I have for you this morning a
very special message. I'm calling this message, He
That Believeth on the Son. That's the title and the topic. Now the text is a verse of scripture
taken from the third chapter of John, verse 35. If you'd like to turn in your
Bibles to John chapter 3, verse 35. Now listen carefully. This
text is very special and I'm praying that God will be pleased
to make the message very special to you. I believe if you listen
carefully to what I have to say this morning, it'll be of great
eternal benefit to you. I'm reading from John 3, verse
35. Listen carefully. The Father
loveth the Son, the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things
into His hands. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son of
God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him."
Now as I was preparing this message and studying this verse of scripture,
this thought came to my mind. My life on earth and my ministry
for thirty some odd years in the gospel, would be to me, as
far as I'm concerned, a total success, a complete success,
if as a result of that life and that ministry, someone listening
to this television ministry or listening to me in the pulpit
at 13th Street Baptist Church or wherever I'm preaching, if
someone would lay hold of the powerful truth revealed in verse
35. I'd consider my life well spent
and my ministry quite successful if someone would lay hold upon
the truth taught in John 3, 35. Listen to it again. The Father
loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hands. Now, on two different occasions,
the Father spoke from heaven and said these words, This is
my beloved Son. Speaking of Christ the Lord,
when He was here on this earth, the Father spake from heaven.
Not often did the Father speak from heaven. But on two occasions,
He spoke from heaven, and He said, This is my beloved Son. This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. And in John 5.40,
the Scripture says, For the Father loveth the Son. The Father loveth
the Son, and showeth him all things that he doeth. And then
in John 12, 26, the Master said, If any man will honour me, him
will my Father honour. Have I sufficiently convinced
you of the fact that the Father loveth the Son? The Heavenly
Father loves His Only Begotten Son. He calls Him the Son of
His Love. And then the second part of that
text, the Father hath given all things into the hands of Christ.
Now all things, you tarry on that word love. The Father loveth
the Son. You spend some time there. He
loves the Son. He loves the Son. And the other
two words that you need to dwell upon and think about is the Father
hath given All things, not some things, but all things into his
hand, all life, all truth, all mercy, all grace, all righteousness,
all redemption, all justification, he hath put everything into the
hands of Christ. He that hath the Son hath life,
because life is in the hands of the Son. Christ said, I am
the truth. No one knows the truth who does
not know Christ. I am the way, the truth, and
the life." And then in Ephesians Paul said, "...in whom we have
redemption." In Christ we have redemption. Redemption has been
put in Christ. The Father loveth the Son, and
He hath given all things, everything pertaining to life, everything
pertaining to a relationship with God. Everything that shall
continue in the world to come has been vested in Christ, has
been put in His hands. Now when Joseph was made king
of Egypt, he told Pharaoh that there would be seven years of
plenty, seven years of prosperity, seven years when the fields would
yield their great abundant harvest. And at the end of that seven
years, there would be seven years of famine. So Pharaoh put everything
in the hands of Joseph, everything. He ran the farms, he ran the
crops, he ran the harvest, he took care of the storage, and
he stored grain, whether it was barley, or oats, or corn, or
whatever. He stored all of these things
that they grew for seven years in silos, in barns, in storage
houses. For seven years, Joseph prepared
for the famine, and he stored grain for seven long years. Now, when the seven years of
famine fell upon Egypt, and all the lands around about Egypt,
the people came to Pharaoh. And they said, ìWeíre hungry.
We need grain. We need food.î And Pharaoh said
to them, ìIf you want grain, if you want food, you go to Joseph. I have put everything in Josephís
hands. Donít come to me. Donít expect
anything from me. Donít expect anything out of
me. Donít even come to me. He said plainly, go to Joseph. Go to Joseph. Everything has
been placed in the hands of Joseph. And my friends, I'm saying this
to you, as clearly as words can express it, and as clearly as
I can preach it, the Father loveth the Son. You can say what you
want to about the love of God. You've preached the love of God,
the love of God. is infinite, the love of God's
eternal, the love of God's unchangeable, but the Father loveth the Son. And he hath put everything in
the hands of the Son. That's the way it always has
been. That's the way it is now. That's the way it always will
be. Now the Scriptures are written
that you might believe on the Son, that you might come to Christ. That you might embrace and lay
hold upon Christ. That's why the Scriptures were
written. It says in John 20, 31, but these are written. These
are written. This is the purpose for the writing
of the Word of God. That you might believe that Jesus
Christ is the Christ. That Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God. That's why these things were
written. That you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his
name. In Acts 10.43, the beloved physician
Luke wrote these words, To him give all the prophets witness
to Christ. All the prophets witness that
through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission
of sin. That's why the scriptures were
written. And then the Holy Ghost is given to convince men of sin
to reveal to them the Lord Jesus Christ and to bring them to faith
in Christ. That's why the Holy Spirit is
given. The scriptures were written for that purpose. The Holy Spirit
is given for that purpose. According to the testimony of
our Lord Himself in John 16, He said this, When the Spirit
is come, He will convince the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not on me, Christ said. Of judgment, because the prince
of this world is judged. Of righteousness, because I go
to my Father. This convincing of sin is based
upon and in relation to Jesus Christ. Now listen to this verse
in John 16, 13. When the Spirit of truth is come,
and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, He shall glorify me. That's what Christ said. He shall
take the things of mine and show them to you. He shall not speak
of himself, but whatsoever he heareth, that shall he say, and
he will glorify me. What I'm saying is this, the
Father loveth the Son, and hath placed everything, all things,
All things pertaining to God, all things pertaining to life,
all things pertaining to redemption, all things pertaining to God
have been placed in the hands of Jesus Christ our Lord. And the scriptures are written
for that selfsame purpose, to declare where everything is,
to point to Christ. And the Holy Ghost is given to
bring you and me to faith in Jesus Christ, and it is the business
of faithful preachers to point men to Christ. In Acts 1, verse
8, our Lord Jesus Christ said to His disciples as they assembled
about Him on the Mount of Ascension, He said, You shall receive power,
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and you shall
be witnesses unto Me. That's your purpose. That's your
reason for being put in the ministry. is to be my witness in Jerusalem,
Judea, Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth."
Paul summed it up this way. He said, we preach not ourselves.
We preach not ourselves. We preach Jesus Christ the Lord. John summed up the whole story
in these words in 1 John 5, 11. This is the record. This is the
record. This is the truth. God has given
to us eternal life, and that life is in His Son. Why would
you question that? Why would you think for a moment
that eternal life is in a church, or in a priest, or in a denomination,
or in a baptismal pool, or in the Lord's table, or in anything
but Christ? God has given us eternal life.
It's in His Son. It's not in the law. It's in
Christ. And he that hath the Son of God hath life, and he
that hath not the Son of God hath not life. The Hebrew writer
spoke this, listen to this, in Hebrews 3, verse 1, and I would
have you look carefully at this passage of Scripture. Hebrews
3, verse 1, and what I'm saying is this, the Father loveth the
Son, and he hath placed everything, given everything, all things
in his hand. Now here's what the Hebrew writer
said in chapter 3, verse 1, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the
heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our
profession, Christ Jesus. Consider Christ Jesus. Have you
done that? Are you doing that? Are you considering
Christ? Now, my friend, you may study
the heavens, you may study the sun, the moon, and the stars,
and you may be awed by the power and the glory of God. For the
Scripture says the heavens declare the glory of God. And David said,
when I consider the heavens, The sun, the moon, the stars,
the things that thou hast made. What is man that thou art mindful
of him? And you may study the heavens,
and the stars, and the planets, and all these things, and be
awed by the power and the wisdom of God Almighty, but you'll never
see the redemptive glory of God until you see the Son. He that
seeth the Son, S-O-N, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. You may
look into the Holy Law. And you may see the purity of
God and the holiness of God, but you'll never see the holy
righteousness which God has provided for sinners until you see the
Son. And you may look, study the history of religion and all
of the recognized religions of men, the Oriental religions and
the American religions and the old Puritan religions. You can
study all the religions. You're welcome to do that. And
you'll only see frustration and self-righteousness and hypocrisy. But you'll see the hope of eternal
life when you quit studying the deeds and writings of men and
start looking to the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Because God
the Father loveth the Son and He's put everything in the Son.
He hasn't put anything in denominations and history and the acts and
deeds of men. He's put everything in the Son.
He's placed all things in His hand. That's where it is. And
you may study the experiences of men and women and the many
theories of life after death. You may study reincarnation.
You may study these books about folks that claim to have died
and come back to the earth. And you'll still be filled with
doubt and fear and uncertainty. And you'll never find any peace
about death and any peace about eternity until you see the Son. Because He is the resurrection
and the life. And God has put life in His hand. If you say, how can you be so
dogmatic? Because it's just that clear.
And it's just that positive. And it's just that narrow. The
Father loveth the Son. and hath given all things into
his hands." That's what it said. And he that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not, he
that refuseth, he that rejecteth, he that believeth not the Son
shall never see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Our Lord Jesus Christ said one
time, if you believe not that I am He, that I am He, Who is
He? He's the eternal surety. He's
the eternal redeemer. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. He's the only mediator between
God and men. He is the Lord's Christ. He is
that prophet, priest, and king. If you believe not that I am
He, you'll die in your sins. Now, my friend, better never
to be born than to die in your sins. Better to die anyway than
to die in your sins. Better to die in the womb than
to die in your sins. For to die in sin is to rise
in sin. And to rise in sin on that great
resurrection morning is to face the judgment in sin. And to face
the judgment in sin is to be forever condemned. If you believe
not that I am He, you'll lie down and die in your sins. And
you'll rise in your sins, and you'll meet God in your sins.
And because of your sins, you'll be forever separated from all
that's holy and pure and living. But my friends, to believe on
Christ is to be free from sin. It is to have your sins covered
by the blood. It's to have your sins put away
by the grace of God. To receive Christ by faith is
to have life eternal. For the Father loveth the Son. and hath given all things into
his hand." That's where it is. That's where God's put it, and
that's where you'll receive it. If you have life, you'll get
life by believing on the Son. If you have forgiveness or mercy,
you'll receive it in Christ. If you're an heir of God, it'll
be because you're a joint heir with the Son, because the Son
is the heir of all things. And there's nothing outside the
Son but God's wrath. He that believeth not the Son,
the wrath of God abideth on him. Now I want to give you four or
five reasons why it's so important that I preach Christ and that
you in your heart believe Christ. Why it's so important that I
preach Christ Jesus the Lord and why it's so important that
you by faith in your heart receive or lay hold upon or embrace or
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me give them to you five
things. Number one, God is in Christ. All things are in Christ. All
things. You see, I can take that to the
extremity, to the infinity. All things are in Christ. There's
nothing worth having that's not in Christ. God is in Christ.
And to be without Christ is to be without God. That's what Scripture
says. God was in Christ reconciling
the world to himself. God was in Christ. In Matthew
1.21, the angel said to Joseph, Call his name Jesus. Call his
name Jesus. For he shall save his people
from their sins. This is a fulfillment of the
words spoken by the prophet Isaiah when he said, Behold, the Lord
himself shall give you a sign. A virgin shall be with son. and
thou shalt call his name Jesus, or Immanuel, which is interpreted,
God with us." God with us. God is in Christ. Great is the
mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. John 10, 30, the Master said,
I and my Father are one. John 14, 8, the disciples said,
well, show us the Father. He said, have I been so long
time with you, and you hast not known me? He that hath seen me
hath seen the Father. Jesus Christ is God. His name
shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace." No wonder the angels stood about
that manger in awe. No wonder the angels came down
on the Mount of Temptation and ministered to Him. No wonder
that the angels stood about that empty tomb and said, He's not
here, He's risen. No wonder the angel stood on
the Mount of Ascension and said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand
ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him
go." Because He's God. He's God. God came to earth to
redeem His people. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is
God Almighty. And the Father loveth Him, and
hath given all things into His hands. And He is the exact image,
the express image, the very brightness of the Father's glory, a revelation
of God in human flesh. And to be without Christ is to
be without God. That's how plain I want that
to be made, how narrow, how dogmatic. To be without Christ is to be
without God. And then secondly, listen to
me, the covenant of mercy. And some of you know something
about the covenant. You Presbyterians know something about the covenant.
You Reformed people know something about a covenant. You old-time
Baptists know something about a covenant. But the covenant
of grace and mercy was made with Christ and in Christ. And to be without Christ is to
have no part in the covenant of grace. Now, the old-time Israelites
talked about their covenant. The covenant with Israel, the
covenant with Abraham, the covenant with Moses, the covenant with
David, and they felt it was horrible to be outside of the Jewish covenant. My friends, let me tell you something.
The eternal covenant is the covenant of grace. That everlasting covenant,
that sure covenant, that covenant of which David spoke on his deathbed
when he said, the Lord hath made with me an everlasting covenant. Ordered in all things and sure
and this is all my salvation and all my desire. This is it
Don't miss the covenant, but I'll tell you this That covenant
of mercy and grace is in Christ. It's with Christ. It's in the
hands of Christ Listen Hebrews 13 20 now the God of peace that
brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus That great shepherd
of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant Make
you perfect in every good work. Christ is the surety of that
covenant. And he said in Hebrews 10, this
is the covenant I will make with them after those days. I'll put
my law in their minds and in their hearts, and I'll remember
their sins no more. Where is it? In Christ. In a
crucified Christ. In a crucified, buried, risen
Christ. There's where the covenant mercies
are. There's where the covenant promises are. There's where the
covenant blessings are in Christ. And to be without Christ, I don't
care what you have. I don't care what you know. I
don't care what you profess. God said, and let God be true
and ever man a liar, the covenant mercies are in Christ. He's the
surety of the eternal covenant. And to be without Christ is to
be without a part in that covenant. When God makes up His jewels.
When our Lord calls forth His bride. Now thirdly, Christ is
the believer's priest. And not to know Christ is to
be without a priest. Now, you don't want to be without
a priest. You don't want to be without a priest who has in his
hands a suitable atonement. There's got to be a sin offering.
There's got to be a sacrifice. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no forgiveness. Do you hear that? No forgiveness. Those Old Testament priests were
pictures and types. And they brought the blood of
a lamb, the blood of a bullock or a ram, and they put it on
the altar. But that was just a picture. That was a picture
of Christ, our great High Priest, who brought His blood, His blood,
not the blood of an animal, but His blood, not into the tabernacle
made with hands, but into heaven itself. Seeing we have a great
High Priest that's passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of
God, let us come boldly before the throne of grace. that we
may find mercy and grace to help in time of need. You don't want
to come if you don't have a priest. And there's only one, and that's
the one who's a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
There's one God and one Mediator between God and men, and that's
the man Christ Jesus. That's what God said in 1 Timothy.
Romans 5 said, We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom we have received the atonement. You don't have Christ,
you don't have an atonement. If you don't have Christ, you
don't have a mediator. If you don't have Christ, you
don't have a priest. If you don't have Christ, you don't have any
way to God. For he hath opened for us into the presence of God
a new and living way through his blood. You don't have any
way into the presence of God. You can't even call on God. God
won't hear you. Not without Christ. That's what
the book says. And that's our only rule of faith
and practice. And then in the fourth place,
Christ is our righteousness before God. Not to believe in Christ
is to have no righteousness, no holiness. Oh, I hear people
running around talking about how holy they are, but I tell
you this, man at his best state is altogether vanity, none that
doeth good, no, not one, none righteous, no, not one. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. We don't have any
righteousness. Our little old religious works
and our claims to righteousness in God's sight is filthy rags.
Filthy, dirty rags, only fit for burning. But God's provided
a righteousness. God has promised a righteousness.
And God has revealed and manifested a righteousness. But I'll tell
you where it is. It's in Christ. It's not in your going down to
the mourner's bench and promising, you won't do this, that, and
the other, and you will do something else. Not that you're making
New Year's resolution. and decide you'll give up some
sins and hold to others. Righteousness is in Christ. He
was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. By the obedience of another,
Christ Jesus, shall many be made righteous, holy, holy. In Christ we're holy. With His
spotless garments on, we're as holy as God's Son. Fifthly, salvation
is in Christ. To be without Christ is to be
without salvation. Listen to this great old hymn.
I want you to listen carefully to this. I think this is one
of the greatest hymns ever written. Everything's in Christ. He said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. That's what I'm trying
to say to you in as plain of terms as I can employ on this
TV broadcast. O Lord, listen, Thou art the
way, to Thee alone, from sin and death we flee. He who would
the Father seek must seek Him, Lord, in Thee. Thou art the truth. Thy word alone true wisdom can
impart. Thou alone can enlighten my mind
and purify my heart. Thou art the life. The empty
tomb proclaims Thy living name. And those who put their trust
in Thee, nor death nor hell can claim. Thou art the way, the
truth, the life. Grant us that way to know, that
truth to love, that life to own, where joys immortal flow. The Father loveth the Son, and
hath given all things in his hand. He that believeth on the
Son hath life. Now I have this message on a
cassette tape, along with a message I'll be bringing next Sunday.
If you want the message, send a donation of two dollars. We'll
send it to you by return mail. Until next Lord's Day, may God
bless you, is my sincere prayer.