Last Sunday morning, after the morning service, some
of us were talking right over here in the foyer. And we were talking about something
that many of us have talked about many times. We brought this up
many times. The question of why can't this
world See the truth in God's Word. Very few people believe the truth
in God's Word. And there are churches all over
this town. Just go down Center Street. You'll
find a bunch of them. But many, many, many, many churches
do not believe the truth of God's Word. And when the Lord opens your
eyes to it, it's so clear. It's right there on the page,
isn't it? It is literally right there on the page. But why is a congregation of
people that preaches and believes the truth of God's Word so hard
to find? We're very limited where we can
go, aren't we? I can't just go into the average church and worship
God. Do you know that? They're hard to find. Why is
that? Are we a cult? We know what the majority of
this world believes. We know that Catholics believe,
well, you have to do this. You know, we're here about salvation.
We're here for salvation. All right, well, the Catholics
believe you've got to do this. And the Baptists believe that
you've got to do this. And the Pentecostals believe
that you've got to do this. Do you know what the Word of
God says? You don't have to do any of that stuff. It's already
done. It's already done. Do you mean to tell me that the
majority of this world is wrong? And a little bitty group of people
here and there is right? I don't understand why people would
think Do you think I'm an idiot? I understand that. You mean to
tell me that all those people are wrong and just a few people
here and there are right? You mean to tell me that? Would you explain that to me?
I wish somebody would hear that and say, show me. And by God's
grace, I would say, all right, go with me to Matthew seven.
Let's all turn over to Matthew seven. Matthew seven. Look at verse 13. It says, enter ye in at the straight
gate. Now the word straight means narrow. That's what the word means. Narrow. Do you know what we preach and
believe here? There is one way. There's one way. That sounds pretty narrow-minded.
That's pretty narrow, isn't it? There's one way. There's one
way. Well, it sounds like you're being
too dogmatic on that. There is one way. There's one
way. If a sinner desires to be saved,
if he wants to be spared, redeemed, There is one way. And it's in
the precious blood of the Lamb of God. That's it. That's it. He is the substitute
for sinners. He is the sacrifice for sin. There is one way. You know, what have you done
for Jesus? That's not the question. The question is, are you washed
in the blood? That's the question. All right, now if I was to ask
Tony, how do I get to Walmart from here? And Tony said, you go down Center
Street until you get to Eastman Road. Turn left. Take that down to 11W. Turn right. It's gonna go to John B. Dennis.
Go right all the way down to Fort Henry. It'll loop you around
and Walmart is down on the right. All right, well, Dwight heard
Tony tell me that and Dwight said, no, uh-uh. You're going
to take Center Street, stay on it until you get to Memorial,
and then turn left, and Memorial's going to take you to John B.
Dennis, and that's going to take you to Fort Henry, and then Walmart's
down on the right. Well, you know good and well
Chris is going to chime in. And Chris is going to say, no,
get on Center Street, and Fort Henry's right up there. Just
veer off onto Fort Henry and stay on it, and Walmart's down
on your right. What Dwight and Chris are telling
Tony is, there is more than one way. I hear what you're saying,
but there's more than one way. And that's what religion is telling
men and women. Oh, there's more than one way. Oh yeah, yeah, there's more than
one way. If you want to go this way, that'd
be fine. And if you want to go that way,
that would be fine. The important thing is that we
all make it to Walmart. But we're not trying to get to
Walmart. We are trying to get to a high and holy, sovereign
God. And His truth says there's one
way. There is one, one, one way. Look right here in Matthew 7
at verse 21. It says, Not every one that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. but
he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." What
is the Father's will? We read it last Sunday morning.
He said, this is my beloved Son, hear Him. What do I have to do? Hear Him. Just sit there and
don't move a muscle and go like that. Hear Him. Well, what about Moses
and what about Elijah? What about the law that is in
there? Hear Him. Verse 22, He said, Many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord. But we say, Lord, Lord, what
do you mean I can't come in? We say, Lord, Lord, and we do
our hand like that when we say it. And we got our sway down. He said in verse 23, it's all
sin. It's all sin. Verse 22, many will say to me
in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? But we're preachers. Is that guy saved? Yeah, he's
a preacher. Of course. God said it's all sin. God said
it's all sin. I don't know the man who wrote
it, but I say right there with him, I cannot do anything but
I sin. I cannot read but I sin. I cannot pray but I sin. I cannot
preach But a sin. God said it's all sin. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. It is all sin. The end of verse
23, he said, depart from me ye that work iniquity. Preaching
will not get a man into heaven. It will not. Only the blood of
Christ will. That's it. There are going to be a lot of
preachers in hell. And the reason is because they would not tell
men and women the one thing needful. There's one way. Verse 22 says,
many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils. We cast devils
out of other people. Literally. He said, it's all
sin. Verse 22, and in thy name done
many wonderful works. We started charities. We built
houses. I met a man who is on the mission
field. I met him a little while back.
And his father went to the mission field first. And he has followed
in his father's footsteps. And his father went out to preach the Bible to people who had never
heard it. I would say the gospel, but I
don't believe he was preaching the gospel. But when he got out
there, he saw that these people didn't have clean drinking water
and that they were being poisoned. So he quit preaching and he bought
a well drilling rig. And now his missionary work is
he drills wells in villages that need clean water. And I am so thankful for our
clean water. I'm so thankful for the Kingsport
city water that we have. But I'm going to tell you right
now, there is one thing needful. That clean water might, earthly
speaking, every man's days are numbered, but it might buy them
a few more days. But then after that, they need
one thing. One thing. Lord, we drilled wells
and we brought clean water to people who were dying of infections. God said, it's all sin. It is all sin. Verse 23, then
will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me ye that
work iniquity. Iniquity means sin. Now, look
at verse 13 again. Enter ye in at the straight gate,
for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. And many there be which go in
thereat. Now when our Lord says many,
he does not mean more than a few. In Hebrews when it says Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many, it says that number
is a number that no man can number. Stars of the sky, sand of the
seashore. When God says many, he means many, many. And verse 13 says, enter ye in
at the straight gate for wide is the gate and broad is the
way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in
there at because straight is the gate. And I love in my Bible,
I have a marginal reference for the word because. And the word
means how. How straight is the gate? He
said, enter in at that straight gate. How narrow is that gate? Because straight is the gate
and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life. And watch this last
part of the verse. And few there be that find it. Few. Oh, he says, beware of false
prophets. Beware of false prophets. There
is one way. If you want to be saved, you
are going to have to quit your drinking. That's not true. If you want to quit, that's fine.
But that will not save your soul. It will not save your soul. Well,
if you're going to be saved, you are going to have to live
a cleaner life. I'll tell you that much. That is not true. It would be a good idea. It would
be wise to live a cleaner life. It would be. I encourage you
to live a cleaner life. But it will not save your soul.
There is one way God's word. And I can't help but love this.
I get a little butterfly when I think about this. God's word
is full of harlots. And thieves on crosses. And murderers
that God saved. Why? Because they straightened
up their life first? No. They straightened up their
life after. God straightened it up. But God saved them. Found them in their sin. It keeps
saying, in the sin. Saul of Tarsus was grabbing men
and women and hailing them and slaughtering them. God saved
him. How can that be? How can that be? Here's how all have sinned. None are good,
but God. Jesus Christ, He came down and
He shed His blood and He freed His people and He did that without them
adding one thing to or taking one thing from His own work. Here's what that means. What
we do or don't do has no bearing on our salvation. No bearing
whatsoever. There is one way. one way. Now go over with me
to John chapter 12. Last week we looked at John 12
and we finished with verse 33 and after we had this conversation
about why can't men believe, I read this to the end of the
chapter and Realize that's exactly what he's talking about. Verse
34 says the people answered him. We have heard out of the law
that Christ abideth forever. And how sayest thou the son of
man must be lifted up? Who is this son of man? Don't
you wish more people would ask that question? Who is this son
of man, this man Jesus that everybody's talking about? Who is this son
of man? I'll tell you who he is. He's
the way. He is the way. There's one way
and He is the way. Verse 35, Then Jesus said unto
them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while you
have the light, lest darkness come upon you. For he that walketh
in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While you have light,
believe in the light. that you may be the children
of light. These things spake Jesus and
departed and did hide himself from them. He is the light. This word is the light. He is the word. In the beginning
was the word. While we have this light, to
what? The truth. The way we have light
to the way this word of God is the window of heaven. While we have this light, he
said, walk in it. Believe it while you have it.
Verse 37 says, but though he had done so many miracles before
them, yet they believed not on him. Why can't this world see the
truth in God's Word? This world couldn't see the truth
in God's Christ blind. And but for the grace
of God, neither would we. Verse 37 says, But though He
had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on
Him, that the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled,
which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? And to whom
hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? This is God's own report. And how long has it been around
now? But men and women don't believe it. They just don't believe
it. And when you just tell them what
it says, they get angry. And they reject it. And they
acknowledge, I don't believe that. Why? Look at the end of verse 38.
It says, To whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? That's why. It must be revealed. The truth of God's Word must
be revealed to a sinner by God. This thing is by grace. Grace. free gift. It must be revealed
by the goodness of God, by a good and kind God. There's a saying
that has been passed down throughout the years, and it needs to be
passed down for many more years. It says, wrong on the fall, wrong
on it all. Wrong on the fall, wrong on it
all. If we don't know the truth, about what happened to mankind
when Adam sinned against God in the garden, then we will never
know the truth of salvation. We will never know the truth
of eternal life. This body is not me. All right? This body is not me. I am a soul. And if you cut off
this arm right here and it's gone, I am still me. And if you cut off this arm and
it's gone, I am still me. And if you cut off this leg and
this leg and you just set me up on here, I'm still me. And if they could come up with
a way to cut my torso in half and just my brain and my heart
would keep this flesh alive, I would still be me. And do you
know why? It's because I'm a soul. This
body's not me. It's just housing me. And when man sinned against God,
his soul died. He became spiritually dead. You tell men that they're born
dead and they have no idea what you're talking about. You tell
them that they enter this world dead, blind, and deaf in trespasses
and sins, and they say, you are out of your mind. I see your
mouth moving. I hear your words. That's not
what our God is talking about. He said, don't fear them that
are able to kill the body and that's all they can do. He said,
I'll tell you who you should fear. He was talking about himself.
He said, fear him that is able to cast both body and soul into
hell. We have a soul problem. We have a soul sickness. Well,
my body is fine. Yeah, but our souls are sick. They're dead. They're actually
dead. That's what this word says. They're dead. Verse 39 says,
therefore they could not believe. Why doesn't this world believe
the truth? They can't. They just can't. Outside of Christ, they are spiritually
dead and they can go through all the motions they want to
go through. But for the grace of God and the mercy of God,
we would be up here right now going through motions. That's
all we would be doing. By grace are you saved through
faith. That not of yourselves, it's a gift of God. If you have
spiritual eyes to see this truth, spiritual ears to hear the truth
in God's Word, a spiritual heart to believe this truth in God's
Word, then those are a present from God to you. That's what
they are. You didn't earn it. None of us
deserve it. It's just a good and kind present
from God. Verse 39 says, Therefore they
could not believe because that Isaiah said again, He hath blinded
their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see
with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted
and I should heal them. These things said Isaiah when
he saw his glory and spake of him. That's what every sinner
says when he finally sees God's glory. God did it all. That's what every single sinner
says. God did it. Verse 42, nevertheless among
the chief rulers also many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees
they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the
synagogue. For they loved the praise of
men more than the praise of God. That's what's going on in religion
today. the praise of men more than the praise of God. Verse
44, Jesus cried and said, he that believeth on me, believeth
not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that seeth me, seeth
him that sent me. I am come a light into the world,
that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. Is he saying if you will believe,
then you will not abide in darkness. Is that what he's saying? Wrong
on the fall, wrong on it all. We just said we're dead, right?
Absolutely dead. He's saying if you believe, then
that is your evidence that I've done something to you and you
are not going to spend eternity in darkness. Verse 47, and if
any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not, for I came
not to judge the world, but to save the world. Now watch this
next verse. We just finished a Bible study that said, get
in the word, stay in the word, it's the place of safety. This
proves that. Look at verse 48. He said, he
that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth
him. Who is it? It's the word that
I have spoken. The same shall judge him in the
last day. This word of God is what will
condemn men and women in the last day. God has given us his
truth. Here's what I want to say. I
want to quit preaching and I just want to say this. God has given
us his glorious truth. So kind. May God give us a heart
to believe this glorious truth while we have it. We're going
to go meet God one day. And this word that we hold in
our hand is going to be the judge that condemns us. The word of
Christ himself. May God give us a heart to walk
in this and believe this. That's my prayer for me. That's
my prayer for you. Verse 49, he said, For I have
not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me, he gave
me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment
is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak, therefore,
even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. This word is
life everlasting. This word is life everlasting. You don't have to believe me.
You really don't. You do not have to believe me.
Believe him. You don't have to believe any
man but the God man. Believe him. Look to him. Trust him. Believe on Christ
if God has enabled you to do that. Believe on Christ. Because
he's the one and only way. one and only way. Lord save us,
put us in the way, please. All right, let's stand together.