All right, if you take your Bibles
and turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Turn
down this brightness a little bit. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. And be looking at verse 3 this
morning. The apostle here says, But I
fear, lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ Jesus. Now it is truly the fear of the
apostle as well as every pastor that God has sent. It is our
fear that you who are believers in Christ should be moved from
the gospel of Jesus Christ. That you would be moved from
the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. That you would not be
subtly moved. Satan doesn't come in all at
once like he did our mother Eve. You remember, he came in and
with a simple phrase, Yea, hath the Lord said. Is that really
what he said? You know, Eve, she didn't say
it right. She actually went overboard.
And he said, Yea, hath the Lord said. Very subtle question, isn't
it? And then, ultimately, you remember,
he ultimately defied the Word of God. Well, that's not what
God said. God knows in the day you eat,
you're going to be as gods, knowing good and evil, eventually. But he started with subtlety.
Now, I want to preach this morning upon the subject that is near
to my heart as a pastor, as it was to the Apostle Paul. That
all those who preach the Word to you that you would understand
our message. It is always my desire that you
understand the message that I preach to you. That our message would
not be misunderstood or misrepresented or somehow mar the glory of the
cross by the wisdom of the Word. Paul said this, In 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, he said, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach
the gospel. Well, how, Paul, were you to
preach the gospel? He said this, not with wisdom
of words. Not with my wisdom. Not with
the world's wisdom. lest the cross of Christ should
be made and of none effect." In other words, if I preach my
wisdom or I preach the wisdom of the world, listen, this word
has none effect. It is useless to be here. If you are here to hear the wisdom
of this man or the world, you are wasting your time. There
is no effect. No spiritual effect. Believers in Christ, we have a very cruel and wicked
enemy. Satan is the father of lies.
He is the liar and the father of lies. And he will use any
means, any means, to subvert this Gospel message, the simplicity
of this Gospel message. said he is as a roaring lion
seeking whom he may devour. I know this, he'll devour the
lost. Remember the seed that's cast out? When he said he cast
the seed of adventure, some of it fell on the wayside. You know
what? Some people hear this word and it's gone. He said a bird
comes and snatches it off the top and as soon as they get out,
it's gone. That's going to happen. Some
of it's going to take root to some and it's going to spring
up just really fast. Just spring up. But when tribulation
comes and persecution, they ain't got no depth. The Word didn't
actually get down into the heart. It just surfaced here. And some
of them will be a little bit more difficult. They'll spring
up and appear like every other believer, but the world chokes
it out. There's no fruit in them. So some will hear. Some will
be devoured. Some who are under His bondage.
Remember Judas and Peter? They both heard the Word, didn't
they? They both spent three years with the Lord Jesus Christ. And
Judas betrayed the Lord and died in his sins. Remember the Scripture
says Satan entered into him. Satan entered into him. so that
he would kill and crucify the Lord. But Peter, listen, he also
denied the Lord three times. What made the difference? The
difference was this. It was the intercession of Christ. Christ said, but I have prayed
for thee that thy faith fail not. They both heard the same
message, the same word, but one was mixed with true faith and
the other wasn't. And the Apostle in our text,
he is concerned about this foe and he warns of his evil intentions. You see, he cannot accuse us
who are believers before God. He cannot. Scripture says in
Revelation that he is cast out. He is cast out from before God
to accuse us, but he says he is cast into the earth. And in
the earth, it says, Woe unto you, inhabitants of the earth.
And you remember in Revelation 12 how he sought to persecute
the woman. Well, the woman is a picture
of the church. Friends, we have a real enemy. This is not a make-believe
foe. He is a real enemy and his sole
desire is to move you from the simplicity that is in Christ
Jesus. The singleness that is in Christ
Jesus. He desires to make the Gospel
about something else but Christ. Christ plus your works. Christ plus your obedience. Christ
plus baptism. When you do that, you move from
the simplicity that is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's
the singleness of the Gospel. And he does this by questioning
questions. Remember Paul said, avoid foolish
questions, genealogies and so forth. Avoid those things. Why? They gender strife and they don't
really do anything for the souls of men. They just don't. How
many books are written about foolish things that do no good
to the souls of men? Why? Because they move from the
simplicity of the Gospel. And they do this by confusion.
When you move from Christ alone, you begin to enter in as confusion. Confusion. Speculation. By looking at natural wisdom
of the flesh instead of the simple faith in the plain revealed Word
of God. And this chapter, this corruption,
this beguiling, it's not done outside of the
church. Paul is not concerned about those outside the church.
He is concerned about true believers in Christ in the church. In the
church. And it's not done without the
use of Scripture. Satan never desires to use something
outside of the Scriptures. He uses the Scriptures in the
church and tempts men to twist it and bend it so that it's made
acceptable. Anybody that desires to smooth
off the rough edges of the gospel, listen, you have moved from the
simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. I'm not here to explain
God to you. I'm not here to justify God.
God doesn't need anybody to justify Him. What God says is true. Let God be true and every man
a liar. I just don't care. I don't care
how you feel. I don't care what you think.
Thus saith the Lord is all that matters. And if you move from
that, you move from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. This
is the desire of the enemy to move from this. Then is the cross,
the offense of the cross cease. Listen, the gospel we preach
is offensive. You don't have to try to be offensive. Now that's wrong. If you're out
there trying to be offensive, your heart is not right. I'm
not trying to be offensive. I'm not trying to offend you.
I'm just letting you know that this is the truth. It will offend
the natural man because the gospel always puts man down and exalts
God. Always. And if it's not doing
that, then you've moved from the simplicity of it. You've
been beguiled. You've been tricked. Paul said, listen, if I preach
circumcision, then why am I persecuted? Paul was persecuted because he
would not preach work salvation. And he said, if I preach work
salvation, then the offense of the cross is ceased. It's ceased. Therefore, in godly fear, we
are to preach the gospel and not to strive to be eloquent
or to use high or lofty language, but we on purpose. Any man of
God, and I believe we are most blessed in this time to have
the most simplistic preachers of the Gospel that we ever had. There are some men who are very
academically learned and we benefit from their books and their messages,
but I'm just a simple man. I don't strive to be academic. I don't strive in those things. I want you to understand every
word that I say. Why? Because the gospel does
that. The gospel is simple. It's always my purpose to preach
the gospel to you. I desire to preach to you as
a sinner saved by grace, I want to preach to sinners. That's
my desire because the gospel, you listen to it, the gospel
is very simple. It's for sinners. It's for sinners. It's not for
righteous people. You're righteous, you're in the
wrong place. This gospel is for sinners who need to be made righteous
by someone else. So I desire not to be misunderstood.
I desire only to preach the simplistic gospel of Christ. When Jesus preached, He used
plain language, and so should we. He used plain language. And many who heard Him, they
did not misunderstand what He said. They did not misunderstand. They hated Him, but they didn't
misunderstand Him. Remember the first time He preached
the Gospel? He preached out of Isaiah and
He said, today this has been fulfilled in your ears. And they
were all, oh wow, this is so great. And then he began to tell
them the salvation, look, I'm not just come to save the Jews,
I came to save the Gentiles as well. And by the end of that
message, they wanted to throw him off a hill. Why? Because they understood what
he said. They understood what he said. Jesus said this, before Abraham
was, I am. And they understood what he meant.
I am God. And they picked up stones and
they wanted to kill him. Therefore, we have preached the gospel.
We do not desire to give any uncertain sound in our message. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14,
he said, If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall
prepare himself for battle? If I'm blowing reveille and people
just start going back to the bunks, That's an uncertain sound. That doesn't mean war. That's
not the sound for war. You see, we have to make a very
distinct and clear sound when we preach. We must not confuse people or
distort the clear teaching of the gospel of Christ. It's always my desire to be plain
with you, to be clear concerning the gospel. Here's the message. Listen to this. Salvation is
of the Lord. That's a very clear sound. It is not salvations of the Lord
and you. Salvations of the Lord, period. Salvation is by the grace of
God through faith in one object, one person, one work, Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. And I can tell you, I compel
you all to come to Christ alone. Every time I preach, I desire
that you, you should come to Christ. Don't worry about anybody
else. You should come to Christ. Come
to Christ alone. Abandon all your hopes. Abandon
all your dreams of self-salvation. They're empty and foolish. They're
vain. You can't save yourself. But I'll tell you this, the truth
remains, no matter how clear I am, no matter how much I fear
that you'd be moved by the simplicity that's in Christ, I have no power
over your heart. I have no power to make you see
the Gospel of Christ. I have no power or ability to
give you faith in Christ, none whatsoever. Though my gospel be plain, yet
I know this, to you that are outside of Christ, it is still
a mystery." It's a mystery. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2,
we speak wisdom to them that are perfect. To you that are
believers in Christ, you understand the gospel. It's no mystery to
you. But to you who are outside, it
is still a mystery. We preach to them that are perfect,
yet not the wisdom of the world, nor the princes of this world
that come to nothing. We speak the wisdom of God and
the mystery, even the hidden wisdom of God, which God ordained
before the world unto our glory. We preach the gospel of Christ.
How is it then that you know, you believe, how is it that you
know the gospel and others do not? Paul says, but God hath revealed
them unto us by His Spirit. So though I desire to speak plainly
to you, and I should, I want you to hear the Gospel and I
want you to hear how plain and simple it is. I don't want you
to be moved from that. I never want to make this complicated. But I know this, I have no power
to make you hear it, no power to make you to believe it, And
you that do believe it, you recognize that, that it is of God you believe. And so as I preach, this is my
purpose, I'm going to give you five things concerning this gospel
that are very plain, very simple. First of all, I desire that you
be not moved from the simplicity of man's ruin. The simplicity
of man's ruin. Let me be plain. All men are born into this world
absolutely, completely and utterly ruined and depraved. Anybody
misunderstand me? All men are born into this world
absolutely, completely and utterly ruined and depraved. When our father Adam sinned in
the garden, the justice of God fell on him. At that moment, he died spiritually. He died spiritually. He was utterly
and completely then incapable and unwilling to know or be righteous. He was incapable of it. He was
a sinner. Incapable and unwilling. to come to God or know God. So what did He do? Our Father
immediately sought to cover His sin. This is what man does by
nature. We seek to cover our sins. And He used a carnal means to
cover a spiritual malady. He thought that fig leaves should
cover Him before God. You think that's foolish, but
that's exactly what religion is doing. They are taking their
works and trying to cover themselves before God. Well, I've done good
over here. One fig leaf. They sow another
good work over here. Another good fig leaf. Another
fig leaf. Until they say, I'm covered.
How foolish. How foolish to believe you can
cover yourself before God. Yet this is natural man. This
is who we are. Not just Not just them, I'm not
speaking to just the lost. I know this because that's what
I did. I did say all men, didn't I? You're looking at one. We
were born depraved. And instead of running to God,
Adam ran from God. When he heard the voice of God,
the Scripture says he ran among the trees. The leaves weren't
enough. He needed trees. When you hear God's voice, you
will know your leaves are enough. So what do you do? You run to
the trees. This is why men run to religion. They run to religion
so that they can be... In all the confusion of religion,
they believe that somehow they can find a loophole. Somehow
they can be covered in the confusion. The Gospel is not confusing.
The Gospel is very plain. And when he was found out of
God, you remember what he did? He blamed God. He said, the woman
you gave me. He tried to blame the woman and
God for his sin. That's exactly what we do by
nature. We try to blame someone else. It was my mom and dad's
fault. They didn't raise me right. No,
it's your fault. You're not going to blame God
for your sin. Your sin is the only thing you own. You got that? The only thing we own is our
sin. Everything else God gives you.
Everything else. And so in our ignorance we try
to cover ourselves in our own self-righteousness, in religious
ceremony. We all by nature are ruined.
We hear the voice of God, we seek to cover ourselves in earthly
wisdom, religion, and vain philosophy. But when exposed by the plain
truth of our sin, then and then we begin to blame God. See, the greatness of our ruin
is absolute and there is none righteous, no, not one. There are a bunch of people who
believe in the doctrine of total depravity. There are millions
of people that believe in the doctrine of total depravity.
You say, well, preacher, I understand what you're saying and I believe
that's right. I believe all men are depraved.
Are you depraved? I know that all men are depraved,
but that has no bearing on you unless you know you're depraved. If you've never experienced by
the power of the Spirit of God who you really are, you will
never come to Christ. Never. You will never come to
Christ. It's one thing to know the doctrine.
It's another thing to have experienced the doctrine of this depravity.
Oh, that we may know the simplicity of this, that we are ruined.
We are sinners, incapable and unwilling to obey the law of
God. We are spiritually dead and incapable of doing any good
to merit the favor of God. No matter how sincere we are,
no matter how good our intentions, nothing we do can make us acceptable
to God. Am I being plain? Is there anything
that you're missing here? Nothing you can do. Nothing. Romans 3.10, as it is written,
as written, I don't care what you think or what you feel about
it, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God. They are all together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in His sight. Secondly, the simplicity of God's
sovereign election. The simplicity of God's sovereign
election. If man is completely ruined,
and he is, if he is born dead in sins and no hope of saving
himself, how then can there be any hope for him in this? In this matter of sovereign election
should give men hope. Should give men hope. Here's
the hope of the gospel. that before the world began,
before Satan had failed, before Adam had sinned, God, in free
unmerited favor, purposed to save some of Adam's race. Does anybody misunderstand what
I said? God, before the world began, chose some of Adam's race
to save. I'm not making this up. Go to
Ephesians chapter 1. No, I tell you what, let's go
to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. This is a mystery. This is the mystery that Paul
was talking about. I just quoted this a minute ago.
1 Corinthians chapter 2. Look what Paul said. We speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom of God.
What is this hidden wisdom of God? Here it is. which God before
the world ordained before the world unto our glory." Well, who knew about this? Nobody.
Look what He said, "...which none of the princes of the world
knew, for had they known it, they wouldn't have crucified
the Lord of glory. But as written, I have not seen, nor ear heard,
nor entered into the heart of man." The things that God prepared,
ordained, decreed, purposed, for them that love Him. Before
the world began, God ordained. Ordained glory and salvation
for them that love Him. Now this Gospel of Christ did
not begin at the Garden. It did not begin at the Garden.
It was revealed in the Garden by God, but it began in eternity. had elected and chosen, ordained
by sovereign decree, to give all spiritual blessings to some
of Adam's race. God purposed it, that all the
blessings of salvation should be found not in them, but in
Christ His Son. Now go to Ephesians chapter 1.
Now go to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1, he says,
Blessed be the God and Father, verse 3, of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings. That's every
aspect of salvation. Every blessing God has. He hath
blessed us in heavenly places where In Christ. Now how should such a union,
how should we who are in union with Christ receive all these
blessings? Listen. According. This is how it's going
to happen. This is how God ordained it to
be. According. As He had chosen us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. This is the purpose He
chose us. That we should be holy and without
blame before Him. Here's the motivation, in love,
having predestinated us. The word predestination has to
do with all that occurs in time. Everything that occurs in time,
God predestinated. He predestinated all things in
time for us unto the adoption of sons. These who are in union with Christ.
These were chosen by God. God purposed that all things
should happen so that they should be His sons. And not by their own merits.
Look, by whom? Jesus Christ. Here's the means. By Jesus Christ. To Himself. According to the good pleasure
of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein
He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. So then sovereign election
put all of the elect in Christ. In other words, God put us in
union with Him. God hitched our wagon to Christ. So everything
that He obtains, everything He merits, everything He does, He
does in the place and stead of His elect. God purposed that we should be
holy. That we should be without blame
before Him. That we should be accepted. How
should we be accepted? Well, if we know that all men
are ruined and incapable of holiness, it's got to be some other way
besides works. It's by Jesus Christ are we accepted. In Jesus
Christ are we accepted. And by Him and in Him we are
the holy children of God. I want you to know all who deny
the election of God are beguiled. They're deceived. They somehow believe salvation
in some measure belongs to them. Well, I believe in election,
but I believe God looked down in the portals of time and saw
what I would do. You see what you did? You made
salvation contingent upon what you do rather than God. You're saying God based salvation
on what you would do? You see who gets the glory then?
You do! That's what man wants. That's
the beguiling of the enemy. The apostle gives us the plain,
then, illustration of this. A plain illustration of the election
of God. Go to Romans chapter 9. Here's
a plain illustration of this. A very real, concrete event that
took place so that God would show His sovereign election. Look at verse 11 of Romans 9.
It says, "...for the children..." This is Jacob and Esau, twins
in the same womb. "...for the children not yet
being born, neither having done any good or evil." That. See, God put two children
in that womb to show this. That. The purpose of God according
to election might stand not of works, but of him that calleth. He said to her, the elder shall
serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. Oh, Satan would come in and subtly
beguile you and say, well, have God really hated Esau? Yea, hath
God said. Surely God just loved him a little
less. No, God hated him. God hated him. Now did God bless
him with many physical things? You bet He did. The Scripture says He hated Esau.
What shall we say then? This is what you're going to
ask me. Is there unrighteousness with God? Is God unrighteous to choose
one and hate the other before they did Him? That's what man's wisdom says.
Man's wisdom says, God's got to be unrighteous to do something
like that. Paul says, God forbid you say anything like that, you
unrighteous sinner. How dare you put God under your
microscope? He already told Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, what's the conclusion?
Here it is. It is not of him that willeth. Well, there it does away with
all Arminian theology. Right out the window. It is not of
him that willeth. It is not of him that runneth.
Your works, your religions, not your sermon. That does away with
all other works, religions, doesn't it? Not of him that runneth. Where's salvation come from?
But of God. that showeth mercy." Can you merit mercy? Can you? If you merit it, it's
not mercy. It's not mercy. So the simplicity of this is
that man is ruined. The second simplicity is God
chose a people before the foundation of the world that He would save. He chose how He was going to
save them. And what was going to be the
result of this salvation? That they were going to be holy
and without blame before Him. Thirdly, the simplicity. Be not
moved from the simplicity, the effectual redemption of Christ. Now what do I mean by effectual?
That's a big word. Maybe I shouldn't use big words
like that. Effectual. I'm just going to
tell you what it means. It gets the job done. That's
what effectual means. We are saying simply this, that
the work and salvation of Jesus Christ got the job done. God's purpose to save is elect
by Jesus Christ, and we are saying this, that Christ was absolutely
100% successful. Successful. When Christ came into the world,
the Scripture says He came in the flesh. God was manifest in
the flesh. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God and John said the Word was made flesh,
made flesh and dwelt among us. Now what did He come here to
do? What did the Son of God come to do? Why did He come in the
flesh? Isaiah chapter 9. Isaiah chapter
9. This verse simply explains what
He came to do. Isaiah chapter 9, it says, Unto
us, for unto us a child is born. This speaks of the humanity of
Christ. Wasn't the child born when He came into this world?
Unto us a child was born. Unto us a son was given. Oh,
you see that His sonship preceded His childhood, His birth. He
was a son before he was a child. The Son was given, the Son of
God. Now listen why He came. And the government shall be upon
His shoulders. What does that mean, the government?
His kingdom. His elect. His church. When you put something on your
shoulders, you bear the weight of it. He's saying this, I will
bear the weight of their salvation. I will be fully, 100% responsible
to save them. And what are they going to call
Him? He shall be called by them. Listen, wonderful. You that are
saved by Him, isn't He wonderful? He's a counselor. Who else are
you going to go to for wisdom but Him? Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace, what He's called. And listen, this
is the promise. The increase of His government
and peace, there shall be no end upon the throne of David
and upon His kingdom. Listen to what He's going to
do. He's going to order it and establish it with judgment and
justice. Salvation then of the elect is
rooted simply rests solely on the shoulders of Christ Jesus.
And how does He do it? He does it with justice and judgment. In other words, what He's going
to do is He's going under the justice and judgment of God.
He is going to obtain righteousness. The law of God. He's going to
obey the law of God fully and completely to obtain righteousness. Not for Himself, but for His
people. And then by His death He is going
to bear the sins of His people in His own body on Calvary's
tree and die under the judgment and justice of God for their
sins. And what's going to be the result?
Will His kingdom only going to grow and increase? It's going
to be ordered. It's going to be established.
And there shall be no end. Now let me ask you this. Does
that sound like a successful Savior or a failure? Is there any doubt in the Word
here? When God speaks, does He speak
like us? When you leave here, you're determined
to do something. You want to do something. How
sure are you you're going to get to do it? Maybe you're 99.99%, but there's always that doubt
that you're going to get to do it. When God says something,
He'll do it, because He's not you. He's God. Look what this says. The zeal
of the Lord of hosts will perform So when Christ came to bear His
church upon His shoulders, was He successful? The Scripture
says in another place, in Isaiah 42 and verse 4, it says, He shall
not fail, nor be discouraged. When Christ died, did He fail? Is He somehow discouraged with
His work? No. The angel declared this from
the beginning of His birth The Scripture says, Thou shalt call
His name Jehovah Saves, for He shall save His people from their
sins. Don't be moved from this. Don't
be beguiled by the subtlety of the serpent to cast doubt upon
His victory. Modern religion is all about
casting doubt on His victory. They say, well, He died for everyone. He died for all of the sins of
all men of all time. And He loves everybody and He
wants everybody to be saved. Is everybody going to be saved?
Then He is a failure. You got it? Any Christ that wants
to save you and can't is a failure. That is not what the book says.
He shall not fail. But Satan would cast doubt on
his success. I thought of an illustration.
The Sistine Chapel. Beautiful, isn't it? You've seen
pictures of that beautiful work Michelangelo did on the 16th
chapel. What if I just said, you know
what? I just don't think it's good enough. I think I need to
add my work to his. You suppose I'd get kicked out
of that place? What if I put a stick figure
up there and said, oh, this one's going to do it. I'm just going
to add my... No! You can't add anything to it.
It's a beautiful work. How much more so is it foolish
to try to add anything to the work of Christ? Supposing you could finish what
He started, and yet that's exactly what religion
tells you. He did all He can do, and the rest is up to you. You who are believers in Christ,
do not be moved from the simplicity of this. Jesus Christ came to
save His people, and He saved them. And He saved us. I think it's 1 Timothy chapter
1 verse 9. He says, He who saved us and
called us. Which is first? Was your calling
or your saving first? Your saving was first. And then
what? Your calling. Our Lord says this in Isaiah
53. He says this. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. Is there any uncertainty in that?
Is there any uncertainty in his victory? No, God says, I'll be
satisfied. And you know what Jesus said
when He was done? When He was done, what did He say? It is
finished. Salvation has been accomplished.
Do not be moved from the simplicity of Christ's victory. And fourthly,
listen, the simplicity of the irresistible call of the Holy
Spirit. Our gospel is to call sinners. Our gospel, our purpose as preachers
is to call sinners. We call sinners to faith in Christ
simply because we do not know who the elect are. I call everybody.
Listen to me, all of you. All of you. Everyone listen.
Come to Christ. You're without excuse. I've already
explained it. You're ruined and He's victorious. If you ever believe you're ruined,
you'll naturally go to the one who's victorious, who's accomplished
salvation. And we call all sinners to come
to Christ. We compel men. We desire you
to believe on Christ. And here's the simple message.
Repent and believe the Gospel. Believe Christ. Trust Christ. Abandon yourself. Abandon your
religion. Abandon your works. And come
to Christ. Don't wait. If you tarry till
you're better, you will never come at all. Come now, we say.
We declare this plainly. Come to Christ. If you are thirsty
for righteousness, come to Christ. Hold everyone that's thirsty.
Come ye to the waters. Come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. You got nothing? Good. Come. Those only one welcome who got
nothing. You got nothing? Nothing? Nothing? Come on. That's the qualification. Thirsty. You thirsty? Do you need Christ? Come. Come. Freely. There's plenty. There's plenty. Come ye to the
waters. And I know this, if you come,
you'll say, I've got thousands of years of
people who come with nothing, and every one of them He saved. Every one of them saved. He'll
save you. Seek the Lord while He may be
found. Call on Him while He is near. We know this, that everyone who
comes, by the blood of Christ, without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sin. I come with no sacrifice, I trust
He is. But all who come to Christ with
their works, they will be rejected. You come with anything, you're
going to be rejected. You add anything to the work
of Christ, you've polluted it. But all who come simply trusting
in Him alone, Behold the grace of God, even
faith in Christ, simple faith, singular faith. Don't be moved
from this. Who's your Savior? Who's your
Savior? There's only one, isn't there?
It's simple. It's singular. We come to Christ
alone by faith in Him alone. Now how in the world did you
come? You come? Have you come? Now how did you
come? How in the world? How? It's impossible
for men to come. I've already told you that you're
ruined. The Scripture declares you're dead in trespasses and
sins. How could you come? You can't. You can't in your own strength
come. No man can come to me. But how
did I come? I did come, didn't I? Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. You see, it is the
power of God that gives faith in Christ. And when the Spirit
of God comes, He comes in grace and gives you faith. Faith is a gift. It's not something
inherently natural in man that he can do. Faith is a gift of
God. I like this in Zechariah 4 and
verse 6. It says, "...then answered he and spake unto him, saying,
This is the word of the Lord undeservable, saying, Not by
might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." You
see, anyone who comes to faith in Christ, it is the work of
the Spirit of God. John says, "...as many as received
Him." I've used this simple illustration. To receive the water is simply
to drink it. Where'd it go? It's in me. It's in me. So when we receive
Christ, it's as simple as that. We need Him. I needed the water. I drank it. It's mine. That's what the Word means. Receive
Him. As many as received Him, to them
gave you the right to become the sons of God, which were born. Now, how did you receive Him?
It had to be at birth. It had to be at birth. Which
were born, not of blood. Not because your parents were
Christians. Nobody's a Christian because their parents are Christians.
Get away with all that Presbyterian nonsense. Not by blood, nor by the will
of the flesh. You didn't become a Christian
because of your will. Not by the will of the flesh. You weren't
born by the will of the flesh. And you weren't born by the will
of man, by some will of some other man, but of God. You see, this power to believe
comes by the Spirit of God. And listen, when the Spirit of
God calls a man, who is going to resist? Now there is a general call that
goes out, and many reject that. Who are you rejecting? You're
rejecting my call. I already told you I don't have
any power to save you. I can't make you believe this. You can reject my call anytime
you want to. But when the Spirit calls a man,
there is no rejection of this. I'll show you this in John chapter
6. I know I've got to hurry. John
chapter 6. I've pushed way too long. John 6. Look at verse 37. Jesus said
this, All the Father giveth Me, those are the elect, remember?
All the Father giveth Me. What are they going to do? They
shall come to Me. They shall come to Me. Does that
sound questionable? Again, we won't move from the
simplicity of this. Is there any question that they
will not come? He said they will. They shall
come to Me. And when they come, what am I
going to do? I'm not going to cast them out. Why? The Father chose
them. I redeemed them. I'm not going
to cast them out. The Spirit called them. They
shall come and I won't cast them out. For I came down from heaven
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me,
which was to save them. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that of all He had given me, I should lose how many? How many will reject Him? How
many will He lose? Nothing. Nothing. Do not be moved
from this. Simplicity of this. He will lose
none. Everyone He called, they will
come. And if you do not come, it's
because you haven't been called. Once you are called, and the
last thing is this, don't be moved from the simplicity of
this, that everyone who is chosen Everyone who is redeemed and
everyone who is called to faith in Christ shall persevere to
the end. Be plain about this. How many
will He lose? None. Nothing. Jesus said, My
sheep hear My voice and I know them, and I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. Now listen, you just take those
plain words and the Gospel is self-explanatory, isn't it? I
give unto them Eternal life! Now how long is eternal life?
At what point does eternal life begin and at what point does
it end? It's eternal life. And what's
the result of this? They shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand." Now you've got to do some gymnastics to believe
that you can be saved and then lost. Well, you know what? You can pluck yourself out of
His hand, moron. What an idiot would think such
a thing. Did it say any man? Are you a
man? You fall in that category, don't
you? Don't be moved from the simplicity
of that. And we laugh, but those people
are deceived by the father of lies. And Paul said, I fear lest you,
believers, should be moved. Can you be moved from this? You
better believe you can. We can be doomed. How many times
have we been duped? This is an exhortation. I fear
lest any of you should be moved from the simplicity. In other
words, don't be moved. Don't be beguiled from the simplicity.
Don't try to be too smart. The Word of God is simple. You
listen, you're ruined. You can't save yourself. Here's
hope. God did choose a people He will
save. Jesus Christ came into the world
and He actually saved those people. Who they are? I don't know. I
preach to everyone because I don't know who they are. But I do know
this, that every one of them shall be called. They will hear
His voice and they'll believe. They believe by the power of
God, and I know this, everyone that believes will be kept by
the same power of God, and none of them will be lost. Now, I pray that no one misunderstood
what I said, because it's not what I said,
it's what God said. Do you believe that? Don't be moved by the subtlety
of our enemy. Don't think you're too big that
you can't be. The moment you think, well, preacher, I'm just,
you know, I know this and I'm doctrinally sound. I've seen
a lot of doctrinally sound men fall on their face because they
got too smart for themselves. Stick with the simplicity. that
is in Christ Jesus. I pray God will bless you with
that. Let's stand, be dismissed, and pray.