I've selected for our text a
verse of Scripture found in the sixth chapter of John. John chapter
six, verse forty. The title of this message is,
Everyone which seeth the Son. Everyone which seeth the Son.
And our text is John six, verse forty. And this is the will of
him that sent me." Our Lord Jesus Christ is speaking here. This
is the will of the Father which hath sent me, that everyone which
seeth the Son, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I'll raise him at the
last day. Blessed is the man, whether he
be a preacher or a church official or a member of the church, a
professing Christian, whether he be old or young, male or female,
rich or poor, blessed is the man who can see the Lord Jesus
Christ on every page of the Holy Bible. Blessed is the man who
can see Christ in everything. Now, Christ is the Bible. The
Apostle said in the book of Acts, To him giveth all the prophets
witness. You don't have to go to the third
chapter of John to see Christ. You don't have to go to John
3.16 to see you can go to Genesis and see
Christ. Turn with me to the book of Luke,
chapter 24, a moment. In Luke 24, verse 27, the Lord
Jesus Christ, after his resurrection, appeared to two disciples who
were walking together to a little village called Emmaus. They were
discussing the things that had transpired in the past few days,
and Christ listened to them. And then it says in verse 27,
"...and beginning at Moses." Now that's beginning at Genesis,
Genesis 1. Moses wrote Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the first five books of the Bible.
They're called the writings of Moses. Christ didn't start at
John 3.16. He began at Moses. He began at
Genesis 1. It says, "...beginning with Moses
and all the prophets." Beginning with the writings of Moses, and
the writings of Daniel, and the writings of Isaiah, the writings
of Jeremiah, and the writings of Samuel, beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures
the things concerning himself. Blessed is the man who can see
Christ in all the Scriptures. Blessed is the man who can see
Christ in the writings of Moses, in the Psalms, in the major and
minor prophets. When Philip talked to the Ethiopian
unit who was reading Isaiah 53, he began at the same scripture. You know, when we go out to witness
to a friend about his lost condition and to witness to him about saving
faith, almost always, almost invariably, we'll turn to the
book of John, or we'll turn to some New Testament scripture,
no, some New Testament verse. But our Lord Jesus Christ began
at Moses and preached himself. And Philip began with Isaiah,
Isaiah 53. Beginning at the same scripture,
he preached Jesus Christ and him crucified. So happy is the
man who can see Christ in the Bible. Christ is the Bible, the
whole Bible, all of the Holy Scripture. And then Christ is
eternal life. Turn to Colossians chapter 3,
verse 4. Colossians, the third chapter,
verse 4. Now listen carefully to this
verse. When Christ shall appear, then shall ye also appear with
him in glory. Pastor, you left something out.
I certainly did. I left out the very heart of
it. I left out the very essence of it, when Christ shall appear. But it says, when Christ, who
is our life, shall appear, then shall ye appear with him in the
world. Christ is our life. Christ is my life. My life is
Christ. Paul said, I'm crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I. It's not I that live. It's Christ that liveth in me. He is my life. He's not a part
of my life. He is my life. Without Christ,
I don't live. I'm not talking about physically
now, I'm talking about spiritually. I don't live without Christ.
I can't live without Christ, because Christ is life. This
is the record. God hath given us life, and this
life is in his Son. And he that hath the Son hath
life, and he that hath not the Son of God may have morality,
he may have theology, he may have compassion, He may have
all of these things, and if he hath not Christ, he doesn't have
life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. Christ is life. Christ is eternal
life. Christ is spiritual life. Christ
is the life of God in the soul. Blessed is the man who can see
Christ in the Holy Scriptures, and blessed is the man who can
see and believe that Christ is eternal life. It's not in going
to church that I get life. It is in being vitally united
with Christ. It is not in getting religion
that I receive life. It is being vitally joined to
Christ. It is not in making a decision
or believing a doctrine or being baptized or coming to a table. It is being vitally united, personally,
intimately united with the Lord Jesus Christ. He becomes all
that I am. Now the third thing, Christ is
our priest. Turn to Hebrews 10. In the tenth
chapter of Hebrews, verse 19, "...having therefore, brethren,"
Hebrews 10, 19, "...having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into
the holiest." Now that's my goal, and that's the very desire of
my heart, is to enter into the holiest. When I enter into the
holiest, I enter into fellowship with God, because God is holy. The holiest here is talking about
the presence of God. It's not a compartment in a tabernacle.
We're talking about entering into the presence of God. And
I want to enter into the presence of God for fellowship. I want
to have fellowship with God. I want God to be my God, and
I want to be his son. And then I want to enter into
the presence of God not only for fellowship, but for communion.
I want God to speak to me, and I want to speak with God. I want
to walk with God, don't you? I want to walk with God. And
then I want to enter into the presence of God eternally. I
want to dwell with God throughout eternity. I don't want to be
separated from God. Used to be an old preacher down
in Alabama that said about ten times in every sermon, I don't
want to go to hell. And I don't. I don't want to
hear God say, depart from me, I never knew you. I don't want
to hear God say, bind him hand and foot and cast him into outer
darkness where there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing
of teeth. I want to live with God. For
fellowship, communion, and eternally, I want to live with God. I want
to enter into the holiest. And this says we have boldness
to enter into the holiest. How? Because we're Baptists? Or Catholic? or Methodist or
Presbyterian, because we have met a certain standard that a
group of religious people gave us to keep in order to be safe.
We can enter into the holiest because in a revival meeting
a high-pressure evangelist had us all raise our hand, then he
prayed for us, and we walked down the aisle and made a decision
and said we believe some doctrine. Is that the way to enter into
the holiest? Or some priest dipped a wafer in a cup of wine and
put it on our lips and that made us worthy to enter into the holiest. It says, brethren, having boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. That's the
way, by the blood of Jesus. By a new and living way which
he, he, not I, not the church, not the priest, not the evangelist,
which he hath consecrated made possible, made holy, made acceptable
for us, provided through the veil, through the separating
veil, through that partition that hung between us and God.
He hath opened the way through the veil, that is to say, His
flesh. And having an high priest, we have one over the house of
God. It's Christ the Lord. Down there
in the Yucatan, there's a little village called Teya. Most several
of these men here this morning have been there. It's a place
where Brother David Pledger has been preaching for several years.
They met for a long time in a man's home, a little square building,
where it had a corn crib, where the James Thompson sang a solo
there one time when we were there in the preaching service. It
had corn piled in one corner. draw in another corner in the
people meeting here, and the pastor of that little church
in Talia, a very godly and faithful man, one of the natives who was
saved under Brother Pledger's ministry and called to preach
and trained in the gospel and sent out to preach, his wife
was dying of cancer. She had cancer when we were there
three years ago. She finally died just a few months
ago. And as she was lying on her deathbed,
her sisters and brothers came there to the little hut where
she lived. She was lying in there in the
hammock, dying. They knew any time now she would
pass away. And they came in bringing their
candles. They buy these candles from the
local religious organization, and they bring them to burn for
the dying and for the dead. They brought their candles. And
they brought their beads, and they brought their idols to be
rubbed and prayed to. And when they came around her
bedside, this dying woman, this dying believer, this dying Christian,
looked at her sisters and her brothers, and she said, I don't
need those things. I've got Christ. I don't need
your candles. Take them out of here. I don't
need your beads. I don't need your idols. I have
Christ. And he's my priest in the presence
of the Heavenly Father, and he died for my sins, and I have
confidence in his ability to save me." And when she died,
they put her in that little wooden casket. They have to bury them
in twenty-four hours down there because they don't embalm them.
They put her body in that little wooden casket and took it to
the graveyard. And her sisters and brothers
followed in their superstitious religion. They followed the funeral
procession. And when it got to the graveyard,
they fell across the casket, weeping and wailing because they
live in darkness and because they have no hope of resurrection
and no hope of eternal life. All they know about is somebody
going to purgatory and maybe getting out and maybe not getting
out, you know. And they threw themselves across
the casket and they weeped and they wailed. But this faithful
husband who knew the Lord, this preacher of the gospel, this
native Mayan, knelt beside that casket and lifted his eyes to
glory and thanked God for his wife's salvation, and thanked
God that she was now with Christ, and thanked God that she would
no longer suffer, and thanked God that on the resurrection
morning she would come forth in the glory of Christ. My friends,
Christ is our priest. and then Christ is our heaven. The Scripture says, Paul writing,
I have a desire to depart and be with Christ. To close my eyes
in death on this earth is to open them in the presence of
my Lord. Our Lord said to the thief on
the cross who died with him, Today shalt thou be with me in
paradise. Oh, blessed is the man who seeth
the Son, who seeth the Son in everything, in every page of
Holy Scripture, in every type, in every sacrifice, in every
picture, in every illustration. Blessed is the man who can see
with our faith and with a heart of faith, who can see and believe
that Christ is life. I'm going to get religion someday.
It won't do you any good. That's right, it won't do you
any good, it'll just make you harder to live with. I'm going to get
religion one of these days. Please don't. But I do hope some
of these days you who know him not will come to know Christ.
And brother, when you come to know Christ, the sun shines a
little brighter, and your heart is a little lighter, and your
step is a little lighter, and people are a little more precious.
and life is more meaningful, and the Scripture reveals Christ.
Christ is life. Christ is our priest. Christ
is heaven. And religion without Christ is
like a universe without a sun. And the Bible without Christ
is nothing but a book of history and moral laws, and it'll give
no hope and no help. I want you to go with me to Genesis
chapter 2. I said those things, now let
me give you an illustration. Christ is the Bible. Christ is
the Holy Scriptures. Christ is eternal life. Christ
is our High Priest. Christ is our religion. Christ
is our law. Christ is our heaven. Christ
is our bread. Christ is everything. The Lord
Jesus Christ. Now I want you to watch this.
In Genesis chapter 2, beginning with verse 21, And the Lord God
caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. And he took one of his ribs,
and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the
Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought
her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone
of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman,
because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave
his father and mother, and cleave unto his wife, and they shall
be one flesh. They were both naked, the man
and his wife, and they were not ashamed." Do you see Christ there? Christ chose marriage as a type
of his relationship with the church. He said, A man shall
love his wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for
it. And he said, A woman is to love and be in subjection to
her husband as the church loves and is in subjection to Christ.
The church of Christ is called the bride of Christ. In the book
of Solomon, in the song of Solomon, we are called, Christ is our
lover, and we are his bride. In Hosea, the same picture. Now
here is Christ right here, and I'm going to show you this. And
I say, blessed is the man, happy is the man, or woman, who can
see Christ in every page of the Holy Scripture, and it's there.
It just takes eyes of faith to see him. It takes a heart opened
by the Holy Spirit desiring to see Christ. Not seeing ourselves,
it's not I, me, my, it's Christ. Christ is our life. Christ is
our salvation. Now watch this. It says in verse
21, And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and
he slept, and he took one of his ribs out of his side, closed
up the flesh thereof, and the rib which the Lord God had taken
from man made he a woman. Now let's observe. Listen to
this. that the woman was not made from man's head, the superior
upper part of man, in order that she might be above him or have
power over him. And the woman was not made from
the lower part of man to be below him, to be trampled under his
feet and to be mistreated. But the woman was taken out of
his side, that she might be equal to him. and taken from a place
near his heart, that she might be loved by him, and taken from
under his arm, that she might be cared for by him, and protected
by him. And this woman taken out of him
was brought by the Father and given to the man. Even so, the
bride of Christ," that's every believer, that's you and me,
I am in the bride of Christ, Christ is my husband, I am his
bride. We were taken from Christ. The blood which flowed from his
riven side gave birth to his church, gave existence to his
bride. We were as God caused the sleep
to fall upon Adam. And Christ not only slept, but
he slept the sleep of death. The first Adam only slept. Christ
died to give existence to his bride, to give birth to his bride.
The first Adam knew no pain. Adam was wholly unconscious of
what transpired. God caused him to go to sleep,
and while he was asleep, God made an incision in his side
and took out a rib, and of that rib he made a woman. And even
so, Christ was driven by nails to that cross, and his side was
torn open with a spear, and out came the blood and water by which
his bride was born. But Christ Jesus, though Adam
knew no pain, Christ suffered as no other man has ever suffered.
And Adam was unconscious of what transpired, but Christ was conscious
every moment, and knew all that took place, and willingly gave
himself. Now when God took Eve from the
side of Adam and brought her to the man. He saw her for the
first time. That was the first time he'd
ever seen her. That's the first time he knew of her existence.
But the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, knew his bride
from eternity. Knew her from eternity. Notice
the next verse, verse 23, And when Adam beheld a woman which
God had taken from his side. When Adam beheld the woman that
God the Father presented to him, he said, This is now bone of
my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because
she was taken out of man. Now when Adam awoke, he knew
that this woman who stood before him came from him. She was not created from the
dirt. She was created from Adam. She came out of him. As he looked
at her, he knew that her vague being was taken out of him, and
because of him she existed. He was looking at himself, embodied. That's right, he was looking
at himself, embodied in a beautiful woman. She was part of him. Even so, you and I are part of
Christ. Apart from Him, we don't exist.
We are one with Him. Where He is, we are. What He
has, we have. What He is, we are. Paul said in Romans 8, 38, nothing
can separate me from Christ. And nothing can separate me from
Christ any more than Eve could cease to be a part of Adam. She was taken out of him. Because
of him, she lived. Because of him, she existed.
Because of him, she had a body. Because of him, she had existence. Because of him, she was standing
in his presence. And even so, the bride of Christ
is taken out of Christ. We are Christ. We are part of
Christ. We were taken from him. We have
our existence in him. Look at verse 24. Therefore shall
a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto
his wife, and they shall be one flesh. Now man doesn't drop his
affection for his parents when he's married. He still loves
them. He does not cease to honor his
parents or esteem them. He does not disown his parents
nor neglect them. He does not deprive them if they
have need. But in a scriptural, Christian,
normal marriage, a man's wife is first in his heart, above
his parents, above his children. I always feel sorry for husbands
and wives who stay together on account of the children. That's
a pretty poor foundation for a marriage. I always feel sorry
for a wife whose husband loves the children more than he loves
her. I feel sorry for a man whose wife loves her children more
than she loves her husband. That's not according to God's
Word. The wife is first in his heart,
in his affections, and in his care. And if there's a conflict
between parents and wife, the wife is to be defended, she is
to be protected, and she is to be first. If there's a conflict
between children, neighbors, friends, a man's wife is to be
cared for and protected and defended and put absolutely first above
all people. That's right, that's what it
says here in this verse. Therefore shall a man leave his father,
not that he disowns them, not that he despises them, not that
he neglects them, but she's first. Now what's that saying? That's
saying this, even so Christ is first in the heart and affections
of a believer. When the woman was taken out
of the man and given to him by the Father and brought to him
as a part of him, she's the very embodiment of that man, she's
the very person of that man, and brought to him, God says,
for this cause. Shall a man always leave all
others, leave his mother and father and his companions and
friends and everybody else? Not that he neglects nor disowns
them, not that he loses affection for them, but simply she's first. And here in Mark chapter 10,
turn over to Mark the tenth chapter, and what I'm saying about the
men is also true of the women. Mark chapter 10 verse 28, listen
to this. Then Peter began to say unto
him, We have left all and have followed thee. And Jesus answered
and said, Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left
house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife,
or children, or lands for my sake in the gospel, but he shall
receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, brethren,
sisters, mothers, and children, and land with persecution, and
in the world to come eternal life. Now when he talks about
leaving them, He's not talking about neglecting them. Because
if a man provides not for his own house, he's worse than a
heathen, worse than an infidel. We're supposed to provide for
our parents. We're supposed to provide for
our brothers and our sisters. We're supposed to provide for
our children, but not to put them above our wives. And even
so, when we come to know Christ, when we become the bride of Christ,
when we're literally taken from the person of Christ, when we
become vitally united with Christ in sacred, holy matrimony of
eternal life, Christ is first. If my wife cannot worship Christ
and cannot love Christ and cannot put Christ first, she'll have
to live somewhere else. And if my children, and my mother,
and my father, and my friends, if they cannot walk with Christ
while they walk with me, we can't walk together. You see what I'm
saying? When Moses wrote this in Genesis,
talking about a man leaving his mother and father, if my mother
and father, brothers and sisters, cannot get along with my wife,
then they can't get along with me, because she's first. You see what I'm saying? She's
first. She's part of me. She's my flesh. They can't hate her unless they
hate me. And even so, Christ, when we're united with Christ
and vitally joined to Christ, a man can't love us and hate
Christ. A man cannot be our bosom companion
and hate our Lord any more than a man can be my bosom companion
and hate my wife. Is that clear? A man cannot slander my wife and be my friend,
and a man cannot take my Lord's name in vain, who is my blessed
husband, who is one flesh with me, bone of my bone and flesh
of my flesh, and still be my friend. I'm not going to disown
him. I'm not going to neglect his
welfare. I'm not going to cease to hurt
him. Vengeance is mine, saith the
Lord. But we're not going to walk together.
Now, last of all, in verse 25, you see, here's Christ here. Oh, the relationship of Christ
with his people. With his people. And he says
in verse 25, and they were both naked, the man and his wife,
and were not ashamed. Adam and Eve were created without
clothes, and they didn't need clothes. and they were not ashamed. They were beautiful, and they
had nothing in them or on them or about them that caused shame. Sin brought shame. Sin brought
guilt. Most of the mental and emotional
problems of this day have as their root guilt. That's what
causes them. Guilt. G-u-i-l-t. That's what
causes them. And in Adam and Eve, there was
no guilt in their conscience. There was no sin in their nature.
There was no wickedness in their heart. There was no reason to
be ashamed. They were one. When a person takes his clothes
off to take a bath, he's not embarrassed. with himself, by
himself. He's not ashamed. And Adam and
Eve were one. She was part of him. She was
taken from him. They were one flesh. There was
no reason for shame. There was no reason for embarrassment
any more than a person is ashamed when he's alone. And that's a
normal marital attitude. And you and I In spite of all
of our sin, in spite of our past and present and unfortunately
our future, you and I, because we're one with the perfect Christ,
the holy Christ, have no reason, either now or at his coming,
to be ashamed. We have no reason to be ashamed,
either now or at his coming. We shall not be found naked.
For we shall be clothed in his holiness, as Adam and Eve were
not ashamed before their sin. Even so, you and I are not going
to be ashamed, because all sin removed. Let me show you two
other illustrations before I close. In Genesis 3, verse 21, it says,
Under Adam also and his wife did the Lord God make coats of
skin, and clothed them. Now then, you see Christ here?
Because of their sin, They needed clothing to protect them from
the weather. The weather was going to change
now. They, before their fall, lived in a temperate climate.
They didn't need clothes. Everything was soft and beautiful
and warm. It never rained. The earth was
watered by a moisture, a dew. And there were no briars and
no thorns. And earth had no rough edges
in any shape, form, or fashion. They needed clothing now to protect
them from the weather, to protect them from thorns, to protect
them from briars. Because of their sin, they felt
guilt, and they felt shame, which they did not feel before. That's
the reason they tried unsuccessfully to clothe themselves. Well, God
slew an animal, an innocent animal. Christ was slain to cover our
nakedness. He had no sin. God slew that
animal and shed its blood and took its skin and made clothing
for Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness and protect them. And
even so, Christ our Lord was slain in the flesh, the innocent
Lamb of God, to provide for us a righteousness that we might
be protected against the fierce onslaughts of God's law and God's
justice that has its sharp, piercing points. and that we might be
protected and not be ashamed at his coming. One other verse,
let me show you this. In Genesis 4, verse 4, look at
Christ here. Christ is our bridegroom as Adam
was Eve's bridegroom. Christ is our righteousness and
covering as the animal covered the skin of the animal, covered
Adam and Eve. Now then, look here. Abel brought a lamb. after they were thrown out of
the Garden of Eden, cast out. Abel brought of the first thing
of the flock, and the Lord had respect unto Abel's offering.
God gave to Adam and his family sacrificial types, the slain
animal, the blood on the altar. And this trail of blood goes
all the way from Eden's garden to Calvary. And this trail of
blood goes all the way from Egypt's Passover to Calvary's This trail
of blood goes all the way from the wilderness tabernacle, the
mercy seat, the Ark of the Covenant, to Calvary's great high priest
dying himself on that cross. This is where the trail of blood
starts right here, and it ends at Calvary. This is the first
sacrifice that we read about in the Scripture. A man brought
a blood sacrifice typifying the Lord Jesus Christ, slain for
our sin, and God had respect under his sacrifice." I don't
know whether you remember, but Brother Shanks was here some
time ago and told a story. He said there was a lawyer in
Memphis, Tennessee, who attended a certain church there. He attended
this church for ten years. And this lawyer and his pastor
were good friends. He listened to them preach every
Sunday. But a lawyer developed a heart condition, a very serious
heart condition. And this is going to happen to
me someday. It may not be a heart condition. It may be a blood
condition. It may be an incurable disease, something—the instrument
of death is already prepared. But this lawyer developed a heart
condition, and it was very serious. In fact, he was told that he
was going to die. Well, for the first time, he
really became concerned about his soul. And he went to church
and listened to his pastor, but now he wasn't interested in the
law books, he wasn't interested in money, he wasn't interested
in developing lands and houses, he wasn't interested in the things
of this world, politics, he was interested in being prepared
to meet God. He was a dying man, and he knew
it. He'd never been a dying man before. And he knew he was dying. And so he sent for his pastor.
And he said, Pastor, he said, I'm dying. I never realized this
before. I'm going to die. I may die today,
Pastor. I may die tomorrow. I may die
next week. And I've listened to you preach
for ten years. And, Pastor, you've let me down.
You haven't prepared me for this moment. I'm not ready to die. I'm not ready to die. I don't
have any hope of eternal life. I don't even know how to be saved.
I don't even know what salvation is. You failed me. Well, my friend, and I say it
solemnly and seriously with all my heart, I haven't failed you. I've declared to you this morning
that Christ is the Bible. Christ is eternal life. Christ
is our righteousness. Christ is our bridegroom. Christ
is our sacrifice. Christ is our heaven. Christ
is our hope. He is the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by him. If you die and go to hell, the
hands of Jesus Christ, the hands of the writers of Holy Scripture,
The hands of faithful ministers, this one in particular, are totally
free from your blood. Your blood's on your own hands.
And you'll curse yourself throughout eternity because you had eyes
and wouldn't see, and you had ears and wouldn't hear, and you
had a darkened heart that would not receive Christ, because he's
salvation. Our Father, take the Word and
pierce our hearts, not just our ears, though we must hear. But take the word and pierce
our hearts, and reveal to every boy and girl, every man and woman
in this building, that it's not the law that saves, it's not
the church that saves, it's not the doctrine that saves, it's
Christ that saves. May we be brought into a blessed,
vital, personal union with Christ as Adam and Eve were one. May
we be clothed in His spotless, holy righteousness as our naked
parents were clothed with the skin of the animal, and may we
all fall before the altar of Calvary, as Abel fell before
the first altar, and the blood was shed, and the remission of
his sins was because of faith in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is our sacrifice. He is our
substitute. He is our hope. Lord, let Thy
blood be propitiation for me on the mercy seat. For Christ's
sake we pray, amen. Brother Don, you come and announce
a number. While we're singing this closing
hymn, is there some person here this morning who would like to
come forward and declare that the gospel that is preached this
morning is the gospel you believe, by which you are saved wherein
you stand? and you want to publicly confess
Christ as your Lord and Savior, you want to tell the whole world
that Christ is your Bridegroom, Christ is your Righteousness,
Christ is your Sacrifice, Christ is your Hope, then we invite
you to come. Let us rejoice with you. We give
you this opportunity, this privilege of telling everybody what God
has revealed to your heart. Would you like to come? Let's
sing what number? 249. Number 249. Just as I am with the Lord. The.