Gospel—Bob Thonney
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Good evening.
I'd like to begin this gospel meeting by quoting a verse from God's Word.
Spoken by the Lord Jesus Himself.
He said I am the way, the truth.
And the life, no man comes to the Father but by me.
Let's pray.
Blessed God our Father, we're so thankful for our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thy beloved Son, that one who came into this world to seek and to save the lost, Pray thy blessing on the message of the Gospel this evening that it would be clear.
And understandable. And we do pray that thy spirit may have liberty to strive.
With those who are not ready to meet Thee, our God and Father.
We ask for blessing in the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
Let's sing number six on our hymn sheet.
God in mercy sent his Son to a world by sin and done. Jesus Christ was crucified, was for sinners, Jesus died.
God in mercy.
The Grace Shrine.
Last evening we heard.
The story of the Lord Jesus meeting up with a blind man in John Chapter 9. I would like to go back to John's gospel again because you have so many stories of him meeting up with different individuals and perhaps we can touch on the life of two individuals more that he touched in his lifetime.
The Lord Jesus says I quoted that verse.
Is the truth and when we speak about the truth, we are talking about it in its absolute sense you know, in today's world, people talk about my truth and your truth, thinking that everyone has a right to decide what's true for them. I want to suggest.
That that is not what we have presented in the Word of God.
God has an absolute standard. Every one of us are relative in our position here in this world, in our relations, one with another.
And so we make statements at times, but there are always relative statements.
I sometimes use this illustration for the young people to understand what I'm talking about. I can make a statement tonight and I can say this direction is up and you can prove me wrong because this direction on the other side of the world is down. It's because I'm reasoning from myself.
And when you reason from yourself, when you think you have the right.
To determine what is truth, I just want to say.
You don't have the right reference point, Jesus said. I am the way.
The truth and the light. And when he said that it's in his absolute sense. To me it is most wonderful that it is in the philosophy that is difficult to comprehend.
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No, it is a person, the person of God's beloved Son, the Lord Jesus also said in John 17.
Thy word is truth.
And that's in its absolute sense as well. And so we hold in our hands.
A standard of absolute truth. And so we are not going to talk about.
The way it appears to me or to you tonight we're going to talk about what God says, and that's wonderful. As the Lord Jesus came into this world, it says about him, he was full of grace and truth, not merely truth, but grace and truth.
Because he loves you, He wants you to come into.
Fullness of blessing. But if it's going to happen, it has to happen on his standard, not yours. You know, in the beginning of this world's history, Adam and Eve, the first living human beings in this world, were placed in the Garden of Eden.
And God said in that garden you can eat of all the trees of the garden.
But there is one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Don't eat it. That was the one Prohibition had all the others to enjoy.
Satan came into that wonderful paradise.
And he tempted Eve and he said you shall not surely die. He told an outright lie. And Eve started to play with that lie in her mind.
And she started looking at that tree.
Yes, it was good for food. It was pleasant to the eyes.
It was a tree to be desired to make one wise. Satan had said you will be as gods knowing good and evil, and Satan is still working that same way today. You can decide for yourself what is right. Don't we live in the United States of America? Don't we have liberty to decide what we want?
You know, I thank God for the liberty we have in this country.
But it's fast eroding because people think that they can establish their own standards. That is a lie of Satan. And so Eve took of that fruit and ate of it and gave to Adam who was right there.
Near her, Adam didn't say one word to Eve as she reached out to take that fruit.
It says in scripture that Eve was deceived, but Adam was not deceived.
That's why he's the responsible head of a fallen race.
Oh, what a story it is, the ruin that came into this world because of sin.
You know how old Adam lived? A 930 years of age.
That's pretty impressive. That was the human race in its prime, and as time went on after the flood, the age started reducing because sin degrades people.
And so today the average is about 70 I suppose.
What a terrible degradation has happened, but into this world came.
God's beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The one who said I am the truth and he started interacting with people as he met them. We heard about how he met that blind man in John Chapter 9 last night.
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And let's go to chapter 3 this tonight, we're going to talk about a man who was religious.
And he had a position amongst the Jewish people. He was a ruler of the Jews.
John chapter 3 verse one. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, A rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher, come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him.
Nice religious talk, isn't it?
Sounded pretty impressive.
What does Jesus say? Jesus answered and said unto him, Remember, this is the truth.
Verily, verily, I say unto thee.
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. That was kind of a jolt to Nicodemus and he says.
How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?
He wanted to reason it out on the natural level.
And I suppose you can understand how he couldn't understand. But Jesus answered verse 5. Verily, verily, I sent to thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit.
His spirit, marvel not that I say unto thee.
Must be born again. So the Lord Jesus was talking about a spiritual birth.
And when he says the water and the spirit, you notice that spirit is capitalized because it's the Holy Spirit of God.
Who is present here tonight?
And the water is not baptism, as some groups religious groups teach.
The water here is the word of God, Peter says in his epistle, being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God that lives and abides forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The.
Grass Withers, the flower fades away, but he that is born of God endures forever.
Oh how wonderful it is. I was born the first time some 74 years ago and you can see that my hair is all gone white.
I have not the energy I used to have as a young man Why? Because I was born of corruptible seed and in that life that we are born of, we cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
If we're going to enter the Kingdom of God, we must be born again. It's not.
An option. It is a must. Where are you?
Maybe you were born into a Christian home like I was.
That is not going to cut it in itself. Thank God for a Christian home. Thank God for where you hear the word of God.
Read and explained, but you yourself must be born again. Sometimes I use an illustration in preaching the gospel in the countryside of South America, I say.
If we go out into the countryside and there's an animal wallowing around in the mud.
What kind of an animal is that? And of course, they all say it's a pig.
OK, well, let's take that pig out of the mud, let's clean them up real well, let's give them a good bath, and besides that, we're going to tie them up in here so he can't get back into the mud. Have we changed him?
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Well, on the outside, yes, we've changed him. But what happens when that pig gets loose?
Right, back to the mud. Why? Because that's his nature. And that's the same with people. They can dress up, they can do the clean up act, they can dress up and pretend that they're nice and religious.
But if they haven't been born again, they will never be able to enter the Kingdom of God. Oh, what an important thing it is. This is the Lord Jesus. He's telling you the truth. You might be a religious person. You might have everybody hoodwink you. They think, oh, yeah, that person's a Christian.
Is the change on the outside or is it on the inside?
If you're not born again, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God. How important it is then that you?
Listen to what the Lord Jesus says. He's showing the truth to Nicodemus. But notice as we go down in the chapter, we come down to verse 14 and here He speaks about Moses.
In the wilderness.
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 ever, if have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
So he goes to the Old Testament for a story that we have in the book of Numbers, in this place in numbers. The people of Israel have been complaining.
You know complaining is a sin.
And it didn't please God. And so he sent little poisonous snakes all through the congregation. And you know those little snakes, they can sneak up on you from behind. And they started biting the people and they started to die.
It's like sin. The wages of sin is death.
You sin, you die. That's what Scripture tells us.
Are there exceptions to that? Have you ever known of anybody that has escaped death?
Never in your life there are people who live up. We know of some who have lived over 100 years old. But all the time the moment comes when they die, because the wages of sin is death.
Well, the people recognized and they cried to Moses to help them. And you know God didn't take the snakes away.
But he told Moses to make a bronze serpent and to raise it up on a pole in the middle of the camp of Israel, and the message went out throughout the whole camp of Israel. Whoever is bitten and dying, tell them to look at that serpent.
Of bronze there on that pole.
And if they simply believed the message and looked.
They were healed. They did not die.
And.
John's Gospel tells us here that that is a figure. The Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, must be lifted up as well. And where was Jesus lifted up? I'm sure you've heard the story.
But it was at the end of his 33 1/2 years.
Of life.
The truth.
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Every place he went, he showed grace and truth. But at the end of those 33 1/2 years, the religious people were the ones that stirred up the multitudes and said away with him. We will not have this man. And they took him first to their religious rulers.
The chief priests and they condemned him.
Even though he was the truth.
And then, since they did not have the power to execute at that time, they took him to Pattius Pilot, the Roman governor, and their pilot declared again and again. I find no fault in this man.
Let's look at it in John's Gospel chapter.
18.
Where?
The Lord Jesus is before Pilate.
Verse 35.
Pilate answered, Am IA Jew thine own nation, and the chief praise have delivered thee unto me.
What hast thou done? What had he done? Jesus answered. My Kingdom is not of this world.
If my Kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews? But now is my Kingdom not from hence? Pilot therefore said unto him, Art thou a king? Then Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king.
To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness.
Unto the truth, everyone that is of the truth.
Here is my voice.
Did you hear that?
Friend, everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. Are you listening?
You want to ignore what I say this evening, all right.
But please don't ignore what Jesus says. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. Notice what? Notice what Pilot says verse 38. Pilot Seth unto him, what is truth?
He had no clue, even though he was a judge and supposed to know the difference between what is true and false.
He says what is truth?
And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, saith unto them, I find no fault at all in him, no fault at all.
He didn't wait to accept the truth. He went out.
Are you at the end of the meeting?
Going to just go out.
And not listen to the truth that is presented to you, the person of the Lord Jesus.
Notice what Pilate does in chapter 19 and verse one. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus.
And scourged him.
Just a minute here, he had just said. I find in him no fault at all.
Why is he scourging him?
Is there any truth in the way this man is acting?
That's what happens when we don't accept truth.
When it's presented to us, how solemn it is to see how blind people become.
Romans scourging was one of the most awful things. If you read in history books about how it went, it is awful and many times malefactors are condemned. Criminals did not survive.
Scourging. They died as they were being scourged.
So he scourged Jesus, and the soldiers planted a crown of thorns. We heard about that.
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This morning as well, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe and said Hail King of the Jews, and they smote him with their hands.
Pilate notice this again. Therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. What kind of justice?
Is this? He declares again and again. I find no fault at all in him.
And yet he treats Jesus this way.
You think you can sit there and not accept?
The truth? Let me tell you, if you do that, there are some pretty heavy consequences on the way for you.
I warn you, please do not do such a thing.
Well, in the course of time, they say in verse.
12 of chapter 19 Thenceforth Pilate sought to release him. He wanted to release Jesus. But the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.
They were good politicians.
They knew how He would react to such a plea. God that therefore heard that saying. He brought Jesus forth, sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the pavement. But in the Hebrew Gabathan it was the preparation of the Passover and about the 6th hour.
Saith unto the Jews, Behold your king, they cried out, Away with him, away with him, and crucify him, Pilate Seth, unto them shall I crucify your king. The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar Then delivered he and him therefore unto them to be crucified, and they took Jesus.
And led him away.
He, burying his cross, went forth into a place that is called.
Place of the skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha.
Where they crucified him to other, with him on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.
Crucifixion one of the most awful forms of.
Capital punishment ever practiced in human history. They stretched out those wonderful hands that had done such acts of grace.
And truth. And they nailed them to that cross, and they lifted him up outside the city of Jerusalem.
Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross and the writing was Jesus.
Of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. This title then read many of the Jews, For the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city.
And it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin.
The whole world was represented in this Hebrew, the religious Greek, the education world, educational world, and Latin, the political world were all represented in the rejection of the Lord Jesus.
You know, we were mentioning that in John chapter 3.
That it says, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
Why the figure of a serpent?
Why? How does that relate to the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ? The serpent was the one who had deceived Eve, and upon whom had fallen a curse.
Why that figure?
You know why?
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Because when he came to die, he came to pay the price of our redemption.
Sins penalty had to be paid in full. Every single sin that you and I have committed has to be paid according to God's holy standard.
You might Passover things in your life, but not God.
Every single sin will receive from the hand of God, its just penalty.
And when the Lord Jesus was hanging on that cross, we know the story, how the first three hours the people passed in front of him, mocking and jeering him, He suffered terribly physically.
We can't hardly imagine the suffering, the physical suffering and the suffering of his soul.
Reproach broke his heart, they said. He said he is the Son of God.
If he is the Son of God, let God deliver him.
Did God deliver him?
No. Didn't God love his son?
Yes he did, but you know what? He loved you and me as well and the only way for you and me to be saved was for someone to pay our sin debt.
And so at 12 noon, when Jesus was hanging on that cross, everything got dark.
For three hours, from 12:00 to 3:00 in the afternoon, nobody could see what was taking place on that cross.
But it wasn't those three hours that God laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all, and God poured out his judgment on his own.
Beloved son.
For three hours.
There's no complaint, no cry. He suffered because he loved us.
Only at the end of those three hours.
There's an awful cry. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Did God forsake his son? Yes. Why did he forsake his son? So he wouldn't have to forsake you in the lake of fire forever. That's why he forsook his son.
This is the God of truth. This is the God of grace and truth. No sin went unpunished in those three hours of darkness.
And then?
Verse 28 we see he says something else.
After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, the scripture might be fulfilled, saith I thirst.
There was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled the sponge with vinegar, put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished.
He bowed his head and gave up the ghost.
I like the way it reads in the Spanish consumer S. It is consumed the whole judgment that was against us, and rightly so. It's gone. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Oh what a wonderful salvation. It is finished.
And he bowed his head and gave up.
A ghost.
The Jews, therefore, because it was the preparation that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath was in high day, besought Pilate, that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
Then came the soldiers break the legs of the 1St and of the other, which was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs.
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One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water, and he that saw it bear record, and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith true that ye might believe. What are you doing?
With the presentation of the truth tonight, are you sitting there thinking?
That you do not have an obligation to believe it.
To me it is extremely solemn to think of what is going to happen to those.
Who do not receive the truth. We are living on the very edge of a time of the history of this world where there's going to be the most awful judgment that this world has ever seen. It's just ahead for this world I'd like to go over to.
2nd Thessalonians chapter 2. Just to read a few more verses.
In connection with the truth.
2nd Thessalonians, Chapter 2.
And this is talking.
About something that is starting to develop today.
Verse three. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day, the day of the Lord, shall not come, except there come a falling away. 1St And that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped so that he as God?
Sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
He is talking about a man that we know as Antichrist, and other scripture refers him to Antichrist, a man who is probably living today.
Verse five Remember ye not what I.
When I was yet with you, I told you these things, and now you know what withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Only he who now letteth or hindereth will hinder until he be taken out of the way, and then shall that wicket be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His.
Shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, even him.
Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power.
And signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. Notice this part, please, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
What are you doing with the truth?
We presented it very, I trust clearly tonight. Are you sitting there thinking that you didn't have any obligation to this? I ask you to think seriously, verse 11 for this.
'Cause God shall send them strong delusion, delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure.
In unrighteousness.
You know what's going to happen. You sit there and you think you can decide another day.
You have understood the message. You have heard the truth.
About the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is Himself the truth.
And you think you have your options and you decide not to.
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It says you are going to be deceived. God is going to send strong delusion that they might all be damned.
Does God want anybody condemned? No.
His willing is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But if you do not believe the truth.
Then you are setting yourself up to believing a lie because the mystery of iniquity is already working in this world and those that do not receive the love of the truth.
Will be deceived.
That they might be condemned because they did not receive the truth.
I ask you, along with all the other believers in this room.
To seriously.
Think it through tonight to repent of your sins, to come to that One who is himself the truth, the one.
That said, I am the way, the truth and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Let's pray.
Our God and Father.
Bless thy word.
If there's somebody out there.
In this audience.
Listening and still hasn't made a decision for Christ.
We pray that they might be convicted, they might not have any rest.
Oh, the awfulness, our God and Father of a soul that goes out into eternal darkness.
Don't let it happen. Our God and our Father, we plead that Thy Spirit would strive with anybody who still hasn't made it personal and real. We pray. Give thanks for thy precious word in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.