Transcription
Heat. Heat. I will cry. Jesus Christ. Pictures. Hallelujah. You're going to be outside. Thank you. Heat. Heat. Good evening. Let's work on our memory passage together.
So you can pull out your verse card or turn to our review passage is Habakkuk chapter 3 verses 17-19. Habakkuk 3. Just double checking. I was out of state last week. We didn't do that review passage last week. Correct.
>> So, we did and I thought we were going to do it one more time.
>> Perfect. That's what I meant. We were going to do it one more time.
>> Good way to cover for me, brother. Appreciate that.
All right. Oh, man. Let me go throw in the microphone here for a minute. I like to drop these sometimes. All right. Is this thing still working or did I break it?
>> All right. Good, good, good.
Habakkuk chapter 3 verses 17 to 19. Okay. Beginning in verse 17. "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places to the chief singer on my stringed instruments."
All right. In the last week's verse in 2 Timothy, it was chapter 2:11. So we'll say that once through and then we'll move on to verse 12. All right. 2 Timothy chapter 2:11. "It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him."
All right. Verse 12. We'll say that through twice. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us." Amen.
All right. When it says that if we deny him, he will deny us. What is that saying? Does that mean if you fail once, you're doomed? It's talking about a lifestyle. Somebody who denies the Lord by a lifestyle. Somebody says, "Well, I would never deny the Lord." You know, living in disobedience to his word is denying the Lord.
>> And talking about Jesus and living in opposition to him, that's denying him.
>> That's denying him. That's not okay.
All right. A couple of announcements real quick. Pastor Mitchell, I talked to him a little bit earlier. It sounds like they've had a great trip up in Shelburn. Uh, he preached at 10 o'clock this morning up there and then Pastor Brownfield after that. So sharing it with the men. Pastor Brownfield got to preach there for the first time, actually seeing those people face to face instead of over Zoom meeting. What an exciting thing. It sounds like they've had a good trip. They've been spared from the weather problems that looked like they were going to dominate this trip. So, it's actually been pretty good. They were heading down. What town is their hotel in?
>> Is it something?
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that one.
>> B. Yeah, Brampton. They were heading back to the hotel for the evening, but they had some time in the afternoon with the men up there just to talk about several doctrinal practical things. So, praise God. It's been a good trip. And they're going to be heading back. They're hoping to meet with a pastor up in New York who is Pastor Stager's father-in-law. That's right. What's his name again?
>> Constantino.
>> Yeah, Constantino.
>> Pastor Constantino. I probably heard that he was over there, but I forgot that. I was like, "Hey, that's great. That's pretty cool. They get to do that. Praise the Lord."
So, let's have the men come forward. We'll receive the Sunday evening offering. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that we have your word. We have great cause to sing and to rejoice. The Savior has come and we can know him and we can know his will. We thank you for that. We ask your blessing on the preaching of the word tonight that it would be preached in a manner that pleases you. That you would help us to understand. But Lord, that the preaching of the word would be received by willing hearts. Lord, you warn us, be doers of the word, not hearers only. You warn us that you resist the proud and give grace to the humble. So help all of us to be receptive to what you say in your word. Help us as we sing. Help us as we give. Thank you we get to worship you in this way. Strengthen Pastor Mitchell and Pastor Brownfield. I pray you keep them from evil as they travel. Thank you for the good trip they've had this far. Thank you for your incredible work with that group up there and the testimony they've had, the way they've conducted themselves, receiving counsel going forward biblically, wanting a real pastor according to thy will. And we thank you that it looks like that's about to happen. We bless your holy name for that. And we pray you'd help them to get back home safely in the rest of this trip in Jesus name. Amen.
All right, baby. Oh, heat, heat. Heat. Heat. Oh, heat, heat. Let's stand with our great hymns of the faith. Let's take our hymnels and turn to page 211. 211. Hallelujah for the cross. 211. The cross is stand. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Be hallelujah. Hallelujah. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. The grace of God is Christ. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hallelujah. Hallelu. Amen.
>> Amen.
Please remain standing and turn to page 212. Right across the page, actually. Nothing but the blood. 212. What I sus nothing but the blood of Jesus is the Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. I know nothing but Jesus. This is all Jesus. Heat. Heat. Heat. I know nothing but the blood of Jesus.
>> Amen.
You may be seated. Let's take our psalters now. That's the uh book of the blue ribbon for those of you who might not be familiar. And we'll turn to page 98. Psalm 46:1-11. Psalm 46:1-11. Page 98. "God is our refuge and our strength and strength of present day. Therefore, all the earth we will not be afraid. Christmas season forever. A holy place for high to the and praise you. The king of the Lord and his voice for me. The Lord our sight the God of Ju. Come and be wonderous. Come see wonder to the end of all the earth. Praise the spirit in fire the chariot burns. Be still and know that I am the high will be exalted on earth. Will be exalted." Heat. Heat. Heat. I take our refuge forever. Amen.
>> Amen.
Let's open up our Bibles to Matthew chapter 16. Right. I'd intended to be somewhere entirely different tonight preaching wise, but uh I think the Lord would have me finish up what we began in Sunday school this morning. Vital stuff, foundational stuff for most of us review. Much of what I said isn't profound to most of this audience. There weren't probably a lot of things where you went, "Wow, I never knew that." But we don't outgrow these things, do we? And of course, our topic from this morning, in fact, I'm going to just I'm going to review just a touch, go back through these, and then we will get a running start. We'll be in Matthew 16 in a minute. But the question I posed this morning at the beginning is, do you have the real Jesus? It may seem like a strange question. It seems like in American culture, it's an unpopular question to ask. Somebody says, "I believe in Jesus." And you say, "What do you mean by that?" They're apt to get rather upset.
>> Now, they shouldn't get upset.
One of the points I'm going to get to is the Lord himself warned there would be many false Christs that would deceive many. The Lord himself told us that.
>> So, it's imperative that any person who wants to have some semblance of spiritual sanity, you actually want to know the state of your soul and where you're heading, you better get on board with what God says in his word. Amen.
We don't just dream up who Jesus is. We don't dream up what a church is. We don't dream up what the Christian life is. It's not up to our opinions, our feelings, our sentiments.
>> It comes down to what God has revealed in his word. That's right.
I mentioned how vast a vast majority of American so-called Christianom has no idea about spiritual realities. The vast majority of those who say they are saved in America is they're totally opposed to what God says in his word about the way of salvation, about the fruits of salvation, about what Jesus is actually like. And I mentioned several uh reasons for that. Some of its dreams and visions or feelings or backgrounds or things people have seen on TV or artwork or dramatic productions or things like that. None of those are authoritative. You know, God, if he wanted to give us pictures of Jesus, he could have done so.
>> Artwork did exist in the first century, by the way.
He could have done that. He did not do it. He gave us a written book.
>> Uh, we do not know what Jesus looked like on purpose >> because mankind tends towards idolatry.
So, we were talking about some uh descriptions of the real Jesus. Number one we started with was the real Jesus can only emphasize only can only be known to us through the written word of God.
>> Amen.
That's the only way he can be known. That's not one of the ways he can be known. That is the only way that he can be known. This is God's plumb line. This is God's measuring stick. This is God's completed revelation. This is the faith once delivered to the saints in our hands. Everything is to be tested by this book. Every teaching, every lifestyle, every direction, every thought, every church, every preacher ought to be tested by this book. Every version of Jesus out there, somebody says, "Well, Jesus told me this." Oh, no, he did not.
>> Because the Jesus of this book flatly contradicts that, and this this right here is true.
So, the real Jesus, you can only know him through the word of God. And we went through passages showing where Jesus himself upheld that. That that's not a complicated thing. It should not be. Okay. Secondly, the real Jesus is God the Son. He is deity. The real Jesus is God very God. He is the God-man. Man didn't ascend to godhood. God condescended and took upon himself human flesh. Now, true in the days of his incarnation, it's a great mystery to us. He veiled himself. He laid aside the free exercise of many of his perfections, but even many of those shown through. How many occasions did he say to people, "Why are you thinking those things?" How did he know that? Because he's God. That's how that's why he can read minds. So, the real Jesus is God.
>> You know, huge so-called denominations in this country that say they're Christian utterly and totally deny that. Jesus himself said, "If you do not believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins."
>> He was saying in that verse, if you do not believe that I am God, you are going to perish in hell.
>> You cannot reject that and be saved. Thirdly, very unpopular but very, very necessary. The real Jesus preached about hell.
>> He did that often. And I mentioned much of the information we have about what hell is like comes from the mouth of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He said the fire is not quenched there. The worm doesn't die. Uh, he spoke about hell twice as much as heaven. Uh, John the Baptist tells us Jesus is the one that will send people there. He's the one that sends people there. That Jesus of the Bible does that. Hell is a terrible topic. I don't like it. But we don't have the luxury of laying aside what God has revealed to us. I want you to think about this. Why would God himself step down to earth to bear the sins of people to save them and while here preach about eternal fiery conscious hell? Because he doesn't want anybody going there. That's why. If God was a sadistic tyrant, he wouldn't say anything about hell.
>> You see, our God is a God of truth and plainness.
>> Our God is a God that tells you the things you need to know that lie ahead.
>> That's right.
>> That's what he's like. The real Jesus was born of a virgin. Again, you cannot deny that and call yourself a Christian biblically. The real Jesus shed his blood in our place for our sins.
>> No blood, no salvation. The real Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. He walked out of the tomb. We stopped on this one. The real Jesus demands repentance.
>> That's right. There needs to be a serious reviving of the historic biblical doctrine of repentance in these United States as well as other places in the world. For the last six or seven decades, repentance has been the missing element. It's been believe, believe, believe. If belief without repentance cannot happen, there's no such thing as Bible faith that doesn't turn from sin into God. Amen.
>> A so-called salvation that leaves you the same sinner you were before is a fraud and a counterfeit.
>> He came to save you from your sins, not to leave you in them.
>> And Jesus came and said, "Except you repent, ye will ye shall all likewise perish. Repent ye," he said, "and believe the gospel. Turn from your own way. Lay down your rebellion. Lay down your wickedness. Turn your back on your own way. You're heading for hell. You're heading for destruction. If you're going to take Christ, you're going to turn your back on that >> or that's going to take you to the everlasting torments that he talked about. There is no middle ground. It is turn or burn. The Jesus of the Bible preached that.
>> He still demands that. All right. Matthew 16, you're there. The next thing we'll talk about the real Jesus established his church and beyond that church is and expects you to be added to one of them.
>> That's good.
>> We see that historic definition of or the historic uh confession of Simon Peter. Verse 17, the Lord asked, "Who do other men say that I am?" And Simon answered, "Who do you say that I am?" "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Verse 17, the Lord says, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Of course, he tells him, "Thou art Peter, uh, Petros, little stone, but on this Petra, this rock, this bedrock, speaking of himself, I will build my church. I will build my appointed means for charging the gates of hell and carrying out my work in this present age."
>> Right?
>> It's only the Lord's churches that can claim propagation and protection and his blessing.
>> If somebody says, "I have a great ministry idea," and it's not through one of the Lord's churches defined by him, they're off.
>> They are off. Amen.
>> You see in Matthew 18, interpersonal conflict, disciplinary issues, they escalate. By the way, the root word for discipline is disciple. It's to help. That's what counseling is, by the way. You know, it's a big word today. Counseling, counseling, counseling. There there's counseling, counseling ministries. I'm all for biblical counsel. You know what biblical counsel is? Here's the issue. Let's define that in biblical terms. Now, we're going to show you what God has to say. And now, we expect you to repent of that sin and turn from it and get on board with God and get up and go forward. And if you refuse to do that, you don't need ongoing counseling. You need the situation to escalate until it's properly dealt with or somebody is put out of the church, which nobody likes. But friends, the Jesus of the Bible commanded that.
>> Sure did.
>> "Let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican." That is a command of the real Jesus of the Bible. He tells us to do that.
>> You can't say you believe in Jesus, but I reject that. Then you don't believe in Jesus.
>> You don't believe in the real Jesus. In fact, it's just assumed in that passage that a believer will be in a church.
>> Notice he doesn't say, "Well, if you happen to be in a church, >> why don't you talk about it? Tell it to the church."
>> Well, what if I don't have one? You better do something about that.
>> You see the Great Commission, Matthew 28, and given to his churches. Preach the gospel, baptize, plant churches, disciple people unto maturity. We see in the book of Acts that it's the church which Christ purchased with his own blood. The Lord himself said that the the decisions that his assemblies make, his real churches are bound in heaven. The real Jesus said that we see the epistles in the New Testament written to churches. Instruction to families, mothers, fathers, parents, children, employees, employers, spiritual gifts, pastors, etc. It's all given to churches.
>> You get to the book of Revelation, you see the Lord walking in the midst of those seven churches. In fact, that book is written to those seven churches. So, the real Christ of the Bible, you follow the real Jesus, the real Jesus commands and expects you to be added to one of his real churches if you're a saved person. There is no such thing as a follower of Jesus in the New Testament that remains churchless on purpose as some independent floating agent.
>> That is as unbiblical and unwise as you can get. That's a recipe for delusion is what that is. That's right.
>> That's not the real Jesus. How about this one? The real Jesus does not sugarcoat hard truth.
>> I mentioned how some of the historic artwork about fake Jesus are effeminate and uh effeminate white guy from the West, too. Jesus was Jewish. I mean, is that is that so complicated? He wouldn't had blonde hair, right? Like some of these paintings. He would have looked like a Jew. But the Jesus of the Bible is not an effeminate, apologetic, lisping, unsure of truth type of man who's afraid to offend.
>> I love the way he defended John the Baptist. John sends his disciples to ask questions of the Lord, and the Lord answers that by quoting the book of Isaiah. And then the Lord turns to the crowd and says, "What went ye out in the wilderness for to see?" A reed shaken with the wind. But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment. A feminine raiment. That's what that word means. Did you expect to see a limp-wristed pansy?
>> No.
>> I hope not.
>> That's not the preachers God raises up.
>> John the Baptist was not one of those. Neither was the Lord. Think of just a sampling of some of the things Jesus said and did. Can Can you picture, you know, he that cleansing of the temple? He did it twice, by the way, at the beginning and the end of his public ministry. Can Can you picture the real Jesus, the Jesus, you know? He picked up small cords and he made a whip and he walked into that big beautiful temple building and he began to crack that thing and he drove those commercialistic money lovers out and he flipped their tables over. And when he got done, there was a deathly silence with him standing there alone as he told them, "Get this stuff out of here. Take these things hence. Make not my Father's house a house of merchandise."
>> We see Jesus at one point looked around on the people with anger. By the way, some of the modern verses change it to don't ever be angry. It says, "Be ye angry and sin not." That's a big difference.
>> That's right.
>> Friends. Jesus shows anger. The Bible Bible God shows anger all over the Bible.
>> That's not all he shows. He's merciful. He's compassionate. He is loving. That's right.
>> But he definitely shows anger. His anger is always righteous. How about this? When he said to his enemies who were trying to trap him, "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" Or another time, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do." Or another time, "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias or Isaiah prophesy of you?" Now, we could keep going with that. Somebody says, "Yeah, but that was to those nasty Pharisees." How about when he told the lead apostle, "Get thee behind me, Satan."
>> He wasn't calling Peter Satan, but he was saying, "You better watch who's influencing you."
>> That's right.
>> The disciples are in a storm. The Lord says, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" How about this one? "I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." That was to the pastor at Ephesus. Or how about to Laodicea, one of his churches. "So then because thou art lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will spew vomit thee out of my mouth." He's saying your namby-pamby refusal to take a stand on anything is making me sick. The real Jesus said that. The real Jesus said that and put it in his word for you and I to know he said it and to tell people that he said it.
>> He means what he says. He says, "As many as I rebuke, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten."
All right. Turn to Revelation 2 and 3. We may or may not be here in the upcoming men's meeting. I don't know. This is one of the things I'm thinking about, but not this exact statement, I mean, but this section. Do you know that the real Jesus, he loves, he died for our sins. But the real Jesus also hates false teaching >> and hates the deeds that come from false teaching.
>> And I said hates because that's exactly what the real Jesus said.
Speaking to the churches in Revelation. Look at Revelation chapter 2 verse 15. He's talking to the church in Pergamus. "So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. Which thing I..." What's the next word? "Hate." That's Christ saying that. He says, "I hate that. I hate their teaching." So, there's teachings that come to creep their way into churches. And some of those because they're so unbiblical, the Lord says, "I hate them. I hate them." You can go back into the first in that same chapter, verse six. He's telling this commendation to the pastor in the church at Ephesus. "But this thou hast, notice this, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate." The Lord is actually commending this church, saying, "Excellent job for hating what I hate."
>> It is a ridiculous notion that you can love biblically and not hate anything. You can't love righteousness and not hate iniquity.
>> You can't love truth and not hate lies.
>> You can't love people and not hate what sends them to hell.
>> You can't love your child and not hate the disease that would kill them or the criminal that would harm and kill them. God is not like that. He does not expect us to be like that. The real Jesus hates false teaching and the deeds that come from it. Turn to Luke 12. Luke 12. Luke 12:8. I realize we're just touching on most of these. I got the wrong reference. Turn to Matthew 24:5. I'm sorry. I had the wrong Luke one written down. It isn't there, but I wrote it down wrong. We'll move on. Matthew 24:5. Actually, picking up in verse four. And Jesus answered and said unto them, they're asking about end times events as disciples. Matthew 24:4, "Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many." Do you know the real Jesus himself warned multiple times about false Christs? Jesus himself warned to beware of false Christs. False versions, alternate versions of Jesus that would deceive many. How do we know a false Christ? I mean, it seems like a basic question. It would be interesting to survey the country on that one. How do you recognize a false Christ? What's the only answer? A false Christ is exposed by this.
>> Otherwise, what are you left with? Your brains, your feelings, your sight, what you think your version of Jesus should be doing. I don't want to stand on that.
>> I want to stand on eternal truth.
>> The real Jesus warned about false Christs. In fact, all over the Bible, we see warnings about false Christs, false teachers. We see that all over the place. If Jesus himself gave that warning, how in the world can somebody get mad when you test their version of Jesus by the Bible? That's a ridiculous thing to get mad at.
>> It really is.
>> One of the questions I posed this morning, I'll repeat it. You you could ask people, are you are you a Christian? Somebody says yes. Are you Would you say you're a follower of Jesus? Yes, seven out of 10 Americans would say yes to that roughly statistically. But then if you ask them, how do you know who he is, what he's like, what he expects from you. Many, many, many, many people would miss that if the next answer is not because of the written word of God. They can't possibly know the real Jesus.
>> That's right.
>> They're fooling themselves.
>> A New Testament warns us Satan himself is deceived into an angel of light. That means he's a beautiful deceiver in the spiritual realm.
>> I mean, you think false teachers come and say, "Hi, they wear a shirt. False teacher club." No, they're attractive. They're attractive. They're eloquent. They're likable. Satan is an angel of light. It's an interesting description. Beauty. Mesmerizing beauty.
All right. How about this one? Turn back to Matthew 7. The real Jesus. This is the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Almost the end. The real Jesus pointed to a straight gate and a narrow way. Matthew 7 verse 13. The Lord says, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth unto destruction, and many there be which go in thereat." Now consider the words of the real Christ here. He's speaking to a multitude of mostly lost people, and he's telling them, listen, there is a Broadway way. Isn't it interesting the world calls it Broadway? What an ironic name. I'm going to go watch Broadway. I'm going to go read Vanity Fair. Wow. Wow. The Lord says there's a broad way that leads to destruction and many there be which go in thereat. All right. So there there's a 12-lane freeway paved, well-lit, heading right to eternal damnation that most people are on. The real Jesus says this, most people will reject him. Most people will reject truth. Not because they cannot be saved, but they will not. Notice what he says next. All right? Why do they go to destruction? Look at verse verse 14. Because here's why. "For strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Strait is the gate. What does that mean? Well, according to Strong, at least it means it's narrow because of the obstacles collected around it. Think about this. There's a gate. The Lord says go through it. And all kinds of satanic clutter likes to collect there. But see, the Lord is straightforward. He doesn't say there's a straight gate. Don't worry what's beyond it. The Lord did not say there's a straight gate and it's just the jolliest thing imaginable beyond that. It's your best life now. No. So the real Jesus said, "Listen, there's a straight gate and the way beyond that, you know what it is? It's narrow because the Lord's honest. All these pathetic, ridiculous, gimmicky sorts of gospels. Come to Jesus, he'll fix all your problems. Come repeat some sinner's prayer and he'll heal your boo-boos and make you a millionaire." Friends, you may come to Jesus and get fed to lions. Now, I'm not hoping for that. I don't want that. Don't get me wrong. I don't have some kind of weird complex like I'm asking for persecution. I'm not. But I am saying we live in a bubble. We live in a historical bubble and we have a safety and a freedom that very few Christians in history have ever had. That's right.
>> Many, many, many, many, many people have come to Christ historically after watching Christians burned at the stake or fed to lions or beaten to death in the streets or thrown in prison. Why would they do that? They weren't coming to join the carnival. They did that because they saw the real Christ pointing to a real gate >> and they were convinced of real truth.
>> And they were convinced that the way must be narrow >> because the world is Satan's playground and we are strangers and pilgrims in this world and that that way is about this narrow right here.
>> Doesn't mean there's no enjoyment. Doesn't mean there's no fun. We enjoy things together. The young people got together to do one of those gift exchanges. That's great. But that's not the point of life.
>> Amen.
>> That's not the point of coming to Christ, >> right?
>> But you see, the real Jesus pointed to just not just the straight gate, but the narrow way. Listen, you come to me and you're saved by grace through faith. But let me tell you something. Your life's going to change. You come to the real Christ, he's going to take over your life. Amen.
>> You come to the real Christ, he is king and master.
>> That's right.
>> That's the real Jesus.
>> Most refuse that. Most will reject it because the way is narrow. I've already kind of set the tone to it. But how about this one? The real Jesus is Lord.
>> He is Lord.
>> He is authoritative. We see the command. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." All of that matters. Believe on. Belief is a settled confidence, fully persuaded. Not just believe in, like, oh yeah, I'm convinced he exists, but I'm stepping I'm stepping onto that truth. I'm putting the weight of my soul on it. You know what happens when you do that? Your life changes.
>> That's right.
>> Amen.
>> It changes. So many believe in a version of Jesus with his authority and lordship totally removed as though he's the only Lord that can't tell anybody what to do.
>> That's ridiculous. Jesus Christ does not stop being who he is when he saves you.
>> And he doesn't need our help running the universe.
>> Amen.
>> This is his church.
>> This is his word. This is his gospel. And he's coming to set up his kingdom to rule his servants over his new heaven and new earth. And you and I get to be a part of that. Amen.
>> It's I I find that I remember some time ago going through this and being kind of astounded at the time in the book of Acts, savior is a wonderful word. I'm glad it's there. In the book of Acts, the word savior appears twice. This is the this is the early churches being formed. The book of Acts, the word savior appears twice. Jesus appears 68 wonderful times. The word Lord is there 110 times. Now, would you say that's an emphasis? Would you say the Holy Spirit is telling us something?
>> Would you say those early churches understands understood that he was in charge?
Jesus said to teach those that believe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. That's pretty all-inclusive. What are we to do when we disciple people? They're added to the church. We're to teach them everything God has commanded them to do. Not just the words of Christ in the Gospels, but everything he says. The Lord told his disciples, "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." Now, if I had an earthly friend that said that, we probably wouldn't be friends real long. But you know what? Jesus says that. That's good. That's good because he's right.
>> He's right. He's creator and sustainer and Lord and Master and Savior and King.
>> I mean, just look at the word servant in the New Testament applied to God's people. True salvation from the true Jesus produces a dramatic change in attitude towards his authority. You know, one of the major marks of somebody who's actually been born of God, there's a clear manifestation of a desire and a willingness to obey him.
>> That's right.
>> They want to know his will. Victor's been saved recently.
>> You know, Victor, if you were sitting here talking about salvation and there was no desire whatsoever for you to obey God, we wouldn't be baptizing you soon.
>> But that's what I've seen.
>> Amen. Amen. What does the Bible say? What does the Lord Jesus Christ say?
>> I'm going to do it. How many of you found when you were saved, you were actually converted? Some of you went from a fake conversion to a real one. I did. How many of you found you were truly converted and all of a sudden I want to do the will of God, right? Amen.
>> Isn't that true?
>> Amen.
>> Praise the Lord. All right. The real Jesus. In fact, turn to First Timothy. We just got a couple more of these. First Timothy chapter 6. I'll mention that one in a minute. But while you're turning there, I'll say what this one is. The real Jesus is exclusive and he will not share the throne with anybody or anything.
>> That's right. Remember Jesus is the perfect manifestation of the Father. What did the Father say in the Old Testament giving the law? "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
>> Amen.
>> What did Jesus say in John 14:6? "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
>> Amen. Amen.
>> The real Jesus demands that you forsake every other hope of so-called salvation. You forsake every other fake religion. You forsake every other false thing that you've trusted in. You forsake your own way and you turn your back on it. The real Jesus insists that you forsake idols. You know, it's very common for missionaries particularly in uh very Catholic countries or especially Hindu countries. So, one of the things they deal with is a tendency. People profess faith in Christ, but they're here's what they're doing. They have a shelf full of their idols and they just want to put Jesus up there on the shelf. Do you know a staunch Muslim believes Jesus existed? In fact, a staunch Muslim believes Jesus was a prophet. He'll say, you know, you you know what he won't say? He's the Lord and Master and everything else must be rejected. The real Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me." He'll not share the throne with anybody. I just want to point out these words in of First Timothy. This is one of the pastoral epistles written to Pastor Timothy. Here Paul says in verse 13, "I give thee charge in the sight of God." So, he's closing out this letter and he's telling Timothy, "You better do everything I'm telling you." By the way, you want a biblical pastor, he's going to obey this book.
>> First, Second Timothy, and Titus especially, which are written to show pastors how to conduct themselves in the Lord's churches. Some time ago, I preached a message asking this question. Are your expectations for pastors based on what the Bible actually says or on something else? It's a good question. You know, many people say, "Well, I you know, I just I always have wanted a pastor like this or I just don't think the pastor should do that." What do you base that on?
>> You might find if you're act you actually go to the Bible and see what it says, you might be shocked to find that what you think a pastor ought to be is nothing like what he ought to be. So Paul's telling Timothy, "I give thee charge in the sight of God who quickeneth all things and before Jesus Christ Jesus who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession." So he's telling Timothy, you do everything I'm telling you here. I'm charging you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ. By the way, Christ expects pastors to obey this. He expects pastors to obey his marching orders.
>> "That thou keep this commandment," that's the whole book, "without spot, unrebukeable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." He's saying, Timothy, Christ, Lord and Master, he's coming and he's coming to judge his people and he's coming to judge his pastors. Amen.
>> And because of that, I'm warning you. You better do exactly what I'm telling you. Look how it describes him, which in his times, speaking of Christ, "He shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting." Amen. He is Lord and Master. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
>> His church is his. He will not share his glory or his throne with anybody. Verse 15. In fact, we can turn. Let's turn to Mark chapter 2. This is flipping around. This is good for us a little bit. We don't usually do this much, but Mark chapter 2. The real Jesus will not save the righteous, but only sinners who receive his assessment of them.
>> So Jesus is eating with sinful people. By the way, some want to twist this and and and try to make it sound like the Son of God was partying with rebels. That's wicked.
>> Right?
>> He was reaching out to people who needed help and he very clearly dealt with their sin, but they criticized him. And when Jesus heard that, verse 17, "When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
>> Well, what's he saying? That's good.
>> He's saying that somebody who clings to their own self-assessment of being good enough, he will not save them. Somebody who's really ready to understand the gospel, they're done arguing with God's assessment of them. Amen.
>> When he says they're depraved, wicked to the core, they say, "It's true."
>> Compared to God, it's true. I may not have gone as far as some people have, but I would, given the right circumstances and opportunity. Friend, that's you. Jesus does not save those who will not accept his assessment of them. But he says, "I call sinners." Notice he doesn't say, "I call sinners to stay where they are. I didn't call the righteous, but I call sinners to repeat a magic prayer and continue in a life of wickedness." No, I call sinners to repentance. I change them.
>> Amen.
>> I change them.
>> You know what happens? You accept God's assessment of you. You stop the fighting and you stop the arguing and you stop the comparisons and you stop the finger-pointing and you stop hardening your heart and you let the word of God penetrate and show you just how vile you are.
>> The Lord points you to the Savior. Says, "Look and live."
>> And he sets your feet upon a rock and he puts a new song in your mouth.
>> Amen.
>> And he turns you away from that destruction. And he makes you a new creature. And he takes away your heart of stone. And he gives you a heart of flesh.
>> And he makes you born again.
>> Amen.
>> Hallelujah.
>> But you've got to come his way.
>> That's right. That's right.
>> Somebody coming and fighting and saying, "Well, I'm not as bad as God says." He will not save you.
>> He will not because you're still calling him a liar.
The real Jesus. Turn to Jude 15. We'll look at a couple in Revelation, too, real quick. But book of Jude just before the book of Revelation. Jude is a powerful little book written by the Lord's half-brother in the flesh. The real Jesus is coming again in fearful power. He's not coming to negotiate.
>> That's right.
>> He's not coming to make concessions.
>> He's not asking to get the opinions of the religious masses. He's not going to stop by the Vatican and ask for that hellish man, the Pope's opinion. He's going to come and he's going to take possession of his earth. That's right.
>> Let's read a couple descriptions. Jude verse 15. By the way, this is a this is a prophecy of Enoch. You can read about Enoch back in Genesis 5. It was a long time ago. Enoch prophesied not of the first coming, but of the second coming of Christ. He looked way beyond what was coming next. Here's what Enoch was preaching in his day. Think about this. Verse 14. "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." Enoch looks up and says, "Behold, the Lord's coming. He's going to put down rebellion." Turn ahead to Revelation 14. Still talking about the real Jesus. The real Jesus of the Bible. I'll just read part of this one. Some of the judgment that's poured out. Revelation 14. Revelation 14:14. "I looked and behold a white cloud and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man." That's Jesus. "Having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle." For what? Harvesting the earth. Its clusters are ripe because sinners who have not repented are going to be thrown into God's winepress and they're going to be crushed. This is the real Jesus. Look at verse 20. "And the winepress was trodden without the city." This is outside the city of Jerusalem. "And blood came out of the winepress even unto the horse bridles by the space of 1,600 furlongs." That's 200 miles. Christ will tread down his enemies and it's going to fill a 200-mile-long riverbed or valley or something full of blood that reaches up to the bridle of a horse. That's the real Jesus.
>> That's the Jesus of the Bible. Not our high-five buddy. Not a party animal. Not me and Jesus got a good thing going. And we don't need anybody to tell us what it's all about. What a stupid song that is.
>> No. The Jesus of the Bible is a Jesus who saves and a Jesus who pours out his wrath. Revelation 17. Flip ahead. We'll look at one more in Revelation. Revelation 19, we have another snapshot of Christ's second coming. Revelation 19:1. John, of course, is given this vision of what's going to happen. This is at towards the this is at the end of the tribulation period. That's seven years of God's judgment unleashed in the world. Atheism's died at that point. Nobody can nobody can deny that God is pouring out judgment, but men still refuse to repent. Revelation 19:11. "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. The real Jesus judges and makes war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And who he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."
>> Amen.
>> You look at the end of the chapter, the beast and the false prophet are taken and they're they're grabbed like a cat shaking a mouse. They're hurled alive right into hell without the privilege of dying. Jesus does that. Revelation uh chapter verse 21 of that same chapter. "And the remnant." That's all the rebellious masses gathered on earth to fight against him. "The remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh." It's a grotesque picture. It's intended to be. You can't fight the real Jesus of the Bible and win. That's right.
>> He's coming again in fearful power.
>> There's no vote.
>> There's no political season.
>> There's going to be no vote. Jesus signs in people's yards. He doesn't need a vote.
>> It's all his.
>> Lastly, in fact, let's turn to John five. We'll end with that one. John five. There's many places we could go. It's curious. Some some false religionists who deny that Jesus is God, they will try to go to John five in order to do that. That's
a really unfortunate place to go to try to defend their position because it proves just the opposite. But here's our last one. The real Jesus of the Bible, he is the judge. Not a judge. He's the judge. The judge. The same Jesus that died on the cross. The same Jesus who was meek and lowly riding upon a colt, a donkey. The same Jesus who wept over Jerusalem. That same Jesus is the judge. John 5 picking up in verse 19. Jesus said unto them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he what he seeth the Father do. For what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." See, you and I can't say that. We don't mirror the Father perfectly. Jesus is saying, "Everything I do is exactly like the Father because I am God."
For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth, and he will show him greater works than these that ye may marvel. For as the Father raise up the dead, and quickenth them, even so the Son quickenth whom he will." Jesus raisth whoever he wants back to life. For the Father judgeth no man, you see verse 22, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. All judgment committed unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honorth not the Son honereth not the Father which has sent him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Amen. Right? You know, when the Lord said Lazarus, come forth. Some have made the remark, it's a good thing he said Lazarus because everyone would have come out. I don't know that wasn't the appointed time, but the Lord's saying, you know what, the day is coming when the real Jesus is going to speak and people are coming out of the grave. Amen. Amen. It's incredible. All judgment, he says, is committed under the sun. in Romans 14, 1 Corinthians 5, 1 Corinthians 3. We're not going to turn to those for sake of time, but we read there about the judgment seat of Christ. Why is it his judgment seat? Because all judgments committed under the sun. That's why that's a judgment for Christian people. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3 about the works that we do. He's he's talking about preachers there, but we can make the application beyond that. The works you do as a Christian person, not to be saved as a Christian because you're saved. They're going to be tested by fire to see if they're wood, hay, and stubble or gold, silver, and precious stones. The son of God is said to have eyes like a flaming fire. He's testing. What's he testing by? Right here. Someone says, "Well, I I built this wonderful ministry." Did you do it the Bible way? It's going up in flames. I don't mean on this earth, it's going up in flames. I mean before God, it's going up in flames.
Jesus, the real Jesus, is the one who will take your life and your works, and if they're not according to his word, he'll burn them up. Now, you don't lose salvation if you're saved, but it's very possible to watch much of what you done in life go up and smoke. The real Jesus does that. He's not going to say, "Hey, good job. You did your best. Hey, you were really sincere on that. Why didn't you do it my way? Why didn't you do it my way?" Well, that's the judgment seat of Christ. That's for believers. What about the lost? We were there this morning. I'm not going to turn there again, but you can look at it in Revelation chapter 20. I saw a great white throne and one sat upon the throne from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. That seems to be the destruction of the material cosmos right there. The earth is vaporized along with the heavens. Those who've rebelled against him are there apparently suspended on a pavilion before the one on that throne who we know from John 5. Who is it? The real Jesus.
Amen. The real Jesus is the one that is going to be on the great white throne. And it says there, "Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Who does it? The real Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible. Do you have the real Jesus? Or do you have a version you conjured up? You see, your own version of Jesus can't save you. That's right. Any more than mine can. It's only this one that can. The glorious news is the real Jesus is compassionate and he is longsuffering. In fact, the Bible closes out with him saying, "Whosoever will may come." That's right. He reaches out with nailpierced hands and a pierced side being risen from the dead after shedding his blood for you. So, I'm not just asking, do you have some affiliation with something called Jesus? I'm asking, do you have the Jesus of the Bible? Have you repented of your own way and put your trust in him? If you have not, you're on a collision course with Jesus, the judge. But you can have Jesus as savior now. Whosoever will may come. That's right.
Let's pray together. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you that you love us enough to tell us truth. You tell us about the narrow way and the broad way. You tell us about heaven and hell. You tell us about bliss and about judgment. You tell us about righteousness and iniquity. You tell us about yourself and about the devil. We thank you for that. I pray Lord that everybody in this room would be submitted to what your word says about the real Jesus because that's all there is. All the other phonies are going to be destroyed. And I thank you for that. Lord, I thank you. We can see in your word in Revelation 17, Revelation 18, the total destruction of false religion. And I bless your holy name that you'll do that. It will be wiped out. It will no longer be tolerated on this planet. But for now, help us to be discerning and wise, have our eyes wide open, to cling fast to your word as a light shining in a dark place. In Jesus name, amen. You know what we'll do? Let's all stand together. Okay, we'll sing Amazing Grace. Let's sing the first verse. Just ac cappella. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. And then we'll be dismissed. Right. First verse. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found. Was blind but now I see. Amen. You are dismissed. If anyone needs to talk to me, I'll be around for a bit. Lord bless you.