Latest / Grace Primitive Baptist Church - Houston, TX / Brother Owen Howard and Elder Mike Moseley | 3rd Sunday August 2026 | 08-16-2026

Transcript

Brother Owen Howard and Elder Mike Moseley | 3rd Sunday August 2026 | 08-16-2026 · Grace Primitive Baptist Church - Houston, TX

• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Good to be here.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Love you guys so much.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Just really, just really just want to say that I love y'all so much.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so happy to be here.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um had the pleasure of going to Senior Retreat, as I think a lot of y'all are aware of that.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: I just get out of here pretty quick last week.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: And um senior retreat is an opportunity for my school to just kind of get the proverbial leaders of the campus, the senior class, together, breaking up social clicks and an opportunity to pray over them and um to just kickstart the year both in prayer and hopefully in unity.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's normally the goal.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um on Sunday night uh we're sitting around a campfire.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: I try to be around a campfire, even though it's 95 degrees outside.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we're sitting around a campfire, and we're having this quiet time, but anyone could stand up and express anything that's on their heart or fears that they have, or um just just just anything that comes to their mind, a charge perhaps to the class, or how the Lord's a blessing.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: And one young man stood up and um he just said something that really has kind of struck my my brain.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it I'd forgotten about it until about five minutes ago, and now I'm just completely veering off the course of everything I wanted to talk to y'all about.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: But y'all pray that the Lord is in this.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: He said something that like this.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: He um he talked about how much he loves being at the Woodlands Christian Academy and how important our faith is in walking by faith.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then he ends his testimony with saying, so that when we die and we are going to have you know, we die, we will he we will hear, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, and not thou never knew me.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and thinking about the fear that that young man had.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: I apologize that this seems to be a primitive Baptist redundancy for me to get up here and tell you something that is the absolute core foundation of what we believe.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: But I hope that you understand that this is something that we ought to celebrate in.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: This is something that we should rejoice in, and this is something that we should believe in, and that is that we believe in a salvation that is totally and solely by the grace of an Almighty God, who, understanding the very nature of his people, rescued us from a state of utter, complete despair and brought us to him by his own power, his grace, and his majesty, to the extent that we were made, at least representationally, righteous by the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ having made once and forever a sacrifice, right?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: That he died a death for you and me, so that guys, when Jesus Christ, when God Himself looks down upon us, he doesn't see us and he doesn't see our righteousness.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: He sees his righteousness that was imputed unto us by Jesus Christ.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: I know that's a lot of words, and those are all that there, there's a lot of prepositional phrases that I just said to you, but there is something absolutely beautiful, and that is just so beloved to us that we ought never to feel.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: I was over there feeling a little hesitant.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, man, I feel like I'm not gonna say anything that they haven't heard from the pulpit every single day of their life.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, how often have we heard that?
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: But then I just shook that off and I was like, man, we we ought to hear that every single day of our life because that is something beautiful.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: I thought about the fear that young men carried, and I wanted so bad to be able to go up to him and tell him, hey, guess what, brother?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to fear.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus Christ actually did it.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: He did everything for you, he has achieved everything for you, and there's nothing, there's not literally a single sin that was forgotten in the closet.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you know sometimes when you move, right, you move, and you go back and you come back through the house, and there's that one coat hanger still laying in the closet, you still find that one, uh, that one garment that's still under, you know, something, or just just just whatever, right?
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: You you open up the pantry and you forgot to grab the vacuum.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: When that's not the picture of what Jesus Christ, when he moved us to him, like when he drew us to him, there wasn't a single sin that was left in the closet.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: There wasn't anything that was left over.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: He literally went through and died and literally appeased every single sin.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so my thoughts have been in Romans chapter 3.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I know that in January I went into this.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: I do have a thought that I'd like to be able to draw out of it if I can.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, y'all pray for me.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: I have not talked to my pastor about what I believe about this verse, so y'all pray for him as well.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um but we're in the third chapter of the 21st verse.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um man, if if if you have ever felt low, and if you've ever felt like, man, am I really a child of God?
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: Which I know growing up primitive Baptists, you you I don't know if you've ever felt that way or not.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: Or um, even if you haven't grown up primitive Baptist, I don't know if you've ever felt that way or not.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: But man, this this is it right here.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: This is the one, this is the best place to take any person, in my opinion.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: He says, but now, right?
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: I I I hate to say it, but there's a sermon in the okay, there's a sermon in every word.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: There is a sermon in that word, but, okay?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: But now, right now, the righteousness of God without the law, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, rather than make this the grand point of points, I'll just go ahead and summarize it and say it to you right now.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: That guys, this is taught, this entire verse, pretty much every noun in here is referring to a different aspect of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Every little thing that you're reading here is essentially talking about Jesus Christ.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: There's not anything new in here outside of just this is just Jesus Christ.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: When he talks about the righteousness of God, he's referring to Jesus Christ.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: He says, but now the righteousness of God without the law.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: The law gave a picture, a glimpse of the righteousness of God.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: It 100% did.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: But the law wasn't ever meant for us to try to achieve the righteousness of God.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: And that was a fundamental mistake of the Jews.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: They they their hearts had been turned because they had served for so long believing that the law was like this world's best kept secret, right?
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: That they had something that everyone else, including the Gentiles, did not have.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: And that best kept secret, right, is this law.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: We've got it, and this law is how we are going to be made righteous in the sight of God.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's never what it was designed for, right?
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: It was to teach you one fundamental lesson.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: And that fundamental lesson was you can't do it.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: Every year you were to go before the high priest.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: Or I'm sorry, the high priest was to literally go before all the people.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: He was to enter in to the beyond the second veil to go into the holiest of holies, and there he was to sprinkle blood.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: But do you notice he had to go there every year?
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: He had to go there every year because every year they continued to sin.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: And literally, it was literally written in Leviticus 16 that you're supposed to do this as an uh, I'm sorry, as a commitment essentially, every single year.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: Right there, Moses is telling, or God is technically telling Moses, that you're going to be doing this every year because you are still in sin.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: This is never going to get you where you need to go, and it's only by Jesus Christ.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: The law was to point you, it's a vector, it's supposed to send you vision to something else.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: And that something else was the man.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: So he says, now the righteousness of God, he's talking about Jesus Christ without the law, is manifest.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's revealed.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: It says being witnessed by the law.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: So the law itself pointed to the reality of Jesus Christ.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: And the prophets, right?
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: So even the Old Testament prophets were pointing to Jesus Christ.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: Even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh goodness, uh, y'all pray for me, I can get through this.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: To all, and upon all of them that believe.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: For there is no difference.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: There's no difference between being Jew or Gentile.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: There's no difference, for all have sinned, and all have come short of the glory of God.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: There's not a single person who is not under the weight of that.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: That just simply means that if we're going to be brought out of the weight of that, we have to be made righteous.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: And if we can't save ourselves, then the only logical inference is that something else has saved us.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: If you are drowning, you're not saving yourselves, something else, someone else had to do it.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: But he said, being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God had set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: I want to go back to the 25th verse.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: This word propitiation has been what's been capturing my mind.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: If you do a simple word study, you might find that this word propitiation, it's not in our common vocabulary.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a word that we use in everyday life.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so just reading about it, the more I read about it, the more mysterious and interesting this word is.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: It was translated or transliterated, I suppose, to this word Hilisterion, which was then translated to be the word propitiation.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: But this word propitiation, even in 2,000 years ago in ancient, the ancient world of Greece slash Roman Empire, this was not a word that was actually commonly used.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so I found myself kind of in this boat where I am pouring through commentaries and I'm reading about all these different things, and I just had this weird thought.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: It was kind of seated by someone else, but I had this thought about you know, the original people that would have read this, technically I think that they would have heard that somebody would have read this letter aloud.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: So that they didn't have all of that.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't have all of these commentaries, they didn't have 2,000 years of people studying this word out.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so sometimes I feel like I might, just speaking about me, I can get a little lost with trying to look at all the complexities of scripture because these were normal, everyday people that were hearing this.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: And these normal everyday people heard this, and I would presume that Paul wrote this, Brother Lane, in a way that they could understand this word when they heard it.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so Paul's writing, so I suppose maybe if we can, I want to imagine being one of the very you know, imagine being in that church hearing this for the first time.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: What and how would they have understood this word?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I suppose there's two very different contexts of people that are sitting in that congregation.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: One group of people are Jews, which some people just call proselytes.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: These are people that have converted to Christianity, but they're of a Jewish background.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: These are people that would have been familiar with the law and the law service, they would have been at synagogues, these would and for them, they would have heard this word.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: I I just wonder if they would have heard this word, Brother Bobby, a little different than perhaps those that were of a pagan background, those that were of a Gentile background.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: That the way in which you know the that culture here probably would have guided how they would have viewed this word, and in either way that you go, it's still just as beautiful.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: So, if y'all pray for me, please pray for me.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you're from a Jewish background, this word would have absolutely meant something to you.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: Because this word would have been a word that we understand relates to the very mercy seat.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: This is this mercy seat would have been the covering on the Ark of the Covenant.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so the Ark of the Covenant would have been like one of the most treasured pieces of the Jewish synagogue and, or I'm sorry, the Jewish temple, and this is where, this is the very location, the very place where the blood of the Lamb would have been sprinkled, that would have been for the sins of the people.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: And above this very place, above it, is the very place where God would have come in as a cloud, and that's where he would commune with the holy, I'm sorry, with the priest.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: I apologize, with the priest, the high priest.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: I meant to say high priest.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: Him saying that would have been an absolute, I just imagined that would have given chills.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Because to say it's the mercy seat, right?
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: And you might want you might notice something if you've got your highlighter, I'm a big highlighter fan, it's the teacher in me.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: You might notice the 25th verse starts off with whom?
• 15:21
  unknown: Right?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: So we're again, like I said, this is all about Jesus Christ.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: He's saying whom?
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Who's the whom?
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus Christ.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Whom God had set, I'm sorry, hath set forth.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: So had set forth to be a propitiation.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: Who set Jesus Christ forth?
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: It was God that set him forth.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: And what was he?
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: He was the very mercy seat.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: He was the very place where the blood was sprinkled, where that appeasement, that appeasement, if you will, to the wrath of an Almighty God was being made.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: He would, he was the very essence of the Holy of Holies, that tabernacle.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: I also, oh man, I think about the Jews, I'm sorry, the Gentiles.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um the Gentiles would have heard this word.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um that word, I think it's it doesn't matter what it was, when they heard this word, this would have been something that I would imagine would have been somewhat familiar to them.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: It was a word that was used to represent idols or for pagan worship that they would have set at altars to appease a wrath of God.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: It was not necessarily the thing, but on it they would write.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: They would literally write, like, hey, this is Owen Howard, and hey, this is for all of my sins.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's what they would have done, and they would have they would have laid it or cast it at some sort of an idol to try to appease the wrath of God.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: I would imagine that Jesus Christ absolutely is that as well.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: He is absolutely the very thing that with um, I'm sorry, that the very thing that appeased the wrath of an Almighty God.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: That he was the absolute sacrifice that we needed.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: One of the things, too, about this verse that you might notice is that this is something that has already happened, not something ongoing.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: It says, who God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith and to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um this verse as well is going into something else that I think is very important.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um because if you're reading through the Apostle Paul's letter here, um I don't want.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so trying not to, I'm trying to control my time.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um he is talking about this idea of both Jew versus Gentile, right?
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: Are you with me there?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: We understand that if you go back to the start of the third verse, he starts off with what evangelist didn't have the Jew, right?
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because he's been talking about all of these differences, right?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: And here now he's getting to the point that listen, it's not about Jew versus Gentile, it's about the righteousness of God, it's about what Jesus Christ has done, right?
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not even actually about belief.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: Even though you might be like, hey, oh, and I just read about belief and our role in belief.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: Belief is what clarifies or brings into focus the righteousness of God.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's in belief that we have the righteousness of God revealed, okay, if that makes sense.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: But what he's dealing with here is what about those that did not believe?
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: And when I say those, what about all of these?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: What about Abraham?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: And what about Isaac?
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: And what about Jacob?
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: Did they believe in Jesus Christ?
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: If anyone ever says, hey, you've got to believe or have faith in Jesus Christ, well, what about those guys?
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, do you all believe that Abraham is in heaven?
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: Do you believe that Jacob is in heaven?
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: I hope that you do.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: Do you believe David is in heaven?
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: I hope that you do.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: Did they have faith in Jesus Christ?
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: Did they believe in Jesus Christ?
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Listen to what he says, whom God had set forth to be propitiation through faith.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: Whose faith is that?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's God's faith.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: Through faith in his blood, God had so much faith in Jesus Christ that it was as if it was already done even before the foundation of the world.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: That even though those men lived and women lived thousands or hundreds of years before Jesus Christ would ever come, he's saying that their salvation was just as secure as all of us post the crucifixion, because Jesus Christ, I'm sorry, because God had faith in his son.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: God knew and had full, complete confidence that they were just as much saved then by the blood of Christ, even though that blood had not even yet been shed.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's what he's saying when he says to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: Guys, whether you look before the cross, whether you look after the cross, whether you were a contemporary like Peter, and you actually got to see and behold Jesus Christ in his human form.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: Whether no matter where you are, we believe, at least I believe, but I hope you believe with me, we believe that salvation is always the same.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: And that salvation was literally secured by the blood of Jesus Christ.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: It was so sure, it was as sure as it ever could be before the foundation of the world.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: And we know today without question that that blood was received by the Father, that we have been declared righteous by the imputed righteousness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: I thank you for your kind attention.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: Amen to what we've heard so far.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: I want to start right where he was.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: And if the Lord's in the manner, I think that we're gonna be able to see this tie together with what was on my mind.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um right there in Romans chapter 3.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Brother Owens laying out for us what God saw from time immemorial, from the beginning of the world.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: What he saw was the blood of Jesus Christ.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: God's looking for the blood.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: He says so in the in picture form in Egypt when the Passover first happened.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: Not the memorial called the Passover, but the actual Passover.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: Says that he was looking for the blood.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: He said, When I see the blood, I will pass over thee.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: God's been looking for the blood of Christ.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: He's been looking there since the beginning.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: Here, as he read for us and expounded upon Romans chapter 3, verse 24, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, that's whom God had set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's God's faith in his blood, his absolute confidence that Jesus Christ would do that which he said he would do.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: Of course he knew he would do it.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: He is God.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: God is not divided, God is one.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: In covenant before the world began, when God the Father loved and chose a people, God the Son loved those people too.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: God, he didn't have to acquaint the word of God, the Son of God, with the list of names.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't have to come together with himself and say, well, let's.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let's start to pick who we want and who we don't want.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: God loved his people and he knew you before the world began.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: He knew every one of his people.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: And the Son knew those same people and loved those same people.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: And we talk about it as if there was some sort of board meeting when we talk about the covenant.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: But don't it's because we have a hard time grasping the things of God.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: We use natural things to understand the spiritual things.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: Then we have to understand that it's there's flaws in it.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: But God agreed within himself.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: He covenanted, made a promise within himself, between the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, who are one and not divided or not separate, but they are distinct persons of the Godhead.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: And God, all of God, the fullness of God, love the people, and then it says in Ephesians that he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: And when he did that, he did it with faith, with confidence, that he would do what is required for them to be made righteous.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is what he means by that he has set him forth to be a propitiation.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: And Brother Owen laid out propitiation.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't need to talk about that again.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: But that he set him to be that for us through the confidence in his blood.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: But then let's go further.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: He says, to declare, God's to declare his righteousness, Christ's righteousness, for or to take care of the remission of sins that are past.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what when Brother Owen talked about Jacob, Isaac, Abraham.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: Go back to Adam, all of God's people that he loved before the world began.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't through righteousness.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: And Paul will go further into the fourth chapter and talk about what did Abraham find?
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: What did he find?
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't by his works.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: If he had been justified by his works, there'd be some boasting he could do.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: But it wasn't by his works.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: So what brought about the righteousness of Abraham?
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: God set forth Christ to be the propitiation to declare his righteousness for the sins that are past.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: Our sins must be dealt with.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yours, mine, Abraham's, Adam's, everyone's sins must be dealt with.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: And my friends, they had to be dealt with the exact same way.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: There is nobody who is going to be in heaven that didn't get there the exact same way as every other person in heaven.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: There are no exceptions.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: There's no, but what about this?
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: No, what about isms.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: The same way that I will be in heaven is the same way Abraham's in heaven, the same way that an infant will be in heaven.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: And it's the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: And God said, I'm going to declare his righteousness.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: Declare his righteousness is the one that will take care of the sins.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: He says, that are past.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: At the time that he's talking about, he's talking about the sins of the people that were before Christ came into this world.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's easier for, we have, what's I say easier, like our problem is we're short-sighted, right?
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: We are creatures of time and we're bound by time, and we say that if you are going to heaven because of the blood of Jesus Christ, then he must needs have died first.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: But what about the people that are before Christ came into this world?
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: This text tells us that they go to heaven because their sins are remitted, they are paid for in full by the same blood that you will go to heaven because of, the same work of Jesus Christ on the cross, though it had not happened yet.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: And Brother Owen clearly said that, that he um it was his death as if it had before it was already done.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: And the scriptures tell us that he stood as it were a lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's always been about the blood of Jesus Christ, about his death on the cross.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone that goes to heaven, they go there that way and that alone.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what he's saying here.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: That through the forbearance of God is meaning that God to forbear, to long suffer, to just kind of roll back the actual penalty of sin for those people that Christ had not yet in time paid the price for.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: Put it on, if you'll allow me to do a maybe this is trite, but I hope that it makes the point.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Put it on, as it were, like a layaway plan.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: The sins of Abraham were going to be paid for in full by the only currency that could possibly pay for it.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: And God saw Abraham paid in full, though the money hadn't been paid.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: Put it on, as it were, credit, the credit of the Lord Jesus Christ and no one else.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: Those sins will be paid for.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: So then the next verse, verse 26 says, To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: So guess what?
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: In this modern day, exact same righteousness that must be our what remits our sins.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: God sees the blood of Christ for you.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: He sees the work of the cross for you, and he sees that as he declares it to us.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: That it says that he might be just.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's an interesting thought.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: Did God have to do something to be just?
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's that he is just, and this is the only way justice could have been satisfied, and his love and mercy also be satisfied.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: But he's declaring it so we would understand that he is just.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: See, God did not just take our sins and sweep them under the rug.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: Our sins were dealt with in full, and justice was satisfied by the blood of Jesus Christ.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: The death of Christ on the cross appeased it.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: It satisfied it.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: He made peace with God through his blood.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is what God sees, and he's telling us about it.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the next phrase says that he might be justified.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: It says, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's from there I'd like to move into what I want to think about because we've been talking about what God sees.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: But believing, he that believeth, that's about what we see.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: What do we see?
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I tell you, it does not matter in the finality of the salvation of God's people, whether they see it or not.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: It does, however, matter greatly to us if we see it.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: What God has seen, that is done.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: And if we were above where we were reading earlier, it said, uh, even the righteousness.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, verse 22.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: I have to start with verse 21 of this Romans chapter 3, but um, or verse 20.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: See, he's not looking at the deeds of the law for you to be declared just in his sight.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's looking for the blood of Christ.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: And he saw it.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then it says, but now the righteousness of God, without or apart from and separated from the law, is manifested.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's Jesus Christ.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: He's evidently seen now.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it says, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even, this is like, I'm going to tell you what that righteousness is.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now that is not by your faith in Jesus Christ.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: The word your isn't in there, and the word in isn't in there.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's by faith of Jesus Christ.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's Christ's faith.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: And to be a little more explicit, Christ's faithful work on the cross.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: It is the work of Christ in doing that which he said he would do that God is looking for to do it.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: This righteousness of God comes only by the faith of Jesus Christ.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: But it comes unto all and upon all them that believe.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's not a condition for it to come to you.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: The righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Christ, comes because Christ came to die for those that God gave him.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: But for those that believe, it's unto us.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now we can see what God sees.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: God sees the blood of Christ.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: We should see it too.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: And he is just to forgive our sins.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because Christ died for them.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: But what about our experience?
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: Do we feel just?
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: Do we hear the declaration that the righteousness of Christ has made us just?
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: Do we hear that?
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we don't hear it unless we are looking at the same thing God's looking at.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: God's looking at the blood of Christ.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: Are we looking at the blood?
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's what it would mean by that he declares his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: The justifier is the one that pronounces the just judgment.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: The justifier is the one that says, You're judged, you are righteous, you are holy.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: Who that is not?
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's not me, and that's not you.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: We are never legally, rightfully the justifier.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're not the judge.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: We, if we're gonna hear the pronouncement, the right pronouncement of our case, we need to be listening for God's declaration.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: This tells us what God's declaration is.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's that his righteousness takes care of our sins, that his work on the cross took care of that, remitted our sins, that he is the propitiation.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: Do I hear him say that to me?
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: How can I hear it?
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: He's the justifier, says, of them that believe.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: Believe what?
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: Believe in this work of Jesus Christ being the full propitiation for our sins.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: Believe in what he did on the cross.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: Looking to his work.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so in that um in that vein, I'd like to uh take y'all to John, I mean John chapter 3.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: This one.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um I tried to speak on this yesterday, and I'm gonna uh and I left myself just this much time yesterday to get to this very text, so just as bad as yesterday.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: Or not yesterday, it's Friday, but um chapter 3.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: I want to uh set some context and then get to verse 14.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: John chapter 3, Nicodemus, a Pharisee, comes to Jesus.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: It says he comes by night.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: Why'd he come by night?
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: He came by night because uh the rest of his Pharisees wouldn't have liked it if they had seen him coming and asking Jesus these questions.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because he wasn't coming to ask Jesus trip up questions.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: Many of the Pharisees came to Jesus to ask him questions.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: In public, broad daylight.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: Those questions they came to ask him were to trick him up.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: It tells us they came to see if they could find something to accuse him of.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: This wasn't Nicodemus' mindset.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: Why did he come at night?
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: He came because he had sincere questions, he had true questions of his heart, and he didn't want no one to see.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: He was looking for Jesus, but he didn't want he was wanted to see Jesus, but he didn't want anyone else to see him see Jesus.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's going to change for Nicodemus, by the way, in the future.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, by the time that they are actually, he's part of the council that would end up arresting Jesus, but before that night of the arrest, there's a time where they are talking about him, and a lot of the Pharisees are very uh adamant, like this man is uh just so much trouble for us.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and Nicodemus acts, he asks them all.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing them?
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: And they say, Are you also his follower?
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: You can just imagine the Pharisees.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: Nicodemus', you know, his uh co-workers, so his friends, his people he's been with all this time, and all of a sudden Nicodemus even dares to just ask him, hey, before you get too judgy, let's just at least hear him out.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: And boy, they just attacked him.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, Are you also his follower?
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, search and see.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we don't find Nicodemus at the time Jesus is arrested in the council that actually brings him to Pilate.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: We do find him with Joseph of Arimathea after Jesus dies, going to Pilate and asking for the body of Christ so they could take care of it and respect it, honor it, and bury it.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: So we see a change in Nicodemus.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: He goes from a man who did who wants to see Jesus but doesn't want anyone to see him see Jesus, to a man who's willing to at least ask the question and take some ridicule for it, to a man willing to come boldly and say, I love this man and I want to honor his death.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that Nicodemus had found himself in the category of belief.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then I believe, I believe, and though I don't have any scripture on this, that the progression tells us he was among the church for the rest of his life.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but let's just listen right here.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: He comes wanting to hear from one that he thinks is a teacher from God.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Master, we know who we.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't all the we's that didn't uh that were ridiculing him later.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: It was some other we's him, Joseph, maybe, some others.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we know that thou art a teacher come from God.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: For no man can do these things except God be with him.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: He it's like I know something, I don't know a lot, but I know something about you, uh Jesus.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: But we don't know what his question was.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: But we know what Jesus said, so I think that we can infer that his question had to do with dwelling in the kingdom of God.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: Dwelling in the kingdom.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't think his question, I don't think his question had to do with going to heaven.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um why do I say that?
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because the Jews had this thought, they had this understanding that they are the people of God.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: And as Brother Owen mentioned, they thought the law made them righteous before God.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um the Pharisees, especially, which this man was of, really thought that keeping the law made them righteous before God, but they also just thought being just a natural Jew made them the people of God.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't really have this question that that a modern Christianity would have of um do you go to heaven or hell?
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_00: They they thought, well, we're gonna be with God someday.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: But they were looking for a kingdom, and a lot of them were looking for a natural kingdom, but nonetheless they wanted, they knew the promise of a Messiah that would bring a kingdom.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and I think they wanted how do we participate with God here, even in this world?
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus just jumps straight to the beginning of the whole question.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except you be born again, a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: Many have said, see, this is beginning the recipe.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is not a recipe for you to get born again.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: And there's nothing in John chapter 3 that has to do with you getting born again.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: He's telling you the prerequisite to any kind of spiritual understanding to even see the kingdom, to even see there is a kingdom.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, Nicodemus, for you to even come to me with sincere questions, you must be born again.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_00: It has happened already.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this being born again is um directional.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just a second birth, but it is a second birth, but it's not just a second birth.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_00: What I mean is no one is ever born this way before they are conceived into this world.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_00: There is no one who has a spiritual birth prior to natural creation.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_00: There's no such thing as eternal children.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that when I say that, the the doctrine of eternal children is that we were spirits in heaven that got sent down to a body.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: That is heresy.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's false.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_00: First, we're children of Adam, we are natural.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, second time, chronologically, second, is we are born from above.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what this Greek word here carries the meaning of.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just chronological, it's directional.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just that we're it's second to the natural, it's that it comes from above.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_00: And Nicodemus, though, while he understands the concept of the Greek word that's being used, he understands that it's directional.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_00: He still is thinking natural.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, how can a man be born a second time when he's old?
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_00: How can he come?
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_00: Can he go into his mother's womb and come forth a second time?
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus then says, I'm not talking natural, I'm talking spiritual.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: When you read the next few verses, he says, um, I'm not saying you have to be born twice naturally, I'm saying you have to be born of the spirit.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then he'll tell us that how you're born of the spirit, which is the spirit moves.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's not your moving, and it's just like natural birth in that regard, you don't play a part in it.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of ways it's not like natural birth, but one of the ways it absolutely is, is you're 100% passive.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_00: There is no one in this room or ever has existed in the history of the world except for Jesus Christ who chose their parents.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: None of you chose your parents because you didn't act to bring about your birth.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: And the same thing is true about your next spiritual birth.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: Who acted?
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: The Spirit.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: It says the spirit of the wind bloweth where it listeth.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: That means the wind blows wherever it wants to.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_00: And no one can tell from whence it cometh or whether it goeth.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: Meaning, you that means like from what's the source of the wind that's coming, where did it come from?
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's what the word whence means.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: Whither it goes is where, whither is where, whence is um like where, um, or from what source.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, in other words, he's saying, yes, you can feel the wind, but you cannot.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: You don't know where it started, this wind that's coming and hits you.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: You don't see it coming unless there's debris in it.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_00: You're not seeing the wind, you're seeing the debris.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: You don't know where it's going once it leaves.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_00: You can't you can't count down when the wind will hit you.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_00: You don't know when it's going to happen.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so he's saying the spirit is completely in charge of this act.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_00: God is completely.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: In control and in charge of burning his children again.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're passive in it.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: But it has to have happened, or you won't see or enter or know any spiritual thing.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now, once he gets Nicodemus to that point, Nicodemus is like, How can this be?
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, Art thou a master and knowest not these things?
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then he says that, like, if I tell you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, he's saying, look, you want to jump to the like senior level class on spiritual kingdoms, and you haven't even passed the freshman prerequisite here.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_00: You have to understand that you can't do anything to please God unless God moves first.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, we got to start there.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, I've told you earthly things, meaning natural illustrations.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's what he means there.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, I've talked to you about being born, and you don't, if you're not going to understand that, how can we move forward in this question you have, Nicodemus?
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_00: But let us move forward.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think I'm talking to people that understand that every one of us that is looking to see Jesus and looking for an answer for the sin that is in us, that we still feel.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_00: What are we looking to?
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you're not even going to be doing that unless you're born again.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_00: You will not have that question.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: You're not going to feel like you need righteousness.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_00: You're not going to feel like you need a propitiation if you are not born again.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we can move past that and then understand what is this now saying?
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_00: And what's the next verse?
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_00: The next verse is what I needed to get to 30 minutes ago.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_00: The next verse says, No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_00: That I can't explain that in all the time of the world.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I wanted to try.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_00: Do you understand what he just said?
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_00: Is the Son of Man who's talking to Nicodemus right now came down from heaven and he's in heaven.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_00: At the same time.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I can't explain it, so I don't have to spend a lot of time on it.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_00: But he's saying he is God.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_00: He is the Son of God and the Son of Man.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_00: But he also said no one can ascend up to heaven except he that came down from heaven and is in heaven.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_00: What does he mean by ascend up?
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't mean that his natural life will go up there, though he did ascend into the clouds after he rose again.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: He's referencing a verse in Deuteronomy that Paul would then use in Romans, that he said that no man hath ascended up to heaven, or who will ascend up, as that is to bring like the word of God down, or who can go out to the deep, don't say not it's in the deep.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_00: No one can go out to the sea to get the word of God.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then he said, But what does it the word of God say to you said it is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy lips?
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then Paul says in Romans that if you would confess with your mouth, I have to go read that.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm getting it so messed up that I have to go see what it says.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't have time for that.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_00: So he's talking about the word of God, he's talking about your knowledge.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_00: No one can go up to God and get the knowledge.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot go up there and get what you need to get from God.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_00: The only one who can provide it is the one that came down from heaven and is in heaven.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_00: So he's talking about gospel knowledge here.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_00: How did Peter know that he was Christ?
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_00: The same way you know it.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_00: Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood had not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, in other words, do you know the only way you know anything about God is God showed it to you?
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know the only way you're even seeking after God is God has already found you?
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know the only way that you can believe in God is that you're already born again of Him.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_00: So they say in there, you didn't go up and get it.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_00: You can't go up and get it.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_00: You can't ascend up there and get it, but He brought it down to you.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_00: Not just salvation, but knowledge of it.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_00: Then He says, and as, now that word and is connecting it to the very last thing we just read, and as, and here's a simile, 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 have eternal life.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_00: I I it's time to close.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have lunch.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll just leave.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_00: No, I can't just leave it like that.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_00: I can't just leave it like that, but I'm not gonna spend the next 30 minutes explaining this verse.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_00: What I am gonna do is tell you to go read Numbers chapter 21.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um maybe the first time I've ever assigned homework, Brother Owen.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, go read Numbers chapter 21.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_00: He is saying, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_00: If you have never heard that before, Moses lifted up a serpent, a snake in the wilderness?
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_00: How is that related to Jesus?
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I got the place for you.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: Numbers chapter 21.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_00: Go read it.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's a place in there where this happens.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it is going to illustrate what Jesus is saying here.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_00: And he's saying that just like that, the Son of Man will be lifted up, and whosoever believeth him should not perish, but have eternal life.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's a looking that has to happen, and there is a healing that'll come from it, and then there's a having something, and that word having eternal life doesn't mean to get it, it means to hold on to it.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_00: Looking to the Lord's crucifixion would bring the healing you need and the holding on to the eternal life you already have.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_00: The word believeth, whosoever believeth, that ETH, don't ever let children of special listen to me, don't ever let anyone take away from take away from you the King James language and say, well, you don't need those old ETHs.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_00: Those ETHs are super important because the verb tenses that we use in English modernly are not robust enough to handle all the old Greek tenses.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_00: And the Greek tenses involved more.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_00: So we'd say, you know, believed is past tense, is believing, will believe, you know, but believeth not only means it doesn't mean believed in the past, it's not past tense, it doesn't mean will believe, it is not future tense.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_00: It is not even just is believing, it's more more pinpoint than that.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_00: The word believeth means is in the act of believing this very second.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_00: It is it is laser focused on the right now, okay?
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_00: And dare, that's what ETH means.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the thing is that that ETH is an ongoing thing.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_00: It happens many, many times in your life.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_00: But he's not talking about yesterday when you didn't believe, he's not talking about someday when you will believe.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's not talking about anything about the past or the future.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, do you believe in Jesus?
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, do you believe in Jesus?
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_00: If right now you believe in Jesus, guess what?
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_00: You're not perishing.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_00: And there's the way I want to talk about that perishing, I need I need to go back to Numbers.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_00: I need to talk about this.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_00: But he said, you're not.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_00: There's a healing that can happen in the moment you're believing that Jesus died for you.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_00: God's looking for the blood.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_00: Are you looking at the blood?
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because see, if you're looking at yourself, you're going to be perishing.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_00: But if you are looking at the blood of Christ that satisfied God's righteousness for you, you're seeing his righteousness is given to you, you're having eternal life.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_00: You are holding eternal life, you're laying hold on it.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's what causes the healing we need.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_00: In the times we, as that, as Brother Owen started, when you have that, it's a sad thing to think about the people who are afraid of have they done enough?
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you're looking at your righteousness.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_00: And if I'm looking at my righteousness, I'm going to perish.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to go to hell because God's looking for the blood, right?
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm perishing.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm suffering.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sad.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm deprived, I am despondent.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_00: I am fearful if I'm looking at my righteousness.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's never going to measure up.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_00: But if I'm looking to the one that was lifted up for me, if I'm looking to the cross, see, and at that moment, if I'm if I at that moment I believe that that happened for me, that he died for me.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm remembering that he died for me, at that moment, I promise you, I'm not perishing.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm holding eternal life.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_00: The one he gave me.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because guess how you got eternal life?
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, I know my sheep.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they follow me.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_00: I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's the context.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_00: He's talking to Nicodemus, one who is not yet believing.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_00: He's not in the moment.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_00: He is coming, but he's not believing.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_00: And he's got doubts, he's got fears, he's got condemnation happening.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_00: Why did he come at night?
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because he's got those fears.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus says this.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_00: He goes, first of all, you must be born again.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_00: You're already born again, Nicodemus, but you know what you need?
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_00: You need to look to the one that's been that's going to be, in his case, lifted up for him.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_00: You just like those people in the numbers did, you're gonna have to look to the cross.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_00: You look to the cross and you believe that he died for you, at that moment, all fears get cast aside.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_00: At that moment, you have peace with God.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_00: And there, that's why in Romans, the next chapter, fifth chapter says, Therefore, being justified by faith, and that is you're believing in the work of Christ for you.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_00: We have peace with God.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_00: We should look at it the same way God looks at it.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_00: God's looking for the work of, he always has looked for the work of Christ on the cross as the only means of righteousness for his people, and we should look at the work of Christ on the cross as the only means for our righteousness for his people.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_00: And when we do that, we'll have that peace with God.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_00: I thank you for the time.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_00: And uh maybe we'll revisit this again, maybe I won't.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but go read Numbers chapter 20, and we can talk about it.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to talk about it.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_00: Give me the whole lunch hour and we'll talk about it.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_00: But we'll stand and sing a hymn.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_00: And if anyone wishes to join the church, if you are believing that Jesus died for you, then you should take up your cross and follow the Lord and walk with us.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_00: Number 13.
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_00: Number 13.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_00: Stand and we'll sing number 13.