I want to pick up right where
Brother Lindsey left off just a few minutes ago. Matthew chapter
22. Matthew chapter 22. Verse 41. While the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? I put that question to you as personally as I possibly can. What think ye of Christ? What think ye of Christ? Now listen carefully. The answer you give to that question
will reveal exactly the state of your heart before God Almighty. What think ye of Christ? Most people. Most people. Most people. Most people you
know. Most the people in your family.
Most people who go to church every Sunday. Most who go to
church several times a week. Most people. go to hell asking
meaningless religious questions. Meaningless questions. Questions
about all kinds of religious matters.
One of Satan's most subtle devices by which he continually keeps
the minds and hearts of many women blinded to the glory of
God that shines brilliantly in the face of Jesus Christ is religion. The worst thing on this earth
that can happen to you is for you to get a dose of religion
and not know the Son of God. The worst thing that can possibly
happen to you. I can't tell you, you men and
women of this congregation, How I cringe when I hear one of you
say to me, well, Johnny's going to church now. That's good. No,
it ain't good. No, it ain't. The worst thing
on this earth that can happen is for you to get a dose of religion
and not know God. Religious curiosity is what we
see in this chapter. The Herodians Asked the Lord
Jesus, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? Is it lawful to obey
the civil government? And all kinds of religious folks
ask the same questions today. The Sadducees were curious about
the resurrection body. Whose wife shall she be in the
resurrection? Boy, that's serious. The Pharisees asked, which is
the great commandment? We want to be serious now about
obeying God. What is it that God really requires
of us? Men and women love to talk about
religion, debate religion, fight over religion, but very few,
very few are willing to face and deal with that which is vital. Now when I stand here and say
to you something is vital, I'm not using a hyperbole, I'm telling
you these things are vital. Most people avoid dealing with
the real soul-searching issues of the gospel by giving themselves
up to vain questions about points of religious doctrine, church
order, religious history, religious creeds, religious confessions,
and religious ceremonies. What multitudes there are? who
are the obvious descendants of these Herodians and scribes and
Sadducees and Pharisees, I meet them everywhere I go. I travel
the length and breadth of this country many times a year, preaching
the gospel in this corner and that, and I meet them everywhere
I go. I hear from them, not once in
a while, I get letters every single day. from folks who are
the descendants of these Herodians and scribes and Pharisees and
Sadducees. They want to know who will be
the greatest? What will our rewards be? What
kind of body will we have in the resurrection? Who's going
to be the guest at the marriage feast? Who's going to be the
bride? What rules of discipline should
we have in the church? It's amazing to me, before folks
ever start a church, they get more concerned about getting
sinners out than they are about getting them in. What kind of confession
should we have? What part of the law is applicable
to us today? How should we keep the Sabbath
day? When will the Lord come? We know
that no man can really know exactly when he's coming, but surely
we can have some idea. What about the Great Tribulation?
What do you believe about the Millennial Kingdom? And you're
most folks who ask that question can't even spell millennium?
What's your view of Laxarianism? And they're not talking about
folks who live in Lapland. Just questions, questions, questions. I can easily spend an hour doing
nothing but listing the questions I hear from folks about religion.
Meaningless, meaningless questions. I asked her, did you mean to
say those things are meaningless? Absolutely meaningless. Meaningless. Folks have been
asking me for 30 some odd years, go preach, what do you believe
about the millennium? What's your millennial position?
I'm not real sure I've got one, but if I did, I wouldn't tell
them. It's meaningless. Absolutely meaningless. When
all is said and done, there's only one question of eternal
consequence. Just this one. What think ye
of Christ? This one vital question. Not,
when were you saved? Not, what church were you attending
when you were saved? Not what church are you a member
of now. Not even what do you believe.
Now this will shock the pants off some folks, but they need
to have their pants shocked off of them. If you go to hell, it
really doesn't matter whether you go as a Calvinist or an Arminian.
And I could care less whether somebody is Calvinist, Arminian,
Hindu, Muslim, or Papist. One brand of poison is as good
as another. The issue is not What is your doctrine? The issue
is what think ye of Christ? God give you grace to know Him
and think well of Him. I know people often think that
your pastor preaches too much about Christ. Thankfully, not
you. But most imagine that it really
doesn't matter, really, what you think of Christ. As long
as you're sincere, it doesn't really matter what you think
of him. As long as you go to church regularly, you know, and
you don't sin too much outwardly, and you have a respectable name,
it really doesn't matter too much what you think about Christ.
It is important, however, what you think about what they call
practical things. You know, like Whether or not
you should have a glass of wine with your meal. That's important. That's important. Whether or
not you ought to use tobacco. That's important. That's important.
Whether you ought to wear shorts or go to the picture show. Now
that's important. That's important. You go to hell playing with those
things. Not just you, everybody who plays
with them. Everybody. This is important. What think ye of Christ? This is life eternal, that they
might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent, outwardly to the human eye, Jesus of Nazareth appeared
to be an ordinary man. He didn't have a halo around
his head. He didn't have a heavenly aura
about his being. And if they should happen to
find the shroud which was wrapped around his body when he was buried,
he would not have left an impression on it any more than you would
have left an impression on it. He was just an ordinary man to
all outward appearance. called the carpenter's son. When
he went to dinner and somebody served up a piece of beef roast
and a flagon of wine, he ate the beef and drank the wine,
they said, he's a wine pipper. What does that say? They called
him a glutton. Because he was gracious and kind
and not repelling to sinners They called him a friend of harlots
and publicans, indicating he's one of them. This is what the
prophet said of him. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire
him. Nothing about him. Nothing about
him to attract attention physically. Nothing about him that would
attract anyone to him in any physical way. He is despised
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
He was despised, and we esteemed him not. He was despised, and
we thought it was right for him to be despised. This man was
born to a poor, unknown family. When they came to find a place
for lodging, there was no room for them in the inn. He was laid
in a manger in a cow stable. He was carried into Egypt to
escape the wrath of an enraged king who was scared to death
of losing his throne. He grew up in a small out-of-the-way
place called Nazareth and worked as a carpenter. He began his
ministry, attended only by the lowest of rabble, fishermen. I know folks try to make more
of that than the scriptures make of it. Well, fishermen in those
days were a higher class of society, hogwash. Sailors have always
been sailors. They ain't never changed. They
ain't never changed. That was the folks who followed
him. Nobody else. His teachings about
God, about saint sin, about man, about salvation, ran in direct
opposition. to everything everybody around
him believed and taught. Ran in direct opposition to all
the priests, and all the preachers, and all the teachers, and all
the religious world, everything going on in every synagogue,
everything going on in every temple, every place in the temple.
He ran in direct opposition to it all. In direct opposition
to it. Finally, though he multiplied loaves and fishes and drew crowds
with them, Though he healed the sick and healed the blind and
healed the lame and raised the dead and drew crowds, after a
while they could not endure his doctrine, and the whole of the
world forsook him. And he wound up crucified between
two thieves on a filthy hill called the Place of the Skull.
And religious people thought, we're rid of him now. We'll have
nothing more to worry about with this man. His influence is over. And if he had just been a man,
they would have been right. But this is no mere man. And I don't care how many documentaries
and historic things you may see on television and papers you
may read about him, he will never be understood or explained by
any of these means. You see, this man, was raised
from the dead. And God set him at his own right
hand and made him Lord and Christ. Well, Brother John, what does
that mean? That means he's boss over you and me and everybody
else. That means he's in absolute control. That means he has dominion over
heaven, earth, and hell, rightfully so, because he is God's darling
son. Now let me give you as plainly
and as clearly and as simply as I can the teaching of scripture
with regard to this man. Let me tell you what I think
of him, and what I think of him I take directly from this book.
And it's not theory. It's not theory. When I was a
young man, I was listening to a tape of a message by Brother
Ralph Barnard, and somebody had asked him, said, do you believe
the whole Bible? He said, I don't know. I hadn't experienced it
all yet. And I thought, well, how could he say something like
that? Fact is, you don't believe anything you haven't experienced. You don't believe anything until
you've experienced it. It's just theory. It's just theory. Now, here's the first thing.
I believe, I am convinced, I'm absolutely convinced, that this
man, Jesus of Nazareth, is himself God Almighty. God Almighty. He is the revelation of God,
but he's more. He is the image of God, but he's
more. He is the one who represents
God to us, but he's more. He is God the Son. Yes, he is God Almighty. Let's see if this is what the
scripture says. Turn to Isaiah chapter 9. Isaiah chapter 9. This is what all the Old Testament
prophets declared. But here in Isaiah chapter 9
it is stated so plainly. In chapter 7 we're told that
his name is Immanuel. The word means God with us. This man who stepped into history
called Jesus of Nazareth is himself the eternal God who stepped into
history in human flesh. Here in Isaiah chapter 9 verse
6. For unto us a child is born. As a man he was born. His human
body, that holy thing which was sacrificed for us on the cursed
tree, was formed in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the overshadowing
power of God the Holy Spirit, and nine months later this child
was born. But he was never born as God
the Son. No, no. Unto us a son is given. And the government, what government?
All of it. shall be upon his shoulder, and
his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God. Now, a Mighty God? The Mighty
God. Turn to the New Testament if
you will. John chapter 1. The scriptures in Romans 9 tell
us that he is over all God blessed forever. And this is what we
read here in John chapter 1. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. Now
watch this. And the Word was God. The Word was God. A better reading
would be this. God was the Word. God was the
Word. The same was in the beginning
face to face with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. Verse 14. And the Word was made flesh. This Word, who is God, was made
flesh and dropped among us, and we beheld His glory. We saw Him. The glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus Christ, whom
I trust as my only Savior, whom I trust as my only Protector,
to whose hands I commit my soul and my life and every care of
life for time and eternity, is God Almighty. God Almighty. Either he's God or he's a fake. There's no alternative. Either
he is God Almighty or he's an imposter. The greatest imposter
who ever lived. Either he's God Almighty or he
deserved to be put to death for blasphemy. That's how serious
this is. Folks talk about questioning
the Godhood of Christ. What was the use of his death
if he's not God? What was the use of his life
if he's not God? And believe me, when I say if,
I am giving merely the most redundant, ridiculous supposition. Oh no, this man is God. His disciples worshipped him
as God. He openly claimed to be God. The Jews took up stones,
and John did, and were fixing to throw stones at him. He said,
what did I do that you're fixing to kill me? And they said, because
you being a man, make yourself God. And he didn't say a word. Well, just hurl away if you can. When they finally brought him
into the judgment hall, and asked him question after question after
question, they wound up Nailing him to a tree because he asserted
plainly that he's God. He's God. Second, I believe,
I'm convinced that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Christ. Turn to Matthew 16. Matthew 16. Verse 13. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do
men say that I, the Son of Man am? And they said, Some say thou
art John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah. Now, that's
something. The quails, they said, some said
this is John the Baptist been raised from the dead. Others
said, no, this is Elijah who has been raised from the dead.
Others said, no, this is Jeremiah who has been raised from the
dead, or one of the prophets that has been raised from the
dead. And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And
Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ. Now there have been many who
claim to be Christ before him. And there have been many who
claim to be Christ after him. Simon said, Thou art the Christ,
the anointed one, the Messiah. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Blessed art thou. Oh, you are a blessed man. if
you are convinced that this man, our God, is the Christ spoken
of throughout this book. Because if you're convinced of
this, flesh and blood didn't teach you that. You didn't learn
it from your Sunday school teacher, and you didn't learn it from
your preacher, and you didn't learn it from Mama and Daddy,
and you didn't learn it from a creed, and you didn't learn
it because you had so many facts stuck in your head. But God the
Holy Spirit has revealed it to you. but my Father which is in
heaven. Now throughout the Old Testament
from the fall of Adam when the Lord God came to Adam and Eve
and gave them a promise saying I will put enmity between the
woman's seed and the serpent. And the serpent would bruise
the woman's seed, bruise his heel. But the woman's seed will
crush the serpent's head. From that moment Until the day
of Malachi, closing his prophecy, all the Old Testament prophets
spoke of, pointed to, and looked for one man who would come into
this world called the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one. That's what the word Christ means.
They looked for one man who being God in human flesh, you mean
that's what the Old Testament folks believed? Of course they
did. When Eve had her first child, when she had Cain, she thought,
God's fulfilled the promise. Here he is, I've gotten the man
from the Lord. She was mistaken, but she was
looking for the man. This man who is God, who will
crush the serpent's head. And all the Old Testament believers
look for this man, who is God in human flesh, who would come
and redeem his people and rule the world for the glory of God
and the good of his people. And Simon Peter says, this is
the Christ. To him give all the prophets
witness, we're told in Acts chapter 10. Our Lord said, Abraham rejoiced
to see my day. Abraham rejoiced to see, Simon
Peter, what you're confessing. Abraham rejoiced to see what
we're here to celebrate this day. Jesus of Nazareth is the
Christ, the Redeemer of his people. He was looked for and described
as the woman seed, Abraham's seed, the blessing of Abraham,
the prophet like to Moses, a priest like Melchizedek, a king like
David, one who comes who is both the son of David and David's
Lord. After seeing his miracles and
hearing his words, the people kept asking the Pharisees a question
that the Pharisees just could not bring themselves to answer.
The question is simply, they could answer it theoretically,
they could answer it factually, but they could not bring themselves
to confess it because they did not know Him themselves. They said, is not this the Christ?
Is not this the Christ? Look what He's done. This is
what the prophet said He would do. Look what He says. This is
what the prophet said He would say. Look where He was born.
This is what the prophet said He would be born. Look what's
happened to Him. This is what the prophet said would happen
to Him. Is not this the Christ? And he said, if you believe not
that I am he, you shall die in your sins. Third, turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. I believe, I am convinced, and
I rejoice in this. as much as I rejoice in the fact
that he is God Almighty and that he is the Christ. I believe,
I am convinced, and I rejoice in the fact that this man who
is God incarnate, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, is the last Adam. Now listen carefully to me. God
Almighty, are you listening? God Almighty deals with the whole
human race upon the basis of that which two men have done. You are what you are right now.
And you shall be what you shall be forever, either in heaven,
in the bliss of God's grace forever, or in hell, in the torments of
the damned forever, because of two men. One of two men. It's one of two men. Let's see.
1 Corinthians 15 verse 21. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 21. For since by man came death.
How did you get in the mess you're in? How did you get here? Michael and Nicole got that baby
downstairs. We got our babies downstairs. And you know what
they are? They are dead sinners. They were born that way. They
came forth from the womb speaking lies. Now I'm sure you cannot
imagine this my grandson. I'm sure you cannot imagine this
my grandson. His father told me, just yesterday,
that Faith was in the shower, got out of the shower and had
rolls of toilet paper squashed down around on the floor, because
Will didn't want to get his feet wet. And he's walking on, and
you know what Will said immediately? Uh-uh, sis did it. How come? That's the nature of the beast
called humanity. We came forth from the womb speaking
lies. How'd you get that mess? By one
man. Death. By one man. Read on. Thank God it doesn't
end there. By man. Another man. came also
the resurrection of the dead. Now here you sit, you who believe
on the Son of God, with life in your soul, new life, righteousness created
in you, faith given you, life before God. You who were born
hating God, now Compelled by something you cannot
begin to explain deep in your soul to love him and seek his
glory. Raised from the dead. That's what the new birth is.
Raised from the dead by another man. What's he talking about? For as in Adam, all die. Even so, in Christ shall all
be made alive. All who are represented by Adam
died in Adam. All who are represented by Christ
live in Christ. And so it is written, the first
man Adam, the first man, the first representative man, the
first covenant head, was made a living soul. God created Adam
out of the dust of the earth, created him to be a representative
man, and God breathed into his nostrils, and man became a living
soul. The last Adam was something else. He was made a life-giving soul. He was made a quickening spirit. God raised him from the dead,
and he quickeneth whom he will. Howbeit that was not first, which
is spiritual, but that which is natural, afterward that which
is spiritual. The first man is of the earth,
The second man is the Lord from heaven. Oh, now what blessed
doctrine this is. Pastor, if I've heard what you
read correctly, that takes this whole thing out of our hands.
You heard correctly. The whole thing. Out of your
hands. The whole thing is out of your
hands. Your soul is out of your hands. Your well-being is out
of your hands. Your eternal salvation is out
of your hands. Your eternal destiny is out of
your hands. It's all together in the hands
of God Almighty. All together. Look at Romans
chapter 5. Romans 5. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned." Verse 17. If by one man's offense
death reigned by one, well, I don't like that. Hang on, it gets good.
If that's how we got in the mess with, If we all sinned by one
man, if we all died by one man, if we all were put under the
curse by one man, maybe there's another man. Bless God there
is. And that first man was just a
figurehead. Read on. If by one man's offense
death reign by one, much more, they which receive abundance
of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one man. Jesus Christ, this last Adam,
therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all
men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one,
the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. By
one man's disobedience, all who were represented by that one
man were brought to death in condemnation. By the second man's
obedience, all represented by that man are brought to justification
of life in the abundance of grace. Read on. Verse 19. For as by
one man's disobedience many, quite literally, the many, were
made sinners, so by the obedience of another, one man, shall many,
the many, be made righteous. The scriptures clearly teach
this threefold imputation. When Adam sinned, we sinned in
Adam because he was our representative. The whole human race sinned in
him. And sinning in Adam, Adam's sin
was imputed to us because we sinned in him. When the Lord
Jesus Christ died yonder on Calvary, our sin was imputed to Him because
He was made sin for us. And His righteousness is imputed
to all for whom He died at Calvary, imputed to all who believe Him,
imputed to us because we have been made the righteousness of
God in Him. Do you remember what our Lord
commanded in Luke chapter 3? He said, He that hath two coats,
let him impart one to him that hath none. He did just that. He had two
coats of righteousness. One, his righteousness as God
Almighty. That we shall never possess. That is the righteousness that
is his which separates him from all his creatures because he
is God. And God does not communicate
Godhead to us. But he has another code of righteousness.
The righteousness that he performed as a man on this earth called
everywhere the righteousness of God. And we had none. And when he comes in saving grace,
baby he came to you, called you by his grace, raised you from
the dead, and said, put on the best coat. The coat of his perfect
righteousness. I'll tell you something else,
I'm fully convinced. I believe that this man, Jesus
Christ, is the absolute sovereign of the universe. This is what
he says. All power is given to me in heaven
and earth. Now that can't talk about him
as God. In his eternal divinity, nothing is given to him. He created
all things, rules all things, sustains all things. This is
talking about that power that's given him as a result of his
obedience to the Father as our representative and our covenant
head and our mediator. It's talking about that power
given to him because he became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross to redeem us. And now God's highly exalted
him and given him all power. All power. What does that mean? Now, this is deep. It's too deep
for most folks to get. Most can't grasp it. The theologians
can't handle it. Preachers can't handle it. Most church folks can't handle
it because they're too smart. All power. You know what that
means, Dorothy? All power. All power. The power for you
to breathe is His. The power to take your breath
is His. The power for you to think is His. The power to take
your mind from you is His. The power to rule your thoughts
ain't yours, it's His. The power to govern your hands,
not yours, it's His. There's nothing in heaven above
Earth beneath or hell beneath the earth that wiggles apart
from His power. He rules everything. Everything.
Absolutely. All the time. Everywhere. Brother
Don, you mean He always has His will? Yeah. You mean He always
has His way? Yeah. You mean with everybody? Yeah. It's called all power,
all power. Now, everything I know about him.
convinces me that He is worthy of that power and worthy of all
praise and honor and majesty and glory to be ascribed to and
given to Him forever because of His matchless worth. Thou art worthy, O Lord. It pleased the Father that in
Him should all fullness dwell. The Father has given Him preeminence
in all things. Our Lord Jesus said all men must
honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth
not the Son honoreth not the Father. You see, He is our God. He's the perfect man. And He
loved us and washed us from our sins in
His own blood. Redeemed us from sin and death
and hell. Saved us by His matchless free
grace. Made us kings and priests under
God. And made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in life. And soon is going to
bring us there. No wonder they sing, worthy is
the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive wisdom and power and riches and honor and dominion
forever and forever. Let me tell you something else. I'm absolutely convinced, absolutely
convinced That all who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ have eternal life. Every sinner in the world. Well, let's forget about them
for a minute. Seeing as how I'm just talking
to you. Just to you. Every sinner sitting here. That includes you. You. Every sinner. Every sinner. Don't care what you've done.
Don't care what you are. Every sinner who believes on
the Son of God has everlasting life. Well, what if a man believes
and he's not elected? That's kind of like asking whether
a gal after having seven husbands, which one she's going to be married
to in the resurrection. Ain't neither one going to happen.
But that's not the issue. Every sinner who believes on
the Son of God has everlasting life. Listen to what our Lord
says. He that believeth on the Son One of my favorite words in the
English language, HATH. H-A-T-H, HATH. He's already got it, he has it
now, and he ain't never going to lose it. HATH, everlasting
life. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me,
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but
is passed from death unto life forever. Whosoever believeth,
I love that word, whosoever. I'm so glad he didn't say Don
Fortner does. I've met two other Don Fortners in my life, and
I'd be dead sure it was one of them. I'd be dead sure, but as
is whosoever. That's got to include me. Whosoever,
believe it, that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. Doesn't say shall be born of
God. Doesn't say he shall have life.
Is born. In other words, Brother Don, If right now I believe on the Son of God, God's
already given me life. You got it. That's how life comes. He gives it. And the result is
He causes you to believe. If you now trust the Son of God, He has put away your sin, redeemed
you with His blood because He loved you with an everlasting
love and chose you as His own. He's given you eternal life and
you shall not come into condemnation ever, ever, not ever. Oh, God help you then to believe
Him. God help you to believe Him.
Brother Don, how can I get Christ? He that hath the Son hath life. How can I get Him? Well, some
folks came running to Him. Some folks came falling down
before Him. Some reached out and touched
Him. Some laid hold on Him. I said, but I can't do that. I can't do any of that. He says,
look unto Me. Be ye saved, all the ends of
the earth. Find God, and beside Me there is none else. Look and
live. it.