Let's read our scripture reading for this morning. Psalm 104, beginning at verse 1. Psalm 104, beginning at verse 1. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O Lord my God, thou art very great. Thou art clothed with honor and majesty, who coverest thyself with light as with a garment, who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain, who layeth the upon the wings of the wind, who maketh his angels spirits, his ministers a flaming fire, who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed forever. Thou coverest it with the deep as with the garment. The water stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled. At the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. They go up by the mountains. They go down by the valleys into the place. which thou hast founded for them. Thou hast set abound that they may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth. He sendeth the springs into the valleys which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field. The wild asses quench their thirst. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches. He watereth the hill. from his chambers, the earth that is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, the herb of the service of men, that he may bring forth food out of the earth, and wine that maketh glad the heart of a man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth a man's heart. The trees of the Lord are full of sap, the cedars of Lebanon which he hath planted, where the birds make their nests As for the stork, the fir trees are her house. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats and the rocks for the conies. He appointed the moon for seasons. The sun, knoweth, is going down. Thou makest darkness, and it is night, wherein is the beast of the forest do creepeth forth. The young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God. rises, they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens. Man goeth forth into his work, into his labor, into the evening. O Lord, how manifold are thy works, and wisdom now has made them all. The earth is full of thy riches. So is thy great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable both small and great beasts. There go the ships, there is the Levineth, whom thou hast made to play therein. These wait all upon thee, that thou mayest give them their meat in due season, that thou givest them they gather. Thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, and they are troubled. Thou takest away their breath, they die and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit. They are created, and Thou renewest the face of the earth. The glory of the Lord shall endure forever. The Lord shall rejoice in His works. He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth. He toucheth the hills, and they smoke. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. My meditation of Him shall be sweet. I will be glad in the Lord. Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Praise ye the Lord. 196. There is a fountain. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. Unshed her sponge beneath her foot, Lose all their guilty stains, Lose all their guilty stains, Lose all their guilty stains. And sinners don't believe that blood loathes all their guilty stains. The dying Finn rejoiced to see that fountain in his hand. May I know how to see. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Where may I, though bound by the sea, wash all my sins away? Dear dying man, thy friend shall never lose his power. to all the ransomed churches of God. Be sent to sin no more. Be sent to sin no more. Be sent to sin no more. To all the ransomed churches No more. There's silence, I think I saw the stream, like flowing loops of a bar. The evening glow has been my meat, and shall be till I die. And it shall be till I die And it shall be till I die Believing love has filled my feet And it shall be till I die This scoreless, pink-stammering tongue Lies silent in the grave There in a nobler, sweeter song I'll sing thy power to save I'll sing thy power to save That's a good one, too. That's a good song. Would you turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 11 please. This message, this simplicity that is in Christ, is not just a message for someone who's never heard the gospel preached before. It's a message that we, who have heard it over and over and over and again, a message that we never get tired of. I was looking for the Great Commission, so I would read it correctly. Do you know where that's at, Mike Lovelace? Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. I thought it was in Matthew chapter 20, or in that area, but I'm not finding it. I wanted to read it right. You know me, I'm good at forgetting. No, it's right there. No, we'll be back. We can't be back that far. Okay. We'll move on. It's not just a message that somebody who's never heard the gospel needs to hear. It's a message that never gets tired of telling. We never get tired of hearing the message of simplicity. Because we're so good at complicating everything about ourselves. We're always coming up with some way to make something better, aren't we? Isn't that how religion has morphed? You know, if you went back to the old days, back when I was a little kid in the early 70s, 60s, late 60s, and you'd go to a small little Baptist church, you wouldn't find a band of rock and roll music going on in the background of the message. I don't care what church you went into, whether it was a true church or whether it was a false church. You just wouldn't find that kind of stuff. When Israel was young as a nation, they followed God for the most part. They were nothing more than a small remnant of the population of the earth. But for the most part, they followed God. And then over time, as they grew and grew, they made it more complicated. Men kept adding in what they thought would be right. Well, you know what? Maybe we should add a little bit. Maybe you should come down and pray at the front of the church. Maybe if you took this part of the scripture that the Lord has given us here, and you just started incorporating that in your life. They started adding their own things. And before you knew it, they had morphed to be something that was nothing compared to what God had started. They had actually turned, as we read in the book of Matthew, they had turned the house of God, that house that should have been a house of prayer, into a den of thieves. Look at the churches of today. There are men who have three or four jets Who needs that? I know you can point your finger at me and you can say, you know, that's just because you're jealous, you don't have anything. I've got everything I need. God gives me everything I need to come to this pulpit and preach two or three times a week. If He doesn't give me what I need, I'm going to come up here one of these days and I'm just going to sit down and you're going to go, what's wrong with John? The Lord hasn't given me anything yet. I'm telling you, that's the way it is. I'm amazed at how the Lord gives me things to say. This message, this message is something the Lord had laid on my heart for this visitor that I had hoped to be here. But yet He also gave me reason to bring it before you, to remind us of the simplicity Folks, it's easy as this, the Lord tells us this, He says, come unto Me all ye that are labored and are heavy laden. Heavy laden with what? With the complicated things we have of this world. I'm in a conversation with a dear brother right now, well, not right this minute, but I mean, in this time of my life. And it has to do with, let me take you back a little bit to a couple of weeks back where I brought a message titled, What's the Difference? You'll recall the difference wasn't in anything that John does. The difference is in who does John believe. And I tried to make that point very, very clear. Well, it was also brought to me, to my attention, after that message, that there's something called the fruit of the Spirit. Peace, love, trust, all that stuff that we are supposed to get when the Lord gives us our new heart. And I tried to bring out, absolutely, God teaches us, be ye holy, for our God is holy. But that's not the gospel. The word gospel means good news. The gospel is a person. Jesus Christ and what He did on this earth for His people is the good news. I am a gospel preacher. I made it very, very clear. I did not come here to teach you how to live. God's Word does that just fine. I am here to remind you that we have a Savior. We have a Master. My Lord isn't just my Lord. He's my Savior. He rules everything about me. He rules everything about His people. And He came to this world to lay down His life that you and I wouldn't have to. That's the gospel of Christ and Him crucified. So you see how things can get complicated? We can take things like, there has to be a fruit of the Spirit, doesn't there? If you don't see the fruit of the Spirit, Shouldn't you question whether you're saved or not? Let me ask you something. Did Paul see the fruit of the Spirit when he said, even the good that I do, I see evil? Oh, wretched man that I am! Christ came to save sinners of whom I am chief? This is Paul! Paul, who was raised under all that complicated stuff. All those rituals and all those things that we have to go through. Well, if we're a changed person, shouldn't we be this? No. So this morning, I want to remind you of the simplicity of the Gospel. Are you with me in 2 Corinthians? Look at chapter 11. I've got to get there. I don't know how I got over there. Oh, I know. I was looking for something else there. Look in chapter 11, verse 3. Paul says to these Corinthians, brothers and sisters in Christ, if he thought it good enough to remind them of that day, the Sanctus at Corinth, we should take heed to what our dear brother says here, he says, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subjectly, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." The Great Commission is this, go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel. And I've already told you what the Gospel is. It's so simple. It's so simple, especially to a sinner who knows they have nothing. Especially to one who stands in their own filthy righteousness. That's all our righteousness is, it's filthy rags. Isn't that what scripture tells us? Oh, how I fear. lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." It never tires me. It doesn't wear me down to preach the Gospel. It doesn't wear me down to hear it. I've been hearing the Gospel preached for over 26 years. It's never changed. It's always Christ. It's always that brazen serpent that God's ministers hold up for us to look at. And we look to Him. Because we are so often, like Peter, looking away to the complexities of the world, the waves that bounce up against us and wash us away, and we begin to sink in them. If God doesn't hold me And so do you if you belong to Him. I had a conversation once with a co-worker. He shared the fact that his wife and he had quit going to church for whatever reason. I don't even remember what it was now. But he did say this. He said, we had a great preacher. I said, really? What makes a great preacher? He can capture your senses. He just brought some good things to hear. I can get better. I can be a better person if I'll just spend more time reading God's Word. I remember one time, there was a radio thing going on. You'll remember back when I was still working, I was driving my truck listening to the radio. a thing come on, it was a religious station. They played good music, they played hymn songs, so it was good stuff to listen to. But every once in a while they'd come out with something and they had a contest going on, vote for the best preacher in the county. I thought about, I could vote for Gene Harmon. He's the best preacher I know of anywhere around here. But he wouldn't like me doing that, so I never did, but still I thought about that. What makes a good preacher? One who preaches the truth. Many of us have different styles of preaching. I'm not going to stand up here and tell you I love every one of God's preachers. the way they preach. I love them, but I'm not going to lie to you and tell you I like the way they preach. I think some men have a different appeal in the way they preach to others. But here's what makes a good preacher out of every one of them. They preach one message. Christ and Him crucified. That's the only good news for this sinner who stands before you. It's the only good news that I want to talk to you about. It's the only good news that I want to stand up and tell anything to anybody about. It says in 1 Corinthians 2 verse 2, Paul says, for I am determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Go to the left in your Scriptures there to 1 Corinthians chapter 2 for just a moment. I want to read five verses over there. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. I'll give you a moment to turn there. Look with me at the first five verses. Here's a good preacher. Here's what makes a good preacher. And I, brethren, Paul writes, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom. Now I want to stop there for just a moment. I want to remind us, Paul was taught by the best. Paul was under the best teachers of that time. He had become very powerful in the leadership of the church, the Pharisees. They gave him letters to go out and persecute, put people to death for worshipping Christ. And he's telling the Corinthians, the church at Corinth, I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. This is a good preacher right here, one who doesn't come to you with, well, I spent five years going to that college over there in Rockland. I know everything there is about the Bible. I've read through the Bible five times, No. No. A good preacher is one who comes with this. Declaring unto you the testimony of God. Do you see where the simplicity of Christ comes in here? This guy was supposed to be here. He said, I'm going to bring my wife and kids. I said, how old are your kids? He told me like 11, 12, and 20. I said, well, this would be great. This is going to be really good because they'll get to hear. The kids can hear this. It's so simple, even the kids can understand. The young adults. That the message is not, this is the way you should live. And if you do this, you'll be this. And if you do that, you'll be that. The message is Christ. The message is declaring unto you the testimony of God. Remember what the testimony of God is over in Luke chapter 24? What did the Lord say He did with those two men on the road to Emmaus? He expounded unto them the things concerning Himself. What did Philip do on that chariot with the Ethiopian eunuch? Remember that? They were in the book of Isaiah! The Old Testament! He says, do you understand what you're reading? How am I supposed to understand it without somebody teaching me? And Philip preached. Christ and Him crucified. To those who don't know God, it's foolishness. You mean you're not telling people how to live right, John? No! I can't live right myself! Who the heck am I to tell you how to live right? You know. Every one of us know what's wrong and what's right. and do what's wrong. Because it's easier or more pleasurable. That's simple as it is, isn't it? Paul says in verse 2, For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. One of the greatest Ministers of our time will be in Marysville next week by the name of Todd Nibert. I hold that man in very high esteem. But I'll tell you this, he would say the same thing here as Paul was saying. I came in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. You think John Reeves is the only one who stands up and says that? No, every one of God's preachers do. You listen to Gabe Stoniker long enough and you'll hear him say it. Just like his dad, Marvin. Verse 4, Paul says, in my speech, in my preaching, was not with enticing words. It's not with those words that draw you in to making yourself a better person. It's not with those words that tell you the way that you can make your lives so much more simpler. It's not with man's wisdom, but a demonstration of the Spirit and a power that your faith, your belief, your trust, but in the power of God. Throughout all the ages of the world, all of God's prophets, all of God's ministers, all of God's preachers have done one thing in common. They pointed their hearers to the one who saves Jesus Christ the Lord. That's what it was all about, isn't it? We look back into the Old Testament and we see where the Lord sent serpents into the people of Israel. His chosen people. Those that He says, I have loved you with an everlasting love. In Jeremiah, He says, I have drawn you. He says, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, I have drawn you. And he sent serpents into the camp. Now let that sink in for just a minute. We have churches whose pastors are up and walking away. We have men who have been killed by their own relatives. Joe Terrell. We have men who have died from some awful diseases. Don Ford. We have men who can't walk anymore and can't hardly take care of themselves or their wives who've had to leave the ministry because they couldn't even walk up the steps of this building anymore. Do you know that's the only reason Pastor Gene left? It was because he couldn't walk up these steps anymore, his hip was bothering him so bad. We didn't know it at the time, but a year later they diagnosed him with having a heart attack before he even left here. They said sometime within the last year and a half, you've had a heart attack. We can see it right here, the damage done to your heart. We're losing ministers left and right. Danville still does not have a pastor. San Diego's had two, and both of them, one they chased off and the other one walked away. You think our Lord may be sending serpents in among his people? Let me tell you something. If that's the case, there was one reason for it, and that was for them to look to him. That's what that brazen serpent was on the pole for. Lord, what do we do? Our people are dying. Here's the simplicity. Look to the One. That's as simple as it gets. There's no complication to it. You don't have to get... Trust me, if the Lord saves you and you know He's saved, you do what He says. Get in the waters of baptism. But that's not something you have to do. The thief on the cross didn't. And he was saved. Now I'm not trying to encourage you not to do what the Lord tells us to do. That's just the opposite. But I'm telling you, that's not what saves you. And there are plenty out there who say that it's complicated, you need to do it or you're not saved. There's a group out there who think they can scare people. who they can think they can scare people to the Lord. I bring this before you right here and right now. Do you know, not one time in Scripture did the Lord Jesus Himself ever scare anybody into coming to Him? Not once. No, just the opposite. In fact, every time He talks about His salvation, every time He talks about coming to you, it's not to be afraid of death, it's to be desirous of life. Go tell John the Baptist, is what He said to His disciples, go tell them what you have seen. What did they see? The dead. lived again. The blind had their sight given to them. The lame walked again. The sick were healed. Throughout all ages, God's prophets have always brought the same message, Jesus Christ the Lord. You hear this all the time, what would Jesus do? And I say on the authority of scriptures, Jesus would do this, he would preach Christ. That's what he would do. Everything he did in healing the sick was preaching the deliverance of his people. Luke 24, verse 27, in the beginning of Moses, and all the prophets he expounded unto them, and all scriptures concerning the things of himself. Philip preached Christ. This is the desire of all who have been called to preach by God. There's no other way to God but through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses preached Christ. Isn't that what we read in John 5, verse 46? For had ye believed Moses, saith the Lord Jesus, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me. Moses preached Christ. Abraham preached Christ. Listen to the words of John 8, verse 56. Again, our Lord speaking, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad. We read in Romans 10, verse 13, For whosoever shall call upon it in the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And so it goes with all the prophets throughout the Word of God, those who wrote what they were inspired to write by the Holy Spirit, who by the way also speaks of Christ and not of himself. Did you know that? This is part of that discussion. that I've been having about fruit of the Spirit. What is the fruit of the Spirit? Peace. Love. Well, if that's talking about you, then it's not talking about Christ, is it? Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't have peace and love and all that other stuff in you. I'm just telling you that if that's what you're looking for, you're looking for the wrong thing. If you find anything that you might think is that in yourself, as a child of God, you're going to find it mixed with sin. Therefore, it's unworthy. It's unmerited. But when you see those things in the Lord Jesus, because that's what the Spirit does, points us to Christ. When you see the fruit of the Spirit bringing you to the Lord Jesus, when you're down on your knees and you're saying, I can't do this on my own. All I see when I get out of bed in the morning is this flesh full of sin. I need a Savior. That's the Spirit bringing us to the Lord Jesus. That's the fiery serpents that were sent by God and the Spirit taking us to look to Him. to our Savior for our salvation. We preach the only comfort a true sinner can lean to, and it's as simple as this, we preach Christ and Him crucified. Why Christ? Why preach Christ? Because He's God in the flesh, that's why. Not only is He Not only did He go to the cross, He accomplished what He went there for. Not only did He walk this earth in perfect righteousness before God the Father who said, this is my Son in whom I am well pleased, He accomplished it for you and I. He was made I can't explain that to you, and I'm not going to, and I'm going to do it again. I'm going to ask those who think they can, don't! I've heard it all. I've even heard Don Fortner try to explain it, and I'm telling him, don't! But I know it's true. I believe what the Lord tells me, that He was made sin, that I would be made the righteousness of God, in Him. Our message is this, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all expectation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. More about Jesus we sing, would I know, more of His grace to others show, more of His saving fullness see, more of His love who died for me. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 9 through 11, we read these words, O Zion, thou brightest, thou bringest good tidings. Get thee up into the high mountain, O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings. Lift up thy and say unto the cities of Judah, Behold! I've been doing that since I started talking! Behold! Your God! Don, we're going through the book of basic Bible doctrine that Don wrote. And the chapter we looked at this morning gave us, Don went through Genesis and so on, and gave us names that God goes by. Jehovah, Jehovah-Jireh, different things like that. Adoniah, I forget the rest of them. But he came around towards the end, and he says, and then in the New Testament, He gives us this name. Jesus. That's the greatest name in the New Testament of our God, isn't it? Yes. Amen. Behold, your God. His name is Jesus. In the Old Testament, His name is Immanuel, which means God with us. Our Great Shepherd, the very One that is speaking of here, behold your God, behold the Lord God will come with a strong hand and His arm shall rule for Him. He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. Our great Shepherd is leading us through this world, through this valley of the shadow of death, and gathering His sheep along the way." Aren't you ever stopped and wonder why is it just a shadow? He's only saying that to His people. In Psalms 23, He's speaking to His people. The shadow. The valley of death. Why is it just a shadow? It's only a shadow to you and I because Christ Jesus, our Lord, took our death upon himself. He was made a curse for us. He bears our iniquities in his own body. We are gathered today as helpless lambs unto the one who has all power. Listen to Isaiah 40, verse 17 through 18. All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him as less than nothing in vanity. To whom then shall he liken God, or what likeness will you compare unto him? He's got all power in heaven and earth. All the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth in him. compared to the Lord of glory? He who has all power in heaven and earth, can anything turn His hand? If it could, He wouldn't tell us in Romans 8, 28 all things, including serpents coming into your world, including famines coming into your world, including droughts coming into your world. That's what I think we're going through, just my personal opinion. I think the Lord is bringing us into a drought of His Word. We think there's a small remnant now. We don't have any idea. There was a time, think about this, there was a time where there were only eight souls on the entire earth. and the millions and millions and millions of people that were there on earth with him died in the flood. We think we have just a small remnant now. Here's the simplicity. Look to Christ. Come unto me, all ye. that labor in our heavy burden, and I will give you rest.