1089, pin number 1089. It's almost
to the very back. 1089. 1089. We're seeing this Him to the tune of all hail the
power of Jesus' name. 1089. Do y'all have that? Do y'all have that in the red book? Yeah, here. Here you go. I think we might
have got one that's got some pages. All right. Sold under sin was Paul's complaint,
he felt its galling load. Though he by calling was a saint
and rightly ♪ Taught of God ♪ ♪ Though he by calling was a saint ♪ ♪
And rightly taught of God ♪ ♪ Like him we daily feel the same ♪
♪ And long to be dissolved ♪ Oppressed by sins of every name, how oft
are we involved. Oppressed by sins of every name,
how oft are we involved. But he that feels pollution must
Defiled throughout by sin, Will never of His goodness boast,
But mourn the plague within, Will never of His goodness boast,
but mourn the plague within. Distressed at heart, he'll tell
his God. He feels it every day. And to the front of Jesus' blood,
For pardon, haste away. And to the fount of Jesus' blood,
For pardon, haste away. Sinless perfection we deny, the
chief of Satan's wiles. Do thou, my soul, to Calvary
fly, as oft as sin defiles? Do thou, my soul, to Calvary
fly, As aught as sin defiles. Man. Turn back just a few hymns
to hymn number 1070, 1070. 1070. Just a couple of pages. We will sing this to the tune
of Sweet Hour of Prayer, number 1070. Thou friend of friendless sinners
here, and magnify thy grace divine. Pardon a worm that would draw
near, that would his heart to thee resign. O worm, by self and sin oppressed,
that pants to reach thy promised rest. A worm by self and sin
oppressed That pans to reap the promised rest With holy fear
and reverent love, I long to lie beneath Thy throne. I long in Thee to live and prove
and stay myself on Thee alone. Teach me to lean upon Thy breast
To find in Thee the promised rest. Teach me to lean upon Thy
breast. To find in Thee the promised
rest. Take me, dear Savior, as Thy
own, and with Thy Father plead my cause. Be Thou my portion,
Lord alone. O help me to obey Thy laws, and
with Thy gracious presence, Give me to find thy promised rest. And with thy gracious presence
blessed, give me to find thy promised rest. Bid the tempestuous rage of sin
With every furious passion die, let the Redeemer dwell within,
and turn my sorrows into joy. Oh, may my heart, by Thee possessed,
Know Thee to be my promised rest. O make my heart by Thee possessed. Know Thee to be my promised rest. Does anybody have a hymn that
you'd like to sing? And here's the end of it. 126. Sorry, what was it? 126. 126 in the old school handbook. Tell me the story of Jesus. 126.
♪ Tell me the story of Jesus ♪
♪ Write on my heart every word ♪ ♪ Tell me the story most precious
♪ ♪ Sweetest that ever was heard ♪ ♪ Tell how the angels in chorus
♪ Sang as they welcomed his birth. Glory to God in the highest. Peace and good tidings to earth. Tell me the story of Jesus. Write on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious,
sweetest that ever was heard. Fasting alone in the desert,
tell of the days that are past, how for our sins He was tempted,
yet he was triumphant at last. Tell of the years of his labor. Tell of the sorrow he bore. He was despised and afflicted. homeless, rejected, and poor. Tell me the story of Jesus. Write on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious. sweetest that ever was heard. Tell of the cross where they
nailed him, writhing in anguish and pain. Tell of the grave where
they laid him, Tell how he liveth again. Love in the stories of
tender, clearer than ever I see. Stay, let me weep while you whisper. Love paid the ransom for me. Tell me the story of Jesus. Write on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious. sweetest that ever was heard. All right. Anybody else got a
hint, Jackson? Which one? 37? In the Blue Songs
of Grace book. Sovereign Grace, I will proclaim it. Somebody must have read my Facebook post this morning. Sing this to a tune of What a
Friend We Have in Jesus. Wretched, lost, condemned, and
dying. Guilty, I deserve God's wrath. Long I fought against my master. Hell-bent, I was courting death. But the blood of Jesus hath bought
me. He refused to let me die. This poor sinner loved by Jesus
must be conquered by and by. At the time which was predestined,
In the covenant of God's grace God in mercy sent His Spirit
Blessed time of love and grace To reveal His Son's great merit
As the sinner's substitute I saw Jesus bleeding, dying,
suffering as my substitute. Precious blood of sin's atonement,
justice could not ask for more. I heard Christ crying, it's finished,
and I could resist no more. Thanks to God for intervening,
grace that broke my stubborn will. Grace that would not let
me perish. Grace that rescued me from hell. Sovereign grace, I will proclaim
it. Irresistible and free. Grace that chose me and redeemed
me. God by grace alone saved me. Sinner, now you've heard my story. Now I bid you trust my God, Christ
my all-sufficient Savior. Saves poor sinners by his blood. That's a good song, isn't it?
Praise the Lord for sovereign grace. Anybody else
got one? I don't want to cut it off if y'all still have songs
you want to sing. 436. 436. 436 in the old school. have saved the Wonder Store. I will sing the wondrous story
of the Christ who died for me. How he left his home in glory
for the cross of Calvary. Yes, I'll sing the wondrous story
of the Christ who died for me. Singing with the saints in glory,
gathered by the crystal sea. I was lost, but Jesus found me,
found the sheep that was astray. Threw his loving arms around
me, drew me back into his way. Yes, I'll sing the wondrous story
of the Christ who died for me. Sing it with the saints in glory
gathered by the crystal sea. I was bruised, but Jesus healed
me. Faint was I from many a fall. Sight was gone and fears possessed
me, but He freed me from them all. Yes, I'll sing the wondrous
story of the Christ who died for me. Singing with the saints
in glory, gathered by the crystal sea. Days of darkness still come
o'er me, sorrows pass, I often tread. But the Savior still is
with me, by His hand I'm safely led. Yes, I'll sing the wondrous
story of the Christ who died for me. Sing it with the saints
in glory gathered by the crystal sea. He will keep me till the
river rolls its waters at my feet. Then he'll bear me safely
over where the loved ones I shall meet. Yes, I'll sing the wondrous
story of the Christ who died for me. Sing it with the saints
in glory, gathered by the crystal sea. Amen. One of these days. Anybody else
got one? All right. Turn over if you would to John
chapter 3. John chapter 3. John chapter 3. Let's bow and have a word of
prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father,
we come to you this morning, and we are so thankful for sovereign
grace. And we also look forward to the
day that we will sing these wonder stories in heaven, what Christ
has done for us. Father, we just thank you now
for this time that we have together this morning. We come to you
this morning as your people. humbled before you now because
of your grace, knowing that apart from that grace, Father, we are
just filthy rags and unprofitable servants, and that without grace,
we are deserving of wrath, deserving of hell because we have transgressed
your holiness. So, Father, Lord, we just come
to you now, and we are so grateful for the blood of Jesus that has
cleansed us from our sins. We thank you for the reconciliation
that has brought us back to you. Because we had gone afar, we'd
gone astray, we like sheep have went astray. Every man to his
own way, his own thoughts, his own understanding. We've lived
in the flesh, we've lived in sin, we've lived by the natural
man. But praise God, by sovereign
grace, you've given us the new man. You've given us new life. You've planted that seed within
us that is incorruptible. So Father, Lord, we just thank
you today for that uncorrupted life that we have. And we look
forward to the day that this body will be put off and that
it will put on also that which cannot be corrupted. Father,
I ask now, Lord, that you be with me as I stand here to preach
your word. I ask that you would give me the words to say that
you will speak and minister to your people. These are your sheep. This is your church. We need
Your presence. Without that presence, Father,
we are nothing. We just labor in vain. But whenever Your Spirit
comes, Lord, we worship in spirit and in truth, and it is pleasing
and a sweet savoring to You. We want to do that today. We
ask, Lord, that You just give us that ability, that You might
give us hearing ears and receptive hearts. Father, Lord, keep me
from error. May your son be glorified and
magnified in all that we do and say here. Make the words of these
scriptures come clear to our heart, to our eyes. May we see
Christ in them. May we not preach ourselves.
May we not preach a church. May we not preach anything else
but Christ and him crucified. And that according to the scriptures.
For it's in Christ's name that we pray, amen. But once again, we are taking
up our series, The Ecclesia of Christ or Christ Church. We've
been in this series now for quite some time. And so far, again,
we've looked at the nature of the church. What is the nature
of Christ Church? And we found that the nature
of Christ Church is that it is a local and visible assembly. It is not a, it is not a invisible
group of people made up of all the people of God all over the
world. The church is a local congregation,
and wherever that congregation, wherever those people gather
into congregations all over the world, that is the church of
Jesus Christ. Institutionally, Christ established
a church, his kind of church, with his rules, his doctrines,
his laws, his ordinances, and he made the church the custodian
of that. Just like in the Old Testament,
he made the Levites the custodians of the service of the temple,
we have now been made, as the gathered congregations of Christ,
the custodians of the gospel. And so the nature of the church
is not a universal, invisible church. or a universal visible
church, but a local visible assembly congregation. After that we looked,
and of course in that we looked at all 118 verses in the scriptures
that had ekklesia, the Greek word for church, and we found
that in all 118 places it talked about a local congregation. It didn't speak of a universal
church, Or it spoke of the institutional
or aggregate form of the word, meaning that kind of church.
Or it spoke of the church in prospect or the church in the
future, which is when all the saints gather around the throne
of God and make up one large congregation. And even at that
point, that's when all the saints of all time will make up one
local visible assembly. So in any place that you go,
you'll find that the church is found as the nature of it is
a local congregation. Then after that, we looked and
seen when was the beginning of the church? When did the Church
of Jesus Christ or the Ekklesia begin? We found out that it didn't
begin in the Old Testament. We found that it didn't begin
with John the Baptist, and it didn't begin at Pentecost, but
it began Whenever Jesus Christ was baptized, he came up out
of the water and began his earthly ministry. And whenever he began
to gather together those first apostles out of the disciples
that John had already began to prepare for the bridegroom, for
the one who is to come, that was his job. That was what John
was called for. It's prophesied in the Old Testament
that he would make and prepare a way, he'd make straight the
paths for the Messiah, for the Christ, who would come And that's
exactly what he did. He began to come and to preach
repentance. And he began to preach Christ
and point people to Christ. And whenever Christ came and
began that earthly ministry of gathering the church, he began
first with the apostles, the 12 that he made apostles, thus
fulfilling what the scripture said, that he placed in the church
first apostles, Then prophets, not the other way around. He
didn't place in the Old Testament prophets and then apostles. Okay, so that's why we know that
the church didn't start in the Old Testament, right? He placed
in them first apostles, then prophets, then pastors and teachers. But anyway, we've seen that the
church began before Pentecost, but after John. It began with
Jesus. That's whenever he began to gather
his church and began to establish and begin to build upon the rock
of himself. And now we are looking at the
gospel of the church. What is the gospel of the church?
And we have seen over the last few weeks that the Bible has
made some pretty strong statements about the gospel. The gospel
is not something that we joke about. You know, we see all over
the place in Christian bookstores all these t-shirts and bandanas
wristbands and bumper stickers and all these kind of things
that sometimes make jokes and crack jokes about the gospel
and about Jesus and about different stuff like that. But we need
to understand that God is somebody to be revered. And His gospel
isn't something that we should take lightly. And that we've
read in several instances. You don't have to turn here.
I'll just read them really quickly. In the second epistle of John,
we read that if whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine
of Christ, hath not God. So if they are not preaching
and teaching the doctrine of Christ, no matter how zealous
they are, no matter how religious they are, no matter how dedicated
they are to what they're doing, how friendly they are, how wonderful
they are, how nice they are, how sweet and helpful they are,
how social they are. It says here, they have not God. It says, he that abideth in the
doctrine of Christ hath both the Father and the Son. If there
come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receiving not
into your house of church, neither bid him Godspeed. Okay? So we're not to have people coming
into our church that does not bring the doctrine of Christ.
We're not to call anybody brother or sister in the Lord who does
not have the doctrine of Christ, does not preach and teach and
hold to believe the doctrine of Christ. We don't have that
warrant. Then we also found in the scriptures that the Bible
says to mark them out that cause dissension and teach not the
doctrine of Christ and to avoid them. stay away from them, not
to have anything to do with them. So there again, we shouldn't
have fellowship with those who have not the doctrine of Christ. And then we also seen in Galatians,
that was in Romans, by the way. In Galatians, we see that Paul
made a very strong statement whenever he said that there is
no other gospel. There isn't multiple gospels.
There isn't, you know, the gospel that the that this group preaches,
or the gospel that this group preaches, or the gospel that
this group preaches, and although they're different, they're all
pointing to the same God. No, they're not pointing to the
same God. That was one of the heresies
of the heretic Billy Graham. He believed that you could believe
in another God, that you could be a Muslim, or a Hindu, or a
Buddhist, and that as long as you were desiring to love and
to serve God, that eventually we'd all get to the same place.
And that was one of his heresies. But that is not the gospel. Those
are not the gospels. And Paul in Galatians said that
he was marveled that the Galatians who had been established in the
true gospel or the doctrine of Christ had begun to move away
from that and was being perverted by those who were coming in And
Paul said, which is not another, but there be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we are
an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, unto
that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As
we have said before, so say I now again. If any man preach any
other gospel unto you that you receive, let him be accursed. So God places a pretty high premium
on his gospel. Christ has established this gospel,
has given it to the church, and for you to be a faithful church,
you must hold that doctrine, not some other doctrine, not
a weak, watered-down gospel, not an augmented gospel, but
you gotta hold the gospel that Jesus taught. If you don't hold
that gospel, then even though you might call yourself a Christian,
or a Christian church, or even a Baptist church, or whatever,
if you don't hold that doctrine of Christ, then you are not preaching
that gospel, you are not holding the doctrine of Christ, and you
are just zealous in your religious works. Here it says that there
is no other gospel, there's only one. And there are many that
are out there that say, well, all you've got to do is just
believe enough of this and that's all you have to do. Look at verse
10. For do I now persuade men, or
do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should
not be the servant of Christ. If you're afraid to preach the
doctrine of Christ, if you're afraid to preach the Gospel that
Jesus preached in your churches because of fear of men, fear
that you're either going to lose men, or lose money, or lose credibility,
or lose your place in the community as a good preacher, or whatever
the case might be, the association might kick you out, then you're persuading men and
not God. And it says here, then you are
not a servant of Christ. No matter how much you preach,
No matter how much you teach, no matter how many churches you
go to, no matter how many pastorates you have, no matter how many
doctorate of theology degrees you might have, no matter how
well you sing, no matter how much time you might give, no
matter what you do, you're not a servant of God.
That's God's estimate of those who do not hold the doctrine
of Christ. And so we as people have to, as the people of God,
have to determine Do we continue in those things because of men? See, Paul is saying here, I don't
continue in doing things for the persuasion or from the persuasion
of men. We don't go to churches because
of friends. That's wonderful if we have friends.
I'm glad we have friends here. But I don't come to this church
because of friendship. I don't come here because of
relationship, of family. I don't come to this church because
of anything except for the fact that God has called me here,
for one, but because the gospel is here. The gospel that Jesus preached
is here. And see, any gospel that is other
than that gospel is not the gospel. Verse 11 says, But I certify
unto you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of
me is not after man, For I neither received it of men, neither was
I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. So that gospel
that Paul preached is the gospel that came from Jesus. And so
our question began to be is, what is the doctrine of Christ?
What is the gospel that Jesus preached? Because if it's so
serious that the Bible says, that if anybody comes and doesn't
have that doctrine from Christ, if they don't have that gospel
that Jesus preached and gave to those apostles and told them,
establish the churches in this gospel and no other gospel. And if anybody comes and preaches
another gospel than this gospel, let them be accursed. Now, I
didn't say burn them out of the state like the Catholics did.
Say, what is the gospel? And if they don't have that gospel,
then they need to be turned away, they need to be rejected, they
need to be not listened to. And you need to not go to those
churches, not be a part of those churches. And so often people
go to churches because of so many things, but the center point
of finding a church, anybody that's out there that's watching
by live feed, by listening by sermon audio, that is here in
this building right now, if you're looking for a church, the center
point of that search for a church should be do they faithfully
preach the gospel that Jesus preached? Do they hold to those
things or is other peripheral things? And I hate to even use
the word peripheral because everything that's in the scripture is important.
The Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of God
and it's profitable. So everything that the Bible
teaches is profitable and is important. But we come down to
the gospel. What does it say about Christ
and His finished Word? So, we started looking at what
does the Gospel say about Jesus Christ? And we began reading
last week, in John, in the first three chapters, before we even
got further than the third chapter, we saw that Jesus had already
preached that man is totally depraved. That means Whenever
we say totally depraved, that doesn't mean that he's as sinful
as he can be. Okay? What totally depraved,
what total depravity means is that man by nature, born of Adam,
has a nature that cannot and will not understand spiritual
things. That it is a nature that will
never choose Jesus. that will never come to Jesus,
that cannot understand the gospel. And Jesus preached that total
depravity, not the total depravity that we are just sinful people
and we can still choose Jesus if we want. No, that's not the
doctrine of Christ. If anybody preaches a free will
doctrine, they're not preaching the doctrine of Christ. If anybody
preaches that you can make a decision for Jesus to be saved, that's
not the doctrine of Christ. If anybody preaches that you
can come of your own will, anytime you want, without Christ first
giving you new life to come, then they're preaching another
gospel. And we as the people of God have an obligation under
Christ's command to not listen to, to not be a part of, to not
fellowship in, to not receive, and to not acknowledge that as
the gospel, no matter how much it might seem like it's a good
thing. And Jesus taught here in the very first chapter, we
see that Jesus came out of the water baptizing, and what did
He do? Look at verse 36, chapter 1,
verse 36. And the next day after John stood
and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as He walked,
He said, Behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him
speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them
following, and said unto them, What seek ye? They said unto
him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master, where
dwellest thou? He said unto them, Come and see.
They came and saw where he dwelt in a bowl with him that day,
for it was about the tenth hour. And of the two which heard John
speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, He first
findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found
Messiah, which is being interpreted to Christ. And he brought him
to Jesus, and when Jesus beheld him, said, Thou art Simon, the
son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called Cephas,
which is by interpretation, a stone. And so we see here that Jesus
began his ministry, and he began to go, and he began to gather
his sheep, or whatever he called them, Follow me, what does it
say in some of the other scriptures that we've read also? They immediately
left their nest and followed Jesus. There was no having to
persuade them. They followed Him. Why? Because
they'd already been born again and whenever the shepherd calls,
whenever the shepherd's voice calls, they come, right? But we also read back in verse
12, it said, as many as received Him, Did we preach, receive Jesus
Christ? Did we preach that here? We preach,
yeah, receive Jesus Christ. But we don't preach it in this
way. Receive Jesus Christ and you will be saved. You will get
saved. Receive Jesus Christ and then
He will save you. Receive Jesus Christ and then
He will forgive you. No, we preach, receive Jesus
Christ. Why? Because you've already been
saved. Look what it says, but as many as received Him, To them,
who's them again? Remember what we talked about
last week? The them are the ones who received him. So to the receiving
ones, he gave the power to become the sons of God. See, there's a giving of power
first before there can be any receiving. And then in verse 13, which were
born not of the blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will
of man, but were born, born again of who? Of God, right? So anybody
that preaches and teaches, I mean, this right here, although Jesus
didn't actually say these words, these are by His Spirit breathed
out into this passage, right? All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and who is the Word? Christ is the Word. These were
given by Christ's Spirit to John, and he wrote them down. And John,
when he wrote those down, wrote down what the Spirit inspired
him to say, and that was this, that nobody is born again by
their own will. God doesn't say, if you will
come, then I will give you new birth. It's never that way. It's always, he gives us the
new birth, and then we have the will to come. He then draws us,
And we come. Why? Because we've now been given
spiritual eyes and spiritual ears and a spiritual heart, a
spiritual desire to come. Without that, we wouldn't come.
We turned over into the third chapter of John, and we've seen
Jesus now beginning to teach. To Nicodemus, just kind of recapping
what we talked about last week, In verse 3, Jesus says, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God. But yet there are thousands of
churches out there today that are saying to people all over
the world that if you'll just come and do this, then Christ
will give you new birth. If you will do this, if you will
pray this prayer, if you'll fill out this card, If you'll come
through this bad mystery, if you'll just make a decision for
Jesus Christ, if you'll ask Jesus into your heart, brethren, that is not the doctrine
of Christ. And a child of grace should not
be involved in those things. Jesus said, verily, verily, I
say unto thee, except, there's only one way that any person
man, woman, child, from Adam to the consummation of the end,
can see the kingdom of God. Meaning perceive it, understand
it, is through being born again.
So what does that mean? Well, for those of us who preach
and teach sovereign grace, or I would say the doctrine of Christ,
We preach that you must first be born again before you can
believe, before you can receive, before you can repent, before
you can come. But yet, and I did this for many,
many years. Brethren, I had it backwards.
I was preaching believe, receive, repent, and come. And then Jesus
will give you the new birth. You'll be born again. And then
He'll give you new life. And then He'll save you. then
He'll forgive you. The fact of the matter is that
we are already forgiven. We're already sons of God. Even before we were ever born
again, we were sons of God. Jesus says, except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And then drop down to
verse 5. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. That's one of the reasons why
bad misbelief and are regenerate. And I don't like that term, a
quickened or a new birth, new creation, one who's been born
again, church membership. We don't bring anybody into membership
of the church who has not professed faith in Jesus Christ, thus professing
faith in the true gospel. thus showing to our eyes, are
we going to get that wrong sometimes? Yeah, we are. There are going
to be people that's going to come in here who have learned
of the ear, the doctrines of Christ, and can, by mouth, parrot
and say that. But there are very few that love
that doctrine. There are very few that love
that doctrine. Matter of fact, whenever we preach this doctrine among
many professing Christians, I could go out and preach this among
a group of people. And you know what? Those who
have no interest in Christ, it really don't even bother them.
You know who has the most affront to this message? Those who profess
to be Christians. Jesus said that unless one is
already born again, They cannot see the kingdom of God or enter
the kingdom of God. So now we have total depravity,
right? That's total depravity. By the way, and I don't believe
in Calvinism, but those five points of Calvinism that you
all hear about, or TULIP, that's the first point, total depravity. Jesus said, that which is born
of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is
spirit. So he's saying that there's two
natures residing here. There is the nature of the flesh,
and there's the nature of the spirit. Everyone's born of the flesh
who's born of Adam. But only those who are born of
Christ, born of heaven, born from above, is born of the spirit. And those are the only people
who discern spiritual things, who know spiritual things. He
said, marvel not that I said to thee, you must be born again.
The wind bloweth where it listed, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, or whether it goeth.
So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. So again here, Jesus
is saying that being born of the Spirit comes at the distinct
time that the Spirit blows upon them. The wind blows where it
wills, not where you will, when you will. So that right there
is, you take the T, you drop down one, that's U, then you
got L, then you got I into it, irresistible grace. That's what
irresistible grace is, is the Holy Spirit causing someone to
be born again We're born again, brethren, without
the consent of Jesus. We don't have to, or without
our consent. It has to be with the consent of Jesus, sorry about
that. Without our consent, God doesn't ask us if we want to
be born again. He doesn't wait for us to ask
to be born again. The Holy Spirit blows wherever
it blows upon that child of grace in that time we just sung that
in that hymn that we sung in the Blue Book. At that appointed
time of grace, The Holy Spirit comes and gives us new life so
that we can understand spiritual things. Hold your place right
there in John chapter 3 and let's corroborate that with the epistles
back here. Look if you would in 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Now again,
remember, Paul here is reminding the Corinthian church of the
doctrine that Christ had given Paul by revelation that Paul
established that Corinthian church in, but yet they began to deviate
from that. All kinds of deviations from
the Corinthian church, matter of fact. But Paul began to write
this letter to correct them on how they had erred from the doctrine
of Christ and from the Gospel and from the teachings that He
had given them. And what did Paul say? Look at
verse 1 of chapter 2. Now I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. That's kind of what he said back
in Galatians whenever he talked about, do I not persuade men? Am I here to just try to persuade
men with eloquency of speech? Paul was a very eloquent man,
by the way, a very learned man. He wasn't a dumb speaker like
I am. I'm sure that his grammar or
whatever it's called over there, his Greek or his Hebrew was probably
on point. But yet he says, I didn't come
with excellency of speech. or of wisdom declaring unto you
the testimony of God. So many preachers today, they
spend their time all week long crafting their sermon so that
it is so eloquent, so great, because they think that because
of their oratory skills, they're going to be able to persuade
men. They come to you with wisdom.
Oh, if I'll just get them to believe this or believe that,
then they'll come to Christ. But look at 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. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. Listen, I can honestly
say because I was there, I did it. 90% of what you see out there
in the world in so-called churches is men preaching with enticing
words in man's wisdom. They're enticing people to come
to Jesus. Listen, we don't have to entice
the child of grace to come to Jesus. You know that? Did you
ever realize that? We don't have to entice people
to come. You know where enticing leads
to? You know what happens whenever we begin to entice people? My
grandpa used to say it all the time. You can gather a crowd
with a circus, but then you got to keep them. How are you going
to keep them? A circus draws a crowd, but then
you have to continue to make the circus bigger and bigger
and bigger to keep the people that came. Because it's going
to become old hat to them. Why? Because they don't have
a love there. See, we can entice people to
come to church by taping $20 bills under the
bus seats, by giving pony rides. By having large youth centers
with all kinds of games and fun activities. By having amazing
bands playing on our stages. Lights and fog and dramatic plays
and movies. And we can entice people to come
to church. But enticing words and enticing
gimmicks does not make people children of God. It doesn't keep
them there either. He says, My speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and power. What did Paul do? He came and
he declared the things of God and people began to believe.
It demonstrated the power of God that he didn't have to entice
them. He didn't have to woo them. He
didn't have to beg them. He didn't have to plead with
them. He didn't have to make some sort of a deal with them.
If you'll just bring your family, if you'll fill up this pew, I'll
shave my head next week. I don't know how many Baptist packed
pew nights I've seen in revivals before in my life. We had one guy at a revival that
I preached at one time in a little town not far from our town that
we lived in. who came to me and told me, you
need to cut your sermons down a little bit longer. You're preaching
too long. But yet he spent 30, 40 minutes
every evening with Pack the Pew night, you know, how many family
members you can bring. And if you'll do this, I'll kiss
a pig. Literally, he said, I will kiss a pig if you bring more
people in your pew than I will. Okay, we got time, we got an
extra 30, 40 minutes for that, but not the Word of God. People
are trying to entice people into the Kingdom of God and it don't
work. It's not how it's designed. Paul said, my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but a demonstration
of the Spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men. Why are we not to preach in the
wisdom of men? Why are we not supposed to do
enticing things, but just be faithful to the Word of God? Because people's faith only stands
in the power of God. That's what we're looking to.
That's what faith, the faith that comes in the new birth,
the only thing that it's designed to grasp and to hold and to hope
in is that power that comes from above. Any other faith is man's
faith. Any other faith is just regular
old human faith that can falter, that can be swayed, that can
be turned away. Why are many turning away from
the so-called church? Why are many falling away from
the so-called faith? Why are there so many turning
away from the so-called Gospel? It's because they have a man's
faith and not God's faith. See, it says here that we speak
in the wisdom of God. How be it we speak wisdom among
them that are perfect? What wisdom are we speaking?
The wisdom of God. What is the wisdom of God? That
salvation is not conditional upon you. Salvation is a finished
work of God that was designed and set in a course in eternity
already laid and in time was manifested in the work of the
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by His dying. and being resurrected
from the dead. See, salvation didn't have anything
to do with you. Salvation doesn't wait upon you.
Salvation isn't hinged upon you, conditioned upon any response
from you. Salvation is an eternal thing.
Salvation is a successful thing. Salvation is a done thing. You
are, if you are a child of grace, saved because of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and it will come to fruition. You will be brought to Him. You
will believe upon Him. You will be stayed upon Him.
You will be preserved in Him. And you will be glorified by
Him. You will live with Him and reign
with Him. You will praise Him forever.
It ain't going to change. And it ain't going to be thwarted.
And Paul said, listen, we don't come with enticing gimmicks,
with man's wisdom about how the Gospel is. We come preaching
the declaration of the truth and let the chips fall where
they will. Why? Because God is going to do what God's going
to do. And if anybody has the faith of Christ given to them
in the new birth, the only thing that that's going to be longing
for, desiring for, reaching for, hoping for, is the doctrine of
Christ. The message of Christ. The gospel
of Christ. And so Paul said, we don't preach
any other gospel. because that kind of gospel doesn't
satisfy the hungry. It doesn't quench the thirst
of the thirsty. It doesn't give hope to the hopeless.
It gives hope to the righteous, the self-righteous. The self-righteous
all the day long has hope in what they can do for Jesus. The
self-righteous has hope all the day long that I can please the
Lord by doing all these good deeds, all this good work. The
self-righteous can all the day long think everything's great
because I made this decision for Christ back then. I nailed
my tent peg down. I made my decision. Lookie here.
If you don't believe me, it's written right here in the beginning
of my Bible. Saved on blah blah blah blah, signed by the pastor. Paul says, we preach and speak
not in man's wisdom, so that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men because the wisdom of men is always going
to be fallible and going to be faulty. We stand in the wisdom
of God. Why? Because that's what your
faith is going to stand in. It's the power of God, not your
choice, not your decision. How be it we speak wisdom among
them that are perfect. Who is this message going to
be heard by? Those who have been born from above. They're the
perfect ones. Do you realize that, brethren? If you're a child
of grace here today that you're perfect, you lack nothing. So many churches today are preaching
how much we lack. We're not doing enough of this.
We're not doing enough of that. We're not keeping this. We're
not keeping that. We're not doing the right things. We're not doing
enough of the right things. Guess what? The Bible says that
we have been made perfect in Christ Jesus. Colossians says
that He is the fullness of the Godhead. and that the fullness
of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily, and you are complete
in Him. I preach a message about that,
being complete in Him. That word complete means lacking
nothing. Full to the top. You can't add
nothing to that. If I take this cup right here,
and I fill it to the very top, nothing more can be put in there.
That's what we are in Christ Jesus. There's nothing more that
can be added to who we are in Christ. We can't become more
obedient. We can't become less obedient. We can't become more sinful.
We can't become less sinful. Why? Because we're complete.
We're perfect in Christ Jesus. The Bible says that we have that
seed in us and that seed is incorruptible. That seed does not sin. That's our standing before God. God never sees us in our sin. And Paul said, we speak that. Imputed righteousness. That's
what Paul was preaching. Imputed righteousness. Not self-righteousness,
but imputed righteousness. Oh, righteousness that was given
to us that we didn't deserve and cannot keep. He says, but we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world unto our glory. Listen, this
wisdom is a hidden wisdom. Again, is that not what Jesus
said back in John 3? Unless your man is born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. And here Paul is saying
that this wonderful gospel, this wonderful demonstration of power
of God that we preach, it's a hidden mystery. That means not everybody
can understand it. Even if you read it, they can
get this Bible and read it, but they can't understand it. It says, verse 9, But as it is
written, I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them
that love Him. You know the only ones that love
God are those who have been loved of God? We love Him because He
first loved us. Loved us who? The ones who love
God. Well, who are the ones who love
God? Well, the ones that God set His love upon. Remember,
He said, Esau, I hate, but Jacob have I love. Whenever the tribe
of Jacob said, you know, whenever the Israelites said, well, how
in the heck do you love me back in Malachi? He said, well, how
do we know? What is it that has shown that
you have loved us? And what did God tell them? He
said, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, He's already
said that in the Old Testament. But what did He say to him in
Malchi? He said, well, here's how I show my love towards you.
I loved you, but I hated Esau. I've chosen you, but I've not
chosen Esau. And we find out in Romans chapter
9 that that's not talking about nations. Although it was true,
God did love Israel or Jacob and not Esau. He didn't love
Edom. Matter of fact, He was against
Edom. Every time Edom tried to rear up and become something,
what did God do? God smashed them down. But we find out in Romans chapter
9 that that phrase in the Old Testament in Malachi was talking
of the spiritual reality that each individual is chosen by
God. You are either chosen as a vessel
of honor or you're chosen as a vessel of dishonor. And before
anybody had done anything good or bad, so that the purpose of
God according to election might stand. He told her that the older
would serve the younger. That he loved Jacob but hated
Esau. That's individual election. So
we see individual election. And so Paul says here, but God
hath revealed them unto us. How did God reveal the things
of God, the wisdom of God to people? He revealed it to them
by the Spirit. See what he says there? But God
hath revealed them unto us. He hath revealed them unto them,
but He's revealed them unto us by His Spirit. That's what Jesus
is saying here. Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. Why? Because they're spiritually
discerned. Paul says here, you're not going to understand the wisdom
of God The things of God, the power of God, the work of God,
the salvation of God. Why? Because they are spiritually
discerned. They have to be revealed to you. And only God has the
prerogative to reveal them. The preacher can't reveal them
to you. Your mama can't reveal them to you. Your daddy can't
reveal them to you. Your brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles,
your friend down the street, your neighbor next door. Nobody
can reveal these to you, and especially the seminary can't
reveal them to you. The only thing that can reveal
the wisdom of God, the gospel of God, the grace of God, the
things of God, the kingdom of God to any person is the sovereign
will of God bestowing upon you. The wind blows where it whispers. God hath revealed them unto us
by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the
deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things
of a man saved, the spirit of man which is in him, even so
the things of God knoweth no man." How many more times do
we have to say that? No man can know these things
except they're born again. They only can know them if they
have spiritual life. Yet we spend all of our days
talking to people who have not the spirit of God trying to convince
them. or preaching a Gospel that thinks
that because somebody makes a decision before they're born again, then
they'll get born again. You have to be born again. For
what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which
is in him, even so the things of God knoweth no man except
the Spirit which is in him. Now we, verse 12, look at this.
Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the
Spirit which is of God. Whenever it says we have received
the Spirit of God, does that mean that we ask the Spirit to
come in? Because whenever I used to be a preacher in the back
wind, before I believed these things, that's what I believed.
I believed that whenever the Bible talked about that we receive
Christ, that I talked about that we ask
Him into our heart. We ask Jesus to be Lord and Savior
of our life. That's not what received means.
That's not what this received means. Received means is basically
that you got it, not that you asked for it. And I know, and
here's the example that I used to say, well, somebody can give
you a gift, but unless you reach out and receive it, then it's
not really yours until you do so. That's not true. That's not
true. And that's not what that word
received means. Remember the illustration that I always use
here? Me and Brother Ed can get into
a fisticuff here, and Brother Ed can reach out, and he can
hit me right in the eye. And I can say I received a black
eye from Brother Ed. But does that mean that I asked
for it? Well, in a way, I probably did. But no, what does that mean,
that Brother Ed reached out and gave me something? And it was mine. But I didn't ask for it. I didn't
do anything to get it. He gave it to me. Well, that's
the same thing with the salvation, with the gospel. Whenever we
receive Christ, that basically means that we have, from Christ,
received something by His hand, by what He's given us. But look
what it says here. We have received not the spirit
of the world, But what? And we can put in here, but we
have received the Spirit, which is of God. Now look very closely
at verse 12 there, because I want you to pay close attention to
why we have to be given the Spirit. But the Spirit, which is of God,
that we might know the things that are freely given to us of
God. You see that? Why is the Spirit
given to the child of grace? So that they might know the free
grace of God. That they might know the things
freely given to us by God. Is that not what Jesus is saying
in John chapter 3 when He said you must be born again? Except
a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Nor can
he enter the Kingdom of God. Paul makes it very clear here.
The Spirit of God has to come first. It has to blow where it
listed. It has to cause someone to be
born again so that they can see. Why? Because the Gospel is a
spiritual Gospel. It's not a fleshly Gospel. Because
the gospel is something otherworldly. It's not of this world. It wasn't
planned in this world. It wasn't rectified in this world. But it was manifested in this
world and shown to this world. It says, verse 13, which things
also we speak not in the words that man's wisdoms teach, but
which the Holy Ghost teaches. comparing spiritual things with
spiritual. So, see again, we have to be made spiritual to
understand that which is spiritual. And who's the one who teaches
those things? The Holy Ghost. You see why we believe in sovereign
grace? Unless the Holy Ghost teaches you those things first,
and causes you to be born again, then you will never receive Christ. as your Lord and Savior. You
will never come to Christ for forgiveness of sins. To be reconciled
to God. You will never believe upon the
name of Jesus. You will never repent of your
sin and turn to Christ. Because that would be foolishness
to you. Now you might go through motions. You might follow what
a preacher tells you to do. or a denomination tells you to
do, but you'll never from the heart do these things. Verse
14, look at this. Very strong words. But the natural
man, let's define that. Who's the natural man? The natural man. The natural
man is who we are in Adam, right? Remember, that's also in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. We're born of the earth, earthy.
We're after our father Adam. We're natural, made natural.
The natural man, the man of the flesh. What did Jesus say about
the flesh? That which is born of flesh is
flesh. Then what else does the Bible
say about the flesh? That which is of the flesh cannot please
God. The flesh profiteth nothing.
Right? So the natural man can do nothing
to please God, The natural man profits nothing. It can't do
anything spiritual. So whenever a preacher stands
up there and tells a person who is not born again to believe
Christ, to receive Christ, to come to Christ, to repent of
their sins, he's telling a natural man to do something spiritual
in which that natural man has no ability to do. So the notion of a gospel that
thinks that being born again comes after you do spiritual
things is absurd. A gospel that says you get born
again by repenting, believing, receiving, or coming is an absurd
gospel because the Bible is strictly clear here that the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. The natural man cannot see the
Kingdom of God. The natural man cannot enter
the kingdom of God. Even if that natural man made
some profession of faith and said something, if God has not
borne that man from above and given him the Spirit of God to
really truly of the heart repent, to really truly of the heart
believe on Christ, then that person is just doing the exercises
of the flesh. The natural man doing the natural
man thing. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him. Listen, neither can he know him. Isn't that what Jesus said?
No man can see the kingdom of God unless he's born again. Why? Why, preacher? That don't
sound very nice. I thought, wait a minute, I thought
God loved all the world and wanted all the world to know what this
Bible said and to know the gospel. But why? I've been taught all
my life that we can understand these things, that the Bible
is written for anybody who wants to understand it. He says, neither can he know
them because they are spiritually discerned. You know, I know people who are
who don't profess to be Christians, but yet because they love King
James as a piece of literature that is very well written, some
of the purest English literature that's ever been written in their
eyes, has memorized whole chapters, verses, even whole books in the
Bible, has memorized them. But that doesn't mean they know
it. That doesn't mean that they are spiritually minded. For who
hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But
we have the mind of Christ." So Jesus says you must be born
again. That is total depravity. That is irresistible grace. So
Jesus preached those things. We also found, look back in John
chapter 3 if you would, Jesus says in verse 11, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know and testify that
we have seen and you received not our witness. If I have told
you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if
I tell you of heavenly things? So that tells me that heavenly
things are not just easy to understand and believe. In fact, Paul just
said you have to be spiritually born again. You have to be spiritually
discerned. And no man hath ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of
Man, which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
Now, we talked about this in length last week. Why does the
Son of Man have to be lifted up? That whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. You say, aha, there you
go. Sovereign Grace Preacher, there
it is, free will. So that whosoever believeth in
Him. That right there is no more a call for somebody to believe
in Christ Jesus than if the Bible says whosoever
committed adultery sins against God. Is the Bible inviting you
to commit adultery? that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish. Why did Jesus have to die on
the cross? So that the believing ones, not
the whole world, but the believing ones, should not perish but have
eternal life. Jesus had to die because that
was part of the covenant of God so that those who would be given
faith that we just talked about, that Jesus just said, Unless
a man be born again, he cannot see and cannot enter. That Paul
just talked about. We are given the spirit, why?
So that we might know the things freely given to us. The one for whom Christ died
for, and even if, listen, even if we wanted to preach a free
will gospel, whosoever will may come type gospel, this right
here doesn't say that. This does not say that Jesus
died for everybody in the world. The only ones that it says here
in its own context is that Jesus died for those who would believe.
So whether or not you believe that there's an election of grace,
or if you believe that there is irresistible grace or not,
the Scripture right here says that the Son of Man must be lifted
up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish. So
that's telling me that the death of Jesus was only for the believing
ones. That His death wasn't for the
unbelieving ones. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son so that whosoever believeth in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life. This right
here is a statement of why Jesus must be lifted up. But we find
later who the believing ones are, right? We find out later. If you just left it like that,
the person who believes in free will or believes in decisionism,
they can easily say, there it is. For God so loved the whole
world. That means everybody. No, he's
talking about the world of the believers. He's talking about the world
of those for whom Christ died. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
Him might be saved." Okay, so here again, we see here the world
that is in view in John 3, 16 and 17 is the world that through
Him might be saved. Now that word might there is
not a maybe so, hope so, it's an iffy thing or a conditional
thing. That word might there means to
have, to possess, to keep, to have. That word might there. We just celebrated Independence
Day, 4th of July. Why do we celebrate Independence
Day? Because at one time in our country's
history, there was a revolutionary war that took place between the
United States and Britain. The people of the United States
wanted to live free of the rule of the king in Britain. And so
what happened? We formed an army of militias.
And we fought against the British Army. And why do we celebrate Independence
Day? We celebrate Independence Day
because there were people who fought for this country that
we might be free. Now, is that a maybe-so, hope-so? No, we possess that freedom.
Why? Because they gave their life.
Jesus died so that we might possess that life That's the world for
whom he died and it says that in That 18th verse or excuse me
in that 17th verse But that the world through him might be saved
that's why the Son of Man must be lifted up Remember back in
Matthew, whenever they were talking about what the angel came and
told Jesus' parents what his name was going to be? He said,
you shall call his name Jesus. Why? Because he might make salvation
possible? Is that what the angel said? Did he say, you shall call his
name Jesus, for he shall Save the whole world. That's not what
it says, right? You shall call His name Jesus
because He's going to do His part so that you can come and
do your part. You've got to meet Him halfway.
Jesus helps those who help themselves. Did you ever find that in the
Bible anywhere? You shall call His name Jesus
for the Messiah shall die but you have to receive it, believe
it. Now, what did the angel say?
You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people
from their sins. The word Jesus means Savior,
Messiah. Why did the Messiah come? So
that He would save His people from their sins. If He says His
people, He shall save His people from their sins, does that not
just by necessity in the way that it's said mean that there
are people that He is not going to save from their sins? Those
who are not His people? But wait a minute, does Jesus
teach that? That He has a people and then He doesn't have a people?
Now by creation, all people are His in the fact that He created
them. But we're talking about, as in
spiritual things, we're talking about in the Gospel, in the work
of salvation. For He shall save His people
from their sins. Go to verse 18. He that believeth
on Him is not condemned. That is a statement of fact.
He that believeth on Christ Jesus is not condemned. Didn't Paul
say that? Paul said that in the beginning
of the 8th chapter of Romans. He said that there is therefore
now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Ain't that a wonderful statement? There is no condemnation. Do
you realize that before Adam ever sinned, There was no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus. It's not Ephesians that tells
us that. Ephesians chapter 1. We've been blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places. According as He has chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world. We were chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. So who are the
condemned ones according to the non-condemned ones according
to the scriptures? Those who were given to Christ before the
foundation of the world. And so Christ, whenever he says
this, makes the statement of faith. Those who believe on me
are the ones who have been given spiritual life because no man
can believe on me unless he's been given spiritual life. And
no man is given spiritual life except those who God has been
given the power to become the sons of God. And those who have
been made the sons of God are the ones who the Spirit has given
to. You've received the Spirit, why? Because you're your son's
God. So Jesus here is saying that
he that believeth on him is not condemned. If you take with what Paul said
in Ephesians, that's unconditional election, that is irresistible
grace, all tied up in one. The ones who believe are the
ones who have not been condemned from the foundation of the world.
But look how he says it. He changes it a little bit different.
But he that believeth not is condemned already, because he
hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. He's condemned already. Condemnation has come. Why? Because before anybody had done
anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand. God has made one vessel a vessel
of honor and one vessel a vessel of dishonor. The Lord hath created all things,
yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. God has made those fitted for
destruction for His purpose. And you are either His or you
are of the devil. And this is condemnation, that
light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that
doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. Now I'm not talking about come
to the front of the church. I'm not talking about accepting
Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Whenever it says that light has
come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light,
because their deeds were evil, That's talking about we do not
repent of our self-righteousness. We do not repent of our good
works. Jesus has come in. He's the light
of the world. Salvation is in Him and Him alone,
not in a synergistic effort between Him dying and you believing and
receiving. It's all in Him. But people don't want to come
to that light because they know that their deeds are evil. But look what it says here. But
he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may
be manifest, that they are wrought in God. So see the ones who do
come to God, the ones who believe, the ones up there in verse 16,
for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son
that whosoever believeth in Him, Their works were wrought in God.
That means that their works were enabled by God. How did they
believe on God? Because they were enabled by
God. Their works were made manifest that they were wrought in God.
What is he saying? Why is he saying that? Because
Jesus, in the context of this passage, has just said that no
man can come to the kingdom, or see the kingdom, or enter
into the kingdom, except He be born again. That which is flesh
is flesh. The flesh profits nothing. But Jesus has to be lifted up
so that those who believe will have eternal life. Why? Because
in the covenant of grace, Jesus promised the Father that He would,
on their behalf, die for their sins so that they would have
no condemnation. And whenever we come believing
before God, coming to the light, coming to Christ Jesus, what
does that manifest? It manifests that our deeds were
bore out in God. God did that. The wind blew where
it listed. Because no man does that. No man comes to the light except
those whose deeds are wrought in God. Let's take a break there, and
we'll come back and we'll move forward from here. We've just
got about 20 or 30 minutes left, so I wanted to touch on just
a couple things, but go ahead if you need to take a break,
use the restroom, get a drink, and we'll come back and we'll
do a couple more things.