Him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in 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 of the light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of the 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 unto 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 of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Boy, there's a lot in those 12 verses, 13 verses. We looked last week at the Word of God, capital W, is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the living Word of God, the God that came to this earth on the form of a man, took upon himself a body, lived a perfect, sinless, holy life. The wages of sin is death. Christ died for our sins. That's the gospel. Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day from the dead. Man in his natural state is born dead in sin. He has no light at all. The Lord Jesus Christ is the light, capital L. Satan has a false light. Everything God is, Satan has a counterfeit. The Lord Jesus Christ is the light of the world. Satan has a false light, religions, religions of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh. Satan has counterfeits that appear to be God. You look at some of the different, like Mormonism, they teach that Jesus Christ is the brother of Lucifer. That's their doctrine. teach that Jesus was conceived by God the Father, put on this earth, and through His perfect life He achieved Godhood. So, now He is God of this planet. And a Mormon believes that if they live a good enough life they can achieve, they have three levels of Heaven, they can achieve the third Heaven, and if they achieve that through their good works that God will give them a planet and they can be the God of that planet. And forever they will populate that planet with multiple wives in Heaven. So, I mean it sounds crazy, doesn't it? Well it is. But that's what they believe, they seriously believe that. And they say, well we believe Jesus is the Savior. But see their idea of Jesus, that's a different Christ. It's a different Christ. The Christ we're reading about here created everything. There was nothing here until He created it. The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, these three are one. The triune Godhead, the Trinity, called the Godhead in the Scriptures. God became a man. 1 Timothy 3.16 it says, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. I mean that is a great mystery. How do you explain that? All you can do is believe it. And while he was here on this earth, that's what we're going through the gospel of John. We'll tie into Matthew, Mark, and Luke as we go through John. But seeing what he did on this earth, I mean, it's just, he's proved himself over and over and over. And I think one of the saddest verses that we read here, well, he is the light. Let's look through some of these truths here. Verse three, it says, all things were made by him. And without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Now that's the spiritual side of everything. The spiritual light of God's word shined into darkness. That's us. We're in darkness. We're born that way. Everybody that comes into this earth is born a sinner. God made Adam out of the dirt. breathed in him the breath of life and Adam became a living soul. He took Eve out of Adam. We looked at that a little bit last week. He gave them a free will. They were created innocent. They weren't created holy, they were created innocent. They had a perfect body, perfect soul, perfect spirit. They were designed to live forever on this earth. They had the option of choosing the tree of life or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He said, don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. could have eaten the Tree of Life and lived forever. They never touched it. Why? I have no idea. And we looked at the timeline they could have been in the Garden before Satan came and tempted them. They could have been in the Garden for 100 years according to the timeline in the Scriptures. We know that after they fell God cast them out of the Garden. They became sinners and God couldn't fellowship with sinners anymore. And before He cast them out of the garden, He took an animal, I believe it was a lamb, He killed that animal and He clothed them with the skin. The Scripture says the wages of sin is death. The very first death was brought about by the very first sin. And it's been true ever since. The wages of sin is death. It's never changed. Cain and Abel, after they were born, Adam and Eve outside the garden. You can imagine the campfire stories that were told, sitting around the campfire at night as they're growing up. Mom and dad are telling them what it was like to walk with God in a perfect environment. No bugs, no problems, no disease, no nothing. And it says in the process, well, let's just go back and look at it real quick. Turn back to Genesis chapter four, I believe it is, or three. Genesis 4. Here's a very interesting truth right here in chapter 4. Adam, this is after they were cast out of the garden. Adam knew Eva's wife and she conceived and bear Cain and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bear his brother Abel. It looks like they were twins. Abel was a keeper of the sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time, that's what we were just talking about, those nights around the campfire, all those stories about what it was like to walk with God in the garden. And we won't go look at the timeline, but like I said, they could have been in the garden for 100 years, easy, walking with God on a daily basis. And Satan watched that. Lucifer, I don't know when Lucifer fell and became Satan, I don't know. we could guess, well, why guess? Anyway, he was in the garden, according to Ezekiel, it says you were in the garden of Eden. He saw God walking with his two created beings. And Satan was the one that decided he was going to be like God. I mean, he was the ultimate of God's creation in the spiritual world. And that's what brought about his fall. And God cast him out. So when Satan approached Eve, he had already fallen. And how did he approach her? First thing he says, yea, hath God said. He questioned what God said. Well, we know from studying that Eve said, well, we shouldn't eat the tree. We can't eat the tree of the garden. We can eat the trees of the garden, but we shouldn't eat the tree of the knowledge you have enabled. Well, God said, you freely eat. It was free. You could eat anything you wanted except that one tree. And that's where Satan started. He questioned what God said. And as he conversed with Eve, he convinced her that you need that tree because that'll make you just like God. And when she took of that fruit, she was deceived and ate that fruit. Adam willingly partook of that fruit because that was his wife and he died for her. That's a perfect picture of Christ dying for the church. We looked at that last week. There's so much in that first couple chapters of Genesis. Well, now we're into Genesis chapter 3. The children have been born. They're outside of the garden. Let's see. In verse 3 of chapter 4, it says, In the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. So we see both men having a knowledge of God. They both believed in God. They both had faith in God. They both brought offerings to God. But only one of the two brought what God demanded. When Adam and Eve fell, he took an animal, a lamb, killed that lamb. was shed, the wages of sin is death. That has never changed. From the Garden of Eden until now the wages of sin is death. And then He made them wear those coats of skin to remind them of what their sin cost. And for all this time they walked with God in perfect harmony and now sin separated, they're out of the Garden. Now Cain and Abel, they reach an age where they both realize they have to bring an offering to God. Well, Abel brought, by faith, what mom and dad told them that God wanted. Well, Cain is a perfect picture of religion. Cain worked hard at that garden. He grew these vegetables, and he brought this, who knows what that looked like. Right out of the garden, these vegetables were probably huge. And he was so proud of what he had done. That's what God wanted. He doesn't want us to bring anything to him. He wants us to Take the blood of the Lamb that was shed for Adam and Eve, perfect example, the Lamb of God who shed His blood for us, except what He did for us, don't bring anything. Just bring what God requires. And what's God require today? Believe on my Son. He that believeth, hath everlasting life. There's no works involved. Cain did the best he could. God didn't want it. What did He do to Cain? Cursing? No, He gave him a second chance. He said, if you repent, well, let's look at it. Verse six, and the Lord said unto Cain, why art thou wroth? Why are you bad? Why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. Sin will rule over you, but if you do what I want you to do, I'll forgive you. And Cain talked with Abel his brother, and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him." Do we have any religions in the world today that kill people because they don't believe what they believe? Yeah, it goes on all the time. Praise God for America. I wouldn't want to live in the Middle East. I don't want to live over there. You know there are multiple people, the way I understand it, through the Arabian countries and through China and Korea that the Gospel is just spreading like wildfire. There's all kinds of people getting saved over in those countries. We need to pray for our brothers and sisters in other countries. I have never, think about it, we complain about the way things are going, but we're usually sitting in a restaurant when we complain. We're eating food that you can pay for, that's plentiful. I remember, I don't know if it was Paul's wife or Richard's wife, we have two missionaries in Ukraine for our visitors, they don't know what I'm talking about. They both married Ukrainian ladies, and when they, I can't remember if Paul or Richard, when they brought them back to the country, they took them to Kroger's, and she just walked around. She had tears in her eyes. She had never seen so much food in her life. It's just a local grocery store. We're so used to that stuff, you know? I remember when COVID hit, you couldn't find paper towels. You couldn't find anything. People were hoarding everything. My daughter, she says, you got a lifetime of paper towels right there. Just in case, you know, it might happen again. Paper towels are pretty important. But you know what I'm talking about. We are so blessed. We are so blessed. We don't want to take anything for granted. Just thank God that he's blessed our country. And why has he blessed it? Because we've been the greatest propagation of the gospel since the country's been here. But that's going this way now. The gospel's not going out. It's just not going out like it used to. We talk about it all the time. When was the last time you saw somebody saved? I mean, when I got saved in 1978, you had just gotten saved in 76. That man right there led me to the Lord. And a lot of people have birthdays in the 70s and 80s. A lot of them you talk to. When did you get saved? Oh, it was 1975. Well, lately, you don't hear that many people you know, younger people getting saved. You just don't see it. I mean, Satan has done a good job. He's done a good job at hiding the gospel. People have less desire for truth nowadays than I think at any time, any time. And that's one of the signs of the second coming. The Lord talked about apostasy, the hearts of men growing cold. And I believe we're right on the edge of the second coming. And we're just seeing signs and things pointing to it. It's just like spring when you start seeing the grass getting green and the buds on the tree. You know summer's night. That's what the Lord says. He says, you know, you can discern the face of the sky, but you can't discern the times you're in. And as we approach the end times, it's gonna be wars, rumors of wars, pestilence, earthquakes, famines. And it's just like, well, birth is a good example. When you first get pregnant, everything's good, and then you start getting sick, and then you, I've never been through this, just from watching my wife. Oh, you ladies can verify what I'm saying. And the closer you get, the worse it gets. And the pain set in, and man, it's just miserable. And finally, birth happens, and that child, wow. Well, that's the way the end days are going to be. It's going to get worse and worse and worse. And finally, the Lord's going to say, come up hither, and He's going to take the church off the earth. And that's going to begin that seven years of great tribulation, where God is going to deal primarily with the nation of Israel, but the whole world that has rejected Him. And at the end of that, Kingdom is coming to be back to the Garden of Eden. I mean, and we're coming back in new bodies. My goodness, what we got to look forward to is just incredible. You ever anticipate a vacation? Well, that's the way we ought to be to the Second Coming of the Lord. I mean, when we used to plan a vacation, you know, a couple of weeks away, you'd be excited. But that last week, oh, man, I can't wait. Boy, that day before you go, it's just, yeah. then at the end of the vacation you're disappointed, you've got to go back, go back to work again, go back to reality. Well guess what? We come back with the Lord once we leave here it's just going to be anticipation, anticipation just from there on for eternity. What's next? What's next? Wow, what a Savior. And what did we do to get this gift? We believed Him. That's what was so hard for me to understand as Walt gave me scripture. 33 years, never saw a Bible in my life. Had religion. And he started giving me scripture, and it was so contrary to what I had been taught. And when I got saved that day, it was... It's hard to describe. I haven't been the same since. It's been 46 plus years now, and just every day gets better and better and better. And eternity is going to be times whatever number we want to put behind it. Wow, what a Savior. And He did all that for me because He loved me. And He just gave me the opportunity to just come to Him by faith and trust what He did for me. Cain and Abel. Abel brought what God required, the blood of the Lamb. It's just that simple. Cain worked and worked and worked, God didn't want it. The two verses that God used to lead me to Christ, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. When I came to God, I was hanging on to all the stuff I had, all the philosophy I'd built up. It took about six weeks of nothing but scripture. And towards the end, I kept thinking, it can't be that easy. All he wants me to do is believe him? See, that's that pride. There's gotta be something I gotta do. Cain, look what I got. Abel, blood of the Lamb, by faith. When I trusted Jesus Christ that day, on a Friday afternoon, He gave me peace that hasn't left. It's eternal. He gave me eternal life. Wow, what a gift. What a giver, what a giver. He's the one that gave it. All I did was receive it. Okay, let's go back to the first chapter of John. I remember the day I met Ken. This is Ken sitting right here with a cool looking hat on. Man's stylish. I was down in the park. Izzy was still alive. It was a year ago. And I used to go down Edgewood and make a left on Baughman in the little parking lot up there, and we'd walk the upper end of the trail. We had a specific distance, come back, and come home. Well, I had some tracks in my pocket, and I'm praying that morning. I said, Lord, give me somebody I can talk to today. You know, bless these tracks. I get down to the stop sign. I said, I think I'll just go to the park today. Went down to the park, which I never did. Susan had been gone for quite a while. Pulled in, I thought, where am I going to go? I'll just take the walk that my wife and I used to do towards the end. We'll walk around the upper end of the lake and get back in the car and come back home. So I started down. The first lady I ran into, she had a t-shirt on. It said Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Lean not that I don't understand thee, in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. That was awesome. Talked to her for a while. I had a great blessing with her. Saved lady, knew the Lord. Passed a couple of tracks out around the corner. Coming down the shallow end and getting ready to go back up the little ramp to the parking lot, and I see this guy sitting in the chair, and he's got a book. As I get close, I could see it's a Bible. It's got columns on both pages. I said, what kind of book is that with columns on both pages? He said, that's a Bible, and I've been reading it for about a year now, just waist high, right over the plate. Man, we had the best time together. I found out he was a Christian. And he got up, and he headed to the car. We went under the car, and we talked, and we talked, and we just talked about the Lord. And I said, I told him about our Bible study on Tuesdays. He says, yeah, that sounds interesting. He said, I'll try to make it. Well, that following Tuesday, man, I was so excited. I was down the golf course where we were meeting, looking and looking. He wasn't there. Oh, darn. Well, the following Tuesday, I figured he was not coming. We were going to sit outside the picnic table. I had to go into the pro shop for a minute, and I walked up in the back door, and there he's standing there with that cool-looking hat on, dressed real nice, talking to one of the employees that I knew, and he's got his Bible in his hand. I went, praise the Lord. He'd been there as long as he could do it. He's been there every Tuesday since. He can't get enough of that book. That's what happened to me. I couldn't get enough. I still can't. The more God shows me, the more I think, man, Lord, I don't know anything. What a Savior. He just gets greater and greater and greater. What a book. So anyway, getting back to John chapter one. Look what it says here in verse 10. He was in the world and the world was made by him. And the world knew him not, but as many as received him, 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 of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." So that born of God, that is a spiritual birth because God is a spirit. Look what it says there in verse 13, which were born not of blood, The Jews used to brag when Christ was on the earth, well our Father is Abraham. The ones that rejected Christ, our Father is Abraham, we're Israel. We're not of blood, it's not a blood birth. See it's not because you're a Jew that makes you a Christian. Then he says, nor the will of the flesh. Well we know what the flesh is, that's us. As we go through Scripture it talks about the flesh and the spirit. There's nothing we can will to do to produce a new birth. Nothing. It's a free gift. You receive a gift by faith. You don't do anything to earn a gift, right? And look at the last part, nor of the will of man. That's something man does for you. That would fall under the category of religion. I was taught when I was sprinkled that made me a child of God. Well, that would be of the will of man. That's what man wills to do to people. It's not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man. God. How do you get that new birth? Look what it says in verse 13, "'But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believed on His name.'" What a simple, simple Gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now one of the saddest verses I believe in the Bible is verse 11. He came unto his own, that would be the nation of Israel, whom he chose way back in the Old Testament shortly after the flood of Noah. He picked Abram, then Isaac, the miracle child, then Jacob, and from Jacob the 12 tribes of Israel. And through those 12 tribes, we've studied Galatians, that's where the seed would come that would bless the world. The Lord Jesus Christ is that seed, according to Galatians. He said he came unto his own, and his own received him not. As we look through the Gospel, if you can understand where Israel as a nation is, they have been God's chosen people since Abram, and Abram was roughly 2000 B.C. When Moses came on the scene, it was about 500 years after Abram, Moses was given the law, priesthood, the sacrifices, the Temple. He was given all that under the law for Israel and Israel only. Gentiles could become Jews and worship the God of Israel, but it was strictly God's chosen people. He chose the nation of Israel. Why did He choose Israel? I don't know. We'll have to ask Him when we get to glory. But that's who He chose. over 1,500 years past Moses 2,000 years from Abraham he shows up just like the Old Testament prophesied over and over and over even gave the timeline through the book of Daniel even gave the timeline when he would show up and There were a few people that when he showed up they recognized him, but the nation as a whole They didn't want anything to do with him It's so sad especially the religious leaders The people, a lot of the people followed Him. They had multitudes following Him at times. But towards the end, they all forsake Him and reject Him. There's a timeline with Scripture. I know most of you people know this. We need a three-dimensional screen here. Second coming, creation. The most important part, beginning to end, is right there. The Apostle Paul said, when I come among you, I've come not knowing anything save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The cross is everything. And the part we're looking at here, 33 years before Calvary, Christ came to this earth, virgin born by Mary, God imparted through the Holy Spirit the seed that Mary needed to produce the Lord Jesus Christ. She's not the mother of God, she is the mother of the body of Jesus Christ. God doesn't have a mother, he is eternal, never had a mother, he lives forever. That is the most important part of history. From right here till there was all prophesied. From right here till there, we're all looking for that second coming. It's paid in full. The Lord's building His church. His church is made up of whosoever believes and is born again. It's just that simple. You can't join His church. You could join this church, but you can't join the true church. The true Church is a universal, invisible body made up of people that have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ. We can't look at people and tell if they're saved or not. You can't do it. There's only three that know I'm saved. That's God, Satan, and myself. That's the only three that know for sure that I'm saved. I can't prove it to you. I can't show you evidence. Well, I can show you evidence. I believe this book. But that is the most important point in history right there. The entire creation depends on that right there. If that didn't happen, where would we be? What had to happen, it was written. But he came to his own and his own received him not. Let's look at Matthew chapter 10. We're gonna get a little deeper into this. The Lord says to study the scriptures, study to rightly divide the Word of God. The Word of God has divisions. I worked with a fellow once, he says, I'm a red-letter Christian. I said, what's that mean? He says, I don't believe anything except the red part in my Bible. If you have a red-letter Bible, everything Jesus said is in red letters, okay? Well, if you're only a red-letter Christian, you're not in very good shape because the Word of God goes from Genesis to Revelation. When you look at the attributes of Christ and the doctrine of the coming kingdom, are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Does that mean if you're a meek person you're going to inherit the earth? No, it's a principle God has given the nation of Israel. You can't just take what Christ says because His Word goes from beginning to end. Every Word of God is pure. He tells us to rightly divide His Word. He said, I will magnify My Word above My name. See, so He puts a lot of emphasis on what He says. So for some of the younger Christians as we go through these things in the next coming weeks hopefully I'll be able to explain it. But when he calls his apostles in Matthew chapter 10 we won't read all the names, well let's do verse 2 chapter 10 verse 2 Matthew 10. Now the names of the twelve apostles were these, the first Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the publican, James the son of Alphaeus, and Labias whose surname was Thaddeus, Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot who also betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Now remember we just read in John he came to his own, Israel, and his own received him not. So that was the commission given to the apostles at the time that Christ was on this earth. He had a plan that was going to be fulfilled after the Resurrection. Now we're 2,000 years past the Resurrection. So we've got the entire Word of God. We've got a lot of light that they didn't have 200, 300, 400 years ago. We have much more light now than we had then. And God has got a plan. He's working out to just like your vacation. You got plans? You're going on vacation? Well, God has plans too, and He's going to fulfill His plans. He lays it out from beginning to end what He's going to do. He's going to build his church at the end of a prescribed time. Nobody knows when it is. He's going to take his church off the earth at the rapture. Every born again believer, the churches in the world are going to be filled the following week with people because they were just church members. They weren't in the body of Christ. And what better place for Satan to work than in religion? I mean, think about it. If We have a group called the CIA, and we're working subvertly in other countries trying to get information and people in places, in government, so we can learn more and more. That's the way Satan works. He has subverted the churches. He's got people standing in the pulpits preaching, teaching lies. In fact, while we're on this topic, turn to 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians 11. Now, I'm not going to point out people and religions, because I don't know. It's just like the church. You can't tell who's in the true body of Christ. I mean, if you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, plus nothing, the scripture says, he that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. The simplicity of the gospel. 2 Corinthians 11. says in verse 2, he says, I am jealous over you with godly jealousy. Now, he led these people to Christ. He was the one that went to Corinth, preached the Gospel, and these people were getting saved. And he was the one responsible for their salvation, for them believing the Gospel. He says, I'm jealous over you with godly jealousy. You all know what jealousy is. I mean, I can remember Susan before we got married. She dated her next door neighbor one day. I mean, I was so jealous. I was just a punk kid. I could have killed that guy. It wasn't his fault. You know how jealousy works? Well, this is Paul in a godly jealousy. He was so jealous of these people. Why? Because Satan had slipped some people in with false doctrine, and they were starting to follow him or them. Look what he says here. He says, for I have espoused you, verse 2, I have espoused you to one husband, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest by any means is the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Think of that. I grew up with religion. Man, I had a lot of religion. I had a lot of philosophy that I built up over 33 years. I had a lot of my own ideas. And when I read that, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Think about that. God became a man, lived a perfect sinless life. The wages of sin is death because we're sinners. We can't live good enough to make heaven. He, perfect, gave his life for us. He died in my place. When I realized that, six weeks I'd lay in bed at night and the Lord would replay my life every night. And I've used this illustration, I'd get ready to go to bed, Walter would give me scripture, next day he'd give me more scripture. Every night it got worse because I had more light. And the Lord, pretty much in my own words, would say, Larry, do you have your Pepsi and potato chips? Because I'm going to replay that movie again tonight. I want to remind you of stuff that you forgot you even did. And at the end of six weeks, I was so lost. No hope. I finally saw myself the way God saw me. And I kept thinking, there's got to be something I got to do. Not of works. When I just simply, by faith, Believe Christ, the simplicity which is in Christ. I just by faith forgot everything I had, forgot my sins, just that's repentance. I said, Lord, I need to be saved. And when I trusted him, 46 years and nothing's changed. I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. I grew up thinking I could lose my salvation. It was all based on what I did. I had to do this and do this and don't do this. And when I realized that he paid it all, he pretty much said, Larry, look at you, knowing you the way I know you. Look how much I love you. Look what I did for you. And I just simply believed on him. You can tell that to anybody in the world. God's paid for your sins. And if you just simply believe him, he will save you. know what the first result will be? Got to be something I got to do. It's that pride. Talk about original sin. What caused Satan to fall? His pride. I will be like the Most High. I will ascend above the throne of God. I will, I, me, me, me. He was so perfect and so beautiful and so wise that he got the big head, you might say. And God said, you're going to hell, pal. Down you went. He's been the enemy since then, since then. And that happened before Eve was tempted. And you can see the effects. Wages of sin is death. This is a giant cemetery that we live on. I mean, life is great when things are going well. But how often does that happen? I mean, you go through life, and things are going good, and next thing you know, down you go, and back up again, down you go. Well, this thing ends. When it ends, he that hath the Son hath life, he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. Now, look what happens with some of the believers here. Look at verse 3 again he says, But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preaches another Jesus, whom you have not received, or if you receive another spirit which you have not received, or another Gospel which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him. You might follow along with this guy. We talked about the Mormon Christ, how different he is from the Christ of the Bible. The Christ of the Bible is God Almighty, the creator of heaven. The Christ of Mormonism, most people don't, just go on their website, they'll explain what they believe. He attained godhood through his good life, and now he is producing spirit children on this earth with his multiple wives in heaven, and that's what they are trying to attain. What name do they use? Jesus. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, man, they got some great Christmas songs. If you believe in Mormonism, you're as lost as a titlist in tall grass. It's just that simple. There's one God and one mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus, God manifest in the flesh. There's only one Christ, and Paul's warning them, if somebody comes along with another Jesus, or another gospel, or another spirit, you might well follow along with him. The world's full of it. The world's full of it. What are we preaching today? You gotta be a Baptist? No. Gotta be baptized? No. You must be born again. It's a spiritual birth. You're born into this earth, dead in sin. What I didn't show you is back in Genesis, when Adam and Eve had, was it Seth? The first child, after Cain and Abel, it said that he was born in the image of Adam. And so are we. Adam was a sinner. Cain and Abel were born in the image of Adam. Seth was born in the image of Adam. Everybody since has been born in the image of Adam. We're born sinners. You don't have to teach a child to sin, do you? It just comes as natural as can be. Starting with babies. Man, they scream like they're burning to death. And as soon as you pick them up, I'm hungry, I'm hungry. That's just, that's life. And as they get older, chocolate all over their hands. Did you eat those cookies? No. We're born sinners. You don't have to teach a child to sin. It's just, it's as natural as breathing. And as we get older, we become more subtle at it. Why wouldn't you do that? Well, you do this. That's what God's word does. It doesn't point the finger at other people. It points it right here. It's like a mirror. When you start looking at what God says about individuals, you go, wow, I need a savior. And when you just simply believe what he did for us, It's like a pitcher, he's going good for about four innings and all of a sudden they start getting singles, double, home run, next thing it's five to nothing, the guy's got bases loaded, the coach goes at it, he said, you're out of here, brings another pitcher in. That guy's done. I was running my life for 33 and a half years, and when I realized that he was my substitute for my sins, He put me on the bench and he said, now watch this. He's pitched a shutout ever since. Not one hit off of him. That's just an illustration. He is our substitute. That's a Bible doctrine. He took our place. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish. The simplicity which is in Christ. Now look at chapter, or verse 13, same chapter. He says, for such are false apostles. deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ. See that? They transform themselves into the Apostles of Christ. This is happening back right after the Ascension and Paul going into all the world preaching the Gospel. He says, such are false apostles, deceitful workers, they transform themselves into the Apostles of Christ. Now look at Satan here. And no more will for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. reading John 1? He was the light, capital L, that came into the world. Everything God has Satan has a counterfeit. Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. The Lord Jesus Christ is the light of the world. Satan transforms himself into an angel of light. Now look at the rest of this, therefore it is no great thing if his ministers be transformed as ministers of righteousness. Okay, these are Satan's ministers. Where do ministers operate mostly? In pulpits, right? It's no great thing if his ministers be transformed into ministers of righteousness. They preach, do good, keep the commandments, live right, treat your fellow man right. Well, where does sin come in? Where does redemption come in? See, they kind of eliminate the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all about what you do, your righteousness. You can do this. No, we're sinners. We need a savior. And that's what the gospel has done. God has taken our place, paid our debt, and when we receive him, he gives us his life. I have his life. I don't have my own life. His righteousness is charged to our account, and our sin is paid for. ministers of righteousness. Satan, that's the enemy. It's not churches, it's not people, it's not denomination, it's Satan. He is the enemy. He is the counterfeiter. And he has ministers that preach righteousness. You can't get to heaven by righteousness, not by your own righteousness. You have to have perfect righteousness. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. When a man receives Christ, he gives him his righteousness and takes his sin. He declares him righteous because now that new birth takes you from being in Adam and places you in Christ. It's a spiritual birth that takes place. It's the greatest miracle on the face of this earth. When Christ walked the earth, he would raise the dead, he'd turn water into wine, he'd heal the leper, give sight to the blind. Boy, those were all impressive things. But to see that new birth, I think Nicodemus probably experienced it. The new birth today, when you see a person go from a child of the devil to a child of God by simply believing the gospel, what a miracle. Can't be seen by man, but it's the greatest miracle going on today. God is so great. The gospel, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, we're about out of time. I think we'll just stop right there. What a Savior. What a Savior. You know, while we're on this topic, as we get into Christ on the earth, dealing with the Jews, and how things are working out and going through the Gospels, if you have a question or something, maybe write it down or whatever, and maybe one day we'll just have like a question and answer. I don't have all the answers, believe me. It scares me to death if somebody asks a question I don't have an answer to. But I know who has it in this book. And between us, You know, conversation. When you're married, conversation's important. We talked about that last week. In the beginning was the Word. The Word is a thought manifest through words. Words are spiritual. You can't see them once they come out. The Word was made flesh. God said in the beginning, let there be light. And there was light. He's the creator. He's God himself. He is our Savior. Wow. He that hath the Son hath life. So if you've got any questions, let's bring them up and we'll just have a discussion one day, designate a Sunday, and I'm sure questions will come up. I mean, I sit at home and study, wow, Lord, what about this? And you start, there you go, through the word of God, and he always answers. Well, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for your word. We thank you so much for your Holy Spirit to lead and guide and direct. Thank you, Lord, for this Sunday school lesson. Lord, thank you for allowing me to have the privilege to teach your word, Lord. I'm so inadequate. God, I love you. I thank you for everything. I ask you to bless Brother Bob as he brings our message this morning. And thank you so much for bringing people in today, Lord. God, we love you. We thank you for the gospel. We ask it all now in Jesus' name, amen.