Our scripture reading this morning
is the 15th Psalm. If you'd like to join me in Psalms
15, beginning at verse 1, we read, Lord, who shall abide in
thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and
worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his
tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach
against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is
contemned, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth
to his own hurt, and changeth not, He that putteth not out
his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent,
he that doeth these things shall never be moved. I just love the
gospel. You know what's so good about
the gospel, the good news? Everything God requires of you
and I. Everything. Not just this or
that and you got to do this and you got to do that, but every
single point That he requires of you and I he is fulfilled
Perfect. We saw this in our Bible study
a few moments ago how we are righteous But it's not the righteousness
you have in this flesh. It's him. It's his righteousness. That's ours and When it speaks
about who walketh uprightly, you and I walk uprightly, but
not in this flesh, in Him. When He walked uprightly on this
earth, we were in Him. When He went to that cross and
shed His blood to pay for sin, we were in Him, paying for our
sins through Him, our substitute. Will you turn in your Bibles
to the 12th chapter of Romans, please? Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. Beginning at verse 4. For as we have many members, many
parts in one body, And all members have not the same office, so
we, being many, are one body in Christ. And every one members
one of another. Having then gifts, differing
according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy,
let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith, or ministry,
let us wait on our ministering, or he that teacheth on teaching,
or he that exhorteth on exhortation, he that giveth, let him do it
with simplicity. Simplicity. I'd like to talk
to you this morning about a simple piece. You know, the world loves to
make religion such a difficult thing. Now you're saved, now
that you've accepted the Lord Jesus in your heart, now that
you've made a decision, now that you've been baptized, now that
you do this, now that you do that, you gotta do this. And
they love to make salvation more complicated than the Bible makes
it. You know, the Bible makes the
salvation of God's people very, very simple. And you know, it's
just a couple of words. It goes like this. Are you listening? Are you hearing? Here's the simplicity. Salvation is of the Lord. It doesn't get any more similar
than that. I was listening to a brother, David Edmondson, preach
over in, actually, Danville, Kentucky this morning, over where
Don Corker's church is, where Shelby and the rest of the saints
are. And I'm not sure what his title
was, but it was the simplicity of the gospel was the theme of
it. And he went about bringing out
in his message how the simplicity is very this. God was manifest
in the flesh. Salvation is of the Lord. He told a story about his daughter
when she was very, very young. I think you were going to say
she was like eight or nine years old. They were on their way home
from church up there at 13th Street Baptist Church in Ashland,
Kentucky. A man by the name of Bob Coffey
had been preaching. And I've met Bob. And David was
absolutely right. Bob is just, he's one of the
simplest men I've ever met. He's actually very complicated.
He's an artist. And you know how artist people
are. They're very, very complicated. No, they're not. I'm just kidding.
I say that just for Mike's sake, who's sitting here, who is also
an artist. But Bob is a very simple man. He speaks very simply. Henry Mahan spoke very, very
simply. And David was expressing the
story of how his daughter, about eight or nine years old, was
sitting in the back seat, and she said, Daddy? When Bob had
brought a message over there, she goes, I don't know what it
is about that man, but I understood everything he said. He stopped the car, turned around to look at his
daughter with blessings in his heart. You what? I understood. Folks, that's the gospel. The world can't understand the
truth of the gospel because they want to make it difficult. They
want to explain it in ways that they can understand. Yet God's
people can explain it one way. Salvation is of the Lord. You can't get any more simple
than that. It's not God plus you. It's God. It's what he's done. It's who
he is. It's where he is right now. And
that little eight-year-old child knew. She understood. Because the man standing before
her kept it simple. He didn't go deep into the pond
to try to explain what God means by total depravity. It was simply this. I'm a sinner. saved by grace. Some of you may have heard the
story when Gene's son, Scotty, the
one that drowned and died in Gene's arms, where several months,
I think it was, before that, maybe even a year, he came to
his daddy And he was crying. Gene tells a story. I can't even
tell a story myself without choking up. And Gene says, what's wrong,
Scotty? Why are you crying, son? And his son said, the most simplest
thing. Daddy, I'm a sinner. Is that not what you and I have
said? You remember the day you either said it with your lips
or with your heart? Lord, I'm a sinner. And I know it. And it's just
as simple as that. I'm a sinner. This morning I want to bring
a message to those who are troubled by their sin. Those who know their state. And you can't just know it by
reading God's Word. People read God's Word all over
the world on this day and many many days. that they've never learned, as
Scotty had learned, I'm a sinner. The simplicity of what it is
to be a sinner. I have sinned against God. Those
who know their state before a thrice holy God, those who struggle
with the sin of the flesh and the unrighteousness that is found
in themselves, I tell you this, that if you've
been called out of the darkness that was your very nature before
God called you. Turn over to Matthew chapter
4 for just a moment. What I'm talking about here are
those who were going about their lives doing what they thought
was right. And that doesn't matter, you
can put whatever you want in there, whether you're going to
church on Sundays, whether you're doing this, doing that. And then
one day, through the preaching of God's Word, and folks, this
is the simplicity of the Gospel, is that when God speaks, you
hear. That little girl understood when
the preacher stood before her and he told her things like,
when God speaks, People hear it, that he's speaking to. When
God spoke to Lazarus, did Lazarus take the moment to sit back and
say, I don't know, maybe I don't want it today? No, he came forth,
did he not? We're going to look at that,
see that right here, look at verses 18 through 22 of Matthew
chapter 4. And Jesus, walking by the sea
of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew
his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers.
Here they are, going about their lives, raising their families,
doing whatever it is God has left them to do of their own
free will, and the Lord passes by them. This is the simplicity. The one who has all power in
heaven and earth passed by. Verse 19, and he said unto them,
follow me. Follow me. Now that's as much
as I'm going to give you of David's message. It's out there on YouTube
right now. It's out there in Sermon Audio.
You can go listen to the rest of it with him. That's the simple message our
Lord says to his people. Follow me. Do you follow the
Lord Jesus? Those of you who are tuned in
right now on the internet, thank God for the internet, don't you?
It'd be a long way for Shirley Dukes to have to drive to every
Sunday if she wanted to come to church on Sunday. It'd be
a long way for Craig Roberts in Kansas to come all the way
out here, or Cheryl to join us from Utah. Follow me. That's what we're
doing here this morning. We're following the Lord Jesus
Christ. We're following His word. We're
following His word, His love letter to His children, those
who He's loved before the world was. Look over to Isaiah chapter
40. I want to bring before you this
morning the most simple message that I can come up with. I want
to be just as clear and simple as I can be in bringing peace to the hearts
of those who God has convicted as sinners, those who are troubled
by their sin, those who struggle with the sin of the flesh, with
the unrighteousness of the flesh that we find in ourselves. Here
in Isaiah chapter 40, we read these simple words. Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people, saith your God. Can it get any more comforting
than to say to you, salvation is of the Lord? Sit back and
rest in Him. Receive the blessings of God
in sending His Son to be flesh and pay our debt. Receive the
blessing. What does it say next? It says,
speak ye comfortably. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. I got a little ahead of myself
there. I'm going to back up a second for just a moment. It says in
1 Timothy 1.15, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all sanctification. Now this is the comfort. This
is the simplicity of the gospel that brings comfort to God's
people. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom
I am chief. Every one of us are brought to
understand that there is nothing good of this flesh. We have no
confidence in the flesh. I'm not sufficient. for what
God has put before me here to stand before you. No man is. Don Fortner wasn't. Gene Harman
wasn't. No man is. But our sufficiency
is not in me. Our sufficiency is in the one
who's speaking to your heart right now. The one who's grabbing
a hold of that new heart that he's given you and saying, believe
on me. We see the sin that's in our
flesh and we cry out, Lord, please move this thorn that we all carry
in the flesh. I believe that's what Paul was
crying out. It could have been anything.
It could have been the blindness that was coming upon him. It
could have been somebody who was bothering him. It could be
anything. You put anything you want in there as that thorn. That's why the Lord said there
was a thorn in his side. Something to buffet him. Buffet
him to keep him from getting all puffed up about himself. Lord, remove this thorn that
is in my flesh. Yet our Lord, in his loving words,
speak right back to us through the preaching of his gospel.
Peace, be still. My grace is sufficiency for thee. He calms the storms of life by
revealing to the hearts of his chosen people that he is God,
and there is no other before him. He's sovereign ruler over every
detail, every dot, every tittle. All things are for his pleasure
and according to his purpose. And he brings peace to his people
through the preaching of his word. Preachers are sent out
to speak about his works. Sinners are saved by his grace
and are sent out to speak about his grace to sinners who need
it. And we speak of his word. Back in our text that we were
looking at, Isaiah 40, this is our command. Our command is to
comfort God's people. Bill and I had had many, many,
many conversations as I was blessed with the ability to walk alongside
of him through his life. And many of those conversations
went like this, I just don't know, John, or Bill, I can't
understand what, and it was always this. This was our answer to
each other. But God, this is my answer to
you. As you sit there today, As you
go about your walk through this valley of the shadow of death
and you wonder, how can I think such thoughts? This is my answer
to you, but God. God has paid the price. He's redeemed you from the guilt
that you have in your conscience right now for what your flesh
is. There's no other way that you
can fight the curse of sin but through the Lord Jesus. When
sin came into the world, the Lord God Almighty, He cursed
it. He said, curse it is the ground, the very ground that
you walk on to Adam. Everything must be destroyed
and burned up. For God is perfect in all ways
and in every way. He's so holy, He cannot even
look upon imperfection. And every one of us have our
imperfections, don't we? So how do we bring comfort to
those, to His chosen people? What is it that we say to those
who are troubled with their sins? You know, that's the biggest
trouble all of us deal with, isn't it? Isn't that our biggest
trouble? I mean, I know there may be other
things in the world that we're fighting. Desires, lusts, angers,
whatever. But when it comes right down
to it, what's the one thing that we fight we just can't seem to
win over? What's in my heart? What's in
the heart of this flesh? So what do we do? How do we bring
comfort? Look at verse 2, Isaiah chapter
40. Speech ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is Accomplished The battle has been won That her iniquity Her shortcomings Her sin is pardoned,
for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her
sins. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. I want to bring
a title this morning, put a title on this message, A Simple Peace. The battle is done. Our king,
our captain, has fought the battle for us, and it is accomplished. And there ain't be anything of
this world that brings more peace to a sinner than one whose sins
have been paid for. One whose battle with that sin
has been accomplished. What does it mean to be accomplished?
It means this, to fill, or to be full of, in a wide application,
literally and figuratively, means to be accomplished, confirmed,
consecrated, to be at an end, to be expired, to be fenced in,
to be filled, fulfilled. For our Lord uses a layman term
for it. Remember what he said on the
cross, when he gave up the ghost? You don't get any more laymen
than this. It is finished. That's a good way to say accomplished. It is done. It is finished. There's nothing left to do. Salvation
for God's people is accomplished. That her iniquity is pardoned,
it says. All of the shortcomings that
you and I can see when we look in the mirror have been forgiven. They've been pardoned. The judge
sitting in his judgment seat says, you can go free now, because
this one's paid your price. This one's blood has been shed,
and I'm satisfied with the blood of this one. No man could ever shed his blood
outside other than Christ. Because we all come into this
world under the seed of Adam, don't we? Full of sin, full of
the word there, iniquity. Yet He who is perfect, He who
always pleased the Father, was made to be our sin, that we would
be made the righteousness of God in Him. When Christ the Lord died on
that cross, He took every sin that every child of God has ever
committed or ever will commit. And our sins were laid upon Him. So when He went into that grave,
our sins were buried there as well. Folks, the Lord Jesus didn't
come out of the grave with our sins still on Him. He paid the
price. Death was put behind. He came out in the full glory
of God, spotless Lamb again. Perfect in every way to sit on
His throne, making intercession for you and I. that our sins would never be
remembered again. Death could not hold the Savior.
He arose a victor over death. It says, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, sayeth your God. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem.
Cry unto her that her warfare, our warfare has been accomplished. It's been won. Our Lord, the
victor over death and hell, sits on his throne right now. And he left that sin of ours
behind, never to see it again. Buried from God's sight forever,
our warfare is accomplished. Listen to what Henry Mahan wrote
about that verse too. He said, what shall I say to
this people to comfort them? What is a believer's source of
greatest comfort? It's the good news of the gospel. The simplicity of the gospel
that salvation is of the Lord. Cry unto her. Cry unto Israel. It is accomplished. The battle
is over. Thanks be unto God, which giveth
us the victory through our Savior Christ Jesus, 1 Corinthians 15,
55. All of our enemies have been
engaged by our captain, and they are conquered in every and shall
soon be under our feet as they are under his right now. You
can read about that in Hebrews 10. The enemy of self, you can read
about in Galatians 2.20. The enemy of Satan, as we read
in John 14. The enemy of the world, as we
read in John 16. The enemy of death, as we read
about in John 11. Our iniquity is pardoned. All of our sins, past, present,
and future are blotted out forever. Is that not good news? Is that
not something you can swallow as a sinner? Is that not something
that brings comfort to a heart that was struggling at one time? One who was looking to the flesh
for comfort and found none, we find it now, looking to our Savior. What did He say to those men?
Come, follow me. See how simple that is? Even
a child can understand that. Come, follow me. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. And we know who gives us that
belief. We know. You don't have to explain it
to that little girl. God does everything according
to His will and purpose. That includes giving us the belief
in Him. Our warfare is accomplished.
We have a rest in the works of our Savior. Turn over to Hebrews
chapter 4 if you would. In Hebrews chapter 4. And while you're turning there,
allow me to read from Matthew 11 verse 28. Our Lord says in these words,
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. What did our Lord say
to those men again? Come, follow me. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest
under your soul. Our Lord sends out a general
call to all mankind We read in Acts 16 verse 31, the Lord says
these words. It says, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's the general call
that goes out to all mankind. But not all mankind have ears
to hear, as we saw in last week's message. So who are those that believe?
Those that are chosen of God. That's pretty simple, isn't it?
Even a little eight-year-old child could understand that.
How do I believe in God if God has chosen you to believe? His elect, those who are born
again with a new heart, Those who have been given life that
comes from God God comes to each and every one of his people in
the day of love and with the power of God He quickens them. He gives them life Makes them
alive gives them life to give life to the dead and through
the preaching of his word They too will find rest in the Son
of the Living God who read things like, he shall
be called Jesus, for he shall save his people. Comfort, that
he shall save his people. Many hear the word priest, but
few will believe. Look here at chapter 4 of Hebrews,
beginning at verse 1. Let us therefore fear, lest a
promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit
them. not being mixed with faith in
them that heard it. For we which have believed do
enter into a rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath,
if they shall enter into my wrath, although the works were finished
from the foundation of the world, For he that speaketh in a certain
place of the seventh day on this life, and God did rest the seventh
day from all his works." The word must be mixed with faith,
as we just read. Belief. That's pretty simple
words for an eight-year-old to understand, too, huh? Believe.
Believe God. Believe it's true. Believe what
we see here as being true. Faith, though, is the gift of
God. That's another simple statement. Salvation is the Lord. He is
the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of salvation. That's pretty easy to understand.
So what rest? So we rest in His work. We rest
in all of it. We have no confidence in the
flesh. We don't trust in anything of ourselves, not even our belief. We only trust in him and his
word to us. We rest in his promises that
he has a people given to him before the world was created. We trust that he completely and
fully saved his people by the sacrificing of himself. So much
so that He saves them to the uttermost, to the satisfaction
of Himself. We believe, we trust in Him that
the blood that was shed on that cross was His own blood, perfect
in every way, cleansing blood, power in that blood. We trust
that that blood paid the debt in full. We trust that all for
whom the Father giveth Him shall come to Him. We trust These promises
cannot be turned away Because they are the promises of God
Folks we have a perfect rest in our Savior Why do we keep
trying Why do we keep turning around and trying to do it on
our own do it to add what we have to it It's the old nature This is why
we come to church. This is why we gather together
on Friday nights to study God's Word, to remind us. This is why
we come to the table of remembrance, to remind us. You may not need it. You may
be able to go for long periods of time without coming to services
to hear about our Savior. But most of God's children have
to come back and hear it as often as we possibly can. There are
those who Friday night and Sunday are not enough. I like to join Norm Wells on
Wednesday night. I like to join Rick Warda on
Thursday night. Or Kevin Thacker on Wednesday
night. Or somebody like David Edmondson in Danville, Kentucky
this morning. Friday night and Sunday are just
not enough. David said something this morning
that I just screamed at the TV. Amen! Amen! Somebody told him, let
me see if I can get this right now. I want to make sure I say
it right. Somebody came to him at one time
and said something about Christ I don't know if I'm going to
say it right, but I'm going to try. Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is what my world is mostly about. David turned to that guy and
he said, not mine. The guy goes, what? I don't know
if I said that exactly right, but there's something to that
effect. And David said, not mine. Jesus Christ is all of my world. Folks, the Lord God Almighty
is going to do a work in your heart. He's going to make Himself
all of your work. All of it. Back to our text in Hebrews 5
verse 4. Start again this time at verse
3. For we which have believed do enter into a rest, as he said,
as I have sworn in my wrath, that they shall enter into my
rest, although the works were finished from before the foundation
of the world. For he spake of a certain place of a seventh
day on this wise, and God did rest the seventh day from all
his works, and did, and in this place again, If they shall enter
into my rest, seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter
therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not
in because of unbelief, again he limiteth a certain day, saying
unto David, Today, after so long a time, as it is said, Today,
if ye will hear my voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus
hath given them rest, then would he not afterwards have spoken
of another day? There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God, for he that entereth into his rest,
he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did for his." God the Father promised a people
to his Son. God the Son promised to save
his people. God the Spirit promised good
to those who believe. Jerusalem. You know what Jerusalem
is? People want to say, oh, have
you ever been to Jerusalem, where God walked this earth? That's
just a piece of dirt on the other side of the ocean. The Jerusalem
of Scripture that God speaks to is His chosen people. Remember, in Romans, not all
Jerusalem is Jerusalem, is it? Those who believe God. This is the message that even
a simple eight-year-old can understand. Those who believe God of who
He is are saved. That's what I was talking about
with Kathy and I a little bit ago. She says, I believe. Do you believe? Do you rest in what He has done? If you believe, you do. Jerusalem, your warfare is accomplished. It is finished. Rest in the Son
of the living God. Rest in the finished work of
our Savior, Jesus Christ. He has promised good to all who
love him, to all them that are called. Amen.