The Source of Life - Charles Lawson

if you have your bible turn to the book of john chapter number 2 and verse 11 with me tonight please john 2 11. john 2 11 it says this beginning of miracles did jesus in cana of galilee and manifested forth his glory and his disciples believed on him father bless this blessed book now thy name i pray amen every time you go to the holy land they'll take you by this place and of course they have a little place built up there which represents where he turned the water into wine and according to the apostle john that was the beginning of his miracles and he counts them there are seven of them in the gospel of john seven miracles which of course in the scripture is the number of completion divine perfection you can't get any better than seven and so the lord jesus christ galatria the number of his name they call it gamatria uh it's a latin and a and a greek term uh the numerical value of his name is eight eight eight and eight in the bible of course coming after seven means a new beginning a new beginning a new beginning so the lord jesus christ is not in these first seven signed miracles they're called signs he's not in them because he's implied to be the eighth because of his resurrection from the dead that gives us eight miracles in the gospel of john and of course the last is the greatest because without the resurrection of the lord jesus everything else would be null and void be vain christ be not risen paul said in first corinthians 15 then your faith is vain and your loved ones are perished and you talk about something that will take all your joy away and all your hope away and put you out here where there's so many people tonight you'd have nothing and if you've taken a mother father husband wife child whatever and you'd laid their body in the graveyard you'll never see them again according to the pagan who doesn't believe the bible but we will because to be absent from the body is to be present with the lord these seven miracles he turned water to wine he healed the nobleman's son he uh he healed the man at the pool of bethesda fed 5000 he walked on the sea and then he healed the man that was born blind and there's only one raising of the dead in the gospel of john and that's found in john 11 when he raises lazarus from the dead now let you turn to john chapter number 5 and verse number 26 and we'll see what he's trying to say to us about this john 5 26 in john chapter number 5 and verse number 26 for as the father hath life in himself so have he given to the son to have life in himself now let's stop there just a moment because these are powerful statements god the father as the trinity father son and holy spirit created they brought into existence everything that exists the hebrew word for create in genesis 1 1 is bara and it means to bringing to existence without the presence of anything simply by the power of the spoken word of god he created all living things can trace their life back to god there is no life apart from god none it does not exist you can be certain of this as far as they go in this universe makes no difference there will be no life there the only life is the life of god this is every living creature that has ever or ever will draw the breath of life owes its life to almighty god the creator but the lord jesus makes a statement here that begins to make you think in john chapter number five and verse number 26 look what he said for as the father hath life in himself so this is the creation he's the creator so hath he given to the son to have life in himself in plain words the lord jesus christ now becomes the source of life he come becomes the source of life as the lord jesus christ you see when everything was created father son and holy ghost worked in unison as the creator but now the god-man the lord jesus christ has life in himself that was not present before and so what life is that that will be the life of the resurrection from the dead to gain power and authority over the dead and here's how it works if you have the lord jesus christ you have redemption if you have the lord jesus christ you have salvation you see redemption and salvation and justification are all elements of eternal life so the bible said that he that hath the son hath life and he that hath not the son if not life first john chapter 5. so the lord jesus christ says in john chapter 11 lazarus come forth to the women he said i am the resurrection and the life now this complements what was said here in john 5. let's go back and read it again for as the father hath given life in him has for as the father hath life in himself so hath he given to the son to have life in himself and hath given him authority to execute all judgment also because he is the son of man now watch this marvel not at this for the hour is coming into which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice so there is a grave for every human being that has ever lived there will be a marker somewhere there will be a place where they come forth it says in verse 28 the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice whose voice the voice of the son of man and shall come forth they that have done good to the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation look at the book of daniel the book of daniel the last chapter daniel chaplin vertov and verse number two daniel 12 2 and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt note carefully the everlasting once you die without christ you're dead without christ okay that's what that means and that in itself is everlasting that'll be forever because it won't change so when the bible talks about eternal and everlasting it's talking about something that is going to happen that you have no control over whatsoever that hear the voice of the son of god and come forth you see he's the redeemer he's the savior he's the one who justifies he's the one who sanctifies he's the one who brings you to god so he says god hath given me life that is in myself so god no longer gives you life through christ no christ gives you life originating in himself now meditate on that for a little while the life of eternal life is not a you know have we have what's called a chain of command the military any military knows that and when you break the chain of command you're in big trouble and so the chain of command simply means that you answer to the one right above you and they answer to the one right above them and so forth so what you have here is that god the father answers to no one no one because he's the almighty but now he says the son answers to no one either the father giveth life because he is life and the source of life but the son now is life and the source of life so being the source of life it forces you to say well what are we talking about here you mean to tell me that the son can give me life that the father could not have given me the father could have could keep you in existence forever that's no problem there whatsoever but there's only one just one that can give you everlasting eternal life which is his life that he wrought when god raised him from the dead and when he raised him from the dead he became victor over death hell and the grave this is why it's so important to understand eternal life is not some catechism that you keep it's not some good works that you keep in life and all of these things and many of them in their place are good things no question about that but that will not save you the only one that can save you is life you have to receive life if you don't receive life you have death well what do you mean receive christ is life once you've received him you've received life this is why john says he that hath the son hath salvation life salvation is an element of life life in its purest form too because john's gospel is the only one that mentions the new birth and they are born of the spirit the soul is saved and the body is a vehicle you use for a while and then discharge it appreciate it you serve me well see you later alligator but the spirit has been born of the spirit of god i can't explain that because i don't know the essence of god i don't know it i don't know the essence of a spirit nobody does it's one of those mysteries that god has allowed us to have and and truth of the matter is doesn't doesn't it kind of uh intrigue you that there are mysteries that we don't know i mean doesn't it really it does me you know when you ever meet up with somebody who's mastered the bible you're looking at somebody who's lost cog or two there is no such thing as mastering a living book because the bible's alive now think about that it's alive word of god is quick it's alive and so we have received the sun we have received life all right if you lose the sun you lose life so is there anywhere in the new testament that tells you you can lose the sun no you can't lose him this is why i believe in eternal life and john's gospel is the one who teaches eternal life for the father hath you in his hand and no man can pluck you from that hand so the gospel of john being unique as i've told you a thousand times before gives us a picture of something that is altogether different than anything else and that is that in matthew mark and luke we have the son of man receiving what god gave him and working these miracles out on earth as they lead to the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of god but there's some things that john doesn't mention and we'll see why john doesn't mention some of these things all right now here's some of them that john does not mention let's see if we can find him somewhere in here we've got some notes here they are john does not mention a genealogy because he's not interested in the manhood of christ in the beginning was the word lagos and the word was with god and the word was a god i had a jehovah's witness tell me that one time came to my door and said there's no definite article in the greek i said making a difference he's still god he says no he's not i said yes he is and so we went back and forth and back and forth there for about 15-20 minutes and i've only argued with jehovah's witnesses about two or three times you're wasting your time you're wasting your time i'm telling you right now they're brainwashed and they deny the deity of christ there is no genealogy something else that gospel of john doesn't have a baptism you remember the baptism holy spirit comes down this is my beloved son whom i'm well pleased he goes into the wilderness for 40 days well the synoptic gospels refer to that not john why not john because the gospel the the anointing the the the uh the baptism was the time of anointing when the holy spirit came down as a dove and did not anoint christ as he anointed the rest of us he didn't anoint him by measure he anointed him without measure in other words he could comp he could receive the full complement of the power of god administered through the holy spirit the god okay doesn't need to receive anything and this is john pointing you to the fact that the lord jesus christ is god okay so he's emphasizing the godhood of christ and the temptation is not mentioned in the gospel of john 40 days no wilderness trying him not mentioned in john john wants to raise you up above that and he wants to tell you this what does james say about being tempted it says plainly that you can't tempt god god's not tempted cannot be tempted right so the god man the god man who was hammering out a perfection and righteousness with his life on this earth had to endure the temptation see tempted tested in all points like as we are yet without sin but you cannot tempt god and so the apostle john when he writes the gospel of john temptation's gone it's not in there the transfiguration is not in there you'd think something like the transfiguration be that important wouldn't you but you see the transfiguration points forward to the rain the righteous reign of the son of man who has earned listen everything christ as the son of man will ever receive he receives it because he earns it and that's a hard thing for us to understand because there's so many people trying to earn it themselves and you can't earn it but he did because he was perfect and there's only been one perfect one he bought it and he paid for it and he earned it with his sinless perfect life so the transfiguration points forward to the time when the man who earned it will sit on the throne in jerusalem amen so you believe all that stuff preacher i believe it like you would believe i believe it i believe every bit of it i believe the bible amen i don't waste any time trying to critique the scripture if you just read the bible the right way it'll critique you amen the word critique comes from the greek word discerner pretty cost criticas see that just comes right over into english as critique well in in the in the new testament says he is the discerner discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart he is a critique of the thoughts and intents of the heart and he is but how does he do that a dead book can't do that see the word of god is quick powerful sharpen the any two-edged sword piercing even the dividing sun or soul and spirit and say is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart the heart is desperately wicked who can know it i the lord try the heart i try the reins even to give every man according to his way and according to the fruit of his doing there is no coming of the son of man in the gospel of john no it's not in there no coming of the son of man even though the son of man is mentioned time and again in the gospel of john the gospel of john is looking to the deity the deity of the lord jesus christ no no parables in the gospel of john uh you know i've told you before so i was taught a parable is just a it's just a heaven is just an earthly event with a heavenly meaning something like that that's all right as far as it goes but it doesn't go near as far enough look at matthew 13. and these things are important matthew chapter 13. matthew 13 3. all right here we go matthew 13 3 verse 1 the same day went jesus out of the house set by the seaside and this of course is symbolic going out of the house and great multitudes gathered together to him so that he went into the ship and sat in a whole multitude stood on the shore and he spake many things unto them in parables here's the first time it shows up notice the context of why it shows up saying behold a sower went forth to soul now what follows were the parables but i want you to look at verse number 10 verse 10 john 1 matthew 13 verse 10 disciples came and said to him why speaketh thou unto them in parables why is this why all of a sudden i mean here you've been standing and preaching all this time and now all of a sudden you go into this this mysterious mystical type teaching and here's what he said to them verse 11 he answered said to them because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to them it is not given that's heavy-duty stuff i don't spend a lot of time with it but that's strong that helps you understand that you can't just cherry-pick the bible create your own little list of doctrines and cherry-pick the bible and make them line up with what you believe it doesn't work that way you have to read the bible and take it is the way it says it you have to read it and take it for what it says the bible is a living book and it's the word of god being the word of god is the mind of god so there's a reason for the parables but there's no parables in the gospel of john why because the kingdom of heaven the earthly kingdom of the jewish messiah and the jews is gone now we've moved into the age of grace we've moved into the age of the church we've moved into the time where there is bond or free june or gentile red yellow black and white doesn't exist in the sight of god now anybody anywhere at any time can can freely receive eternal life from the father through the son he's the giver of life that's where we are that's why there's no parables and then of course the word believe shows up over and over and over and over and over in the book of john and the reason it does is because we have so many different elements of belief notice that there are seven signed miracles in the belief seven signed miracles now how many days were there in creation six days and the seventh day rested right so that perfected it the creation was finished there was no more to create that was it seven days and it was done that meant that the eighth day would be on a what what would be the eighth day what's the first day of the week all right so the last day of the week would be saturday and what day would that be seventh day so what would the eighth day be it'd be sunday again that's your eighth day that's when you make a new beginning you start over again this is what christ represents he represents a new beginning you see the old for example the first miracle in the gospel of john is about wine right it's about wine it's about wine did you know the lord taught them he says you cannot take new wine and put it in old bottles you can't do it if you take new wine put it in old bottles obviously it'll bust the bottle okay so you have to put new wine in new bottles so he starts off the sign gifts of john with new wine therefore he's saying everything is going to be new now you remember the book of revelation it says and i make all things new the old order has passed away and it's amazing the first miracle of john and john want you to know this is the beginning of miracles it uh it it's about wine did you know what the last thing christ said in the gospel of john the last thing he said on the cross what was it what was the last thing he said on the cross somebody said it it's finished exactly it's finished see that's what john wants you to know he wants you to understand the work is done now it's finished this is this is why if it's not finished what do you believe you don't you can't you don't have any faith to connect with anything if it's ongoing hope for a good end no if it's finished then my faith is in what's finished and how many times you hear it said i believe in the finished work of the cross of calvary well you've heard it a thousand times and it's a good it's a good saying because it bears witness to the finishing the word the the the work is complete the word finish all you've got to do sometimes is take a word and trace it in the bible and see the different translations of it that same word throughout the new testament for example in john chapter 19 verse 30 the word is translated it is finished but in matthew chapter number 11 and verse 1 it's translated make an end matthew 13 it's finis it's translated finish revelation 20 verse 7 translated expire and then fulfill and then fill up and then accomplish and then perform and then pay so what's that mean that means in every sense of the word that could possibly have any meaning it's paid for it's finished it's done you can't add anything to the finished work of the lord jesus christ and i'll tell you that's one of the greatest messages you can get out to all religions you can because there's a bunch of churches out here that don't believe that oh i believe in christ he's a savior glory to god hallelujah but if you could get the butt away from them you'd be all right wouldn't you if you could just get them to finish with christ then you got everything and but it's the problem is you start adding to uh to what's finished now here's some of the things that are finished okay some of them the fulfillment of all scripture of the sufferings of christ is finished it's finished the bible said he died in weakness when he comes again and the scripture also says we no longer know him after the flesh in other words he's not suffering anymore no more suffering uh he defeated satan he put an end to him i know he still exists but his power has been zapped by the blood of christ a christian has absolute power over satan if you are a believer and you know how to plead the blood of christ you can come to satan and say the lord rebuke thee satan like michael did to him and he has to go he broke down the middle wall of petition that separated the middle wall of partition no longer do you have gentiles and jews the bible said in twain he should make one new man of twain in other words the general genet uh generic term is jew and gentile you don't get you don't you don't have to get into all of the races and everything and so jew and gentile represent the twain and the twain become one man in christ jesus there's not a part of christ for the jew and a part of christ for the gentile and part of christ for this and that no once you are in christ all of that is gone it's over with it's finished paid for the way to a personal access to god was finished at the cross you have a personal access amen thankful for the high priest and what he could do with our lord jesus is the priesthood of melchizedek and the priesthood of melchizedek no longer offers any sacrifices there's not one of them in there why he's the sacrifice and the priest had to approach god on the sacrifice that was given by somebody else the lord jesus christ approaches god by the himself and god the father had to either accept or reject the son of god what'd he do he accepted him he did the lord said unto my lord set thou at my right hand he accepted him uh he put an end to the reign of death christians aren't uh they're not scared to death of dying you have the natural feelings anybody would have for sure you do especially if you have a family you've got a wife and children husband and so forth you don't want to leave them but you're not you're not you're not you're not put into terror at the thought that you're going to leave this world he took away the power of sin he broke it doing good will not break the power of sin meaning well will not break the power of sin what will nothing but the blood that's right nothing and he gave us salvation and he made peace with god between god and man in that way wonderful thing you say preacher what do you mean god's not mad at me anymore he's giving it to the son let's go back and read john again john 5. verse 24. well let's go back to verse 23 that all men should honor the son even as they honor the father he that honoreth not the son on earth not the father which hath sent him the word sent means the apostle that's what the word apostle is sent that's what it means verily verily i say unto you he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life do you believe that don't complicate it don't don't try to make something out of it that it's not you believe his word you honor the father then here's what he said hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation now notice carefully but his past from death and to life this is not a process this is an absolute event it's not a process salvation is not a process now sanctification on this earth through your high priest is a process yes but salvation the act of being born again is an event that takes place in your life and so he said he said they shall not come to condemnation pass from death to life verily verily i say unto you the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the son of god and they that hear shall live for as the father hath life in himself so hath he given to the son to have life in himself and have given him authority to execute judgment there it is see this god was in christ reconciling the world to himself therefore all judgment has been given to the son and has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the son of man see that see that he earned it note careful anything the son of man does he's earning something that may that may be a good way to put it in context just read the context and everywhere it says son of man that means that he's earning something he's doing something as a man that will be rewarded and this is what christ did he gave himself so we don't have to give ourselves even if he hadn't even if he even if you could go out and be crucified that won't pay for your sins it won't do it the only thing that can pay for your sins the blood of christ the only thing can cover your sins the blood of christ the only thing bring you peace with god is the blood of christ say why the blood of christ because it's living blood well it's dead now no it's still alive you know that uh uh uh what's his name uh ron white thank you brother i told you all about a year ago he's supposed to have been underneath the temple mount and he found quite a thing a lot involved in it but he found blood on a stone he took that blood to a local lab and they looked at that blood and they looked closely at that blood according to him now i have no reason to doubt his word they said back to him say where'd you get this blood he said i got it off of a rock they said this blood's alive think about it for a minute couldn't die he couldn't die it's alive has to be alive and this is where i fall out big time with the preachers that say that he didn't enter in the presence of god with his blood that blood simply represents his life and therefore there was no blood carried by him into heaven hogwash there's the blood of christ in heaven right now at the right hand of the father and that's the only thing that will wash your sins away back to the matter is you get to thinking about it very deeply folks think about this you are not born again by his life you are born again by his death and resurrection from life from death into life that's where the new birth takes place and this is what it said in the book of hebrews chapter 9 the testament is not in force without the death of the testiture who's the testator the lord jesus so when he dies the testament is ratified in other words all the signers are put upon it the seal is set to it y'all been somewhere you bought a building or a court of law or whatever and all of the official things are done to it and now it's it has the power of law behind it that's exactly what happened when christ died on the cross and rose from the dead god put the seal of legality to it and it cannot be changed cannot be changed so the gospel of john is quite a thing i love the gospel of john i love matthew mark and luke too if i understand matthew mark and luke and we should pray that we understand it it'll help us understand john better all scripture all scripture complements other scripture you know anything as a rogue book in the bible all scriptures interwoven and every bit of it complements itself because it's a living book amen and no one book in the bible is greater than another book in the bible they all have the rightful place amen father thank you lord for little time we have tonight study the bible i pray it's been a blessing my prayer heavenly father we if we don't get anything else in this lesson we get the fact that christ is life he is life if we have him we have life in jesus name amen

Channel: Blessed1611

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Id: 3-iMNQNvl10

Length: 33min 6sec (1986 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 27 2021