Now the part that I wanted to focus on in this chapter is verses 3 and 4 because I want
to preach tonight about the deity of Jesus Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity in
the Bible.
A lot of people attack this doctrine today and a lot of people attack the Trinity and
say it's a Catholic doctrine and there's what's called the Jesus only movement.
Who's ever heard of this?
It's these Pentecostals that we meet out in Soul Waning in South Phoenix.
They say Jesus is God but there's no Trinity, no Father, Son, and at first it sounds right,
like yeah Jesus is God, you're right, but they don't believe in the Trinity.
They don't believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
They believe that the Holy Ghost is some kind of a force or Jehovah's Witnesses and they're
mixed up on this.
And then there are other people who say Jesus is not God, he's just the Son of God but he's
not God.
He's only just God's offspring.
I want to show you some scriptures on that tonight to teach this doctrinally.
We need to get back to preaching doctrine in church.
A lot of people, they go to church and it's always encouragement, it's always motivation,
it's always firing you up, but they're not grounded in what they believe.
They're not firmly rooted on the doctrines of the faith so we need to go through and
see these things and not just believe it because we heard it somewhere but believe it because
we saw it and clearly taught in the Bible.
Now here's a good place to start, the book of Hebrews, a great book on the deity of Christ.
Look at verse number 3 of chapter 3.
Now we're talking about Jesus Christ according to verse number 1.
He's saying consider, in verse 1, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession,
Christ Jesus.
Look at verse 3.
For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, ok, how much more glory?
And as much as he who has builded the house hath more honor than the house.
And you notice here that Jesus is to Moses as the guy who builds the house is to the
house.
Do you understand?
Jesus Christ the creator.
It says in verse number 4, for every house is builded by some man but he that build all
things is who?
God.
So he's saying look Jesus Christ has so much more glory than Moses, he's not just another
prophet.
He wasn't just a follow up like a modern day Moses.
No, he has as much glory in relation to Moses as he who has builded the house has to the
house because Jesus created Moses is what's being taught here.
Jesus is the creator and then he says, hey, he that build all things is God.
Now you can see the same thing taught in John 1, flip over to John chapter 1.
While you're turning there I'll read you Hebrews 1.8.
But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.
So when the Father spoke to the Son in chapter 1 verse 8 he said, Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever.
A scepter of righteousness, a scepter of thy kingdom.
Look at John 1 and John is a great book on the deity of Christ also but look at John
chapter 1 verse 1.
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him.
Made by whom?
The Word.
And without him was not anything made that was made.
In him was life and the light was the light of man and the light shineth in darkness and
the darkness comprehended it not.
Look at verse number 11.
He came unto his own and his own received him not.
But as many as received him, to them gave him power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood nor the will of the flesh
nor of the will of man but of God.
And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
So we see that Jesus Christ was in the beginning with God.
This is where the Jesus only is mixed up.
Jesus was with God and he was God.
Either way, you're into false doctrine if you try to separate it and say, well, he's
not God.
No, he was God.
But then if you say, well, he wasn't with God, you're missing the trinity of the Father,
the Son and the Holy Ghost.
That's a Bible doctrine.
I'll show you a little later in the sermon, I'm going to show you the trinity occurring
throughout the Bible.
But think of Genesis chapter 1, the first chapter in the Bible.
And God said, now is and God says singular or plural, singular.
And God said, let us make man in our image and after our likeness.
So there's a three in one, there's a trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
Now look if you would, we're in John 1, flip over to John chapter 20.
Just go to the end of the same book.
John chapter number 20.
This is when Jesus has risen from the dead.
He's appearing to the disciples in the upper room.
He's showing them that he's risen from the dead and he showed them his hands and his
side and the disciples were glad when they saw him, but look at verse 24.
But Thomas, one of the 12, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
The other disciples therefore said to him, we've seen the Lord.
But he said to them, except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put my
finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
And after eight days again, his disciples were within and Thomas was with them.
Then came Jesus, the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said, peace be unto
you.
Then saith he to Thomas, reach hither thy finger and behold my hands and reach hither
thy hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless but believing.
And Thomas answered and said unto him, my Lord and my God.
And Jesus rebuked him for that.
And Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed, blesser
are they that have not seen and yet have believed.
Now wait a minute, why did Thomas say to him when he realized that he had risen from the
dead?
He got on his knees and said, my Lord and my God.
And what did he turn around and do?
Bless him and say, you know what, I'm glad you finally believe that.
When people flip over to the book of Revelation, look at Revelation chapter 22, oh good night,
my Bible, there's a piece thrown off the page, somebody give me your Bible.
I've removed the book of Revelation, there's a page that tore out or something, that kind
of threw me off.
Look at verse number eight of Revelation 22, and I John saw these things and heard them
and when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which
showed me these things.
Then saith the enemy, see thou, do it not, for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren
the prophets and of them which keep the sayings of this book, worship God.
How many times throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are people falling down and worshiping
Jesus and he never rebukes them.
They're always blessed whenever they're worshiping him, whenever they're bowing down to him.
They're saying, no, worship God, don't worship me, I'm a human being, I'm one of your fellow
servants, the prophets.
Remember when Peter came to Cornelius' house in Acts 10, they fell down and worshiped him,
Peter picked him up and said, I'm a man like you are, do not worship me.
And yet throughout the Gospels, Jesus was receiving worship, hey, remember what Jesus
said to the devil in Matthew 4, it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him
only shalt thou serve and yet he received worship.
Today the Pope receives worship.
People literally bow down and kiss his big toe or whatever, kiss his ring, they literally
do.
Jesus, were you the one that was telling me that there was a statue, what was it, some
saint or the Pope?
Saint Peter's Basilica.
Okay, in Saint Peter's Basilica when my wife visited it, this was back before she was saved
and she lived in Europe so she went there, and the toe was almost missing from so many
people kissing the toe of this statue that the toe was worn off.
I mean is that insane?
It doesn't sound very sanitary either, but anyway they're kissing the toe of a man.
And you know, you've seen how people get when they get around, you know, Pope Ratzinger
or whatever stupid name, what's his name, Ratzinger, Joseph Ratzinger, but then he gives
himself Benedict.
What's with all these wicked people changing their name all the time?
It seems like everybody who's wicked, weren't we talking about this today?
They all changed their name.
Like Barack Obama, that's not even his name.
What's his real name, like Barry something?
Barry Santoro.
You know, it sounds like a baseball player or something, so if you're going to be president
I guess you change it to your Muslim name, Barack Hussein Obama.
You know, he gave himself that name.
I don't know what that has to do with the sermon.
You know, these popes have to give themselves a cool name so that they can, and then it
makes them like God or something.
And people worship them and it's wicked.
Him only shalt thou serve.
Only one person should we worship and call our Lord and our God.
And Jesus Christ falls in that category because he's a part of the Godhead as the Bible calls
it.
But look back at Revelation, look back, if I haven't commandeered your Bible, look back
to Revelation chapter 2, I'm sorry, Revelation chapter 3.
Look at Revelation chapter 3, this is the letters to the 7 churches where Jesus is speaking.
And in Revelation chapter 3 when he's talking to the church of the Laodiceans, this is what
he says in verse 14, and unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, these
things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of
God.
Now people will try to twist the scripture and they'll try to say, oh, Jesus was God's
first creation, like he was created by God.
But wait a minute, remember what it said in John 1-1, all things were made by him and
without him was not anything made that was made?
Remember how it said he that built all things is God and Jesus Christ was the one who created
Moses and Jesus is the creator?
All this is saying he's the beginning of the creation of God.
Hey, when it says in the beginning, Jesus said, I am the beginning and the end, the
first and the last saith the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty.
So that's Jesus talking.
Jesus is the beginning of the creation of God.
He is the beginning, he's the creator, that's why he's the beginning of the creation.
I mean, where does the creation start, with the creator?
And that's Jesus Christ.
Nowhere in that verse will you find, oh, he was the first creation of God.
If that's what God meant, that's what he would have said.
But he said, no, he's the beginning of the creation of God.
Another objection, turn back to Luke chapter 1, another objection that people will raise,
you know, you'll be out soul winning and you're giving people the gospel, trying to get them
saved, and they've been influenced by the Jehovah's Witnesses or one of these other
false teachings.
You'll say to them that Jesus was God in the flesh.
We saw it this morning in 1 Timothy 3.16, God was manifest in the flesh, preached unto
the dead, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
But this is what people will say, and I'm sure you've heard people say this, no, he's
the son of God.
You'll say, he's God, he's God in the flesh.
No, he's just the son of God.
But ask yourself this question, if you ever wanted this, why does the Bible call Jesus
the son of God?
Because, you know, you wonder if he is God, which the Bible makes it clear that he is.
Unto the son he saith, thy throne, O God.
Isaiah 9, 6, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Prince
of Peace, the Mighty God, spoken of Jesus Christ, Isaiah 9, 6.
You say, well why is he called the son of God then?
You know, it's confusing, right?
The Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, what's that about?
The Bible explains why he's called the son of God.
Look at Luke 1, 35, and it explains it right here.
Look at verse 34, then said Mary unto the angel, how shall this be, seeing I know not
a man?
Because, you know, basically the angel's telling her you're going to give birth to a child.
She's saying, wait a minute, I know not a man.
I have never been with a man, so how am I going to have a child?
Verse 35, and the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,
and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee.
Therefore also, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the son of
God.
So why would the baby be called the son of God?
Because there was no human father, that's why.
Because there was no human father, and the Holy Ghost and God's power would overshadow
her, and basically place the child there in her womb.
That's why, according to, I mean if you want a biblical reason, it says right here, therefore,
for that reason he's saying, the holy thing that's born of thee shall be called the son
of God.
Now look, the Trinity is a Bible doctrine.
You say the word Trinity is not in the Bible.
Whether the word Trinity is in the Bible or not, the concept of the Trinity is there of
a father, son, Holy Ghost.
Let's look at some instances where this is mentioned.
Matthew 28, we're in Luke, just flip back a few pages, to Matthew chapter 28.
I mean there are many times where you'll find this combination in the Bible.
Starts with Genesis 1, let us make mad in our image.
Okay, that's plural.
It says in Matthew 28, verse number 19, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
There's your Trinity right there, right?
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 13.
2 Corinthians chapter number 13.
We'll see another mention of the Trinity here, the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost as it
was called there.
How about this?
2 Corinthians 13, verse 14, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and
the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all, Amen.
Right there, you've got a Trinity there, three elements there.
God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, right?
1 John 5, 7 obviously is the one that pops into our mind, go ahead and turn there.
1 John chapter 5, verse 7, towards the end of the New Testament here.
So first we saw it described as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Then we saw God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.
Look at 1 John 5, 7.
It says, for there are three that bear a record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy
Ghost, and these three are one.
Now that's the Trinity.
Three are one.
You say, I don't understand that.
Just because you don't understand something and then you say, well I'm not going to believe
it.
Look, if you understood the whole Bible, you'd be God.
I mean the Bible is an infinite book.
Whether or not we comprehend that fully or understand that fully, we see it in the Bible
and we believe it, because it says these three are one.
Now there's different ways to help illustrate this.
For example, water, H2O, can be in three different formats.
We can see basically the Trinity in nature, for water.
Whether it be ice, or liquid, or steam, it's still water.
I mean it's the same thing.
It's just in three different manifestations.
Three different formats, if you will.
You think of Jesus Christ, God manifested himself in the flesh, or in the Bible.
That's Jesus Christ, his physical manifestation.
The Holy Spirit.
Now you say, well how do we know that the Holy Spirit is God?
People will try to say the Holy Spirit is like a force, or that he's just like an influence.
No, the Holy Spirit is a person.
The Bible says in Ephesians 4, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.
Obviously the Holy Spirit can be grieved.
If the Holy Ghost can be quenched, grieved, he can sorrow, and the Bible says in the book
of Job, I don't have the scripture down in my sermon, but the Spirit of the Lord hath
created me.
It says in the book of Job, that basically he said I was created by the Holy Spirit.
You really find the trinity in Genesis 1, if you really stop and think about it.
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form
and void, darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters.
Now in 1 John 5.7, what's the difference here in this list though?
Because this is a little different than the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
What do we have?
The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.
Now why does it say the Word?
Who is the Word?
Well, we saw that in John 1, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his
glory, the glory, as the only begotten of the Father, but here's the problem.
People will try to separate the Word of God from Jesus, and a lot of people today will
not believe that the Bible is the Word of God.
People today are teaching, well the Bible was written by God.
They'll say, well the Bible was written by God.
You know, it's a book that God wrote.
I've even heard preachers say, God probably wrote many other books too, you know, that
are up in heaven.
He's got a whole library where we get there.
Okay, where'd you get that idea?
Well, this is a book that God wrote.
Wrong.
This book contained, I'm going to talk about the physical book, the leather, the paper,
I'm talking about these words, okay?
These words are the Word of God.
Now look, that may seem like a radical concept, but that's what everybody used to believe
and preach.
That's why I grew up being preached, but today we've been influenced by a bunch of philosophy
and false teaching.
Look, the Bible is a book that's meant to be understood.
You pick it up, you read it, you understand it.
It's not something that you need to go to a foreign language or go to some college to
learn or have some guy explain it to you and teach you, hey, the Holy Spirit will teach
you the Bible.
Look at, just real quickly, just flip over to chapter 2, verse 27.
But the anointing which he had received of him abideth in you, and you need not that
any man teach you.
You see that?
So is there anything in the Bible that you can't learn on your own?
Is there anything in the whole Bible that would be impossible for you to learn unless
someone teaches it to you?
No.
He says you need not that any man teach you, but it is the same anointing, which is talking
about the Holy Spirit, teacheth you of all things, and is truth and is no lie.
And even if it is a thought, you shall abide in him.
So to say, well, it's impossible to learn the Bible without somebody teaching it to
you.
Now, if you're an unbeliever, that's true.
Philip went to the Ethiopian eunuch and said, understandest thou what thou readest?
He said, how can I, except some man should guide me.
That's because he was an unbeliever.
He was the natural, unsaved man.
Once you're saved, you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you.
You have that anointing that teaches you all things.
You say, well, why do I come to church then?
You don't come to church because you need me to tell you what the Bible says or what
it means.
You come to hear preaching that's just going to teach you more, that's just going to help
you grow more, that's going to challenge you or encourage you, build you up, explain things
to you, help you grow.
But it's not something where you have to get it from Pastor Anderson or you're just not
going to get it.
I mean, people think that somehow, it's funny, I was just mentioning this this morning, I
was talking to somebody.
They think, oh man, you must have got that from Pastor Anderson.
Like there's anything unique that I teach.
Can somebody name for me one thing that I preach where I'm the only one who preaches
it?
I don't care what you name.
And you say, oh, but you preach all this radical stuff.
Yeah, but I can name for you hundreds of people who preach and teach and believe the same
thing.
No matter what you name.
I mean, you can name any doctrine.
There are millions of people, because guess what, if we all have the same Bible and the
same Holy Spirit, we're all reading the same thing, we're all going to believe the same
things.
And so, you know, I'll run into people that I've never met before, they believe exactly
what I believe on A, B, C, D, E, F, Y, because I didn't make it up.
Not some cult leader where, you know, you've got to come here and get my revelation.
No.
The anointing that you have will teach you.
You don't need a history book to teach you the Bible.
You don't need somebody to say, well, you need this other book.
You can't, unless you have this book, you're not going to be able to understand the Bible.
This book will interpret the Bible.
Is that what this says?
No.
It says you need the anointing and the word, that's it, and you've got it.
You don't need another book, another knowledge.
You know, we criticize the Mormons for adding their book of Mormon, but wait a minute.
What about Baptists who are doing the same thing?
They add their commentary.
They add this and say, oh, you've got to read this book.
You've got to say this.
You know, wait a minute.
This is all we need.
Other preaching is helpful.
You know, God commands us to go to church, mainly to get around other believers, also
to believe like us and mainly so that we can get, you know, grouped up so we can go out
and do the work.
You know, go out and do the soul work.
But wait a minute.
We don't need this book to teach us.
Now, what happens if we don't have the, you know, this is a song book, but, you know,
we're pretending this is deep, deep, I'll read it for you to cover, deep theology.
This is what the subtitle is, Go Down Deep, Stay Down Long, Come Up Dry, all right?
This is, you know, Mr. Theological book from the seminary, cemetery, and, you know, you
study that and you're going to know the Bible.
Now, look, if I'm just reading the Bible, for example, because these are some of the
radical things I preach, you know, people criticize our church or they quit the church
and they, oh, man, these priests teach all this radical doctrine, okay?
These are some of the radical, wild doctrines that I teach, okay?
Like because I believe that the Bible is the Word of God and that the Word became flesh
in the form of Jesus Christ, that God's Word is God, which is what the Bible says, okay?
The Bible says, that's it, the Word was with God and the Word was God.
Now, ask yourself this question, you say, why are you preaching this?
We need to understand doctrine.
Don't just want some little sugar stick or something, you need to get the meat and potatoes
on Sunday night, okay?
Think about this now, was Jesus Christ always flesh?
Ask yourself that question.
He was made flesh, yeah, you're right, he wasn't.
Because in John 1-14, he was made flesh and dwelt among us.
That means before that, was he flesh?
Before that, no.
He became flesh.
He was manifest in the flesh, okay?
The Word was manifest.
Now, the Word, people just say, oh, that's just a name given to Jesus.
And they'll go even further, they'll say this, well, if you study Greek philosophy,
then you'll understand the Logos.
And just by, look, just by quoting a word in another language, doesn't mean it means
anything different.
I mean, the word Logos just means word in Greek, it's just the Greek word for word.
Oh, but you have to understand the Logos, okay, why don't we understand Palabra?
You must understand the Palabra because you live in Arizona.
No, Spanish, Greek, so what?
It means word.
It's a bunch of letters that form together and make a sound that means something.
It's a word.
Oh, but the Logos, these philosophers believed in kind of like Star Wars, like the force
of the universe was called the Logos.
And so John was trying to bring the Gospel onto their level and relate it to their false
religion and their philosophy.
I mean, it's unbelievable to think that you, and this is what they say, that's why you
have to go to Bible college or you wouldn't know that.
I've had people tell me that.
So you're telling me that in order to understand John 1, I have to go to a college or a Greek
philosopher or some guy in a toga that needs to put on a pair of pants to teach me what
the Bible means?
No, I've got the Holy Spirit.
I pick up John 1.1, it says, in the beginning was the Word and what is called the Word of
God all throughout the Bible, all the way from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22.
God said to Abraham, I will show it to you, the Word of God, all throughout the Bible.
What is the Word of the Lord?
Let me speak unto you the Word of God.
And it was always scripture that was coming out of their mouth.
And then here we get to John 1, we're supposed to believe it's, you know, the force, Logos,
it turns out it's really God and the dark side is Satan.
That'd be like I'm supposed to give the gospel to some Star Wars geek and I have to explain
to him in his term.
Okay, Darth Vader is kind of like the devil.
I know he was born of a virgin and everything.
Don't let that confuse you.
You know, and by the way, these movies, that's why these movies are occultic.
You should watch out for them.
Let me be serious now.
In the Star Wars movie, Darth Vader is born of a virgin.
That's a little bit blasphemous.
Jesus Christ is the only one who was born of a virgin, my friend.
Although today they're making babies in a laboratory that are born of a virgin.
That's a whole other sermon.
That's my sermon on IVF, you know, in vitro fertilization.
But what I'm saying is, you know, no, you don't relate the Bible to man's book.
This is God's Word and anyone who just starts reading, think about this now.
In Genesis 1 and gets to John 1, they're going to have already read hundreds of times what
the Word of God means and what the Word of the Lord is.
And then when they say, in the beginning was the Word, they're going to say, okay, that
Word was from the beginning and it was with God.
Hey, it was God.
And then it became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory.
The glory is of the only begotten of the Father.
I could prove it to you further that Jesus and the Word are one and the same.
It's one of those radical things that I preach.
Look at Revelation chapter 19.
Revelation 19.
It says in verse 11, And I saw heaven open, 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.
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 he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of
God.
Now, you say, oh, that's just a name for him.
That's just what they call him.
What?
That name makes no sense.
Word.
What do you, oh, I think I'm going to name myself Word, Word.
But he said, up in verse 11, his name, he said he was called what?
Faithful and True, and his name was called the Word of God.
Look at chapter 21.
Flip over to 21.
He said he was called Faithful and True.
His name was called the Word of God.
Look at verse 5 of chapter 21.
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.
And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful.
So what is his name?
Faithful and True.
These words are Faithful and True.
Flip over to chapter 22 and verse number 6.
I'm going to borrow your Bible again, brother Dave.
And he said unto me, These sayings are Faithful and True.
So he just finished telling us in chapter 3 that he was the Faithful and True witness.
Then in chapter 19 he says he is called Faithful and True.
Then in chapter 21 he says these words are True and Faithful.
Then in chapter 22 he says these sayings are Faithful and True.
So look, the second person of the Godhead, eternity past, was the Word.
The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.
The Word became flesh, born of a virgin.
The Holy Ghost came upon Mary, therefore he was called the Son of God.
Why was he called the Son of God?
Because the Spirit of the Lord came upon Mary and overshadowed her with God's power when
she became with child, when she conceived in her womb the Son of God.
And so that's doctrinally where that all fits in.
You go back into eternity past, it was not a flesh and blood Jesus.
He was made flesh and dwelt among us, okay, and we beheld his glory.
Titus 1, 2 is another great verse showing us that the Word of God is from eternity past.
When he says, In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world
began.
That promise of eternal life existed before the world began.
But look at John chapter 6, John chapter number 6.
And by the way, here's another teaching that people will say, oh man, the radical teaching.
You know, that Pastor Anderson, you know, he's crazy.
Because I teach what literally, what literally almost all Christians believed throughout
history until the 1800s, okay, which is the fact that Jesus Christ spent three days and
three nights in hell.
And it's, oh, no, no, no, no, oh man, you know, false doctors and that.
And yet, here's a clear scripture for you.
Don't turn there, but I'll read it for you.
But this is a perfect example of what I'm talking about.
This is Acts 2 31, you don't have to turn there.
And if you've seen this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell, neither his flesh did seek corruption.
Here's what they'll say to that.
They'll say, oh, wait a minute, that's not hell.
You got to go back, it's Sheol, it's Hades, but wait a minute, if you and the Holy Spirit
just got the Bible out and read it, do you think hell is a good place or a bad place?
You've already, by the time you get to Acts 2 31, you've already read the word hell about
40-some times in the Bible and you know it's a bad place every time it's mentioned.
And here we are just taking the Bible straight for what it says.
Did you know that there are like over 450 references in the Old Testament to a burnt
offering, a burnt sacrifice?
Every sacrifice in the Bible is a burnt offering.
Why?
What did it symbolize when they took a lamb, shed the blood, sprinkled on the altar, and
then burned it with fire?
Why was the Passover not to be eaten raw, not to be sodden with water, not to be boiled?
It must be roast with fire.
The Bible flat out says it, if you say, well, Jesus didn't go to hell, you're denying Acts
2 31 where it says he went to hell.
Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to seek corruption.
You say, well, wait a minute, it's just Hades, it's just Sheol, it's the place of the dead.
That's not what the Bible says.
If you want to just believe stuff that the Bible doesn't say, the Bible says hell, I
just believe it's hell.
I mean, it's that simple.
He was in hell.
Let me prove it to you even further.
Jesus was dead for three days and three nights.
He said in Revelation, I am he that liveth and was dead and behold, I'm alive forevermore.
Amen and have the keys of hell and of death.
Now let me ask you something.
Are people in heaven dead according to the Bible?
Jesus Christ said, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
So when Jesus was walking on this earth, he said, Abraham rejoiced to see my day and was
glad when he saw it.
And they said, there are now 50 years old and has thou seen Abraham and what did Jesus
say?
Clearly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am, and that's why he took up stones to
stone because he was claiming to be God because he was God.
Another proof of the deity of Christ, he said, before Abraham was, I am, but wait a minute.
Abraham rejoiced to see his day and he saw it.
Why did he see it?
Because he's alive right now.
And guess what?
He was alive even before Jesus rose from the dead, doing dispensationalists and everything,
I think there was some resurrection when Jesus rose that all these saints moved from
hell to heaven or whatever, garbage.
Look, God's not the God of the dead, but of the living.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are classified as alive while Jesus was walking on this earth
because they were up in heaven a lot.
Jesus was not alive for three days and three nights, my friend.
He was dead.
People that are in hell are called dead.
Revelation 20, death and hell gave up the dead which were in them.
The dead will judge according to their works.
Jesus said, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
I'm never going to die.
When I breathe my last breath, the body will die, but I'll still be alive in heaven.
If I'm dead for five minutes, God, it's not that I'm just going to raise again someday,
my body will raise again.
I will continue to live.
If I die, then God lied.
And so the Bible makes it clear that, hey, Jesus Christ suffered our punishment in hell,
and then he had the keys of hell and of death, he defeated death, he rose from the dead.
By the way, he rose from the dead, he didn't descend from the dead.
You know, they try to say, oh, he was up in heaven during that time.
How is that being dead?
It's really attacking the death, burial, and resurrection.
If you think about it, it's like he's not even dead.
He's up in heaven, or even weirder, he's in this good side of hell.
That's what they say.
You're laughing about it, but that's what they believe.
You ought to laugh.
Everybody laugh, have a good laugh.
Can you believe it?
You know what Adolf Hitler said?
Adolf Hitler said this.
He said, if you repeat enough over and over again, and you keep repeating the same thing,
he said, if you can get people to think that paradise is hell and that hell is paradise.
And Baptists today, independent fundamental Baptists will tell you, Jesus went to hell,
and that means he went to paradise.
That's what they'll tell you.
They'll say, oh, when it says he went to hell, it really means he went to paradise, which
is right next to hell.
Now look, I know there's a place in California called Paradise, California.
I know there's a place in Michigan called Hell, Michigan, but to sit there and tell
me that it's paradise in the center of the earth, has anybody ever looked at a picture
of geology lately?
Have you ever looked at a cross section of the earth?
It's pretty hot down there.
That's a little too hot for me to go on vacation, paradise, you know.
You've won an all-expense trip to paradise.
You're going to hell.
Oh man, it's a little hot down here, but it's really beautiful.
Paradise in the center of the earth, unbelievable.
And they're basing it where Jesus said, today shall not be with me in paradise, to the thief
on the ground.
The thief on the cross went to heaven, and guess who he was with when he got to heaven?
God.
And guess who Jesus is?
God.
That's why Jesus said in John 3.13, he said no man has ascended up into heaven, but he
that came down from heaven, even the son of man which is in heaven.
So when Jesus was talking to Nicodemus in John 3.13, he said the son of man is in heaven
right now.
That's why he could say to the thief on the cross, you'll be with me in paradise today.
He didn't say come on down buddy, we're going to hell, but don't worry, it's the good side.
Now where are you going to get this doctrine that there's a good part of hell, a cool spot?
From some theologian that will tell you, oh well Hades and the underworld and the Greek
underworld and you know, you've got to have some theologian teach it to you.
Otherwise you'd know every time.
And plus, if it was such a wonderful place, why is Jesus so anxious to get out of there?
Saying hey, my soul shall rest in hope for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither
wilt thou suffer.
He wants to get out of there.
Okay, he doesn't want to stay there, it's a bad place, hell is a bad place.
I know it's a really radical doctrine I'm teaching you, but hell is always a bad place.
It's never somewhere that you want to go, okay, never.
Calm down, it's not an heresy that I'm preaching, it's a bad place.
Plus what sense does it make?
Jesus could pay for our sins just by getting a beating, and yet people who are unsaved
have to go to hell to pay for their sins?
Tell me how that, explain to me how that makes sense.
Jesus could pay for our sins just by being beaten with a whip and punched in the face
and spat upon, but yet we have to go to hell if we're unbelievers to pay for our sins?
No, that doesn't make any sense.
Jesus paid our punishment, okay, and he faced God's wrath in hell, okay.
That was part of it.
That's why in Jonah chapter 2, when Jonah was prophesying Jesus Christ, because he was
in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights.
And Jesus said in Matthew 1240, for as Jonas was in the belly of the whale three days and
three nights, so also shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days
and three nights.
That's not talking about the cave he was in.
He said the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.
And by the way, he was there for three days and three nights.
He wasn't crucified on Friday night.
That's two days and one night.
He was there for three days and three nights, okay, and rose on the first day of the week.
You know, I've taught that in other sermons and proved that from the Bible.
But he was down there, and Jonah was a picture of that.
Jonah said, out of the belly of hell, cried I, and that heard just my voice.
He talks about the seaweed being wrapped around his head when he was in the whale's belly
in Jonah chapter 2.
But then he talks about going down to the bottoms of the mountains and how the earth
with her bars was about me forever.
That's not about hell.
That's talking about, you know, speaking of Jesus Christ.
Just like in Psalm 16, when David said, Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, this spake
he of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell.
That's what the resurrection is.
His soul was not left in hell.
He resurrected from the dead.
You see, that's the difference between, that's part of the difference between his resurrection
and say, the raising of Lazarus.
Remember when Lazarus was raised?
Lazarus was raised, but see, Lazarus did not, Lazarus was a believer.
He was not really dead.
What was the word that Jesus used about Lazarus?
Lazarus is asleep, and I would go wake him, and he'd been dead for four days.
But was he really dead?
No, he was a believer.
He was saved.
He was just sleeping.
He did not go to hell for four days, and also, later on, eventually, he died.
He was not raised up immortally like Jesus.
Jesus is the firstfruits of the resurrection.
He is raised to die no more, the Bible says.
So he rose again from the dead.
He died no more, just like we will be after our resurrection.
Lazarus was just sleeping.
Those who are, you know, referring to the fact, he wasn't really dead.
I mean, people who are dead are in hell, according to the Bible.
And God's not the God of the dead, he's the God of the living.
And so the Bible is clear on that.
And all that, that whole spiel about, you know, teaching that Jesus Christ, that in
itself, just explain that to you.
I just proved that Jesus was God about four times, just in that explanation.
He said, I am.
He said, the Son of Man is in heaven right now.
He said all these different things.
Look at John 6, John chapter number 6.
Now, the book of John is a great book on the deity of Christ.
There are seven great I ams in the book of John.
You remember how when Moses asked what God's name was at the burning bush,
he said, I am.
He said, tell them that I am has sent you.
He gave himself that name.
Well, Jesus made all these I am statements.
I am the light of the world.
I am the bread of life.
He said, I am the good shepherd.
Remember it says, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He said, I am the good shepherd.
Okay, he said, I am the bread of life.
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
I am the resurrection and the life.
He that believeth me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
He said, before Abraham was, I am.
I mean, just on and on he's saying, there are the seven great I ams,
you know, the good shepherd, the bread of life, the light of the world,
and on and on.
Now, this is where Jesus is giving his sermon,
where he's preaching to the Pharisees.
They don't really understand what he's saying.
He's talking about how he's the bread of life.
Okay, and that's what he's talking about in John chapter six.
Look what he says in verse number 47.
He says, verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
Now, that's a great verse on salvation right there.
It's not about your works.
It's not about how good you are.
He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
I am that bread of life.
Now, watch what he says.
Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead.
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven
that a man may eat thereof and not die.
I am the living bread which came down from heaven.
If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever.
And the bread that I will give is my flesh,
which I will give for the life of the world.
Now, what's he explaining here?
He's comparing himself to the manna
that came down from heaven.
Now, the Jews said to him, show us the sign.
And he says, okay, and they actually bring up
the subject of the manna.
They, he says, you know, show us the sign.
And they say, our fathers ate manna in the wilderness.
40 years with Moses, what work is thou?
He said, you know what?
Moses is not the one that gave you the manna, it was God.
And he said, if a man ate that bread,
he would, you know, he would basically,
whoops, I just spilled my water.
He would basically die.
He's not gonna live forever, okay?
Keep your finger here and look back
at Deuteronomy chapter eight real quick.
I just wanna show this to you.
This is the last thing I'm gonna show you in the sermon.
Deuteronomy chapter number eight.
Deuteronomy 8.3, I want you to listen
really carefully at this point.
When you read the Bible, and boy,
if you were here this morning,
you understood the emphasis on God's words.
Every word, you know, just basically
every single word matters.
It's not just the thought, it's not just the idea.
Look at verse three.
And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger,
and fed thee with manna.
Why?
Which thou knewest not, neither thou father's know.
Why did he do it?
That thou, he said, that he might make thee to know
that man did not live by bread only,
but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of the Lord, that the man live.
So what was he trying to teach them with that manna?
He was teaching them, he fed them with manna,
to teach them that man does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
So what did the manna represent?
God's word.
Basically, in Deuteronomy, the way he explains in Deuteronomy,
he said, hey, the manna represented God's word.
You should read the Bible every day.
They had to get up every morning and get that manna.
And they had to get it that day,
and if they skipped the day, it was gone.
They had to get it in the morning,
they'd get up, and they'd get the manna.
It represented God's word, according to this.
He said man did not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Now look at John six.
Watch how Jesus is using the same thing.
He's using the same type of words,
the same phrases here.
When he says, your father, verse 49,
your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness or dead.
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven,
that a man may eat there but not thy.
I'm the living bread which cometh down from heaven.
If any man eateth this bread, it shall live forever.
And the bread that I will give is my flesh,
which I will give for the life of the world.
The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying,
how can this man give us his flesh to eat?
They're basically arguing with him, saying like,
what are you talking about?
Then Jesus said unto them, you're right, I'm sorry.
And he said, verily, verily I say unto you,
except ye eat the flesh of the son of man
and drink his blood, you have no life in you,
who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood
hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
And they're like, whoa, what are you talking about?
For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood
dwelleth in me and I in him.
As the living father hath sent me,
and I live by the father.
Look at this last phrase, this is the key.
So he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
Now, doesn't that sound familiar?
That man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Now the Jews are just perplexed.
They don't understand what he's saying.
They don't understand the illustration.
They're taking him literally,
like he's going to give them his literal flesh to eat.
This is what the Roman Catholics believed today.
They tell you, oh, this magical thing,
they give you that little cracker, that little wafer,
they put it on your tongue, and they go like, you know,
and then it becomes, you know, the flesh of Jesus, right?
You know, right there in your stomach,
which is cannibalism, which is weird.
And they say, when you drink the cup,
it literally becomes blood.
The Bible says never to eat blood.
He can't be speaking literally,
because in Deuteronomy and Leviticus,
he commanded him, do not eat blood.
Then in Acts 15, he reiterated,
do not eat the flesh with the blood.
Take out the blood of your meat before you eat it.
Watch what he says.
He's going to explain himself, because they're perplexed.
They don't get it.
They're like, what are you talking about?
We're going to eat you?
But then he explains it.
The first hint here in verse 57,
he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
That should ring a bell with him,
with the manna that he's talking about.
Look at verse 58.
This is that bread which came down from heaven.
Not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead.
He that eateth of this bread shall live forever.
These things said he in the synagogue,
as he taught in Capernaum.
Many therefore of his disciples,
when they had heard this, said,
this is in hard saying.
Who can hear it?
When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it,
he said unto them, does this offend you?
I'm sorry.
What, and if ye shall see the son of man
ascend up where he was before.
He said, look, I came down from heaven,
and eventually you'll see me ascend up where I came from.
But now he explains the parable in verse 63.
It is the spirit that quickeneth.
What does the word quicken mean?
To make alive.
And remember what he kept saying?
He that eateth me shall live by me.
He said, except ye eat the flesh of the son of man,
ye have no life in you.
He said, it is the spirit that quickeneth, or makes alive.
The flesh profiteth nothing.
The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life,
but there are some of you that believe not.
Now look, that's pretty clear.
He said, look, I'm not talking about you literally
eating my physical flesh off my body.
He said, I'm talking about my word.
It's not the flesh, the flesh profiteth nothing.
He said, the words that I say unto you,
they are spirit and they are life.
Just like your fathers, amen in the wilderness.
That was a picture of God's word,
to teach them that man does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
He's saying, look, I'm like the manna
in that I came down from heaven.
I'm like the manna in that I represent the word of God.
I'm like the manna because if a man eateth me,
he shall live by me.
He said, it's not my flesh per se, it's my word.
Now look, stop and ask yourself this question.
If Jesus is not the word, you know,
people try to say, oh, Jesus is not the word.
You know, the word's just a name given him,
but the Bible, the word, like the sayings,
the words of God, the scripture,
totally separate from Jesus.
Well then, why would Jesus say, eat my flesh to be saved?
But then he turns around and says, no, you don't get it.
He said, we're not talking physical flesh.
We're talking about that I represent
a food for your soul, the word of God.
And look, a person cannot be saved without that word.
The Bible says faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the word of God.
And there are all kinds, this is an illustration,
this shouldn't have been new to them.
In the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah eats the word of God.
He's given a book and told to eat it
and he actually chews it up and eats it.
I mean, it's a symbol, symbolic.
Job said, thy words were found and I did eat them
and thy word was a joy and rejoicing of my heart.
In Revelation 10, John is told to eat a scroll
with God's word on it, okay.
The point is here that people will try to separate
the Father, the word and the Holy Ghost.
He was explaining them, look, the manna came down
from heaven, it was a physical food
that did not give eternal life, it was just a physical food.
But it was symbolic of the word of God.
He's saying, that's me, I'm the word of God.
I'm the true manna, I'm the bread of life.
I'm the word of God that came down from heaven
and you must eat this manna, is what he's saying.
You must eat this bread of life and it's my words.
You know, who here has ever met Jesus in person physically?
Nobody, if you say you do, you're like,
whenever I'm out soloing, I'll run these people sometimes.
Oh yeah, Jesus appeared to me.
You know what I'm talking about?
Who's ever met somebody that said that out?
Well, you work in that nursing home, right?
People probably tell you that a lot in that place.
But you know, oh, Jesus appeared to me
and I always ask them the same thing.
I always say, well, did he have really long, flowing hair?
They're like, oh yeah, I said, well, that wasn't him.
The Bible says that he should have short hair.
But anyway, hey, here's the thing.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15, last of all,
this is what Paul said, last of all, he was seen of me.
That's what Paul said.
And guess what, next time anybody sees him,
every eye shall see him, the Bible says.
Every eye shall see him when he comes.
So none of us have physically seen Jesus.
So let me ask this, how can we be saved?
How are we saved then?
Through his word.
How do you know Jesus?
Did he physically come to you at the well?
Did he come to you at night like Nicodemus?
Did he come to you and speak to you?
Nope.
This is how you know Jesus, through the word.
And let me tell you something, the word was with God,
the word was God.
See, you have to understand that the Trinity
is a Bible doctrine.
It's called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
It's called the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.
It's called these three are one, okay?
Jesus said this, you know, because people try to say,
oh, they're just one in purpose, one in spirit.
He said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.
I mean, you know, they say, oh, you and your wife are one.
I had some Mormons tell me.
I said, what if I said to you, if you've seen me,
you've seen my wife?
You know, no, we're two different,
we're two distinctly separate people.
But Jesus said, if you've seen me, you have seen the Father.
And then Philip said, show us the Father,
and it sufficeth us.
He said, Philip, have you been with me so long
and you haven't known me, Philip?
If you've seen me, you've seen the Father.
And how sayest thou, show us the Father?
What do you want me to show you?
He said, I am the Father.
I mean, how much clearer could you get in John 14,
when he sits there and tells Philip,
look, how can I show you the Father when I am the Father?
I am my Father or one.
I am.
Before Abraham was, I am.
I'm the true vine.
I'm the bread of life.
I'm the resurrection.
I'm the beginning and the end.
I am the first and the last.
I am the Alpha and Omega.
There's no room for anything else, folks.
If he's the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end, the first and the last,
where does that place God?
Because he's one with God,
because he is a part of that Godhead,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
All the way back, Genesis 1 is when it starts being taught,
and it finishes up in Revelation 22.
It's a Bible doctrine.
It's always a red flag when people question this,
and they start to, you know,
well, you know, he's just the Son of God.
Well, you know, it's just the Jesus only.
Jesus only, you know, there's no Trinity.
The Holy Ghost is not part of it.
It's clear.
The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.