Alright, good evening everyone, welcome to First Works Baptist Church, let's all make
our way inside and find a seat, grab a song book, open that song book up to song number
167, All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name, let's all stand together for our first song, song
number 167, All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name, everyone nice and strong all together,
All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name, let angels prostrate fall, bring forth the royal diadem
and crown Him Lord of all, bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all, ye
chosen seed of Israel's race, ye ransomed from the fall, hail Him who saves you by His
grace, and crown Him Lord of all, hail Him who saves you by His grace, and crown Him
Lord of all, let every kindred, every tribe, on this terrestrial ball, to Him all majesty
a scribe, and crown Him Lord of all, to Him all majesty a scribe, and crown Him Lord of
all.
With yonder sacred throng, we at His feet may fall, we'll join the everlasting song
and crown Him Lord of all, we'll join the everlasting song and crown Him Lord of all.
Amen.
and loving you.
And Lord, we just pray that we pray for the new people
as we're going into the fall program
and as we're going into the Christmas program time as well.
I pray that that time is fruitful to you
and that we're able to be a blessing to the people
and that ultimately we're able to get a lot of people saved
throughout this time.
Lord, I pray for the innocent throughout the world
and more specifically, I actually pray against your enemies.
I pray that you slay them, break the ground open
or give them diseases and things like that, Lord.
And I just pray that you utterly destroy your enemies,
more specifically the ones
that is bringing up this lawsuit.
Lord, I pray for family salvation,
for people that have not been able to hear the gospel
and I pray for expecting mothers,
new mothers and newborns, Lord.
And Lord, I just pray that you have a hand of healing
and protection over them.
Lord, I wanna pray for all of the unspoken requests
and the salvation requests that we have here
as a church family.
And then Lord, lastly, I wanna pray for our brother Alex
and brother Eric's father, David.
And I pray that you have a hand of healing on him
and Lord, I pray that this whole situation
gets taken care of and Lord, console the families there.
Lord, thank you for the word that Ulysses
is going to provide for us.
And Lord, I pray that we're able to leave better
than when we came and we're able to be receptive
to the preaching and grow there by.
Lord, I pray this in the name, amen.
All right, please open up your hymnals to song number 144,
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, 144.
["A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"]
Good evening, we're in John chapter 20.
And the chapter reads,
The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early,
when it was yet dark unto the sepulchre,
and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
Then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter,
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved,
and saith unto them,
They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre,
and we know not where they have laid him.
Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple,
and came to the sepulchre.
So they ran both together, and the other disciple
did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.
And he stooping down and looking in,
saw the linen clothes lying, yet when he not in?
Then cometh Simon Peter following him,
and went into the sepulchre,
and seeeth the linen clothes lie,
and the napkin that was about his head,
not lying with the linen clothes,
but wrapped together in a place by itself.
Then went in also the other disciple,
which came first to the sepulchre,
and he saw and believed.
For as yet they knew not the scripture,
that he must rise again from the dead.
Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.
But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping,
and as she wept, she stooped down,
and looked into the sepulchre,
and seeth two angels in white sitting,
the one at the head, and the other at the feet,
where the body of Jesus had lain.
And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou?
She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord,
and I know not where they have laid him.
And when she had thus said,
she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing,
and knew not that it was Jesus.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou?
Whom seekest thou?
She supposing him to be the gardener saith unto him,
Sir, if thou have borne him hence,
tell me where thou hast laid him,
and I will take him away.
Jesus saith unto her, Mary.
And she turned herself, and saith unto him,
Rabboni, which is to say, Master.
Jesus saith unto her,
Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended unto my Father.
But go to my brethren, and say unto them,
I ascend unto my Father, and your Father,
and to my God, and your God.
Mary Magdalene came, and told the disciples
that she had seen the Lord,
and that he had spoken these things unto her.
Then the same day at evening,
being the first day of the week,
when the doors were shut,
where the disciples were assembled
for the fear of the Jews,
came Jesus, and stood in the midst,
and said unto them,
Peace be unto you.
And when he had so said,
he showed unto them his hands and his side.
Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.
Then said Jesus to them again,
Peace be unto you, as my Father has sent me,
even so I send I you.
And when he had said this,
they breathed on them, and saith unto them,
Receive ye the Holy Ghost,
whosoever sins ye remit,
they are remitted unto them,
and whosoever sins ye retain,
they are retained.
But Thomas, one of the twelve,
called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
The other disciples therefore said unto him,
We have seen the Lord,
but he sent unto 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 with them.
Then came Jesus, the doors being shut,
and stood in the mist,
and said, Peace be unto you.
And saith he to Thomas,
Rich 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,
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas,
because thou hast seen me thou hast believed,
blessed are they that I have not seen,
and yet have believed.
And many other signs truly did Jesus,
in the presence of his disciples,
which are not written in his book.
But these are written that he might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing,
he might have life through his name.
Let's pray.
Thank you, Heavenly Father,
for preserving your words unto us, dear God.
Thank you for this wonderful church,
for a wonderful family you've given us here,
and we thank you for giving us
Brother Ulysses tonight to preach your word unto us.
Please bless him with your Holy Spirit
as he preaches this evening.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, we're there in John chapter 20.
Look down your Bibles and look at verse number 30.
The Bible says,
And many other signs truly did Jesus,
in the presence of his disciples,
which are not written in his book.
These are written that he might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing,
he might have life through his name.
And the title of the sermon this evening
is Clear Teachings in the Book of John.
Clear Teachings in the Book of John.
And the Book of John really is one of the easiest books,
I would say, to understand,
especially as a new believer,
which is why a lot of times when we go out
sowing and we were to give out a Bible,
you know, we usually put a track in the Book of John
and we just tell them here,
you know, read the Bible,
God wants you to read his word,
and a good place to start always is in the Book of John.
And I believe the reason for that
is just because it's one of the books really
that if you were just to read it from start to finish,
a lot of doctrines that the world teaches
that a lot of false religions
just get debunked by this book alone.
And, you know, the Book of John, like I said,
it is one of the simplest books,
but, you know, you're not going to read the Book of John
and just walk away believing in Calvinism, right?
You're not going to walk away from reading the Book of John
and believing in what is Pentecostalism.
You're not going to walk away from reading the Book of John
and just believe that you can lose your salvation
because these are things that the Book of John
clearly covers and it just makes it clear
for anybody to understand that it's safe.
Now if you're there in the Book of John,
just go over one chapter, John chapter 21,
and look down at verse number 25.
The Bible says,
And there are also many other things which Jesus did,
which if they should be written,
everyone, I suppose, that even the world itself
could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.
And so obviously there are so many things that Jesus did
while being here on earth
that the Bible did not, you know, tell us
or does not have contained in the book,
but everything that God wants you to know
regarding Jesus and his ministry and his life
and all the miracles that he did is in the Bible, right?
There's nothing that we need outside of the Bible
to tell us, you know, maybe there's some things
that Jesus taught that, you know, he,
that we need to know or anything like that.
No, the Bible is complete, right?
The Bible says that all scripture is given
by inspiration of God
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, instruction, and righteousness.
It says that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished into all good works.
So anything that God wants you to know
is in this book already.
And there's other books out there, you know,
that claim to have things that the Bible is lacking,
you know, or just movies out there
that they've made regarding the life of Jesus
that they try to pervert.
And you think about books and movies
such as like The Da Vinci Code.
Now, how many people have seen that movie?
No, I'm just kidding. Don't raise your hand.
But, you know, like The Da Vinci Code
where they, you know, try to make it seem
that Jesus had a child with like Mary Magdalene
or even books like The Gospel of Thomas
or other books that just like try to cover in detail
supposedly of some of the things that he did as a child,
you know, from the ages of like four to 12.
And obviously we have like a glimpse
of Jesus' early childhood.
But some of these other books, you know,
they say that Jesus made like birds out of clay
and that he brought them to life,
that he cursed like this other kid
and he turned into a corpse.
And like all these like crazy stuff, you know,
that other books try to say that happened in Jesus' life.
But we know that none of this is true, right?
We know that all this is false
because, you know, the Bible clearly tells us, you know,
what was Jesus' first miracle?
Now, just to see something like that,
look at John chapter 2, John chapter 2.
So all these other books, you know,
they claim that Jesus made all these type of miracles,
you know, such as turning birds from clay into real life
and all these other things.
But in John chapter 2, just look down at verse number 11,
we see that it says that this beginning of miracles
that Jesus and king of Galilee
and manifested forth his glory
and his disciples believed on him.
And so the Bible tells us what was his first miracle, right?
It tells us that it was when he turned water into wine.
And so all these other books that try to say anything different,
you know, is contrary to the word of God.
Now go back to John chapter 20, John chapter 20.
And for the most of the sermon,
we're just going to be in the book of John.
I may turn to other passages just to support these verses,
but mainly, you know, we're just going to be in the book of John.
But look at verse number 30 in John chapter 20.
The Bible says again,
and many other signs truly that Jesus and the presence of his disciples,
which are not written in his book,
these are written that you might believe that Jesus is a Christ,
the son of God,
and that believing you may have life through his name.
And that's what I like about, you know, the books of John,
because it clearly tells us, you know, what the purpose of that book is.
You think of 1 John 5, 13, where it says that these things are written unto you
that believe on the name of the son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life.
And so you know what the book is about, right?
You know the reason for that book.
And obviously it's God's word, so it sounds powerful.
You know, it has, it sounds clear.
It makes sense, but it's not like when you were in school,
I don't know how many people did that.
Maybe I'm alone in this, but like in middle school,
you'll write like an essay and you'll be like,
in this paragraph, I will be talking about, you know, such and such.
You know, in school, that's like a big no-no, right?
You don't want to do that.
Or like at the end, like in conclusion,
and you just repeat like the same exact thing.
No, you know, when you try to do that yourself, it just sounds dumb, right?
It just sounds, you know, stupid.
But when you see it in the word of God,
you want it to be as clear as possible so that people can understand.
And here we see that these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ.
Now go to, go to 1 John chapter 2, 1 John chapter 2.
And so one of the things that the book of John says is that Jesus is the Christ.
And I'm going to read to you from John chapter 1 and verse number 41.
It says, referring to Andrew, it says,
He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him,
We have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted the Christ.
And you're there in 1 John chapter 2.
And so we see that Messiah means Christ.
We see that, you know, they're referring to Jesus Christ.
And in 1 John chapter 2, look at verse number 22, the Bible says,
Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?
He is antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son.
Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father,
but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
And so if you want to be saved, if you want to have the Father, you need to have the Son.
You know, it's not like the Jews that say that they believe in the Father, but they reject the Son, right?
It's not, you can't have it, you know, your own way.
The Bible makes it clear that if you're going to have the Father, you're going to have the Son.
So in order to even have the Father, you know, you must believe in the Son first.
Now in 1 John chapter 5, look at verse number 12, the Bible says,
I'll give you a minute to get there. 1 John chapter 5, verse number 12 says,
He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
And that these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
And so the book of John emphasizes, you know, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
but it also calls him, you know, God himself, and we understand that Jesus is God in the flesh.
Now look at John chapter 5, look down at verse, 1 John chapter 5, look down at verse number 20,
1 John chapter 5, look down at verse number 20.
And sometimes, you know, at the door you're talking to people and, you know, you ask them,
Do you believe that Jesus is God? Because this is something that they have to believe in order to be saved, right?
They can't just believe that Jesus is a mere human being or that he's a good teacher,
that he's just like some random prophet. They have to believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
They have to believe that Jesus is God. And in 1 John chapter 5, verse number 20, the Bible says,
And we know that the Son of God is come, and had given us an understanding that we may know him that is true,
and we are in him that is true, even in his Son, Jesus Christ, this is the true God and eternal life.
And so we understand that there are three that bear a record in heaven, you know, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one, but we understand Jesus Christ is the Son of God, but he's also God in the flesh.
And that's just something, you know, to think about because a lot of religions today, you know,
they try to deny that that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. They try to deny that Jesus Christ is God.
And when you think about these religions, you know, you think about Mormons who say that Jesus is, you know,
the brother of Satan, or you think about Jehovah's Witnesses that say that Jesus Christ is just another God, right?
That he's less than the Father. But tonight, I just want to go over some of the clear teachings that the Book of John teaches,
starting with John chapter 1, go to John chapter 1, John chapter 1.
And so again, I said the Book of John is just one of those easier books that helps us understand some of the key doctrines
that we already believe as Christians. Go to John chapter 1, John chapter 1, and look down at verse number 1.
You know, the first clear teaching that we see in the Book of John is the fact that Jesus Christ is God.
Right? And in John chapter 1, the Bible says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And earlier I say, you know, you're not going to leave, you know, after reading the Book of John and believe that one is Pentecostalism, right?
You're not going to walk away and believe that Jesus Christ is not God.
And, you know, when there was this whole battle going on in the new IP with like these one is heretics,
one of the things that they would say is just like, you know, you really can read this verse as it's saying,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the Father, and the Word was the Father, right?
Now is that what it says right there? No. And if you just read it, you know, somebody new to the Christian faith,
they're not going to be reading this and think like, huh, I think it's saying that Jesus is the Father, right?
No. It's saying that the Word was with God, and the Word was God, you know, proving that Jesus Christ is God.
Or if you talk to Jehovah's Witnesses, you know, sometimes we run into them, their Bible, whatever it's called,
the New World translations, or translation, I believe, you know, it's a false version, but it says,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a God.
But, you know, they try to change all these things because they have to, you know, because the Bible is so clear
when it says that, you know, the Word was God. And all these false Bibles, they have to change what the King James Bible says
in order to fit, you know, its narrative, in order to fit its perverted doctrine.
Now look at the next verse. It says, The same was in the beginning with God.
And it says that all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
Now go to Colossians. Go to Colossians chapter 2. And so we see that Jesus Christ is from the beginning.
We see that Jesus Christ is from everlasting. We see that Jesus Christ is God.
And in Colossians chapter 2, I'll read to you verse number 9. Colossians chapter 2, verse number 9.
It says, For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
And we understand, you know, from 1 John, first of all, that Jesus Christ is God, but He's God in the flesh.
Now go to chapter, before this, Colossians chapter 1. I'll read to you again from 1 John chapter 1, verse 2.
The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
And in Colossians chapter 1, verse 16, the Bible says, For by Him were all things created that are in heaven,
and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers.
All things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.
And simply it's just saying that, you know, all things were made by Him, but you know what?
Jesus Christ is from everlasting. He Himself was not created, right?
As a lot of false religion says. Because a lot of, you know, Jehovah's Witness, what would they say?
That Jesus Christ was the first creation of God. You know, a lot of false religion would say that, you know,
He hasn't been from everlasting, that at one point He had some origins.
And the reason for that is because a lot of false Bible verses, you know, they change what the verses say,
and they kind of make it seem that at one point Jesus Christ came into existence,
when the Bible clearly says that He's been there from everlasting, right?
Now go to Revelation chapter 4, Revelation chapter 4, Revelation chapter 4.
We see that all things were created by Him, and in Revelation chapter 4,
I'll read to you again from 1st Colossians chapter 16, at the very end it says that,
For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers.
All things were created by Him and for Him.
And so everything that we see, everything that is made, you know, is made for His glory, right? For His honor.
And in Revelation chapter 4, it says in verse number 11,
That are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou has created all things,
and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.
And so we see even us ourselves, obviously everything that we see was created for His pleasure and for His honor,
but we ourselves, you know, we were created for that same reason.
And so it makes sense, you know, for God to hold us accountable for every single thing that we do in this life, right?
And even unsaved people, you know, one day they are going to give an account for the things, you know, that they did.
You know, they're going to be judged according to the works.
But us as saved people, you know, we're not going to be judged for our sins.
You know, that was already paid for by Jesus Christ.
But if we were made by God and for His pleasure, we should seek to honor God in our daily lives, right?
We should seek to live a life that's pleasing to God.
And, you know, when you realize this, that, you know, we're here for a purpose, you know, and the purpose of that is just to honor and bring glory to God.
You know, you need to change the way that you view, you know, life in general.
Because, you know, one of the things that we see a lot in social media is this thing where they say,
well, you're not the main character, right?
A lot of grills are being made of this where, like, people feel like they're the main character in the world.
Like, everything revolves around them.
And the reality is, you know, everything should revolve around God because He should have the preeminence in our life.
And when we take ourselves out of the equation, when we don't view ourselves as the main character and everything that happens in life,
you know, should be for our honor and our glory.
You know, we should seek to make God the preeminent one and seek to glorify Him in all that we do.
Now, go to John Chapter 1. John Chapter 1. Go back to John Chapter 1.
So the first thing that we see that the book of John teaches clearly is this fact that Jesus Christ is God.
The Bible says that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
Now, in John Chapter 1, the second thing that clearly teaches is that God was manifested in the flesh.
And in John Chapter 1, look at verse number 14, the Bible says,
And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory and the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Now, go to 1 John Chapter 4. 1 John Chapter 4. Excuse me, 1 John Chapter 4.
I have to contain myself. I usually gulp a lot, so whenever I drink water, I have to like down it.
But since I'm up here, it's just like a little sip.
But here, look. In 1 John Chapter 4, the Bible says in verse number 1,
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits where they are of God, because many false prophets are gone into this world.
Hereby know ye the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God,
and every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God.
And that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is in the world.
So the Bible clearly teaches that God did come in the flesh.
And it wasn't God the Father that came down to this earth in the flesh, right?
It was through the Son, Jesus Christ.
And in 1 John Chapter 14, it says that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
And who's the Word? Jesus Christ.
And in John Chapter 1, verse number 18, look a couple of verses down, the Bible says,
No man has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he had declared him.
And so when they saw God on earth, verse 8, they weren't looking at the Father, they were looking at the Son, Jesus Christ.
Now go to 1 Timothy Chapter 3, 1 Timothy Chapter 3.
And these are all verses perhaps that we use out so many.
But these are good verses just to know, because a lot of times people have questions.
People ask, is Jesus Christ God? What does it mean that there are three?
And people are confused.
The reason why you should know these verses is just to be able to dissolve doubt, be able to explain to them,
you know what, that there are three that bear record.
You got the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost.
And you should be able to explain them, just in plain terms, what the Trinity is.
But in 1 Timothy Chapter 3, it says in verse number 16,
And without controversy, greatest of mystery of godliness, God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit,
seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on the world, received up into glory.
And so all these things that happen even in this verse that are mentioned, you know, it didn't happen to the Father,
it happened to the Son, who is Jesus Christ.
Now go back to John Chapter 1, John Chapter 1.
So we see that John Chapter 1, in this chapter alone, we see that Jesus Christ is from the beginning,
that He is God, and that, you know, God was manifested in the flesh.
Now what's another thing that we see in this chapter as well?
Even if you were to just read, as a brand new Christian, you know, you already learned two things.
You know, that Jesus Christ is God, that God was manifested in the flesh.
And let's just say that all you ever read in your life, you know, which shouldn't be the case,
but let's say you just read Chapter 1.
Another thing that you're going to learn is that not everyone is a child of God.
Not everyone is a child of God.
Now in 1 John Chapter 1, look down at verse number 11, John Chapter 1, verse number 11, the Bible says,
He came unto His own, and His own received them not.
But as many as received them, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name,
which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And so here we see that, you know, it's not every single person in this world is a child of God, right?
And that's something that, again, we see out so many that people say, well, we're all children of God.
He wants everybody to go to heaven. He doesn't want everybody to go to heaven, but not everybody is a child of God.
And the Bible says right here that as many as received them, to them, you know, gave He power to become the sons,
the children of God, you know, even to them that believe on His name.
So it's not every single person that's just alive that is a child of God.
The Bible makes a clear distinction between those that are unsaved, who are not His children,
and those who are saved, who God views as His children.
And now when it talks about the sons of God, it's not talking about, you know, like the angels,
like a lot of people that just spend hours and hours on TikTok belief, right?
Go to Hebrews chapter one. When it talks about the sons of God, it does not talk about the angels.
Hebrews chapter one, Hebrews chapter one.
And this is something, you know, that should be common, you know, about, you know, knowing that Christians,
those that believe, those are the children of God.
But because there's so much confusion, you have big name people like Billy Graham, like Joel Osteen,
like all these false prophets who say, well, you know, every person, whether they know the name of Jesus,
you know, as long as they follow the light that they have, they will be in heaven with us.
Does that statement make sense or not? I would say no, right?
And hopefully you do. But it says that, you know, that does not make sense at all
because the Bible clearly says that not everybody is a child of God.
You know, this atheist that denies God, that blasphemies God, how is that going to be a child of God, right?
A faggot that, you know, straight up living, you know, homo lifestyle, they're not going to be a child of God.
A Catholic that, you know, doesn't believe in Jesus Christ as being the savior or the mediator but believes in Mary,
you know, that's not a child of God.
And all these people that, you know, are part of other religions such as Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses,
these are not, you know, our brothers and sisters, you know, don't call them that.
Now in Hebrews chapter one, the Bible says in verse number five,
for unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.
And again I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son.
And so we see clearly that the angels at no time did God ever call them his children.
So this whole thing about angels being the children of God, that's false, right?
And you know that you're a child of God because you believe, you know, you believe on Jesus
and as a child of God, you know, God will chastise you if you live a life of sin.
Now he does judge, you know, unsaved people, he brings judgment upon them
but he's not going to chastise them for the sake of them having a blessed life like he does to his children.
Because they're not his children, right? It's not like me, like I'm going to spank somebody else's kids.
You know, nobody should ever spank your kids, it's just you, right?
Nobody's going to like, you know, like me, if I'm going to spank somebody, it's going to be my kids, right?
Because they're my children and I want them to go well with them.
So if I see somebody else's kids doing something bad, I'm not going to go out there and then spank them,
you know, myself because they're not my children.
And same thing with God, you know, he's not going to be disciplining every other,
you know, Tom, Dick and Jerry, like that's not his children, right?
He's going to discipline, maybe I said it wrong, I don't know, I've always heard that phrase.
What's the actual phrase? Tom, Dick and Harry, Jerry.
That's the new version, 2022.
Who's Harry? Not his friend.
But, you know, you get me, he's not going to just chastise regular Joe Smoe,
he's going to chastise the people that are his children.
Hey, you learn something new every day, so now you know. Harry.
So go to John chapter 2, John chapter 2.
So we see three things that, you know, Jesus Christ is God, that he's God manifest in the flesh,
that not everybody that, you know, is on this earth, every unsafe person is a child of God.
But number four, we also see that John teaches the resurrection, John teaches the resurrection.
And obviously we have the story of the crucifixion and the resurrection towards the end of every gospel,
so you read there.
But in John chapter 2, verse number 18, we see, John chapter 2, verse number 18, it says,
Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and will thou reared up in three days?
But he spake of the temple of his body, wherefore when therefore he was risen from the dead,
his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them,
and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said.
And so we see that, you know, obviously Jesus Christ was always referring that, you know,
at one point he was going to die and that he was going to resurrect.
And we see the wording there that, you know, three days later.
And the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus Christ resurrected, you know, bodily resurrected,
not just like he got a different body like the Jehovah's Witness teach or other religions,
but that he bodily resurrected even in this passage.
You know, even if you don't make it to the end of the book of John,
you're still going to hear about the resurrection within the first two chapters.
Now the resurrection is something as a Christian, in order to be saved you have to believe, right?
You can't just believe that he died, that he went to hell, but you have to believe that he bodily resurrected.
Now go to 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
Now, you know, nowadays there are people out there that have not heard of the resurrection,
perhaps have not heard of sin, surprisingly right unless they're just lying.
But there are people out there because the way that they grew up, their upbringing,
they've never been to church, they've never really heard these terms like sin,
they really never heard how hell is described in the Bible.
They're just clueless when it comes to the things of God.
And even like at Barstow we ran into this one guy, Israel and I, that said,
well, I always hear that, you know, Jesus Christ died for us, that he resurrected,
but does it really say that in the Bible? And that's out there.
You know, there are times where people, they hear these things, you know, they just parrot it,
but they've never seen it for themselves with their own eyes from the Bible.
And now this is a verse that, you know, that I showed them.
This is a verse that anybody here, you know, should use when it comes to just teaching them clearly.
It says right there in verse number 3, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse number 3,
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
And so we see here that, you know, the Bible clearly says that he died for our sins.
The Bible clearly says that he rose again, that he resurrected three days according to the Scriptures.
And so these are things clearly found in the Bible.
But because people are growing up in a world where this is not taught anymore,
they don't hear regularly or even like if they don't go to church, they're not going to hear it.
You know, these are things that we as Christians have to know where they are in the Bible.
And the reason for that is because if they ask us at the door and we don't know how to show them,
you know, it's going to be kind of, first of all, it's going to be embarrassing, right?
And second of all, it's just not going to help them to believe on Christ
when we ourselves don't know where these Scriptures are even found.
Now go to 1 John chapter, sorry, go to John chapter 1.
John chapter 1.
Actually, go to John chapter 3, John chapter 3.
So another thing that we see here in the book of John is the fact that, you know, that Jesus is present everywhere.
I'm not present with Jesus, right?
And in verse number 13 in John chapter 3, the Bible says,
And no man had ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven.
And so we see even while Christ was on earth, the Bible says that, you know, even the Son of Man which is in heaven.
And this is when he was talking to Nicodemus.
But, you know, Christ is everywhere at all times.
And now I say that he's everywhere at all times, I'm not saying that he's in everything, you know,
like Hindus believe or like these other weird religions where they believe that, you know, God could be in a tree,
God could be in a cow, God could be like, you know, a rat or anything like that.
You know, the Bible just teaches that God is present everywhere.
You know, it's not saying that he's in everything, like he's not in this pulpit, right?
Like, the Bible just says that he's everywhere.
Now, go to Psalms, go to the book of Psalms, or actually go to John chapter 3, I'll read to you from the book of Psalms.
John chapter 3, that was the smallest if ever.
So John, you're there in John chapter 3, I'll go back to Psalms in a bit.
John chapter 3, the Bible says,
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but at eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but at everlasting life.
And so another thing that we see clearly in the book of John,
and this is a verse that we probably use every single week out so many in the most famous verse probably in the Bible.
And you know, you see people always have John 3 16 on their car, Tim Tebow on his face,
you know, you see on shirts, you see it everywhere, right?
But what is the Bible teaching in this passage?
You know, one of the things that it clearly debunks is this teaching of Calvinism, right?
And the Bible says that,
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but at everlasting life.
Because Calvinists, you know, they just believe that Jesus died for the elect, right?
For a select few, for some.
And the Bible, and they teach this thing called limited atonement,
you know, where Jesus' death and sacrifice was not for the whole world, that it was limited.
And obviously we understand that Jesus Christ died for the whole world,
but we also understand that the whole world is not going to go to heaven.
But it's not because he just didn't die for every single person, right?
The Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter 4, go to 1 Timothy chapter 4,
I'll read to you from Romans 5-8 that says,
But God committed his love toward us, and that while we were at sinners Christ died for us.
So even though, you know, in this way was his love, you know, demonstrated,
and the fact that, like, where God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
you know, God loved us enough to send Jesus Christ down to his earth to die for us.
And that while we were at sinners, you know, even though we've sinned against him,
even though that we've done all these bad things, you know,
Jesus Christ still came down to his earth to die for our sins.
Now in 1 Timothy chapter 4, the Bible says in verse number 10,
For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God,
who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe.
And, you know, these verses clearly shows that, you know, he's the Savior of all men.
But it becomes active or it becomes, you know, once you believe, that's when he becomes,
technically, you know, that's when you're obviously you're saved.
But the fact is that a lot of people just teach, you know, he didn't die for the whole world, right?
Like John Piper and John MacArthur and Paul Washer and all these people that are Reformed theologians,
you know, they teach that Jesus only died and paid for the sins of certain men.
But the Bible says that he's just not the Savior of only us, but of the whole world.
Now go to 1 John chapter 2, 1 John chapter 2.
Yeah, the Bible says he was the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe.
And then all these, like, Calvinists for some reason, they're just real popular.
And, you know, if you're ever on YouTube, if you didn't take the route of the new IV or you didn't, you know,
find Pastor Anderson before this, I guarantee that you ran into videos of John MacArthur and Paul Washer.
And I speak from experience, you know, these are the videos that I ran into, right?
And Ray Comfort and all these things, I was like, oh, what's this short guy saying?
You know, he's short like me. Let me see what he's teaching, right?
But you see these documentaries, but then you get towards the end and then that's when they bring their false doctrine, right?
You have to watch 29 minutes of it and then finally in five minutes you see a false prophet, right?
But, you know, in 1 John chapter 2, the Bible says in verse number 2,
and he is appropriation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
And so John clearly teaches us, you know, that Christ is the Savior of all men, but not everyone's going to be saved, obviously.
It's just those that believe, but everybody is given the opportunity to be saved as long as they believe on Him.
Now go to 1 Timothy chapter 2, I'll read for you from Romans 5 verse 18.
You go to 1 Timothy chapter 2, the Bible says in verse 18,
Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one,
the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
Now in 1 Timothy chapter 2, look at verse number 3, the Bible says,
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior, who will have all men to be saved,
and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus,
who gave himself ransom for all to be testified into time.
And one word that we keep seeing constantly and constantly is all, all, all, all, right?
And all, yes, really means all, that he died for every single man.
And the Bible says right here,
For there is one God and one mediator between God and man.
And so we see, for one, that he died for everybody,
but two, we also see that Jesus Christ is the mediator between man and, and God.
And we don't see that, you know, Virgin Mary is a mediator.
We don't see that the Pope is a mediator.
We don't see that, you know, all these priests and all these people that are perverts and pedophiles,
you know, they're not the mediators for what, for how you get to God in the first place.
The Bible clearly says,
For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
And so all throughout the Bible, you know, it debunks, you know, doctrine,
false doctrine after false doctrine, two birds with one stone.
You know, you're debunking Calvinism, you're debunking Mariology or whatever it's called.
You know, these are things, you know, that the Bible clearly teaches
and it goes ahead and explains it very clearly.
And, you know, once you read this, you know, you can't come to any other conclusion
other than the fact that God died for all
and the fact that Jesus Christ is that one mediator between God and man.
Now go to John chapter three, John chapter three.
And so, as I mentioned, you know, there are people that teach, you know,
false doctrine such as like John MacArthur.
You think about John Piper, you think about Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, right?
That taught Calvinism as well, even went as far as to write a book called In Defense of Calvinism.
But these are people that pervert the gospel, right?
And they say that we pervert the gospel because we say that God, you know, Jesus Christ died for all.
But even you got people like John Piper who teach, you know, and this thing called,
oh, this is why I even thought of this because earlier this week, you know,
we got a message like on the website.
People ask so many random things.
Sometimes they ask like, is anybody monitoring this?
And I just write like, yes, why, what do you mean?
Actually, I'm like, why, what's your question?
But like other people ask like, what do IFB, what does it say?
What do IFB think saving faith is?
And anytime you hear terms like this, you know, like saving faith,
you know, that's something that, who uses? Calvinists, right?
Reformed theologians and stuff like that.
Well, I just say, well, it's as easy as John 3.36.
You know, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God on him.
It's easy as that. It's not complicated, you know.
But they want to use terms like saving faith.
Why? Because they think that believing on Jesus is not enough, right?
They think that saving faith means that you're going to have works, you know, that accompany it.
So obviously you should do, you know, follow the commandments as a saved person, you know, but not to be saved.
But these people use terms like saving faith because they think that, you know, saving faith means more than just trusting in Christ.
It means more than just placing your faith on him.
Now go to, oh, I told you, go to John chapter 3, verse number 36.
I just said it, but I'll read it for you.
It says, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
And I always like using this verse for so many because it just makes it so clear.
You know, there's only two kinds of people. You either believe on Jesus Christ and you're going to go to heaven, you're saved, or you don't believe in Jesus Christ.
And I always just tell people, and if you don't believe on it, where are you going to go? Hell, right?
And they don't, you know, it's so easy to understand because people like to be shown clear verses where it doesn't make it complicated.
Now go to Romans chapter 5, sorry, Romans chapter 4, Romans chapter 4.
And so there's this thing, like I said, saving faith.
But what do they mean by saving faith? You know, they mean that you're going to have works.
If you believe, you're going to do works, you know.
But the Bible says that you can be saved without even doing works.
And in verse number 5, in Romans chapter 4, the Bible says,
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
And so there are people out there that are saved, you know, but they don't do works.
And they don't go to church, you know, they're not baptized, they don't read their Bible.
Unfortunately, right, because they did all those things, they could have a better quality of life,
they could earn rewards, they could, you know, live a life that's pleasing to God.
But that's not every person that gets saved.
You know, that's not every Tom, Dick, and Harry, right, that gets saved.
You know, other people that actually come to church, those are very few in number, right, because they get plugged into church.
You know, how many times do we have people that come visit our church and we get their handful down,
we try to follow up with them, but they're not all going to come back.
You know, but there are people that are new to our church, that they came, you know, they like the preaching,
they acclimated themselves to the church, and now they're serving God, they're out, they're winning souls.
You know, those are people that are bearing fruit.
But people that don't come to our church, you know, but they believe, you know, it doesn't mean that they're not saved, right.
It doesn't mean they don't have saving faith.
Now, Ephesians Chapter 2, we use it all the time, it says,
For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God, and not of works, that any man should boast.
Now go to Romans Chapter 10, Romans Chapter 10.
And then another thing that I think about, you know, there's this movie that came out, it's not like Hollywood Made,
but it's just like a low budget film. It's called Journey to Hell.
I don't know if you guys have ever seen like a trailer to it, but basically it's off the book of John Bunyan.
I think the Pilgrim's Progress or something like that.
But in this movie, they have a scene where like this guy ends up in hell, right.
And then he's like, how am I in hell? Why am I in hell? You know, I believe.
And then this other guy comes up to him, he's like, oh, you're probably one of those fools that thought just because you prayed, you're saved, huh.
And then the guy is, you know, mocking salvation, right.
And this guy is like, well, I thought that's what salvation was.
And this is a straw man that people always use, you know.
You believe that people get saved by saying a prayer, right.
And they just, you know, they don't even give it its full context as far as like, you know, obviously people that pray are people that believe in the first place, right.
Because how are they going to call upon the name of somebody that they don't believe?
Now in Romans chapter 10, verse number nine, it says that if thou should confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thy heart that God raised from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
And so the reason why we even have people praying is because they're calling upon the name of the Lord.
After that, they understood every single thing that we explain to them.
Now every time that we're at the door, we tell people, well, you know, before I leave, can I just pray with you, right.
And they say, sure. And then you always emphasize, you know, it's not my words that are magical.
It's not something that, you know, you're just repeating these words.
It's just me helping you confess to God what you believe in your heart, right.
And that's what people are praying. They're believing in their heart, you know, that God died, that Jesus died for our sins, that he rose again and they're calling upon the name of the Lord to be saved.
Not just praying a simple prayer like people like to make it out to be. Now go to Matthew chapter seven, Matthew chapter seven.
And many times, you know, these people that talk about saving faith, that mock, you know, calling upon the name of the Lord, they like to use what?
James chapter two, they like to use Matthew chapter seven, where it says that many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works.
And so the emphasis there is that people, you know, for them is that many people will say in that day, Lord, Lord, and you know, they thought they were saved.
But the emphasis should be, you know, these people thought they were saved because they did many wonderful works, right.
Now go to John chapter 10, John chapter 10, towards the end, John chapter 10. I'll read to you from Jonah chapter three.
The Bible says, And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not.
And so God, you know, when he looks at repenting of your sin, when he looks at turning away from your evil way, he sees that as works.
And the Bible clearly says it's not a works. Now in John chapter 10, look down at verse number 28.
Another thing that the book of John clearly teaches is that he believe on Christ, you should never perish.
Basically, eternal security. And then verse 28, the Bible says, And I gave unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
And this is a verse that we use all the time so many times too, the fact to teach them that once they're saved, you know, they're always going to be saved.
Now I like to use this verse here and there, but I always like it when, you know, like Brother Moses uses it, or I've seen other people do this because they use it and they do an illustration just to prove it.
And I don't know how many people do this, but I've seen Moses, and for some reason all like the cool, funny, crazy examples I have from so many is when I'm with Moses, right?
But one of the things that he did, one time we were at the door at Anaheim, and basically he was proving this point, you know, he goes like, grab my hand.
And the guy grabs his hand, right? And then Moses grabs his hand. There's like this gangster guy named Angel, and then Moses just grabbing his hand and he's like, alright, try to let go.
And the guy lets go. What happened? Why can't you let go? He's like, because you're holding on to me. He's like, exactly.
You know, that's how God is. He'll never let us go. And I'm like, oh, that's pretty good, right? So then Moses finally lets him go, you know, like T-100 freaking crushing his hand.
But then after he let him go, you know, throughout the rest of the presentation, you just see the guy like in the back, like holding his hand, and it's like, oh, man.
I'm like, dang, I think Moses like broke his hand or something. But I think it's a good example to use. Maybe, I don't know if Moses still does that.
Maybe it was a girl or something that just breaks her wrist. But this is something that I've seen only Moses do. Actually, I saw Israel do it on Monday.
But, you know, Israel wasn't like there breaking their hand. But I think this is a good example. You know, this is a good illustration that we can use.
You know, the fact that once you're in God's hand, you know, no one's going to remove you from there, right?
Go to John chapter 11. John chapter 11.
Ah, Moses, nice. I still think that's not as cool as the dog dying, right? But if you haven't heard that story, I'll tell you after.
For five bucks, nice. John chapter 11, look down at verse number 25, the Bible says,
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
Verse 26 says, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believe is thou this.
And so Jesus is there asking, you know, this is what's going to happen. But the point is this, believe is thou this.
And that's a lot of times that we tell people, you know, I showed you everything that I had to show you.
But at the end of the day, you know, it's your decision. You know, you can't force somebody to be safe.
At the end of the day, that if thou should confess, right, that's up to you. You know, if you want to get safe, you can get safe.
Just like Jesus is saying, believe is thou this. And it's for them to take that step of faith and call upon the name of the Lord.
Because, you know, a lot of times people would just want to pray with somebody just for the sake of praying in the sense like,
well, I want to know that, you know, I didn't want to waste that effort, right?
Sometimes you do get people that just pray with you, but you can kind of tell that they go along to get along.
But you always want to make sure that these are people that just understand what you're saying, but not only understand it,
but they really believe it, right? And then they take that step of faith.
And I go to John chapter three. John chapter three for the last thing. John chapter three.
So we see that even the Book of John teaches eternal security.
But the last thing that the Book of John, at least in these first three chapters, teaches is that, you know, we ourselves,
we don't condemn anybody, right? In the sense that we're out there telling people, hey, you know, you're on your way to hell.
But people take it as if like you're condemning me. You know, I don't like going to church because they condemn people and all that.
But in John chapter three, verse 17, the Bible says, for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world through him might be saved.
It says he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already
because he had not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God.
Excuse me. So if somebody doesn't believe in Jesus, you know, they're condemned already, even in this life.
You know, they don't have to wait till they die, you know, to be condemned.
The Bible says if you don't believe in Jesus Christ now, you're already condemned.
And the same way that if you believe in Jesus now, you have everlasting life.
And so when we're out there, we're not out there just condemning people. We're just trying to help them to get saved, right?
We're not out there telling them, you know, you're going to hell for the sake of telling them you're going to hell.
We're telling them, hey, this is where you're headed, but I want you to go to heaven and this is how you can go to heaven.
You know, this is what we need to do on a weekly basis. And, you know, what's the point of the sermon?
Basically is that, you know, the book of John, if all you read, let's just say it's the book of John, which I doubt it is.
But let's say all you read is the book of John. You're not going to walk away from reading and believing in, you know, oneness.
You're not going to walk away from believing in, you know, that you can lose your salvation or in Calvinism or anything like that.
I encourage you, you know, just read the book of John. Read it all the way through and see how many doctrines you can find in the book of John that are taught throughout the Bible.
Take any book. You know, we use the Romans' road. Why? Because it's filled with doctrine that teaches someone how they can be saved.
Go take any New Testament book or any book in the Old Testament and see how many doctrines you could find, right, in that book from chapter one all the way to the end.
You know, it's a good assignment that they used to give us, I think, in Bible college where they would just, like, tell us, OK, fine, how many teachings you can find in this book.
And it was pretty fun because if you've never actually tried to, you know, search for doctrine in these books, sometimes you just read a book of the Bible and you're not really paying attention and you miss, like, a truth, right?
But when you read your Bible, you just want to be, you know, paying attention, even if you have to read it again and again and again, the same, you know, verses, because sometimes the way things are now, attention spans are short.
But, you know, you want to read it with purpose and you want to read it with the intent of learning something.
That being said, let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for allowing me to preach.
Thank you for Pastor Mejia and his leadership, Lord, and all that he does for this church.
I pray that you bring him back safely and that he would be a blessing over there at Steady Fast through the youth.
Please help him as he makes decisions for our church.
And please help us, Lord, to always reverence your word and treat it, not take it for granted, Lord, but continue to learn and grow from it, Lord.
I pray this in Jesus' precious name. Amen.
All right. We have one last song. Song number five.
When I survey the wondrous cross.
Song number five. When I survey the wondrous cross.
Everyone all together.
When I survey the wondrous cross.
On which the prince of glory died.
My riches gain, I count but loss.
And poor contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast.
Save in the death of Christ my God.
All the vain things that charm me most.
I sacrifice them to his blood.
See from his hand, his hands, his feet.
Sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Dare such love and sorrow meet.
For thorns come cold, so rich a crown. Amen.
Were the whole realm of nature mine.
That were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine.
Demands my soul, my life, my awe.
Amen. Wonderful singing.
Amen.