Let's begin with a word of prayer. Father, we ask that this time would be profitable and that we would see things in your word that possibly we haven't seen before, or at least be reminded of things we've known in the past. And Father, that You would speak to us through your word. We know that's what it's intended to do, and so on, that you give me clarity of thought and presentation, Father, we ask in Jesus' name, amen. We've been looking now for a long time at the different names of God in scripture. Most recently, we've been focused on the Lord Jesus Christ and how in his statements in the New Testament, he used what was a New Testament form, so to speak, of Jehovah, I am. And so we find him, you know, in the Old Testament, Moses said, what shall I tell the people of Israel, what your name is? What if they ask me that? And God said to him, I am that I am. That's something to really meditate on. The eternal one, not I was and will be, but I am that I am, the eternal one. The Lord Jesus in the New Testament took that I am and spoke it to the Jews. They immediately knew what he was saying. They immediately knew he was claiming to be God. And it was, it engendered a time of trying to kill him when he would do that. But the interesting thing is, he also added another aspect to it. So he said, I am the bread of life, okay? I am. the shepherd of the sheep, okay? And he used all these different terms, which linked it up with, I'm God, and this is what I'm doing right now. So we've been looking at his statement, so let's go there, in John chapter 14, and verse six. And so here we are in John chapter 14 and verse six. This is in the upper room now. This would be just hours before, if that, he would go out into the Garden of Gethsemane where he would pray and then the mob would come by way of the leading of Judas who betrayed him and the Lord. went out and turned himself over to that mob, it's very clear that he did that, because Peter tried to stop it by, I'm sure Peter thought, I'm gonna start the battle, it's gonna be a war, and I think that the thinking of even the Jews who, they wanted to be out from under the Roman rule, and I think their thinking was, he's raised people from the dead, That's kind of important in combat. And he fed 5,000 adult men at one time, and then 4,000. And that's pretty good for a supply line. So you can't lose in that situation. If all your people, he can heal anybody that's been wounded, he can raise from the dead, then I think Peter thought, now's time. He was totally against this, and so he pulled out a sword and lopped off the ear of one of the men that was there. And the Lord said, put the sword away. In other words, we're going to do this, because he knew that he had to go to the cross. And he healed the man's ear, and I think, I just can't imagine the disillusionment of Peter. You know what I mean? We had our chance. Now our leader is arrested, you know. Okay. So I am the way, the truth, and the life. We're looking at the truth. The one on either side of that, at least for me, is much easier to understand. I'm the way, you know, he says no man comes to the Father, but through me, I'm the only way. Then the last one, I'm the life, he gives eternal life. He speaks of that often. I have been asking myself and trying to study the word. What does it mean, he's the truth. What are the depths of that? What is that talking about? Seems to me there's lots of truth. How is he the truth? And scripture presents something that's very foreign to what's being thought today. The thought today is whatever truth you grab hold of, that's your truth and you're good. And the idea is there is no absolute truth. And yet the entire word of God presents there is absolute truth. There's no doubt about it as far as the scriptures are concerned. That there is truth and there is that which is not true. And then scripture gives us the understanding that there really is a Satan. And his whole methodology is to lie. And scripture says he has deceived the whole world. In other words, not everybody on the planet, but this whole system that he is in control of, he has deceived. And the only way to be free of that is to come to the truth through Jesus Christ, who is the truth. But I wanna develop that some more. But first, I wanna ask this question. Can you think of some time in your life where you believed something was true, and you were acting on it, and you found out it wasn't true. And I'm sure I've done that multiple times, maybe many. But I've mentioned this before. One of the things that most stands out, still troubles me as a memory, is in Vietnam, the company I was with, I was a forward observer for them, we were sent out to join up, be connected with another unit. That other unit didn't know us. It was a pretty big unit. I should remember exactly, but I don't. They were going to helicopter us in and set us down in this place. And then the following day, we were to assault this objective. And so that happened. And we landed. And it was like no other place I'd been in Vietnam, where the terrain features were so hard to make out. And I think the reason is, having thought about it, they were just little hills that you could hardly call a hill, and because of that, they didn't even rate a contour line on our maps. And so, they sat us down, and the next day, we were to, move 1,000 meters to our objective and assault this objective. Well, I got up in the morning, we were getting ready to move out, and friendly artillery, that's not really that friendly, four rounds came in to right where we were. I get goosebumps as I say that. I knew it was artillery. I'm the guy. I'm the forward observer. I haven't called for anything like this. I thank God to this day that those rounds landed and nobody got hit. Two of them were so close to where I was, I remember walking up and looking into the hole that it made. And I got on the radio, and I just said, check fire, check fire, check fire. We've got friendly artillery coming in. And they didn't know me, because we were attached to a unit that didn't know me. And I've thought about this a lot. And so I said, well, we'll move it a little bit. And they moved a little bit, still on that same ridge, that little hump in the ground, and came right into us again. And I think there was a combination of things. I'm yelling into the radio, but I think two things. They didn't know me. They probably thought, we got a real loser out here. He doesn't know what close artillery is and what isn't. But also, I was a believer at that point, and I wasn't swearing. I think that had—because, you know, Marines in those situations usually get pretty animated and say some things. I wasn't doing that. I was just telling them, check fire, check fire. Well, they finally stopped it. We had no answers. Couldn't make sense out of our maps. Company commander loved this guy. We moved out. He was a captain. two to three days, we didn't know where we were. I remember just trying to find something to get an azimuth on. Then what happened was our unit, our company, came point to point with another Marine platoon. And again, I thank God. I mean, that's so dangerous, you know, coming through that elephant grass. But this lieutenant comes up, he says, we start talking about, do you know where we are? He says, I think maybe I figured it out. He says, I think that they landed you guys on your objective for the next day. The helicopter pilot made a mistake. And my whole point in this is, what if you believe something that's not true? You know what I mean? Everybody involved here, the people I'm talking to on the radio are believing, they can't be on their objective, we landed them, 1,000 meters back. That's nuts. It doesn't make sense. But we know that they're nuts. But we're taking their artillery as they're trying to soften up the objective, which we've already marched up on. And fortunately, nobody was there. The whole thing is nuts. And I can remember talking to this lieutenant. And he says, look at this. What if this is where we were supposed to be landed? And this is where you guys ended up being landed. And they messed us up, too. And all of a sudden, I remember the map just going, and making sense. All of a sudden, the map. Things are starting to fit, I can see. Okay, there is a contour right there that matches where we know we are now. Okay, so here's this whole point of this. What if what you believe isn't true? That's huge, that's huge. And what if It's one thing if you believe the car's got enough gas in it and it doesn't. You can deal with that. But when we're talking about the things of Christ that have eternal ramifications, then you can't have anything more serious and it makes what I was in and what all my buddies were in over there, that doesn't matter anymore. You know what I mean? The important thing is, what if you believe what isn't true? Now I want you to look at what Jesus Christ said in Luke chapter 11. In Luke chapter 11 and verse 34, Luke 11, 34. It seems a little bit hard to understand, but it's exactly what we're talking about. The Lord says, the lamp of your body is your eye. When your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light. But when it's bad, when your eye doesn't see what it's supposed to see, When it is bad, your body's full of darkness. See what he's saying? Then he says, then watch out that the light in you may not be darkness. In other words, if you're believing that which is not true, then what you consider to be the light is darkness, okay? It's how you miss, and I've never met anybody I don't think that believed, they have a worldview and an understanding of what they believe, and there's a confidence in it. But it runs contrary to scripture. But they think that the light that is in them is light. You know, how often do you hear, well, I just, I don't think it's that way. You know, we present the gospel, and one of my friends said to me, well, none of this stuff about sin. So that says God's not holy and doesn't have to deal with justice and so forth, at any rate. So, let's look at the truth in scripture concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. How important is he? You know, I think of the breadth of understanding of who Christ is, from, well, maybe he lived, I don't know if he did or not, okay. And if he did, well, he's a Jew over there, and evidently in Israel, and I don't know. And there's a bunch of Christian people that follow him. but I don't believe he was God in the flesh, and I don't believe he died on the cross for people's sins, and rose again, and so forth. So, Ephesians chapter one, verse 10. I'm gonna read from verse nine. He, speaking of God, made known to us the mystery of his will according to his kind intention, which he purposed in him, which he purposed in Christ. Get this. With a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, this is a time in the future, and I love this verse. That is the summing up of all things in Christ. Because he's the truth. Everything is gonna be summed up. He's the end all and the be all of all that's going on. And it goes on and says, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth, everything's gonna be summed up in him. There's quite a difference there between somebody that lived a couple thousand years ago. And the word of God says, everything's gonna be summed up in him, whether it's in heaven or on earth. Go also to Colossians chapter one and verse 18. It says, He is also the head of the body of the church, the group of all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is also the head of the body of the church, that universal church. And he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. But here's where we go. So that he himself might come to have first place in everything. That's God the Father's plan. That Jesus Christ is gonna have first place in everything. Okay. You know, I think it's so interesting. History tells us that 11 of the 12 apostles suffered martyrdom. Now, you know, I have a, there's quite a distinction between, and bear with me here, they didn't have to die for Christ. I mean, it came down to the moment where they could say, I swear allegiance to Caesar, I put this little bit of ashes in this, whatever it was, and they go free. And there's a lot of difference between that, and I honor these, I honor the men that died for our country, I honor the men that serve us as law enforcement, but they don't get up in the morning saying, I purposely, will die today for what I believe. If they do die, it just happens suddenly. They're in a fight. The same thing in the military. Now, sometimes in the military, a guy will jump on a grenade. I was on the radio with a guy who's a captain who had his radio operator jump on a grenade and give his life for that captain. That man made a decision. But usually, my point is, people that die usually don't expect they're gonna die. They know they could, but they don't expect it. And 11 of the 12 disciples or apostles made a choice to die for Christ. That's a huge thing for me, because God used them to found the church and to write these things And I have a lot of trouble believing that, like some people have said, well, they just ran with it. They saw this was a good opportunity and they could take people in and establish a religion. But wait a minute, it cost them their lives. They purposely did that, that's huge. Okay, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. First Corinthians 15, 24. He's talking about the final period in this part of history, then the future, and it reveals something to us. What's Christ, what's the purpose of Christ? It says this, then comes the end when he, previous verse tells us he's talking about Christ, when he delivers up the kingdom, to the God and Father when he has abolished all authority and power, all the powers that are arrayed against God. And God, for his own purpose, is allowing this tremendous conflict to go on. And he's solving it through Christ. But there's gonna come a day when Jesus Christ will have vanquished the enemies of God. And then verse 25 says, for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. Okay. So let's look further at Who is this person? Who is this one that's the truth? Colossians chapter one and verse 16. These verses will be familiar to many of you. Colossians chapter one, verse 16. Speaking of Christ again, for in him all things were created. That means he's God. All things, he created all things, both in the heavens and on earth. Visible and invisible, all the stuff you can see and all the stuff you can't see. Whether thrones, even as to who's gonna reign and so forth, scripture follows through on this over and over again. Whether thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him, okay? Scripture then says, not only is he creator of all things, but he's the one holding all things together. He's in charge of, I don't even know where to begin with this, You know they talk about these strong forces in the atom and we found out if you can break those forces you can end up with an atom bomb and nuclear fission and so forth. They don't know where that force has come from. And God talks about this. He talks about his omniscience all knowing that he calls all the stars by name. It's astounding. And because of that, and not only because of that, because of his control, not one of them's missing. They're all in the right, you know, you followed anything with the James Webb. some of the great things that have been seen there and before that, the Hubble telescope. And so often, our scientists say, well, when they finally see something like this, it's gonna be spinning this way, and they find out it's spinning the other way. And so that really, that's hard for them to deal with, because now, everything that led them to believe that is, you gotta rule it out, and you gotta come up with something else, you know? Fascinating. Hebrews chapter one and verse three. This says, and he is the radiance, Jesus Christ is the radiance or the shining forth of the glory of God. Scripture tells us that God is a spirit. He's invisible. He dwells in unapproachable light who no man has seen or can see. Jesus Christ took on, the Son of God took on human flesh to reveal God to us. And so it says, and he is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature. And that's why he said in the upper room, one of the disciples said, show us the father. You know, you're talking about God, the father all the time, show him to us. He didn't realize he's invisible and he dwells in unapproachable light. And so Jesus said to him, haven't you seen me? I am the father of one. He who has seen me has seen the father. And I always like to think of it this way. If the father took on flesh and came to earth, he would do exactly what Jesus Christ did. You get what I'm saying? He would carry out who he was in human form. Okay, Hebrews 1.3, he's the radiance of his glory, the exact representation of his nature. But here's what we're looking for. And upholds all things by the word of his power. It's so interesting. Science says, there was a big bang, and that's what brought creation about. And someone said, I've read this, the big bang can come out of nothing. And what does scripture say? Scripture says, that by the power of God, by his word, he created out of nothing. And we as humans, how do I say this, are so nasty. That's a nice word for us, really. We're so against God having any control in our lives that we don't wanna, we're comfortable with, well, it just happened. But don't tell me there's a God, because if there's a God, I've got an answer to it. I can't escape that. I'm gonna have to stand before him. Okay, so he upholds all things. And then, he's the only one that can save from sin. There is no other way. Your good outweighing your bad and all of that. Scripture says no. Even your good isn't acceptable. It says filthy rags because God is holy. He can't take any contamination. You think of how many good things, quote, from our perspective we've done and we did them with the wrong motive. We did them out of pride, we did them out of, you know, wanted to be recognized and well thought of and wanted to make a sale, you know, whatever it is. There's all these things that motivate us. Okay, so Jesus Christ is the only Savior, Acts chapter four. And in Acts four, Peter, has just been involved in the healing of a lame man, and that's brought about all these people that he's gonna be able to address. And so he says, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. By this name, this man stands before you in good health. And then he says, he's the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, which became the chief cornerstone. What's he talking about? The rulers rejected Christ as the Messiah of Israel, and God raised him from the dead, And so, what Peter's saying is, there was a promise in the Old Testament, the cornerstone, they did their best to do away with him, but now he's been resurrected, he's the cornerstone, and then he goes on and he says, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven. that has been given among men by which we must be saved. And then John chapter three, verse 36, where John the Baptist is speaking. John 3, 36. He says this, he who believes in the Son, the Son of God, John 3, 36, He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey, in other words, by believing, and by the way, the command to believe the gospel is a command. It's an act of obedience. He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, in other words, eternal life, but the wrath of God abides on him. And then let's look at Philippians chapter two. Philippians two, and we'll start in verse five. This magnificent portrayal of what Jesus Christ did. Start in verse five. So the Apostle Paul says, have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped or held onto, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Remember what he said, Father, before he was arrested, Father, if it's possible, let this cup, this thing I've got to drink, the cross, let it pass from me. You can see the awfulness of suffering the wrath of God for my sin and your sin. And he says, if it's possible, I love the fact that he said that, because it made it clear that it wasn't possible, because he went to the cross. And like the Apostle Paul says, if you can be saved by the law, if you can be saved by doing good works, then Christ died needlessly. He, that was a wasted death. If all we have to do is be good, God wasted his son's death on the cross. You know, that's not gonna happen. You think of the great, the great cost. Okay, so, goes on. And being found, verse eight, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. And it says this. What's the result of that? Therefore also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. Of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So when the father sent, son was willing to come, and he became obedient to the point of death, and God raised him from the dead, and there is a time coming when every knee is going to bow, Like it or not, that's what's gonna transpire. And then one more, John chapter five. The one who is the savior is also the judge, the final judge. John chapter five, verse 22. Says this, for not even the father judges anyone. but he, the father, has given all judgment to the son. Now get this, in order that all may honor the son, even as they honor the father. And then this statement, he who does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him. In other words, there's no possibility of an end run around Jesus Christ to God. You can't get there, okay, because Scripture is very clear. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Okay, and since it's his plan, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should have everlasting life. It's clear the Father sent him, that the Father loves him, and this is the only plan that we have for salvation. Okay, and the great deception is, no, it's just all about works. It's just all if you're a good person. Some people are and some aren't. But I've said I haven't been to a funeral that I attended and didn't do where I haven't heard everybody thinks everybody goes to heaven. It doesn't matter who it is, they all go to heaven without Christ. Scripture's very, very clear about that, and that's one of the reasons that Scripture says, narrow is the way that leads to salvation. It's not. There's a measure of comfort going down that broad road. Everybody all around you, behind you, in front of you, on the sides, just everybody moving in the broad way that scripture says, Christ said, leads to destruction. But there's a narrow way, you know, that is Jesus Christ. And so when somebody says to me, There's only one way? That is so narrow. And I said, yep, it's narrow. Because God only had one son, the Son of God, member of the Trinity, Almighty God, to come and become a man and be willing to do it all. and go to the cross for us and suffer the wrath of God for us so that we could be, I love those words, entirely forgiven. Sins remembered no more. What an incredible thing. When I think back on my sins, I am disgusted. Just my rebellion against God. Father, how we thank you for Jesus Christ and to see him as the truth, the one who unlocks all of these things that are of utmost importance. Nothing we could talk about is as important as who is Jesus Christ, and what has he done, and what have I done with that? Have I trusted him? Father, we thank you for your word, and ask your blessing on us as we go, in Jesus' name, amen.