Open your Bibles if you would
to John chapter 15. John chapter 15. Oh my, what a wonderful portion
of scripture. Now, some folks in religion, Vicki
and I were discussing this over dinner, they feel like there's
always something they have to do. Always something they have to
do. I've been listening to these fellows. I've really been enjoying
the message of grace. And these fellows have been saying that the most important thing
for us as believers is to live an ordinary life, resting in
Christ. People think, well, I'm not as
bold as that fellow. I'm not as bold as that person.
I'm not as bold as that. I want to be able to do that. Well, that's wonderful if the
Lord's gifted you to do that. And that's wonderful that we
should all desire to speak to folks who aren't saved. And that's our heart, right,
is to see the lost saved. But don't ever measure yourself
up to someone else. because we're one in Christ.
As I've been saying for many years now after I heard the quote
from Karen and Travis, Sister Karen and Brother Travis about
Scott Richland, the ground at the foot of the cross is level. Right? And now I understand what
Joe Terrell meant when he said the hardest thing for us to do
is just to rest in Christ. That's the same thing those fellows
are saying, living an ordinary life, resting in Christ. In everyday
life, going through this world, resting in Christ. You know why?
Because Christ is our rest, and without Him, we can't do anything. See, when man's trying to do
things in their own strength, we always fall flat on our face. Right? And in religion, it's
performance-based. And that's in all of us, beloved. That's in all of us. But we're to rest in Christ.
It's not based upon our performance. Our salvation, our Christian
life is not based upon our performance. It's based upon what the Lord
Jesus Christ did in our room and place. Shedding his precious,
precious blood. to redeem our eternal souls.
And with that in mind, let's read John 15, verses one to 10. With that fresh in our minds,
our Lord is talking to the disciples, talking to his people. So this
is directed at we who are the born again, blood washed people
of God today, isn't it? He says this, I am the vine. I am the true vine. He's not
one of many vines. He is the true vine. He's the true vine. The true
way to the Father. He's called the way, the truth,
and the life in the chapter before this. He says, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me, John 14, 6. And so he makes a statement here.
He says, I am the true vine and my father is the husbandman.
Now remember what we learned in Sunday school, which was absolutely
magnificent, that Christ himself, the word of God, emptied himself
and took upon him the form of a servant when he became a man.
Took upon him the form of a servant. He who was sovereign became a
servant. became a servant. We're gonna
look at that even more in Sunday school this week, as we're gonna
still be on that topic in Philippians chapter two, verse
seven. He says here, every branch in
me that beareth not fruit is he taketh away. And every branch
that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more
fruit. Now ye are clean through the
word, which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. So what are we to do? How do
we abide in Christ? Well, we rest in Christ. Number
one, we must be born again, right? And that's a work of God, the
Holy Spirit. And by God-given faith, we look to Christ. We
look to Christ as our Savior, our Redeemer, our Sustainer,
our Shepherd, our Lord, our Redeemer. He's everything. Paul summed
it up by saying, Christ is all and in all. He's everything to
the believer. Everything. So he says, abide
in me and I in you. The Holy Spirit abides in us,
doesn't he? Christ in you, the hope of glory. Isn't that wonderful? Look at this. As the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself. Look at that. So he proceeds
to tell us that he's the vine, in verse one, And then he says,
every branch that is in him bringeth forth more fruit. And then he says, a branch cannot
bear fruit of itself. Now, we have a picture of that
all around us, don't we? If we have an apple tree or any
kind of tree, in the wintertime, you look at that tree, it just
looks dead, doesn't it? But then the springtime comes. And slowly little buds start
to come out on those branches. Do the branch just go, I wanna
grow some buds? No, the branches are nourished
from the trunk, from the vine, right? And those nutrients are
bought up through the vine and spreads into the branches. But those branches, if we took
one of those branches off our apple tree here, say we went
out there, in the springtime, when the buds are just starting,
we chopped the branch off and put it on the ground. What would
happen to that branch in two weeks? Not even two weeks. Whatever was coming up through
it budding would be gone. It would be dead. because the
life comes up through the vine, through the trunk, right? Oh my. And so he tells us here,
and remember, we're branches. He's gonna tell us that in the
next verse. He's gonna say, I'm the vine, you're the branches.
So he's telling us very clearly here that we can't do anything
of ourselves. And is that not true when it
comes to bearing fruit, right? It's called the fruit of the
spirit, isn't it? And the Holy Spirit works in us and bears
that fruit in us. We desire to be more joyful.
Let's pray. Lord, please make me more joyful.
If it's your will. And you know what? I'll tell
you this. As we grow in Christ and as we rest in Christ more
and more, Because it's not performance-based, right? As we rest in Christ more
and more, our joy is going to increase, our hope is going to
increase, and our faith will be strengthened. And it's all Him. Because without,
he says, without me, the branch can't do nothing. Isn't it wondrous? Have you ever stopped and let
us meditate upon this this week? Let's just have this in our minds,
okay? The Lord saves us. We can't do
anything. We can't save ourselves. He saves
us. He saves us from our sins. We're
born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And he saved us 2,000
years ago, didn't he? But now it becomes a reality
for us when we're born again. And so then we find out, as we
grow in grace, that we have all spiritual blessings in Christ.
And it just, our mind's blowing. It's incredible. It's absolutely
amazing. And then, as we grow in grace,
we find out he keeps us. My, we can't keep ourselves. That's the opposite of religion. My, oh, my. And then we find
out that it's not based upon our performance. It's based,
our salvation is wholly based upon the finished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ and His shed blood. Now, do we desire to live
a life for Christ? Absolutely. But think of this,
without me, you can do nothing. He works that in us. That's marvelous. Why do we desire to come and
hear the gospel? Why do we desire to be here? Right? It's because He works out in
us. There was a time when I used to love doing other things on
Sunday and other things on Wednesday nights. The last thing I was
thinking about is church. And here, look at this, here
we are. Sunday's my favorite day of the week. I get to be
with the Lord's people. I get to be with my family. Did I bring that about? No, that's
the work of God, beloved. Because without me, he says,
you can't do anything. The branch can't do, and we're
branches, beloved. And do you notice the Lord gave
us something that no matter what country you're in in the world,
You're going to see that illustration. Now, some countries got a lot
of desert, but I guarantee you they got some trees. Oh, yeah. Everywhere you go,
that illustration is brought forth. Then he says, I'm the
door. That illustration, there's not
a place in this world, right, that a house that's been built
don't have a door. Now, a door might get knocked
off. but they're gonna put it back on, aren't they? You ever
think of how many doors we go through every day? And don't
even think about it. The illustration, I'm the door. I'm the way. How many times do
we get in our cars, plot our way, and go that way? Christ says, I'm that way. I'm
the way to the Father. My, oh my. He says this is a
gate of the sheepfold. You go to a farm, there's gates
everywhere. Gates to keep the cattle in, gates to keep the
pigs in, gates to keep the goats in, gates to keep the sheep in. My oh my. And then people even
have gates around their homes sometimes, don't they? Fences
and gates. The place we lived in in Oregon
was in a subdivision. There was a big fence all around
and two gates. for the backyard. Oh my. See, the Lord uses illustrations
for us that's easy for us to understand and marvel, don't
miss this point, marvel at this, the king of glory, the king of
glory describes himself in one syllable words. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. My, oh, my. He didn't use fancy
old words. He spoke. He spoke in common
language. Oh, mine's wonderful. What a
savior. And no matter where you go in
this world, there will be trees, and this illustration is set
forth. the fact of this illustration,
that those branches out there that are connected to those trees
can't do anything without that trunk or that vine. Isn't that
amazing? And this is just one, this is
just one illustration the Lord used. Oh my. As the branch cannot bear, look
at that, cannot. It's emphatic, isn't it? Cannot.
I remember in religion, Vicki, we remember. Man, we tried to
drum up joy, and there was always something we thought we all gotta
do something, always gotta do something. Now we are enjoying
resting in Christ. We're posing in Christ. Now we
still desire to serve him just like you do. Even more so now,
right? But we know that our salvation
and the keeping of our salvation is in no way dependent upon ourselves. Now, when we were in religion,
we would have said, oh no, that's not true. But our actions spoke
volumes. Praise God for the complete sin
atoning, finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the shedding of that precious
blood of his to redeem our eternal souls, beloved. He says, as the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself except it abides in the vine, no more can
ye. Now he's bringing it home to
the disciples, isn't he? Now he's bringing it home for
us here tonight. Look at this. Except it abide
in the vine, no more can ye except you abide in me. Do you see the
importance of being in Christ? Any kind of fruit that's bore
comes from God. It's a work of God, the Holy
Spirit, working in us, right? Working in us. so that he gets
all the glory. God gets all the glory, doesn't
he? Vicki and I were talking again
about this over dinner, and Vicki brought up a great point. She
said, you know, when people are always performance-based, they're
trying to do all these things, right? And then they want to
tell other people what they're doing, and then, like we talked
about, it builds a spirit of pride. It builds the spirit of pride.
Now, do I desire when you guys come and tell me about people
you've talked to about Christ? Absolutely, I love that. Come,
just come. Come, that's wonderful. That's not what I'm talking about
here. I'm talking about religious works
that people do in the world to think that they're becoming better
Christians when the only way we can grow in grace and the
knowledge and truth of the Lord Jesus Christ is if he produces
that in us. Now does that mean we shouldn't
strive to learn more? No, I'm not saying that at all.
Absolutely. Absolutely. Dig in. It's a mind. The scriptures are a mind. By
all means, get that pickaxe in there, but pray that God the
Holy Spirit would illuminate the scriptures for us and teach
us the things of Christ. Norm wells, and I've never forgotten.
That's why I use that pickaxe norm wells told me one time.
This is a vast mine full of gems and gold precious stones and
They're all about Christ They're all about Christ My oh my So
he's told us here He says, we cannot bear fruit of ourself
except by the vine. So the branches out there and
those trees that we see are trees at home. Now look at trees at
home, marvel. Those branches are only sustained
by the trunk, by the vine. Because I guarantee you, go break
one off or cut one off and it'll be dead in no time. Because there's
no nutrients coming from the trunk to that branch. So he's
told us here. Unless you abide in me, so born
again by the Holy Spirit of God in Christ, right? Taken by God from the power of
darkness, the kingdom of darkness and translated into the kingdom
of God's dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ, all by the power of God,
right? Unless we abide in Christ, Have
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, because if we're born again,
God will give us faith to believe, won't he? I had a fellow this
week, and he says, you know, I just can't, I just, God will
never, he said, God will never force anyone to come to him.
I said, well, he'll make us willing. I said, you could say what you
want about that, but he'll make us willing. That's scriptural. Thy people shall be made willing
in the day of God's power. Do we come against our will?
No, we come willingly, don't we? See that? Folks, folks get
it mixed up a little bit. Because if God doesn't do something
for us, we're never coming to God. But I'll tell you what,
and don't, sinner friend, don't let this be a hindrance. Flee to Christ. And if you do,
you've been made willing by God the Father. and God the Holy
Spirit. That's the only way you'll come
to Christ. If you're born again and made willing. My oh my. How do we know if we're
born again and made willing? Have you fled to Christ? Is He
your Savior? Is He your Redeemer? Are you
trusting in Him and Him alone? Not any works that you've even
done? Well, praise be to God. I mean
not nothing. I don't mean I don't mean holding
back for performance. I'm not talking about that stuff
I'm talking just trusting and resting in the Savior in His
finished work He's my king. He's my Lord He saved my soul
That's our confession, isn't it? Without Him, I could do nothing. I was dead in trespasses and
sins. I was graveyard dead! And He came, He came, and He
made me alive in Christ. Born again by the Holy Spirit
of God. Because without Him, I can't
do nothing. Let's look at verse 5 now. And we're going to see
that. Look at this. If a man abide not in me, or no, I am the vine, ye are the
branches. So now he's identified who the vine is. He's the vine,
the great I am is the vine, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah
sent by God the Father to save his people from their sins. He
says, I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in
me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without
me, you can do nothing. We can't save ourselves. We can't
keep ourselves. We can't sanctify ourselves.
We can't redeem ourselves. We can't pay the justice of God
for our sins. We can't fulfill the law of God
for our sins. We are deserving of the wrath
of God upon us for our sins. We can't do any kind of Christian
work or labor for the Lord without Christ. That's what he's telling
us here. He's telling us, you can't do
nothing. He's saying, Wayne, you can't
do nothing. Put your name in there. Without me, you can't
do nothing, he says. And see, as a believer, we love
that. We bow to that, don't we? But
only by grace. Because to the natural man, this is not right. You're telling me I can't do
nothing to save myself? That's exactly right. Well, that offends my pride.
Well, that's good. It should. Because pride's an awful thing.
We all deal with it, don't we? Even as believers, don't we?
Oh my. The only savior of sinners is
the one here who is telling us, I am the vine. And then he tells
us people, ye are the branches. And without me, you can't do
nothing. That's humbling, isn't it? Let's
admit it. That's humbling. That's humbling. But the believer
bows to that, don't we? Because we know who he is now.
See, the one saying this isn't just a mere man. The one saying
this is God incarnate in the flesh. And remember why he's
here to save his people from their sins. He's in a role of
a servant, beloved. He's here to save us from our
sins. And remember, He's God before
He even comes here. He's the Word of God. And He
humbles Himself and becomes a man. The scripture says, became a
servant. And who is He a servant to? God the Father. He's in full
submission to the Father's will. And what's the Father's will?
for Christ to save his people from their sins. Oh, hallelujah,
that's good news, isn't it? That's wonderful news for us
beloved to hear. And that's why we proclaim to
this lost and dying world that Christ is the only savior of
sinners. There is no other hope. And he can save to the uttermost
all who come to God through him. And he never cast away anyone
who's come to him, has he? Never one. Never one. No matter how black your sin
is. No matter how your past is. Because we all got past, don't
we? We who are God's people say we got past. Past will turn our faces red
and hold our head down in shame. But praise be to God. All our
sins are forgiven, washed clean in the precious blood of Christ.
Oh, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
Oh, my soul. Isn't that wonderful? My. Christ is the only savior
of sinners. The only one, the only hope. Look what it says here, if a
man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered.
A man gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words
abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done
unto you. That's, remember, all according to the will of the
Father. Right, if we ask for things according to the will
of the Father, that's why sometimes our prayers are answered, no,
because it's not the will of the Father. Oh my, and then it
says this. Herein is my father glorified,
that ye bear much fruit. It glorifies God when we bear
much fruit. And look, let's go back up to
verse four, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except
you abide in me, no more can he except you abide in me. Wow. So, and then he says to us, without
me, you can do nothing. So God's glorified. By us bearing
fruit because Christ and God the Holy Spirit are working in
us. And who gets all the glory? God does. God does. How do we glorify God every day? Just rest in Christ. Just trust
in Him. Praise His name. Oh my, look at this. As the Father
loved me, so have I loved you. How has the Father loved Christ,
beloved? Let's just stop and think about
that. Let's meditate upon this precious
truth this week. He says, as the Father loves
me, so have I loved you. What kind of love does the Father
love Christ with? An everlasting love. Our King is telling us here,
He's telling His people, I've loved you with an everlasting
love. Hmm. I have loved you. As the Father
hath loved me, so have I loved you." And then he says, continue
you in my love. What's shed abroad in our hearts?
What does scripture say shed abroad in our hearts? The love
of God. It's shed abroad in our hearts.
We're born again, and now we have the love of God shed abroad
in our hearts, beloved. He says this, if you keep my
commandments, you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept
my father's commandments and abide in his love. Oh, my. Are you looking to Christ? Look and live, the scripture
says. My, oh, my. And Christ fulfilled all the
commandments of God in our room and place. And we're to rest in that, beloved.
We're to trust in that. In the fact of the finished work
of Christ. In the fact that he fulfilled
the law of God for us. In the fact that God's justice
has been satisfied that was against us. In the fact that he bore
the wrath of God in our room and place. In the fact that we've
been redeemed. In the fact that he was raised
for our justification. And in the fact that one day
we'll be with him. all because of his work, all
because of what he's done, and by his almighty power. Praise
the Lord Jesus Christ. My! And we see here, the Lord is
a master of illustration, isn't he? He gives us something that
we see every day. Again, he compared himself to
a door, a shepherd, a rock, Water, bread, just to name a few of
the earthly objects, which us hearers could relate to. And
we can relate to those things too. You ever see the giant rock?
Like a huge rock? You hit it with a sledgehammer,
don't do nothing. Just bounces right off the rock.
My, oh my. When we were out west, the mountains
used to, there'd be landslides. Landslides. Huge boulders come
rolling down, block the road. Huge. They have to get them earth
movers in just to move them boulders. Oh my. Think of the giant mountains
we have all around the world. It's just a big piece of rock,
isn't it? Our rock is higher than all those
rocks. And our rock is Christ. And he used that illustration
to say that he won't be moved, beloved. If your feet set upon the rock,
you're safe. The rock is Christ. Isn't that
wonderful? My, oh, my. Water. We drink water to sustain our
lives, don't we? They say if you don't drink water
for a certain amount of days, then you're going to die. Now we can do less bread, but
you still need a little bit of bread every few days to sustain
yourself too, don't you? But water won't last long without
water. That's why when folks get near
the end of their lives and they stop drinking water, you're like,
oh, the doctors always tell you it won't be very long. My oh my. and bread. We eat bread all the
time. Right? It's in everything. You go have a burger, you got
two buns. Right? Growing up, my mom had every
meal, bread and butter on the table, every single meal. Slices
of bread stocked up. Every single meal. And we need bread to live, don't
we? Oh my. See, everyday things that
the Lord used for us to understand, beloved. My, oh my. And think of how suited
Christ is to those he came to redeem. He is fully sufficient
to be our Savior. He's the sinless one. He's the
sinless one, beloved. He's God incarnate in the flesh. And that which we could not perform,
right, saving ourselves by something we do, He did it all for us. What a Savior. And what was the
primary purpose of Christ's work? Well, to bring glory to God.
In saving His people from their sins, Christ brought great glory
to God. Great glory to God. Turn, if you would, to Revelation
chapter 5. Revelation chapter 5. Here's our king. Here's our king. He's called the Lamb of God,
isn't he? One of his titles is called the Lamb of God. And his blood was shed to save
his people from their sins. And he was bone of our bone and
flesh of our flesh. He was fully man and yet fully
God. Look at this. This is a little
picture of heaven for us. Revelation chapter five, verses
nine to 14. And they sang a new song. Who's
this? The redeemed of the Lord in glory. And you know what? We're gonna be here, beloved.
If we're born again, blood washed, saint of God, this talk about
us. We'll be there shortly. Life's
just a vapor. Life's just a vapor. Now think
of our loved ones who went before us, who died in Christ. They're
already, they're experiencing this. This is wonderful. And they sang a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof,
for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood. Look at that. Oh, he's the sinner's
substitute. I absolutely love this. Out of
every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. Isn't that wonderful? Out of every Kindred out of every
tongue. Out of every people in every
nation, God has a people. Glory to his name. And has made
us unto our God, kings and priests. And we shall reign on the earth.
And I beheld the voice of many angels. We don't know how many
angels there are. We have no idea. But this scripture
tells us many. Many. Round about the throne
and the beasts and the elders and the number of them was 10,000
times 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands. You know
what that is? That's a number we can't number. Oh my goodness, beloved. Oh my goodness. And every creature are saying
with a loud voice, now here we go. Worthy is the lamb. And this is the one who told
us I'm the vine and you're the branches. Remember that. And without me you can do nothing.
Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and
wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every
creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the
earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that were in them,
heard I say, blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto
him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and
ever. You know, we'll be singing forever
and ever, beloved. Worthy is the Lamb. Ain't that
wonderful? Oh. And the four beasts said,
amen. The four and twenty elders fell
down and worshiped him look at this that liveth forever and
ever and you know what he lives forever and ever What's that
mean about us who are in him? That means we're going to live
forever. Oh My goodness Glory to his name and This passage puts before
us the absolute sovereignty of our great God and King. He's
right there. He's the King. Everybody's worshiping
Him. And He came into this world.
He came into this world to magnify God's glory and the redemption
of sinners. And He accomplished, beloved,
exactly what He came to do. He saved His people from their
sins. And we who are God's people say,
hallelujah. What a Savior. What a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ, our Lord. And the proclamation of that
truth is what preachers are sent to proclaim, that Christ came
into this world to save sinners. That he came to save his people
from their sins. And he did it. We preach, I preach
a finished work, beloved. Finished work. Oh my. Note in this text here, he said,
he is the vine. Therefore, every vine on earth
is placed here to bear witness to him. Every time a grape is picked,
there's a testimony to that work, which he came to accomplish.
Every time a bottle of wine is enjoyed or anything is eaten,
bread, or water drinking, he's magnified. Now he's a producer of all that
too, isn't he? And it pictures him. Because
without food, we can't sustain ourselves, can we? We can't. We must have food. We must have
water. And notice here in our text,
too, the vine is the source of life for all the branches. It's the source of life for all
the branches. The branches receive their sustenance from the vine. Beloved, we receive our sustenance,
our spiritual life from the vine. We receive any fruit in our lives
as we grow in grace comes from the vine. so that he gets all the glory.
And we branches, just as he told us in the text, have no strength
of our own. He said without him, we could
do nothing. Yet, in his strength, we can
do all things, Philippians 4.13. My, I can do all things through
Christ who strengthened me. And think of this, the branch
cannot attach itself to the vine. Can it? A branch is either, must grow
out from the vine, or it must be grafted in by an expert gardener. My father is the husband. No,
just think about that, beloved. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, that according to it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. So a branch must either go out
of the vine, or a branch must be grafted in by a master gardener, But think of this, in either
case, it's the vine which controls the connection. Because the branch grows out
of the vine, doesn't it? The natural branch. And the grafted-in one is grafted
into the vine. Either way, it's the connection
to the vine that gives it life. See what's happening here? Jew
or Gentile, right? One in Christ, beloved. Oh my. And the branch cannot stay attached
nor strengthen its attachment by its own power, can it? No. Only the divine has the necessary
power to give it life and to sustain it. Being confident of this very
thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ, Philippians 1, 6. He began a good work in us, didn't
he? Beloved, he's gonna finish it. He's gonna take us home to
glory. He is faithful to maintain his
vineyard, both the vine and the vinedresser. And in all fruit
seen on the branches is produce of the vine. So the apples that
form on the branches out in the tree out here are actually produce, fruit,
of the vine. Isn't that amazing? Oh my. There are many who are
convinced that the fruit of the spirit springs from their own
volition, but that's not how it works, beloved. Fruit on trees
doesn't spring forth because of the branch, does it? The Lord gave us a very simple
illustration, hasn't he? It's wonderful. And so who works
that in us? Well, it's God to do of his good
pleasure and his will in us. in us. And keep in mind it's
called the fruit of the Spirit, right? Not the fruit of the believer. And the fruit that's produced
is evidence of God's work in us. God's work in us and not vice
versa. Isn't this so comforting? Isn't
this wonderful? And any branch that does not
produce fruit is useless and only worthy of destruction. Let
no man think himself connected to the vine if there's no fruit
being produced. All others, those branches which
are attached to him will produce fruit. God's saints will produce
fruit. Now we won't see it in ourselves,
but I'll tell you what, other people will see it. They will, your brothers and
sisters will see it. I see so much growth in the body here,
it's been amazing. It's been absolutely incredible.
Been amazing to see. The unity, the closeness, It's
been amazing. And that's all by the work of
God. The non-judgment, all that stuff is produced by God. Now we all see ourselves just
as safe sinners, don't we? No one better than anyone else.
It's marvelous. But see, that's God working humility
in the body, right? It's wonderful. Multitudes believe themselves
to be Christians because they've made a profession or a decision. Or made a public profession or
was baptized. One cannot become a true follower
of Christ except by divine work. Because without me, You can do
nothing. And our Lord, remember Nicodemus?
He said to Nicodemus, a man who studied the scriptures, and he
said, you must be born again. He said, can I enter my mother's
womb again? He said, you must be born again. It's by the Spirit. My, oh, my. So one cannot become
a true follower of Christ except by divine work of God the Holy
Spirit as in quickening us in rebirth, born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. A good man, out of the good treasure
of his heart, bringing forth that which is good. And an evil
man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringing forth
that which is evil. for of the abundance of his heart
his mouth speaketh. And why call ye me, Lord, Lord,
and do not the things which I say? Luke 6, 45 and 46. Praise be to God for full salvation
in Christ Jesus, accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ, because
of his shed precious blood and his perfect life, and his substitutionary
death is our sacrifice. And he's in heaven, beloved,
and one day we'll be there with him all because of his mercy
and grace, because he said, without me, you can do nothing. So let us rest in Christ. Let us rest and repose in the
finished work of Christ. May God give us the grace.