If you'd turn with me to the
book of Ephesians, chapter 4, it's always my desire, as well
as every gospel preacher, and we have some pastors here tonight,
they tell you the same thing, to be simple in preaching. When I say I desire to be simple,
what I mean is I want to be straightforward. I want to be clear, plain, uncomplicated. You know, God's message to sinners
was never intended to be complicated. It just wasn't. Never intended to be complicated
or hard to understand. God's message to sinners is not
hard to understand. It's going to take a divine revelation
for a man to believe it, but it's not hard to understand. Now, God is hard to understand.
His ways are past finding out, the Scriptures say. His judgments cannot be understood. They're
unsearchable. But I don't need a God I can
understand. I just need God. I just need
God. His ways are past finding out,
but not His way. Right? The Lord Jesus said, I
am the way. That's pretty plain. Pretty simple,
pretty uncomplicated, isn't it? They understood what he said. They just hated it. And that's
the problem that we have today. That's the problem that sinners
have. Sinners are not lost and go to
hell because they don't understand. They're lost and go to hell because
They hate the message. The gospel of God's free grace
in the Lord Jesus Christ is a simple message. May God enable me and
you and all that hear it to believe it. Now throughout the scriptures,
we're reminded often of the oneness of the things of God. Let me
say right up front that I was an average student in school,
and I was below average in math. But I don't think there was ever
a time that I didn't understand one. We've got a granddaughter who's
almost three now, but she's been counting for about a year. You listen to her count sometimes,
it's 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 13, 16. But she's never started out with
2 or 4, she's always started out with 1. 1. Can't get any more simple or
singular than 1. Recently, I had a religious fellow
tell me that all denominations and all religious persuasions
were like spokes in a wheel. And I immediately thought to
myself, OK, here we go. How so, I asked. All the spokes
in a wheel come together and are joined at the hub at the
center, he said. He said that hub is Jesus. In other words, he believed that
every religion, regardless of how they differed in doctrine
and belief of the scriptures, were all connected in some general
way to Jesus, the center hub, and all equally important one
to another. Just one thing wrong with that.
It's not true. It's not so. The Word of God declares in the
first four words of this book, in the beginning, God. Not gods,
plural, but God. What did God do? He created the
heavens and the earth. Who created the heavens and the
earth? God created them. Just one God. One. One. Here, O Israel, the Lord
our God is one God. One. God is the self-existent one. He is the immutable, unchanging
one. He said, for I am the Lord, I
change not. Just one God, and He doesn't
change. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. And I love that. Now the beloved John wrote, for
there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost, but these three are one. Just one. God in three persons, but He's
one God. The singularity and the simplicity
of God's Word. You're in Ephesians 4, look at
verse 4 with me. There is one body, one church,
just one. Now religion is divided into
many denominations, but there's only one church, one body. One denomination believes this,
and another denomination believes that, and the third denomination
believes something altogether, then the other two. But there's
only one church. Just one body, one body of true
believers. Is that hard to understand? No, I understand one. Religion
says that there's many, but God says there's just one. Just one. The church is one body of believers
believe that a singular work done by Christ alone has accomplished
their salvation. There's one body, read on, verse
four, and one spirit. Notice that's a capital S, that's
speaking of the Holy Spirit. Paul here in our text is referring
to the Spirit, capital S, the Holy Spirit, and there's only
one. Just one. God, the Holy Spirit. There's
one Spirit that reveals the truth of this Gospel to God's one body,
one church. Just one. Just one body, the
church, and one Spirit, the Holy Spirit. There's one body and
one Spirit, even as ye are called in what? One hope. Just one hope of your calling. Is that what
your Bible says? One. I understand one. There's only one hope, there's
only one calling, and that being the effectual call of the one
Spirit, which gives one hope to every child of God. Is that complicated? I have only
one hope of being redeemed. One hope of being sanctified.
One hope of being brought back into fellowship with God. You
know what it is? Verse 5. One Lord. That's it. That's my hope. Just one Lord. The Lord Jesus
Christ, who is God, by the way. He who knew no sin, but was made
to be sin. for us, that we might be made
the righteousness of God. Don't miss that little word.
My righteousness is the very righteousness of God. God doesn't
take my righteousness and clean it up and reform it. He gives
me His righteousness. It's the righteousness of God. One faith, verse 5. that gift
of faith that God gives his people to believe and trust in this
one Lord. One faith is in one Lord. Now
men have faith in many things, but only faith, belief in Christ,
the one mediator between God and man brings eternal justification. Just one. One Lord, One faith,
read on, one baptism. I was thinking the other day,
do you remember when the mother of James and John came to the
Lord Jesus and the scriptures say that she desired a certain
thing of the Lord. Do you remember what it was? She said, grant these my two
sons, One might sit on your right hand and the other one might
sit on your left hand. You remember what the Lord said?
He said, you don't know what you ask. You know not what you ask. Are
ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of? And then he
said this, and to be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized
with. Now our Lord here is speaking
of his reproach, his sorrows, his sufferings, his death. You
know, baptism is a whole lot more than just getting dunked
in water, as far as what it represents. And he compares these things
first to a bitter cup that only he can drink. He had to drink
that cup. And then these sorrows, these
sufferings, this reproach were so many and so great that it
seems the Lord is saying that He's plunged into them and He's
covered with them, comparing them to a baptism, just one baptism. That's the one that He was baptized
in for His people, just one. Paul said, therefore, we are
buried with him by baptism into death. That's what that's picturing. That like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life. Just one baptism. The child of
God in Christ is dead to sin, buried with him under the wrath
of God, and risen with him into life everlasting. God's wrath and justice fell on me just, now bear me
out, it fell on me just as the rain of wrath fell on all the
world in the days of Noah. You know it fell on Noah too,
didn't it? Sure it did. But the difference
is that the believer is in Christ, the believer's ark. And Christ
took the blow of God's divine justice for me. Noah's ark was
immersed in God's wrath. It says the water came from beneath
and from above. What a picture of baptism. What
a picture of Christ doing for me what I cannot do for myself. One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
and then look at verse six, one God. and Father of all who is
above all and through all and in you all." We come back full
circle, don't we, to God? One God. Just one. Back to the one thing that you
and I must have. The one God and Father of all.
And notice that He's a sovereign God. Paul said He's above all. and through all and in all his
people by Jesus Christ. He wrote in 1st Corinthians chapter
8, but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are
all things, and we in him. And then he said, and one Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom all things are all things, and we by him. How are we in God? By him. It's the only way. Turn with
me over to Romans chapter five. Romans chapter five. Look at verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sin. Now here God's word tells us
about one man, and this is speaking of Adam. Look at the first part
of verse 17. For if by one man's offense death
reigned by one, it was Adam's one sin, that gave death its
reigning power over all the sons of men. Now, I don't understand
much, but I understand one and I understand all. That's two
things I understand. I understand one and I understand
all. Look at verse 19. For as by one
man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience
of one. shall many be made righteous."
One God made one man the representative of all men. That's pretty simple,
isn't it? Do you believe it? One God made
one man the representative of all men, and when that one man
sinned, sin was imputed unto all men. Every man and woman
were alienated from God in that one man. That's our problem. That's why we're in the mess
we're in. But then God gave another man. Oh, does that have any interest
to you? Verse 19 tells us that by that
one man's obedience, many were made righteous. Verse 15, but
not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through
the offense of one, many be dead, much more the grace of God and
the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ hath abounded
unto many. Oh, the simplicity and the singularity
of God's Word. One man, Adam, a representative
of all the human race. And one man, Jesus Christ, the
representative of all God's elect. Men and women don't miss these
blessed truths because they're too hard to understand. They
miss it because they hate it. and they refused to bow to it.
And that's just a fact. One day the Lord Jesus said,
I'm the bread of life that cometh down from heaven. And if any
man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And everybody said,
ooh, that's a hard saying. No, it wasn't. No, it wasn't. He was saying, I am God. I am salvation. I am the bread. And to have life everlasting,
you've got to partake of me. I am the way. Just one way. And to make it clear, he went
on to say what Darwin read for us there in John. He said, no
man can come to me. Doesn't have the ability. That's
what that word can means. You remember that little story,
I heard it, where the little boy says, May I go to the restroom? She
said, you may, but you can't. We don't have the ability. I think I told that backwards. I'm just trying to make sure
y'all paying attention. Then we read those sad words.
Lord said, I am the bread of life. And we read from that time, many
of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. They
understood what he was saying. I guarantee you they understood
what he was saying. He looked at his closest friends,
the closest friends he had in all the world, and he said, will
you leave also? And Peter said, Lord, where else
would we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Somebody heard him. Somebody
believed him. I believe they all understood
what he said, but only a choice few believed. Do you believe
him? Let's go a step further in this
singleness and simplicity. Paul told Timothy, he said, for
there's one God and there's one mediator between God and man,
the man Christ Jesus. How many gods? Just one. How many mediators? Just one. The man, Christ Jesus. What did
this one mediator do? He offered one sacrifice. One sacrifice. Just one. The
sacrifice of himself and it was for sin. How many? Just one. Look at Hebrews chapter 10 with
me. Hebrews chapter 10. Verse 12, but this man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who that's speaking of, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. Isn't
that what Darwin just preached to us? It's finished. That's
why he sat down. It's done. The work's accomplished. Look at verse 14, for by one
offering he hath perfected. Boy, isn't that a precious word?
Sure is, because God says it must be perfect to be accepted. You and I will not be accepted
unless we're perfect. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Why did this one man offer one
sacrifice for sin? That he might die the just for
the unjust. That's you and I. That he might
be both a just God and a Savior. Aren't you glad they added that?
Boy, I love the justice of God, but I love the fact that that
same God is a Savior. He's my savior. And that's what
makes this gospel. So amazing that God himself died
for the center, the very one whom we offended. David said
against the, and the only have I sinned and done this evil in
that site. We've offended God. And yet,
he chose a people before the foundation of the world. Darwin
talked about election. That's what it is. God chose
a people. He set his affection on them.
And he said, they shall be my people and I shall be their God. He might perfect them forever
with one offering for sin. And there's only one offering
for sin. Just one. Do you hear what this is saying? When Christ died, now listen,
your sin died with him. Look back at Romans chapter six. I won't turn you in anymore,
but look here at Romans six. Look at verse nine. knowing that christ being raised
from the dead died no more death has no more dominion over him
for in that he died he died under sin once how many times? once but in that he liveth he liveth
unto god now look at verse eleven likewise reckon ye also yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Now that doesn't mean that you
and I will never sin again. Every one of you here that know
anything about the gospel and what this book teaches is sin
is what we are, not just what we do. It doesn't mean we're
never going to sin, but that does mean that sin is dead unto
you. And you're dead unto sin. In
Christ we're not only no longer dead in sin, but we're dead unto
sin too. God help us to get a hold of
that. Sin no more has dominion over you. Because you're dead unto it. Let me see if I can simplify
that even more. In Christ you cannot sin. Why? Because we're dead unto
it. Is that hard to understand? No, but it's impossible to believe
without divine intervention. The law of God can no longer
hold God's elect accountable. Why? Because we're dead unto
the law. That's what Paul said in Galatians 2, he said, for
I through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto
God. Now let me ask you a question.
Can a dead man stand trial for breaking the law? Can a dead man stand trial for
breaking the law? And somebody said, well that's
ridiculous. Exactly. Exactly. A dead man can make no restitution
to justice. He's dead. Dead into it. The law can no longer hold God's
elect accountable for breaking the law. Why? Because Christ died in their
place and for their sin, and they died unto their sin in Him. And that's substitution. That's
the heart of the gospel. The law of sin and death has
no more claim on you than it does on Christ Himself. God's law has been satisfied. That's another word. Substitution. Satisfaction. God's satisfied. God is no longer angry with His
people every day. Why? Because He's satisfied.
He's satisfied. Now how simple and singular is
the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ? The child of God's been redeemed.
Their sins paid for. That's what being redeemed means,
isn't it? Sins paid for. And the one God, the very one
that we have offended, is satisfied. Now have you ever heard any better
news than that? Not if you're a sinner, you hadn't. That rich young ruler, man, I
think about him often. He came to the Lord Jesus Christ,
and to him it was all about being good, wasn't it? Well, he came
to him, he said, good master, what good thing must I do to
be saved? It's all about being good. But
he was still lacking. Still like him. Our Lord said,
well, don't commit murder, and don't commit adultery, and don't
steal, and don't bear false witness, don't lie on your neighbor, and
honor your father and your mother, and love your neighbors as you
love yourself. And you know what that rich young ruler said? He
said, all these I've done. He didn't say anything to him
about lying, did he? All these things have I kept
from my youth up. What yet do I lack? And the Lord Jesus said to him,
One thing thou lackest. One thing you lack. One thing. If you desire to be perfect,
He didn't say you desire to be good. That's not going to get
it done. Being good is not going to get it done. There are going
to be a lot of good moral people in hell. He said, if you desire to be
perfect, you got to be perfect. Go and sell all you have and
give it to the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven and come
and follow me. But when the young man heard
that saying, he went away sorrowful because he had great possessions.
Now listen, no matter how much men and women try to reform themselves,
they'll always be like Him. Always. One thing that we will
always like in and of ourselves is the perfect righteousness
that the Lord God requires in order for us to be reconciled
to Him. If we claim to have kept and done all these things like
this young man did, God will always meet us with that one
thing that we like. This young man's lack was his
unwillingness to part with his riches in order to follow Christ.
We'll always be lacking the one thing which God requires the
most, and that is perfect obedience and perfect righteousness. Really,
they're one in the same because perfect righteousness is only
accomplished by perfect obedience. A perfect obedience can only
be accomplished by perfect righteousness. And in that sense, they're one
in the same. With you and I, they are the one thing lacking,
just one thing we'll always lack. And then I think about Martha.
She's there working her fingers to the bone, and she looks at
the Lord Jesus, and she said, Lord, don't you care? I'm working
my fingers to the bone here. I'm waiting on folks hand and
foot. And she's sitting there at your
feet, listening to your word. And he said, Martha, Martha,
he said, you're troubled and careful about many things, but
there's one thing needful. There's one thing. One thing
needful. And Mary hath chosen that good
part, that good portion, which shall never be taken away from
her. You see, dear friends, what we need is a perfect righteousness
before God. There's only one way to get it. Mary has chosen the good part.
Mary has chosen the good portion. She sat at the Lord Jesus' feet
and heard His word. Christ is the sum and the substance. David said, He's my portion forever. Christ is that portion that can
never be taken away. One thing needful, that one thing
is Jesus Christ. And only one way to have the
one thing needful. The scriptures say there is a
way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways
of death. And there's so many today telling
sinners that there are many ways. There's not. There's many ways,
and if you want to go this way, that's okay, and if you want
to go that way, that'll work, while we're all just spokes in
the same wheel. That wheel won't turn, Mike.
That wheel won't turn. Take whatever road you like,
they all end up at the same place. No, they don't. There is a way
that seemeth right, but it's the wrong way. It has a wide gate. in a broad
way that leads to destruction and many there will be that find
it. John was baptizing in the river
Jordan. He looked up one day and he saw
the Lord Jesus Christ coming into him and he said, Behold
the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. He
said, Behold the Lamb of God. Let's don't miss those little
words like that. The Lamb of God. Just one. There's only one. One
Lamb of God. Only one Savior. One Lamb that
can take away sin. And do you remember what our
Lord said? He said, I am the way, I am the
truth, I am the life, and no man cometh to the Father but
by Me. That's pretty direct, isn't it? Singular. Just one way. By Me. Got to come by Me. We see through a glass darkly. We know in part, we preach in
part. Religious folks in our Lord's
day has asked that young man that had been blind from his
birth, they asked him over and over
again who caused him to see. And he answered and he said,
a man named Jesus, all I can tell you. He made clay and he
anointed my eyes and I could see. And they said, where is
he? And he said, I don't know. I
don't know where he is. And he didn't. And then they
called his parents and they said, is this your son? Yes. Was he born blind? Most certainly
was. How does he now see? They said,
he's of age, ask him. So they looked at him again. They said, we know this is our
son. We know he was born blind. But now he sees. How he does,
we don't know. You see, we don't know much,
do we? We don't know much. They turned
back to that young man. And you've got to imagine, he
had never seen before. What do you think he's thinking
about? He's like, I can see. Y'all asking
me who did it? I can see. He said, They said, this Jesus,
this Jesus, He's a sinner. He don't keep the Sabbath day.
He gave you eyes to see on the Sabbath day. Really? He said, I don't know if He's
a sinner or not. But He said, there's one thing
that I know. I was blind and now I see. One thing I know. I haven't arrived, and I know
every one of you who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ will say
the same thing. We haven't arrived, we haven't
attained, we haven't apprehended, but there's one thing that we've
got to do, just one thing. We've got to forget those things
which are behind us, and we've got to press toward those things
which are before. Wasn't that two things? No, not
really. Because you can't look at what's in front of you if
you're looking at what's behind you. And that's exactly what
Paul said there in Philippians chapter 3. He said, I'm forgetting
those things which are behind me, and I'm pressing forth unto
those things which are before. He said, I'm pressing toward
the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus
Christ. One thing that I've got to do, and that's
look to him. My dad used to put out a pretty
sizable garden. He had about an acre. And I'm
telling you, it would be an envy to the average gardener. Man,
I'm telling you, it was a beautiful garden. It's so well kept. And the rows. impressed me so much is that
those rows where he planted the vegetables were just so straight. And I remember one of his neighbors
one day asked him, said, Leo, said, how do you get those rows
so straight? He said, do you string it off
or what do you do? My dad said, no, no. He said,
I don't string it off. He said, what I do, he said,
where I want the garden to end, he said, I go down and I drive
a stake in the ground. where I want the rows to stop. And he said, then I go down where
I want the garden to start. And I start up my tiller. And
he said, I take off. And he said, I keep my eye on
that stake. And he said, I don't look down.
I don't look to the left. I don't look to the right. And
he said, I sure don't look behind me to see where I've already
plowed. I look straight ahead. That's what we got to do. That's
what we've got to do. We've got to keep our eyes on
Him. We've got to press toward that
mark of high calling that's found only in Him. We can't look back.
There's nothing back there that we can change, is there? And
you know, my dad's neighbor was just, he was amazed at the simpleness
and the singularity of his method. Are you amazed at the simplicity
and the singleness of the gospel of Christ? Oh, let's don't ever
lose sight of that. There's one body, one spirit,
one hope, one calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one thing
needful, one man, One mediator, one thing that we know, one thing
that we must do, one way, one gospel, one message, one Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the message, one message.
John wrote in 1 John, he said, this then is the message. Just one. The message. He didn't
say a message. He didn't say many messages.
He said, this is the message. And then he said this, that we've
heard of him. Now, he didn't say from him,
even though they did. But he said, this is a message
of him. It's concerning him. The Lord
Jesus Christ opened of the understanding of His disciples. He said all
the things in the Law and in the Prophets and in the Psalms
are what? They're concerning Me. This is a book about Me.
It's all about Him. That's the Gospel. Can I say
it any simpler than that? Jesus Christ and Him crucified? Well, I'll try. God died for his people's sin. That's what Jesus Christ and
him crucified mean. God died for his people's sin. What a message. What a gospel. What a savior. Thank you.