Our second speaker this morning,
Pastor Greg Elmquist of the Apopka Grace Church, or Grace Gospel
Church, excuse me, of Apopka, Florida. This is the first time
that Greg has been here. I certainly hope it will not
be the last. We've had such a good time visiting
and fellowshipping. It seems like every time I hear
Greg preach, I learn something new. I don't know how you can
do that, preaching the old, old story. It never changes, but
somehow I learn something new every time. I still remember
20 some years ago, the first time I still remember the first
message I ever heard him preach on the kingship of Christ, just
as outstanding. So I wish it hadn't taken so
long for us to get you here, but we're certainly glad you're
here. Hope you feel very well at home and you come preach the
message. The Lord's laid on your heart to us. Thank you, Frank. We do feel
at home here. You all have made me and Tricia
feel real special and I'm more thankful. And we love you, Pastor. Janet, thank you so much for
taking such good care of us. We feel very much at home with
the believers here. One thing I really am thankful
for in preaching is when I can identify with a message and identify
with that message. That's my experience. That's
my life. Another thing that I that I appreciate about good preaching
is when it's real simple. And that's my hope this morning.
I hope this message will be real simple. The title of it is simple. Is one word. Only. Only that's
the title of the message. You've heard people say never
say never. God says never ain't never going
to happen. And when God says only it means only. So we're
going to look in the next few minutes at some passages of Scripture. where God says this is the only
way that it's going to be. And I'm just so hopeful that
it'll be simple and to the point. I know how convoluted, how confusing,
and how complicated religion is. I know that from my own personal
experience, having grown up Roman Catholic and then dabbled with
Eastern mysticism and then become Freewill Southern Baptists and
then Reformed Baptists. I just tried lots of different
flavors of religion. And I've discovered in my experience
that the only difference between one religion and another is what
the rules and regulations are for that religion. What are the
do's and don'ts for that particular religion? And it becomes very
complicated not knowing what are prescribed by a particular
flavor of religion. The gospel is just the opposite. The gospel is simple. The Lord
tells us in Matthew chapter 6, if the eye be single, then the
whole body shall be filled with light. But if the eye be evil,
and you can look up that word evil, it means full of labors. That's what that word means.
If the eye be evil, then the body is filled with darkness. If the hope of our salvation
is based on being full of labor, trying to figure out a way to
earn favor with God, then we'll have nothing but darkness. But
if God gives us a single eye to set our affections on things
above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, then
the light of the gospel shines in the face of our hearts, in
the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the simplicity of the gospel. I remember in school one time
I took an exam. You know how you get the questions
and the answers, and you have to match the two? And I got about
a third of the way through this test, and I realized that the
answer to number one was number 20, and the answer to number
two was number 19, and the answer to number three was number 18. The professor just reversed the
answers, and I thought, this is too simple. The only thing that could be
simpler than that is if every question had the same answer.
And, uh, and that's the truth of the gospel. Every question
has the same answer. And the answer is Christ. Second Corinthians chapter 11.
Apostle says, I fear, lest by any means as the serpent beguiled
Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ. The simplicity that is
in Christ. I have seven questions that the
Lord has given us and the only answer for. My first question
is, who are we to worship? And you remember when Satan took
our Lord into the wilderness after He had fasted 40 days and
40 nights and tempted Him. He took Him on a high mountain
and He showed Him all the nations of the world promised to give
them to him if he would bow down and worship him. And the Lord
said thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only. Him only shall I serve. We have one God. We worship him. And in Hebrews chapter one, God,
who at sundry times and in divers manner spake to our fathers in
times passed by, the prophets have now spoken to us by his
son, who is the express image of his glory, the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. We have one God that we worship,
and it is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. We bow. in worship to him, David said,
he only is my rock. Oh, the rock of ages, that rock
that was smitten by Moses, by the rod of the law in the, in
the wilderness from which the fountains of the rivers of life
came. That's Christ. The rock that,
that God hid Moses in on Mount Sinai. And, uh, that that's Christ. We have one rock and David said,
he only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be moved away from him. Can't go anywhere else. The Lord
asked the disciples, will you leave me? And what did they say?
Or you alone have the words of eternal life. We know and are
sure that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. We've
got no place else to go. You have shut us up to you only,
only. And then you remember on the
Mount of Transfiguration, when the veil of our Lord's humanity
was taken away and the radiance of his deity shined forth like
the noonday sun and Peter, James and John fell down on the ground.
And and they they saw Moses and Elijah speaking with the Lord
of that which would be accomplished in his death. And when they came
up off the ground, the scripture says they saw no other man save
Jesus only. The Lord Jesus Christ had fulfilled
all the demands of Moses law. He is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believe it, and He is the testimony
of all the prophets. The testimony of the prophets
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that the prophets
had to promise were fulfilled. All the promises of God are yea
and amen in Christ. Who do we worship? We worship
the only God that there is. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
prayed for us in John chapter 17 verse 3, he said, this is
life eternal. I love the way the Lord said
that. He didn't say this is eternal life. In other words, you want
to go to heaven, you got to know God, the only true God and Jesus
Christ whom he has sent. He said, this is life. There's
no life outside of Christ. People who don't have Christ
don't have life. Their life is absolutely meaningless without
the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, in Him was life, and
the life was the light of the world. Now, in the natural realm
of things, we think of light being necessary for life, but
in the spiritual realm, life is necessary for light. In him
was life and his life was the light of the world. But men love
darkness rather than light. Why? Because their deeds were
evil. The light of the gospel exposes the evil of man. They will not come to him that
they might have life. This is life eternal that they
might that they might know the the only true God. the only true God. There's only
one God. Well, there's a lot of imaginary
gods. We come into this world with
an idol factory already fashioning images of God in our hearts that
look very much like ourselves. You thought that I was altogether
as thyself, but that's not God. We're just a little idol factories. The God who is. is the one who
has revealed himself in his word in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the only one we worship. We go nowhere else. And he doesn't
change. Immutability can only be spoken
of as it relates to the character of God. Everything else changes. Everything else changes. And
the Lord said, I am the Lord and I change not. And that's
the only reason that you sons of Jacob are not consumed. I
have established a covenant of grace before time ever began.
I slew the lamb before time ever began. I hid you in that covenant
and I'm not changing. I'm not changing. David put it
like this. He said, although my house may
not so with God, yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant
and that covenant ordered in all things and it's sure. And David said, this is all my
salvation and this is all my desire. All the hope of my salvation
is in the one true God who never changes the same yesterday, today,
and forever. Now the problem is that you and
I have a problem with God. Isaiah put it like this, your
sins have separated you from your God. So what does God say
about this sin problem that we have? You're familiar with this
verse, Genesis chapter 6 verse 5. God looked down from heaven
and he saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart were
only evil, continual. Lord said, my thoughts are not
like your thoughts. Now here's what God says about your heart
and my heart. our thoughts, the imaginations
of our hearts are only evil and back continually. And someone
says, well, you know, I know I have evil thoughts, but I don't
always think that way. And the only reason a person
would say that is because they're comparing themselves to themselves. Or they're comparing themselves
to another man. You see, once the Lord reveals
himself to you, And you see that his thoughts are pure and holy
and righteous. What did Job say? When Job, when
Job, when Elihu finally came and preached the gospel to Job
and the first words out of Job's mouth, behold, behold, I see
something I never saw before. I am vile. I am vile. I had heard of thee
by the hearing of my ear, but now mine heart, mine eyes have
seen thee and I repent in dust and ashes." What's Isaiah say? You read the first five chapters
of Isaiah and Isaiah as a prophet of God is pointing to the people
of Israel and saying, woe unto you, woe unto you. And all those
woes were true. But then what happens in chapter
six, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. I saw Him. He was high and lifted up. His
train filled the temple, and the seraphim hovered over His
throne, and they cried, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of
hosts. Heaven and earth is filled with Your glory. And what comes
out of Isaiah's mouth? Woe is me. I am unadulterated. I'm a man
of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips. My
eyes have seen the king. I'm a dead man. That's what Isaiah
said. I'm a dead man. And had the seraphim
not taken a coal from off the altar and touched his lips and
purged his sin, he would have been a dead man. Same for you
and me. Every imagination of the thoughts
of our hearts, according to the standard of God. You see, the
truth is you have never been capable of having a holy thought.
You never have. Not like he has. Your thoughts
are not like my thoughts. Your ways are not like my ways.
What does God say about us? How do we define sin? I think
the simplest definition for sin in all the word of God is all
have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Now the
only question you and I have to ask ourselves is what in my
life fall short of the glory of God? What? Everything. Everything. We've never been able to speak
a word We've never been able to perform a deed, we've never
been able to have a thought that measures to the glory of God.
And God says everything that falls short of my glory is sin.
So that every imagination of the thoughts of our hearts are
only evil continually. Now unless the person thinks,
you know, I have to, I have to wallow in the shame and guilt
of my sin in order to do repentance. That's not true. You can't feel
the shame of your sin like it really is. You can't be sorry
enough for your sin. When the spirit of grace and
supplication is poured out upon the house of Israel and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, they will mourn after Him whom they have pierced
as one who mourneth after His only begotten Son. You see, the
only thing we need to know about our sin is what it took God to
put it away. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one that felt the full shame and sorrow and agony for sin. And God saw it. Isaiah chapter
53. God saw the travail of His soul. And was satisfied. You and I can't travail enough
over our sin. But He did. He did. He bore the full brunt of it. He drank that cup that he prayed,
that if there be any way this cup can pass from me, let it
be nevertheless not mine. That was the cup of sin. That
was the bitter dregs of God's wrath. that He suffered. And God Almighty sheathed the
sword of His justice into the heart of His own Son and satisfied
His divine justice in Christ. He's the only one that could
satisfy the Father. Bearing our sins in His body
upon that tree. What a glorious Savior. How bad of a sinner are we? We
can only sin. Paul said in me that is in my
flesh. Now the new man is perfect before
God, we know that. Incapable of sin. As he is, so
are we in this world. He that sanctifieth and they
that are sanctified are all as one. We've got that old man.
Paul said in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth what? No good
thing. Nothing. Who do we worship? Only Christ. How sinful are we? How sinful
are we? Only evil. That's why David said
against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in
thy sight. I said, well, didn't David sin
against Uriah? Didn't David sin against Uriah's
men? He had them all killed. Didn't
he sin against Israel by taking this woman that wasn't his wife?
That's not what David said. You see, sin by definition is
an offense against God. That's why he's the only one
that can put it away. We had some Japanese students
staying in our home some years ago, and we were trying to talk
to them about the gospel. And in conversation, we found
out that they had no word in their language for sin. No language, no word for sin.
They couldn't come up with a word. I thought, well, that stands
to reason. So they come out of an atheistic
culture, don't believe in the existence of God, so what reason
would there be for sin? And then our granddaughter who
was whose name is grace. We took her when she was little
to Disney one time and went to the to the Chinese pavilion to
have her name translated into Chinese characters. And they
had no word for grace in the Chinese language. Well, that makes sense. An atheistic
culture has no need for grace. It has no need for grace. We've
heard people say, well, grace is unmerited favor. And that's
true. But in our city on pretty much
every corner, we've got we've got people panhandling, begging,
you know, at the stoplights and different places. And if I roll
down my window and give a guy a dollar, I've given him unmerited
favor. That's grace. But if that same fellow killed
my only child, and then I turned around and gave him everything
I owned. That's not unmerited favor. That's
demerited favor. That's what grace is. Our sins put to death the son
of God, and he turned around and gave us everything he's got. Apart from being a sinner, there
can be no grace. I had a man say to me one time,
Preacher, I just got one question for you. Do you intend to tell
us every Sunday that we're sinners? Well, Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners. Fourthly, what is my hope for
righteousness before God? And God says in Psalm 71 verse
16, I. So what David said, I will make
mention of thy righteousness even of thine only. Only. We know that our well,
our righteousness is as filthy rags before God. We have no righteousness. David said I I will make mention
of the righteousness of Christ. Men go about that's what religion
is all about, isn't it? Religion is all about men having
a zeal for God, but being ignorant of the righteousness of God.
That's Christ. They go about to establish their
own righteousness. Not knowing that Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. We have but one righteousness
before God. Religion is all based on self-atonement. Man trying to establish favor
with God by something he does. I was talking to a man just the
other day, a really nice guy, he's in his 70s, and spent most
of the day fishing with him on a boat. And he said, I tried
to talk to him about the gospel, he said, wait a minute, you need
to know, I'm an agnostic. And he said, my rule of life
is the golden rule. He said, I treat other people
the way I want them to treat me. And if there is a God, I'm
just hoping that that's going to be sufficient. And I told him, I said, Mike,
I said, obviously, you're a very nice guy. I've enjoyed being
with you all day. You've treated me very well. But it's not going
to get you into heaven. Trying to present your good works
before God is not going to work. That's what men do. They try
to establish their own righteousness through their own perceived goodness. And God looks at it and he says,
filthy rags. I will make mention of thy righteousness,
even of thine own. My next question is who can forgive
sins? You remember the story in Mark
chapter two when our Lord went to Capernaum and he went into
some house, the scripture doesn't say, and he began to teach. And I love this phrase, it was
noised that he was in the house. And when the word got out that
the Lord Jesus Christ was in the house, the house got packed. Now, wouldn't it be wonderful
to be noised in Ashland that the Lord was in the house? Wouldn't
it be wonderful to be noised throughout all of Orlando that
the Lord was in the house and people would want to come just
to hear Him? And they'd pack the house. so that no, no one
could get in. And then there were four men
who had a, who had a friend who was sick with a palsy and, and
they couldn't get to the Lord. And so they went up on the roof
and they removed some tiles off the roof and with ropes, they
lowered him down right in front of the Lord. And the Lord looked
at the man. He said, your faith, your sins
are forgiven you. And the Pharisee says, who is
this man? Only only God can forgive sin. Only God can forgive sin. You
see, sin by nature is against God. God's the only one that
can forgive it. If I offend you, I can't go to someone else to
get forgiveness for that offense. I've got to come to you. He's
the only one that can forgive sin. And the Lord, knowing their
thoughts. Said what is easier to say? Your
sins are forgiven you or stand up and walk, but that you might
know that the son of man had power to forgive sins. I say
unto you, stand and walk. And he stood up and he walked
out. The son of man has power to forgive sins. Don't go anywhere
else to get your sins forgiven. He's the only one that can do
it. Oh, but how? how able He is to put away all
our sins by the sacrifice of Himself. My last question is, what shall
I do? What shall I do? And the answer
to that question is found in Mark chapter 5. You don't have
to look it up. I'll tell you the story. You know it. A ruler
of the synagogue by the name of Jairus had a 12-year-old daughter. She was on her deathbed. She
was on her deathbed. She was dying. And Jairus heard
that the Lord was in town. And he ran to meet Him. And he
begged the Lord to come to his house and heal his daughter.
She was nigh unto death. So the Lord agreed to go with
Jairus to his house. And on the way, God ordained
an interruption the woman with the issue of blood, and the crowd,
and the woman, you remember, touches the Lord's hem of His
garment and virtue goes out from Him, and He ends up healing her. And as soon as that's over, servants
come from Jairus' house and they say to Jairus, bother the master
no more. Your daughter's dead. And before Jairus could collapse
in grief, I can just see the Lord taking him with his hands. Jairus, don't be afraid. Only believe. Don't do anything else. Believe. Believe what? Believe me. Believe
me. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. Believe me. You know, every conversation
that we have, even listening to me preach, we speak to our spouses, people
we love and trust. We're always having to ask two
questions. Is what I'm hearing true? And
is the person telling me sincere? And so we're reading body language,
we're reading nuances, we're reading inflections of voice,
trying to discern whether or not what's being said is true
and whether or not the person saying it really means it. We never, ever have to ask either
one of those questions when listening to the Lord. They never asked even enter into
our mind. Whether or not what he says is true. If God gives
us faith. We believe everything he says.
We can't. Someone said this weekend. Just
one day I just became a believer. Well, the way I like to think
about it in my experience is. I can't not believe. I can't. And I mentioned to our congregation
one time, I said, believers, try not believing. And then I
realized, that's what I do every day. I'm always trying not to
believe. I'm always taking my eyes off
of Christ. I'm always looking at the things of this world.
And I can't not believe. I just can't do it. Why? Because God's made me a
believer. Why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
In the face of death has taken my face and he said unto me,
be not afraid, only believe. Only believe. Faith is the substance
of things hoped for. It's the evidence of things not
seen. And we believe everything he
says. And it's not complicated. The problem with believing God's
word is not IQ, it's I will. And we just won't do it unless
the Lord gives us the mind of Christ. And when he does, it's
so simple. People say, well, a problem with
particular redemption. And the Lord said, Father, I
pray not for the world. I pray for them which thou hast
given me out of the world. Thine they were, thou gavest
them to me. I pray that you would keep them. What does that mean? Well, it means exactly what it
says, doesn't it? He has chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world. I lay my life down for the sheep. I've loved them with an everlasting
love. It is finished. And faith just faith doesn't
say, well, I wonder what he means by that. I wonder if he really
meant it. We only believe and that's all
we've got. We can't look at the evidence
of salvation in our lives. I hope the Lord's changed our
lives. But the more we look at ourselves, it's like going down
in a well, isn't it? You try to look at yourself to
find evidence of salvation. And the deeper you go, the darker
it gets. The only the only evidence of
salvation is faith. Looking unto Jesus, who is the
author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before him endured the shame of the cross. Only. Only. Only worship God. Know that. The thoughts of your heart are
only evil and not continue. We only have his righteousness.
We've sinned only against him. By his grace, we only believe. God impress upon our hearts,
the only's of his