If you would take your Bibles
this morning and turn to the book of 2nd, the 2nd epistle
of John. There is one chapter that makes
up this epistle. I'd like to read verse 7 down through verse 9. at this
time this morning, verse 7 through verse 9, for many deceivers are
entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that you lose
not those things which you've wrought, but that we receive
a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. Now this morning, I wanted to
read these verses I've been thinking somewhat recently about the statement
made by Charles Haddon Spurgeon when he said that if a man is
not right about Christ, then he cannot be right about the
rest. It is so important, beloved,
that we have right views concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. If a man
is mixed up or confused about what the Bible teaches as to
the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, then it is impossible for him
to have any relationship with God. It's impossible for him
to be right, really, on anything else in the Word of God. Now
the Bible says that there are many deceivers that are entered
into the world. There are many deceivers that
have entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh. They preach that Jesus Christ
is a good man. They preach that Jesus Christ
is an example that everybody ought to follow. They preach
that Jesus Christ is a good teacher. They preach that Jesus Christ
was maybe the most outstanding individual that ever lived in
the world. But they do not confess that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, that He is God in the flesh. That when He came into this world,
He came into this world from heaven, that He was with the
Father before the world began. And that Jesus Christ is God. They will not confess this. They
deny that. And one of the fastest growing
cults in the world is the Mormon religion. I say that the Mormon
religion is a cult, and the reason I say that is because they deny
that Jesus Christ is God Almighty. They believe that Jesus Christ
is a Son of God, that He is a Son of God, like the 144,000 who
will have the seal of God in their temple or in their forehead,
that Jesus Christ is a Son of God. But beloved, Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. He is the only begotten of the
Father. He is that one who has come in
the world being sent of God. He comes into the world the express
image of the Godhead. He is the fullness of the Godhead. It dwelt bodily in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now I want you to turn back with
me, if you will, to the book of Luke. This is so very important. This is a foundational truth. But John tells us that if a man
does not come, he says, whosoever transgresses and abideth not
in the doctrine of Christ, Whoever it is that preaches contrary
to the truth about the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, these
people have not God. They have not God. Now I realize that sometime it
may appear that we're very narrow-minded, maybe even that some people might
call us bigoted in that we would say that these people are not
of God. But beloved, anybody that denies,
John says, this doctrine of Christ, this teaching that Christ came
out from the Father, this teaching that Christ is God, God Almighty
manifested in flesh. Anybody that denies that, the
Bible says, they don't have God. And it says, he that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he is the one that has both the
Father and the Son. And so, beloved, if Christ be
preached as the Word of God sets him forth, that he came out from
the Father and that he is that one that was with the Father
from before the world began, then, beloved, that man has the
Father and he has the Son. Now, in the book of Luke, chapter
1, if you've turned there, I don't remember now whether I told you
to turn there or not, but Luke, chapter 1, And I want us to read
here beginning with verse 31. Verse 31. And behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name
Jesus. Now these are the words of the
angel unto Mary. Mary was told, Fear not, for
thou hast found favor with God. You will conceive in your womb,
and you'll bring forth a son, and you'll call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall
be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be
no end. Then said Mary unto the angel,
How shall this be? Saying, I know not a man. And the angel answered and said
unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power
of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God. Shall be called the Son of God. And then turn over to John chapter
1. The Gospel of John chapter 1. We read the first two verses. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Now this tells us that in the
beginning Christ Who is the Word? He's the Living Word. He was
with God. He was with God. And this teaches
the eternality of the Son of God, that the Son of God, there
was never a time that He did not exist. He existed with the
Father. He is eternal with the Father. The same was in the beginning
with God. And then we could add verse 3,
where it says, all things were made by Him. So the creation
was made, everything that was made was made by Him. It was
made by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we say God is the God of
creation, and it's true. But Jesus Christ, beloved, is
God. And everything was made by Him. And without Him was not anything
made that was made. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. Now look, if you will, at verse
14. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. The Word,
the living Word, the Logos, was made flesh and it dwelt among
us, John says. He had a body that was given
to him. Now the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ was in the mind of God when God fashioned Adam and Eve. Now Adam and Eve, you and I have
the body we have because God predetermined and predestinated
that we would have a body just like his son. Now it wasn't that
God fashioned Adam and Eve and then said I'm going to make Christ
like them, but he in his mind had Christ pictured in the body,
prepared for him in his mind, and so he created man to fashion,
he was fashioned like unto this one, the Lord Jesus Christ. So
the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. The Lord Jesus Christ has the
glory of being the only begotten of the Father, the only Son of
the Father. Now then, John bear witness of
him and so on and so forth here, and look in verse 18. It says,
no man has seen God at any time. No man has seen God, the only
begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath
declared him. meaning He has manifested Him. The Lord Jesus Christ has manifested
God, which no man has seen. He manifested Him in the world. Jesus Christ truly came into
the world. He is God, and He manifested
the Godhead in the world. Now I want you to turn to John,
if you will, chapter 10. John chapter 10. And let's look
here at a couple of verses. Let's begin with verse 25. Verse 25 of John chapter 10. Jesus answered them, I told you
and you believed not. Jesus here talking to the Pharisees. He said, you believe not the
works that I do in my Father's name. He says, they bear witness
of me. These works that I do. But ye
believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which
gave them me is greater than all. No man is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand." Now listen to verse 30. I and
my Father are one. I and my Father are one. Jesus Christ equal to the Father,
Father equal to the Son, Holy Spirit equal to the Father and
the Son. Three personalities making one
Godhead. One Godhead. Trinity. Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. Look in John chapter 14. John
chapter 14. And this is a blessed chapter
here. I want us to begin here with
verse 6. Now the verses prior to this are tremendous. The Lord
Jesus is telling about how that he has a place prepared for his
people. He's gone there to prepare a
place for us and he's going to come again and receive us unto
himself. That where he is that we may
be also. And then he said in verse 4,
he said, and whither I go you know, and the way you know. And
then Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest.
And how can we know the way? That's verse 5. And then in verse
6, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father but by me. And then verse 7,
if you had known me, You should have known my father also. And from henceforth you know
him, and listen to this, and have seen him. From henceforth
you know him, and you've seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord,
show us the father, and it'll satisfy us. Now you see, Philip
didn't understand what Jesus said in verse 7. He just simply
did not understand what Jesus was saying. Jesus had told him
that you know him, and he said, and you've seen him. And you've
seen him. Now look at verse 9. Jesus said
unto him, have I been so long time with you, yet hast thou
not known me, Philip? Why, he says, he that has seen
me, he's seen the Father. And how sayest thou then, show
us the Father? Now then, Jesus makes it very
clear here that He is all of the Godhead that a man needs
to see to have seen the Father. If you've seen me, you've seen
the Father. Because I am the manifestation
of, I have declared Him, I have declared the Godhead, I am the
manifestation of God Almighty. And so, beloved, this is clear
then, I believe, that the Lord Jesus Christ was sent from the
Father and that He is God in a body of flesh. He's God in
a body of flesh as He dwelt among men, as He was crucified and
raised from the dead, ascended back yonder to be seated at the
right hand of the Father. Now, when we think of Antichrist,
What do we have going through our minds when we think of Antichrist? Now we read here in the second
epistle of John, it says that who confess not that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh, this is a deceiver and Antichrist. Now what do we think about then?
Are we thinking about a man who is going to arise on the world
scene, who someday will oppose Jesus Christ, offer a swine,
as it were, upon the altar of the Jewish temple over in Jerusalem? What is it we think about? Are
we thinking about the man of sin? Are we thinking about someone
who is going to to bring and usher in the awful
tribulation that the dispensationalists talk about? What are we thinking
about when we think about the Antichrist or those who are anti-Christ? Well, beloved, this is a good
question, I think. I believe it's a very good question,
and it's one that we ought to think a little bit about in our
minds this morning. Turn back, if you will, to 1
John chapter 2. The first epistle of John here,
chapter 2. And I want to read here a few
verses to you, beginning with verse, I think it's verse 18. Yes, verse 18. And then here
John says, little children, It is the last time. Now John said
this, of course, basically 2,000 years ago, he said this is the
last time. Now, meaning that the last days
are upon us. The last days are upon us. They've
been upon the world ever since the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Or we possibly could say, ever
since the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world,
we've been in the last days. And John tells us that, and he
said, and as you've heard, that Antichrist shall come. In other
words, it's been preached to you and you've been told to expect
antichrists in the world. Those that are anti-Jesus Christ. Those that would deny that he
came in the flesh. Those that would deny that he's
God. Those that would deny his doctrine, deny his truth. Those
that would rob him of his glory. You've been told that these are
coming into the world. Now then, he says, even now are
there many, are there many antichrists whereby we know that it is the
last time. In other words, one of the chief
characteristics of the last time is that there's going to be antichrists
in the world. Now John says there are many
of them. And I conclude from his statement here that we are
not to focus our attention, as Arminian theology would have
us to do, upon that day out there in the future when somebody,
some individual is going to arise and declare that he is anti-Christ. I'm here to say to you this morning
that there are many antichrists in the world. There are all kinds
of people in this world today, various religious denominations,
various people involved in these religious denominations, philosophers
and educators that are antichrists. Let me say to you this morning
that anyone who denies the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, anyone
who denies that it's absolutely necessary for the Lord Jesus
Christ to die in order for a sinner to be reconciled to God. Anyone
who in any way implies that an individual can gain favor with
God by his works or by what he's able to contribute to God is
an Antichrist. And the world is full of anti-Christ
today. People that are anti the Christ
of the Bible. Now this is very important for
us to see this. Now if we read verse 18, look
at verse 19, they went out from us. John said they used to be
with us. They used to be in the same body
of believers with us. But now John says they went out
from us, they were not of us because all along they were anti-Christ. All along they had no desire
to give Him glory. They had no desire to exalt Him
as God's Son. Now listen to me. The reason
why we know we can identify these people, the way we can identify
them is this. Now, let me get back to the Mormon
religion again. I can speak of them this morning.
And let me say this, that the Mormons, they know nothing about
depravity. They will not accept the doctrine
of depravity. That everybody is born into the
world with a corrupt nature. David said, in sin my mother
conceived me. He said, I come forth from my
mother's womb speaking lies. The heart says, the Bible says
the heart is deceitful above all things. It's desperately
wicked and nobody can know their own heart. Well, the Bible teaches
that men are depraved. that they are born into this
world lost, dead, in sin and that until they're quickened
by divine grace they remain in that state and if they die in
that state they die in their sins and they go to hell for
all eternity. That's what the Bible teaches.
Now the Mormons say that they know nothing of human depravity. Okay, now if you deny human depravity
Then you can get by, don't you see, with a Savior who is less
than divine. You don't need a divine Savior
if you're okay yourself. I mean, if all you need is a
little better example. You see, Christ can be that example. And if all you need is just somebody
you know to encourage you a little bit, then Christ can be an encourager. But beloved, if you're a dead
sinner, corrupt, and if you're defiled by nature, alienated
from God, cut off from God by the wont of life toward God,
then you need a divine Savior. A gospel which is a rope of sand
will not save you. You need a divine Savior. You need a God in the flesh,
the God-man to come, and for your sin to be imputed to Him,
accredited to Him, and He must be free! from the taint and the
pollution of our nature. And he must be able to go to
Calvary, having no obligation to pay to the justice of God,
and die in our place, in our room, our stead there, in order
to reconcile us unto God. And we've got to have a divine
savior. He's got to be God Almighty. He's got to be God. That's the
only way that we can ever be saved. And so I say to you this
morning that anybody that denies the doctrine of original sin,
that we know, oh my friend, it may sound like a terrible and
horrible thing, and I guess it is to say that, that they are
Antichrist, but my friend, it is the truth. It is the gospel
truth. Because if a man doesn't need
Christ, then he's anti-Christ. If his situation is such that
he doesn't need the salvation that Jesus Christ provides, then
that man is anti-Christ. Let him use the name of Christ
all he would want to, but still he is anti-Christ. He's against
Christ. Now then, let me say further
to you this morning. I want you to turn with me to
Colossians chapter 1. And there's something here that
I want you to see. Colossians chapter 1. Listen to the reading
here of this passage of Scripture. I want to begin with verse 18
and read down through verse 22. Listen to what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done for us. And He is the head of the body,
the church. who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence. That in all things He might have
the preeminence. That's a very important statement.
For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. Colossians 1 verse 19 and verse
20. And having made peace through
the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto
Himself, by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven. And you that were sometimes alienated,
enemies in your mind by wicked works, Yet now hath He reconciled."
God has reconciled us unto Himself by the Lord Jesus Christ. Look
at verse 22, "...in the body of His flesh, through death,
to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight."
Now that's what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for his people. Now there is no one that is able
to attain under such a position as that before God except those
whom the Lord Jesus Christ has represented. Only those that
stand in Him have attained to this high and lofty position
that is spoken of in verse 22, where that we're holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in His sight. And I want you to see that it
was in the body of His flesh through death. that Jesus Christ
bought us this position, this high position. And so it's only
through the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, that we have reconciliation
with God. That was mentioned in verse 21.
Yet now hath he reconciled those who were alienated, enemies,
by wicked works. Yet now hath he reconciled. Now, beloved, I'm mightily interested
in finding out how I can know Him better and how I can glorify
Him, how I can honor Him, because turning back again to the first
epistle or the second epistle of John, turn back there and
listen to what this says to us this morning. It says this, he
that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he has both the Father
and the Son. I do not want to be a transgressor
against the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ. The doctrine of
Christ The doctrine, the teaching that Jesus Christ is God. Because I want the Father and
I want the Son. And I want the benefits of the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to be holy. I want to
be unblameable. I want to be without spot. I
want to be reconciled unto God. I want to be His for time and
for eternity. And I do not want in any way,
shape, or form to be against Him now look at first Peter if
you will chapter 2 in verse 4 I The scripture there says, you can
just listen as I read it to you. It says, To whom coming as unto
a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and
precious. Chosen of God. Disallowed of
men, but chosen of God and precious. Now beloved, listen to me. If
you have any kind of hope, any kind of hope which disturbs,
diminishes, or destroys the glory of His grace and righteousness
in the salvation of a sinner, then the sooner you get rid of
it, the better. Because if in any way, shape,
or form you claim to a system of theology, if you claim to
a belief that is contrary to the teaching of the Word of God
as to how God saves sinners only and exclusively through the Lord
Jesus Christ, then you're anti-Christ. And what an awful thing it would
be to die in that situation. We must not detract in any degree
from the complete glory of Christ in redemption, in the redemption
of His people, in salvation, and in all things. Jesus Christ
must have the preeminence, and He must have the glory. He must
have the soul, the solitary glory of saving a sinner! Or else,
my friend, we don't have right thoughts concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. We're robbing Him of His glory. Now turn, if you're still in
the New Testament, turn to Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter
3. And let us look at verse 11.
Here's an outstanding verse of Scripture. It says, Where there
is neither Greek nor Jew, Where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all and in all." Now what he's talking about
here is the position or our standing in the Lord Jesus Christ, being
in Christ, that it doesn't matter if you're Greek If you're a Gentile
or a Jew, that doesn't affect it. That doesn't have anything
to do with it. You're not any better standing
with God if you be a child of Abraham after the flesh. Gentile,
that doesn't place you in any inferior position. Not in Christ. Because in Christ, We all have,
we're all on the same ground. The ground is all level at the
foot of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you be circumcised
or uncircumcised, the Jews of course observed that ritual that
rite and the Gentiles didn't. But that doesn't have any, that
has nothing to do with the new creation. It has nothing to do
with life in Christ. Being circumcised or being uncircumcised,
being a barbarian or a Scythian, being somebody who is a An absolute,
total ignoramus doesn't have anything to do. I mean, if God
has regenerated you and brought you to life in His Son, if God
has placed His nature in you, if you have been converted and
called out by the irresistible, effectual working of God's Spirit
and grace, it doesn't make any difference. whether you're intelligent
or whether you don't have an education, barbarian, sithic,
and whether you're bond or free. If you be a slave or if you be
a free man, it doesn't make any difference. It doesn't matter.
You're in Christ. The ground is level. And it says,
but in this place, where we all are, if we're in Christ, it says
this, Christ is all and in all. Christ is the only thing that
matters. This God-man, this one who came
from heaven, this one who came into this world of woe, this
one who came down here. Christ is all, in all, and nothing
else matters. And that's exactly the meaning
of that scripture. And then as I look back over
to our original text again, here's what the Word of God says, and
this is why this is so important. Look to yourself in verse 8 in
the 2nd epistle of John. Look to yourself! that you lose
not those things which you brought, but that we receive a full reward. Now what that verse of Scripture
means is that look at your standing, look where you are, it is in
Christ, nothing else matters. See to it you don't look in any
other direction. See to it you don't look for
another door, that you don't look for another way, that you
don't look for some other bread, some other light, But you look
to Christ and to Him only, because if you look anywhere else, you've
fallen from grace. That's what Paul said in the
book of Galatians. And listen, we want to receive
a full reward. We want everything that Christ
bought. We want it. And we want it to
the full. And the only way we can have
it is to keep looking unto Him. and keep believing what the Word
of God says about salvation being holy by the grace of God completely
and entirely solely on the basis of what He Himself did in His
life of obedience unto the Father and in His death on Calvary's
cross. It's His doing and dying that
we must continue to look to. It's Christ who is all and in
all. Now John Brown had some statements
to make about this verse of scripture that I thought was outstanding. He said, when it says Christ
is all in all, he says this is what it means. It is his religion. It's his religion. It is all
by Him. It is all about Him. He is the author. He is the substance. He is the sum of this system. He is the soul of this body.
And everything is viewed as it is connected with Him. He's the center of all of this.
Every doctrine, every precept, every privilege, and every duty,
and every promise, and every threatening has to be viewed
as its connection with Him. The ground of acceptance is His
sacrifice. His Spirit is the rule of duty. His life is the pattern for imitation. His example, the motive to duty,
His glory, God's glory in Him is that which
we are to seek. Now, He is ever full, He is ever
flowing to those that are chosen in Jesus Christ. Christ is made
to the elect. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption in every devout feeling, every religious duty,
it takes a peculiar flavor and color from its reference to his
mediation. He, He alone is the foundation. Other foundation can no man lay. Let us seek that Christ may be
in us what He is in our Bibles. Let us see to it that He may
not only be admitted by us to be the foundation, but that He
is our foundation. Our foundation. that he is our
foundation. Now then, the language of our
hearts, he said, be that of the dying martyr. None but Christ. None but Christ. Now then, beloved, I think you
see what John's talking about when he says over here in the
second epistle of John, the verses we've read here, When he said,
if there come any unto you, in verse 10, and bring not this
doctrine, If anybody comes to you and says, well, but now salvation's
got to do with this, and it's got to do with that, it's got
to do with something else, and, you know, you've got to be a
member of the right church, you've got to have this baptism or that
baptism, and you've got to speak in tongues, and you've got to
know this, you've got to know that, and something else, then,
my friend, if he comes to you with the doctrine of works and
duty and telling you that you've got to be this or that or something
else, and he doesn't mention that Christ is sufficient, that
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ is that which God requires on
your behalf, and that the life of Jesus as He lived it is the
life that God requires of you, and that He has been pleased
to bring in an everlasting righteousness which the Father has imputed
to your account. If he will not mention these
things, if he will not preach these things to you, then he
has not preached the doctrine of Christ and don't you receive
him into your house and don't you say God bless you. God bless
you, you're doing such a great work. You're Antichrist, but
God bless you. Have you ever heard people say,
I've heard people say to the Jehovah's Witness and say to
the Mormons, God bless you, and God ain't about to bless them.
God is not gonna bless any man that's not his son, and there
ain't a way in this world that a man can get out of this world
and get into eternal glory except he know the Lord Jesus Christ. Except he know him in the forgiveness
of his sin and in regenerating grace and in imputed righteousness. There's
no way a man's going to get to heaven. God will bless a man
as he stands in his son and as he glorifies his son for salvation
full and free. But only as he does so. That's
the point, having right thoughts about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now that doesn't cross grain with you, does it? That doesn't
cross grain with you at all. I'm sure this morning that if
you're a child of God, hear under the sound of my voice, you say,
that's all right with me. I appreciate that. I believe
that. I believe that doctrine. And
I certainly see why I shouldn't be saying, God bless you, Mr. Mormon. God bless you, Mr. Workmonger. God bless you. No, sir. We'll
do no such thing. Verse 11 says, For he that biddeth
him God's speed. He that says God bless you. is
a partaker of that man's evil deeds. Don't you give him a dime,
don't you buy his literature, and don't you send him off on
a mission saying, God bless you, God speed go with you, God be
with you and bless your work. Because that man, somebody say,
don't they do some good preacher? Well there's some good things
found in the garbage can too I guess. But we don't need to
be out there raking through the garbage can to find a little
something good, do we? No, the truth is in Jesus. That's where the truth is. And
we need to believe it. We need, my friend, to trust
what the word of God says and make this Jesus of the Bible,
make him real in our lives as we look to and as we study and
read what the scripture says. I don't want to be an antichrist.
And I don't want to support one of them. I don't want to be a
partaker with them in all the evil they do. A man gets up and
preaches a works message, and everybody is disturbed. Everybody
says, well, I don't find no comfort there. I don't find any peace
in that. There ain't no good news there.
Well, I don't want to support that guy. I don't want anything
to do with an antichrist. All right, now, there's a few
things that I want to call your attention. And I think we've
got maybe just a minute or two here. There are certain things
that I desire when I preach. There are certain things that
I want to accomplish when I preach the word, when I preach the gospel.
And during the course of preaching a message like this message here
this morning, we have one subject. And if we preach faithfully that
one subject, the gospel of the redeeming grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, I believe that the preaching of that message will effectually
accomplish everything that I want to accomplish. I believe it will.
Now just follow with me quickly. Number one, somebody says, Preacher,
we need instruction. We need instruction, okay? We
must come to know God. And it's true. We must come to
know God. And the only way, but listen
to me, the only way to really know Him in all of His character
is in the gospel of redemption. Preach the gospel and the character
of God is revealed. There is nowhere where a man
will see the holy character of God Almighty any better than
what he'll see it when God hung His own Son on a cross to redeem
His people. God is holy and anybody that
spends eternity with Him will have to be as holy as His own
Son. And the only way you're going
to be is for you to be made holy in Jesus Christ. Holy in Christ. And as you're holy in Him, and
as you see this truth unfold, you receive some instruction,
and you know God. Now, admonition. Somebody said,
Preacher, don't we need admonition? Don't we need somebody to admonish
us? Well, we all need to see ourselves
as God sees us. and we need to be admonished.
How does God see us? Well, I'll tell you what, there's
one thing that all of us have in common here, and that is when
God looks at every one of us, what does He see? Well, if we
are in our natural state, He sees us all as sinners. That's
our name, sinners. Every one of us are sinners before
a thrice holy God. Now the only thing that will
convince us of how to regard sin, in regards, now admonition,
the admonition of the word of God, the one that I feel is most
important is, look unto me, all ye ends of the earth. Look unto
me and be ye saved. Now when a man is pointed to
Christ, and told to look. He's told to trust. He's told
to believe. That's an admonition. That if
that admonition comes in the power of the Holy Spirit, it
is an enabling admonition. A sinner can look if God enables
him to. A sinner's blind by nature. God's
got to give him eyes to see. And if he's to trust, God must
give him faith. Faith, that thought of yourselves,
it's a gift of God. Salvation's got to be altogether
the Lord. So this admonition is to look
to the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm admonishing men always. I
told you this morning, don't look nowhere else. I told you,
don't look for a door anywhere. Don't look for a way anywhere
else. Don't look any other direction. There's only one place, and that
place is Christ. Life is in Him. And then exaltation. We all need to be exhorted to
do, I suppose, many things. But mostly, what we need to be
exhorted to do is just believe what the Bible says about God's
Son. Believe the record that God gave
of His Son. And you're not going to go wrong.
There had never been a man who was in love with Jesus Christ
That love and grace that came into his heart and salvation
was not visible and evident in his life. It is so. You say,
we've got to exhort these people. I've heard people say, I've heard
men come and say to the preacher, better exhort these people. Well,
they better get saved first. If they get saved, if they get
right with God, if God's in them. Then, of course, they are exhorted. Now, listen to me. The only exhortation
to faith I think is setting forth the object of saving faith, Jesus
Christ, that one crucified. I exhort you to look to Him. Look to Him and trust Him. And then we need comfort, don't
we? And I think in every message of the gospel, there is a true
source of comfort found, and that is in the good news, a certain
salvation without works through the imputed righteousness and
the shed blood of Christ. In other words, if I get up here
and I tell you to do the best you can, and I tell you, give
you, lay out to you certain things that you ought to do and must
do, things you can't do, things you must do, and say, do it! There's no comfort in that. Most
all of you would say at the outset, I haven't done it, Preacher.
I haven't done it. I haven't lived up to that standard.
No comfort in that. But if I tell you the doing and
the dying has already been done, if I tell you Christ did the
doing, and if I tell you that he did the dying, and if I tell
you this morning that in Christ we find everything that God demands
of us, then there's some comfort in that. There's comfort in that
for a poor sinner. Not for a self-righteous legalist,
but there's comfort in that for a poor sinner. You see, the only
qualification to have the salvation of Jesus Christ is to need it. To need it. Nobody will ever
be turned away because he needs salvation. What's the qualification
for a bath? Being filthy. Fella dirty, he
needs a bath more than anybody else. That's the only qualification.
Take a bath because you need one. And in Christ, those who
come needy, those who come knowing that there's a definite need
for washing and cleansing in the blood, they'll never be turned
away. It's the self-righteous. It's
those who will not come. It's those who won't come to
Him because they've got something else, you see. They've got another
door. They've got another way. They've
got another life. They've got something else. And
so they won't come. They're Antichrist is what they
are. Mark it down! They're Antichrist. We come. And so there's comfort
for a poor sinner in the message of the gospel. That's the good
news! That's what the word gospel means. Good news! For bad people. For people that need it. People
that need the forgiveness of God, the grace of God, the help
of God. And then assurance. Do we find
that in the gospel message? We absolutely do. The only thing
that really brings someone to some confidence that Christ has
died for them and that God has justified them is not self-examination
or duties or works, but it's the sight of Jesus Christ dying
on the cross for sinners. That brings assurance. If I can
believe that Christ died for me, I got all the assurance there
is. That's all of it. If Christ represented
me, then he not gonna lose a case. He'll never lose a case. Jesus
Christ is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. I thought
about that this week, and it was so sweet and precious to
my soul. Christ sticketh closer than a
brother. Jesus Christ never will leave
his own That's precious in it, and if he died for me there isn't
anything else that he would not do for me If he'll die for me
If God spared him not delivered him up for me then through him. He'll freely give me all things
all things Christ will never leave you. Now, brother, that's
a tremendous assurance. He said, I'll never leave you
nor forsake you. Poor child of God, you tremble. You tremble
every day. I just talked to a brother this
last week. He said, you know, I've got just that little smidgen
of doubt. That little smidgen of doubt.
Whether I'm really a child of God or not. A little doubt. And I know that there are many
that tremble. There are many. that tremble every day. But the
only thing, my friend, that's going to give you assurance is
for you to come to see that everything that matters in the salvation
of your soul happened outside of you. It happened on that gory
tree outside the city of Jerusalem. It happened at Calvary. It happened
when He died. It hasn't got anything at all
to do with what's going on in you. And the battle that's being
waged in you is because God's in you. And there's a war going
on. God's in you. God's in you. He came into you when He saved
you. When you were regenerated, God
came in. And He lives in His people. He
lives by the Spirit in His people. And then inspiration. We need
some inspiration. Somebody said if we could just
get inspired. Inspired. Well, we can inspire
people in all manner of ways. We can tell emotional stories
and give certain illustrations that will inspire people. But
I think one thing that will truly pierce the heart with lasting
effect is seeing by the eye of faith Jesus Christ crucified
in our place. If I can see Him dying in my
place, I've got to, listen, that's got to have an overwhelming effect
on me. That's inspired me many a time.
Him dying in my place. Well, a fellow look twice at
a lot of things if he's ever been able to see one time Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. He'll turn away a lot of times.
He'll be more considerate. if he's ever considered him who
died for him. A lot of things he'll never do
if he's ever looked to him who was crucified in his place. Inspiration. I need it. I need
to be inspired all the time. Sometimes I've lived through
some tough days in my life. I've lived through some days
in my life when I just come within a hair's breadth of losing heart.
Completely losing it. But one thing that really inspires,
I mean really inspires, and that's Christ and what He's done for
us. Now, motivation. Somebody said,
I'd like to have a little motivation. Well, there's motivation in this
message too. If we ever truly see Christ as
our substitute, I think we'll so fall in love with Him that
nothing