Comfort for Believers

Q: What does the Bible say about God's comfort for believers?

The Bible shows that God provides comfort to believers by revealing His plans and accepting their offerings. In Judges 13, we see Manoah and his wife grappling with the revelation that they have seen the Lord. Despite Manoah's fear that they would die, his wife wisely reassures him, pointing out that if God intended to kill them, He would not have accepted their burnt offering. The passage underscores that God’s acceptance of offerings and His continual revelations to humanity serve as sources of comfort and assurance for believers. Furthermore, Isaiah 53:10 affirms that God’s purpose in the suffering Servant is not for destruction but for the justification of many, highlighting God's merciful character towards His people.

Q: How do we know Jesus Christ is the only way to God?

Scripture indicates that Jesus is the sole mediator between God and man, affirming that He is the only way to salvation. The conviction that Jesus Christ is the only way to God is deeply rooted in scripture, particularly John 14:6 where Jesus asserts, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.' This exclusive claim emphasizes His unique role as the Redeemer. The sermon outlines that historical and prophetic revelations throughout the Bible point to Christ as the fulfillment of God's promise of salvation. Moreover, references such as Hebrews 9:24 declare that Christ appears in the presence of God for us, affirmatively establishing His position as the sole mediator between God and humanity.

Q: Why is the pre-incarnate Christ significant in Scripture?

The pre-incarnate appearances of Christ show His active role in God's redemptive plan long before His incarnation. Pre-incarnate appearances of Christ are significant as they reveal His ongoing involvement in God's plan of salvation. In the sermon, instances such as the appearance to Manoah in Judges 13 and interactions with figures like Jacob and Melchizedek demonstrate Christ’s grace and sovereignty. These encounters emphasize that where God reveals Himself, it is always through Christ. This understanding reinforces the doctrine of the Trinity and the eternal nature of Christ as God, who was actively involved in creation and redemption long before His birth in Bethlehem.

Open your Bibles with me tonight
to the book of Judges. Judges chapter 13. The title of the message tonight
is, Comfort for Believers. Comfort for Believers. In Judges 13 verse 1, And the
children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord. Their
grievous sin was idolatry, departing from the living God. And the
Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty
years. Now, during these days, there
was no king on a throne in Israel. God ruled Israel by judges. Judges. There were these powerful
judges. of which Samson was one. We're
going to read about him. Verse 2, there was a certain
man of Zorah of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren, and barren
not. She had no children. Now the
angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her,
Behold now, thou art barren, Embarrass not, but thou shalt
conceive, and bear a son. Now therefore, beware, I pray
thee, and drink not wine, nor strong drink, and eat not any
unclean thing." Now this, the angel of the Lord is announcing
the birth of Samson. In verse 5, For lo, thou shalt
conceive, and bear a son, and no razor shall come on his For
the child shall be a Nazirite unto God from the womb, and he
shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines.
Let me pause just a moment now and tell you what I know about
a Nazirite, which is not very much. But aided by Smith's Bible dictionary,
I know this about the Nazirite vow. could be a man, could be
a woman. But a Nazarite, a man or a woman
who under Hebrew law bound himself or herself to abstain from all
wine, all products of the grape, to wear long uncut hair, to observe
various forms of purification in the service of the Lord, committed
wholly completely to God and to His service, God's servant,
a Nazirite. Now the period of this commitment
and this service and this observance of the vow, the period varied. It could cover a lifetime. It
could cover a certain space of years, decades, but it could
be a whole lifetime. But when the period was concluded,
and the service was completed, offerings were made, and the
hair was cut and burned, and the Nazarite was delivered or
discharged from his vow. You remember Paul helped some
fellows get out from under that Nazarite vow one time. But now
that's what the angel... Here's Manoah's wife out there
in the field. The angel comes to her, the angel
of the Lord. announces this son, Samson, he'll
deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines, which he
did. Gloriously. All right, verse 6. Then the
woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came to
me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of
God. Very terrible. Now note how she describes him. His countenance like the countenance
of an angel of God. Very terrible. But I asked him
not whence he was, and neither told me he me his name. But he said unto me, Behold,
I shall conceive and bear a son, and now drink no wine, nor strong
drink, neither eat any unclean thing. For the child shall be
a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. That's
how long Samson's service was, all his lifetime. Then Manoah
entreated the Lord. Noah went to God in prayer, and
he said, O my Lord, let the man of God whom which thou didst
send come again unto us. Teach us what we should do unto
the child that shall be born. And God hearkened to the voice
of Manoah. And the angel of God came again
unto the woman as she sat in the field, but Manoah, her husband,
was not with her. The woman made haste and ran,
and showed her husband, and said to him, Behold, the man hath
appeared unto me that came unto me the other day. And Manoah
arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said
unto him, Art thou the man that spake unto the woman?" And he
said, I am. I am. And Manoah said, Now let thy
words come to pass. How shall we order the child,
and how shall we do unto him? And the angel of the Lord said
unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman, let her beware.
She may not eat of anything that cometh of the vine, neither let
her drink wine, nor strong drink, nor eat anything, any unclean
thing. All that I commanded her, let
her observe. And Manoah said unto the angel
of the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee until we shall
have made ready a kid before thee. Let's kill a lamb and let's
have dinner, let's have a feast in your honor. And the angel
of the Lord said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I'll not
eat of thy bread. And if thou wilt offer a burnt
offering, thou must offer it unto the Lord. For Manoah knew
not that he was an angel of the Lord. He stood there like a man. This woman described that his
countenance was different, but he was nevertheless a man. That's
how he appeared to them. And Manoah said unto the angel
of the Lord, What is your name? That when thy sayings come to
pass, we may do thee honor. And the angel of the Lord said
unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? What's in your margin? Wonderful. Wonderful. This is no ordinary
angel. Every angel always identified
himself. If anybody asked an angel his
name, he told him. Michael. Whomever. Gabriel. They always identified
themselves. Always tells who they are. This
one did not reveal his name. He said, my name is secret. So
Manoah took a kid with a meat offering and offered it upon
a rock unto the Lord. And the angel did wondrously. And Manoah and his wife looked
on. Now listen to what happened. Manoah took that kid, slew it,
drew its blood, put its body on the altar, lit the fire, like
Elijah did on Mount Carmel, like all the other sacrifices. offered a burnt offering before
the Lord, which is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ in His
sufferings and in His death, the shedding of His blood. Verse
19, verse 20, His wife looked on, and it came to pass, for
it came to pass when the flame went up toward heaven from off
the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. This person who appeared to Manoah
and his wife and announced the birth of Samson, when Manoah and his wife offered
that burnt offering, he got in the flame and in the smoke and
ascended to heaven. Any doubt in your mind who that
is? It can't be anyone but Christ himself. No angel of God would travel
with a burnt offering. He would, no angel of God, he
would have been on his knees, but he would never have identified
with that burnt offering. It's like that ladder that Jacob
saw from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven. That's Christ. And no creature would enter into
that. There's just one mediator between
God and me, and that's the man Christ Jesus. And Manoah and
his wife looked on it. He ascended in the flame of the
altar, and they looked on and fell on their faces to the ground.
But the angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and
to his wife. And then Manoah knew that he
was an angel of the Lord. And Manoah said to his wife,
we're going to die. We're going to die. We've seen
God. We were talking out in California
about pre-incarnate appearances of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Any, let me tell you this, any
appearance of God anywhere is Christ. Any appearance, any appearance
of God in the Old Testament is Christ. This is Christ. And notice,
I didn't say incarnate, I said pre-incarnate. When the Lord
Jesus Christ was conceived in the womb and born of Mary, that's
incarnation. God became a man. But here, this
is Christ appearing to Manoah and his wife. The angel of the
Lord is Christ himself. Let me show you two or three
other places. Turn to Genesis 14. Genesis 14. I'll show you. And you mark in your Bible here
at least three times that the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to
men before he was born in Bethlehem. In Genesis 14, verse 18, verse
17, Genesis 14, 17, And the king of Sodom went out to meet him. Abraham is returning from the
slaughter of the kings. And the king of Sodom went out
to meet him after his return. from the slaughter of Chedoleomer,
and of the kings that were with him at the valley of Shaveth,
which is the king's dale. Now watch this. And Melchizedek,
king of Salem, in the book of Hebrews said, without mother
or father, without beginning of days or end of days, without
heritage, without ancestry, the priest of the Lord, the priest
of the Most High God, he met him. Melchizedek, king of Salem. brought forth bread and wine,
and he was the priest of the Most High God. And he blessed
him and said, Blessed be Abraham of the Most High God, possessor
of heaven and earth." Blessed be Abraham. Now here's the clue,
who this man is. Here's the chief clue. He's called
the King of Peace. That's only Christ. He's called
the priest of the Most High God. It says he has no beginning of
days or end of days, no ancestry. And five or six times the scripture
says of Christ he's a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
But here's the chief proof that this is Christ. He gave him bread
and wine. Bread and wine. any other priest,
he would have killed a lamb. That's right. No Old Testament
priest ever dealt with bread and wine. This is my body broken. He took bread, said, this is
my body broken. He took wine, said, this is my
blood. This would have been no sacrifice at all. Bread and wine,
this is before Calvary. This is Christ. All right, let
me show you another. Genesis 32, turn over there.
Genesis 32. This is interesting here. Watch
this. Now Genesis 32 verse 24. Jacob was left alone. Boy, nobody was as alone as Jacob
was right here. He was in trouble. Oh, he was
in trouble, trouble, trouble on every side. And there wrestled
a man with him until the breaking of the day. When he saw that
he prevailed not against him, he touched the holler of his
thigh, and the holler of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he
wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go now, for
the day breaketh. And he said, I'll not let thee
go, except thou bless me, clinging to that man. He said, What's
your name? He said, Jacob. He said, Thy
name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. Who is the
only one who can change a man's name and change a man's nature? Christ. He's the only one. He said, I'll take that old stony
heart and give you a new heart. He changed his name. He said,
no more a cheat, a supplanter, but Israel. That word Israel
is a prince of God. For as a prince hast thou power
with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him
and said, tell me, I pray thee, your name. He said, wherefore
is it that thou dost ask after my name? He blessed him there,
and Jacob called the name of the place Pineal, for I've seen
God face to face." That's Christ. One other, Daniel. That's over past the book of
Psalms. Turn to Daniel, chapter 3. Daniel, chapter 3, verse 25.
There was a fiery furnace. You know, they cast the three
Hebrew children in the fiery furnace because they wouldn't
bow to the image that the king made. Cast them in the fiery
furnace, and it says in verse 24 of Daniel 3, read this, Daniel
3, 24, Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, rose up
in haste, and spake, and said to his counselors, Did not we
cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered
and said unto him, That's true, O king. He answered and said,
Lo, I see four men, I see four in the midst of the
fire, and they have no hurt, and the former of the fourth
is like the Son of God, was the Son of God. Oh, I tell you, if God appears,
it's always Christ. Any revelation in the scripture
of a Redeemer is Christ. That's the reason this pastor
and these elders, like Brother Bob, took that Psalm 20 while
ago and showed us Christ. Christ Jesus, our Lord. And so
it occurred to Manoah that he had seen the eternal, holy, living
God. And you know, he remembered what
God said to Moses. You remember in Exodus 33 when
Moses said, Lord, show me your glory? And God told Moses, hide
over here in the cleft of the rock. I'll put my hand over you.
And I'll pass by, and you'll see my back parts, but you can't
see my face, for no man can see my face and live. But Noah knew
that. He knew that. And I understand
his concern. Like I said this morning, when
a person comes to some realization of the character of God, of the
holiness of God, of the righteousness of God, and of his own sinfulness,
how can he talk of surviving that presence? I don't understand
that. I want to show you a couple of
scriptures. Now, you young people listen to me a moment. You probably
won't listen to them on purpose, but you'll be flipping your channel
on TV, and you'll come across some of these preachers. And
they'll give you the impression that they have some kind of corner
on God, that God talks to them and appears to them, and they
talk to God, and they appear in His presence, and God walks
with them and tells them things, And you may say, well, I've never
experienced that. And you may be discouraged because
you've never experienced any kind of divine revelation of
God in the middle of the night. They haven't either. They haven't either. Now I'm
going to show you what happens to a man who is in the presence
of God. In Exodus, turn to Exodus 24.
Now listen to this, Exodus 24. There are two scriptures. Exodus
24. I tell you, if the Lord God ever
in His glory, now if the Lord Jesus Christ appeared on this
earth, and we saw Him in the flesh, but as Paul said, I know
Him no longer in the flesh. Our Lord Jesus Christ appeared
in the flesh, but since He'd gone back to glory, He hasn't
come down here and made any appearances to me. If he did, he'd have to
come in his glorified holiness, not in the flesh. He appeared
to Paul on the road to Damascus, and it blinded him. Paul said, I saw the Lord as
one born out of due time. He met Christ, Tom, and it blinded
him. That's right. And I'll tell you, if anybody,
if God appears to you, if He appears to me tonight, I won't
have to tell you tomorrow. I won't have to tell anybody.
It'll be obvious. I may not survive. If I did survive,
I want you to watch this now. Exodus 24, now listen. Verse 15, Exodus 24, 15. Moses
went up the mountain and a cloud covered the mountain. And the
glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered
it for six days. And the seventh day he called
Moses. He called unto Moses out of the
midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of
the Lord was like a devouring fire on top of the mountain in
the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst
of the cloud and get him up into the mountain, and Moses was in
that mountain forty days and forty nights. Now then, turn
with me to Exodus 34. And let's see what happened.
Exodus 34. Moses went into the presence
of God. He was there 40 days. And I want you to look at Exodus
34, verse 29. When he came back. Exodus 34,
29. And it came to pass when Moses
came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of testimony
in Moses' hand. When he came down from the mountain,
Moses wished not that the skin of his face shone while he talked
with him. And when Aaron and all the children
of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and
they were afraid to come nigh him. And Moses called unto them,
and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned
unto him, and Moses talked with them. And afterward all the children
of Israel came nigh, and he gave them in commandment all that
the Lord had spoken, with him in the mountain until he was
done speaking, he put a veil on his face. He had to cover his face. But when Moses went in before
the Lord to speak with him, he took the veil off until he came
out. And he came out and spake unto
the children of Israel that which he was commanded. And the children
of Israel saw the face of Moses, the skin of his face shown, Moses
put a veil upon his face again until he went in to speak with
Him. What I can't understand is today's
religion. People talk about seeing God,
God appearing to them. And I don't know why they wish
to deceive us. They may be hearing voices, but
it's not the voice of God. If you hear the voice of God,
He'll speak to you through His Word. If they speak not according
to the law and the prophets, there's no light in them, no
dawning. I'm not saying that God can't
speak to a man. He spoke to John on the Isle
of Patmos. What happened? John fell at his feet as a dead
man. A dead man. But now I want you
to see something. Back to my text. I'm not going
to dwell on that. I'm going to show you three things
here that I think is very beautiful. Three things here, and go back
to Judges chapter 13. Verse 22, And Manoah said to
his wife, We're going to die. We're going to die. We've seen
the Lord. But Manoah's wife was strong in faith, and she was
a wise woman. A wise woman. I tell you, because
the Lord commands women not to preach, doesn't mean they don't
have wisdom. The Lord has said there to not
usurp authority over the man. They're not to teach or preach
in the church. They're to teach the younger
women. They're to teach and give advice in their homes. You know,
that man and his wife took one of the preachers into their house
and taught him the gospel more perfectly. And the Lord mentioned
so many of those, Paul mentioned so many of those dear women that
were, helped him in the ministry. And I'll tell you, we'd be wise
to seek the counsel of these dear women that know the gospel,
know God, our wives and daughters, that they can give us some mighty
good counsel. Mighty good counsel. Say, I want you to listen to
this dear woman. Old Manoa's about ready to lay her down. He said, we're going to die.
We're done for, sure of the world. She said, now watch it. Verse
23, But his wife said to him, Now if the Lord were pleased
to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering. Isn't
that wise? His wife said, The Lord told
us to offer a burnt offering to God, which we did. And it's
evident that he accepted the offering and approved of it because
he got in it and ascended to heaven. Now he's not going to
kill us. He wouldn't have told us to offer
the burnt offering and he wouldn't have identified with it Accepted
it and approved of it if he attend intended to kill us, isn't that
right? The Lord Jesus Christ died for
our sins and his death accomplished that for which it was intended
and if God listen Here's comfort for Christians comfort for believers
if God intended to destroy us He would never sent his son to
be our Redeemer The confidence I have, you say,
are you confident of eternal life in Christ Jesus? Yes, sir.
Because if Almighty God intended to send us to hell, He would
never send His Son there first to bear our sins, would He? Suffer
in our place instead. I told my class this morning,
I hear preachers say, well, John 3, 16 is a gospel in a nutshell. Well, it's not at all. Not at
all. There's no gospel in John 3.16.
It's not there. The gospel's not in John 3.16.
There's no blood in John 3.16. There's no cross. There's no
substitution. There's no sacrifice. The gospel's
in John 3.14. That's where the gospel is. Listen
to it now. Listen to John 3.14. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
There's the gospel. lifted up on a cross, lifted
up between heaven and earth, lifted up to die. The Son must
be lifted up, must be lifted up, just like Moses took that
serpent of brass, made in the likeness of those serpents that
bit the people, and lifted it up on a pole between heaven and
earth. That's Christ crucified. Christ
lifted up. The people looked to live. That's
the gospel. That's the remedy for sin. John 3, 14 is the remedy.
Now, what does John 3.15 say? Well, John 3.14 says, as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. That, verse 15 says, whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's
the results. Christ lifted up is the remedy.
that he that believeth might have everlasting life is the
results. Now, John 3, 16 is the reason. Why was the Christ sent? Why was Christ lifted up? Why
was Christ crucified? For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. If God intended to damn
us, He'd have never given us the remedy. Herein is love, not that we love
God, He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for
our sin. Oh, I tell you, let me show you
something over here. Isaiah 53, just turn there for
a moment. Turn there for a moment, Isaiah 53. This is what the woman
said, and she's saying, if God was going to kill us, He would
not have given us the burnt offering or accepted it. Look at Isaiah
53.10. pleased the Lord to bruise him.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grieve. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong
his days. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied. And by his knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Do I believe we're going to perish who believe on Christ? No, sir.
I do not. I do not. He would not have received
the burnt offering. All right, here's her second
reason. Look at verse 23 again. She said to her husband, if the
Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a
burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands. Secondly, neither
would he have showed us all these things. He wouldn't have appeared
to us and showed us these things if He intended to destroy us.
Well, that makes sense, doesn't it? He appeared to them twice. Let every word be established
by two witnesses. He appeared to them twice. He
appeared to her alone. He appeared again. She went and
got her husband. And then He appeared in the offering and
ascended to heaven. Turn with me to Hebrews 9. Talk
about Christ appearing. He appeared three times for us.
He appears all the time, but this is significant appearances.
Watch this now. Hebrews 9, 24. Hebrews 9, 24. For Christ is
not entered into the holy place made with hands, which are the
figures of the truth, but into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God for us. Not yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy place
every year with the blood of others, for then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world. But now once in
the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, and after this the judgment, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sin of many. And unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time. without sin under salvation.
This dear woman said, we're not going to die. She said, I can't
explain what God's been pleased to reveal to us, but we're not
going to die. Because if God intended to destroy
us, He'd never accepted the sacrifice, and He would never have appeared
unto us. He never would have appeared
and showed us all these things. He wouldn't have done it. I picked up on paper from England
yesterday, came in the mail yesterday. You talk about shocks. This has a picture in the paper
here of the meeting of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Now this is the Church of Scotland.
This is, I suppose, John Knox. Men like that, they were the
Church of Scotland, weren't they? The General Assembly of the Church
of Scotland met in May, and they were trying to deal with evangelism
in a multi-faith society. And the report suggested that
the traditional Christian view of Jesus Christ as the only way
to God may not be correct. And that the traditional interpretation
of John 14, 6, which says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life,
no man cometh to the Father but by me, which clearly states that
salvation is in Christ alone, ought to be reconsidered. The
assembly was asked to consider that sincere followers of other
faiths such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, they have their
own way to God, which is not Christ. And what we're going
to have to do, they said, this is the meeting of the Church
of Scotland. 700 delegates from all the churches
in Scotland meeting. And they're trying to do something
about this man Jesus Christ. He's upset in the apple cart. He says he's on the way to God.
They've got to do something about that to get along with other
religions. Well, one of their ministers, a Mr. Ian Hamilton,
suggested that they submit a resolution to be voted on by this General
Assembly of the Church of Scotland, calling on the Church to affirm
the conviction that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation.
According to the Scriptures, Jesus Christ, the incarnate,
crucified, risen Son of God, is the only Savior of men and
women, the only way to God. That's what we believe. That's
what the Bible teaches. So they had a vote. Two months
ago, in this General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, on
whether they were going to hold to the truth that Jesus Christ
and Him crucified is the only way to God, the resolution was
defeated. 400 votes to 300. They voted that Jesus Christ
is not the only Savior, the other Savior. Isn't that something?
You know, I can, I understand I understand cults and sects
and new religions springing up denying Christ and His blood
and righteousness. This is the Church of Scotland. This is like, it's like the Baptists
of old, the Dutch Reform, the Christian Reform. It's like those
people who've stood and their ancestors bled and died for this
truth. And here 700 of their representatives
decide, we throw it out the window. This is a day in which we live. Well, here's the third reason
she gives. We're not going to die because
he received a burnt offering. He has appeared to us. And I'll
tell you, that's the reason I know we're not going to perish, because
Christ died on that cross, and He appears in the presence of
God for me. He has appeared to us. Now here's the third thing.
Nor would He at this time have told us such things. He would
not have died for us, He wouldn't have showed us these things,
and He wouldn't have told us. What has He told us? He wouldn't
have told us such things. What has He told us? Well, I
thought about that for a few moments. He told Adam and Eve
about the woman's seed. He told Abraham about the covenant
son. He told Moses about that prophet.
He told David about that king in Melchizedek, didn't he? He
told Isaiah, behold, the Lord will give you a sign, a virgin
shall be with child. Under us a son is born, a child
is given. He told Isaiah that. He told
him he was wounded for our transgressions. He told Joseph about Mary's son. He said, call his name Jesus,
he'll save his people from their sin. He told the shepherds on
the hillside, under you is born, this day in the city of David,
a Savior, Christ the Lord. And he came down here to this
earth and he told us, come unto me, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. You'll find rest in your souls. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come to the water and drink. And I'll tell you, I have His
Word. And that's my confidence. Turn
to 1 John 5. Let me read this in closing.
1 John chapter 5. And don't try to improve on the
Word. This is our confidence, God's
Word. I never get tired of reading
that story of Manoah and reading about his wife and her reasoning
with her dear husband. She said he's not going to destroy
us. He wouldn't have accepted the sacrifice. He wouldn't have
showed us these things. And he wouldn't have told us
this if he intended to destroy us. Would he? No. Verse 20 of
1 John 5. And we know that the Son of God
has come and given us an understanding. that we may know Him that is
true, and we're in Him that is true. Even in His Son, Jesus
Christ, this is a true God. This is eternal life. My friends,
I say this to myself again, I say it to you, I say it to all of
us, to our young people. Christ is the way to God. Christ is the way to God. It's
looking to Him, believing on Him, resting in Him, trusting
Him. A whole lot I don't understand
about the holiness of God, the majesty of God, but I'm not going
to stand up before you and make up some emotional, exciting religious
experience. I've never seen God. I've never
heard God speak. Have you? Anybody ever hear God's
voice or seen God? But I see Him in His Word, I
see Him in His promise, I see Him in His gospel, I see Him
in Christ. I understand how God can be just and justify the ungodly
in Christ Jesus. And there is a covenant of mercy,
and there is grace to sinners, and there is life everlasting,
and there is a promise of salvation, and it's in His Son. And I feel
most confident that I have that life and that hope. And God's
not going to destroy us, me or you, who believe in Him. If He's
going to destroy us, He wouldn't have received the sacrifice,
would He? He wouldn't have showed us these things, would He? He
wouldn't have written these things. Here it is. He said, Believe
My Word. Believe My Word. And that's what I say to you.
Believe the Word of God. Don't look for a sign. There's no sign going to be given
but the Word of God. Don't look for signs. It's like
a child coming to his father and he asks his father for a
favor. His father said, yes, I'll do
it. And the boy keeps standing there and his father said, I'll
do it. Why do you keep standing there? Would you give me some
kind of guarantee? Why would he say a thing like
that? No confidence. But I'll tell you, if he believes
his dad, If he believes Him. And his dad said, I'll do it.
He'll turn and walk off. Now, if he weren't going to do
it, he wouldn't have told me. If he were not going to do it, he
wouldn't have showed me. And I believe him. Now, let me ask
you. Can you believe the Heavenly Father? If you know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much more shall He give the
Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? Ask Him. I believe God. And I'm not looking for a sign.
I'm actually... Some of the medicine we take
and all the aspirin, I'd be a little afraid of a sign. Some of the things we eat and
go to bed, I'd be a little afraid of a sign. I'd rather have the
Word than any kind of demonstration, because I can trust this. The
other things I can't trust. I'd doubt it the rest of my days.
I'd tell you about it, but I'd still doubt it. I don't doubt
that. I believe God. Do you believe
God? Help my unbelief. All right, Mike, lead us in a
song, if you will.

Comfort for Believers

What does the Bible say about God's comfort for believers?

How do we know Jesus Christ is the only way to God?

Why is the pre-incarnate Christ significant in Scripture?

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Comfort for Believers

What does the Bible say about God's comfort for believers?

How do we know Jesus Christ is the only way to God?

Why is the pre-incarnate Christ significant in Scripture?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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