Please be seated, brother. Thank
you, Pastor John. Our scripture reading this morning
is Psalm 100. Turn your Bibles to Psalm 100. This is a very short psalm, but
by no means is it short in good instruction and wonder that The
Lord is proclaiming to us through it. Amen. A lifetime, a lifetime
indeed of service and joy and consideration for God's people.
Brethren, take heed for this is God's word. Make a joyful
noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with
singing. Know ye that the Lord, he is
God. It is he that has made us and not we ourselves. We are
his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates
with thanksgiving and into the courts with praise. Be thankful
unto him and bless his name. For the Lord is good, his mercy
is everlasting, and his truth endures to all generations. Amen. The last part of that verse 5,
I've got to make a comment about this. And His truth. The word endureth
is not in the original language. It's in our Bible and the translator
thought it would help us to understand things a little better. But I
want to read that without their addition to it. and His truth
to all generations. Boy, does that not open the door
for our loved ones? Does that not give us hope for
those that we love who don't know the Lord? To all generations,
His truth. Oh, Father, if it be Thy will,
save our loved ones. Will you turn to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5? I was asked a question, a man I believe is a dear brother caught my shoulder as we were
exiting during Shirley's, during our special services for Shirley
Reeves. And he said, can I call you? I said, can you give me an idea
of what it's about? He said, well, I've got some questions. And he struggled at first to
answer what the questions were about. I think he wasn't quite
sure what they were. But he said this to me, he says,
isn't there supposed to be a difference? And I said, what? And he said,
isn't there supposed to be a difference what we are before and what we
are now?" I said, yeah, absolutely. And then he never called me back
after that. I'm still waiting. I hope he does. I'd like to discuss
this with him. I know he listens to me via the
internet, via sermon audio, so maybe he'll tune in to today's
message. I've titled the message today,
What is the Difference? Now that I'm saved, people say,
now that I'm saved, should there not be a difference? How come
I don't see any difference? We're studying, we're reading
along Don Fortner's book on basic Bible doctrine, and we've come
to the third chapter where It's talking about, what we're doing
is talking about God is. He is who He is. He is God. And we're going through some
things there with that. Everyone knows, men come into
this world knowing the difference of good and evil. That was declared
in the Garden of Eden back when Adam and Eve. The Lord said,
when you eat of this tree, you'll know the good and evil. And we come into this world with
an understanding that we have sinned against God. That's why
there are so many different religions. People are trying to appease
God. They're just not going about
it according to His Word. They're going about it according
to their own imaginations. They're going about it according
to what they think is right. They're making God to be like
them, because they can't make themselves be like God. And every one of us, we're in
that very same boat. By the grace of God, we are saved
by grace through faith. That's important. Salvation is
of the Lord, folks. If there was any salvation through
anything outside of grace, it wouldn't be salvation. And man
takes your imagination and they come up with all kinds of ideas. Now that I'm saying, shouldn't
there be something different? You know what the world does?
They grab ahold of it and say, oh, absolutely! You can quit smoking! You can
quit drinking! You can quit cheating on your
spouse! You can quit beating people up!
You can quit screaming! You can do all this stuff! That's
what that guy Joel Osteen is. He's a self-promoter. I'm not
talking about him promoting himself, which he does, but he teaches
you how to promote yourself. That's what most religions do.
They teach you how to be a better person. Shouldn't I be a better
person than I used to be? I wonder what the scripture says
about that. Do you? Scriptures tell us something
different, don't they? Let's look first here at 2 Corinthians
chapter 5, one verse if you would. Look at verse 17 with me. Now, this is important in the
way it sets up here. First thing in this verse tells
us this, that if any man be in Christ. That's important. Are we in Christ? How do I know
if I'm in Christ? Shouldn't there be a difference
in me? He is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. What is this new creature, this
new man? All I see is the same old me.
I look in the mirror and I haven't changed at all. I don't know about, you know,
maybe Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just speaking to myself
about this, but my sin is still great. In fact, if anything, you know
how it says, grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ? If I've done anything, I've grown in my knowledge of
my sin. I didn't think I used to be that
bad of a person. I was a pretty good guy for a while, Rick. And
then the Lord showed me the truth. He showed me what I truly am.
Before a thrice holy God, I'm broke. I'm dead in trespasses
and sin. Sin began to bother me. People
say, John, you're always starting the message the same way. You're
always just throwing that sin thing at us. You're always just
beating us up with sin. Well, maybe you don't have that
problem, but I do. And here's the thing. I'm not
preaching to you to tell you how to live or what's wrong with
you. I'm talking about what's wrong with me. I'm sharing with
you what God has done for me. He's shown me what I am before
Him, and that's a sinner. And that's important because
if I don't know that I'm a sinner, then I don't need a physician,
do I? Is there anyone here who needs
a physician like I do? Every time I open my eyes? Every
time I get out of bed? Every time I walk out that door? Sin plagues me. And according
to God's Word, it plagues all of His people. Is Christ in me? I'll tell you what, if sin is
plaguing you, there's a pretty good chance that Christ is in
you as well. The world don't think they're
sinners. They think that if they become religious, they're not
sinners anymore. I'm a better person. Or they
think that I can get better as I go to church every Sunday.
I can become more sanctified. I can grow in my goodness and
taking care of people and preaching and being a good guy. That doesn't
work for John Reeves. I tried and I failed. Now if you try and you do okay
with it, Lord bless you. But if you're like me, if sin plagued you, God has got
some good words for us. He calls it the gospel. And the
gospel is a person. It's not a theory. It's not a
doctrine. It's a person. The good news
that Jesus Christ came to this world to save sinners. That's the good news. I still
have these thoughts of this world, anger maybe, lust maybe, pride
maybe, self-righteousness maybe. What is this new man? Should
I not be getting better? Should I not be less of a sinner?
Well, the Lord gives us a great example of that over in Luke
18. Turn over to Luke 18 and read a couple of verses over
there with me. There's a story. A parable. In verse 9, of Luke chapter 18. Our Lord gives us a parable and
it says here in verse 9, and He spake this parable unto certain
which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised
others. That word despise doesn't mean
hate, it means look down on them. It means turn your nose down
on them. Take your eyeglasses like this, put them out there
on the end of your nose. I'm sure glad I'm not like you
all. They looked on others, thinking
they were better than those around them. Verse 10, it says, two
men went up into the temple to pray. Notice that they went to
the same temple. Notice that they went to the
place where God is worshipped. how we pray that the Lord would
draw us, that He would guide our steps, that He would cause
us to come to His temple. The one a Pharisee, it says,
and the other a publican. Pharisee is one who dresses accordingly. puts on the clothes of piety,
whatever you want to pronounce that word. Holier-than-thou is
a good description of that word. Those who think holy. I wear
the nice clothes. I sit in the front of the church. I pay attention. I show up every
time the doors open to church. I'm a holy man. You know, I see some of you shaking
your heads, yeah. And I know for a fact that some
of you came out of religions that taught that very same thing,
didn't they? That very same thing. Verse 11,
the Pharisee stood and prayed thus. Now listen to how he prayed.
He prayed thus with himself. God? I thank Thee that I am not
as other men. Thank You, Lord, that I'm not
a sinner like everyone else. I used to be, but I'm not anymore. I've turned myself over to the
Lord. I've come down to the front of
the church and made the prayer. I've gone into the waters of
baptism and I washed off all that dirt that I used to have
on me. Now I'm better. Thank You, Lord, that I'm not
like. that other man. I thank you, Lord, that I'm not,
as other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican
sitting right over here. I fast twice a week. I give tithes
of all that I possess." And then the Lord tells us about this
Republican, verse 13, who stands afar off. He doesn't even stand
in front of the church. I can picture him now. He's at
the back corner of the church, of the temple. He doesn't even
want to show his face. He's like John Reeves. He's a
sinner. A sinner who needs something
because he has nothing of it of his own. Standing afar off who would not
lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven. How can I look upon God,
the very one that I've sinned against? I'm so unworthy. Aren't you thankful for that? about that for just a moment.
If we were worthy of anything, we wouldn't need His grace, would
we? Aren't you thankful that you're
unworthy? That makes His grace so much
more magnified. So much more wonderful. I don't
want to be saved by works. I want to be saved by His grace.
Because His grace is perfect, just like He is in every way. We started, this is kind of a
lead off from what happened last week. Remember last week? We
talked about a guy who prayed for us. We talk about the one
who created all things praying for a people. What beautiful,
merciful grace that is that he would bring himself to this earth,
first off, and sacrifice himself for us, but that he would pray
for us as well. Well, here we see that He has
caused us to seek Him, to look to Him. Did you know that He
sent those serpents into Israel? Did you know that? Did you know
that He sent the famine into Canaan, into the land of Canaan,
that Jacob would take his... Well, first off, He caused the
brothers to sell Joseph into Egypt. And then he caused the famine,
where they would be starving to death, where they had to go
down to Egypt, not knowing their brother was the ruler of all
that was down there, had the key to all of the king's treasures. The Lord brought all that to
be. He caused the winds to stir up the seas. against that ship
out in the ocean when he slept in the bottom, that those on
top would cry out, Lord, don't you care about it? Folks, that's us. I'm thankful. I'm thankful that I don't have
anything. Because if I had something, even
the littlest of anything, I could grab onto that and miss my Lord
completely. This is the publican. This is
the story of the one who's standing afar off as we read there in
verse 13. Not even so much to lift up his eyes into heaven,
but he smokes his breath. He pounds his breath saying,
God, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. Now listen to what
he says next. Listen to the words of God Almighty. The God-man,
Jesus Christ. He says in verse 14, justified rather than the other. What is the difference between
one who is saved and one who is not? Here's the difference,
self-righteousness and deadness. Even the things that I think
are good, I see evil in. Isn't that what Paul says? Isn't
that what he says? Paul! The Apostle Paul! The one who was taught by the
best teachers of the world at that time. He sat under the best
professors. Learned all there was to learn
about the religion of the Jews. And he counted it all but done.
And we all know what that word means. He counted it all but done to know the glory of God in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, wicked man that I am, he
says. What is the difference? The difference
is this, do you see yourself as a sinner? One in need of a
physician. One who stands unworthy. Listen to 1 Timothy 1 verse 15. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. And then Paul closes with these
words from that verse. He says, Of whom I am chief. No, he's not. I am. No, he's
not. You are. I'll bet that's what
you're saying. No, he's not. I am. God's people, all of them,
the millions and millions and millions of God's people throughout
all time are saying the very same thing as they walk this
earth. I'm the chief of sinners. I cannot emphasize enough Our
sin is ever before our eyes. Unlike the religions of the world
that teach that if you just let Jesus be your Lord, if you'll
just make a decision to follow Him, you can be a better person. I've never heard one of God's
preachers ever say that. We like to tell you about the
goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not afraid to tell you there
is no good in you. God's Word says that. It says
there are none good. None. Throughout all time, all
men are tainted with sin. That makes us all no good. Yes, there is one. There is one
who is perfect. Even the sacrifice of Himself
was so perfect that God the Father accepted it fully. That means
all of our sins that were put upon Him, all of the curse that
was laid upon our Savior was put away. Do you know in Hebrews
it says we are perfected forever? Let me just turn over there and
meet you. You know me. I can't remember
things. I just have such a hard time
remembering stuff. I've got to remember. For by
one offering, verse 14 of chapter 10, for by one offering He hath
perfected, completed, set apart for them forever, them that are
sanctified. Folks, that's good news to a
sinner. That's good news to a bankrupt sinner. Our sins are ever before
our eyes in this flesh, and it'll never get any better knowing
that is a revelation from God. Because with the knowledge comes
the knowledge of a Savior. Christ Jesus the Lord. I hate it when that happens. Look over at Romans chapter 7
with me. Turn over to Romans chapter 7. Here's the good news. Beginning
at verse 14, For we know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, writes Paul, sold unto sin. For that which
I do I allow not, for what I would that do I, but not what I hate
that I do, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that is good, now then it is no more
I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me,
that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing, for to will is
present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. Now listen to this. For the good
that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that
I do. Now if I do that, I would not,
it is no more that I do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find
then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring
against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity of
the loss of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Knowing the depth of our
sin, as Paul just stated here, there is only one hope. Oh, wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. I tell you, I tell
you that it's a great honor and a great privilege to be where
we are right now, right here in this church. We could be at
that church down the street that preaches and teaches people the
very thing that I just told you about, if you'll just do this. We could be attending that church
that our brother Mike Lovelace used to church preach to, who
he used to go out door to door trying to proselyte people into
their religion and teaching them, if you'll just start coming to
church on this day with us. Folks, it's a great honor to
be here today. Do you grasp that? Do you grasp the great privilege
that God has given His people to come together and worship
Him? Because it's not natural for us. Our nature is to go out and worship
self. That's what all those other religions
are. That's what works religion is. If I do this, if I do that,
it's a religion of I is really what it is. Am I any different today than
I was before the Lord called me out of darkness? Yes! I'm
a sinner where I wasn't before. And it's a shame that most religions
try to teach their people that if you don't see this, then you're
not saved. Our Lord doesn't say that, no.
What does He say? He says, If thou believe, whosoever
believeth. Isn't that what the Lord tells
us? Some people think that I put too much emphasis on the fact
that you gotta believe. Believing doesn't save you. Jesus
Christ saved us. But you're not saved if you don't
believe that. Plain and simple. I've been told that all I ever
do is preach predestination. That I've told people that if
they don't believe in predestination, they're not saved. I've never
said that, ever. Let me ask you something. Do
you think the thief on the cross, do you think somebody told him
about predestination? Do you think somebody told him
about baptism? From what I understand from God's
Word, He didn't have to go through any of that, did He? But I guarantee
you something, if He believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, He
believed in predestination too. Jesus Christ is our salvation. What a great honor and privilege
it is for you and I to come out of the world, spend a few moments
of our work week, our week, Worshipping the true and living God. Worshipping
Him in spirit and in truth. We just spent our Friday night
Bible study. If you haven't had the opportunity
to look at it, there are handouts in the foyer. I recommend you
take one if you've got time to do some reading. It has to do
with Matthew chapter 23, which is an entire chapter God has
devoted to Matthew writing what the Lord had purposed him to
write. I got it right that time, I think. Declaring woe unto you. Declaring some men to be hypocrites. Leaders of false religion. Liars. Religious men. I'm going to start going off
on that again. I'm not going to do that. Many
folks today are worshiping somewhere but few worship in spirit and
truth. Many will go about seeking to
make an appeasement for their sins, going about in vanity,
establishing a false sense of earned salvation, just as such
as we were at one time, yet some, some have the privilege and the
honor to come together and worship the true and living God today
in spirit and in truth. Am I any different today? Am
I any different than I was before the Lord saved me? Today, I seek
my Lord in all that I want to hear. Paul says, I wish to know
nothing of you, save Christ and Him crucified. He says, we preach
Christ and Him crucified, the power of God. That's what I want
to hear. That's the difference in John
Reeves today. Is there any difference in my
actions? Don't follow me around for 7 days, 24 hours a day. You're
going to be really disappointed in what you see. But yes, I'm different. There's a God in my life. The
true God. The God that is spoken of in
His Word, this Holy Bible that He has given us to be His witness. The witness of Him. Luke was inspired to write this
in chapter 10, verse 21, and I've got to kind of hurry, so
I'm just going to read some verses for you. In that hour, Jesus
rejoiced in the Spirit, and He said, I thank Thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, Thou hast hid these things from the
wise and the prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Even so, Father, for it seemed good in Thy sight Ezekiel 36
verse 26, A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit
will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out
of your flesh. That's the heart that shook my
fist and used to say, I will not have that one rule over me. Now I gladly bow the knee because
a new heart also will I give you, he said, and a new spirit
will I put within you. Not something that I had done,
but what my Lord has done. And I will take away that old
stony heart and give you a heart of flesh. This is the pride of the flesh.
The man who stood before us, as we read there in the temple,
the man who stood and said, Lord, thank you. Thank you, I am not
as others. This is the pride of the flesh.
This is the old man, our born nature. Ever since man became
a sinner, he has been self-righteous. When a man had perfect righteousness
before God, he did not glory in it nor cherish it, but ever
since man fell in the Spirit and lost all of our righteousness,
we have pretended to be righteous and make sure people Here's some plain declarations
from the Word of God. James 3, verse 2, And many things
we offend all. Ecclesiastes 7, verse 10, This
is not a man upon the earth that doth good, doeth good, and sinneth
not. Job 15, verse 14, What is man
that he should be clean, or he that is born of a woman that
should be righteous? Romans chapter 3, verses 9 and
10, they are all under sin as it is written, there is none
righteous, no not one. Turn over to Ezekiel chapter
36. I don't know that I'm going to be able to get through all
this today. Only by God's sovereign grace
will a man see the truth of their condition. Only by the sovereign
grace of God will the pride of man be brought low to beg for
mercy from the Creator. And passing away of our old nature
is only something that He can do. God must deal with the heart
of our soul. That old heart must be put away
and a new heart, a new nature must be given. The Lord tells
Nicodemus, ye must be born again. In the day of His love, He comes
to those that the Father has given Him before the world was,
and He speaks these words. Look at verse 24 of Ezekiel 36. For I will take you from among
the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring
you into your own land. Notice who it is that's doing
the work. Take note that it's not the man
who makes the decision. It's not the man who puts aside
his old nature and follows a new path. Read on, verse 25, Then
will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from
all your filthiness, and from all your iles will I cleanse
you. Only God can cleanse a heart
of a sinner. Only the perfect blood of Christ
can wash away the sins of men. And when He applies His sin-atoning
blood to the new man, the new man emerges to see with a new
heart the truths of God. Listen to this in Jeremiah 32,
40, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. I will not
turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear
in their hearts that they shall not depart from Me. Now let's
close with verses 26-28. The prophet writes, a new heart
also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you.
And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and will
give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you. Am I different now today? Is
there a difference in John Reeves today than there was before?
I can tell you this, friends who have known me all my life
will tell you yes. John follows after some God that
he's been reading about in the Bible. We remember the John before who
thought about himself and himself only. You talk to my family,
you talk to my wife, No, she won't tell you because she loves
me. But she could. The Lord says, I will put my spirit
within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. Am I different? Scriptures tell me They tell
us that, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.
Therefore, if any man be in Christ. That's what we need to ask ourselves. Am I in Christ? The phrase, in Christ, appears
77 times in the New Testament alone. I cannot cover each one
in a million messages, let alone one, so consider just these few
with me if you would. 1 Timothy 3 verse 13, it says,
Faith which is in Christ Jesus. That means believing in Him.
That's what John 3.16 says. Whosoever believeth in Me shall
have everlasting life. I know the world likes to focus
on that other part, the part that says for God to love the
world. But the key to that verse is this, whosoever believeth
in Him. Faith, which is in Christ Jesus. We are saved by grace through
faith, as it states in Ephesians 2, verse 8. Faith does not save
us, but you cannot be saved without it. I'm just not going to have time
to do what I wanted to do here. Am I in Christ? There's at least, you know what,
I may just pick this up again next week. I may just pick this
up again next week. Let me just close with this very,
let me close with what I put down on the closing here today.
There's a bunch of stuff here that I just, I gotta bring to
you, but I'm gonna bring it next week, I think. We're gonna pick
up part B, continuation. What is the difference? Let me
just close with this. What is the difference between
myself now and the John Reeves before the Lord spoke to my heart
sitting there in that pew? What is the difference between
me now and the John Reeves who believed he was his own God? It is to look to Christ. That's
the difference. It's not something you're going
to see in me as I walk through this world. It's not something
I'm going to see in you. I'm not going to look at you.
We talked about this Friday night. You know what that Pharisee was
doing? He was standing in the front of the church going, Look
at me! Look at me! See this? God's people are like the other
guy. We're in the back. Don't look
at me. I'm ugly. I got nothing for you. Nothing to bring any pleasingness
to your eyes. But look to my Savior. That's
what the difference is. Look to Christ. Look to Him alone. Is there any difference in me?
Yes. It is to believe in Him. to believe
that He is God in the flesh and that what He's done is so perfect,
so perfect that nothing can get in the way. Not even me. I can't even get in the way of
my Lord's salvation. He won't let me. He'll keep me
as it says in 1 Peter 1, verse 5. Kept by the power of God. Is there any difference in me? It is to trust. that He will keep me. He says He will, and He's God,
He cannot lie. I know I'm going a little bit
long, but you'll bear with me. You know, as we pray in our private
time, we think to the Lord, Lord you know this, Lord that. We
come and we bring our petitions to God. And I'm sitting there
thinking to myself, just recently this has really started working
its way into my prayers. If I'm yours, I ask Him, I said, Lord, don't
let me go to the pulpit alone. And the thought comes into my
mind, if I'm yours, you hear me. That's trusting Him. That's trusting
His Word. It's not trusting John in any
way at all. If I'm yours, Your Word says
you'll hear me cry. You'll hear my prayer. I don't think He left me alone
up here today. Isn't that amazing? He hears our cries. And He comes
when we need Him. Not like a dog that would yank
his chain, but because He loves us and gave Himself for us. Am I any different today? It is to be in Christ. And here's what it is to be in
Christ. It is to have spiritual life and eternal life. That's according to His Word.
That's according to His Word. Lord willing, I'll pick this
up again and we'll talk about it a little more next Sunday.
If the church is empty, then I know you didn't like today's
message. If it's full, then I know you did and you're looking forward
to part B of it. Stand with me if you would. Let's
turn to 473. You know, how do I know what
is the difference in John Reeves? There's no victory in John. But
there is a my Savior. That's what we're going to close
with today. 473 Victory in Jesus.