are a prayer. Good morning. It's a privilege
for me to be here with you this morning, and I bring you greetings
from the Church in Yucatan, the different congregations, especially
from the congregation in Merida and the pastors of the churches
there, and especially of my dad, Walter Gruber, sends his regards. We look forward to getting back.
Lord willing, we'll be back in Mexico this coming Thursday. We've had a wonderful time getting
to spend some time with the different churches here in the States.
We've had a wonderful time these last few days with your pastor
and his wife, Pastor Mahan, Brother Henry Mahan and his wife. We've
just had a wonderful time with some of you here. Thank you for
your hospitality and your kindness and love to us. We appreciate
and thank the Lord for you. I want to speak this morning
about what must be done, what must be done in the salvation
of God's people, things that must be done in the salvation
of God's people. We read just a little bit earlier
that there is Neither is there salvation in any other, for there
is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must
be saved." Now, we there is God's chosen people. We must be saved. And there is no other name. There
is no other means by which God can save poor sinners, as we
are. We must be saved. because he
chose to do so. We must be saved because he chose
a people from before the foundation of the world. But these things
must be if his people are to be saved. I find seven things
that must be. If you and I are going to stand
before God and be accepted, what an awesome, awesome thought that
one day you and I will stand before him who is a consuming
fire, holy, holy, holy, holy, and yet to stand before him and
be accepted, accepted in his presence. What an awesome thought! What must be that we may be in
his presence? holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
in his sight." Well, my text is found in the book of John
in several different chapters, but we're not going to be covering
all the chapters. But these seven statements, seven
times I've found the word must. Well, there are eight, but one
of them is a repetition in the form of a question. So I'm going
to look at these seven statements of necessity. And when God says
that something must be, you can be sure it must be so. It must
be so. Seven times. And I want us to
look at these statements. And the first one I want us to
look at is in John chapter 3 and verse 30. I'm not going to look
at them in order. I'm not going to look at them
in order as they appear. But if we did look at them in
the order they appear, we would be saying the same thing in every
case. But I'm just going to go in a
different order. But here's the first thing. If
any man is going to be in the presence of God. He knows he's going to know that
the only one who gets all the glory and all the praise and
all the honor is God. The Lord Jesus Christ. Not unto
us, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory. Here in John
chapter three in verse 30, this is John the Baptist answering
some people who tried to provoke jealousy. Jealousy between John
the Baptist and the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said they came
in verse 26, they came unto John and said unto him, Rabbi, He
that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness,
behold, the same baptizes, and all men come to him." Everybody's
going to him. Everybody's going to follow him. They thought they would cause
some kind of division, some kind of animosity or some kind of
displeasure in John the Baptist. And notice what John answered.
John answered and said unto them, A man can receive nothing except
to be given him from heaven. Here's the very first thing.
And this truth, this truth cannot be received by anybody unless
God does something for me, unless God does something for you. This
is the truth. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
the King. He is the King. He's not waiting
to be made King. He is. the king. God the Father
made him the king. He's king by design. He's the
son of God. But he's earned that right also
as a man. And he's the only one that gets
all the honor and glory and salvation of his people. This is what the
salvation is all about, through the praise of God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Yes, his people were
chosen for glory, to view Him, to enjoy Him forever. But it's
not about us, it's about Him. It's about His glory. And a man
can receive nothing except to be given to him from heaven.
Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I'm not the Christ. I'm not the chosen one. I'm not
the one whom God said, Sit thou in my right hand, till thou make
thine enemies not footstool. But that I am sent before Him.
He that hath the bride, He that has the church is the bridegroom,
the Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. But the friend of the bridegroom,
that's me, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly
because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. Far from making me angry, I'm
happy about that. I'm happy about that. He must
increase, and I must decrease. I must decrease. And only God
can do that. Only God can do that. Cause a
man to love the Lord Jesus Christ and hate himself. I must decrease. He must increase. That's the first thing that must
be done. And it's a work of God. It's
a work of God. Now, here's the second thing
I want us to notice. Not only that the Lord Jesus
Christ must have preeminence in all things, or He's the creator
of all things, By him all things made, they're made unto him and
for him and by him. He's before all things. By him
all things consist. Man's going to be reconciled
to that. That's what I'm trying to say. A man's going to be reconciled
to this truth or he's not going to be in heaven. Now here's the
second thing in John chapter 3 and verse 7. John chapter 3
and verse 7. No, I'm sorry. I want us to go
to John chapter 9 and verse 4. I said I wasn't going to go in
order, so I'm OK with it. John chapter 9 and verse 4. This is another time that the
word must is used in the Gospel of John. The Lord Jesus Christ
said, I must work the works of him that sent me while at his
day. The night cometh when no man
can work. I must work the works of him
that sent me. This work is the work of God. Salvation is of the Lord. And
this work must be a finished work or there is no salvation
for anyone. I must work the work. God the
Father sent him. God the Father sent the Son.
In the fullness of time, God It was made flesh. God sent his
Son, made of a woman, made under the law that he might redeem
his people from under the law. But he sent him with this work. Thank God, the Lord Jesus Christ
said, it's finished. He said, Father, I've finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. He finished it. And this salvation is not a cooperation
between God and man. It's not man given it. Now, in Spanish, they have a
word and I have to translate it for you. We just got through
here in this morning. It doesn't do me any good to say something
in Spanish and not translate it. Giving it de alta, which
means making it effective. Making it effective. Man doesn't
have a vote to make it effective. He didn't come to try to save
his people. He saves his people from their sins. And he finished
the work. I think not that I've come to
destroy the law and the prophets. I didn't come to destroy. I came
to fulfill. I came to do. He had to come
to this world and establish a righteousness for His people. This is what
it says there in Isaiah chapter 42. He shall not fail nor be
discouraged, Isaiah 42, verse 4, till he has set judgment in
the earth. Justice. Righteousness. The law was given to man. It's
you and me. The law was given to you and
me. And our father, Adam, we disobeyed
God. We rebelled against God. And
all of us are born in this world rebellious, God-haters. But God requires a righteousness
to be established by man, or else no man is going to be in
his presence. And this is what the Lord Jesus Christ came to
do. This is what the eternal son of God manifest in the flesh,
bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, a man came and did as
a man. He obeyed God. He obeyed God
in every jot and every tittle. He honored God's holy law so
that God the Father says, this is my beloved son in whom I'm
well pleased, well pleased. So he established that righteousness,
and that righteousness is the righteousness that you and I
need to be in his presence. The apostle Paul said, I don't
want to be found in my own righteousness, which is by the law. I want to
be found in that righteousness, which is of God by faith, the
faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. I must finish the works of him
that sent me. And I want us to notice here,
well, I want us to notice in that verse there, it says, I
must work the works of him that sent me while in his day the
night cometh when no man can work. This was in reference to
this, to this, the disciples asking the Lord, who sinned,
this man or his parents, that he was born this way? He was
born blind. What's, what's the issue? This
man sinned or his parents sinned that he was born blind? The Lord
said neither. It's not about him. It's about I'm going to
get glory. I'm going to get glory. Neither
have this. He's not saying that he wasn't
a sinner. He was. And so were his parents. But
he said neither has this man sinned nor his parents, that
the works of God should be made manifest in him. The glory of
God in saving a sinner. The wisdom of God in this. He
allowed Adam to fall into sin, that His glory might be made
manifest. The greatest glory of God is
seen in how He can save sinners, how He can be just and justify
sinners by the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And he says,
I must finish the work of him that sent me while it is day,
the day of him being here on the earth. He is the light of
the world. And there's a sense in that when
he left, the light left. But he's still in the world in
his spirit. But what I'm trying to say is while he was here as
a man, that work must be finished or there's no hope for anyone.
We don't complete or we don't add to, the apostle said, You're
completing him. You're completing of him, are
you in Christ Jesus, who of God has men and does wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption, that is, as it is written, he
that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Let him glory in
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's finished. It's fulfilled.
And we rest. We rest in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I must finish the work. And you know, when you finish
your work, you rest. And the Lord Jesus Christ has
entered into his rest, and we shall enter into him and his
rest. He's seated right now in the heavenlies, and no one is
going to go in there working. No one is going to go in there
working. Okay, that's the second thing that must be. He must have all the preeminence,
all the glory. He must finish the work. Now
here's the third one in John 3, verse 7. The Lord Jesus Christ said to
Nicodemus. No, no, I'm sorry. I want to
go to chapter 3 and verse 14. Chapter 3 and verse 14. He must finish the work and he
must pay the debt for his people. In John 3, verse 14, the Lord
Jesus Christ, speaking to Nicodemus, said, As Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have eternal life. The Son of Man must be lifted
up. There is no salvation. There
is no putting away of the sins of his people without the dying
of the Lord Jesus Christ, without the shedding of blood. There
is no remission of sin. Now, we. And God's purpose are
saved from before the foundation of the world, and he is the lamb
slain before the foundation of the world and his people are
secure in him, the Lord Jesus Christ. But he must come in the
fullness of time and pay that debt. All of God's people have
always been saved only by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament, Abel, he believed God. Abraham, he believed
God. And they all looked forward to
that one that would come and put away the sins of his people. He had to come and put away the
sins of his people. This talking about the justice
of God, God's judgment or God's justice against the sin of his
people. When the Lord Jesus Christ came
in the world, not only did he establish righteousness as a
man, but he went to the cross. He was made sin for us who knew
no sin. He was made sin. He went to the
cross and paid the debt for his people, he who knew no sin. As
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, it says here.
You remember the story, the children of Israel always murmuring and
complaining against God. And the Lord sent fiery serpents
into the camp, and they were biting these people, and everyone
that was bitten, there was a sure death. And that's the story of
you and I by nature. Every one of us, by nature, have
this poison in our blood. Every one of us have this poison
of rebellion in our blood. And the Lord said to Moses, make
a serpent like those serpents. Make it out of grass. It has
the form of those serpents, but it doesn't have any poison in
it. And the Lord Jesus Christ, he was made bone of our bones
and flesh of our flesh in the likeness of sinful flesh. But
he didn't have sin of his own. And the Lord said to Moses, Moses,
you lift up that serpent on a post. And you tell everyone, look at
that serpent. And he who looks at that serpent
will live. Now, that just seems like a...
You know, that's foolishness to the natural mind, isn't it?
To the carnal mind, that's foolishness. If I get bitten by a rattlesnake
today, I'm not going to go look at a rattlesnake. But that's
what this natural mind is. But that which is foolishness
to natural man is the power of God in salvation. God said, Look
and live. And everyone in the camp who
was bitten and looked, they lived. And this is what the Lord is
saying. He must be lifted up. He must be lifted. He was made
a curse. The law says, curse it is everyone
that hangs on tree. And the law pronounces curse
on every one of us because we're not doing the things that are
written in the law to do them. The law is not written to save
anyone. It's not looking for us to look
at and say, well, I think I need to do a better job. The only
thing the law does is condemn us. Curse, curse, curse. And that's the right use of the
law. That's the right use of the law. But the Lord Jesus Christ was
made a curse when he hanged on the cross. And God says, look
to him. Look to him who was hanging on
the cross and be safe, all ye into the world. Look to the Lord
Jesus Christ. As Moses lifted up the serpent,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. There is no salvation
apart from the shedding blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In
Romans chapter three, let's look here at Romans chapter three.
Romans chapter 3, and you know this text very well. Verse 20, Therefore by the deeds
of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For
by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now, the righteousness
or the justice of God without the law, without you doing that
law. is manifested and it was witnessed
or it was testified by the Old Testament Scriptures, the Law
and the Prophets, even the righteousness or the justice of God, which
is by faith or by the faith. Jesus Christ, our Lord, believed
God. He said, Though he slay me, yet
I'll trust him. He believed God. I'm glad it's not by my faith.
Do you ever murmur? Do you ever complain? Do you
ever doubt? That's unbelief. That's what I am. I must confess,
Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. But it's not
my faith. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He
never doubted. He always believed God. And He gives us that faith. He
gives us that faith. It says here, by the faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all then that believe, for there
is no difference. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, being justified freely without a cause
in you by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus." Salvation is by grace, but it costs him. It costs him
his life. "...in Christ Jesus, whom God
has set forth to be a proficient through faith in His blood, to
declare His righteousness That's God's justice. For the remission
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare,
I say at this time, God's righteousness or God's justice, that he might
be just and to justify for him to believe in Jesus. In order
for you and I to be in heaven, God has to do it in a way that
he's just. He cannot deny his holy character. He must be just. All right, that's
the third thing. Now look at this next thing.
Not only must he pay the debt for his people, but there must be satisfaction.
There must be satisfaction. In John, chapter 20, and verse
4. John, chapter 20, and verse 4. I said 4. It's actually verse
9. John, chapter 20, verse 9. For as yet they knew not the
scriptures that he must rise again from the dead." It's not
only that he died for sinners, but God must be satisfied. God
must be satisfied. And this is what the resurrection
of the dead testifies, that God is satisfied. It's a sufficient
payment. He's a successful Savior. The scriptures, the apostle Peter
says, it was impossible that death should hold him. Why? Because
God is satisfied. Now, there is no satisfaction
with the death of the wicked. There is no satisfaction with
the death of the wicked. What that's saying is that your
blood, my blood, can never put away one sin. We have a debt
that we cannot owe, and your death For all eternity, my death
for all eternity cannot put away my sin. God cannot be satisfied with
that debt that is owed. But the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the blood of God, the blood of God. That blood satisfies
God. What God requires, God provides,
and God accepts. He is satisfied after three days
as it is written in the Scriptures, as it is written in the Scriptures
in Psalm 16. Therefore, thou shalt not leave
my soul in hell. He rose from the grave victorious
over all our enemies, Satan, sin, death, the grave, the world,
victorious. He's a successful. I know I need
to hurry, but they did not know that he must raise again from
the dead. This is what is testified by
his raising from the dead. We are risen. He was delivered
for our offenses, but he was raised for our justification.
There is no acceptance between God. If Christ did not come from
the grave, there is no salvation. The apostle Paul dealt with that
in Corinthians 15. If Christ isn't raised from the
dead, there's no hope for any of us. In fact, we're liars because
we're testifying of God that He did raise Him from the dead.
There's no hope. You're still in your sin if Christ
didn't. But He did. But He did. He must. He must. I heard this illustration, and
I make it mine. But you'll recognize it because
the one who I heard it from is here with us this morning. But
you know the jail is not a hotel. The jail is not a hotel. When
the judge passes a sentence and says you're going to be in jail
for a year, you go off to jail, you serve your time, and when
that time is done, the police officer himself comes and gets
you out of jail. Why? Because your payment, you're
satisfied that demand. And that's not a hotel to rest
in. No, He comes and gets you out. Well, when God's justice
could demand no more, when He had satisfied God's justice,
God let Him go, raised Him from the dead. And because He lives,
we live. Because that man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, is sitting right now at the right hand of the Father
above. That's why we live. That's why we're going to be
there. Well, he must be raised from the dead. Not only must
he have all the preeminence, not only must he go to the cross
and pay the debt, not only must he finish that work of salvation,
he must be raised from the dead, but he must go looking for his
people. In John chapter 4 and verse 4. Those he died for, he died for
his own. He laid down his life for his
sheep. He did not come into the world
to give his life for all the world without exception. But
when it speaks of the world, it speaks of the world without
distinction, Jews and Gentiles of all the world. He has a people
of all nations. But they're his sheep. They're
given of him by the Father. He did not lay down his life
as a venture, hoping that somebody will make it effective. He must
come looking for his sheep. He said, I am the good shepherd.
And the good shepherd comes looking for his sheep in that time that
he's appointed. He knows where they're at. We
don't know where they're at. But they're not lost to him.
He knows where they're at. He knows where they're at. He
put them there. He put them there. And when the
time comes, he's going to send them a messenger. He's going
to send them a messenger with the gospel. He's going to cross
their path. It's like that Ethiopian unit
out there in the desert. What an unlikely place to find
somebody in the desert. And yet the Lord crossed His
path with this message. He must go, and it says right
here, He must needs go through Samaria. He must needs go to
every one of us. You who know the Lord Jesus Christ,
He had to come looking for you because you would never go looking
for Him. I had religion. I satisfied with
my religion. I didn't know the Lord. And I'd never go looking for
him, and you wouldn't either. But he is the good shepherd,
and he says he must needs go through Samaria. Why? Why? Because he will not lose
one of his sheep. He will not lose one of his sheep.
He's going to stand before the Father that last day and say,
Here am I and all the children you've given me. I've lost not
one of them. Oh, he's a successful Savior. He must need to go through Samaria.
Now, in this passage, this woman, she was religious, but she was
not looking to have an encounter with the Lord that day. In fact,
she didn't want to have an encounter with anybody. She had a bad reputation
in town, and she was looking to avoid everybody. But our Lord
crossed her path, and she was surprised. She was surprised. But the Lord came to her and
spoke to her. She was surprised. And the woman
said, she said, how is it that you being a Jew speak to me being
a Samaritan? Jews and Samaritans, they just
don't speak to each other. And the Lord said, if you knew the gift of God. Always unspeakable. If you knew
the gift of God and who it is that's speaking to you. You would
ask. Who it is that said unto thee,
Give me to drink? Thou wouldst ask of him, and he would give
you living water. And that's the same thing when
the gospel is proclaimed, the gospel is preached. When it's
preached in the power of the Holy Spirit, it's the Lord Jesus
Christ who speaks by men and speaks to men. And people don't
understand or don't know that it's the Lord speaking. But if
you knew and when you do know, when you do know who it is that's
speaking to you, then you'll ask him. You'll come to him. You'll come asking him for forgiveness. You'll come asking him for mercy.
You would ask him and he'd give you living water, life. The woman
said to him, he said, you don't have anything to draw the water
out with. He said, the well's deep. How are you going to get
this living water? How are you going to give me
this? I'm interested in this water
that I don't have to come back to. How am I going to get it? Are you greater than Jacob? He's
God's, he's Jacob's God. Are you greater than Jacob? How
is it that the Lord Jesus Christ can give life? He is life. He is life. He has life in Himself,
and He gives life to whomsoever He will. Well, this woman didn't understand,
but she was religious. She wanted to talk religion.
She wanted to say, well, you know, I perceive you're a man
of God. Because the Lord said, go get
your husband. And she tried to avoid that. But what I want to
show here is this. The Lord was going to reveal
Himself to her. The Lord Jesus Christ must go
looking for His sheep. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
finds His sheep, He must reveal Himself to His sheep. I have
to speak to you. I that speak to you." The woman
said, I know that there's a Messiah coming, and when He comes, He's
going to tell us all things. The Lord said, I that speak to
you. That's a revelation. That is life. This is life. Everlasting life. That they may
know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, that I have
sent. To know the Lord Jesus Christ. This is life. He must come to His people and
reveal Himself to them. Reveal himself when when we see
when we see the Lord Jesus Christ. If we could just see him. Then
we see ourselves also. And you don't have to convince
a person so much of his. Filth and his. From the top of our head to the
bottom of our feet, we're nothing but putrefying sword. But if
we could just see him. And then we'll know who we are.
We'll know who we are. He must reveal himself. Now,
here's the next thing. Why must he reveal himself to
his people? He must reveal himself to his
people because when he reveals himself
to his people, and I want to go back to John chapter 3, this
revelation of himself. is nothing more than being born
of God. He must come to his people and
he reveals himself. And this revelation of himself
is nothing more than a miracle of the new birth. The Lord Jesus
Christ said to this man Nicodemus in verse 7, Ye must be born again. Nicodemus was a religious man.
Nicodemus knew much of the scriptures. And Nicodemus would enter into
a discussion with the Lord Jesus Christ as a master. And Nicodemus
said, Nicodemus, he said, verily, verily, I say unto you, except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Who the
Lord Jesus Christ is, who he is, that's being born of God. The Lord said to his disciples,
who do you say that I am the son of man? And Peter answered.
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And the Lord
said, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Of course, flesh and
blood didn't reveal that to you, but my Father. That's a revelation. That's being born of God. See,
here's what it says here. You must be born again. Well,
this is very, very misunderstood. People think that being born
again is just having an idea. But this is the work of God.
This is a new creation. This is why must a person be
born again? The scriptures, the Lord says
it right here in verse six, you must be born again because that
which is born of flesh is flesh. It doesn't say flesh and spirit,
flesh. Earlier we heard of these men
that they were speaking, they speak in tongues and they say
they're very spiritual. No, that's flesh. That's all
that it is. When a man and a woman have a
baby, what does that baby have? That baby has a body, has bones,
muscles, blood, and he has a soul, that inanimate or that intangible
that moves that baby. We can't touch that, but we know
it's there. And the soul has feelings, emotions. And people think because he has
feelings and emotions, he's very spiritual. So you have these
people, you have the Buddhists and you have all these other
people. They say, oh, they're very spiritual. No, they're not
spiritual. They're dead. That's flesh. That which is born
of flesh is flesh. It cannot see the kingdom of
God, cannot enter into the kingdom of God. God must give life. God must give life or no man
is going to, except a man be born again. He cannot see the
kingdom of God. The natural mind is an enmity
against God. It's foolishness. The natural
mind does not see these things. This is in 2 Corinthians chapter
2 and verse 14. But it says that natural mind
receives not that which is born of the flesh. The natural mind
receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them. He
cannot know them. for that, because they're spiritually
discerned or seen or understood. But he that is spiritual, well,
how does a person become spiritual? He's born of the Spirit of God.
He that is spiritual understands, that word judges, understands
all things. He understands. I understand
what the Lord Jesus, who Lord Jesus Christ is. I understand
what he came to do. I understand who I am. I'm a
sinner. Yet he himself is understood
of no man. Don't try to understand me, because
you won't. Don't try to understand me, and I'm not going to try
to understand you. We understand of no man, but
we understand. Who has known the mind of the
Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Now, a man must be born again. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. It will always be flesh. There
is a new creation. We are a new creation created
in Christ Jesus unto good work. And this is not of the flesh.
This is what the Apostle Paul is talking about in Romans chapter
seven, about there being two natures. That old nature, that's
that body and that soul that's there. And he's always going
to be flesh. But when the Lord gives new life,
now there's spirit. Now there's spirit. And that
spirit, that cannot sin. That which is born of God cannot
sin. But that which is born of the
flesh, that's all it does is sin. And you have that battle. But one day, bless the Lord,
this flesh is going to go on the ground. Actually, it's going
to go on the ground. And we're going to be resurrected,
and we're going to be given a new body, one like His body, without
sin. Without sin. We must be born
again, or we're not going to see the Kingdom of Heaven. That's
by the sovereign will of God. By the sovereign will of God.
The Lord says here in this passage, the wind blows where it licks.
And you know, you can hear where it's coming from. You don't know
where it's come from. You don't know where it's going.
You can see the effects of it. We just had a hurricane come
through Houston. Everybody's wanting to control
that. Go over here. Don't come over
here. But the Lord said exactly where he wanted to send it. And
we saw the effects of it. We saw the effect. And the same
way is true when God, the Holy Spirit, comes into a person's
life. You don't know. And sometimes
we're preaching, we think this person right here is really receiving
it, and the Lord's dealing with somebody over here. But we see
the faith. We sure do see the faith. It's a sovereign work of God.
The Lord has mercy on whom he will have mercy. He'll have compassion
on whom he'll have compassion. Those that are born of God, they're
not born of the will of flesh. They're not born of the will
of man. They're not born of blood. They're born of God. by the Word
of God. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ
says here. A man has got to be born of water
and of the Spirit. He's got to be born by the Word
of God. That is the instrument that God
uses, the preaching of His Gospel. We heard that this is the testimony
of Jesus Christ, who He is, what He came to do, where He is right
now. This is what God uses. And it
abases man. He puts man in the dust, gives
all the glory to God, and if God's pleased to use it, He'll
give life to His people. And He is pleased to use it to
give life to His people. But this is what God uses. It's
sovereign. So we go and preach the gospel,
being born, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by
the Word of God. All right. Here's the next thing. Not only must we be born again. We must be born again. He must
come looking for his people. We must be born again. And here's
the last thing I want us to look at. Verse 24, John chapter 4. God is spirit. And they that
worship, those that worship God. If we're going to worship, we're
going to worship God here or we're going to worship God in
heaven. There is a false worship. There is a false worship. There's
a lot of people who say they're worshiping this morning. But
they're not worshiping in the truth as it ends in Christ Jesus.
But the Lord said here to this woman, this Samaritan woman,
you worship, you know not what. You don't know what you worship.
God is spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit
and in truth. Now, this goes exactly with verse
7 of chapter 3. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. It cannot worship God. Only those
who are born of God can truly worship God. They that are born
of the Spirit, they must worship in spirit. It's the spiritual
man who worships. It's the spiritual man who believes. and in truth they go together.
Where you don't have the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, the
Spirit's not there, and you don't have spiritual life either. The
Lord doesn't use a lie to cause His people to live. He uses His
Word, the truth. And those that worship must worship
in spirit and in truth, the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, or
else no one is going to be in heaven. We're all going to worship
God, being born of God, and the truth that is in Him. So these
things I see that are in John chapter 7, that must be, and
these are all things the Lord does in His people, for His people,
in His people. Here, I'm going to go over them
one more time, just so you know what we said. First, the Lord
Jesus Christ must be everything. He is all or He is nothing at
all. He must be. He has the preeminence. Secondly, the Lord Jesus Christ
must come into this world and finish the work that God the
Father gave him to do. Third, the Lord Jesus Christ
must pay the debt of his people. He must put away the sins of
his people by the shedding of his blood. Fourthly, the Lord
Jesus Christ must be raised from the dead. He must satisfy. He must be justified, if we're
going to be justified. raised from the dead. Then the
Lord Jesus Christ must come seeking for His people. We must worship Him in spirit and
in truth. May the Lord bless His Word. Thank the Lord for that. A must-hear message. Everyone had a point, if not
all the points, at some point the particular struck you, the
one that blessed me. You must go looking for your
feet. You must find them. What a blessing. All right. What
number? 696. Number 696. Let's stand. Let's sing the first and third
verses. Be not dismayed whate'er betide,
God will take care of you. Beneath His wings of love abide
God will take care of you God will take care of you Through
every day, for all the way He will take care of you God will
take care of you, third and the last. All you may need He will
provide. God will take care of you. Trust Him and you will be satisfied. God will take care of you. God will take care of you. Through every day, for all the
way He will take care of you God will take care of you