deal with in one message, so
I'm continuing that same subject this evening. Our Lord's words
to a religious world. This morning, He talked to them
concerning His deity. He declared who He is. I and
my Father are one. The Father and I are one in the
work of redemption. My Father works, and I work. We are one in redemption of sinners.
My Father and I are one in will and purpose. What the Father
purposed, I am here to carry out. The Father and I are one
in covenant mercies. The Father and I are one in power
and crown rights. The Father and I are one in honor
and worship. he that honoureth not the Son
honoureth not the Father who sent him. The Father and I are
one in regeneration and resurrection. The hour is coming, and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear shall live." Verse 26, "'For as the Father hath
life in himself, so hath he given to the to have life in himself. And the Son will quicken whom
He will. He'll save whom He will. He'll be merciful to whom He
will. And then my Father and I are one in judgment and final
things. That's where we left off. In
verse 27, the Father hath given Him, the Son, authority. You know, He prayed in John 17.
Thou hast given me authority over all flesh." Power, the word
power is authority. Thou hast given me authority
over all flesh that I should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given me. That's what he's saying. He's
given unto the Son authority to execute judgment because He
is the Son of Man. Marvel not at this. The hour
is coming in the which all believers and unbelievers, all that are in the grave shall
hear his voice and shall come forth. They that have done good,
those that are in Christ, we haven't done any good in ourselves.
Our good is his good. Our righteousness is his righteousness.
They'll be raised to the resurrection of life at his voice. They that
have done evil, and we've all done evil, but they have no substitute. They have no mediator. They have
no redeemer. Even their works of righteousness
are evil. You remember when those people
in Matthew 7, the Lord told us about them. He said, Many will
say unto me in that day, Lord, have we not preached in your
name? cast out devils in your name,
done many wonderful works in your name, and I will profess
unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work,"
what? Evil, iniquity. A person out
of Christ, even his so-called goodness is evil in God's sight.
And a person in Christ has no evil. He has the righteousness
of Christ. Our garment is not the righteousness
of the law. Our garment is Christ Himself. He's our righteousness. And they'll
come forth, those that have done good in Christ, justified in
Christ, sanctified in Christ, redeemed in Christ, unto the
resurrection of life, and those that have done evil, religious,
Religious evil is the worst kind of evil. To lead men into false professions
and false refuges is the worst kind of evil. And these preachers
that are not preaching Christ are leading people down the broad
road of destruction. And they'll be raised to damnation.
I can of my own self do nothing. The Son does nothing independent
of the Father. He's speaking here as the Christ,
the Messiah, the Son of Man. And what He is saying, He's not
limiting His power at all. He's not limiting His authority
at all. He's just saying that I'm here
to do the will of Him that sent me. He prayed that way. He said, not my will, thy will
be done. And so when the Lord says, the
words that I speak are not mine, but he has sent me, I can do
nothing of my own self. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment's
just. Because, listen, I seek not my
own will. Thank God he didn't. Thank God
as our substitute and representative, he didn't seek his own will.
We'd be in a mess if he had. If he had contradicted the will
of the Father, but he didn't. I seek not my own will. We need
to pray that way. We need to learn to pray that
way. But I seek the will of my Father. I seek the will of my
Father which sent me. Watch this as we take up this.
Now he says to these religious people, the words of Christ concerning
his witnesses, proof of who he is. He tells them who he is. I am my Father, one. All these
things about himself. Then here's proof of it. He says in verse 31, if I bear
witness of myself, my witness is not true. If I'm the only
one who says, I and my Father are one, if I'm the only one
who declares that I'm the Messiah, the Christ, if I'm the only witness,
then my witness is not to be received. Because He does everything
according to the Scriptures. Turn to Deuteronomy 19. Our Lord
does everything according to the Scriptures. In Deuteronomy
19, and it would be good if all of us would practice this right
here. Deuteronomy 19, verse 15. Moses is giving the law to Israel,
and he says in Deuteronomy 19, verse 15, "...one witness shall
not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin,
In any sin that he sinneth, at the mouth of two witnesses, or
at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established."
This is what our Lord is saying here to these religious people.
Who I am. Here's proof of who I am. The
witnesses I have. Now, if I'm the only witness,
according to the law, my witness is not true. Let me say this. If he had been the only witness,
it would still have been true. If he had been their only witness,
it would still have been true. But as our representative, and
he said, suffered to be so to fulfill all righteousness, our
Lord never offended in one jot or tittle of the law. Even in
this. Even in this. Let every word
be established by the mouth of two or three witnesses. So as
our representative and our Redeemer, He fulfills the Scripture and
he begins to call forth these undeniable witnesses concerning
his deity, his work, his person. Verse 32, right in the margin,
the Father. There is another that beareth
witness of me. I know that his witness which
he witnesseth of me is true. That's got to be the Father.
Let me read you a few things the Father said. Over here in
Matthew 3, verse 1. Matthew 3, I'm sorry, verse 13. Matthew 3, 13. Then cometh Jesus
from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John
forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee. Comest
thou to me? Jesus, answering, said unto him,
Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all
righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus,
when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water.
And, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit
of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And, lo,
the voice of the Father from heaven saying, This is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased." That's my witness, Christ said,
my Father. And then in Matthew 17, turn
over a few pages. I love to read these scriptures.
Matthew 17, let's begin there with verse 1. After six days,
Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John, his brother, and bringeth
them up into a high mountain apart, Matthew 17, 2, And he
was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the
sun, and his raiment was as white as the light. And, behold, there
appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him, the
law and the prophets. Then answered Peter and said
unto Jesus, Lord, good for us to be here, if thou wilt let
us Let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses,
and one for Elijah. While he yet spake, behold, a
bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice out of the
cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear
ye him." You don't need a tabernacle to Moses and Elijah. God, who at sundry times spake
to our fathers by Moses and Elijah, has spoken to us in these days
by His Son. You hear of my Son? He's my witness. Now, let's go to Isaiah 42. I
want you to read this one. Isaiah 42. The Father bearing
witness of the Son. In Isaiah 42. He says in verse 1, Behold my
servant. Behold my servant. He took on
him the form of a servant. Whom I uphold, mine elect, and
whom my soul delighteth. I put my spirit upon him, and
he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not
cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he
not quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth, and he shall
not fail, nor be discouraged, till he hath set judgment in
the earth, and the hours shall wait for his law. Thus saith
God the Lord, he that created the heavens, stretched them out,
he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of
it, he that giveth breath to the people upon it, and spirit
to them that walk therein, I the Lord have called Jesus Christ
in righteousness. And I'll hold his hand, and I'll
keep him, and give him for covenant of the people, for a light to
the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners
from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison
house. I am the Lord, that's my name, and my glory will I
not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Behold,
the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare. Before they spring forth, I'll
tell you about them." Ha! There's my witness. There's my
witness, Christ said, my Father. His witness is true. All right,
back to the text. He goes on. He says in verse
33, John 5, You sent unto John, John the Baptist. He bears witness
of me. He bears witness to the truth.
Who is this man, John the Baptist? He's the last of what we call
the Old Testament prophets. He's the last one. Isaiah wrote about him in Isaiah
40. I think you'd find this interesting.
In Isaiah 40. And as you read it, you'll recognize
John the Baptist. Isaiah 40, beginning with verse
3. Listen to it here, Isaiah 40, verse 3. The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. That's what
John said. Make straight in the desert a
highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted,
every mountain and hill shall be made low, the crooked shall
be made straight, and the rough places plain, and the glory of
the Lord shall be revealed. And all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Turn to Malachi. You need to mark this one in
your Bible. This is John the Baptist. He
was miraculously conceived. His father was an old man. He
was conceived by a man, but Zechariah, his father was an old man. A
miracle. His birth was a miracle. He was
filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb, the scripture
said. John the Baptist. And here he is in Malachi 3,
verse 1. And God says in Malachi 3, verse
1, Behold, I'll send my messenger. He'll prepare the way before
me. And the Lord, whom you seek, the Christ, shall suddenly come
to his temple. Even the messenger of the covenant,
whom ye delight in, behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of
hosts." That's John the Baptist, telling about Christ, the messenger
of the covenant. He prepared the way for Christ.
And John 1, John chapter 1, here's John's message. John 1 verse
24. John said, let's read verse 20,
and John confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not
the Christ. And they asked him, then, what then, are you a liar?
And he said, I am not. Are you that prophet? He said,
no. They said, who are you that we may give an answer to them
that sin us? What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the
voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the
Lord. I said, the prophet Isaiah just read that to you. He said,
that's who I am. That's who I am. And they said,
it was sent of the Pharisees, and they asked him, verse 25,
and said to him, Why baptizest thou then, if ye are not to Christ,
or in thy own lives, neither that prophet? He said, he answered
and said, I baptize with water, but there standeth one among
you, whom ye know not. He it is, whose coming after
me is preferred before me, He was before me, John said,
whose shoe latched, I'm not worthy to unloose." The next day, John
1, 29, look down. The next day, John seeth Jesus
coming and said, Behold, the Lamb of God taketh away the sin
of the world. My witnesses. He's talking to
this religious crowd. Go back to the text. Verse 33
of John 5, You sent unto John, he bear witness unto the truth,
But I receive not testimony from a man," I don't need the testimony
of a man, but I appeal to this because it's Scripture. I appeal
to it. For your sake, listen, I receive
not testimony from a man, but these things I say that you might
be saved. This is the Scripture. John was
a burning and shining light, and you were willing for a season
to rejoice in his light. But now wait a minute, I've got
a greater witness. than John. Here's the third witness,
the Father, John the Baptist, the prophet, the forerunner,
and now the works that the Father has sent me, the Father had given
me to finish, the same works that I do, they tell you who
I am and the Father sent They tell you. Nicodemus came
to him and said, Lord, Master, we know you're from God. We know
you're from God. No man could do these things
you do except God be with him. And then we learn from our Lord's
words over here in Matthew. Turn to Matthew. In chapter 11
of Matthew, John the Baptist was in prison. Matthew chapter
11. In verse 2, and John did no miracles. That's what Scripture said. John
the Baptist did no miracles at all. Not one. And here in Matthew 11, verse
2, And John heard in prison the works of Christ. He sent two
of his disciples, and they sent unto him to Christ. Are thou
he that should come? Or do we look for another? And
Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again
those things which you see here in the city. The blind receive
their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf
hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached
to them. Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me."
The works that I do, they tell you who I am. Now today, I want
you to think a minute, and I see all these religious folks on that religious
television station, they put their hands on people's head
and say strange things, and they all start falling out, and all
this sort of thing. But today, there are miracles
all about us that tell us who Christ is. There are miracles
all about it. We don't need that. But there are miracles done by
our Lord through the preaching of the gospel. Now let me show
you some of them. How else can you explain the
differences, the difference in conditions and people where Christ
is preached, Christ is believed, His gospel is preached and believed,
and where he's not preached. Now take, for example, countries. Some of us have traveled to a
lot of different countries. And if you compare a country
where the gospel is preached, like England or America or Scotland
or Switzerland, countries where the gospel is clearly, I'm talking
about the gospel of God's grace, has been clearly preached. You
compare those countries where Christ has preached the gospel
to countries where Christ has not been preached. And in America
and these other countries, individual freedom and rights are recognized.
In those countries, they're not. Human life is highly regarded. I'm talking about just carnal
reasoning. Where the gospel is preached,
where men meet to worship the living God, Human life is highly
regarded. In those countries, human life
means nothing. Laws are made to govern morality. Now, we are drifting away from
that now, and we're drifting away from the gospel. The weak gospel has brought weak
morality in this country. There's no fear of God before
men's eyes. But morality used to be governed
at least by law, and that's because of our gospel beginnings. Other
countries, there is none. The government where Christ is
praised is subject to the people. Where Christ is not praised,
the people are subjects of the government. That's so. Secondly, compare communities
where there's a strong church or churches preaching the gospel.
Whether it's a pastor, a preacher, holding forth the Word of God,
compare those places with cities and towns where there is no gospel. You'll be amazed. You'll be amazed. Compare homes. Take homes where husband and
wife love the gospel and love Christ. where both parents love each
other and love Christ and stay together and attend church and
bring their children and all sit together and hear the gospel.
Compare those homes with homes where the gospel is not preached,
where it's not loved, where it's not known. I'll show you a big
difference. What's the difference? Christ
is the difference. It's a miracle. That's right.
He's the difference. Compare people. Compare people, men and women
and young people who know Christ, who love Christ. How do you account
for the difference between them and the folks of this world?
These men and women who love the Savior, who are born again,
who have a new heart, a new nature, they love Him. They love each
other. They're kind people. They're generous people. They're
honest people. They're hard-working people.
They're people who walk in truth and Godliness. And if everybody
on earth was like them, you wouldn't need to ever lock your car or
lock your door or hide your money. Who made the difference? Christ
did. Compare the death of a true believer
and an unbeliever. The man who dies with no hope
who lives with no hope and dies with no hope. You know what old,
what was his name, Balaam said? He said, you can let me die the
death of the righteous and let my latter end be like his. There's
a difference. And I'll tell you the difference
is Christ Jesus. And I can look right out here
in this congregation And there are people looking at me, both
eyes, listening to me. And since you met Christ, you're
a different man. You're a different woman. Who
made the difference? He did. He did. Now you go show John what's happening. Show John what Christ does. That's
the best witness. The works that I do. He found a man blind and gave
him sight. He found me blind and gave me
sight. Blind in religion. He found a man lame and told
him to walk. He found me lame and told me
to walk. Deaf, and I hear. Dumb, dead in trespasses and
sin, and He gave me life. He's the different. And this
is a miracle that will never end. Those folks that they're
hitting in the head and they're falling on their backs are going
to have back trouble. Then they're going to die. I'm
never going to die. I'm going to sleep someday, but
I'm never going to die. He gave me life. He gave me sight. And I'll never be blind again.
I'll never grow tired again. The Reformation. Have you thought
about the Reformation? Some of you in school remember
when you studied the Reformation, but about all you ever studied
was a sermon by Jonathan Edwards. The Reformation, 500, 600 years
ago, changed the world. And it wasn't an army. It was
a message. It wasn't kings and dictators.
It was a preacher or two. They changed the world. The Reformation,
they changed the world with this message, justification by faith
in Christ. There was a three-fold foundation
of that Reformation, that these unknown preachers, God used them
to bring it to pass. It was a three-fold message.
Scriptures alone. Same Bible you and I have right
here. That's the Bible they preached, Scriptures alone. Not traditions,
customs, ceremonies, Scripture. Secondly, grace alone. Not works. God's grace. Free, sovereign
grace. Thirdly, Christ. Not the church,
but Christ. Not works, Christ. That was their
message. And you know what happened? That
Reformation, five, six hundred years ago, found men steeped
in ignorance. and left them in possession with
the knowledge of God." Start printing the Bible, getting in
everybody's hands. That Reformation found men without
Bibles, and now there's one in every home. That Reformation
found men in superstitious, religious, Catholic darkness and left them
in light and peace. Whole nations! Germany, Switzerland,
England, Scotland, whole nations. That Reformation found men priest-ridden,
Pope-ridden, and left them in the freedom of Christ. That Reformation
found men slaves of the church and the state without any scripture,
any Bible, and left them free and going to other countries
to take the message. That reformation found men strangers
to grace, slaves to works and self-righteousness, and left
them in peace, rest, and mercy walking with Christ. That reformation
found men with nothing to leave their children but the bondage
of dead religious tradition, and left them with a glorious
heritage of truth and gospel to leave their children. And
all in the world it brought to bear was a man called Luther,
who nailed those 95 theses, wasn't it, to the wall of that old church. And he said, salvation by grace
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, not by works. And it
swept over. And I'll tell you this, God be
praised, you can trace a great deal of your liberty right now
to those men, those preachers God raised up. That's a witness. That's what Christ does. That's
what the gospel does. The gospel sets men free. The
gospel takes the bent down, broken by sin, straightens them up.
Shackles fall off. Blind eyes open, ears unstopped,
hearts are made glad, men walk singing the praise of Christ
who set them free in bondage to no man." We can say that.
The old Jews said that and it wasn't so. But we can say it. We are the bond slaves of Christ.
Free. Free. Well, there's another witness,
and I'll give it to you here. John 5, another witness. He says, verse 38, with verse 37, "...and the Father
Himself which has sent Me hath borne witness of Me." Now, you
haven't heard His voice. You haven't seen His shape. And
you don't have His Word abiding in you, for whom He has sent,
Him you believe not. But you're searching the Scriptures. But you're searching them with
the wrong goal, objective. You search the Scriptures for
in them you think you have life. These Pharisees and religious
people were searching the Scriptures for something that they could
do, like keeping the Sabbath, keeping the law, offering sacrifices,
keeping holy days, making long prayers, Where nephylacter is
why? They're searching the Scriptures
to find something to do to accommodate God or to appease God. He said,
you search the Scriptures for in them you think you have life.
But, there they would testify of me.
Of me. The Pharisees were searching
the Scriptures to find what they could do to appease Almighty
God. But life is not in the scriptures
themselves. Life is in the Christ of the
scriptures. The scriptures reveal to us not
what we can do to appease God. The scriptures reveal what Christ
has done to satisfy God, to honor God, to enable Him to be just
and justified. The Old Testament scriptures
reveal Christ in picture. The New Testament reveals Christ
in person. And this is the record. that
God hath given concerning his Son. He that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life." This is the record. He that hath the
Son hath life. Now then, his closing words.
And this is a... I want to show you something
here and then I'll let you go. People today in religion are
just like they were then. They have religion, steeped in
religion. They have their laws and ceremonies
and traditions and churches and rules and standards and all these
things. But Christ tells them some things
they don't have. And here they are. They're about
five or six. He says in verse 38, You have not His Word abiding
in you. His Word abiding in you, dwelling
in you. That's what it says to that religious
crowd. And here's proof of it. For whom He hath sent, him you
believe not. Christ came and they received
Him not. And that's proof that His Word
is not abiding in them. Had His Word been abiding in
them, they would have welcomed and received Christ. Because
you're searching the Scriptures, for in them you think you have
life, and there they which testify of me, and you won't come to
me that you might have life. Now, he says, verse 41, I receive
not honor from men, but I know you. The first thing he said,
you don't have His Word abiding in you, that's to this religious
crowd. Then he says the second thing, you don't have the love
of God in you. You don't love Him, you don't
love His Gospel, you don't love His Word, you don't love His
glory, you don't have the love of God in you. And then verse
43, he said, I come in my Father's name, the Messiah, the Redeemer,
and you don't receive me. If another shall come in his
own name, him you receive." Here's a man who comes seeking his own
benefits and glory and possessions, and people just
follow him like the Pied Piper. But they won't listen to Christ.
And then verse 44, he said, "...how can you believe which receive
honor one of another." And you don't seek the honor that comes
from God, you're seeking the honor that comes from men. Have
not His Word, have not His love, receive not His messenger, and
do not seek His honor. But you seek the honor that comes
from men. Now then, verse 45, don't think, do not think that
I'll accuse you to the Father. I don't need to accuse you. There's
one that will accuse you, even Moses in whom you trust. For
had you believed Moses, you would have believed me. He wrote of
me. This is the thing that is true
today. I watch these false preachers. And they use Bibles and a lot
of the congregations are sitting there. The people are sitting
there with a Bible and sitting there with a pen. And the man
is preaching what you can do to inherit life. And they're
just marking and marking and turning and turning. And this
is what the Lord said to those Jews. He said, I don't need to
accuse you before the Father. The book you're holding in your
hand is going to accuse you. Moses. See, Moses wrote some
of the Psalms and Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
and Scripture. Well, he said in verse 46, if you're to believe
Moses, you're to believe me. He wrote of me. Moses wrote of
Christ. Moses didn't write about Human
works and righteousness for acceptance with God, he wrote of Christ.
Christ, the sin offering. Christ, the high priest. Christ,
the priest for like Melchizedek. Christ, the Passover. Christ,
the praise and service. Christ, Moses wrote of me, Christ
said. The word of Lecutia. Had you
believed Moses, you would have believed me. He wrote of me.
But if you don't believe his writings, how should you believe
my words? If we don't take the Scriptures, how should you believe my words? Oh, if I could just point out
the importance of this book, the importance of reading the
Scriptures, studying the Scriptures, searching the Scriptures, to
find Christ, to see Christ,