David Berg
—Or an Unsaved Believer!DFO 132811/82
1. Remember, Jacob was the Deceiver, he gypped his own brother‚ & that brother was an Arab, Esau! He not only persuaded Esau to sell him his birthright for a bowl of beans—his birthright, which meant to be the leader of the family when the father was gone & to inherit all the property‚ all the wealth & be the boss—but he also deceived poor old Isaac, his own father, & talked him out of Esau's blessing!
2. THAT'S ALL ESAU HAD LEFT—THE FINAL BLESSING OF HIS FATHER AS HIS FATHER DIED, & HE MIGHT HAVE STILL GOTTEN THAT BLESSING, but crafty old Jacob went in there & pretended to be Esau & talked his father into blessing him instead, thinking he was Esau! He gypped his Arab brother out of his birthright & then talked his old father out of his blessing!
3. THE WAY EVEN THE CHRISTIANS & THE PREACHERS THAT YOU'VE HEARD ALL THESE YEARS INTERPRET THE OLD TESTAMENT IS ALWAYS EXTREMELY COMPLIMENTARY TO THE JEWS‚ almost always, with a few rare exceptions. The main dandy bad examples they do admit are the way the Jews acted under Moses in the wilderness [Psalm 107]. But the way they talk about the rest of them, you'd think that they were all heroes & all shining examples & wonderful people!
4. WHEREAS THE ENTIRE IDEA OF THE WHOLE OLD TESTAMENT WAS TO SHOW THAT ALTHOUGH GOD GAVE THEM EVERY CHANCE ON GOD'S EARTH, THEY TURNED OUT TO BE BAD EXAMPLES—which was God's reason [for saying to those who accepted Jesus] , "Ye shall sit down on thrones with the fathers (Patriarchs), but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out!" (Mt.8:11,12) Jesus said it!
5. THE OLD TESTAMENT IS A HISTORY OF WHAT A DANDY BAD EXAMPLE THE JEWS WERE THROUGHOUT HISTORY. Even the heroes like David‚ her greatest king. Solomon, her most powerful & richest king, supposed to be the wisest king, wound up, apparently, one of the dumbest! He let his women lead him astray—that wasn't very smart! Nearly every one of even the major Jewish heroes of the Old Testament were a mess‚ & some of them downright villains! David was his own worst enemy‚ along with Solomon, the ones that the Jews glorify the most—& even the Christians glorify!
6. AS I GOT A LITTLE OLDER & TO BE A TEENAGER & READ MY BIBLE MORE, I RAN INTO A LOT OF THINGS IN THERE THEY HADN'T TOLD ME! I began to wonder about some of these guys, & "how come the preachers didn't tell us that? How come the Sunday school teacher didn't mention that?" How come our dear Christian friends had skipped over some of those passages & hadn't told us what horrendous atrocities were committed & what terrible things even some of the heroes did! [See 2Sam.5:8!]
7. AND IF THE HEROES WERE THAT BAD, IMAGINE WHAT THE VILLAINS WERE LIKE. In fact, "there was none righteous‚ no‚ not one! All sinned & came short of the glory of God!" (Rom.3:10,23) That's why God had to finally send His Own Son Jesus with a Message! As He Himself said: He had sent many messengers before, some they beat, some they stoned, some they killed! So finally the Landlord sent His Own Son, & what did they say? Jesus Himself told the story. He said the occupants of the land said, "Aha‚ now we'll kill this the Heir & the land will be ours!" (Mt.21:33–39)
8. That's as dumb & as stupid & as ridiculous as the rebellion against the Kingdom of God at the end of the Millennium, but it just shows you how dumb the wicked are to think they can lick God!
9. THE LEADERS OF ISRAEL THOUGHT THAT THEY WOULD BE ABLE TO KEEP THE KINGDOM BY KILLING CHRIST THE MESSIAH, THE SON OF GOD! [John 11:49-53.] They weren't all that innocent. Jesus wasn't talking of the Jewish leaders when He said‚ "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do!" But I have heard preachers interpret it that way, even to say that the poor Jewish leaders didn't realise they were killing their own Messiah!
10. IF ANYBODY KNEW THAT HE WAS THE MESSIAH, THE SON OF GOD, THE PROMISED KING OF ISRAEL, THEY COULDN'T HAVE HELPED BUT KNOW IT, THEY KNEW THE SCRIPTURE TOO WELL! He had fulfilled every single prophecy! They knew who they were killing! Whew! Bomb! You didn't know that, huh? You thought maybe the High Priest & the Scribes & the Pharisees & the leaders of the Jews didn't realise what they were doing, huh? You knew they were vile evil men who were out to kill Jesus because He was a threat to their authority & they were jealous of His popularity & power‚ but because they denied that He was the Christ & constantly refused to believe that He was the Messiah, you never dreamed that perhaps they really had a sneaking suspicion maybe He was, & that by killing Him they would inherit the Kingdom! [Luke 20:6-16.]
11. YOU SAY, "WELL WOULDN'T THAT HAVE SAVED THEM IF THEY REALLY BELIEVED?" Listen, Brother, millions of people believe that Jesus is the Son of God but are not saved! Is that a shock?—Christians, church members, as well as outside sinners who believe in God & even believe in Jesus, that He's God's Son!
12. YOU SAY, "I THOUGHT THAT'S ALL IT TOOK, JUST TO BELIEVE IN JESUS! 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ & thou shalt be saved! For God so loved the World He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life!’ Why Dad‚ what are you talking about? This is the worst doctrine I ever heard of, that people can believe in Jesus & still not be saved!"
13. IT'S NOTHING NEW‚ I'VE BEEN TELLING YOU THIS FOR YEARS, it's just that I never dropped the bomb that way before! I used to tell my classes clear back in TSC & clear back in my little Soul Clinic School in Miami the same thing! There are oodles of people that you will find who believe in Jesus who are not saved! I have met hundreds of them & dealt with hundreds of them face-to-face in witnessing!
14. —ESPECIALLY CATHOLICS! They acknowledge that they believe in God & the Bible & they believe in Jesus, but you say, "Then are you saved?" "Well, I can't know till I die, if my good works will over-balance my bad works! I can't tell if I'm saved or not!" You mean all of those hundreds of millions of Catholics who believe in God & supposedly believe in the Bible & supposedly believe in Jesus are not saved? Why not?
15. IF YOU HAVE NOT BELIEVED IN JESUS IN THE WAY THAT THE ORIGINAL GREEK WORD OF BELIEVING MEANS‚ YOU'RE NOT SAVED! The original word used there for "believing" & "belief" & "believe" in the New Testament is the Greek word "pisteuo," which, if you know anything about Greek at all, & I've told you, means "I drink in"! And unless you have drunk in Jesus & received Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour, you are not born again, you are not saved, & so you're not really a Christian! I don't care if you belong to the best Christian church in town! I've known lots of Christians who weren't saved, who had never had such a personal experience with Christ!—Not born again!
16. THE KIND OF BELIEVING THE BIBLE IS TALKING ABOUT IS SO MUCH MORE SERIOUS & SO MUCH STRONGER THAN OUR MODERN MEANING OF THE WORD "BELIEVE"! The Devil has gotten that word so contorted today & through the years, he has made it to mean nothing! People are always asking me what I'm going to do tomorrow, "Are you going to town tomorrow?" I'm not even this sure, but some people would say, "Well, I believe so."—Meaning‚ "I think maybe so, I'm not sure." That's the modern meaning of the word "believe," the commonest meaning. You're not really sure, you're not certain, maybe so‚ sort of an agnostic attitude: "Well, I'm not saying He's not the Messiah, but I'm not sure! I'm not saying He's not the Son of God, but I'm just not sure, I just don't know!"
17. LET ME TELL YOU, BROTHER‚ RIGHT NOW, IF YOU DON'T KNOW YOU'RE SAVED, if you don't know Jesus Christ as your own personal Saviour, if you don't know you have received Him in your own heart as your Saviour, you don't know that you are saved! If you don't know Jesus, you're not saved! See, I'm the biggest security hazard you've got, I yell too loud! But I can't help it‚ I get emphatic about some things!
18. WELL, I WOULD AGREE WITH BILLY GRAHAM & BOB JONES & SOME OF THEM THAT CALL IT "EASY-BELIEVISM"! Let me tell you, you can find almost as many believers outside the Church who believe that way as inside the Church! Especially in the Deep South in the States where virtually everybody believes in God & the Bible & Jesus, even the worst sinners! They would confess, "Oh, of course I believe in Jesus, I believe in God, I believe in the Bible! I believe He's the Son of God‚ sure!"—The worst crooks in town, the worst criminals! You find very few unbelievers in good old Texas, the good old South, they all believe! That's a part of their Texas & Southern nationalism, all believers!—Ha!—It's patriotic!
19. BUT UNLESS YOU HAVE BELIEVED IN THE ORIGINAL SENSE OF THE GREEK WORD "PISTEUO"—"I HAVE DRUNK IN, I HAVE DRUNK JESUS‚ I DRINK HIM EVERY DAY"—YOU'RE NOT SAVED! Unless you have personally received Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour in saving faith in His saving grace & you know Him personally as your Saviour & you talk to Him & He talks to you & you hear from Him & you have been born-again a new creature in Christ Jesus, you are not saved! So there are lots of people who say they believe in Jesus who have never received Him as their personal Saviour & therefore are not saved!
20. I BELIEVE THAT THE SCRIBES & THE PHARISEES & THE CHIEF PRIESTS & THE HIGH PRIEST COULD NOT HAVE POSSIBLY MISUNDERSTOOD THE SIGNS & THE WONDERS & THE FULFILMENTS OF PROPHECY IN JESUS CHRIST without seeing & knowing that He must be & certainly looks like & acts like & seems like the Messiah! He had fulfilled all the prophecies except the desire they wanted Him to fulfil the most, become their King & throw out the Romans & liberate them for their own evil deeds!
21. GOD SENT THE ROMANS TO KEEP THE JEWS UNDER CONTROL! Don't believe everything you see in the movies where the Romans are made out to be the villains.
22. MY GOD, HOW [PEOPLE] HAVE BEEN DECEIVED! My God, how you Christians have been deceived all these years! My God how the Church has allowed itself to be deceived. The Scofield Bible has done more than almost anything to blind the Christians. Scofield was duped by the whole thing. Otherwise he's a Fundamentalist & strong on Salvation & Jesus.
23.THE JEWS ARE MADE OUT TO BE THE HEROES OF THE BIBLE‚ but if you really read the Bible & really read it you'll find out they were just about the biggest villains of the whole Bible, including the Old Testament! They were the worst because they knew better! They were the worst because God chose to reveal Himself to them & they rejected Him!—Only a few were real heroes!
24. WHAT WAS THE SIN OF THE SCRIBES & THE PHARISEES & THE CHIEF PRIESTS & THE HIGH PRIEST WHO DECIDED TO KILL JESUS & CRUCIFY THE MESSIAH? He had shown every sign in the Bible that He was the Messiah & every sign in the flesh & in the spirit & miracles & His Words & everything! Why did they crucify Him? Why did Jesus Himself say? Why did the Apostle say? "Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost!" (Acts 7:51) He was saying, "You always resist Me, you always resist Us‚ You never would believe in Us!" They never did!
25. EVEN IF THEY KNEW IT WAS TRUE, THEY REJECTED IT! Think of that! That's why their sin was so great! It was obvious that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, it was obvious that He was their coming King! It was obvious that He was the One Who fulfilled the Scriptures! It was obvious from everything He did & said that He was the Messiah they'd been waiting for!—Except that, due to their misinterpretation, they expected Him to free them militarily from their conquerors & so-called oppressors, the Romans.
26. THAT'S WHY THE COMING ANTICHRIST HAS TO FIRST APPEAR & PRETEND TO BE THE LIBERATOR OF THE JEWS for the first 3–1/2 years. He makes some kind of a deal with that "holy" (religious) covenant that apparently satisfies almost everybody—until the middle of the seven years when he proclaims himself to be God & sets up this big idol in the "holy place." Then that gets a little bit too much for some to stomach‚ particularly the Jews & the Christians, & he has trouble from then on. But the rest of the World follows him & wonders after him & worships him & receives his Mark.
27. [H]e is undoubtedly going to arise pretending to be a friend of the Jews‚ willing to sign a peace treaty favourable to the Jews. On every kind of compromise or agreement or covenant, there has to be some agreement on both sides, & on both sides there has to be some compromise, some things that they don't get. Both sides cannot have everything they want.
28. IN THIS CASE I DON'T THINK THAT THE JEWS ARE GOING TO BE ABLE TO INSIST THAT THEY KEEP ALL OF JERUSALEM & HAVE ANY KIND OF PEACE WITH THE ARABS. The only solution I can possibly see—& that will take a mastermind to work out—is some kind of an internationalisation of Jerusalem, or at least its holy places, to make them run by the U.N. or open to all, since Jerusalem is the Holy City of the World's three greatest religions: Christianity, Judaism & Islam.
29. WELL, AT LEAST WE WERE TOLD THOSE WERE THE WORLD'S THREE GREATEST RELIGIONS AS LONG AS WE WERE STILL IN THE WEST, now we're out here in the East where there are a lot of other great religions, & I'm not too sure that Judaism, Christianity & Islam are the three greatest religions in the World! Together, maybe, they might equal a number of other religions. We'll have to check the stats somewhere.
30. It's pretty plain from what Jesus said. And I believe in Jesus & I believe what He said & I believe His Words, & I believe what Jesus said about the motive of the servants He left behind. Notice He calls them "servants." He didn't call His disciples that‚ He said: "I call you My friends!" (Jn.15:15) Well, you say, He does call us servants, & in some respects, yes.
31. BUT HIS EMPLOYEES LEFT IN CHARGE OF THE PROPERTY CONNIVED TOGETHER, deliberately knowing this is the Son & the Heir & "if we kill Him, we get the Kingdom!"
32. ONE OF THE GREAT LEADERS OF ISLAM WALLED UP THE GOLDEN GATE AT JERUSALEM because it was rumoured & prophesied that the coming Messiah would enter Jerusalem by that gate when He came. So they walled it up to make sure He didn't come in & conquer Jerusalem when they already had it! Well, the mistake they made about that was that they were about six or seven hundred years late‚ He'd already come through that gate! He'd already fulfilled that prophecy!
33. THEIR WALLING IT UP IS EVEN PROPHESIED IN THE BIBLE, that it would be closed & no man would enter in because the Son of God had passed through that gate! (Ez.44:2,3) It was, in other words, closed & made sacred. It took 600 years to do it‚ but God's not in a hurry sometimes to fulfil His prophecies! The Golden Gate of Jerusalem, through which Jesus passed in His triumphal entry Palm Sunday, the Arabs walled it up 600 years later to try to keep Him out—but it was too late! So, PTL!
34. JESUS HELP ME, IN JESUS' NAME‚ TO GIVE THEM WHAT THEY NEED, LORD, EVEN WHAT THEY WANT! You promised to give us the desires of our hearts if we delight ourselves in Thee, & You know that these here delight themselves in Thee, Lord‚ continually, daily, serving Thee continually in Thy Temple day & night! TYJ!—In the Temple of Thy Church, Lord, Thy great Church built of living stones! TYL! The Temples of their own bodies! TYL! So You're willing even to give them what they want! Are you getting what you need tonight? Are you also getting what you want? Must be, because I hadn't planned to talk or say anything—I never do! But if the Preacher comes, I have to let him have his way! PTL!
35. THEY KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING! Most of the World today knows what they're doing with Jesus too, & that is the great question that God is going to ask them when they face the Judgement Angel at the end of the tunnel of death: Not only, "What have you done with your life?", but "What have you done with Jesus?"
36. THIS IS THE FAMOUS QUESTION PILATE ASKED! When he asked who should be delivered on the holy day, as it was the custom to free some famous prisoner, they demanded, "Barabbas! Barabbas!"—who according to the New Testament, if you want to believe it, was a thief & a robber! And he was also a murderer because he was a leader of the Zealots, the radical rebels, guerrillas, terrorists of Jesus' day!—Who wanted to make Him King, by the way! And Judas was a member!
37. THIS WAS WHY JUDAS WAS DISAPPOINTED, BECAUSE JESUS REFUSED TO BECOME THEIR POLITICAL LEADER! They figured He'd make a great political leader! He already had the hearts of the people & the people following Him by the tens of thousands, & with Him as their leader they thought they could overrun Israel & throw out the Romans!
38. BUT JESUS REFUSED TO BE THAT KIND OF A LEADER! After all, the Romans were there on Jesus' authority, He put'm there! And that's why He said when He stood before Pilate, imagine‚ the Governor He had put in charge!: "You couldn't even lift a finger against Me! You couldn't do a thing if it wasn't given to you to do this! I could lift just one finger & the legions of Heaven would come to My rescue!" (Mt 26:53) It was all voluntary, He was giving Himself voluntarily.
39. AFTER THEY DEMANDED BARABBAS, PILATE AS GOOD AS SAID, "WELL, WHAT WILL YE DO WITH JESUS WHO IS CALLED THE CHRIST?" (Mt.27:22) That was the big controversy. It was no surprise, really, to Pilate that they demanded the release of Barabbas, the leader of their Jewish terrorist forces.
41. They figured if they killed Jesus the Messiah, then they'd be sure to guarantee their own power & authority & control of the Jewish people.
42. Satan was trying to get rid of Jesus—only he made the big mistake of thinking just by killing Him he could do it! I don't see how Satan could have been that dumb‚ but he tried, & that's what saved you & me, TTL!
43. (PAUL: A GOOD VERSE IS, "THE DEVILS ALSO BELIEVE & TREMBLE!") (Jam.2:19) Very good, Son, thank you for that point. Don't think just believing that Jesus is the Son of God is going to save you!—The devils also believe & tremble! They were afraid of Him when He came & cast them out of the demoniacs! Every one of them confessed Him, even confessed Christ to His face!
44. THEY KNEW THAT HE WAS THE SON OF GOD & said‚ "Are You come to torment us before the time? We have the freedom to do this sort of thing right now! It's not the time of Hell & the Lake of Fire yet!" Imagine being so impudent to Jesus, the Devil speaking, "Are You come to torment us before the time?"—Always the Accuser of the Saints, even the accuser of Jesus! (Mt.8:29)
45. THEY DIDN'T SEEM TO REALISE THAT THE TIME OF AUTHORITY HAD COME WITH JESUS! He says, "All power is given unto Me in Heaven & Earth!" (Mt.28:18) And who does He give that power to even now?—You & me! The demons are subject unto you, you can command them & tell'm where to go! You can tell'm to go to Hell if you want to—at least to get out of here or get out of anybody who has problems with them! They did it in Jesus' day, Jesus did it & you're supposed to do it, so we have authority over them. They have no control over us, those who love the Lord & have Jesus in you. (Lk.9:1; 10:17,20)
46. BUT THE SEVEN SONS OF SCEVA (Ac.19:14), thought they could exorcise these practisers of Witchcraft & Satanism. Did you ever hear of the Cabala? That's a famous book on Witchcraft [and Jewish mysticism] written during the Middle Ages misinterpreting the Bible!
47. But they didn't dare arrest Him publicly in front of the mob‚ they had to sneak up at night when the crowd wasn't around that might have saved Him, & attacked Him when He only had a handful of disciples there, & hustled Him off to jail secretly without any authority from the government whatsoever to do so!
48. BUT THE THE HIGH PRIEST & THE TEMPLE HAD THEIR OWN PRIVATE ARMY, DID YOU KNOW THAT? They had their own private Temple guard‚ their own private army for protection of the Temple & the High Priest & the priesthood, etc., & that was the army that was used—the soldiers who were used to arrest Jesus were loyal Jews!
49. MALCHUS, THE LEADER OF THAT LITTLE ARMY OF GUARDSMEN WHO CAME OUT TO ARREST HIM IS CALLED WHAT? A servant of whom? Not the Romans! He was a servant of the High Priest!—A Jewish Officer of the Temple Guard! (Lk.22:50; Jn.18:3,10) These were not Roman guards, these were Jewish soldiers sent by the High Priest to arrest Jesus! In those Sunday school pictures sometimes you see the soldiers pictured as Romans. They weren't Romans !—The ones that snuck up on Jesus at night with the traitor Judas!
50. SO I WARN YOU, BELOVED—not you because you're all saved, thank the Lord—but those who may be listening & reading‚ that unless you have received Jesus as your personal Saviour & know Him personally & that you are thereby born again of His Spirit & genuinely born into the Family of God as a genuine saved born-again receiving Christian, not even believing nor even confessing Christ is going to save you! The devils not only believed & trembled, they even confessed it was Jesus Christ!
51. BUT IT DIDN'T SAVE'M BECAUSE THEY REJECTED HIM & REFUSED HIM & REFUSED TO RECEIVE HIM! All they did was obey Him when He commanded them because He had the authority & the power! They only obeyed Him because they had to!—The way the wicked of the World will obey Him & us in the Millennium!
52. WHY DO YOU OBEY GOD?—Just because you fear Him & have to?—Then you're not much better than the demons! They did too!—They even confessed He was Christ!—Is that why you confess Him? Because you know He is & you're afraid not to?—That still won't save you any more than it did the devils!
53. OR DO YOU SERVE HIM BECAUSE YOU LOVE HIM & HAVE PERSONALLY RECEIVED HIM AS YOUR OWN PERSONAL SAVIOUR? (Jn.1:12; Rom.12:1,2; 1Jn.4:19) Have you taken Him into your own heart & been born again by His Spirit‚ the Holy Mother of the Trinity? (Jn.3:5,6; 14:16,17) Are you truly changed‚ a new person, a new creature, old things passed away, all things become new? (Rom.7:6; 2Cor.5:17; Tit.3:5)—Totally regenerated!
54. THEN YOU ARE SAVED FOREVER & BOUND FOR HEAVEN NOW & WILL NEVER BE LOST!—AND YOU KNOW IT! You're not an "easy-believer" who merely acknowledges the truth of the Bible, the existence of God & the Sonship of Jesus! That won't save you anymore than it did the devils Jesus cast out of the demoniacs! They believed & confessed Him too! But they didn't receive & love Him & lovingly serve Him! They didn't marry Him, receive Him as His Bride receives her Bridegroom! They weren't born again a part of Him!
55. ONLY WHEN YOU BECOME "MRS. JESUS" ARE YOU TRULY SAVED & MARRIED TO HIM!—The Bride of Christ! (Isa.61:10; 62:5; Jn.3:29; Rev.21:2,9) Are you saved?—Or merely an un-easy believer who's not sure?—An "Unsaved Believer"!—If so‚ you'd better make sure right now & receive Him personally as your own Lord & Saviour & Bridegroom now!—Married forever!—"MRS. JESUS!"—IJN, amen!