And he's been a friend of this
congregation ever since this church began, way back in 1971. And he's been a dear friend. Under his leadership, this building
is standing because he directed the church in which he was pastoring,
and they gave very liberally to help build this place and
the parsonage behind us. I think through his leadership,
he instructed his church to be generous also. But he's a dear
friend, he's a faithful preacher. Henry's with us, his faithful
wife, Doris, is with us. You come, bring the message. That was such a beautiful hymn. That's just one of my favorites. Jesus, Savior, Pilate, me. And so well done. Beautifully. Beautiful hymn. Thank you. You know, the Apostle Paul said, let's
render tribute to whom tributes do. Custom to whom customs do. Let's render honor to whom honors
do. And I'd like to take just a moment
to render tribute, honor, and custom to my dear, dear friend,
Brother Don Fortner, your faithful pastor. We've been dear friends
for an awful long time. Thank God for him so much. I
believe I can sum up this man in four words. Number one, he's a faithful servant
of God. You know, the Lord said to Satan,
he said, have you considered my servant, Job? He's my servant. And this man's a servant of God.
Faithful. It is said of a steward that
he should be Faithful. And your pastor has been that
ever since I've known him. Faithful, faithful, faithful
to the Word, to you, to his ministry, to our God. Secondly, the word
fear. His fear of God. We fear God. The old timers used to say, this
is the way a man worships. He fears God. He fears God. And Brother Don fears God and
that keeps him from fearing men. If we fear God, we don't fear
men. And then, he has a love for Christ
and a love for the Gospel that keeps him from any form of compromise. He doesn't compromise for covetousness. for favor, for approval, or for
gain, preaches the Word. His love for Christ keeps him
from compromising. And then thirdly, his confession
of faith was given by the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 20. Paul
said, I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. And I've kept back nothing profitable
unto you. But I have preached to you repentance
toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. That's my friend
Don. I appreciate him so much and
I know you do. Give thanks for faithful pastor
so many, many years. Now I want to thank you for your
kindnesses to Doris and I, and for the accommodations that you
have provided for us here. We came into our room yesterday,
just last night, and a beautiful place to stay, Hampton Inn. Hard to beat a Hampton Inn, you
know. And only on the desk. It was a beautiful basket of
so many goodies. I'll never be able to eat all
of them, not on this trip anyway. But Brother Don and Shelby, when
we walked into that room, there was a token of their love and
appreciation, and I'm thankful. Now then, I'm going to preach
this morning on one word, if. And I begin my message with two
questions. I want you to think about this
very carefully. Two questions. These are so vital,
these two questions are so vital, that if I'm to preach the truth,
I've got to preach what these two things deal with. And if
you hear it and believe it, You'll hear and believe that which is
most important to you. Now here's the two questions. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? Who is Jesus Christ? Well, He's God. He's God Almighty. His name's called Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. He's God. God can do all things. No. No. God in God's nature can't
save sinners. God and Christ in God's nature,
the divine God who's holy, just, pure, righteous and just, He
can't save sinners because He can't look on sinners. He can't
deal with sinners. He can't have any relationship
with a sinner because He's God. Jesus Christ is God, their God
of their God. Secondly, Jesus Christ is the
Son of Man. He is the born of woman. Scripture
says in the book of Romans that He was born of the seed of David,
made flesh, dwelt among us. We beheld His glory. Jesus Christ
is the Son of Man. But listen. A man, in man's nature,
can't save sinners. So Jesus Christ is not only a
man, but He's the God-man. He's God in human flesh. God. In the beginning was the
Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. All things
were made by Him. But He was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And we actually beheld the glory
of God in the face of Christ Jesus. So God, in man's nature,
can save to the uttermost them who come to God by Him. God can
save because He's Christ, and Christ can save because He's
God. That's right. He's the God-man. Made of the
seed of David and declared to be the Son of God. Well, here's
my second question. That being settled, that's the
issue, let that be settled. Jesus Christ is God, the God-man. But why did he have to die? Why did the God-man have to die
on such a cruel, cruel cross of Calvary? Why did he have to
die? Well, I love simplicity. I've learned this through the
years that the more simple that you can be in preaching the gospel,
the better off you are and the better off your people are. I
love simplicity. You know, Paul said, let not
our minds be corrupted from the simplicity of Christ. Well, why
did Jesus Christ die on the cross? I'm going to answer this with
three scriptures. Why did Jesus Christ die on the
cross? And I'm going to answer you with
three Scriptures. All of them begin with the word, that. He
died that. He died in order that. So let's
turn to the Bible in Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3 verse 26. Romans chapter 3 verse 26. And it tells me exactly why. He had to die and suffer what
he suffered. Romans chapter 3, verse 25 and
26. Listen to it. Romans 3, 25. Romans 3, 25. Whom God has set
forth. Set him forth in promise, in
prophecy, in picture, in person, on a cross. Set him forth to
be the perpetuation through faith in His blood, to declare His
righteousness for the remission of sins that have passed through
the forbearance of God, to declare our Savior at this time His righteousness,
that in order that He might be just and the justifier of him
that believes on Christ. That's why He died. He died in
order that. In order that. God may be just
and justify. God can't save us at the expense
of His holiness. God can't save anybody at the
expense of His truth and righteousness. So Christ died in order that
God may be just and justify us. Now here's the second scripture,
2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Second Corinthians 5, verse 21. You know it by memory and heart. Second Corinthians 5, verse 21.
For God the Father hath made Christ the Son to be sin, made
to be sin for us who knew no sin. In order that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. Why did Christ suffer, bleed,
and die on the cross? That God may be God. That God
may be still God and save us. That God may be just and justify
us. And He died in order that we
might be made righteous. Not pasted on righteous, but
genuinely, absolutely righteous in Christ. All right, here's the third one.
Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. Why did
He die? That God may be just and justify
you and me. That Almighty God might give
us a righteousness, the righteousness of Christ. And then in Ephesians
2, verse 7, let's go back to verse 4. But God, who is rich
in mercy, Ephesians 2, verse 4, for His great love wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us
together with Christ. For by grace are you saved, and
hath raised us up together, made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ that in order that in the ages to come He might
show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. That's why He died. He died that
God may be just and justifier. He died in order that He might
give us perfect righteousness in Christ, and He died that in
the ages to come He might show forth His glory, His praise,
His honor, and us, He's going to show us forth too, His people
redeemed by His blood. Alright, that's our foundation. I think that's a pretty good
one too. Who is Christ? Why did He die? So turn to John
chapter 8. And in the 8th chapter of John's
Gospel, I've selected this passage to preach on this morning, John
chapter 8. In this passage, in this chapter
in John 8, our Lord is teaching in the temple in Jerusalem. And
our Lord used the little word, the little two-letter word, if. He used it eight times. If, if,
if, if. It's powerful. And I want you
to just think about it for a little while. First of all, let's begin
with verse 23. John chapter 8, verse 23. Now our Lord is surrounded by
the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the religious leaders of
this day. And this is what He said to them. He said in verse
23. He said to them, you are from
beneath. I'm from above. You are of this
world. I am not of this world. You're dust. You're flesh. You're
of this world. I am. I am not of this world. I am from above. When Moses came
to the mount, where the fire was not extinguished, the fire
that burned the burning bush. And God gave him his orders to
go down and deliver his people out of Egypt. Moses said, well,
when I go down there and tell them that you sent me to deliver
them, what name shall I give them? What is the name by which
you are called? God the Father said, I am that
I am. Tell them, I am has sent you. Jesus Christ used this phrase
over and over and over again. I am the bread of life. I am
the water of life. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. I am the good shepherd. I am. And when those soldiers came
to arrest him in the Garden of Gethsemane, His disciples were
back behind Him. He said, let these go. Whom do
you seek? Whom do you seek? And these soldiers
and lawyers and all these people came there with their swords
and spears to arrest Jesus Christ. He said, whom do you seek? And
they said, we seek Jesus of Nazareth. And He said, I am. I am. The little word he is added
several times in the New Testament, I am he. But that he's in italics. Watch it. It's not in the original.
He said, I am. And when he said, I am, it was
with such power, what you talked about a while ago, such authority,
such power, that they fell backwards. They didn't fall forward in worship.
They fell backwards. He was just overcome. by the
authority and power of His voice. He said, I am. I am. And that's what He's saying right
here. He says, you're of this world, I'm from above. You're dust and ashes, I'm not
of this world. I am. I am. Now watch that next
verse. And I say, therefore unto you,
that you shall die in your sins if you believe not that I am. I tell you this, he said, you're
dying your sins if you don't believe that I am. Two things,
I am and I am He. I am God. I am the one who sent
Moses. I am that I am. But also, I am
He. I am the Redeemer. I'm the one
who God sent to redeem you. Now, I want to show you something.
Turn to Isaiah. Chapter 53. And I want you to
watch the simplicity of this in Isaiah chapter 53. And I'm
sure you've seen this many times, but maybe let's look at it again. The person whom God sent to redeem
us is Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Christ, the Redeemer. And He's described here in this
passage of Scripture 43 times. It uses the word He, Him, and
His. It's Christ we're talking about.
Watch this in Isaiah chapter 53, verse 3. He is despised and
rejected of man. A man of sorrows acquainted with
grief. We hid as it were our faces from Him. He's despised,
we esteem Him not. Surely He hath bought our grace
and carried our sorrows. We then esteemed him stricken
of God and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our inequities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him with his stripes. With his stripes will he, all
we like sheep, have gone astray. We've turned every one to his
own way, and the Lord has laid on him." Read the rest of it. Him and His. That's our Redeemer. If you believe not that I am
God Almighty, I am He, the Redeemer. I am He, wonderful Counselor,
the mighty God. But I am your Redeemer, your
Savior, your Lord. If you don't believe, that's
what he said, if you don't believe that I am He, you die in your
sin. Now let's go back to my text.
Verse 28, now watch this. Then Jesus said to them, when
you've lifted up, when you've lifted up the Son of Man, then
shall you know I am He. I am. I am He. And that I can do nothing of
myself, but as the Father sent me, as the Father taught me,
I speak those things. And he that sent me is with me. The Father hath not left me alone,
for I do always those things that please him. And he spake
these words. Many believed on him. Many believed
on him. As our Lord Jesus gave these
words, many believed on him. Now watch this next verse. Then
Jesus said to those Jews which believe on Him, those people
who sat, who stood and heard, and He told them who He is, and
they say, listen to Him, they believed on Him. They believed
on Him. Then He said to them, if you
continue in My Word, if you continue to believe on Me, continue to
walk with Me, continue to love Me, to continue to rest in me. If you continue in my word, then
are you my disciples indeed. Is perseverance the cause of
our redemption? No, but it's the proof of it. Is continued in the word is the
cause of our redemption? No, it's not. It's the proof
of it. If you continue in my word, if
you continue to walk with me, then you are my disciples indeed. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
1. Colossians chapter 1. Listen
to this. Colossians chapter 1 verse 23. Colossians 1 verse 23. If you
continue in the faith, grounded and settled, And be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel, which you have heard, which was preached
unto you. To every creature which is under
heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister, if you continue in
my word. If you believe not that I am
here, you die in your sin. But if you believe and continue
in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. Proof of it. Evidence of it. In other words,
saving faith would change a person. Saving faith would change a person. Changes that person, faith in
Christ looks out of the eyes. Faith in Christ lights up the
countenance. Faith in Christ softens the touch. Faith in Christ mellows the voice. Faith in Christ bows the head. Faith in Christ bends the knee. Faith in Christ opens the hand. Faith in Christ curbs the tongue. Faith in Christ humbles the heart.
Faith in Christ are steps of peace, grace, and faith and a
forgiving spirit. My wife and I were having lunch
one day. And in a restaurant, a lot of
people there. And I love children. I just love grandchildren, great-grandchildren,
your children. And we watched this little girl.
Mother had taken her to the restroom or somewhere, and she came back
to the table, and she was skipping. Did you ever watch a little girl
skip? She just skip, skip, skip, skip, skip. And I said to my
wife, I said, She's happy. She's happy. How do I know she's
happy? She's skipping. She's not happy
because she's skipping. She's skipping because she's
happy. And that's what I'm saying. I'm saying when a person, when
he knows Christ, loves Christ, rests in Christ, God changes
him, makes him a new creature in Christ Jesus. Gives him a
loving spirit and a gracious spirit, and he's stiff because
he's happy. Because he loves Christ. That's
what that little girl was doing. The just shall live by faith.
Our Lord said, but if any man draw back, my soul has no pleasure
in him. But we're not of them that draw
back. We are those who continue. That's what Christ said. If you
believe not that I'm here, you die in your sin. But if you continue
in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. Well, look at verse 32
in my text. And Christ said, verse 31, If you continue in my word, then
are you my disciples indeed. And what's verse 32? And you
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. And
these fellows answered him, they said, We're Abraham's seed. We're Abraham's seed. We've never
been in bondage to any man. How sayest thou then, you shall
be free? Jesus answered and said, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, whoso commits sin is not free. He's a servant of sin. You might
claim to be Abraham's sons and seed and all these things, but
if you continue in sin, you are not Abraham's seed. You're a servant of sin. Our
Lord, I wish I could learn this. I wish I had the patience, the
patience and the wisdom of Christ, our Lord, even His disciples. He meets men where they were.
Our Lord, listen, these fellas said, we're Abraham's seed. We've
never been in bondage to any man. And very calmly, patiently,
our Lord said, if you commit sin, you're not free, you're
a servant of sin. You're a servant of the law,
flesh under curse, and sin, when it's finished, brings forth death.
The soul is sinned, it shall surely die. Be sure your sins
will find you out. And the servant, listen to this,
verse 35, the servant abides not in the house forever, the
son abides in the house of God forever. If the son, verse 36,
if the son make you free, you'll be free indeed. Where Abraham
was seen. You know, people go back and
talk about the old-timers, you know, Calvin and Luther and Knox
and Whitefield and Spurgeon. I suspect those Pharisees kind
of held that same thing. We're Abraham's seed. We're Moses'
followers. We've beat the Lord, all these
things. If you commit sin, you're a servant
of sin. And only the Son can make you
free. Only the Son. Free from the law.
Oh, happy condition. Jesus has died and there's remission. Cursed by the law. Bruised by
the fowl. But when Christ saves us, we're
free of all. Free from all. All sin. All bondage. Let's read on here
a minute. Verse 37. And he continued. They said, verse 38, the Son
makes you free. You're free indeed. Free from
the law, free from the bondage, free from the curse. Verse 37,
I know you're Abraham's seed. I know you are. But you seek
to kill me because my Word has no place in you. I speak that
which I've seen with my Father. And you do that which you've
seen of your father. And they answered him, Abraham's
our father? And Christ said, if. If you were Abraham's children,
you would do the works of Abraham. That's right. These religious
people were quick to inform our Lord that they were Abraham's
seed. But our Lord answered, if you are indeed, sons of Abraham. If you are indeed the seed of
Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham. That's proof of it.
What were the works of Abraham? Well, the Lord spoke to him and
said, Abraham, lift up your eyes to heaven. Count the stars. You
can't do that. Your seed will be like the stars
of the sky. Look at the sands of the seashores.
Count them. You can't do that. Your seed
will be like the sands of the seashore. He said, Abraham, get
out of your father's house. Go to the land I'll show you,
and I'll make of you a great nation. And he obeyed God. If you were Abraham's seed, you'd
obey God. You'd do what he commanded. Abraham
left his homeland and his family. Abraham dwelt in tents with Isaac
and Jacob. Abraham gave the best land to
Lot. Abraham refused the wealth of
the sons and kings of Sodom. Abraham sent away Hagar, son
of the bondwoman Ishmael, put him in the desert, believing
God. And Abraham went to Mount Moriah
to offer his sons as a sacrifice for sin. We'll be Abraham's seed. If you were Abraham's seed, you'd
continue in my Word. And if you were Abraham's seed,
you'd do the works of Abraham. What's the chief work of Abraham? If you come and sum up all of
this life of Abraham, the whole life of Abraham, sum it up in
two words, two or three words. Sum up all the trials and tests
and the conflicts, and Abraham said, sum it all up in one statement,
he believed God. He believed God. If you were Abraham's seed, you
believed God. He'd be different. That's what
he's saying. He said that to these Pharisees. They had the
religious customs. They had the religious traditions.
They had the religious doctrines. They had all these things. They
had the forum and the ceremony, but didn't have the primary thing. He believed God. Just rested. Rested. What shall we do that
we might work the works of God? This is the work of God. That
you believe on Him whom God has sent. And that will change your
life. That will change your direction.
That will change your attitude. That will change your spirit.
That will change everything about you because you believe God.
Everything is based on this one thing. I believe God. I believe
God. A friend told me this story. back years ago, back in the 30s or 40s. But there were two little boys
sitting on the steps of a tenement house where they lived with their
mother and father. One of them was about 11 years
old or 12, one was about 7 or 8. They were sitting there on
the steps. Poor, you know, back in the Depression
years and didn't have much of anything, but they were sitting
there and a man drove up in a beautiful car. Prettiest car they'd ever
seen. Drove up and parked right in
front of those two little boys. He got out of that car, his hat
dressed up, you know, and as he got out of that car and started
around the car, The two boys got up, big eyes, and they walked
over towards that car. Never seen anything quite like
that. And the older boy said, Jimmy, look at that car. Isn't
that thing beautiful? Jimmy agreed. The man came around
and said, you boys like my car? Oh, mister, he said, we've never
seen anything like that. That's the most beautiful car
I've ever seen. Where'd you get it? The man answered
and said, my brother gave it to me. Your brother gave you
that car? Yep. Your brother gave you that
car free? Free. For nothing? For nothing. Your brother gave
you that car? Sure did. Turned to Jimmy. He
said, Jimmy, I wish I could be a brother like that. That's different, isn't it? The boy didn't say, I wish I
had a brother like that. He said, I wish I could be a
brother like that. I wish I could. That's the key. If you're Abraham Seed, you do
the works of Abraham. Well, let me give you another
one. in John 8, verse 40. And now you seek to kill me,
Christ said, a man that told you the truth which I heard of
God. Abraham didn't do this. You do
the deeds of your father. They said, we be not born of
fornication. We be not sinners. We have one
Father, God. Oh, this is the most condemning
sentence in this whole thing. When these fellows just had so
much to say, and they finally said, we be not sinners. We be not born of fornication. We are sons of God. And our Lord answered here in
verse 42. Yeah. Verse 42, and Jesus said,
if God were your father, three things, you'd love me. You'd
love me. Secondly, you'd know I came from
God and you'd know thirdly, I didn't come with myself, but God sent
me to be the Savior. But that's what men by nature
do not know. They do not know that they're
sinners. They do not know they're born
in sin. They do not know that. They're telling the truth here.
We'd be not sinners. We'd be not born of fornication.
We'd be not born of sin. God's our Father. God's our Father. You know, Spurgeon said this
one time, and I want you to listen to this. This is a powerful statement.
Spurgeon said one time, the thing to be aimed at in our preaching. The thing to be aimed at in our
preaching, most of all, is to declare that men are lost. They
don't believe it. We'd be not sinners. We'd be
not born of fornication. We're not born in sin. We're
nice people. We don't always do that which
is right, but most of the time we do because we're not sinners.
And Spurgeon says, Preacher's business is not to convert sinners. That's God's business. God's
the only one who can change a man. God's the only one who can change
a woman. God's the only one who can convert
sinners. God's the only one who can give
a man life. We can't do it. It is our business
to get them lost. It's our business to convince
them that they need a Savior, that they're lost. To get men
lost, because a broken and a contrite heart, God will not despise. God is nigh unto them, it's of
a broken heart. He went on to say, it's idle,
it's absolutely idle to attempt to heal a man who's not saved. It is absolutely impossible to
clothe a man who is not naked. He does not need your clothing.
It is foolish to make men rich if they are not poor. Did not
our Lord say, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners? The
well do not need a physician, but those that are sick. Go find
out what that is. That's why I wish I could get
all the preachers in the world to find out what he's saying
here. The well do not need a physician. It's sick people. And these are
the marks of conversion. If you love me, if you believe
me, you'd love my Father. You'd know I came from Him to
redeem sinners. And you know, I came not of myself,
but He sent me to be the Savior of sinners. One other scripture
I want to give you and then I'll close. Down here in verse 51,
let's look at this. I'll read it and then close my
message. Our Lord uses this word, if,
if, if. In verse 51, barely, barely I
say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he'll never see death.
Then said the Jews to him, now we know, now we know that you
are a devil, have a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets,
and thou sayest, if a man keeps your sayings, he'll never taste
of death. Are you greater than our father
Abraham, which is dead, and the prophets which are dead? Whom
makest thou thyself? Jesus answered and said, if I
honor myself, I honor nothing. It is my father that honors me,
of whom you say he's your God. Yet you've not known him. But
I know him. And if I said I know him not,
I'd be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep
his sayings. Your father, Abraham, rejoiced
to see my day. He rejoiced. He saw it and was
glad. And then said the Jews to him,
well, you're not 50 years old. And hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus
said to them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham
was, I am. Who is he? I am. He? Why did I? That God may be
just and justify, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. And that He, through the endless
ages of eternity, might declare His glory in us. For He said,
I've given them the glory which you gave me. Let's bow and pray. Our merciful Father, We thank
Thee for this Lord's Day. We thank Thee for the glorious,
blessed privilege that is ours to gather together with Your
people and rejoice in Your mercies and Your grace. We thank You,
Lord, You've given us a love for Christ. We thank You, Lord,
that You've revealed unto us who He is, Jesus Christ. our Savior, our Messiah, our
Lord. We thank You, Father, that You've
revealed to us Your Word. Put it in our hearts. Give us
a love for Your Word. And we pray, Lord, You'd enable
us to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord,
bless us according to Your will. And bless our children and our
loved ones Hedge them about with your tender mercies like Job
of old prayed. Hedge my children about with
your mercies and grace. Keep them from harm and from
the evil one. Lord, bless the pastor as he
comes back home from his trip. Bless this congregation. We thank
you so much for him and for them. We give you the praise and the
glory for all that you've done in this place all through these
years. Continue to bless Your Word as
it goes forth from here. And bless Your preachers everywhere.
We thank You for those men who love our Savior and who love
Your Word and who preach the gospel of God's grace in Christ
Jesus. Be with us tonight as we meet
together again. Make Your Word to be a blessing
to us. We pray for Christ's sake. Amen.