Good morning everyone. I was
thinking as I botched that song. About a fellow that attended
our church one time and he told me that he was there to keep
me humble. And I said, well, the Lord doesn't
need any help with that. And he certainly doesn't. He
knows how to keep us humble, doesn't he? It's a honor to be
here. I sincerely mean that. Good to
see each of you here. Thankful for you. My most of
my text this morning to be found in the Gospel of Matthew, but
I want you to turn with me first to Romans Chapter 12 if you would. And I want us to consider this
morning the simplicity of the Gospel. The simplicity that's
in Christ. Here in Romans 12 verse 6, the
Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Rome concerning teaching
and preaching. In verse 6, he writes, having
many gifts differing according to the grace that is given to
us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy, let us preach according
to the proportion of faith. You know, preaching to the hearts
of our hearers, we simply, as we can, tell them what Christ
has done for sinners. That's the good news, what Christ
has done for sinners. Verse seven, or ministry, let
us wait on our ministering, or he that teacheth on teaching,
or he that exhorteth on exhortation, that's talking about preaching
and teaching, he that giveth. Let him do it with simplicity. So whether we preach, teach,
exhort, which is giving, it's the gift of God to his people. We must do it with simplicity. You know, if we use words and
language that folks don't understand, how can they be comforted? Simplicity
means plain and straightforward. Clear, understandable, easy to
understand. I remember approximately 33 years
ago or so, Brother Bob Coffey came to preach in Madisonville. Bob had taught a Sunday school
class at 13th Street in Ashland for many years. And he had a
real gift of explaining things to those of a young age. And
our daughter Leah at that time was very young, and I'd say five
or six years old, and she said to me on the way home from services
that day, she said, Daddy, I understood every word that he said. I'll
never forget that. Now she wasn't old enough to
understand the doctrines of grace, she didn't comprehend man's total
depravity or unconditional election. She didn't understand the teaching
of limited atonement or irresistible grace. And she certainly didn't
understand the perseverance or the preservation of the saints,
but she understood every word that Brother Coffey said. Bob
didn't use words that she had never heard. She understood the
words that he spoke. He preached in a way that a young
child could understand and comprehend what he was saying. That's the
way we should preach. Even though my young daughter
didn't understand the depths of what Bob was saying, she understood
the words that he spoke. And that's what Paul is telling
us here in Romans 12. That's what a preacher's called
to do, to preach with simplicity. Now don't misunderstand me, it's
impossible, and I reiterate that, capital letters, it's impossible
to believe without God divinely intervening. You know that and
I know that. It cannot, this gospel cannot
be believed without a divine revelation from God. He has to
reveal his son to us. It can't be understood in a natural
way. For God's ways are their past
finding out. But the message of salvation
is a simple message. God did for sinners what they
couldn't do for themselves. That's pretty simple. And that's
what makes it so wonderful. It's called substitution and
the definition is simple. Substitution is a person or thing
acting or serving in the place of another. And that's what Christ
did for me, and that's what Christ did for you. That's a simple
definition. How about this? He that hath
the Son hath life. Isn't that simple? He that hath
not the Son hath not life. There's not anything that we
can't understand about that. Our Lord said, you've not chosen
me, but I've chosen you. That's simple. Salvations of
the Lord. Simple. Simple. And my point
is this, the doctrines, the teaching of grace should be preached and
explained so that a young child could understand what we're saying.
And I've always strived as a preacher to preach that way. The preaching
that I love to hear personally is that kind of preaching, where
there's no confusion at all about what the person is saying. People
may not believe what we're saying, But they will certainly understand
what we're saying. You know, the Lord's 12 disciples
were simple men. And I'm thankful for that because
I'm a simple man. And though the Lord spoke in
mysteries and parables that the wisest of men could not comprehend,
his words were yet simple. Simple. Men could comprehend
them. They were direct. There was no
misunderstanding as to what he meant. For you see your calling,
brethren, how that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty,
not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the
weak things, the simple things of the world to confound the
mighty, to confound the things which are mighty. Now many doubted
what our Lord said, but they understood what he was saying.
And that's why they often got angry. That's why folks still
get angry today. They know what we're saying. So now turn with me to Matthew
chapter four, if you would, verse 18. And I have a very simple
message for you today. It's a, it's a two word sermon,
basically. Matthew chapter four. I want
to begin reading in verse 18. Matthew 4, 18, and Jesus walking
by the sea of Galilee saw two brethren. Simon called Peter
and Andrew, his brother, casting the net into the sea, for they
were fishers. And he said unto them, follow
me and I'll make you fishers of men. And they straightway,
immediately, left their nets and followed him. And going on
from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee
and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending
their nets. And he called them, and they
immediately left the ship and their father, and did what? They
followed him. Now here in our text, the Lord
uses two simple words that cause Peter, Andrew, James, and John
to leave all they had. What were they? Follow me. Two words, one two-syllable word
and one one-syllable word. That's pretty simple. Every small
child is taught early on what it means to follow. It was to speak those, if I was
to speak those two words to my five year old granddaughter,
she'd know exactly what I meant and she'd know that I meant it.
I've said this many times, people understand the true gospel as
far as what we're saying. They just don't believe it. And
in many cases they despise it. Our Lord spoke with simple words,
yet never man spake like this man. And this two word message
is the difference between life and death. To present the gospel
of Christ in the simplest form, in just two words, I'd point
you this morning to those words of our Lord in the text, which
are simply, follow me. To believe Christ is to follow
him. The Lord calls to these two men and he says, these men,
these four men, and he says, follow me. And the scripture
says they left everything. They left their businesses. They
left their homes. They left their friends. They
left their family. And for three and a half years, they literally
followed in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus. They didn't have
to stop and think about it. They didn't have to check their
busy schedules. They left all and followed the Lord. His call
is effectual. Our Lord told a parable about
a certain man who made a great supper. You remember that story.
And he bade many to come. And the scripture says, with
one consent, they all began to make excuse. Now that word consent
there means to rehearse. You know, I got to thinking about
that. They begin to rehearse their
excuses. And what pathetic excuses they were. Have you ever done
that? Have you ever rehearsed your
excuse? Shamefully, I have. Well, what
am I gonna say to them? I can't go, what am I gonna say?
And you find yourself rehearsing what you're gonna say. They consented
to make, they rehearsed to make their excuses. Turn over a few
pages to Matthew chapter nine, and look at verse nine. Matthew 9 verse 9. And as Jesus passed forth from
thence, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom.
And he said unto him, follow me. And he arose and followed
him. Now just a couple quick observations
here. Jesus passed by and he saw a
man named Matthew. Matthew did not come to the Lord.
The Lord came to him. And Jesus saw a man. Well, of
course, Matthew was a man, but that's not what that's talking
about. Our Lord saw a sinful, depraved sinner who was a publican
and a tax collector. And I can assure you that he
would not have won any popularity contest among the Jews, even
though he himself was a Jew. As you know, these tax collectors,
these publicans, would extract more than what was called for,
and then they keep it for themselves. But the Lord said, follow me,
and he arose and followed him. He too left it all behind to
follow Christ. No doubt he was a wealthy man.
I'm sure he had fine horses and chariots, probably a big home,
a savings account, but he left all to follow Christ. And these
words don't only apply to the 12. Look at chapter 16 of Matthew,
verse 24. Matthew 16, verse 24. Then Jesus said unto his disciples,
if any man, whosoever, that's what that means, will come after
me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and what? Follow
me, follow me. Again, chapter 19. The rich young ruler asked the
Lord, what do I like? And the Lord very plainly and
directly with simplicity said in verse 21, if thou wilt be
perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give it to the poor
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and follow
me. So do you think that that man
understood what the Lord was saying? Well, you know he did
because he went away sorrowful. Because he had much, he had a
lot. The way to eternal life, now
hear me on this, the way to eternal life is following Christ. One of the definitions of the
word follow is to come hither. How do we come to Christ? We
follow him. That's pretty simple. Well, preacher,
what about election? What about predestination? Well,
when John speaks of the elect of Christ in John chapter 19,
those that God gave Christ to save, he speaks of them as a
flock of sheep, and appropriately so. You know, sheep are dumb,
they're helpless, and they stink. That pretty well sums us up.
And you know, that makes some folks angry, but not one of God's
sheep. Because he's calling us what
we are. We know what we are. We're dumb, we're helpless and
we stink. We stink in the nostrils of God. Look at John chapter
10 with me. The Lord here identifies his
elect. Speaking of a shepherd and his
sheep in verse four, John 10 verse four. And the Lord said,
and when he put it forth his own sheep, he goeth before them. and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. In verse 27, the Lord said, my
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they what? They follow
me. Who are the elect? Revelation
chapter 14, verse four tells us, they are they which follow
the lamb whithersoever he goeth. That's how you know who the elect
are. The people of God are identified by their leaving everything and
following Christ. I just can't make it any plainer
than that. That doesn't necessarily mean that we sell everything
we have and live like hermits. I was religious once, and I can
remember throwing all my rock and roll albums away. And a couple
days later, when I thought about it, I went back to that dumpster
and tried to find them. Leaving everything and following
Christ, friends, simply means nothing comes before following
him. Every child of God is willing
to give up all for Christ. They see that he is the one thing
needful. There's only one thing needful.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and
all these other things will be added to you. The one thing needful
is following Him. He'll take care of everything
else. The Lord's disciples, they didn't
do without. Well, when it came time to pay
taxes one time, He said, go down, catch a fish, and the money,
the tribute money will be in the fish's mouth. That's who
we're following. He can do anything. He can do
everything. He's God Almighty. We're told
that Matthew followed Him. Have you left all to follow Christ? Have you left all that you were
taught in religion? Have you left your works and
your decisions? Have you left your will and your
righteousness behind? Have you left all to follow Him?
If you have, He's made you willing to do so, and it's a sure sign
that you're one of His. Jesus Christ is the one thing,
not many things, singular thing, He's the one thing needful. As John Newton wrote, the world
and the things of it have all lost their sweetness to us. Hadn't
they? Yes, they have. Well, preacher,
what about faith? Are we substituting a life of
following Christ for that free gift? Of faith, are we substituting
our following Christ for our faith, our believing in him?
No, this commandment to follow Christ requires faith. You don't
leave everything and follow Christ if God has not already done a
work of grace in your heart and given you faith to believe. Life
comes before believing. A dead man cannot believe. We're
dead in trespasses and sin. A dead man can do nothing. God
must first give him life. And it takes grace and faith
to do so. Faith in Him, following Him.
Lazarus come forth. Now the scripture says he that
was dead came forth. When he made the commandment,
he was dead. Been four days dead. He was stinking
dead. And yet, God gave him life and he came forth. Now, did he
receive this life after he came forth? Well, no. God had to give
him life for him to come. God has to give us life before
we'll ever follow him. Following Christ is the proof
of life. Grace and faith in him. And what
a great paradox this is. The gospel requires you to lose
your life in order to find it. And the gospel's free, but you
must, in your heart, leave everything else behind to believe it and
have it. Now, I'm gonna turn you to a
couple more places, but the next place is John chapter 12, verse
25. Look at this with me. John 12, verse 25. Our Lord said, he that loveth
his life shall lose it. And he that hated his life in
this world shall keep it into eternal life, or life eternal.
And if any man serve me, you want to be a servant of Christ?
Let him follow me. And where I am, there shall also
my servant be. If any man serve me, him my father
will honor. To serve Christ is to follow
him. That's so simple. Isn't that
simple? And to follow Christ is to serve
him. Well, what is it to follow Christ? Well, as we've already
said, it's to come to him. How, how do we come to follow
him? Well, a few things. First, the
personal presence of Christ is involved. You know, someone asked
you to give them directions to Grace Baptist Church. You can either draw them a map
or you can say, come follow me. Of course, today we have maps
and Google and all that. And, but the Lord's directions
are not a map that says turn right and go straight. You know,
I remember in Sunday school class one time, it said directions
to God, turn right and go straight. Well, I can't do that. I tried
for years and years, but I couldn't turn right and go straight. Couldn't
do it. His directions to life are follow
me. It requires the presence of the
one that we're following. You see, the way to life eternal
is to follow Christ. Religion gives you directions
with a man-made map. The gospel shows you the way
by following Christ, trusting his work, standing in his righteousness. Big difference in following a
map and following a person. We follow him by giving attention
to what he says in the scriptures. That's why this Bible is the
most valuable possession that any of us have. It really is. It's God's Word. It's the Word
of God itself. We reveal ourselves to others
by our words, don't we? How do we get to know one another? We get to know each other by
putting our thoughts into words and communicating with one another.
Jesus Christ is the Word of God, friends, and the Word of God
is Jesus Christ. They're one in the same. Hebrews
1.1, God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in
times past and to the fathers by the prophets, but hath in
these last days spoken unto us by his Son. God speaks unto us
by his Son. I've never heard audible words
from the Lord. But I've heard from the Lord
through his word. They're one in the same. In the
beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word
was God. Isn't that simple? The same was
in the beginning with God. And in verse 14 of John 1, it
says in the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld
his glory. The glory is the only begotten
of the father, full of grace and truth. Jesus Christ is the
Word of God, and the Word of God is Jesus Christ. They're
one and the same. That's how we get to know Him.
By hearing His Word. So it's in and by and through
the Word of God that He reveals to us the glorious person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. If salvation is to follow Him,
then it requires His presence, right? Secondly, to follow someone
implies that they go ahead And we follow. We're behind them.
He's ahead of it. That's what it is to follow.
Have you ever had someone follow you somewhere because they didn't
know the way, and when they thought they had it all figured out,
they pass you? That used to irritate me. And many times, they wind up
lost. Well, I thought I knew the way.
Well, you should have followed me. The Lord's not someone who
knows the way and tells you to go on. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the light. And no man comes
to the Father but by Him. The command of our Lord is to
follow Him, go where He goes, do what He does. And the beautiful
thing about it is that He does it all for us. You know, back
in the late 80s, those of you that are old enough to remember
in early 90s, they had those WWJD bracelets. You remember
those? What would Jesus do? That's not
the issue. The issue is what Jesus did,
what Christ did. Christ has done for me what I
couldn't do. That's what the Bible reveals
to us, that's what Christ the Word says to us. What he did
for sinners, he bowed, he stooped, he suffered, he served, he gave. We didn't do anything. He bowed
to the law of God in our room instead. We couldn't bow, he
bowed for us. We wouldn't bow. He stooped from
his throne of glory to become a man and die the death of the
cross so that we might ascend out of the dunghill and be set
among princes. He served as the just one who
died for the unjust that he might bring us to God. He gave his
life. He died in our place. He fulfilled
the law and he satisfied God's holy justice for us. We didn't do anything. We follow. That's what Jesus did. And that's
the issue, not what he would do. I can assure you this, even
though we're told what we should do, we can't do it. And we won't
do it. We won't do it. Are you following
him? The call and command of Christ
is not coming up with some new innovative and creative way to
save ourselves. It's to simply follow Him. We
don't blaze new trails. We follow Him through the straight
and narrow gate. We follow Him on the narrow way
that leads to life. Salvation is following Him. It's a simple command, and a
commandment's what it is. He didn't say, follow me if you
want to. He said, follow me. That's a command. It's not, first,
let me bury my father. Christ said, let the dead bury
the dead. You follow me. Thirdly, this call and commandment
is all conclusive. All conclusive. You know, Teresa
and I lived in the Nashville area for about four years. That's
where I met all my preacher friends. That's where I met Brother Don
and Brother Henry, and the list goes on and on. But you know,
something that I noticed real quick in living in the Nashville
area, that everyone was a musician and songwriter. My barber wasn't
a barber, he was a songwriter. Waiters and waitresses were aspiring
stars in the music business. Waiting tables is just what they
did to make a living until they made it as a musician or a songwriter.
Being in the business of music is what they were dedicated to.
However they provided for themselves or whatever they did, it was
simply their means to pay their bills, but they believed That
they were, their calling was in the music business. Prince
Paul made tents to live, but he never introduced himself as
a tent maker. He first and foremost was an
apostle. He was called a disciple of Christ. That word disciple, you know
what it means? A follower of Christ. Isn't that simple? A follower of Christ. It's an
all conclusive calling. And no matter what we do to pay
the bills, we must follow the one who paid our sin debt. What
we do, what we are, often two different things. Brothers and
sisters, this isn't our hobby. It's our life. Someone once said to me, Jesus
is the most important part of my life. And I shocked him a
bit and said, not mine. And he looked confused, and I
said, no, he's not a part of my life. He is my life. And he is our life, isn't he?
By God's grace, he is our life, and we follow him. Paul wrote,
when Christ, who is our life, isn't that simple? Shall appear,
then shall ye also appear with him in glory. How do we get there? We follow him. Christ is the
believer's life, and they follow Him. We say with Peter, for to
whom else would we go? Thou hast the words to eternal
life. Over the years at Bible Baptist,
I've been back there 10 years now, attended there 20 years
before. I've seen a lot of folks come and go, a lot of them. But to whom else would we go?
He has the words to eternal life. I remember Miss Judy Estes when
I helped her do her music, her CD. I said, why are you doing
this, Judy? She said, whether therefore you
eat or drink, whatsoever you do, do it all to the glory of
God. And she even put that on the
cover of her CD. I sure do miss her. You see,
this is a spiritual calling. It's a spiritual command. Follow Christ. We can't see Him. We can't physically touch Him.
We walk by faith and not by sight. We walk by faith. Following and
believing Him. In the person of the Spirit of
God, Christ is here right now with us. You ever think about
that? Where two or three are gathered
in His name. He's in their midst. He's here
with us this moment. We're gathered in His name. For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of
God. Many people are following Jesus
physically. They trust in touch not, taste
not, and handle not. That's how they follow. But they're
perishing with the using, as Paul said, for these are the
doctrines of men, not God. You know what God's doctrine
is? It can all be summed up in two words, follow me. Our following of Christ may be
different for each of us. You all know Daniel Montgomery,
my friend. He works at GE in Madisonville. He does a specific task. But
not everyone that works at GE does what Daniel does. Some work
in the office, some in assembly, some work in engineering, some
in tool and die, some in shipping, some work in inventory, and some
sweep the floors. I believe it was Brother Montgomery
that said one time, if God sent one angel to earth to do some
great thing, and if God sent another to sweep the streets,
they both would consider it a great privilege. The employees at GE,
they all work together to one end. What Christ will have me
to do may not be what Christ has you to do. Not everyone's
a preacher. I haven't always been a preacher.
After the Lord delivered that demoniac out of the country of
the Gadarenes, he sat with the Lord in his right mind. I thought
about that so much. You know, he ran through the
graveyard, cut himself with stones. He was a maniac, man. You put
your children up at night with that man around. And here he
sits with the Lord in his right mind. And he, the one that was
possessed with the legion of devils, pleaded with the Lord
that he might go with him. You see, he wanted to go and
follow Christ. But the Lord said this. He said,
go home and to thy friends and tell them how great things the
Lord hath done for thee and hath had compassion on thee. And he
departed from the Lord. and began to publish,
he began to preach. That man became a preacher. And
he began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done
for him, and all men didn't marvel. Quick little story. Brother Todd
told me, Nyber told me that he went to a doctor here in Lexington
and found out that the doctor was from Henderson, my hometown.
And Todd said, you know, I've got a friend that lived in Henderson.
And he said, David Edmondson. He said the guy dropped his stethoscope
and said, well, I played ball, went to school with David, and
I played baseball with him. What's David doing now? And Todd
said, he's a preacher. He pastors a church. And that's
when he dropped his stethoscope. He said, of all the people that
I went to school with, I never thought that David Edmondson
would be a preacher. And I told Todd, next time you
go in, tell him of all the people I went to school with, I didn't
think he'd be a doctor. But don't you imagine that folks,
they said, that man's a preacher now? Well, my point is this. Whatever we do, we do unto the
glory of God. It's not what we do that saves
us, it's who we follow that does. Turn with me one last place,
John chapter 21. In verse 18, the Lord here is
walking with Peter after his resurrections. And as you know,
three times our Lord asked Peter if he loved him. And each time
Peter said, each time the Lord said to Peter, if you love me,
feed my sheep. And look at verse 18, what the
Lord said to me, John 21, verse 18. He said, when thou was young,
thou girdest thyself and walkest whither thou wouldest. But when
thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands and another
shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This
spake he, signifying by which death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this,
he said unto him, follow me. You know, we used to walk the
way that we desired, but not anymore. We follow him. Why do we follow him? Because
he said, follow me. The command comes, the power,
the enabling. Verse 20, then Peter turning
about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved, that being John,
following, which also leaned on his breast at supper and said,
Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? And Peter seeing him, saith
to the Lord Jesus, what shall this man do? And Jesus said unto
him, if I tarry till he come, or if he tarry till I come, what's
that to you? Follow thou me. Don't worry about what he's doing. You do what I tell you to do.
Follow me. So lastly, this commandment to
follow Christ, friends, is this. It's always successful. It's
always successful. The one who calls us is the one
who equips us. We're made willing to follow
Christ. When? In the day of his power. I have not decided to follow
Jesus. I sung that song for years. I
have decided. No, I didn't. I didn't decide
to follow Jesus. He decided that I'd follow him.
We need to change the words to a lot of these songs. And I followed
him in the day of his power. God, in following him, gets all
the glory. All of it. Every bit of it. Is there anything about following
Christ that you don't understand? Such a simple message. Then follow
him. Follow him. May God be pleased
to enable us to follow him for his glory, and it'll be for our
good. And let's do it for Christ's sake
because of what he's done for us. Amen. Thank you for having
me. I appreciate it so much. I appreciate
your attention. I'm thankful that you're following
Christ.