Latest / End-Time Revival Ministries, USA / Episode 201 - The Real Friend Of Jesus
Transcript
- 0:13Speaker 1: I love. The Lord heard my cry and pitied every grown.
- 0:17Speaker 1: We bless the Lord. We thank him, We honor him
- 0:20Speaker 1: who is King of kings and Lord of lords. Thank
- 0:23Speaker 1: him for this beautiful, glorious day that he has made.
- 0:26Speaker 1: We shall rejoice in Him who is the God of
- 0:29Speaker 1: our salvation. We welcome you once again to this another edition
- 0:32Speaker 1: of End Time Revible Ministries USA Podcast. I am your host,
- 0:39Speaker 1: Pastor al Zachary. And again we are as always thankful
- 0:45Speaker 1: to the Lord. Grateful to the Lord, Amen for enabling us,
- 0:51Speaker 1: for calling us a man to this great a man
- 0:56Speaker 1: calling of preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen.
- 1:03Speaker 1: We are honored, a man, imprivileged, a man to be
- 1:07Speaker 1: entrusted by God to speak forth his word. And this
- 1:11Speaker 1: we will do, Amen, by the help of the Lord,
- 1:14Speaker 1: by the help of His spirit, a man until He
- 1:18Speaker 1: calls us from Amen, Earth to glory. Amen. As long
- 1:25Speaker 1: as we live, as long as we have our being,
- 1:28Speaker 1: as long as God enables us, we will endeavor a
- 1:32Speaker 1: man to serve the Lord with fear, to serve the
- 1:34Speaker 1: Lord in truth, to serve the Lord, Amen, in righteousness
- 1:39Speaker 1: and holiness before him all the days of our life. Amen,
- 1:44Speaker 1: And of course, we as always thank God for each
- 1:46Speaker 1: and every one of you who pray for and or
- 1:49Speaker 1: support the work of this ministry. Amen. We pray that
- 1:53Speaker 1: God's blessing blessings will be upon you, and his peace
- 1:57Speaker 1: and rest Amen will be in you, and that a man,
- 2:01Speaker 1: the Hope of Glory, Amen, the True and the Living
- 2:04Speaker 1: God will show himself strong on your behalf. We pray
- 2:08Speaker 1: for the peace of God, a man to rule in
- 2:11Speaker 1: the hearts of all of the people of God. Everywhere.
- 2:14Speaker 1: God will as he promised. Jesus said, my peace I
- 2:18Speaker 1: leave with you, not as the world gives give eye
- 2:20Speaker 1: unto you. We are not to be troubled. We are
- 2:22Speaker 1: not to be afraid a man in these times and
- 2:26Speaker 1: seasons in which we live, knowing that a man God
- 2:29Speaker 1: has already spoken and the creed all things that shall
- 2:32Speaker 1: come to pass. And we stand on his word and
- 2:35Speaker 1: his promises, knowing that the righteous are never forsaken, nor
- 2:40Speaker 1: are the seed of God to be begging bread, because
- 2:45Speaker 1: God never leaves nor for sakes those a man who
- 2:49Speaker 1: love Him, trust him and obey Him. And today we again,
- 2:56Speaker 1: as always want to a man speak the word of
- 3:00Speaker 1: the Lord, Amen, and promote the name of Jesus. Amen,
- 3:06Speaker 1: the words of Jesus, the doctrine of Christ. Amen, because
- 3:11Speaker 1: this is what Amen. The word of the Lord. Has
- 3:14Speaker 1: a man charged the church, with a man preaching the word,
- 3:18Speaker 1: being instant in season out of season. Amen. We are
- 3:22Speaker 1: to abide in the doctrine of Christ. We are to
- 3:25Speaker 1: obey the sayings of Jesus and to live by them,
- 3:29Speaker 1: being examples to the world, examples to those that are
- 3:33Speaker 1: in the darkness. Amen. Letting our lights shine before men, Amen,
- 3:37Speaker 1: because God has called us. Amen to a holy calling
- 3:42Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus. Amen. And to this end we go
- 3:46Speaker 1: again to the Gospel of John, chapter number fifteen, where
- 3:49Speaker 1: we've been a man examining a man, these last words
- 3:54Speaker 1: of Jesus, as he prepares a man to go to
- 3:56Speaker 1: the cross, to a man give himself a man over. Amen,
- 4:02Speaker 1: And make no mistake about it. He gave himself a man.
- 4:07Speaker 1: No one, he said, takes my life. I lay it down,
- 4:11Speaker 1: willingly have the power to lay it down, and I
- 4:13Speaker 1: have the power to take it up again. And so
- 4:17Speaker 1: he's about to a man, give himself over a man
- 4:21Speaker 1: to amen, the authorities to be crucified. But he is
- 4:29Speaker 1: preparing his disciples, and so important we understand preparation. He
- 4:36Speaker 1: is preparing his disciples for his imminent departure, a man
- 4:43Speaker 1: for his a man burial, for his resurrection, and of
- 4:48Speaker 1: course his ascension back to Heaven when he would no
- 4:51Speaker 1: longer be with them. Bodily, Amen. And it is so important,
- 4:55Speaker 1: so important, so important that we understand Amen that Amen.
- 5:01Speaker 1: God again never leaves nor forsakes his own and he
- 5:04Speaker 1: will always be with us, even though we may not
- 5:07Speaker 1: in soul, none of us. Of course, I have seen
- 5:10Speaker 1: him physically in the flesh, because he long ago went
- 5:15Speaker 1: back to glory, of course. But Amen, we can have
- 5:18Speaker 1: this assurance of the words of Jesus again. I'll never
- 5:22Speaker 1: leave you, I'll never forsake you. Lo I'm with you always,
- 5:26Speaker 1: even to the end of the ages. Amen. All right,
- 5:31Speaker 1: Today Gospel of John chapter fifteen, We're gonna read verses
- 5:34Speaker 1: eleven through fifteen in just a moment the real friend
- 5:39Speaker 1: of Jesus. Today we're going to discover who is the
- 5:43Speaker 1: real the real friend of Jesus. Father. We stretch our
- 5:49Speaker 1: hands to then no other help. We know you are
- 5:51Speaker 1: the true in the living God. It is your word,
- 5:53Speaker 1: it is your Amen, Gospel, it is your calling. It
- 5:57Speaker 1: is your church. We are your people, of the sheep
- 6:00Speaker 1: of your pasture. We've come now, Lord to a man
- 6:03Speaker 1: speak for of your word, Oh God, in truth and
- 6:06Speaker 1: boldness and plainness of speech, O Lord, that the words
- 6:10Speaker 1: of our mouth proceed, O God, to the glory and edification.
- 6:15Speaker 1: Amen to the conviction of souls, O God, Someone somewhere
- 6:19Speaker 1: will come to know that you are the true and
- 6:21Speaker 1: live in God, the savior of all them that believe.
- 6:25Speaker 1: Bless now, and we shall be blessed. Keep now, and
- 6:28Speaker 1: we shall be kept by your mighty power. If we
- 6:30Speaker 1: give you praise, glory on or thanksgiving and all things
- 6:33Speaker 1: through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray give thanks Amen
- 6:37Speaker 1: and amen, the real friend of Jesus, the real Friend
- 6:45Speaker 1: of Jesus. The Gospel of John chapter fifteen, to get
- 6:48Speaker 1: into verse eleven, These things have I spoken unto you,
- 6:52Speaker 1: that my joy might remain in you, and that your
- 6:57Speaker 1: joy might be full. This is my commandment that you
- 7:03Speaker 1: love one another as I have loved you. Greater love
- 7:09Speaker 1: hath no man than this. That a man laid down
- 7:12Speaker 1: his life for his friends. Ye are my friends. If
- 7:18Speaker 1: ye do whatsoever I command you, henceforth I call you
- 7:25Speaker 1: not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth.
- 7:31Speaker 1: But I have called you friends for all things that
- 7:37Speaker 1: I have heard of my Father, I have made known
- 7:41Speaker 1: unto you, friend of God, the real friend of Jesus.
- 7:51Speaker 1: Friendship with the Lord and Savior is, without a doubt,
- 7:55Speaker 1: the ultimate status a man can attain to in this
- 7:59Speaker 1: world of enmity against God, enmity against Jesus, hatred for
- 8:05Speaker 1: the name of Jesus, hatred for the Gospel, the exclusivity
- 8:10Speaker 1: of salvation that is to be found in Christ Jesus.
- 8:16Speaker 1: And it truly will take real friendship with Jesus by
- 8:19Speaker 1: the way to be able to stand. I believe in
- 8:22Speaker 1: this evil day, in these last of the last days,
- 8:26Speaker 1: you are going to have to be a truly committed
- 8:31Speaker 1: friend of Jesus. In our world, of course, there are
- 8:36Speaker 1: many who claim Christianity or believe that they are otherwise
- 8:41Speaker 1: in good standing with God by their religious beliefs and
- 8:47Speaker 1: practices or activities that they do go about in seeking
- 8:52Speaker 1: again to curry favor with God, to please God. But
- 8:56Speaker 1: Jesus made it clear that no man can be a
- 8:59Speaker 1: friend of God who is not a friend of his
- 9:05Speaker 1: No man can be a friend of God without being
- 9:11Speaker 1: a friend of Jesus. Amen, the real friend of Jesus.
- 9:17Speaker 1: Of course, we extract from these verses from the verse
- 9:22Speaker 1: number fifteen. I'm sorry, verse number fourteen in particular, and
- 9:27Speaker 1: fifteen as well. I mean, we extract from these verses
- 9:31Speaker 1: that the real friend of Jesus is the one who
- 9:34Speaker 1: does as Jesus has commanded. He has revealed to us.
- 9:38Speaker 1: He has spoken to us again in the Book of Hebrews.
- 9:41Speaker 1: A man, the writer reminds us God who is sundrey
- 9:44Speaker 1: times and in direst manners, spaking time passed to the
- 9:46Speaker 1: fathers by the prophets, half in these last days spoken
- 9:50Speaker 1: to us by his son. And Jesus, of course, said
- 9:53Speaker 1: those who hear these sayings of mind and do them,
- 9:57Speaker 1: they are wise men. And if you are not a
- 10:02Speaker 1: wise man, you must be on the opposite side of
- 10:05Speaker 1: the spectrum, a foolish man. And that would be those
- 10:09Speaker 1: in the camp who do not do the sayings of
- 10:13Speaker 1: Jesus and build their houses, build their lives, build their future,
- 10:17Speaker 1: build their hopes, build their dreams, go into religion, and again,
- 10:22Speaker 1: seeking to please God, climb up to heaven some other way.
- 10:26Speaker 1: A man building their houses on the sand, And of
- 10:30Speaker 1: course it's Jesus said, and closing out what we referred
- 10:34Speaker 1: to as the Sermon on the Mount, Amen, the winds
- 10:38Speaker 1: will come, the rain, the storms of life. A man
- 10:43Speaker 1: and every man that is born of a woman will
- 10:45Speaker 1: face troubled, trial, tribulation in this world. But your house
- 10:49Speaker 1: is not going to stand if it's not built upon
- 10:52Speaker 1: the rock. Amen. And you cannot honor God and dishonor Jesus.
- 10:56Speaker 1: Jesus made He made that clear, you cannot honor God
- 11:02Speaker 1: and dishonor Jesus. And that's exactly what, of course, the
- 11:05Speaker 1: people of his day did, the Jews day. Jesus said
- 11:08Speaker 1: they and by the way, this was a direct quotation
- 11:12Speaker 1: from the Old Testament, these people honor me with their lips,
- 11:15Speaker 1: but their heart is far from me. So we have
- 11:18Speaker 1: in our day people who pay platitudes a man who
- 11:22Speaker 1: give lip service to Jesus. They want to say, oh, well, well,
- 11:25Speaker 1: you honor him as a prophet or he was a
- 11:28Speaker 1: good teacher, he was a great leader, he was a
- 11:30Speaker 1: founder of a religion. A man, he was one of
- 11:34Speaker 1: the ways that we can obtain salvation. But they stop short, far,
- 11:46Speaker 1: oh far short, when they do not acknowledge him as
- 11:52Speaker 1: being God, God manifested in the flesh, the son of God,
- 11:57Speaker 1: God come down from heaven. That's what just said. I
- 12:00Speaker 1: came down from heaven. I am from above, you are beneath.
- 12:05Speaker 1: I am not of this world. And again I've exhaustively
- 12:09Speaker 1: over the past few sessions gone over a man. All
- 12:14Speaker 1: of many of the things is particularly in the Gospel
- 12:17Speaker 1: of John chapters fourteen and fifteen. Thus far a man,
- 12:21Speaker 1: and even throughout the other writings of the Gospels, and
- 12:26Speaker 1: and and Jesus has again spoken in ways that we
- 12:33Speaker 1: must make a definitive choice of yes or no. We
- 12:38Speaker 1: must either believe him or reject him. There is no
- 12:41Speaker 1: in between. So all of this, you know, placating and
- 12:46Speaker 1: seeking to again appease you know, and and pretending as
- 12:52Speaker 1: if they are righteous and friends of God and servants
- 12:56Speaker 1: of Jesus and honoring Jesus, and all of that. No, no, no, no, no, no, no,
- 13:00Speaker 1: no no no no. Again, we come to a passage
- 13:07Speaker 1: that is a dividing line in essence. Amen, it sets apart.
- 13:13Speaker 1: It sets apart those who again profess to know God
- 13:17Speaker 1: from those who a man really are true servants of God.
- 13:23Speaker 1: This is the distinction that Jesus himself made. And again
- 13:26Speaker 1: it sets apart those who a man call him Lord
- 13:32Speaker 1: Lord and do not the things that he say, sets
- 13:36Speaker 1: them apart from those again who truly seek to walk
- 13:40Speaker 1: in obedience to the word of God. Of course, all
- 13:43Speaker 1: of us sin and fall short of the glory of God.
- 13:46Speaker 1: All have sin and falling short of the glory of God.
- 13:49Speaker 1: But thanks be to God. When you are a true
- 13:52Speaker 1: servant of Jesus, listen with the same. John by the
- 13:55Speaker 1: way wrote in his Epistle to the Church a man
- 14:00Speaker 1: if we sin, when we sin, we have an advocate
- 14:05Speaker 1: with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous, and he is
- 14:09Speaker 1: the propitiation for our sin. And we run, we come
- 14:15Speaker 1: boldly to the throne of Grace, knowing that he is
- 14:18Speaker 1: faithful and that he is just, and that he will
- 14:21Speaker 1: forgive us, because again we believe his word, believe in
- 14:26Speaker 1: his atonement, we believe in his sacrifice. We believe that
- 14:29Speaker 1: his a man sacrificial offering, a man at cavalry, atoned
- 14:36Speaker 1: for our sins. And so we come to him. We
- 14:39Speaker 1: run to him, We look to him. We don't look
- 14:42Speaker 1: again to our own righteousness, our own deeds, our own goodness, Amen, No, no, no, Amen.
- 14:51Speaker 1: Is the blood of Jesus, is his atonement. It's his sacrifice.
- 14:55Speaker 1: A man that we a man who are the true
- 14:58Speaker 1: friend of Gess Jesus turned to rely on lean to
- 15:04Speaker 1: understand that. Amen, it alone is our Amen, salvation. We
- 15:10Speaker 1: are saved by the blood, because of the blood, through
- 15:13Speaker 1: the blood, covered by the blood. Amen. Hey, oh, thank
- 15:17Speaker 1: you Jesus. Amen. Now this designation of being a friend
- 15:21Speaker 1: of God, of course, it goes back Amen to the
- 15:24Speaker 1: book of the Beginnings Genesis. The man Abraham was called
- 15:31Speaker 1: a friend of God. If you go to the letter
- 15:36Speaker 1: of James, the Epistle of James two, verse twenty three. Amen,
- 15:40Speaker 1: this verse is found and the scripture was fulfilled, which
- 15:43Speaker 1: said Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him
- 15:51Speaker 1: for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.
- 15:59Speaker 1: Now note that there are two very important elements in
- 16:05Speaker 1: this verse, Amen, which undergirds the friendship relationship, if you will,
- 16:12Speaker 1: between God and any man. It is the element of
- 16:18Speaker 1: faith number one, which of course is believing what God
- 16:24Speaker 1: has spoken, and the element of righteousness. First of all,
- 16:32Speaker 1: Abraham believed God and without faith. Bible again is clear,
- 16:36Speaker 1: the word of God is clear. Amen. Without faith. In
- 16:41Speaker 1: other words, faith is believing what God has spoken, believing
- 16:48Speaker 1: the word of God. Man again, going back to the
- 16:51Speaker 1: Old Testament, shall not live by bread alone, but by
- 16:53Speaker 1: every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
- 16:56Speaker 1: In other words, when you say I have faith in God, God,
- 17:00Speaker 1: you're saying I believe God. Not I believe in God.
- 17:06Speaker 1: I believe that there is a God. No no, no, no, no,
- 17:08Speaker 1: no no. That is insufficient. The Bible says, the devils
- 17:11Speaker 1: believe and they tremble. Satan knows that there's a God.
- 17:13Speaker 1: The demons know that there's a God. They tremble, they
- 17:16Speaker 1: believe that they're and they know that there is a God.
- 17:20Speaker 1: They have far more assurance because they were in heaven
- 17:24Speaker 1: and booted out of heaven. Now they practice deception amongst
- 17:27Speaker 1: Amen and in the hearts and minds of men. Amen,
- 17:31Speaker 1: but they know, they believe, and they tremble. And remember,
- 17:34Speaker 1: of course, throughout the Gospels different occasions when Jesus would
- 17:38Speaker 1: come to cast out demons Amen. On two of more
- 17:42Speaker 1: believed occasions, they knew who Jesus is, not just was,
- 17:47Speaker 1: but is, and they say, we know who you are. Amen,
- 17:52Speaker 1: and and and so Amen, Uh friendship with God. Amen,
- 18:00Speaker 1: and requires believing God. That's first and foremost. Abraham believed God.
- 18:09Speaker 1: Amen in the Word states without equivocation again, it is
- 18:15Speaker 1: impossible to be found pleasing to God when we don't
- 18:19Speaker 1: believe God. He that comes to God must believe that
- 18:21Speaker 1: he is, and He's a reward of them that diligently
- 18:24Speaker 1: seek Him. Now I ask the question, if you cannot
- 18:29Speaker 1: be found pleasing to God because you do not believe God,
- 18:33Speaker 1: how can you possibly be a friend of God. You
- 18:41Speaker 1: cannot be a friend of God when you don't believe God,
- 18:44Speaker 1: because in essence, we are calling God a liar when
- 18:48Speaker 1: we don't believe him. Amen. We are in essence calling God,
- 18:55Speaker 1: and that's the word, that's the word of God. We
- 18:58Speaker 1: are calling God a liar when God has spoken, when
- 19:03Speaker 1: God has said he will do, or he is, or
- 19:07Speaker 1: whatever it is that God has spoken, and we don't
- 19:10Speaker 1: believe it, we are calling God a liar. And no
- 19:17Speaker 1: liar can be a friend of God. Because God said
- 19:20Speaker 1: again the Bible, the word of God, this is not me,
- 19:23Speaker 1: is what the Word of God speaks. All liars shall
- 19:27Speaker 1: have their part in the lake of fire. God is
- 19:30Speaker 1: not sending his friends to the lake of fire. Amen.
- 19:36Speaker 1: So again, first and foremost, the first element of friendship
- 19:40Speaker 1: with God, the most important a man. It is, matter
- 19:43Speaker 1: of fact, it is the lynch pin, if you will,
- 19:47Speaker 1: upon which all else stands. Friendship with God requires that
- 19:54Speaker 1: we believe God. We believe him, And so Abraham, the
- 20:01Speaker 1: Bible says, believed God, and it was imputed unto him
- 20:06Speaker 1: for righteousness, which secondly, by virtue of Abraham believing God,
- 20:12Speaker 1: this righteousness was imputed unto him. Now again, let's be
- 20:19Speaker 1: very careful and please do not miss what the text
- 20:23Speaker 1: states explicitly. It was not the righteousness of Abraham that undergirded, Amen,
- 20:31Speaker 1: the friendship, but the righteousness that came from God that
- 20:37Speaker 1: was imputed to Abraham because he believed what God had
- 20:44Speaker 1: spoken to him. Amen. So, Jesus, in the same way
- 20:52Speaker 1: that God spoke to Abraham, by the way Jesus visited
- 20:58Speaker 1: Abraham talked about that. Of course, he said before Abraham
- 21:03Speaker 1: was I am Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He
- 21:05Speaker 1: saw it and was glad. You read that in the
- 21:07Speaker 1: Gospel of John as well. Nevertheless, again we need please
- 21:15Speaker 1: need not please do not miss this very very important
- 21:20Speaker 1: distinction a man. This was not the righteousness of Abraham,
- 21:25Speaker 1: the righteous deeds of Abraham that caused him to be
- 21:29Speaker 1: a friend of God. No righteousness of man is acceptable
- 21:36Speaker 1: in the eyes of God, a man in order for
- 21:40Speaker 1: us to be saved, all of our righteousness, the Bible says,
- 21:45Speaker 1: is as filthy rags in his sight. And we know again,
- 21:48Speaker 1: and I don't want to belabor this with Abraham, because
- 21:52Speaker 1: this is not the point. And let me just very
- 21:54Speaker 1: quickly point out, of course, the Bible didn't hide from
- 21:57Speaker 1: us a man, the sin of Abraham. So again, this
- 22:03Speaker 1: was not the righteousness of Abraham. This was the righteousness
- 22:07Speaker 1: of God, the righteousness of Christ. Imputed it to Abraham,
- 22:13Speaker 1: and imputed it to everyone who believes God. For God
- 22:17Speaker 1: to love the world. Again, what Jesus said that he
- 22:19Speaker 1: gave it's only begotten something whosoever believes in him should
- 22:26Speaker 1: not perish, but have everlasting life. Amen. So again, first
- 22:34Speaker 1: and foremost, believe God, and righteousness is imputed based upon
- 22:42Speaker 1: your faith, your belief, your trust, your confidence in God. Amen. Now,
- 22:52Speaker 1: in the very same way that Abraham was called to
- 22:56Speaker 1: believe God. Again, so it was with Jesus when he
- 23:02Speaker 1: called the apostles to believe him, He called upon them
- 23:10Speaker 1: to believe him, to believe his words. Amen. And by
- 23:16Speaker 1: the way, this is no mere mental assent to the
- 23:22Speaker 1: miracles of the moment, that they are all of the moments,
- 23:26Speaker 1: not just one moment, but all of the moments that
- 23:28Speaker 1: they witnessed a man. Of course, when Jesus fully displayed
- 23:33Speaker 1: his supernatural authority over all of creation, sickness, disease, demon possession, oppression,
- 23:44Speaker 1: the waters, the waves, I mean, the fish of the sea.
- 23:51Speaker 1: I mean, he fully displayed his supernatural authority that alone. Amen. Jesus,
- 23:58Speaker 1: by the way, would say to a man those who
- 24:02Speaker 1: were dissenters, those who did not believe. He said, if
- 24:06Speaker 1: you don't believe me, believe for the very work sake.
- 24:08Speaker 1: For work's sakes, they mean the things that I've done,
- 24:11Speaker 1: the things I mean, even amen, you go back. People
- 24:15Speaker 1: had they compare what Jesus did, of course, and I'm
- 24:20Speaker 1: not people, I'm sorry. This is what Jesus said when
- 24:24Speaker 1: he made reference to the finger of God when he
- 24:28Speaker 1: was casting out devils in all of those kind of
- 24:30Speaker 1: kinds of things, all again, all the miracles, science and
- 24:32Speaker 1: wonders that he did, and made reference to a man
- 24:36Speaker 1: his casting out demons by the finger of God. Now
- 24:43Speaker 1: takes us back to the Old Testament Book of Exodus,
- 24:45Speaker 1: when Pharaoh, his servants, his soothsayers came to the understanding,
- 24:55Speaker 1: came to the realization that this was the fa of God. Man.
- 25:02Speaker 1: You can't, we can't, I mean, we are helpless, we
- 25:06Speaker 1: are hopeless, We can do nothing against this. This is God,
- 25:10Speaker 1: This is the finger of God. They even these are
- 25:13Speaker 1: these are pagan heathens who recognize that this was the
- 25:18Speaker 1: hand of God. Now, Jesus, being God manifested in the
- 25:23Speaker 1: flesh again, not only showed himself to be supernatural, showed
- 25:29Speaker 1: his divinity, showed his deity. Amen. He also with the
- 25:36Speaker 1: words that he spoke even as early as twelve years
- 25:40Speaker 1: of age. The only account we have of Jesus in
- 25:43Speaker 1: his boyhood, when he went up to the temple and
- 25:45Speaker 1: he was there talking with the you know, the doctors
- 25:48Speaker 1: of the law and so forth and so on. Amen,
- 25:51Speaker 1: the words that he spoke, I mean they alone again
- 26:01Speaker 1: set him apart from every other man who ever walked
- 26:08Speaker 1: on the face of this earth. So when Jesus is
- 26:14Speaker 1: talking to his disciples here shortly before his departure, he's
- 26:20Speaker 1: calling up on them to believe all the things that
- 26:24Speaker 1: he has spoken to them. These three and a half
- 26:28Speaker 1: years they've been with him, these three and a half,
- 26:30Speaker 1: yeah a half years, they've witnessed all that he's done
- 26:34Speaker 1: in the supernatural, Peter, James, and John even getting getting
- 26:38Speaker 1: the exclusivity of being with him in the Mount of Transfiguration,
- 26:43Speaker 1: where he was transfigured before their faces, before their eyes. Amen.
- 26:48Speaker 1: He's calling upon these men to believe that he is
- 26:55Speaker 1: the I Am. And he makes all of these I
- 26:59Speaker 1: Am statements that we know of, of course throughout the Gospel,
- 27:02Speaker 1: saying more particularly, if you will, in the Gospel of John,
- 27:06Speaker 1: I am the Light of the world. I am the
- 27:08Speaker 1: Good Shepherd. I am the Resurrection and the Life. I
- 27:11Speaker 1: am the Living Bread. I'm the living Water, he says.
- 27:13Speaker 1: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I
- 27:16Speaker 1: am the True Vine. I am the Door. I am
- 27:20Speaker 1: the Christ. Amen. I am from above. I am in
- 27:27Speaker 1: the Father, the fathers in me. You've seen me, You've
- 27:29Speaker 1: seen the Father. I mean I am I am He.
- 27:35Speaker 1: And if you don't believe that I am He, he said,
- 27:37Speaker 1: you're gonna die in your sins. And it was impossible
- 27:43Speaker 1: for the apostles of Christ to go forward with the
- 27:46Speaker 1: Gospel of Jesus Christ, with the mission given to the
- 27:50Speaker 1: church that Christ was building. If they were unbelievers in
- 27:59Speaker 1: who Jesus is, if they did not believe, if they
- 28:05Speaker 1: were not persuaded that he is who he has said
- 28:13Speaker 1: that he is, they could not have gone forth. Amen,
- 28:20Speaker 1: the real friend of Jesus, Jesus must believe, must first
- 28:24Speaker 1: believe that Jesus is who he said he is, who
- 28:32Speaker 1: he demonstrated he is. We know that there was one
- 28:39Speaker 1: of the twelve who was not a real friend of Jesus.
- 28:47Speaker 1: He was the son of tradition. He was a child
- 28:53Speaker 1: of the devil. You know, you know, you know the narrative.
- 29:00Speaker 1: He betrayed Jesus. He sold him for the price of
- 29:07Speaker 1: a slave. What kind of friend of Jesus would betray
- 29:14Speaker 1: Jesus for a few pieces of perishable treasure. What kind
- 29:20Speaker 1: of friend of Jesus would willfully sin in doing the
- 29:26Speaker 1: things that Jesus hates? And make no mistake about it,
- 29:33Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen, the Bible again, the word of God
- 29:35Speaker 1: is clear. God hates sin. What kind of friend of
- 29:41Speaker 1: Jesus would indulge in the things Jesus agonized over becoming
- 29:49Speaker 1: If you will in the garden of a semite. Of course,
- 29:51Speaker 1: what was Jesus? What was Jesus agonizing about? He was
- 29:54Speaker 1: agonizing that the time was now that he who knew
- 30:01Speaker 1: no sin would become sin. Seems like at least see again.
- 30:06Speaker 1: And it bears reminding us, all of us. When we
- 30:13Speaker 1: talk about Jesus dying for our sins, we need to
- 30:17Speaker 1: understand it was far more, far more to it than
- 30:25Speaker 1: simply dying for our sins. He took our sins upon
- 30:33Speaker 1: himself and became sin, became abominable, became detestable, And in
- 30:45Speaker 1: that moment that's why he cried out, my God, my God,
- 30:49Speaker 1: why hast thou forsaken me? He became the most vile
- 30:56Speaker 1: of sinners when he took our sin, our iniquities, our transgressions,
- 31:04Speaker 1: upon himself and bore them in his body on that tree. Now,
- 31:10Speaker 1: what kind of friend of Jesus would willfully sin, would
- 31:17Speaker 1: willfully indulge in the things that Jesus agonized over becoming?
- 31:28Speaker 1: What kind of friend of Jesus would bring shame and
- 31:33Speaker 1: reproach on the name of Jesus. Jesus again, these are
- 31:40Speaker 1: the words of Jesus. You are my friends. If you
- 31:47Speaker 1: do whatsoever I have commanded you. I have called you
- 31:54Speaker 1: friends for all things. Everything. We need to know, everything,
- 31:59Speaker 1: we need to hear, everything, we need to understand and obey.
- 32:04Speaker 1: Jesus has spoken to us. He said, I've made known
- 32:10Speaker 1: unto you. In obedience to the commands and the doctrine
- 32:17Speaker 1: of Christ, the servant is elevated. These are the words
- 32:23Speaker 1: of Jesus. The servant is no longer a servant, but
- 32:28Speaker 1: the servant becomes the real friend of Jesus. Father, we
- 32:38Speaker 1: thank you. It's your word, your truth, your way, your salvation,
- 32:47Speaker 1: your gospel. And Lord, we just want to be true
- 32:53Speaker 1: friends of Jesus. Help us to stand in this day.
- 33:00Speaker 1: And Lord, we pray, we pray, we pray, we pray
- 33:03Speaker 1: that this word, this gospel of salvation will penetrate the
- 33:08Speaker 1: name of Jesus. The Cross, the sacrifice, the atonement, will penetrate,
- 33:15Speaker 1: will save, will deliver, will set free someone. Today. Be
- 33:19Speaker 1: thou glorified in your word, in your church, in your people. Everywhere.
- 33:26Speaker 1: We pray and give thanks. Amen and Amen.