May be reserved for me Of weary
ways or golden days Before His face I see But I know whom I
have believed And am persuaded that He is able To keep that
which I've committed unto Him again. Please be seated. evening. That hymn we just sang
was taken from 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12 where Paul said, I
am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded,
absolutely persuaded, that he is able. We're not able, he's
able. to keep that which I've committed.
That word committed means I've entrusted everything to him.
I've got all my eggs in one basket. If Christ doesn't save me, I've
got no place else to go. What a hope the Lord's given
to us. Let's open our Bibles together
for our scripture reading tonight to the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel
chapter 36. We'll begin reading in verse
24. For I will take you from among the heathen and gather
you about all the countries and will bring you into your own
land. Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you and you shall be clean from all your filthiness and
from all your idols will I cleanse you. 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 I will give
you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you, and
cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments
and do them, and you shall dwell in the land that I give to your
fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. You shall and I will. What a what a great promise.
I'm going to cleanse you with water. Will take you out of the
heathen country and bring into your land. Going to save you.
That's our that's our promise. That's our hope. Let's go to
the Lord together in prayer. Our Heavenly Father. Thank you
for the precious promises of your word. Thank you for the
gift of your Holy Spirit that enables us to be persuaded of
your faithfulness. Thank you, Lord, for the gift
of eternal life that you give us through the shed blood of
thy dear son. Thank you for his accomplished
work of redemption. Lord, thank you for the work
of regeneration when you take out that heart of stone and you
put in a heart of flesh You cause us to rest all our hope and all
our confidence in the glorious person and finished work of thy
dear son. Lord, we pray that you would
increase our faith tonight. Pray that you would wash us once
again with the water of your word and make us clean. And give us hope in Christ. For
it's in his name we pray. Amen. Number 340, 340 from the same
hardbacked hymnal. And let's stand together again.
340. Nearer, still nearer, ? Close to thy heart ? ? Draw me,
my Savior ? ? So precious thou art ? ? Hold me, O hold me close
to thy heart ? Oh say does that star spangled
banner yet wave Grant me the cleansing, my blood
does impart Grant me the cleansing, my blood does impart Lord, to Thee I Sin with its
follies, I gladly resign All of its pleasures, love and its
pride Give me but Jesus, my Lord, crucified. Give me but Jesus, my Lord, crucified. ? Till safe and glory ? ? My anchor
is cast ? ? Through endless ages ? ? Ever to Thee ? ? Nearer,
my Savior, to Thee ? Please be seated. We open your Bibles with me to
the book of John, chapter three. John, chapter three. My hope
and prayer tonight is that we will leave here rejoicing that
the Lord has given to us his word and his spirit. And that we'll have a little
bit better appreciation for what a rare thing that is. The Lord speaking to Nicodemus,
talking to him, at night, which is symbolic of Nicodemus' blindness. And the Lord said to Nicodemus
in John chapter 3 at verse 5, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter the kingdom of God. The water is clearly a reference
to the word of God. Ephesians is not a reference
to baptism, it's a reference to God's word. Ephesians chapter
five, we often quote that verse that says, husbands love your
wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for
it. And the next verse says that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word. Water is mentioned many times
in the scriptures and we see it in the natural world. How
necessary water is for life. How a child cannot be born until
first the water breaks. The water has to come forth first.
We looked at that Ethiopian eunuch the last two Sunday mornings
and saw that that he had a copy of the scriptures, that God gave
him his word before he knew anything about Christ or before he knew
anything about the spirit of God. We have to be born of water
and of the spirit. When the Lord was pierced in
his side, water came out first. This is the first means that
the Lord uses to call out his people and reveal himself to
them. It's the water of his word that
he sanctifies us with. James puts it like this when
he said that he saved us by his word. And we have, turn with
me back, if you will, to Psalm 19. Psalm 19, that passage I
was trying to quote in James, of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. Of his own will, of God's own
will, he birthed us into the kingdom of God by his word. We, We all, I speak to myself
first, need a greater appreciation for the gift of God's word, how
few people in this world have been given the word of God, and
how most of those who have God's word don't have his spirit to
interpret his word. We're going to get into that.
The Lord said, accept. There's another one of those
accepts that we looked at Sunday. E-X-C-E-P-T. Not accept, but
accept. Accept. You be born of water
and of the Spirit. You should not enter the kingdom
of God. God's people, if we're saved, it's because God gave
us His word and He opened the mystery of the gospel to our
hearts by giving us His Spirit and taking out the heart of stone
and putting in a heart of flesh and giving us faith to believe
every word of God. The scriptures are clear that
there's no salvation apart from God's word. can look at creation and conclude
that there is a God, but they will never know anything about
that God apart from the special revelation that God gives us
in his word. Men have been given a conscience
and their conscience convicts them of right and wrong. And they know that they've got
to atone for their sins. And so they go about establishing
all sorts of religious activity in order to make themselves right
with God. But they can't know God apart
from the word of God and apart from the spirit of God enlightening
the eyes of their understanding to exactly what God's word means.
Here's our blessing, brethren. God has given us his word and
he's given us his spirit. The two most precious gifts that
a child of Adam can ever receive and the two things most necessary
for us to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith comes by
hearing. Let him who has an ear to hear,
hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. The Lord, the spirit
of God's the one that has to give us an ear to hear. And faith
comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So that's
what the Lord is saying, except you be born of water. That's
the word and the spirit. You shall not enter into the
kingdom of God. What a, what a blessing the Lord
has given us. Look at, look at Psalm 19. The
heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament show forth
his handiwork. Anybody with any sense, with
any degree of honesty can look at the created world in which
we live and must come to the conclusion that there's a creator
behind all of this. Day unto day uttereth speech
and night unto night showeth knowledge. There's no speech
nor language where their voice is not heard. This is the declaration
of God's glory given to all men everywhere in creation and in
conscience. And yet it's not sufficient.
It's not sufficient. There's over 7,000 languages
in the world, and that's what the Lord's saying. Every language
of every people of all places and of every generation have
seen my handiwork, and they know that there is a God. Their line
has gone out, look at verse four, their line has gone out through
all the earth, and their words to the end of the world, in them
hath he set a tabernacle for the sun. Now the sun here is
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, but men will never ever Look
at that sun rising in the east and come to the conclusion that
God put that sun in the sky to remind us of his son. And never
come to that conclusion apart from the revelation of scripture. So he says he has set them in
a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out
of his chamber and rejoicing as a strong man to run a race. What person devoid of God's word
has ever looked at a sunrise and concluded, well, that's a
revelation of the son of God who rose from the dead and who
shines his light in the hearts of men, in the glory of his own
person and accomplished work. Who's gonna come to that? Nobody.
The child of God, now he has the word of God and he has a
revelation given to him by the spirit, can rejoice in a sunrise. and rejoice in a sunset and be
reminded that these things are given to us by God to reveal
the glory of Christ. Look at verse seven. I'm sorry,
his going forth is from the ends of the heaven and his circuit
and to the ends of it. And there is nothing hid from
the heat thereof. Nothing hid from the heat of
the sun in all the world. Nothing hid from the sight of
God in all the world. But unless we had this next,
look, the law of the Lord is perfect. This word law and statute
and commandment and word is all used to describe the special
revelation that God has given us in his word. And so he's saying
with all this natural revelation, men still, they make, well, Paul
deals with this in the book of Romans. They see the revelation
that God's given them in nature and they create an idol out of
it and they worship the creature rather than the creator. They
won't come to God unless the law of the Lord comes. If the
word of God is preached, if Christ is lifted up, then he draws men
to himself. The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes. If we didn't have the written
word of God, we wouldn't have our eyes. opened to the truth
of who Christ is, or who we are, or how it is that God's pleased
to save sinners. We might be convicted by our
conscience when we do something bad, but we would never come
to the conclusion, apart from the scriptures, that everything
about us, even the good things about us, is sinful. We would
never come to that conclusion. No, we would pride ourselves
in the good things and we'd go about comparing ourselves to
ourselves and believe ourselves to be getting better. We compare
ourselves to one another and believe ourselves to be better.
We would never see ourselves standing in the presence of a
holy God and say with Job, behold, behold, I am vile. In me, that
is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. We would never come to
that conclusion. But God's given us his word and
he's given us his spirit. And except you be born of water
and of the spirit, you shall not enter in to the kingdom of
God. We have the spirit of God and
we have the word of God. You remember when Abraham was
commanded of God to put out the bond woman, Hagar and her son
Ishmael, and gave her a bottle of water and a loaf of bread
and sent her out and she travels for a while and then she finds
herself without hope and she puts Ishmael under a tree and
the child begins to cry out to God and the scripture says that
God heard the child's cry. And here's what the Bible says
in Genesis chapter 21. God opened her eyes and showed
her a well of water. God opened her eyes and showed
her a well of water. She lived. The point of that
is that God has to open our eyes to show us that well of water. That's what the Lord was talking
about with the woman at the well in John chapter four, when he
said, when she said, Lord, give me that, uh, that water. And before that, he said, if
thou knewest who it is that said unto you, give me to drink, you
would ask of him and he would give you living water. What is
that living water? It's his word. It's his word. And as we've seen often, time
and times again, we don't separate the written word from the living
word. The Lord Jesus Christ is the word of God. The word became
flesh and dwelt among us. The word ascended back into glory
and did not return to God void, but took with him the names of
those for whom he lived and died. We've got the written word revealing
the living word. And if we knew who it is that
saith unto us, give me a drink, we would ask it of him. We would
ask it of him. The Lord opened her eyes, and
she saw the well of water. Revelation chapter 22, verse
1, there is a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. That's what we just read in Psalm
19, that his word is pure. Why is it pure? Because he's
pure, he's perfect. He's pure and he's perfect and
there's no error or mistake. We don't read God's word and
try to figure out what's true and what's not true. If the Lord's
done for us what he did for Hagar and opened our eyes and shown
us the well, then we just believe everything we drink from that
river. That river that's clear as crystal comes from God. It comes from the throne and
it comes from the lamb. When Peter is speaking in 2 Peter
of those false prophets, he calls them wells without water. Can you see yourself in a desert? We live in a dry and thirsty
land. There is a famine in the land. What Amos said about the famine
in the land is as much true today as ever, as ever. And there's
more words to be heard today than there's ever been in the
history of the human race. And yet there is a famine in
the land. Not of bread or of water, but
of hearing the word of God. What a blessing God has given
us to have ears to hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches
about the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not in this desert of dry
land and coming up on a well and there's no water in the well.
How desperate would you become? You see this well and you're
hopeful and you get to it and it's a well without water. Jude calls the false prophets
clouds without water. You know, we're in the heat of
summer and you see some clouds come and you think you're going
to get some rain. We had that happen here a lot of times. It
rains a couple of blocks away. It didn't rain in my house. I
missed it. Clouds without water. You wanted that rain, but it
didn't come. That's what the Lord calls the false prophets.
Wells without water, cloud. Why? Because they don't have
the word of God. They're not preaching Christ.
Turn with me to 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5. I want us to leave here with
our hearts full of gratitude and worship and thanksgiving
that our God has given us his word. He's given us his word. You know how few people there
are in the world that this can be said of? We have the word
of God. First John chapter 5, look with
me at verse 4. For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith. Except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,
But everyone that's been born of God has been given the word
of God. The written word has revealed
the living word, and they're looking to Christ, and they're
persuaded that he is able to keep that which they've entrusted
to him, committed everything to him against that day. And
the spirit of God has opened up their eyes, and the light
of the gospel shined in their hearts. And this is what overcomes
the world. Religious people like to talk
about themselves as being overcomers because they're not worldly.
But that's not what he's talking about. He's talking about being
delivered from the destruction of this world. We don't want
to be worldly. We see enough of that in ourselves
as it is, don't we? But we want to not be a part
of the destruction of this world. This is what overcomes the world. Who is he that overcometh the
world? Even our faith, our faith, where is that faith born in?
It's born in God. It's given to us by the Spirit
of God. Faith comes by hearing. Who is he that overcometh the
world? But he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. This is he that came by water
and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water
and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth
witness because the Spirit is truth. And when the scripture says that
the Lord Jesus Christ came by water, that means that he was
revealed to his people by his word, by his word. For there are three that bear
record in heaven, the father, the word, and the Holy ghost. And these three are one. They're
all in agreement. They're all saying the same thing.
And there are three that bear witness in the earth, the spirit
and the water and the blood and these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater for this is the witness of God,
which he hath testified of his son. He's testified of Christ. Jesus Christ, the Lord, is the
spirit of prophecy. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. We break open the word of God
in hopes that the Lord, you remember those disciples walking back
to Emmaus in Luke chapter 24 after the crucifixion? They didn't
know the Lord had risen from the dead. And they had heard reports, but
they didn't believe it. They were going home. And the
Lord walks along beside them and beginning with Moses and
the Psalms and the prophets, he expounds unto them those things
concerning himself. And he, and he calls them slow
of heart and foolish. Did you not know these things
must be accomplished? These, these are the things that
were ordained of God in his word from the very beginning. And
they still didn't know they were walking with the Lord. He was
conversing with them and they didn't know it was him. Why? Well, when they got to their
house, scripture says they pleaded with him to stay for dinner and
they sat down at the table and in the breaking of bread, their
eyes were open and they beheld him. They knew who he was immediately
in the breaking of bread. That's what we, every time we
open God's word, were breaking open the bread of life in hopes
that through all of our dullness and all of our spiritual dumbness
and our worldliness that God would open the eyes of our understanding
and show us once again who the Lord Jesus Christ is and what
he accomplished on Calvary's cross and putting away our sins,
that he would bless us once again with his spirit, that he would
give us a little clearer understanding that one more time we could wipe
that mirror a little bit polished better so that the reflection,
we look through a glass darkly now, but then face-to-face, and
that's what we long for. And right now, We have the water
of his word and these things are all in agreement. They're
all in agreement. The revelation that the spirit
of God has given in his word, the revelation that he gives
of Christ to our hearts. Turn with me to 2 Timothy, 2
Timothy chapter three. 2 Timothy 3, look at verse 14. But continue thou in the things
which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom
thou hast learned them. Paul's talking to Timothy, who
learned the scriptures from a young age, and he's encouraging him,
don't forget the things that you've heard and how God has
confirmed them to you. And that from a child thou hast
known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. There's not
going to be any salvation apart from the word of God. What a
blessing for a child to be, to grow up under the gospel, under
the sound of God's word. The only hope any of us have.
What, what, what a great blessing they have. Verse 16, we often quote this
verse, all scripture, all scripture from Genesis to Revelation have
been given, have been given. We didn't go find it, it was
given to us by the inspiration of God and is profitable. for doctrine and for reproof
and for correction and for instruction and righteousness that the man
of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works. God takes
his word sometimes and he corrects us. Other times he reproves us.
Other times he exhorts us. Other times he comforts us. And he knows exactly what each
of us need at every moment. And he ministers this grace to
our hearts by his word, except you be born of water. and of
the spirit is not of the kingdom of heaven. And no scripture came
by private interpretation, but holy men of God wrote as they
were moved by the spirit of God. Look at verse, look at chapter
four. I charge thee therefore, in light of this glorious truth,
I charge thee therefore, Timothy, preach the word. You know, Don't
tell stories. Don't entertain. Don't, you know,
keep your illustrations short and to the point. I'm going to
bless my word. That's what I'm going to bless.
Preach the word. I charge thee before God and
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living, the quick,
and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word,
be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all long-suffering in doctrine. For the time will come, and that
time certainly is here. So much foolishness being done
in the name of Jesus Christ. So much foolishness being done
in the name of religion. Just that they're not preaching
the gospel, not preaching the word of God. They're tickling
men's ears. That's what the false prophets
are doing. That's what the wells without
water are doing. That's what the clouds who have
no rain in them are doing. The time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust, shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they
shall turn their ears away from the truth and shall be turned
unto fables. Just fables, that's all it is.
Just old wives tales. There's no substance to it, no
truth to it. We have God's word. And it's pure, it's true, it's
faithful, and it reveals to us the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord showed me something,
I believe, about the first miracle that the Lord performed that
I'd never seen before. Maybe you have. The turning of
water into wine. You remember what happened. John
chapter 2, the Lord has his disciples, they go to this wedding, which
is symbolic of the church being married to Christ. The bride
has made herself ready and the bridegroom has come and now we're
united together in this union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And
his mother says, you know, they've run out of wine. And then she
told the servant, she said, whatever he tells you to do, do it. And
there was there six water pots, six water pots, about 30 gallons
in each water pot. According to what the scripture
tells us, these were wash basins is what they were. They were
long wash basins that they would go through and ceremonially wash
their hands, all six of them, representing man, representing
the law. And the Lord told them, he said,
fill them to the brim. Now that was the Old Testament
law. And what did, what's, it's his
word. It's all of his word. He said, fill them to the brim.
I did not come to destroy the law, I came to fulfill the law.
That's what the Lord Jesus came to do. He filled those water
pots to the brim. They couldn't put any more water
in. And then he said, now, take the water, carry it to the table. And they did, and the master
of ceremonies tasted it, and he said, ooh. He said, Usually
the good wines serve first. And then when men have well drunk,
then you break out the stuff that's not so good later. But
you've saved the best for last. What's the gospel picture there?
When the Spirit of God blesses the Word of God, he enables the
child of God. What is the wine representative
of? It's the blood of Christ. So if the water is the word of
God and the wine is the blood of Christ, what God does is he
turns this water into wine. That's a miracle. He enables
the child of God to bathe in the word of God and see the shed
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the sum and substance
of this book. Life is in the blood. It's in
the blood. The Lord said to those fairies,
so many people read the Bible, but they don't have the spirit
of God. You search the scriptures because
you think in them you have eternal life, but these are they which
testify of me. This book bleeds if God gives
you the spirit of God. It's not just something you bathe
in. It's not just something you wash. It bleeds. The word of
God is turned into the blood that was shed on Calvary's cross.
And we see that blood sprinkled on the mercy seat. And God says,
here, I will meet with you. And I will protect you under
the shadow of my wings. And we see the wings of the cherubim
over the mercy seat. And God says, that's where you're
going to be right there. It's all about the blood. All
about the blood. Without the blood, there's no
remission of sins. When I see the blood, I'll pass
by you. It's a miracle. If you can see
Christ and his shed blood and his accomplished work of redemption,
if you can see that spear going into his side and the water coming
out first, which is his word, and then the blood coming out,
which is the justifying cleansing of our sin, and that blood being
put on a mercy seat that's not made with hands, a mercy seat
that's a sacrifice that God made to God. We saw that Sunday. That's
what the cross is all about. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
offering us his blood. That's why it's forbidden to
eat blood. The blood's not for us, it's for God. And God saw the travail of his
soul and God was satisfied. Oh, what a miracle of grace. If we can go to the written word
of God and we get beyond the historical references and the
doctrinal references and the denominational emphasis and the
Spirit of God opens the eyes of our understanding and everywhere
we go we just see the blood. We see the blood. The water is
miraculously turned into blood. That was the first plague, too,
in Egypt, wasn't it? And that water turned into blood,
and it killed them. They didn't know why. They didn't
have any need for blood. Do you have a need for blood? You
have a need for the Lord Jesus Christ to offer his blood to
God for you? Or are you gonna try to make
things right with God with some other means? You know, your will
or your works or your efforts or your blood. You know, surely
if I become a martyr, that'll earn me favor with God. No, it
won't. No, it won't. You can sacrifice your life for
the cause of God and the Bible and it's not gonna earn you favor,
though it's only one sacrifice. And God turns the water into
wine. That's what happened in Ezekiel
chapter 37, when the Lord took the prophet and took him out
to this battlefield. And there was nothing in the
battlefield left but sun-dried, bleached bones. And the Lord
spoke to the prophet and said, son of man, can these bones live? The scripture is very clear in
Ezekiel 37, tells us these bones are the whole house of Israel.
All the people of God, that's there they are right there. That's
what they are by nature. Are they going to live? What
does Ezekiel say? Lord, thou knowest. Now what
that means is if they're going to live, you're going to have
to do it because there's nothing I can do to make them live. And
so the Lord said, prophesy, son of man, preach to them, preach
my word to them. And as Ezekiel preached, the
bones started coming together, bone to bone and sinew and flesh. And the scripture says, yet there
was no life in them, no life in them. And that's when the
Lord said to Ezekiel, prophesy to the wind. You know what that
wind is? That mighty Russian wind that
came on the day Pentecost. That's the spirit of God. Cry
out for the spirit of God to bless what you just said. And
if he comes and blesses it, they will, and they lived. The Lord
gave them life. He breathed life into Adam's
nostrils. And he has to send the wind of
his spirit to bless his word. except you be born of water and
of the spirit, you shall not enter into the kingdom of God.
These are the two things, what a blessing. We have the spirit
of God, we have the word of God. Remember in Acts chapter six,
when the Grecian and Hebrew women became contentious with one another
over the distribution of food and the apostles said, they came
together and they said, you know what? It's not mean for us, it's
not right for us to leave prayer and the ministry of the word
to wait on tables. And they appointed seven men
full of the Holy Spirit and they took care of that. See, the prayer
is the calling out for God to send his spirit. And the ministry
of his word is looking for Christ and showing the people of God
where the Lord Jesus is in all the scriptures and having them
just rejoice. Yes, that's who I need. John the Baptist said, I baptize
with water. What was John doing? He was preaching
the word of God. Preaching a message of judgment
and repentance and a message of salvation. But he that cometh after me,
whose sandals I'm not worthy to unlatch, he's gonna baptize
you with the Holy Spirit. Turn with me to John 15, if you
will, John 15. The Lord tells us that he's pleased
to give his spirit. If your son asked for a fish,
you wouldn't give him a scorpion. You wouldn't, you know, You being
evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children. How much
more? As a father pitieth his children,
so the Lord pitieth them that fear. How much more will the
Lord give his spirit to them who ask him? Lord, send your
spirit. And we're not talking about some,
some warm, fuzzy feeling or some crazy, you know, manifestation. We're talking about the light
of the spirit and light in the eyes of understanding enable
us to see Christ in the word of God and to rest our hope in
him. That's what he does. He convicts
us of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, of sin because
we believe not. Lord, my problem is my unbelief.
That's my problem. I just, I can't believe you like
I ought to, like I want to. And Lord, I don't have any righteousness.
My only righteousness is ascended into heaven. He's seated at thy
right hand. And I believe that what you accomplished
on Calvary's cross was full judgment for sin. That you actually accomplished
the salvation of your people when you bowed your mighty head
and said, it is finished. That's the spirit of God. And
now look what the Lord said in John 15. at verse 26, but when
the comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the father,
even the spirit of truth, which proceeded from the father, he
will testify of me. We were talking about this last
night and we were sharing, Bert and Matt and I were talking and
we were sharing how, you know, it seems like We think about
the father and we think about the son, but the Holy Spirit
kind of takes a position in the shadows. And I said, well, that's
what he's supposed to do. He's not calling attention to
himself. You know these people who talk
about being spirit filled and do all kinds of crazy stuff and
always talking about the Holy Spirit. He said he will testify
of me. Let me show you that again. Turn
over just a page to John chapter 16 at verse 13. How be it when he, the spirit
of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth, for he shall
not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak,
and he will show you things to come. He's going to reveal to you the
glory of Christ is accomplished work. That's what he's that's
that's his work. That's his work. What a blessing
to have the spirit of God. So how do I know if I have the
spirit? Don't don't think it's a It's an understanding, it's
faith. You can't have the Spirit of
God without faith, without believing God. You can't see Christ without
the Spirit of God. You can't see yourself as a sinner
apart from the Spirit of God. You can't believe in the finished,
accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ without the Spirit
of God. He blesses his word. You remember when Peter was on
the boat with the disciples and they saw the Lord coming on the
water and Peter said, Lord bid me to come unto thee on the water. And Peter got out of the boat
and walked on the water. What is that water? Lord, reveal to me the glory
of Christ from your word. Bid me to come into thee on the
water and enable me to get out of the boat of my safety and
the boat of my unbelief and walk on the water. It's what faith
does. It walks on the water. It walks
right on the word of God. And when the Lord Got the disciples
together that night before he went to the cross. What'd he
do? He washed their feet with water. Peter said, Lord, you don't wash
my feet. If I wash not your feet, you have no part with me. If
I don't wash you, you're not gonna have part with me. The
washing of the water is his word. That's what we're doing right
now. Right now. And every time you go to the
scriptures, Where else are you going? There's no other word
like God's word. And Peter said, wash me all over. And the Lord said, what? You're
already clean. Why are you clean? Because you believe me. But you've been out walking out
there in the world and you've gotten your feet dirty. And you
need to have them washed over and over and over and over again. What happens when a man has the
word of God but doesn't have the spirit of God? Well, he's left to his own devices
and he will rest, W-R-E-S-T, the scriptures to his own destruction. That's what he'll do. He'll twist the word of God.
He'll make it say things it doesn't say. I've told you what that
word rest means. It's a picture of a man on a
rack who's being cranked out on a rack, and they're trying
to get him to say something that he doesn't really believe, but
they're going to torture him until he does. And that's what
men do. They rest the scriptures. They torture the scriptures,
and they make it say things that it doesn't say. That's how you
know. I fear that's the reason why
there's been so many creeds and confessions written by men, because
they lack the Holy Spirit to just believe God and see the
blood of Christ in the water. And so they add to the Word of
God, and they write man's words, and they say, well, this is what
the Bible means. Well, the Bible means exactly what it says. I
mentioned Sunday that God has written his word in such a way
as to give the unbeliever who doesn't have the Holy Spirit
enough rope to hang himself. And that's what he does. That's
what he does. He takes the word of God and
he comes up with a doctrine of free will and he comes up with
a doctrine of works and all these things. And he gets it right
from the scriptures. But he's taken the scriptures
out of context because he doesn't have the Holy Spirit. Let me
show you that. Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians
2. Second Thessalonians, chapter two. Verse 10, and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish, that's the unbeliever,
they're deceived and they think they're righteous but they're
unrighteous, they don't know that they're unrighteous. because they received not the
love of the truth that they might be saved. Who's the truth? I am the way, the truth and the
life. The Lord Jesus Christ is the truth and the truth of God's
word reveals Christ. It reveals him as the sovereign
son of God, as the omnipotent savior of sinners, the successful
redeemer. Our substitute and our sin bearer
and our surety and it reveals Him. Every drop of water in this
book turns to blood when you have the Spirit of God. And we
walk to Christ on the water. But they have no love for the
truth. They have no love for Christ.
They have no need for Christ. And for this cause, verse 11,
for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they
should believe. And you see that little word,
a, it's really the, it's really the definite article. The word
and a is an indefinite article. The, the is a definite article,
the original language. It's the definite article. It's
not a it's the. God shall send them because they
have no truth, no love for Christ. God will send, if God sends you
a delusion, you're deluded. There are just no two ways about
it. If you have no need for Christ,
no need for the blood of Christ, no interest in the work of Christ,
just trying to find some way to use your knowledge of the
Bible and your works and your, Your obedience to the law of
God as the means of your salvation. That's what men do. They take
the Bible. What is the means by which the
Lord sends that delusion? There it is. That's it. It's a saver of life or of death. God uses his word. And men rest
it to their own destruction. And they believe the lie. What is the lie? Well, the lie
started all the way back in the garden. When Satan, we're talking
about what happens when a man has the word of God but doesn't
have the spirit of God. What he does is he twists the
word of God. What happened in the garden?
Adam had the word of God. The living word of God walked
with Adam in the cool of the day. Adam had the commandments
of God. You do not eat of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil. He had God's word. He didn't
have the spirit of God. That didn't come until after
the lamb was slain, the blood was shed, and God clothed Adam. God didn't make a nice, beautiful
garment for Adam and say, Adam, would you like to put this on
instead of those fig leaves? No, the scripture says God clothed
him. That's when he had some understanding. But what was Eve's,
what was the temptation? Well, first he calls into question
the word of God. Did God say? Yeah, God said. And then what
did Satan say? The reason God doesn't want you
to eat of the knowledge of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil is because he knows that the day in which you eat of it,
your eyes will be open and you'll be like God. Right now you're
just a robot, you're a puppet, you're just doing exactly what
God tells you to do, but in the day in which you eat of that
fruit, you will have the ability to make choices. and you will
have the virtue of God to always make the right choice. Right
now, you're just following the commandments of another. Wouldn't
you like to have the ability and the power of free will? Wouldn't you like to have that? And by the way, when you have
the ability to choose for yourself, you're always gonna choose what's
right. because you're gonna be like God. That's the lie. That's the lie. Everybody in this world who lacks
the word of God and the spirit of God believe themselves to
have the power of free will. They can choose for themselves
when they're gonna be saved, how they're gonna be saved, They
believe themselves to be God because they had no light, no,
no love for the truth. They were deceived by their own
unrighteousness. God sent them a strong delusion
that hasn't changed. It's the same lie. Satan's Satan's
got one, one weapon in his arsenal and he just keeps firing the
same gun over and over again. I don't believe God's word. You can choose. And that's what
men do. They rest the scriptures to their
own destruction. Brethren, God's given us his
word and he's given us his spirit. What greater gift, what greater
gift could a sinner have? What greater need do we have?
except you be born of water and of the spirit. You shall be in
the kingdom of God. Our heavenly father, thank you
for your word. Bless it. Increase our faith. Forgive us
of our sin. Reveal to us the glory of thy
dear son. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen. 268, let's stand together, number
268.