I want to read to you this morning from two different passages of
Scripture. And the first one is found in
the Gospel of John, chapter 1, and verse 14. The Gospel according
to John, chapter 1, verse 14. Very familiar passage of Scripture. And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." And
then the second portion I want to read to you is over in 2 John,
the 2nd epistle of John. In 2 John, verse 7, he says,
For many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver
and an antichrist. Look to yourselves. I found that
of particular interest. That's the last place we want
to look, ain't it? Huh? Look to yourselves that we lose
not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive
a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. If there come any unto you, now he's not talking about some
casual thing down at the store where you bump into somebody
here. He's talking about somebody who comes and teaches. Somebody
hears something that you have to say, and they say, whoa, that
ain't right. Here's what's right. And they
start to tell you. That's what he's talking about.
If any come unto you, And bring not this doctrine. Receive him
not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. For he that
biddeth him Godspeed, or good day, is what the term means. You have a good day. You so much
as bid him have a good day, Godspeed, you are a partaker, a partaker
of his evil deeds. Now that's what the Word of God
says. What is he talking about when he says, those who confess
not that Jesus Christ is come into the flesh? What's he talking
about here? Well, he's first saying this,
they deny the deity of Christ. They deny what I read to you
in the book of John, that the eternal Word, the Word who was
with God in the beginning and who was God, came into the flesh, took in
union with himself, flesh and bones, was born of a woman, lived
as a man on this earth. They deny that. In Galatians
4, verse 4, Paul said, When the fullness of time was come, God
sent forth His Son, capital S-O-N, second person of the Godhead,
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption
of sons. Secondly, to deny that Jesus
Christ is coming to the flesh is to deny the necessity of His
incarnation. It was necessary that God take
to Himself a union of flesh and bone. It's necessary. Necessary. If a man denies the necessity
of that, he denies that Jesus Christ has come into the flesh.
And he's an antichrist. He's an antichrist. To deny that Jesus Christ has
come into the flesh is to deny the necessity of His incarnation,
His coming into the flesh to save chosen sinners. You see,
God cannot suffer or die, and man cannot satisfy or produce
a righteousness. He can't do it. Only the God-man
can do both. Just Him. Him alone. It's necessary. Third, to deny that Jesus Christ
is coming to the flesh is to deny the sufficiency of His accomplishments
as the God-man. I don't care how you do it, and
it takes a lot of forms and fashions. Universal redemption denies the
sufficiency of His incarnate accomplishments. And I'm going
to define that term for you. When I'm using the word incarnate,
maybe some of you don't know what that means. That means He
came into the flesh. God become one with man. Or man become one with God. You
define it any way you want to. I don't know what that means.
I just look at it and wonder. He's the God-man. He's the mediator. He's the mediator. Universal
redemption denies that. Because it says His sacrifice
is not sufficient to redeem all men. It's just a down payment. It's
just an effort. It denies that sufficiency. It denies His accomplishments
as the God-man mediator. In 1 Timothy 2, verse 5, He said,
There is one God, And one mediator between God and men, the man. You see that? The man, Christ
Jesus. Just one. Just one mediator. This one man who stands between
God and men to reconcile. To reconcile God, to reconcile
men. One mediator. The man, Christ
Jesus. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
5. There is only one sin of God,
approved of God, and who is in fact both God and man to reconcile
men and God. Now, look at this here in 2 Corinthians
5. Look at verse 18. And all things are of God who
hath reconciled us to Himself. This is the first part of reconciliation. He must be reconciled. He is
the Judge. He is the Creator. He must be
reconciled. Our sins are separated between
us and God. God must be satisfied. He must
be reconciled. All things are of God who hath
reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. He's made us acceptable. He's given us a righteousness.
He's cleared us from guilt. Freed from the dead. Took away
the enmity. He's given to us the ministry,
He said, of reconciliation. To wit, verse 19, that God was
in Christ. Do you see that? God was in Christ. His name is Emmanuel. God with
us. This is the God-man. The Word
become flesh, and we saw His glory. That's what John said.
They didn't see it. They saw the man. They saw Jesus,
the Son of the Carpenter. They saw that babe in Bethlehem's
manger. They saw Him. What they didn't
see was God. God was in Him. John said, we
saw His glory. The glory is of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto Himself. How did He do it? Not imputing
their trespasses unto them. That's how He did it. And to deny the sufficiency of
the incarnate accomplishments, that is what He did as a man
for us that we could not do for ourselves, is to confess not
that Jesus Christ has come into the flesh. If I deny that, I
deny the necessity. I deny the whole ball of wax.
You see what I'm saying? And then fourthly, to confess
not that Jesus Christ has come into the flesh is to deny His
resurrection and exaltation and His dominion as the conquering
King of glory and the firstborn from the dead. That's what God
called him, the firstborn from the dead. There is a man in glory. Can you get a hold of that? I
stand before you this morning, a man. You know me, you know
where I live. There is a man in glory. Think about it. Just like you
and I, a man sitting at the right hand of God. Fully approved. Exalted. Given all authority
and all power. Brought to be head over all principalities
and all things, over providence. A man. Flesh of our flesh. He came up to his disciples and
he said, give me a piece of fish. He took that piece of fish and
ate it and stood there and talked to them. He took a drink. Stood there
before them. They looked at him. This was
the resurrected Christ. And right before their eyes,
He ascended up into glory. And they just stood there and
looked. Probably what I'd have done. Stood there and looked.
And they said, why are you standing there gazing? He's going to come
back. Who's going to come back? That
same one that you saw going up. He is going to come back in like
manner. Except this time, not in his
humility, but in his glory. There is a man in glory. A man who knows my feelings,
who knows my thoughts, who knows my weaknesses, who knows my inability. There is a man tempted in all
points like as we are. I don't care what the problem
is. I don't care what the trouble is. You can go to Him and He
understands and knows where you're coming from. There's a man in
glory, exalted. And He told His disciples, He
said, I'm going to give you a commission to go and to preach. And here's
the basis. All power has been given into
My hands. That power, all power, been given
into My hand. Go ye therefore into all the
world. Paul prayed that God would give
the Ephesian church a knowledge of His power and authority, His
resurrected power and glory that God wrought in Christ when He
raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand
in heaven. He said in chapter 1 verse 21
of Ephesians, far above all principality and power and might and dominion
and every name that's named, not only in this world but also
in that which is to come. And it put all things under His
feet. They're under His feet. They ain't up here giving Him
a challenge. They're under His feet. These principalities are not
on equal ground tugging and fighting. They are under His feet. Under His feet. And gave Him to be head over
all things to the church which is His body, the fullness of
Him that filleth all and all. And you, me and you, and you, at the Quicken who were
dead. And he can, and he will. There is a man in glory with
all power, all authority, everything, all of his enemies under his
feet. He's expecting, Paul said, until his enemies be made his
footstool. He chose us. He saved us. and
by an eternal union raised us up and seated us with Him in
the heavens. And He can effectually save men's
souls because He bought the right to do it. You see, that's the
problem. I don't have the right to do
it, but He does. He can save you and be right. God said, I have sent him out
to declare myself to be just and justifier of those that believe
in him. And all who teach any doctrine
which is in any way used to pervert the gospel of Christ is an antichrist. And we are to avoid them like
the plague, have nothing to do with them. Do not bid them good
day. Don't get involved in conversations
with them. Leave them alone. Leave them
alone. Because as surely as you get
tangled up with them, they're going to tangle you up. That's
what's going to happen. And you're going to become a
partaker with them of their evil deeds. Everything between the
covers of this book concern the Lord Jesus Christ. They make
up what John calls here the doctrine of Christ. They're just one doctrine.
They're just one teaching. I know it takes many passages,
like a diamond has many sides, but they're just one doctrine. That's the doctrine of Christ.
It's the doctrine of Christ. You can't talk about predestination
without bringing Christ into it. You can't talk about election
without talking about in whom we were elected. Christ is the
doctrine. Every page of this book, it makes
up what John calls here the doctrine of Christ. He's the living word
of which the written word testifies. To Him give all the prophets
witness that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall
receive remission of sin. And all of the teachings of Holy
Scriptures are designed to magnify His name and bring chosen sinners
to saving faith in Him. A vital union, Brother Johnson
used to say. And what makes us different?
Now, I want you to hear me. What makes us different from
all other religions of this world and what separates the truth
from all other religious ramblings in this world is that the truth
is a person. A person. We don't preach decisions. We don't preach commitments.
We preach a person. That's hard to get a hold of.
Huh? Since I was that big, they told
me this and told me that, told me to trust this and trust that,
learn this, learn that. All through my life I've heard
from this one, heard from that one, well you need to believe
this, you need to believe... I'll tell you what you need to do, you
need to embrace Christ! He's a person! A person! Everything in this book has to
do with Him! It has to do with Him. He's the
living Word of which the written Word testifies. He is the way. That's what the Scripture says. The disciples said, well, how
are we going to know the way? I am the way. How are we going
to know the truth? I am the truth. How do I know
if I have life? He is the life. Paul said, we preach Christ. We preach Christ. In His eternal
equality with the Father, in God's eternal appointments,
in His prophecies from the beginning of time, in His appearance on
this earth, in His life and death, in His sufferings, in His resurrected
glory and dominion, in His expected return, we preach Christ. He
preached the person. And the Jews hated that person
and therefore despised that message. To preach Christ, I must preach
doctrine. Now hear me. It is impossible
to preach Christ and not preach doctrine. There's no such thing as a pastor
who does not teach. They're pastor-teachers. That's
what they are. In the book of Matthew chapter
28, he tells us, having told us that all power has been given
unto Him in heaven and earth, he said, now you go and teach
all nations. I can't teach this handful here.
How am I going to teach all nations? He's going to do the work. He'll
teach. He'll teach. I forgot to bring it with me
this morning, the message I brought to you last week on unbelieving
relatives there in John chapter 7. I've got responses from California,
Indiana, going on and on. One lady wrote me and said, you
have described my experience to a T. Exactly, exactly what
I'm going He'll teach. And as I read to you a while
ago in the lesson, John quotes from Isaiah, and he says, they
shall all be taught of God. I cannot preach to you and not
preach doctrine. However, it is very possible
to preach doctrine and not preach Christ. You understand the difference? I can stand up here every week
and I can pick a doctrine and we can talk about election and
I can go through here and I can show you 27 times where it talks
about election in the New Testament and I can talk to you about all
those things. But I haven't accomplished anything
if I don't talk to you and preach election as it has to do with
Christ. It's not going to do you any
good. I heard Brother Bernard make
a statement one time and it shocked me and I thought about it for
years. He was talking about this thing
of folks arguing back and forth over whether God has an elect
or whether He intends to save all men. He said, it's not going
to do you one iota of good because both things depend on a union
with Christ. Simply being convinced of election
is not going to do you any good. Not going to do you any more
good than it was to be convinced of universal atonement. What's
going to do you good is to be vitally connected to Him. When
you are, you'll understand particular redemption. It's Christ. Christ. You can preach doctrine. and
not preach Christ. And I'll tell you this, the first
principle of Antichrist is to separate Christ from the Word
of God. Just take him out of the Word
of God. What in the world, where are
you going with that? Well, I'm going here. The Scriptures are
of no value to you apart from Christ. I don't care if you memorize
them. It won't do you any good. They
cannot produce life, reform, renew, or convert. In John 5,
verse 38, the Lord told the masters of Jewish theology, the highest
learned of the Jews, that they had not His Word abiding in them,
because whom the Lord has sent, Him you believe not. Now listen to this next statement.
John 5, verse 39. Here's what he tells them. Search
the Scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life. And that's what religion does,
and that's why it does it. They're fascinated by its mysterious
prophecies. They're fascinated by its predictions
of future events, the rapture, the judgment, the end of time,
Armageddon. Ezekiel's wheels. All these things. Daniel's weeks, his 70 weeks. And you search them in ceremonial
duty, hoping that your efforts of reading the Word of God on
a regular basis will establish a righteousness and make you
more acceptable to God. You search the Scriptures as
a guide to morality. And you're convinced that in
your searching that you've acquired life. You search the Scriptures
as a catechism of religion, dotting all the i's and crossing all
the t's. Search the Scriptures, for in
them you think you have eternal life, and they are they that
testified Me. And you will not come to Me that
you might have power. Huh? It doesn't do you any good.
I don't care what you believe. It makes no difference. Unless
it brings you to Christ, it's of no value to you. No value. Like yonder in the garden, God
come to Adam, exposed his nakedness, exposed the foolishness of his
attempts to cover it up, and has slayed before him a lamb
to picture his redemption. and covered him with his skins
to picture his righteousness. And then he gave to him that
blessed promise of the coming Redeemer, a virgin-born man who
is God over all, blessed forever, a man who would come and stand
in our room instead by a covenant made and ordered in all things
before the world began. He'd be a priest like Melchizedek
and a king like David and a prophet like Moses. He'd be the seed
of Jesse and the offspring of David. He'd be the Holy One of
Israel. A man, you see that? All the
way through the Scripture, He keeps talking about this promised
Redeemer, this virgin-born man. Everything concerning His work
was pictured and detailed thousands of years before His coming. A
Savior for sinners. one of whom the volume, he said,
of the book is written of me, that I come to do Thy will, O
God. And by His doing and dying, He
sanctified us once for all." He is salvation. He is the root
out of dry ground that Isaiah talked about. Nothing divine
in His countenance, despised and rejected of men, a man of
sorrow and acquainted with grief. And we hid from Him. We hid from
Him. We didn't want to look to Him.
There was nothing in Him to look to. We hid from Him in our traditions
and ceremonies and rituals. We despised Him and esteemed
Him not. We looked at Him. He's just another holy man, just
another martyr. He's just an example. We didn't esteem him. We all turned our backs on him,
gave him no special recognition or attention. All we like sheep,
Isaiah said, have gone astray and everyone turned his back
on him, went his way. Oh, but this One who found no
recognition of man was born to that end. And He bore our griefs
and carried our sorrows. And it was Him that was wounded,
wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, the
chastisement of our peace upon Him, and were healed by His stripes. He was oppressed and afflicted
and opened not His mouth, brought like a lamb to the slaughter,
Opened not his mouth, he was taken from prison and judgment
and cut off out of the land of the living, stricken down for
the transgression of God's elect. And he made his grave with the
wicked and the rich in his death. And it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. God put him to grief. When God made his soul an offering
for sin, he saw his seed, prolonged his days, and the pleasure of
the Lord prospers in his hand. still prospered in his hand. He looked down upon his son in
his anguish and travail of soul, suffering to bring forth the
children of God. And God looked upon him and it
says he was satisfied. Satisfied. In what? In his son. All the sacrifices with Offerings
and sacrifices, he says in Hebrews 10, he was never satisfied. He had no pleasure. But he looked
on his son and was satisfied. He was satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
bear Him in His own body on the tree. Salvation is in a person,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the promised one, the sent
one, the incarnate Son, the Word made flesh dwelling among us.
He's the righteous servant, the dying Lamb. He is the knowledge
by which we're justified by faith. And He is the ascended one, sitting
at the right hand of God, expecting till His enemies be made His
footstool. There is a man in glory, and this book testifies
of Him, points to Him, governs by Him, saves to the uttermost
those who come unto God by Him. Living, reigning, arranging,
interceding, seated with a name, He said, a name above every name,
all power and authority to give eternal life to as many as the
Father hath given unto Him. I'm not up here trying to change
your mind about election or predestination. You don't understand it and I
don't either. I just know it's so. I just know it's so. I'm trying to point you to a
crucified, risen Redeemer, the Savior of sinners. I'm laboring
to tell you and teach you what God has promised in His Son,
testified about His Son, revealed in His Son. His Son is the issue. What think ye of Christ? That's
what He said. Whose Son is He? But we won't make everything
on Sunday issue except the real issue. I'm doing the best I can. In
the articles I write, in the Bible studies we have, in the
preaching I bring to you on Sunday mornings, that everything God
has for sinners is in Christ. It's in Christ. Trust Him. Rest in Him. Believe
on Him. Commit to Him. Serve Him. Love Him. Give yourselves to
Him. The Bible calls him the rose
of Sharon, the lily of the valley, the bright and morning star.
And old Peter said, the best thing for you to do, he said,
you've got a more sure word of prophecy, just stay right there
in it and look for Christ and ask God to give you a revelation
of His Son and just stay right there until that day star arrives
in your heart. sitting over there at the gate
of that old temple in Jerusalem. There was a man laying from his
mother's womb. And they carried him up there,
it says, laid him there on his old dirty blanket. And they brought
him up there before the times of services, and as men and women
come in, he begged for alms, just something to get by on,
something to get him some food. And as they approached, it says
Peter fashioned his eyes on that beggar. And he said, silver and gold
have I none. I don't have any. But he said, such as I have,
give I unto thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, rise up and walk. And that old beggar stood up,
and went into the temple, and he'd walk a few steps and leap,
and walk a few more and leap, and praise God, and those Pharisees
couldn't stand it. And they came over there and
they brought him up into judgment, and there Peter sat before them
all in judgment, accusing him of this and accusing him of that. We're in Acts chapter 4. And
Peter preached to them, and here's what he told them. He said, Be
it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that
by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified,
whom God raised from the dead, even by Him does this man stand
here whole before you. This is the stone you built,
or said it not, it has become the head of the corner. Neither
is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name
unto heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." A man, a person, one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, alive in glory,
sitting on the Father's throne. The heavenly host gathered around
Him. Isaiah saw it, high and lifted
up. His train filled the temple. They weren't looking at the columns,
they were looking at the train of the King. That's what filled
the temple. And he said, I looked and saw
the seraphims, and they had covering their eyes and covering their
feet before Him. And all day long, hovered there
in His presence, crying, Holy, Holy, Holy. I saw His glory. And he said,
I'm undone. I'm undone. He said, I'm a man
of unclean lips. He's alive in His glory, sitting
on the Father's throne. The heavenly host gathered around
Him, His pain and His glory, filling the temple. Sent to save. Risen to save. The Lord Jesus
Christ took us unto Himself. Become one with us. His name
shall be called Emmanuel. God with us. Permanently. One with us. What more can a
sinner hope to find to convince him of the willingness of God
to save than the Lord Jesus Christ? What more can you ask? Being in the form of God, he
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Philippians chapter
2. Verse 7, "...but made himself
of no reputation, and took on him the form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of men, and being found in passion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross." Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted
him, and given him a name above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, things in heaven, things in earth,
things under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And now, he
says, beloved, obey this gospel. Obey this gospel with the mind
of Christ and work out your own salvation in fear and trembling,
for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of
His good pleasure." Many deceivers are entered into the world who
confess not that Jesus Christ has come into the flesh. They
confess it not by denying the necessity of it. the promise
of it, the eternal purpose of it, the sufficiency of it, the
fact of it. As He is now seated in glory,
and here in our presence, where two or more are gathered in my
name, He said, I'm going to be in the midst. In the midst. Now you can assemble a thousand
over here that's not gathered in His name. He's not there.
He's not there. If you gather in His name, He's
here. He's here. What separates us from all other
religions is that everything we preach hinges on the Son of
God who loved us and gave Himself for us. We preach and believe
that the incarnate God and the Person of Christ is all. Not
some, all. Paul said, as you have received
Christ Jesus, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, because
in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In a man. In a man. Embrace Him. Embrace
Him. And those who do not preach and
believe this doctrine of Christ, they are deceivers. And they
are themselves deceived. They are anti-Christ. They're not anti-good works.
They're not anti-community minded. They're anti-Christ. Anti-Christ. Go down there with
a difference of opinion and see what they tell you. They won't
part with you. Until you go down there with
this doctrine of Christ, they'll part with you just like that.
Why? They're anti-Christ. Our Father, we pray that You'll
take Your Word and give us an understanding
of the glory of the sufficiency of Christ, and give us a heart to lay hold
of Him, embrace Him, and love Him, and serve Him, and believe
on Him, and rejoice in Him for Christ's sake. Amen.