Before I speak to you today,
I'm going to do something that I did last week on the program. I want to tell you about a set
of books that I have here. I think they're very good. I think they're very helpful
for people who want to study the Word of God, who teach Sunday
school, people who teach Bible classes, but people who do not
have time to study the deeper and heavier commentaries. Now
I know there are plenty of commentaries out. We don't need a new commentary
written like most of them are written. They're heavy, they're
hard to read, they're complicated. But what I've done for the last
several years is write a commentary in ordinary, everyday language. I've studied John Calvin, John
Gill, Matthew Poole, Matthew Henry, Haldane, Spurgeon, all
these different men on the verses each verse in the 21 epistles
in the New Testament, and I brought it down to a nutshell. I did
this for our Sunday school classes at 13th Street Baptist Church.
I started this years ago and began writing the lessons, verse
by verse, and giving the meaning of the verse in a brief, brief
statement. And I have them here, the books. There are six volumes, six books. Here's Romans. This is the book
of Romans. And then we have the book of 1 and 2 Corinthians. And some of you may have a few
of these because a company in England published them, Evangelical
Press, and they published them one at a time over a period of
almost two years. But the set is complete now. 21 epistles in the New Testament,
starting at Romans and going all the way through to Jude,
verse by verse. And if you'd like to have these
books, if you'll write to us, We sell them for exactly, actually
less than what we pay for them. We sell them actually for less.
Because I'm not using gimmicks and devices and tricks to get
people to support this program. God supports this program and
it's supported abundantly and sufficiently and has been for
12 years. But I want you to have these
books if you're interested in studying the Word and teaching
the Word. You write. And we'll mail you
these books. They cost $10. That's six paperback
books of 21 epistles. And they've been a blessing to
a lot of people. They're now in 30 English-speaking
countries, and they're being translated into French and Portuguese. They're going into Africa and
Spain and Brazil and other countries. And if you'd like to have them,
as many sets as you'd like to have, write to me. And we'll
send them to you in the next few days. But you think about
it, and if you'd like to have them, let us hear from them.
Their address will be given at the end of the broadcast. Now, if you have your Bibles,
I want you to turn with me to John chapter 20, the 20th chapter
of John, verse 31. Now, here's my subject. What
shall we believe? What shall we believe and why? Now here's what John writes in
John 20 verse 31, but these are written, this is at the end of
his epistle. John, the Apostle John has come
to the end of his gospel account and he says, all that I've written,
everything that I've written under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit has been written with one object in view. But
these are written that you might believe that Jesus of Nazareth
is the Christ, that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, that
Jesus of Nazareth is the Redeemer, the Son of God, and that believing
in him you might have life through his name. That's why this is
written. It wasn't written to cultivate
tradition or to help people to argue and debate. It wasn't written
as a book of proverbs and good sayings. These things were written
that you might believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and
that believing you might have life through his name. Now that's
why John said, I've written these things. Now using this text,
I'd like to deal with two questions today. Just two very simple questions. The first of which is this. Well,
what is a man to believe? What are we to believe? in order
to have eternal life. Preacher, would you just talk
in plain everyday language and tell me what is a man to believe
in order to have eternal life? I'll be glad to. I'll be most
happy to. And then I'm going to answer
this question, on what authority, on whose authority, can I promise
eternal life to a person who believes what I'm preaching?
All right, let's take the first question. What is a man to believe
in order to obtain eternal life? Well, this tells you out here
in this verse. These things are written that you might believe
that, that Jesus is the Christ. He is the Son of God. And that
believing you might have life in his name. Now, a person, in
order to be justified, sanctified, redeemed before God, must believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That's what he said,
that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, comma, the Son
of God. Now, the four writers, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, who present the gospel of Christ, each present
him with a different emphasis. Matthew presents him as the king
of the Jews. That's very obvious. Mark presents
Christ Jesus as the servant. Luke presents him as the son
of man. John. John. The scripture we're reading now,
the book we're reading now, John presents him as the son of God. The son of God. He begins in
chapter 1 and says, "...in the beginning was the Word, And the
word was with God, and the word was God. And all things were
made by him, without him was not anything made that was made.
And that word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth, the Son of God, the Son of God."
In other words, John is saying, he who rejects the deity, And
Godhead of Jesus Christ can never know God or come to God in salvation,
because Jesus Christ is God. And Christ said himself, if you
believe not that I am he, you'll die in your sins. I am he. I am whom? God. When he asked the disciples,
whom do you say that I am? And Peter said, well, you're
the Christ, you're the Son of God. And he said, Blessed are
you, Simon. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you, but my Father, which is in heaven. Philip had preached
to the eunuch. The eunuch said, Here's water.
What doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If you believe,
you may. He said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Am I making myself clear? I'm
not saying that you can have a good opinion of Jesus of Nazareth,
that you can and be saved and find eternal life. You can say,
well, he was like Mohammed or Confucius, a good man, a Reformer,
a Christian leader, a healer, a preacher. No, wait a minute
now. These things are written that you might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God. That was the conflict he had
with the Pharisees He said, many good works have I done among
you, for which of these do you stone me? They said, we're not
stoning you for a good work, we've got no objection to your
good works. But we stone you because you say you're God. You're
a man, you can't be God. God became a man, and that's
what I'm going to say next. We're to believe not only that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, we're to believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of Man. My friend, do you know what incarnation
is? God became a man. I'm not even going to attempt
to explain that. I can explain that, but I do
know that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh. Now, here's what
I'm saying. Isaiah wrote, Isaiah 7.14, Behold,
the Lord himself will give you a sign. A virgin shall conceive,
and thou shalt call his name Immanuel. God with us. Isaiah wrote again in chapter
9, unto us a son is born, a child is born, unto us a son is given,
and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. To the Son, the Father said,
thy throne, O God, is forever. I'm saying that Jesus Christ
is not only God, he's man. He's perfect God and perfect
man. Now listen again. He was born
of a woman, conceived by the Holy Ghost, but made of a woman,
and brought forth from a woman's womb, and nursed on a woman's
breast, and grew up in a carpenter's shop, and that person is God
tabernacled in human flesh. He performed many miracles. He
performed miracles to cause the blind to see, and the lame to
walk, and the deaf to hear, and the dead to live, and the hungry
to eat, and the thirsty to drink. But he never in his entire thirty-three
and a half years, in the flesh as a man, he never performed
one miracle to relieve himself of one trial difficulty, sorrow,
or test. He limited himself. God in human
flesh must fulfill all that the law requires of his people being
tested and tried as we are, with a full trial, the full test,
and yet without sin. But he couldn't use a miracle
to get out of it. That's the reason Satan said,
if you're the son of God, make these stones into bread. He'd
been fasting 40 days. Now he did that for others who
were fasting. He made, he multiplied bread for them, but not for himself. He's a man, he's a man, he's
a man. And this was the main issue.
God in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. That's what
we're to believe. These things are written that
you might believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. That man who died on that cross
is God in human flesh. All right, here's the third thing.
We are to believe that Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God,
the Son of Man, is the Christ, the Christ. Now does that mean
anything to you? I know some of you have been
in church all your life. Jesus Christ is not a curse word. Jesus is the Christ. The Christ is an office. Jesus
is his name of humiliation. Jesus is his name in the flesh.
Jehovah God is his name, but Jesus is his name in the flesh,
and Christ is his office. Peter said, we believe that thou
art the Christ. He didn't say, we believe you're
Jesus Christ, we believe you're Jesus the Christ. The crowd asked
John, are you the Christ? He said, I'm not the Christ.
They said of Jesus, is not this the Christ? The woman of Samaria
said when she met him at the well, she went down into town,
she said, I saw a man and heard a man who told me everything
about myself. Is not this the Christ? And Acts 2.36, Peter said, God
hath made this same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and
Christ. Who is this Christ you're talking
about? Well, he's the Old Testament
promise. He's the Messiah. He's the one
they look for. He's the consolation of Israel.
He's the kinsman redeemer. He's that prophet Moses said
God would raise from among the brethren. He's that priest like
Melchizedek. He's that king who's the son
of David. He's the Lord, our righteousness,
of whom Jeremiah wrote. He's the steel and rod of Jesse.
He's the king of Salem. He's Shiloh that Jacob talked
about. He's the branch. He's the bridegroom
Solomon wrote about. He's the kinsman redeemer that
Boaz and Ruth talked about. He's the atonement. All of the
Old Testament promises and prophecies concerning the Christ, the Messiah,
the Emancipator, the Redeemer, is fulfilled in Jesus Christ,
Jesus of Nazareth. The disciples said, we found
him of whom the scripture says he is the Christ. And more than
that, summing all of it up, he's the seed of Abraham. The seed of Abraham. What are
we to believe? These things are written, John
said, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus the man, Jesus the carpenter,
Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus of Galilee. Jesus of Bethlehem and Calvary
and the Mount of Olives, Jesus is the Christ, the Christ of
God, anointed, ordained, sent, promised, the fulfillment of
every scripture, the Son of God, the Son of God. And then it says
that you might have life through his name. We're to believe on
him and call on his name. Now, have you ever thought about
his name? I know you've seen how many times
the scripture talks about his name. It says that through his
name you might have eternal life. It says whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall be saved. It says there's none
other name unto heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved. It says through this man's name is preached remission and
forgiveness of sin. Why does God keep talking about
his name? We know his name, Jesus. Do you
really? Do you really? I know a lot of
folks named Jesus. Mexico's full of them. But his
name, that's the reason God keeps talking about his name. His name
describes his character. His name identifies Who he is,
his name is his attributes. Moses said, what is your name? When Moses stood on that mountain,
God said, take off your shoes, you're on holy ground. He said,
we'll send you down into Egypt to deliver my people. Moses said,
what is your name? Jacob wrestled with the angel
of the Lord till the break of day. Jacob said, what is your
name? Well, you have a God. You call
him Jesus. I ask you, what's his name? What's
his name? There's power in that name. And
in the Old Testament, there's a sevenfold name of Jehovah. A sevenfold name. Have you ever
looked at it? He's called in Genesis 22, 13,
Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide. Abraham said that. The Lord will provide. The Lord
will provide himself a lamb. The Lord who must have a lamb
will provide for himself a lamb, and will provide himself the
lamb, and will provide for us a lamb. He provides it all. He needs no help. And then he
called in Exodus, Jehovah-Raper, I am the Lord that healeth thee,
that healeth all thy diseases. And my friend, we're not just
talking about our broken arms and shriveled feet and arthritis
pains. I'm talking about our sins and
diseases of soul, the leprosy of the soul. God has cleansed
us and made us whole. Thy stripes were healed. And
that's the healing we need. That's the healing we need so
that we'll never die. You can heal these deaf ears
of mine and I'm going to die in 10 years or 12 or 13 years
anyway, or less than that. But God healed me forever. He
healed my supple. You see that? I wish we weren't
putting so much emphasis on the body and had a little bit of
concern about our souls. And then he's called in Exodus
17, Jehovah Nisa, he's the Lord our banner. The battle is the
Lord's, it's not mine. It's his. I'm not going to get
upset. He's on the throne and the battle's going well. Call
to the far corners of the battlefield. How's it going? It's going well. The battle is the Lord's. The
captain's in command. And then in Judges 6, 24, he's
called Jehovah Shalem. the Lord our peace. That's who
Christ is, that's his name. And he's Jehovah-Raya, that's
in Psalm 23, he's my shepherd I shall not want. And then he's
Jehovah-Sidkenu, Jeremiah 23, that's the Lord my righteousness,
my sanctification, my holiness. I have a holiness and a sanctification
and it's not measured by your rules either, it's measured by
his. And I didn't meet it, Christ
did. And then he's called Jehovah Shema, Ezekiel 48, the Lord's
present. That's his name. That's his name. And that's the life that we have
through his name and all that his name implies and imparts. That's right. These things are
written that you might believe. And I'll tell you something else,
not just with your head either. I'm talking about with your heart.
You see, this faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, His person
and work, is not merely a knowledge, a head knowledge of some facts.
It's a heart committal and a heart trust. As a man thinketh in his
heart, so is he. Keep thy heart out of any of
the issues of life. My son, give me your heart, if
thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe
in thine heart God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. For with a heart man believeth unto righteousness. These things are written that
you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that believing with the heart,
you might have life, eternal life, eternal glory through his
name, because he's Jehovah Sidkenu, our righteousness. because he's
Jehovah Rapha, the Lord that healeth thee, the Lord that provideth. He is the Lord my shepherd, he
is the Lord my banner, he is the Lord who's present. That's
why we have life through his name. Now these are the things a man
must believe. My friends, there are no shortcuts.
The Pharisees asked, what shall we do that we might work the
works of God? He said, these are the works
of God, that you believe on him whom God has sent. Now my second question, on what
authority can the preacher promise eternal life to those who believe
Christ is the Son of God? On what authority? Well, let
me give it to you. First of all, it's the command
of God that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to
1 John 3.33, 1 John 3.33, 3.23. This is his commandment. This
is his commandment that we should believe on the name, there it
is again, of the Son of God, and that we should love one another,
as he gave us command. That's his commandment. It's
what God commands me to do, I have every right and reason to do.
Does that make sense to you? Last one, come forth. May I? Well, he told you to. Take up your bed and walk. Would
it be alright if I did it? He told you to. That's pretty
good authority, isn't it? This is his commandment that
you believe on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ. On what authority? I believe on Christ and expect
eternal life? I'll tell you, secondly, it's
the character of God to show mercy. That's right. Moses says, Lord, show me your
glory. He said, I'll make all my goodness pass before you.
My goodness is my glory. I will be merciful. To whom I
will be merciful. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. If thou, Lord, David said, shouldest
mark iniquity, who would stand? But, Lord, there's forgiveness
with thee." Isn't that a marvel? There's forgiveness with God.
God's plenteous in mercy. The scripture said he delights
to show mercy. That's pretty good authority
for believing, isn't it? He delights to show mercy. If
I delight to do something, well, you can be pretty sure that I'll
do it if I can. And then on this authority, I expect to find life
in Christ. He came into the world to save
sinners. I'm a sinner. You're a sinner. He came to save sinners. Paul
said that. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ came into the world to
save sinners. Well, if he came down here to
do that, then why shouldn't I expect him to do it? He said he came
to seek and to save the lost. I'm a lost sinner, I need Christ,
why would he save me? He said God didn't send his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved. That's why he came, that's why
he died. And I'll tell you on this authority
I believe that the Son of God is Jesus Christ and expect life
through his name after he died and rose again Before he ascended
back to heaven, he appeared to his disciples and he said, go
into all the world now and preach this gospel to every creature,
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing
you might have life in his name. Now you go preach this, and he
that believes it shall be saved, and he that doesn't shall be
damned. And Paul summed it up with this, moreover brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached to you, which
you received, wherein you stand, by which you are saved, if you
keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed
in vain." And then last, I'll close with this, on what authority
do I believe that I have life by believing on Jesus Christ?
Because of this, if Christ is not the Savior, who is? That's a pretty good question.
Who is? He asked his disciples one day,
he said, will you go away? They said, to whom shall we go?
That's a good question. Shall we go to the temple? No
salvation there. Shall we go to the law? Shall
we go to the priest? They can't save themselves. Shall
we go to the flesh? Shall we go to the ordinances?
I tell you where I'm going, I'm going to Christ. I'm going to
Christ, and I wish you would.