the Gospel of John chapter 8. Now there are several verses,
I want to get right into the message this morning because
our time is getting away from us. There are several verses
among those that our brothers read to us this morning in which
you will find the little two-letter word F. or if, and I want to
use six of these verses this morning, and there are several
others besides the six that I will use, but in these verses I believe
it is if or else, it's an unchangeable term, it's an absolute if, if. Now, when hearing these verses
read, I could not help but to think of Psalm 92 and verse 5,
where David said, O Lord, how great are thy works, and thy
thoughts are very deep. And thy thoughts are very deep. Not the thoughts of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Very deep indeed. Certainly they
are. And certainly we need that the
Spirit of God would guide us into these truths and the understanding
of these precious things that are set before us here. Yet,
I believe that there are some things here that are very clear,
some things that are very plain, some things that are unmistakable,
and we pray that they may be rooted in every one of our hearts
before this meeting is over today. Now, I'm going away for a while,
so I felt that these verses would say to you this morning what
I would like to leave with you. And so, to begin with, I want
you to notice, if you will, the 24th verse. The 24th verse, where
the Lord Jesus says, I said therefore unto you that you shall die in
your sins, for if For if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die
in your sins." An absolute. Either or else. You must believe
or you will die in your sins. Now the Lord Jesus has been talking
to them about His going away. And He says, I'm going away in
verse 21, and ye shall seek Me. There will come a time when you
will seek me. You're not seeking me now, except
to kill me. But there's coming a time when
you will be seeking me. And he says, and you shall die
on your sins. Whether I go, ye cannot come. Whether I go, ye cannot come. Then said the Jews, will he kill
himself? Is he going to commit suicide
because he says, whether I go, you cannot come? What's he going
to do? How is it that we cannot come
where he's going to be? You're going to seek me, but
you'll not be able to find me because whether I go, you cannot
come. Now these words, whether I go,
you cannot come, are emphatic in the Greek simply means that
you cannot cross, there will be no bridge crossing from where
you're at to where I'm going to be unless you believe that
I am He, unless you believe that I am God. There is no bridge. The bridge is going to be out.
The bridge is out. The bridge is faith. And if you
don't have any faith, then you're not going to be able to come
where I am. Ye cannot come. He cannot come
if, he says in the 24th verse, you believe not that I am he,
you shall die in your sin. Now it is possible, I believe
by the reading of these verses, to believe that you can seek
Christ in vain. I think for a wrong reason, maybe
in times of peculiar circumstances, maybe in times of great affliction,
maybe in times of great trial, of great loss, people might seek
the Lord. But then, whenever things return
to normal, they just go back to their old ways. They are seeking,
as it were, the Lord in vain. Now scripture and experience
alike, I believe, proves that men may reject God until God
rejects them. There is such a thing as a settled
habit of resisting light and knowledge until we see Christ
in vain. There is such a thing as a person
just rejects everything that he hears about the gospel. They
reject the light of the gospel. They reject the knowledge of
the Word of God as it is presented to them in their experience. Now, God says, just let them
alone. I read over in Proverbs 1, 28
through 29, Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but
they shall not find me, for they hated knowledge and did not choose
the fear of the Lord. Now this left up to a man, he
will go on in his ignorance and blindness and darkness. If anybody
turns and seeks the Lord with a hold heart, Christ must be
sought while he may be found. And that will, of course, be
by the effectual call of God's Spirit. And calling on Him, we
must call upon Him while He is near, seeking Him with a true
heart and an honest spirit. They that truly come to Him,
He will never cast out. If you're truly seeking Him,
if you're seeking Him for the right reason, if you're seeking
the Lord with all of your heart, then you will find Him and He
will not cast you out. But here let us learn that unbelief
is fatal. If ye believe not that I am He,
ye shall die in your sins. Whether I go, ye cannot come. Now a man, if he believes not
that Jesus Christ is God, if he believes not that I am He,
then, he said, you will die in your sins. Now as I think upon
this, Jesus was saying to these Jews, He's saying that the bridge
indeed is out between you and where I'm going. I'm going to
be with my Father. I'm going to heaven. My Father
sent me down here. I'm from above. You're of this
world. I'm not of this world. And I'm going out of this world
and returning unto the Father. And the bridge is out between
you and where I'm going. Now I heard a story one time
about down in, I believe it was in Utah. many years ago in the
early days of the railroad. There was a tremendous storm
that lasted for a couple of days, a big windstorm and a lot of
rain. And as the story goes, the railroad
trussle, there was a huge railroad trussle and part of that blew
down during this storm. And there was a teenage girl
that lived with her grandparents in a cabin right near this railroad
trestle. Well, they heard the crash of
part of this railroad bridge and they knew that there was
a passenger train or a train due in a short time. And so this
girl, she left, this teenage girl left the cabin in the storm
and tried to make her way to the town nearby where there was
a train depot where that she could give them the message to
stop the train from coming where the bridge was out. And so she
labored to get there, running and running until she was practically
totally exhausted. And when she got there to the
station, she could only say these words, the bridge is out. and she collapsed in exhaustion. And so my friend, this morning
as I stand here before you, I'm here to tell you the bridge is
out. The bridge is out between you and where the Lord Jesus
Christ is going to be If you believe not that I am He, you
shall die in your sins. You're going to die in your sins.
With the heart, the Bible says, man believeth unto righteousness. What is the man to believe? He's
to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is God. He's the I am. That's the better rendering of
this verse. If you believe not that I am,
This is the great name, you remember, well known to the Jews, under
which God revealed himself to Israel in Egypt. In Exodus 3
and verse 14, God said, you say unto the children of Israel,
I am hath sent you. I am hath sent you. God and Christ,
one person. The Almighty and the Messiah
are one. Except you believe that I am
God, you shall die in your sins. If you believe, you shall not
die in your sins. If you believe not, you shall
die in your sins. Now Jesus taught that a man could
die in his sins and not go to heaven. that a man could die
in his sin, he taught the doctrine of hell. He taught the doctrine
of hell very, very plainly. He talked about wrath. He talked
about where the worm dieth not, and the fire is never quenched.
Jesus believed in eternal punishment for sin. Jesus said, he that
believeth not shall be damned. That's what he said in Mark 16
and 16. And John 3 and 18 he said, He that believeth is not condemned.
He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. In Luke
chapter 16, you remember the rich man died in a palace, but
he died in his sins, and he went to hell. Lazarus, the poor man,
he died at the gate full of sores, but he did not die in his sins.
He went to heaven. Stephen was stoned to death,
you remember, but he did not die in his sins. Judas Iscariot
died in his sins, and he went, the Bible says, to his own place. Ananas and Sapphira died with
a lie upon their lips, and they went to heaven. Better a thousand
times, my friend, that you would die in a ditch or die in a prison
than that you would die in your sins. The thief on the cross,
you remember, oh, he was a thief all right, and he was guilty
of the crime of thievery, but nevertheless he did not die in
his sins. Because the Lord Jesus said,
today thou shalt be with me in paradise. And so my friend, I
say it would be a thousand times better for you to die on the
cross than it would be for you to die in your sins. You ought
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, they that die in
their sins I believe they shall rise in their sins and stand
before Christ in their sins, because the sins of unbelievers
go to hell with them. When they die, they die in their
sins, and their sins are in the graves with them, and their sins
go to hell with them. Now the sins of believers went
to the grave when the Lord Jesus died. They went to the grave
in Him, did they not? The Lord Jesus was not our sins
on Him? Were they not laid on Him? See
that man yonder on the cross? My sins were upon His shoulders,
and it's by His wounds that we were healed. And He bore our
sins in His own body to the tree, and suffered death on the behalf
of our sin, paid for our sin. Now listen, If we believe not, if we believe
not, we will die on our sins. I remember reading some words
of some of those that were famous in their lifetime of being atheists,
and were very, very vocal about rejecting God and
rejecting his Bible and his truth. And one Edward Gibbon said, all
is now lost when he come to die. Finally, irrevocably lost. All is doubt. All is dark. And Thomas Hobbes says, I'm about
ready to take the leap in the dark. I would be glad, he said,
if I could just find a hole that I could crawl into to creep out
of this world. Voltaire says, I'm abandoned
by God and man. I shall go to hell. Oh, Jesus
Christ, I shall go to hell. And then Charles IX, King of
France said, what blood, what murders, what evil counsel I
have followed, I'm lost. I see it well. He was dying in
his sins. Tom Paine said, I would give
worlds if I had them, if the Age of Reason, the book that
he wrote, had never been published. Oh Lord, help me. Christ, help
me. Stay with me. It is hell to be
left alone. To die in your sin, my friend,
is hell. Now, there was another, Francis
Newport, who said, Oh, that I could lie for a thousand years on the
fire, that is, never to be quenched, to purchase the favor of God
and to be reunited to him again, but it is fruitless wish. Millions
and millions of years will bring me no nearer to the end of torments
than one poor hour. Oh, eternity, eternity, forever
and forever. Oh, the insufferable pains of
hell. And so it is, my friend, those
who die in their sins They will have an awful death. They will
die separated from God. Forever to be separated from
the living God. If you believe not that I am
He, you shall die in your sins. Then the next verse is John 8
and 31. I have to move fast. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on Him. The Lord Jesus had been speaking
about the Father and about His words that He had received from
the Father and which He had given them. And as He spake these words
in verse 30, it says, many believed on Him. Now, we understand that
Jesus knew the hearts of all men, and He knew who would believe
on Him, and He knew the one that would betray Him. But it says
here in verse 31, Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed
on him, If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples
indeed. Now beloved Jesus is saying to
start is easy, to finish is quite another thing. Continuing is
not, listen to me now carefully, continuing is not a condition
of salvation, continuing is a proof of salvation. It is a test of
true grace. Patient continuance in well-doing
is the sure evidence of the grace of God. In other words, if a
man says, I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, a woman, I believe
on the Lord Jesus, a young person, I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
Then, my friend, there is a continuance that it will be real and evident
in the life. Patient continuance in well-doing
is, I believe, the sure evidence of the grace of God, not he that
runs fast. and furiously at the first, but
he that perseveres to the end shall be saved." God's people,
A. W. Pink said, will persevere,
but they must persevere. They will continue in the Word. Now if you take a firm stand
on the gospel of the word of truth, then are you truly disciples,
you're disciples indeed. And the word indeed there means
truly. You are truly a disciple if you
continue in the word. No perseverance, no grace. If we continue in the word, our
lives will show it. God's people are often tried
in this world to see if they will turn back. Now in John chapter
6, you remember, if you want to turn back there just quickly
with me, you remember And we can begin here with verse 64. But there are some of you that
believe not, Jesus said. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And
he said, Therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto
me, except it were given to him of my father. And from that time
many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.
They went back. They said they believed. The
scripture here calls them disciples, learners, followers, imitators
of Jesus. But they went back and walked
no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve,
Will you also go away? Will you also go away? So our
Lord Jesus, upon preaching the doctrine of election, had many
that left him and deserted him. And then he said to the twelve,
will you also go away? So God's people are often tested
as to see whether they will stand or not, to see whether they will
continue in the Word. In 1 John chapter 2 and verse
19, it says, They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that
they might be made manifest. that they were not all of us
and so beloved there is a continuing in the word and I would exhort
you and you young people here those of you that have made a
profession of faith recently I would exhort you that you need
to take this Bible, you need to read it and study it. You
need to make it your book. You need to make it a habit of
studying this book and getting you a good commentary, get good
commentaries, good literature, and a good Bible dictionary.
And you need to work out the truths of the scripture and embed
them and hide them into your heart. Because we must continue
and persevere in the faith of the gospel. And so I say, those,
if you continue in my word, Jesus said, then are you my disciples.
No continuance, no perseverance, no grace. And as I said, you
will be tested. And I can tell you some stories
about how that I have been tested, but I can't get into it this
morning because I do not have the time. But believe you me,
you will be tested. And if you can quit, and if you
can turn around and go back, you will. You will do it if you
can. And I'm here to tell you that
it's only as we continue in the faith that we are disciples truly. Now the next verse is the 36th
verse. So look in John 8 verse 36. If,
there's that little two-letter word again, if the Son therefore
shall make you free, he shall be free indeed. really free,
in reality free, freedom from sin, its penalty, its power,
and finally someday thank God from his presence. God's people
are free from the penalty, power, and consequences and presence
of their sin. We need by nature a change of
masters. We need a change of masters.
The Lord Jesus taught that. And look in verse 34. He said,
He answered them, Verily, verily, or truly, truly, I say unto you,
Whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin. Whoever commits
sin is the slave of sin. Whoever commits sin habitually
is the slave of sin. And the servant abideth not in
the house forever. The servant is temporary. Like
you folks, he said concerning these Jews, you folks are just,
you're not like the son. If the son abideth forever, but
you folks are the servant of sin, abideth not in the house
forever. He will finally be cast out if
he's a slave of sin. but the Son abideth ever, and
if the Son makes you free. He had said earlier, you shall
know the truth. Jesus Christ is the truth personified. He is the way, the truth, and
the life. He is the truth. And so he said,
you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
You'll have a living union with the truth. You'll be joined to
the truth. You will be in Him that is true. You will be in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the Son will make you free indeed. Now, beloved,
let me say this, that as I mentioned that we need a change of masters,
and we truly do, because some of you, your father's the devil.
If your father's not God, your father is the devil, and your
master is the devil. That's clearly spelled out here
in these verses. But now he is most free, whose
knee is most bent to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. You say, well,
I think I'd be in bondage if I got saved. You're in bondage
already, my friend. You're in bondage to sin. You
are the servant of sin. You're a slave of the old master,
the devil himself. And the only way for you to be
free is to bend your knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
whose knee is most bent is the most free. Is that right? Well,
I believe that with all my heart. The only true liberty is that
which one finds in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Only those
in Christ are free. All others are slaves whether
they know it or not. Whether they know it or not,
I say, no one is perfectly free who is not free from sin. And don't ever forget it. You
say, I'm free. No, you're not free. These Jews thought they
were. But Jesus pointed out to them that they were really the
servants of sin. It's the peculiar office and
privilege of the Lord Jesus Christ to give freedom forever to all
who come to Him in the faith of the gospel. And he gives freedom
and liberty. Augustine, he carried this freedom
here promise far into the future. And he said, when there will
be a full and perfect liberty, when there shall be no enemies,
when the last enemy shall be destroyed, even death. Even death. Perfect liberty from all of our
enemies. From sin and from the last enemy,
even death. All right, now then we hurry
on to John 8 and 39, but I wanted to emphasize that you people,
whether you live another year or whether you live 20 or 40
or 50 or 60 more years, if you're ever free, You will find that freedom in
the Lord Jesus Christ. You will never find it anywhere
else, and cease to look for it anywhere else. It's only in Christ
that you have liberty. But John 8 and 39, Jesus said
to these Jews further, they answered and said to him, Abraham is our
father. And Jesus saith unto them, you
were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. If you were Abraham's children,
then you would do the works of Abraham. Abraham was a man of
faith. Abraham's chief work in life
was to believe God. The Lord Jesus told these people
the truth And they would not believe him. They would not believe
him. It wasn't like Abraham. Why? Abraham believed God. You can read the fourth chapter,
and I encourage you to do that, of the book of Romans. And you
see over and over again how that Abraham believed God. And you
can read the third chapter of the book of Galatians and you'll
see that they which are of faith are the children of Abraham.
It's that they that believe God are the spiritual seed of Abraham. They are the true children of
Abraham, those who believe. on the Lord Jesus Christ. All
of the duties that Abraham performed, he was moved to those duties
by faith. All of his actions were the outworking
of faith in his life. These people had no faith and
they did not the works of Abraham. Because if the father had truly
been Abraham, then they would have been his spiritual seed. Abraham is the father of the
faithful, and all of those who believe upon the Lord and trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ, they have as their father Abraham. He's the father of the faithful. And so, even those who are the
daughters, of God, who are children of God, the women are daughters
of Sarah, who was not afraid with any amazement. And so all
those women of faith, their as spiritually as Sarah, Abraham's
husband. Those who believe God and walk
by faith are, as we said, the true children of Abraham. So the Lord Jesus shut these
Pharisees down. He shut them up and shut their
mouth because they said, we're Abraham's children. They thought
that their being a descendant of Abraham would put them into
favor with God And Jesus said, it's not so, it's not the case. Now then, look at verse 56, and
down to verse 59 of this 8th chapter. John, I want you to
see this with me, what the Lord Jesus said about Abraham. He
said, your father Abraham rejoiced to see Midei, and he saw it and
was glad. Now these people here were seeking
to kill Christ, and you'll see that in just a moment. But Abraham,
he said, look at the difference in their nature. Abraham was
rejoicing to see my day. You see, the gospel had been
preached before unto Abraham. And he knew the gospel, and he
believed the gospel, and he was made righteous by believing the
gospel. And he said he saw it, and he
was glad. My day. Then said the Jews unto
him, thou art not yet fifty years old. Actually, the Lord Jesus
was just a little bit over 30, but because of the wear and tear
and because of the trials, and he'd be a man of sorrow, acquainted
with grief, and because all of our sins and guilt, as we talked
about last week, had been laid upon him, he looked like he was
close to 50 years old. Recently on one of the doctor's
reports that I got, they said of me, I'm a 68-year-old man
that looks considerably older than the age stated. Well, I'll
tell you what. If you live in this world and
fight the battles of life and stay in the trench, as it were,
you may look like you're 50 when you're 30, and you may look like
you're 75 or 80 when you're 68. Only God knows. But so, jeez,
they said, you're not yet 50 years old. And has thou seen
Abraham? Have you seen Abraham? And listen
to what Jesus said. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
before Abraham was, there's that I am. I am. He's God. He was there before Abraham.
He was there at the beginning. And then they did what? Did they
bow their head and say, oh, we're just like Abraham? No, no, no.
They took up stones to cast at him. They were going to kill
him because they were not the true seed of Abraham. The true
seed of Abraham are children of faith. And so I'm here to
say this morning that if you're Abraham's children, then, my
friend, you'll do the right thing and you'll keep believing God
and you'll press on in faith. and believe what God tells you.
Abraham fully believed that what God promised him he was able
to perform. Now that brings me to John 8
and verse 42. And I would like you to look
at this verse with me. And Jesus here, he again talks to them
about they saying that their father is even God. And Jesus
said to them, if God were your father, you would love me. If God were your Father, He would
love me. For I proceeded forth and came
from God, neither came I of myself, but He sent me. Now my friend,
I believe and certainly most of you here would believe that
we ought to love the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought to love Him.
The Bible says that we ought to love Him in sincerity. We
ought to love Him in sincerity. And in 1 Corinthians 16 and 20,
it says, if any man loves not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him
be anathema maranatha. Let him go to hell when the Lord
comes. If he don't love Christ. Now in 2 John 1 verse 9 it says,
Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ,
hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If God were your
Father, You would love Christ. You would love Him. There's no
such thing as the universal fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of
man. No such doctrine taught in the Word of God. The Bible
says in Galatians 3 and 26, we are all the children of God by
faith in Christ Jesus. And unless you're a believer
on the Lord Jesus Christ, you're not one of God's children. And
if words mean anything at all, No man is really a child of God
who does not love the Lord Jesus Christ. No man is a child of
God where there is no love to Christ, there is no sonship to
God. And you know when we're talking
like this, sometimes we think of those who think somewhat,
we think of those that somehow or other feel that their connection
to their ancestors, who were very religious people, somehow
or other passed off on down, and that they're alright. They're
just alright. Just leave me alone like these
Jews would say to the Lord Jesus Christ, why God is our father. We're not like other people.
God is our father. Due to the fact that we're fleshly
related to old Abraham. Well, my friend, let me say that
salvation begins by faith and then we love him whom God loves
and that's Christ. Nobody is a Christian that doesn't
love the Lord Jesus Christ. You mark it down. If you don't
love Him, you don't know the Father. You need to look at that
verse again that we read earlier in 2 John 1.9. Whosoever, he says, abideth not
in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the
doctrine of Christ, he has both the Father and the Son. And so
it's only as you abide in Christ, in the doctrine of Christ, that
you have both the Father and the Son. God is your Father and
you love the Lord Jesus Christ. You just love Christ. And you
young people here, I want to encourage you to never be ashamed
of your sweetheart love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Never be ashamed
of it because it's one of the surest proofs of the fact that
your heart has been changed and that you have a sanctified heart
before God. A heart set apart for God. Sweetheart love. for the Lord
Jesus Christ. Isn't it wonderful just to love
the Lord Jesus and not to be made to do it? We just do it. Somebody says, well, I can't
understand all this love in this church. Well, I can understand
it. The love of God is yet abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. And we love Christ. God is our
Father. We've been begotten by the Father
and we love Christ and love His Word and love His truth. And
so I'm here to tell you this morning that only those that
love Christ are saved. Are saved. Now you know in your
heart whether you love Him or not. You know whether you do
or not. You know whether you would love Christ. You know whether
or not you would obey Christ, follow Christ, do His bidding,
walk with Him, honor Him, do His commandments. You know whether
you would do that or not. You know in your own heart. If
you get across town, what do you do when you're on the other
side of town? What do you do when you're way off from the
people that know you? What do you do? God knows what
you do, and He knows whether the love of Christ constrains
you or not. He knows whether you love Him
or whether you don't. You remember old Peter asking,
Jesus said, Lovest thou me? Lovest thou me? Lovest thou me? And Peter said, Thou knowest.
that I love thee? Well, my friend, God knows whether
you love Him or not. And Christ knows whether you
love Him or not. If Jesus said, God were your Father, ye would
love me. And so, my friend, that's emphatic.
That's an absolute. And there is no salvation to
the man who does not love the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace. Paul said, Ephesians 6 and 24,
Be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen, he said. Amen. Grace be to them that love the
Lord Jesus. So never be ashamed of your love
for the Lord Jesus Christ. Never be ashamed of it. Don't
hesitate to express your love for Him who lived for you, who
died for you, who suffered on Calvary's cross for you. That
brings me to the last verse, and that is verse 51. Look at
it and we'll close. Verily, verily, truly, truly,
Jesus says, I say unto you, if a man keep my sayings, he shall
never see death. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
if A man will keep my sayings. He
shall never see death. Now beloved, you cannot separate
Christ from his sayings. The Lord Jesus Christ had many
sayings. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible
says that never a man spake like this man. And he went about preaching
the words, preaching the words that the Father had given him.
He had many, many sayings. And I suppose his sayings is
like his works. In John 21 and 25 it says that,
the writer says, I suppose that if all of them was recorded,
that the world itself couldn't contain the books that would
be printed, that would be written. And so there are many, many sayings
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But you cannot separate Christ
from his sayings. And so what we find here really
is the admonition that if a man keeps to Christ, that he will
never taste of death. Now what a glorious encouragement
our Lord holds out here to his believing people. If a man keeps
to me, he shall never see death. Now this boils down, I believe,
to the gospel. If we run all of the sayings
through the sieve, and if we run them all into the funnel,
when it comes out, I believe it's summed up in John chapter
6 and verse 47. Just look at John 6 and verse
47 with me, and just listen to this. This is the saying of the
Lord Jesus, and it sums up everything that He ever taught, really it
does. In verse 47, verily, verily,
truly, truly, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath
everlasting life. There it is. There it is. That's
the saying. If you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, you have everlasting life. Now then, what does he
mean here? That they that believe on him,
that they that keep his sayings, shall never see death. Well,
this does not mean that true Christians never die. It doesn't
mean that. It doesn't mean that they will
not die in the flesh. We all know, as the Pharisees
did, Abraham's dead. The prophets are dead. They all
died because now they were thinking in a fleshly way and a carnal
way. We all know that we must go down
to the grave and we all must cross the river just like all
men have to this time. And only if we're alive when
Jesus comes will we miss the grave. But the words do mean
this, that those who keep the sayings of the Lord Jesus Christ
shall not be hurt by the second death, that final ruin of the
whole man in hell of which the first death is only a faint type
or figure. They will not be hurt by the
second death. And they do mean that the sting
of the first death shall be removed from the true believer, and that
the bitter sense of unpardoned sins shall not crush him down. This is the worst part of death,
is to know that your sin is still upon you. We read a few minutes
ago the dying testimony of men whose sins were still upon them,
and how they felt in the hour of death. Well, the believer
is going to have the victory at the end through our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. Revelation 2 and 11 says, He
that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 3, 21 and 22, and I've always looked upon
these things as being Things that would be good for us, things
that would be a blessing. He says for all things are yours.
Now listen to what he says are ours. Whether Paul or Apollos
or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or
things to come, all are yours. Now do you really believe that
Paul would be saying this if it was not in a good light? I
say, I believe he says it because he's just simply telling us that
we have the victory in these things and these things are not
going to hurt any of us. They're not going to hurt us
because we're in Christ. All will be well. All will be
well because we're in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want you
to listen to some testimonies of people who died in the faith. Quickly, listen to this. Men
and women that had the victory. There was a Francois Rabelais,
who said, let down the curtain, the farce is over. Margaret Pryor
said, the chariot has come, and I'm ready to step in. Jordan
Ante said, eternity rolls up before me like a sea of glory. And Martha McCracken said, how
bright the room, how full of angels. Dr. Cullen said, I wish I had the
power of writing. I would describe how pleasant
it is to die. S.B. Bang said, the sun is setting,
mine is rising. I go from this bed to a crown.
Farewell, farewell. John Arthur Lyft said, can this
be death? Why, it is better than living.
Tell them that I die in Jesus Christ. Mel Trotter said, I am
in perfect peace, resting alone on the blood of Christ. I find
this amply sufficient with which to enter into the presence of
God. And Mary Frances said, Oh, that I could tell you what joy
I possess. I'm full of rapture. The Lord
does shine with such power upon my soul. He is come. He is come. And Woodrow Wilson said, I'm
ready. I'm ready. And I like what Stonewall
Jackson said. He had been wounded in the Civil
War and his arm was going to be amputated and he was delirious,
somebody said, but then others said that he was very much in
control of himself, he was a staunch Calvinist, and he said, let us
pass over the river and let us rest under the shade of the trees. Sounds like somebody that's not
going to be hurt by this thing, just going to be all right. So
we believe that with all of our hearts. If a man keeps my sayings,
he shall never, he shall never see death. If he keeps to Christ,
if he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, somebody asked
one time an individual what he thought of Jesus and he said,
if asked what of Jesus I think, Though still my best thoughts
are but poor, I say he's my meat and my drink, my light, he's
my strength, he's my store, he's my shepherd, he's my husband,
he's my friend, he's my savior from sin, my hope from beginning
to end, my portion, my Lord, and my all. And so if anybody
ever asked you what Jesus mean to that fellow, I used to preach
to you there. Just tell them that. Tell them
that. Well, this is what I want to
say to you this morning. I trust that the Lord will enable
you to keep these things in your memory and as the days, weeks
go on, that you'll be encouraged by these things you've heard
this morning. If the deacons will come and
Brother Randy Halbert and Brother Kevin, we will serve the Lord's Supper.