All right. It's good to be here
with you this morning for those that are not here for the first
hour. And I was told I went too short. Now I hope I'm not told I go
too long. The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians,
you don't have to turn there, in 2 Corinthians 4, he said,
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through
the pulling down of strongholds. Strongholds. The title of this
message is I Thought. Man's thoughts. are strongholds. Man's thoughts are weapons against
God. What man thinks of God, what
man thinks of himself. God said to Adam, in the day
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Adam did sin. Adam did disobey God. He died spiritually, and his
mind was darkened. They do not know God. Romans
121 says, because when they knew God, they glorified him not as
God. Neither were they thankful, but
became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Man has by nature his understanding darkened. being alienated from
the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the
blindness of their heart, man's thoughts. And you know, when
God judged the earth in Genesis chapter six, in verse five, he
said, he looked down. God judged the earth, and this
is what God said. God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth and that every imagination. Every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was evil continually. I thought. Man's thoughts are
continually evil. If God in mercy saves a person,
he gives that person a new mind. A new mind. Because man by nature,
his thoughts are against God. Or enmity against that. The carnal
mind is enmity against God. Romans 8 verse 7 says. That's talking about total inability. Total depravity. Total depravity. Man's thoughts are continually
evil. All his thoughts about God, all
his thoughts about himself. Satan said, you'll be like God.
Knowing good and evil. And because man does evil and
God does not strike him dead on the spot. He thinks, well,
God's like me. He makes himself. Lord said this
in Psalm 50 verse 21. He thinks God is like himself
said thou thoughtest that I was altogether such as one as thyself. So man in his thoughts does not
believe God is holy. That man doesn't believe everything
is relative. Relative. But God is holy. There's none like God. Holy,
holy, holy, only, only. Man does not believe that he's
a sinner. And man does not believe that the only way to come to
God and be accepted is by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ,
by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Man does, that
offends man's dignity. That it would take the shedding
of blood I'm not that bad. I'm not that bad. Well. The grace of God given us in
Christ Jesus. All the grace of God. God reconciled
his people unto himself. Man's thoughts are enmity. Now
we are enmity against God by nature, but God reconciled us
to himself by the Lord Jesus Christ. That is from before the
foundation of the world, Jesus Christ. The son of God was given
as the lamb slain before the foundation of the world and in
God's mind and God's eye, he's always looked at his people through
the son in the son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God is reconciled. And when the fullness of time
came, God sent his son into the world. made under the law that
he might redeem us. It says in 2nd Corinthians chapter
5, this is our message. This is our message to lost,
rebellious enemies of God, that God has made the reconciliation. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 5,
I'm going to read it if you want to turn there. 2nd Corinthians,
passage well known. Many have heard it, heard it
many times. It says, all things are of God,
verse 18, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. He has reconciled us. It was we who went away from
God. Man went away from God. We in
our thoughts became foolish. We in our thoughts were enmity
against God. We in our thoughts by nature
would bring down the king. Bring down, take Jesus Christ
off the throne. That's what we would do by nature.
Our fist is raised towards heaven saying, not thy will, but my
will be done. But now God is reconciled in
Christ Jesus. And has committed, has given
to us the ministry of reconciliation. He's given unto us this ministry
where while we go and declare what God has done in Christ Jesus,
Christ reconciled us to God. To wit, that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world. And you know what that world
is. The world he loves. with an everlasting love, the
world of his chosen people. God's love is in his son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Outside of the Lord Jesus Christ,
God is a consuming fire. God loves his people. He said,
Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. God's love is in the
son. Reconciling to wit that God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself not imputing, not
imputing their trespasses, their sins unto them, not imputing
and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. That
is to say, God never charges his people with their sin. He
charged them to the Lord Jesus Christ when he was made sin. Now we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's
stead, be reconciled to God, for he hath made him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him." The righteousness of God in him. We beseech you. Now God doesn't beseech. God
commands. God commands. And unless a person
hears the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, the hour is coming and
now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and
they that hear shall live. But he doesn't beseech. He doesn't
beg. The voice of the Lord Jesus Christ
comes in the gospel by the Holy Spirit and commands. And when
he commands, Lazarus comes forth. The dead man comes forth. The
dead man believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. When a man who
is dead in trespass and sin is enmity, when God speaks, that
person comes to life. But we beseech you, we beseech
you in Christ's stead as though God did beseech you. Now, men
think, men think his thoughts are enmity against God. enmity, but God is reconciled.
He's made the reconciliation by himself. Purpose from eternity. He's the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. But man must and will be reconciled
to God by the preaching of the gospel. In other words, no one
is going to come before the throne in heaven and not know how they got there.
No one is going to come before the throne and going to surprise
God. They're going to come by the
means which he has ordained, the preaching of the gospel.
God, the Holy Spirit, in regeneration gives that new heart that new
mind, that new will and that new affection. The new man believes,
believes what God says in his word, believes what the Lord
Jesus Christ has declared. Now, believes the necessity of
the reconciliation and believes everything. He comes and commits
to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Isaiah chapter 55. I'm going to come to my text
in a minute, but I'm just giving you the Isaiah 55. I'm just giving you the introduction. Isaiah 55 and verse 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be fire, call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake
his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Man must repent
of his thoughts towards God, his thoughts about himself. He's
going to repent of who he thinks God is going to repent of who
he thinks he is and how he may come to God. Repent of his sin,
repent of his sins and repent of his own righteousness. Repent. Now, here's my text. In 2 Kings chapter 5, I said
the title of this message is, I Thought. And the verse is verse 11, where
Naaman said, he was wrought and went away and said, behold, I
thought. You see that there? Naaman said,
I thought. This is a wonderful story of how the Lord Jesus Christ in
grace saves his people, saves his people sovereignly. The Lord
Jesus Christ has mercy on whom he will have mercy. He has compassion
on whom he will have compassion. One day, the Lord Jesus Christ,
after he had gone into Galilee and done many works of miracles
in there, he came back to the place where he was raised. This
is in Luke chapter four. And he came back to the place
where he was raised, and everybody knew him growing up. And they said, well, we know
who he is. He's done all these miracles
in these other places. We want him to do the same miracles
right here. And the Lord Jesus Christ walked
into the synagogue and read the scriptures. And after he read
the scriptures, he said, this day is this fulfilled in your
ear. And everybody gave witness to
the grace of God. And he said unto them, you're
gonna say to me this proverb, or this saying, physician, heal
thyself. Of all the things that we've
heard you do in other places, do them also right here. And
the Lord gave two examples, and he said there were many widows
in the days of the prophet Elisha. And to none of them were the
prophets sin, but to the widow woman, and changes by his mind has to be
changed. God is not in your hand to manipulate. We are in his hand. What will
he do with us? He's in the heavens. We're here
on the earth. The first thing has to be changed. Is this matter
of who God is? He's God. But this is a wonderful
story, how God in his sovereign grace saves someone who is an
enemy. Naaman was a general. of the
captain of Syria, the armies of Syria. And God gives him,
God heals this Naaman, this leper, and I want us to read this this morning. In 2nd Kings chapter 5, it says,
Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great
man with his master and honorable because by him the Lord had given
victory or deliverance into Syria, he was also a mighty man of valor,
but a leper. And this is a very good description
of all men by nature. All men by nature, whatever degree
one may get, whatever position one may
attain, titles, the fact is, All men by nature are sinners,
dead in trespasses and sin. Lepers, under the law, a leper,
the leprosy is an uncurable disease. It's a disease of the blood and
affects all aspects of a person's being. And that leprosy was such
that constituted a man, made a man to be unclean, had to live
outside of the city, could not have communion with anybody inside
the city. He had to go around and if anybody
came into his presence, he had to confess, unclean, unclean,
get away from me. Everything he touched became
unclean. That's the picture of us by nature.
We're outside the city. We're outside the commonwealth.
We're without Christ and without God in the world by nature. By nature. Everything we touch,
is polluted. Anything a man lifts his hand
to do condemns him. The works of the law says this,
the cursed is everyone that not continueth not in all the things
written in the law to do them. So anytime a man lifts his hand
to do anything in the law, the law can only condemn you. Condemn
you. Blessed be God, salvation is
by grace. And the Lord Jesus Christ fulfills
all the requirements of His holy law. Naaman was a leper. And Naaman, we read there in
verse 11, he had thoughts. Though he was a leper, he had
thoughts. And you can see he had a position, he had station,
he had acceptance, admiration from people around him. And that's
what, when people begin to compare people against people. You children, you like to have
science projects? You like maggots? Maggots. When men get to comparing men
against men, it's a maggot comparing himself against another maggot.
Maggots. No matter, you could put a little
crown on a maggot, make him the king of maggots. But in the end, he's a maggot.
You could build a little house, make a bigger house for him and
have the other houses and other maggots in huts. But he's still
a maggot. And this is what describes us
by nature. Unclean. The one word that describes our
God is holy. Holy, holy, holy. When Isaiah
the prophet saw the glory of the Lord there in Isaiah chapter
6, before then, if you read in the chapters before Isaiah chapter
6, Isaiah kept saying, woe unto you, woe unto you, woe unto you,
woe unto you. But when Isaiah saw the Lord
high and lifted up, his train filled the temple. When he saw
the seraphims with twain, with two covering their mouth, and
with two flying, with two covering their feet, the doorpost shook. All the building was filled with
His glory, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Isaiah saw
the glory of the Lord, you know what he said? Woe is me. Woe is me. So you could say, woe is you all
this time. And that's the characteristic. That's the characteristic of
a Pharisee. That's the characteristic of
a Pharisee. A Pharisee trusted himself that
he's righteous. and he despises others. That's
just the other side of the coin. If you have a coin, you have
two sides, right? You have a coin, you have two
sides, heads and tails, but it's one coin. And anytime you see
somebody judge another person, that's because he thinks he's
righteous. Those that trusted himself that they're righteous,
they despise others. But the grace of God teaches
us we're no better. We're no better. I am what I
am by the grace of God. and I have no right to judge.
But I'm getting off my point. Here's the point. Naaman was
a leper. Naaman was a leper, unclean,
and what describes man by nature is his uncleanness, and what
describes God is he is holy. Well, the message is, I thought,
Naaman, So here he is, he's an enemy by nature, nature an enemy. He's off in a far country. And
Naaman is not looking for the prophet. He's not looking to
know who the true and living God is. Naaman's, as we say,
happy where he's at. Anybody that would look at Naaman
would say, boy, it's going good for you, Naaman. Naaman had this
leprosy, you see, but he probably had it hidden. Probably had it
hidden under his robes. He's a general. He didn't want
to be thought of less, so he probably covered it all up. Well,
that's a picture of us by nature. But God is going to strip us. God is going to show us who we
are by nature. And notice it says here, and
the Syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away captive
out of the land of Israel little maid And she waited a nameless
while. How does God reveal himself to
us? How is it that we come to understand
who we are and are reconciled to God? How is it we are reconciled
to God? God doesn't change. God doesn't
change. And we're in our enmity. We're
not, we're happy. Where we at? Lost. Not seeking
after God. The lost sheep is lost. Doesn't
know he's lost and he's happy to be lost. How's he gonna bring
his people to a knowledge of himself? God sends him a messenger. God sends him a preacher. God
sends him a messenger. And in this case we have here
the Syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away a captive
out of the Israel, a little maid, and she was a slave. She was
a servant in Naaman's house. Think about this for a moment. This little girl, she would have
thought, oh, this is really bad. This is really bad. But you know,
all things work together for good to them that love the Lord,
to them that are called according to His purpose. And God's gonna
make this, He's gonna use this little girl to Give a message to this man, Naaman,
in a far country. And God is going to send his
messengers wherever they're at. He's going to cross their path
with a message. He's going to cross their path
to give them a knowledge that there is one true God. And she
was in this, I think of every time I read that, I think of
that passage where the apostle Paul says, we're, we're lambs
for the slaughter. We're considered lambs for the
slaughter. That is to say, what really goes on in this life is
really inconsequential. There's the kingdom of heaven,
the eternal kingdom. These things all pass. The Apostle Paul suffered many
things for the likesake. And this woman, this little girl
was sent to Naaman's house and she was serving Naaman's wife. And she said unto her mistress,
would God, my Lord, were with the prophet that is in Samaria,
for he would recover him of his leprosy. Notice the message is
a message of surety. A message secure. This little
girl didn't say, well, would the Lord, would the God, this
Naaman would go before the prophet? He may, he may heal him. This is the message that we preach.
If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt be saved.
It's not in F, it's not but. If you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, thou shalt be saved. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ
and he will save you. It's not a possibility salvation. If you come as a leper, he will
save you from your sins. That's a wonderful message. It's
a wonderful message. It's not a possibility salvation. He didn't go out on a possibility,
but he still has these bad thoughts. Naaman still has these bad thoughts.
And one went in, told his Lord, saying, Thus and thus said the
maid that is in the land of Israel. And the king of Syria said, Go,
go to go, and I will send letter under the king of Israel. And
he departed and took with him ten talents of silver. 6,000
pieces of gold, 10 charges of raiment, and he brought the letter
to the king of Israel saying, now when this letter is coming
to you, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee
that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. When men sometimes
hear the message of God's salvation They have bad thoughts about
how they're going to come to God. Start seeking for advice
from others. Start seeking advice from others.
I've seen this many times. Someone gets concerned and they
start seeking advice from anybody that has a Bible. From anybody
that has a Bible, well, I think I'm going to listen to him. Better be careful. Better be
careful. They better be speaking the Word
of God, because there are many that carry around a Bible and
call Him Jesus who don't know the Lord, who don't know the
Lord. And this man, he went to look for the wrong place. He came looking for relief, salvation,
but he brought things with him. Men by nature think that somehow
or another they can earn salvation. I could bring something to the
table. And some people think that they need to bring enough
repentance. If they could only be sorry enough. Some people
think that they have to experience some great... They think they're
going to bring that to the Lord. Bring tears to the Lord. They feel like they have to produce
something. That's not what the message says. That's not what the gospel we
preach says. They come with the wrong things. He came with gold, but we're
not redeemed by precious things like silver and gold. Silver
and gold cannot buy. Salvation is by grace, by the
Lord Jesus Christ. He came unto the King of Israel. Some people come to the preacher. God sends messengers, and God's
messengers are loved, honored, for the message. But the preacher
can't save you. The preacher can't do anything.
Our message has not come to us. Not come to the front. Not repeat,
raise your hand and repeat a word. The preacher can't save you.
A person must come to the Lord Jesus Christ. But Naaman, he
went to the king of Israel. And he came to pass when the
king of Israel read the letter that he rent his clothes and
said, Am I God to kill and to make alive that this man does
send to me, recover this man of his leprosy? Wherefore consider,
I pray you that see how he seeketh quarrel against me. And it was
so that when Elijah, Elijah, excuse me, the man of God had
heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes and he said
him to the king saying, wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? Let
him come unto me, and he shall know that there is a prophet
in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses
and his chariot and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan
seven times, and thy flesh shall come again unto thee, and thou
shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth and went
away and said, Behold, I thought." Man has thoughts. So Naaman came
to the wrong place, and Naaman came with these presents. I want you to turn with me, hold
your place right here, but I want you to turn with me to Romans
chapter 10. False religion, false preachers seek to give you something to
do or put something between the sinner and the Savior. Something
between the sinner and the Savior. Your faith, your works, your
repentance, something between the sinner and the Savior. You
must feel certain thing, or you must do this or that or the other. And false preachers give that. They're giving the man something
to do. But that's not the gospel that
we preach. That's not the message of the
gospel. The message of the gospel is
not do, the message of the gospel is done. It's done. But it's not only we as ministers. The Apostle Paul, when he's talking
about the righteousness that men are going about to establish,
if you read with me, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. That's what I
want. I want people to be saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, for they be an
ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish
their own righteousness. have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. For Moses describeth
the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which doeth
those things shall live by them." That's the righteousness of the
law. There's nothing wrong with the law, but the problem is we
never have kept the law. We never will keep the law. We're
not keeping the law right now. The law is spiritual. It goes
beyond what you do with your hand and what you look at. It
goes to the intentions of the heart, the thoughts and imaginations. That's what the law of God requires.
Perfection. Perfection. Moses described the righteousness
which is of the law. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the only one that fulfilled that law. As a man, He honored and
obeyed God's holy law, he established righteousness here on the earth.
Bless God, that is the righteousness that is everyone. It's everyone
that believes is made that righteousness in Christ Jesus. But I look at here. But the righteousness,
which is of faith. The righteousness, which is of
faith. The righteousness which is by
the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the author and
finisher of our faith. We're not saved by our faith. No one is saved apart from faith.
But we're not saved by our faith. Our faith didn't die for us.
Our faith didn't establish righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ, the author
and finisher of our faith, He's the one that established righteousness.
He's the one that put away our sins. I can't say it any clearer. Keep
your place here in Romans because I'm fixing to come back there.
Go back to Galatians chapter 2. I think it says it really
clear right here. Galatians 2, 16. Knowing that a man is not justified,
that's what we're talking about, being just pronounced just by
God. Man is not justified by the works
of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. The faith, the
faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how a man is justified
before God, by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ. That's the faith God gives His
people. We believe in Christ Jesus. We trust His finished
work. We trust Him for our righteousness. We trust His blood to put away
our sins. We rest in the arms of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We're not trying to save ourselves. We're not trying to contribute
to this finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we believe
on him. And it says here. The faith of
Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might
be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of
the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Go back over here to Romans chapter 10. Talking about righteousness. Man thinks that he's going to
establish righteousness. by the doing of the law. But the righteousness which is
of faith, now remember the title of the message is I Thought.
And these thoughts are strongholds in the minds of men. Nehemiah
said he went away mad. He came with all his chariots
and all his horses and all this silver and gold and raiment He
came to the little house of the prophet there. The prophet didn't
even go out to see him. Just gave him a message. Go wash. Go wash seven times and you'll
be clean. He thought, oh, that's so mad. I thought for me, I'm somebody. I'm somebody. Don't he know who
he's talking to? I thought, for me, He'd surely come out and
He'd do this ceremony. Men like to have rituals. You
know, they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. Men like to have rituals. They like to come down and kneel.
They like to raise their hand and repeat a prayer. They like
to be seen. That's not how God saves His
people. He saves His people without you moving a muscle. Right where
you're sitting. It's like that, God gives life.
And when God gives faith, He also grants repentance. He said,
I thought. But now look at the message we
preach. There's the message of the law.
Do it and live. Don't do it, die. Verse 6 says,
But the righteousness which is of faith, the faithfulness of
the Lord Jesus Christ speaketh on this wise. Notice what it
says, the first thing it says is in the negative. Have you
ever noticed that? The first thing it says is in
the negative, say not, say not. You see that it says, say not
in that heart who shall ascend into heaven, that is to bring
down Christ from above. Or who shall descend into the
deep, that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead? What's the
first thing? It's saying, don't you put obstacles. The preacher of the Gospel, the
preacher of the salvation, we're not putting obstacles. We're
saying, come, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you
hear this message, don't you put up obstacles. Don't you say
in your heart, who's going to ascend into heaven, that is,
to bring Christ. Christ already came. Don't you say, who's going
to descend into the deep? Christ already rose. The work
is finished. Don't you say in your heart,
I've got to feel this, I've got to experience this. Don't you
say anything. Believe. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. But that's the I thought. That's the I think I've got to
start reading my Bible. Do read your Bible. But don't
think, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. They do come to church. This is where the gospel is preached.
But don't think, believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
But what sayeth the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in
thy heart? That is the word of faith which
we preach. It's there or it's not there.
It surprises you. One day, the light comes on. And you don't decide to believe.
You don't decide to believe. If this was a completely darkened
room, imagine, a darkened room, we've got windows, we can't do
it. If it was a darkened room and the lights were out, you could have good eyes but
not see because there's no light. But if you close your eyes right
now and you open your eyes, do you decide to see? You don't
decide to see. If you have the faculty of the
eyeball and you have the light, you see. You don't decide. I'm not going to decide to see
you. I see you. I can't not do it. Is that good
English? Can't not do it. It's surprising. I'm not a grammatical person.
Y'all forgive me. A person does not decide to believe. When God gives light, when God
shines the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
I see, I didn't see before, Saul of Tarsus hated the Lord Jesus
Christ, determined to wipe away anybody that confessed him to
be the Christ. And surprise of surprise, Christ
was revealed in him. He was looking for Christ out
there, and he was surprised when Christ was revealed in him. The
word is nigh you. It's nigh you. It's so near you,
it's in you. It's if it's in you. And so when
it's in you, all of a sudden you listen differently. Your
eyeballs, I love to see when people start listening with their
eyeballs. Do you know what I'm talking about? Their eyes get
big. I never heard that. I've seen
this many times. People stand there and they just can't wait
till you stop talking. And then all of a sudden, they're
sitting on the edge of their pew, and their eyeballs are as
big as saucers. And you watch, and you watch,
and you think, the Lord's doing something. Then they come tell
you they want to be baptized. The Lord did something. Well,
I had an inclination that was happening. But I didn't say anything,
because I could see them listening with their eyeballs. It's like,
I've never heard that before, but I'm hearing it now. The word
is nigh you, even in thy heart. That is the word of faith which
we preach. That is, thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him
from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. Thou shalt be saved because
he saved you. Thou shalt be saved because he
saved you. Saved you from eternity. Saved you in time and is saving
you right now and shall continue saving you. Now, go back to the
text here. Nehemiah said, I thought. Surely
he'd come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord
his God and strike his hand over the place and recover the leper.
People like to see those charlatans on TV do that kind of stuff,
don't they? It's awful. Strike them on the
head and they fall back. They like to see something. Well, here are his thoughts.
He said, I thought that He was going to do this ceremony. It
requires ceremony. But man is not born by the will
of man, by the will of the flesh, or of blood, but of God. It's
not a ceremony that we could perform. Roman Catholics believe
and they teach that in the sacraments are wrapped up the grace of God.
In other words, they control who's going to get into the Kingdom
of Heaven. That's why when they baptize them, they say they baptize
them in the Kingdom of Heaven. The communion, they teach that
in these things, in these material things, in the ceremony or in
the mass is actually the body of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I thought, and here he says,
are not Abana and far, far rivers of Damascus better than all the
waters of Israel? Here's a man's thoughts. Well, You could be saved many different
ways. Have you ever heard anybody say
that? As long as you're honest, as long as you're sincere. You
know, you have people that trust in Mohammed and trust in Buddha
and trust in Mary, as if there were many ways. But there's only
one, one name. given among men where we must
by be saved. Christ Jesus said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. And here's these two rivers in
his territory that were clean rivers. I'd prefer to get a bath
in a clean river, wouldn't you? I'd like to these streams and
some of them just want to just jump out and get in them right
now. Others will think, ooh, I don't want to get into that.
I'd have to get a bath after I got out of there. So if you
had your rather, you'd get a nice, clean, crystal clear stream.
And this man is saying, aren't these rivers better? I could
wash in them. Can a man be saved hearing a
false message about Jesus Christ? What about that? Churches all around the United
States right now that are preaching a Jesus who wants to save but
he can't save unless you... Isn't that just as good? No.
There's no gospel in that. There's no Savior in that. This
is another Jesus. This is another gospel. And believing
in a false Believing in a false Jesus will
lose you just as fast as believing in Buddha. Does that make sense? Believing in a false gospel,
which is no gospel, will lose you just as fast as not having
any religion at all. And this man says, well, aren't
these others just as good? I could go over here. Oh, no. The message is, come to Christ. Be washed in the blood of Jesus
Christ. And not a false Jesus. Aren't they just as clean? I
could be washed today. And he went away in a rage. Bless
God. God's gonna have the victory
over his rebellious people. He's gonna have the victory.
I love to see people get mad. or people get glad. They usually
get mad before they get glad. But they get infuriated because
now this is going to require him stepping out of his chariot. He's going to have to go to that
muddy River Jordan and he's going to have to strip his clothes.
He's going to have to strip his clothes. It's going to expose
is rotten flesh and he's gonna have to get into that river and
dip seven times. Dip seven times. Wouldn't somebody just like to
believe secretly on the Lord Jesus Christ? Believe secretly
on the Lord Jesus Christ. No. Those that believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ are not going to be ashamed. And they are going
to confess Him. They're going to confess that
they are sinners. And that their only salvation
is salvation by the blood, by the grace of God in Christ Jesus.
And they're going to come to Christ as sinners, confessing
that there's nothing good in them. And their only hope is
the Lord Jesus Christ, His precious blood that was shed. Secret agents. People want to be secret agents. People are going to confess.
The Lord is going to, whosoever believeth and confesses, man
is going to confess the Lord Jesus Christ. Whosoever shall
deny me also will deny before my Father, the Lord said. Well,
he says, aren't these just as good? And he went away in a rage. And his servants came near and
spake unto him and said, My Father, if the prophet had said unto
thee some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? How much
rather than when he said to thee, wash and be clean? Someone said,
well that, you're preaching this easy believism. If you can believe,
believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
trust. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
It is impossible with man, but when God works in a person's
heart, both to will and to do of His good pleasure, that person
comes. Comes believing, submitting,
trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he went down, he dipped himself,
he stripped his clothes off and he went into the Jordan seven
times. Notice, according to the saying
of the man of God. According to the word of God.
You come to the Lord Jesus Christ, trust in Him, and thou shalt
be saved. That's the message of the gospel. Look unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look unto Him and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth. Trust
Him. Trust His finished work. Can
you imagine Him going down? He had to dip seven times. That's
talking about the perfect, finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Nothing to be added. But can you imagine he went down
the first time and came back up, he still got leprosy. He
went down the second time, he still had leprosy. He went down
the third time, the fourth. He came up the seventh time and
he didn't have any leprosy. Like a little baby. Well, a person
that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ is right now justified. Freely justified. Saved forevermore. But I want to I want us to think
about this. You who do know the Lord Jesus
Christ, you who have come and are coming, it's not an experience
of the past. It's a continual coming. It's
a continual coming until one day you open your eyes and you
see Him and you're just like Him. Because in this world, in
this flesh, dwells no good thing. As your experience, as experience
of the Apostle Paul says, I know that in this flesh dwells no
good thing. I've come to the Lord Jesus Christ and I know
that in him I have righteousness. I know that in him I'm perfect
before God. I'm accepted in the beloved.
I'm perfect. But when I look inside, all I
see is sin. You keep coming. You keep coming
to the Lord Jesus Christ. You keep washing. You keep coming
to Him. You keep trusting Him. You keep
trusting His blood. You keep trusting His righteousness.
It's to whom coming. It's believing. You live on the
Lord Jesus Christ. One day, you'll open your eyes
and you'll be free from sin. Free from the presence of sin
made unto His likeness. The thoughts of man's mind, the
thoughts of man are enmity against God. God must strip these thoughts
from our mind. Salvations by grace, He gets
all the glory. May the Lord bless His word.
Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful for you, Lord
Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom you sent to save your people. Thank you for the blood that
was shed. Lord, we pray that you'd accomplish
your will. We know that your word will not
return to you void. call your people or have mercy. We're thankful for the power
of your gospel that you will not allow any of your people
to continue in their thoughts, but we cause us to be reconciled
to you and to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for this day, Lord.
Thank you for. Father, for the time that we've had together.
Play your blessings upon your word. Now. Pray that you would dismiss us.
Father, be with us. Deliver us from evil. Cause us
to walk in. Communion fellowship with the.
Testimony of what you've done for us. These things we pray
in Jesus name, amen.