Uh, thank you, Joy. Jesus saith unto them, my meat
is to do the will of the father and to finish his work. What was the work? that the father
sent the Lord Jesus Christ to accomplish the salvation of his
people. Did he finish it? Did he? Did he leave any part of it undone?
No. It is finished. We've gathered
together this morning to worship the one who is worthy to be worshipped
for his accomplished work of salvation. Let's stand together. Tom's going to come lead us in
number 225. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Come unto me and rest. upon my breast. I came to Jesus as I was weary
and worn and sad. I found in Him a resting place,
and He has made me glad. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Behold, I freely give the living water, thirsty one, stoop down
and drink and live. I came to Jesus and I drank of
that life-giving stream. My thirst was quenched, my soul
revived, and now I live in Him. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
I am this dark world's light. Look unto me, thy morn shall
rise, and all thy day be bright. I look to Jesus and I found in
him my star, my sun. And in that light of life I'll
walk till traveling days are done. Please be seated. Good morning. For our scripture
reading this morning, would you turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter
16? We'll begin at verse 16. And it came to pass, as we went
to prayer, a certain damsel, possessed with the spirit of
divination, met us, which brought our masters much gain by soothsaying. The same followed Paul and us
and cried, saying, these men are the servants of the Most
High God, which show unto us the way of salvation. And this
did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned
and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ
to come out of her and he came out the same hour. And when her
masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught
Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace under the
rulers and brought them to the magistrate saying, these men,
being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city and teach customs which
are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.
And the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates
rent off their clothes and commanded to beat them. And when they had
laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging
the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a charge,
thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the
stalks. And at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises
unto God, and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly, there was
a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were
shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's
bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison
awakened out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open,
he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing
that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice,
saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and
sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and
Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do
to be saved? And they said, Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. For whatever reason this morning,
we are all brought here. And I pray that it would be for
us to hear about the Lord, and for him to save us all. I am more and more convinced
every day of my need to be here at services. There's nothing
out there for us. This is the only hope that we
have is when we're gathered in this place Wednesday nights and
Sunday mornings. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for bringing
us here again this morning. Lord, we ask that in this moment
that you would cause nothing else to matter but to hear your
voice. Would you scrape some of the
crumbs off your table for us to feast upon just for this brief
moment? And cause us to look to you and
hear your voice and speak to our hearts. Lord, for those here
that have never heard your voice, speak to them. and do a work
of grace in their heart. Lord, I'd also ask for those
here that you've spoken to that you would speak to their hearts
again as it was the first time and make it fresh. Be with our
pastor as he comes and speaks the gospel to our hearts, Lord,
and give us the ability to receive it. We ask these things in the
name of your holy and precious son, Jesus Christ, amen. Let's all stand together. We'll
sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. The hymn on
the back of your bulletin. Whate'er my God ordains is right,
This holy will of my death. I will be still, whate'er he
doth, and follow where he guideth. He is my God, though dark my
road, he holds me that I shall not fall. Wherefore to him I
leave it all. Whate'er my God ordains is right,
He never will deceive me. He leads me by the proper path,
I know He will not leave me. I take content what He hath sent,
His hand can turn my griefs away. And patiently I wait his day. Whate'er my God ordains is right,
He is my friend and Father. He suffers not to do me harm,
Though many storms may gather. Now I may know both joy and woe,
Someday I shall see clearly, That he hath loved me dearly. But ere my God ordains his right,
Here shall my stand be taken. Though sorrow, need, or death
be mine, Yet I am not forsaken. My father's care is round me
there. He holds me that I shall not
fall. And so to him I leave it all. Please be seated. I have loved you with an everlasting
love. That's what we just sang about.
Never been a time. God Almighty did not see his
people in Christ and love them perfectly, even as he loves his
son. That's my hope. someone who had attended services
a few times over in Sarasota responded to one of the brethren
over there that they didn't get much out of the services because
all I talked about was Jesus Christ. Didn't know if they'd be back.
I took that as a great compliment. Paul said, I profess to know
nothing among you save Christ and Him crucified. If Christ is not infinitely glorious
to you, if Christ is not sufficient, if Christ is not all you need,
it's only because you don't know Him. If you know Him, You'll love
him, you'll want to know more about him. We've been studying through the
book of 2 Corinthians and we are at chapter 11 this morning. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Would to God that you would bear
with me a little in my folly. And indeed, and bear with me,
Paul is having to present himself as a true and faithful gospel
preacher in contrast to those who have come in behind him and
said to the church at Corinth and to other churches, the Jesus
of Nazareth that the Apostle Paul preaches is, in fact, the
Messiah. Paul's being truthful. He's the
long-awaited Christ. He's the one that we need in
order to be saved. But where Paul is not telling
you all the truth is that Jesus is necessary for salvation, but
he's not sufficient. What these Judaizers were saying
was that the law leads you to Christ, and Christ leads you
back to the law. And now your obligation and your
responsibility before God is to prove the evidence of your
salvation by your law keeping. And Paul is saying, bear with
me. I'm going to have to promote myself above those men because
they're lying to you. And I'm hoping that you will
hear me. as a faithful preacher of the gospel of God's free grace. For I am jealous over you with
a godly jealousy. Oh, I have a jealousy for you
to not be deceived like many have been deceived in thinking
that they are able to add anything to the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. For I have espoused you to one
husband that I may present you as a chase virgin to Christ. You've got one husband. I want
you to be faithful to him. What is it to be faithful to
Christ is to trust him alone for all your salvation. Don't
be deceived in looking away from Christ. But I fear, lest by any
means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, oh,
and how subtle he is, so your minds should be corrupted from
the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
6. Matthew chapter 6. We're going
to come back to our text. God as my witness, I have a godly
jealousy for you. and for my own soul, that we
be not deceived from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. That
we have a single eye towards Christ. Look at verse 22 of Matthew
chapter 6. The light of the body is the
eye. If therefore thine eye be single,
the whole body shall be full of light. If you're looking to
Christ alone for all your salvation, your whole body will be full
of light. Christ is not only sufficient
for your justification before God, He's sufficient for your
sanctification. He's sufficient for everything.
God has made Him to be for us our wisdom, our righteousness,
our sanctification, and our redemption. He is everything in salvation. If your eye be single, your whole
body will be full of light. Look at the next verse. But if
thine eye be evil, now you can look it up. That word evil translated
means full of labors. Full of labors. That's what it
means. That's the literal translation of that word. Full of labors.
If your eye be, and God calls it evil. If you're looking to
Christ and you're looking to something that you've done, prayer
you prayed, a will that you've exercised, a work that you've
performed, if your eye be evil, then your whole body shall be
full of darkness. We were studying the first hour
in Isaiah chapter 8 and one of the verses we didn't get to was
where the scripture says, if they speak not according to the
law and the testimony, it is because there is no light in
them. You don't have partial light. You're either in light or you're
in darkness. The Lord says, If therefore the light that is
in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? The Lord told the Pharisees when
they said, Are you suggesting that we're blind? If you were
blind, then your sins would be forgiven you, but because you
think you can see, therefore your sins remain. There's no
blindness so dark as the one who thinks he can see when he
can't. And that's what the Lord is saying. If your eye be evil,
if you be full of labors, if you look into Christ plus something
you've done for the hope of your salvation, if you've been deceived
by the lies of Satan, like Eve, and moved away from the simplicity,
and that word means singleness, the simplicity that is in Christ
Jesus, then you've corrupted the gospel. and a little bit
of leaven leavens the whole lump. The gospel's been corrupted.
Christ has been robbed of His glory and you've set yourself
up on the throne of God. If your eye be single, your whole
body be full of light. You'll have light and wisdom
and understanding. for the spiritual things of your
soul and for the things of this life. You'll understand things. You'll be able to sing that song
that we just sang. Whatever my God ordains is right. And you'll be able to rest in
His sovereign control of everything in your life if your eye is single
towards Christ. I want you to enjoy the simplicity
that is in Christ Jesus and know that He is enough. He's enough. He's sufficient for all our salvation. Turn with me to Philippians chapter
3. Verse one, finally, my brethren,
who's this? Who's this for bind up the testimony,
bind up the testimony for Jerusalem, for my people, they're going
to hear it. Finally, my brethren rejoice
in the Lord. Rejoice in His work of redemption. Rejoice in His good providence. I know the thoughts that I have
towards you. Thoughts of good. Thoughts of
peace and not of evil. To bring you to your expected
end. How am I going to believe that? Looking unto Jesus the author
and the finisher of your salvation He's the Alpha and the Omega
the beginning and the end everything in the alphabet is in him Rejoice
in the Lord to write the same thing to you To me indeed is
not grievous See Paul was being accused of the same thing. All
Paul does is preach Jesus Christ. That's all he preaches He doesn't
give you anything to do And Paul said, I'm not personally
grieved by those accusations. Because what I'm preaching to
you is safe for you. It's the only safe place you
can be. To be found in him. To be in the city of refuge. It's the only safety that there
is in this life and in the life to come. Is Christ enough for
you? Is he enough? Now let me just say, those who
think we're advocating a life of irresponsibility don't know
the Christ I'm talking about. Because He'll be enough for you
in that too. He'll work in you, causing you to will and to do
of His good pleasure. We're not talking about fatalism
here. We're not talking about, well, you know, just We're talking
about looking to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and having
Him as your life. in everything. That's the simplicity,
the I being single. Paul says, it's not grievous
to me and it's safe for you. It's the only safe place you've
got. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers. If you're I be
evil, full of labors. Beware of anyone who's giving
you something to do in order to earn favor with God. Beware
of anyone who's giving you, putting you under the law to measure
your life by the law, to measure your life by your life, or to
measure your life by someone else in order to get hope for
your salvation. Is Christ all your hope? Beware of the concision, the
circumcision. That's the works of man's hands,
trying to cut away the flesh in order to make himself acceptable
before God. For we are the true circumcision,
which worship God in the Spirit. This is a work of the Spirit
of God. And rejoice in Christ Jesus. All our rejoicing is in
Him. We have no confidence in the
flesh. No confidence whatsoever. I fear... It's so simple. That's too simple,
I hear people say. You can't just preach Jesus Christ. You've got to give them something
else. There is nothing else. And if
you've tried something else, you know it doesn't work. You've
tried living by the law. You've tried rededicating yourself. You've tried pulling yourself
up by your bootstraps. You've tried everything. It doesn't work. Here's the truth
of the matter. You do not need to be told what
to do. You know what you ought to be
doing and what you ought not to be doing. What you need is
the power to do it. And that's only gonna come in
Christ. If you look into Him, and He's
your life, and He's all your redemption, and all your sanctification,
all your salvation. Does Christ work enough? Is His righteousness enough?
Is His blood shedding enough? Or is the work of Christ made
effectual? Here's what I hear. God offers
you salvation, but you make it effectual. The contribution of
your faith is what makes the work of Christ work for you.
The contribution of your sincerity, the contribution of your repentance,
the contribution of your obedience is what makes the work of Christ
work for you. If you'll do your part, then
the Lord will bestow His grace, His favor, and His mercy on you. And what do we say to that? There's
death in the pot. There's death in the pot. You
remember when the prophets put, they put those gourds in the
pot and they tasted it and they cried out to the prophet who
was a picture of Christ, there's death in the pot. What the prophet
do, he came and he put salt in the pot and it made it good. Christ is that salt. He's the
one who gives us life. He does it all by himself. Paul said, go back with me to
our text in 2nd Corinthians. I am jealous over you with a
godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband." Truth is
that we were espoused as the bride of Christ in the covenant
of grace before time ever began. You understand the old covenant
is newer than the new covenant. The old covenant, it's The old
man, the old man, which is our flesh, is newer than the new
man. The new man was created in Christ
Jesus before time began. The work was finished before
the foundation of the world. We were chosen in Christ before
the world ever began. When we discover the new man,
God gives us a new nature. He's bringing to be in our experience
what he had already purposed before the old man was created.
The new man is older than the old man. And the new covenant
is older than the old covenant. so that in the fullness of time
we come to see what has always been. And that's what Paul's
saying. You've been a spouse to Christ
as a chaste bride. This covenant union cannot be
broken. The Lord said in Hosea chapter
2, I will betroth thee unto me forever. Yea, I will betroth
thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness,
and in mercy, and I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness."
You're going to be faithful. You're going to be. I'm going
to see to it. I'm going to cause you to keep
coming back to me. To whom? Coming. You're not going
to be able to get away from me. And in all of your fallings and
failures, you're going to be faithful. You're going to keep
coming to Christ. I will see to it and you shall
know that I am the Lord. You see verse 3 in our text,
so your minds should be corrupted, defiled from the simplicity that
is in Christ. Now the Old Testament believers
were very particular about what took place in the tabernacle.
Everything had to be done exactly as God prescribed it. The lambs
had to be slain in a perfect time, in a perfect place, in
a perfect way. The priest had to go in and put
the blood on the mercy seat exactly at the right time, exactly in
the right way. Everything was monitored and
done perfectly, showing the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
if something was done out of place, it corrupted the whole
process. Everything had to be cleansed
and started over. And the Lord says, I fear lest
your minds be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Now how do men corrupt the simplicity
that is in Christ? They try to add their free will
to God's sovereign choice. You did not choose me. I chose you. What are you going
to add to the fact that God has elected a particular people,
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and blameless in Him, in love? What are you going to
add to that? And yet men do. We are bound
to give thanks to you, brethren, always, because God hath chosen
you from the beginning through the sanctification of the Spirit
and belief in the truth. Thou hast given him power. Here's
what the Lord Jesus prayed in John 17. Thou hast given him
power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as
many as thou hast given unto him. What do you add to that? And yet men won't bow to the
sovereignty of God in choosing a people and electing them. They
want to add something. Paul says, I fear lest you be
corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Don't try
to add to that. Don't try to take anything away
from it. What are you going to add to the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ? All our righteousnesses are His
filthy rags. Under the sun He saith, Thy throne,
O God, is forever. and ever a scepter of righteousness
is thy scepter. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore, therefore, God, even
thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy
fellows." How are you going to add to the righteousness of Christ?
You can't add to election. You can't add to His righteousness.
Touching the righteousness which is by the law, Paul said, I was
blameless. I was blameless before men. But when the law really came,
sin revived and I died. And those things which I counted
gain, I now lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I've lost everything for. Christ is my all, is what he
said. I was living under the law. I
was thinking that something I did, something I could do, was going
to earn me favor with God. Yea, doubtless I count all things
but loss for the excellency of Christ Jesus my Lord, that I
might be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is
by the law, but that righteousness which is by the faith of Jesus
Christ, even the righteousness of God. If there had been a law which
could have given righteousness, verily righteousness would have
come by the law. There isn't a law that can give
righteousness. Christ is our righteousness. David said in Psalm 17 verse
15, as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness and
I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. You see, the
truth is that through faith in Christ, we are righteous before
God. We're righteous. As He is, so
are we. How are you going to add to the
righteousness of God? Your works can't do it. Your will can't add to His electing
grace. What are you going to do in redemption? What are you going to do to purchase
your soul to God? By His own blood He entered in
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us. That's what He did. He did it
all by Himself. In Him we have redemption, even
the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. Don't be taken away from the
simplicity that is in Christ. All election is in Christ. All
righteousness is in Christ. All redemption is in Christ. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him there is plenteous
righteousness. There is sufficient righteousness.
You can't exhaust His righteousness. The simplicity that is in Christ. All of Christendom, as we know it
in this world today, corrupted the gospel. They have eyes, but they do not
see. They have ears, but they do not
hear. They know the acts of God, but
they don't know His ways. They think because they believe
in the historical events that they're Christians. They've corrupted
the simplicity that is in Christ. They've added to His electing
grace by putting their free will into the mix. They've added to
His righteousness by putting their good works into the mix.
They've added to His redemption by making something they do. make what he did work for them. Justification? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Yea, rather it is Christ that
is risen. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ is our only justification before God. There's no place
else to go. We are justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. How
can a man be just with God? How can a man be just with God?
How can he be clean that is born of a woman? How are we going
to do it? What are we going to do to add
to the justifying work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Enter not
into judgment with thy servant, David said in Psalm 143, for
in thy sight shall no man living be justified. Lord, if you enter
into judgment against me, if you weigh anything about me, No man is going to be justified
in thy sight. In the Lord, in the Lord, Isaiah
45 verse 25, in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified
and shall glory. All the seed of Israel is going
to glory in Him. Our Lord told that story of the
Pharisee and the publican. And the Pharisee went and prayed
thus to himself, God, I thank thee that I'm not like other
men. I fast twice a week. I give tithes. I, I, I, I. The publican would not so much
as look up, but smote himself upon the breast and said, God
have mercy upon me, the sinner. I say unto thee, that that man
went down to his house justified. Justified. How are we going to
add to the justifying work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, I hear someone say, yep,
so far so good. But now you're going to talk
about sanctification. Finally, there's a place where
I can make a contribution. Oh, the pride of man. God has
made him to be for us all our wisdom, all our righteousness,
all our sanctification, and all our redemption. He that sanctifyeth, that's the
Lord Jesus Christ, and they which are sanctified, that's his people,
are all as one, whereby he is not ashamed to call them his
brethren. He can look at them knowing that they are holy because
of his holiness. I've made you comely with my
comeliness, is what the scripture says. I've imputed to you my
righteousness and made you holy. Jude writes in Jude chapter 1
verse 1, to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved
in Christ Jesus. You're not going to add to your
sanctification. You're not going to make yourself more holy. The
more you grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the more of your sin you're going to see. The less
holy you're going to become in yourself, the more you're going
to depend upon Him for all your holiness, all your sanctification. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 14,
by one offering He has perfected forever them that are sanctified. When the Lord Jesus Christ bowed
his mighty head on Calvary's cross and cried, it is finished,
his precious blood washed away all the sins of all God's people
and made them holy before their God. Christ is all our sanctification. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 10 says,
by the which will we are sanctified by the offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once for all. Once for all. In Acts chapter
20 when Paul was meeting with the elders, in Ephesus, he said,
I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able
to build you up and give you an inheritance among all the
saints which are sanctified. Don't add to your sanctification. Christ is our sanctification. Oh, I fear lest by any means,
as Satan beguiled Eve, that your minds should be corrupted from
the simplicity, the singleness that is in Christ Jesus. Look at verse four and we'll
close. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus. I've told, I've talked to folks
about, oh, there's only one Jesus. No, no, no, there's a whole bunch
of them. There's a whole bunch of them. Paul says, if he that
cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or
if you receive another spirit. Lots of spirits out there. One
Holy Spirit, but a lot of evil spirits. They come as ministers
of righteousness, as angels of light. They don't come with a
pitchfork and a tail and horns. They come as preachers in Christian
churches, corrupting the gospel of God's grace and taking away
from the simplicity that is in Christ. And men are deceived. which ye have not received, or
another gospel." Another gospel. And then he says, which you have
not accepted, you might bear well with. Now you see the word
me is in italics? Let me tell you what Paul's saying
there, and I'll close with this. If another preacher comes, and
preaches to you any other Jesus or any other spirit or any other
gospel that is more divine, more holy, more perfect, More powerful,
more able to save, more willing to save, more easy to access. One that could be more successful
and take away your guilt and present you more holy and give
you more peace and more happiness. A gospel with more good news
in it. Bear with him. If there's another gospel, other
than the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus, that's better than
Christ, then go for it. That's what Paul's
saying. And the natural man will, because
Christ is never enough. He's never enough for the natural
man. He wants more. But to the spiritual man, to
the new man, Christ is all. And He's in all. He's all my
redemption. He's all my wisdom. He's all
I've got in election. He's all my righteousness. He's
all my sanctification. The only hope I have of being
kept and presented faultless before the throne of God is the
Lord Jesus Christ. And the one that I long to see
and be made like is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for the for the simplicity and the clarity of thy word. And
we thank you for the power of your Holy Spirit that makes it
effectual to our hearts. Lord, we ask you to forgive us
for the many times that we look away from thy dear son. And we
thank you for your faithfulness to keep bringing us back and
making Christ to be our all. For it's in His name we pray.
Amen. 334. 334. Let's stand together. Be Thou my vision, O Lord of
my heart, Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art. my best thought by day or by
night, waking or sleeping, thy presence my light. Be Thou my wisdom, and Thou my
true word. I ever with Thee, and Thou with
me, Lord. Thou my great Father, I Thy true
Son. Thou in me dwelling, and I with
Thee one. Riches I heed not, nor man's
empty praise, Thou mine inheritance, now and always, Thou and I only,
first in my heart. High King of heaven, my treasure
thou art. High King of heaven, my victory
won. May I reach heaven's joys, O
bright heaven's sun. Heart of my own heart, whatever
befall, still be my vision, O ruler of all. Thank you, George. Thank you.