Knowing, Receiving & Believing Part 3 Believing — Derek Melton

One. I'll get off the soapbox. It doesn't take long when you are with me to figure out what I'm passionate about and what I'm not so passionate about. Passionate about truth. I'm not so passionate about cultural lies.

Apostolic Power Requires Apostolic Doctrine and Living

The church today's languishing to a lack of apostolic power, but apostolic power follows apostolic succession, apostolic doctrine, apostolic living, apostolic sacrificing, apostolic persecution. If we want apostolic power, we'll follow in apostolic footsteps.

Those of you that believe that the mantle of anointings passed to people just by the simple laying on of hands, you've not yet understood Christ. You don't walk in a man's anointing by him laying his hands on you.

You walk in the anointing of Christ by being a servant of Christ and being consecrated to Christ and laying down your life as a dead man or woman for the glory of Christ. He anoints vessels that he uses that have lost themselves in Christ.

And I know in very near circles and doctrines close to us in geological proximity, there are doctrines that maintain that the anointing is passed on through the laying on of hands. You can live in sin, you can be totally diverse, set apart unto the world and set apart unto Christ and carry the anointing that the apostles of God carry.

Beloved, that's garbage. It's rubbish. It's unbiblical. It's antithetical to the Bible. It's garbage. Don't believe it. God anoints dead men, dead to self, dead to sin, but alive unto Christ, that are set apart wholly unto him, that are walking with him, that know him.

That's who he puts his anointing on. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him. 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 darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came forth 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 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.

Knowing, Receiving, and Believing in Christ

There's our knowing. He came into his own and his own received him not. There's our receiving. But as many as received him, to him, to them, gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

There's our believing. Which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And if you'll go back to verse 12, as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even, and again I want you to note that the word even there if you have a King James is italicized, meaning that it's not in the original of this print there for clarity.

The original would read as such to them, gave he power to become the sons of God, to them that believe on his name. Today, today we're going to go on forward. I'm going to go back and lay a little bit of foundation about receiving Jesus Christ and then we're going to finish by identifying what it means biblically to believe in the name of Jesus Christ.

Thank you so much. Let's bow together for a word of prayer. So Lord, today we come to you in the name of Jesus Christ, asking, petitioning you for clarity regarding these imperative truths that come forth from your holy writ.

Lord, I pray that the Holy Ghost of God, the revelator, would reveal to our hearts the meaning of these truths. Lord, help our hearts, Lord, to understand. But Lord, take them further than that. Let our hearts be believing in so much that we become a people that are a doing people, that we believe and because we believe we do the word of God, that we apply it by faith and that we practice what we believe.

Help us in Jesus' name for his glory alone, we pray. Amen. Now, we've read our introductory text. We are coming to the last of these, what I've called the triune requisites, that we've been discoursing upon over the last few weeks.

Namely, the knowing of Jesus Christ. Secondly, the receiving of Jesus Christ. And today, and lastly, we'll unpack, by the grace of God, believing on the name of Jesus Christ. So last week, we focused our attention on what it really means to receive Jesus Christ.

And I'm hopeful, I'm hopeful that our understanding of these terms, these biblical terms, was enlarged. We understand more biblically, not so much cultural anymore, but now more biblically, that it's almost permanently impressed upon our minds now that there is a tremendous gulf affixed between what it means to receive Jesus biblically and what it means to receive Jesus culturally.

But there's been something permanently etched, impressed, steamed in our minds and our hearts about what it means to be born of God, to what it means to receive Jesus Christ in the biblical sense in contrast to the cultural sense.

And so I want you to know that there is a catechism or a chasm, I mean, a chasm, a chasm fixed between those two. They're diametrically opposed to each other. What I mean by that is what our culture is, is saying what it means to receive Jesus and what the Bible impresses upon us, it means to have received Jesus.

And we walked through that last week and I know there was some turbulence from that, some concerns for souls, some concerns for hearts, some concerns for actions and things that in such nature. And if a message doesn't create questions, it's dead.

If it doesn't create challenging of hearts and of minds and of orthodoxy, beloved, it's dead. These messages are intended by the grace applied to to raise questions regarding our own heart when we self-examine what what must I do in that we're convicted, sirs, what what what then must we do?

What must we do? I'm in this fix. What shall I do in these messages are in the gospel and it's in its very essence is purpose to raise questions within our heart. What what about what's going on with me?

And if that's not doing so with you, beloved, I pray that it do so today. So once again, I want to reiterate what the cultural norm is and the cultural norm is regarding the receiving of Jesus Christ, that we just shake our head, yes, in a few places regarding some theological ideas or propositions that we give a mental assent to them and say, yes, in the certain prescribed places and because of our agreement with certain ideas, theological ideas or certain church dogmas or denominational requirements, then we will be, in fact, assured that we have received Jesus Christ.

And this, of course, is only after that we walk down the sacred aisle and that we repeat the sacred prayer, which is in our estimation, the golden key that unlocks heaven's pearly gates. And it's all cultural and biblical.

The Sinner's Prayer and Biblical Conversion

I have opened war against the sinner's prayer. Because it is biblical. You find me a place in the Bible from Genesis to Revelations where it says that we repeat a sinner's prayer after a preacher and that we're saved.

And, beloved, then I might listen to you, but it's not in the Bible. I read it time and again. I've read it. I continue to read it, reread it. It's not there. The Bible says that you believe. The Bible says that you receive.

The Bible says that you must know, knowing, receiving and believing to them people. He gives the power, the power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Amen. And there is no human recipe whereby this is done.

It's a work of God. It's the mysterium tremendum, as Otto would say, the German theologian. It's the mysterious workings of God that God deals with the human heart and then through the gospel, which is a chosen means to save a soul that is damned and lost and underneath the tyranny of the law and the curse of it, to whereby God brings them out of darkness into the glorious light.

He uses the dynamics of the folly of the human preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ to save them that are lost. And it's a work of God in this mysterious. If you take the sublime and the mysterious set of salvation, you've made it the work of man.

I think every Christian in America needs to read Otto's chapter in the book of the idea of the holy on the mysterium tremendum, the mystery and the tremendous mystery in salvation. It's a blessing. It's raw truth that Americans need to hear and to know that what we need do need to know is that are walking down the sacred aisle and that are repeating the sacred prayer and our belief that it gives us the golden key that unlocks heaven's pearly gate is not biblical.

It's cultural. That's not what it means to receive Jesus. And I know that I stand alone, much alone. Maybe there's a few men that see and know and that are having a loud voice regarding these things. And I know that people get upset because whenever you kick the cow that's sacred, the cow gets mad.

But we have to ask ourselves a question. Do we want to be biblical or cultural? The Jews were cultural. God cut them off. He called it unbelief and his severity befell them. Cultural. America is in the same predicament, I believe, in American evangelical Protestantism.

We'll talk about it more in time to come. And so what we have learned is that receiving Jesus Christ is actually the welcoming of all that Jesus Christ is. It's the welcoming of everything that Jesus Christ has said.

It's the embrace and the preferring of all of the requisites that he demands of us as our Lord. That's what we've learned. We've learned that it is actually impossible to have received Jesus in the biblical sense while rejecting what he has said and rejecting what he's commanded of us.

Listen, the Jesus that most Americans have received is a Jesus of their own devising. And there are no similarities to the holy son of the living God revealed unto us in the scriptures. And this is most crucial, and the reason that it is most crucial is because receiving Jesus in the biblical sense is a requisite to become a son of God to them who received him.

He gave the power to become sons of God, even to them that believed on his name. And as I mentioned earlier, the Jews received him not. In fact, they hated him. And in Isaiah's terminology, he was despised and rejected of men in the prophet's own terms, as inspired by God himself.

They were cut off. Why? Because of their unbelief, they were given over to the severity of God, according to Romans 11, 22. Behold the goodness of the severity of God. Towards you fell his goodness, but towards those who did not believe fell his severity, naming the Jews.

And it will be the same. Will it not? Listen to me. Will it not be the same for Protestant evangelicalism in America that have been baptized and catechized and are satisfied, but yet cut off and given over to the very severity of God because of their unbelief regarding the receiving of the one and only true son of God that's revealed to us in Scripture?

Constructing Jesus in Our Own Image

What is the difference? Question time. What is the difference between the unbelieving Jews who rejected God's Son, who refused to receive him because they did not know him, because he did not meet their quota.

He did not measure up to their ideas regarding who they thought that he should be, a king like David that ruled over an imperial dynasty, as David did. Setting up himself as king in Jerusalem and conquering every nation therefore from the city of Jerusalem, where he sat down on the throne of authority and power.

This was the idea that they had in their minds. And Jesus came as a meek lamb, a servant, washing feet, spending time ministering to prostitutes and tax collectors. And they rejected him because he did not measure up who they had invented him in their minds to become and to be.

And how can it differ for us in evangelical Protestantism in America when we do the same thing? We individually form ideas in our minds as to who we want Jesus Christ to be, how we want Jesus to look, how we want Jesus to act, and what we think Jesus should or should not require.

Some of those imaginations have been masqueraded and hidden within denominations. They've been formed by denominations. They've been formed by religious sects. And they helped us to form these ideas as to who we think Jesus Christ ought to be.

Some have adopted a Jesus Christ that helps them to make money and to live lives that are lavish, while others form a Christ that has all love with no holiness, allowing his people to live lives that are lascivious, having no requisites, having no requirements regarding the holy lifestyle that God's called us to live.

There are sects within Protestant evangelicalism that have formed strict laws. They're legalists. They have stringent requirements regarding our dress codes, our outward appearances, stringent aesthetics, in hopes of appeasing some self-imposed standard, hoping to be justified through the strict disciplines of life alone.

A Jesus that holds us to requirements that Jesus in the Bible has held us to about how we're to look, how we're to dress, the aesthetics of life. And then you come to the emotional group, the group that gives themselves over to a Jesus that requires fanaticism, a Jesus that gets more excited the more you get excited.

The more you work it up, the more he gets worked up. The more fanatical action you display, the more Jesus is pleased with you. This is a Jesus that loves to get his people all worked up, laughing and crying, feeling of all these diversities of feelings.

And the more feelings that you feel, the more Jesus you have. It's a fanatical group, evangelical Christianity in America. Can you see the error? Do you? And beloved, can you see that the Jesus that we receive must be the Jesus that's revealed to us in scripture?

It's a Jesus that is holy as well as loving. Yes, he's a Jesus that loves, but he's also a Jesus that's Lord. He's a Jesus that requires. Yes, he loves. Yes, he supplies grace. But beloved, he also calls us to walk in a straight and narrow way, that put our hand to the plow, and to labor for the kingdom of God, and to lose our lives for his name's sake.

He sets down requisites as Lord over his people. Yay? Yes? This is the Jesus, a biblical Jesus, is the Jesus that has rights as creator. He also has prerogatives as Lord to set requirements, doesn't he?

And the question is set before us, have you received Jesus in the biblically prescribed manner? Have you received Jesus as Lord? All that he has said, all the commandments and decrees that he has set forth before his people, have you received them?

Have you preferred them? Have you welcomed them? We talked about a few of those. The difficult one was last week, and it did cause quite a stir. We mentioned divorce. It caused quite a stir. Beloved, marriage is the holy sanctum of God.

The church has absolutely gone amiss regarding it. It's the holy sanctum of God. It's holy. God's called his people to come out from among them and to be separate, to be a people that live by covenant and die by covenant.

But beloved, the Word of God says in the last days that people, men, will be truce breakers, covenant breakers, with no thought of it. But why would the Lord our God has set requisites for his church that are laid out in Scripture?

We're not talking about cultural things that are superficial, strict standards and codes that have to do with aesthetics. We're talking about deep inward works of the heart, covenant works, that the people of God should be set by grace to adhere to unto death.

We've become very superficial, right? Tozer said this, that I fear the church in America and this biblical knowledge has been poured out so thin, spread so wide that if it was a medicine it could cure no sick and if it was a poison it couldn't poison anyone.

He says it's too thin. I agree with him. I agree with him. And so have we received everything that Christ has decreed, all that he's commanded? Have we received Jesus Christ? It's impossible to receive Jesus Christ without receiving his decrees because he's inseparable, because he is the Word of God.

He is the Word of God. You can't separate Jesus from his holy commandments and his holy requisites. You can't separate him. You can't say I receive Jesus and not receive what he has commanded of me and required from me.

You can't do that biblically. That's not receiving Jesus. Receiving Jesus is receiving all that he is and all that he has done and all that is required of us. All that he set forth before us in his holy laws.

Are you with me beloved? Say amen. Someone show me some life. Now let's take a moment and see what it means to believe on his name. Whereas our relationship with Christ begins with knowing Christ. We talked about that.

What did we talk about a couple weeks ago? To know someone means to acknowledge them. You recognize them. Is that right? And then we progressed last week to receiving them means that you actually welcome them.

And so that's the receiving of them and the preferring of them. Then we progress and culminate today in the believing on his name. And I want you to know that this prologue in John, starting in John 1 and going through the prologue, is progressive.

And it's done so intentionally. And at these three terms also regarding our relation to Jesus Christ are progressive as well. It's not a mistake. They're progressive. It's made mention in order. It's done so purposefully, dynamically, inspired by the Holy Ghost of God revealed to his servants.

And I want you to understand that the progression is not a mistake. It's truth. And these dynamics, these three words that we've talked about, knowing, receiving, and believing are in progressive order.

Believing on the Name of Jesus

Now let's look at the text again. 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. So the question that's set before us today is this.

What does it mean in the biblical sense to believe on Jesus name? And so we know that receiving him is welcoming him. We know now and we will learn today that believing on his name is the acceptance of and the submission to his power and his authority, namely the power and the authority of his very name.

And we're going to talk about what does all this entail? What does it mean? Well, it's illustrated, I believe, grandly in the book of Acts in several places. So if you'll go to Acts chapter 2, we'll begin to look at a few texts and see what the scriptures have to say about this.

Now, we know that the day of Pentecost had come, that the kingdom of God has been ushered in, in power and in force. Those that were in the upper room were filled with the Holy Ghost. They began to speak in other tongues as the spirit of God gave them utterance.

Those that were had come together to celebrate. Pentecost heard them speaking in their own native languages and glorifying God. Then we see the apostle Peter standing with the anointing of God and proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, that Jesus being the only way of salvation and that the Jews that they put him, he said, you killed God's son.

And they were pricked in their heart. They were pricked. God's Spirit was at work convincing them of their sin. And what sin was that? That they did not believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They did not believe.

They actually rejected him. They did not receive him. And they were convicted. They were pricked in their heart and they cried out saying, what shall we do? And then we see in verse 37, now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and they said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do?

Then Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized. Every one of you listen to the terms in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Baptized in the name, this is in the authority and the power of that name, who he is and all that he's done, an absolute and entire relinquishment of all to him in his supremacy.

Do you see this? It's not just vernacular. There is a dynamic power. The very life, the very life of Christ is invested into his name, which is given to his people. Every knee will bow to the name because life is in his name.

It's power and authority. It's not just the slang of verbiage and vernacular. No, there is a dynamic here. There is a heavenly power, a holy power, a saving power in the name of Christ. And we'll talk about this more.

Similarly, if you'll turn to Acts chapter 8, we see this glorious, glorious story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. In verse 36, we will begin. It says, and as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water.

Now we know that Philip had come across this Ethiopian eunuch who was reading out of the book of Isaiah. Ask him, do you understand what you read? He helped him. He presented the gospel to him. And then he said this.

He said, I mean, the eunuch believed. He said, see, here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. See that word believe? And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

And he commanded the chariot to stand still. And they went down both into the water, and both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. Once again, we see that this eunuch, this Ethiopian man, he believed.

He believed with all of his heart and believed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who Jesus Christ is, all that Jesus Christ has done and all that Jesus Christ had required of him. It's absolute submission to the authority and the power of the name.

He was baptized, a work of God, a work of God. Also, we see on, we'll not turn there for the lack of time. There's another instance in Acts chapter 16 where we see that the apostle Paul has been imprisoned, and the gates were open, and a Philippian jailer befell conviction.

The apostle Paul presented the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ to him. And the question came, what must I do to be saved? And we see the apostles retort, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, we see mention of the name.

The Lord Jesus Christ, believe on the name, and thou shalt be saved and thine house. That glorious promise to all of us, promise of God. But what does it mean to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Once again, I reiterate, the name represents the power and the ability. Listen, beloved, don't go aloof in your minds and drift. It represents the power and the ability of Christ, so that when you believe on the name of the Lord Jesus, you not only believe in his persons, but you believe in all that he has done.

This is also, I believe, most grandly illustrated back in the third chapter of Acts. We all know the story of the crippled man that had been crippled from birth, do we not, at the gate called beautiful.

We know that they were going there, and he was there asking alms as they were entered into the temple in the hour of prayer. And so we see that Peter and John were about to go in. Peter fastened his eyes upon this this man that was lame.

He was born that way, and the man thought they were going to give him some money. And Peter said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee, listen to the terms, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise and walk.

And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his finkle bones received strength. Y 'all don't remember that sermon years ago I preached. I was preaching along this, and I talked about the man's finkle bones.

Stacey asked me afterwards, she said, honey, what are finkle bones? Feet and ankle bones receive strength. And he leaping up stood and walked and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and they knew that it was he that sent for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened to him.

Verse 11, and the lame man which was healed held Peter and John. All the people ran together unto them in the porch that's called Solomon's Great Wondering. And the people were bewildered. The apostle says, why are you marveling at this, Israel?

Why look ye so earnestly on us, as though we had by our own power, our holiness, made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus, whom ye delivered up and denied him, and the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.

But you denied the Holy One, and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted to you. And you killed the Prince of Life, who God raised from the dead. Are these guys not bold? These men had the power to take their lives, and they're calling them a group of murderers.

You see, this is one of the things about being a true child of God. You're scared of no man. You fear God only. Verse 15. And you killed the Prince of Life, who God raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses.

And listen to this. Verse 16. This is our text. And his name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong. His name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know.

Yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. It's his name. The power and the ability of Christ, invested in his name, are given out to those who believe, through faith in his name, that he gives as well.

By the faith which is by him, the faith which is by him, has given this man perfect soundness. And we're so familiar with the text. It's a striking text. A miracle had taken place, that the miracle was performed in the name, the authority and the power of Jesus Christ.

Through faith in his name, it says, this man has been made strong, sound. This weak man that you know, that you see and you know. And yea, the faith which is by him, hath given this man perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

Beloved, this name means the power of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ himself. It's the very power of his life. So to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ means this. To have trust and have confidence in Christ.

Not only to recognize who he is, not only to truly welcome who he is and the coming of him into the world as the only way of salvation, but to trust him absolutely in all of the glory of his divine Saviorhood and to rest, listen to the terms, and to rest.

This is the definition to believe. And to rest utterly and to rest completely upon him and all that he has done. That's what it means to believe on his name. In other words, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ means that we see and we know.

And look at me, not in a mental ascent, but in a deep heartfelt knowing. It's something within the heart. An inward convincing, an inward grounding, a rooting, a deep work of grace to where you are convinced and at rest in the heart.

And you know why he came into the world and who he came unto and why God sent him is to see and it's to feel, it's a deep heart knowing that we are utterly lost. To feel and to know that we've been utterly condemned by the threats of God's holy law.

Condemned by it, silenced by it, without excuse because of it. To see it, to feel it, to know it, condemned by it, frightened and trembling because of it, under the bitter condemnation of it, because of our violations of it.

But it's also to see and to feel and to know that Jesus Christ came to fulfill the law and that we are hidden in him. It's deeper than a mind work. It's a heart convincing. To whereby you stand. You believe.

Send him to pour miserable wretches that are condemned by the holy law of God of which we are violators, sinners and Jesus came to root it. And you rest yourself upon the finality of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and you say with the Apostle Paul that I am crucified with him.

I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. In the life I live now, I live by the faith of the Son of God who has loved me and given himself for me. And you are settled. You believe a work of God. And so is to absolutely trust in all of the glory of Jesus Christ in his divine Saviorhood.

To rest utterly and completely upon him and all that he is and all that he has done and that we deeply feel and we deeply understand why God sent his Son into the world. It's to see and to feel that we as a people are lost and hopeless underneath the law that's condemned us to a certain and a fearful death as the wrath of God remains upon us.

And that God sent his Son into the world to rescue sinners. To see it, to feel it, to know it, to be rooted, to be settled, to be at rest with Jesus Christ as the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the very sins of the world.

Just to see and to feel that Jesus came to save sinners, violators of God's holy law and that he is in fact the only way that we can be delivered from the awful curse of the law of God. And to believe are those who do this.

To believe are those who commit themselves to these realities. They commit themselves to these realities. They believe it. They accept it. They rest their faith upon it. They rejoice because of it. And beloved, if need be, they lay down their lives unto death.

Renouncing Self and Resting in Christ

This is what it means to believe on the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Augustus Toplady in one of his classic immortal hymns said it this way, nothing in my hand I bring simply to thy cross I claim.

Naked come to thee for dress. Helpless I look to thee for grace. Foul I to thy fountain fly. Wash me Savior or I. So this is what it means to believe in him. It means that we cease to believe in ourselves.

It means that we cease to believe in other people. It means that we cease to believe in our education, our social status, our native prowess, or any other external or internal thing or being. Our anthem becomes this, I believe in nothing and no one except the Word who was made flesh and who died for me on the cross of Calvary's hill, who rose again, who is now seated at the right hand of God, ever living to make intercession for us.

That's our anthem. That's what we believe. I believe in nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust in the sweetest frame but I wholly lean on Jesus name. On Christ the solid rock I stand.

On leather ground, sinking sand. Beloved, believing on the name of Jesus Christ also involves a renouncing of ourselves. A renouncing. It's a renouncing of our goodness. Also it's a renouncing of our righteousness.

And also it's a renouncing of everything else and we trust only and utterly and absolutely on the fact that the Son of God loves us and has given himself for us. And my last text is in 1st Corinthians chapter 1.

Paul identifies this believing, I believe, so beautifully. 1st Corinthians chapter 1. Paul says in verse 30, but of him are ye in Jesus Christ. Listen to the terms. Of him are ye in Jesus Christ. Here's that name.

Who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption that according as it is written, let he that glorieth, let him glory unto the Lord. Now let me paraphrase that momentarily.

Paul is saying this, that he is my everything. I know nothing apart from what he teaches me because he is my wisdom. He has borne my guilt. He has taken my punishment. I am given his righteousness. He is my righteousness.

He is my sanctification. What else is he saying? He's saying this, I if left to myself would remain hopeless, but in him I receive power. And as in the prologue, John says in John 1 16, listen to this, of his fullness have all we received grace for grace.

Of his fullness have all we received and grace for grace. And ultimately, the Lord Jesus Christ is my redemption and my glorification. We rely on him. We rely on Jesus Christ to atone, to cover our past.

We rely on him. We wholly lean on Jesus name. We were lean upon him to cover our past. Say hallelujah. And beloved, we rely upon Jesus Christ and the power of his name, the authority of his name in this moment in my life, in this moment in your life.

And we adhere to him for our future. And in him we live and move and have our very being. That's believing in his name. My past is in his hands. My now is in his hands and my future is in his hands. I wholly lean on his name.

He is my everything, my wisdom, my understanding, my life, my very being, my all in all is in him. This is what it means to believe in his name. How do you believe him? Are you believing? Have you received him, all that he has said, all the requisites he has set before you as your Lord, all that he has said regarding life, all that he has said regarding death, all that he has said regarding sanctification, all that he has said regarding separation, all that he has said regarding his decrees of loving one another.

Have you received him or are you receiving a Jesus of your own devising as Israel did? They would only receive a king that would rule from a materialistic, imperialistic throne. And they rejected God's sacrifice.

Do we have a Jesus that's been built in our minds? That's all love and no truth, all mercy and no holiness that has no lordship to assert in our lives to hold us accountable unto his holy requisites requirements and decrees.

Have we received the Jesus of the Bible that set standards before his people as our Lord, as creator, as the monarch of the universe, as savior, as king? Have we believed on his name? Have we counted all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of his name?

Have we counted all things but dung for the excellency of the knowledge of his name? Are we truly believing in his name or are we caught in the womb of this cultural nightmare that's named Christianity?