when a person gives evidence
of being in some measure awakened by the Holy Spirit, and that
person asks of us, what must I do to be saved? We have the
answer in the inspired words of the Apostle Paul, for this
very thing occurred in the jail at Philippi. A stranger, a Philippian
jailer, trembling under conviction, broken by the fear of God, afraid
of death and judgment, fell on his face before the Apostle Paul
and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And Paul replied,
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house."
Now I know that answer is so old that with many people it
seems out of date. And perhaps it's so simple, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, that with
many people it's considered not enough. But with those who know
the truth of this statement, and what it contains. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not only fresh and new,
but it's sufficient. What must I do to be saved? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. This is
the Word of God. This is the way of God. This
is the only way of God. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid. There is none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Believe on
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. No man can give you a better
answer. No man can give you a more complete
answer. No man can give you a more scriptural
answer. What must I do to be saved? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. When our
Lord sent His disciples out to preach the gospel, He told them
to go and preach the gospel to every creature, and he that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Let's read several verses. First of all, in John chapter
3. In the third chapter of John,
let's read verse 14 through 16. What must I do to be saved? believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And thou shalt be saved. John
3, 14, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him Believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life. Look at verse 36 of that same
chapter. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Turn, if you will, to 1 John
5. While you're turning there, let me give you this account.
In 1 John 5, let me mention this. Philip appeared to the eunuch
in the desert, the eunuch who was reading God's Word. He preached
unto him Jesus. They came to a body of water,
and the eunuch said, See, here is water. What doth hinder me
from being baptized? And Philip said, Thou mayest,
if you believe. And he replied, I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And Philip said, Stop this chariot.
They stopped it, and he got out, and he baptized the man upon
perfection of his faith. What did he say? I promise not
to do this anymore, and I promise to do this, and I promise to
do the other, and I believe... He said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, and Philip baptized him. That's all
he said. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Look
at 1 John 5, 11, and this is the record. that God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath
life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These
things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the
Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and
that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. That's it.
What must I do to be saved? on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved. I'm going to ask four questions
in this message tonight. The first question is this, who
is Jesus of Nazareth? Who is this Jesus of Nazareth,
upon whom I'm called to believe, in whom I am commanded to believe? Who is Jesus of Nazareth? Secondly, what did he do? What
did Jesus of Nazareth do that I that I should believe? And
thirdly, why did he do this? Why did he do this particular
thing that he did? And then fourthly, where is Jesus
of Nazareth right now that I should believe on him? All right, the
first question is this, who is Jesus of Nazareth? Well, he asked
his disciples one day, whom do men say that I am? And the disciples
replied, well, some say you're Elias, some say you're one of
the prophets, some say you're John the Baptist who's come back
from the dead. Christ said, but whom do you
say that I am? And Peter replied, thou art the
Christ. Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. Thou art the Son of the living
God. Thou art the Messiah. Thou art
the Son of David. Thou art that prophet of whom
Moses wrote. Jesus of Nazareth is the Savior
of the world. That's who He is. Now the Scriptures
reveal that the living God, and I want you to listen to this,
is a triune God. Turn to Genesis chapter 1. The
Scriptures reveal that the God of heaven, the living God, the
God of Scripture, the God of creation is a triune God. Now I know you're going to hear
preachers, you're going to read tracts and magazines and articles
that will say the word Trinity does not appear in the Bible.
It doesn't. The word substitution doesn't
appear either, but the truth is there. The word Trinity doesn't
appear in the Bible, but the truth is there. Let me show you
this. Now, my friends, I can't comprehend, I can't understand,
nor can I explain the Trinity. I don't know how God can be one
God. The Lord our God is one God. That's what the Scripture says.
I don't deny that. The Lord our God is one God.
That's what it says. And yet the Lord our God is three
persons in one. It teaches that throughout this
Bible. Listen to the first, in Genesis 1, 26, talking about
the making or creation of man. And God said, let us. And God
said, let us. To whom is He speaking? Let us
make man. And in your Amplified Bible it
says, let us, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Let us. But that's not all. Let us make
man. Our image. It didn't say, let me make man
in my image. It said, let us make man in our
image after our likeness. Three in one, Father, Son, Holy
Spirit. And as I say, I cannot explain
it. I cannot comprehend it. I just know that it's taught
throughout the Scripture, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Let's read
some more Scripture. Turn to I John 5, where we were
a moment ago. I John 5, verse 7. And my friends, because I cannot,
with my natural minds, comprehend how something can be in reference
to God, doesn't mean that it's not so. If I could comprehend
God, I'd be God. If God could fit into this mind
of mine, if the heavens won't contain him, the heaven of heavens
is his throne, the earth is his footstool, how can I comprehend
or contain or understand the living God? I don't even believe
that Adam fully comprehended God. He was infinitely more brilliant
than I am, or you are, all of us put together. 1 John 5, 7,
and there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father,
the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. And if you will, turn to Matthew
28. Matthew 28, verse 19, our Lord Jesus said this, Matthew 28, 19, Go ye therefore
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When our Lord was baptized, the
Scripture says that the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Lamb of God, came to John and was baptized of him in the river
Jordan. And the heavens opened, and the Spirit of God descended
upon him in the form of a dove. And the Father spake from heaven
and said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
The Father spake, the Son was baptized, and the Spirit descended
upon Him. And then in John 14, let's turn
over here just a moment and look at this. John chapter 14. The
question I'm dealing with is, Who is Jesus of Nazareth? If
I'm going to believe on Him, I've got to know who He is. You
can't believe on an unrevealed Savior. You can't believe on
an imposter. You can't believe on one who
claims to be something which he's not. In John 14, beginning
with verse 16, the Lord Jesus is speaking to His disciples
and He says, I will pray the Father. This is the Son speaking. I will pray the Father, and He
will give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever,
even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because
it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, but you know Him, for He
dwelleth with you and shall be in you. That's the Holy Spirit.
I'm not trying to convince you of anything. I'm just telling
you what God's Word says. If you're going to believe what
you believe about God because it says it in God's Word, then
you are compelled to believe that God, the living God, the
God of creation, the God of Scripture, is a triune God, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. All right, well, who is Jesus
Christ? He's the Word, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, the
Father, the Son, and the Spirit. All right, John chapter 1. Who
is Jesus of Nazareth? He is the Word of God. There
are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Spirit. And Jesus Christ is the Word. Now let me show you that in John
1, verse 1. In the beginning was the Word.
And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. Verse 14 now, And the Word, capital
W-O-R-D, and the 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. This Word, this second person
in that divine trinity, was made flesh. There are three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit.
And the Word was with God and the Word was God. And the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us and we saw Him. John said
in 1 John 1, we saw Him, we heard Him, and our hands touched Him.
And he said that three times. Turn to 1 John. Let me show you
that. 1 John chapter 1. John says this,
he says in 1 John chapter 1, now listen to this, verse 1,
1 John 1, 1, that which was from the beginning, in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God and was God, which we
have heard, which we've seen with our eyes, which we have
looked upon and our hands have handled of the Word of life,
for the life was manifested, we've seen it, he says it again.
We bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was
with the Father was manifested unto us. That which we've seen,
He says it again. That which we've heard, He says
it again. Declare we unto you that you
may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with His Son who is Jesus Christ. Look at verse
20 of 1 John 5. Just turn over two pages. 1 John
5, 20. And we know that the Son of God is come. The Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. He has come and has given us
an understanding that we may know Him that is true, that we're
in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is
the true God. This is eternal life. I turn
back to Matthew 1, the scripture which I read a few moments ago,
Matthew chapter 1, when the angel Merib was engaged or espoused
to Joseph to be married to him, which was considered in those
old days, in Jewish days, to be already his wife. And the
angel told him that that holy thing which was in her was the
Son of God conceived by the Holy Spirit. And he says in verse
23, Behold, a virgin shall conceive. This is quoting Isaiah. A virgin
shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt
call the name of that son, of that virgin, Immanuel, which
is being interpreted, God with us. God with us. So who is Jesus of Nazareth?
Well, he's more than a prophet. He's more than an example. He's
more than a healer. He's more than a teacher. He's
more than a friend. He is God incarnate, God in human
flesh. He said, He that hath seen me
hath seen the Father. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in human flesh,
in the likeness of sinful flesh. All right, now I want to show
you something very important. Turn to Exodus 3. Now, this is
very, very, very important. Your faith in Christ. Your faith
in Christ hangs on this right here. Who is Jesus of Nazareth? Who is Jesus of Nazareth? If
Jesus of Nazareth is not who He claims to be and who the Father
says He is, then we look for another. That John sent word
to Him. Are you the Christ or do we look
for another? Are we saved in you by trusting
you, by believing you, by looking to you? Are you that Christ or
do we look for another? All right, watch this. Exodus
chapter 3. You know the Lord appeared to
Moses in the bush that burned but was not consumed and told
Moses to go down and deliver Israel from Egypt. And Moses
said unto him, verse 13, And Moses said unto God, now listen
to me, Moses is speaking to God, God speaking to Moses. God, the
God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of heaven and
earth is speaking to Moses. And Moses said, Behold, when
I come to the children of Israel, and I say unto them, The God
of your fathers has sent me unto you, and they shall say to me,
What is his name? What is the name of God? What
is the name of God? What shall I say? And God said
unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, Thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I am that sent thee. I am. that I am. Okay. Jesus of Nazareth. Let's go over and see what he
says. In John chapter 8. John chapter 8. You with me? John the 8th chapter. And we'll
read verse 24. Now Moses, this is a holy time. This is an awesome time. This
is a frightening time. He's face to face with God. And
he says, alright, I'll go. to deliver the people of Israel.
But now when I go and tell them that I represent God, that I'm
here in the name of God, that God has sent me to deliver you,
and they say, well, what's his name? What'll I say? And God says, you say, I am.
I am that I am. I am. Not I was, I will, I am. The eternal, living, ever-present,
omnipotent, sovereign God. All right. Verse 24, Christ is
speaking. Verse 23, And he said unto them,
You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world,
I am not of this world. I sit thereupon unto you, that
ye shall die in your sins. For he that believeth not that
I am. You see that word he? It ain't
in there. He's not supposed to be in there,
Charlie. It's in italics. It was added by the translators,
and when they added it, they didn't do it justice. They should
never have put it in there. I am. That's what Christ said.
The same thing God said to Moses. And men who were, men who were
observant, and men who knew something about the Scriptures and the
name of God, they knew what he was saying. You believe not that
I am, you'll die in your sins. And one only time he said that,
look in the same chapter, chapter 8, verse 54. Verse 53, John chapter 8, verse 58 it is. Let's begin with verse 53 of
John 8. Thou greater than our father
Abraham, who is dead, and the prophets are dead, Who makest
thou thyself? And Jesus said, If I honor myself,
my honor is nothing. It is my Father that honors me,
of whom you say, He is your God. Yet you have not known Him. I
know Him. If I should say, I know Him not,
I would be a liar like you. But I know Him. And keep this
saying, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and
was glad. Then said the Jews unto him,
Why, you are not fifty years old. Have you seen Abraham? And Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. I am. Who is Jesus Christ? He's the
one that spoke to Moses out of that burning bush. He is I am. And I'll tell you this, when
those soldiers came to arrest him in the garden, and he said,
whom seek ye? And they said, we seek Jesus
of Nazareth. And he said, what did he say?
I am. And they fell backward. They
fell backward in terror, fell backward in awe, fell backward
overcome by the power of the revelation of his person, I am. Who is Jesus of Nazareth? Well,
I'll tell you what Scripture says, what God says, that he's
God in human flesh. All right, secondly, what did
Jesus of Nazareth do? When he was baptized, the voice
from heaven said this, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well
pleased. And when I thought about the
answer to this question, what did Jesus of Nazareth do? I thought,
well, this is the answer. He pleased God. He pleased God. Turn to Romans 8, verse 8. This
is something that no man in the flesh has ever done, is doing
now, or ever will do. This is something that no one
can do in the flesh. In Romans 8, verse 8, it says,
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. cannot please God. But Christ
did, He was in the flesh, and He pleased God. The Scripture
says He knew no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.
The Scripture says that He was tempted and tried and tested
in every point as we are, yet without sin. He was born of woman,
made under the law, Tried by Satan, tried by men, tried by
God, and the verdict comes forth from the lips of a man himself,
Pilate, who said, I find no fault in him. Having been born and lived perfectly
on this earth, he pleased God. He pleased God in his beginning.
He pleased God in his continuing life. He pleased God in his death. He pleased God. But having perfectly
obeyed, turn to Romans 5, just back a page, verse 19. By one
man's disobedience, speaking of Adam, we were made sinners
by the obedience, the obedience, the obedience of one shall be
made righteous. Christ obeyed God. He pleased
God. But let me say this. What did
he do? having lived, having been born without sin, and having
lived a perfect life under every law, the law of the home, the
law of the land, the ceremonial law, the law of Moses, the moral
law, under every law, every jot and tittle. He said, I didn't
come to destroy the law. ...of God, and it's profitable
for doctrine, reproof, for correction, instruction, and righteousness.
Holy men of God speak as they were... ...a weakness, No, sir. He said, no man takes my life
from me. There's no way men could take
the life from Jesus Christ. Satan would have done it on the
mountain. The mad religious crowd would have done it in Luke 4
in Nazareth. They would have stoned him when
he said, I and my Father are one. But no man can take my life
from me. I lay it down, Christ said. He
didn't die because of weakness. Well, you say, did he die as
an example? An example of faith, an example
of dedication. My friends have been plenty of
examples of men who died for what they believed. Abel died
for what he believed. We don't need another able to
die as an example. We don't need another martyr
to die as an example. Jesus, nothing is accomplished
in a martyr's death except the judgment of God on his executors
and taking him to glory. But no redemption is accomplished
in the death of a martyr. Why did Jesus Christ die then?
Turn to Isaiah 53. Jesus Christ the Lord did not
die because of weakness. He did not die only as an example. He did not die as a martyr. Jesus
Christ died as a substitute. That's why he died. In Isaiah
53 verse 4, Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. We did esteem him stricken of
God, smitten of God, and afflicted. He was wounded. For our transgressions
he was bruised, for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. He died because,
read verse 12 of Isaiah 53, I will divide him a portion with the
great, he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured
out his soul unto death. And it wasn't just physical suffering,
it was soul suffering. The death of a body cannot alone
atone for the sins of a soul. There's got to be the death of
the soul as well as the instrument of sin, the body. He died. He poured out his soul to death.
He was numbered with the transgressors. He bared the sin of many. I'll
tell you why Christ died. He died because those whom he
represented and those with whom he was numbered deserved to die. Christ died under the penalty
of sin, under the wrath of God. He died because those in whose
place he stood, those with whom he was numbered, those for whom
he was the surety, Those whom he represented were sinners,
and they deserve to die, and they must die under the judgment
of God. The Son of Man must be lifted
up. You see, all that Christ suffered
and bore in life and death was according to the Scriptures.
The soul that sinneth, it must die. And back in the Old Testament,
when the priest would come into the presence of God seeking forgiveness
of sin, he always brought blood. Now, when something sheds its
blood, it dies. When you take the blood, the
life of the body, the life of the flesh is in the blood. Turn
to the book of Leviticus a moment. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus. The
book of Leviticus, I believe it's chapter 11, if I can find
the Scripture here. Leviticus, maybe it's 17. Leviticus chapter 17. Yes, 17. Leviticus 17, verse
11. For the life of the flesh is
in the blood, Leviticus 17, 11, and I've given it to you upon
the altar to make an atonement for your soul. It's the blood
that makes the atonement for the soul. In other words, when
the blood is taken out of the body of the animal, the body
is dead. And when the blood is brought before the Lord, it is
saying that the substitute has died, this offering has died,
and these sacrifices and substitutes They couldn't put away sin, but
there were pictures or examples or types of Christ who would
come. And by His death, He put away
our sins, by the sacrifice of Himself. Turn to 1 Corinthians
15. Let me show you something here. 1 Corinthians 15. All that
Christ did, all that He bore, all that He suffered in His life
and death was according to the Scriptures. concerning the atonement
and the prophecies of the Messiah. Now watch this, 1 Corinthians
15, verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you, which you have received,
and wherein you stand, by which you are saved, if you keep in
memory what I preached unto you, unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins. Now look at that next line,
according to the scriptures. This is so important. Christ
died according to the scriptures. Christ died according and in
fulfillment of the scriptures. He fulfilled every type, every
example according to the scriptures. Go on. And that he was buried
and he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
You go back to the Old Testament, and people, for all practical
purposes today, have two Bibles, have what's called an Old Bible
and a New Bible. And they're disassociated one from the other.
But the Old Testament is Christ in picture. The New Testament
is Christ in person. The Old Testament is Christ in
type and symbol. The New Testament is Christ manifested
in person. And when Christ came here 2,000
years ago, when the Lord Jesus Christ was made flesh, He didn't
come to institute a new way of salvation. He came to fulfill
the only way of salvation. He didn't come to bring grace,
whereas men used to be saved by law. It was saved by grace
all the time. He came to fulfill all that God
had promised and all that God had typified and all that God
had pictured. He came in God's due and good
time. And when he goes back and says,
Moses wrote of me, turn to Luke 24. This is a scripture that
is one of the most important verses in all the Bible, bringing
the Old and New Testament together, the Word of God. Christ in Luke
24, 44, He's talking to His disciples. This is after He'd crucified
and risen and appeared to His disciples. And He said in verse
44 of Luke 24, He said to them, These are the words which I have
spoken to you while I was yet with you, that all things must
be fulfilled which are written in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets,
in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures." What Scriptures?
Genesis through Malachi. A man can't understand the Old
Testament without Christ. Christ is the key to the Old
Testament. Christ is the message of the
Old Testament. Christ is what the Old Testament
is presiding. These disciples couldn't understand
the Scriptures without Christ. And if you somehow can, in your
heart, come to see who Christ is, The glory of Christ and the
work of Christ and the person of Christ, it'll open up the
Old Testament, it'll open up the Psalms, it'll open up the
writings of Moses, it'll open up all of the Scriptures. All right, the third question.
Why did Jesus Christ do what he did? Why did he come down here in
the flesh? Why was he born of a woman and
became a little baby? Why did he live in a cart and
a shop and earn his living by the sweat of his brow? Why did
he live a perfect life on this earth? Why, thirty-three and
a half years later, did he go to such a terrible, awful death
and was buried and rose again? Well, the answer is found in
Romans 3. And these are things that you don't hear preached
today, regrettably, unfortunately. When I listen to preachers, I
say, come on, you're telling men to believe. Now tell them
what to believe. Tell them why to believe. Tell them what the
Word of God says about what Christ did. Why He did what He did.
Every preacher says He died on the cross. All right, preacher,
tell me why did He do that? All right, Romans 3. Look back
at verse 19. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped. And all the world become guilty
before God. My mouth stopped as yours. Guilty
by nature, by birth, by choice, by practice, by sins of omission
and commission. Just keep talking. Sinners, our
mouths are stopped. Therefore, verse 20, by the deeds
of the law, no flesh shall be justified in God's sight, for
the law is the knowledge of sin. You're not going to be justified
by keeping a law that you've broken. Not only that you've
broken, but your very nature is against that law. The carnal
mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither, indeed, can it be. But, now, the righteousness
of God without the law is revealed. Being witnessed by the Old Testament
scriptures, by the law and the prophets, that such a righteousness
would be manifested, would come, would be ours. What is it? Where is it? Even the righteousness
of God which is by the faith of, the obedience of, the life
of, the holiness of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all people
of the world, all that believe. That's who it belongs to. That's
for whom it was accomplished. It is unto all and upon all them
that believe. There is no difference. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God, but we're freely
justified by his grace through the redemption of Jesus Christ,
whom God had sent and set forth to be a propitiation, a sacrifice,
a substitute through faith in his blood to declare whose righteousness? God's righteousness. For the
remission of sins of the past, we're talking about the Old Testament
saints, who lived and died before Christ ever came, but through
the forbearance of God, through the long-suffering of God, through
the purpose of God, their sins also are covered. To declare,
I say at this time, God's righteousness, that God might be just and the
justifier of them that believe in Christ. Now, my friend, God
is love, and God's love will be manifested. But God's love
cannot, cannot, will not be manifested at the expense of his justice.
God will be just. God will punish sin. God Almighty's
mercy, but God's mercy cannot be expressed in such a way as
to compromise his righteousness. Let me show you a verse that
you need to underscore in the Old Testament, Numbers 14. Numbers
14. I want you to look at this. Numbers,
the 14th chapter, the 18th verse. Now, you go out here and say,
God is love, and God is mercy, and God is gracious. You're telling
the truth. But you remember this. God is
holy, and God is just, and God is righteous. And God is not
going to manifest His... He can. Manifest His love, and
His mercy, and His grace. at the expense or the compromising
of his justice. I say this, being God, he cannot,
he cannot, being God, take anybody to heaven without their sins
being paid for. There ain't no way, not being
God. I say God, being holy, being
just and being righteous, cannot, being God, accept any ungodly
sinner into His holy presence without that sinner having a
perfect righteousness. All right, look at Numbers 14,
18. The Lord is long-suffering. He is of great mercy. He forgives
iniquity and transgressions. And He does it by no means clearing
the guilty. Are you guilty? He said the whole
world is guilty. Well, how does God, how is He
long-suffering and merciful and forgives sin and yet at the same
time not clear the guilty? Huh? How does He do that? Well, I just got through telling
you Jesus Christ came down here as our substitute, as our Redeemer,
as our surety, and He did for us what we couldn't do for ourselves.
He gave us a perfect righteousness. He obeyed God's law. He went
to the cross and died under the judgment and wrath of God. You
say, well, how can one man die for millions of men? How can
one man's life pay for the sins of so many people's lives? Because
of who he is. You know who died? Now listen
to me. If your Jesus is just a little
old man, nothing but a man, he can't even put away his own sins.
No, you're right, one man's death could not atone for a million
men's sins. It couldn't do it. But now, if
he's who the Bible says he is, and if he's who this preacher
says he is tonight, he's the infinite, eternal, unchangeable,
eternal God in human flesh who died on that cross, then his
death can atone for an infinite number of men's sins. It's sufficient
to save 10,000 worlds if God created that many because of
who He is. It's not how much blood was shed,
it's whose blood. Christ! That's what Paul says,
who can condemn me? It's Christ that died, the Son
of God, the Lord of heaven and earth, infinite God. Now, if God sends me to hell,
and He'd be just if He did, and you too, He doesn't owe us anything.
We're sinners, we're guilty, but if he sends me to hell, there's
no way I can ever come out of hell, and no way I can ever satisfy
infinite justice. You see, my sins are against
an infinite God, and therefore I can never pay
for them. But Christ himself being infinite,
There's no end to His value. There's no end to His glory.
His holiness is an infinite holiness. His love is an infinite love.
His sacrifice is an infinite sacrifice. You see what I'm saying?
It's capable and able to put away, to cleanse us from all
our sins. Not just a man died on that cross,
the God-man died. And you know what? Turn to Ephesians
1. Colossians, I beg your pardon,
Colossians 1. And this is the result of his
obedience and his sacrifice. In Colossians 1, listen to this,
verse 8-19. It pleased the Father that in
Christ should all fullness. He's not just mighty, He's almighty. He doesn't just have power. over
a few, he has power over all flesh. He just doesn't have authority
in a certain place, he has all authority in heaven and earth.
He doesn't just have a holiness, he has all holiness, all fullness,
everything that's the fullness of God is vested in one person,
infinite Christ Jesus. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto
himself, by him I say, whether they are in earth or heaven,
and you that were one time alienated enemies in your mind by your
wicked works, yet hath he reconciled. You don't do it, he did it. The
church doesn't do it. He did it in the body of His
flesh through death to present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in God's sight. Think of it. That's what Christ
can do. You go on and preach to people
this little old silly religion where you walk down an aisle
and shake a preacher's hand and say, I'm going to straighten
up my life and go to heaven when I die. You won't make it. You
can't make it that way. where I'm going to join the church
and do the best I can, teach Sunday school and tithe and stay
out of meanness, you can't make it. There's only one way that
you can be justified and all your sins, you who are enemies
by nature, can be reconciled to God and become unblameable,
unreprovable and holy in His sight. The searchlight of God's
own law and holiness piercing your innermost being can find
no fault. And because I'm in Christ, I
please the Father. I please the Father. And Christ
died for our sins. That's why He did it, that God
might be just. All right, where is He now? That's
the last question. My time's up. Hebrews 10. Where
is Jesus Christ now? I'll tell you this. He's not
the little frail, frustrated, disappointed, defeated reformer
that folks put him off to be. He's the living, sovereign, omnipotent,
reigning, almighty, exalted, preeminent Lord. That's right. In Hebrews 10 verse 11, every
priest standeth daily, ministering oftentimes the same sacrifices
which can never take away sin. That's talking about Aaron, sons
of Levi. But this man, After he had offered
one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. That's where he is. From henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Jesus
is Lord. He's Lord. And I'm telling you
this now. He's more than just the controller of a person's
life. I know a lot of people use this
Jesus as Lord, and you sit on the sign board. Ask them sometimes
what they mean by that. Let me tell you this. He's Lord
over the elect angels, and He's Lord over the fallen angels.
He's Lord over the elect of this Adam's race, and He's Lord over
every rebel too. He's Lord of heaven and earth,
Mars, Jupiter, Venus, the moon, the sun, and everything else.
He's sovereign, preeminent, exalted Lord. His will is going to be
done. When I say Jesus is Lord, I don't
mean that He's just my boss. I mean He's everybody's boss. Everything belongs to Him.