I'll turn with me to Acts, the
fourth chapter. The book of Acts, the fourth
chapter. And primarily we're going to
be looking down here at verses 11 and 12. And I want to talk to you tonight
about his name. His name. Now, this story begins
back in chapter 3. of the book of Acts, when Peter
and John, about the ninth hour, went up to the temple, it was
the time of prayer. Just like we have times when
we gather in this building, they had designated times of prayer,
and times for the reading of the Word, and times for worship,
and times for sacrifices, and all these things. And it was
about the time that they gathered together for prayer, and they
went up and they were going through the gate. And there was a man
there. It doesn't really say how old
he was, but he was carried up there daily. And he was laid
at the gate which is called Beautiful, that gate of the temple. This temple was just something
else. It was a marvelous building in
its day. And they laid him there because
Whoever took him up there, whether it was his parents or whoever
it was that took him up there, they knew that people would be
going to and from out of that temple every day. And they'd
take him up there and set him down, and he could ask alms and
ask for donations and things as people passed by. And sure
enough, when Peter and John passed by, he asked an alms of them. They were nobody special to him.
They were just another somebody coming in the temple. That's
all it was. And he was doing what he'd done for years. He
was a beggar. He was a crippled man and a beggar. And he was carried up there and
he was laid there. But he was laid there in the
providence of God, is what I want you to see. Now, I'm telling
you, I look back on my life and I see all these events and all
these things that I did. And to me, while I was doing
them, it was just circumstance. It was just as luck would have
it. How often have I used that phrase? And then I come to know something
about the providence of God. And I understand now, and I look
back now, and I can see those things. Now, somebody physically
took him up and laid him there, but he was laid there in the
providence of God. And then here comes two men.
There was all kinds of people coming in and out of that temple.
And he didn't get every person that come through the gate. But
he just happened to get Peter and John. Providence of God. And he asked
in arms of them, and Peter turned, and him and John both fastened
their eyes on him. And Peter said, Silver and gold
have I none, but such as I have, give I unto thee. And he took
him by the hand and he said, rise in the name of Jesus of
Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him and he
pulled him up and that man stood up and strength came into his
ankle bones and into his feet. This man had never walked, never
walked. He was crippled from his birth. He had never walked. Strength
came into those ankle bones and into them feet and into them
legs. And Jesse, he got up and he not only walked, but he began
to leap, to leap. And it says he was hanging on
to John and Peter. I can just imagine. He wasn't
going to let go. And he walked with them into
that temple, hanging on them and leaping and praising God.
And there was a multitude of people. It says in the text,
it says more than 5,000 believed that day, and not everybody believed.
So I don't know how many people were there, but it was just a
throng of people coming into this temple. The temple was the
central focal point of all the worship of the Jews. And here
they were coming into this temple. And all these people passed by
this burger no telling how many years. They knew Him. You've
got people in the little towns that you're from, and you see
them in these circumstances, and you get used to it, and you
see them every day. They knew who He was. And they saw Him,
and He was leaping and walking and praising God and hanging
on these two men. And everybody came over where
Peter and John was. They recognized what took place.
This was a miracle. There wasn't nothing put on about
this. They knew that man. They knew he didn't just get
up and walk. This man had never walked. And they come over and
Peter said, Well, don't look on us as though by our own holiness
or any of that that this man is standing here before you.
Don't look on us in that regard. This man is standing here because
God determined to glorify his Son. We've gathered in here to worship
tonight. And we will if in the purpose of God His Son can be
glorified. Otherwise, we're not going to
worship. We're just going to play church
and go home. Everything that happens in time happens because
this is the eternal determination of God, if you will. It's the
eternal counsel of God. before the foundation of the
world to set forth and glorify His name in this man. That's what it's all about. It's
not about me. It's not about God feeling sorry
for you. God doesn't feel sorry for you.
I'll show you that here in just a little bit. He doesn't feel
sorry for you. He either loves you or He can't
stand to look at you. Want to look? Want to look? There's
no middle ground. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I what? Hated. That's what it says, ain't
it? Hated. Well, Esau did something in order
for God to hate him. That ain't what it says. It says,
These two, before they were born, having neither done good nor
evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand,
it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it
is written, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated." When did
he say it? Before they were born. Now, that
is what this book declares. This book declares that God,
before the foundation of the world, has determined to glorify
His name. He is going to do it through
the redemption of sinners. And this redemption of sinners
is all together in this man, Jesus Christ. And that's what Peter tells this
man. He said, I'll tell you why this man is walking. He's got
nothing to do with me. This has got to do with the purpose
of God who is going to glorify his Son. Listen to this, verse 13 back
here in Acts chapter 3. The God of Abraham and of Isaac
and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son
Jesus. whom you delivered up and denied
him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let
him go. But you denied the Holy One and the just and desired
a murderer to be granted unto you, and you killed the Prince
of Life, whom God had raised from the dead, whereof we are
all witnesses." Now, that's what took place. And the crowd was
listening. Now we're talking about 5,000,
6,000, 7,000 people gathering around these disciples, and a
notable miracle, an undeniable miracle has just taken place.
And this is all happening inside the temple. So whose attention
does it get? Well, it gets the attention of
the captain of the temple. It's his job to oversee all this
stuff. It gets the attention of all these notable men who
had whose station was somehow affected by that temple. They
were in there to minister and to do this and to do that. They
were relatives of the high priest, whatever. It got their attention.
And they come and they listen, and also a group of Sadducees.
Now, most of you have heard Pharisees and Sadducees, and you don't
really know the difference. Well, the Sadducees were no different
than the Pharisees as far as the works of the law. But the
Sadducees denied the resurrection. They didn't believe in a resurrection.
So when you hear somebody talking about Pharisees and Sadducees,
that's the difference. The Sadducees didn't believe
in a resurrection. Well, Peter is preaching the resurrection
of Christ. He is preaching the same man that they took down
and denied and desired a murderer to be granted unto them, the
same man that you killed, God raised him from the dead. And
it's through his name. Through his name that this man
standeth here. And boy, the captain of the temple
heard that and said it grieved him. You know, you can preach the
gospel and sinners will drink it up. Sinners will sit there
and drink in the mercy. They already know they can't
do anything for themselves. It tickles them to death to hear
about the sovereignty of God engaged to save their souls.
Tickles them to death. Well, at least God chose some. He couldn't let us all go to
hell. But He didn't. He chose some. They rejoice in the gospel. They
rejoice in the name of God, but not religiously. It grieves a
religious man because he trusts in his own righteousness. He
trusts in his own goodness. He trusts in his own faithfulness.
He trusts in all these things. He's not looking to that name.
And when Peter preached that name, these men got upset. They
got upset. And then they laid hands on them
up there in verse 3, Acts 4, verse 3. They laid hands on them. And they put them in hold unto
the next day, for it was now evening. Howbeit many of them
which heard the word believed. And the number of men was about
five thousand. That's not even counting the
women. And it came to pass on to-morrow that the rulers, and
the elders, and the scribes, and Annas the high priest, and
Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred
of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. And when
they had set them in the midst, they asked," here's what they
asked, "'By what power or by what name have you done this?'
Because they thought they represented God. God instituted the priesthood,
didn't He? Well, sure He did. It was by God's command that
there be a high priest and then common priests under him to minister
in the temple things pertaining to God. They were inside the
temple, John. That was a building sanctified
by God. They were carrying the written
Word and scrolls. They thought they represented
God. And they had everything going for them except God. They
didn't know God. And I tell you, I look around,
I see a church on every corner, and they're busy, and they're
just going about, and they're doing this and doing that, but they
don't know God. Read this book and see what this
book says about the living God, and go down there and sit in
the pew and listen. I dare you. They don't know God. They're out there pleading to
men. I just read to you what it says about men. There's nobody
seeking God. There's nobody that understands.
They're in there trying to teach and trying to do this, trying
to do that, trying to coach men down an aisle. I don't know what
they're going to do when they get down the aisle. God's not
down there either. They don't know God. And they
preach this way and that way, and they say this and they say
that, and they deny this and they deny that because they don't
know God. And it's more than just a matter
of education. You can't educate them. This
knowledge of God has to be revealed. Now you ask this way it is. It
has to be revealed. But once a man comes to that
realization of who God is, everything else falls right in place, doesn't
it? Where can I go for that revelation? The Lord Jesus Christ. That's
where you go. Study Him. Because He's God manifest
in the flesh. And it says over in John chapter
1, it says, No man has seen God at any time. No man has seen
God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Now, you
want to know who God is? Study Christ. Tuddy Hill. You want to know
what righteousness is? Well, you say this and I say
that. How do we know who's right? Look
at him. Look at him. Here's God's righteousness
right here hanging on a tree. Hanging on a tree. Only one man,
as far as I know, on his own merit, that God raised from the
tomb. Now, I know Christ called Lazarus
Albatoon, but Christ called him Albatoon. God raised Christ from
the dead by his own merit. By his own merit. That's righteousness. That's righteousness. And it's
this name. And then when you get down here,
you get down here in Acts chapter 4, down here to verse 11. And Peter begins to tell them
about this name. He begins to talk to them about
this name of God. And he said, this is the stone
which was set in order of you builders. You looked at him when
he was here. You examined him, you listened
to what he had to say, and you rejected him. You looked the
stone over and said, it's not going to fit in our church, and
you throwed it down. This is the stone, he said, that
you builders rejected. Here he stands. Here he stands
before men. He stands before the Jews, the
Gentiles, before the dominating powers of Rome. He stands there
before everybody, and they said, Who are you going to have? You're
going to have this man. You're going to have this murderer. Well,
we'll take the murderer. This is the stone, he said, if you
builders reject it. You turn him down. You turn thumbs
down on him. When we stand up here and talk
about Jesus, I'm not talking about the same Jesus that they
preach down here in Taylor. I'm not talking about the same
Jesus they preach over here in Magnolia. I'm talking about the
Jesus. This is what Peter told them.
They all believed in a Christ. They all believed that the Christ
was going to come, the Messiah was going to come. All of Israel
believed it. But they didn't know anything
at all about that name. about God, God's name. And God's name was manifested
in Christ. And Peter said, Here's the name.
This is Him because He manifested the name of God. And you rejected
Him. That's what he said. You rejected
Him. He manifested it. You rejected Him. Now, listen
to what he says. He said that he's become the
head of the corner. Verse 12, Neither is there salvation. in any other, for there is none
other name given among men whereby we must be saved." Now, I'm telling
you, the name Jesus has no merit whatsoever. Mexico is full of
Jesus. You go down there and call them
Jesus. It's full of them. And you go down there and call
on Jesus all day, and they'll run out of the woodwork to you.
That name has no merit whatsoever. The merit of that name, that
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, is that name manifested in his person
and manifested in his achievements and manifested in his life and
death and his resurrection from the dead. You can read about
it over in Philippians. Isn't that what he said? When
he raised him, he made himself of no reputation, become obedient,
took on him the form of a servant. was obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Wherefore, he said, God hath
highly exalted him, and done what? Gave him a name above every
name. Why? Because he manifested the
glory of God's name. Now, that's the name on him,
and that's the name you need to look. That's the name on which
you need to call. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord will be saved. But how are you going to call
on Him in whom you have not heard?" Now, I'm telling you, you're
talking about somebody who spent his life in religion. I never
heard that name. Never. Not one time. I heard
a thousand times about coming down the aisle and the mourner's
bench and shaking hands with the preacher and joining the
church and being baptized. I heard that all my life. Nobody
ever mentioned this name. But what does Peter say? There
is no salvation in any other. What do you mean? There is none
other name given. Well, how do I know if my preacher
is preaching a false gospel? Look at the name. Look at the
name. Look at his name. There is no
salvation in any other. No other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. I'm going to give you
just a few things tonight to think about concerning this name. But I want to start here. When
it comes to spiritual things, you know, we sit down and I talk
to people. I know Winston does. He and I
talk about it all the time. You sit down to talk to somebody
and they say, well, you know, it seems to me, You get done
talking to them, and they say, well, you know, I just think,
you know, what's that got to do with anything? I mean, you and I could sit here
until time was no more, until we rotted and fell on the ground,
and we could share opinions about this and opinions about that.
And somebody said opinions are like noses. Everybody's got one. But we haven't accomplished anything.
When it comes to spiritual matters, there's only one source of information
that I know about God, and that's in this book. That's in the Word
of God. So where did Peter start with? You go back and read that third
chapter, and he said this Jesus was the same Jesus that was testified
by all the Old Testament apostles. Listen to this. He starts down
here in verse 22 talking about Moses. That's the first five
books of the Bible. And he said, For Moses truly
said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise
up unto you of your brethren like unto me. Him shall ye hear
in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it will come
to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall
be destroyed from among all the people. Yea, and all the prophets
from Samuel and those that follow after as many as have spoken
have likewise foretold of these days." Talking about Christ.
To him, give all the prophets witness. You read about it over
in Luke chapter 24, the despondent disciples walking down the road
to Emmaus. And what did he tell them? He
said, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have written of me. Should not Christ have suffered
and entered into this glory? And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, he declared unto them those things concerning
himself. then open to their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. The Word of God is
the foundation, and secondly, Christ is the stone. He is that
Rosetta Stone that unlocks all the mysteries of the Word of
God. You'll never understand the Word of God apart from the
redemptive glory of Christ. I'm telling you, none of those
Old Testament sacrifices and all that All the washings, and
the sprinklings, and the bottles, and this country going down,
and this country coming up, and taking this from Him, and giving
Him. You'll never understand that. You'll never get through
that web of mystery. You'll read about two or three
hours, or maybe if you're real sincere, two or three days, and
then you'll throw that book down and you'll say, who can understand
that? And you'll go on your merry way. Christ is the key to understanding
the Scripture. Everything this book declares
is concerning the redemptive work of God in Christ. It's the Word of God alone and
Christ alone. And then, listen to me, this
is where the rubber meets the road. It's the name. It's that name
that God establishes in His Son. I quoted this just a minute ago
out of Acts chapter 10. But down in verse 43, it says,
To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name
whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. It's
not just calling on Jesus or accepting Jesus as your personal
Savior. It's knowing who this Jesus is. It's coming to a revelation of
God's name in him, what God did by him. Why did he have to come? Here's what you need to know.
You need to know who is this man, why did he come, what did
he do, and where is he now? You learn that if you've learned
the gospel. That's it. But you can't just believe on
Jesus. You won't find that in the Scriptures.
You won't find it. I'm telling you, it's that name. To Him give all the prophets
witness. Why did they witness about it? Because you can know
His name through their witness. That's why. It lays a foundation. We're built on a foundation of
the prophets and apostles. What do we know about sacrifice?
The word doesn't even make sense to you, does it? But they knew
something about it in that Old Testament. Go out there and slit
that animal's throat and offer a sacrifice to God. You go back
and read that, and then you can understand a little bit, begin
to enter in a little bit about what he's talking about when
he came and offered himself a sacrifice for sins. We don't know anything about
those things, and so we get into the Word of God, and we study
the Word of God, and he gives us an interest in the Word of
God. And then we begin to see a little bit about this name
that God promises. He begins back in the Garden
of Eden talking about the seed of the woman. The seed of the
woman. What's he talking about? He's
talking about that name that he's going to establish over
there. This man is not going to be the seed of Adam. He's
going to be the seed of woman. This is going to be a man one
of a kind. One of a kind. He's the God-man. He's the God-man. Now, if you
know God, you're going to have to know Him. In fact, ain't that
what he says eternal life is over there in John chapter 17?
This is another one of those scriptures we need to look at
real hard. It says, this is eternal life,
that they might know thee. the true and living God, and
me, and to know me, talking about Christ. That's eternal life. It's the inner end, the inner
end of that name. And I tell you this, every time
I stand up to preach this gospel, I'm examined by those who hear
me, and they all ask the same question. And that question is
brought to our minds, Those of us who believe, by what authority
can I believe this? How can I receive this? By what
power? By what authority? That's what
they were asking Peter. Because they thought they had
it. They didn't have it. Peter had it. He had that name. God gave him that name to preach. God sent him. He didn't send
that high priest. He sent him. He sent Peter. And
they were just two common fishermen. If you go back and read that,
they've got a great big circle there inside that temple. It
must have been a mammoth thing. They've got this big circle and
here's the high priest and all of his relatives and all these
common priests and Sadducees and Pharisees and they put John
and Peter out in the middle. Religion likes to intimidate.
They put them out there in the middle. And Peter preached to
them. And he told them about this name. This name. just two common fishermen, preaching
totally contrary to everything that these men had ever heard, saying this to a people who knew
that they were overseers of the people, and they had everything
going for them but God. The name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And this is the name. I'm telling
you, this is the focal point of the gospel. When we talk about
the gospel, why is our gospel different? Paul said if a man
preached another gospel, there is another gospel, there is another
Jesus, there is another Spirit. But he said, I don't care who
preaches it, if he's an angel from heaven, he said, let him
be accursed. Because there's only one name
and this salvation is not in another, it's in him. It's in
him. And when we're talking about
the living God, let me tell you what I'm talking about. This
book sits for God and says He's immutable. He can't change, John.
I change all the time. God don't change. You know, we make an appointment
with somebody. Somebody will call you and talk to you about
one of your rides, and you make an appointment. Now, I'll see
you over there Thursday afternoon, but you've got to call her back before
something comes up. God doesn't change. We can't even enter into
that, can we? We can't even fathom that. God
cannot change. And everything about salvation,
just listen to me for a minute, is a gift. By grace are you saved
through faith, but not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. It is
the goodness of God that leadeth thee to repentance. That's a
gift. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son. I could just go on and on. There
is nothing within the man that God uses to accomplish salvation. It all comes from without, and
it's given to him. That's why he says, By grace
are ye saved. It's the free gift of God, the
free sovereign gift of God. Everything involved. But Oberyn
James listened to what he says. He said, Every good gift And
every perfect gift cometh from above, and it cometh down from
the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow
of turning." God's not going to change. So if He comes along
and gives you faith, John, He purposed to give you faith before
the world was, because God can't change. And I'm glad He doesn't
change. He said, I am the Lord. I change
not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consigned. If he's determined
to show his love, Russell, he's going to show his love. God is immutable. He cannot change. God is all-knowing. There is
no surprises. Well, what about this? There's
no whatabouts with God. He said, I am God. Besides me,
there is none other. I declare the end from the beginning
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
My counsels stand, and I do all my pleasure. How can he say that? Because he knows. That's why. Nothing is hidden. There are
no surprises with God. Read Psalm 139. He knows my down-sitting and
my uprising. He understands that my thoughts
are far off. He just goes on and on. He said,
there's not a word in my tongue, but Lord thou knowest it altogether. There's nothing that he don't
know. There's nothing in time that he don't know. Because there's
nothing in time that he hasn't decreed. And God's all-powerful. Who's
going to resist him? Paul asked that question over
there. He said, I know what you're going to say. He said, I know
what you're going to say to me when I talk to you about the
sovereign election of God. You're going to say, why doth
he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
And you know what Paul answered him? He said, who art thou that
replies against God? You're going to set yourself
at odds with God. You're going to match your will with the will
of God? Only reason you do that is because
you don't know God. I'm telling you, you read this
book and you'll change your mind about that matching your will
with His will. Or trying to ask questions about
you. You talk about this man's will. That's a violation of man's
will. Man ain't nothing but a piece of dirt. That's all he is. Just
red clay of the same lump. He can make a vessel under honor
or a vessel under dishonor. Out of the same lump, well, what
are you and what am I? We're lumps, that's it. Just
dirt. The glory is in His name. You
see what I'm saying? The glory is in Him and what
He does in Christ. And He takes that little lump
and He puts the treasure of His name in that little lump. And
now it lumps something. Not because of anything in Him,
but because of what God put in Him, the treasure. We have this
treasure, Paul said, in earthen vessels. Think about it. Matching your will with the will
of God. Well, you say, people who don't believe, people who
go their way. Haven't they resisted the will
of God? Not at all. Not at all. Read all of Acts
chapter 4. Read down there at the last part
of it and see what it says. Last part of that chapter, he
talks about the whole ball of wax there at the cross. And he
said, Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and all the
people of Israel, they were all gathered together for to do what?
What God's hand and God's counsel determined before to be done.
Yeah, but they were in their rebellion and they were doing
exactly that. They were spitting on him and slapping his face
and doing all that. They were exercising their will.
Yeah, and they were accomplishing the will of God while they were
doing it. And that's exactly what I'm trying to tell you.
You put your will against the will of God, he'll send you strong
delusion and let you believe a lie and be damned for believing
it. You cannot match your will with the will of God. God cannot
be resisted. There is no power in the universe
more powerful than him. He's omnipotent. There is no
power. And that verse says over in Romans
chapter 13, the powers that be are of God. There is no power
but of God. God works His will among the
heathen just as easily as He does among the believers. You
can't resist God. He's the potter. We're the clay.
And God's righteous. He can't do wrong. Everything
he does is right. And when I see what's done, I
say it's right because God did it. God's righteous. He's righteous. The unrighteousness comes from
me. And God's holy. His Bible is a holy Bible. His
sanctuary is the holy place. His prophets are holy prophets.
His church is his holy church. His angels are his holy angels. Everything about God is holy.
Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Isn't that
what it says? That's God. That's God. How does God prove? In the cross.
You see, we're sinners. And God has determined to show
His glory in the salvation of the sinner. But God's just. and
God's righteous and God's holy. And he will by no means clear
the guilty. So in order to save that sinner,
he has to justify that sinner. And the only way he can justify
that sinner is in Christ. Substitution. Substitution. He appointed this man. This man
was born into this world, he said, a servant under the law.
made of a woman, made under the law. Why must God, who come into
the flesh with a perfect righteousness, be a servant under the law? Because
that sinner is required to be righteous. And he can't do it. You can't do it. I just read
it to you back there at the beginning of the message over in Romans
chapter 3. You remember a while ago when I read that? No flesh
shall be justified in his sight by the deeds of the law. You
can't do it. You can't do it. He can. By his obedience under that law,
he's brought out a perfect righteousness. And the scripture said Abraham
believed God, and it was counted, it was imputed, charged to his
account for righteousness. And it wasn't written for Abraham's
sake alone, but for us also who shall believe. Who do we believe? We believe
God. Which God? The God who manifested His name
in this man. Can you see that? Can you see
that in his obedience? Yes, but I've broken his holy
law. I've offended his justice. And
now his justice demands from me an eternal debt that I can't
pay. I couldn't pay it if I suffered
in hell from now on. I couldn't pay this debt. I can't
mourn enough, I can't pray enough, I can't repent enough, I can't
serve enough, I can't die enough to satisfy the law of God. But
He can. Because there's infinite value
in that man who died on the cross. You see what I'm talking about?
This is the justice of God magnified on the cross. Here's the righteousness
of God magnified on the cross. What do I know about the love
of God? Listen to this. Turn with me over to Romans chapter
3. I mean Romans chapter 5. Look down here in verse 6. For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good
man some would even dare to die, but God commendeth His love,
His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. We were enemies, John. Kicking
and biting and squirming and rejecting and rebelling. We hated
God. The natural mind, he said, is
enmity against God. Huh? That's where we was at.
Here's that love on the cross. Here's that justice on the cross.
Here's that righteousness on the cross. How can God be just
and still justify the heathen on the cross? You see that? That's
that name. That's what sets apart Christ
from all the other Jesuses in the world. That's it. His name. His name. You can't find another
name that God has made manifest in this book that was wrought
out. You can't find it. There Jesus
won't come up to far. He just won't do it. He won't
do it. He just takes one fellow who
had a little racer one time. He went up there to that little
black boy and started racing. God can't race your sins. It
violates His character. Those sins have to be paid for.
Paid for. Until my faith finds the Jesus
in whom God has declared His name, I have another Jesus. And I tell you this, the whole
reason for His coming into this world was to manifest that name.
And God's name is His glory. It's His glory. You know, Moses,
I was talking to Russell about this going down the other day
when we moved my daughter down to Texas. Moses couldn't go into
the promised land. Now, I know that Moses represented
the law, and the law can't redeem, and the law can't deliver the
rest. And I know as a type of Christ, Moses couldn't enter
into Canaan. But that's not why, biblically,
in the history, why he couldn't go in. You know why he couldn't
go in? Because he smoked that rock twice. He took that rod,
and he got mad at the people because they were always rebelling,
And he took that rod and he hit that rock twice. And God said,
because you failed to sanctify My name before the children of
Israel, you're not going in. That rock was Christ. And He's
just going to be smitten once. You see what I'm saying? How
come? Because of that name, Jesse.
It's that name. That's where it's at. That's
where we learn. And see, here's the thing. I'm not going to go
out and meet my opinion of God. I'm going to go out and meet
God. So I don't want to enter into
the grave with an opinion. I want to enter into the grave
in full knowledge of who it is before whom I stand. And if there
is a hope, a real, true, living hope, I want to know where it
is. And I tell you this, according to this book, it has to glorify
His name. It has to. It has to. Listen to this. Turn with me
over to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, and I'll wind things up. See,
that's the great discovery of faith. It's a discovery. You know, I
used to try to read the Bible, try to apply it to what we were
doing. We'd go down an aisle and we'd
cry a little bit at the altar and we'd say some prayers and
the church, the elders would gather around us and pray and
everything would be fixed up and we'd go home. Next week we'd
be down the aisle again and sometimes we'd go two weeks or three or
whatever it was and you know, you've done things. You know
you've done things and your conscience is bothering you, you go down
the aisle again. Pray and cry some more and they'd gather around
you and pray. Winston knows exactly what I'm
talking about. And we'd just do that over and over and over
and over and over. But I'd read in here, and this matter of faith,
it was just a matter of accepting Jesus, you know. And they'd talk
to us, well, you believe that? Uh-huh, yeah, I believe that.
And then you believe this? Yeah, I believe that. Well, everything
was fine. But it wasn't fine. Because I'd
read in here, and these men, I mean, it sounded like they'd
discovered the Grand Canyon when they believed. It was, wow! But it wasn't like that to me.
Why not? Because I didn't see that name.
That's why. There was no glory in it. There
was no glory in it. There was no glory in their Jesus.
No glory at all. Listen to this over here in 2
Corinthians 4. I just want to read through these
few verses for you. Paul said, Therefore, seeing
we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we thank
not. Verse 1. But we've renounced the hidden
things of dishonesty. Now let me tell you something
about Paul. He wasn't a dishonest man. This man was a Pharisee. He's not talking here about shaving,
cheating on his record bill. That's not the kind of dishonesty
he's talking about. Paul said he's touching the law,
that righteousness which is of the law. He said, I'm blameless.
Paul didn't steal anything from anybody. He was clean as a houndstooth. He was a Pharisee. What he's
talking about here is the dishonesty involved in that religion, in
that self-righteous religion. And he said, I've denounced those
things. He said, I don't do those things
anymore. And he calls them hidden things
of dishonesty. And he said, not walking in craftiness,
nor handling the Word of God deceitfully. but by manifestation
of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in
the sight of God." Now, listen to what he says. But if our gospel
be hid, is it hid? Is it hid? If it's hid, that's
what he says. My question is, is it hid? Is it hid, do you? This is what he says here, ìIt is hid to them that are lost,
in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them.î I'll tell you when Jesus Christ
of Nazareth will take the preeminent spot. Now, God's given Him the
preeminence, but I'll tell you when He's going to take the preeminent
spot in your heart. When you see God in Him. When
you see His glory in Him. You'll see the difference. And
from that day to the last day you stand on this earth, that
will be a point of contention. You can't go back and worship
that old Jesus. You can't do it, can you, Russell?
You could, I tell you, well, what if my wife leaves? Goodbye. Goodbye. I can't go back into
that mess again because I see this glory. I see this glory. And seeing this glory is what
salvation is all about. You're not going to call on His
name. Huh? You can't even see your sins
until you see who He is. And you see who He is, you'll
begin to see something about who you are, and then you'll
call on that name. You'll seek to hear about that
name. You'll lay awake at night trying to figure out that name.
I tell you you will. And you'll come and you'll hang.
You'll hang on every word. God, give that man a word from
my heart. Declare unto me that name. Because
there's none other name given under heaven whereby you must
be saved. Ain't that what it says? Neither
is there salvation in any other.