
of those priests came by making his rounds, and it's obvious
she was in bad shape, and he came to her and he said, Dear
sister, I've come to absolve you of your sins. And she said, well, show me your
hands. And the priest said, beg your
pardon? She said, show me your hands. Well, he thought he would
indulge the dying woman, so he held out his hands. And she looked
at his hands. She said, you're an imposter.
Because the only one who can forgive my sins has got scars
in his hands. That's the Lord of Glory, Christ
the Lord. He's got to be God. He must be
God. He is undeniably divine because
He forgives sin. He forgives us of all of our
transgressions on the basis of justice satisfied in His own
death on the cross. And then justification is ascribed
to Him. Well, only God can justify the
ungodly. And our Lord, according to Isaiah
chapter 53 and verse 11, He justified His own people. By His knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many. That's what Jehovah said.
He justifies by His imputed righteousness. And resurrection, resurrection
is ascribed to Him. He arose by His own power. He said, I lay down my life that
I might take it again. He raised Himself up from the
dead. Nobody else can raise themselves up from the dead. Nobody else
can raise anybody else from the dead either. Did He die? He really died. He was really
buried and He really arose again because of our justification.
And judgment is ascribed to Him. The Father has committed all
judgment unto the Son. So all of these things, they
are undeniable evidences of the divinity of our Lord Jesus. And in John chapter 2, And I
want to just go over John chapter 2 in its entirety in the next
few moments. Let me just give you an outline.
of John chapter 2, and I want to show you that Jesus of Nazareth
was and is and always shall be undeniably divine. And in this
chapter, here are four primary evidences of his deity, and I'll
give them to you quickly. Number one, here is his power
to change water to wine, verses 1 through 11. We've already covered
this, but I'll just make a couple more comments on it. This, of
course, is at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. The wine had
run out. And this was the occasion when
our Lord, He had already determined this is where He would perform
His very first miracle. And He gave instructions that
six water pots be filled with water. And when they were full
to the brim, The servants who drew the water, they were then
instructed to take out some of the water and give it to the
governor for a taste test. So they drew it out and he tasted
it. He said, this is the best wine
I've ever tasted. Oh, this is absolutely delicious.
He said, I want to see the bridegroom. So they brought the bridegroom.
He said, most men, they got the best wine first and then when
men are well drunk and they're happy and they're joyful and
all of that sort of thing, then they bring out the cheap stuff.
But he said, you've saved the best for last. Our Lord Jesus merely by the
power of His own will. He didn't even touch the water.
He didn't have to touch the water. He only had to will it. He only
had to will it. And He transformed that which
was ordinary water and He made it into the best wine that ever
had ever been. He's the master creator. The
governor said, you've saved the best to last. Here's a beautiful
picture. In the Old Testament, the Old
Testament saints, they had the wine of the gospel. Abel, and
Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and David, and just
go right down the line. They had the wine of the gospel.
But they had it in symbols. They had it in pictures. They
didn't have it as clearly as we have it today. But boy, they
had the gospel though, didn't they? They had the gospel, the
seed of the woman is coming. God Himself preached that message. The seed of the woman is coming.
He's the Passover Lamb. All the way through the Old Testament,
they drank the wine of the Gospel. But in our day, we drink an even
better wine because Christ has already come and fulfilled every
type and symbol and shattering picture that there is. He saved
the best wine to last. And we drink the best wine, the
good wine of the Gospel. And in that day yet out in the
future at the marriage supper of the Lamb, we shall sit down
and drink the wine of the gospel then, and our souls will be filled
with joy and delight in our Lord Jesus Christ who will drink it
with us. That's what he said. I'm not
going to drink this wine until I drink it with you in my Father's
kingdom. That's what he said. And we're
all going to rejoice in the Gospel. The Lord will rejoice and all
of us who are saved by His free grace will rejoice in that day
too. And it will be joy unspeakable
and full of glory. The Gospel of Christ Jesus who's
already come into this world and accomplished redemption,
that's the best one. The best one. And then secondly,
here's the second undeniable evidence of his deity. The second thing is power to
cleanse the temple. That's verses 13 through 17.
You think about this now. Thousands upon thousands of people
in the temple area. After all, this is Passover time.
Some writers say there's maybe two and a half million people
flooded into Jerusalem for Passover. Well, all the males had to be
there. That's one of three feasts every year that they had to attend.
People come from everywhere. Here are these thousands and
thousands of people there in all the temple proper. And it's a crazy place. People
are selling stuff, exchanging currency, foreign currency had
to be exchanged because Every male had to pay a half a shekel
for the temple tax. And they'd come in, they'd come
from foreign countries, and they got to exchange money. And of
course, the crooks, the religious crooks, they were the ones exchanging
the money, making money on the side, and then selling the sacrifices,
selling the animals. and rejecting the other animals
that the people had brought so that they'd be forced to buy
an animal ultimately from the high priest who oversaw all of
it. It's just a big business making
scheme here. All the vendors were making their
monies off the people. And here was a temple made for
worship. And it's now a den of thieves.
All it is is a place of business. Anything and everything was going
on at the temple except worship. Boy, that's like religion today.
Anything and everything goes on at most so-called churches
except worship. Most so-called churches have
become entertainment centers. I look in the newspaper. I bought
you a little newspaper. I subscribe to it. It's not too big, but it's got
some local news in it. And just about every day, what
churches are doing? Well, they're having rummage
sales. They're selling this. They said, bring your junk to
the church so the church can sell it. And they're going to
build something with it. Let me tell you something. I'll
buy it from the band or from various organizations. I'm not
going to buy anything from any church if I can help it. I'm
not going to contribute to their building program or anything
like that. I'm just not going to do it.
You say, well, I'd really like that bacon dish that I got there.
Well, throw it in the trash can, is what I'd say, because what
do you throw your money down the drain for? Give it to these
people that are anti-gospel, anti-God, anti-Christ. They're
doing everything under the sun. They're entertainment centers,
they're bowling alleys, they're gymnasiums, they're swimming
pools, they're doing pizza parties and drama and singing. They're doing everything except
Worshiping God. Everything except worshiping
God. That's the way it was in the temple. And here comes our Lord. One
man. He starts picking up those cords
that they tied the animals with. And he's braiding him a little
whip. A scourge. Now think about it. Thousands of people. And I'll
tell you this, they had 300 temple policemen. 300 temple policemen at least.
That's the minimum that they had. So they had 300 policemen. Next door they got the Roman
army. They were always set on ready
in case there was some kind of skirmish. They'd rise to the
occasion, so there's the Roman army next door. At least 300
temple policemen. You got all the Pharisees and
the Sadducees and the scribes and they're all upset. You got
all these vendors and one man drives them all out. What power
is this? Oh, that's his power to cleanse
the temple. He said, this is my father's
house. This is my father's house. As
he drove them all out, he said, this is my father's house. Take them hence. Get your stuff
out of here. Get your junk out of here. He
even drove the animals out. Read in another passage, they
had doves in cages. He let them take the doves in
cages. They did that. He said, get it all out of here.
Get this stuff out. Boy, if you went into these churches
today, unless the Lord protected you, and you go into these churches
today and say, get this junk out of here. Get all these idols
out of here, all these crosses out of here, all these pictures
of Wild Bill Hickok out of here, that's what I call it. Get all this stained glass, all
these relics, get it all out of here! Get that junk out of
here! Look what you've done to God's
house. Why, people would have been in uproar, wouldn't they? That's the way these folks were.
But they couldn't lay a finger on Him. They couldn't lay a finger
on Him. He had power to cleanse the temple.
Then thirdly, He had power to conquer death. Verses 18 through
22, He had the power to conquer death. After what had just happened,
The Jews were, of course, angry beyond description. The Jews. Look at verse 18. Then answered
the Jews. Right after he did this. Then answered the Jews. And whenever
you see the Jews, we're talking about the religious leaders,
not talking about every Jew. He is talking about the religious
leaders throughout the book of John. When he talks about the
Jews, these are the enemies of our Lord Jesus. He had just deprived
them of their income. In essence, He just took money
out of their pockets. He just upset their great annual
sales event. This is the biggest sales event
of the year right here. And He shut her down. And they're
upset. This was their biggest money-making
project at Passover time. Why everything built up to this
once a year. They had committees and subcommittees
and all these people appointed. This is a big time for us. We're going to raise lots of
money. We're going to fill our pockets. And now he's shut it
all down. They are upset. And they said to him in verse
18, what sign showest thou unto us, sin thou doest these things? In other words, by what authority
do you do this? Who said you could do this? Who
said you could come into our temple and shut us down like
this? What's the sign that you have
this kind of authority? Keep this in mind. Jesus of Nazareth
was not of the Levitical order. He wasn't a priest. He had no
rights inside the temple. Only the priest could go in there.
Of course, we know he's the great high priest. We know that. But
those Jews didn't know that. To these Jewish leaders, they
knew he was of the kingly tribe. They knew he was of the tribe
of Judah. They said, we know your father
and we know your mother. Meaning, they knew Joseph and
they knew Mary. Of course, we know Joseph wasn't
his father, but they assumed that he was. and he had no legal
rights inside the temple. That privilege belonged to the
priesthood. That belonged to the Sanhedrin. That belonged to those who were
of the Levitical order, who were in the priestly line. Jesus of
Nazareth, as far as they were concerned, had no role in religion. He's not an official anything
to them. because he didn't go to their
schools, he wasn't educated by their rabbis, and they did not
authorize him to preach or teach. He's nobody to them. They never granted him any rights,
so they're outraged, they're upset, they're mad, they're angry. As far as they are concerned,
He has desecrated the temple. And as far as He was concerned,
they desecrated the temple. So they demand, by what authority
do you do these things? What sign, what miracle, what
indication can you give us that will be clear-cut evidence that
you have the authority to shut this whole shindig down? By the way, did you notice something?
There's no repentance on the part of these people. There's
no remorse. There's no contrition for making
his father's house a house of merchandise. Well, here's what he says to
them in verse 19. Jesus answered and said unto
them, destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it up.
Destroy this temple. I'll raise it up in three days.
Here's his absolute power over death. He conquered death. He said, I'm going to conquer
death. Notice this. He says in verse 19, read it
carefully, Jesus answered and said unto them, destroy this
temple. In other words, here's what he
said, you will destroy this temple. You will destroy them. And they
would. Correct? They would. They would
destroy this temple. Now of course they think he is
talking about this big magnificent edifice that was by the way still
being reconstructed. It had been destroyed back in
586 B.C. And then about 86 years before
this, 500 years went by, King Herod, he decided he'd looked
at that pile of rubble long enough, and he's going to reconstruct
it. Well, it took him 10 years to rebuild the main part of the
temple, and the historians say they used 18,000 workers to do
it. They worked 10 years, and the
reconstruction of all the temple is still going on. In fact, 43
years after this, in 70 A.D., when the Roman Emperor Titus
came through and destroyed Jerusalem and he didn't leave one stone
standing on another stone of the temple, the temple wasn't
even completely finished then. So it's in reconstruction. This
isn't Solomon's temple. Solomon's temple was destroyed
back in 586 B.C. It's this newly reconstructed
temple. And when the Lord said, destroy
this temple, I'll raise it up again in three days, look at
verse 20. Then the Jews said, well, this
has been 46 years in building. This temple's been in reconstruction
for 46 years, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? They want to know, where's the
sign? Here's your sign. Here's your sign. You'll destroy
this temple. I'll raise it up again in three
days. Now, our Lord shows that He knows what's going to happen.
He knows the future. See, false gods. Go back. Maybe
we've got time to look at this. Go back to Isaiah chapter 45. See, our Lord issued this challenge
to the false gods. If you're really a god, you tell
us what's going to happen in the future. False gods can't
do that. Look at Isaiah 45 verses 20 and
21. Assemble yourselves, Isaiah 45,
20. Assemble yourselves and come.
Draw near together ye that are escaped of the nations, that
have no knowledge, that set up the wood of their graven image.
They pray unto a God that cannot say. Tell ye, and bring them
near. Yea, let them take counsel together.
Who hath declared this from ancient times? Who hath told it from
that time? Can they tell ahead of time what's
going to happen? No. But our Lord over here in
John chapter 2, He's telling ahead of time what's going to
happen. Nobody can do that but God. Look
back in Isaiah 41. Isaiah chapter 41 verse 22. Isaiah 41, 22. Let them bring
their gods forth. Let them appear before me and
show us what's going to happen. These gods that the Jews had
fashioned according to their vain imaginations, they fashioned
them according to the ideas of the heathen countries that surrounded
them. He says, bring them forth and
let them tell us what's going to happen. Let them show the
former things, what they shall be, and that we may consider
them, and know the latter end of them, or declaring to us things
for to come. Things that haven't happened
yet. You go ahead and declare things for to come. Show the
things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you're
gods. If you're really gods, go ahead and tell us what's going
to happen. Well, they couldn't do that because they were dead,
but over here in John chapter 2, our Lord Jesus, He tells exactly
what's going to happen. How can He do that? He's God,
that's why. He's God. And everything that
would happen, He ordained it to happen anyhow. He said, how
does he know everything that's going to happen? Well, he knows
it because he purposed it all. He's ordained it all. After all,
it says in Ephesians 1.11, in whom we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel, after the intent of his own will. Our Lord knows the future because
he ordained the future. and his death and their killing
him, these things would happen as appointed from old eternity. Of course, they didn't understand
that he was talking about his body when he talked about the
temple. They were only thinking about
that edifice that he had just driven the people out of. But
His resurrection, His resurrection from the dead, that would be
the ultimate sign that validated, that validated His claim to be
the Son of God. He was raised again because of
our justification. Oh, the importance of the resurrection.
And you read through the book of Acts. Brother Bill read for
us back in the office Acts chapter 17. Several times in that chapter
they talked about the resurrection. You see, our Lord Jesus, He died. Yes, He died for our sins according
to the Scripture, but He was raised again because of our justification. He's raised again. He's been
exalted over all. And you read through the book
of Acts, every preacher, every evangelist, every apostle, they
continually spoke about the resurrected, exalted Christ. You killed Him,
but God raised Him from the dead. Our Lord said, you want a sign?
Here's your sign. you will destroy this temple."
And at that time, they didn't have any idea that they were
going to destroy his temple. This was three years before his
death. But he already knew their thoughts and intents that they
would have on down in the future, on down the line. He said, I'll
raise it up. He said, I got the power over
in John chapter 10. He said, I got the power to lay
it down. I got the power to take it again. My life, I got the
power to lay down my life. I got the power to take it again.
Who can do that? Only God. Only God. He's undeniably divine. And you read in verse 21, but
He spake of the temple of His body. That's what He's talking
about. He's talking about the temple of His body. Now, when
therefore He was risen from the dead, verse 22, His disciples
remembered that He had said this unto them, and they believed
the Scripture. and the word which Jesus had
spoken. And then here's the fourth thing.
He has the power to comprehend the hearts of men. Verses 23
through 25. Now when He was in Jerusalem
in the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in His name
when they saw the miracles which He did. So now we know this.
While He was there those seven days of the Passover, He performed
many miracles. See, up to this time, He just
performed one miracle, right? Just one miracle. That's the
marriage of Cain of Galilee. But while He's in Jerusalem,
He starts busy performing miracles, which are all attested to His
deity. And many believed in His name.
Oh, this is a time for celebration then. Many people are believing
Him. Many people are trusting Him.
Many people are making a profession of faith. Oh, let's give thanks
for all this crowd of people who's believing Him. Not so fast. Not so fast. Don't get too excited. Because verse 24 says, but Jesus
didn't commit Himself to them. You know why not? Here's why
not. Because he knew all. You say a word in men is italicized? Well, he doesn't. He knows everything
about people. But here's the idea. He knew
all that was in their hearts. He reads the hearts of men. So
he didn't commit himself. I'll tell you a real interesting
word study. In verse number 23, that word
believed is identical in the original to the word commit in
verse 24. They're identical. So you could
even read it this way. Many believed in His name, verse
24, but He didn't believe in them. Many committed to Him, but He
didn't commit Himself to them. Many said they rested in Him,
but He didn't rest on them. Many said they had faith, but
He didn't have faith in them. Many said they had confidence
in Him, but He didn't have any confidence in them. Why not?
Because He saw the heart. He saw theirs wasn't true faith,
it's false faith. It's a phony faith. It's a hypocritical
faith. See, he knows all things. He
knows you and he knows me. He doesn't. Look at verse 25. He needed not that any should
testify of man. He doesn't need anybody to tell
Him what's in man, for He knew what was in man. He's known all
along what's in man. He knows what's in you. He knows
what's in me. We don't have to tell Him how
we feel. He knows how we feel. We don't have to tell Him, well,
Lord, I have faith. If you've got faith, you've got
it because He gave it to you. He knows. Oh, here's His power to comprehend
the hearts of men. He comprehends your heart. He
understands you for who you are. He sees you as you really are. Now that ought to send a shockwave
through the hypocrites. But for those who are genuine
believers, that ought to be a comfort to us. You remember our Lord
over in John chapter 21. He confronted Simon Peter, got
him off to talk to him. Peter denied him three times.
The Lord is going to ask him three times, Simon, son of Jonah,
do you love me? And here's how Peter answered,
Lord, thou knowest all things. I appeal to your knowledge. Thou
knowest all things. You know that I love you. And
those of us here tonight, those who are watching, who are genuine
believers, God has given us faith to embrace Jesus Christ. I know
we don't believe Him like we ought to. And we don't believe Him like
we're going to. We don't love Him like we ought
to. We don't love Him like we're going to. but we can say honestly
before God, Lord, you know all things. You know I love you,
deep down here in my heart. I know I, Lord, my faith is weak. I get easily sidetracked and
I get caught up in the things of the world, but Lord, you know
deep down in my soul, I love you and I believe you. And I
tell you, that gives a child of God comfort in the fact that
He knows. He knows. He knows whether you
love Him. He knows whether you believe
Him. He knows whether you trust Him. He knows. Undeniable, undeniable
evidences of His deity. Here they are. His power to change
water to wine. His power to cleanse the temple. His power to conquer death. His
power to comprehend the hearts of men. Undeniable divinity. He's God. He's God. Well, let's sing number
228.