Well, good morning, church. It's
absolutely a blessing to be with you this morning. And last week,
I hated not to be here, even though I had a chance to go preach
elsewhere. But a lot of times, I was most
willing to turn down preaching elsewhere because I'm so burdened
not to be with you guys. It's like I gotta see your face
each week. I mean, I just love you, and
I love the fellowship with you. And I pray that as we continue
to fellowship with each other that we would grow in intimacy
with each other and long to be with each other each and every
week or possibly each and every day. That's one thing I love
about the Book of Acts is they were with each other all the
time. And it's just so beautiful and so powerful to me to see
how God saves people who don't know each other. He brings them
together and then they love each other for eternity. The Lord
will have us in John 14 today. But I think we'll pick up reading
in John 13, 31. Just kind of get the idea of where Jesus
is going with this. John 13, 31. The scripture says, when he had
gone out, which is Judas, Jesus said, now is the Son of Man glorified,
and God is glorified in him. For God is glorified in him,
and God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at
once. Yet a little while, and I am
with you, for you will seek me just as I said to the Jews. So
now I also say to you, where I'm going, you cannot come. A
new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just
as I loved you, and you also are to love one another. By this,
all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have
love for one another. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are
you going? And Jesus answered him, where
I'm going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow me
afterward. Peter said to him, Lord, why
can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.
And Jesus answered him, will you lay down your life for me?
Truly, truly, I say to you, the ritual will not grow until you
have denied me three times. Let your hearts not be troubled.
Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are
many rooms. If it were not so, would I have
told you that I go and prepare a place for you? And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take
you to myself, that where I am, you may be also. And you know
the way where I'm going." Thomas said to him, We don't know where
you're going. How can we know the way? And
Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And
no one comes to the father except through me. If you had known
me, you would have known my father also. From now on, you do know
him and have seen him. And Philip said to him, Lord,
show us the father. Isn't it enough for us? And Jesus said to him, have I
been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip,
whoever has been Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
How can you say show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am
in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say
to you I do not speak of my own authority, but the Father who
dwells in me does his work. Believe me that I am in the Father
and the Father is in me. or else believe on the count
of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever
believes in me will also do the works that I do, and greater
works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father
may be glorified in the Son. And if you ask me anything in
my name, I will do it. Let's pray. Father, we stand amazed each
and every day, Lord, at the thought that you would choose us before
the foundation of the world to save us despite knowing every
little thing and big thing, Lord, that we would do against you.
And yet you decided to show us favor anyways, Father, by setting
us apart as holy and blameless and displaying your love to your
beloved son who took on all of our sin and drink the full cup
of your wrath that we so deserve. and caused him to rise again
from the grave, Father, giving us victory over death, and giving
us this promise, Lord, that if we believe in you, oh Lord, that
we will be with you for eternity. And Lord, now we wait here today,
and we wait here every day of our life for your glory, for
you to return in your glory, that we might be with you for
eternity, Father. Lord, our hearts long to be with
you, Father, but until that day, God, keep us faithful. Keep us trusting in you. Keep
us, Lord. Let us not fall away to the wayside,
Lord. Let our hearts wake up every
morning and be about you, Lord. Let us not be like Moses' people
who were in the wilderness and made a calf and worshiped no
God. Let us have no other idols before you, Lord. Let us be about
you each and every day. And we ask this in no other name
but the King of kings and the Lord of lords, Jesus Christ.
Amen. I thought it was fitting to to
read that whole passage just to kind of give you an idea of
where we'll be at today, but mainly we'll be through 1-6 today,
verses. But Jesus here is at the Lord's
Supper and He's already washed the feet of His disciples. Think
about that. The Lord of glory, the King of
kings, God Almighty, would get on His knees and wash His creation's
nasty feet. And that just boggles my mind
every time I read that, that Jesus would not come to be served,
which he should have come to be served, but rather he would
come to serve and ultimately lay down his life for his people.
And we know that he does that to show that he will wash us
clean so that when we stand before him, we'll be holy and righteous.
And we also know he teaches them something that, as he served
them, that we should, what, spend our life together serving each
other? Spend our life together laying
down our life for each other? And then Jesus goes on and talks
about the one who would betray him, which was Judas, the one
who had followed him for three and a half years, the one whom
Jesus has fed, the one who has sat upon the teachings of Jesus,
the one who knew the word of God, and yet he betrayed Jesus
then. for 30 pieces of silver. Just like many people today trade
Jesus' sin for worldly goods. But I pray that it would not
be so with us, beloved. I pray we would always be about
Christ. And then Jesus goes on and he's
preparing his disciples for his departure. And you just know
Peter was going to be the first one to speak up before anybody
else did. Lord, why can't we go with you? And then if you
remember what Jesus told the Jews, he said, you can't come
where I'm going. Why? Because of their unbelief.
But he turns around and tells Peter to him the same thing.
And I'm wondering, did that run across their mind when Jesus
told them that? Man, he told the Jews and they
didn't follow him. And now he's telling us who are
following him that we cannot come where he's at. But then
also we know that Jesus gives the promise. It will come for
them. And we pick up in verse one of
chapter four and listen to what our Lord and Savior says. Let
not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God and believe also
in me. Now think about that. For three
and a half years, the disciples have followed Jesus. For three
and a half years, they have done nothing more but seek him. and fellowship with him and eat
with him and talk with him and commune with him. And now here
he is telling them that he's leaving them. And I just can't
imagine the turmoil in their hearts at this moment. I mean,
because I know when we lose loved ones, it causes great hurt in
our hearts. I mean, I couldn't imagine if
God so happens to take one of my kids, or if God so happens
to take Brooke, or God so happens to take one of you, what kind
of turmoil that's going to cause me in this life. But to have Jesus, who I love more than all things,
and I'm dwelling on earth with Him at the time, and now He's
looking at me telling me he's about to depart from me. I can't fathom what the disciples
at this moment in time were going through. And Jesus fully knowing
that when he departed from them, that he knows that their heart
would be troubled much more even after him returning back to them
in person and then going back to the Father. Because we know
the scripture what teaches us that through much tribulation
we will enter the kingdom of God. And we know the great call
to all of us that we would deny ourselves and pick up this cross,
this instrument of suffering for Christ and follow him. That
Jesus fully knowing that his disciples and many times in their
life would have much trouble in their hearts. Beloved, As
we stand here today as believers in Christ, how many times have
our hearts been troubled? Our hearts have been troubled
over losing loved ones. Our hearts have been troubled over our finances.
Our hearts have been troubled over people turning their backs
on us because of Christ. Our hearts will be troubled when
there's strife in our marriage. Our hearts will be troubled when
we lose loved ones. Our hearts will be troubled when
there's illness in our marriage. Our hearts will be troubled when
we look at our fellow brothers and sisters and it seems like
they're falling away from the faith. Our hearts will be troubled
when we look at our kids and we wonder or not if God's going
to save them. Our hearts will be troubled when
those who are very dear to us blaspheme the name of God. Beloved,
our hearts will be troubled in this life.
You hear that? We will not escape it. I mean,
when we look at the New Testament, we look at Old Testament, there
was many times when Jesus' disciples and the people of God were troubled.
I think of Ezekiel when God took his wife from him, how much trouble
it caused him. I think about Mary and Martha
when Elazarus was taken to them and we see them weeping. I think
about Paul in Romans 9 when he talks about his kinsmen and how
he'd be willing to give up his own salvation if God would save
them. That's trouble in Paul's heart. I think about all the
sufferings that Paul writes about, and I know in the moments he
probably had trouble, and he also talks about the agony in
his heart and the worrying about the people whom he's preached
the gospel to, whether they're going to fall away. And we know
as we went through 1 Thessalonians after this whole purpose of sending
Timothy because he was concerned about that his work would be
in vain there. Our hearts will be troubled. But what do we do when our hearts
are troubled? What does Jesus teach us here? To believe in God. And he says
what? Also believe in me. which Jesus
showed himself to be co-equal with God the Father here. Just
don't believe in God, but also believe in me. But a lot of times
when our hearts are troubled in our marriage, our hearts are
troubled in suffering for Christ, or our hearts are troubled in
loneliness. A lot of times we don't believe upon Christ. We do not run to Christ like
we should. We run to other things. Some Christians run back to their
old sinful habits that God had delivered from them when they're
troubled. Drugs, alcohol. Some Christians
run out and, well, if I just go buy me something today, that
will ease this pain that I'm feeling right now. Or maybe if
I just call somebody and I just tell them my problems, maybe
that will ease my pain. Instead of running to Christ. running to Christ, beloved. Because
the only one who's going to give us peace in the moments when
our hearts are troubled is Jesus. A few times that I have had the
opportunity to preach funerals, I always remind the people, I
always remind them this one thing, that your loved ones are going
to come to you when your heart is troubled and you've got agony
in your heart. And they're going to tell you kind words. and they're
going to hug you and they're going to grab you. But that's
never going to take the hurt out of your heart. That's never
going to help you get over the pain that you're experiencing.
It's not going to give you the peace that you're so looking
for. It's not going to be the comfort that you're so looking
for, beloved, because the only one that can give us the peace
that passes all understanding. The only one Beloved who can
comfort our hearts when we're so troubled is Jesus. But so often it seems like that
we run to the Word of God when our hearts are troubled. It seems
like so often when our hearts are troubled that we run to Him
in prayer. Knowing the whole purpose of
Him allowing our hearts to be troubled because of the suffering
that He has put us through right this moment, that we would run
to His Word. That we would run to Him in a
prayer. That we would believe in Him
to help us through what we're going through. That we would
believe in Him that one day He will come for us, beloved, and
we will not go through any of this anymore. And beloved, we know that all
that we go through in this life, all this trouble, all this suffering,
all this tribulation that we go through in this life is not
worthless. I mean, because isn't that where
our hearts go at times when we're troubled? And we're suffering. We look
at the situation and go, this is worthless. What good is this? Oh, it's for our good, beloved.
We know for those who love God and are called according to His
purposes, all things work out for their good. That God has
placed it in our life, that we might look to Him, that we might
trust in Him, that we might cling to Him, beloved. Because when
we're not troubled in this life, when we're not suffering in this
life, when we're not going through persecution in this life or tribulation
in this life, what happens? We tend to take our eyes off
of Christ. We tend to run in the opposite way. We tend to
go back to other things which we should not go to. And in Christ,
because he's a good father, he allows things to come to us that
we might cling to him. And that he might show the falling
angels that they cannot take us from him. Cannot, beloved. And I love what Paul says in
Romans 8, 18, he says, for I consider that the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to compare with the glory that is revealed
to us. He also says in 2 Corinthians 4, 16, along the same terms of
what I just read in Romans 8, 18. So we do not lose heart,
though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being
renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction
is pairing us for a weight of glory beyond all comparison,
as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things
that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transcendent,
but the things that are unseen are eternal. Hear that, beloved? that everything we're going through
in this life, if it is in comparison to the glory that we will experience
when we're with Christ. When he takes us and he wipes
away every tear. When he takes us and we don't
experience this pain no more. When he takes us and we'll see
him for all of eternity. Oh, what a great day it will
be. when we're with the Lord of glory, when we don't wrestle
with the prince and power of the air anymore. Oh, what a great
day it will be when we don't have to put up with Satan and
we don't have to put up with his flesh. Oh, what a day it will be, beloved,
when we get to see Christ. And he says, let your hearts
not be troubled, but believe in God and believe also in me.
And then listen to what he says. In my father's house, or many
rooms. If it were not so, would I have
told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take
you to myself, that where I am, you may be also." So Jesus has
told his disciples that he's leaving them, and we know Jesus
saw all things at all times, so you can see the trouble in
their hearts. And then he tells them what? Where I'm going, I'm
going to prepare a place for you. Now a lot of people, when
they read that, a lot of preachers go one day, and what? They go
and tell you everything there is about heaven. They go and
talk about the big mansions that we're going to receive, about
the streaks of gold. But the idea here, Jesus is painting
to his disciples and painting to us that where he's going,
there's enough room for everybody, for all his children. We know
the promise he made to Abraham about his children would be the
stars of the heavens, the sand of the seashore, that heaven
is going to be full of people. Hear that? Because a lot of times
when we think about heaven, we think we're only a few that's
going to be there. But this will be, what does John say? There will be multitudes, upon
multitudes, unmeasurable amount of people there worshiping the
Lamb that was slain for us. That God will save people from
all nations, all tribes, all tongues, and bring them to glory
with Him. Beloved, God is coming for us. God has gone to prepare a place
for us that He has not left us. Hear that. Though we don't see
Him now, we know one day we will be with Him. And we know until
we're with Him, He has given us what? The Holy Spirit. To
be a helper. To keep us. To stir up our hearts. To give us peace through the
reading of His Word. To give us comfort through the
reading of His Word. To remind us that He's coming for us. Remember
when we went through 1 Thessalonians and they were early Christians
and they were suffering? Paul mentions to them about how they're
still looking for the coming of Christ. When they went through
that suffering, they remembered that Christ was coming. When
they went through that turmoil, they remembered that Christ was
coming. In the same way, we must take our minds and we must run
there, beloved. We must remember the words of
Christ that he's going to prepare a place for us. And it is coming
for us. He's coming for us, whether he
takes our life or he's coming for us when he comes in glory. But either way, we know we will
be with him. We will be with him, beloved.
Do not let your hearts be troubled. We will be with you. Don't let
your hearts be burdened, beloved. We will be with you. Take your
burdens, take your troubles and cast them upon the Lord, who's
able to bear them. Who's able to bear them? Because
a lot of times, what do we do with them troubles? What do we
do with them burdens? We compile burdens on burdens. And we find ourselves where?
in the middle of a pit somewhere, unable to get out. And it caused a lot of grief
in our life, a lot of unnecessary suffering in our life, where
if we would have just went straight to the Lord, He could have took
the burden. If we would have went straight to the Lord, then
He could have took the turmoil out of our hearts. I said earlier,
run to Christ. Run to the Word of God, that
you might be comforted in this life. In my Father's house are many
rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to
pray a place for you, and if I go and pray a place for you,
I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am,
you may be also." Do you hear that? That should be encouraging
to us. Where I am, there you will be
also. He says, I wouldn't have told
you if it wasn't so. He's reminding them that look,
I'm not lying to you. He's not lying to us when he
talks about us being with him for eternity. It's a, it's a,
a promise that will come to completion. No, we cannot see it. The times
we cannot fathom it. It is true. And we know elsewhere
in God's Word, the way he teaches us in Hebrews, he will bring
many sons to glory. He will bring many daughters
to glory. That there is no escaping being with Christ. Because no one can take us from
him, beloved. No one can snatch us out of his
hand. No one. Satan cannot take us away from
Christ. Those who hate us cannot take us from Christ. Illness
cannot take us from Christ. Nothing can take us away from
Christ, beloved. Nothing can separate us from His love. Nothing. He's faithful. Even when we're
not faithful, He's faithful to keep us. He's faithful to finish
the good work that He started in us. that he will bring it
to completion. Then what did they say in John
14, 5? And you know the way to where
I'm going. And Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where
you're going. Can we know the way? Now, how many times did Jesus
give these guys the gospel? I mean, they heard the Word of
God for three and a half years straight. They not only heard it, but they
had the Word of God dwelling amongst them. And you just imagine, we look
at this and go, Thomas, you're an idiot. You've been with Jesus
for three and a half years in person, and He's telling you
this, and you're asking, how do we go there? He's been teaching
all along that if you believe upon Me, what you'll be saved. You believe upon Me, you'll be
with the Father. And now they don't even know how to get there.
Well, one, I don't know if they grasped the reality that he was
really leaving them. I think maybe they thought that
he was just going to get in a boat and sail across the ocean or
sail across the sea and they were never going to see him no
more. And then he was coming back for them. But we know prior
to that's not what he's teaching them there. But we know a lot
of times the disciples, though Jesus taught them things, they
didn't fully understand all things to win. until he was risen from
the grave and appeared back to them for 40 days and gave them
remembrance of all things. So a lot of times the disciples
would ask questions like this. But even us at times think the
same way. We wonder is this really, is
Christ really the way? Sometimes we're really like John
the Baptist. He's in prison. He baptized Jesus. Heard the Father's voice. This
is my beloved son and I'm well pleased. Seen the Holy Spirit
of God descend upon him. Preached nothing but Christ.
Remained in the widow's for 30 years that he might grow in intimacy
with Christ before he came to preach. And now he's wondering. Is this really Jesus? Is this
really the Christ? Since it's disciples and what
does Jesus do? He says, go tell John, what? That the blind see
the dead are raised. The good news is preaching to
poor and so on. What? They curse John. So many times we will be like
this. And Thomas says, we don't know
where the way to where you're going. And Thomas said, Thomas
said to him, Lord, we do not know where you're going. How
can we know the way now? Notice one thing here. Why do
they want to know where Jesus is going and how, why do they
want to know the way to where he's going? Because they want
to be with Jesus. See, I go back to what I said
earlier, a lot of people will take about, when it mentions
about being in heaven with Christ, and they make it about seeing
family members. They make it about seeing all our loved ones,
seeing our friends. They make it about the streets
of gold. They make it about receiving your favorite puppy that you
lost when you was five. They make it about a mansion. But these disciples did not leave
their family. They did not leave their jobs.
They did not leave their homes. They didn't leave their land
to get more land in heaven, to get a bigger house in heaven,
to get people in heaven, or to see their grandma in heaven.
They didn't leave all that, forsake all that to get more worldly
stuff in heaven. No, they forsake everything because
they wanted to see Jesus. Because a lot of times our idea
is what? That I want to go to heaven because
I want to see my loved ones. I want grandma, I want my mama,
I want my daddy, I want my kids waiting at the pearly gates for
me. And beloved, you've heard James
said this, and he might say it different, but there'll be some
stiff arms given out by Jesse Bates if someone gets between
me and Jesus when I get there. I say that lightly, but beloved,
I wanna see my Christ. I love my child and I pray that
he's in heaven. I love my wife and I pray that
she is in heaven. And I love my family members
and I pray that God is gonna do a work in them to save them
and they'll be in heaven. But when I get to heaven, I want
Christ. I remember when I was a little
kid and I loved baseball. I love all sports, but I play
baseball all the time. And I got to thinking about,
you know, because I was going to church as a little kid, and I
got to thinking, I wonder if baseball is going to be in heaven.
Man, if baseball ain't in heaven, I'd rather just remain on earth. Why? Because baseball was my
idol at the time. And so many people have that
idea that if heaven isn't like this, I'd rather just remain
here. And even people when they think
about Christ being in heaven and not these other things, they
still have this mindset that I just want to remain here. I
also had this mindset, Lord, let me, uh, let me live to an
old age and then you can come back, Lord. Let me, let me get
a wife. Let me get some kids. Let me
get some grandkids. And then you can come back, Lord.
That's not really wanting to be with Christ. That's wanting everything. that
I want, which I put above Christ. But when God truly saves us and
He calls us to be born again, all we want is Him. All we want
is Him. That we just want to be wherever
Christ is. Wherever Christ is, that's where
our hearts wants to be. We want to be with Him for eternity.
Beloved, if there are mansions in heaven, I like to say you
can have mine. I just want to be at the throne worshiping Jesus. I just want to be able to see
him for all of eternity. I want to be able to worship
him for eternity. Beloved, do you really want Christ? Or you have this mindset as Hank
Williams Jr. do, that if heaven isn't like
Dixie, I don't wanna go. Well, unless God changes Hank
Williams Jr.' 's heart, he will never see heaven, because heaven's
nothing like Dixie. Heaven's about the worship of
Jesus Christ. And a lot of people, many Christians
think about, do we really just worship Jesus for all of eternity? And they just become sad because
they think that's boring to them. Before God saved me, it was boring
to me to think about the worship of Jesus. So we're just gonna
stand there and look at Him all day? There's nothing else we're
gonna be doing? We're gonna stand there and have
to sing to Him all day? There's nothing else we're gonna be doing?
I mean, I'm not gonna be able to go do something else. I gotta
sit here and look at Him all day? But then when He saves us, I can't imagine looking away. I could not imagine doing anything
else but the worship of Him. These disciples wanted to know
the way, beloved, because they wanted their Jesus. They wanted
their Messiah. They wanted their Christ. They
wanted their God. That's the reason why they left everything.
Not to get trophies in heaven, not to see loved ones in heaven.
They just let forsake it all for Christ. And praise God if we get to heaven
and our loved ones are there. I prayed that my loved ones are
there. But it's not gonna take away from my worship from Christ.
And we know when we get to heaven that Brooke won't be my wife.
We know anyways when we get to heaven that my kids won't be
my kids. That when we get to heaven I will truly, truly, which
I strive to do now, love you guys just as much as I love them.
that I won't honor them or love them no more than I love you,
which we should all be striving to do now. Because you've heard
me say many times that what? That if God, or a few of you
have heard me say many times, that if God doesn't save Ezekiel,
he will only be my son in this life, but you will be my brothers
and sisters for eternity. Hear that? If God doesn't save
my immediate family, they're just my family here, but you
will be my brothers and sisters for eternity. Oh, how much more
should I strive to love you? And how much more should you
strive to love each other if we're always going to be with
each other for eternity? And he asked, and you know, and
Jesus said, and you know the way to where I'm going. And Thomas
said to him, Lord, we don't know where you're going. How can we
know the way? In verse six. He says, and Jesus
said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one
comes to the Father except through me. The one thing I've noticed
here that really, really gives me giddy in my heart, if you
want to call it that, or joyous in my heart, and just gives me
butterflies in my heart, anytime I find scripture that shows that
Jesus is God, or the worship of Jesus, man, it really just
excites me. When I, that's reading like John
1, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and
the word was God, and he's with God, and all things were made
through him, and nothing made except through him, and now the word
became flesh and grew out among us, and no one's ever seen God. The one true God is that the
Father's right hand side, he has made him known. Man, that
just does something to me. Or at the beginning of John,
1 John 1, where they talk about they seen him and they touched
him. That just says something to me. Colossians, I think, 1,
it does something when it talks about Christ reigning over all
things and that he made all things. Man, that just, that brings joy
to my heart. And seeing Jesus say these I
am statements brings much joy to my heart. Because when we
first see I am, what would Moses tell them? I am has sent you.
And here Jesus is making I am statements. I am the way, I am
the truth, I am the life. But prior to this in John, he's
already made seven or more I am statements. He's already said
what? That I am the light of the world. He's already said
that I am the good shepherd. I am the resurrection and the
life. I am the bread of life. I am the true vine. And he also
tells the Jews before Abraham, I am. And we know one time, in
one part of the Scripture, I don't know if it's in John, but when
they come to arrest Jesus, He asked them, who do you look for?
And they say Him, and what He says, He says, I am He. And what
do they all fall back on their backs? Just Him saying, I am,
caused them to fall on the ground. Then they get up and clean themselves
off, and they're arrested. Because they was too blind to see that
He was He, who He was, who He said He was. Despite seeing His
power when He said, I am. That Jesus, beloved, is the great
I am. There is no other I am but Christ. Christ alone, beloved. And Jesus
says to us, what? That I am the way. That's pretty exclusive. That's very exclusive. He didn't say, I'm the way and
this is the way. No, he says to us that I am the
way. which we could interpret it this
way that any other way that we take leads to destruction. Any
other way we take leads to destruction. What happens to all the Muslims? What happens to all those who
worship the Buddha God or the psychology God? What happens
to all the people who worship the false Christ? What happens to the people? They
have a zeal for God. What happens to all the Jews?
They have a zeal for God. but they lack knowledge. And
they suppress the truth of God and worship a God of their own
imaginations. What happens to the little people? They perish. Because Jesus is
the way. And we know in Matthew 7, he
says, for the gate is wide and the way is easy and it leads
to destruction. And those who enter by it are many, but for
the gate is narrow and the way is hard and it leads to life.
And those who find it are few. So if you really pull it down,
there's only two ways in this life. There's the broad way that
many go down that's easy, but it leads to destruction. But
on this broad way, man puts many doors throughout the broad way,
and they say, this is the way. They paint one door and say,
well, you can be good enough to get to heaven. And we know
everybody professes their own goodness, so if I can be good
enough, I get to heaven. And then the other door says,
well, you can be good enough, and you believe in Jesus. Or another
door, oh, you work your way to heaven, so you trust in your
works, and you believe in Jesus. I think that's where most Christians
are at today, majority of professing Christians are at today. They
trust in their goodness, and they trust in Jesus. They trust
in their works, and they trust in Jesus. But is that the way?
No, beloved, that's not the way. Christ is the way. That man has
put many doors, many doors, many on this broad way and they say,
this is the way, this is the way, this is the way. Many say, well, if you're Baptist,
you're going to heaven. You ever talk to people about Christ and
they go, well, I'm Baptist. You ever talk to people about
Christ? Well, I'm Pentecostal. You ever talk to people about
Christ? Well, I'm Armenian. You ever talk to people about
Christ? Well, I'm a Calvinist. Or I'm in the middle. But is your
hope there? Is your hope there? Or is your
hope in Christ? Because, beloved, we can have
right doctrine, but if our hope isn't in Christ, which that right
doctrine teaches, then we'll perish. Because the head knowledge
will not save us. It's trusting in Christ alone.
Christ is the way. Beloved, anything we're clinging
to, we must lay to the wayside. We must flush it down the toilet,
because it will not save us. There's many Calvinists probably
who go to hell, many Armenians who go to hell, many Baptists
who go to hell, and Pentecostals who go to hell. And the list
goes on. because they trust in what they
are rather than trusting in Christ. Jesus is the way. God isn't on
a mountain and there's many ways up the mountain, beloved. It's
Christ. And this way is the hard way,
so if you find it, Because we know if we truly,
we truly stand on Christ, we truly stand on this rock, there's
going to be many storms that come. Many that come. As I said earlier, through much
tribulation will we enter the kingdom of God. Walking with
Christ is no easy thing. Walking with Christ is the hardest
thing you will ever do in your whole life, which you will do
every day. It isn't that we believe and we take one step of faith
and then the cross comes off that he's called us to carry.
No, every step of faith we take, there's a cross on our backs
and we suffer for him. But our suffering doesn't save
us either. We can't put our hope in our suffering. It's only by faith in Christ
we're saved. Because it's very easy, well I've done this for
Christ and I've received this because I've done it so I'm saved
because of that. But I'm not saved because of
our sufferings for Christ. We're saved because we have believed
in Christ. See, there's so many ways that the flesh could run,
beloved, to trust in that for our salvation. Many people run, well, I believed yesterday, so I'm
saved. Or I believed 10 years ago, so I'm saved. Or I was baptized. Or I preach. Or I'm a deacon.
Or I've been going to church all my life. Would any of that save us, though?
No. Do I believe today? Am I trusting
in Christ today? Because He's the only way, beloved. Because I like to tell people,
brothers and sisters, and I like to tell lost people that I could
preach every day and go to hell, bust it wide open, and store
up more judgment for myself because I know the truth, but yet don't
walk in it. Why? Because I trusted in preaching
rather than Christ. Christ is the way. Not Christ
and religion. Not Christ and preaching. Not
Christ and all these other things. It's Jesus, beloved. It's your
hope in Jesus. Christ says, I am the way. He also says the truth. Jesus Christ is the truth. Beloved, anything that we hear
No matter how good it sounds, no matter how much we think wisdom
has been put into it, if it contradicts the Word of God, it is a lie.
It's a lie. Jesus is the truth, meaning there
is no error in Him. There is not one lie in Him.
When He makes that statement, it is 100% accurate. He has not lied in the flesh.
He has not lied before he became flesh and he surely hasn't lied
after he become out of the flesh There is no lie to be found with
God everything that God says is true Everything God says as
though saying is you can take it to the bank Christ is true
beloved And we must rest on Christ as
being the one true God. We must rest on Christ as the
only way to heaven. We must rest on Christ that he
is faithful to finish the good work in us. We must rest in Christ
that only he can save us or we'll fall to another gospel. Because
what do men do? They take the truth of God's
word and they pervert it with a lie. They take the truth of
God's Word and they twist it that will follow a lie. In 1 Timothy 4, beloved, when
he talks about people falling away, he says the Spirit especially
says that in later times many will fall away. When they fell
away, beloved, they didn't fall away saying, I don't believe
in Jesus no more. No, they fell away saying, I
believe in Jesus, but yet their teaching of Jesus wasn't the
true Jesus. It was another Jesus. There's only one truth, and it
comes through Jesus Christ. That everything else is a lie. Which shall also encourage us,
beloved, when we want true counsel, when we want true counsel, where
should we run? To the Word of God. the Word of God. Of course, if
God has given us brothers and sisters, we should flee to them
that they might help bear that burden, but make sure while we
run them, so they can give us the Word of God. You know what
a waste of our time is? When we're hurting, or we're
going through something, to run to a worldly person. That's the most I say this lightly,
but that's the most ignorant and stupidest thing we could
ever do is run to a worldly person and tell them our problems. Because
every little bit of advice they're going to give us is going to
build up our flesh. Oh, he said that, you should do this. They
did this, you should do this. Oh, you should leave that guy,
I wouldn't be married to him. You should leave that woman,
I would never put up with that. And you're right. That's what the flesh says. Oh,
they talk to you that way? Oh, you should have nothing to
do with them ever. You should never forgive them. That's everything
opposite of what Christ teaches us. That's one way to mark it.
Everything that we hear from the world is always, listen,
100% always gonna be opposite of what Christ teaches us. And
this is the thing, we know this, beloved. When we go to that person,
we already know what they're gonna tell us. but because we
weaken the flesh, we want to hear. Actually, a lot of times, who's
the people we talk to the most? The people at our job. And a
lot of times I know when I guide, I catch myself telling, because
we just be working with each other, I be telling some guys
my problems and they be talking back and the next thing I know,
why am I telling this guy? Everything he's telling me is
just building up my flesh. That's not the way, Jesse. Don't
seek counsel from anybody who's not going to give you the Word
of God. Because anything they give you outside of the Word
of God is 100% a lie, no matter how much truth may be in it. May be in it. We love it. Run
to Christ because what the only one who can set you free is the
truth. Don't know who can set you free
from the burden in your heart, don't want to set you free from
the turmoil in your heart, don't want to set you free to thinking
something else was going to save you is what Jesus Christ. We
must run to him. and only set us free from it,
beloved, but give us peace, give us comfort. But as I said earlier, anything
away from Christ will never give us comfort. Can we not all bear
witness to that? How many times when we ran to
things, ran to men, ran to women, ran to money, ran to drugs, ran
to alcohol, ran to this, ran to that, and did it ever promise
Does it ever fulfill its promise that our flesh says it's going
to do? No. It always stacks up the burden.
But at the moment, it feels like what? It's going to take it all
away. And it never does. Believe in God. Believe in Jesus.
Trust in Jesus' word to fill that void at that moment in time.
Trust in Jesus to take away that trouble. Trust in Jesus to take
that burden off of you, beloved. Jesus says, I am the way and
I am the truth. Did Jesus Christ die on the cross
for our sins? He was buried and three days
later rose again from the grave according to the scripture and
only those who repent and trust in him will be saved. Is that
true? Yes, beloved, that is true. That
is what Jesus has taught us through his word. What else is true?
That we must love each other as ourselves. We must lay down
our life for each other as Jesus has taught us to. That's when
you read through the book of John, I mean, first John and
second John, it's all about love. But it's one thing to know the
truth and it's another thing to walk in the truth. Hear that. It's one thing to know the truth,
to know what you should do, but it's a whole other different
thing to walk in it. Sometimes we give ourselves a pass. Well,
I know that I should do that. Everything's telling me I should
do that. But that way it feels a lot better to me. And God's
a forgiving God. There's no way God's going to
punish me. And what do we do? Because it
feels so good to the flesh. I love it. Never think that way. We've got to turn that way around.
We should never think that way. We should not have this mindset
that God's going to forgive me. We should always run to Christ.
Run to Christ. Are we walking in the truth of
God's word? Of course, none of us do it 100%.
If we're just being honest with ourselves, But are we in the
practice of walking in the truth of God's word? Are we crying
out to God when we're not walking in the truth that he would help
us walk in the truth? Politicals, there's no power in us to walk
in the truth. There's no power in the flesh
to be obedient to Christ. No power at all. We must cry
out to him. the walking of truth. We must
what? Cry out to Him to help us believe the truth. Because
isn't that what we do sometimes? When I think of what we do, we
read God's Word and it's hard to read. And what do we do? We
suppress the truth of it. Because it's hard. Instead of
believing it and standing on it. Isn't it what a lot of people
who do, who are stuck in one way of thinking, and then they
hear the truth, And they go, I wouldn't serve that Jesus.
Well, I'm not believing that. No, we must stand in the truth
of God's word, whether we believe it or not. That's what we're,
that's not whether we believe it or not, whether we understand
it or not. Let me create it. Whether we understand it or not, we're
called to believe it. That's what we mean by God's grace.
I had a chance at the prison to walk the man through Romans
nine. Dude, the majority of them was not, not all of it. And I
turned to him again and I said, look, you know, people have lined
up on both sides of this for many years. And I said, some
of what we're about to read is going to be very hard for one,
for us to understand, two, for us to get. But beloved, if God's
word says it, we're called to believe it and pray for understanding
of it. Pray for understanding of it.
It's just like when everything's going good in our life, we say,
oh, God has done all this for my good. But when everything
goes bad in our life, we go, there's no way God has intended
this for my good. Well, what does Scripture teach us? That
God has intended that for your good. He's got a purpose in that. See, there's another time we
can't say, well, God wouldn't do this, God wouldn't do that.
No, the Word teaches it, so we must believe it. We must trust
in the truth. and not walk in the lie. Jesus says, I am the way. He says, I am the way, I am the
truth. He also says, the life. So Jesus is the way to the Father.
He's only truth to the Father. And Jesus is the only way we
can have life and get to the Father. Jesus Christ is 1% over
all life, beloved. Then we know Christ is one who
created all things for His glory. And not only did He create all
things, but He sustains all things. That no one can be created, no
one can be born, no one can live to a hundred unless God allows
it. That all of our days are numbered,
beloved. And who numbers our days? Do
we number our days? No. Who numbers our days? God
numbers our days. That God knows how many days
we're going to live before He even created this world because
He chose in His sovereignty and for His glory that He would take
us out on that day. It doesn't matter how we go out of this
earth. That's the way God has predestined
it. And who takes our life? Who gives life and who takes
life? God does. God does. Satan was used in Job's life
to what? To have the building fall down
on all Job's kids. But who took the life of Job's
kids? God did. Who took the life of all of Job's
cattle? God did. Could Satan kill something? Can
he take the heart of something and cause it to quit beating?
No. He might tempt someone to do something that would take
people's life or take their own life, but can they ultimately
do it? How many people who's tried to commit suicide and it didn't
happen? I know I went to school with a girl who stuck a gun up
to her chest and pulled the trigger and it missed everything. You've
heard people taking a gun and shooting themselves in the head
and it goes all around the school and comes out and they live.
Nothing wrong with them. But others do it and they die.
Other people take pills to take their life. And what happens? Some die and some don't die.
Is it because they were tougher or they were younger or they
were younger to cause them to live? No. God chose in his sovereignty
not to take their life. Jesus is the giver and the taker
of life. That's the reason a lot of people,
when they lose a loved one, who do they get angry with? God. They get angry with God. Because
they know ultimately, no matter how much they deny him, they
know he is the giver and the taker of life just in their subconscious. But as believers, when we lose
loved ones, knowing that God have taken them, we still trust
in him. Knowing that he had done it for
our good and for his purpose, for the end goal of his glory.
And we don't know why, at times, in our minds, why God does things.
But we know every time God does something, beloved, as I just
stated, it's for His glory. And the best thing we can do
when we lose loved ones is to pray that God would give us the
strength to remind people of the gospel. Remind people of the gospel.
that God is the giver and taker of life. Remind people that we
must trust in Christ alone for salvation. But Jesus isn't just
the one who gives physical life and takes life. Jesus is the one who gives spiritual
life. Jesus is the one who calls someone
to come alive in him. Can we cause ourselves to come
alive in him? No. Can someone save themselves?
No. Can someone cause themselves to be unblinded and see the beauty
of Jesus Christ? No. Cannot happen. John the Baptist did not cause
himself to come alive and Christ Jesus in his mother's womb. How
did he do that? How did he believe in his mother's
womb? How did he repent in his mother's
womb? He did not do it. God showed just in John the Baptist
alone that he is the one who brings people up. He is the one
who saves people. That apart from Christ, none
of us would be alive. Spiritually speaking. You realize
apart from Christ, we would be worshiping a pagan God. Apart
from some of these heretics that we talk about at times, these
false teachers we talk about, if it weren't for the grace of
God, we would be one of them. It isn't that we in our own power
come through the knowledge of the truth of Jesus Christ and
believe that we cannot take glory for that, beloved. We cannot take glory for that.
It's only by God's grace that he has brought us alive and given
us the truth. But sometimes we love talking
about them false teachers, and we down them, and we should warn
people of them, but beloved, we should never lift ourselves
above them and think we're better than them, and that's the reason
why God has saved us and not saved them. Or think we're better
than them because God has given us truth and not given them truth.
Beloved, no one can understand one thing about scripture, spiritually
speaking, unless God brings them alive. Hear that. If we're saved, it's because
God and His goodness has saved us. There's no I in it. Remember, I'm saved because I
believe. I'm saved because I repented.
I'm saved because I was baptized. I'm saved because I walked the
Nile. I'm saved because I did this. I'm saved because of this.
I'm saved because of this. And He's I. Well, really, it's
only by the grace of God that we're saved, beloved. There's
no I in salvation. Isn't that what Jonah realized
when he was in the belly of the well? He realized he could not get
out. He was doomed. He's about to come out of this
belly of the well not alive. Not a well, great fish, great
fish, great fish, not well. The Bible says great fish, great
fish, and what was going to happen? He was going to die. And he realized
that salvation was the Lord. The only way he was going to
come out of here, the fish, was by God bringing him out. Which
is a picture of the only way Jesus was going to come out of
the grave is that he'd be the resurrection and the life. That Jesus says, I raised myself
the life, the Holy Spirit raised me to life, the Father raised
me to life. Not only do Jesus give us spiritual life, but it
is Jesus who gives us eternal life, which is kind of the same
thing. But we know that when we take
our last breath, the only way we can be raised to be raised
to be with him for eternity as he do it. The only way we can,
when He comes back in His glory and everybody's resurrected,
you know everybody's gonna be resurrected, right? Everybody,
but somebody's gonna be resurrected unto judgment and somebody's
gonna be resurrected unto salvation. Unto be with Him for all of eternity. Who determines which way we go?
Is it me? Is it me and my wisdom? Is it
me and my knowledge? Or is it God in His grace in
giving me the knowledge of Him, the truth of Him, that I will
be resurrected unto glory? Hear that, beloved. Because I know so many Christians
are trusting in them to get them to Him. They think in their minds that
they really brought themselves alive in their free will. And it's impossible, beloved.
Remember at the end of John 2, the scripture says that many
believed in Him, but Jesus knew their hearts. So pretty much
He didn't reveal Himself to them. He didn't save any of them. What's
the difference between them and us? Do we all not come to... I know before God saved me, I
come to Jesus, majority of my life, professing Him as Lord
with a bad heart. What caused my heart to go from
being bad to good? Was it me? Or was it God? When Jesus gives the seeds of
the sower, two seeds rejoiced at hearing the good news, but
fell away. But we know one what? Receive
the word to bear 30 fold, 60 fold, 90 fold, 100 fold of fruit. What caused that one to bear
fruit but the other ones to receive it and believe it and rejoice
over it but then fall away with tribulation came, fall away with
persecution came? Was it because of them or because
of God? Who was it because of? Why did
one bear fruit and the other one didn't? God decided to save
them for His glory and He decided not to save them. Because beloved,
we must grasp this so we don't believe in ourselves. Because
what happens if we believe in ourselves? We're trusting in
ourselves to get us to heaven rather than trusting in Christ.
Hear that? That's when we trust in His faithfulness,
not our faithfulness. Beloved, if we could lose our
salvation, we'd lose it every day. If it was in our power to
keep ourselves right with the Lord, we'd walk away every day. The ones who did fall away in
the season of the storm, it was in their power they walked away.
It wasn't in God's power they walked away, because if they'd
truly been born again, God wouldn't allow them to walk away. Because His Spirit dwells in
them. How do we come to the knowledge of crying out, Abba, Father?
Because God adopted us into His family by the power of the working
of His Holy Spirit in our hearts. If we always believe and we always
trust until we take our last breath, it's because of Christ
giving us eternal life. A lot of times when we think
about Paul and we think about the apostles and we think about
our brothers and sisters and other across the world who get
martyred for Christ, we go, man, they were fateful. We esteem them high as though
the reason why they were able to die for Christ is because
of them. So surely God let them come in
his kingdom because they died for him in their own power. No
beloved. The reason why they die professing
Christ is because God is faithful to not allow His children to
deny Him. Not allowing His children to
deny Him when it comes to their life. Think about it, you've
got a gun pointed up to your head, or they're about to crucify
you, or they're about to set you on fire. And you know you can live, not
only you can live, but you can even save your family's life
if you just say, Jesus isn't Lord. The flesh is hither to say, Jesus
is not Lord. But the Spirit of God shouts
out, Jesus is Lord, Jesus is King. And the Spirit of God realizes
in that moment it's only by the grace of God that we worship
Him, only by the grace of God that we continue on with Him,
beloved. That Jesus says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life,
and no one gets to the Father except through Him. Do you believe
that, beloved? Are you trusting in that alone
for salvation? Oh, I pray that you are. And
I pray that when you're hurting, you're running to Christ. I pray
that when you're hurting, you get with me, get with James,
get with maybe a few more brothers and sisters in fellowship, that
you might receive the counsel of God's Word, and it might be
well with your soul. Don't go to these worldly people
no more. Don't go to these worldly means
anymore that you already know that's going to bring more misery
to your life. It's going to bring misery not
to your life, but everybody's life around you. Don't go to
them things no more. Run to Christ. Run to Christ, and it might be
well with your soul. Let us pray. Lord, I just pray, God, that
you would help us to trust in you alone. To believe in you alone. To call upon you alone. to help us when we suffer in
this life, to help us when we have burden on us in this life,
to have turmoil in our life, to help us to trust in you, Lord.
I pray at times, Lord, when our flesh rises up in doubt that
we're saved, that we would trust in you for salvation. Or Lord, at times when our flesh
rises up and we think we're better than others because we know the
truth, that we would die to ourselves and trust in you, Lord, or our
flesh rises up and makes us think that we're well with you and
okay with you and found favor in your sight because of who
we are. I pray we would die to ourselves and trust in you, God. Lord, that's my prayer for me
and prayer for my brothers and sisters in Christ, Lord, that
we would just seek you every day, that we would trust in you
every day to meet all of our needs. And I pray that you could
give us a love for your word that we could not sleep at night
unless we've been in it. I pray, Lord, you give us a love
for you that we must be praying at all times of the day. And
Lord, I pray that as we pray for ourselves and we pray for
our family members, Lord, that you might stir up our hearts
to pray for each other.