Six Serious Charges Against Men

Q: What does the Bible say about the Son of God?

The Bible reveals Jesus as the eternal Son of God who is equal with the Father and has authority over all things. In John 5, Jesus makes it clear who He is by stating that He is the Son of God, equal with the Father in work and purpose. This is so explicit that the Jews sought to kill Him for claiming to be God and calling God His Father. Jesus asserts that the same work of the Father is the work of the Son, demonstrating their unity. He emphasizes that the Father has entrusted all judgment to the Son, indicating that all men will be judged based on their relationship to Him.

Q: How do we know that Jesus is the Messiah?

Jesus' identity as the Messiah is supported by the testimony of John the Baptist, His miracles, and the fulfillment of Scripture. Throughout John 5, Jesus presents multiple witnesses to affirm His claim as the Messiah. John the Baptist first testifies of Him, declaring Jesus as the Lamb of God. Jesus also points to His miraculous works, such as healing the blind and raising the dead, which testify to His divine authority. Furthermore, the Scriptures themselves bear witness to Him, containing prophecies that only Jesus fulfills, emphasizing that He is the awaited Savior. These testimonies come from various credible sources, confirming the truth of Christ's identity.

Q: Why is it important to honor the Son?

Honoring the Son is crucial because it is the only way to honor the Father and know God. In John 5:23, Jesus states, 'That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.' This claim underscores the integral relationship between honoring Jesus and knowing God the Father. To disregard Jesus is to dishonor the Father, as He has appointed the Son to be the mediator through whom believers approach God. Hence, true worship, praise, and knowledge of God can only occur through Christ. It emphasizes the necessity for Christians to prioritize Christ in all worship and understanding.

Q: What does it mean to come to Christ?

Coming to Christ means recognizing Him for who He is and approaching Him with our true selves. To come to Christ involves acknowledging His divine nature and recognizing our need for Him. It means approaching Him without pretense, surrendering our false identities and self-righteousness. This recognition calls for turning away from all other sources of fulfillment and acknowledging that Christ is our complete source of life. Furthermore, it implies a continual coming to Him for everything, affirming that He is not simply a part of life but the essence of life itself. Such an approach transforms how we perceive all aspects of life, leading to a deeper relationship and reliance on Him.

Q: Why does Jesus say some people do not come to Him?

Many do not come to Jesus because they seek approval from others instead of seeking God’s honor. Jesus highlights the tragic reality that many people remain distant from Him because they are preoccupied with seeking honor and approval from men. Instead of prioritizing a relationship with Christ, they cling to religious practices, societal acceptance, or personal achievements. This misplaced focus on earthly recognition prevents them from believing in Jesus, who offers eternal life. The pursuit of worldly accolades creates a spiritual barrier, reinforcing the importance of seeking God’s approval above all else, which alone leads to true belief and salvation.

All right, open your Bibles again
to John 5. I don't feel that this is an
ordinary message. I believe it's a very special
message. Now, someone has said that If there's a theme to the writings
of Matthew in Matthew's gospel, if that theme would be Jesus
Christ, Son of David, that seems to be the theme of Matthew's
writings, Son of David. And if there's a theme to the
writings of Mark in his gospel, it would be Christ's the servant. We talked about that in Isaiah
52 in the Bible class this morning. Behold my servant, in whom my
soul delighteth. If there's a theme to Luke's
writings, if there is such a thing as a theme that goes through
the writings of Luke, it would be Jesus Christ, the Son of Man. Luke begins with his birth. the
birth of John the Baptist and the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth
and the birth of Christ in Bethlehem, in great detail, Jesus Christ,
Son of Man. Now, if there's a theme, if there's
such a thing as a theme in John's writings, it has to be Jesus
Christ, Son of God. Son of God, the eternal Son of
God. And here in the fifth chapter,
our Lord, as clearly and plainly as anywhere in the Bible, reveals himself as the Son of
God, the Son of God. If anywhere in the Bible that
he's revealed as the Son of God in a fuller more explicit way. I don't know where it would be.
John 5. And then when he does that and
calls forth the witnesses, he levels, he levels upon us six
serious charges. I mean solemn, serious charges. Now I want to get to those six
charges so I briefly show you this, beginning at verse 17. Our Lord said in John 17, My
Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought
the Moor to kill him, because he had not only broken their
Sabbath, but he said also that God was his Father, making himself
equal with God. They knew exactly what he was
saying. equal with God. You see, my Father works and
I work. The work of the Father and the
work of the Son is one. All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I'll in no wise
cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do my will, but the will of him that sent me. The Father
chose us, the Son redeemed us, the Spirit called us. The Divine
Trinity is one in purpose and in program and in all work. I finish the work you gave me
to do. Now glorify me with the glory
which I had with thee before the world was. My Father works
and I work, the same work. All right, verse 21. For as the
Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them. What does the
word quicken mean? we have the quick and the dead.
The dead without life, the quick, means they live. And as the Father
giveth life, so the Son quickeneth, giveth life, makes alive, saves
whom he will. You see that He's talking about
spiritual life here. We died in Adam, but the Father
will quicken sinners, even so the Son quickeneth, makes alive,
saves whom he will. Thou hast given me authority,
he said, over all flesh, that I should give eternal life, that
I should give eternal life to all that you gave me. The Father
quickeneth, the Son quickeneth, whom he will. I'll be merciful
to whom I will be merciful. Ephesians tells us that. You
hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin. So, the
Son of God. The Son of God is one with the
Father, and the Son of God has power to give life to whom he
will. Alright? Alright, look at verse
22. Oh, how serious this is. How solemn this is. How awesome
The Father judgeth no man. The Father has only one basis
of judgment. There's only one basis of judgment. There's only one person upon
whom the Father is going to judge every man. Listen. He hath committed
all judgment to the Son. What's this saying? I'll tell
you what it's saying. All works will be judged in their relationship
to Christ. All righteousness its relationship
to Christ. All profession, all sin, all
hope, all blessings, all condemnation, all hope, all things, all men,
everything around us, about us, in us, of us, associated with
us, all hope, all blessings, will be judged by our relationship
with that man Jesus Christ. It will be judged in the light
of Jesus Christ. my preaching, this congregation, this work,
this missionary work, this television work, your giving, your thoughts
right now, your past, your present, your future, your blessings,
your condemnation, whatever, your sin, everything is going
to be brought to light, brought to judgment, brought out in eternity
in relationship to that man. That's it. Not on any other basis. God's not going to judge you
alone. He's not going to look at any
work, any hope, any blessing, anything at all, except as it
bears some reference to this man. Anything that's not of him
is going to be damned. Anything that's not of him is
going to be burned. Anything that's not of him, through him,
by him, for his glory, is going to be burned. That's right, that
in all things he might have the preeminence. Let me show you
that in Acts 17. Oh, my soul, that's when we need
to preach Christ. In Acts 17, verse 31, listen. God hath appointed a day. Acts 17, 31. God hath appointed
a day in which he'll judge the world. And he'll judge the world in
righteousness. by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he
hath given assurance unto all men, and it erased him from the
dead." That's it. Do we love Christ? Do we believe
Christ? Are we in Christ? Everything
outside of Christ is going to be destroyed. All judgment unto
the Son. It's not going to be a matter
between you and the Father. It's going to be a matter between
you and the Father based on your relationship with the Son. That's
true. All right, read on. Verse 23,
that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which
sent him. There's no way to know God except in Christ. There's
no way to praise God except in Christ. through the merits of
Christ. There's no way to love God except to love Christ, to
worship God, to come to God. God Almighty, the Heavenly Father,
has given a wedding feast to honor the Son. He said He has exalted Him and
given Him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus,
every knee, every knee will bow, every tongue, in heaven, earth,
and under the earth. Every time he's going to confess
that he's Lord. And we'll honor him, or we won't honor the Father.
And then verse 24, listen to this. Verily I say unto you,
truly, truly, surely, surely, listen carefully, I say unto
you, need it be said again, he that heareth my words, he that
heareth my words, God spake to our fathers by the prophets,
he hath spoken to us by his He that hears my words, not the
words of Mr. Moon, not the words of Mr. Pope,
not the word of Mr. Preacher, not the word of Mr.
Evangelist, the word of the Lord Jesus Christ, not the word of
Mom and Daddy. He that hears my words and believes
on him that sent me. What's this mean? Who believes
on God Jehovah, Jehovah God, just and justifier, the God who
purposed to send a Redeemer, the God who is who purposed to
send a surety. You don't just believe in God
the Creator, you believe in God the Redeemer. Well, somebody says, I believe
in God. That ain't going to help you. The devil believes there's
a God. But what you do, you hear the
words of Christ and you believe that God, who in mercy and grace,
in justice and righteousness, sent a Redeemer. You believe
in a redeeming God. See that? Jehovah, God my salvation. See that? That's the reason Abraham
could be saved without seeing and without having a full revelation
of the cross. He believed in the God of the
cross. See what I'm trying to say? That's
the reason Isaac And Jacob, and Abraham, and Isaiah could write
about he was wounded by transgression. He didn't know anything about
the way Christ would suffer on that cross, but he knew he must
suffer. He believed in the God who sent
the sufferer, the substitute. He believed in a redeeming God. See what I'm trying to say? And
that's, we believe on Christ, we walk in the light we have.
We live in the dispensation in which we live. We receive the
light that God gives us, and a man saved by walking in the
light God gives him. And the more light you get, the
more responsible you are. And I am. That's right. And it all has to do with who
sent whom. And what whom came to do for
him who sent whom. You see that? So he that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life. Hath means
got it. Has it right now. And shall not
come into condemnation. Why shall he not come into condemnation?
Because there is no condemnation in Christ. Who can condemn me? Christ died for me. He already
passed from death unto life. Verse 25. I say unto you, the
hour is coming, and now is, when dead, the dead, spiritually dead,
shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall
live." The Son of God! Hear the voice of the Son of
God. For as the Father hath life in himself, he is given to the
Son to have life in himself. This is the record. God hath
given us life, and this life is in his Son. It's all in him,
of him, through him, by him. Do you see that? This is tremendous the way he's
setting forth the gospel here. In verse 30, he says, I can of
my own self do nothing. As I hear, I judge. My judgment
is just. I seek not my will, but the will
of the Father who sent me. Now, these are awesome claims.
One man said, no man ever spake like this. The reason no man ever spake
like this is no man ever was like this. Others have come and
set forth ways and means and works by which men can come to
God. Christ came forth. This man came
forth and said, He is God and we come to God by Him. And life's
in Him. Hope's in Him. Help's in Him.
And not to know Him, love Him, believe Him is to forfeit all
hope. That's what he's saying. I'm
the Son of God. He that has seen me has seen
God. Now, wait a minute. Just put
the brakes on here. On what authority and by what
reason am I to believe that he's telling the truth, this Jesus
of Nazareth? That's what he says in verse
31. If I'm the only witness of what I've said, forget it. If I bear witness of myself,
my witness is not true. The Bible says too many times,
let every word be established. by the mouth of two or three
witnesses. And then our Lord begins to bring,
call forth the witnesses. The first one he calls is John
the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets, the forerunner
of Christ. And he says, verse 32, there's
another that beareth witness of me. I told you about him.
He said, behold, the Lamb of God. He said, look at John 1. It won't take you but a second
to turn back to chapter 1. Verse 29, listen to John's witness. It says, The next day John, seeing
Jesus coming unto him, he said, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After
me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before
me. And I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to
Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John bore record
and said, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and
it abode on him. Verse 34, And I saw, and bore
record, this is the Son of God. Oh, but Christ said, verse chapter
5, go back there a minute, He says in chapter 5, verse 36,
I have greater witness, I call John now, the forerunner, but
here's greater witness, the works that I do. The blind see, the
deaf hear, the lame walk, and the dead are raised. You know,
I think sometimes when our Lord stood before the grave of Lazarus,
and he'd been dead four days, and his sister said, he's already
decaying, he's already stinking. And our Lord said, Lazarus, come
forth. Now, I know there have been impostors,
counterfeiters through the years, and even today there are these
preachers and healers and con men that talk about their power
to lay hands on people, all this sort of thing. They're playing
games though, my friends. They're playing games. Only one
could stand and say to the dead, live. Live. And he didn't need Lazarus' cooperation
either. I hear these fellows say, well,
if you're not healed, it's your fault. I believe in you didn't.
Lazarus didn't do any believing. He just walked. When the Lord
told him to live, he lived. The blind man, our Lord healed
him. And he didn't have to have implants
either. He saw. And that fellow had been
laying 38 years. Can you imagine the shape his
legs were in? 38 years never having walked.
Well, he not only walked, he picked up a bed and carried it.
Now, this, my Lord is the Son of God. He said these works,
Nicodemus said nobody could do this without God. All right,
he said that's not all. Verse 37, and the Father himself
hath borne witness of me. At his birth, God hung a star
up over the stable. At his birth, God the Father
sent the angels down. The angels don't pay much attention
to what we do, but they paid a lot of attention to what Christ
did. They announced his birth. And then at his baptism, the
voice from heaven said, this is my son in whom I'm well pleased.
At his transfiguration, God said again, this is my son, hear ye
him. At his death, God hung a drape
over the sun and cracked the earth open and tore the veil
and the temple in two. And then when they put him in
a grave and put their stone in front of it and their Romans
sealed and their soldiers, God just put them to sleep and rolled
the stone away and brought him forth. And then when he ascended to
heaven, the angels came down and spoke to the disciples and
said, this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven
shall so come in like manner as you see him go. So the Father
hath borne witness. And then the Scriptures, verse
39, the Scriptures. Testify of me. Let me challenge
you and the whole world, myself. Find anyone, anywhere, that will fulfill all that the
Scripture has written of the Messiah, the Christ, other than
Jesus Christ. The seed of woman. There's only
one. The seed of Abraham. This is
so exact, seed of Abraham, tribe of Judah, root of Jesse, son
of David, born in Bethlehem, little among thousands. Find a priest like Melchizedek.
What meaneth the Passover without Christ? Where is the lamb slain
today? Humane society has come down
on you. There are no lambs slain. Where's
the mercy seat? Now, let me tell you something.
Let me tell you something. God laid this down a long time ago.
He said, I'll meet you at the mercy seat, between the cherubims,
where the glory of God descends. And we say, this generation says,
we meet God. We don't meet God if there's
not a mercy seat. But we have a mercy seat. Christ
is our mercy seat. God has set him forth to be a
mercy seat. But people without a mercy seat,
there's no way God's going to meet them, because God dwells
at the mercy seat. He doesn't dwell in the water,
down at the altar. He dwells at the mercy seat.
That's where sinners meet God. Where's the mercy seat? Where's
the rock that followed them? Where's the tabernacle? Where's
the priesthood? Where is the Aaronic? It ain't
in Utah, is it? Where is that priesthood? There's
a descendancy of priests. We're in bad shape. Now let me
tell you something. If Jesus Christ is not the Christ
and the Messiah and all things, we're in bad shape, folks. We
don't even have a priest. We don't have a mercy seat. We
don't have an atonement. He said, the life of the flesh
is in the blood. I've given it to you upon the
altar to make an atonement for your soul. Where in tarnation
is it? We come here this morning and
meet here and sing some songs and read some Bible and somebody
gets up and talks and we pray and he made men go home. We haven't
met God if there's not a mercy seat, if there's not an atonement,
if there's not a high priest. Oh, come on now. God hadn't changed. He's the
same yesterday, today, and forever. Thank God we have a high priest.
It's Christ. Thank God we have a mercy seat.
It's Christ. Thank God we have an atonement.
Thank God we have an intercessor. Thank God he is in the Holy of
Holies within the veil and we can come there too. That's the
basis of worship. But in the face of these awesome
claims and these awesome witnesses, and this certain proof and testimony
by God's witnesses, our Lord levels six charges against men. In verse 1, the first charge
is you search the Scriptures. And anybody that's done any Bible
reading knows that he's saying this to these religious people,
you do search the Scriptures. You do, so he acknowledges that.
These men were Bible scholars. They weren't God scholars, Bob,
but they were Bible scholars. They do search the Scriptures.
You know why they search the Scriptures? You know why they
search the law? You know why they argued the law and debated
the law and searched the Scriptures and argued the Scriptures? They
thought life was in these things. And I'm telling you this morning,
I have great love and respect for the Scriptures. You know
that. I have great love and respect for God's law, you know that.
I have great love and respect for the doctrines, but salvation
and eternal life is not in the Bible, it's not in the law, it's
not in the doctrines, it's in Christ, and that's what he's
saying to these men. There's no life in the law, there's
no life in the scriptures. We have by today, we have Bible
schools and Bible students and Bible classes and Bible conferences,
we have Bible seminaries, we have Men studying, debating,
arguing, answering questions on the Bible, it's all to no
avail if we don't know Christ. It's to no avail. It's much ado
about flat nothing. It's just sitting around arguing
nothing. There's no acceptance with God by knowing the Bible,
or trying to live by the Bible, or trying to be exact with the
Bible, or plumb with the Bible. Salvation and acceptance is in
the Son of God. That's where it is. And that's what he's saying to
them. You're searching the Scriptures. I get so upset with these folks that,
well, this proves this, and this proves that, and this proves
nothing until you prove Christ. He's the sum and substance and
essence of this whole book. Miss Christ, miss God. That's
just it. Look at the second charge, verse
40, and you will not come to me that you might have life. This is the most amazing thing.
Yes, it's not amazing, it's characteristic of natural men. With the natural man, wisdom
is foolishness, and foolishness is wisdom. That's the natural,
that's the way he thinks. You won't come to me, Christ
said. All of this being true, all of this being witnessed,
but you won't come to me. You'll come to a church. You'll
come to a denomination. You'll come to a system. You'll
come to a law. You'll come to a fount or to
the front. You'll come to an ordinance. You'll even come to
one another. But you won't come to Christ. Men will not come
to Christ. They're out there. And they dressed
up this morning, and they came to church, and they're Methodists,
or Baptists, or Presbyterian, or Catholic. They've been that
for all these years. They'll come to an ordinance. You can
serve the table, stick the wafer on their toe. They'll even come
in here. They'll come down here. Billy
Graham stands, and they all flock down to the front. No, they'll
come to... They won't come to Christ. And they'll keep coming back
to these things though they don't find any satisfaction in them.
This water you drink out of it, Christ said, you'll thirst again.
You come to me and I'll give you water and you'll never have
to come back to this well. You come to Him. You'll just give up on these
other things. That woman that wasted everything on quack doctors
finally got to Christ. She didn't go back to those doctors.
She's satisfied. What is it to come to Christ?
I asked myself that question. I wrote down three or four things. What is it to come to Christ?
Well, it's to recognize Him for who He is. Is that not true? Who He is. Secondly, it's to
address myself to Him as I am. He knows putting on any fronts
now. Come on. He knows you. He knows me. That's what the thief said. I'm
getting what I deserve. You're a king. I come to you
like I am. Would you remember old me? Apparently,
it's to look away from everything else. You can't come to Christ.
You can't go in two directions at the same time. If you come to Christ, you come
to him as he is, as you are, and you come on. You turn your
back on everything and everybody contrary to Him. It's Christ.
Fourthly, is to come to Him for everything. This is where modern
religion mentions it, or misses it. Christ is just part of their
routine. Somebody says something about
his political life and his religious life, his social life and his
religious life. When you come to Christ, He's
your life. And everything that doesn't fit
in with Him, goes out the window. You come to Him for all things.
He is your social satisfaction. He is your emotional satisfaction. He is your political satisfaction. He is. You see what I'm saying?
He's your husband, brother, friend, wife, father, mother, whatever. And next to come to Christ is
to keep coming to Him. Just keep coming. Because you're
never going to exhaust that well. Then the third charge he brings
against them in the next verse, he said, you have not the love
of God in you. Well, we got the love of self
in us. That's by nature. We got the love of the world
in us by nature. We got the love of natural life.
We fight to stay here as long as we can. But the love of God,
you have not the love of God in you. The love of God is the
gift of God. The love of God is the nature
of God. This love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and he that truly loveth is born
of God. He loveth because he's born of
God. He's not born of God because
he loveth. He loveth because he's born of
God. What is this love of God? Well,
it's the love of God. It's the love of God. It's the
love which is of God. It's the love which springs from
God. It's the love which God sends. It's contrary to natural
love. It's spiritual love. It's the
love of God for God. To love God for who he is and
what he's done. We love him because he first
loved us. And if I have not this love,
I have nothing. Why, he said, I may give my goods
to feed the poor, I may give my body to be burned, I may have
the gift of faith to move mountains, I may speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and I have not this love of God, this love
for God, this love from God, this love which shed abroad by
the Spirit of God in me that gives me the love of God to demonstrate. Why, he said, I'm nothing. For
by this shall all men know you, my disciples, that you love."
That's the evidence of discipleship. And then the fourth charge. Oh,
I tell you, in the light of all of these awesome claims that
are verified by heaven, And by evidence, we don't believe them. And he
said, you receive, verse 43, I come in my Father's name. Now,
I want to show you something here. If you don't mind, turn
to Exodus 34. This will be worthwhile. Exodus
34. Exodus 34. I've come in my Father's
name. You heard him say that. Exodus
34. Verse 5. It's talking about Moses. Exodus 34,
5. And the Lord descended in the
cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the
Lord. And the Lord passed by before
him. He stood with Moses. And proclaimed,
he passed by and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness, keeping
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin,
and will by no means clear the guilty. The Lord came and stood
right there, Tom, before Moses and proclaimed his name, didn't
he? Just and justifier, righteous and merciful. Truth and love. He came and Moses believed him. Moses bowed. Moses received him. All right. We say, what's that
got to do with me? The Lord descended. Who is he
that ascendeth, but he that first descended? The Lord himself has
come, descended, and stood before you. John said, we touched him. We saw him. We heard him. our
hands handling. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was made flesh. And the Word was with God, and
dwelt among us. And the Word was God, and we
literally beheld His glory. All right, what's our response?
Jesus Christ has proclaimed God's name. We spit on Him. We said, we'll not have this
man reign over us. We said, crucify him. And he
said, I come to declare the name of my Father. I come in the name
of my Father. I descended and stood among you,
and you received me not. But every phony, counterfeit
imitator in religion, this world receives them, Mohammed, Confucius,
a Buddha whomever with open arms and brags on them. And I read
in the paper yesterday, you know in Hollywood, somewhere there
they have these stars in the sidewalk. If you're familiar
with that, nod your head. You know what those stars, famous
stars, they have one space left, one space left. You won't guess
who's going to get it. Billy Graham. He's going to be identified with
the people he's identified with. He's going to get his name on
the star on the sidewalk. See, people receive folks like
that, and they follow them. They brag on them. And they get
mad at me if I say anything about it. Get mad at me if I say anything
about it. Yeah, he said, But here's our
problem, here's the fifth challenge. How can you believe? You've got
a handicap. Got a handicap. The reason I
can't shoot par golf, I've got a handicap. It ain't possible. I've got a handicap. I've got
an old back and a weak mind. That's my handicap. But he said,
how can you believe? You receive honor one of another. You're not seeking God's honor. Question. I was sitting on an
airplane the other day and read about a football player. Plays
for the Chicago Bears. His name's Dan Hempton. He's
had eight surgeries. He's been playing 14 years. He
has eight surgeries, four on each knee. Painful. excruciating
surgery. He's had 300 stitches in his
face and body. For what? Do you think for a
minute he'd do that if there wasn't any people in those stands?
Now come on. Do you think for one minute he
does it for that thrill of seeing them scream and raise their hands
and trophies? That's right. The swimmer that
toils and strives and forces his body and drives himself and
suffers. Would he do it if there's no
gold medal? Well, you know he wouldn't. And the beauty queen
with all her cosmetic surgery and the thick goo and sitting
under a hairdryer for hours and the spiked heels and all these
other things and the strong man who lifts weights and takes steroids
and does all these things. Do you think for a moment they'd
do it if they lived on a desert island? Come on now. In our houses, in cars, in clothes,
in diets, what are we competing for? Come on now. The honor and
applause and approval and appreciation and envy of this old flesh. That's exactly right. "...with
seeking the honor that comes from me." That's reading Christ
said, you can't believe. You can't believe. You've got
the wrong objective. You've got the wrong goal. You've got the
wrong motivation. You've got the wrong heartbeat.
You're looking for something that you can get right down here.
And he said, coming to me, you're looking for something that only
God can give you. That's his approval. His acceptance, His glory. Isn't
that a tremendous charge? How can you believe? It's not
possible. It's not possible. As long as
this is your goal. Matthew chapter 6, he condemns
the religious world. He said even when you pray, you're
seeking the approval of men. Even when you give your alms,
he said you're seeking the approval of men. Even when you fast, he
said, that solemn ritual of fasting, if nobody knew it, you wouldn't
get any kick out of it. That's right. But we have to
let them know. If we do anything, pray, give,
teach, preach, somebody has to know. Or we don't feel fulfilled. Boy, when I hit this verse, I
just moved under the table. How can you believe? How is it
possible for you to believe? Who receive honor, one or another,
and you don't seek, desire, strive for the honor that comes from
God only. How can we? Verse 47, we're right
back where we started. Verse 45, don't you think I'm
going to accuse you. I don't have to. I don't have
to. There ain't no trial, because
we don't have any defense. Even old Jim Baker had a defense,
but we don't even have a defense. We don't know who's hiring a
lawyer, Mike, is there? I'm guilty. Throw up your hand. But he said, there's one that
accuses you, and that's Moses, in whom you trust. That Bible
you claim to believe. But if you'd really believed
him, then you'd have believed me, because he wrote of me. If
you believe not his writings, how can you believe my word?
Isn't that something? I tell you, I want, by God's grace,
may he be pleased to set my affection, like you prayed, on things above.
I know, I know, I'm not so naÃ¯ve. You know, you say, that's all
right for you to say, preacher. You pastor of a church and they
furnish you a house and a car to drive and you get up and preach
and study and your needs are met and we have to struggle.
I know, God knows that. He said, your Father knows you
have need of these things. He knows that. And He'll give
you the strength and the ability to do these things, but don't
get them out of perspective. You see what I'm saying? Seek
ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and these other
things will be added to you. But put them where they belong.
They're secondary. He's, that's a, ought to win
Christ and be found. That's not right. Am I not telling
the truth? I know I'm telling the truth. I know this is so.
And you know it's so. And we just got to get them in
the right perspective. The fashion of this world fadeth
away. Treat it like something that's temporary. Temporary. Treat it like that. There's a
beginning to it, and there's a use of it, and there's an end
of it. And treat it that way, and bury it. And bury it. Like somebody one
time had a son that died, and they never changed his room.
His room today is just like it was when he died. That's paganism. That's paganism. It's gone. That day's over. Now this is
the day the Lord hath made, and we'll live in it, and rejoice
in it, and use it for His glory. But all these things are temporary.
And let's look on them as that way. He's the King, isn't that
right? And I'm going to bow to Him,
and you are too, aren't you? All right, let's sing a closing
hymn. Let's do 228. Mike, just about
two verses. I've gone over my time, haven't
I, Ronnie? No? Just start over. All right,
228. Let's sing, My faith hath found
a rest. Stand while we sing.

Six Serious Charges Against Men

What does the Bible say about the Son of God?

How do we know that Jesus is the Messiah?

Why is it important to honor the Son?

What does it mean to come to Christ?

Why does Jesus say some people do not come to Him?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Six Serious Charges Against Men

What does the Bible say about the Son of God?

How do we know that Jesus is the Messiah?

Why is it important to honor the Son?

What does it mean to come to Christ?

Why does Jesus say some people do not come to Him?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book