What I Believe About Jesus of Nazareth

You know, you see pictures that
are supposed to be pictures of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus, which
is called the Christ. And they'll put some kind of halo
up here, some kind of light. You've seen him shining behind
his head, glistening and glowing. He's head and shoulders above
everybody in that long, wavy hair, you know, that looks like
it's been treated, and this spotless robe, and this sort of mysterious glow about him. But don't believe
it. Outwardly, to the human eye,
Jesus of Nazareth appeared to be just a plain, ordinary man. That's right. In fact, Isaiah
said, now listen to what the prophet said. Don't turn to him,
just listen. He hath no form, nor comeliness. And when we see him, there is
no beauty about him, that we should even desire him. Isn't
that what it said? In fact, Isaiah said, he is despised and rejected of men. He is a
man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we, the general
population, actually hid, as it were, our faces from him.
For he was despised and we esteemed him not. In fact, this man Jesus
of Nazareth was born to a very poor and unknown family. Joseph
was unknown. Mary was unknown. It doesn't
matter about the pedigree. It doesn't matter about the ancestry. They were unknown. She was just
in her late teens, probably a teenage Jewish girl who was engaged to
be married to this older man Joseph. And before they came
together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Ghost,
because God said, Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth
a son. And the angel appeared to Joseph and said, Don't be
afraid to take Mary to be your wife, because that which is born
of her, that which is begotten in her, is the Son of God. And
so he kept her away privately until they had to go to Bethlehem
to pay their taxes. And he took her heavy nine months
with child on a donkey's back to Bethlehem. And when they got
there, he had such little influence that he had to take his young
pregnant bride over to the stable, to a manger, because there's
no room for them, folks like him, no room for folks like that
in the motel, in the inn. But my wife is expecting. Well,
who are you and who's your wife? That was the general idea. They
had no room for them. And so she went over and Joseph
and brought forth her firstborn son and laid him in a manger
where cows eat. They fix the hay, you know, and
that's where she put her baby. So he was a nobody. Joseph was
a nobody. Mary was a nobody. And he was
laid in a manger among the most humble surroundings and then
having no influence, prestige, or anything like that, when Herod
suspected that the new king had been born, for these wise men
came through and mentioned about where is he that's born king
of the Jew, King Herod sent out a decree that every baby under
two years of age was to be killed. And so they took this little
infant, Mary's firstborn, And they wrapped him in a blanket,
and in the dead of night, they slipped out and went down into
Egypt, into pagan, heathen Egypt, back from which God delivered
Israel down in Egypt. There he is, the Messiah, back
in Egypt. And he stayed there until this threat blew over.
They kept him there to keep Herod from killing him. And then he
grew up. When they came back from Egypt,
they stopped, the Lord directed them to stop in a little out-of-the-way
unknown town called Nazareth. In fact, Nazareth was so unknown
that somebody said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Is
it possible that anything worth notice came out of that place? It's just a backwoods country
town. And that's where he grew up.
He stayed there at least nearly 30 years old. He spent 29 years
in Nazareth doing what? Working in a carpenter shop.
Working in a carpenter shop beside his foster father in his teenage
and in his early years. He worked there in that carpenter
shop. What was the curse that God put on Adam? By the sweat
of your brow you'll earn your bread. That's what my representative
did. by the sweat of his brow. His
hands were rough, and they were calloused, and sweat of his brow
poured down upon them. And I'm sure his sleeves were
rolled up. He wasn't going around with a
halo around his head, you know, smiling, that little sickly smile
that they have on the face of those people. My Lord worked,
and sawed the lumber, and drove the nails, and used the plane,
and worked hard in a carpentry shop. Well, they call him the
cartender, don't you remember? Well, we know him, he's the cartender. And then he had brothers and
sisters just like you boys and girls did. That's right, he had
brothers. I don't know how many brothers
and sisters, but I know there was Josie and Judy. And one person
said, do we not know his brothers and sisters? And another scripture
said, his brothers did not believe what he said. Now Mary had no
children, she had Christ. She knew no man. He's the Son
of God. But after she bore Christ, Mary bore the children. Don't
fall into this Mary-olatry, this idolatry. Mary was highly favored
among women, but I'm telling you, you dear ladies here, that
if the Son of God's been born in your heart, you're highly
favored of God. Highly favored of God. But she
has no saving benefit, no saving power. Mary herself said, my
soul rejoices in God my Savior. Only sinners need saviors. Mary
had other children. Mary did not rise bodily to heaven,
a sin. They teach that, you know, the
Catholics do. And we don't pray to her, nor
worship her, nor beg her forgiveness, nor beg her to beseech God on
our behalf. Mary is an instrument God used
to bring His Son into this world. highly favored of God. But she
has no special prestige or power of saving benefits. And when
she met to pray with the disciples, they didn't pray to her. Mary
was with them and among them when they prayed. And really
God said, blessed art thou among women, not above women, but among
women. And so he grew up in that little
town. And then he began his ministry,
this Jesus of Nazareth began his ministry when he was about
30 years of age, and his ministry was attended by 12 very poor,
now I hear people say uneducated men, now wait a minute, Luke
wasn't uneducated, Matthew wasn't either, neither was Peter. Because
a man doesn't have a degree doesn't mean he's uneducated. My dad
only went to the eighth grade, but he's one of the most educated
men I knew. He's smart, intelligent, and
sharp. But let's say this. Let's don't
say our Lord's ministry was attended by twelve uneducated men. Twelve ordinary men. Isn't that
better? Ordinary men. Ordinary men like
you and me. Just ordinary. Not men out of
the temple, but men off the seashore. That's where you find men anyway,
at the seashore. You fishermen will agree with
that, won't you? That's where you find men anyway, men, productive
men, working men, laboring men. That's where you find men, men
who are busy. And that's where he found his
disciples, and he taught them. And they're not men of prominence,
but ordinary men. And then this, when he went forth
preaching this Jesus of Nazareth, his claims and his teachings,
although attended by miracles, Although attended by marvelous
miracles, his ministry, his teachings, his claims were rejected. They were denied, they were refused,
they were rejected by all recognized religious leaders. They despised
Jesus of Nazareth. They sought on every occasion
to silence him and to kill him. Barnard used to say, everybody
who was anybody turned thumbs down on Jesus of Nazareth. Everybody. There were a few here that believed
and a few there that believed by the grace of God, by the power
of God, by revelation from above. He said to his disciples, whom
do they say that I am? And they said, well, some say
you're John the Baptist, come back from the dead. Some say
you're Elijah. Some say you're one of the prophets.
But he said, whom do you say that I am? They said, art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. And he said, blessed art
thou. Blessed are your eyes, they see,
your ears they hear, and your hearts they understand. But you're
blessed of my Father, because He revealed it to you. There's
some who believed Him, but most people didn't. So finally, after
three and a half years, Jesus of Nazareth walked this earth,
after three and a half years, under the leadership of the priests,
and the Sanhedrin, and the religious leaders, And the Pharisees finally,
actually, popular opinion turned totally against him. People who
had been crying, Hosanna and hail him that cometh in the name
of the Lord, those very people cried, crucify him. Popular opinion,
through the influence of the church, and the influence of
religious leaders, and the influence of these powerful men, turned
against him. And they brought him before Pilate,
and Pilate said, what's the charge? What's the charge? And they said,
he makes himself king. Oh, he's a king. And he's king
by decree. And he's king by right. And he's
the king of kings and Lord of lords. But they said, we have
no king but Caesar. Caesar is our king. Flesh is
our king. And he makes himself king. So Pilate turned him over
to the soldiers like a criminal, like a criminal. And the soldiers
took him down to the soldiers' hall, and they sported with him. They first of all scourged him.
Pilate delivered him to the soldiers to be scourged. Now, scourging
was a terrible, terrible punishment. As I understand scourging, they
would strip the victim and then tie him to a post. And some burly
Roman soldiers, now these soldiers were professional soldiers. They were professional murderers.
They weren't boys drafted from some nice home into the military.
These were professional men. These were bloodthirsty men.
These were cruel men. These were mighty strong soldiers
of Caesar. These were men who were professional. murderers and killers, and they
got him in there and tied him to a post, and scourging was
40 lashes save one. You weren't allowed to give a
man over 40 lashes, so they stopped at 39. Always stopped at 39.
But they laid his back open with that whip, with 39 lashes. And then they took him and sat
him in a chair. They said, He's a king. Here
they are sporting with him. He's a king. So they sat him
in the chair, And so one of the soldiers went out and got some
thorn bushes and planted and made a mock crown and came in
there and shoved it down on our Lord's forehead, just pierced
his forehead with a crown of thorns. And then they said, well,
a king needs a robe. So they got an old dirty scarlet
robe of some sort and draped it over those bleeding bare shoulders
where his skin had been laid open by the whip. And they said,
well, a king needs a scepter. So they went out and pulled an
old empty hollow reed and stuck it down in his hand, and there
he sat. Oh, what he endured for our redemption. This is Jesus of Nazareth. And
they laughed and joked and mocked him as he sat there. Hail, King
of the Jews. King of the Jews. King of the
Jews. That's man's depravity. You don't
have to go to Sodom to see man's depravity. You don't have to
go to these places to see the corruption of the human heart.
There it is. Somebody said, well, I just wish the holy man had
come to this earth and lead us out. He did come. And look what
they did to him. This world, we hate holiness
in the flesh. And then they said, well, he's
a prophet. So somebody drew back and hit him with his fist and
said, they blindfolded him. And then they hit him with their
fist and said, who hit you? If you're a prophet, tell us
who hit you. Amid among all this, he never opened his mouth. As a sheep before her shearers
is dumb, he opened not his mouth. And then they spit in his face,
and then they pulled his beard out by the roots. They'd just
take his beard and rip it out. And then they brought him back
up to Pilosaw. This is Jesus of Nazareth. Where's the glow
and the halo? I tell you, he's numbered with
the transgressors. He's bearing our sins and our
shame. He's enduring this wrath and
torment and torture as a sinner, as our Redeemer, our substitute. They brought him back to Pilate,
and all those people were out there, and Pilate came out, and
they led him out here, and here he stands with his wrists tied
and that crown of thorns and that old ugly robe and probably
that reed still in his hand. And Pilate said, Behold your
King. Your King. And they said, we have no king
but Caesar. You wonder the judgment of God
upon men? Now, you wonder the judgment
of God upon the Jewish people? We have no king but Caesar. Caesar
is our king. And he said, well, it's customary
at this time of this celebration to release a prisoner. He's looking
for a way out, Pilate was. His wife had warned him about
this. And he's looking for a way out, and he said, well, it's
customary to release a prisoner. Whom shall I release unto you?
Barabbas? And they all knew Barabbas. Barabbas was the criminal, a
noted, convicted, sentenced criminal. And he said, I release Barabbas
or Jesus? Which one do you want? They said,
give us Barabbas. Well, what shall I do with Jesus
then, which is called the Christ? Let him be crucified. Pilate called for a basin of
water, and our Lord's standing there, and he dipped his hands
in the water and washed them. He said, well, I'll tell you
this, I'm washing my hands of this man's blood. I'm not...
see to it yourself. They said, his blood be on us
and all our children. What a statement. Let his blood
be on me and my children. And they led him off to crucify
him. They nailed him to a cross, and he hung on that cross for
about six hours, and he gave up the ghost. And they took him
down from the cross, and they wrapped him in a sheet, and they
put him in a tomb, a borrowed tomb. And that was the last the
world saw of him. Oh, he said, well, I mean, he
rose from the dead. The world didn't see him. His people did.
Believers saw him, but the world saw him no more. I go my way
and you'll see me no more. Now you'll see me again, but
they won't. They won't. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake to us by the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken by his Son. He's the messenger. If you don't
hear him, you don't hear anybody. That's the last the world saw
of him. Well, believers saw him. He arose from the grave and ascended
back to the Father. Who is this man? Well, turn with
me to John chapter 5. Who is this man? Jesus of Nazareth. Well, I'm going to tell you what
I believe about Jesus of Nazareth. This is my heart faith. This
is not what I preach because I'm a Baptist. This is not what
I preach because I'm religious. This is not what I preach because
I'm trying to get to heaven. This is what I believe. This
is what I believe about Jesus of Nazareth. John 5, verse 17,
Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. My Father and I work. Therefore
the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had
broken the Sabbath, but he said also, God was his Father, making
himself equal with God. What I believe about this man,
this man, I'll tell you what I believe, what I know. He is
very God of their God. He is God Almighty. I don't mean
a representative. I don't mean a son of God. I
don't mean a messenger alone. I mean He is God in human flesh. God came to earth. That's what
I'm saying. I'm saying when that baby was
born of the virgin Mary and laid in the manger in Bethlehem, God
Almighty was pleased to come down here in the form of flesh,
in the likeness of flesh, in the form of a servant and be
numbered with the transgressors. God was in that flesh. The scripture
says, now listen to it, and let's be clear. Behold, the Lord himself
shall give you a sign. A virgin shall be with child. And thou shalt call his name
Immanuel, God with us. God with us. Isaiah 9, 6. Unto us a child, a baby is born. A son is given. And the government
of the universe shall be on his shoulders, and his name shall
be called Wonderful." Wonderful. Counselor. He's the counselor. The mighty God. The everlasting
Father. The Prince of Peace. And of his
government, there'll be no end. That's who he is. Now, great,
Paul said in 1 Timothy 3, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in human flesh. human flesh. And the disciples
said to Jesus Christ, they said, show us the Father. He said,
if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. No man knoweth the
Father. No man hath seen God at any time.
No man. The only begotten hath revealed
him. The only begotten hath manifested
him. In other words, the ancient of
days, he who said, let there be light, had to work by a at
a carpenter's shop. That's hard to understand, what's
impossible, but it's true. He limited himself. The Ancient
of Days became an Infant of Days, thirty-three and a half years
is what he lived on this earth. He who made woman, that's right,
our God is one. I know we sometimes get confused,
Father, Son, Holy Spirit, but the Lord our God is one God,
one God. And the one that put Adam to
sleep and took the rib out of his side and gave him a woman
is the one who was made in the woman's womb. You understand
that? Well, I understand what you're saying, but I don't understand
that. Well, that's the way I am. I
understand what's said, but I don't understand. I just know in order
to redeem us, he had to become a man, which he did, which only
God can do. Our God, is anything too hard
for God? You say, I don't, how can it
be possible that he whom the heavens cannot contain can be
contained in a human body? I don't understand that. But
is anything too hard for God? He who made the fields of wheat
fasted forty days and was literally hungry. That's right. And he who made the rivers and
the seas and the springs of earth hanging on that cross with his
tongue cleaving to the roof of his mouth said, I'm so thirsty. Can you fathom that? But it's
true. And he who made the ore in the
mountain received nails made from that
ore in his own hands. He made that. He put that ore.
in that mountain. And they got it out and melted
it and made a nail and drove it in his hand. And he made the
tree. He grew the tree. You ever hear
that poem, I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a
tree. Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make
a tree. He made that tree on which they nailed him. He grew
that tree in his backyard. And then they made a cross out
of it and put him on And his hands dug out the cave
in which they laid his body. He's my God. That's what I believe
about Jesus of Nazareth. He's God. Why did he limit himself? Why did he do that? He did it
because man sinned against God's law and offended God's holiness
and violated God's justice. And in order to redeem his people,
he had to come and do for them what they couldn't do. He had
to become what I am in order that I might become what he is.
He had to bear my sin that I might wear his righteousness. God's
justice had to be honored. God's law had to be satisfied.
And an angel couldn't do it. Man had to do it. And not only
a man, but a perfect man. He's the only person who picked
out his mother. That's right. He picked her out. He picked
out the day, the hour, the place that he'd be born. He picked
out Bethlehem. Hundreds of years before he was
born, the prophet said, out of Bethlehem shall he come, whose
goings forth have been from everlasting. He set the years of his life.
I don't know how long I'm going to live. He knew how long he'd
walk this earth. Mine hour is not yet come. He set the time of His death,
the place of His death, the way of His death, and then they couldn't
kill Him. He had to give it up. He laid
down His life. No man takes it from Him. And
then He raised Himself from the tomb by His own power. He walked out at the appointed
time. Jesus of Nazareth is my God. What else do I believe about
Him? Well, look at verse 20. John
5, verse 20. Now watch this and stay with
me. For the Father loveth the Son.
The Father loveth the Son. And sheweth him all things that
himself doeth. Now my friends, second thing
I believe about Jesus of Nazareth. Now you listen to me. The Father
in heaven, Almighty God, love is upon Jesus of Nazareth. He
loves Christ. Now, that I know. The Scripture
says, "...the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things
into his hands." He said, when Christ came forth from the baptismal
waters, he said, "...this is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased." Now, I can't look out over this world and say to
every human being, God loves you, because the Bible doesn't
teach that. The Bible teaches this, God is
angry with the wicked. God's angry. You see, God's love
is a holy love. We have prostituted God's love.
We've compromised God's love. We put God's love in situations
and places where it's impossible for God to love and be God. That's right. You see, the Bible
says, God hateth the workers of iniquity. The Word of God
says, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. Well, who was Jacob? Jacob was in Abraham and in Isaac
and in Christ. Jacob is the seed of God. Jacob is the literal name for
Israel. That's right. You see, his name
was Jacob, and God changed his name to what? Israel. Israel
have I loved. Israel have I loved, Esau have
I hated. And God's love is in Christ.
I do know this. Now listen to me. John chapter
3 says, He that believeth not the Son, what abides on him? God's wrath. Isn't that what
it says? The wrath of God literally abideth on him like a cloud hovers
over a town. The wrath of God abideth on those
who do not believe on Christ. What are you saying, preacher?
I'm saying what the Bible says. That God's love is in Christ. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. And I'm saying
that outside of the Son, outside of the beloved Son, outside of
Christ, there's nothing but wrath. Our God is a consuming fire.
And for a person to rest upon and look for and lean upon and
hope for God's love and mercy outside of the very place God
says he's put it is to be foolish. God's love's in Christ. It's
in Christ, on Christ, through Christ, by Christ, for the cause
of Christ, for the glory of Christ. God the Father loveth the Son. I point you to that terrible
flood that took place upon this earth in the days of Noah. And
here's an ark floating upon an anguished sea. The whole earth
is covered with water and people and animals and everything drowning. And there's an ark floating.
Well, there you see a demonstration of the wrath of God and the love
of God. The wrath of God upon the earth and the love of God
upon the earth. Isn't that where it is? Love
delivers. Love redeems. Love saves. Love provides. Love protects. Love shelters. Love doesn't destroy. Somebody says, well, I don't
believe a loving God has sent a man to hell. I don't either.
Never have. Don't now. It's not God's love
that's going to damn men forever. It's God's anger. God's wrath. God's angry. His love is going
to save. And His love is in Christ. That's
exactly right. I'm telling you, the Father loveth
the Son. And He loves men in Christ. Why does He love Abraham?
In Christ. God's love is manifested in God's
covenant. All right, the third thing, verse
21. Now watch this. For the Father raiseth up the
dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he
will. What's that talking about, preacher?
That's a spiritual resurrection. Look at verse 25. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, and right now is,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear shall live. Who are the dead there? In Adam
all die. For as by one man sin entered
the world, and death by sin. Paul said, you hath equipped
them who were dead in trespasses and sin. Look at verse 26. For
as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to
have life in himself. Christ said, I'm come that they
might have what? Life. And that they might have
it more abundantly. He said, I'm the way, the truth,
and the life. Come unto me that ye might live.
He that believeth on me hath life. So the Son quickeneth whom
he will. He gives life to whom he will.
This is spiritual life. Now stay with me. This is a spiritual
resurrection. Our Lord said to Nicodemus, you
must be born again. You're born of the flesh and
you're nothing but flesh, but you must be born from God, from
above, of the Word, by the power of the Spirit. New life. That's life. And Adam would die. And you have to quicken. And
let me tell you this. He'll quicken whom he will. Look
back at verse 22, verse 21. For the Father raiseth up the
dead, and quickeneth them, the Son quickeneth whom he will.
He said to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I'll
be gracious to whom I will be gracious. Our Lord demonstrated
that all the way through His ministry. He went down into Samaria.
And he gave life and understanding to a woman. He went down into
the land of the Gadarenes, and he gave life and understanding
and peace to a demoniac. You remember the fellow in the
tombs, cutting himself, couldn't tame him? Well, our Lord gave
him life, and nobody else in the town. In fact, the people
of the town came down to the seashore and said, leave this
place and don't come back. You know what they said to him?
But when he left, there was one man standing there who had life.
His son, Quicken, with whom he was. He went down to Jericho,
and there were all kinds of folks around him. And he looked up
a tree. Now here are thousands of people. He looked up a tree
and said, Zacchaeus, you come down. I'm going to your house.
Salvation has come to this house. And you know what he added? For
he also is a son of Abraham. That's the covenant. That's his
covenant in Abraham. Abraham's seed is Christ. And
all who are believers are sons of Abraham. And Zacchaeus was
a believer. The son of Abraham. Why, there
were a thousand sons of Abraham around there. Hey, little sons
of Abraham running around all over that place. But he's a true
son of Abraham. Our Lord Jesus Christ went to
Bethany. He called Mary and Martha. Our
Lord went to the cross. and save the thief. Now, he'll
quicken whom he will. You say, where does that place
us? Well, I'll tell you this. It places us where we are by
nature, dependent totally on His mercy and His grace. That's right. It's not what will
I do with Jesus. The question is, what will He
do with me? He has the power. That leper came to him and gave
us an example. He came to him in his inability,
and he said, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. And I'm
telling you that. If he will, he can. Because he
quickeneth whom he will. That's what it says. He quickeneth
whom he will. Well, I just think it's up to
us. Well, you go on thinking that,
but it's not. Salvation is of the Lord. God
gives life. He said, I give life and I take
life. I make rich and I make poor.
I raise up and I bring down. I kill and I make alive. I create
light and darkness. I create good and evil. I, the
Lord, do all these things. None can stay my hand. And I
get so amazed at these preachers. I heard one on television this
morning and he bowed his head. He said, Lord, heal the sick. Lord, save the lost. Lord, send
revival in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, brother, that's a
good prayer. That's a good prayer. And then
he turned right around and said, now, God wants to do all this
and can't do it because you won't let Him. And I'm trying to get
you to let Him. And I just do like the Italian, mamma mia,
everybody loves their man. He just asked God to do something
and then he turned around and said, God can't do it. What,
the man's crazy? God can save. He can save anybody
in the walls of this building if He's pleased. And I'll tell
you, if by His grace come down like these, He saves all who
need saving. He heals all who need healing.
He's sent to save sinners. Is there a sinner here? Well,
no, not now. Well, He ain't going to save
anybody then because He saved sinners. He came to save the
lost. And when I pray, God save sinners,
I'm going to leave it right where I put it. God, you save them.
When I ask God to heal the sick, I'm going to leave it where I
put it. I put it in His hands, and that's where I'm going to
leave it. And I want to turn around and say, now, if you meet
certain conditions, release the hands of God. God's hands are
tied, you see. He's got a wonderful plan. He
just can't do anything about it. If we could just all get
together and have all-night prayer meeting, you know, maybe we'll
release the hands of God to flow down some blessing. His hands
aren't tired. His hands are not short that
He can't save. Here's not heavy that He can't hear. That's the
God of the Bible. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He'll quicken whom He will. He always did, always will, and
will now. Look at the next verse. Verse
22, for the Father judges no man, he's committed all judgment
to the Son. What are you saying? He's saying
this, that the fate of all men are in the hands of Christ. That's
exactly right. The fate of all creatures. He
said, Father, Thou hast given me power over all flesh. Control, authority, and power
over all flesh. that I should give eternal life
to as many as Thou hast given me. He has total control and
power over all flesh, and all judgment is in His hands. The
Bible says we shall appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
and that's now and later. Now I'll show you a scripture. Turn to John 9. This is very
important. John chapter 9. John chapter
9. Now listen, this is very important.
John 9, verse 39. John 9, 39. And Jesus said for judgment,
and we just read, God the Father has committed all judgment into
His hands. The Father judges no man. He's put the Son out there, and
He's committed all judgment into His hands. Judgment. What's judgment?
That's decisions. That's deciding. Judgment. That's ruling. This
is going to be your fate. It's in His hand. All judgment. Now, He said, for judgment I'm
coming to this world that they that see not might see. I'll
stop right there. They that see not. Those who
can't see, they know they're blind. They know they're born
blind. They know that they're without
spiritual eyes. They know that. And Christ said,
I'm come that they might see. And those that can't pay, I've
come to pay the debt. And those who have not, that
they might have. And those who know not, that
they might know. He will bear their judgment,
and bear their penalty, and bear their sin, and set them free.
All right, now watch the next line. And they that see, we see. They said, are we blind? We see. We don't need a sacrifice. We
don't need a savior. We don't need a mediator. We
don't need a sin offering. We have no need. Then, watch
this, they'll be made even blinder. Christ is the deciding one. Now watch this. If you're here
this morning, and I am, and I have no life, and I look to Christ
to be my life, and I have no sight, and I look to Christ for
light, And I have no righteousness. Look to Him for righteousness.
Then my judgment is settled in Him. There's therefore now no
judgment to them who are in Christ. He bore my judgment, paid my
debt. He is my life. Others come and they say, well,
we don't need a sacrifice. We don't need a righteousness.
We don't need a representative. We don't need these things. We
can keep the law, establish our morality and righteousness before
God. Christ said, I'll judge you. You'll be judged on the
basis of His holiness. You're going to bring your holiness?
God will judge it by His. You're going to bring your submission?
God will judge it by His. He's your judge. You see, this is what I said
in Bible school to the adult class. Down there in Egypt, there
was death in every home. No, you say there was death in
the Egyptians' home. The blood was on the door of the Israelites'
home. No, there was a death in every home. In the Egyptians'
home, the son died. In the Israelite home, the lamb
died. But there was death. There was
judgment. See that? There was judgment. God's got
to judge sin. God's got to punish sin. And
so Christ is our, He bore our judgment, paid our debt. If we know not Him, He'll be
the basis of judgment because God's appointed a day in which
He'll judge the world by that man, Jesus Christ. So he's every
man's judge, the fate of every man is in his hands. If I'm in
Christ and love Christ, I'm saved. If I'm out of Christ, he'll be
my judge. All right, watch verse 30, back to chapter 8, 5 a minute.
Let me give you this quickly. Chapter 5, verse 23. That all
men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. I'm
saying, I believe this about Jesus Christ. He shall have all
honor. All glory, all preeminence, because
he's worthy. God has made everything for the
glory of Jesus Christ. Everything. Everything. And what's this? He that honoreth
not the Son, honoreth not the Father that sent him. Now, my
friends, the theme of this pulpit has been and will be, by God's
grace, the glory of Jesus Christ. Christ in all things. Even when
I'm preaching loving one another, we love as Christ loved us. Even
when I'm talking about giving for our missionary work, I'm
saying we give because He gave Himself. Even when I'm preaching
forgiveness, we forgive one another. Any violation or misunderstanding,
why do we forgive? Because He forgave us. We show
mercy because He gave us mercy. Everything we do, we live a life
of holiness for His glory. Be ye holy as I am holy. In other
words, everything we have, everything we believe, everything we do
is motivated by our relationship with Christ. It's Christ. It's Christ yesterday, today,
and forever. It's Christ. And we preach Christ. And no
matter whether you're preaching in Genesis or Revelation, we
preach Christ. And I say this, when men do not
honor the Son, they do not honor the Father. And in honoring the
Son, you honor the Father. In glorifying the Son, you glorify
the Father. In exalting the Son, you exalt
the Father. In giving preeminence to the
Son, you give preeminence to the Father. Because God hath
decreed that Jesus Christ should have all preeminence. And it's
impossible, impossible for us to exalt Him more than He ought
to be. Now in closing, the last, verse 28. Do you marvel at this? Jesus Christ is God. The Father
loves the Son. That every purpose and covenant
blessing and mercy is just like a funnel. It comes down and stands
on the head of Christ Jesus. That He has power to quicken
whom He will. That He gives life to whom He
will. That the fate of everybody is in His hands. Did you marvel at that? Did you
marvel at that? Well, I'll tell you this, the
hour is coming, he said, in which those all that are in the graves
are going to hear his voice. Now, you're talking about some
power here now. You're talking about some authority. Here's
an ocean out here, back in the pirate days, a man was thrown
over the side, and the fish ate him. This was a hundred thousand
years ago, two thousand years ago. The fish ate him, and so
folks ate the fish. Where's the man? Where's the
particles or atoms? Where's that body? Here's a grave
over here. I stood by the grave of Isaac
Watts one time. How long has he been dead? 200
years? Well, there's nothing in that tomb. There's some dirt
down there, sand. Where's Isaac Watts' body? Well,
who knows? Where are the particles or the
atoms or that which made up that man who stood there, Isaac Watts? with Isaac Watt's nose and ears
and Isaac Watt's blue eyes and Isaac Watt's statue. Well, my
Lord said he's going to stand someday by that grave and Isaac
Watt is coming out of there. Recognizable. You say, well,
will we know each other? They knew Moses. And then when the witch of Endor
brought Samuel back, Saul knew Samuel, Samuel knew Saul. They
talked. Said, what did you bring me back for? You talk about miracle. Out of
nothing, he brings back that which was, just like it was,
except in his image and likeness. Now, if you have trouble with
him being God, you have trouble with him having all power, you're
having trouble with him having all preeminence, him saving whom
he will, you're going to have a lot of trouble with this grave
business. Which is easier. Which is easier. Jonathan Thompson
and Chuck Stapleton there, back in years ago, blind and dead
and sin and rebellious and didn't know God and Tom Bob, same way.
And he gave you love in your heart, grace in your soul, understanding,
eyes to see. I don't think that's any harder
than bringing Isaac Watts back like he was, do you?

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