[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. This is the next message in our series on the book of John entitled, Jesus is God.
[0:13] Amen. Thank the Lord for a Savior that leads us. Amen. Take your Bibles, go to John chapter 5. John chapter 5. Now, I want you to listen to what I'm about to tell you. I don't know if you ever thought about this.
[0:26] Jesus is the only one that ever claims to be who he claims to be. If you're an Islamic person, you believe that Allah is God and Muhammad is his prophet. If you're a Christian, a real Christian, you believe God is the Father and Jesus is God.
[0:44] God is the Son, but he is God. He's not a guy that tells me how to get to God. He is God. If you're a Buddhist, any group you come up with, they don't claim to be God. But it is central to everything you believe to know that Jesus is God.
[1:00] It is central for you to know that we are not trying to get to God, that God came to us. And he didn't come to us through a prophet that was just some guy he picked.
[1:11] He literally came to us. And you know that, though you probably haven't paid attention to it. Christmas will be upon us soon. And you will talk about Emmanuel, which means what?
[1:25] Excuse me, what does it mean? God with us. And who was with us? It wasn't the Father who was with us. Jesus was with us. And all through your Bible, it's the same truth.
[1:37] It is that God came down to man. Adam and Eve messed up in the garden and did what they shouldn't have done. And death came upon them and upon all of us. And while they were hiding, it was God who went out and found them.
[1:52] And took away their leaves and covered them with skins. And restored them and gave them salvation. It's God come to us.
[2:02] And so whenever you study the Bible, you should know. This is what makes it so different. You might say to yourself, well, the Muslims have their own religion. Why do we need to take them to religion?
[2:14] Our religion. It's just our religion. No, it's really not just our religion. It is the only true salvation. It is God come to man. Then you might look at it and you might say, well, what about Buddhists and what about others?
[2:27] And I'm going to tell you, it's very simple. There's only one way to God and that is that God came to us in the form of Jesus. God is Jesus.
[2:38] Jesus is God. And so would you go with me? I want you to mark them down in your Bible. He makes some audacious claims in this passage of scripture. He is really either a lunatic, either he's crazy and all the apostles were as crazy as him or he is God.
[2:55] He knew he was God. He said he was God. They wrote down that he was God. They believed he was God. He believed he was God. We believe he is God. And you ought to know that. And there are people that are going to reason with you.
[3:06] Well, Jesus was a great prophet. Well, he was a great prophet, but he was far more than that. He was God in human flesh. Just read with me, if you would, John chapter 5, verse 17. And write this down if you've taken some notes.
[3:18] Jesus puts himself as equal with God, saying he works like the Father. Jesus said, I'm equal to the Father. I'm equal because I do the same works he does. Watch how he says it. Jesus answered them, my Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
[3:32] Therefore, the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
[3:43] Now, they understood exactly what he was saying. The Jews are angry. They're angry because he has worked on the Sabbath. But it's not the Sabbath work that really bothers him. It is that here's a man that they know.
[3:54] Here's a man who has got a mother that they know who lives in a family that they know. And here he is, breaking the Sabbath and claiming to be somebody very, very big. He says, both he and the Father have been at work until now.
[4:08] Look at verse 17. My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. You ought to circle my Father and I work. My Father and I work. That's a pretty strong statement.
[4:20] You know that the Jews pray, our Father, which art in heaven. Jesus says, well, he's my Father. Let me just go ahead and make it real clear. Y'all can talk about him generally. He's my Father. I am the Son of God.
[4:32] And then look, if you would, in Isaiah 40, verse 28. They'll show it to you behind me. The Sabbath was for man, not God. God is under no restrictions. First off, God doesn't have any timetables.
[4:44] You know that, right? Amen. He existed long before there ever was a day. He made the first day. He only showed us a Sabbath day for us. And here's what it says in Isaiah 40, 28. Has thou not known?
[4:55] Has thou not heard? That the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. Fainteth not, neither is weary. There is no searching of his understanding.
[5:08] Every Jew would have known about that. They knew that he was the Lord. They knew that he was the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator. And John starts off this book telling you he is the Lord.
[5:20] And he is the creator. Matthew chapter 12 and verse 8 says, For the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath. He said, I'm Lord. I make decisions.
[5:31] I do what I want to do. Verse 18. Chapter 5, verse 18, if you would. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him. Because he had not only broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
[5:44] First thing, they do the same works. God and Jesus are at work. God does the works. Jesus said, I do the works. Hey, we're working together. This is what we do. Everybody understood.
[5:55] He said, my Father. He said, I'm the Son of God. He said, we do the same work. And everybody understood that he was saying that he was equal to God. And that's what you ought to write down tonight.
[6:06] Jesus is equal to God. Jesus is equal to God. He's not one bit less. He's not. There's no greater than sign or less than sign in this equation.
[6:17] He is equal to God. Second thing he said that he does the works is in verse 19. He claims because he's doing the same works. He said, verse 19. Then answered Jesus, said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do.
[6:35] For what things soever he doth, these also doeth the Son likewise. Just stop a second. Now, you've got to understand the situation. They're standing there just like us. And they look across the room.
[6:46] And here's a guy. They know where he was born. They know who his mother is. They know who his dad was, his stepdad. Because they know he was born not of Joseph. They know that in John chapter 8. They'll make that clear.
[6:57] And they know he's not there. They know who he is. They know who his brothers are and his sisters are. And they look at him. He says, I do what I see the Father do. Nobody sees the Father, buddy. How do you think you see the Father?
[7:07] He said, oh, I see the Father. And I do likewise like the Father. Because I see the Father. I've been seeing the Father. I'm God. He said, look at it. He said, verily, verily. He said, truly, I'm telling you, the Son can do nothing of himself.
[7:20] But what he sees the Father do. And that's what he does. Verse 20. For the Father loves the Son. Can you imagine? This is Jesus standing here among us. And you're looking at him.
[7:30] And he looks just like you. There's no halo. He's not floating in the air. He's not working any miracles. He just looks at him and says, hey, I want you all to know. The Father, God, he loves me. I'm the Son.
[7:41] The Father loves me. And he shows me all things. And he shows me all things. He loves the Son. That's me. And he shows me all things. He doesn't hide anything from me. And he will show him greater works that you may marvel.
[7:52] I want you all to be shocked. I want you all to be like, who is this guy? I want you all to marvel because I am God. These are outrageous claims. He's either God or he's a lunatic.
[8:03] He's not misspeaking. He is claiming to be God. He lets him know that he knows when he says, verily, verily. And he said, I do likewise. Look at verse 21, if you would.
[8:14] Verse 21. He says he has the power over death. Nobody has the power to give life but God. John chapter 5, verse 21. For as the Father raised up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
[8:28] You ought to put a circle around, even so. Just like the Father, the Son does the same thing. The Father raises the dead and the Son quickeneth whom he will. You know what?
[8:38] When Jesus wants to give life, he gives life. He just says, hey, give life. Because he can do that. Because he's God. I know what you're going to say. You're going to say, well, there have been a lot of prophets that have done the same thing.
[8:49] Oh, not quite. Not quite. But first off, let's look at Deuteronomy 32, 39. See now that I, even I, am he. There is no God with me. I kill. I make alive. I wound.
[8:59] I heal. Neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. There's no God like me. I'm the one that kills. I'm the one that makes alive. I'm the one that wounds. That's God the Father. First Samuel chapter 2, verse 6. The Lord kills and makes alive.
[9:11] He brings down the grave and brings up. So you just thought in your mind, well, I know some prophets that gave life. But you know what they did? They prayed to do it. Jesus doesn't even have to pray. Look, if you would, what happens when Elijah gets somebody back.
[9:24] Are you ready? First Kings chapter 17 and verse 22. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah. And the Lord heard the voice. In other words, Elijah said, God, would you please give this guy life?
[9:35] I know you're the father. I know I can. I know you can. Would you please do something? And the soul of the child came into him again and he revived. Elijah prays in 2 Kings chapter 4, verse 33 down to 35.
[9:47] He went in therefore and shut the door upon him twain and prayed unto the Lord. Then he laid down, put his body on him and God raised him from the dead. But when Jesus wants to raise somebody dead, he said, I just do it.
[9:58] Because I do what the father does. The father does it. I do it. I don't have to pray. I don't have to ask anybody because I am who I am. And I am. And look what he says in 21. For as the father, just like my dad raises people from the dead and he gives them life.
[10:12] That's what quickeneth means. Even so the son, he quickens whoever he wants to. That's a pretty bold statement. I mean, who does he think he is, God? That's exactly who he thinks. Look how he called Lazarus out of the grave.
[10:23] You remember? John chapter 11, verse 43. And when he thus spoke and he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth. He didn't say, Father, would you please touch him?
[10:34] Would you please get him out of there? He'd just say, Lazarus, get out of the grave. Because he can quicken who he wants to. Because he is God. He is God. He's not only God because of that. He's God because he has all judgment.
[10:47] Look, if you would, in verse 22. For the father judges no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the son. The father judges no man, but he's committed all judgment unto the son.
[10:59] Now, the Bible is real clear all through it. I could have brought a lot of verses, but for the sake of time, and I'm trying to get to verse 24. Because I think that's something you really need to see and hear tonight about your salvation.
[11:09] I just want you to know that all through the Bible, it's God that does the judging. It's God that does the judging. And all of a sudden, in the New Testament, we find out that it's Jesus that does the judging. So if God does the judging and then says Jesus does the judging, what's it saying?
[11:23] It's saying Jesus is God. That's what you're supposed to be getting a hold of. Look, if you would, in what it says. Look, if you would, at what it says in Genesis chapter 18 and verse 25.
[11:34] That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous for the wicked, that the righteous should be as wicked. That be far from thee shall not the judge of all the earth do right.
[11:45] Abraham is standing there, lots over in Sodom and Gomorrah. God's about to judge him, and Abraham's talking to God. And he's saying, God, please don't kill him. God, aren't you going to do right? You're the judge of all the earth.
[11:55] Won't you do right? In Psalm chapter 82 and verse 8, the Bible says, Arise, O God, judge the earth, for thou shalt inherit all nations. In Acts chapter 17, verse 29, For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art and man's advice.
[12:15] In the times of this ignorance, God winked at, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because he at the point of the day in which he will judge the world in righteousness. He will judge the world.
[12:26] He is God. Guess what Jesus says in Matthew 7, 23? In Matthew 7, 23, he says, I profess unto them, I never, then will I profess unto them, I never knew you.
[12:38] Jesus is the judge. Now, you just need to look here just a second. You see, there's God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. There are three people if they're one person. You say, I don't fully understand that.
[12:48] You're not expected to. That's God the Father, it's God the Son, it's God the Holy Spirit. They do, all three appear at the same time. There's a unity among them. We can't understand. But you need to know that Jesus was a human being that they saw get born in a stable.
[13:02] He was born and put in a manger and he was raised among them. And now he stands in front of them and says, I'm God. I'm God. I watched my father do things. In fact, as we're going to get over to where he says this, he says, when Abraham saw my day, he rejoiced.
[13:15] And Jesus is just constantly saying stuff like, I was around way back then. I am. I'm God. He's God. And so he is going to judge the world.
[13:25] It's Jesus that's going to be the judge. It's the great white throne. Guess who's sitting there? Jesus. Guess who's on the judgment seat of Christ? Jesus. Jesus is God. We're not talking about Mohammed. We're talking about a great prophet.
[13:38] We're not talking about the Virgin Maria. We're not Mary. We're not talking about, we're not talking about one of the saints or one of the patriarchs. We're talking about God in human flesh is going to do it.
[13:49] Now go to verse 23. Go to verse 23, if you would. That all men should honor the son. I ask you in that verse to take your Bible and underline this. Honor the son.
[14:00] Honor the son. Even as they honor the father. You honor the son in the exact same way you honor the father. He that honoreth not the son, honoreth not the father which sent me or which sent him.
[14:12] If you don't honor the son, you don't honor the father. That's why stop. Look this way just a second. That's why when a Jehovah's Witness in any way tries to belittle Jesus Christ, you ought to automatically know that is false religion.
[14:23] Anything that puts Jesus down one millionth of one degree less than God the father, it's wicked. In Colossians chapter 2, In him did dwell all the fullness of the Godhead corporally.
[14:38] God himself moved into Jesus. God himself was there. He that honoreth not the son, honoreth not the father. When someone doesn't honor the son, they don't honor the father.
[14:50] But watch this. Here's a wild saying. This is what was so hard for those Jewish guys when they looked at him. Because God the father will share his honor with nobody. With no one. Look what he said in Isaiah 42.8.
[15:03] I am the Lord and that is my name. And my glory will I not give to another. Neither am I praise to graven images. I'm the Lord. And I will not share my praise with graven images.
[15:15] I will not let anybody have my glory. But Jesus takes his glory. You know why, don't you? Because he is God. Because he is God. Isaiah chapter 48 verse 11. For my own sake, even for my own sake, will I do it.
[15:28] For how should my name be polluted? I will not give my glory unto another. The father says nobody gets my glory. Moses can't have his glory. Paul can't have his glory.
[15:39] The apostle John can't have his glory. Only one can have his glory. That's the father. And guess who Jesus is? Well, he's God the father. He is equal to God the father. He is God the father. He's separate from God the father. Don't fully understand that.
[15:50] But he is God. He is God. Let me remind you of Philippians chapter 2. And we'll move to the last two things where I want to spend just a little bit more time. In Philippians chapter 2, here's what your Bible says.
[16:01] He was in heaven and he didn't think it was anything near robbery to say, I am equal with God. He was in heaven and he was equal to God. And then he laid down all of his robes of royalty.
[16:13] He lays down all of the praise and all the glory of heaven. And he came down to earth and he humbled himself to be a man. And someday God's going to take him all the way back up to that same position.
[16:24] And every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord. That he is Lord. Meaning that he's the boss. He's the ruler. He's a king. But also that he is God. Because the word Lord is always used.
[16:36] Throughout your Bible it's used dozens of times as being he is God. Jesus is God. That gets us down to verse 24. This is one of those most powerful security verses you can find in the Bible about your salvation.
[16:52] I want you to look this way just a second. Nothing about salvation makes sense if you don't understand this. You didn't do it. He did. If salvation started with you, then it would be your work.
[17:07] But if it started with him, it's his work. I want you to know that salvation comes from God this way, not us towards God. He didn't send a prophet like Muhammad to get us to Allah.
[17:18] He came himself down to earth and brought salvation. He died. No one else died. He paid the price. No one else paid the price. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5, it was God in Christ reconciling the world to himself.
[17:32] Now read with me John chapter 5 verse 24 if you would. John chapter 5 verse 24. 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.
[17:48] In verse 3, I want you to know, we're going to say right, verse 24. There are three promises. And we're going to stay in this verse now for the next 10 minutes or so. But watch this. You got to get this. There are three fantastically wonderful promises found in verse 24.
[18:02] You have everlasting life. You shall not come into condemnation, but you have passed from death unto life. But those promises have requirements.
[18:13] Those promises have requirements. Those promises aren't for everyone. He starts over and says, verily, verily, truly, truly, I say to you, you got to do two things.
[18:23] You got to hear my word and believe on him that sent me. You got to believe on God that sent Jesus. You got to hear the word. You got to know what the word of God says.
[18:34] You got to believe on the God who sent Jesus here. That's how you get saved. They are to hear the word, believe that he sent him. You see, it's 24 is like the culmination of this whole passage.
[18:48] He starts off saying, hey, me and the father work. And I see him work. I know what he does. And by the way, I can give life and I can take life. And I'm the judge. And by the way, if you don't honor me like you honor him, you don't honor him. So I'm just going to tell you, none of y'all honor God unless you do that.
[19:01] And then verse 24, he looks at him and said, now, listen to this. I got something to tell you. If you will listen to me truly, truly, I tell you, if you'll listen to me, if you hear what I'm saying to you, if you'll hear what I'm saying to you, and if you will believe on him that sent me, if you'll believe on him that sent me, you can have all these promises.
[19:18] Do you understand that to believe on God the father means that you believe on Jesus? If you don't trust Jesus, you don't trust God.
[19:30] That's what is so definitely different. You'll say to me, everybody believes in God. And I will say, yeah, they do. All over the world, they believe in God. But believing in God will not get you to heaven.
[19:41] You must believe on the God who sent Jesus. You must believe that God loves you enough that he sent Jesus to die in your place. That's extremely important. Last thing.
[19:53] I want you to go to verse 24 with me. Let's walk our way through verse 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.
[20:06] I want you to look, if you would, at the phrase, hath everlasting life. And I really wish you'd mark this in your Bible and write it down. How many of you understand basic English? Say amen. What does it mean to have something?
[20:19] You see, hath means has. It doesn't mean will have or might have or hope to have. It means you have. All right. How many of you believe that? Okay, Ben, catch this.
[20:31] Do you have that? Get back to me. Do you have it now? You can't throw worth a flip. I hope they never invite you to throw the first ball out of the ball game. But I did have a little height on you.
[20:44] All right, watch it. Do you have it now? You don't have it. I gave it to you. You don't have it. You see, you have it when it's in your power. It's already mine. And so when I get saved, I have everlasting life.
[20:57] It's not like God's looking at us and saying, hey, he's not like he's looking at us and saying, hey, I might give this to you. Here, I might give it to you.
[21:07] I didn't give it to you yet. I said I might. You saw what it says. He says, if you hear and you believe, you have everlasting life. If you hear and you believe, you have.
[21:18] The word hath is just an old-fashioned way of saying has or have. And if you believe, you have. How many of you have believed? You can say amen. Now, let me explain something. You might say to me, I'm not sure I'm saved.
[21:29] Well, let me give you a hint. It's not dependent on you. It's dependent on him. And so can you trust him? Did you listen? Did you hear him? Did you believe him? Did you put your faith in him?
[21:40] Then you have everlasting life. I'd like to just before I go on to a couple of more of those, I want to show you something. You see, it's kind of like the ark, Noah and the ark.
[21:51] You know, there was a door in the side of the ark. There was one door in the side of the ark, and you could get in that ark only through one door. And when you got inside that ark, God himself closed the door if you go read the story. And by the way, when you got inside that ark, you were in the ark, and you were safe.
[22:03] The door was closed. The rains came. The floods came. And all eight of those people were lifted up, and they floated through that storm. And the winds came, and the storms came, and the rain came, and they got all the way through it. I have no idea if this really happened.
[22:14] This is Gardner invention right here. But I can imagine after hearing 120 years of preaching from Noah that some of the people, when the rain started coming, which was something brand new to them, some of them might have just got a nail and ran out there and nailed it in the side of the ark.
[22:30] They weren't saved. They didn't get in. The door didn't get closed behind them. God didn't shut them in. And I could just see them driving a nail in the side of the ark and holding on and hoping they could make it.
[22:40] But it rained 40 days, and it rained 40 nights. And it was 150 days before the rain came down. And the only way they could have been saved is if they could have hung on. But on the inside of that ark, those guys weren't the least bit worried.
[22:53] Come nighttime the first day, Noah said, hey, guys, let's go to bed. We get up in the morning. And it was raining and floods were coming and everything else. But they were inside the ark, nice and cozy, warm and dry and relaxed because they had life because they were in the ark.
[23:09] And here's what Jesus said. I'm God. You understand who I said I am? I'm God. Have I not made that clear to you? I can do anything I want on the Sabbath. I'm God. I work the works of my father. Watch what my father does. I do it.
[23:19] And if you'll believe in me, you have, have, have everlasting life. So many of us, so many of us have fallen into a lie that makes us think we don't have it yet.
[23:32] Yes, you do. Yes, you do. You know, you know, you have it. If you own it and you have the title deed. And he said, you have it. He didn't say you might have.
[23:42] I'm not going to wait until I get to heaven and have my works weighed out and my bad and my good weighed out and figure out which one I got. Because if we weighed my bad, I'd lose the race. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21.
[23:54] Would you throw that up here? 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21. It was going to come later in the message. Let me show you this. I'm God's salvation because Jesus did something miraculous. He made him, Jesus, to be sin for me, for you, for us who knew no sin.
[24:09] And Jesus knew no sin. And God made Jesus sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And so watch this. Are you looking?
[24:19] Are you listening? You want to hear something? You say, well, Austin, how do you know you're going to get to heaven? How do you know you're good enough to go to heaven? How do you know you're righteous enough to go to heaven? I'll tell you how I'm righteous enough. Because I got his righteousness.
[24:31] I don't have it, really. I have been made the righteousness of God. When you look at me, I've been made the righteousness of God. So you take all the garbage about me that you can imagine. That's not me.
[24:42] That was put on him. He became sin, so I wouldn't be sin. And I became righteous, so I have everlasting life. I'll just say a couple of words about that before I leave.
[24:54] Boy, I'm going to have to hurry up now. But watch this. Did you notice the words? Some of you read the Bible and you've let humanism talk you out of salvation. Because you really think you've got a temporary salvation.
[25:08] You really think that God says you have this for a while. But that's not what he said. Look at what he said. He said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me half.
[25:19] What kind of life? Now, wait a minute. What does everlasting mean? You see, that's a really hard word, isn't it? Well, really, it's not. Would you just separate it? It's everlasting.
[25:31] That means it lasts forever. It's everlasting. This is not the Duracell bunny who will eventually run out. This is everlasting life. And that's what I have.
[25:42] He didn't come to me and say, here's temporary life. Here's temporary life. I'll throw in one more verse before I leave this one. In Romans 6, 23, he said, the wages of sin is death.
[25:54] If you get what you earn, you get death and hell. But the gift of God is eternal life. Gift. How much does a gift cost? It costs nothing.
[26:06] How much did it cost me to be saved? Nothing. I believed. I did nothing but believe and receive. That's all I did. He did all the work. Have everlasting life. That's all he says.
[26:17] That's all he says. Look at the next phrase. Barely, barely, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him who sent me, hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation. Shall not come into condemnation.
[26:30] Now, you know, just a little grammar lesson. Shall not means it ain't happening. That's real deep, isn't it? If I say, you will not.
[26:42] And I am authoritative enough. If I could say that's not happening. Well, God can say what he wants. Say, man. And God said, you will not come into condemnation.
[26:53] Well, what? Look, look, look. Shh. What if I mess up? He didn't say, you will not come into condemnation unless. There's no. Could you find me the unless in the verse?
[27:05] Help me. It's right there behind me. Can you find the unless in the verse? He said, shall not come into condemnation. Shall not. Doesn't say you might not come into condemnation. I hope you don't come into condemnation.
[27:16] I believe you won't come into condemnation. Either God's a liar or I got eternal life. And I ain't going to be condemned. Some of you fall into the trap that believe. And some preachers taught you that when you die, you're going to face all the mistakes you made here on earth.
[27:30] No, you're not. You're not going to face your mistakes in heaven. Your mistakes have been already paid for. You say, well, I messed up. And after I got saved, I messed up.
[27:40] Well, guess what? He paid for that too. And this is what he said. You're not coming into condemnation. You're not coming into condemnation. You say, what about all my idle words? That was for lost people.
[27:51] That's not for us. All of my idle words were placed on Jesus. All of my bad thoughts were placed on Jesus. All of my lustful thoughts were placed on Jesus. And when you're looking at the righteousness of God in a man tonight, you can't see it, but the Father will.
[28:06] When I step into heaven, when I step in, watch this. You've got to listen to me. In Revelation chapter 20, when they open the books, my name's in the book of life. I won't be in that. By the way, I won't even be there because I'll be at another, I'll be at the judgment seat where I get rewards.
[28:20] But when they open the books and look, they'll say, Austin's name's in the book of life. He's not going to die. He's going to help me. And they say, well, let's look in there and see if he's got any righteousness. And when they open it up, they're not going to find any sin, not a one.
[28:31] There's not a mark against my name, not one dark spot, not one mess up, not one spot, not one little drip of ink fell on my page. They're going to look in there and they're going to say, wow, this guy's got the righteousness of God on his account.
[28:49] Angels are going to be like, whoa, look who this guy is. Nothing against him. He shall not come into condemnation. Look, if you would in Romans chapter eight and verse one, there is therefore now no condemnation to those, to them that which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
[29:05] There is no condemnation. I'm going to look now. Look at me. You got to listen to me. I don't have time to go to everything tonight because I already blew my time. Are you ready? When you hear something, you might read that verse and somebody told you that as long as you don't walk in the flesh, there's no condemnation.
[29:19] That's not what it means. Because if you read Romans chapter eight, we don't walk in the flesh. The flesh is what they do. The spirit's what we do. We walk in the spirit. We walk after the spirit.
[29:30] We're not them. There's two groups, spirit and flesh. And I'm not flesh. I'm spirit. Go read it. The flesh will not even be submitted to God, but I am submitted to God. There's therefore now no condemnation.
[29:41] You say, Austin, I tell you what, when you get to heaven, God's going to nail your hide. No, he ain't. He already nailed Jesus's hide. Not nailing my hide. Not nailing my hide because it was wonderful, beautiful, perfect, matchless grace.
[29:54] One more verse before I leave that one. How about talking Colossians 2.14 up there? You say, what about all the junk that's against me? What about all the stuff that I've done wrong and all the failures I've had?
[30:05] Look what he told the Colossians. Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. You've got to read verse 14.
[30:16] We preach through Colossians, and you should remember some of that, but watch this. First thing he did was he blotted it out. He blotted out all the rules that could have got me in trouble. He blotted out all the rules, and he blotted out all my failures.
[30:27] What's it mean to blot it out? It means he erased it. It means that he wiped it off the map. It means that he cleared my slate. It means he cleansed it and got rid of it. He blotted out all the writings against me.
[30:40] And anything contrary to me, he took it out of the way. Would you look at that verse? Right behind my head, he took it out of the way. So if there was anything between me and God, if there was anything, and somebody could have come along and said, here's Austin's list of failures.
[30:52] He said, I got that, nailed it to the cross. He erased it, and he nailed it to the cross, and he got it out of the way. You can't get to it. And then he said, he nailed it to the cross. Watch this. You know what he did, don't you? He took my list of failures.
[31:03] He erased my list of failures. And when he got it all cleaned up, he said, by the way, if anybody ever comes by trying to charge, I'll just nail that on the cross. You just tell them that's where it's at. That's where all your mess-ups are.
[31:14] And yours are all nailed to the cross. See, somebody wants you to feel real bad about who you are. Somebody wants you to feel like you're a failure. Somebody wants you to always walk around hoping God loves you.
[31:26] That's not true. He loves you so much he gave his only begotten son, and he died on a cross for you and paid your sin debt if you're born again. He loves you, and he paid the debt.
[31:37] There's a third word here, and we've got to quit. John chapter 5, verse 24. Three magnificent promises in a row. Now, let me just tell you, this is none of it true if you haven't believed Jesus.
[31:48] But you need to know. So, Micah and Catherine got married a few weeks ago, and I was participating in that wedding. And in that wedding, I had them say this.
[32:00] I give you all that I am or I ever will be. I give you all that I have or ever will have. And they promised each other. Look at each other in the eye in front of witnesses. They promised that.
[32:12] The day the God of heaven saved you in front of God himself, he said, three promises I give you guys. Number one, you have eternal life now.
[32:23] You have it. It's yours. It's now. Number two, I'll never change my mind. I will never condemn you. I will never say you're guilty. I'll never bring it up.
[32:33] It's forgiven. And number three, I have two lists in heaven. One of them is dying, and one of them is living. And look what he did with you. Look at John 5, 24. Look what it says. He says in his past, John 5, 24, he passed from death unto life.
[32:50] I was on a dying list. You were on a dying list. But he saved us. He saved us. And he moved us from the dying list, and he put us on the living list.
[33:02] Those are promises that give us security of salvation. Listen, if anybody in this room ever wondered, ever doubted your wife's love for you, you ever wondered if your wife loved you or your husband loved you?
[33:14] You ever doubted if your mama loved you, if your daddy loved you? You ever thought sometimes maybe they weren't loving you? You ever thought that? Ever crossed your mind? There was a man here in our church, and I love him very much.
[33:27] And I think he would tell you, but I'll not call his name, but he told me one day, he said, I've never doubted my wife's love, but I have doubted God's love. His wife had made him a promise when they got married, and he never doubted she loved him.
[33:39] On his worst days, and when he made the biggest messes of his life, and when he was an abject failure in his life, he told me, crying in my office, crying. And he wouldn't mind me telling you this. I never doubted her love, but the devil wants you to doubt the father's love.
[33:54] Well, let me give you a hint. Your wife cannot love you like your father loves you. Your wife cannot love you like your father loves you. Your husband cannot love you like your father loves you.
[34:06] Betty and I got married a long time ago, and we've had our fusses and our fights, but both of us have a love that says we'll overcome all the fusses and all the ugly words that we've ever said and done. But Betty knows no, I has no capacity to love like my father loves.
[34:22] My father loves me. And here's what he said, I'll give you three promises. He said, if you, if verily, verily, truly, truly, I say to you, if you hear my word and believe on him that sent me, then you have everlasting life.
[34:35] You shall not come into condemnation and you're on the living list. You're not going to die. What's dying? Dying is being away from God.
[34:47] I can promise you this. If you're born again, the father promises you eternal life, no condemnation and never dying. Oh, physically you'll die. But Jesus even said then, he said, if you believe in me, even if you die, you won't be dead.
[35:02] We're not going to die. Say amen. We're not going to die. We're not going to die. We're going to heaven. The passage of scripture starts off and he says this.
[35:13] He said, I, yeah, yeah, I did work a miracle on the Sabbath day, but I did it on purpose because I was trying to get something across to every Jew that's watching me. I'm God.
[35:26] I'm God. And by the way, when my father works and I work, I mean, me and the father were the same guy. By the way, I watch him work. I've seen him work. Everybody was in the room going, we ain't never seen him work. He said, I know y'all ain't seen him work. I'm Jesus.
[35:37] I'm God. I'm God. And of course I've seen him work. He said, and by the way, he don't even, he's not even planning on judging you. I'm the one that's going to judge you because he gave me all judgment. And by the way, he said, if you don't want to honor me, you don't want to honor him.
[35:48] And I'll just go ahead and tell you guys, I am God. And here it goes. If you hear my word and you believe in him that sent me, I got three promises for you. You have eternal life.
[36:01] You will not come to the condemnation and you're moved from the death list to the life list. I don't know what part of that's hard for you to understand, except I know it's all hard for you to understand.
[36:13] I don't know what part of that you don't understand just in words. Half everlasting life is a very simple phrase. You have it. Somebody says to me, Austin, you hope you'll go to heaven when you die. Nope. Don't hope it at all.
[36:24] I do not hope it at all. I'm going. You say, well, that's arrogant. No, it's not. It's not arrogant to believe the father. If, if, if, if my sons, if, if, if, if Chloe was sitting in my, if Jacob right there was sitting with me somewhere and he said, granddad's going to buy me a hot dog.
[36:42] And you said, how you know it? He said, he told me. He wouldn't be arrogant at all to say, granddad's about to buy me a hot dog. If I told him I was going to buy him a hot dog, he can bank on that. Can you say amen? I mean, I'm not going to lie to the boy.
[36:54] And here's what God said. He said, I told you, you have it. Then he said, I promise you this. You will not come into condemnation. That's probably my favorite part of the verse. Because somewhere along the way, somebody convinced me that I was going to go to Baptist purgatory.
[37:09] That's a manipulating technique. Y'all skip church. You better watch it. God will judge you for it. No, here's what it is. Here's what he said. I love you. I love you.
[37:22] You say, well, I messed up. I know I love you, but I say, I know I love you. But I went down to the pig. I know I love you. But I wasted all your money on righteousness living. I know I love you. Let's have a party. You're back. I love you.
[37:34] I love you. I love you. But what about when sin gets really bad? Where sin did abound. Grace did much more abound. Tonight, you can go home happy.
[37:46] Because you've got eternal life. What's eternal life? Everlasting life. Forever life. You can go home with that. You can go home and say this. I don't ever want to sin against him because he's such a good God.
[37:57] Where sin did abound, grace did much more abound. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How should we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Romans chapter 6.
[38:09] So just listen to this. He's God. And he promised us salvation. A beautiful, wonderful salvation. I don't have to live scared.
[38:20] I don't have to bite my nails. I don't have to wonder if it's true. I don't have to say, well, what if? What if? There's no what ifs. I'm in the ark. I'm under the blood. I'm in Christ. I have a new nature.
[38:31] My name's written in the Lamb's Book of Life. I am a child of God. Father, I love you. I thank you for what you're doing. I pray you'd save those that aren't saved. Encourage those that need encouraging.
[38:42] Help us to trust you. And I'll give you all praise. With every head bowed and every eye closed. You know whether or not God spoke to your heart. God, I'll just tell you this. There's only one person who enjoys making you miserable.
[38:55] That's the devil. He wants you to think the Father doesn't love you. He wants to hang heavy, heavy over your head. The God of glory hangs grace over your head and says, I love you.
[39:08] I love you. I came to find you. I healed you when you didn't deserve to be healed. I saved you when you didn't deserve to be saved. And I give you things you don't deserve. Tonight, why don't you say, thank you, Lord Jesus.
[39:20] Why don't you let your heart magnify him? Why don't you think that there's no other God ever like him? No man has ever invented a God that could become the rival of the one and only true God. What a God.
[39:31] We have it now. Father, deal with hearts. Magnify your name. With every head bowed and every eye closed. If you feel like you ought to pray, find a place and just tell him you love him. Tell him thank you for all he's done for you.
[39:42] If you feel like that's what you want to do. And if tonight you'd say, I'm not sure I'm saved. I'm not sure I'd go to heaven if I die. I want to help you. Jesus paid the price and you can be saved.
[39:54] Is there anybody that's saying, I'm not sure I'm saved and I want you to help me? I'll have somebody take the Bible and show you how to be saved. Would there be anybody like that? Father God, do a work tonight in our midst.
[40:05] Draw your people close to you. Show your strength and I'll give you glory and honor. When you get through praying, you can stand and sing with Jonathan as he leads us in the song. You have been listening to Austin Garden, Pastor of Vision Baptist Church.
[40:19] For contact information, location, service times, or more audio and video recordings, log on to www.visionbaptist.com. For more information, visit www.vision.com.