Christ. That at that time, he were without
Christ. That's a terrible state to be
in, to be without Christ. People have a great fear, some
people do, of being without money. When they get old, not having
enough of it. Something happened, that'll make them have to spend
it all. Some people have a fear of losing
their homes, losing their health. To be without
health, that'd be an awful thing to be without health, to be without
good health. When your health starts failing,
you're just consumed with that thought, my health is failing,
I'm falling apart. To be without health, that'd
be an awful thing. And to be without friends. You
know how many people there are in this world that are absolutely
alone, have nobody to call, nobody to call them? To be without friends,
to outlive everybody you know, to be without an income, to be
upon the mercy of the world. But you know, there was a fellow
that did all those things, a man named Job. He lost his health,
lost his family, lost his wealth, lost all of his friends. The one thing he had, he said,
I know that my Redeemer lives. And though he shall destroy me,
He said, I'll trust him even though he slay me. But beloved,
the most fearful thing, I think, in this world that a man can
face, and some of you here may be facing it, and that's to be
without Christ. You lose your health and be like
Job, still no Christ. You can lose your wealth and
still no Christ. You can be without friends, but
there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. But beloved, but to be without
Christ in this life is the awfulest thing I can imagine. And to be
without Christ when you face God, to be without Christ when
you face God, when you leave this world. And I'll tell you
something else. Now listen. You think when you leave here,
but you're facing God right now. God's looking at you, and He's
looking at me, and He knows us. He knows who has Christ, and
He knows who's without Christ. And if you had to face God today,
today, right now, as He looks in your heart, as He looks in
your mind, as He looks in your motives and looks in your desire,
are you with Christ or without Christ? Are you in Christ or
without Christ? God knows that. So I want to
ask some questions today and try to answer them from the Scriptures.
To be without Christ. When can it be said that a man
is without Christ? When can it be said that somebody
is without Christ? Well, I'll tell you when it can
be said, when they have no knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. When
they have no knowledge of Christ. What is your knowledge of Christ?
What do you know about Christ? What do you know about the Lord
Jesus Christ? Do you know who He is? Or is
He just this little Savior that you heard about all your life
that stands ready, willing, and able to save you if you're just
ready? That you're the one that's got the power, and He's the one
that has to stand and knock at your heart's door to be let in.
But do you know who He is? Do you know that He is the great
I Am? Do you know that he is the I
Am of salvation? That when he says that I Am,
that he's talking about the great I Am that made Moses, and said,
Moses, go down and tell Pharaoh to let my people go. He said,
well, who am I going to tell Sidney when I tell him the I
Am that I Am sent you? The preexistent, the self-existent,
the eternal, the almighty, infinite, immaculately holy and immutable
God of heaven and earth who never changes. You go down there and
tell him. And the first thing that Pharaoh
said when Moses got in front of him, he said, who is the Lord
that I should obey? So he did not have no knowledge
of Christ. Do you know who He is, that He
was God who came down to this earth? That He was God before
He ever took the womb of a virgin? That He was God when He walked
on this earth? That the only God you'll ever
see is Jesus Christ? The only God who can save a sinner
is Jesus Christ? The only God who can put away
sin is Jesus Christ? Huh? Do you know what He did? Do you know why he came into
this world? We're talking about knowing Christ.
Do you know what he did when he came into this world? Do you
know what he did? Do you know why he came into
this world? Do you know why he came through the womb of a virgin
and assumed human nature and assumed a body? Do you know why
he did that? Because there was a bunch of
sinners. There was a race of sinners that
could not and would not Stopped their sin and could not ever
obey God's law. Could not ever live a life acceptable
to God. Could not never produce a righteousness. Could not never produce obedience
to the law. Could not never satisfy God's
justice. Could not never endure the wrath
of God. Could never do it. But Christ
Jesus came into this world. And the first thing He did when
He came into this world was to fulfill the law when his mother
and father took him at 8 days old and had him circumcised according
to the law. Secondly, they took him back
at 40 days old and dedicated him to the Lord according to
the law. And when he was 12 years old, When he was standing talking
to the Pharisees, the doctors and the lawyers and the intellectuals
of his day, that was the doctors and the professors at all these
seminaries, he's 12 years old, confounded them. And his mother
and father says, where in the world have you been? They went
three days and didn't know that he wasn't with them. They went
back. And he said, wish you not that I'd be about 12 years old
when he knew he was about his father's age. Twelve years old, and he said,
don't you know I must be about my father's business? I've got
a work to do while I'm here. I've got a law to fulfill. I've
got an obedience that I must render. And Jim, do you know
why, beloved? Who he did it for? He did it, beloved. He did it
first and foremost. Now, you listen to me. Do you
know why Jesus Christ came into this world? First of all, to
obey God. You and I never have. We never
have. Never once in our life have we
obeyed God with a perfect obedience. Now, wouldn't you agree with
that? If you don't love Him with every ounce of your being, you're
automatically under the curse. If you don't love Him ever as
yourself, you're automatically under the curse. The very thought of foolishness
is sin. You ever thought a foolish thought? Well, you're under the
curse. Well, Christ our Lord came into this world to love
God with all His heart, and He did. Because He was a sinless
man. He was a perfect man. He wasn't
a son of Adam like us. He was the Son of God. And He
took the form of flesh the form of the human nature through the
womb of a virgin conceived of the Holy Ghost. And when he got
to the end of his life, Before I went to the cross, he said,
Father, I finished the work that you gave me to do. Now, after
I'm on the cross, now after I satisfy justice, now after I endure the
wrath of God, now after I bear the sins of your people, now
after I satisfy your justice, then let me enter into the glory
that I had with you before the world was. But I, Lord, came
into this world first and foremost I'm going to tell you something
you may not know. Not to save us first. First thing he had
to do, he had to satisfy God. He had to satisfy God. God demands
perfection. Christ gave him perfection. God
demands the wages of sin that it be dead. Christ died. Why? Because he had the wages of his
people's sin imputed to him and charged to his account. Christ
endured the wrath of God against who? Against those to whom his
sin was imputed and charged. And so when God was satisfied,
he sheathed up the sword, and he saw the travail of his soul,
and he was satisfied. And how do we know he was satisfied?
Because when he was put in the grave early one Sunday morning,
God said, open the prison doors and bring him forth. And our
Lord Jesus Christ came forth from the dead. Why did he come
forth from the dead? Because he entered in once into
the holy place with his own blood. And when he entered that, he
came back out with eternal redemption for us. And I tell you what else he done,
not only did he satisfy God, but when he satisfied God, he
satisfied him on the behalf of a multitude that no man could
number. He bore all their sins, past,
present, and future, in his own body on the tree. My sins, and I'm telling you,
and if you're a believer, your sins were put away 2,000 years
ago. And every sin I committed was
future when Christ died for us. And if God put my sin on Christ,
then they can't be on me. And if God was justified and
satisfied with His blessed Son, then He cannot come to me and
seek me to render justification for my own sin. Cannot charge
me twice. Bless His holy name. Now, do
you know who He is? Do you have that knowledge of
Him? Oh, let me tell you something. Where is he now? Where is he now? Oh, he's down
here waiting on you. Tears streaming down his face.
Oh, please, please, please come to me. No. He sits right now at the right
hand of God with all power and authority vested in him. The Father loves the Son and
has given all things into His hands. You keep Ephesians 2.
Look with me in Romans chapter 10. Just a moment. I want you
to see this. Oh my! Why do you priests like
this, preacher? Because I want you to know Christ. I want you to know who He is.
I want you to know why He came. I want you to know what He did.
I want you to know where He is now. And that's why I heard,
the first time I ever heard anybody say it, was Scott Richardson.
Years and years and years and years ago. I don't have any idea
how long ago it was. But he was preaching, and he
says, talking about Christ being at God's right hand, he said,
you can come to Christ without moving a muscle. Because He's not up here. He's
not in the front. You don't have to get up here
and make a show. You don't have to get up here
and pray through. You don't have to get up here and shake the
preacher's hand and say, I accept Jesus today. You get to Christ,
he sends it to Rahim, that's where he's at. And do you know where else he's
at? The word is nighly even in my mouth. What is that word?
The word of faith which we preach. If thou believest that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. Now watch what it says here now. In verse 9. That if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
What he's saying there says you're confessing that there's no other
righteousness. You're confessing that he's the
only Savior. You're confessing that he's God
manifest in the flesh. You're confessing that he's the
Son of God. You're confessing that he put away all your sins.
You're confessing that he's your substitute and that he satisfied
God and bore your wrath. That's what you're confessing.
And oh, you know this because God raised him from the dead,
for with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Now watch this,
for Scripture says, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed. Now watch it, for there is no
difference between the Jew and the Greek. The Jew trusted in
his righteousness, the Greek trusted in his intellectualism.
But God said here, He said, the same Lord is rich over all that
call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now this is what I want
you to get. How then shall they call in Him of whom they have
not believed? Can you call on an unknown Savior?
Can you call on somebody you don't believe? I don't call strangers and ask them for help. No. And how shall they believe
in Him of whom they have not heard? You can't believe on somebody
you've never heard about. Now watch this. And how shall
they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be saved? Now, we're right back where we
started from. When can it be said that a man
is without Christ? When you don't know who Christ
is. When you don't know. Now let me tell you something,
not just heathens, we're not talking about heathens that don't
know God, but do you know how many church members are ignorant
of Jesus Christ? Ignorant of Jesus Christ. Now
you people, look over to the right with me and look in 1 Timothy
chapter 1. I'll show you a man who was extremely,
extremely religious, but he was ignorant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ignorant of the Lord Jesus Christ. The church members are ignorant
of Jesus Christ. But look what Paul said here
in 1 Timothy 1 and verse 12. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord,
who hath enabled me, for that he counteth me faithful, putting
me into the ministry. Now watch this. Who was before
a blasphemer? I blaspheme Christ's name. I
blaspheme God. And I was a persecutor. And I
was injurious. I injured the Lord's people. But I obtained mercy because
I did it ignorantly and unbelieving. I was ignorant and I was an unbeliever. I was a Pharisee. I attended
a synagogue regularly. According to the righteous little
law, I was blameless. But I tell you what, I was ignorant,
I was full of unbelief, I was a blasphemer, I was a persecutor,
and I was injured, and I wouldn't know God from a ghost until Christ
apprehended me on the Damascus road and put me in the dust. And that's why it goes on to
say, the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith
and love, listen to it, which is in Christ Jesus. Howbeit for
this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, everybody
ought to believe this, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners, and he said, I'm the chief one. Howbeit for this
cause I obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show
forth all longsuffering for a pattern. For a pattern. Everybody knows
what a pattern is. Paul said, I was a pattern of
the mercy and the grace and the love and the faith and the power
of God in Christ Jesus to save the chief of sinners. And all
they love in eternal life is to know Him. To be ignorant of
Christ is to be without Christ. And this same man that I just
read to you said he'd done it in ignorance and unbelief. You
know what he said after God saved him by His blessed grace and
smote him down? He said, this one thing I desire. I want to
win Christ. I want to know Christ. I want
to be found in Christ. Not having my righteousness,
but He has. That's what I want. And once
that ever happens to you, that'll be your desire from that day
on. Knowing, winning, and be found in Him. And let me tell you something
else. Let me hurry on. Not only is a man without Christ when
he has no knowledge of Christ, but a man is without Christ when
he has no heart faith in him. When he has no heart faith in
him. What do I mean about heart faith in him? I'm talking about,
you know, your mind, your heart, your soul, everything that makes
up you, is you believe in him. Believe in him. You see, it's
more than just knowing and giving mental agreement to Christ and
His doctrine. I know lots of people, I know
several people that do that. And they are five-point calvinists. More than being a five-point
calvinist, that don't guarantee anything. There was a few years ago, there
was a couple of fellows down in Georgia that said they were
one of the five people in the whole United States preaching
the gospel. And I wasn't one of them. Henry
Mann wasn't one of them. Don Porter wasn't one of them. And then the Calvinists, boy,
I mean, they'd get on there and they'd talk about, you know,
these lost Calvinists, these lost Calvinists. Salvation's
not in a doctrine, salvation's in a person. Now, when you know the person,
you've got to know some doctrine. You'll learn some doctrine. You'll
understand the teaching. But you've got to know him. And
if you know him, you'll agree with every truth concerning him.
You know what I'm talking about? Let me tell you what I'm talking
about. Most people have a hope. But what is their hope based
upon? Peter said, let every man be ready always to give an answer
of the reason of the hope that's within him with meekness and
fear. So I ask you, what's your hope
based on? If you had to stand up right now and give a hope,
what's your hope based on? That you believe in election?
The Pharisees, every Jew believes in election. You go to Israel
today and he believes in it. Every Jew that's standing in
front of the Wailing Wall believes in election. We are God's chosen
people. They believe in prayer. I'm telling
you, they're standing there praying for hours. They believe in a
strict dress code. They wear black suits and black
hats, and they wear their long curls down the side of their
face, and they have prayer clothes that they put over their shoulders,
and put some on their hats so their head will be covered in
the presence of God. So what's your hope meshed from?
Your religious activities? Reading? Praying? Attending the
services? Morality? I'm going to tell you something.
Even to have a hope in the mercy of God without Christ is foolishness. To have hope in the mercy of
God without Christ is foolishness. Do you know how many people are
believing that? They say, if I just ask for mercy, God will
save me. He only saves you for Christ's sake. And to trust in
God's mercy without Christ is foolishness. I'll tell you something
else. To trust the love of God without
Christ is foolishness. The love of God's only in the
Lord Jesus Christ. You say, preacher, you done crossed
the line. I dare you to prove me wrong. Where's the love of God at? It's
in Christ Jesus. Where's all the blessings at?
They're in Christ Jesus. Where's the mercy of God given
to us at? In Christ Jesus. Huh? Oh, beloved. You see, this business of knowing
Christ and trusting Christ, you've got to know Him, and then it's
by faith. And it's by faith, by believing that men are vitally,
vitally, you've got to be joined to Christ, to become one with
Christ. Now, let me show you that over
in Romans chapter six, excuse me, Romans chapter four. Oh, I want people to know Christ.
I want people to know the Lord Jesus. You see, there must be
a new birth. Our Lord Jesus told a Pharisee,
you must be born again. And one thing a man can't do,
he cannot give himself a new birth. He can't give himself
a new heart. He can't give himself a new will.
He can't give himself faith. He can't do anything. You know,
that's why the Lord says, Nicodemus, you must be born again. You must
be born from above. The Holy Spirit must come and
give you life. The words that I speak unto you,
And the first part, there's nothing to worry until I speak unto you.
They are spirit in their life. It's the spirit that quickens.
The now is coming and now is. When the dead, who's the dead
he's talking about? Dead sinners will hear the voice
of the Son of God and they that hear, they live. Lazarus, he's dead. He can't hear a thing. When Christ
speaks, he can. Peter could have stood outside
and said, Lazarus, Lazarus, Lazarus, please come forth, please. And
he couldn't have done it. But when Christ said, Lazarus, leave
him alone, Lord, he's stinking. He's been dead four days. Lazarus! Come forth. And he that was dead
came forth. And that's what will happen.
That's what happened to you, wasn't it? You heard the voice of the Son of
God one day? When you hear that voice, you
know what you do? I hear something I ain't never
heard before. I'm here with ears I've never
heard with before. I understand what that preacher's
saying. I believe what that preacher's saying. Oh, I hear, I hear, I
hear. And look why they stand here. Romans
chapter 4 and verse 18. God gave Abraham a promise that
he's going to make him the father of many nations, and he believed
God. And he says, who against hope
believed in hope? Hope has to do with the future.
God told him what it's going to do for him. It's going to
make him the father of many nations. He didn't even have a child yet.
Didn't have any children yet. Who against hope believed in
hope that he might become the father of many nations according
to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And being
not, listen to it now, being not weak in faith, he considered
not his own body, not the end. He didn't look to his flesh.
He didn't look to anything that he ever did. When he was about
a hundred years old, neither did he yet do the deadness of
Sarah's womb, he staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief. Oh, you imagine what happened
here. Now let me tell you, let me explain what happened. Abraham,
75 years old, when God called him to come out of the earth
of Calvary. And God took him out there one day and said, look
up at them stars. He said, can you count those
that came down? He said, you're going to have that many children.
Look at all this ground you're standing on. Yes, sir. He said,
that's how many children you're going to have. Look over yonder,
look over yonder, look over yonder, look over yonder. Every bit of
this is going to be yours. Abel said, I'm 75 years old,
never have had a child. God said, I'm going to give you
a son. And through that son, the Messiah will come. And that's
what will make you the father of many nations. And Abraham
looked up at this person. Bless your name, Lord. I believe
you. God said, you're a righteous
man. Can you believe a promise like that? But stagger not at
the promise of God through unbelief, but with strong in faith, giving
glory to God. Can you give God the glory for
everything that's been done for you? Can you give God the glory
for your salvation? Can you give God the glory for
what the world calls the bad things that happen, as well as
the good things? Can you give Him the glory for
everything that's happened in your life, especially your salvation? Do you attribute everything to
Him? Therefore was it imputed to him
for righteousness." Now listen, it wasn't written for his sake
alone that it was imputed to him. Well, what was it written
for? For us also, to whom this righteousness shall be imputed.
Now listen, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses, delivered for
our sins, and raised again for our justification. Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Can you believe? Back over to
Ephesians 2. Let me show you this real quick. We conclude that a man is justified
by faith without the deeds of the law. Look what it says there. In verse 6, talking about, excuse
me, verse 5, talking about how we're united to Christ, you must
be joined to Christ. He says, even when we were dead
in sins hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace are you
saved, raised us up together, made us set together in heavenly
places in Christ. Huh? That in the ages to come,
He's going to show the riches of His kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus. You see? You've got to be joined
to Christ. Christ said, I'm the vine, you're
the branches. Without Me, you can do nothing. And that's why our Lord Jesus
Christ, He said, God said, this is My beloved Son. Hear Him. And hearing is the same as believing. Have you heard? Let me show you
one other thing, John 6.28. Let me show you something. I
know some of you got some questions. You say, Lord, let me show you
something here in John. Talking about work now. Must
be a new birth. Must become one with Him. God
made Christ unto us our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification,
and our redemption. Look what He said here in John
6.28. Then said they unto him, What
shall we do that we might work the works of God? That's a good point. They're
asking the Lord Jesus, they're asking the right person. What
shall we do that we might work the works of God? Oh, what in the world is the
Lord Jesus going to say, you reckon? Our Lord answered and
said unto them, This is the work of God. And the first thing I
want you to know, God does the work. This is the work of God. This is not God plus man, not
God plus works, not God plus praying, not God plus anything. This is the work of God. And
God does this work that you believe on Him whom He has sent. Now
when God does that work in you, you can't help but believe. Those
of you that's got faith, I tell you to stop believing right now.
You can't do it. Once you believe, you cannot
believe. You cannot not believe. How many of you cannot not believe? You know what? God does work.
And let me tell you hurriedly, I'm in good shape. Christ must
be the object of your faith. Now, what do I mean by that?
A lot of people look to their faith instead of looking to Christ.
A lot of people look to an experience they had years and years ago. I prayed through on an altar,
felt goosebumps. Some preacher told them it's
all right, took them down to Romans Road and told them it's
okay. But when we talk about Christ being the object of His
faith, you look outside yourself entirely to the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't even look at your faith,
you look to Him. The minute you look inside, you're going to
find something wrong. But if you look out to Him, that's
what that woman with the issue of blood said, if I may but touch
the hem of His garment, I'll be made whole. You see, beloved, everything
that took place, everything that saved us was outside of us. You
understand what I'm saying? Salvation that was accomplished
was accomplished outside of us. We had nothing to do with Christ
being crucified. God did that. Christ willingly
did it. We had nothing to do with putting
away our sin 2,000 years ago. We have nothing to do, even with
our faith, God gave that to us. We have nothing to do with even
good works to commend ourselves to God. God said, not of worse
lest any man should bow. So what in the world must we
do? That if God gives you faith, you look outside, you look to
Him. He's the way. Phase 1 is crucified for us,
Christ was. And the moment you take your
eyes off of Him, you know what happens? You get some despairing,
weak, frail... I heard somebody talking just
recently, somebody I've got a lot of confidence in, but when they
took their eyes off of Christ, all they talked about was, oh,
how can life be like this? How can our children be like
this? How can everybody be so, cause so much misery? Why can't
they cause us some peace and cause us some joy? And because
they took their eyes off of Christ. And all they was looking at was
their troubles. All they was looking at was their circumstances.
All they was looking at was the things that was making their
life miserable. And if you look outside yourself, then you ain't got no reason
to be miserable. Do you understand what I'm saying? Let me tell
you something else now. A man without Christ, you can tell a man is without
Christ when you can't see the Holy Spirit's work in his life. When a man is without Christ,
when you can't see the Holy Spirit's work in his life, what's the
first thing the Holy Spirit does in a man's life? First thing
he does is convinces that man of his sin. Not sins, sin. How many of you are actual sinners? How many of you know in the heart
and your very depth of soul that you yourself are the worst person
sitting in this building this morning? You know that if God exposed
your heart, your mind, your will, and the things that you thought,
the things that you've done, the things that you said, that
if God exposed you today, you would stand here before this
generation and before this group today like a person with a bunch
of snipes, a bunch of serpents in their heart, striking out. Whether you're 90 years old or
whether you're nine, Oh, God makes a man a sinner.
I'm not talking about man-made sinner, preacher-made sinner.
When the Holy Spirit comes, the first thing He does is convince
of sin. Not somebody else's sin, your
sin. Just like that publican went
to the temple, he smote his breast and said, Lord, be merciful.
Look, me, the sinner, And if anybody ain't never been
convinced of their sin, they cannot be saved without being
a sinner. Christ came to save sinners. And a person that's never been
convinced of sin, sin, sins, Do like my theater chef, when
he counted the presence of King David, he said, oh, why would
I consider such a dead dog as I am? A dog, I heard Scott Richardson
describe himself one time, and he said, I was like a mangy dog
chained to a bumper in a junkyard with a car setting up on blocks,
and I was chained. A mangy dog that stunk and scratched
and no hair on him, and nobody to set him free. I was so rotten
and corrupt, he said, oh, that's what I like. You wouldn't let a stinking,
mangy, wet dog in your house, would you? Well, that's the kind of people
God saves. And He cures the mange, takes away the stink. Oh, Lord have mercy! I can't
give the children's bread to dogs. I'm the dog. Yes, Lord, you're exactly right.
I'm the dog. Oh, dog, dog, dog, I'll be the
Lord's dog. And I'll take every crumb He
gives me from His table. And the second thing the Holy
Spirit does is He reveals Christ to that sinful heart. Oh, He
gives you such hope. Oh, you mean to tell me that
me, the sinner, can believe that I can be saved? That Christ came
here to save people like me? And that He will save? Well,
that's on account of people He saves, the sinners. He reveals Christ to you. Oh,
my. Then He produces fruit for the
fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, Gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. And I'll tell you what, he takes
and stamps the image of Christ on a man. Sealed. Sealed. The Lord knows them that are
healed having this seal. He puts his seal. He puts his
mark. When he talks about, you know, they have the mark. You
know what that mark is? That's a seal that only God knows.
And he puts Christ on the heart. He steps Christ on the heart.
He steps Christ on the soul. He steps Christ in his image
in a person's soul. And then he comes and he continues
to bring life. Just sustains it. He brought
it on. When he brings it, he has to keep it on. Now, knowledge,
faith, and the Holy Ghost work in you. Absolutely essential. to having a saving interest in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Absolutely essential. And to
people who don't have a hope in Christ, you know what? I'll
tell you something, beloved. To be without Christ, the actual
condition of a man, here in Ephesians 2, let me show you this. Back
there in verse 12. Ephesians 2, 12. That at that
time you were without Christ. To be without Christ, down there
it says, having no hope. That's part of the verse. You're
without hope. Without Christ is having no hope. To be without
Christ is to be without God. To be without Christ is to still
be a far off, in chapter, verse 13, a far off. Then it's to be
without peace, for he said, he is our peace, in verse 14. It's to be without access to
God. He says down there in verse 18, for you don't have any access
to the Spirit under Christ. And to be without God, to be
without Christ, to be without hope, to be without peace, to
be without access to the Father means to be without heaven. And you know what makes heaven
heaven? Christ makes heaven heaven. That's the only thing they're
interested in up there, is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lamb that
was slain. The Lamb who's the light of that
place. The Lamb who's on His throne. The Lamb who's the life
and light of that place. And let me show you one other
thing, and then I'm done. But you turn with me to Matthew
14, and I am done. But I want to close with this.
I want you to see this. I want to leave you with some
hope, leave you with some encouragement, leave you with a reason to believe.
I've told you who He is. I've told you what He's done.
I've told you how faith, you must have faith. But look what
He says here. You see, salvation is not a talking. It's not talking
about doing, but it's believing. It's not working, but resting
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look here in verse 34. Matthew
14, 34. And when they were gone over,
they came into the land of Gennesaret. Now watch what happens now. And
when the men of that place had knowledge of him. That's what
we're talking about now. Knowing Christ. You've got to
have a knowledge of Christ. They sent out all that country
round about. Now watch what happens. when
they know he was there, had knowledge of him, and brought unto him
all that were diseased. And they besaw him. They didn't
demand of him. They asked him, besaw him, that
they might only touch the hem of his garment. Where's the hem
of his garment at? It's at his feet, where everybody's going
to fall. And as many as were touched,
what happened to them? Were made perfectly whole. Oh my. Are you without Christ? God do a work in you and enable
you to become one who trusts and believes and
looks outside themselves to Christ and Christ alone. Amen?