All right, if you have your Bible, turn to the Gospel of John. John. The Gospel of John, the Apostle. John the Baptist wrote no books, but John the Apostle did. John, chapter number one, and verse number one. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made, and Him was life, and the life of the light of men. The light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness to the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came to his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born. not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. Note carefully verse 14. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Father, bless this holy Word now as it goes forth. Bless the messenger this morning and give me unction to preach it. In thy name I pray, amen. As I mentioned to you in the past, we talked about the gospel, we talked about this fourth gospel, we talked about what's called the Synoptic Gospels, and this is a This is an arbitrary term that's been given by most Bible colleges and so forth. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called synoptic gospels because they have one view. The idea is that you create what's called a life of Christ, but that's really a work in vanity because it's hard to put together a life of Christ. I don't think the gospels were written for that purpose, but in any event, The fourth gospel is not considered one of the synoptic gospels. The fourth gospel was written by the apostle John. John was the only apostle left at the cross while all the rest of them had gone away. It was John on the Isle of Patmos who saw the coming of the Lord and power and great glory. It was John the Apostle who wrote 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John. In 1st John chapter number 1, John the Apostle reaches deep into the depths of the human soul and begins to open up for us what's really going on. And so the Apostle John was chosen, I believe, by the Holy Spirit to write what some consider, and I'm one of them, to be the final book in the completion of the Canon of Scripture. The book of John and the book of Revelation, which is called the Apocalypse. These are the last two books written in the Bible, and they're written by the same man, the Apostle John. Somewhere about 90 to 95 AD closes out the Canon of Scripture. If you find someone telling you that John or Matthew or Mark were written 135, 140, 150, 200 AD, that's a bunch of garbage. Let me tell you something right now. Please understand this. There is absolutely no evidence, absolutely no evidence that would date any of the Gospels past the first century. So the Apostle John writes the Gospel of John and completes the Scripture. I told you how the gospel of John is unique in the sense that it presents to us the new birth. And the new birth is so very, very important. You don't hear a lot of preaching about the new birth today. You hear a lot of preaching about feel good and about building the kingdom. You hear an awful lot of that. But we're not interested in feeling good and building kingdoms. We're interested in preaching the Word of God, exalting Christ. He'll take care of the rest of it. So the Gospel of John starts in eternity past and moves into eternity future, just like the apocalypse. It goes from time past, into the time, future. And there's only three tenses of time anyway, past, present, and future. And so the Apostle John says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So the beginning has to do with creation, has nothing to do with God. God is from everlasting to everlasting. He has no beginning. When scripture says, in the beginning, it's talking about four creatures. I'm one of them, and so are you. We are creatures here today. We had a beginning. This Gospel of John is a magnificent thing because it is different from any other book in the Bible. I told you how that the Gospel of John is a book within books. If you could only have one book of the whole Bible, of all 66 books of Holy Writ, there's one book that could get you right with God without problem at all, and that is the Gospel of John. For what you have here is what makes a man right with God He that hath the Son hath life John said and to receive Christ is to believe upon him So I'm gonna preach you this morning a message that God's given me and moved upon my soul About the gospel of John and I want to title it and the title is very important The title to this message this morning is the birth of death Now think of that for a moment the birth of death. And so we'll deal with that toward the end of the message, but keep that in your mind as we deal with it. The gospel of John has miracles that are called sign miracles. The gospel of John has the great I am's of Christ, where he says, I am this and I am that, identifying himself with the great I am of the book of Exodus. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ is presented in the Gospel of John in a fashion where no one can mistake it whatsoever, even starting the first chapter of the Gospel of John. He told you plainly, the Word, which is God, was made flesh and dwelt among us. So it starts with the absolute deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Someone comes to you and tells you that Christ is a created God, he got his doctrine straight out of hell. The Lord Jesus Christ is the creator. And Paul makes that plain in the book of Colossians chapter number two. But there are seven signs in the gospel of John, and starting with the first one and ending with the last one, we have quite a picture for us. In John chapter number two, we read about where he changes the water into wine. The Bible says, for this is my blood of the new covenant, Matthew chapter number 26, the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. You see, wine in the Bible, here we read it in the Gospel of John, could very well be a type of the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, no question. And if you notice carefully, when this new wine shows up in John chapter number 2, it is not put into old. Bottles it's put in new bottles for the old bottle cannot contain all the power of that new wine And my friend this is important when the Lord Jesus Christ came 2,000 years ago. He didn't come to prop up the law He didn't come to make the law better. He didn't come to cleanse the law he He came to fulfill the law. What the law could never do, Christ completed it in absolute perfection. So we start in the gospel of John, chapter number 2. The scripture says, this is the first sign miracle that he performed. And so for those of you this morning to understand, we have a new covenant presented to us. But notice the last miracle in the gospel of John is in chapter number 11 and verse number 1. And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. Isn't that something? And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes. And his face was bound about with a napkin. And Jesus saith unto them, loose him and let him go. So we start the gospel of John's miracles with a new covenant. and we finish him with a resurrection from the dead. Now, does that fit anywhere? Is there anybody in this house this morning, spiritually, that had been raised from the dead? I have. I had a resurrection in 1973, but the Bible says the hour is coming when all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God and come forth. He is Master and Lord over death. Make no mistake about it. He doesn't raise the dead. He is the resurrection of the dead. Wherever he goes, There can be no death, for he is life itself, and personified in our Lord Jesus Christ. So these sign miracles, as they are called, what is the sign for? What would you use the sign for, for the most part? You use that to direct you. The sign tells you whether you're on an interstate, which one you're on, side road, where you're headed, east or west, north or south. These signs are used for direction, and these miracles in the Gospel of John are for that purpose. There are many other ways that you can understand the sign, no question. But here they are used as a pointing device to point you to Christ. You see there's a motive in writing the Gospel of John. The Kingdom of Heaven is not found in it. It's not in here. The Jewish Kingdom, Sermon on the Mount, none of that and that's all wonderful in its place. But its place is not in the Gentile kingdom today, which is born of the Spirit of God. The preaching of the Gospel of Christ, the Apostle Paul said, I came knowing nor the Gospel, nothing among you, but Christ and Him crucified. He also said this, he said it did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel to the church at Corinth. letting them know in an indirect way that baptism had nothing to do with the preaching of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we start with seven signs, changing water into wine and raising a man from the dead. Lazarus, he said, come forth. Now if he'd only said come forth, I can't imagine what would have happened. But he named him Lazarus, come forth. And of course he that was dead came forth. You see my friend, the dead does not respond to the power of the Word of God. The Word of God creates life where it goes and it must respond. The natural world, the water for example, the seas and all there is. They have no intelligent ability to answer to anything, but the voice that says, Barashith, Barah, to bring it into existence can create life where it goes forth. This is what happens to the, as the tulip, you know, total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace and predestination. They have a, they've got a, they've got a, they've got a dead body. Hyper-Calvinism teaches that there is nothing in you that can give response, that all you are is just simply a dead body. But you see, my friend, it's not the dead body that responds. It is the spirit of life that goes forth from the Holy Ghost. And that spirit of life can either be accepted or rejected. For when it goes, it lights and gives life. And my friend, that's what brings me into existence. I'm still dead this morning, as dead as I ever was in this body of clay. It's headed to the grave. It's going to the ground. That's all it'll ever, it's about worn out. It's about finished. I mean, after all, I wouldn't want to drag this thing into heaven with me. Imagine what this thing would look like 5,000 years from now. Imagine what Adam would look like right now. if he were still around, amen. You wouldn't want to look at him. And I'm going to tell you this, the Bible says plainly that as we have borne the image of the earthy, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly, amen. And when he arose from the dead, he rose alive to live forevermore. So we know that these miracles have a purpose. They have a purpose to point us on a new covenant to the one who raises the dead, and it is his voice that raises the dead. It's not Lazarus' ability to respond to anything. It is that life-giving command, rise, Lazarus, from the dead. In the book of Exodus, chapter number 3 and verse 13, Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and shall say to them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said to Moses, I am that I am. And he said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am, hath sent me unto you. Boy, what a thing. You mean, that's all you're gonna say I am what? He is everything there is to be everything, of every need that you may ever have, of all that it takes to maintain creation, of all that there was necessary to bring it into existence to begin with, of all there is from the Alpha and the Omega, I am that I am. He's the first and the last. There is nothing beside Him. There is no life outside Him. There's nothing that exists apart from Him. He upholds all things by the word of His power. In Him is life, and the life is the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness. He says, I am that I am, and He is, my dear friend. But in the gospel of John, that I am is brought out for us time and time. and time again. It's mentioned over and over. For example, he said in John 6, I'm the bread of life. John 8, he said, I'm the light of the world. John 10, he said, I am the door. John chapter number 10 again, he says, I am the good shepherd. Then in John, chapter number 11, he said, I am the resurrection and the life standing at the tomb of Lazarus. In John 14, he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And might I add, no man cometh unto the Father, he said, but by me. Oh, I'm sure they mean well. I understand they're dedicated. No question in my mind that some of them would give their life completely for their religion. But my dear friend, there is only one door to heaven. There's only one name above every name. There's only one way into God. And that way into God is the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is. The very hand of God in salvation to mankind. No man can come to the Father except by the Son. And no man knows the Father but the Son. And no man knows the Son but the Father. Even if you could approach the third heaven, you wouldn't know where to find Him. Even if you could, By some means, come near unto the person of that almighty being. You wouldn't see him. The Bible says, he dwelleth in the light which no man can see, which no man hath seen, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. The apostle Paul said that about that light that no man hath seen. You say, preacher, we saw God. The Old Testament said 70 elders of Israel saw him. No, they saw a manifestation. for them to be able to behold him. Do you remember in the garden of Gethsemane when they came to take him away? They walked him there and they began to question, who is he? Where is he? Where is this man? And the Lord Jesus Christ said, I am he. In your Bible, look at the italics. The italics is where the King James translators added a word to give it continuity. But the truth of the matter is, he simply said, I am. In plain words, he identified himself with that one in the book of Exodus. And the moment he said, I am, he let a little bit of the glory of God move forth from his mouth. When he said, I am, he gave them just a touch of what it meant to stand in the presence of that almighty eternal being. When he said, I am, he reached down inside their soul and made them little where they should be and him big where he should be. There is, my dear friend, a chasm between man and God that is insurmountable. There is no way you can even approach him. You can't see him. You can't know him. But the Lord Jesus Christ can take hold of him in one hand, and he can take hold of you in the other, and he can connect the two together, and he does it at the cross. It is there at the cross. at the cross of Christ where he died for your sin. He takes hold of God and he takes hold of man. And my friend, I thank God that he did that. I am, he said. And what happened then? According to the gospel of John, John's gospel, remember, that started out with his deity, Do you remember the Gospel of John that said, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God? Do you remember when the Bible uses a term like that? It's also in the book of Proverbs, talks about the wisdom of God held dear in His bosom. The wisdom of God existed before the creation of anything. The Word of God before the creation of anything. When God speaks by His Word, He manifests Himself. When He speaks by His Word, He gives you His mind. When He speaks by His Word, He gives you his direction, and so he said, I am. And that I am is all it took. You say, preacher, I'd like to see God. You don't want to see him right now. You don't want to see him in the state you're in. You dare not approach him to him. No way. No way. No. You say, I'm Christian. Yes, but your life is hid with Christ in God. You are accepted in the beloved. You have yet to be perfected, but praise be to God one day, He will perfect me, He will perfect you. That's what He talks about in the book of Hebrews. The spirits of just men made perfect, able, able, able, glory to God, to stand in the presence of Almighty God. to absorb him, take him in, understand him, see him for all that he is. We have finite minds. We have finite ability. We have finite understanding. Most of us know more than simply our experiences. Some of us go a little deeper and open books and begin to read them. Some of us go out and traverse the earth and learn more and more and more. My dear friend, let me tell you this. There is nowhere on this earth you can go to know more about God. except through our Lord Jesus Christ and His Word. And you'll never know more of the Father until He reveals Himself to you. David said this in Psalm chapter number 2, they quoted him. He said, if I make my bed in hell, thou art there. Now think about that. What do you mean? If I make my bed in hell, thou art there? Can you imagine? Can you imagine going somewhere that you could get away from God? No, you can't. Can you imagine? No, you can't. Have you ever thought about this? I sit around at night and think about stuff like this. Have you ever thought about this? 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, right? God's love is wonderful. The love of God is what a blessed, blessed, blessed thing indeed, right? Now, go home this afternoon and ask yourself this question. Does he love those that are in hell? You've never thought about that, have you? Have you thought about that? Some of you have. Have you wondered about that? Some of you got a shock to look on your face. I'm going to tell you why. Because there's far more to God than the human mind can conceive. far more to Him. But I know this, when I was unlovable, He loved me. When I was in the depths of my sin, He loved me. When I was lost without God, He loved me. He came to me, I didn't come to Him. He called my name, I didn't call His. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, amen. Oh, the love of God goes beyond description, goes beyond understanding. But it's one of those things that defines Him. God is love, the Bible says. You've heard the word a million times, agape, the love of God. God is something altogether different, except He revealed Himself. Canst thou by searching find out God? No. So what do we do? I put that out there to make you think. That's why I gather it's not that I have the answer. A lot of times I'll just give you what I'm thinking, let you worry with it. Amen. And sometimes God will give me the answer, but sometimes I'll continue to worry with it. But that's okay. He'll never get mad at you for searching, for praying, for crying, for digging, for wanting to get close to Him, to want to understand Him, to pray to Him. Man, are you listening? He'll never get mad at you to make that effort to draw nigh to God, and He'll draw nigh to you. Amen, amen, amen. soul, we come down toward that giving birth to death. What a thing. What a thought. They fell backward because they couldn't stand in the presence of holiness. The Lord Jesus Christ had become sin who knew no sin when they nailed him to the tree. What is that? You get a thousand commentaries and you'll get a thousand different views on it. What sin? What kind of sin? Where's sin? Sinner? This, sin, this, that, this, that? You'll find some of the smartest minds that ever lived. They don't agree with each other. You know why they don't? Because God hasn't revealed it yet to us. He made him to be sin for us who know no sin. And then he says that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. What righteousness? There was a righteousness of the Old Testament. The righteous one, he names three men, calls them apart and says, these are the three men. Their righteousness lifts him above all the rest of the righteous ones that have ever lived. That is the Old Testament righteousness. But when the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world 2000 years ago, prayer started. Oh, they prayed before, but they didn't pray like this man. This was the God-man. Now the Lord Jesus Christ, who had communed with the Father throughout eternity past, now prays to him. Something's changed, hasn't it? Of course it has. He prays now to the one that he was part of in eternity past. Are you listening? You can't pray too much, can you? No, you preach too much, sing too much, talk too much, laugh too much, so forth, and these are all fine. but you'll never pray too much. Now we come, John chapter number 20, verse 31. These are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Believing you might have life through his name. The word believe shows up more in the gospel of John, all three, Matthew, Mark, and Luke put together. John 20, 25. And there are also many other things which Jesus did. The witch, if they should be written every one, I suppose, John tells us, that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. God bless your soul, John. You have blessed me so many times. I want to meet John, don't you? Yes, sir. I want to meet John, the apostle. Now look at James chapter number two and verse number nine, 19 rather. Most believe this is the Lord's brother. When we say brother, we're talking about half brother. If there is such a thing, he's his brother. But in any event, James chapter number two, verse number 19. Here's what he says. Thou believest there's one God. Thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble. I hope you fear God. I hope you haven't been listening to too many feel-good, liberal preachers. I hope there's a fear of God in your soul. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the Bible says. I'm gonna ask you a question. Satan sinned before Adam did. Did Satan's sin bring death into this world? You ever thought about that? Satan had sinned before the first man. But did Satan's sin bring death into this world? As a matter of fact, did Satan's sin originate from the heart of Adam? Death entered the world through Adam. It's a Hebrew word, avam. It's connected with red and of the earth. That's what the word means. It's a good name. A lot of men named Adam, fine name. It's a Hebrew name, pure Hebrew, of the earth, Adam, Adam. So Romans chapter number five and verse number 12 answers one question, wherefore, Romans 5, 12, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin. So now we know how sin came into the world, don't we? And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Remember the birth of death? Now look at how James chapter number one, verse 14 and 15. Watch his wording carefully. James chapter number one, verses 14 and 15. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Now watch this. Then when lust hath conceived What do we say when a woman has conceived? You ever heard that term? Of course you have. Then lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." If you are one who sends out sin and you create sin and it's going forth from you all the time, mark it in your book, it's going to bring forth death. It's not going to finish. It's not going to die. It's going to bring forth death. Don't you look at something. the word in James chapter five verse fifteen when it hath conceived it bringeth forth sin the greek word ticto tau iota kappa tau omega ticto here's what it means to bring forth bear bring metaphorically or regular desires exciting to sin note carefully of females Firstborn, children, a bringing forth of a birth. The birth of death takes place in the heart of a man. That's what that book just told you. It doesn't come from Satan. It comes from the man. It is born inside us. You say, preacher, that makes man pretty big. Yeah, it makes him big. it makes him real big. Satan was not made in the image of God, but you have been. And the Bible says the day's gonna come when you judge angels. That's right. So, you mean to tell me that all this sin eating me up and tearing me apart originated from within? Yes. That's what I'm telling you. It comes from, and I'm not, I'm not blaming you for my sin. You see, no. my sins my sin and it arises from my heart but it doesn't stop by simply coming up it's a spiritual thing now here's the thing about spirit flesh does not beget life you know that it can't do it it can't do it it takes spirit to beget life god is a spirit life comes forth therefore from a spirit not from flesh. Sin is a spiritual thing. So it gives existence to stuff that you don't want any part of. But once it comes out of you and it has been born and come out of you, it's like Pandora's box. Once that thing's opened up and it gets out and it begins to move about, you've lost control of it. This is why the same John, folks, please listen, this is important. This is why the same John, in 1 John chapter number 1 says, if you say you have not sinned, you call God a liar. He said if you say you have no sin, you deceive yourself and the truth is not in you. In plain words, he says, if you'll let the Holy Ghost do his work in your heart before it ever becomes manifested forth as the deed, he will clean it up inside your heart. He'll cleanse you and forgive you. And cleansing has a lot to do with it. And I don't have time getting all that. That's a big one though. He said, I'll cleanse you. I'll forgive you. I'll cut it off. It won't come forth. It won't be given birth. It won't come out. It'll be cut off right inside you. if you walk in fellowship with him. And you have to walk in fellowship with the Lord. 1 John 1, the only way you can do it, you walk in fellowship. A man walks in the darkness, he says he has fellowship with God, he's a liar, he's deceived. But anyway, I don't wanna get off on a lot of that. That's beautiful stuff to study the Bible, how John connects these two together. But he makes it plain. You may have given birth to death this morning. and a death that comes out of you that begins to work now in your family, in your life, in your loved ones, in those around you. What do I do, preacher? Confess it, pray to God, cleanse you, cleanse it from all unrighteousness, cleansed by the blood of Christ. The only thing that can cleanse you is the blood of Christ. You see, it's one thing to be forgiven and another thing to be cleansed. I'm wanting to get into this, but I'm not going to do it. It's heavy-duty stuff, folks. You ever see anything rotting and decaying? Does it have a smell to it? All right. Are you listening? Have you given birth to death? I'm gonna close with this. If you believe, and he said if these things are written that you might believe, Greek word for believe is pistou, pistou, okay? That's believe. Now what's it mean? Well, the devils believe and tremble, right? They assent, they agree to an intellectual, physical fact that God exists. Yes. And a lot of people do that too. There is a God, man upstairs, supreme being, call him whatever you want to. Sure, you agree to that. That's fine. But that's not what John's talking about. John's talking about putting your trust in, taking hold of, pulling into you and taking hold of him as your savior and casting your sin upon him, confessing to him and receiving what he's done for you at the cross at Calvary and say, Lord Jesus, I believe. I believe in you. I believe on you. I'm trusting you. If I didn't have you, I'd go to hell, but you're my savior. I love you, I believe you, I believe in you, and I can't have without you. The lexicon says, to be firmly persuaded as to something to believe, firmly persuaded with the idea of hope and certain expectation. It seems like an oxymoron, I guess might be the word for it, to call the birth of death. But the truth of the matter is, all the sin in this world is not coming from demons, folks. It's coming from people. Us, me. Have you ever been chastened by the Lord? I have. He's busted my hide more than once. I don't know about you, but I can't get away. He wears me out. He sure does. But that's okay. He lets me know when he does it that I belong to him. Amen. He lets me know where to go. Go back to 1 John 1. Get this thing done right. Confess it before it's born, before it comes out, before it's given birth, while it resides deep down in the soul. We don't know our soul. He does. Search me and try me, David said. See if there be any wicked way in me. If there's a propensity inside me to do a certain thing, to go a certain direction, do this, that, this, that. Search me. Try me. Seek out. within my soul. Would you bow your head, Father in Jesus' name? I've delivered my soul. Bless your holy name now. Help these dear folk. If there's somebody in the house this morning that needs help, let them come today. Let them come. Let them call upon your name. Maybe they got a hold of what I'm saying. Maybe they're realizing now that the problem is not the fellow next to them or the guy down the street. It's rising up from inside their own soul. and it's giving birth to death. Anybody raise your hand this morning and say, Preacher Lawson, don't you pray for me. God bless you. God bless you with hands everywhere, all over the place. God bless every one of you. I'm just the messenger, but I'm doing what God's called me to do, and I want to help you. God bless you over here. God bless you back there. Let's pray then. Let's pray. You all put your hands up. Let's pray, Father. I thank you, Lord. I'm not worried to be up here. Don't claim any right to it. Solely by the grace of God that you reach down, pull me out of hell and call me by your grace and put a Bible in my hand and your word in my heart. Bless these dear folk. Let them do what they need to do this morning. Let them do what they need to do right now. I think maybe right now that they're beginning to see things differently. They're beginning to understand now spiritual truths, great spiritual truths. They're beginning to get a hold of it and thank God for it, Lord. Thank God for it. Bless every one of them now. Bless them. Bless all of them. Bless your word. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Let's stand up here this morning.