[0:00] Alright, thank you Gary, thank you Linda. If you have a Bible, and I hope you do, then turn with me to the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John, in chapter number 14 this morning.
[0:18] John 14. And let's read in the Holy Scripture, the first six verses.
[0:45] These words come near the very end of the life of Jesus Christ on this earth. Very near to His death, this is the evening of, His betrayal and crucifixion the next morning.
[1:02] In verse number 1, Christ is speaking to disciples that He had handpicked and chosen and taught and trained and then was going to send them off.
[1:13] And in this night, He's declaring to them that, Hey, I'm going to go away and you're going to have to carry on. And I've given you what you need for this and my peace will be with you.
[1:24] And as I leave, God's going to send His Spirit to comfort you and guide you in all truth. And He's encouraging them not to be afraid and not to get sad over this, but understanding of this is the will of God for me and I'm accomplishing His will and I'm going to go and now it's your turn to step up.
[1:44] And in verse 1, He says, Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you.
[1:55] I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.
[2:07] And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Well, Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
[2:21] No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Let's pray together. Lord, as we get into this passage, I pray that the words would, the truth of this passage would come out, come clear, that each person here would understand plainly these teachings and these statements of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[2:43] And God, may we submit ourselves to this and release anything that's in our heart, anything that's in our minds, anything we've been taught that would go against the word of God.
[2:55] And Lord, I pray that if anybody's here that doesn't know for sure that they're on their way to heaven, that they don't know Jesus Christ as their Savior, Lord, I pray that you'd make it understandable to them, make it plain, show them, speak to their hearts, speak to their minds, and let the word of God be powerful.
[3:14] We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So John 14, a lot of us know these verses, these six verses, pretty popular. And there's some things that Jesus said in here I want to draw out and point out because, well, let's, I just thought of this.
[3:31] There's a song. Years ago, I heard this song that said something to the effect of, that God said it and I believe it. And it said something about loving my neighbor and I'm going to have a place in heaven for you.
[3:43] Or if you love your neighbor, there'll be a place in heaven for you. And it was some kind of bluegrass-y southern gospel song maybe. And I remember hearing that song and thinking, what? Really?
[3:55] These guys are singing that if I love my neighbor, that God's going to have a place in heaven for me? That's false doctrine. That's not Bible doctrine.
[4:05] Yes, the Bible says love your neighbor. Yes, that's a good way to live your life and you'll have peace in this world if you can treat others well. But that's not the qualification to entering heaven.
[4:19] That's not even close. But I realized that's such a positive thought and statement to just say love each other, love your enemies, love your neighbors, and do good to them.
[4:30] And that's such a positive way they call it a Christian ideology and that Jesus said some things and that's one we'll believe. That's one we'll follow and we'll try to incorporate into our lives.
[4:41] But to equate earning heaven with some of those statements, that's a big, big stretch and it's not going to stretch that far. It's not true is what it is.
[4:52] And I realized on thinking of that that that's just a lie, that song, the line from the song people are going to end up burning in hell thinking that if I do good to my neighbor I'll get there.
[5:03] If that's their doctrine and their belief, they're not going to make it. I realized, you know, there are some things that Christ said that the world's okay with. There's some things that Jesus taught that mankind, humankind, they're all right with.
[5:18] There's some things like, give and it shall be given unto you. Boy, the stock market loves that one because that's the premise. You give in there and watch it build and grow and pull it out and look what I got.
[5:33] And who doesn't like to receive things? That's one that goes around, that'll be fine. Better is it to give than to receive? Oh, that's nice. Come Christmas time, it's better to give.
[5:44] And isn't that the spirit of Christmas you hear of? Of giving, giving, giving. And that's some words in this Bible of Jesus Christ that the world has no trouble with. Not at all. Here's one.
[5:55] In Matthew 6, this supposed, what they call the Lord's Prayer. Our Father which art in heaven. You know how many times a day that comes out of the lips of people in this world?
[6:06] They recite and recite and just repeat this Lord's Prayer. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. You've heard that before. You know where that is in the Bible.
[6:18] The world doesn't have too much. Religion doesn't have a problem with that. They like that one. They say it all the time. Ask and it shall be given unto thee. Here's one I hear from people who don't even like the Bible.
[6:29] Judge not. Matthew chapter 7, verse 1. There's two words they know of the Bible. Words of Jesus. Judge not. Don't you judge me. They like that one.
[6:41] And so I realize that there are words or sayings of Jesus Christ that have become acceptable. But I want to show you this morning from this passage, there's some other ones.
[6:54] There's other things that Jesus said. And the world, you know, you're not going to see them on CNN. Nobody's going to be broadcasting and publishing these and accepting these as okay, but it's truth nonetheless.
[7:09] And furthermore, back to my original statement of this song, if you want to get to heaven when you die, you better take heed to these words of Jesus Christ because this is in the passage.
[7:21] So let's look this morning at some other things that Jesus said. 33 and a half years and three and a half of them of public ministry, a lot of teaching, a lot of teaching, and very little of it actually retained in the Word of God.
[7:36] If you have a Bible that has the red letters, you know, you go through there and you can see what is attributed and what has been recorded of the words of Jesus Christ. And there's a lot of it in these four books, these gospel passages, but not nearly all that he said and taught.
[7:53] He taught them as one having authority, the Bible says in Matthew. And he did teach some things that ought to be understood. There's some things he also taught in John chapter 6 that his disciples even said, this isn't hard saying.
[8:07] Who can hear it? He taught some things that it was hard for them to swallow, those that had believed on him and followed him. So there's an array of teachings of Jesus Christ.
[8:18] I want to look at this passage at a few of them that we need to take serious. Maybe they're not so popular, but we'd be fools to ignore these and to reject them. Look at verse number 1 of John 14 again.
[8:31] Jesus said, Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God. Look at the next four words. Believe also in me.
[8:42] Believe also in me. He's a man standing, speaking to other men. And the statement is, you believe in God? Well, yeah.
[8:53] And how else did we get here? Duh. Like Brother Spurgeon said, if you believe a big bang, you've got to be educated. Or I forget how he said it.
[9:04] You've got to have a college degree to be that dumb or something to that effect to be thinking that way. Of course there's a God. You believe in God. But then this man across from them said, Believe in me.
[9:17] Believe in me. What are you talking about? Jesus said, You need to believe in me. Now, keep your place here and let's let the Bible say a few things to us.
[9:28] Try to find James. The book of James, back to your right, James chapter 2. There's an important verse here that is really going to line up with this thought.
[9:39] But, believing in God is not enough. It never has been. A belief in a God or even praying to a God or God, the Creator, is not enough.
[9:57] Jesus added to that thought, You believe in God. Okay, great. Believe in me. Believe also in me. Look at James chapter 2. And if you're not able to find it, then just listen as I read.
[10:12] James chapter 2, verse number 19. This is the same thought here. Notice this verse. It says, Thou believest that there is one God. Thou doest well.
[10:24] Saying, You're right. Absolutely right. But notice the last part of the verse. The devils also believe and tremble. So just believing in a God or that there is one God, the God, or as the Indians of the past would say, there's a great spirit in the sky.
[10:45] Okay, you're right. There is a God and He is a spirit. But the devils believe that. How does that make you any better or different than the devils?
[10:57] The answer is it doesn't. The spiritual world that God created and exists and has rebelled against Him and is as much real as you're sitting here today, they know who the true God is.
[11:14] While the Bible describes Lucifer, Satan, coming up before Him, traveling in Job, and He says, to and fro in the earth, and He coming up before them, presenting Himself for the Lord, or the angels, and so forth, He knows God exists.
[11:30] He knows who He is. He's spoken to Him. He's created by Him. He's been in His presence. But that's not going to get Him cleared or forgiven of His sins. Just believing in God is not enough.
[11:42] The devils believe there's a God. They know Him. Jesus Christ said, ye believe in God. Okay, good start. But then He tells you one more thing.
[11:53] Believe also in Me. Believe in Me. I want you to see from the Scriptures a little bit about that. Come back to the Gospel of John and look at John chapter 3. We'll let the Bible teach itself if we can.
[12:07] We'll let the Bible declare truth. And I hope you have a Bible. I hope you're looking at it because who cares what I say? There's a lot of people standing in pulpits, talking.
[12:18] Who cares? But what the book says, you better take heed. Jesus Christ said, believe also in Me. Alright, John chapter 3. Everybody knows verse 16.
[12:30] Let's start there. John 3 verse 16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever, here it is, believeth in Him.
[12:50] Who? The Son. The Son. God created, loved the world, gave the Son for you to believe in Him. Notice, should not perish, but have everlasting life.
[13:03] eternal life. Where are you going to get that life from? You can't earn it. You can't get it. You can't buy it at Walmart. You have to get that as a gift from God. The Bible says eternal life.
[13:15] The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Continuing in verse 17. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him, who?
[13:29] The Son, might be saved. He that believeth on Him, who? The Son. The Son. He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
[13:48] Do you see the importance and the difference here from Jesus saying, ye believe in God, okay, believe also in Me. God sent Me into this world so that the world through Me might be saved.
[14:00] You're not saved by believing on God. You're saved by believing on Me is the statement. John chapter 3. Notice verse number 36.
[14:13] He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on Him.
[14:27] The man that rejects Jesus Christ will pay for his sins in hell. But he that believeth on the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
[14:39] That's why Jesus said, believe also in Me. You see how important it is not to be confused thinking that just believing in God is okay. I believe in God, so I must be alright.
[14:50] That's not enough. God, that you believe in, sent His Son to die for your sins, to pay for those sins, to forgive you of those sins. Believing in Him is where you get your eternal life.
[15:02] Jesus said, believe also in Me. I'll give you one more place in John. Come back to chapter 1. There's so many verses and Bible passages we could run to on this and spend a lot of time, but for sake of time, let's just look at one more.
[15:20] John chapter 1. And notice, I'll just begin in verse number 9. It's speaking of Jesus Christ. And it says, that was the true light with a capital L.
[15:34] That's the Lord Jesus Christ, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. They just, He's a man.
[15:45] That's all He was. That's what they thought. They didn't understand that was God in the flesh. He made the world. Verse 11. He came unto His own, that's Israel, and His own received Him not.
[15:58] They crucified Him. But, oh boy, but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which were born.
[16:15] Pay attention to this. There's a birth that takes place when somebody believes on His name. It's not physical in the hospital. It's spiritual. It's becoming a child of God, being born into God's family, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
[16:37] That birth has nothing to do with man, with flesh, with blood, nothing to do with it at all. Your heritage, your parents, your race, your culture, nothing to do with it at all.
[16:52] Your religion, nothing to do with it at all. It has everything to do with being born of God. And how does that take place? In verse 12, receiving Him. Believing on His name, a birth takes place.
[17:06] All right, so Jesus said, believe also in Me. Peter said, neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
[17:20] He was preaching about Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter 10, it talks about the Lord Jesus, and it says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
[17:31] God is calling you to believe on Jesus Christ. I misspoke. I want to take you to one more place in the Gospel of John, and that is chapter 20. Look at John chapter 20.
[17:47] I want you to see what John says as the author of this Gospel epistle that he wants, he wrote it for a reason. And here's his reason.
[18:01] In John chapter 20, verses 30 and 31, John says, There's no way he could have recorded it all.
[18:16] But these are written for a purpose. Look at it. That ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you might have life through His name.
[18:29] That's what the Bible says. And I believe the Bible. And if the Bible's wrong, then I'm wrong. And if the Bible's wrong, I have no idea how I'm going to get to heaven at all.
[18:40] I have no clue if the Bible's wrong. But I believe that book's right. I believe it's the words of God. And I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ taught to believe in Him.
[18:53] So go back to John chapter 14. John chapter 14. I don't believe this Bible because my parents did or because their parents did because they didn't.
[19:06] But I found something in there to be true and I found this thing is worthy of my attention and worthy of my faith. John chapter 14. Jesus said, Believe also in me.
[19:18] So eternal life can be obtained by believing in Jesus Christ. By believing in Jesus Christ. Christ. That's what He said.
[19:29] And you're not going to see that on the 6 o'clock news. The world's not going to grab a hold of that one and promote it or publish it anywhere. They'll talk about giving and receiving. But they're not going to teach you what Jesus Christ said about getting to heaven.
[19:44] So now moving on, look at verse number, we'll start at verse 1 again. Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions.
[19:55] If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, notice the next four words. I will come again.
[20:09] I will come again. Is Jesus Christ lying? Is He speaking figuratively in some manner that we should take, spiritually apply or interpret?
[20:27] What did He mean when He said, I will come again? Look at the next book. Look at Acts chapter 1. Just a few pages to the right.
[20:38] Acts and chapter number 1. If I go, I will come again.
[20:54] Acts chapter 1 and verse number 9. Christ is, He has resurrected. He is with His disciples, a group there.
[21:07] And He's speaking some words to them at the beginning. And it says in verse 9, When He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up. They watched Him go up.
[21:19] A cloud received Him out of their sight. So visibly, Christ ascended. Bodily, He ascended. In verse 10, And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?
[21:44] That's what they were doing, looking at that cloud and just, where did He go? What's going on? What's happening? And then these angels show up and tell them something. This same Jesus, which was taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner, as ye have seen Him go into heaven.
[22:03] Jesus Christ said, I will come again. If I go, I will come again. When He went, the angels showed up and said, Hey, He's coming back. He's coming back in like manner, meaning visibly and bodily.
[22:16] He's coming back. That's what Jesus said. The Bible says that God cannot lie, so I believe He's coming back. There's a song in our hymnal that says, Maybe morning, maybe noon, maybe evening, and maybe soon.
[22:35] And some of them are written to say, And surely soon. Jesus is coming again. I believe that because He said it. Now the news isn't going to talk about that. It's not going to get promoted in any outlet in this world because that's something Jesus said that creates a little bit of religious problems for everybody that He's coming back.
[22:58] Some think He was just a good teacher. Some like what He said. He loved it. So they just pick and choose what they'll believe and receive about the Lord Jesus Christ. There's some other things that He said. One was believe in me.
[23:10] Secondly, He said, I will come again. And brother, He's coming back. He is coming back. Much of these Old Testament prophets prophesied of the day that He comes back, the day that He comes and puts His feet down on this dirt and takes the whole thing over.
[23:28] He's coming back and He's going to get what He deserves. He's not coming back as the lamb that was slain. He's coming back as the lion out of the tribe of Judah. He's coming back to war and to make war and to defeat and to devour and to destroy.
[23:44] He's coming back. Jesus Christ is coming back for you and I. Well, He's coming back for us in a little different way. In the Apostle Paul's writings, he teaches us that there's a mystery that God didn't disclose or reveal before Him.
[24:01] A mystery that He's not just going to come back and take over as a king, but before that, He's going to do something else. And let's look at it quickly. Look at, well, we'll just catch Titus.
[24:13] We'll catch two places if you can find Titus chapter 2 and also 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.
[24:31] Titus chapter 2. In this case, it's called an appearing. He's going to appear. Elsewhere, He comes back as we read in Sunday school to sit upon the throne of His glory.
[24:52] In Titus, He's teaching something that wasn't previously revealed and in verse, well, just verse 13 is what we want. Looking, teaching believers to look for this, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.
[25:13] There's going to be a glorious appearing that we're to be looking for, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now come back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And here Paul explains something while he's worried about believers that when they lose their loved ones and they're dead, those that are dead in Christ, those that are believers in Jesus Christ, when they die, Paul's like, hey, you don't have to sorrow about this, not like they do, because we have hope.
[25:42] Something's going to take place that they don't know about. In verse 13, but I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope.
[25:57] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep, speaking of them that have died.
[26:17] For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord, notice, in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
[26:36] Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. So Jesus Christ is going to appear for the church, what the Bible calls the body of Christ for believers of this age, and he's going to catch them up out of here.
[26:50] He's going to meet them up there in the air. Elsewhere, he comes down to the planet. Look at the next page, the next book, 2 Thessalonians, chapter number one.
[27:03] And here's the other part of his return or his second coming when he comes to the earth. The first one's more secretive and it's for a people.
[27:16] The second one's to take over the place. In verse seven, 2 Thessalonians 1 verse seven, he says, and to you who are troubled, rest. That is, God is going to recompense rest to those who are troubled.
[27:30] And verse six, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.
[27:51] So that's a different one. That's a different one. And we study our Bible and rightly divide it to understand the differences. Much of the prophets prophesied of that second one when he comes down in his feet land over there in Israel on the Mount of Olives.
[28:08] And it describes in Isaiah, just all through these prophets, one after another, talk about that day of destruction and the war that he makes, defeating the enemies of Israel and establishing his kingdom on earth.
[28:20] and what a thing it would be to be left to face that, to be on the wrong side of it, to be one that has not obeyed the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as we just read.
[28:33] You'll receive his vengeance. So Jesus Christ says this in John 14, I will come again. The world's not going to preach that. They're not going to tell you about it, but it's something else.
[28:45] It's something, it's some other things that Jesus said. There's one more I want to get to in John 14 and I want to drive this home and allow the word of God to clarify something if you need it.
[28:59] In John 14, Jesus said, believe also in me. He said in verse 3, I will come again. And there's one more thing and we'll begin in verse 4 and finish to verse 6.
[29:10] And whither I go ye know and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way.
[29:26] I am the way. He continues, the truth and the life. And there's that last part that boy, oh boy, you're not going to hear.
[29:39] You're not going to hear from pretty much anywhere except the Bible. Jesus said this, no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
[29:53] You know how many religions are in this world that are trying to get to God and going around his son, Jesus Christ? Most of them.
[30:04] Most of them have nothing to do with that statement right there that he said, but by me. I am the way. The Bible says in the Proverbs, there is a way which seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death.
[30:23] There's a way that seems right. You know what that way is? Do good. Be baptized. Go to church. Just follow what you're taught.
[30:34] Go along with it. Don't be a rebel. Do those good things and it seems right. There's a way that seems right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death.
[30:48] According to this book, Jesus said, I'm the way. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Not one. No man. Woman, child, teenager, none of them can get to God without going through Jesus Christ.
[31:04] The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 3, For Christ hath also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust.
[31:15] Why did He do that? That He might bring us to God. 1 Peter 3.18 Look it up if you need to. Why did He suffer for sins?
[31:26] That He might bring us to God. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Take a look here in one verse just to help you understand this deeper.
[31:38] Look at 1 Timothy chapter 2. Here's a statement that's worthy of understanding. A statement of truth from the Bible.
[31:50] 1 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2. You might think you're moving and turning pages and looking at all these different places.
[32:00] Exactly right. Because we believe the Bible is right. We believe the Word of God has the truth for us. And that's what we're going to study. 1 Timothy chapter 2.
[32:13] And look at verse number 4. Speaking of God, it says that who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of, notice, the truth.
[32:24] Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And God's will is that everybody comes to the knowledge of the truth, that everybody is saved. And notice verse 5 now.
[32:35] For there is one God. Well, we saw that already. The devils believe that, so that's not enough. There is one God and one mediator between God and men.
[32:48] Who would that be? Do you see it? It's the man, Christ, Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all. Speaking of the cross.
[33:01] So there's one God. And Christ said, the only way to get to him is through me. And he said, you need to believe on me. Believing on God is not enough.
[33:12] You need to believe on me. And he says, I'm the mediator. Now, there's other religions that have declared that this woman, Mary, is the mediatrix.
[33:25] They made that word up. It's not in the Bible anywhere. But they've decided that she can get us to God. We can pray to her. And they've even, some of them declare that you can pray to her because she can get you to Jesus who can get you to God.
[33:38] But you'll never, ever, ever, ever, ever find that in the word of God. You'll find that in some man-made system. I don't want that. If it's not in this book, forget it.
[33:49] I don't want nothing to do with it. I can't trust it. I can trust this. Christ said, no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
[34:00] There's no other way to heaven. I don't know if you've seen this. If you could maybe picture this in your mind, a good illustration of this. There's a picture, a drawing or painting that has land on the left side and land on the right side.
[34:15] And what separates them is a deep gulf or chasm that at the bottom of it is just flames and fire. And on the one side is the human race moving, looking at the other side and at the other side on this other side of land is heaven.
[34:31] And the drawing has this golden city and brightness and holiness. And the idea is that mankind is aiming to get to heaven. They're moving toward heaven.
[34:41] Their eyes are on heaven. How do I get there? I want to get to God. And the longing inside, the desire to do this and to be there is within all these religions of the world.
[34:54] Get to God. Get to God. Get to heaven. But there's this big distance that they can't get to. And it shows in the drawing that while men's eyes are on heaven, they're just dropping off into hell.
[35:09] And they're missing the way to heaven. And in that drawing, there's this cross. And this cross is laid down like a bridge. And a few are trusting the cross.
[35:21] They're walking across the cross, the bridge from the human race to God, the mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, the cross of Calvary, what gets us from earth to heaven.
[35:36] And on that cross, it shows the spikes and it shows stains of blood on it representing what Jesus Christ accomplished, paying for our sins. But the majority of the people in this picture aren't going on the way of the cross.
[35:50] They're following somebody else, somebody sprinkling water on them, somebody preaching another gospel, somebody telling them, give and it shall be given unto you and follow me.
[36:02] And they're not taking the bridge that God laid down to get you from you as a sinner to that holiness and holy place of God. They're ending up in hell.
[36:14] And there's good people. And they're going to hell because they've not received the word of God and received the Lord Jesus Christ. There's other religious that say, Jesus died for my sins.
[36:26] And they take the cross of Jesus Christ in one hand and then they reach over and they grab something else in their other hand. And they say, this is what's going to get me to heaven. Is Jesus died for me and I was baptized and I've been a faithful person in church all my life and I do this.
[36:43] I can name you any denomination or religion, I should say, any cult or whatever and put in that hand what it is they differ, what they believe, they're doing to earn heaven.
[36:55] And the truth is, there's only one way to heaven. It's through the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Christ alone. If you want to get to heaven, and I hope you do, you know what the other, you know the only other alternative for you?
[37:12] I'm not going to play games. It's hell. It's a lake of fire. That's in the book. Why do you think God put that in the book? To scare everybody into being good? He doesn't tell you to be good.
[37:25] He tells you to believe on His Son. So yeah, He puts hell in there to scare you into believing on His Son. And I'll take it. I took it.
[37:36] The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. You want to get to heaven? It's through Jesus Christ. Don't take a religion. Don't do it. It'll fail you.
[37:49] When you lay down on your deathbed, if you get to that point, if you have the sanity on your deathbed, which hardly anybody does anymore, religion won't get you.
[38:01] You'll be scared to death. You'll be squeezing those beads or squeezing that little cross around your neck or you'll be calling for some priest to sprinkle you again.
[38:12] You'll be just, because you know you haven't gotten rid of your sins. You feel it. You don't need to go that way. Now one more thing.
[38:23] In verse 5, we read about a man named Thomas. We're almost done. Thomas, Thomas doubted. He's called the doubter. They nicknamed him Doubting Thomas, not just here but elsewhere.
[38:35] And he has this unbelief about him. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whether thou goest. How can we know the way? Jesus just said, whither I go, you know and you know the way. He just said something.
[38:45] And Thomas completely contradicted what Jesus said in verse number 4. And I want you to realize that the only thing you have to go on is the only thing Thomas really had to go on was the words that he just heard.
[39:03] And for you, it's the words of God. That's all you have. If that's not good enough, there is nothing good enough. You're definitely not good enough.
[39:16] I can tell you that. I don't even have to know you. You're not even close to good enough. Are you holy? Case dismissed. You're guilty. Depart from me, ye cursed, in the everlasting fire.
[39:31] You don't want to hear those words. What God expects is for you to believe his word. And what he expects for you to do is exercise faith in what he says.
[39:42] He's not going to give you signs. He's not going to show it to you in the stars. He's not going to send an angel to you in the middle of the night to enlighten you about something. And anybody who claims that thing, they're deceived.
[39:56] But he's going to expect you to exercise faith in what he did give you, the word of God. What you need to understand is according to that book, you're a sinner. And it's not a bad, it's not the worst thing in the world because the Bible says all have sinned.
[40:10] So you know what? Me and you have something in common. We're sinners. Guilty as charged. No problem there. All have sinned. You're a sinner. That's what the Bible says. You've sinned against God.
[40:22] And he's holy. He can't let that go. He can't just say, oh, no big deal. I'll let you in. We do that with stupid things, but not God. God. God's just and righteous and pure and that's not the way it works.
[40:34] So he devised a plan. The plan was that the Lord Jesus Christ would die and suffer for your sins and be a sacrifice. One that would, his innocent blood would pay for your sins.
[40:49] All those sacrifices you might read about in the Bible, the Old Testament, the goats, the lambs, those sheep, those were offerings to pay or atone for their sins. But they weren't good enough.
[41:00] And so the Bible says that Christ showed up and John the Baptist said, behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. So that offering is good enough. God expects you to believe his word that you're a sinner and that the Lord Jesus Christ made a payment to satisfy God's wrath against your sin.
[41:19] In other words, God's son was your substitute. He calls on you to believe on him. You can receive heaven. That is, you can die innocent.
[41:32] You can die forgiven. You can die righteous even though you're not. You can die like you are and stand before God clean all because the one that we're reading about satisfied God's wrath.
[41:50] So what does he ask you to do? Believe on him. Salvation, friend, salvation is in a person. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not in a religion. It's not in deeds that you do.
[42:02] You can't check a list and find your way good enough. You travel and get on a plane. There's certain checklists that they go down before they take off. That's not going to work for you to get to heaven.
[42:14] Jesus Christ is the only way. I wonder this morning, have you received the gift of God? The gift of eternal life. Have you received it?
[42:26] If you have, it's because you placed your faith in Christ. You've called out to Christ believing on him alone. Let's bow our heads together and I want to let you go.
[42:36] I want to dismiss. But before we do that, let me ask you a question. Please nobody look around. Just bow your head, your heart before the Lord in an attitude of prayer and think in your own mind right here and right now.
[42:51] As sure as you're sitting, where you're sitting, do you know that you're saved? That's a Bible word, saved. It means delivered. Delivered from hell.
[43:02] Delivered from the punishment you deserve for your sins against God. Do you know that that's taken care of? If you're not sure or if you think you might be, I wonder what is it then that you're trusting in?
[43:17] What is it that you're hoping in is going to get you past the judgment? And I can tell you, if it's not Jesus Christ, you got nothing. It's like sand or salt.
[43:30] It'll slip right through your fingers. What you need is the blood of Jesus Christ to forgive your sins. And it's easy.
[43:41] It's so easy. If you understand you're a sinner, all there is left to do is believe on Jesus Christ. By faith, admit to God that you're a sinner.
[43:55] By faith, that is, believing something you can't touch, you can't hold, you can't see it, but it's in the Bible and you're going to believe what God said. By faith, receive Him as the payment for your sins.
[44:10] Not your deeds, not your good works. Receive Him. Is there anybody here today that with nobody looking would just slip your hand up really quick and just say, I don't know if I'm saved.
[44:21] I want to be. I don't want to die and go to hell because I thought I was okay. It doesn't matter how old you are. It doesn't matter how young you are. If you understand you've sinned, if you understand Christ paid for your sins, you can be saved.
[44:34] You can get it taken care of today. Father, thank You for the gospel of Jesus Christ and thank You for forgiveness of sins.
[44:46] Thank You for these things that Jesus said. Lord, I'm glad to know them. Not too many people are talking about it anymore. But Lord, I'm thankful to know for sure that I'm saved.
[44:59] Thank You, Christ. Thank You for taking my place. I can't wait to come unto the Father because of what You've done. Lord, my prayer for everyone today is that we have that certainty in our hearts that no one be deceived or confused, but that You get the reward for what You paid for on the cross that You get every one of us.
[45:21] Thank You again for Calvary. Thank You for salvation made simple and for the Word of God that teaches these things to us. We're going to stand together.
[45:34] Thank You for salvation, that's all we're going to do to protect you the Devil that helps you Pokemon toürk Rigon to protect you through this that anyone that can help you protect you so you can check to protect you afraid because we're going to do a lot here, that is how to fix your cleanser.