And we want to welcome everybody
that's come to be with us. I'm glad to have you. What we
want to talk about is some questions, questions that I would be wise
to consider, questions that anybody with any concern of himself would
be wise to consider. What are these questions? But
what we're about to talk about is a fact that no one can deny. I can't deny it. It's a fact
that everyone must sooner or later deal with, whether I like
it or not, I've got to deal with these questions. Our Lord Jesus Christ once lived
in this world, as Rowland taught. He lived in this world. God purposed in Christ to have
a people. He stood as the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. He sent him forth in time, in
his time, to work out and provide a perfect righteousness for his
people by his perfect obedience of life. And not only to work
out and to provide a righteousness for them to look for in his obedience
as their substitute, but to give himself for His people under
the wrath of God to suffer the penalty of God against them and
to put away their sin once and for all by the sacrifice of Himself. So our Lord Jesus Christ lived
in this world. He walked among men. He became
our substitute. He walked among men. He was a
real man. He was God incarnate in human
flesh, but He became a man. He was as much man as if He wasn't
God and as much God as if He wasn't a man. He was 100% God
and 100% man. Therefore, He was able to take
upon Him the form of a servant and to meet all the requirements
that God required of Him, the Son of God. And He was able to
meet all those requirements in justifying His people before
God by His perfect obedience unto death. He had to be obedient
unto death as a substitute for His people. He must take their
place. He must honor God by serving
their law to every jot and tittle. He must die under the wrath and
penalty of God against sin under that law. He must die. He must
satisfy that law completely. So He lived in this world. He
became a man. He walked among men. He died
as a cursed felon upon the cross of Calvary, didn't He? Evil men
took Him and crucified Him. And those evil men, when we look
at them, now that's all of our nature is rolling tall. The only
reason that that wasn't me is by the grace of God. The only
reason that that wasn't you is by the grace of God. As I said
before, the only difference between Charles Manchin and Charles Spurgeon
is the grace of God. You know who Charles Manchin
is? He killed people, didn't he? And he set himself up as
a god, didn't he? And people did kill people because
of him, didn't they? They looked to him as some kind
of god or something. And they killed people and slain
people. Do you know what that was? That was his nature. God
just let him go and allowed him to do what he did. If God would
completely let us go, withdraw His restraining power from us. We kill one another. That's our
nature. Man's nature is not what he does. Man's nature is who he is. Do
you see what I'm saying? Man by nature is a sinner. He
lost it all in Adam, didn't he? He's a sinner. He's conceived
in sin. He's shaped in iniquity. He comes
forth from his mother's womb as a sinner. He's a sinner in
His heart, in His natural heart. He's a sinner in Word. He's a
sinner in deed. Well, you may say, well, I was
not a bad sinner. I didn't do this. I didn't do that. But the only
reason that you was not a bad sinner is the way you interpreted
is because God restrained me from being so. You see what I'm
saying? The only reason that I haven't
killed somebody or done something terribly drastic is because of
God's restraining grace. He restrains all men to a certain
point, don't He? And He allows all men to go to
a certain point. Do you see what I'm saying? But
He restrains men. If He didn't restrain people,
This world will be destroyed. There will be nobody. But He
restrains men. By His restraining grace, God
has purposed in Christ, and God has purposed to go through the
world the way that He has planned to do so. And this is the way
He's going to do it, you see. He allows evil men to do evil
to work out His own good in perfect will. just as He works His will
in the hearts of His people. He allows it all to happen. God's
still in control. You see what I'm saying? He's
in control. Nothing happens without God either
allowing it by His permissive will or by His directive will. God works in His people to direct
His will, but God lets people go and they do anything, you
see. That's why as Roland talked about
the war we're having in Iraq and these places. That's why
those people are killing in the name of their God. You see that?
He's allowing that, ain't He? They're killing in the name of
their God. They don't know God. This is not the God of the Bible.
So that's what we want to talk about. The God of the Bible.
The Lord Jesus Christ that God sent into the world. He walked
among men. He died as a cursed felon upon
the cross in a place and room instead of His people. He understood
men, didn't He? So I am thankful for that fact. I am thankful. And I have four
questions I want to consider. I want to consider these questions,
and every thoughtful person ought to give a satisfactory answer
to himself of these questions. First of all, who is the Lord
Jesus Christ? Well, He is who the Word of God,
who God says He is. He's not someone that God don't
say He is. The Lord Jesus Christ is who
God says He is in His Word. And so that's what we're concerned
about. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? Is He my representative? Is He my substitute? Did He work
out a righteousness for me? Did He honor God's law? Did He
suffer the wrath of God against me? And do I not have any condemnation
in Him? He suffered every jot and tittle
of God's law that I disobeyed against me. He suffered it every
bit. He gave His life for me. So men and women talk about Jesus. You know, we have people that
say, sweet little Jesus boy. He's not little Jesus boy. He's
the Son of God. He's the representative of His
people. He's the satisfier of God's justice. Sin's debt has been paid. But
they talk about Jesus. Jesus will save you if you will
let Him. You don't let God do anything.
He doth according to His will in the armies of the heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can say unto
Him, What dost thou? If God works in a man, it's God
that worketh in you both to will and to do with His good pleasure.
It's not what I do for God. It's what God does in me and
for me. You see that? Christ took upon
Him my nature. And He represented me before
God in the obedience of the law. And He took my place. as my substitute,
and suffered the wrath and condemnation of God against me." You see that? The songs which they write about
Him, they don't. They don't reveal Him as He is
in Holy Scripture. Many, many songs. I'm not saying
all. In the movies they make about Him. They make movies about
Him and they get a man to play the image of Him. Salvation is
not in no earthly image. You see what I mean? We have
all kinds of pictures that people declare this is Christ and that's
Christ. But this is not Christ. Christ
works in the heart. Yeah, one day we'll see Him as
He is, but until we see Christ as our substitute, as our Lord
and our Savior, who took our place, who represented us, who
suffered the penalty of God against us, and we're made free in Him. You see that? We're made free
in Him. They write books about Him. But
who really is He? Who is the Son of God? To see
who the Son of God is, we must look into the pages of Holy Scripture. Who God says He is. Jesus Christ,
God says in His Word that He is the Eternal God. God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are three, but three in one.
I can't explain that, can you? But the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, is God the Son also. See that? He is God the Son. The Scripture
of both the Old New Testament and the Old Testament proclaim
that Christ is God. In Isaiah 9, verse 6, He said,
For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given in His
name. That man that came into the world,
God incarnate in human flesh, in His name He shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God. I can't explain that, can
you? Christ, the One who came in human
flesh, is called the Mighty God. He is called the Everlasting
Father. See, this Son that is born, this
Child that is born, this Son that is given by God. The Prince
of Peace. You see that? He is. He is the
Mighty God. That is so. He is the Mighty
God. Him being who He is did not leave anything undone. You see what I am saying? He
worked out and provided a righteousness for His people. He suffered the
wrath and penalty of God against them. Therefore, they are justified
through the blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
not justified apart from Christ. We're not justified because we're
good people doing good things. I told you who we are by nature.
But we are only justified in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. If there's anything good to come out of us, it's something
that God has placed in us to His own glory, ain't it? It sure
is. It's something God's placed in
us. And John 1 says, In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. That's
talking about Christ, ain't it? And the Word was God. Can you
explain that? I can't. But the Word that was
with God is God. See? In the beginning, the Word
was with God. And the Word was God. And the
Word that was God was made flesh and dwelt among us. He came in
the flesh to represent and to die for. And we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth." And in Romans 9, verse 5, He
said, "...whose are the fathers, and of whom is concerning the
flesh." You see that? Christ came who is over all. Christ over all. God blessed
forever. He's over all God. See that? He's blessed of God, yes, but
He's over all God. Blessed forever. He is God the Creator and the
Sustainer of all things, by Him. You know, it says, In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made
by Him, Him that was with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. So He is
the Creator and the Sustainer of all things. We are kept by
the power of God through faith. He is the sustainer, ready to
be revealed in His time. He is God, our Savior. He has
saved us from our sins. He is God over all. I am the
Father of one. He that has seen me has seen
the Father. The heavens and the earth, which
are now by the same Word, are kept in store, reserved unto
far against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly man.
All things were made by Him. Without Him was not anything
made that was made. But to us there is but one God,
the Father of whom are all things, and we in Him, and the Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom are all things, and we in Him." If any man is
in Christ, he's in God. Do you see that? You can't be
in one apart from the other. He is God our Savior. While He
was up on this earth, our Lord claimed to be God. He said, He
that seen Me hath seen the Father. I and My Father are one. And
His apostles worshipped Him as God. Christ is the eternal Son
of God, ain't He? His apostles worshipped Him as
God. 1 Timothy 1.1 says, Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God, our Savior. Our Savior. Jesus Christ is our
Savior, ain't He? He's God our Savior. Did He not
accomplish what He came to do? He accomplished it to every jot
and tittle. He's equal in power. He's equal
in wisdom. He's equal in glory. Being with
the Father and the Holy Spirit, It makes no difference who denies
His divinity. He is still who He says He is.
Every true believer knows that in Him dwelleth, in Christ, dwelleth
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. See, as a man, God in Christ,
The Son of God dwells the fullest of the Godhead bodily. What is
the Godhead? God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. That's the fullness of the Godhead.
In Him dwells the three. I can't understand that. In Him. We have this witness in our hearts
by the grace and power of God, don't we? God has worked in us
by His power and His Spirit to reveal Christ to us, caused us
to come to faith, give us faith to believe on Him, and causes
us to rest in Him and in Him alone. Our Savior became a man, but
He is the perfect man. He is the God-man. He is the
God-man. He became perfect man. He is
our Mediator. There is one God. See that? One
Mediator. The man Christ Jesus. See that? We do not pretend to understand
the mysteries of God. We can't fathom the mysteries
of God. We believe them, yes. But we
can't understand them. One day we will, but not now.
We don't understand the mysteries of God. But we believe them by
the grace of God with all of our heart. We look and we trust
and we rest in Christ by the grace of God. Because God has
given us grace. He gave us faith. Faith comes
from God. Faith does not come from men.
You see that? But Christ was a real man. And
He lived upon this earth in perfect righteousness. Him being who
He was, did what He did perfectly. He died, didn't He? He rose again. His death was sufficient to put
away all sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He ascended back
into heaven, didn't He? He's seated at the right hand
of glory. He's seated in power and majesty
and honor and glory, ain't He? And in His time, He'll come again,
won't He? He'll come again and receive
His people unto Himself that where He is, there they shall
be also. So why did the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, come into this world? He said, I came down from heaven
not to do mine own will. When we talk about His will,
His will is not individually or separate from the Father.
The Father's will is His will. His will is the Father's will.
But He came down from heaven not to do His own will in that
regard, but to do the will of Him that sent me. See, the wrath
of God is against sin. And Christ came to do the will
of God, of Him that sent Him, to put away sin, to justify men
before God. So it came down from heaven not
to do but the will of Him. And this is the Father's will
which He hath sent me of all which He hath given me. I should
lose nothing, not a one. Every one that the Father gave
God in eternity past before the foundation of the world, He shall
have them and be with them in glory by His own power. You see
that? So He came to do the Father's
will. He said, Lo, I come in the volume
of the book. We're talking about this book.
In the volume of this book, it testifies of Me. His Word, all
through Scripture, from Genesis through Revelation, if we see
it in the right light, we see Christ. It testifies of Him. He came to do the Father's will,
to do the will of God. He came to lay down His life
for His sheep. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good
Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. Do you see that? I
lay down My life for the sheep. It says, She shall bring forth
a Son, talking about Mary, and thou shalt call His name Jesus.
What does Jesus mean? It means Savior, see? For He
shall save His people from their sins. I do not know maybe or
in doubt, but He shall. He did. He saved His people. He put away their sin before
God, didn't He? We have sin in this flesh, as
Roland told you, but He put away my sin between me and God. He
shall save His people. He gave His life for His people. He suffered the just condemnation
of God against them. So, in 1 Timothy 1.15 it says,
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. Jesus
Christ came into this world to save sinners, Paul said, of whom
I am chief. He came to save. Is that what
He did? Do you see what I'm saying? Did
Christ save those whom He came to save? Or did He come to save
everybody in this world? Are there people in hell that
Christ saved? No, they're not. He knows who
He's going to save. I don't. I don't. Nobody's saved
without the grace and power of God. And it's God that has to
administer that according to His own will. But He came to
save His people, whoever they are. He said, I am the Good Shepherd,
and the Good Shepherd lay down His life for the sheep. He giveth
His life for the sheep. He came to lay down His life.
That's what He came to do, wasn't He? To lay down His life for
the sheep. In John 10, 18 it says, No man
taketh it from Me. No man takes My life. But I lay
it down of Myself. I have the power to lay it down.
I have the power to take it up again. This commandment have
I received of my Father as the substitute, the Son of God, the
substitute for His people. The Father sent Him into the
world. The Father gave Him the commandment, didn't He? To lay
down His life. He laid down His life for His
people. He put away their sins by the
sacrifice of Himself. He who laid down His life, now
don't get me wrong, the Son of God, It's God the Son. I can't understand that. But
God's Son came into the world. He came to die as the substitute
of His people. He came to die in their room
instead, in their place, to suffer their just condemnation. He delivered
them from the curse of the law by satisfying God's holy law.
That's the only place that it's ever been satisfied is through
Christ. Nobody else can satisfy God's holy law. To satisfy God's
law, you must be holy as God. See what I'm saying? But he being
who he was satisfied God's law. He honored it. He kept it as
a man. He suffered the penalty of God
as a man and laid down his life. What has the Son of God done?
What did He do? He finished the work that the
Father gave Him to do. Right? That's what He said. I
finished the work. I have glorified Thee. I've honored
Your holy name. Holy, holy, holy. I've honored
Your name. I've glorified You on earth in
the form of a servant. Now, O Father, glorify Me with
the glory which I had with Thee before the world ever began.
before the foundation of the world, the glory that the Son,
I, my Father, I One, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit,
dwell in one. He said, glorify me with the
same glory which I have with you before the foundation of
the world. The work of redemption of the souls of God's people
is finished. It's finished. There's many that
don't believe yet. But they shall believe. They
shall. They were redeemed. They shall
be brought to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They shall despair
of themselves in the light of God and fall prostrate before
God because of their sin. But their strength, their faith,
their trust, their rest, their hope, their peace, their joy,
their comfort, their love is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He
died in our place, in our room instead. He satisfied the claims
of God's holy justice, which only He can do. He satisfied
the penalty of the law, didn't He? The law says, the soul that
sinneth, it shall surely die. Everybody has sinned and come
short of God's glory. Everybody, as long as they're
in this life, will sin, even warring against it. You see what
I'm saying? The child of God, as Roland says, has two natures.
He has the nature of Adam. He has the nature of the second
Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. They're at war continuously with
one another. Spirit against flesh and flesh
against spirit. Until he leaves this life, he
will have that problem. He'll be at war. But He has put
away the sin of His people. There is no confliction between
me and God. There is no condemnation between
me and God. He has put away my sin. The justice
of God has been satisfied. Christ has died. He has ascended. He rose back to the Father. He
is seated at the right hand of God. He has obtained eternal
redemption. Where is He at? He is in Heaven.
He is seated at the right hand of God. He is our Savior. He is the God-Man. He is exalted
at the right hand of God, expecting, not hoping, but expecting till His
enemies be made His footstool. See that? He is not hoping for His enemies
to be made His footstool. He is expecting it. He has already
come. He did all that was required
of Him as a substitute. He suffered the wrath and penalty
of God. He's ascended back into heaven. He's expecting. He's expecting. He's seated as
a high priest forever. He's a high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. He's seated in Zion. He's making
intercession for those who come to God by Him. See that? He sits
upon the throne of sovereign dominion. He is above all and
over all. All things is under His power.
All things is in His control. He does according to His own
will. He rules. He reigns. He governs. Nothing happens without Him,
either by His permissive will or directive will, right? He
is King of kings. He is Lord of lords. The Bible
says the king's heart is in his hand. And as a river of water,
he turneth it whithersoever he will. He's talking about the
kings of this earth. The president's heart is in his
hand, whether he knows it or not. And as a river of waters,
he's not going to do anything that God is not going to let
him do. You see that? He'll either allow
him to do, if he sins, he allows him to do that. If he believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ, he works grace in his heart to believe. He sits upon the throne of sovereign
dominion. He is in control. Nothing happens
without him. He is sovereign. He is in his serenity. He is king. He is awaiting the
fulfillment of all things. All things must be fulfilled. which are written in the Law
of the Prophets concerning him, in concerning all things about
him. You see that? All things must
be fulfilled. The salvation of his people must
come. It must come in the time that
he has provided for it. It will come. The defeat of all
his enemies must come. He's not defeated them all yet
in that regard. He still allows them to be in
this world to do those evil things and allows everything to go on
in that regard, don't He? But one day, everything is going
to be brought to a stop. You see that? When He defeats
completely those enemies and He brings His sons unto glory,
whoever they are. He's Christ. He's the Savior.
He's King. He's God. Do I trust in Him? Is He the One I trust in Him?
Is He the Jesus that I'm talking about? Is He the Lord that I
believe in? Is He the Lord that I trust?
Is He the Lord that I rest in? Is He the One who has worked
grace in my heart? Did He work grace in my heart?
Do I serve Him? Do I honor Him? Do I love to
Him? Another thing. Do I love Him?
Huh? Do I love Christ? He that loveth not knoweth not
God. If you might come to some knowledge
of Christ, have a head knowledge, and that's a dangerous thing,
you'll have the knowledge of the Word, I'm telling you, the
knowledge of the Word in your head, and you'll say, I'm justified
by the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ and
by His blood and righteousness only. I have nothing within myself. And you come to a point, you
say, well, it don't make any difference. I'm God's Son and
that's it. Whatever I do or whatever I say,
it doesn't make any difference. God will provide for that. Christ had died for that. No,
it does make a difference. It does make a difference. If
I know Christ by the grace and power of God in my heart, if
I'm a new creation, I do love Christ. And I'm concerned about
the Gospel. I'm concerned about my life.
I'm concerned about what I do before God and before men in
honor to God, my God, my Savior, my love, my life. My desire is
unto Him by God's grace. Well, if I'm a child of God and
if I love God, I'm not going to be carried away into all things.
Yes, I'll be carried away at times. But I'll not go out into
this world and act like that I've never come to a knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ in my heart and come to faith in Christ
and come to love Him. You see what I'm saying? We serve
Him not to be saved out of faith. We serve Him because we love
Him. If we don't serve Him because
we love Him, we don't know Him, Well, I know about Him. Yeah,
we might know about Him, a lot of things about Him. But until
we know Him in our hearts and love Him, we do not know Christ. You understand what I'm saying?
It's not enough to know about Christ. We must know Christ. That's it. We must know Christ
if we're accepted of God. We must love Christ. You are
in His love, not that we love, but that He loves. But we do
love because He first loved us and He shed abroad His love in
our hearts and brought us to love Him. If He had not brought
us to love Him, we would not love Him. That is not our nature.
But by the grace of God, when He works a new nature in a man,
he will love Christ. Do I know Christ? Do I love Christ? Is He my Savior? Is He my King? Do I look to Him? Do I rest in
Him? Do I follow after Him? Do I exalt
Him? Do I extol Him? Is my life hid
with God in Christ? Is He my desire? Is Christ my
desire? To honor Christ? To love Christ? To obey God? To exalt God? Is
that my desire? If that is, then you love Him.
If you truly desire it in your heart, You've been given a heart. You have a heart of faith, but
you have also a heart of love. You know, the Bible says faith
without works is dead. That's talking about not works
that we do to gain favor with God, but works that you do out
of faith to God and out of love for God. See that? Faith without love is dead. We
can say that too, can't we? He that loveth not knoweth not
God. Well, I know about God. I know His Word. I know more
of the Word than you do. You might do it. You might know
a lot more than I do in the Word of God. But do you love Christ? Do you see that? Do you love
Christ? That's the main thing. Do I have faith in Christ? If
I do truly have true faith, then I love Christ. If I don't love
Christ, I don't have true faith. It makes no difference what I
know in my mind. If I don't love Him, I don't
have true faith. Where there's true faith, there's
true love.