Romans chapter 10. And let's
read the first three verses. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear
them record that they have a zeal of God. but not according to
knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness. And going about to establish
their own righteousness. Have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. I had a conversation with a brother
earlier in the week. And he was telling me about a
conversation that he had with a man. And this other man in
error. This other man in error made
the statement. Well, there's only one way. To be saved. There's only one
way. Now I don't say that he made
the statement in error because he was wrong on the fact that
there's only one way. There is only one way. But the man was wrong about what
that one way is. And I'm not going to go into
the details of their conversation. But he was wrong about what that
one way is. I started thinking about that
conversation after we talked. I was thinking about different
people that I know. Who it breaks my heart to say
that they are in the error they have fallen into the same error. As this man. on what is the one way of salvation. And my heart, I have to say with
the Apostle Paul, that my heart, the desire of my heart and my
prayer to God for them is that they might be saved. And I mean that. I say this in
sincerity. I have a fervent concern for
the souls in this town. And I pray that God would make
it more fervent. A greater concern. Lord, give
us a greater concern for men's souls. I've met some of the people in
this town, and not only in this town, but here I am, here's where
the Lord has sent me. And I like them. I like them. I just do, I just
can't help it, I like them. I've met some people and I like
them. And I pray that God will do something
for both me, I'm no, in this flesh, I'm no better off than
anybody else. But I pray God will do something
for me and them. I pray that God will save us
and bring us all to a knowledge. Of his truth. A knowledge of
his truth. My prayer to God, honestly, for
Kingsport is that they might be saved. My prayer for all the
cities surrounding Kingsport is that they might be saved.
I sincerely pray that God might save us. Some of them have a
true zeal. That man said there's one way.
He was willing to take a stance and say there's one way. Some of them have a true zeal,
but the problem is that zeal is not according to knowledge. There is truly only one way. This is my prayer for the message,
for the morning. Come the end of this, I pray
we might know what the one way is. The one and only way. Go with me now to John 14, where
our brother just read. John 14 verse 6. Jesus saith unto him. I am the way. I am the truth. And I am the
life. No man cometh unto the father
but by me." Men and women travel around to different churches.
It's a very common occurrence. They try out churches. They take
their family around to different churches. They try out different
denominations. Not only churches in this one
denomination, but they'll try out different denominations.
They'll study different doctrines, trying to find the way. They're trying to make sure.
Let me just cover my bases and make sure. They're trying to
know the truth. Some people do want to know what
the truth is. They're trying to have the life. That's the reason for all this.
We're trying to have the life. With each church, in each denomination,
in each doctrine, every single one of them will say. It all
comes down to fill in the blank. Every one of them. You can bring
it all the way down to one thing. Every one of them. If we fill
that blank in with anything other than Christ, We will never find the way. If
we fill that blank in with anything other than Christ alone. Not Christ plus something. Christ alone. We'll never know
the truth. And we'll never have the life.
I know some people who have searched. I've watched them search for
decades. They have spent so much money on books. Reading books
and passing around books. Listen into this famous man and
listen into that famous man. If we do not ultimately get to
Christ, we'll keep searching and we'll keep searching and
we'll keep searching and we'll never find it. We'll never find
it. All error from the way. That's the way. All error from
the way is Men and women holding to the
means of the way or the evidences of the way as
though they were the way. That's error. That's what error
is. Holding to the means of the way
or the evidences of the way as though they are actually the
way when they're not the way. They're just the means and the
evidences. One denomination will lay hold
of this way and they'll cry to everybody, this is the way. Another one will lay hold of
this means or evidence and tell everybody this right here is
the way. Now, the means and the evidence
remain the same. But they're not the way. The
means remains the means and the evidence remains the evidence,
but it's not the way. It's not the way we're going to miss the
way when we do that, when we hold to something that's not
the way. We're going to miss it. Let me show us some examples
of this. Go over to Ephesians chapter
two. Ephesians 2. Notice how verse
8 does not say, For by faith are you saved through
grace. It does not say that. Do we here
in this assembly preach, He that believeth on the Son hath life,
And he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the
wrath of God abideth on him." Do we preach that here? Absolutely,
we do. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Without faith, it's impossible
to please Him. That's what our Lord has written
in His Word. But our faith does not save us. Our faith does not save us. It
only believes that Christ saved us. That's all faith does. Is
it just believes Christ saved us. By grace are you saved. By God giving a free gift. By grace are you saved. Through faith. Through hearing
the truth preached. Believing it. Faith is God quickening
a sinner. That's what faith is. That quickening,
notifying, converting a sinner to believe that God's grace in
sending His own Son to give His life as a payment
for me. Faith believes God gave His Son
to pay for me. And He made the payment. He saved
me. That's what faith believes. Faith says it all comes down
to Christ. That's what faith says. It all
comes down to Christ. And even that faith is not of
ourselves, that's the gift of God. Christ did that too. Look
with me at 1 Peter chapter 3. First Peter 3 and verse 20, it
mentions that Noah and those that were with him in the ark
were saved by water. And then verse 21 says, the light
figure where unto even baptism doth also now save us, not the
putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of
a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, who has gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God,
angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
Here in this assembly, do we preach with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation? Do we preach that? Absolutely. Do we preach, see, here is water,
what doth hinder me to be baptized? Absolutely. We most certainly
do. Do we preach, whosoever therefore
shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before
my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before
men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Do we preach that here? Absolutely we do. Absolutely. But our confession does not save
us. When you go to a place of false
teaching, false worship, they want one thing. Your confession. That's all they want. That's
all we want is your confession. We're going to do what we have
to do to get you to make a confession. Our confession. Do we confess
Christ? Absolutely. Absolutely. But our confession does not save
us. The middle of verse 21 says that
does not put away the filth of the flesh. It only cries, Christ
did that. It does not all come down to
our confession. That's what a true confession
cries, it all comes down to Christ. That's true faith, that's a true
confession, it all comes down to Christ. Now look with me at
2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13 says,
But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth chosen you. Do we here in this assembly preach
that God chose a people before the foundation of the world? Do we preach the purpose of God
according to election? God has an elect. God has an
elect people. Everything is for the elect's
sake. Absolutely we do. Absolutely. That's what God has written in
his word. But election did not save us. This one's important. Election did not save us. We were elected unto salvation. We were elected to Christ. If our way of salvation cries,
it all comes down to election. We're going to miss it. We're
going to miss it. Was every soul that will be saved
included in God's election? Yes. Will any of God's elect be lost? No. But men have denied God's chosen
means of preaching the gospel of Christ. And they've denied
God declaring what the evidence is of believing on Christ. And denied the calling of God's
Spirit to Christ. because their doctrine stops
at election. That's where it stops. It just
stops at election. We don't stop until we get to
Christ. We don't stop until we get to
Christ. Men and women do not evidence being one of the elect
by clinging to election. Men and women evidence being
one of the elect by clinging to Christ. Clinging to Christ. That's the difference in doctrine
and Christ. Go with me, if you would, to
2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy 1 verse 9 says, Who hath saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus,
before the world began. Not according to our works. Not according to our works. Now, do we preach what 2 Timothy
3 verse 17 says? Turn your page and look at that.
2 Timothy 3 verse 17. That the man of God may be perfect,
throughly furnished unto all good works, Do we preach that? Absolutely we do. Absolutely
we do. But our good works do not save
us. They do not save us. They're
not the way. They're not the way. Our good
works are only the thankful response to Christ's good work. That's all it is. That good work
for us, that good work in us. Everything He gave, every work
He accomplished, His entire life on this earth, and then finally
on the cross. It's just the response. The moment
we say it all comes down to our good works, we're going to miss
it. If we hold to anything, if we hold to anything, we're going
to miss it. It all comes down to a person. It all comes down to a person. The way is not a path. It's a person. The truth is not
a subject matter. It's a person. The life is not
an existence. It's a person. Everything is
totally dependent on. It is completely on the condition
of Christ. Completely on the condition of
Christ. This Word is not the Gospel without Christ. I can't tell you how many people
now that And through conversation, what do you do for a living?
Okay, well, what do you do for a living? I can't tell you how many people.
Well, what is sovereign grace? And what does that mean? And
what do you preach? And all those kinds of... Oh,
yes, my preacher preaches right out of the Bible too. It's all
right out of the Bible too. He opens up that Word and he
goes right through that Word. Here's the problem and here's
the danger. If he's not preaching Christ
in the Word, he's not preaching the Gospel. He can quote verse after verse
after verse. He can tell you all the details
of those old stories. He can tell you how wonderful
it was that God saved Noah and his wife and his three sons and
his three daughter-in-laws in that ark. And that was so kind.
And He saved all those animals. So kind. But if He does not preach
Christ the ark, then it's not the Gospel. It's
not the gospel. This Word is not the gospel without
Christ. Not without Christ. If we don't
see Christ, and if we don't hear Christ, and if we don't glory
in Christ, if we don't glory in everything that He purposed
in His heart to do for sinners, if we are not amazed by the love
He had towards sinners, the depths He came down, The suffering He
was willing to endure. The satisfaction He made. Then we're going to miss it.
We're just going to miss it. I don't want people to miss it.
I like them. I like them. I don't want to
miss it. And I don't want men and women
to miss it. Heaven is not heaven without
Christ. Everybody wants to go to heaven.
Heaven is not heaven without Christ. If He's not there, it's
not heaven. Wherever He is, that's heaven. I love that story of
the two on the road to Emmaus. Don't you love that story? Our
Lord had just died three days earlier. He arose, and everybody got word
that there was nobody in that tomb. And these two men are talking
about all these things and wondering. They're so sad. They're so depressed. Going down the road on the way
to Emmaus. Their Lord died. The one they followed were died.
They said we thought he was going to redeem us. We thought he was
going to save our souls and pay our sin debt, but he died. And
all of a sudden our Lord joined himself to them. And their eyes were holding.
They did not know it was Him. And He joined Himself to them.
And He said, what are y'all talking about? And He communed with them. And He started getting involved
in the conversation with them. And He opened up the Scriptures,
starting at Moses, and the Psalms, and the Prophets. He started
declaring Christ in all the Scriptures. And their hearts started burning
within them. They were in heaven. For just
a moment, they were in heaven. Wherever He is, that's heaven. That's heaven. Go with me back
to John 14. Verse 6, Jesus saith unto him,
I am the way. He is the way from God to man. He was the only way God could
have any dealings with man. God had to deal with a perfect
man. The only way God could have anything
to do with man is if he dealt with a sinless, spotless, perfect,
worthy man. He was the only way. He is the
way from man to God. Man had to have a perfect righteousness. Perfection. Man had to be perfect. Man had to have a blood offering
for his sin. Christ was the only one who could
provide that. He did not come to show us the way. He didn't
come to show us how to be righteous. and how to have a blood sacrifice.
He did not come to lead us through the way. He said, I am the way.
He's my righteousness. He's my sacrifice. He said in
verse 6, I am the truth. Everything He says is truth. When it comes to what we believe,
our doctrine, everything we believe about the Word of God, if He
said it, It goes into our doctrine. If it came out of His mouth,
that is now part of our doctrine. Everybody has a doctrine they
believe. Everybody has a system they follow. Everybody has something
made up in their mind. He is truth. People become convinced
it has to be this way, it has to be this way, but the scripture
says otherwise. One of them has to be thrown out. It's not going
to be His Word, it's going to be our doctrine. If it goes against what He says,
then we throw out our doctrine and we cling to His Word. Whether
we understand everything He says or not, He is truth. He is the truth. He said in verse
6, I am the life. And a true child of God will
say, He is my life. He is my life. He is more to
me than the life that I have right now. He is more to me than
living another day on this earth. He is more to me than anything
that I need to sustain myself, food, water. He is more to me
than the air I'm breathing. Take away my air, but don't take
away Him. That's what a believer will say.
That's what a child of God will say and mean it. Take away my
air, but don't take away Him. That's more than a doctrine.
That's love. That's love. We love Him because
He first loved us. And this is His promise to us.
He said at the end of verse 6, No man cometh to the Father but
by me. This is his promise. Go back a few pages to John 6. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. John 6, he said in verse 44,
No man can come to me Now no man cometh to the Father but
by me. But he said, no man can come to me except the Father
which hath sent me draw him. In order to get to the end goal,
the end goal has to start the process. No man can get to the
Father but by me. And no man can get to me unless
the Father draws him to me. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. And he said in verse 37, all that the father giveth
me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which
he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life. And I, who's gonna do it? I will raise him up at the last
day. That right there is the way. That is the way. He is the way. How will I know if I'm in the
way? How will I know if I know the
truth? How will I know if I have life?
I hear these things. How will I know if I'm in the
way? And if I know the truth and if
I have life, here's how you will know and I will know. He will
send us the means and the evidences. He will cross our path with the
message of His truth. He'll give us faith to believe
it. He'll give us a desire to confess
it to everybody. We'll tell everybody. he'll give
us a heart to love it and we will cry he is the way he is
the truth he is the life no man comes to the father but by him
all right let's all stand together turn with me to four hundred
and forty