Now I want your attention, undivided
attention, I'm going to say for thirty minutes, thirty minutes. It just may prove to be the most
important half hour of your entire life. Thirty minutes. Because I'm going to answer two
vital questions. The first one is this. What is
it that a man must believe in order to have eternal life? That's a good question. I'm going
to answer that question. No frills, no persuasible words,
no enticing words. Just going to flat answer it.
And the second question is on what authority? Can I promise eternal life to
those who believe what I preach about Jesus Christ? All right,
that's the assignment. Now let's take the first question.
What is it that a man is to believe in order to be justified, sanctified,
forgiven, and redeemed forever? It's clearly stated in John 20,
31. clearly, plainly stated. No frills,
just clearly stated. Listen. John 20, verse 31. But these are written that you,
that's you and me, might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing you might have life through His
name. That's what it says. And you
notice that all that a man is to believe, in order to have
eternal life, is related to the person and work of Christ. There's
nothing said here about believing the truth about the Church, or
the woman question, or some catechism or creed, or the Philadelphia-London
Confession, or prophecy. Everything that a man has to
believe, or must believe, or should believe in regard to this
thing of life is about Christ. You know what it says? It's about
Christ. Now, the person and work of Christ. Now, four or five
things. Number one, we are to believe him to be the Son of
God. Look at the text again. These are written that you might
believe that Jesus is the Christ. He's the Son of God. He's the
Son of God. He said to Peter and the apostles,
whom do you say that I, the Son of man, am? Peter said, Thou
art the Christ, the Son of God. The Son of God. When Philip talked
to the Ethiopian eunuch about the Word of God and about the
gospel, and the eunuch said, Here's water, what doth hinder
me to be baptized? Philip said to him, If you believe,
you may. And he replied, I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Is that clear? He's the Son of
God. He who rejects, now listen to me, he who rejects the deity
of Christ, the Godhead of Jesus of Nazareth can never know God. He can never have eternal life.
It doesn't matter who he is, my friends. It doesn't matter
what religious persuasion or denomination he's identified
with. If he doesn't believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, he does not have eternal life. This is the record. God hath
given us eternal life. This life is in his Son. He that
hath the Son of God hath life. If you believe not, Christ said,
that I am he, you'll die in your sins. I am who? The Son of God. You see what I'm saying? So that's
the first thing. Very simply stated. Very simply
stated. We must believe that Jesus of
Nazareth who was born of Mary, lived in the world, died on the
cross, buried in Rose again. He's none other than God himself. Now watch this. Christ said,
I and the Father are one. We are one. The Lord our God
is one God. He's one God. But yet the Lord
our God is three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. When Christ
said, I and the Father are one, He didn't mean that He is actually
the Father. He said, We are one. If He's
actually the Father, He would say, I and the Father is one. Isn't that right? Henry Mahan
and Henry Thomas Mahan is one. See what I'm saying? But Henry Mahan and Mike Belpris
are one in Christ. That makes sense. I and the Father
is one, he would have said, if they are the same. I can't explain the Trinity.
I'm not going to even make an effort to. But I just know that
he that seeth the Son has seen the Father, because he's expressed
image of the Father. Jesus Christ is God. Now, you just have to believe
it that way, because you can't have eternal life if you don't.
You've got to believe it that way. He is God. And if he's not
God, he can't save a flea. Only God can forgive sin. Only
God can offer a sacrifice effectual to forgive. All right? Secondly,
that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. All right? The second thing is
this. We must believe in order to be saved. We must believe
that this Son of God is Jesus, Son of Man. You see what I'm
saying? I'm saying this, we believe that
the Son of God, that God Himself became flesh. This Jesus Christ
is God in the flesh. He's the Son of God, He's the
Son of Man. Now let me quote you some Scripture.
Isaiah 7, 14 said, Behold, the Lord shall give you a sign. The Lord Himself will give you
a sign. A virgin shall conceive and bring forth a child and call
His name Jesus. God with us, Emmanuel. See that? Jesus, who shall save His people
from this sin. God with us. He who made the
world was in the world. The Word was with the Father.
The Word is God. Not is the Father, He is God.
It never says that Christ is the Father. It says He's God.
He was with the Father. And He is also, the Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. Isaiah 9, 6 says, unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given, and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. It was necessary that
our Redeemer take on Himself our flesh, bone of our bone,
flesh of our flesh, for you see, He had to do for us what we couldn't
do for ourselves, and he had to do it in our circumstances,
and he had to do it in our surroundings, and he had to do it with the
material that we have to work with. That make sense? In other
words, what the Father, what the law, what justice of God
requires of me, the feather that fulfills it has got to be like
me. He's got to be numbered with
me. He's got to be bone of my bone and flesh of our flesh,
or it don't count. Does that make sense? It doesn't
count. Jesus Christ, as God obeying the law, doesn't count. No, it
doesn't count, because He's not tempted. You can't tempt God,
but you can tempt the man. See what I'm saying? And He was tested in all points
as I am, yet without sin. Jesus Christ never performed
a miracle to relieve his own distress. He made food to feed
others, but he wouldn't make the stones bread to feed himself.
He made water to come out of a rock for Israel, but he said,
I thirst, would you give me a drink? He said that two or three times,
a woman at the well. I'm thirsty. Good night. He made the well.
But see, he's a man. See what I'm saying? And you've
got to believe this or you don't have a righteousness. Because
a man fulfilled that righteousness. A man did it. A man just like
this man standing right here. Yeah, but he was God. He was
man. He always did those things that
pleased the Father. Now that's what you've got to believe. All right? That's what it says
here. If you believe that Jesus, Jesus, this Jesus, You mean the
carpenter? Yes, sir. I'm told that. So the
mayor? Yes, sir. You got it. Well, we know his disciples,
his brothers and sisters. I know you do. No, you don't
know him either. He's God in the flesh. All right,
here's the third thing. We've got to believe that he's
the Christ. Now, watch these words all here. Jesus is the
Christ. Now, my friends, Peter said that
He said, whom do you say I am? Peter said, we believe that thou
art the Christ. Really and truly, we hear people
in their master's finger, they say, Jesus Christ. Well, they
don't know what that means. We even hear preachers talking
about Jesus Christ. They don't know what that means.
See, Jesus is his name of humiliation. Jesus is the Old Testament name,
Joshua. It's Joshua that has to take
the people from wilderness into Canaan. Joshua, Savior. Jesus, Man. Christ. The Christ is the name of the
Old Testament Messiah. You see what I'm saying? The
Old Testament promises a Messiah. Promises a prophet like Moses,
raised up by God, whom you shall hear. Promises a priest, not
like Levi and his son, but a priest forever, like Melchizedek. supernaturally
raised up. A king, a king like David. Jeremiah, the Lord our righteousness.
Isaiah, the tender plant, the root out of dry ground, the substitute
for his people. All the way through the Old Testament,
so that when he came, Peter said, you are the Christ. You are the
Christ. And Peter said at Pentecost to
that crowd of Jews from everywhere, he said, God hath made this same
Jesus whom you crucified, Lord and Christ. He didn't say he
made this Jesus Christ Christ. He said he made this Jesus the
Christ. Got it? He's the Christ. You
believe that? He died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. He's that prophet, that priest
forever, that king, he's that tabernacle, that sacrifice, that
priesthood, and that sin offering. He is the Christ! We don't look
for another. He is the Christ. Just put all
our hope right there. Rest right there. Go sit down.
Rest it in. He is the supper. He is the fulfillment
of the law. He is all things. He's the Christ. That's what John the Baptist
was asking. Are you He for whom we look, or do we look for another?
And when Christ said in words, I'm the Christ, that does it. All right? That's not all. Now
watch this. Jesus is the Christ. He's the
Son of God, and that believing you might have life through His
name. Now you hold your seat there
a minute, and let me say something. It's not being preached in 1986
by very many people. That name, that name, whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord, it says, none other name
unto heaven. Turn to Acts chapter 3 a moment.
Let me show you something. Acts chapter 3. Here was a man
that was lame from his birth. And Peter and John came to the
temple, lame from his mother's womb. And they were about to
go into the temple, and verse 3 of Acts 3, he saw Peter and
John about to go into the temple, and he asked for a handout. And
Peter, fastening his name on him with John, said, And verse
5 said, He gave heed to them, expecting to receive something
of them. And Peter said, Silver and gold have I none, but such
as I have given unto thee, in the name, in the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. In the name. Now look at verse 16. And it says in verse 15, You
killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead,
whereof we are witnesses in his name. And through faith in his
name hath made this man strong. Faith in his name. Now look at
Acts 4, verse 10. It's important. Be it known unto
all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from
the dead, even by him, his name is him. Does this man stand here
before you whole? This is the stone which was set
at naught of you builders, which has become the head of the corner.
Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none
other name unto heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved." Well, I mean, what do you get now? Let me read you another verse, Acts
10, 43. Acts 10, 43, "...to him give
all the prophets witness." that through his name, to him give
all the prophets witnesses, through his name, whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sin. My friends, his name
reveals his character and his attributes, really who he is. When you use the word Jesus,
now preachers all over the world are talking about Jesus. Do this
in the name of Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. But what
does this name mean to you? Well, the Bible gives us a sevenfold
name of our Lord. If you don't have this somewhere
in your Bible written, marked, you ought to have it marked.
It ought to be studied. I put it in these books. I got
it right here in the back of my Bible written out right there. The name of Christ. And it's
important throughout the Old Testament. I'll give it to you
briefly. Genesis 22, 13, 14. Genesis 22, 13, 14. You go there
and read it. It will tell you. Don't try to
write all this down. Just get the text. Genesis 22,
13, 14. He's called Jehovah-Jireh. Jehovah. That's Savior. God, my Savior. And it means the Lord will provide.
That was when Abraham was going up the mountain. He had the fire
and the wood. His son says, Where's the lamb?
He said, Jehovah-Jireh is the lamb. That's how you believe. That's how you call on Christ.
He's Jehovah-Jireh. He's the Lord who provides. He
provides Himself a Lamb. He provides for Himself a Lamb. That's right. He provides the
Lamb. He provides it for Himself, and
He is the Lamb. All right? Exodus 15, 26. He's Jehovah-Rapha. I am the
Lord that healeth thee. By His stripes we're healed.
This is the way you believe on Christ. You don't just believe
on Jesus the superstar, or Jesus the reformer, or Jesus the confused
one that didn't know where he was or who he was, or Jesus the
good preacher. You believe on Jehovah Raper.
I am the Lord that healeth thee. He healeth all our sicknesses
and diseases and sorrows by blood. And then Exodus 17. Exodus 17.
8 through 15. Exodus 17, 8 through
15. He is Jehovah Nisa. He's the
Lord our banner. He's the Lord our banner. Now,
I wouldn't split hairs, but you notice I've got an American flag
here. And I'm grateful for this country. And I know you are. And blessed is the nation whose
God is the Lord. But you notice anything missing
over here? There ain't no Christian flag. Because Christ is our banner. You see what I'm talking about?
There's no white flag with a blue background and a red cross on
it, marching us to war with a bunch of spears to whip them bad old
pagans. Christ is our banner. The battle
is the Lord. Now, I'm telling you the truth.
And that ain't splitting hairs, either, if you get looking at
the hair long enough. It's important. Christ is our
banner. We pledge allegiance not to the
Christian flag and to the Savior for whose kingdom it stands,
we pledge allegiance to the Savior himself. That's right. Let's don't go to war over that,
but in Judges 6.24, he's Jehovah Shalom. He's the Lord our peace. He's the King of peace and the
King of Salem. The Lord our peace, Jehovah 6.24. Psalm 23, He's
the Lord our Shepherd, Jehovah-Raya, the Lord our Shepherd, our Provider.
He I shall not want. That's Him in whom I trust, and
that's why I trust Him. I'll never want in Him for anything
I need. He is Jehovah-Raya, R-A-A-H,
the Lord our Shepherd. Jeremiah 26.3, He's Jehovah Sidkenu,
the Lord our Righteousness. That's the song you sing, Bridget.
The Lord our righteousness. Jehovah Sidkenu. Get a copy of
that. That song tells what it is. The
Lord's our righteousness. Not our own, but His. Him. He is our righteousness. He is
our holiness. And then Ezekiel 48, 35, Jehovah
Shema. S-H-A-M-M-A-H. The Lord is present. He is present. I heard a preacher
say the other day, well, if Jesus Christ were alive today, I'll
tell you what he'd do. You say he slipped, and he slipped
and told what he believed. If he were alive today. Christ
is the same yesterday, today and forever. The Lord is present.
He is present. Now, watch our text again, John
20, 31. These are written that you might
believe that Jesus, Joshua, son of Mary, son of man, Christ,
the anointing, the sin of God, the fulfillment of the Old Testament,
the fulfillment of all promises, the Son of God, Deity, through
His name, His name, Jehovah, Nisa, Rhea, Rapha, Sidkenu, Shammah,
Salem, the Lord, I Am. Who are you, Moses? He said,
I Am. That's Jesus. I Am. You believe not that I
Am. You find in me all you need. And now fifthly, this faith in
Christ, the Son of God, this isn't just a mere knowledge of
facts. I could take anybody and teach him these facts. But this
salvation is not a mere knowledge of facts. It's a heart commitment
to Christ. It's to know that he's Jehovah's
witness, and to thank God for it, and to approve of it, and
to rest in it. It's a heart trust, and a heart
commitment, and a heart submission to Christ for all things. If
thou shalt confess with our mouth Jesus to be Lord, and all that
it involves, and believe in your heart God raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved." The heart believes. The heart believes. And in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and we're complete in him. It's in him. And that's the reason that Paul
prayed. He said, I prevail till Christ
be formed in you. I'm going to preach on this tonight.
Something we all need to hear tonight. What happened to Lydia?
What happened to Lydia? Something happened to Lydia.
And boy, you ought to have seen the results. What happened to
Lydia? God opened her eyes. Paul didn't do it, and she didn't
do it, and her neighbor didn't do it, and God did it. And my,
what a miracle. All right, here's the second
question. By what authority? Do I promise eternal life to
those who believe these things I've just stated? Well, I'll
give it to you just briefly. Number one, for what reasons can I promise
eternal life to those who believe in Christ? Number one, well,
it's the command of God that you believe on Christ. Turn to
1 John 3. Now listen to this scripture,
1 John 3. Now listen, just listen carefully to this, about what
authority I promise that everybody here who really in his heart
believes this message is saved, God commanded it. And what God
commands, I have a full right to believe. Listen to 1 John
3, 23. And this is His commandment.
This is His commandment, that we should believe on the name
of His Son. Isn't that right? I hear everybody talking about
this. The commandment said, I shall not kill. Well, what right do
I have not to kill? Well, God commanded it. I don't
hear anybody arguing about that. I shall not steal. I shall not
take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Everybody feels
at liberty to obey those commandments, don't they? Yeah, they do. You don't feel like it's not
right for you to do that, is it? Well, he said this is his
commandment, believe on his soul. You better do that, too. See
what I'm saying? That's my authority. That's the
warrant of faith. God commanded it. I must not
do less. I must believe. The gospel is
not just an invitation. It's a command. I hear preachers
say, won't you please believe in Jesus? God never said that.
This is His commandment that you believe in His Son. I'll say that again. The gospel
is not an invitation. It's a commandment. Kings don't invite slaves to
do anything. He commands them to believe.
Almighty God does not invite you to believe on His Son. He
commands you to believe on His Son. You know what that says?
That's what it says in this Bible. And the word invitation is not
in the Scriptures but three times. And every time it has to do with
inviting somebody to dinner, look it up. That's right. But commandment's in there. He
commands you to believe on His Son. He commands you to believe
on His Son. All right, here's the second
reason. Well, you know, the commandment, Laszlo, come forth. Mayot, mother,
mayot, y'all ever play that game? You better skeed that out of
there, Laszlo. The Lord said, come out. And then here's the
second thing. And what authority, God promise
eternal life to those who believe on Christ, not only the command
of God, it's the character of God. God delights to show mercy. God takes no pleasure in the
death of the wicked. Scripture says, He delight with
him if plenteous mercy. Plenteous mercy. We'll never
run out of water around here as long as Ohio River flows.
Well, you see, that's good for a long time. His grace is more
sufficient than that. He delights to show mercy. He
said, I will be merciful. All right, here's the third thing. What authority? Christ died to
save sinners like you and me. That's why He came. Why all this
agony and suffering, O son of man? It's to save sinners. You mean like me? The chief of
sinners. That's why He died. My, my! He came to the world to save
sinners. The Son of Man has not come to condemn the world, but
to him the world might be saved. And then, fourthly, what is my
authority? Well, when the Lord sent His
disciples out to preach, He said, You go into all the world and
preach this good news to every creature, every creature, every
creature. And he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved. I like the shalls of God's Word.
They shall be saved. If you believe it, God will save
you. And then the fifth thing, I asked
a question on the fifth one. If not to Christ, to whom shall
I go? Now you just suggest something. I can't go to the Jewish sacrifices
that plainly says they cannot save. I can't go to the law that
plainly says by the law shall no flesh be justified. I can't
turn to the flesh that says in the flesh dwelleth no good thing.
Well, to whom shall I look? He said, look unto me. I'm God. I'm a just God and a Savior.
To whom shall we go, if not to Christ? And then here's the last
one. I told you thirty minutes ago.
You didn't believe I could do that. But I do that on television
every week. That's twenty-nine minutes. You
say, you make, so you can hear what I'm about to say. I got
your attention, hadn't I? They tell me that an elephant, when
he comes to a bridge, that an elephant will either lay his
trunk out there and test it, or he'll put one of those big
old feet that he has on it before he walks on it and he'll test
it. And then he'll cross that bridge. That's what I read just
the other day. He'll cross that bridge. Now,
if I see one of those three-ton elephants or whatever across
the bridge, It'd be pretty ridiculous for me to stand back here, I
weigh 185 pounds, to be afraid to cross that bridge. But if
that elephant crossed it, it'll hold me. And I'll tell you this,
when I see God, in His mercy, saving a Saul of Tarsus, a Saul
of Tarsus, who by his own admittance hated Jesus Christ, despised
the Church, was himself a blasphemer, injurious, did all in his power
to obliterate the very name of Christ. If God saved him, he'd
save me. He'd save you. Don't sit around
talking about how wicked you are. I know you're wicked. The
Bible says you are. But you're just like all the
rest of us, and Christ is able to save to the Uttermost, them
that come to God by hand. So when you see an elephant like
Saul of Tarsus walking across the bridge, you can make it.
Not even a creek. The Timbers of Mercy, not even
a creek. It can hold a world of sinners,
because His grace is sufficient. Where sin did abound, the grace
of God did much more abound. Is that a clear message? That's
the gospel. God, the last thing, by what
authority? It says Himself He could not
save, but it says He saved others. And I'm others. I'm others. Our Father, thank You for the
Word. Oh, thank You for the Word. Thank
You for every promise of this book. And like Abraham of old,
we believe that what God has promised, God is able to perform. Grant that saving faith to all
who are here today, that saving faith in Christ. In His name
we pray. Amen.