I've entitled this message, No
Exceptions. Now, we're getting ready to look
at John chapter 3, and we're going to spend some time in this
very unique chapter where the Lord talks about being born again
and being born from above, and this is no new doctrine. It was
taught in the Old Testament, clearly. In Ezekiel, in Jeremiah,
there are passages that teach the precise same thing, but there's
no chapter like this in the other gospels, this glorious chapter
of John chapter three. But I just couldn't get back
past the word except. Except. No exceptions. That's what I've entitled this
message. And we're going to look where
this word is used in the old Testament. And I believe that
this will be a gospel message. No exceptions. Verse one, there was a man of
the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same
came to Jesus by night. unclear if he could only get
there at night or if he was ashamed to be identified with Christ
during the day. Perhaps his cronies would look
down on him and he came at night. We don't know, but he did come
by night and it's pointed out whenever Nicodemus is spoken
of again, he's always referred to as the one who came to Jesus
by night. Well, he came to the Lord by
night and he said unto him, Rabbi, We know that thou art a teacher
come from God, we know this. For no man can do these miracles
that thou doest except God be with him. Now we're giving you
some affirmation, we know that you're a teacher come from God. The Lord says essentially Nicodemus,
you know nothing. He comes telling the Lord what
he knew and look at our words, our Lord's words to this man.
Jesus answered and said, verily, verily. Now, when the Lord says
that, I mean, every word is the word of God, but when he says
truly, truly, Amen. Amen. So be it. So be it. We ought to listen
doubly carefully. I love it when he says, I say
unto you, I say unto you, you've heard it been said of
them of old. I say unto you, I am the absolute authority. Don't you love the way the Lord
speaks? Except a man be born again or
born from above, he cannot see, he cannot understand. He cannot
perceive the kingdom of God. It's utterly beyond him, except
he be born from above. You can just as soon expect a
baboon to understand calculus as you can expect a natural man
to understand, see, or perceive the kingdom of God. It is beyond
him. And Nicodemus, the only way you
can understand The only way you can see, the only way you can
perceive the kingdom of God is if you're born, birthed, given
life from above. Nicodemus, you must be born again. No exceptions. A man cannot see
the kingdom of God. except he be birthed. God's gonna
have to reach down and give you divine life. Or you cannot possibly
understand or see or perceive the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians
2.14, Paul said, the natural man, that's what you and I are
by nature, the way we're born into this world. The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither
indeed can he know them. They're foolishness unto him.
Foolishness, doesn't make sense. Neither indeed can he know them.
He doesn't have the ability to know them because they're spiritually
discerned. I have to have a spirit. I have
to have a new spirit. You know, when Adam died in the
garden, he didn't die physically. He died spiritually, and he no
longer had a spirit. And unless I'm given the spirit
of God, a divine nature, being born from above, I cannot possibly
understand the things of God, the things of the kingdom of
God. There are no exceptions to that rule. In Matthew chapter five, verse
20, the Lord says, You can turn there if you want, but I've got
these written down. I'm going to read them. Matthew
chapter five, verse 24. I say unto you, except your righteousness. I don't miss that except your
righteousness, your personal righteousness, except your righteousness
exceed, surpass the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
You shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven. There are
no exceptions to that rule. Under no circumstance will you
enter the kingdom of heaven unless the righteousness of Jesus Christ
is your personal righteousness. Do you hear that? There is only
one righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And except his
righteousness is your personal righteousness, under no circumstances,
there's no exceptions, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven
unless his righteousness is your personal righteousness. Do you
believe that his righteousness is the only righteousness there
is? You know, I believe that with all my heart. The best thing
that can be said about my righteousness or your righteousness or the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees is this, our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. That's the testimony of God's
word. Accept your righteousness, exceed, surpass the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees. Now somebody says, how can his
righteousness be my righteousness? How can it actually be my personal
righteousness? Well, remember when he said to
John the Baptist, thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. When Jesus Christ kept the law,
everybody he represented kept the law. And just as truly as
he took my sins and they became his own, His righteousness becomes
mine so that I have the very righteousness of Jesus Christ
as my personal righteousness before God. You know, I have
such confidence in His righteousness. It's mine, it's mine. Oh, what
a joy to be able to say that. You know, the man in the parable
of the wedding feast who didn't have on the wedding garment,
did they make an exception for him? Cast him out, bind him hand
and foot, cast him into outer darkness. There's only one righteousness
that God will accept. I hope you believe that. I hope
I believe it. There's only one righteousness God accepts. That's
the righteousness of Jesus Christ. No exceptions. Matthew 18 verse 3. The Lord says, verily I say unto
you, except you be converted and become as little children,
you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore
shall humble himself as this little child. Oh, may God give
me grace to do that, to humble myself. as this little child. The same is great in the kingdom
of heaven. Now let me give you some background
about what was going on. The disciples came up to the
Lord and said, who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? As
a matter of fact, you can find other places where they were
arguing over which of them was the greatest. Actually, right
after they took the first Lord's table, there was an argument
concerning which of them should be the greatest. Now here we
have who's greatest. Now in order to ascertain who
the greatest is, you're going to have to have some kind of
measuring stick. What's the measure? Well, this one understands more. This one's more holy. This one
is less sinful. This one does more. This one's
more useful. This one's more zealous. This
one is used by God more. There's some difference that
we can make. That's what's gonna make us greatest
in the kingdom of heaven. Oh, we wanna be great. We wanna
be used by God. We wanna serve him. And the Lord looked at his disciples.
And he said, y'all don't need to worry about even being in
the kingdom of heaven if you go on with that. Except you be converted, turned
from this state of arrogancy and pride and self-righteousness. Except you be converted, turned,
you won't even enter the kingdom of heaven. No exceptions to the
rule. Now, I think this gives us some
idea of what this means. This is what I thought about.
Peter is an Antioch. He's having fellowship with the
Gentile believers. Certain from James come, Jewish
believers. Peter gets a little bit nervous. He knew that they would be judging
him for sitting at that table. Without saying a word, he got
up, walked across the room, and sat down with the Jewish brethren. He made a difference. The Jews,
now I know we're all saved by grace, but somehow you're a little
bit more pleasing to God by being at this table. And Paul got up,
and publicly reprimanded him. Now that is something. And he said he did this that
the truth of the gospel might remain. To seek to be different,
greater, I have more understanding, I got a greater doctoral knowledge. No, the only way to be great
in the kingdom of heaven is humility. Humble yourself. And when you've
hit the bottom, take it a little further down and you'll be closer
to the truth. In Matthew chapter 24, verse
22, these are the words of the Lord. And he says, except those
days be shortened. There's that word except. Except
those days be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but
for the elect's sake. Now what's the Lord saying? He's saying the only people that'll
be saved are the elect. Now those are the Lord's words,
not mine. The Lord said this. The only people that will be
saved are the elect. That's just the truth. But let me remind you. Election
does not prevent people from being saved who would have otherwise
been saved. God's electing grace brings people into glory who
would most certainly have otherwise been damned. That's what God's
grace does. Thank God for electing grace,
but our Lord doesn't make any bones about this. Only the elect
will be saved. Somebody says, you shouldn't
speak like that. Well, the Lord did, and that's not going to
discourage any sinner from coming into His presence. As far as
that goes, my job is not to figure out whether or not I'm the elect.
I'm to look to Christ right now because He commands me to. Well,
are you elect? Doesn't matter. If I look, if
I call on his name, I'll be saved. He promises that. But thank God,
there's some that will be saved. And the Lord doesn't try to hide
that in any way, the way preachers do. Who's going to be saved? The elect. Matthew 26, 42. This is the Lord
praying in Gethsemane's garden. He says, Oh, my father, if this
cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it. Thy will be done. Now the Lord looked at that cup
that was brought before him in Gethsemane's garden, and it was
the cup of our sins. My sin was lifted off me and
put in that cup, the cup that the Lord was to drink. He bore
our sins in his own body on the tree. And he looked at that cup
and the scripture says, he sweat great drops of blood. knowing the content of that cup,
and knowing he was going to be taking that which he hated, which
his father hated, into his own body. As the sinner's substitute,
we sing that song, he took my sins and my sorrows, and when
he drank that cup, he made them his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary,
and suffered and died alone. Now he says, if this cup can't
pass for me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And he drank
the content of that cup. And you know what? Passed away. Everything he drank passed away. It was gone, separated. It's all passed away. Isn't that wonderful? Luke chapter 13. Now this is
a, glorious passage of scripture. I'm just going to quote verse
five where he said, except you repent, you shall all likewise
perish. Let me give the setting. The Lord was preaching to some
people and he talked about two current events that took place.
He talked about what took place when a tower of Siloam caved
in and 18 people died. Maybe it happened that very week.
And he said, do you think that those people were sinners above
other people that the Lord brought this down on them? I guarantee
you some of them did. That's the way we naturally think,
well, what'd they do? What'd they do that they're being punished
like this? And then he talked about another
event of some people who were offering sacrifice. That's a
good thing to do, isn't it? To offer up a sacrifice according
to the Old Testament scriptures. They offered a sacrifice and
Herod had these people put to death and their blood was mingled
with the sacrificial blood. Somebody said, they must have
really been evil to have something like that take place. You know
what the Lord said? He said, do you think that they're
sinners above other sinners? No. I say to you, except you
repent, you will likewise perish. And don't ever look at someone
and think they must have really done something bad. I think of the disciples in John
chapter nine, when they saw that blind man, they said, Lord, who
sinned? This man or his parents that
he was born blind? Talk about a dumb question. I mean, it's
a question we would ask, but never look at things that way
except you repent. I better learn what it means
to repent and I better repent. Except you repent. Repentance is a continual state
of being. It's not a one-time act. It's
a continual state of being. Except you repent, except you
change your mind. You know, when you're reading
Isaiah 55, I love that passage of scripture where he says, my
thoughts are not your thoughts. Oh, is there a truth told more
clearly? Neither are my ways your ways. Except you repent, you shall
all likewise perish. John chapter three, verse 27.
Here's the next one. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from above. Now there's no exceptions to
that. No exceptions. A man can receive nothing. except
it be given him from above." Why? Even the ability to receive
is the gift of His grace. You wouldn't receive, I wouldn't
receive His bounteous grace, did He not give me the grace
to receive it? Everything we receive is His
gift. the gift of righteousness, the
gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of justification, the gift
of redemption, the gift of the forgiveness of sins, the gift
of perseverance, the gift of loving Him, the gift of faith,
the gift of repentance. Everything that we have is His
gift. And a man can receive nothing
except it be divinely given him from above. I know this. Right now, the only reason I
believe is because he gave me that faith. I believe. Nobody's
believing for me. I believe. I do believe the gospel. And the reason I do is it was
given me as his gift. What, who makes you to differ
from another? And what do you have that you
did not receive? John, no exceptions to that,
is there? Man can receive nothing, nothing, except it be given him
from above. John chapter six, verse 44, listen
to this one. No man can come to me, except
the Father which has sent me draw him. No exceptions. The only way a man will come
to Christ is through the drawing grace of the father. Now that word draw, it actually
means, listen to this word, drag. Do not rich men draw you before
the judgment seats, James says. That doesn't mean they gently
bring them along. No, they drag you before the
judgment seat. It means drag and it means you're drawn, irresistibly,
invincibly, you must have him, you're drawn. Draw us and we'll
run after thee, the Shulamite said. Yes, I want to be dragged
with my full consent, don't you? But no man can come to me. except the father which has sent
me draw him. No exceptions to the rule. John chapter six, verse 52, except
you eat, there's that word, except you eat the flesh of the son
of man and drink his blood. You have no life in you. Now
think about what he says, except you eat. We all know what it
is to eat and drink, don't we? We live by eating and drinking. I've said this before. I've heard
people talk about being so busy that they forgot to eat. It's
never happened to me once. When my stomach is hungry, I
know it. Well, I'm hungry. And eating and drinking is the
way we live, isn't it? Eating and drinking. We must
eat, we must drink. Now this is actually where the
Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation comes from. That when you take
the wafer and drink the wine, it becomes literally the body
and the blood of Jesus Christ. Now you know what that is? Number
one, if it were true, it'd be cannibalism. And number two,
that's blasphemous. It's just not so. But I'll tell you this, the gospel is my meat and drink. We preach Christ crucified. That's
mealtime for me. We preach Christ crucified. This is where I hear the Lord's
voice. We preach Christ crucified. I must eat and drink his broken
body and his shed blood. That's the only thing that gives
me hope, Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's what this represents. At all times, my only acceptance
before God is Jesus Christ and him crucified. What a meal. That's
the only thing that I find satisfaction in. Oh, that satisfies my hunger
to know I'm complete in Christ and nothing else is needed. What
a meal! Except you eat the flesh of the
Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. John
chapter 12, verse 24. Except a corn of wheat, there's
the word. No exceptions to this. The only
thing that feeds me is the gospel. And except a corn of wheat fall
to the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it die, it bringeth
forth much fruit. Now, except the Lord die. If he went back to heaven, you
know who wouldn't be there? Me and you. He'd be there all
alone. Oh, the angels would be there.
He'd be in the presence of his father. Me and you wouldn't be
there. If the Lord kept the law perfectly
and gave the perfect example for all of us and went back to
heaven, what good would it do us? Absolutely none. But if he die, if he die, he brings forth much
fruit. Oh, the fruit of the death of
Jesus Christ. Every single person he died for
is brought into the very presence of God and saved because their
sins have been put away. It had to be his death. Oh, the
precious blood of Christ that makes me acceptable and well
pleasing to God, where God can look on me. The Lord Jesus can
look on me and say, there's no spot in me. Thou art all fair,
my love. There's no spot in thee. Holy, unblameable, and unreprovable. And so that's the fruit of his
death. Now, if he doesn't die, he's gonna abide alone. But if
he die, he brings forth much fruit. John chapter 15, verse
four. As the branch cannot bear fruit,
except it abide in the vine. No more can you except you abide
in me. Now you take any house plant
you have in your house, think of your favorite one, you cut
off a branch, what's gonna happen? It's gonna wither and it's gonna
die. And there is no hope whatsoever
of it dying. only as it abides in the vine. I love to think of the Lord using
this illustration to teach us of the closeness of union with
himself. The vine and the branches, the
stems that go through the vine are the same stems that go through
the branches and there's no connecting point. How glorious. He's telling us of his union
with himself. And he said, you cannot bear
fruit. And don't you want to bear fruit?
I want to be filled with the fruit of the Holy Spirit, love,
joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance, If I'm in the vine, I bear the
fruit. If I'm not in the vine, there is no fruit, no exceptions. John chapter 19, verse 11. The Lord had been silent before
Pilate, and Pilate was amazed he didn't try to defend himself,
and I know why he didn't try to defend himself, because he
knew he was guilty. That's an awesome thing to think
about. The Lord taken my guilt and he wasn't gonna defend himself
because he knew before God he was guilty. And he remained silent
and all of a sudden Pilate said to the Lord, speakest thou not
to me? Knowest thou not that I have
power to crucify thee and I have power to release thee? The Lord couldn't let that one go. He said, you could have no power
at all over me, except it be given thee from above. You know, the Lord said through
David, power belongeth to the Lord. To think of some man thirsting
for power, That's ridiculous. Power belongeth unto the Lord. People think, well, I'm a powerful
person. I'm an influential person. I've done this, I've done that.
You have no power. None. Power belongeth unto the
Lord. Now, the powers that be are ordained
of God. He's put them in place, but there's
one power, the Lord. And when the Lord looks at Pilate
saying to him, don't you know I have power over you? I've got
power to release you. I've got power to let you go.
Pilate, the only reason you're speaking right now is because
of my will. And you are only doing my will. You're my pawn
in my hand doing exactly what I determined for you to do. In Acts chapter eight, verse
31, we read of an Ethiopian eunuch. He's in his chariot and he's
reading Isaiah the prophet. He's reading Isaiah 53. What a chapter. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. With his stripes we are healed.
He was reading that chapter. He's leaving Jerusalem. He'd
come there for the feast and he wanted to know God. He wanted
to worship God. And he was leaving knowing he
hadn't. He was empty. He was frustrated. But he was doing a good thing. He was reading the Bible. Can't
go wrong reading the Bible, can you? He was reading Isaiah 53. the Lord moved Philip to come
up to him. And he watches that man reading
Isaiah 53, and he said, do you understand what you're reading? Of course I do. Here's what I
think. I, this, Many of us, I look at
me. If he would have asked me, here's
what it means. Here's what it means. I know.
You know how this Ethiopian eunuch answered? How can I? Except some man should guide
me. Now, that's the Lord's way. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And this whole, did
he end up believing? Oh, he gives that wonderful confession
at the end. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. But don't you love his humility? When he was asked, do you understand
what you're reading? How can I? except some man should
guide me. And this Romans chapter nine,
verse 24, Paul is quoting Isaiah chapter one, verse nine. Listen
to this Romans 9, 24, except the Lord of Sabbath had left
us a seed. We had been a Sodom and like
unto Gomorrah. Now you take that bunch in Sodom
and Gomorrah that the Lord rained fire and brimstone down on. Isaiah said, except the Lord
had left us a seed, we'd been just like them. Christ is the
seed of God. His word is the seed of God.
The new birth is the seed of God, except God had given us
this seed. We'd be just like them and we
would perish just like them, except the Lord of Sabbath had
left us a seed. And then in Romans chapter 10,
verse 15, Paul asks this very interesting question. How can
they preach except they be sent? How can they preach? Except they
be sent. They can't. Not true, not true
preaching. How can they preach except they
be sent? Sent of God. You know what a man's credentials
is, is if he's a true preacher? God sent him. That's it. Or you go to seminary. If I'm
a true preacher, If any man's a true preacher, it's because
God sent him for that purpose, to preach his gospel. And we
can know if they're sent by opening up this word and seeing if they're
preaching what the word declares. How should they preach? Except
they be sent. No exceptions to that rule. First
Corinthians, I've got two more. First Corinthians 14, seven and
eight. And even things without life-giving sound, whether they
be pipe or harp, except they give a distinction of the sound. How shall it be known what is
piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain
sound, who shall prepare himself for the battle? So likewise ye,
except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood,
how shall it be known what is spoken? Now, in this thing of
preaching, Paul says you better give a distinction of the sounds. It better be clear and easy to
understand. This is easy to understand, the
Bible's the inspired word of God. It's the only source of information.
We don't go to the Bible to prove what we believe. We go to the
Bible to bow down to what God says in his word. God is God. He really is sovereign. He really
is in control of everybody and everything. We give a distinction
of sounds. Christ is God, the second person
in the Trinity. He worked out a perfect righteousness.
He shed his blood to put away the sins of God's elect. He's
successful. Now, there's nothing hard to understand about that.
Somebody says that's deep. No, that's not deep. It's so.
It's just true. Men are dead in sins, can't save
themselves. God's grace saves. God's people
persevere all the way to the end. A distinction of sounds,
a distinct gospel. Now I'd like you to turn with
me to this last one. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter two.
There must be a distinction of sounds. No exceptions to that.
God never uses anything else. He doesn't use watered down preaching.
Why should he? He's God. I love saying this. I don't know
whether this works here, but I think it does.
God doesn't negotiate with sinners. He doesn't try to find, well,
this one's not working, so I'll try it. No. God's going to make
sure the preaching of the gospel is distinctly brought out. Now here in 2 Timothy chapter
2. Forgot to turn there. Second
Timothy chapter two. This is the last one. And I think
it kind of summarizes all the rest. Verse five. And if a man also
strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive
lawfully. No shortcuts. Now, every one of these accepts
are no exceptions. And if I make an exception, I'm
not striving lawfully. And nothing will be accomplished
through that. Except a man strive lawfully. He's not ground. Now, There's an exception to every
rule. No, there's not. No, there's not. No exceptions to the rule
of the gospel. Let's pray together. Lord, how we thank you for the
gospel of your glory, the gospel of your grace, Lord, how we thank
you that there are no exceptions. Because that gives us hope, because
if there. Would be exceptions, we would
be the ones who would not be saved, but how we thank you for
the strong power. Of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We thank you for our fellowship
in the gospel. We thank you that you sent your
son to be our savior. And Lord, we. Trust him. Lord, we saying it is so sweet
to trust him and Lord, indeed it is. Give us the grace to trust
him more. Bless this word for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen. Let's stand and close with hymn
number 474, Only a Sinner. 474. I have forgotten but what I've
received. Grace has bestowed in me since
I have believed. Those days to live, try I've
made. I'm only a sinner, say God praise. save my grace. This is the glory
to God be the glory. My only sinner, save my grace. Once I was foolish and sin ruled
my heart, causing the first death from God to depart. Jesus and
Dali had me my case, but now I'm a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Tears come failing, though rare
it rise. Mercy has slain me, for else
I must die. Sin has won me, fear in my face. But now I'm a sinner saved by
grace. O be a sinner, save my grace.
O be a sinner, save my grace. ? Suffer, sinner, saved by grace. ? ? Suffer, sinner, whose heart
overflows. ? I'm only a sinner, save my grace.
Only a sinner, save my grace. Only a sinner saved by grace.