Amen. I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Never was there. I don't know how to say this in time or in eternity. A time when the bride of Christ was not precious to the heart of her husband. What a What a loving thought. Let's open our Bibles together to the 10th chapter of John, the 10th chapter of John. It's been a great blessing to go verse by verse through this, through this gospel account.

John builds the gospel, if you will, around the number seven. There are seven miracles recorded in the Gospel of John. And John concludes the Gospel by saying, many other things did our Lord, that are not recorded, many other miracles did he perform that are not recorded in this book, but these have been written in order that you might believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that believing you might have life. through his name. There are seven I am's in the Gospel of John. The Lord Jesus taking the very name of God, Jehovah, and revealing himself through those names seven times. I am the light of the world. I'm the bread. I'm the resurrection of the life. You know those. The number seven is important because it's a number of rest. God rested on the seventh day because his work was finished.

Now what a sinner needs is a place to rest. What God's sheep need is a green pasture that they can lie down in, eat to their full, and then rest without fear, without fear. When we come together, that is our hope. that the Lord will feed us with a bread that comes down from heaven, the bread of life, and that our souls will be satisfied. And the evidence of that is the same evidence that you're full after you eat a big meal. You get this slump about you, don't you? You gotta just sit down and rest. What a blessed thing it is when God gives rest to the soul because the work is finished. That's the number seven. The work is finished.

In addition to the seven miracles and the seven IMs, There are, in the Gospel of John 7, must, M-U-S-T, must. I've titled this message, Things That Must Be. The word must means required. It means obligated. It means there are things that must happen as a prerequisite for God's sheep to be saved, for God's people to be saved. There are some things that must be, that must be.

And without one of these must, there would be no place to rest. We'll start in the middle. of the seven because we're in John chapter 10. If anyone's to be saved, there are some things that must be, that must be done. And I would also say that the only reason that God would be required or obligated to do anything is because he has purposed it according to his own good pleasure and will. A must is a prerequisite, is a requirement. The only reason that God would be required or obligated to do anything is because he determined in his own divine will and purpose to accomplish something that required some prerequisites. These things must be. Ezekiel chapter 36 verse 36 says, the Lord hath spoken it and the Lord will do it. I have spoken it and I will do it. These are not must that would require us to do something.

These are the must that God requires in order for him to be holy and just and be able to justify sinners at the same time. God cannot compromise his justice. Most people have a message of salvation that sacrifices the justice of God on the altar of love. on the altar of mercy. Mercy cannot come unless these must be done. And he is the only one that can do them.

Now, this is a little beside the point, but I found it interesting that in the word, in the original language that our New Testaments were written in, The word in the Greek language for must is translated die. It's translated die, D-I-E. That's the Greek word for must. And as I thought about that, I just thought, you know, there's the beginning of these must. I have to die to self and the Lord Jesus has to die for my sins if I'm going to be saved. John chapter 10, verse 16.

The Lord Jesus, as we saw last Sunday, said in verse 15, I lay down my life for the sheep. Christ did not go to Calvary's cross to make an offering of salvation, to make an offer of salvation to all men. He went to the cross to offer himself to his father on behalf of his people. And he satisfied the justice of God and God said, I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. He laid down his life for the sheep and he saved every one of them. Now he's speaking to these Jewish people. And he says in verse 16, and other sheep I have, which are not of this fold. It's talking about us. Talking about the Gentile world. Them I must bring. I must bring them.

No man seeketh after God. They're lost sheep and they're not gonna find the shepherd. They have no idea what danger they're in. They're meandering out there in the wilderness, having no idea of the impending danger that is all about them. They think all is well. I'm going to have to leave the 99 and go out into the wilderness and find that one sheep, and I will do it for each one of my sheep. I must bring them. and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.

If the Lord did not, people say, well, I was looking for God. No, you weren't. No, you weren't. No, maybe looking for, A God, we all do that, a God that we can control, a God that we can get things from, use when we need him, and pocket him when we don't. But the God who reigns sovereign over the armies of heaven and over all the inhabitants of the earth, no man seeketh after him.

He must seek us. And that's exactly what he said, I must do. The only reason that God will be obligated or the only reason the Lord Jesus would obligate himself to seek after us is because he purposed to do that in the covenant of grace before time ever was. Turn with me, if you will, to John chapter three. John chapter three.

The Lord is speaking to Nicodemus, that ruler of the Jews, that man who knew the scriptures inside and out. that man who would have been highly esteemed among the population of Jerusalem, that man who himself was a member of the very Sanhedrin, the 70 Pharisees that gave spiritual leadership to the nation of Israel, at least they thought they did. And he comes to the Lord Jesus and the Lord tells him that He comes to him by night, which is a picture of his spiritual darkness. In spite of all the things that he thought he knew, he was spiritually, he was a lost sheep. He was a lost sheep.

And he says in his pride, in his, we know that thou have been son of God, for no man can do the things that thou doest, except God be with him. We've come to this discernment about you. We've come to this understanding because we know the Bible and we know that you could not do the things that you do except you do it in the power of God. And the Lord Jesus said in verse seven, well, let's back up to verse three.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus, you're blind to the truth of who I am. You've come to an obvious conclusion that these miracles could not be performed except they were done by the hand of God. But you're blind to the truth of who I really am. Nicodemus said to him, I'm sorry, you cannot see the kingdom of God except a man be born again.

And you know, we've always looked at how ridiculous this response of Nicodemus is, but it speaks of the impossibility of us birthing ourselves into the kingdom of God. This is a work of grace that he must do. Nicodemus asked the most ridiculous question that you wouldn't even, You wouldn't even articulate if you were in a conversation with someone about this sort of thing. You wouldn't expose your ignorance by saying, well, how can I go back into my mother's womb and be born again? You wouldn't say that. Why? Because you know that must not be what he's talking about because that's an impossibility.

But Nicodemus verbalized it for all of us to see by his words the absolute impossibility. of us birthing ourselves into the kingdom of God, doing anything that would cause us to have life. He must breathe life. And Jesus said, verily I say unto you, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Now the water is the washing of the water of God's word. This is why we spend so much time in the scriptures. This is why we compare scripture to scripture, because this is the means by which the Lord, faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God. How critically necessary it is that we spend time in God's word. And this is exactly what was pictured when the Roman soldier pierced the side of our Lord and first out came water and then blood. The water always comes first.

There's no salvation apart from hearing. How can they call upon him in whom they've not believed? And how can they believe on him in whom they've not heard? And how can they hear without a preacher? God has to use his word to preach the gospel to us before we can be birthed. Nicodemus, you gotta be born of water, but not just of water. Nicodemus, I know you know the Bible. but you have searched the scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life, but you've missed the meaning of the Bible. These are they which testified me. And only the Holy Spirit can do that. Only the Holy Spirit can open to your understanding the revelation of the gospel in light of the scriptures. Show me Christ, show me Christ.

And brother, I know that sometimes you think, You know, I never would have seen that had you not pointed it out. Well, don't take that as if God's not revealing himself to you. This is the means by which he reveals these hidden secrets, the mystery of the gospel. It's through preaching. If the Lord's pleased to show you something in your private devotion and study, thank God for it and rejoice in it, rest in it. But don't think because I never would have saw that, but if you hadn't showed it to me, don't think that means that God's not showing you something. He is showing it to you right now.

It's through the preaching of the gospel. Because there's other people that will hear what we're saying and they don't see it. They'll leave here thinking that they heard the same thing that they heard at their free will church. They can't discern the difference. So if God shows you something in preaching that you know you never would have seen apart from the preaching, rejoice in that as much as you would rejoice if you saw something just in your private devotion time.

By water and the spirit. Lord, give us your spirit. Lord, if without your spirit, the eyes of my understanding won't be open. Without your spirit, I will not be born again. Without your spirit, I won't see Christ. Without your Holy Spirit, I won't be kept. Without your Holy Spirit, I won't be convicted of my sin, not properly. Well, my conscience might convict me, but all men have a conscience. I need the conviction of the Holy Spirit. to bring me back to Christ, not just to make me feel sorry for something, but to cause me to flee to Christ.

Only the spirit of God can do that. Nicodemus, you've got to be born of the water and of the spirit. This is something outside of you. And if this doesn't happen, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh, Nicodemus' flesh. This is not a matter of reformation. This is a matter of regeneration. This is not a matter of turning over a new leaf or changing something in my life. This is a matter of having my heart changed.

And only the spirit of God can do that. Everything in man-made religion is nothing more than flesh. They that are after the flesh, they're the ones that mind the things of the flesh. That which is of the flesh is flesh. The flesh profiteth nothing. It cannot accomplish your salvation.

There is something that must be done. I must bring them. and I must birth them. Look, look at verse, that which is born of the Spirit, that's the Spirit. Marvel not that I say unto you, you must be born again. Now in the context of everything we just read, this matter of being born again is not something that I can do.

Lord, if I must be born again, you must birth me. You must do it. You must open the mystery of the gospel by the power of your word and your spirit to my heart. You must give me your Holy Spirit. Lord, I can't go back into my mother's womb and be born again. I can't accomplish this thing with the works of the flesh. This must happen.

The Lord still speaking to Nicodemus, look down with me to verse 14. Verse 13, and no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man, which is in heaven. Say, wait a minute. I don't know what that means. The Lord Jesus Christ is sitting there in the body of a man having a conversation with a man by the name of Nicodemus. He's the incarnate son of God. And as he is speaking to Nicodemus, he says to Nicodemus, the son of man is in heaven.

This is a mystery having to do with the nature and the omnipresence and the absolute sovereign deity of our God that we could never begin to comprehend, only to believe that our God is everywhere. Concerning the resurrection, the Bible speaks of the Father raising the Son from the dead. The Bible speaks of the Son raising Himself from the dead. The Bible speaks of the Spirit of God raising Him from the dead. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The triune, glorious, I am, three individual persons.

A God that is past finding out is now talking to Nicodemus saying, even the Son of Man, which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the servant, and let me warn us not to, we read these mysterious, glorious, descriptions of the Lord Jesus that are beyond our imagination. And our tendency may be to try to illustrate them or try to imagine them or try to explain them. And as soon as we do, we find ourselves in one heresy or another. Old preacher once said, our God is one in essence, and three in person. Try to explain the Trinity beyond that. Pick your heresy, because you're going to be in one. You're going to be in one. I'm just telling you what God's word says.

And this is glorious to us, and just a warning that we don't try to put our God in a box. We just believe whatever he's revealed about himself. With our inability to comprehend it, we don't understand anything that God has revealed about himself, especially these glorious mysteries about his nature. But we believe them. And here's the encouragement of it. Our salvation is not dependent upon our understanding. Our salvation is dependent upon faith.

Lord, I believe. Whatever you say, I believe. I believe it. Wouldn't be much of a God if we could understand him, would he? That whosoever believeth in him, not whosoever understandeth all these things and can dissect them and describe them and defend them, whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Now we've missed, we skipped over verse 14. Let's go back.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, you remember the story? The children of Israel had fallen into idolatry in the wilderness. God sent viper serpents into the camp. A picture of our sin, a picture of that serpent in the garden who's brought sin into the world. Picture of the death that comes as a result of sin. And Israelites were being bitten by these snakes and were dying. And Moses goes before the Lord, said, Lord, what do I do? And the Lord said, fashion a serpent made out of brass. That's what brazen serpent means, a serpent made out of brass. Put it on a pole and hold it up in the midst of the camp.

And if any man be bitten and he looks, he shall live. Notice the order. You had to be bitten by a poisonous serpent. You had to be dying from this venom that's in your blood system. person who had not encountered the snakes not worried about looking to live, only the one who's been bitten. If he's been bitten and he looks, he shall live.

He didn't say, tell the children of Israel, this is how to get rid of the snakes. Tell the children of Israel to make this sort of weapon or put out this sort of poison or build this sort of fence around the camp and that'll get rid of the snakes. He didn't give them any advice on what to do when dealing with the snakes. Not what we do so much, spend so much time trying to trying to deal with the snakes on the ground rather than looking to the serpent on the pole? Or said, no, if you've been bitten, you look.

For as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. If anyone's going to be saved, the Lord Jesus is going to have to be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He who knew no sin was made sin. The Lord Jesus bore our sins in His body upon that tree. And God poured out the full fury of his wrath against all the sins of all of God's people.

What are we told to do when we're dealing with the venomous serpents of sin and Satan and self in this world? Look to Christ. Look to Christ. For as Moses, Moses is a picture of the law. Moses didn't say, come to me and I'll beat you with the rod and maybe water will come out. No, Moses said, look to the serpent. For as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up.

This is a prerequisite for salvation. This was necessary. Why would God obligate himself to do something? because he purposed it in his divine will before time ever was to save a people, and this is the only way they'll be saved. The only way they'll be saved. This must be. Nicodemus, you must be born again.

I must bring them. I have other sheep. I know where every one of them is. And if I don't bring them, they won't come." Look at chapter 4, verse 24. The Lord's speaking to the woman at the well, a Samaritan woman. Let's go to verse four first, because there's two must in this story. There's two must in this story. John chapter four, verse four is the first one.

The disciples, being the Jews that they were, hated the Samaritans. The Samaritans were worse than the Gentiles. When the children of Israel were carried off into Babylonian exile, the Babylonians left some of the children of Israel behind. But as was the practice, they brought in pagans from other countries to intermarry with the Jews that were left behind so that that would weaken the strength of their religion and give the Babylonians more power over the land.

And that's exactly what they did. When Nehemiah and Ezra came back 70 years later to reestablish the worship of Jehovah, the law of God required that those Jews that had been left behind get rid of their wives and children. And some of them did. When Ezra stood up and read the law of God and said, you must get rid of your wives and your children.

We must purify the religion. of Israel, some of them did, some of them didn't. The ones who didn't became the Samaritans. They were half-breeds. They were the ones who had poisoned the religion of Israel by mixing with the worship of God the idolatry of other nations.

Now, I've often said that God is more grieved by what happens in brightly lit churches on Sunday morning than he is by what happens in smoke-filled, darkened bars on Saturday night. Why is that? Same reason why the Lord judged the Babylonians when the king took the vessels out of the treasury that were used in the worship of Jehovah. And now you remember the handwriting that was on the wall?

As soon as you mix truth with error, you're worse off than if you didn't have any truth at all. My brethren, my brothers and sisters who have attempted to share the gospel with your friends and family members, who would you rather speak to? A person completely irreligious or a person who is steeped in a false religion? I have found in my experience a lot easier to have a conversation with a person who doesn't know anything. You don't have to unteach them anything like you do That's the point here. That's the Samaritan. I'm just trying to say this is what the idea was in the minds and hearts of the Jews towards the Samaritans.

These people are worse than the Gentiles. They're worse than the pagans. And so the disciples in going from Galilee down to Jerusalem said, let's just go around Samaria. That's the way they always did it. And the Lord Jesus said, I must, verse four, John chapter four, I must, needs go through Samaria. Even those who have perverted the gospel, those who have mixed idolatry with the truth of the gospel. I've got lost sheep there too. I must bring them. I must needs go through Samaria.

The Lord had purposed to save that woman at the well and not only her, but many that were in Sychar who came not because of her testimony, but because he spoke to them and they believed the gospel. And many of these Samaritans were converted to Christ. I must, needs, go through Samaria. And then the Lord's talking with this woman at the well, and she tries to divert the attention away from herself.

And the Lord said, go get your husband. Well, I don't have a husband. Well, you spoke the truth. You don't have a husband. You've had five husbands. The man you live with is not your husband. What a sad life. And yet, the Lord must show mercy toward her. He must save her. He must because he ordained her salvation. He purposed her salvation. And so she tries to divert the attention away from herself, being ashamed of what he just said about her.

He said, well, you know, our fathers say that we should worship here at this mountain, but you say it in Jerusalem, the Lord said salvation's of the Jews. Salvation is only in the Messiah. That's what he meant by that. That's only through Israel will the Messiah come. But the day is coming and now is, look at verse 17 in this same, or verse 24 in this same chapter.

The hour is coming, verse 23, and now he is, when the true worshiper shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. Doesn't mean he's out looking for somebody that he can't find. It means that he seeks them and finds them. He seeks them and finds them.

God is a spirit, and they that worship him must Worship Him in spirit and in truth. Lord, if I'm gonna be able to worship God, you're gonna have to give me your spirit. I can't worship God without the Holy Spirit. Anything I do is just a ritual. It's just a religious act. It's just an outward performance. It's not worship. Worship is a matter of the heart, and that can only be done in the power of the Spirit of God.

And if I'm going to know Christ as the truth, you're going to have to give me that. You're going to have to reveal Christ to me, in me, and to me. I must bring them. Nicodemus, you must be born again, the son of man, must be lifted up. I must needs go through Samaria. And they that worship me must worship me in spirit and in truth. It's the only way it's going to happen. It must be so. Can't be any other way. Now turn with me to John chapter 9. Look at verse four.

I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work. The first words out of our Lord's mouth recorded in scripture when he was 12 years old was to his mother. Did you not know that I must be about my father's business. I must do the works that he sent me to do. The last recorded works before he bowed his mighty head on Calvary's cross, it is finished. Father into thy hands, I commend my spirit. John chapter 17, turn with me there real quick. John chapter 17. Look at verse four.

Our Lord is praying for his bride to his heavenly father, praying for the father to reward him for his work. That's what he's asking. He's interceding for his bride, but he's petitioning his father based on the faithfulness of his own work. He's saying, father, I have done what you sent me to do. And I did it all for the inheritance of my bride. I did it all for this beautiful bride that you have given me. And now in verse four, he says, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

I must work the works of my father. His work was culminated at the cross, no question about that. When he became sin, and the justice of God was satisfied, and he made himself an offering for sin, rejected of his father, forsaken by his father, rejected of his friends, that's when he finished the work. But everything from his birth to that day was prerequisite for that work that would be finished. And it was all the work, what am I saying?

Everything the Lord Jesus did was the work that the father gave him to do. That's all he was concerned about. His whole purpose in life was to please his heavenly father. was to do everything that his father gave him to do. And that's all he did. Everything he did was for the sake of fulfilling the work that was given to him of his heavenly father. And he finished the work. The evidence that he finished the work is his resurrection.

Turn with me to John chapter 20. Verse one, the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early when it was yet dark. Mary shows a love and affection that is extraordinary. She not the one from whom the Lord cast out seven demons? They that have been forgiven much, love much, love much. How much has the Lord forgiven me? Does that mean that you have to have lived in some debauched life in order to be able to love God? No, it means that the Spirit of God has revealed to you more and more about the hidden secrets of your sin and how wicked they are and how merciful He's been to forgive you of it. That's why when we grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ, we love him more and more because we see more and more of what he's done to deliver us.

Mary Magdalene, early when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth. She didn't go into sepulchre. She turned on her heels and she ran back to Simon Peter and to the other disciples whom Jesus loved.

Now that's how John identifies himself, the one whom Jesus loved, and sayeth to them, they have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not which they have laid him, assuming that his body had been stolen. Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple, and came to the sepulcher, so they ran both together, and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulcher. John got there first. But John fearful, of entering in, stooped down only to look. And looking in, he saw the linen clothes lying, yet when he nodded in, but here comes impetuous Peter, barging into this tomb. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulcher, and seeth the linen cloth lie, and the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen cloth, but wrapped together in a place by itself."

This is not the scene of a stolen body. This is a scene of one who raised from the dead and took the time to take the napkin and the clothing that he was wrapped in that mummy garment and fold them up neatly. He was the one who raised himself from the dead. This was a long purposed resurrection. This wasn't a hurried, anxious moment. This was all designed by God.

Then went in after that other disciple, which came first to the sepulcher, and he saw and believed. He saw the linen clothes folded up, and he believed. Not yet understanding, he believed. He believed yet what he could not comprehend, for as yet they knew not the scripture that he must, and here's the seventh must of the book of John, he must rise again. He must. There was no other way.

The father, being satisfied with what the Lord Jesus had accomplished in putting away all the sins of all of his people, raised him from the dead. Raised the son of God. He was offered up for our offenses and he was raised again. Now I know that Romans chapter 4 verse 24 I think that verse uses the preposition for when it says he was offered up for our offenses and raised again for our justification but that word for is often translated because of and I believe a better translation in that verse would be He was offered up for our transgression and raised again because of our justification. We were justified before God Almighty when the Lord Jesus Christ offered himself to his father for the sins of his people. And he was raised because all God's people are justified in him. These things must be, and if they are to be, he must do them. Adam? 103. 103, in the hard back time. Now, let's stand together, number 103.