The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians
1, verse 12, he says, For our rejoicing is this, the testimony
of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly
sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, Not with fleshly words, not with
things of men's understanding, but by the grace of God. We have had our conversation
in the world, and more abundantly to you. Paul says in this verse
that we speak with simplicity. We speak with sincerity. This
is serious business. This thing of preaching the Gospel.
It's a matter of life and death. And God uses the foolishness
of preaching to save those that believe. If you're ever to be
saved, friends, it's going to be by hearing this message. So the responsibility falls upon
God-called preachers to preach this marvelous gospel with simplicity
and with sincerity. It's never by fleshly wisdom.
It's by, always by, the grace of God. We call it sovereign
grace. You know why? Because it's of
God. It's like Gary said, salvation
is of the Lord. And you look that up in Jonah
2.9, and it says salvation is of the Lord, and there's a period
at the end. It doesn't say salvation is of
the Lord if you do this or if you do that, or if you believe
this or you believe that. The truth, the simple truth is
that salvation is of the Lord. We do the sinning. God does the
saving. It's just that simple. Salvation
is of Him and Him alone. I haven't been able to get this
off my mind all week. All week I've thought on the
simplicity that is in Christ. Turn over to chapter 11 in 2
Corinthians. Chapter 11, verse 3. Again, the Apostle uses this
marvelous word. He says, But 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. Oh, when the serpent beguiled
Eve, he used all sorts of uh... of lives he said oh god told
you not to eat of the the fruit of uh... of of this of the garden
says god knows in a day you eat of you'll be as god you know
good from evil you'll oh what that appeal to her flesh did
it not paul says Don't be, do not be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ. We speak with simplicity. When
it comes to the gospel, there's no substitute for simplicity. Our Lord Himself spoke in language
that men could understand. Don Fortner said, and I like
this, he said, no one ever had to go home after they heard our
Lord and got a dictionary and looked up the words that He said.
He used what we call parables. They were stories that people
could relate to and understand. And people knew. People understood
Him. They didn't always like what
He said, but they understood Him. Several times they endeavored
to kill him. That's how much they understood him. They understood
him all too plainly. Well, this man makes himself
out to be God. They knew what he was saying.
He was God. God in the flesh. The son of
the living God. They didn't like it. They had
determined in their heart that they would not have this man
rule over them, but they understood him. There were no hidden meanings
to his words, I'll tell you that. Everyone who heard him understood
what he said. The Scriptures are very plain,
aren't they friends? Aren't they very simple and direct?
concerning especially the matter of God's salvation? Jonah cried,
Salvation's of the Lord. That's a simple statement, isn't
it? That means that salvation is by God and God only. Salvation's
of the Lord. He didn't say, as I said, Salvation's
of the Lord. No. No. Salvation's of the Lord. I can't add to that. Concerning
the things of God and the saving of a sinner, they're simple. They're sincere and yet impossible
to believe unless God gives you eyes to see, ears to hear, and
hearts to understand. But they're simple. I want to
give you just four simple things from Scripture for you to consider
this morning. And I'm not going to be long,
but I'm going to be direct. And by the grace of God, I hope
to be simple. Don't be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ. The first thing that I want to
address is that you must repent or you'll perish. That's pretty
direct, isn't it? That's not hard to understand.
You must repent or you'll perish. Turn with me to the Gospel of
Luke, chapter 13. I want to just read a few verses
here. Luke 13. We'll begin in verse 1. Luke 13, 1. The history of this gospel tells
us that on this day that there were present at that season some
that told him of the Galileans whose blood palate 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?"
In other words, do you think that these suffered these things,
that these things came upon them because they were greater sinners
than the others of whom they lived with day in and day out? He says in verse 3, I tell you,
oh, what a direct statement, I tell you, but except you repent, ye shall
all likewise perish." And then in verse 4, he says, of those
18, this was commonly known in the history of the Jewish nation,
he said, of those 18 upon whom the Tyre of Siloam fell and slew
them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt
in Jerusalem? This was common thinking among
the Jews. Oh, they must have done something bad to have deserved
that kind of damnation, that kind of death. Remember that
time, I believe the fellow was blind, wasn't he? And they said,
who sinned, him or his parents? Oh, they had a way of justifying
how men died. It must have been greater sinners
than everyone else. And yet, our Lord said, I tell
you, I'm going to tell you again. I'm going to just tell you like
it is. Nay, they weren't greater sinners than the others. But except ye repent, ye shall
all likewise perish. Friends, we're all in the same
boat. Sinners. Sinners. And unless God in His mercy and
grace grant us repentance, we'll perish in our sins. Now, if I
may just for a moment try to tell you the best I can what
it is to repent. The word repent means to change. That's what it means. It means
a change of mind. It's a change of thought. It's
a change of manners. But most importantly, dear friends,
it's a change of masters. I lived for years upon this earth.
I was my own master. I was my own God. The whole world
revolved around me. If I thought something was good,
it was because it was good concerning me. If I thought something was
bad, it meant it wasn't good for me. You see what I'm saying?
I was my own God. my own master. But God causes
His chosen elect to change their mind about themselves. Men by
nature say, well, I'm not perfect, but I'm as good as the next guy. I'm as good as those hypocrites
down there at that Sovereign Grace Church. The truth is that
men are as bad as the next guy. We're all in the same boat. All
have sinned. Is that what the Scripture says?
That's pretty simple, isn't it, Gary? All have sinned. All have
come short of the glory of God. There is none that doeth good. The Scriptures are plain and
simple concerning these things. The heart is deceitful above
all things, Jeremiah 17.9. And it's desperately wicked.
Who can know it? Only one, God Almighty. As we
read in Sunday School out of Genesis 6-5, and God saw that
the wickedness of man, not just one man, the wickedness of mankind,
everyone that ever lived and walked this earth, wicked. And their wickedness was great
in the earth in that every imagination, not just having a few bad thoughts.
Well, I have a few bad thoughts from time to time. No, you don't.
Your thoughts are only evil continually. Now let's just be honest. Before
a thrice holy God, the Scriptures lump every man and woman together.
How many have sinned? How many come short of God's
glory? All of them. Every one. How many have done
good? None. Is that simple? You must repent. And let me add here, at no extra
charge, you're not invited to repent. you're commanded to repent. In Acts 2.28, the Apostle Peter
stood and he said, repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ. For the remission of sins and
you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." He didn't stand
up and say, now listen, guys, you need to exercise your free
will and you need to decide right now to repent. Did he say that? No. He said, repent. If we're ever to be reconciled
to God Almighty, God must grant us repentance. Repentance of
the Lord. I can't just get up one morning
and decide, well, you know what, I think I'm going to repent and
start living for Jesus. That's not how it works. It's not how it works. To repent is to have a change
of mind. Not only of yourself, but it's
to have a change of mind and thoughts concerning God Almighty. Men, I grow so tired of hearing
men talk about God like He's a little old man upstairs. He's
begging and pleading, wringing His hands, doing everything He
can. He's frustrated. He's trying
to get the attention of man so that man will let Him help him. That's ridiculous. You better
read this Bible. It's simple and it's direct and
it's plain about who you are and who God is. That's just a wrong thinking
of God. That's a wrong thinking of God. Our God is in the heavens,
David said, and He's done whatsoever He hath pleased. Well, I don't
like that God. Well, I'm going to tell you something.
You better get prepared to deal with the God of the Bible. That's
who you're going to stand before one day in judgment. It's not
going to be a little old man I used to love John Wayne. Maurice
Montgomery said, they ain't made a good movie since John Wayne
died. But John Wayne used to say, he said, me and the man
upstairs, we got a good thing going on. John Wayne didn't know
God. He didn't know the God of this
Bible. He wouldn't have said that if he had. What's God done, whatsoever He
is pleased. Repentance is a change of mind
about who God is. Daniel said in chapter 4, verse
35, and all the inhabitants of the earth are what? Reputed as
nothing. And He doeth, God doeth, according to His will in the
army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And
none can stay His hand. None can say unto Him, God, what
are You doing? Oh, we dare not. This is a sovereign God who rules
and reigns and controls all things. He spoke the worlds into existence. Do we not think that He can take
care of us? Something wrong with our thinking,
isn't it? Repentances have a change of
thought, heart of God and of ourselves. When men repent their thoughts
of themselves and their thoughts of God Almighty, they change.
And you know what they do? They take sides with God against
themselves. And they say, let God be true
and every man a liar. I've been wrong. I deserve what
this book says I deserve. but God and His mercy. But God. Don't you love the but Gods and
the unless and the accepts of the Scriptures? There's going
to be a rude awakening one day in the great day of judgment
for those who think so little of God and Christ. having predestinated
us, what Paul writes to the church at Ephesus in verse 5, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself. That's the only way. By Jesus
Christ to Himself. According to what? Your free
will? Your faithfulness? No! According to the good pleasure
of His will. That's the only way. That's how
it comes about. So allow me to be plain and simple.
Your will has nothing to do with it. What? Well, that makes people fight
mad. What do you mean my will doesn't have anything to do with
it? Well, your will, according to Scripture, which is simple
and direct and plain, your will is not to come to Christ. Is
that what it says? It says that in John 5.40. And
ye will not come to me, Christ said, that ye might have life.
You don't have the will to come to Him. Paul said in Romans 9, it's not
of Him that willeth, nor of Him that runneth. So who's it of? But of God that showeth mercy. That's what the Scriptures say.
That's simple. That's plain. That's direct. That's to the
point. Your will is not an issue. It has everything to do with
God. It's God that showeth mercy.
That's what it says. It's God that showeth mercy.
Not only do you not have the will to come, friends, you don't
have the ability to come. Accept. Unless, but God, oh now
that changes it, doesn't it? John 6, 44, no man can come to
me. What's that saying? Simply, no
man has the ability to come. You don't have the ability. Except, oh circle that word. Except, the Father which sent
me draw you." That's the only way. The apostles asked a question
one day in response to a statement our Lord made. And they asked,
who then can be saved? Who then can be saved? And in
Mark 10.27, Jesus looking upon them saying, with men it is impossible. That's pretty simple, isn't it?
That's pretty direct. That's pretty plain. With men
it's impossible. How can anyone be saved? With
men it's not possible. But not with God. That's what
he said. Exact words. Mark 10, verse 27. Write it down. With men it is
impossible, but not with God. For with God all things All things
are possible with God at the helm of this thing. And He is. He rules and He reigns in all
sovereign power. Oh, friends, repentance is a
change of mind. It's a change of attitude. It's
a change of ways. It's a change of thoughts. And
it's a change of direction. Look at Isaiah chapter 55. Isaiah
chapter 55 verse 7, Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts. and let him return unto the Lord. And he will have mercy upon him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." And God speaks through the prophet,
and He says in verse 8, "...for My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord." For as the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." Now friends,
if God Almighty is pleased to grant repentance to sinners,
they're going to forsake their ways. That's what it says. Let them forsake their ways.
If God grants repentance, the unrighteous man will forsake
his thoughts. And if God grants repentance
to the sinner, he'll return to God. But let me tell you, it's
only by the mercy and the abundant pardon of God Almighty. Is that not what we just read?
Is that not plain and simple? Do you not understand what I'm
saying? I'm not asking you if you believe. I don't know whether
you believe or not, but I'll tell you this, if you're ever
to believe, it's going to be on Christ and Him alone, or it'll
do you no good. There's no salvation in any other. In repentance, we change our
thoughts, for our thoughts are not God's thoughts. But I'm going
to tell you what, they're going to have to be, or you'll never
be reconciled to Him. In repentance we change our ways,
for our ways are not His ways. But I'm going to tell you something,
they've got to be. We don't yet know the God of the Scriptures.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, His thoughts
and ways are higher than ours. I watched a little video this
week on our solar system. I thought it was the one that
you gave me. I looked it up on the computer. And it said to
reach the Milky Way, which is far closer to us than many other
galaxies that we can see with a powerful telescope, that you'd
have to travel at the speed of light for a hundred thousand
years to reach it. How vast is our universe that
God made. He created the heavens and the
earth. There are galaxies beyond that
that scientists say would take 50 million years to reach at
the speed of light. when you pass the Milky Way,
it showed an illustration of it. And the Milky Way became
just a little dot and you couldn't even see it. And man, the telescopes
and all have seen these things from afar off. Now I know they're
guessing at best, you know, but how vast are the heavens? Our
God's in the heavens. He's done whatsoever He's pleased.
Now let me tell you something, as high as the heavens are above
the earth, His thoughts and His ways are above ours. Yet in repentance, in God-granted
repentance, our thoughts and our ways and our direction have
changed by the grace and mercy of God. One of my favorite scriptures
is 2 Corinthians 5.17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ. Now this is simple. This is plain. This is direct. If any man be
in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things passed away. All things are become new. Second point, the last three
won't be as long. I promise you, I'm almost done.
The scriptures plainly, simply teach that a man must be born
again or he'll perish. Jesus answered and said unto
them, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except, there's that word
again, a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. You can't even see it, much less
enter it. He said in John 3-7, marvel not that I said unto thee,
ye must be born again. Peter wrote, being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Friends, except you're
born again, you're going to perish. Christ said, you must be born
again or you'll perish. Being born again is the work
of God. It's by the Word of God. That's what Christ said. Nicodemus,
probably one of the smartest men of his time, he said, Lord,
how can I, being a man of my age, enter again into my mother's
womb? He said, oh, you've missed the point here. Being born again
is to be born a God. That's the work of God, taking
out that stony heart and putting in a heart that beats and pants
after Him. You remember what David said,
as the heart panteth after the water brooks, so does my soul
panteth after thee. That's what I'm talking about.
I can just picture it. You've got a young deer, a young
male deer. He's out in the woods and the
dogs have got on his trail. And he's running, and a deer
could easily get away from him. But he comes to that water brook.
Oh, he's breathing heavy. His heart's pounding. And he
desires nothing more than that fresh water. So it is with a
child of God when it comes to our souls toward God Almighty. I'm going to be honest with you,
friends. I don't serve God like I should. And I never will serve
Him like I ought. But I'm going to tell you something,
by God's repentance and God's work of grace in my heart, my
soul pants after Him. I desire to be with Him. Oh,
I can remember Brother Maurice saying years ago as I sat and
listened to him preach the gospel, he said, I'm ready to depart.
I'm ready to go. And I sat on that back pew there
where I sat. That's where they made me sit.
But I sat there and I said, well, I'm not. You know what? By the grace of God, I'm not
saying I want to leave. I'm not saying that I want to
die. But I'm ready. By God's grace,
I'm ready. My soul pants after Him. Oh,
God help me. We must be born again or we're
going to perish. And thirdly, you must seek the
Lord or you're going to perish. Brother Mahan once said, no man
ever has been saved who did not seek the Lord. And yet, by nature,
we won't seek Him. Oh, if you seek God, truly seek
God with all your heart, dear friends, God's already done a
work of grace in you. What can a dead man do? Jeremiah
29, 13, and you shall seek me and find me when you search for
me with all your heart. That's when you find Him. And
the work of God has already been done when a man seeks God with
all his heart. In the salvation of God's leg,
God causes a man to seek Him and to search for Him. As I just
read to you out of Psalm 42, you're quoted, as the heart panteth
after the water brooks, as that deer panteth after the water
brooks, my soul panteth my soul after Thee, O God. Paul said in Romans 10 verse
9, "...if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus
Christ, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised Him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation." Salvation is a heart work. We've all got heart
trouble. We need a heart work. It's a
matter of the heart. We just read in Sunday school
this morning, For he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision
is that of the heart, in the spirit and not in the
letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. Romans 6.17
says, But God be thanked, that you were servants of sin, but
you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was
delivered you. Now listen, if God's to be thanked
for it, is it not a simple thing to say that He must be the One
who did the work? But God be thanked. who did the
saving. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 14
verse 25, And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest. God
knows our hearts. And so falling down on his face,
he'll worship God and report that God is in you of a truth. In Ezekiel 36, the Lord Himself
says, A new heart also will I give you. and a new spirit will I
put within you. And I'll take away that stony
heart out of your flesh, and I'll give you a heart of flesh."
Friends, more than health, wealth, prosperity, success, fame, popularity,
we must see Christ with our whole heart. And lastly, you must be
clothed in the righteousness of Christ or you're going to
perish. That's a simple statement, isn't it? Unless God clothed you in
the righteousness of a perfect Savior, you're going to perish. Well, in Jeremiah 23 it says,
In his days Judas shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safe.
You know why? For this is his name whereby
he shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. In order to
be saved, dear friends, you must possess a perfect righteousness. Nothing less than perfect. will
reconcile you to God. The Scriptures are clear. They're
simple in this matter of having perfect righteousness. For God
hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now I don't know
how anyone can misinterpret that statement, that Scripture. And
yet many do. God has made Him to be sin for
us. And in return has given us His
perfect righteousness. I know that's not anything new.
You hear me say that often. I don't want to hear anything
else. Christ was made to be sin for
us. He didn't know any sin, just
as I didn't have any righteousness. That's the most wonderful transaction
that's ever been given to a man or a woman. Depravity in exchange
for perfect righteousness. Oh dear friends, it's only in
Christ. Don't be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ. God made Him to be sin for us. The simplicity in Christ is substitution. God doing for us in Christ what
we could not do for ourselves. God giving us in Christ what
we could have never attained on our own. We're as an unclean
thing and all our righteousness is as filthy rags. Filthy rags. And we all do fade as a leaf
and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. Oh, I love
those four S's in Scripture, and there are a bunch of them.
The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Aren't you glad that the Lord
has done great things for you? What shall we say then to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Oh, He that spared not His own
Son, but delivered Him up for us all. The whole world, Brother
David, no, all his people that he gave Christ before the foundation
were for us all. He spared not his own son, but
delivered him up. He killed him. He hung him on
a cross that you and I might have life. That's substitution. We know a little about substitution
in sports. One guy comes in, takes another
guy's place. That's exactly what Christ did
for us. Who's he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. Yea, he that's risen again is
even at the right hand of God. And what's he doing? He also
maketh intercession For us. For us. Oh, don't you cherish
those two words. Oh, listen. Our righteousness
is in Christ. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Our righteousness is in Him and
Him alone that He gave Himself for us. Let me tell you, the
law of God requires perfect righteousness. And Christ worked out our righteousness. And let me tell you something,
it was perfect. Perfect. What God requires, God
gives us in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that simple? Isn't that simple? Yet impossible
with man to believe. I've heard men say it's difficult
to find the grace of God. I've heard men say that. It's
difficult to find the grace of God. Let me tell you, it's not
if you know in whom it is. If you know in whom it's found,
the Scriptures may call it a mystery, but let me tell you something,
there's no mystery to where it is. It's in Christ. It's in Christ alone. Don't let
your mind and your hearts be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Him. Repentance, the four things,
I'm done. Where's repentance found? Only
in Christ. Is that right? The new birth,
it's only accomplished in Christ. Only Christ can cause a man or
a woman to seek Him. and perfect righteousness is
found only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, that simplicity that
is in Christ. May God cause us to see it more
clearly. May God cause us to look to Him
and Him alone. Amen.