Gospel—R. Thonney
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Let's begin our meeting tonight with #23 on our hem sheet.
Behold.
Behold the Lamb of God.
On the cross for us. He shed his precious blood on the cross.
Oh, here the overwhelming cry. Eli, Lama Sabachthani, draw near and see the Savior die on the cross.
They hold, they hold.
Oh my God.
He prays for you.
That every time.
I.
Not wrong.
Children.
Take away.
While she's yourself.
Let's sing another song #2 on her hymn sheet. Come tis Jesus gently calling. I don't know, I think maybe it'd be helpful if we all stand up this one.
Come.
On.
You're standing on the sun.
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Till you hang out with me, you're on.
The waning standing waning.
Genesis 1, verse one.
The first.
4 words.
In the beginning.
God.
Something so tremendously majestic about those words.
In the beginning God, the context of this chapter is the beginning of creation.
There's a lot of debate as to when that time actually was.
It's not a matter tonight that I want to take up, but the point is whenever that beginning was.
God was already there.
He is the absolute.
He is described in Scripture as the eternal God. It says in Isaiah chapter 57 that he inhabits eternity.
We live in a realm that we call time. We are constrained by the measurements of time and distance.
God dwells outside of time in eternity.
He is the eternal one. He is the one who never began to be. You know, it's interesting to me to see in the world in which we live how men are losing the concept of who God is. We have had the light of the truth of who God is in the gospel.
The Christian faith.
Rests on who Christ is and what he has done entirely.
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And the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who has revealed who God is.
You know, in the world we live in the knowledge of the true God.
Is being lost. We were speaking today of the culture in which we live and that it is man centered.
Yesterday morning I started out the day in Barcelona, Spain.
It is really interesting to be in Europe.
In the United States, you know, we think of 200 years as being something old. You go to Europe, you're talking more like 2000 years and even more.
But what impresses me of being over in Europe, Lord has given me the privilege of visiting over there these last few years about once a year.
Is the terrible darkness that continent is going into. I was told that approximately half of the Spanish population that is of the country of Spain.
Are atheist. The other half, approximately, are nominal Roman Catholics, but the reason that many of them are nominal Roman Catholic is because the representatives.
Of that religion have such a bad moral history that there is a repulsion.
Towards anything to do with God. God is a dirty word.
In Spain.
Was going down the street.
Not this visit, but.
A few years ago, two or three years ago, and.
Had a wither bound little booklet, gospel booklet and I.
Decided to lay it on the table of a man who was selling lottery tickets.
So I laid it down and I kept on walking.
Here, it wasn't me for long. He is hollering after me. Sir, Sir, here's your booklet. I don't want it. Take it. I was astounded at the anger in his voice. He didn't want it. He could easily thrown it away, but he had to let me know that he had no desire for any such thing.
You know, they've lost the knowledge of the true God. And I ride the metro around the city of Madrid. Madrid is a beautiful city. But what impresses me is that the European population, there's a lot of immigrants from Latin America and from Africa, but the European population, the expressionless look on their faces as they ride.
The Metro to work.
And I mean.
You see some people that are real weirdos, I guess you'd call them.
So one girl with her hair dyed purple so it would match her purple clothes.
Why do people do that kind of stuff?
Because they've lost all sense of the purpose of their existence. They think it is all around them. They've lost the sense of who God is.
You know what, the United States of America is falling following right after Europe. And even though thank God, there is still a lot of the preaching of the gospel in this land. Thank God for it. A lot of Christians around holding forth the light of the gospel. Still things are going in that direction even here in this country.
It is to me such a consolation to be able to read a verse.
Like these first four words in the beginning, God.
You know what you have to do with God. He made you.
And you're going to have to give an account to him one day. People struggle with that idea and they've come up with a theory called evolution. If evolution is true, there is absolutely no God in existence. We all are just the product of blind evolutionary processes. But you know what as well? There is no purpose for your existence if there's no God.
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You're a mistake and that's why kids when they get into trouble.
Put a pistol to their head and end it. What a tragedy.
Thank God, God has made himself known in the person of the Lord Jesus. God has revealed himself in other ways as well. We have the revelation of God.
In a partial way we could say in the Old Testament times before Jesus came, we also have the word of God. We also have creation says in Romans chapter one, the invisible things.
Of God.
Are clearly revealed being.
Known by those things that are made. In other words, the creation that we live in clearly show some of the attributes of God.
I love to study the stars in the universe.
My children got me a book on the universe.
For my last birthday.
I love that book and it's fascinating to me, according to that book.
You know, all books of reading with science are changing, so I don't know how valid it is, but it's interesting.
They can look at through the telescope, the Hubble telescope out there in space.
About 13 billion years, light years into the universe.
Incredible distances. They used to think at the end of this, at the beginning of the 20th century, that the Milky Way Galaxy was all there was to the universe until they got better telescopes and then they began to see that there were other galaxies. Today's thought is scientists say there were approximately 100.
Billion other galaxies besides the Milky Way Galaxy in which we land.
Milky Way, I understand, has approximately 200 billion stars in it.
It just totally blows the mind when you think of the vastness.
Of the God that spoken into existence, He spoke and it was done.
He commanded and it stood fast.
Yes, creation shows the mighty power of God.
Here we are, a little puny specks.
One little part of the Milky Way Galaxy and men boasts himself being the center of his universe. What folly in the beginning, God.
He's there and you have to do with him.
Says in Hebrews chapter 4.
Neither is there anything that is not manifested before Him, but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. You can't escape it. Sooner or later you're going to come face to face with your God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Have you faced that fact?
Dear young people, dear older ones too.
It's too easy to go on with the nominal core.
Allegiance to what we call evangelicalism or the Christian faith without being real with God, you have to do with God.
And sin is a factor you're going to have to face.
It's not a pleasant factor, but it's something you're going to have to face.
With God.
Europe was where the Gospel came from.
I should say it came from Jerusalem. It started from Jerusalem. The Lord Jesus gave the commandment.
After his resurrection, beginning at Jerusalem, the gospel was to be taken.
From Jerusalem and Judea and all the earth.
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And so it went up into Europe.
There was in the times, the Dark Ages.
Things got pretty dark in Europe. Thank God there was. What will you call today? the Reformation.
And the truth, a wonderful truth that.
Through faith in Christ we can find a way to be just with God shone out brightly, the light of the gospel began again, and it went into through all Europe.
Tremendous men that God used in those times. Martin Luther, Zwingli, Farrell and so many others that were used of God in those times.
And the gospel came over to this continent and thankfully it has shone brightly.
But we're going towards a time when the gospel is being given up. You know, what impresses me is that we are not being demanded to give up the truth in doctrine that God is who he is. But the whole way we live in the American culture leaves God out.
Even sometimes we as Christians don't take God into the picture.
Go buy a nice car, you buy the color you like.
You buy the kind of car you like.
That's the way of life here in the United States. Is there anything wrong with it? No, there's nothing wrong with it in yourself. The wrong is you don't take God into the picture. And little by little, God has worked completely out of the picture. Oh, yeah, you're a Christian.
But that's the current of things, and it's serious.
And it concerns me when I see it being given up, not so much in doctrine, but in practice. Practical reality is God who he says He is.
Then he must be taken into account in every facet of our lives.
Now let's go over to John's Gospel chapter one.
Verse one.
Here it says again in the beginning.
Was the word.
And the word was with God.
And the word was God. Now we learn something further.
There is someone that is called the word of God. You know, I have an idea in my mind.
And am I looking at you?
There's no way you're going to be unable to understand what I'm thinking.
Until I use words to express myself, then you can understand what I'm thinking.
God in the fullness of his being.
Is so infinite, so absolute, that there was no way we could understand fully who he was.
Until the word of God came into this world, He is the full expression of all that God is. In the beginning was the Word.
Always was the eternal Son of God.
And the word was with God, and the word was God. So the first phrase is his eternity, the second phrase is his individual.
Personality within the Godhead, because God has revealed Himself to be.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Word is the Son of God. It's not the Spirit, it's not the Father, it's the Son of God, and he's an individual personality in the Godhead, and the Word was God. In other words, he is, in every sense of the Word, God. This is the person we're talking about now, the Word of God.
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The same was in the beginning with God. In other words, there wasn't.
A time which he began began to be the Son of God. He always was the Son of God. He is the eternal Son of God. Verse 3. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. Everything is received its existence through him. You sit there in your seat.
Your existence is because of this one who is called.
The Word of God tremendous to realize.
Just who we are talking about in verse four makes a statement. I love the way John speaks. So tremendously simple.
Notice every single word in verse four is monosyllable. In other words, only one syllable. And yet it has something extremely profound to say to us.
In him was life and the life.
Was the light of men.
Beautiful, the Lord Jesus says in another place I am the light of the world, but here it says in Him was life.
This is the one that has life.
And the life was the light of men.
Still remember?
In Santa Cruz, Bolivia number of years ago. I've probably told this story before, but a man who was a mechanic who I took my Toyota Land Cruiser 2 to tune up.
One day I had gotten through some work that he.
Had to do on my vehicle and I settled the account with him.
And I said, OK, I've settled the account with you, Alfonso.
But don't forget, you and I have an account to settle with God.
He says.
We're pretty good people. I'm a good person. You're a good person, I say. Well, you can talk about yourself. Don't talk about me. You don't know how good or bad I might be. Well, he says. I'm not really that good either.
But in the course of conversation, he invited me over to his house some evening.
Left him a New Testament.
And when I met him another time, he said, I don't understand that book you read.
You left me. I don't understand. Why don't you come over to my house and explain it to me sometimes. So we went over there and we started out with John's gospel here, these same verses.
And we got down to verse 4.
Now he looked at him and said, says in him was life talking about the Lord Jesus, and the life was the light of men.
And I looked him in the eye and I said, what is light?
And he sat there for quite a while.
And just seemed at that moment, the light penetrated his heart.
In him was life.
The life was the light of men, and the light is made.
To make the darkness escape, you can't mix those two factors.
Next time I met him at the mechanic shop, he says, You know that book you gave me? I understand it now. I can understand it now. Why? What? What? What made him understand it? He opened his eyes to the light. And let me tell you, if you open your eyes to who Jesus really is, you're going to see things clearly.
Verse 5 is a rather sad commentary on the state of things when Jesus came into the world. The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not not.
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You know you can shine all the searchlights you want into a face of a blind man and he's not going to see a thing.
Why he is blind?
And it says in Second Corinthians chapter 4, the God of this world is a small G. If you look at it, it's talking about Satan. He's the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine into them.
Have you opened your eyes to see Jesus who he is? Children, young people. I know you've grown up in Christian families. A lot of you. I know you've come to Sunday school. I know you've learned your verse, but have you accepted who Jesus really is? It's scary to think about that. There are those who have been raised in Christian homes.
And never.
Accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in their lives. All in all the answers. You know there's going to be a lot of people in hell that will know by heart. John 316.
They memorized it, but they never accepted it in their own hearts.
Serious, solemn reality.
Now verse six talks about somebody else.
Verse six talks about a man called John the Baptist.
There was a man sent from God. This was just a mere man. It's not the person we're talking about in the 1St 5 verses. This is just a mere man. His name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light.
That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
He was in the world.
And the world was made by him.
And the world knew him not How tragic.
The world now, when it says the world knew him not, it's talking about humanity. Because when Jesus came into this world, you know what he called for A donkey to carry him into the city of Jerusalem.
And have you ever tried to get on a donkey's back that has never been ridden by anybody? You know you're not going to stay there very long.
But that donkey knew who that was.
And he let him ride into the city of Jerusalem.
The fish knew who he was. One day he used Peter.
Peter's boat and.
You know the Lord Jesus never had any money in his pocket that is recorded to pay Peter for the use of his boat.
But since he's the owner of the universe, says, OK, Peter, let's go out into the deep. Let down your Nets.
For a haul of fish, Peter thought, Well, Jesus is a Carpenter. I don't know if he knows too much about fishing. I'll let down one mat, Lord.
Let down one net. It didn't really obey what the Lord said. The Lord had said let down your Nets.
And he let one down, and it filled up so full that it all broke. Peter had problems because he didn't obey. We get problems too, because we don't obey. But that was the Lord, and those fish were commanded by him to fill Peter's neck.
Enough fish for two Nets had to get into one net.
And so it broke. But they knew who he was.
But people didn't know who he was. Tragic. You know, sin blinds a person.
And if you don't know who Jesus is, you're blinded. That's what Scripture says.
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Verse 11. He came unto his own. That was the Jewish people.
And his own received him not, you know, naturally speaking, our hearts are at enmity with God.
Naturally speaking, the heart that I have is an enemy of God.
So when he presented himself to his own people, he didn't receive him.
Verse 12 But as many as received him, there were some who received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. You know, there's sometimes people who think that everybody in the world is one of God's children.
Not so.
Everybody in this world is one of God's creatures, but you are not one of God's children.
Until you receive Him, how do you receive Him? You have to come up front and make some kind of a public confession. Do you have to pray to receive Him? Nothing wrong with praying, but what does it say here in verse 12 That we have to do to receive Him? Look at it.
Even to them that believe on his name, that's what you got to do.
Trust Him, believe in Him, rest on Him. Then it says in verse 11, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. In other words, we all have been born once.
And the first time we've been born into this world was like it says in verse 13.
Of blood, of the will of the flesh.
Of the will of man.
Our parents wanted to have children and we are the result. It was their will.
And that life is a life that is tainted with sin. Our parents, right back to Adam, are sinful, and so we have inherited a sinful nature. That life that you have from your parents is going to die. It will not last forever if you want to go into God's heaven.
You must be born again. You must be born.
I knew completely new life.
God takes his word and he speaks life to dead souls that have ears to hear. I ask you, are you listening to what God says? It's interesting to me as I preach the gospel as to watch.
If people are really listening, you know, it's kind of hard to listen while you're talking to somebody.
I suppose there's some people that can do it, but I don't think most can do that. Talk and listen at the same time, but.
People are serious, they will listen.
And it says faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Remember when I first came back to Chicago area in 1962?
In Oak Park, when their meeting was at that time, there was a woman from the neighborhood.
We used to come into the gospel meeting.
An older woman? No, she.
Quite a respectable woman.
And she sat there, nicely dressed, very respectfully, but it was evident that she was not listening. After the meeting she would say, oh, that sister had a new pair of shoes on, and that one has a new hat.
She was not listening. It's so important to listen not to what I say. I make lots of mistakes.
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Listen to what God says.
Your eternal destiny depends on what God says in this book.
Now, verse 14.
And the word, there's that title of the Lord Jesus.
The expression of all God is the word was made.
Flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glories of the only Begotten of the Father.
Full of grace and truth. Oh I love that verse. Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Think of it. God came into his own creation in the person of the Lord Jesus. He was born in Bethlehem of Judea.
And his mother had to give birth to him in a stable.
Because there was number room for him in the inn. You know, people measure.
How important a person is, by how they treat him and when.
The.
Prince of Wales was going to have his errors.
And they were going to be born. I'm sure they had the best of attention medical circles could give them when the creator of the universe has come to come into this world.
They said go out there in the barn, you might find a spot out there. No room for Jesus.
What a story. The Word was made flesh.
And dwell among us.
And he grew up relatively unknown.
In fact, later on in this chapter, even John the Baptist says notice what he says.
The inverse 32.
John Bear record and said, I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him, and I knew him not.
You know the mother of Jesus, Mary.
And the mother of John were cousins. Didn't they know each other? I think they must have known each other as persons down here in this world. But John never dawned on him who this really was until this time. And he says here.
Verse 33 But he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending.
And remaining on him the same as he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
And I saw and bear record.
That this is the Son of God must have been a wonderful thing when that truth dawned on John who this was. This isn't just my cousin.
This is the Son of God.
Oh, the wonder of it all. Jesus. Who is he? The Son of God? We know he is the Son of man as well. He is very God. He is very man.
But no, let's go back to verse 29. Now the next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him. And Seth, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Here's something else about this person that we learned. Here's the word is the Son of God, but here he is.
The Lamb of God. What meaning does that have?
You know in Old Testament times when a person sinned.
They had to bring an animal sacrifice.
And they would place their hands on the head of that animal, identifying themselves with that, and that animal would die instead of the guilty person.
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Now the Lord Jesus is presented as the Lamb of God.
Sin is a serious thing with God, You might say. I haven't done that much bad.
You don't have to do that much bad. You'll be barred from heaven forever.
One little supposedly white lie.
Will keep you out of heaven forever.
God won't let it happen. If He could allow that to enter heaven, it would call in question everything that He is impossible. Question of your sins must be faced and dealt with.
And according to God's own justice, you do not get the privilege of setting the standards. God sets the standards.
And God says the wages of sin is death. He said I didn't do that much bad. Why do you get so upset about it? It's not me getting upset. It's the fact that you will not get into heaven if you've got those sins on you. You've got to get that taken care of. There is no other way about it.
And that's why Jesus was sent.
The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
All that Jesus did in his lifetime, he showed.
Who God was. God is compassionate, God is love, God is light as well and he showed people what they didn't like to see sometimes because people don't like their sins being displayed.
But it came all out into the light in the presence of the Lord Jesus.
But at the end of his life, and I say before I speak about the end of his life, all that Jesus did and said during his life could not save a soul. It was what he did at the end of his life that is so vital to understand. You know, I find when I talk to people that they don't have much understanding of why it's so important. What?
Jesus.
Did they took him? They rejected him?
They falsely accused him. He stood before Pilate as they violently surrounded him and accused him. And he never answered a word. Even Pilate asked him where he was from and he didn't answer. And Pilate says, don't you answer me? Don't you know I have power to crucify you and power to release you?
And Jesus said, you would have no power at all against me, except that we're given thee from above. In other words, Jesus recognized that pilot. Had God-given authority? Did Pilate use that? God-given authority, right? He certainly did not. Did Jesus submit to it? Yes, he did.
Thank God he did because if he hadn't of and he had every right to reject pilots sentence but I would have been condemned in hell forever. So would every other human being.
He submitted to it.
Oh, the awful story of what they did to him.
Crowned him with thorns.
They scourged him with the Roman scourge.
They led him out of the city of Jerusalem. Who is this?
That's carrying his cross out of the city of Jerusalem.
God's beloved Son.
You know, I just marveled.
Sometimes set it this way one more. One day I lookout the window of my house.
And see somebody outside beating up my boy, you think I'm going to stand there and justice watch it happen? No way. I'm going to run out there, say, hey, you beat on me, but don't you beat on my boy.
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And God saw it all happening and he didn't intervene. Why not? You know, why not?
God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. They took Jesus out of Jerusalem to Golgotha, and there they stretched out His hands, those hands that had fed the hungry multitudes, those hands that had touched the leper, those hands that had raised the dead.
They stretched them out and they nailed them to a cross.
And there he hung from 9:00 in the morning till he died at 3:00 in the afternoon.
For three hours men did their worst to the Son of God on that cross from 9:00 in the morning till 12 noon.
12 noon. According to the testimony of the Gospels, everything got dark.
And in three hours, those three hours of darkness, God.
Laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all. I could not go to heaven with my sins on me.
But Jesus in effect said I will die for him.
And God took my filthy sins. I'm ashamed of some of the things that have happened in my life, and he laid them on Jesus.
Think of the awfulness of it, what it was to Jesus when God laid.
On him, those sins of mine. And then.
The awful storm of God's judgment broke in all its fury on Jesus.
For three hours there was number sound from that center cross.
No complaint.
What was his love?
Safe this Sinner like me.
The end of those three hours, he says.
It is finished.
All the judgment that was rightly against me as a guilty Sinner was exhausted.
On the head of my beloved Savior, the Lord Jesus.
He died.
The soldier took a spear and plunged it into his side.
And flowed out, flowed blood.
Water. There is only one thing that will cleanse.
The sin stains in our souls. It is the blood of a God accepted sacrifice and God accepted what Jesus paid for us sinners.
He showed.
That he was satisfied. The standard of his absolute justice was satisfied because he raised him from the dead the third day, if there was even.
A small doubt as to some of the sins that I had committed. He could not have raised him from the dead, but Jesus paid the price in full on the cross of Calvary with His precious blood.
Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus.
Lives at God's right hand and he sent out the message.
We can know God. God is a God of love, but he is also a God of light.
Those sins that are staining your soul, if you haven't received the Lord Jesus, you can't ignore them. You are going to give an account sooner or later before God if you don't do something about those sins of yours.
One day Jesus is coming back to this world.
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God is going to say to.
Mankind, that's enough.
I'm amazed at his patience.
As so much evil is wreaked on this world, so much misery.
So many children that suffer.
Sometimes people say to me, I don't believe in God because look at all that bad stuff that's happened out there. I say, oh, you want him to straighten out that bad stuff out there, right? They say, yeah.
Say, wait a minute. If he starts out, straighten out that bad stuff out there, he's not going to stop there. He's going to come right back to you. Are you ready?
When God begins his work of judgment, it's going to be across the board.
No one is going to escape.
Maybe you say I'll die and I'll get away from them that way. You won't get away from him that way.
Because at the end of time, the dead are going to be raised.
And stand before the great white throne, and on that throne sits a man, the man Christ Jesus.
And it will be shown because the books are going to be opened and it will be shown that you had an opportunity.
On the 21St of October 2006 to receive Christ as your Savior and you refused it.
Is that going to be the story that's written about you, or are you going to accept the Lord Jesus tonight?
And have those sins of yours washed away? I plead with you, along with all the others here who are real believers.
To deal with God about the question of your sins tonight.
Don't wait any longer. The price has been paid. The only thing that is left for you to do is to believe it, to accept it, to receive him.
To those that receive him, to them he gave the right to be the sons of God to them that believe on his name.