Someone said the Old Testament,
the message of the Old Testament, is someone's coming. Someone's
coming. Someone who will be the seed
of woman, who will be of the house of David, of the root of
Jesse, the tribe of Judah. He'll be a prophet like Moses
and a priest like Melchizedek, king like David. He'll be the
brazen serpent lifted up, the Passover lamb slain, the city
of refuge. The Old Testament says someone's
coming. Someone's coming. And the four
Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, declare he has come. Behold the Lamb of God. Jesus
of Nazareth is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the
world. And the epistles, Romans through Jude, declare that he
will return. Someone's coming, the Old Testament
declares. The apostles identified him.
He has come, the Son of God, the Son of Man. And the epistles
declared to the early church, wait for his son from heaven,
he will return. Now back about five years ago,
five or six years ago, I began a study going through the Old
Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, all the
way through to Malachi. picking out pictures, patterns,
and types of the coming Messiah, the Christ, the Redeemer. I showed
how that Christ is revealed in the fall of Adam, how Christ
is revealed in the seed of woman, how Christ is revealed in Noah's
Ark, how Abel's offering is a picture of Christ. And I went through
there and taught about 96 lessons, 96 pictures of Christ in the Old Testament. And about
three years ago, two years ago, these were put in a book, these
pictures of Christ in the Old Testament. You know, Ruth, the
book of Ruth, it tells about Christ. He's the kinsman redeemer. And every book in the Old Testament
is Christ. And I saw Christ in these Old
Testament patterns and pictures and types and I put them in lessons
for our congregation, for our Bible classes. And this is the
book. Many of you, I think, already
have it. It's called Pictures of Christ in the Old Testament
with New Testament eyes. Now, someone else said this.
The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed. The New
Testament is the Old Testament revealed. So, in order to see
Christ in the Old Testament, you've got to have New Covenant
eyes. You've got to have eyes anointed
by the Spirit of God, eyes of grace. to see Christ himself
as he's revealed in the Old Testament. And these, there are 48 of these
studies in this book. I thought maybe some of you might
be interested in having it. If you've had some difficulty
with the Old Testament, reading the Old Testament, understanding,
I don't claim to understand the Bible, the mysteries. You know,
the scripture says this, the secret things belong to God and
they'll stay secret. The revealed things belong to
us. his children. And he has revealed much to us
in the Old Testament about Christ. This book is $5.00. If you want
it, send for it, I'll mail it to you. Now, as I said, there
are 48 lessons in this book. The new one is coming out, Volume
2, just two weeks. We expect it to happen in two
weeks, so you can keep that in mind. If you want this one, write
for it, we'll mail it to you. We have these in stock. The new
one is due in, in two weeks. It has 48 more. This book goes from Genesis to
Joel. And the new book will go from
Psalms to Malachi. Then you'll have the whole Old
Testament of our studies. Pictures of Christ from the Old
Testament. This book is $5. And when the new one comes out,
also I have the book of John, verse by verse, and then the
epistles too. If you're interested in those,
I have all of the 21 epistles in the New Testament verse by
verse. But this, I'm really interested in your looking over the pictures
of Christ in the Old Testament through New Testament eyes. So
you write for it and we'll mail it to you. Now, my scripture
for the message today is in 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5. I told you last week I'd be speaking
today on this subject, faith. the gift of God. Faith, the gift
of God. Now here's the text. Look at
it with me if you will. First John 5, verse 1. Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now this text begins
with a great and grand and glorious word, whosoever. whosoever it
only leaves out those who want to be left out whosoever that's
right it only excludes those who have no interest and no desire
and want to be left out otherwise otherwise whosoever is a wide
word and it includes everyone who wants what is offered who
needs what is promised these sure mercies of David you see
there's no national distinction whosoever Neither Jew nor Gentile. Whosoever. White or black. Jew or Gentile. American or Russian. There's no national distinction.
There's no sexual distinction. Male or female. Boy or girl. Whosoever. There's no social
distinction. The rich, the poor. The wise,
the unwise. The free man, the bondsman. There's
no age of distinction. The old, the young. The child,
the grandmother, whosoever. Whosoever. That's a great word,
isn't it? Whosoever. You, me, whosoever. Well it says, whosoever believeth.
Now watch this word. I'm going to take it word at
a time almost. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is
born of God. Now this believing, please, I
wouldn't be offensive, but listen to me now. This believing that
Jesus is the Christ, it's not merely religious tradition. That's
not what we're talking about. Most of us are born with some
kind of religious tradition or form or persuasion. We usually
hold to the tradition and the form and the persuasion in which
we were born and bred naturally. That's right. How we were brought
up. In other words, most people follow
the religious pattern and custom and form of their parents. Now
sometimes that's good. And sometimes it's not so good.
Sometimes it's not so good. Because the parents were in error,
and the children in error too, and the grandchildren, it keeps
on going down the line. But this believing, it's not
the religious tradition and form and ceremony in which I was brought
up. But whosoever believe it, that Jesus is the Christ is a
person who has had a heart experience a genuine heart experience and
persuasion based on the Word of God that Jesus of Nazareth
is truly the Christ the Messiah you know another time the word
whosoever is used over in Romans 10 it says whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall be saved. But now watch. But
how shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? And
how shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher? So I'm saying that this believing
that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of God, is a
believing and a persuasion of the heart, an experience of the
heart based on the truth of God. that's been revealed to us by
the Spirit of God. We've been taught. What does
the Scripture say? No man can come to me, except
my Father which sent me draw him. It is written in the prophets,
they shall all be taught of God. And he that heareth and learneth
of the Father, he'll come to me. It's a matter of hearing
the truth and believing the truth in coming to Christ. So in this
believing, now watch this. This believing that Jesus of
Nazareth is the Christ. I believe that he's the Christ.
One day, our Lord preached to a huge crowd of people. Fed them. The feeding of the 5,000. And
then he preached. And they began to leave. They
got up and left. And most all of them walked away. And he turned
to his disciples, and he said this to his disciples. He said,
Peter, James, and John, Nathanael, and all of them. Will you also
go away? And they replied, Lord, to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And we believe, now watch this, we believe and are sure
that thou art the Christ. This is not just, they weren't
brought up in this, they were brought up in the Jewish tradition. They were brought up as Abraham's
seed in the form and tradition, custom of the synagogue and the
Sabbath days and all these things. But they had been convinced in
their hearts by experience, they said, we believe and assure that
you're the Christ. Whosoever believe it that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. And this word believing that
Jesus is the Christ, it's characterized by words like this. Receiving
Him. Receiving Him. To as many as
received Him. To them gave He power to become
the sons of God. They received Him. It wasn't
just a matter of form and tradition. They actually received Him. Personally.
Individually. Received Him. Here's another
word. Coming to Him. Coming to Me all ye that labor
and have it, and I'll give you rest. To whom coming? That's what the Apostle says,
to whom coming. It's not just a once for all
coming to Christ. We keep on coming to Christ.
Every day, to whom coming, as unto a living stone. Oh, disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. To whom coming. Believing on Christ. It's more
than just the mental ascent. It's receiving Him. It's coming
to Him. Listen to this one. Such words
as looking to Him. looking unto Jesus the author
and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross and despised the shame looking to Jesus looking
to Jesus such words as this Christ our life the scripture says when
Christ who is our life not just our creed he's our life he's
not just our profession he's my life when Christ who is my
life shall appear Then shall we appear with Him in glory.
What about this word? Hope. Christ in you. That's the hope
of glory. If you got a hope, yeah, I made
a profession. That's a poor hope. I joined
the church. That's a poor hope. Well, I hold
to the religion of my fathers and forefathers. That may be
a poor hope too. I don't know. But I know this.
Here's a good hope. A good hope through grace. A
blessed hope. A living hope. Christ in you. That's the hope of glory. Those
are powerful words. What about this? A-double-L-all. Christ is all. Christ is all
and in all. So you see, whosoever believeth,
receiveth, coming to Christ, looking to Christ, Christ my
life, Christ my hope, Christ my all, Christ my prophet, priest,
and king, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ. Who? Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus
of Nazareth. Jesus born of Mary. Jesus who
walked this earth. Died on the cross. Married and
rose again. He's the Christ. What does that
mean, preacher, the Christ? Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ. Alright, will you listen if I
try to tell you? From the time of Adam's fall, from the time
of Adam's fall, clear to John the Baptist. The people of God
have looked far and expected and awaited the coming of the
Christ. Right after Adam fell, God promised
the seed of woman would bruise the serpent's heel. To Abraham,
He promised a Redeemer, a Messiah. To Moses, He pictured, prophesied,
promised the coming prophet all the way from From Adam's fall
to John the Baptist, the people of God have looked for the Christ,
the Messiah, that Prophet, the King, the Redeemer. And the word
Christ, the word Christ now, signifies the Anointed of God,
the Anointed One, the Sent One, the Promised One, the Messenger
of the Covenant, the Ordained Deliverer, And this is saying,
whosoever believeth that Jesus of Nazareth is that Christ, that
Messiah, that Deliverer, that Redeemer, he's been born of God. That's right. The Christ is the
Son of God and the Son of Man. The Christ is that Prophet, Priest,
and King. Nobody ever held those three
offices except Christ. The Christ is the King of Kings
and Lord of Lords. The Christ is our tabernacle.
There's no temple now or tabernacle, not going to be one. The Christ
is our mercy seat. The Ark of the Covenant is gone.
It's lost. It's done away with. Christ is
our mercy seat. Christ is our priest. We don't
have an earthly priest. We do not have an earthly priest. Every believer is a priest. The
Scripture says, by His blood He hath made us kings and priests
unto God. And every believer goes directly
to God through Christ. Every believer offers spiritual
sacrifices of prayer and praise and thanksgiving to God every
day. We do not need a human mediator or go-between or advocate or
representative. Jesus Christ Himself is our advocate
and mediator. The Scripture says this, There's
one God and one Mediator. One Mediator between men and
God and that's the man, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Christ. And whosoever believeth that
Jesus is the Christ. So we don't have a tabernacle.
Christ is our tabernacle. Christ is our altar. Christ is
our ark of the covenant. Christ is our mercy seat. Christ
is our priest and Christ is our atonement. And our incense and
prayer and all that is in Him. You know, when our Lord talked
to that woman at the well, He talked to her, you've read it
in John chapter 4. And finally, so confused and frustrated and
broken hearted and troubled, she looked at Him and she said,
well, she just thought He was a prophet. She believed He was
a prophet of God. But she looked at Him and she
said, well, we know this, the Messiah is coming. which is called
Christ. And when He comes, He's going
to tell us all things. And our Lord said to her, I that
speak to thee, am He. I'm the Christ. I'm the Messiah. I'm the Redeemer. That Job talked
about, I know that my Redeemer liveth and that the latter days
He'll stand on this earth. He's that prophet They asked
John the Baptist, are you that prophet? He said, no. Are you
the Christ? No. Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ.
I'm He. Now listen, whosoever believeth
that Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus, the Son of Mary, Jesus who walked
this earth, died on the cross, was buried and rose again, He
is the Messiah. He is the Christ. He's the only
Savior of sinners. And whosoever believes that,
watch it now, is born God. You see, my friends, such understanding,
such wisdom is heaven sent and heaven given. Such wisdom and
understanding to be able to see into the mysteries of God, into
the incarnation of God, into the coming of Jesus Christ in
the flesh, that's far above the reach of the natural mind. The
natural mind of man cannot comprehend God becoming a man. He just can't
comprehend that. It says, to them who are perishing,
it's foolishness, sheer nonsense. The natural man receiveth not
the things of God, they're foolishness to him. And neither can he know
them, they're spiritually discerned. So whosoever, that's a wide word,
but whomever believes, actually believes, receives, comes to
Christ, knows Him, that He is the Christ, He is the Messiah,
He's the Redeemer. That man has supernatural knowledge
and wisdom. He's born of God. Because it's
beyond human understanding. The natural mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the ways
of God. Such faith and understanding comes by revelation. We're born
of God. Born of God. One day our Lord
said to the disciples, whom do men, natural men, whom do they
say that I, the Son of Man am? What do they say about me? Well,
the disciples said, some of them say you're John the Baptist,
who's risen from the dead. Some of them say you're Elijah.
Some of them say you're one of the prophets. You see, that's
natural man thinking. They can't understand this Jesus
of Nazareth. They don't know The disciples
said, I mean the Pharisees said, where'd you come from? Where'd
you come? Whence cometh this man? Where'd
he come from? And he said to the disciples, whom do you say
that I am? And Peter said, we know you're
the Christ. You're the Christ. You're the
anointed one. You're the one Abraham looked
for, and Moses, and Elijah, and David. You're the Christ, the
son of the living God. Watch it now. He said, Peter,
How blessed you are. Blessed are you, Simon, son of
Jonah. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you. Because flesh and blood doesn't
understand it. Cannot comprehend it. Cannot
enter into it. It's heavenly wisdom. Flesh and
blood didn't reveal that to you. My Father revealed that to you. Whosoever actually believes in
His heart, in a life-changing experience that this man Jesus
of Nazareth actually is the Christ of God. He's born of God. He's
been regenerated. Such faith and understanding
is the result of a new birth. Now watch it. He didn't say,
if you believe that Jesus is the Christ, you will be born
of God. You're not born of God because you believe. You believe
because you're born of God. That comes first. You've got
to have ears before you can hear. You've got to have eyes before
you can see. You've got to have a heart and lungs before you
can breathe and lips before you can speak. And whosoever actually
believes that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, God has done a
work of grace in his heart and soul and touched his mind and
brought him to understand things that man by nature just does
not understand. Does not it'll tell you this
if I have heard the Word of God with my heart If I have learned
who he is And why he came and what he did and where he is now
If I have really believed beyond a shadow of a doubt To where
I'd lay down my life for the truth of it that Jesus is the
Christ I'm born of God and so he is Flesh and blood didn't
reveal that to you. That's what he said in John 6.
No man, whomever it may be, of whatever background, talent,
knowledge, intellect, wisdom, no man, no human being, no son
of woman, can, is able, has the ability to come to me, believe
on me, lay hold of me, except my Father which sent me drawing.
That's what he said, John 6, verse 44. And I'll tell you this,
he said, I'll raise that man up at the last day. It's written
in the prophets, they shall all, they shall all, all who come
to me be taught of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father and the Father has given
him life, regeneration, revelation, you come to me. You come to me. That's what John said in 1 John
5, 20. I love this verse. I'll write
people letters and I'll put down at the bottom a verse of scripture
for them to read. Often I write this scripture
down. 1 John 5, 20. I just love it. Listen, and we know that the
Son of God has come and given us an understanding that we may
know Him that is true, the true God, and that we're in Him. That is true. Even in His Son,
Jesus the Christ, this is the true God, and this is eternal
life. Now let me close by giving you
the last statement in 1 John 5 verse 1. Whosoever believeth
that Jesus, actually believes that Jesus is the Christ, he
is born of God. Now watch the next line. And
every one that loves him that begat, loves him that is begotten. of Him. Well we know who begat,
it's the Father who begat. It's the Father who begat and
we love the Father. Well it says everybody who loves
Him that begat the Father will love Him also who's begotten
of Him. That's Christ. Oh yeah, you can't
love the Father and not love the Christ. First John 2 verse
22 said, Who is a liar? But he that denieth that Jesus
is the Christ. You know who a liar is? It doesn't
matter if he's in the pulpit, or the pew, or the world, or
where. But who is a liar? It's that man who denies that
Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, he's born of God. Whosoever denies that Jesus is
the Christ, he's an antichrist that denieth the Father and the
Son. And whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. Did you hear that? One cannot
live, love, know, and worship the Father who does not live
in, love, know, and worship the Son of God. That's strong, isn't
it? But the Word's strong, and it
has to be strong. It takes a strong God to save
us, and to keep us, and to raise us, and to exalt us. But whosoever believeth that
Jesus is the Christ, He's born of God. And whosoever denies
that Jesus is the Christ, he's a liar. He's an antichrist. For
he that loveth the begatter loves the one that's begotten. For
God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.