Don't turn to these scriptures. Let me just read them to you. I'll get to my text in a few
moments. But our Lord said this in his prayer in John 17. He said,
this is eternal life. This is life eternal. that they,
those who have life eternal, might know thee, might know thee,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast
sent, that they might know, know thee, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. And in the chapter before that,
in speaking to his disciples and talking about these false
religionists about whom Brother Ronnie read a few moments ago,
how that they would persecute the sheep of Christ and the people
of God. He said, they'll put you out
of the synagogue. The time cometh when whosoever
killeth you will think he does God a service. Why do they do
these things? Why do those men do what you
just read about? Well, he tells us in that next
verse, he said, in these things will they do unto you. And inasmuch as they've done
it to you, they've done it to me. And I'll tell you why, he said,
because they have not known me nor my father. That's the reason. They do not know Christ. And I'm saying this evening that
when the Spirit of God, when the Spirit of God truly reveals
to a man or a woman or a young person who Christ is, who Christ
is, who the Father is, who Christ is, when they come to know the
Father and the Son. That person, man, woman, boy,
girl, whomever, that person to whom the Holy Spirit reveals
Christ, he comes to know the Savior, that person will receive
That person will embrace and that person will love what we
call the doctrines of grace. That's what we've been talking
about now for several weeks, these doctrines of grace, commonly
known as Calvinism, total depravity, unconditional election, particular
Irresistible grace, perseverance of the saints, the sovereignty
of God. If a person ever comes to know
the Savior, he'll know a sovereign Savior. He'll know a Savior who,
according to his own will and for his own glory, chose a people
out of this fallen race. If he comes to know the Christ
of the Bible, he'll know the sovereignty of Christ, the power
of Christ, the grace of Christ, the mercy of Christ, the love
of Christ, the effectual work of Christ. And that can only
be known and appreciated by those who know Christ. Let me quote a few other scriptures.
Listen to these. The Lord said, look unto me and
be ye saved. all the ends of the earth. Why
look to me and be you saved? Well, here's the reason, for
I'm God, and there's none else. And if you ever come to know
Him as God, then you'll know He has the power and wisdom and
right to save. Hey, look unto me and be you
saved. Why? For I'm God. I'm God. And when you know Him as God,
you know Him as an almighty God who's able to save. Here's another
scripture. You sons of Jacob are not consumed. Why are we not consumed? Well,
he tells us, I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore you sons
of Jacob are not consumed. You see? What we believe about him is
a byproduct of our knowing him. We know him. as a God who changes
not. And then listen to this. In Titus
1, 2 it says we have hope of eternal life. Why do we have
hope of eternal life? Because God who cannot lie promised
eternal life before the world began. That's how we know we
have eternal life. You can't know you have eternal
life if you have a God who cannot give eternal life, who cannot
keep those who are saved. We have hope of eternal life
because God, who cannot lie, that's who He is, promised eternal
life before the world began. I want you to turn to this scripture,
Genesis chapter 18. Now listen to this, Genesis 18.
Genesis chapter 18. In verse, I'm reading verse 13,
14. In Genesis 18, 13. And the Lord said unto Abraham,
Wherefore did Sabae laugh? You remember the Lord said that
Sabae would have a son, way up in years, old, past the age of barren children,
and she laughed. And he said, Wherefore did Sabae
laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety truly bear a child which am old? Can she? Well, look at the next
verse. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? That's the reason she can bear a son, because nothing's
too hard for our God. If you know Him, if you know
Him, you don't laugh. If you know Him, you don't doubt.
If you know Him, you don't question what He can do. You see that?
If you know Him. If you don't know Him, You suspect
there's a possibility he can't do it. See, this is the foundation
of Abraham's faith. Turn to Romans 4 for a moment.
This is the foundation of Abraham's faith. He knew God. He knew God. And it says in verse
20 of Romans 4, and he staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief. But he was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, being fully persuaded that what God had promised, he
was able to perform. Yes, God was able. All human reason said no. All human hope, who against hope
believed in hope. But he knew God. And he knew
God was able. Therefore it was imputed to him
for righteousness." In other words, what I'm saying is this. When you come to know Christ,
the Christ of the Bible, in believing his power, his sovereignty, his
grace, his promises are easy. You see, you can pretty well
know what a person will do under certain conditions if you know
the person. Now, if you don't know the person, you don't know
his characteristics or principles, or you don't know how he'll react
or respond under a certain condition, but I know many of you. And I
know someone could raise a certain circumstance or a certain problem
or condition and say, what will he do? I can pretty well tell
you what he'll do. I can pretty well tell how you'd respond to
a certain thing presented to you, because I know you. I know
your character, I know your principles, I know what you believe. And
when you know God, you know what God will do. He will act according
to His character. Now, you can't always be right
about a man, you know, me or you, either one. You can't always
be infallible, but you can about Him. Absolutely. He will act according to His
character. All right, now let's turn to
John 5, and here's my question tonight. Who is this man? Who
is this man, Jesus of Nazareth? Who is this man? To know Him
is to have eternal life. To the human eye and to natural
wisdom, Jesus of Nazareth appears to be an ordinary man, just an
ordinary man. In other words, Isaiah wrote
this about him when he came into the world. He said this, he said,
he's despised. He's rejected of men. He was
a man of sorrows. He was acquainted with grief.
Here is it where our face is from him. He was despised. We esteemed him not. That's the
way the natural man responded to this Jesus Christ because
he was born. into this world as other children
are born from a woman. And he was born to a very poor,
unknown family. And he was born in a stable because
there was no room for them in the inn. And he grew up in a
small, out-of-the-way village called Nazareth. And there were
other children. After he was born, this woman
had other children. And the people said, well, we
know him, his mother and father and brothers and sisters. Other
children were born to that. And he worked as a carpenter.
That's what they said. He's a carpenter. And then he
began his public ministry when he was 30 years old. And he was
surrounded by 12 hand-picked, chosen men. And every one of
them were unknown. They weren't men of influence.
They weren't men of renown. They were just shepherds and
fishermen. But the power of God was upon
him. No one could doubt that. No one could question that. They
said he spoke as no other man had ever spoken. He did miracles
such as no other man had ever done. And yet, in spite of that,
he was rejected. And his claims were rejected
by everyone who was anybody. All of the recognized religious
leaders turned thumbs down on this man, Jesus of Nazareth.
He told them he was the Messiah, but no one believed him. They
rose up against him, and they brought him to trial before Pilate,
charging him with this charge. He made himself king. They scourged
him. They mocked him, they crucified
him on a cross between two thieves, and they walked about the cross
and ridiculed him and laughed while he died. Who is this man? Do we know this man? All right,
John chapter 5. I believe John the fifth chapter
answers that question. for all who ever desire to really
know who this man is, Jesus of Nazareth. And first of all, I'm
reading two verses, John 5, verse 17, 18. This is our Lord speaking
himself. This is Jesus of Nazareth speaking. And he answered them. He answered
these religious, these religious critics. And he answered them
and he said, worketh hitherto, and I work." And therefore, they
knew what he was saying. They knew exactly what he was
saying. Therefore, these Jews sought the Lord to kill him,
because he not only had broken their Sabbath day, but he said
also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. That's the first thing, when
you come to know him. Jesus Christ, you know, he's
God. He's God. Let me say it just
exactly as it is. He is God. Who is this man? He is God. Not just a son of God, not just
a prophet of God, not just a messenger of God. He is the son of God. He is a prophet of God. He's that prophet, and he is
an ambassador and a messenger, but more than that, he's God. If someone were to ask you tonight
if you believe that Jesus Christ is God Almighty, what scripture
would you give? Well, I'll tell you where I would
go. I'd go first of all to Isaiah 9, 6. In Isaiah, the prophet
said, Under us a child is born. that child in the stable, in
the manger, in the arms of Mary, a child is born. Unto us a son,
the only begotten well-beloved son of God, is given. And the
government shall be on his shoulders, and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. God with us, Emmanuel, God with
us. He's God. That's what Thomas
said, my Lord and my God, Jesus Christ is God Almighty. First Timothy, I'd give him this
picture, First Timothy three, great, listen, great is the mystery
of godliness, without controversy, without debate, God, whom the
heavens cannot contain. whose footstool is the earth,
who created all things for his pleasure and his glory, who reigneth
over all the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth.
God was made flesh, manifested in the flesh, became a man, was
seen of the angels, justified for the spirit, preached to the
Gentiles, Believed on in the world, and finally received up
to glory. God. I'm saying it just exactly
as it has to be said. He's God. And then another scripture
I would use is this, in 2 Corinthians 5, 19, it says this, God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. God was in Christ. And I'll tell you another scripture
I'd use, and I want you to turn to it, and just Put a mark there
in John 5, we're coming back. Hebrews chapter 2. This is one
of the most powerful scriptures in the Bible in reference to
the deity of our Lord. He is God. The Father called
Him God. Well, the Mahan called Him God,
well and good, but the Father called Him God. It says in verse
8 of Hebrews 1, Under the sun, he said, thy throne, O God, is
forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. He was a man. He was a man indeed. He was a man, a man of sorrows,
acquainted with grief. He who made the woman was made
of the woman. He who made the seas and the
rivers and the lakes said, I thirst. He who created all things and
said even the cattle on a thousand hills, his mind sat on a well
one day weary with his journey and sent his disciples into town
to buy something to eat. He who planted every tree and
grew the tree was hanged on a tree. He who put the iron oar in the
ground from which the nails were made, that they drove in his
hand. He whose life died. I can't explain those things,
but I know he's God. He became a man. Scripture says,
in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, he
was God, and all things were made by him, and the Word was
made flesh. and dwelt among us, and our hands
handled him, and we saw him, and we heard him, and our hands
handled him, the word of life, and he was manifested unto us."
Why did he do that? Why did he become a man? In order
to be an example? Well, he's a wonderful example,
but that's not why he became a man. to encourage us? Well, it encourages me that he
should love us enough to come down here. Why did he become
a man? In an effort to gain our affection? No, sir. If you'll turn with
me to Galatians 4, I'll show you why he became a man, why
God Almighty became a man, why he was pleased to robe himself
for a little while. in the flesh, in flesh, why he
took upon himself the form of a serpent, why he was made in
the likeness of flesh, why he was born a woman. Here it is,
Galatians 4, verse 4, But when the fulness of time was come,
God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law. that we might receive
the adoption of sons. That's why he came. He came to
redeem. He came to redeem. To redeem us from our iniquity
and to make us sons of God. Turn to Hebrews 2. This answers
the question also. Hebrews 2. Listen to this. Hebrews chapter 2. Verse 14,
Hebrews 2, 14, I want you to look at it with me. For as much
then as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, that's us,
we are flesh and blood, that's all we are. That's not all He
was. He's flesh and blood, but He's
God. He also Himself, oh, this is so important, Likewise, took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death. That is the devil. Destroy sin,
destroy Satan, destroy every force, every power, every curse
upon us. Put it away. And deliver them
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. He didn't take on himself the
nature of angels. Some of the angels had fallen
too. But he took on himself the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in
all things it behooved him, it became necessary, it was required
of him to be made like unto his brethren, just like us, born
of a woman, made under the law, flesh, blood, bones, emotions,
weariness, pain, all these things. He made just like us, that he
might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining
to God to make reconciliation for the sins of his people. What
does God require of us? Don't turn to this. Let me just
turn and read it to you. In Deuteronomy 10, what does
God require of you and me? What does a holy God in heaven
immaculate living God. What does He expect of me? What
does He require of me? What does He demand of me? What
does it take to please Him? All right, listen. And now, here's
Phil, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee? But to fear
the Lord. To fear Him is to worship Him,
to praise Him, to reverence Him, to honor Him. To walk in all
His ways, not some of them, all of them. in your conversation,
conduct, attitude, spirit, walk, life, in all his ways, all of
them. To love him and to serve him, the Lord your
God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your mind. What does the Lord thy God require
of thee? To keep his commandments, all of them. to keep his statutes,
all of them, which he commands us this day. Impossible. I'm cut off. That's what Isaiah
said. I saw the Lord, he said, I'm
cut off. That's it. That's what he—O man,
what does thy God require of thee? That's it. Impossible. But I tell you, what's impossible
with man is possible with God. And this God-man came down here,
was made under that law right there, that perfect requirement,
and bless your heart, he did it. In every jot and tittle,
he did exactly what that says. He walked before the Father perfect. in all his ways, and all his
commandments, and all his statutes, and all his law, loved him with
all his mind, heart, soul, and being, and served him perfectly. And he did it for us. And only
God can do it. All right, back to my text. Who
is this man? He's God. John chapter 5. Verse 19, John 5 says, Then answered
Jesus, and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son
can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do.
But what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son. and showeth him all things that
himself doeth, and he'll show him greater works than these
that you may marvel." Here's my second statement about this
man, Jesus of Nazareth. He's God. Now listen to me. He is the love of God. He is love. Now I believe, you
listen to me, I won't keep you long, but now listen to me. I
believe the religious world doesn't have a clue, not even a clue,
as to the true glory of God and the true love of God. I do not. And it's not because God hadn't
spoken, it's because the world is not listening. Twice from heaven he said this. is the son of my love. This is
my beloved son." Where is God's love? Right here. Here's my love. Here's my love. This is my beloved
son. Hear him. When he stood there on the Mount
of Transfiguration and the disciples saw his clothes glisten and the
glory of God upon him, God spoke again and said, is my son, my
beloved, the son of my love. Hear it. Hear it. Listen to these scriptures. Turn
to John 3. John chapter 3, verse 35, 34. John 3, 34, For he whom God hath
sent speaketh the words of God. For God giveth not the Spirit
by measure to him, the Father loves the Son." And it's given
all things into his hands. Who does the Father love? Well,
the preachers all say he loves everybody the same. But Scripture
says he loves the Son. He loves Christ. This is the
Son of my love. The Father loves the Son. The
Father loves the Son. Turn to Colossians 1. And I want you to write something
in the margin of your Bible here. Well, it's already written in
the marginal reference in most Bibles. Colossians 1 verse 12. Listen. Giving thanks unto the
Father which hath made us meet. That means sufficient. He hath made us sufficient to
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who has
delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into
the kingdom of the Son of His love." That in your margin, His
dear Son. Christ is the Son of His love. He's the Son of His love. Now,
outside of Christ, and this is what I believe the world ought
to be told, if preachers would tell them the truth. But it's
a hard saying. Who can hear it? But over here
in the book of Psalms, chapter 5, if you care to look or just
jot down the reference, outside of Christ, there is no
love of God. Outside of Christ, God is angry,
and the wrath of God rest upon everyone outside of Christ. God
loves the Son. In Psalm, verse 5, chapter 5,
verse 4, listen, For thou art not a God that hath pleasure
in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with
thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight, thou hatest all
workers of He has to if he's God, doesn't he? He hates sin. So I was talking here the other
day about the abuse. There's children, people abusing
little infants and babies. And I responded the same way
he did, and the same way the people around us did. They wanted
to get hold of these people who abused these little fellas. because
we despise them. What would you like to do to
them? Hang them by their feet until the wind whistles through
their bones. That's just fact, isn't it? And why do we feel that way? Because of the holiness of God. It's not because we're born any
different from them, but God made us different. And we have
the nature of God, and the spirit of God, the compassion of God,
the affection of God, and the feeling of God for children.
But these folks don't. Pagan. God hates them. And it's not right for me to
stand around and tell them God loves them, is it? Foolish people,
wicked people. Look at Psalm chapter 7. Psalm
chapter 7. Psalm 7, verse 11. God judgeth the righteous. God is a righteous judge. That's
what that's saying. And God's angry with the wicked
every day. He doesn't turn. God will wet
his sword. He bent his bow. He made it ready. He's prepared, also prepared
for him the instruments of death. He ordaineth his arrows against
the persecuted. This is the God of the Bible. He that believeth not on the
Son, the wrath of God abideth on him. And I'm simply saying, if you know Christ, you know
where the love of God is. It's in Christ. That's where
it is. The love of God is immeasurable. It's infinite. It's unchangeable.
It's eternal. It's beyond expression, but it's
in Christ. He is the love of God. He is
the love of God. Let me show you that in Romans
chapter 8. Romans 8 chapter 8. And we say
God loves us. He does, but He loves us in His
Son. And he that believeth not on the Son, the wrath of God
abideth on him. That's just so. And it's not
right for us to tell an unbelieving, wicked world that They're walking
under the love of God. They're not. They're under the
wrath of God. In Romans 8, verse 38, it said,
I'm persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, or any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's
where it is. You can assemble all the redeemed
of all ages, this man, those men and women out there, those
folks in Australia, Mexico, England, Africa, wherever they are. Assemble them and every one of
them will have one song of praise unto him who loved us and washed us from our sins in
his own blood. and made us kings and priests
unto our God. That's where the love is. It's
in Him who loved us and washed us from our sins. Herein is love,
not that we love God, He loved us and gave His Son to be a propitiation,
a mercy seat, a place of acceptance, a person of acceptance. Now then, I want you to find me any testimony from the lips
of condemned sinners regarding the love of God for them in Christ. You have a hard time when, hard
time. But if you know Him, if you know
Him, you know the love of God. You know Him, you know God, because
He's God. If you know Him, love Him, then
you have the love of God. The love of God on you, the love
of God in you, the love of God for you. But not if you don't know Him.
I'm sorry, that's just so. I'll go back quickly to another
verse or two. Look at verse 21. And this is
what I'm saying. You say, Brother Maynard, you're
Calvinist. Yes, sir. You're a man who believes strongly
in the sovereignty of God and salvation without doubt. A man
who believes that God saves him, sure, because I know Christ. And you don't arrive at Christ
through doctrine, you arrive at doctrines through Christ.
I've said that over and over. If you ever meet him, all of
his attributes and characters will be clear. That's who he
is. That's who he is. And look at
what he says here in verse 21. For as the Father raiseth up
the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom
he will." This Son of God quickens whom He will. Now, this false
Jesus, He may not be able to quicken whom He will, but the
Son of God quickens whom He will. The one I know has the power
to save whom He will. Now, see, we died in Adam. You know these verses. all die,
1 Corinthians 15, for by one man sin entered the world, and
death by sin, so death passed upon all men. But there's a spiritual
resurrection talked about in Ephesians 2, 1, where it says,
and you have to quicken who were dead and trespasses in sin. But
who does the quickening? As the Father raiseth up the
dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickens whom he will. The Son quickens them. The Son
quickens them. He quickens them. Down here in
verse 25, it'll tell you what resurrection we're talking about.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, 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. Who's that? Who's that dead?
Spiritually dead. Isn't that the people in the
graves? No. You see, the next two, three verses down here,
verse 28, verse 28 talks about the physically dead. It says,
Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in the which all that
are in the graves shall hear his voice. But I tell you the reason we're
going to be brought forth in life is because that he spoke
to us before this and gave us life. The sullen quickeneth whom
he will. How does he quicken? Now listen
to this carefully. How does he quicken them? Turn to Romans chapter 9 with
me. Romans chapter 9. This tells us who quickens in
Romans chapter 9. Romans 9 beginning with verse
15. He said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then, it's not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. For the Scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will, he'll harden. The Son
quickens whom he will." How does he do it? They hear his voice. They hear his voice. He stood
outside the grave of Lazarus, and he said, Lazarus, come forth.
Lazarus heard his voice. Till he spoke, Lazarus lay in
the grave, dead. And when he spoke, Lazarus came
forth. That's what it said. Lazarus! Come forth." And he came out
with a grave closed still about him. Back in chapter 10 of John,
look at this. Chapter 10 of John. Chapter 10 of John, verse 25. I read this Look at it. Chapter
10, verse 25, Jesus answered them, I told you and you believe
not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not because you're
not of my sheep. I said unto you, my sheep, hear
my voice. I know who they are, and they
follow me, and I give them eternal life. and they'll never perish. How does he quicken his sheep? He speaks, just like he spoke
to Lazarus, come forth. How does he speak to us? His
word. Of his own will begat he us with
the word. A dead sinner may come in this
congregation. God quickens, but he quickens
by the word. Could he have raised Lazarus
without his word? That's another question. But
he did speak, didn't he? Lazarus, come forth. And I'll tell you, when this
true gospel is preached, like these true preachers, you have
my servant David, my shepherd, when they speak, he's speaking. And that word, they hear. He gives them ears, but they
hear. They hear, Lazarus heard him, and he came out. And when
a sheep hears his voice, Them also I must call, he said. How
does he call? He calls through the word. That's true. He calls through
the word. Oh, my. He's God. He's love. He's the sovereign
Savior. He quickens whom he will. Let
me give you one more and I won't weary you any longer. He quickens
whom he will. And here in verse 23, He has
all power and preeminence. Now this is so important right
here. He has all preeminence. Verse 22 said, For the Father
judged no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son. Now
He judged our sins, He put them away, and He's going to judge
other sins that are not put away. God at the point of the day that
he will judge the world by that man Christ Jesus. But look at
verse 23. That all should honor the Son even as they honor the
Father. He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father which is sent him. I'm just going to
give you my notes. Now listen. He's God. He's love. He's life. He's life. He gives life. He speaks life. And He has all honor and all
preeminence. The Father and the Son are one.
They're one in essence, they're one in purpose, they're one in
power. And it is impossible. It doesn't matter how religious
a man is, how moral he is, how intelligent he is, how religious
he is, it's impossible to know God and to worship God. and to love God, or come to God,
apart from coming, loving, knowing Christ. Impossible. Impossible. Let me read you a
scripture over here. In John 1, verse 18, no man has
seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared it. He hath
unfolded he had told forth. And I can tell everyone here
that our relationship with the living God depends solely and
wholly and completely upon our relationship with the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's so. First John, we'll read this and
then we'll close. First John chapter 2. First John
chapter 2. Verse John 2, it says this, in verse 21, in 1 John chapter
2 verse 21, I have not written unto you because you know not
the truth, but you know it, and no liar is of the truth. Who
is a liar? But he that denieth that Jesus
is the Christ. Anyone who denies that Jesus
Christ is God in human flesh is the Messiah, is the Christ.
He's an anti-Christ. And he denies the Father and
the Son. Whosoever denies the Son, who
the Son is, why He came. The same hath not the Father. But he that acknowledgeth the
Son hath the Father also." They're inseparable. This person and
work is inseparable. Can't be divided in essence,
in purpose.