what is it that distinguishes
God's people from all other people? What is it that distinguishes
the true believer from the mere religious professor? Can we really
know for certain what it is that separates those who are truly
born of God from those who merely profess to be born of God. Many
have the idea that by observing one's behavior, you can determine
whether or not he's born of God. Some are so foolish as to imagine
that by observing the way a person looks in his outward appearance
or dresses, you can discern who knows God and who doesn't. In
the light of that common judgment, I beg you to consider who could
ever imagine that David was a man after God's own heart when he
was in Bathsheba's arms or when he arranged the murder of Uriah. Who could ever imagine that Noah
had found grace in the eyes of the Lord as he lay in a drunken
stupor after coming out of the ark. Who could ever have dreamed
that Peter was indeed a man who loved Christ and was born of
God and taught of God when the Lord Jesus said to him, get thee
behind me, Satan. Now, Savior, it's not the things
that be of God, but those that be of men. The fact is, God's
people in this world are still, in all their depraved, fallen,
Adamic nature, sinners of their father, the devil, and can rightly
be called by the master himself, in the midst of our ungodliness,
Satan, because all that's evil in us is of the devil. And yet, God's people are a people
who are born of God, of whom it can rightly, truthfully be
said, we love him because he first loved us. How then can
you know who is born of God? The scripture says, whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now that's the
language of scripture. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. No matter what else you believe
or don't believe, if you don't believe that Jesus of Nazareth
is indeed the Christ of God, you are not born of God. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
16. I believe that Jesus is the Christ. That's my subject. That's the
title of my message. I believe that Jesus is the Christ. Not a Christ, but the Christ. The very Christ of God, the only
Christ of God. My conviction concerning him,
is so thorough and complete that I rest my entire soul upon Him
and Him alone. I trust to Him the totality of
my life and my being. He is made of God and to me wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. He is all I have,
all I trust, and all I want. outwardly, to the human eye,
to all natural appearance and reason. As he walked on this
earth, our Lord Jesus seemed to be just an ordinary man. They called him the Nazarene,
the carpenter. Many even called him an evil
man. Some called him Beelzebub. Others
said he was a glutton and a drunk. Isaiah told us that when he came
into the world, he would have no impressive form and no comeliness
that would attract us to him. Nothing about his nature, nothing
about his earthly demeanor, nothing about his outward behavior that
would naturally attract a person to him. He had no beauty that
we should desire him. The prophet said he is despised
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and
we esteemed him not. And let me give you my own paraphrase
of Isaiah's words. He was despised and we thought
he ought to be. We esteemed him not. He was born
in a poor, unknown, insignificant family. Because there was no
room for him in the inn, he was laid in a stable's manger. To
escape the wrath of Herod, his father took him and his mother
to Egypt. As the scriptures said, he must
be taken to Egypt. He grew up in a small out of
the way village called Nazareth and worked as a ordinary carpenter. He began preaching when he was
about 30 years old, but his ministry was attended by no one of significance. No one who had any power, authority,
or reputation walking on the earth listened to him preach.
His ministry was attended by a few poor fishermen, a ragtag
mug of fishermen, not the intellectual elite, not the politically powerful,
not the economically wealthy, but poor fishermen, the crude
men of society. You know, those people, the lower
class folks. The folks, mama and daddy don't
want you to marry, fishermen. Folks have the idea that somehow
another fisherman in those days were different from fishermen
in these days. You go hang around the docks where folks make their
living fishing, that's the kind of folks who followed him. That's
the kind of folks who followed him. And some harlots, and some
women who were of not much reputation, nobody else. Finally, Popular
opinion turned against him. The Lord of Glory was rejected
by men. Everything he taught, every single
thing he taught about sin, about God, about righteousness, about
redemption, about salvation, wrecks everything he taught the
religious world despised. Everything he taught. He didn't
say anything the Pharisees didn't object to. He said nothing the
Sadducees didn't object to. He said absolutely nothing that
the religious world around him said that can't be so. Both the
liberal and the conservative. And at last the Lord of Glory
was crucified like a common criminal on a Roman cross. When he died,
he was taken down from the cross and buried like a poor man in
a borrowed tomb. The tomb, however, by divine
arrangement, was the tomb of a rich man, because the scripture
said he made his grave with the rich. This man, however, was
no ordinary man. The religious people in the rest
of the world thought they were through with him. This man called
Jesus. We'll hear no more about him.
And if he had just been an ordinary man, they would have been done
with him. But this was no ordinary man. This man was and is the Christ
of God. the son of the living God, that
one of whom Moses and all the prophets spoke relentlessly throughout
the Old Testament scriptures. After three days, he was raised
up from the grave and seated on the right hand of the majesty
on high and declared openly to be both Lord and Christ. That's what Peter confessed in
Matthew 16. And that's what all who are born
of God know and confess. Every person, every sinner, no
matter how young, no matter how old, no matter how learned, no
matter how unlearned, every person who is born of God believes that
Jesus is the Christ. That is that he is the one who
fulfilled everything the prophet said the Christ would fulfill.
He actually accomplished everything the prophets said He would accomplish. Most people have the idea that
Jesus of Nazareth sort of had something to do with trying to
get some things done. That's about the best you can
say about it. That single victory in Jesus will tell you there's
no victory unless you accomplish it. They sing redeemed how I
love to proclaim it and tell you there's no redemption unless
you do something. They sing about being saved by
grace alone, but tell you there's no salvation unless you make
your contribution. They deny that Jesus is the Christ. I believe that Jesus is the Christ. Look here with me, Matthew 16,
verse 13. Let's read it again. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, whom do
men say that I, the Son of Man am? What are folks saying about
me? What are folks talking about
me about? And they said, some say you're John the Baptist.
They thought John the Baptist had come back from the grave.
Some say you're Elijah, that prophet that's supposed to be
the forerunner of the Christ. Others say you're Jeremiah, or
maybe one of the prophets raised from the dead. Anything except
you're the Christ. He saith unto them, but whom
say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, thou art the Christ. the Son of the Living God. Now watch this. And Jesus answered
and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjonas, for flesh
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee. If you know this,
you didn't learn it from a man. But my Father, which is in heaven,
and I say unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock That
is upon this solid rock of what you have just confessed, the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, the foundation of God
that stands sure. Upon this rock, I will build
my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against you.
Now I want you to hold your hands here, Matthew, and turn back
to 1 John again, 1 John chapter two. I believe that Jesus is the Christ. Peter said, thou art the Christ. The Lord Jesus said on this rock,
I'll build my church. First John chapter two, verse
22. Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ. denies that Jesus of Nazareth
actually accomplished all the scriptures said that Christ must
accomplish. He is anti-Christ. He is anti-Christ. He is anti-Christ that denieth
the Father and the Son. Chapter four, verse one. Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they
are of God. because many false prophets are
going out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. Every spirit
that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is
not of God. And this is that spirit of Antichrist,
whereof ye have heard that it should come. And even now already
Is it in the world? I believe that Jesus is the Christ. I ask you, what think ye of Christ? Who is he, really? What did he
do? Why did he do it? Where is he
now? What's he doing? Those questions,
simple as they are, are the most crucial questions you will ever
deal with. Who is Jesus Christ? What did he do? Why did he do
it? Where is he now? What's he doing? Let me show you from the scriptures
the importance of these things. By showing you what I mean when
I say I believe that Jesus is the Christ. He's the Messiah,
the Redeemer, the King, the Savior promised, prophesied, and portrayed
in the Old Testament Scriptures. Let me make seven plain statements,
and I will be very brief in making them. As indicated in the title
of my message, number one, I believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the
Christ. I've been trying to show you
who Christ is, showing you from the Scriptures, nothing else
matters. nothing else matters. Showing
you from the Scriptures who He is. Who is this man, Jesus of
Nazareth? Throughout the Old Testament
Scriptures, God by His prophets spoke of a man one specific man
who would come at the appointed time at the middle of the 70th
week of Daniel and be crucified and God said he would live again,
he would prosper and reign as king as a result of what he did
on this earth. This man is the woman's seed. That is, he will be a man born
without the aid of a man, a virgin-born child. This man is the seed of
David. This man, the one who is the
Christ, has got to be one who comes from David's royal seed. He is Abraham's seed. He's got
to be able to trace his lineage all the way back to Abraham.
When you read in the scriptures, we'll be getting to genealogical records in just
a little bit. When you read the book of Numbers they numbered
themselves. Why on earth do I have to read this? Why are those records
so important? And you read the genealogical
records. Our Lord Jesus was able in His day to trace His genealogy
all the way back to David, to Abraham, and to Adam. It was
a clear record. God had established it. Now,
these days, folks like to trace their family tree, and you get
some DNA, and you pay, I don't have, I've never checked into
it, I'm not interested. If you are, I feel sorry for you, but
they wanna find out their family tree. Somebody, I wanna find
out if there's somebody really noble in my family. Boy, that'd
make me feel good. Well, I'll tell you who's in your family,
Adam. Adam. And you can trace out, oh, I
came from some place in Africa. That's a pretty good narrowing,
isn't it? I came from some place in Australia. That doesn't help
much. But nobody in this day, nobody,
Jew or Gentile, nobody can trace his family tree back to Adam.
Nobody. Nobody. Folks today, I do not
suggest and I do not mean to imply anything in any way to
be anti-Semitic or racial in that regard, but folks today
who are Israelites, none of them can give you a genealogical record,
none of them. They've been destroyed long ago,
long ago. But in our Lord's day while he
walked on this earth, of all the things folks raised in objection
to him, Not one time did anyone question his genealogy. Not one
time. How come? Because this is the
man of whom the scriptures speak. Nathanael said, I found him of
whom Moses and the prophets did speak. He's come and told me
all things that ever I did. The Samaritan woman said, our
Lord Jesus Christ is that man who is himself God. The Christ
of God. Second, I believe that Jesus
of Nazareth, this man, is indeed very God of very God, the second
person of the Holy Trinity, in all things equal with the Father. Yes, he's a man, bone of our
bone and flesh of our flesh, but this man is God. read the early portion of Matthew
chapter 13 to you, or Matthew 16 to you just a little while
ago, I was struck with the fact. The disciples, they just reasoned
among themselves, we forgot to bring bread, so He's asking us
about bread. And the Lord Jesus perceived
their thoughts. Isn't that amazing? He perceived
how they reasoned among themselves. He wasn't present, but he perceived
what they were talking about. He who is the man, Christ Jesus,
is God Almighty, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent. As I told you, I think, last
week, Our Lady of Grace will be leaving in a month to go to
England. And I give her this comfort and
this knowledge, and I take this comfort and this knowledge. God
goes everywhere. I mean by that, God, our Savior,
goes everywhere. He is everywhere. He knows all
things, not learns all things. He knows all things. He never
learned anything. It is he who is God. Who but God could multiply loaves
and fishes just by breaking them. We take the bread at the Lord's
table and break the loaf, and after a while you got to the
end of it. He just kept breaking bread. He just kept on breaking it.
The more he broke, the more bread there was. He kept passing out
fish. The more he passed out, the more
fish there were. And it took him baskets full over when he
got done. How come? Because he's God. He's God. Well, you don't really
believe that, do you? If I didn't, I'd be the biggest
fake in this world. I'd be standing here lying to
you. I'd be a charlatan. I'd be a crook. I ought to be
locked up somewhere. Of course I believe this. He's
God. He's God. Who but God could say
to the dead, arise, and watch him get up and walk away? Who
but God could say, Lazarus, come forth, and everybody look at
Lazarus as he comes out of the tomb. That thing didn't happen
in a corner, Rex. Everybody saw it. Get to the
next chapter, and Lazarus is sitting at the table, and folks
are upset because many believed on him because they saw Lazarus
come out of the tomb. Who but God could do that? None
but God. None but God could fulfill all
righteousness. None but God could bring in everlasting
righteousness worthy of God, acceptable to God, and bring
it in as a man for men. None but God could suffer all
the fury of God's holy wrath and satisfy all the terror of
divine judgment in his own body as he suffered and died in our
stead. None but God could make satisfaction
worthy of God that reaches to man. None but God could raise
himself from the dead. He was raised by the Father,
He was raised by the Spirit, and the Scriptures speak plainly,
He raised Himself up from the dead because He is God. This is what all the Old Testament
Scriptures teach concerning the Christ. And this is what all
the New Testament teaches concerning Him as well. The Lord God said
to Him, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter
of thy kingdom is a right scepter. The New Testament declares that
He is God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He is God. God over all, blessed
forever. This One we worship, Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, this One we trust, is Himself God and man in one
person. As fully God as though he were
not man, as fully man as though he were not God, we look at him
seated in the heavens, that man seated in heaven in a body just
like mine, that man, that man who died at Calvary in a body
just like mine, that man! Himself God over all, blessed
forever, the infinite, eternal, incomprehensible God. Number
3, turn to 1 Corinthians 15, I want you to see this. I believe that Jesus of Nazareth,
the Christ of God, is the second man, the last Adam. I want you to look at it, 1 Corinthians
15, verse 21. Since by man came death, by man
came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Now that statement
in verse 22 can only be understood one of two ways. Either you understand
it to mean that every human being in the world died in Adam, And
every human being in the world shall be made alive in Christ.
And thus you believe in universal salvation. Believe everybody
going to heaven after all. And obviously that is not the
teaching of scripture. Or you understand it to mean
exactly what it says. Everybody represented in Adam,
the whole human race died in Adam. And everybody represented
in the last Adam, Jesus Christ the Lord, all God's elect live
in him. Look at verse 45. And so it is
written, the first man was made a living soul, or the first man,
Adam, was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. Two Adams, two representative
men, two federal heads, two men in whom all humanity is represented. One represents the whole human
race. The last represents a chosen
people out of Adam's fallen race. Verse 46. How be it that was
not first, which is spiritual, but that which is natural. That
is, the first one to be revealed was Adam. The first man to come
into the world was Adam. The first one being created on
the earth was Adam. And after that, which is spiritual.
Look at verse 47. The first man is of the earth,
earthy. The second man, who was that? The second man, well, the second
man was Cain. Is that right? Oh no, no, no. Cain was just
a descendant of Adam. Here's the second man. God deals
with all the human race in two men. Just two men. The first man, the second man.
The first Adam, the last Adam. He deals with everybody, either
by what we did in Adam in the garden, or what we did in Christ,
the second man, the Lord from heaven. Verse 48, As is the earthy,
such are they also that are earthy. As is the heavenly, such are
they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image
of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now the teaching of scripture with regard to Christ being the
federal head and representative of God's elect is plain and clear.
God, I repeat, deals with all men by just these two men. The first man and the second
man. The first Adam and the last Adam. This isn't some fine, insignificant
point of theological orthodoxy. This is vital. Deny federal headship. Deny representation. Deny substitution. And you deny everything revealed
in this book. The scriptures reveal these facts
plainly. Adam's sin was imputed to all
men, because we all sinned in Adam. When Adam sinned, we sinned
in him. Not just as a legal representative,
but as our physical, spiritual, moral representative. We were
in his loins. In him. That's a real union. We were in him. The sins of God's
elect were imputed to Christ because He was made sin for us. And Christ's righteousness is
imputed to all who believe because in Him we fulfilled the righteousness
of God. In Him. Levi paid tithes, how'd
he do that? He paid tithes to Abraham. Levi
didn't come around for a long time after that. It was nearly
500 years before Levi came around. How did he pay tithes in the
loins of Abraham? Or how did he pay tithes to Abraham?
He did it, to pay tithes to Melchizedek, he did it in the loins of Abraham.
He was in his loins, really in him. Mark Daniel, Christ is spiritually
our seminal head. We were in him. And he came to
John and he was gonna be baptized. And John said to him, oh no,
I can't do that, no. I know you're the Christ, you're
God, my Savior. And the Lord Jesus said, suffer
it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Now, I know we live in this society
full of Campbellites, but getting in water doesn't fulfill
righteousness. It does not in any way make you
more righteous. As a matter of fact, unless the
water's clean, it won't even make you clean. Getting in water doesn't
do anything for you. No, no, no, except symbolically. How did our Lord's baptism fulfill
righteousness? He who fully obeyed God was slaughtered
under the furious wrath of the Almighty until justice was satisfied
and there was no fury left in God until God could require no
more and he was buried. And three days later he rose
in a new life without sin. justified in the Spirit. And
when He did, Lindsay, we did it all in Him. I'm crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live
in this body of flesh, I live by the Son of God who loved me
and gave Himself for me. He is my head and my representative. Number four, I believe that this
man who is God Jesus Christ of Nazareth holds the fate and eternal
destinies of all men in His hands. He is sovereign Lord over all. Romans 14 verse 9, To this end
Christ lived and died and revived, that He might be Lord both of
the dead and the living. What's that talking about? Lord
of folks who are in the grave? Yeah, talk about that, sure enough.
That's not what, that's not all I'm saying. He's Lord, Bill Raleigh,
of everybody, both those who are alive before God spiritually
and those who are dead in trespasses and in sins. As much the Lord
of Satan as he is of the angels of God. He's Lord, sovereign,
has power to give eternal life to whom he will, and he always
does. He has mercy on whom he will
have mercy. He saves whom he will save. You
see, salvation belongeth unto the Lord. It belongs to our God. Salvation is his. He can give
it to you or not, it's up to him. He can give you faith or
not, it's up to Him. He can give you life or not,
it's up to Him. Nothing depends on you. Nothing's
determined by you. It's all together in His hands.
Somewhere along the road, this religious generation got everything
turned upside down and backwards. The great question and concern
is not what will you do with Christ? I'll tell you what you're
gonna do with Him, nothing. You're not gonna touch Him. Man
not ever gonna get his hands on him again. Oh no, you can't
do anything with him. The question is, what's he gonna
do with you? Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. Lord,
if you will, you can save me. Lord, if you will, you can have
mercy on me. Anyone who knows Christ, knows
that mercy, grace, and salvation, eternal life is his prerogative. What will he do with you? Knowing
who he is, you'd be wise to cry. You who are his, know this, and you cry like this. You who are not would be wise
to cry. Pass me not, oh gentle Savior. Hear my humble cry. while on
others thou art calling, do not pass me by. I come here to this
house and I know the Lord's gonna meet with somebody. He's gonna
speak to somebody. He's gonna call somebody. I sit
down and listen to a man preach the gospel as I'm preaching to
you. I know God's gonna speak to somebody and I beg of him,
God, speak to me. Oh, God, speak to me. Let me
hear your voice. it's all together up to Him whether
I do or not. Number five, I believe that all praise, honor,
glory and preeminence has been given to and rightly belongs
to Jesus Christ the Lord. He alone is worthy of all praise,
all honor, glory as our Savior. It pleased the Father that in
all things He should have preeminence. You turn to the book of Revelation and you hardly get into the first
chapter until you see the saints of God saying, Thou hast loved us and washed
us from our sins. You've redeemed us. You've made
us kings and priests unto God. To you be honor and glory forever
and ever. Amen. You get to chapter four. And you see all creation bowing
down before him, all creatures saying, he's worthy, he's worthy,
he's worthy, he alone is worthy. You get to chapter five and you
see all the saints of God gathered around the throne crying, worthy
is the Lamb. And at last all creation crying,
worthy is the Lamb. You get to the end of the book
and they're still saying, worthy is the Lamb. Because He who redeemed
us with His blood out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue,
He who is the Christ, Jesus, the man of Nazareth, the Christ
of God, our Redeemer. He is worthy of all praise, all
honor, all power, all dominion, all glory. It's perfectly right,
Jerry Sadler, for Him to have everything in His hands. This man who is God, our Redeemer. Number six. I believe that all,
Jew, Gentile, male and female, young and old, rich and poor,
all who hear his voice, all who hear his voice of mercy and his
word of grace, his word of life in the gospel, all who believe
in their hearts and that Jesus is the Christ have eternal life. We read it earlier, whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Not shall be
born of God, he is born of God. He that hath the Son hath life. You see, those who believe, believe
because they've been born of God. They've been called, they've
been given life. Believing that Jesus is the Christ,
you are free from the curse, penalty, condemnation, and dominion
of God's law. Believing that Jesus is the Christ,
you have been judged in Christ, punished in Christ, raised up
in Christ under glory, for you lived and died and rose again
with him. I am not skilled to understand.
what God hath willed, what God hath planned. I only know at
his right hand is one who is my Savior. I take him at his
word indeed. Christ died for sinners, this
I read. And in my heart, I find a need
of him to be my Savior. One more thing, I believe that
at the appointed hour, the hour appointed by God before the world
began, Jesus Christ shall come again. At the appointed hour,
we will die, you and me. It is appointed unto men once
to die. God set the bounds of your habitation
and mine, and you're not gonna shorten it. And I'm not going
to shorten it. Nobody's going to shorten the
bounds of your habitation or stretch it out. And nobody's
going to lengthen the bounds of your habitation or stretch
it out. At the appointed hour, God will take the last breath
out of your body. For some, that comes before they
come from the womb. For some, that comes in their
old age. For most, it comes suddenly. For most, it comes suddenly.
Saw on the news last week, a week before, young man, 21 years old,
young athlete. He wasn't stricken down by a
car. He wasn't shot in a drive-by shooting. He wasn't robbed and
shot. He wasn't on a battlefield somewhere.
He got the flu. Got feeling bad. Went to the
hospital and dropped dead. At the appointed hour, you will
leave this world and me too. And you'll meet God in judgment. And God's gonna deal with you
in absolute justice. He'll give you exactly what you
deserve, either in Adam or in Christ. Either in yourself or
in Christ. And you'll go to heaven because
Christ is worthy. or you'll go to hell because
you're fit to be damned. That's all, that's all. And then
our Lord is coming again. Behold, he cometh, and every
eye shall see him. He's coming to raise the dead,
the wicked and the righteous, the just and the unjust. to raise
the dead, either to suffer the terrors of God's justice forever
in a body in hell, or to enjoy the bliss of life. And anything short of Christ
is not life. but he will raise the just to
enjoy the bliss of life eternal in perfect union with and complete
conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now how can I persuade
you to believe on him who is the Christ of God? Knowing therefore the terror
of the Lord, but persuade you I can't. I can't. Doesn't lie within the realm
of possibility. Oh God, will you? As you have sweetly, graciously
forced us into the arms of your Son, will you sweetly, graciously
force these here into the arms of our Savior?
Give them life and faith. by irresistible omnipotent power
possessed of God alone. Amen.