No other plea, it is enough that
Jesus died and that he died for me. There have been many times in
the past that before standing up to preach, I've literally
felt like I was going to pass out. It just so happened that it really
happened last week. But it wasn't the purport of
the word. I wish that were so. Daniel,
one time, Daniel 9, after he received a vision of Christ and
all that was going to happen, he said, I was sick. I was sick
several days after that. I read a story one time. Well,
I'll tell you this. One of the brethren said that
Sunday was a great blessing to him. Both messages. And he was
going on and on about it. And I asked him, are you implying
that you think I should get sick more often? Preach better actually. True
story. An old man, years ago, who used
to preach long, long messages, and he had a manuscript that
he followed carefully. And one Lord's Day, he literally,
while he was preaching, he literally went blind. He lost his eyesight. He could not see. And so he couldn't
read his manuscript, so he just preached from the heart. And
one of the members said afterwards, I wish he'd have gone blind years
ago. True story. But, oh, would to God we had
such a burden for the Word that made us ill, all of us. Psalm 116. Psalm 116. They made the comment
on the way here, I wonder who might be here tonight was not
here last Wednesday who needed to hear this. You know, that's
the way the Lord does things. Read verses 5 and 6 with me. Psalm 116. 5 and 6. Gracious is the Lord and righteous. Yea, our God is merciful. The
Lord preserveth the simple. I was brought low. David said,
and he helped me. Simple, the word simple can be
used different ways. It can mean easy, not difficult,
uncomplicated, simple. It can mean, as it's mostly used
in the New Testament, singular, or not complex, just one way. Paul said, I fear that Satan
would deceive you from the simplicity that is in Christ. That is, that
salvation is only in Christ. Salvation is not simple. It's not what modern religion
makes it to be, easy-believism, you know. You just decide. Simple, just believe. Well, salvation
is a great work of God, an infinitely wise, eternal, mysterious work
of God. The Scriptures even say that
the King of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violence taken
by force. So it's not simple in that respect,
easy. But simply put, simply put, let
me make this just as simple as possible. is of the Lord. That's what this is saying. And salvation is in Christ. You
want to know what salvation is? It's in two words. To be found
in Christ. In Christ. In the Old Testament,
the word sephal is used one way. Just one way. It's used many
times. Proverbs, Psalms. And it means
one thing. every time. It means silly. It means foolish. It means stupid. Brother David Edmondson apologized
for using that word, but I'm going to use it without apology
all night, because it clearly describes what we are by nature. Stupid. It means to be in a stupor. As in, dull of hearing. Don't
you hear what I'm saying? Wake up. Stupid. Dull of sensing. It means this every time. The
Lord's preserved it. The stupid. It means easily fooled. Simple. It means easily fooled. Easily
misled. Easily influenced. Like a child. It means childish. That's what
it means. It means childish. It means weak-minded,
it means feeble-minded. The Lord preserveth the simple,
the weak, the foolish, the feeble. That's who he say, that's who
he say. But not all of them, but those
that are spiritually so, feel themselves to be spiritually
so. Maybe I got sick so that I would
rework this, because I had a two-page introduction. It was anything
but simple. So I went back and tore it up. My pastor had a school for preachers
for about three years, and he had this motto, K-I-S-S. K-I-S-S, keep it simple, stupid. Keep it simple. Stupid. Well, listen, here it is. Very
simple. We're all born simple. We're
all born that way. But we grow up, and then all
of a sudden we think we know something. And we become proud. We become heady. We become high-minded. We become haughty. We become
self-conceited. wise in our own conceits, meaning
we think we are, but we're a fool. We become vain, glorious. And the Lord calls man, in general,
a fool. Doesn't he? A fool. And he calls us simple. That's
the way he addresses mankind in the Proverbs. You simple ones. Doesn't he? And that's what it
means. That's what it means. And the
people by nature, all of us, are easily led captive by the
God of this world and by the lust of the flesh. We're just
stupid. And here it is, very plain and
simply. If the Lord doesn't save us,
we won't be saved. If the Lord doesn't preserve
us and keep us, we cannot. keep ourselves. We cannot. You can't do it. You won't do
it. If the Lord doesn't teach us, we won't know anything. We'll
remain dull and stupid and silly and simple. He doesn't keep teaching
us. Didn't Paul say, if any man thinks
he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as you ought to know, and
he'd start all over again. Paul said that one time to the correct
me as he said, or the Hebrew as he said, you should be teachers,
but you've become dull of hearing and now you've got to start all
over again. Do we have to start all over again? We're all guilty
of that. The older ones will admit, I
hope, that after all these years you feel like, haven't I learned
anything? That's what it means to be simple
and know that you are. God's people are not fools. They've
been made wise in Christ, but yet we're speaking
to those who feel themselves to be so. All right? That's who
the Lord saved. All right, here's a simple outline.
Number one, the merciful Lord. And point number two, the simple
sinner. The merciful Lord. The Lord preserveth
the simple because, verse five, gracious is the Lord. And righteous,
yea, our God is merciful. Gracious is the Lord. Gracious
is the Lord. He's full of grace. All grace. Every grace. We need grace. By
grace you're saved. By grace you're kept. By grace
you're led. By grace you're taught. By grace
you're restrained. By grace you're constrained.
By grace, it's by grace. We need grace. He's the God of
all grace. And He delights in giving. And
He giveth and giveth and giveth more grace. He preserves the
simple because He is gracious. He gives us everything. Simpletons need everything. And the Lord has it all. He is
very gracious, very tender, very kind, very compassionate. You
need to be that way with simple, childish people. Patient and
long-suffering. You must be so. Brother John
Davis and I were talking about our Lord's long-suffering. However,
he never was agitated with his disciples. He was never aggravated, never imposed upon
them. He never grew overly, he wasn't
angry with them, though they provoked him like the children
of Israel, constantly. The Lord is so gracious, pitiful,
very pitiful, full of pity. Compassionate, patient, long-suffering. Peter said, keep this in mind,
take this into account, that the long-suffering of the Lord
is salvation. Are we going to be saved when
it's all over? Well, is the Lord long-suffering? He's pitiful. He pities them
that fear Him. He pities the weak. He pities
the poor. The Lord is gracious. The Lord is very thoughtful.
The Lord is courteous. Consider the other and not yourself. Put in the other before yourself.
That's the Lord in it. Considerate. Generous. Thoughtful. Thoughtful. David
often spoke of the Lord's thoughts toward him. He said, if I could,
when I think of them, they're just too wonderful for me. He
said, let me read this to you. Psalm 139, one of my favorites
and some of yours too, but David said, He said, oh, how precious
are your thoughts unto me, O God. How great is the sum of them. If I should count them, they're
more in number than the sand. He said, when I wake up, I'm
with you. I'm in your thoughts. That whole
psalm is wonderful. The Lord is generous, gracious. He's generous. He giveth, he
giveth. He said this. He said, it's more
blessed to give than to receive it. Well, He is the blessed Lord. He is the blessed man. Psalm
1 speaks of the blessed man. Who is that? The very first Psalm? That must, it has to speak of
Christ, the blessed man, isn't it? Like the tree planted by
the water. And why is He so blessed? Because He giveth. It's more
blessed to give than to receive. He delights to give. I remember
as a young believer working on the railroad, And I was struggling
with my own sinfulness and temptations and walking along. I did lots
of walking. The brakeman, Steven, you know,
it walked miles and miles and miles in the middle of the night,
all hours, all weather. And I was walking along. I was
just, oh, I was feeling so low. And I carried a little Bible
in my back pocket and took my ladder, my brakeman's ladder.
I just needed a word in season. I turned to Luke 12, Luke 12,
32, and it said, Fear not, little flock, it is your father's good
pleasure to give unto you the kingdom. Oh my, I didn't feel,
I didn't hit the ground from there to the caboose. Walking
on it, I just, it's just good pleasure. It's a good place. If you then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your loved ones, how much more shall
the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit or whatever you need
to them that ask Him? He's so gracious. He'll give
to anyone that asks Him. He'll give to anyone that asks
Him. And here's how stupid we are. We don't ask. We don't ask. We have not because we ask. And
when we do ask, We're so stupid that we ask for this. We ask for things we don't need.
And He's so loving and kind, He doesn't give them to us. They
might ruin us. The Lord is gracious. Don't you
love that? That's how He preserves, that's
why He preserves the sinful. He's gracious. Gracious is the
Lord and righteous, look at this, verse 5, righteous is the Lord. Righteous. Right. That basically
means right. Everything he is, is right. Everything
he says is right. Things are right because he does
them. Things are right. Everything
he does is righteous. He's pure. He's honest. He's
true. He's righteous. Abraham was worried about his
nephew Lot, wasn't he? And Sodom. And he should have
been. He was afraid that Lot was going to perish in Sodom. The Lord said he was going to
destroy Sodom. And Abraham knew it. So he pleaded
to the Lord for his nephew. People, we live in Sodom. You
got anybody you care about? We need to plead with the Lord,
don't we? Constantly. Always. Don't give up. Abraham
kept pleading, didn't he? Kept pleading. He said, Lord,
don't be angry with me. I'm going to keep asking. Didn't
he? Well, what was it finally when
the Lord said... He didn't find ten righteous
men. But what was it finally that Abraham concluded to settle
his own heart, to give him comfort, to console him that whatever
the Lord did was going to be right? He said, shall not the judge
of the earth do right? Yes, he will. Yes, he will. And that's our peace. The judge
of the earth always does right because he's righteous. He cannot
do anything wrong. He's too good to do evil. Too
wise to err. He's too righteous to do wrong. Everything he does is right.
Everything he says is right. It's not just a good way. It's
not good counsel. It's the only way. It's the right
way. Paths of righteousness. The Lord
is right. Whatever he does is right with
you, with me, with mine, with all things. He's right. If we
keep this in mind, it will give us peace and we won't sin with
our lips or charge God foolishly like Job was kept from. He said, it's the Lord. I mean,
the Lord gave, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. Like Eli, it will give you peace no matter what the
Lord is going to do with you and yours. It will give you peace.
He will say. It's the Lord. Let Him do what
seems good to Him. He's right. I don't know what's
right. I am not skilled to understand what God hath willed, what God
hath planned. But He's right. He's right. Keep that in mind.
Yay? You know, David, I like when a scripture says, yay. You
know, we say that to cheer, don't we? Yay! That's a good way to
put it. Yay! Our God is merciful. Gracious is the Lord and righteous. Yay! Yes! All the promises of
God are yay! Amen! In Christ to the glory
of God. Yay! Our God is merciful. Yes! I like that, don't you?
Turn with me to Psalm 145, very quickly. Psalm 145. This is wonderful. Psalm 145. Speaks of the great
God and His great works. Psalm 145, 8 and 9, the Lord
is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over
all His work. Verse 14, the Lord upholdeth
all that thought, raiseth up all those that be bowed down.
The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat
in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and
satisfy the desire of every living thing." The Lord is righteous
in all His ways, and holy in all His work. The Lord is nigh
unto all them that call upon Him. What a promise, to all that
call upon Him in truth. That is, truly, sincerely, and
in Christ, who is the truth. He will fulfill the desire of
them that fear him. He will. What's your desire?
What's your desire? What is your true and heartfelt
desire? David said, One thing have I
desired, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life, behold the beauty
of the Lord, and inquire into his temple. David, you got it.
He will fulfill the desire. Is that your desire? You're going
to be there. Why? Because he's merciful. Because
he's true. He's righteous. He's faithful. He's true. He also, verse 19,
he will hear their cry. Do you cry when you call upon
the Lord? Do you? Do you? Like a baby? He will hear their cry and will
save them. Oh, Psalm 107. Wouldn't you like
to go there? Oh, the people got in trouble
over and over and over again. Four times it says they got in
trouble. Then they called upon the Lord.
They forget Him and all of their sins. But then they got in trouble. Then they called on the Lord
and it says, and He heard them. And He saved them. It's in His Word. Read on verse 20, the Lord preserved
them, all them that loved Him. Do you love the Lord? Not one person in here would
say that you love Him like you ought, like you want to, like
you should. In fact, every person in here
beginning with me, you must hang your head when asked that question. I believe Peter did. I believe
Simon Peter did after he denied the Lord, after he acted like
he said he didn't even know Him. And the Lord is merciful. Tell
my disciples, and Peter. Well, I'm sure Peter hung his
head when the Lord asked him, not once, not twice, but three
times, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou thee? Lord, yea, I do. I do. The Lord preserveth. all of them
to love Him. And everyone that truly loves
the Lord knows they love Him because, because He first loved
them. He preserved all them that loved
Him. And all the wicked, He will destroy. The opposite of that, He will
destroy them. Alright? How? In Psalm 19, you don't have
to turn there. I do want you to turn to Proverbs.
In Psalm 19, our sister and I love these verses, it says, the law
of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony, the
gospel of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Statutes of
the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of
the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord
is clean, cleansing, enduring forever. The judgments of the
Lord are true and righteous. altogether. But look at Proverbs
1. This is the purpose of the Proverbs
and all of God's Word. It says in Proverbs 1, verse
1, the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel,
to know wisdom. What's that? He ain't a what? It's a person. Christ, to know
Him. He is wisdom. And instruction,
His instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, that
we might know Him that is true and understand Him. To receive the instruction of
Him, justice and judgment and equity, to give subtlety to the
simple. Wisdom, subtlety. Look at chapter
8. Go over there quickly. Chapter
8 speaks much of the simple. And this is Christ speaking.
Doth not wisdom cry? Proverbs 8. This is Christ. Understanding put forth her voice.
Why is Christ called a she? Because he speaks through his
church. She standeth in the top of high places, by the way, in
the places of the path. That is, the church is set on
a hill. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at
the coming in at the door. Unto you, O man, I call, and
my voice is to the sons of man. O ye, settle. Foolish. Understand wisdom. Oh, and you
fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Hear, for I will speak
of excellent things, and the opening of my lips shall be right
things. My mouth shall speak truth, and
wickedness is an abomination to my lip. All the words of my
mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing forward, wreathed,
twisted, or perverse in them. And look at this verse. They're
all plain, them that understand this. And write to them that
find knowledge. Chapter 9, look at this. Chapter
9, verse 1. Wisdom hath builded her house.
That's Christ. She hath hewn out her seven pillars,
her perfect church. She hath killed her beasts, and
mingled her wine. She hath also furnished her table.
She hath sent forth her maidens, her witnesses. She crieth upon
the highest places of the city. Whoso is simple, Let him turn
in hither. As for him that wanteth understanding,
she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread, drink of the wine which
I have mingled. Forsake the foolish, and live,
and go in the way of understanding." That's how he makes the simple
wise. The Lord preserved the simple. Alright, now who is it that he
saved? the merciful Lord. Now, here's
the simple sinner. He delights to show mercy to
the simple. Now, there are simple-minded
persons that are born that way from birth. We all know them. Some. No one. They're born that
way from birth. And they stay that way. And they
never get above that. According to the will of God.
According to the purpose of God. According to the glory of God. You know, isn't it great mercy? The Lord preserveth the simple. He's going to save every single
simple-minded person born in this world, certain of it. It's
certain entrance into glory. It's a great trial for those
who endure it, for others, but it's great mercy. And those who are born that way,
simple-minded, feeble-minded, their brain, whatever, their
thoughts, their mind never develops, never matures, never develops
beyond a little child. All of these, the Lord preserved
it, the Lord preserved it, the simple. They will be in his kingdom
forever. And one day, they will awake,
completely whole, the mind of Christ. Now these simple ones,
tell me is it not so with the really simple. Are they not very
weak? Weak in their understanding. Are they not gullible? Don't
they believe anything you tell them? Aren't they completely
and totally dependent on others? Absolutely, completely, 100%
dependent upon another. That describes faith, doesn't
it? Isn't that faith? Are they not trusting? Do they
not trust you? No guile. Tell me. Have you ever
seen one of these simple-minded persons to be full of guile and
deception and trickery? No, they're very open, very,
what's the word? Transparent. Very happy. All these simple ones. The Lord preserves. Oh, little
children. Our Lord said this. Our Lord
said this. One time, He took a little child
and set him or her on His lap. Remember, we did this one time. Took a little child and set the
little child on His lap. And the parents wanted the Lord
to bless their children. And the disciples, get these
little kids out of here. And he set that little child
on his lap and he said, except you repent and become as little
children, you're not going to be in the kingdom of heaven.
He said, of such is the kingdom of heaven. Now, I know he means
that, I know he means that, except you become childlike in faith
and trust and no guile and so forth, born again. I know that
he means that, but he actually means that the kingdom is made
up of children. And not children then, that would
be the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, but
that's what they were when they were here. Little children of
such as the kingdom of heaven. Now, I know they're born sinners,
I know, and I would dare not compromise God's truth to include
anybody in the kingdom of heaven. No sir. They're born sinners, and they
die because of sin. But now, Romans 5, I believe
it is, let me make sure, yeah. Romans 5.14 speaks of those that
die because of sin who have not sinned at the similitude of Adam's
transgression. Meaning, willfully, rebelliously,
consciously, like Adam, sinned against God. That's true. They're born sinners. They have
that nature in them. But until, and there's no, listen
to me carefully now, the scriptures does not teach an age of accountability.
And people have put that at 12 years old because the Lord, when
he was, that's just not in the Bible. But the Lord deals with
individuals, doesn't he? He does what's right with everyone,
and he deals with each one accordingly, according to his wisdom and his
purpose. There's no age of accountability,
but there's a time up until then, a time that there's not, This
willful, conscious rebellion against God. They have this nature
in them. But you can't be held accountable
for that which you can't give an account of. Huh? If you can't hear with understanding,
that's what Nehemiah, they talked about in Nehemiah, he said, he
read it to those who were able to understand it. You're going
to be held accountable for it. But Christ had to die for them.
Christ's blood was shed for them. We've brought this up several
times before. And there's some men, and I don't
know why men take such a hard line on this. It's a bad attitude. Bad attitude. I'm glad God's
merciful. Because men aren't. But we brought
this up before. Do you suppose that all those
children that died for Christ, when Herod had all those babies
killed, trying to kill the Christ child, do you suppose for one
moment that they died in vain? Huh? Nobody's ever laid down
their life for Christ and did so in vain. Huh? No sir. What about all those
that Pharaoh had killed for Moses' sake? Huh? I'll show you a couple
of Scriptures. Well, one, Jeremiah 31. Let me
turn to Jeremiah 31 and let me quote to you Job. Job is the
oldest book in the Bible. The oldest recorded book. He
lived at the time of Abraham before the law. Job said this. The Lord had Job record this.
He didn't refute it. The Lord didn't refute it. He
didn't correct it. Job said this, why didn't I die
from the belly, from the womb? Why didn't I give up the ghost
when I came out of the belly? He said, then I would have slept
and been at rest. That's what Job said. If I'd
have died as a baby, I'd have gone to be at rest. Would God
give parents who've lost children, give them such hope like that?
David said, of his infant child that died, he said, He can't
come back to us, but I'll go to Him." Would the Lord give
such hope to people? No! Because God is merciful,
and Christ died for them. You say, but you've got to believe.
They do. As soon as they wake up in glory, they believe. Oh, yeah! They believe. They know why they're there.
As I said, I'm not giving any excuse for willful rebels against
God's truth. They reject it here on earth,
and all of a sudden they wake up in heaven. No sale. If you're
old enough to reject the truth and say, no
God for me, you're old enough to go to hell for it. But if
you're not, you're not. God's mercy. God's righteous. Man's not. Man's not righteous. God is. But look at this, Jeremiah
31. Now, this is speaking of all
those children that Pharaoh had slain. And look at what the Lord
says here. Maybe you've never seen this.
I've got to turn there myself. Jeremiah 31 and verse 15. Thus saith the Lord. A voice
was heard in Ramah. Lamentation and bitter weeping.
Weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children
because they were not. Imagine the grief. Can you possibly
imagine the grief? No, you can't. All the ladies
in here have a child. If you had a baby two years old,
it would be lost, brutally slain. Can you imagine the weeping? And the Lord had that done. The
Lord had that done. Why? Because he's merciful. Oh, but it's a great trial, a
great pain and suffering for the parents, but it's a great
mercy for those children. Read on. Thus saith the Lord,
refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears. Thy
work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord. They shall come again
from the land of Eden. So you're reading into that preaching.
No, I'm not. No, I'm not. Here's the point. Here's the truth of the Lord.
Go to, well, Titus chapter 3. Oh my, love this, love this,
love this. Titus chapter 3 says this. It says, Speak evil of no man,
be no brawler, gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. For
we ourselves also are sometimes foolish, disobedient, Deceived,
serving divers lusts, pleasures, living in malice, envy, hateful,
hate. That's a stupid human being.
That's a worthless human being and of no good to anybody. But after the kindness and love
of God our Savior, toward man appeared. Oh, it's not by works
of righteousness which we've done, but according to His mercy.
He saved us. Why are you saved? Because you
believe? No, sir. You've got that faith by the
mercy and grace of God. Why are you saved? Because you're
repentant? Is that merit? Is it merit to
say, I'm sorry? Like my niece saying, I didn't
kick anybody or bite anybody. Oh, you're supposed to be rewarded
for that? That's the gift of God. It's
the goodness of God that leads you to repentance. We're saved
by mercy. One time, the son of Peter came
back and reported to the church of Jerusalem about how the Lord
had spoke to the Gentiles through him, and he ended up his message
telling all those good Jews, telling them, listen fellas,
we're going to be saved like them. If we're saved, if we're
saved, for only the kingdom of heaven, it'll be by the mercy
of God. One hundred percent. Not anything
we've done, anything we know. It won't be because of what we
know. It's because who knows us? The Lord preserved us. He does
it. One time, I remember, two fellows
came into the temple, a publican and this Pharisee. Pharisee thought
he'd done everything right. The publican never done anything
right, done everything wrong. And the Lord frankly, frankly
said, justify to the publican. You can't do that. He sure can,
and he did. So that's hardshellism. No, it's the Bible. You believe in eternal justification,
preacher? I sure do. I sure do. Justify when God said
it would happen. Justify when Christ came and
shed his blood. Justify by the blood. Justify
by faith that he gave and that he said we will surely have in
time. It's up to the Lord. It was as good as done when he
said it. Nothing can stop it. I love that. I love the salvations
of the Lord, don't you? The Lord preserved the sinful. Now, believers are exhorted to
grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord. They're exhorted
to mature and to be men and women. Quit yourself like men. Be women.
Don't be children in malice, but be men in understanding this
Scripture. We're exhorted to do that. But what about when
we fail? Huh? That's what's wrong with
this progressive sanctification thing. You make so much progress,
what do you do when you fall? Do you lose all that progress?
Do you start over again? Yes! Yes, you go right back to
the beginning of your confidence as a sinner before God. Nothing
in my hands I bring, simply to the cross of Christ I cling.
That's a simple sinner. That's simple faith. Quit hollering,
preachers. No! We're so stupid, we've got to
be hollered at. Soldiers in the army, sergeants,
you men that were in the army, they just hollered and hollered
and hollered, didn't they, John? Why? Because, buddy, when the
bullets start flying, you had needed to learn that lesson,
didn't you? And, buddy, they keep drilling you, didn't they?
Drilling you. Drilling you, didn't they, John? Drilling you, buddy.
Why? Because, buddy, when the battle
starts and that is ingrained in you, you hear that loud voice,
You're going to charge in the face of danger. Lift up your voice, lift it up
with strength. Say unto the city, Behold your God, all flesh is
grass, salvations of the Lord. The Lord preserveth the sinful. Though we are told to be children
in malice and be men in understanding, though we should mature in the
faith, yet we often, often, often revert right back to Ben's. Stupid, don't we? Ben what? Ben, what's our hope? Huh? Don't look at your evidences.
What are you going to do when you can't find any? Huh? What do you do when you wake
up and you don't feel like you have anything? any knowledge of this. What if you can't recall one
scripture? You ever been that way? Then what's your hope? Jesus
Christ. The Lord preserved it the simple.
Those that simply trust Him. The simple, that means sincere,
it means honest, no guile, like a child, no hypocrisy, those
that really, truly, really believe and trust Christ. Don't just
say it, don't say it for others, aren't Christian for people to
see them, but they really do rejoice in Christ Jesus. Simple. Simple means in a simple appreciation,
that is, just a simple appreciation and rejoicing in simple things.
Like a little child. You know, little children delight
in the simplest of things, don't they? Little children. You can
give them anything. The smaller they are, the more
they delight in just simple things, don't they? That's the way we
should be. Isn't it? Whoever gets above
this message, this simple message of mercy to a sinner, we've grown
above our raising. They're no longer simple. The
Lord preserved it the simple. There was a, Mindy and I used
to work with the Special Olympics for years. Winter Olympics. We'd take these people, special
needs to skiing, you know, and we'd have to take care of all
their needs. Grown men older than I was. There
was one fellow named John Brown. Most people in this community
knew him. You remember John Brown? He was down syndrome. About four
foot five. Always smiling. You know how
most down syndrome people are. Always smiling. Always happy.
I hope I can get through telling you. He came in one day so excited. Listen. He came in so excited. He said, I get to go to work. I'd get to go to work. Margaret, if everybody said that,
our national debt would be zero. Unemployment would be zero. Drug
addicts would be zero. He said, I'd get to go to work.
And listen, he said, and they'd pay me too. Like, that's just a plus. I'd
do it for free. A tribe of God ought to hear
this gospel and come in this place like, I get to go worship. I get to go sing songs of Zion. I get to go hear the Word of
God. And He pays me too. Simple. But the proud He plentifully
rewarded the proud doer. I get to be a member of Christ's
church. Think of that. I get to serve
the body. I get the pleasure and the privilege
and the power of being a servant. Simple faith. Not many wise men,
brethren. You see your calling. Not many
wise men have pledged, not many mighty are called, but God hath
chosen. God hath chosen the foolish thing.
God hath chosen the weak thing, the base thing, things that are
not, the nobodies, the nothings, from nowhere. Matthew Henry said,
God made everything out of nothing. If He's going to use you, you've
got to be a nothing. A nothing. Simple faith. Let me close telling
you this illustration. A fellow named Simple Simon.
There was a big so-called church was grilling him for membership. Simple Simon. And they said to
him, what is your statement of faith? What is your creed? What's the statement of faith
that you use? He said, I don't know. He said, I'm just I know
this, I'm just an old sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus
Christ is my all in it all." He said, what do you think of
the millennial reign? He pre-posted a homily. He said,
well, I don't know. I know this, I'm an old sinner
and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in it all. Well, I said, well, are you an
infralapsarian or a supralapsarian? Are you, Dan? Which are you?
Well, he said, I don't know about this. I'm an old sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. Well, I said, what
are your eschatological views? I don't know. I know this, that
I'm an old sinner and nothing at all. But Jesus Christ is my
all in all. Isn't that good enough? Is that
good enough? God says it is. That's the sum
and substance of all theology. The whole Bible in three words.
Christ is all. Is that your faith? Is that your
hope? Well, that's simple. That's simple,
isn't it? The Lord preserved it simple.
All right, stand with me. Our Father in Heaven, have we
thanked You, thank You, thank You for the simplicity that is
in Christ, that You've made it known unto us, made Him known
to us. You revealed Your Son in us. But it's not us. And it's Him,
100%. There's nothing in us, nothing from us, nothing
by us that's of Him. Through Him, to Him, for Him.
To Him be the glory, both now and forever. Amen.