That's a blessed psalm, as they
all are. And I'm thankful that someone
put that to music. And I know we sung that in the
hospital, some of the Thompson family. And I'm thankful God
left on permanent record How he preserves and he keeps his
people. Well, John chapter 3. John chapter 3. Our Lord often
spoke of things that were absolutely necessary. And we know that when
it comes to the salvation from sin, the salvation of the soul
and the body, that's all of God. This was Jonah's doctrine. Jonah
in the belly of the great fish said, salvation is of the Lord. This was the doctrine of David.
David said the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. And we recognize that, that salvation
is according to the purpose of God. God ordained salvation back
in eternity. In fact, Salvation is as ancient
as is God. That is, the salvation of the
righteous is forever because it was founded and established
in the very heart of our eternal God. Salvation is according to
His purpose. It wasn't something that angels
assisted Him in formulating. It wasn't something and isn't
something that any sinner has anything to do with. God, in
His eternal purpose of grace, ordained salvation by grace and
salvation through a suitable substitute, that being the Son
of God. Salvation is according to the
Lord, is of the Lord in its purpose. And then salvation is of the
Lord in its purchase. Our Lord Jesus, the Son of God,
took into union with Himself our humanity. And He was born
of a virgin, lived a perfect life according to the law of
God. And then He went to the cross
of Calvary to purchase us. to purchase our pardon with his
own blood. Salvation is not of man, it's
of God. According to his purpose, it's
according to his purchase. Christ bought us with his blood. And with his blood, he washed
away all of the sins of those whose sins he bore. And he separated
those sins from us as far as the east is from the west. He
put them behind God's back and the Lord says, your iniquities
and sins will I remember no more. It's a blessed redemptive work. It's a blessed purchase price
that our Lord Jesus paid for us and for our salvation. And
we know that he was successful because God raised him from the
dead and exalted him to the highest heaven. Salvation is of God's
purpose, it's of God's purchase, and it's by God's power. There's
no power in the sinner to make the salvation of God effectual
to them to do the job. The power is of God. The Lord who has all power in
heaven and earth, and Christ said that after His resurrection
and before His ascension, He said, all power is given unto
me in heaven and in earth, all authority. And if salvation is
going to be experienced by us, and it must be, Make no mistake
about that. It must be experienced by us,
but it will then be due to the power of God working within us
to reveal the truth to us and show us that salvation is all
of grace and it's all in the doing and the dying in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is God's salvation by purpose
and by purchase and by power. And this salvation that he gives
to us, he preserves us in this salvation. We will be kept from
falling. And one of these days we'll be
taken to glory and this salvation by purpose and by purchase and
by power and by preservation. One of these days our salvation
then when we see the Lord Jesus will be perfected. in glory. Oh, blessed day when we see our
Savior face to face without any sin. Someone said to me not too
long ago, you know, we have so many problems, sickness, world
troubles, and they just continue on. I said, well, I can tell
you what the problem is. The problem is sin. He said,
yeah, I guess that's right. And I said, we won't be finished
with all the problems and difficulties of life until we arrive in heaven's
everlasting glory. And then sin will be no more. Our problem now is we still have
sin in us. And it's troublesome to us. But
one of these days we will be perfect in reality before our
Lord Jesus Christ. So salvation, you understand,
is of the Lord. Now having said those things,
I want to show you this morning, there are four times when our
Lord Jesus uses a particular word to speak of things that
must happen to us and is the word except, E-X-C-E-P-T. So that's really the title of
my message, except. Here in the passage of scripture
before us, we find that we must be born again. It's what
the Lord said to Nicodemus. And I've read the whole passage
to you, but look at verse three again. Jesus answered and said
unto Nicodemus, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except, there's
the key word that I'm working on this morning, except a man
be born again, he cannot see, he cannot perceive, he cannot
understand, he cannot comprehend the kingdom of God. You see, we're all flesh, we're
all carnal. And in our carnality, we cannot
understand or perceive, or the word the Lord uses, see. We cannot
see the kingdom of God, which is only comprehended and understood
spiritually And we don't have a spiritual nature. We're born
without it. We're born dead in trespasses
and sins. Our Lord used the word except
again in verse five, speaking to this teacher of the religious
leaders. Verse five, Jesus answered, verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except, unless. That's a one word definition
of except, unless. Unless a man be born of water,
that is of the word of God, the gospel of grace. This is what
God uses. Being born again, Peter said,
not of corruptible things, but of incorruptible, by the word
of God, and our Lord uses the word water, and that's what he
meant. By the word of God that liveth
and abideth forever. And unless we're born again,
except we're born again, you can't even enter into the kingdom
of God. First time he says you can't
perceive it, you can't see it, you can't comprehend it, you
can't understand it. And maybe some of you who are
here this morning and maybe some who are watching, you kind of
go out and you kind of scratch your head as it were and you
say, I'm not sure I understand what he's saying. I know he gets
it, and I know he's excited about it, and he's thrilled with the
Lord Jesus Christ and salvation that is in him, but I don't know,
seems to me like a lot of these things just go right over my
head. I can tell you the reason for that. I can tell you why
you don't comprehend. And I can tell you why you don't
even have any interest. Some of you have no interest.
Perhaps, I don't know anybody's heart here, But the reason is
because there is an absence of spiritual life. An absence of
spiritual life. Now in this message, I'm gonna
talk to you about, except you repent, you shall all likewise
perish. That's another time the Lord
used the word except. I'm gonna talk to you about faith
because in John chapter six, our Lord said, except you eat
my flesh and drink my blood, you don't have any life in you.
And what he's talking about is faith is receiving him. And then
I'm gonna talk to you in the fourth place about conversion,
except you be converted and becomes a little child, you have no part
in the kingdom of God. Now, when it comes to repentance
and faith and being converted, you are involved in those things. Being the recipient of the grace
of God, the Lord enables you to repent. That's vital, repentance. And believe Him, that's vital. And then to be converted. And
unless you repent and believe Him and be converted, you have
no part with Christ. But make sure you understand
this. What our Lord is talking about
here is the key to understanding those other three things. Because
yes, you must repent. Yes, you must believe. And yes,
you must be converted, but know this, you have no part in the
new birth. That doesn't involve you doing
anything. You see, in the new birth, sinners
are absolutely passive. In repentance, we're active.
In faith, we're active. In being converted, we're active.
There's no question about that. But in the new birth, and another
word for it is regeneration or being quickened, you have nothing
to do with that. But after you are quickened,
after you experience the new birth, With that new birth comes
the ability to repent, to believe, and to be converted. Our Lord
used this word except four times, four times. And the reason I put these in the order that
I have is because it all really begins with the new birth. You have to be born again. And you'll notice as I read down
through this passage of scripture, when our Lord spoke to Nicodemus
about the new birth, he didn't tell him how to be born again. He didn't say, this is what you
must do to be born again. He didn't give instructions on
the way that you can be born again. Have you ever wondered
why the Lord didn't tell him about those things? Well, I can
answer that for you. It's because Nicodemus could
not give himself spiritual life because he's in a state of spiritual
death. And the only way anybody can
be made alive is by an operation of grace in the heart. The Spirit
of God uses the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember
in John chapter 10, our Lord spoke to the people there. Many of them were Pharisees.
And he said, my sheep hear my voice. What is the voice of the
Lord? Why don't people hear the voice
of the Lord? Why don't they hear that there's
salvation in Christ the Savior, the Redeemer, the Holy One, the
Substitute, God's sacrifice for sins. Why won't people hear that?
Because the Lord has not spoken to them in the voice that raises
the dead. Lazarus, our Lord visited his
tomb. And people were weeping, people
were upset, people were crying. And a good many of us, maybe
all of us who are certainly a little bit older, we know what it means
to lose somebody who's very precious to us. And Mary and Martha, they
were crying and others were crying. The shortest verse in the Bible,
John 11, 35 says, Jesus wept. And I know there's a lot into
that, but it's not wrong to weep in the presence of death. Our
Lord said, for the people of God, you sorrow not as others
who have no hope. But it's not wrong to weep. It's
not wrong to have broken hearts. And our Lord came to the tomb
of Lazarus and told them, he said, roll away the stone. But he never said, now Lazarus, come on out of that tomb. Lazarus couldn't do that. And
that's essentially what most evangelists and television preachers
are telling people to just give yourself life. You can do it. You can do it. No, you can't
do it. Why not, preacher? Because you're
dead. You're dead in trespasses and
in sins. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
1. You can't do it. Our Lord had to say to Lazarus,
Lazarus, come forth. And then he left. And I'm telling
you what's gotta happen for you, and you, and you, and it's already
happened to me, and to many of you, and to those of you who
are watching. The Lord has to say, come forth. He calls his
sheep by name. It's what the scripture said.
He must speak to you with that almighty voice that gives life. You remember what the Lord Jesus
said to His disciples? Because I live, ye shall live
also. And that's the reason that we
live spiritually is because Christ is alive. He gives us life. He gives us spiritual life. And
all of the new birth and every other blessing that God gives
is based upon the fact that Christ died for our sins, was buried,
and He rose again the third day. And you'll notice in this passage
of Scripture that our Lord Jesus, in speaking to Nicodemus, He
tied His new birth, the new birth of Nicodemus, our Lord connected
that to his own death. In verse 14, 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. We live because he lived. We
live because he is life. He is life. And he gives life
to the dead. On one occasion, He raised a
young man. A young man who was being carried
to the cemetery. And I'll tell you, our Lord Jesus
met that procession. That's life meeting death. And
death is going to have to give way. It's going to have to give
way in the presence of Him who is life. O son of God, visit us with thy
mercy. For if you visit us, if you visit
me, if you visit these, if you visit these who are watching,
if you visit the dead, death must flee and life comes in. We live because he lives. Make no mistake about it. You
must be born again. But the Spirit of God, who is
the agent of this life, he's like the wind. He blows
where he will. And I'll tell you, God doesn't
have to send a refreshing breeze of spiritual life to you or to
me. But I know this, he delights
to show mercy. And may the spirit of God blow
your way. And if he does, you'll be made
spiritually alive. And then here's what's gonna
happen. Turn with me now to the book of Luke. Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter 13. if you're born again, the evidence
of the new birth. It isn't really a feeling, but when you're born again of
the Spirit of God, there will be evidences of that. And chronologically, I would
say the first evidence is repentance. Because you see, Peter told the
folks in his day after he had preached at Pentecost and just
a couple of chapters over, he talks about that Jesus Christ
has been exalted to give or to grant repentance unto Israel. Repentance has to be given. It
has to be granted. And it is granted through what? The new birth. Through the new
birth. Now, let's pick up the reading
here in Luke 13, and brings me to my second point, except you
repent. There were then, Luke 13, there
were then at that season some that told him of the Galileans
whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus
answering said unto them, suppose ye that these Galileans were
sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things. He talks about a tragedy that
happened when Pilate murdered, murdered a bunch of people. Look at verse three, he said,
I tell you no. They weren't sinners above all
others. That's not why this tragedy happened.
Let me just kind of insert this. Lots of times national catastrophes
or maybe local catastrophes happen and people sit back and say,
I wonder what they did to deserve that. Well, you're not the judge. people of God. They die from
tragic events, some sick, some are suffering. We can't say,
well, it was because of some sin, you're not a judge. Would you understand that? You're
not a judge and I'm not either. Things happen according to the
providence of God. And I know there are Horrible
tragedies that come to pass, shootings and somebody drives
a vehicle into a crowd of people and these things happen. But
you mustn't think to yourself, I wonder what they did to deserve
that. Let me tell you something, you've
done a lot of wrong things. And if the Lord punished you
literally and physically for the things that you've done or
thought, even thought, well, I guess none of us would be alive. But our Lord says, rather than
you focusing on them, he said, let me tell you this, unless
you repent, you shall likewise perish. I don't know how that
will be, but you will perish if you don't repent. And then
he says this in verse four. He says, or those 18 upon whom
the tower of Siloam fell and slew them, think ye that they
were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? You think
that that tower fell upon 18 people? I don't need my notes. You think that that tower fell
upon 18 people and killed them? And the Lord wasn't behind it?
And do you think that they were sinners above others? No. But again, he comes right back
to this. Rather than you being concerned
with and thinking, well, they must have been really great sinners. What you need to be concerned
with is this, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Nobody goes to glory except those who are brought to repentance
by the Spirit of God. We repent of sin. We repent of
ungodliness and repentance involves not only turning away from sin
and turning away from idolatry and turning away from dead works,
but it's turning from two. Because you see, repentance and
the next one I'm going to mention, faith, they're like two sides
of the same coin. You can't have one without the
other. And you can't have either one
except you be born again. See? It's all connected. Repentance is a godly sorrow
over sin. And when we come to the Lord
Jesus in repentance, it's with sorrow. It's with sorrow. Lord, I'm sorry I didn't believe
on you. Lord, I sat under your truth. You had me sit under the truth
of the gospel of the grace of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I sat under it for weeks or months or maybe even years and I didn't
believe. Lord, I'm sorry. That's my own
sinfulness. I turned from that. I turned
from my wrong ideas about God. My wrong ideas about me, I repent
of my thoughts about self. I used to think I was a pretty
good person. And now I see I'm just a sinner. I'm a low down, dirty, rotten
sinner. That's what I am, Lord. I'm sorry
I thought a whole lot of myself. Now I think less of myself and
more of Christ Jesus, the Lord. except you repent, now you're
going to perish. Oh God, bring us to the realization
that we must be brought from death to life, that happens in
the new birth, and we must be brought to hate our sin. Of all
the things that trouble me in this world, You say, boy, this world's really
rotten, isn't it? Yeah, it is. But what bothers
me the most is what's still in here. That bothers me the most. Because it is the source of every
trouble I have, every bad thing about me, every vile imagination. Every wrong motive. Do you know
that the Bible, let me just give you this. Do you know the Bible
teaches us that our motivation for all things is to be the glory
of God? Now you may sit there or wherever
you are, those of you who are watching, you may be thinking,
well, you know, I'm not a great sinner. I try to behave myself
and live a decent life and a moral life, et cetera, et cetera. It's
not just the, this is one of the problems of religion today. People think if I don't do these
things, I'm okay. Well, what about your motivation?
If you don't consciously do everything for the glory of God only, and
you take self out of every equation, And your motivation, like when
you came through these doors this morning, when you were preparing
to come here when you were at home, was it on your mind, Lord,
I'm going to the place of worship to glorify you. That's my only
desire today. I wonder how many of us consciously
thought of that. I'm not fussing at you. I'm just
telling you the truth because you know that's the way it is.
In fact, the Bible tells us whether you eat or drink, whatever you
do, do all for the glory of God. Well, I'm guilty on this. I'm as low down as anybody else
is. And Lord, I'm sorry about that
too. I'm sorry about that. And I come to him again and again,
saying, Lord, I'm truly sorry. Don't you? I mean, you may not
utter those exact words, but it's repentance, repentance. You remember what the Lord said?
Matthew, who was a tax collector, he fixed a really good meal after
our Lord had saved him by his grace. And he invited everybody
and he said, I want you all to come and meet my savior, and
he had a big fancy meal. And all these people came in,
the Pharisees were there, and there was Jesus of Nazareth sitting
with them, and he's eating with them, eating with the IRS agents. Nobody likes tax collectors. And there's the Savior, and he's
eating and drinking with the rest of them sinners, with the
other sinners. And the Pharisees said to his
disciples, you see who he's with, the low-downers. Man, I've never
had them kind of people. I don't hang around them kind
of people. And the Lord Jesus, he said this, he said, to the Pharisees, to the disciples
to tell the Pharisees, I came not to call the righteous. They
think they're righteous. They boasted of how good they
were. He said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners
to what? Repentance. Sinners to repentance. I call sinners to repentance. And may the Lord call you to
repentance right now. And if he does call you specifically
to raise you from a spiritual death, then you'll repent. You'll repent. And then look
at another verse of scripture with me. And it's in the book
of Matthew. Well, let me go to John 6 first. Look at John chapter 6, and I've
got to hurry here. In John chapter 6, we've talked
about the new birth, except a man be born again, and then except
ye repent. And now I want to talk about
faith. John chapter 6. And you'll recognize, most all
of you will recognize this as being the chapter in which the
Lord revealed himself as being the bread come down from heaven. What do we do with bread? We
eat it. Now, I'm diabetic. I'm not supposed to eat much
bread. I do get that low-carb bread. Our toaster won't even
toast it. And butter just slides off of
it. Actually, I didn't even have
any this morning. I thought, man, if butter won't stick on it,
it must not be much good. But bread is good. Bread is good. And water is good to drink. What do we do with bread? We
receive it into the body, right? That's what we do with bread.
Water, tell you what, first thing I do in the morning after I visit
the bathroom, like everybody else does, the first thing then
I do, I go to the kitchen, and I get a big tall glass of water
and I drink it. Now this comes from a medical
expert, you see. I'm advising you to drink a big
glass of water every morning. because they taught me a medical
class in college. My doctor years ago said the
best thing you can do for your body is drink glass of water
in the morning. You say, what in the world are
you pointing at? What is your point in this? It's
just this. I receive that water into myself. Willingly. Nancy doesn't, She
didn't say, open your mouth, I'm gonna pour this glass of
water in. No, I drink it. I drink it. Eat the bread, drink
the water. What is it? It's receiving nourishment,
nutrition, hydration into your body. And our Lord likens that
to faith. Look here in John chapter six,
verse 53. Then Jesus said unto them, because
he had made this state, talked about eating his bread, eating
him, which is the bread, look at verse 52. The Jews therefore
strove among themselves, saying, how can this man give us his
flesh to eat? You see, he's speaking spiritually,
but they're carnal. And remember how in the first
point, except you be born again, except a man be born again, can't
see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus took him literally. And many of these people did
too. Our Lord's not talking about
literally eating his flesh and then drinking his blood. He's
speaking spiritually. So they said, how can this man
give us his flesh to eat? Verse 53. Then Jesus said unto
them, verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh
of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in
you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last
day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me, and I in them. But he begins all
of that by saying in 53, except you eat the flesh of the son
of man and drink his blood. What's he talking about? Receiving
him just like you receive bread and water. You receive him for
all that he is. He's the bread come down from
heaven. and he's the water of life. And then one last passage, Matthew
chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18. Now, let me remind you, it begins
with the new birth, except a man be born again. And if a man is
born again, if a woman is born again, there will be repentance,
Except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. What's the evidence of the new
birth? What's the evidence of regeneration? Repenting, turning
from. And to turn from something is
to turn to something. If I'm looking at the organ,
and then I'm gonna look at the piano, I've gotta turn. Look at the piano. That's an
illustration of repentance. It's turning from sin and self,
self-righteousness, to the Lord Jesus Christ, except you repent. And here, except you eat my flesh
and drink my blood. And then here in Matthew chapter
18, except you be converted. Matthew chapter 18. Verse 3,
he says to his disciples, verily I say unto you, except you be
converted and become as little children, you shall not enter
into the kingdom of heaven. The context of this, and I don't
have time to really develop this very much, but the disciples
We're arguing about who's gonna be the greatest in kingdom of
heaven. Who's gonna have a higher position? So, here's the context. Look at verses one and two. At
the same time, the disciples came to Jesus saying, who is
the greatest in kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child
unto him and set him in the midst of them and said, verily I say
unto you, except you be converted, and become as little children,
little children who don't know much, little children who have
to be taught to talk, little children who have to be taught
how to act, you're not going to enter into the kingdom of
heaven. Who's going to be the greatest?
Well, that's an easy question to answer. The Lord Jesus is
the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. The king is the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven. Boy, that makes plenty of sense
to me. The king is the greatest. And as long as you think you
gonna be the greatest or you gonna be the upper crust, you
know, when you get to heaven, I got news for you. I don't think
the rug has been plumb pulled out from under your feet yet. Accept you be converted, changed,
to have the attitude of a little child. I need help. I need my father. That's what
a little child, I need mama. I need daddy. And accept your
attitude be, I need the Lord. I need Him. I need Him to save
me. I need Him to give me life. I
need Him to grant me repentance. I need Him to grant me faith.
Faith is a gift of God, Ephesians 2.8 says that. And I need Him
to change me. Change me. We're all so self-centered,
aren't we? Lord, change me. Change me. Well, except you be born again,
you're not gonna see the kingdom of God. Except you repent, you're
gonna perish. Christ said, except you eat my
flesh and drink my blood, except you receive me as the Savior,
as the Redeemer, as God's sacrifice for sin, you have no life in
you, except you be converted. Oh, God made me to be like a
little child. Lord, I need help. I've got nothing. I need everything. Huh? That's
the way it is, isn't it? Well, Lord bless you. And we'll
meet again tonight. Let's sing two verses.