Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Lovest Thou Me? Pt.1

Amen. Just want to encourage you to continue to pray for the guys. I meant to bring some e-mails this evening to read from the guys in Africa; just a lot of exciting things are going on. One of the things I told you that we implemented, with them going back this particular trip, was that I wanted them to have a network of e-mailing going on so they would communicate what was taking place in the different regions, since the men were now being separated and with adding these other men into the ministry there, where we could kind of keep our finger on the pulse of what's going on. And then, of course, we're being carboned with all of the communications, so there's a lot going on. We get to do a lot of reading. I was gone for four days and came back and had fifty-seven e-mails of just what they were talking about in Africa. That wasn't near as much as the other times. One time I literally came home, punched the button to have the e-mails [print], and I got three-quarters of a ream [of paper], so I spent that morning reading the e-mails, of course. Just blessed at what God is doing, so just continue to pray for the men.

We're seeing growth. We're seeing that both Daniel and the ministry with Richard--the guys are growing. They're imbibing the vision, the spirit--a lot of dying going on. It's a blessing to read these e-mails saying, "It's death, but I realize that I was dying, and now I am dying to self." That's quite a revelation. They were dying spiritually in religion, and now they're dying to themselves and being set free and some great things are taking place. We're believing for communication on a couple of pieces of property. The new vehicles have not been purchased yet. They're having to negotiate with, I think, Japan--Swahili isn't understood very readily in Japan. They're doing pretty good, but be prayerful. The doors of utterance are being opened. I was trying to think of the growth that's taking place. Charles is in his new home. I was reading an e-mail last night, and he just refers to it, so matter-of-factly; he says, "My miracle house." Charles and his wife have a room to themselves right now. They don't have all of their grown children sleeping in their bedroom. Isn't that great? Praise God--for those of you who think your homes are too small and that you need to move up with the Jeffersons. What a blessing, his miracle house. I just rejoice at the spirit of these guys. It's an exciting thing. All of the list [for people wanting to go on the missions trip] has been filled, so you'll have to wait for the next trip to Africa. All the slots are filled up, so we're making preparations for that. Many exciting things that are taking place. The church is being added to daily. I think if I would add up just what I was reading in the e-mails--if I would add up, over the last couple of e-mails, people that each one has said have been led to the Lord, they've probably led over a hundred people to the Lord just in the last few weeks. There are some great things going on in the ministry there, so be prayerful and hold the guys up. A lot of great things happening. I'll bring it [e-mail] and let it be in their words, hopefully, on Sunday.

Let's turn over to John's gospel. I want to look at a couple of different aspects this evening in John 21. I went and watched The Passion of the Christ [movie] this afternoon, wanting to see it to be able to speak firsthand. I know there will be certain questions that come up. It was an interesting movie. It was very, very vivid, graphic. If you don't like blood, don't go. Scripturally, it was pretty true; it was pretty true scripturally. They got a little overboard on Mary and had a really hokey devil, but other than that I would say, really, that it was pretty true to Scripture, and it really was something that I think, for some people, would give a visualizing of what the Lord really endured. And yet in all of the blood and the guts and the mayhem, I think of the things that stood out to me that were probably most real--aware of it in the different wars that mankind has experienced, the hatred of certain sects towards others, nationalism, the Holocaust--man's inhumanity and to see the delight that these men were taking in torturing these other men. It never ceases to amaze me how others will still champion the cause of how good man is--"Man is basically good"--and to see how little it takes to turn man into the animal that sin can make him.

One of the things that stood out to me, in all of the Scripture passages--it was subtitled (all of the speaking is in Aramaic)--Mel Gibson chickened out and left the subtitle off of one of the very important statements that was made, "Let his blood be upon us and our children" (Matthew 27:25). And yet in all of this, the interesting thing that stood out to me was, as Jesus was speaking, there were a couple of the scriptural statements that were very powerful. One, when He was dealing with Pilate, and Pilate was trying to get Him to "just mellow a little bit here and work with me. Don't you know that I have the power to take your life?" And He said, "You don't have any power over Me." Jesus is standing there mutilated, beat up, barely able to stand, and He turns and looks the man in the face and says, "You have no power over Me but that that's been given to you from above." Do you know you can make that same statement tonight to the devil and to everyone that's opposing you? If God is for us, nobody can be against us. Amen?

You see the Master as He was enduring this. The thing that was not portrayed--and I don't think you can portray it; it can only be really known to those of us who have experienced regeneration. I don't know if it was just because of the Catholic roots of this to where the emphasis is on the death--they still have Jesus on their cross. Good news: He's risen! Amen? And the thing that couldn't be portrayed--what a great rendering they did in the Garden of Gethsemane, of Jesus praying and the drops of blood and just saturated, dripping in sweat and agony. A great job, and then they blow it by making a statement that Jesus gets up and Peter says, "Do You want me to wake the other disciples?" And He says, "No, I don't want them to see Me like this." There is a miss! And yet the fact of the matter is, He was not fearful as Peter in the movie said, "I've never seen Him fearful like this." There was no fear in His agony, only faith. But He agonized, and the thing they couldn't communicate was a holy God being made sin with our sin. The agony was not the torture of the cat-of-nine-tails [type of whip Romans used to scourge Jesus]. It was not the thorns that were crushed on His brow, the constant beating and mocking. The agony was that He drank the cup of your sin and my sin, and He Who knew no sin was made sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). If you go in knowing that, it can bring an appreciation. For religious people it can cause some type of great momentary response, but for those of us who have already tasted His grace and His forgiveness, when we go in to the movie we don't look at the blood and the mayhem; we look at the broken heart that was made sin. That's what stood out to me. Aren't you thankful that while we were sinners He loved us and died for us--amen? How much more then--and this is the thing that stands out to me: that so many are going to go and sit in the theatres and watch that and come out and have some kind of an emotional experience, but not be changed. It won't change you. It could make you religious, but it won't change you, because religion can't change you. You know what changes you? Obedience, that's what changes you. So that's what we want to talk about a little bit tonight.

Let's turn to John 21. As we look at the passage here--and this was another very vivid thing. I think I wept twice during this movie--actually, I think it was three times; no, it might have been four--as you see Him in Gethsemane, the moving, brokenness of His heart, of taking that cup for you and me. Pilate's judgment hall was just unbearable. It breaks your heart; you can't not weep, watching His suffering. But I think one of the other times that moved me the most, that I wept, was Peter's denial, because it reminded me of how many times I've denied the Lord. I could so identify--I can't identify with Jesus being tormented in the judgment hall, but I can identify with denying Him because I preferred myself, because I didn't want to take the shame, didn't want to take the rejection of self-indulgence. The denial is disobedience. Every time I disobey Him, I deny Him as my Lord, and that's what really came across to me in the movie. As Peter denied Him, I thought how many times I've denied the Lord by disobeying Him. Oh, I've never denied Him by anyone coming up and asking me, "Do you believe in Jesus?" I've never denied Him verbally, but far too many times I've denied Him in my disobedience. Knowing to do good and doing it not is sin. All unrighteousness is sin. Transgression of the law is sin. I could really identify with Peter's denial. I've sold Jesus out, like Judas, for less than thirty pieces of silver, for just a momentary pleasure. But as we look at our lives and we contrast being able to identify with Judas and Peter and we contrast these men, the contrast is the one who wouldn't receive forgiveness and went out and hung himself, and the other who allowed himself to be humbled and finally came to grips with who he really was, and that without Him we can do nothing. Amen?

That's what Peter is going through here in the twenty-first chapter of John. Let's look at it. We know the story. We have the men that are out fishing now in the Sea of Galilee. Peter says, "I go a fishing" (verse 3). The rest say, "We'll go with you." We don't know exactly why they're out there. The best we can surmise, and I think it's probably pretty accurate, is the fact that if you don't work, you don't eat. Their ministry had slowed down at this point. They're regrouping; they don't know what's going on at this particular juncture. So they do what they know to do and just what they were doing the first time they were accosted by the Spirit of God, by Jesus, as He came into their lives and said, "Follow Me and I'll make you fishers of men." Again He comes into their lives and they're fishing. They're in control of their lives again and they're catching what? Isn't it interesting how Jesus keeps walking up on them and they're producing nothing? Just like you and me. Your life and mine, regardless of what we may have had in the secular or the temporal, is zero in what really matters.

So they've caught nothing. They've toiled all night, and they look up on the shore and see this figure. John, who's pretty keen in identifying, said, "It's the Lord!" Peter girds himself, jumps in the water, and begins to make his way to shore. Jesus is already up there. These guys are out fishing--the fishermen are fishing with no fish, and Jesus has fish cooking on the shore. Wonder where He got His fish. Do you think--did He buy it in Capernaum? Did He have a pole? I don't know how He got it. I do know that the Lord we serve could have them come out of the water cooked. Amen? All we know is, Jesus is on shore and He's got breakfast, praise God. So here we are; the fish are cooking and the meal is provided, and the Scripture says, verse 10, ". . . Bring of the fish which ye have now caught." I think that's interesting. They had caught nothing. Jesus tells them where to cast the net. They bring in this great multitude of fish. They come ashore, verse 9, "As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread." Now, here's the fish that Jesus is providing, and He says, "Bring your fish." We're going to contrast something here. So they bring them. They counted them; it could have been a record catch. "Simon Peter went up, and drew the net [verse 11] to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. . . " Come and dine. There are a lot of different analogies that we can make in this, and we could read a lot in and sometimes maybe read too much in if we're not careful. I don't want to do that, but I want to sufficiently identify what's taking place here.

"Jesus [verse 13] then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after he was risen from the dead." They had nothing. Jesus told them where the fish were, and He gave them the credit for finding them. You know, a lot of us take credit, but it's He that's working in us to will and to do His good pleasure. Amen? We're not producing anything that's not miraculous if it's for God. If it's for God, it's supernatural. If it's for God, it's by God, and nothing else is acceptable. Nothing you can produce in the natural is acceptable to God. It's sad--all of the religion is unacceptable. We saw some people at the theatre, saw some out and around today, with ashes on their heads--Ash Wednesday. The poor, futile efforts of man. Religion: man's pursuit of God. True Christianity: man's relationship with God. We have a relationship. We're not pursuing; we've been found. We're not following God; we're abiding in Him.

So something is getting ready to take place here that all of us can identify with. As Jesus is feeding them now and He's showing them that He is the provider, He is their success in life, He's also wanting to cause them to see that a decision is going to have to be made here: "Are you going to go back fishing [and here's what it is], or are you going to continue with the call that I placed upon your life?" So the call and the gifts of God, the Scripture says, are what? Without repentance (Romans 11:29). "I've called you to be fishers of men; that's why you're no longer successful at natural fishing." You can't go back and be the success that you were. So it's important for us to understand that each of our lives--we're ministers of the gospel; we're ambassadors of Christ. We've been set apart for God's glory. These men, uniquely; men that were involved in full-time, fivefold ministry. Yes, there are unique calls, specific calls, but every one of us has been called to become fishers of men. We've all been called to a higher calling than our secular roles, but every one of us is going to have to answer the same question that Peter does here in just a moment.

"So when they had dined, [verse 15] Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?" Commentators debate over what the subject is here. These what? These fish, or these other disciples? My answer to that is yes. You'll find that the commentators like to polarize, and whenever there is a polarizing like this, I usually like to step back and think, It's probably down the middle. I see that Jesus can speak some truths if the subject is either. So we'll look at both of them, one a little more in depth than the other, but let's for a moment talk about the fish. "Do you love Me, Peter, more than--you said you were going a fishing. I called you to be fishers of men. You've now been convinced of My resurrection--I've appeared to you; you've seen the nail scars in My hands." Really cool ending to the movie. As Jesus is being resurrected, you can see Him rise up, and He begins to walk out of the tomb. The sun is shining through, and you catch His hand come by His thigh. You look through this big hole [in His hand] and see Him on the other side (just His thigh on the other side, looking right through the hole in His hand). Probably not totally historically correct that it was through the palm, but we'll let it ride. "Do you love Me more than these? I called you to be fishers of men; I separated you from the nets. I appeared to you; you've seen My resurrection glory. You saw the empty tomb. Why did you go fishing? Do you love Me more than these? Do you really think you can be content doing other than what I created you to be, created you for?" What has God created you for? Are you content in what God has made you, has gifted you with, where He's placed you in the Body of Christ, where He's placed you in secular society, where He's placed you on the planet? Some of us would say, "I can't wait to leave Sterling, man, and go to Hawaii!" You won't be happy in Hawaii! You're only happy where God has put you.

"Peter, do you think you can really be happy going back fishing?" This is the question: "Do you love Me more than these?" We can amplify that a little bit and answer the question that Jesus is asking. He's asking every one of us: "Do you love Me more than this prosperity?" This is abundance, this is a record, this is fame, this is fortune. "Do you love Me more than fame and fortune and ease, position?" "It's a question I need you to answer, Peter, to see if you're going to be able to continue and endure in what I called you to do." The success in our lives, beloved, is finishing [the race], being not weary in well-doing, for in due time we're going to reap if we don't faint (Galatians 6:9). "Do you love Me more than all that I can do for you? Are you serving Me like so many others? Don't you remember the response of the multitudes that followed us because I filled their stomachs? Do you remember, Peter, when you gave up of your own meager holdings, five loaves and two fishes, and you put them in My hands? I looked to the Father and prayed and blessed, and everybody got fed; you guys each took away a basket full. Do you love Me more than these? That was the spirit of those people that followed us after that. They followed us not because of the doctrine but because of what I did for them. Why are you following Me, Peter?"

Heal my body, heal my marriage, deal with this torment in my mind. "Lovest thou me? Am I sufficient? Do you love Me? If you don't love Me, then what is our relationship going to be when all the stuff is gone?" One of the great statements that people are not going to be able to get their heart around either, that was in the movie, where the Scripture was quoted, "They hated me; they're going to hate you." Most people can't identify with that. "What are you going to do when you're hated for My name's sake, persecuted for righteousness?" Are you going to be able to love your enemies, pray for those that despitefully use you and persecute you, or is there going to be a retaliatory spirit? Is there going to be self-pity, is there going to be an envy of those that have [material goods], when you're rejected and the only treasure you have is that one Pearl that you liquidated [all that you had to obtain--Jesus], and nobody wants to buy it from you? You can't cash it back in to buy something else; you're stuck with the Pearl. What good is a pearl if you can't turn it into cash, if you can't barter it? Pearls are great when they're part of a collection, abundance, but if it's all you have, you can't eat it. It doesn't make a good weapon (I guess you might be able to put a knot on somebody's head with it). That beautiful pearl doesn't look good when your clothes are worn out and ragged and you don't have anything beautiful to accent. Just a pearl--just a piece of sand and a bunch of spit. "Am I your treasure? Just Me. Am I sufficient, or do you have to have what is naturally provided?" What about when you're rejected? What about when you're broken in your body? What about when you lose your greatest possessions? What about when the storms come and the houses collapse and the children die--and your wife lives? Just where it applies; I'm not making a doctrine. [Pastor is referring to Job's wife who told Job to abandon his trust in God.] Is God sufficient? "Are you going to trust in your own ability or in My sovereignty, in My character, in My presence? Do you love Me more than these?"

We could go on, but I think we've made the point. In our society, I think that's a question that every one of us in this room has to answer, because we've got abundance coming out of our ears. We've got ease of life, comfort; we have got everything that man can create to distract us from the presence of God. What are you pumped about? The new clothes, the new friend and relationship, the new little gadget? Are you satisfied now with the little phone that can fly and make pictures and do all that kind of stuff [humorous exaggeration of modern technology]? Are you happy? Where is your treasure? What satisfies you? Got a party coming up? Was winning the Seton game sufficient? Did that satisfy you for life? Great job, by the way. [Pastor is referring to a basketball game our youth won.] Where is our treasure; what do we live for? What do we really put value upon? And I mean beyond doctrinally, beyond the mental assenting to its worth (I acknowledge it). You see, what we're talking about here, as we go on in this little bit of our study, is you don't believe it. It is not valuable to you (that Pearl) until Jesus is Lord, until you are never content outside of being obedient to His lordship. You can have everything else and know that you've been disobedient and you are miserable, because the only thing that satisfies is pleasing Him.

"Do you love Me more than these?" was the question. We've shared on this passage before. Jesus used the term, of course, agape. "Are you going to love Me with My love, Peter?" Not humanistic love; not love that is selfish, self-serving; not a conditional love, not a performance-oriented love. "Are you going to love Me as I've loved you--unconditionally, totally, no restrictions, nothing held back? Do you agape Me?" And Peter responded, "Yes, Lord, you know that I phileo You. I have strong affection for You!" Now, let's look at the other aspect of the subject here. "Do you love Me more than these (the abundance), more than these (the rest of these)? You used to say you loved Me more than everybody else. [You said] 'Everybody else might forsake You, but not Peter! You can count on me.' Before the cock crows you'll deny Me three times." "Where are you going, Lord, that I can't go? I'll go anywhere You go; I'll die for you!" "You can't even live for Me," Jesus said. "How are you going to die for Me?" Peter has learned a little bit about himself. He's still got some growing to do, and we see the growth in this man, of course, in the epistles (1^st and 2^nd Peter) as he's on his way to the prophecy that Jesus gives in this particular passage (that the time is going to come when he's old and he can't provide for himself; he'll be led away and they'll martyr him). He'll finally eat the fruit of obedience, of being identified with the death of his Lord. "And if you're crucified with Me, you'll be raised with Me," Jesus said. Not the natural crucifixion. The death to self, the total dependence upon the lordship of Jesus; His righteousness and not our own performance, not our own strength.

At least he didn't say (when Jesus said, "Do you love Me more than these?"), "Yes, Lord, I love You more than everybody else." He said, "Lord, You know that I love Thee. And however the rest of these guys are doing, that's up to them." That's how you need to live your life. The question isn't, How's everybody else around you doing? The question is, Do you love Him? "Oh, I think I love Him more than . . . " "I think I'm doing better than . . . " "Do you love Me?" Agape. You see, there is no belief in Jesus; all these people that are going to go watch that movie, they don't believe in Jesus. They'll go in there with ashes on their head, crucifix around their neck, and one hundred and fifty-three fish on their bumper stickers. John 14:15, "If ye love me, [you will] keep my commandments." Amen? "Don't give Me lip service. What do you think about My Word? What do you think about My lordship, My absolute control of your life? You are not your own! You can't make decisions! You will not choose where you're going to work! You will not choose who you're going to marry! You will not choose! If you love Me, you'll keep My commandments." Now, see that's what it's all about. It's not about just acknowledging that Jesus died on a cross. Of course! History has proven that. The devils believe and tremble! Anybody that has any intelligence, that holds to historical credibility, realizes that a man lived in the region of Galilee two thousand years ago, started a sect of believers that grew into a world religion--and that doesn't make you a believer. And [someone] producing a movie that recites the words of the Man that it's depicting--"I am the way, the truth, and the life: and no man cometh unto the Father, but by me [John 14:6]"-and then sits in an interview and says that Muslims and Jews are going to make it into the presence of God also, doesn't believe. Just a tormented, miserable seeker. Not satisfied; no peace--". . . [peace] I give unto you: not as the world giveth. . . " (John 14:27). "Do you love Me? You'll know My peace. You'll embrace My lordship. You'll have different treasures. The power in your life will be a different source; it will be the Comforter Who has been sent to you." "I do have strong affection for You, Lord." "Feed My sheep, My lambs." Bosko--the word "feed" is bosko; it's talking about nourishing.

Now, what I want you to see--what's taking place here is a twoedged sword. Peter is going to be tormented when he sees what's happening here in just a moment, because what Jesus is doing is bringing fresh to his understanding again his denial. "Do you love Me more than these? What are you doing fishing? Didn't I call you to be a fisher of men?" When you come down to where Jesus is asking for the third time, Peter is going to be smitten in his heart, the Scripture tells us. ". . . Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me?. . . " (verse 17). "Are you doubting me? You know what? I doubt myself" is what he says. "Lord, thou knowest. . . " "Oh no! Lord, are You telling me that I'm going to deny You again? Where's this thing going?" Do you know where it was going? It could have been going some of those other directions, but that's not where the Lord took it. "In your own strength you denied Me three times. By My grace I'm going to let you confess Me three times. I'm going to let you tell Me you love Me for every time you denied Me so that you can be at peace in your own heart. I already know your heart. I want you to be at peace in your own heart, and I want you to understand what your profession of love is going to require of you: an emptying of yourself into the flock, into the Body of Christ, into the will of God. Don't say you love Me and think you can continue to live for yourself." That's what this is all about.

Now, in Peter's case, he was called to be an overseer in the church--not Pope. So Jesus asked him again, "Do you agape Me?" And he said, "Yes, Lord, Thou knowest that I phileo Thee." And He said, "Feed my sheep." Poimaino is the Greek word here for "feed" this time. The first time He said, "Nourish them, instruct them with the Word, bring them into sound doctrine. Let it be declared that holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, that we have a more sure word of prophecy. Emphasize the Word in your ministry." Then He comes at this point and He says, "Now, do you love Me?" And he says, "Yes, Lord." "The amount of love that you have for Me is going to be seen, then, in how much time you spend in knowing the Word, in declaring the Word, and in living the Word." That's what this leading is all about: be a leader.

Peter talks about that in his epistle doesn't he? Turn over to the epistle of Peter for just a second, and let me show you something just real quickly here. Chapter 5, verse 1 of the first epistle. "The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed." Men, if you're going to be an elder, if you're going to be a leader, if you're going to be an example of the believer, "Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof. . . Neither as being lords [verse 3] over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock." Be a pattern; let your life be a pattern: "Follow me as I follow Christ." "And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." You always put yourself off, as an undershepherd; you always point to the lordship of Jesus.

You see, this is the mandate that's being placed upon Peter. "Feed my sheep"--bosko. "Feed my sheep"--poimaino. He said to him a third time, "Do you love Me?" "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. ["Help me to know it," I believe is what's going on in his heart.] Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep." "Nourish them, strengthen them"--we see it in that first epistle--"so that when your time is up and they lead you away and you identify with Me in your death, there will be a godly seed, there will be a people who have been built upon a sure foundation." And then I love it, verse 19--just where he picked him up the first time. He tells him how he's going to die, and then He finishes the verse with, "Follow me." It's just that simple: "Follow me."

As you go back to the fourteenth chapter of John and we're answering that question, "Do you love me?"--those of you that are husbands, you have a flock. Do you love Jesus? How are you overseeing your flock? Don't say you love Him and your house is out of order. Don't say you love Him and your treasures in your home are not eternal (they're secular, they're temporal). Don't say you love Him and you're laboring for the stuff that thieves can break in and steal and moths and rust can corrupt. Are you, your wife, your children, delighting in the eternal treasures, the things that are going to remain? Are there sheaves that you have to present; are there souls that you've won? Do you begrudge the witnessing when it's time for your home group [to go door to door], or do you delight in being able to have your children see you sharing Jesus with someone else, unashamed of the gospel? You may be a witness at work; have your kids ever seen you tell somebody about Jesus?

"Do you love Me? Then feed My sheep, take care of My lambs, take care of the little ones." And in John 14, as the Lord is speaking, He says, of course, the very classic passage in verse 15, "If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive. . . " Now, this is a very interesting thing, and you'll see in some other passages as we go on in the study. There are going to be theatres filled for days. I don't know how long this is going to go on and how much of the Christians' money he's going to take, but one of the things that's very interesting is--I'm getting information, so I'm trying to be guarded because I don't want to be bringing secondhand things, but hopefully the information that I've received is accurate. I'm not going to speak specifically, so I think it's generally accurate, but in many of the interviews that have taken place concerning this movie, tragically, just as the historical Catholic Church has always been, even in many of the people who have been interviewing, there is so much emphasis made on historical documents. "We can trust much of this because we have these historians, these scholars, that have spoken from a historical perspective, and they were reliable historians and reporters." Same event--read the Times and read the Post [newspapers]. Some of the best reporters in the nation--you wouldn't know they were talking about the same thing, would you? Because everybody writes from either limited understanding, an established belief system, or a prejudice. And the one thing that you will have trouble finding, whether it be the man that produced this thing or the people that go watch it, you will find very few that will walk out of there and say, "Thy Word is truth." This is the truth [the Bible]. I don't care what historical documents, historians--fallible men! [Holds up Bible]--God-breathed. Let God be true and every man a liar (Romans 3:4)! And then to those that say they believe this, my question is: Why aren't you living it?

"Don't say you love Me and not keep My commandments. Don't say you love Me and give equal credit to tradition, to secular historical documents." Our apologists of today--apologetics is good. We realize that we can go back and we can kind of answer certain questions, and we can talk about the historicity of the Scriptures and that they are the most accurately--the Bible is the most accurate book, from manuscript evidence, of anything that has ever been written. That's all secular. Archeological discoveries--great! Scientific evidence verifying creation--creation cannot be the big bang. It can't be evolution, and the second law of thermodynamics proves that this is impossible. "Oh, wow!" God said and it was! Amen? Those of us that know God have known the truth, and we have no apologies to any secular scholars, whether they be archeologists, scientists, or medical doctors! "Well, you know, medically we don't. . . " It doesn't need a medical explanation! It's a miracle! It is a work of an infinite being, and your little peanut, finite brain isn't going to comprehend! "How did Jesus walk on water?" Very well! I don't know how He did it; whether every molecule lined up temporarily between this substance and that. I don't know, but the Word is truth. And if this is the truth, if this is the Word of God, then we're going to be judged by it. We're going to be judged by whether we live it, love it, imbibe it, devour it, let it be the Bread of Life, let it be the Word of Truth, let it be the source of faith, meditate upon it day and night!

But if we love Him, we're going to keep His commandments, and the Comforter is going to come, "Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive. . . " (verse 17). And this is where I was going. People sit in the movie, and they're going to see this stuff, but they're not going to know the truth, because only through the Word of God, only through the belief that this is the only source of truth, can you really know God, can you really hear His voice. We can intellectually assent to historical facts, but that's not belief, that's not faith. The question was asked earlier on in this passage, "How is it that You will reveal Yourself to us and not to the world? You're going, and You say we know the way, but what is the way?" And He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: [verse 6] no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also; and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? [I and the Father are one.]" "Well, You said You're going to show Yourself to us and not to the world. How's it going to be done?" I'll tell you how it's going to be done. Right here [the Bible], because the world rejects this. They read it but they don't believe it. They'll rationalize; they'll secularize. They will agree with the historical Person [of Jesus], but they can't let Him be God. They'll agree with the fact that there is truth here, but not that this is absolute truth and all bow to this revelation. The Comforter will make that real to you, and He'll make real to you your relationship [with God] through the peace that governs your heart tonight. By that you'll know that you're the sons of God, and you can cry, "Abba [Father]," and know your acceptance in the Beloved.

Father, we thank You for the Word of God tonight, and we just ask that You would comfort our hearts and establish us in this hour as we learn what it is to identify with Your suffering, with Your persecution, with the stigma in a day when Your name is being popularized--the religious Jesus embraced and, as always, the biblical Jesus rejected. We identify with the Rock of Offense. We identify with You, Who the world's system hates and rejects. It cannot know You because it is spiritually discerned. We thank You for the life that You've impregnated us with, that our spirit man has known rebirth through the Holy Spirit and that You have given these blind eyes the ability to see and this stony heart the ability to beat again. A heart of flesh that can say, "Lord, Thou knowest that I love You." We just ask that by Your grace and by Your power You would cause us to finish this course, for we don't trust in ourselves but in the Spirit that will lead us into all truth, and for that, Father, we just want to say, Thank You. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord tonight. As Gary plays for us we'll just take this moment and reflect on the great gift. In the movie the devil appears to Jesus and says, "No one man can bear the sins of the world. No one man is capable of this task." And you know what? The devil was right. No man could, but God did. That was not a man on that cross; that was a God-man. The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). His name shall be called Immanuel, God with us (Isaiah 7:14). Universally, the sin problem has been handled. How about individually with you? What have you let Him become to you? A historical figure? Is He in the pantheon of your religious system? Or is He alone God, the way, the truth and the life, and no one can come to the Father but by Him? You can't come in your own strength. You can't come by your own merit. You can't come by your own righteousness. You can only come by saying, "I am totally dependent on the finished work of Jesus Christ. My best is filthy rags; I can do nothing without Him. I need You, Jesus, to truly live, and without You I only exist."

Let's sing it together and worship Him. "I stand in awe. . . " Hallelujah! Sing it again; just bless Him. Hallelujah! Let me be changed, Lord. Let me be changed by Your presence that someone might see the works and glorify my Father which is in heaven, and for that, Father, we just give You all the praise and all of the honor, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "I choose to keep His commandments." Amen. Go in peace; God's love go with you.

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