I want to read for you an article.
It's an excerpt from Henry Mahan's commentary. It's in the bulletin
if you'd like to read right underneath the announcements there. You
can read along with me if you'd like. This goes so well. Once again, our Lord just proves
me over and over again. Kathy picks out most of these
articles. I help pick out some once in a while, but for the
most part, I'm busy trying to put together messages and Bible
studies. And she's, Lord has just blessed
us so good that she's able to go through and find articles.
She picked this one out. I read it. I said, that's a good
one. We'll keep it in there. But I had no idea it was going
to go along with this message so well. Listen to these words.
He takes his thoughts from James 1, 22. through 25, hearers and
doers of the word. Be ye doers of the word and not
hearers only. That's verse 22. Henry writes,
we are to be eager to hear the word of God. We are to hear it
thoughtfully and quietly. Slow to become authorities and
teachers. We are to hear it humbly, as
it is the Word of our Lord. But we are not to be hearers
only. The Word of God is to be believed. It's to be loved. It's to be
obeyed. commandments, its ordinances,
and its principles. You can read that in John 25
verse 14. Those who rest upon outward hearing
of the word only will be greatly disappointed in that day of judgment. Read Matthew 7 verses 26 and
27 of your own time. He goes on, he quotes from in
23 and 24 of James chapter 1, like a man beholding himself
in a glass. Henry says, the Word of God not
only reveals the Holy God to men, it also discovers sinful
man to himself. The man who hears only is like
a man who looks into a mirror, sees dirt, sees blemishes, sees
his hair in disarray, but rather than seeking cleansing and renewal,
he goes his way, forgetting his condition and need. He finds
it convenient to forget what he saw, both his guilt and his
grace, and the grace of Christ. It also says over in verse 25
of James chapter 1, the perfect law of liberty. Henry writes,
the man who looks into the word, not beholds and goes his way,
but gazes with care, concern and interest, not beholds and
goes about his way, but gazes with care, gazes with concern
and interest into this gospel called the perfect law of liberty,
will with full intent to receive, believe and obey it. shall be blessed in his life
of faith and obedience. It's called the perfect law of
liberty because it has liberty as its subject. Christ frees
us from the curse, condemnation, and bondage of the law. He frees
us from the power and dominion of sin. He gives us freedom to
approach the throne of grace. He leads us, all the way my Savior
leads me, He leads us to the liberty of His grace, and He
continues therein, looking to Christ, looking into His Word
for faith, growth, and leadership, and looking to His Spirit for
grace, strength, and instruction. This is a lifelong occupation,
and it's such a privilege. Hebrews 12, verses 1 and 2. Hearers
and doers of the Word. Did you catch that when he said,
we are to hear thoughtfully, listen thoughtfully, gather together,
and hear the word of God preached. We are to hear it humbly, knowing
what we are before God. We are to hear it, but we are also to act upon it,
believe, and thou shalt be saved. In Luke chapter 6, We read verses
39-49, beginning at verse 39, Can the blind lead
the blind? Shall they not both fall into
the ditch? The disciple is not above his
master, but every one that is perfect shall be as his master. And why beholdest thou the mote
that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that
is in thine own eye? Either how canst thou say to
thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in
thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is
in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first
the beam out of thine eye, and then shalt ye see clearly to
pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye. For a good
tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit, and neither doth a corrupt
tree bring forth good fruit. Now here's verse 44. For every tree is known
by his own fruit, For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of
the bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the
good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good, and
an evil man out of an evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that
which is evil. For the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. And now this is what I want to
look at today. I want to really concentrate on verses 46 through
49. And why call ye me Lord? and do not the things which I
say. Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth
my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like. He is like a man which built
a house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock. And when the flood arose, the
stream beat vehemently upon the house, and could not shake it,
for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth and doeth
not is like a man that without a foundation built in house upon
the earth, against which the stream did beat vehemently, and
immediately it fell, and the ruin of the house was great."
Now, our Lord gives us two distinct types of believers here, two
distinct types of people. But I want to say this first,
God saves sinners by free grace alone. We're not saved by what we will
do. We're not saved by what we have
done. God saves us by the election
and election in grace alone. We are saved by grace. Salvation is of the Lord. Redemption
is the work of God's grace. Regeneration is the work of free
grace alone. We are kept and preserved in
grace by grace alone. Vera would like to look at these
points that I'm making right now in great detail. We've got Episode 1 and Episode 2 of our
Friday Night Bible Study in the 4-year. I highly recommend you
take it home and read Part 1 and Part 2. Part 3 will be next Friday.
It's on the characteristics of God's grace. And that's what
I've just gone through a small list of. We're kept and preserved
by God's grace alone. The doctrine of Holy Scripture
is crystal clear from start to finish. Salvation is in the Lord.
A spiritually dead sinner has no more to do with the work of
the new birth than Lazarus did when the Lord gave him life,
when he rose from the dead. But that does not mean, that does not mean that we're
passive in our experience. God does not knock a man in the
head and drag him to heaven. Whether he wants to go or not,
no, no. That's not what scriptures teach
at all. Our Lord makes his people willing in the day of his power,
in the day of his love. I mention this in Bible study.
We're talking about God. That's Jesus Christ, folks. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.
When he speaks, he speaks with the power of God. He didn't need
to drag me. The power of God grabs a hold
of His people and they come willingly. We come willingly. When you see the love of God, when God Almighty Cuts out that
old stony heart. That old heart that said, I believe
in Jesus, but Jesus allows me to make my own decisions. When
the people were left to make their own decision, they said,
crucify him, crucify him. And you and I would have done
the same thing. But when God comes to us and takes that old
stony heart, that shakes its fist at Him, and He gives us
a new heart that believes His Word, we see the love of God
in His Son, the Lord Jesus. How are you not going to love
Him back? That doesn't make any sense,
John. Yes it does to a sinner who has
been saved by grace. It makes perfect sense. When
I heard about God's love for me, how can I not love Him back?
Where else am I going to go? Where else is there life? He makes us willing in the day
of His power and He graciously causes us, His chosen people,
to come to Him. Isn't that what we read in Psalm
65, verse 4? Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest. Blessed is the man whom God has
chosen. It doesn't say blessed is the man who chose to follow
God. It says blessed is the man whom
God has chosen and caused us. Not only did he
choose us, he caused us. He gave life. to us as we were
once dead. And you all see it because you
were once dead too. And you see right now, sitting
here in these chairs today, you see that you were once dead and
now you have life. You believe God. Whosoever believeth
in Him shall have everlasting life. I was talking with a brother
the other day. He's struggling so hard to understand
salvation. He's struggling, and I believe
he's a brother. I believe he does. I believe he is. But he's
learning. He's learning how to tell if we're saved. How can
we tell? How can we tell? The simplest
way I could put it to him was just, do you believe God? Do
you believe His Word? Do you believe that He chose
you from before the world began? Do you believe that you were
in His Son, the Lord Jesus, before anything was ever created? That's
what His Word says. Yeah, I do. I say, well, then
what's your problem? Well, maybe I just want a receipt. You want a receipt for what you've
got? A receipt is something you have done. The receipt is... I paid five bucks for something
at the parts store the other day. I got a receipt for it. God doesn't say he's going to
give us a receipt. He says believe. Believe and thou shalt be saved. That's part of what it is. That's
part of what this is talking about. That's part about what
doers Those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, that's part
of what that is. Believing in Jesus. Now, do I
believe as well as I'd like to? No. And you all say the same
thing. No, we don't. In fact, every
one of you probably believes more than I do. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell
in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. In Psalms 110 verse 3 we read
this, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. In this
passage that we just read, our Lord describes two groups of
hearers, two kinds of religious people. Those who are saved,
and those who think they are saved, even though they are still
lost. True believers, those who have
been made wise by grace, are people who do some things. People
who, being quickened by His grace, called by His Spirit, drawn by
the cords of love, have been made to want Christ and seek
Him with their hearts. That's what you're doing here
this morning. The United States U.S. Open is
on right now on TV. Why are we not watching it? Because
we want to be what Christ has preached. God has made us willing
in the day of His power. We do things. We don't just sit
back and not do anything. We don't just go to church on
Sunday and then live like the world the rest of the week. We
don't. Oh, I want to go to church this
Sunday, but you know, the United States U.S. Open is on. I'm going
to miss church for that. No. You can put anything you
want in there. It doesn't have to be the U.S.
Open. It could be anything. God's people will say, I don't
want to do that. I want to be at service. I was at my brother Lee's house
when his son was shot and killed by an officer. Kathy was with us then. The Lord
hadn't called Kathy out of darkness yet. That was before the Lord
called her. I got ready to leave and she
said, where are you going? I think it was you, maybe it was somebody
at the house. I think somebody at the house, where are you going?
I said, it's Sunday morning. I need to go hear the word. We
can stand here and grieve all day, but I need to hear the word
of God Christ. And I came and listened to the word. God's people do things. Because of what Christ has done
for us, we do something. We do some things. We go to where
the Word is preached to hear the Word of God. Two weeks from
today will be the last two messages of our conference. Two weeks
from last Friday night, there's a conference starting here. People
are coming from Australia to hear the Word of God. People
are coming from Florida to hear the Word preached. God's people
do things. We go to where the Word is preached
and we hear it. The same message. We've got four
preachers, eight messages, and I guarantee you all eight messages
are going to be on the same side of Christ and Him crucified. That's all I want to hear. That's
all God's children ever want to hear. We want to hear about
our Savior because we have to walk around in this world of
death. We have to go through the valley of the shadow of death.
We need to hear about a Savior who saves. Not one who might. Not one who possibly would, but
one who does. We see in this message here two
different kinds of people, two different kinds of religious
people. Those who belong to the Lord,
we hear His voice gladly, and we do His bidding diligently. And we've discovered the foundation
for what we do, and that foundation is Christ. We're not here digging
deep for any reason of ourselves.
We're looking deep at our foundation, the only one who is strong as
a rock, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, steadfast and solid. Our Lord describes these religious
fools, and in this passage He says, but in Matthew, Matthew
recorded it this way in chapter 7 verse 26, And everyone that
heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be
likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.
The religious fools are ones who do not take the things of
God seriously. Do you take the things of God
seriously? Love thy neighbor? Is that something we take seriously? Or do we just lip-sync it? Do
we just like, oh, yeah, I try but I can't so, oh well. Folks, what I'm asking you is that your
desire, what is your desire to lip-sync or to do? We're not going to do anything
the Lord tells us to do in a righteous way. We're not going to do anything
the Lord tells us to do in a way that would be satisfactory to
our Lord. But I want to. There's a day coming when I will,
when the Lord takes me out of this world. And I won't have
to look upon this sinful flesh anymore who falls short every
day about loving the neighbor. But I want to. Remember the day when you didn't
care about loving your neighbor? If you're a child of God, you
care about it now. We hear the gospel. Those who hear the gospel, who
the Lord calls foolish, They hear it just like a wise man
does, but in their heart, they turn back to the ways of the
world. Their religion is all on the
surface, superficial and fake. With them, there is no digging,
no building, and no standing. The religious fool is one who
has made his lies his own refuge. They have a house of refuge,
but it's a house with no solid foundation. A refuge of lies
built upon the shifting sands of human effort. If I just try. Built on the shifting sands of
religious works. I go to church on Sunday. You
don't know it, but I can sleep with my eyes open. the shifting sands of personal
goodness. What is your foundation? You don't have to answer me,
answer yourself. What is my foundation? Am I trusting
in something I have done? Am I trusting in my belief? Or am I trusting in the only
foundation there is, in the Word of God, in Christ? If you're trusting in anything
else, folks, you're going to find yourself sorely, sorely, sorely
disappointed. Is your soul built upon the foundation
of the earth and sand, or are you built upon the rock, Jesus
Christ? Safe centers are built upon the
foundation that God has laid in Zion. In Isaiah 28, 16, therefore,
thus saith the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation,
a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall make
haste. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach thee, that he may dwell in thy
courts. Let's first consider, we've got
a couple of minutes, let's first consider the Christless religion. Religion without Christ is a
pretty common thing. You might think, oh, what are
you talking about, John? There's 15 Christian churches
between here and Folsom. on Green Valley Road. What are
you talking about? It's rare. It's rare because
they're not preaching the true and living God. They want to
preach about a God who has done all that he can. And now it's
up to you to do what you want, what you've got to do. That's
not the God of scriptures. Have you ever gone out and listened
to other churches? I'm not recommending that you
do, but I have. Our brother, Tom Sawyer, some
of you may remember him. He came and heard Gene Harmon
preach here one time. And Gene said this, there aren't
anybody else out here preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
There's nobody else preaching about a sovereign God who in
grace, in His own grace, chose a people unto Himself. And Tom
said, Ha! You remember, don't you? Yeah,
Pauline Mary, she remembers that real well. Tom said, Ha! I'll
go find out for myself. And he did. It took him, what,
two months? Two months? A little over two
months. Gene thought, I'll never see that guy ever again. One
day he showed up here and he said, you know what? You're right. This is where he came to church
from that time on. The visible church has always,
listen to me now, listen to me carefully, the visible church,
those who declare themselves to be Christians, has always
been a mixed multitude. It always has. Did you know Judas
worshipped right alongside of the other eleven apostles? Do you know that Jesus Christ
himself walked with several, many disciples. Not just the
twelve apostles, but many disciples. And when he began to tell them
that you must eat my flesh and drink my blood in reference to
feasting our souls upon the only food that will sustain us, and
that's our Savior Jesus Christ. Many of his disciples walked
no more with him. The church has always been a
mixed multitude of people. Israel, Israel, a picture of
the church of God, became apostate, so much so that the religion,
the Jewish religion, doesn't even resemble what it was when
the Lord first showed himself to Jacob. Doesn't even resemble
that anymore. But yet all that time, there
was a remnant. You've read that, haven't you?
You know what I'm saying is true. It's according to God's word.
I have my remnant according to election. Tares grow wherever weed is sown. Goats graze in the same field
of sheep. Wherever you find gold, you're
sure to find fool's gold. While He walked and preached
in this world, our Lord Himself had many followers who were His
disciples in word only. Many who pretended to honor Him
and call Him Lord, but yet were rebels and refused to obey Him. And I already told you about
Judas. This is the evil which our Lord exposes right here in
verse 46. He says, And why call ye me Lord? Lord, and do not the things which
I say. Those words have always been
a painful fact throughout the history of the church. That multitudes
profess faith in Christ who do not know Him. Many of you and
I have family. and profess Christ, yet they
don't follow Him at all. Multitudes wear His name, they
use it, but they do not follow Him. Listen to the words of Isaiah
chapter 29 verse 13. Wherefore the Lord saith, forasmuch
as this people draw near me with their mouth. This is speaking
of Israel. This is speaking of God's people.
That great people that the Lord raised up, they speak of me,
they draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips they
do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me. And their fear toward me is taught
by the precept of men. James chapter 1 verse 22 through
23 we read this, but ye be doers of the word and not hearers only,
deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the
word and not a doer, he is like a man unto a man beholding his
natural face in glass. Look over at Ezekiel chapter
33 if you would. Actually, I'll tell you what,
turn over to Matthew chapter 15. Matthew chapter 15. And allow
me to read for you from Ezekiel 33. Verse 31 over in Ezekiel 33 says,
we read these words, And they come unto thee as a people cometh,
and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words,
but they will not do them. For with their mouth they show
much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. Now, over in Matthew chapter
15, we look at these words, look
at verses 8 and 9. This people draw nigh unto me
with their mouth, and they honor me with their lips, but their
heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me,
teaching for the doctrines, the commandments of men. Folks, nothing
is more likely to keep you from Christ than deluding yourself
into thinking that you have Him when you do not. God's people never, never stop,
never stop examining ourselves, am I in the faith? We just don't. Knowing the sinners that we are,
can we ever stop wondering, does God love me? That's what this
brother was talking about, you know, that I mentioned, he wanted
a receipt. He was looking at it in the wrong way, but he was
talking as all sinners saved by grace do. Am I saved of God? How could God save such a wretch
like me? True faith is an earnest heart. Now, I can't
tell if your heart's earnest. I can't tell how sincere you
are in your heart. But you can. Do I sincerely desire the will
of God? Do I sincerely believe the Word
of God as it's given to me in Holy Scriptures? Do I sincerely
desire to do the things that God has told me to do? An earnest heart is in pursuit
of the Lord Jesus Christ and those who are born of God know
our need of Christ and we seek Him with all of our hearts. Turn
over to Philippians chapter 3. Turn over to Philippians chapter
3. Look at verses 7-14 with me.
But what things were gained to me. This is Paul. Writing to
the Philippians. He's going to tell them a little
bit about himself before the Lord called him out of darkness.
But what things were gained to me. Those things. All of those
religious works that he was taught to do. Oh, look how righteous I am.
I'm wearing the right clothes. I'm praying at the right times.
I'm doing all the rituals according to God's Word. I'm filling them
all out. I'm checking off each and every
box. Those things were gained to me, but I counted lost. Those things He counts lost.
What? For Christ's sake. for Christ. Verse 8, Yea, doubtless,
and I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ. You see the pursuit? You see
the heart, the true heart, the one who has an earnest pursuit
of finding Christ, doing the will of Christ, worshiping Him,
Doubtless I count all things, but lost for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them, but dumb that I may
win Christ. And being found in him, not having
mine own righteousness, here's that earnest, true heart, we
found that our only righteousness can be in Christ, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ. Did you
catch that? It's through the faith. Belief
in Him. Whosoever believeth. Here's the easiest way, folks.
When you're doubting your salvation, close your eyes and say, Do I
believe God's Word? That is the most simplest way
I can tell you to put all that other stuff behind you. To put
away all that sin that you see in your flesh. Do I believe? See, it's true faith. We're saved
by grace, but it's true belief. It's true believing who He is.
It's true believing that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. It's
true believing that what He did on that cross is enough. When
He said it is finished, it is finished. It's true believing
that as God in the flesh, death couldn't hold Him. After paying
for our sins, He raised Himself up and He sits at the right hand
of God right now. That's the belief. The most simplest
thing we can do when we doubt our salvation is, do I believe? Do ya? If you do, you're going
to do everything you possibly can through this flesh, even
though it's going to stumble, even though it's not going to
be very good at it, you're going to do everything you can to go
after Christ. That's what we're here today
doing. Going after our Savior. Hearing His Word. Hearing who
He is. Let's move on. I said we're going
to go through 14. I want to move on. A sinner knows his need of
Christ when he is fleeing from the wrath of God. When the gaping
jaws of hell are before us. That means when we see what we
deserve. When we see what it is we have
earned in this flesh, our only hope, our only rest is in our
Savior. We're going to go after Him.
It says in Luke chapter 6 verse
47, Whomsoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth
them, I will show you to whom he is like. Believers are sinners who come
to Christ as our priest. as our Savior, trusting Him alone
for our acceptance with God. We're people who hear Christ's
word as the prophet, our prophet, as our teacher. I know John's
up there talking, but here's what's teaching me what the Lord
is saying right here in His word. And believers are people who
obey Christ as our King. I am not You ever hear somebody
say, if you just let Jesus be your King. If you would just
make God your King. The Lord Jesus Christ your King.
Folks, I didn't make Jesus anything. He's the one who made Himself
King in my heart. And He did the very same thing
for you, if you belong to Him. Our Lord describes the believer
as a wise man who builds his house upon a rock. We believe on that rock. We dig deep. We spare nothing
to find it. We refuse to build upon any other
foundation other than the Lord Jesus himself. Isaiah 28, 16,
we read these words, Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold,
I lay in Zion a foundation, a stone, tried, precious, A cornerstone,
a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. What is this? What is this stone? It's the God-man. Turn over to
Matthew 16. We're almost done here. Look
over here at Matthew 16 with me for just a moment, will you?
What is this stone? What is this stone that was laid
in Zion for our sakes? Tried and true. In Matthew 16
we read these words over in verses 13. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do
men say that I, the Son of Man am? And they said, Some say that
thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, others Jeremiah, or maybe
one of the prophets. And he said unto them, But whom
say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Blessed art thou, for flesh and
blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is
in heaven. And I say unto thee, thou art
Peter, and upon this rock. You know, I read that wrong.
I want to read that again. Start back at verse 18. And I
say unto thee, thou art Peter. comma, break. Because Peter is
not the rock. The answer that Peter gave is
the rock. Thou art the son of the living
God, with all power in heaven and earth, with all glory given
unto you. And upon this rock I will build
my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail. In Romans 9.33, as it is written,
behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone, a rock of offense, and
whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Edward Mote wrote these words.
You'll find this song familiar. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Our Lord is the foundation
God has laid. Will you stumble over Him? Or will you build upon Him? Faith cometh by hearing. You want to build your faith
up? You got some weak faith? You struggling with things? Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing by the word of God. That's
what you guys are doing right here, right now. That's what
all you folks who have joined us from around the country online,
that's exactly what you're doing. Faith cometh. We're building
our faith. How? By looking to our Lord and
Savior, Christ Jesus. What must I do? Believe. How can I know? Do you believe? Build upon our Savior. Look at the verse on the front
of today's scripture or bulletin. Look at the scripture on the
front of today's bulletin. Colossians 2, verses 6-8. As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. Don't be just listeners, folks.
Be doers. I know you can't do it perfectly.
You know you can't do it perfectly. But that doesn't mean you sit
back and don't do anything. Walk ye in Him rooted and built
up in Him, and established in faith as ye have been taught,
abounding therein with thanksgiving." But notice what he says next. Beware lest any man spoil you
through vain philosophy. in vain deceit, after the tradition
of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Amen.