LBC Sermons & Messages

John 8:37-59

We need to understand that Jesus is from God, therefore he will speak and act in ways not consistent with the world and a true believer will remain in his teaching. In these verses Jesus continues to identify marks of a counterfeit believer.

They will have a misplaced trust in the purpose of Christ and will follow their true father, the devil. Jesus has told them that they were to drink of him and that he was the light of the world. In other words they had a heart disease called sin and were in need of atonement which could only be had by receiving Him. Claiming to be off springs of Abraham and by association therefore children of God, they rejected Christ’s evaluation of their true nature. This was made evident by their trying to kill Jesus. If one reject Christ purpose to save us and to free us from the result of our sin nature, then we to will follow the leading of Satan. Our thoughts, our words, our action will reveal who our true father really is.

Also false believers will have a misplaced belief in the person of Christ. No one could convict him of sin so they charged him with being a non-Jew and having a demon. Jesus replies, “I’m telling you the truth why won’t you believe it”. People are willing to believe just about anything, their attitude is basically “anyone by Christ”. People will accept false religion, false teacher, faith healers, religious gurus; it never ends but the incarnation, “no way”.
To all this Jesus simply says, “I am”. I am the preexistence One, I am Deity.

Two important questions every one must consider. Is Jesus right about who He claims to be? If He is right, what have you done about it?

Our life style will reveal who our father really is.

John 8:31-36

Polls identify our views on many subjects, companies spend millions of dollars to identify their product to potential buyers and people who know us identify us with to some particular views that we hold to. The question we need to be aware of how other identify us to Christ.

Starting in verse 31 thru the end of chapter 8, Jesus reveals some identifying marks of those who are opposed to him and then clearly identifies himself as God, “I AM”.

Our text shows some have a misplaced faith in truth. Verse 3 reads “we will know the truth and the truth will set you free”, probably one of the most abused text of scripture in our society. Looking up this phrase on the internet, I discovered all kind of groups have identified themselves with it (political groups, environmental groups, groups even opposed to Christianity, all stating they have the truth and their version of the truth will set us free). What they are ignoring is the condition Jesus placed on this phrase which is “abiding in his word” and then and only then will we be free. Not free in the sense of the world’s view of freedom (freedom from government intervention, free love, etc) but freedom to having the power and guidance to act in accordance with God’s Himself.

The opponents of Christ were placing their faith in themselves our in their national heritage and not in the person of Christ. In doing so they thought they were free but in reality they were slaves. Are not many today in the same position, many saying”no way, I’m not a slave to this or to that”.

The only way to have true freedom is to place your faith totally in the person of Jesus Christ by receiving him as your savior and remaining in his teaching. Galatians 5:1 “for freedom Christ has set us free, stand fast therefore and do not subject again to a yoke of slavery”

John 14:1-3

The saints will be resurrected and taken up to meet Christ in the air.

I Corinthians 15 deals with the bodily resurrection. In verses 13-19 we see the results if there was not a physical resurrection (Christ would still be in the grave, our preaching and faith are in vain and we are to be pitied. “But”, verses 20-23 reveals that there is a resurrection, Christ was the first and we the believers in Christ as savior will follow.

I Thessalonians 4:13-18, gives us further details of the resurrection that will occur at the rapture. Christ will return in the clouds with the saints who have died and they will be re-united with their resurrected bodies from the grave. Immediaetly those saints still living at that time will be then translated with their new bodies and together we will all be with the Lord. The key to all this is the bodily resurrrction of Christ two thousand years ago.

This is the sure hope of all Christians through out the church age. That Christ would return in their life time and if he doesn’t we can still be confident that when he does return we will be re-united with our new resurrected bodies and be with the Lord for all eternity. Therfore when a loved one in Christ has died we will not grieve as the world would grieve because we know that some day we will see that loved one again.

Next week we will look at the judgment seat of Chris that will occur after the rapture.

John 8:12-30

There is a wide range of views concerning God (good, critical, involved, not involved, authoritarian, distant, etc). They are formulated from values of society, parents or our own personal views of what we would like God to be. The only true answer must come only from the revealed Word of God, the Bible.

Using the backdrop of the Feast of Tabernacles and it symbolic use of light, Christ cries out “I am the light of the world” (v12). Darkness is a picture of chaos, ignorance of God, confusion, death which is ever stalking us. In the midst of darkness Jesus asserts that He only is the only way out of the darkness that envelops each and every individual. John 14:6 states “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” and in John 1:4-5 we read “In him (Jesus) was life and the life was the light of men”. The very first act of God in Genesis was “let there be light”, John the Baptist reveals Jesus as that light and those who believe in him will become children of light.

God is also truth (v13-20). His words are true because of his origin (heaven) and no one can know the word of God without knowing the God of the word.

God is also life (21-30), “unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins”. Death is simply a separation. If an individual experiences on one birth (physical) they will experience two deaths (Physical, separation of soul and body, and also eternal death, separation for all eternity from God in a Lake of Fire). On the other hand if an individual experiences two births (physical and a new birth spiritually, born again by accepting Christ as their savior) they will only experience one death (physical) and they will live eternally with God. Jesus told Nicodemus “you must be born again” and in John 3:15 “that whoever believes in him (Jesus) may have eternal life”.

It does not really matter what views you may have formulated concerning who God is. Fact is that Jesus is God, our only hope of salvation.

John 14:1-3

Will the church go through the tribulation?

To answer that question, we must first determine what God’s purpose for the church is. Primarily it is God’s calling out a people, both Jew and Gentile to reveal His grace. The tribulation is a period of time in which the wrath of God is revealed upon the unbelieving world and to prepare the nation of Israel for the kingdom.

We hold to the teaching that the saints are rapture before the tribulation. While there is no one verse to directly state when the rapture will occur, there are a number of different verses that when taken together will point to this view.

John 14:1-3, is the first hint that the Lord is going to return for his church. The rest of these verses reveal further information concerning the rapture of the church.

In the book of Revelation, the church is seen in Chapter 2 an 3 and after that it is no longer mentioned.

Rev 3:10 tells us from what the church will be delivered from the hour of temptation or testing.

I Thessalonians 1:10, which is written to believers in Christ that we will deliver from the wrath to come.

I Thessalonians 5:9, states that we are not appointed to wrath and Romans 5:9 tell us that we are saved from the wrath of God.

There is a necessity of an interval period of time between the rapture of the church and the establishment of the kingdom. During that period of time the earth will experience tribulation from God and the rapture church (believers) will stand before God at the judgment seat of Christ for rewards based upon our life and then experience the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Ephesians 1:1-4,

Message by Pastor Shatney Representative of the NRBFC

What brings us to a life blessed by God? We all want blessings. We look around and can see others who are blessed – in some cases very well blessed. Does God bless some people more than others because they deserve them?

No. God blesses people according to his own plan. In fact, he sometimes blesses people who don’t particularly deserve it at all. “…he maketh his sun to shine on the evil and the good…” (Matt 5:45). God’s blessings are not random, however. He doesn’t skip around capriciously bestowing or withholding blessings. No, God’s blessings are part of a careful and patient plan.

God does bestow many more blessings on his own children, those who have accepted his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as their personal savior. The saved see many blessings in their lives. Seeing your own children and grandchildren become saved is a tremendous blessing. The evil might enjoy God’s sunshine, but they’ll never experience the blessing of knowing they will see loved ones in heaven. For that, we should be especially thankful.

A key to understanding God’s blessing rests in the Greek word for “has” in verse three. God has blessed us. It’s in the past tense, but with the sense of ongoing completeness. God’s plan was to bless us long before we were ever born – long before we could have ever done anything that we might think earned it. He sent his son. His son died on the cross for our sins – even though we hadn’t sinned yet. His son arose from the grave and has prepared a place for us in heaven.

Even to those who only know the blessing of his sunshine, he offers the invitation to far greater blessings. He offers them salvation. Being “in Christ” makes those blessings available. It’s not doing good works, or even working hard. God is the author of all blessings. He opened the door years ago, for those who will come in and receive his blessings.