When the Lord announced his return,
behold, I come quickly. What was John's response? Yes. I've entitled this message, Yes. Some 20 or 25 years ago, there
was a couple who were attending services here. And Lynn and I
had been over. I thought they liked what they
were hearing. And we were talking over dinner. Many times when
we have people over, that'll be the last time we see them.
That's happened a number of times. But while we were talking about
the gospel and the doctrine of grace, how that the Bible does
really teach that God is sovereign, that God really did elect a people
before time began to be saved, that Christ actually accomplished
salvation to those people, and how God's grace is invincible
and irresistible, and by His grace, He causes those people
to persevere all the way to the end. That's what the Bible teaches.
And the man looked at me and said, I can remember this like
it was yesterday. He said, I see that the Bible
teaches that, but that doesn't mean I like it. That's the last time I ever saw
it. Last time I ever saw it. I am a sports fan. Anybody that knows me knows that
I'm a big sports fan. And it's very important to me
that my team wins. I'm laughing at myself when I
say that I quite often think we should not care about the
other team. And my response is no, I don't. I want my team to
win. And that might be a testimony
as to how shallow I am, but I want my team to win. Lynn says, don't
you feel sorry for the other team? No. No, I don't. And a common response when something
happens that I like, like score a touchdown or a game-winning
buzzer-beating shot, I will get up and I will scream, yes! I've done that hundreds of times.
And you may not be a sports fan. I remember one time that Elizabeth
Marsh, bless her heart, I loved her. She said, you make an idol
out of sports. And I said, I do not. I said,
the Apostle Paul was a sports fan. And I think he was. He talked
about shadow boxing and he talked about running the race and so
on. He would use all kinds of allusions to sports. I said,
Paul was a sports fan. She said, you're just making
that up. Okay. You know, I'll give up there.
But if you're not a sports fan, there's something that will elicit
a response like that from you. You've won the lottery. Yes.
That would be something I'd be very excited about. Or take it
down a notch lower. The person you voted for won
the election. Yes. Yes. But that is a response. It's
a response of strong affirmation. It's translated even so. Yay. Yes. Truth. Verily. Amen. But it's a from the heart
a strong affirmation. If I say 2 plus 2 equals 4, or
if you say to me 2 plus 2 equals 4, I'll say, yeah, I see that. But it's not a strong affirmation. But if you tell me that all of
my sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, and that I stand before
God justified, without guilt, perfect in Christ Jesus? Yes. Yes. That is the response. Would you turn with me to Matthew
chapter nine? Verse 27, and when Jesus departed thence,
two blind men followed him. They must have just been following
his voice. They couldn't see him. They could
hear him. And they were groping their way
toward him, crying and saying, thou son of David, have mercy
on us. And when he was coming to the
house, the blind men came to him. And Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to
do this. They said unto him, Yes, Lord. Now faith in its very basic Whatever it is, is a belief that
He is able. Do you believe that I'm able
to do this? Do you believe, and this is the
question I'm asking you, do you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ
is able to save you without your help? Do you believe that He's able
to save you with absolutely no contributions from you. You believe
he's able. Abraham staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he
was able also to perform. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1 12,
I know whom I believed and I am persuaded that he is able. That's what I'm persuaded of.
He is able to keep that which I've committed to him. What have
you committed to Him, Paul? The salvation of my soul. I'm completely dependent upon
His ability to do everything with nothing coming from me.
That's what I'm dependent upon. I am persuaded He is able to
keep that which I've committed to Him against that day. On that
day of judgment, I'm persuaded that I'll have all, not only
the bare minimum, but the maximum in Christ Jesus. And you know
what I say to that? Yes. Yay. Amen. Matthew 11, 26, the Lord
said, and this is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. He said, I thank
Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hid
these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto
babes. Even so, same word. Yes, for so it seemed good in
thy sight. Now here's what I want to ask
you. If it's good in God's sight, Is it good in your sight? Can you say yes to that? That demonstrates the state of
our heart. Even so, Father, yes, Father, for so it seemed good
in your sight. Does that being good in God's
sight elicit a yes in you. You're satisfied with that. You
don't need anything else to satisfy you but that. It seemed good
in God's sight. And I am satisfied. Yes. Nothing else is needed. In Matthew
chapter 13 verse 51, after he'd given all these parables, he
said to his disciples, have you understood these things? You know what they said? Yes,
Lord. Now, with regard to our understanding. We do understand, remember the
parable of the sower, the good ground here, understood what
was said. We do understand, but it's a
partial understanding, isn't it? Do you understand how holy
God is? No. Do you understand how sinful
you are? No, not really. But there is
some understanding. And I understand, to some degree,
I understand how God can look at me and say he's perfect. I
understand that through the gospel. I understand how God can look
at me, Todd Diver, sinful as I am, and look at me and see
somebody without sin. because of the way that He made
a way to be just and justify the ungodly. And I've got some
understanding of that. And you know what I say? Yes.
Yes. I understand that. I have some,
when I hear this question, do you have any understanding of
your sinfulness? Yes. Yes. Do you have any understanding
how that Christ really is all in salvation? Yes. Yes, I do. Have you understood these things?
Yay, Lord. Yay. I love the story of the Syrophoenician
woman. You can read about this in Matthew chapter 15, beginning
in verse 21. It's where this woman came up
to the Lord with this great need. Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. And he answered her not a word.
He ignored her. He did not respond to her prayer. Have you ever felt that way? That you prayed and you knew
that your prayers were not getting any higher than the ceiling.
He answered her not a word. But you know what she did? She
continued to pray. She knew this was her only option. There's no point in giving up
because there's nothing left. She continued to pray. And the
disciple said, send her away. She's crying after us. And he
said, it's not me. Or he said, I've only come to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I did now with this woman
is crying for him for mercy. And he said, I didn't come to
save everybody. And that's what he said, I did
not come to save everybody. That's the only way you can take
that. I'm not sent. But to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Well, this woman knew she was a Gentile, but she continued
to cry. Then she came and worshiped him
and said, Lord, help me. And the Lord said, it's not right
to take the children's bread and throw it out to dogs. And
you know how she responded? Yes, Lord. That's the truth,
if I ever heard it. Yes, Lord. Whatever he says,
yes, Lord. Now that's the cry of someone
who knows who he is. Whatever he says, yes. I'm a
dog, and I don't deserve your mercy, but even the dogs eat
the crumbs that fall from the master's table. I don't expect
to be sitting with the children. I don't want to be anything more
than a dog under the table, and I'd be so grateful for any crumbs
of mercy that come my way. And what'd the Lord say to her?
Oh woman, great is thy faith. Now when the Lord says, it's
not right, you're speaking to him asking for mercy, it's not
meat to take the children's bread and to throw it to the dogs,
what's the response of your heart? Yes, Lord. In Matthew chapter 21, verse
16, the Pharisees have heard the cries of Hosanna to the son
of David. And they were upset with what
they were hearing. They were saying, Hosanna, thou
son of David, Hosanna. And they said, hearst thou not
what they're saying? You know how the Lord replied? Yes. these ascriptions of divine
praise to me?" Yes. And then he gave this little
dig. Have you not read, well of course they read, but have
you not read how that the scripture says Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings thou has perfected praise. Now here's the point.
The Lord said yes to these ascriptions to his infinite greatness. Do
you say yes to those? In your heart, when you hear
of his infinite greatness, Hosanna to the son of David, glory to
God in the highest, do you say yes? Or is it a thing of indifference? Now when a believer hears of
the glory and exaltation of Christ, the cry of their heart is, yes,
yes. And then in John chapter 11,
I love this passage of scripture. The Lord says to Martha in John
chapter 11, you can read it in verses, I think 23 through 26.
You can turn there if you want. But the Lord said to Martha,
after Lazarus has died, thy brother shall rise again. And she answered, I know he shall
rise again in the resurrection at the last day. I have an understanding
of the end times, and I know there's going to be a final resurrection.
And I realize that when the dead are raised up, he'll be raised. I understand that. I'm good on
that. I understand that. I understand
the resurrection. And the Lord replied. I am the resurrection and the
life. He that believeth on me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. Do you believe this? You see,
the resurrection is not an event. He is the resurrection. When he was raised from the dead,
All of the elect of God were raised right with Him. And He
is the life. You know what that means? If
you have life before God, it's His life. And it's His life that
is your righteousness before God. If you have life, it's His
life. When your story is told, it'll
be nothing but His life. Yes, Lord. I love that. Yes, Lord. That is the response of the believer. And then in John chapter 21,
the Lord said to Simon, after his resurrection, after Simon's
defection, you remember when he said, I'm going fishing. And
several of the disciples said, we're going with you. And I really
believe what he meant was I've had it with his disciples stuff.
I'm going back to the way things used to be. I'm going back to
being a fisherman. And then the Lord appeared to him and he asked
him this question, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Now I want you and I want myself
to forget about ourselves for just a moment. Don't think about
whether or not you're saved. Don't think about whether or
not you're nothing but a hypocrite. Don't think whether or not you
really have spiritual life. Just forget about yourself for
a second. Don't think about yourself. Is that possible? I don't know
if it is, but do your best. Don't think about yourself. Do
you love Him? Do you love His Lordship? Do you love His absolute sovereignty,
the fact that He controls everybody and everything and every event? Do you love His power, the fact
that whatever He wills, He has the power to make sure it comes
to pass? Do you love His wisdom, the way He's so wise that He's
made a way to be just and justify the ungodly? And He is so wise
that He can work everything together for my good and His glory without
any effort on His part. He's got everything. Do you love
His justice, how He would be nailed to a cross before He'd
let His Father's law be dishonored? Do you admire His justice and
His holiness? Do you admire how He made a way
for God to be consistent with His justice and love and embrace
somebody like you? You take all of His attributes,
whatever they may be, His eternality, the fact that He never began
to be. He's always been. He's always
the great I am that I am. What about His immutability? Jesus Christ the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He never changes. Go on, whatever
attribute he has. Do you love me? Yea, Lord. Yes, Lord. I do love you. And as soon as you think that,
you start thinking about how your love is not enough. Well,
you're right. It's not enough. It's not as great as it should
be. It's not as powerful as it should be. But do you love his
person? Yes, Lord. I do. Turn with me to this, 2 Corinthians
chapter 1. Verse 15. And in this confidence, I was
minded to come unto you before that you might have a second
benefit. It was my intention to come and
visit you. That's what I wanted to do. How
many times have you had intentions that didn't work out? You know,
it's funny, I put in my notes. I'm ashamed I put these in my
notes. I marked it out real good, but I put it in my notes. Sometimes
providence dictates. I have to deny what providence
is in the first place. all the time providence dictates
all the time. Paul said I was planning on coming
to you but providence hindered me so I couldn't do what I wanted
to do. I intended on it but I didn't
do it and to pass by you into verse 16 into Macedonia and to
come again out of Macedonia into you and of you to be brought
on my way toward Jerusalem toward Judea that was my plans. When
I therefore was thus minded did I use likeness? Well, the things
that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that
with me there should be yea and nay? Now this is what he's being
accused of. He said he was going to be here, but you can't count
on him. You can't count on his plans,
and you can't count on the things he says he's going to do. Paul
says, I didn't come the way I thought I would. And you're going to
have to say that, and I'm going to have to say that regarding
many things. We say, if the Lord will, we
will do this or do that. But you can't really boast yourself
of tomorrow. You don't know what a day brings forth. But, verse
18, as God is true, our word or our preaching toward you was
not yea and nay. Now you're accusing us of saying
yes and no to the same thing. And indeed, we weren't able to
do what we wanted to do, but that's not how our preaching
is. Our preaching is not yay and nay. You know, that would
describe most of what goes on under the name of preaching.
Yes and no preaching. Is salvation by grace? Well,
yes, of course it is. I believe salvation is by grace,
but it won't save you unless you Accept it. It's offered to
you. It's up to you to accept it as
to whether or not it'll work for you. Yes, it saves, but no,
it doesn't. Is the blood of Christ sufficient
to save? Well, yes. He died for your sins. He put
them all away, but No, it won't save unless you receive Him as
your personal Savior. Even though He died for your
sins and put them away, you won't be saved by that blood unless
you fill in the blank. Now that is yea and nay preaching. It's not real. That's what most
preaching sounds like though, isn't it? Yea, nay preaching. But he says, as God is true,
our word or our preaching to you was not yea and nay. For
the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by
us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay,
but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in
him are yea. And in him, amen, unto the glory
of God by us. All the promises of God. Oh,
there's so many of them. The promise regarding our acceptance
before the Father being in the beloved, the promise of our justification,
the promise of our full redemption, the promise that he'll keep us
and preserve us all the way to the end and that we won't fall
away because nobody can pluck him out of his hand. All the
promises of God in him are That means they're not dependent
on you doing something to make them work. They're absolute,
unconditional promises. When he makes the promise, it
is done. Yes. All the promises of God
in him are yea and amen. Turn to Revelation 1. I want
to look at two or three verses of Revelation. Verse 7. Behold, he cometh with the clouds,
and every eye shall see him. and they also which pierced him,
and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even
so, yes. Amen. Now when you think, what
is the response of your heart? When you think of him coming
with the clouds and everybody seeing him, Yes, his people seeing
him to their everlasting salvation, being perfectly conformed to
his image, but just the thought of everybody seeing him and knowing
who he is, even those who wail when they see him in dismay.
And what was John's response? Even so, yes, a Now that is our response to him. I don't understand everything
he's doing, but that's okay. He does. This is very similar.
Turn to Revelation chapter 16. Verse 7. And I heard another out of the
altar say, Even so, yes is the word, yes, Lord God Almighty,
true and righteous are thy judgments. Now, we can say with regard to
whatever he does, whether by way of mercy and grace or whether
by way of judgment, Whatever His judgments are, and this is
what we really believe concerning Him. We really believe that whatever
He does is right, and it's right because He does it. He doesn't
do it because it's right. It's right because He does it.
He has no law over His head. He has no standard He's trying
to live up to. He's God. Whatever He does is
right, just, holy, and true. And whatever His judgments are,
Yes. Amen. So be it. Now see, this is the faith we
have in Him. I wish I could say this the way I ought to say it,
but I do not understand everything He's doing. I don't claim to,
but He does. And I'm fine with that. And whatever
He does is right, just, holy, and true. And this is the response
of my heart to whatever He does. Yes! Amen! Even so, it's right. Just and true are all thy judgments. And it was talking about judgments
that were against certain people, but yet that is the response
of every believer. And then finally, the verse we
looked at at the beginning of this message, turn to Revelation
22. Verse 20. He which testifieth these things,
the Lord Jesus Christ, everything he'd said in this book. He which
testifieth these things saith, surely I come quickly. Amen. John says, yes. Come Lord Jesus. Now the only way you can say
yes to his coming is if you really believe that all that God requires
of you, He looks to Christ for. You really believe that He's
able to save you without any help from you. You believe, you
really believe He did it all. And when you hear of His return,
and I think you can appreciate this a little bit more the older
you are. I'm not saying You know, when you have kids that are unsaved,
you'd rather them be saved before he returns. I realize that. We
think things like that. A young person is going to look
at things a little bit different than someone who's had enough
life to know it's all vanity anyway. But here is our response. Behold, I come quickly. Yes. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Now, Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ really
is all. He's all to God. He's all in
this book. He's all God requires. He's all
I need. He's all I want. He's all I have. Christ is all. Heaven says, yes. Every believer says, yes. And even those in hell are made
to say unwillingly, yes. I want to be somebody who says
it willingly, don't you? Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you will cause the response of each heart here. the response to your word, whatever
it is, to be yes. Even so, amen. Lord, that's above the strength
and energy of the flesh. We will say no, we will murmur,
we will complain, we will not rejoice in you unless you give
us the grace to do it. But Lord, what joy there is,
what rejoicing there is in being able to say, Being enabled to
say, yes, even so, come Lord Jesus. Bless this message for
Christ's sake, in his name we pray, amen. Dwayne, what do you
got? I love that, 226, we'll stand
and sing.