Turn with me to the Gospel according
to John chapter 4. John chapter 4. I'd like to read verses 43 to
45, and then we'll ask our Lord's blessing. Now after two days he departed
thence and went into Galilee. For Jesus Himself testified that
a prophet hath no honor in his own country. Then when he was
come into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all
the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast. For they also went
unto the feast." Let's pray together. Our Father, as we call on You this morning
and we try to ask, Lord, we try to pray. We try to approach You. Lord, we know that in ourselves
we have no ability whatsoever without the blessed Lord Jesus
Christ, our great High Priest who approaches for us and intercedes
for us and asks for us and pleads for us. Oh, the merit of His
precious blood. Father, when You see the blood,
You pass over us. I ask you this morning, would
you allow us the privilege to worship? Bless the Word we ask
for Christ's sake. Amen. I've entitled this message this
morning, Have You Laid Hold of Christ? Our Lord, as we've been studying
this passage of Scripture, called out some that He had everlastingly
loved, eternally loved. Now, I know that He everlastingly
loved those that He called out. because He said He did. I've
loved you with an everlasting love. And there in a city called Sychar,
Sychar, Samaria, the Lord delighted to show mercy. That is the most
wonderful thought that I can think of. He delights. to show
mercy. He delights to. I struggle so much and find myself
so much asking, Lord, help me. I just feel myself needed. And to hear, to read,
He delighteth to show mercy. I know that the Lord is going
to save His people. I know He is. And we read of
that blessed salvation. Can I just read about how merciful
and kind and compassionate and long-suffering He was to that
woman and those men that came to him. He spoke. Life was imparted. That woman
went back and talked to some guys. She said, Y'all come see
a man that told me all things ever I did. They came. While they were coming, the disciples
brought some food. He calls him to eat. He told
him, he said, I've got meat to eat that you don't know anything
about. He said, you look around, you'll see. You say, in about
four months, harvest is going to come. He said, I'm telling
you, he said, harvest is right now. Fields are white unto harvest. You know, what if the Lord would
be pleased to save somebody here today? What if somebody would be called
out of darkness today? What if He would set forth? I have a responsibility to set
forth the glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I
have God's Word on it that His Word is not going to return void. It is going to accomplish the
purpose for which it was sent. So I ask today, I do right now,
I ask in my heart and I verbalize, I pray God be pleased to save
somebody. Well, he had stayed, the Scripture
said, for two days. And in verse 43, this
is where we start. Now, after two days, he departed
thence and went into Galilee. Hundreds of years have passed
since this event physically took place. But eternity is going to reveal
the mercy that God Almighty showed to a group of Samaritans. It had no difference in them
and us. The Lord had been pleased to show mercy to some West Virginians and to some Louisianians, Tennesseans
and Kentuckians. Do you know what they are? They were just sinners saved
by the grace of God. Sinners that God was pleased
to call out. And the Lord was pleased to use
this woman. Now, he's leaving. Be thankful, as I said a moment
ago, that Almighty God would raise up a place. Now, we could stop and think
about it and realize that but for the grace of God, why did
He choose This place. Why did He choose here? Now just
stop and realize there's a lot of places in this state. I mean,
you don't have to drive far. There's a lot of places where
there's no gospel preached. Oh, there's a lot of church buildings.
I'm not saying there's not a lot of religion. But I'm talking
about where you can go and just hear the message that honors
Almighty God in sovereign grace toward dead, unabling sinners. For God's pleased to show mercy. Never take lightly. that you have a place to worship. I tell you, making your calling
and election sure is serious business. Serious business. Hungry, thirsty after righteousness. Oh, there's been a lot of respect
by a few people shown to the Lord Jesus Christ. But now His
time is done. And he's leaving. Two days he
was there. What a blessing. Two days that
Eve would tarry. I'm so thankful that he's tarried
here all these many years. Time's short. This world's fading. He left after two days leaving
He went into Galilee and he made this statement in verse 44, "...for
Jesus Himself testified that a prophet hath no honor in his
own country." Our Lord made that statement.
I read it back in Matthew 13.54. He was coming to his own country. Nazareth. And they heard what
he said concerning who he was. And they questioned, whence hath
this man this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the
carpenter's son? And they were offended in him.
But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in
his own country. and in His own house, how amazingly true this is often found to be. Those that are most intimately
familiar with a believer are usually those that show the most
disrespect to the gospel. Those that are closest to God's
people, usually you find they're the ones that are the most disrespectful. When divine grace and truth He's
raised up in a place, in a community, and the hearing of the gospel
is gloriously allowed to be there. Usually you're going to find
the greatest opposition. You know where the gospel is
not preached? Men are not. as a general rule. They're not really angry. They're
not upset. As far as we're all concerned,
they say, we're all working for the same thing anyway. But you
let Almighty God raise up a man to preach women in a home, children. It calls out of darkness. And
I'm telling you, it just absolutely splits everything. It just divides. There's no harmony there. You
have nothing substantial to build anything
on. You just work around it. But that's all you can do. And usually you'll find it out of most families. It's just one, two, just a few
that the Lord calls out of darkness. And they're not looked upon.
as those that Almighty God has shown mercy to. They're despised
and rejected. It's that flesh wars against
the Spirit. The Spirit against the flesh
and they're contrary one to the other. And on one hand, the believer
has so much love and concern and respect for Almighty God
and for the one that resists It breaks your heart. You just,
you don't look back at them with disrespect or with, you grieve
over them. And you pray for them. And you
ask Almighty God to have mercy. You know, you can have a hometown
athlete artist, some other so-called talented person, well spoken
of, bragged on, applauded, respected. Years ago, I read, you all know
a whole lot more about it than I do, but there was a young lady
in this community that Had some talent. Athlete. Gymnast. Gold medal. Gold medal. Went to the Olympics. Man, I'll tell you this. I think
everybody in the world knew who she was. I mean, just respect. Named streets after her. Television. And God raised up a preacher out of this community too. Two
people out of one town. And the one was just so spoken
of, highly respected by this world, and the other one this
world hated. Now this is what our Lord said. A prophet has no honor in his
own country. Disrespect, but I'll tell you
this, Almighty God respects His own and respects them for Christ's
sake and respects them for the honor of His glorious mercy and
grace and compassion. God Almighty, He's pleased to send one to preach
because he has a people that he's everlastingly loved. And
he's going to call them to himself and encourage them and comfort
them and teach them. And they're going to hear the
Word of God. And they'll rejoice in Christ.
And Christ is all to them. And everything else is set in
faith. They do not want to disrespect
Him. Whatever else comes up, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. He's my God, my Lord. Oh, that's
a man when I see. Oh, what God Almighty has done
for His people. How they love the preaching of
Him. And when he was coming to Galilee,
the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did
at Jerusalem at the feast. For they also went unto the feast." There was a place that he went
to, and it was Galilee. And it says, the Galileans received
him. I looked that word up. You know,
a lot of people talk about receiving Christ. Have you received Christ?
Have you received the Lord? And I wanted to look that up
again. Laid hold. Laid hold. Much is said in that passage
of Scripture concerning the carnal nature of man. Our Lord had just been a few
days before there in Sychar. And he didn't perform one miracle.
Not one. A woman heard him tell her that
he was the Messiah. And by the importation of life, the Spirit of God wrought in
that woman a heart that knew something of who she was and
something of who He was. She had a need and He was her only need. My God, Paul said, shall supply
all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. What do I need? What do I need? That thought came back to me
vividly. It has come back in the last
year, year and a half here often. But it came back to me afresh
here the last couple of weeks ago when I went to Crossville
with Carl and Iblew and Ruthie and Michelle. And I realized
when God is pleased to remove somebody out of this world, when
God's pleased to take somebody out of this world, it comes right
down to this. What was that person's total
need? And what did they need? Oh, I'm
telling you, I started thinking about that. And I was listening
to Brother Donnie preach that funeral. And it was brought back
to my heart. What does a man think of Christ?
Is He all my need? Is He everything to me? Do I
need Him? Have I laid hold of Him truly? Now there are some of them that
the Scripture refers to have received Him. They received Him. But is there a way in which a
man can receive Him and not truly know Him? Time tells that. Time reveals
that. Many of them, the Scripture says
in John 6, followed Him. Until they really heard what
he said, no man can come unto me except it be given unto him
of my Father. And they said, wait a minute.
That's a hard saying. And from that time, they followed
him no more. What did these people receive
him far. The Scripture says that they
received Him, having seen all the things that He did at Jerusalem
at the feast. For they also went unto the feast. He wasn't received as a prophet. He was a miracle worker. That is human nature right there. Materialistic, fleshly, caring
for the outward, nothing for the soul. Turn over to John 6. The Lord brought this out. John 6, 25 to 27. When they had found Him on the
other side of the sea, they said unto Him, When camest thou hither? Jesus answered them and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, You seek me not because you saw
the miracles, but because you did eat the loaves and were filled. Labor not for the meat that perisheth,
but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which
the Son of Man shall give unto you. For Him hath God the Father
sealed." didn't see the glory of that
which manifested His honor and His being. They were only concerned with
the temporal. They saw the miracles. They received
Him because they saw the miracles. A man or a woman that truly lays
hold of Christ by saving faith Number one, sees in themselves
no hope, no ability, no power, nothing in ourselves that's able. Oh, the miracle of God's grace
when God Almighty gives a man or woman A true heart that's
desperate. Desperate. I read something yesterday. I
ought to go get it and just bring it over here. I'll just tell
you what it is. Brother Scott wrote something. And he said he was
quoting a man, John Rusk, years ago. And Brother Scott was saying,
he said, this is it right here. He said, May God Almighty send
a man that has a heart with a message from God, from God's heart to
this man's heart, and set forth that man's heart to the heart
of the people. And he said, show me and give
me and let me hear a preacher. that is so grieved with himself
and struggles so much with himself and battles so much with himself
every day that he can do nothing but desperately cry out to God
Almighty to have mercy on himself and on those that hear his voice. Oh, would the Lord teach me something
about that? The most encouraging thing that
I could ever see is somebody that just struggles, struggles,
struggles. Somebody said, I want to be on
the mountaintop. I want to be on the mountaintop
with God. I want to be, I'll tell you this, one day, There won't be any more
tears one day. There won't be any more problems
one day. There won't be any more troubles. But I'm telling you,
this life is full of tribulation, trials. They received Him because
they saw the miracles. A man that lays hold of Christ
sees in himself no hope, and he believes, secondly, the report
that God has given of His blessed Son. He believes the Gospel. He loves the Gospel of God's
grace. He loves the message of Christ.
He's supportive of it. He prays for it, supports it,
prays for it, tends it. Paul says, for me to live is
Christ. Christ is my life. Anybody will go see a so-called healer. I'd put an
announcement in the paper that Katie Baptist Church is going
to be having a healing service. We're going to be having a healing
service this Sunday. Come out. We're going to be healing
people. You couldn't put them in here.
Everybody and their brother. would show up, I want to see
somebody healed. I'm telling you, nobody has ever
been converted merely because they witnessed a miracle. How
many do you think saw the Lord heal the sick, raise the dead,
give sight to the blind? They saw Him as a miracle worker. As a miracle worker, they gave
him temporal honor. But as God Almighty, he was rejected
and despised and hated. Scripture says, John 1, 10 to
11, he was in the world and the world was made by him and the
world knew him not. He came unto his own. His own
received him not. as many as received Him for who
He was, who He is. To them gave He power, the right
to become the sons of God. Even to them that believed on
His name. These received Him because they
saw some miracles, but there were some that received Him and
they believed on His name. What does that mean? What does
it mean to believe on His name? It's to believe the report that
God has given concerning His Son. When we talk about believing
on the name, I'm not talking about a mere verbal, you know,
well, yeah, I believe. As I said before, the devils
believe. They believe. But there's no love for Christ.
There's no love for His gospel. There's no love for His people.
How do you know? There's no consistency to it. to them that believe on His name,
which were born, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor
the will of man, but of God." Generally speaking, our precious Savior, I know this,
is rejected, but not by all. I was thinking about this, getting
ready to stand up. And the one thing that I have
to continually remind myself, comfort the sheep. Comfort God's
people. Speak comfortably to Israel,
spiritual Israel. Tell them that they're warfare.
I know, I know, I know. I know that many will speak disrespectfully
of Him. I know that. And I know that
in that day, I know that they're going to have to stand before
God Almighty and all the books are going to be opened. And the
book! And all of the books will be opened and every man will
give account concerning all his works But for some, the book is going to be open. And all that was ever required
before God Almighty, all that was ever required for obedience
and honor and love and respect, the Lord Jesus Christ will answer
in that day. pleading His own merit, the Father
looking at Him, considering in Him only, in Him only, all that
He everlastingly chose to them for His sake. Well done. Well done. Oh, that God would give me a
heart for that. I'm telling you. There's hope in Christ. Seek, kiss, come to the Lamb. I can say those words, Carl,
and I have no ability to make them affect you. I know that.
These received Him because they saw some miracles that He did. But there were some that received
Him and sought Him because God gave him a new heart. Let me ask you this. Do you need
Him? Do you need Him? Do you need a Savior? Let me ask you this. Is His Word
precious to you? Is it precious? Is His Gospel
Precious. Let me ask you this. Do you find
no confidence whatsoever in your flesh? None. None. Your mind does not go back to
years ago when you performed some religious ceremonial act
of what men say is obedience. You don't go back to that. Let
me ask you this. Is salvation right now for you? Yesterday is gone. You cannot
go back and change anything. What if I didn't believe before?
What if you didn't? What difference does it make
right now? Do you need Christ right now? Do you, can you, in your heart,
Lord, there is nothing in me, there
is nothing in me that I could present to you that has any merit
whatsoever. Lord, you said, that You died to put away the
guilt of Your people. And Lord, You saved others that
were cut out of the same lump that I was. Lord, could You have
mercy on me? You delight to show mercy. I know this. If I don't come, I'm going to
perish. Lord, would You save me? Lord, would You show mercy to
me? Would You help this sinner? Lord,
could it be that You would make me a trophy of Your grace? Lord, would You do so for Your
honor and grace and mercy? Would You keep me? Because I
can't keep myself. I embarrass myself with all that
I do. I have nothing else. I have no one else. If He doesn't
save me, I'm going to perish. And you will too. May the Lord
have mercy on our hearts and souls for Christ's sake. Amen.