In Matthew chapter 6, verse 22,
the Lord said, the light of the body is the eye. Now light is what we see by.
Can't see without light. If you have 20-20 vision and
you don't have any light, what good does it do you? None at
all. What if this room that we're
sitting in was in complete darkness? You couldn't see anything. Just
couldn't see a thing. What if we lit a candle back
in the back there? You still wouldn't see much,
would you? Very little. And then if we had a flashlight,
you'd see a little more. But then if we had a 5, 10, 5,000
watt light bulbs, you'd see cobwebs, probably, maybe not. You'd probably see cobwebs. You'd
find dirt here, you'd see, there's just things you'd see with this
light that you wouldn't see without the light. Lynn has this mirror
with a light on it and I've looked at it before. It's not a pretty
sight. I don't know why she has that
thing because you look horrible. I see all these creases and stuff
that I didn't even know was there. Do I really look like that? Yes,
I do. Light reveals. Light reveals. The light of the body is the
eye. I need light. to see who God
is. I need light to see who I am. I need light to see how God saves
sinners. Now, he brought life and immortality
to light, the scripture says, through the gospel. You know,
I was thinking of that scripture, Paul, I was so blessed with the
scripture reading this morning when Paul Daniel brought that
message, or that scripture reading, and I love that last verse, if
a man thinketh himself to be something when he's nothing. He deceives himself. And you
know, if you have light, you see that about yourself clearly.
And if you don't have light, the more light you have, the
more clearly you'll see that. And the less light you have,
the more you will not see that. Now, the Lord says, the light
of the body is the eye. As the light of the body is the
eye, The light of the soul is faith. Now stick with this. Paul said we walk by faith, not
by sight. The only way we can see spiritually
is by faith. Faith, the scripture says, is
the substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not
seen. Now, there's a lot of things
that I cannot see. You know, the Bible teaches justification,
doesn't it? I love the great glorious truth
of justification, how Christ actually justified His people. Now, if I'm justified, that means
I stand without guilt before God. That means when God looks at
me, He sees someone without sin. That's what justification means.
Not guilty. Without sin. Now, I cannot look
at myself and see that. Well, how do I know it's so?
I believe. I see by faith. I rely on what
God has said. I cannot see into the Lamb's
Book of Life. There is a book in the scripture called the Lamb's
Book of Life, and in that book the names of God's elect are
all written down. I can't see into that book. I've
often thought if I had access into the Lamb's Book of Life,
I've said this before, I know which name I'd be looking for
first. And it wouldn't be yours. I'd be looking for my own. But
after that, I'd look for yours. I would. But I don't have access
to that book, nor does anybody else. Yet, beloved, I know my
name's there. I know I am one of the elect
of God. I know He has chosen me before
time began to be His." Now, how do you know that? Well, the Scripture
says, as many as were ordained to eternal life, what? Believed. And beloved, I believe
the Gospel. I really do. I believe the report. I believe the record God has
given of His Son. I am relying on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Right now, while I'm talking
to you, I'm relying on Him only as everything in my salvation.
That means I'm one of His elect. Isn't that precious? I cannot see that I have a holy
nature. Now, if I'm a believer, I have
a holy nature. Now, holiness. Holiness doesn't
sin. It's impeccable. I've got a nature
that does not sin. I have a holy nature. Now, I
can't look at anything that I do and say, yep, that was holy.
That was good. I messed up there, but this is
good. This is holy. This was obedient. I can't look
at anything that I do and say, like that. I mean, this sermon,
this sermon I'm preaching, if God judged me for this sermon,
He'd have to send me to hell. I realize that. There's so much
flesh in me. I could just go on and on and
on about, well, how do you know you have a holy nature? I believe. And the only reason I believe
is because I have a holy nature, a new nature. That's why. I mean,
faith is the evidence of things not... Seen. We see by faith. We don't see by sight. I can't
look at my actions and say, well, yeah, I'm holy. I want to. But just be honest. No, I can't. Anything I do, I can't see it. But by faith. Faith is the evidence
of things not seen. Now, if your faith is simple,
Notice what the Lord says. The light, verse 22, Matthew
6, 22. The light of the body is the
eye. If therefore thine eye be single, simple, singular, only,
thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be
evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore
the light that's in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. The Lord says, if your faith,
that's the eye of the soul, faith, if your faith is single, if it's
simple, your whole body will be full of light. I cannot have
two objects to my faith, I must have one object, Christ himself. Add anything to that, and I'm
lost. To Christ only. You know, I look, I look to the Scriptures only
for what I believe. I really do. If it's not in the Bible,
I don't believe it. I really don't. I look only to the Word
of God for what I believe. Nowhere else. I look to Christ
only as the only reason God will have anything to do with me.
I'm relying on Him. I really believe that salvation
is only by grace. I really believe that. I love
it too. I don't just believe it. I love
the fact that salvation is of the Lord. I don't want to add
anything. You have one object of faith.
Turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Such an important
passage of Scripture. Paul says in verse 2, 2 Corinthians chapter 11, For I
am jealous over you, he says to the church at Corinth, with
a godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one
husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means,
as the servant beguiled Eve through his subtlety, So your mind should
be corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ. Now let's think
about this thing of Satan beguiling Eve through his subtlety. He
says to Eve, hath God said you shall not eat of every tree?
She said no, God didn't say that. He said we may eat of the trees
freely of the Garden of Eden, but of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. He said, you shall not eat it, neither shall
you touch it, lest you die. Now, the Lord never said that.
He said, you won't eat it. In the day you eat, you will
die, but He didn't say anything about touch it, but she added
that. Now, that's where the floodgates have opened at that point, when
she adds to the Word of God. Satan says, you shall not surely
die, for God knows in the day you eat thereof, Your eyes will
be opened. You'll know good and evil. And
that's what will make you like God. Why? God's trying to prevent
you from being like Him. If you eat of this tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, all of a sudden you'd know the difference
between good and evil. You'd have a choice. Right now,
you don't have a choice. You're just obeying your nature.
There's no moral virtue in the way you are. You're just acting
the way you're born. You're programmed this way and
there's nothing good about it. But, if you eat this tree, you'll
know the difference between good and evil and you'll make a choice.
And that's what will make you like God. The introduction of
a choice. Religion is anything but simple. The Lord said, or Paul said,
the Lord inspired my fearless by any means as the serpent beguiled
Eve through his subtlety by introducing this choice. So your mind should
be corrupted from the simplicity, the simplicity that is in Christ
Jesus. Now, religion is anything but
simple. You have the seven great religions
of the world, and all of them claim to be a way to God, and
all of them claim to have some truth in them. I even heard Billy
Graham say, there are other ways to God, as long as you're sincere
in your religion. I heard him say it. There are
other ways to God. Religion is so complicated, you've
got to make some kind of choice. And Christianity is so complicated. There's so many denominations.
I mean, how many denominations are there? How many different
types of Baptists or Methodists or Catholics or Presbyterians
go on and on? Church of Christ. So many different denominations. All of them say, we're the closest. Now, we're closer than these
other fellows are. You've got so many choices to
make. There are different views of Worship. Well, what kind of worship do
you have? Do you have contemporary worship where you have drums
and rock and roll and you sing certain ways or do you have traditional
worship where you sing the traditional hymns and so on and you have
the traditional way of people sitting in pews? Which one? Which one? Which do you choose? And we have the old view of,
well, Are you Arminian or Calvinistic? Those are the two views, and
both views have some truth. Which one do you hold, or which
one do you lean toward? That's so confusing. I'm leaning
toward one, I'm leaning toward the other. You think of the smorgasbord
of doctrines we have to choose from. You know, when a choice
is involved, what's your view of baptism? You have this way
of baptism, or that way, how do you observe the Lord's table?
Whenever there's a choice involved, it's not simple, is it? It's
complex. If I be single, simple. My whole body shall be full of
light." You know, God's not complex. And when I say that, do I say
God is not awesome and glorious? Of course He is. He's so glorious
and big and huge and I can't even describe that. But He's
simple. He's not made of parts. He's not part just and part gracious
and part sovereign and part merciful and all these parts come together
to make the whole. No, God is simple. And faith
is simple. It has one object, the Lord Jesus
Christ. See, we truly have a single message. It's very simple. Paul said,
I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. And any other message is a wrong
message. It's a waste of time. God's not
in it. We have a simple message. This
whole book points to this. We have a very simple doctrine.
It's called the doctrine of Christ. Not all the Bible makes up the
doctrine of Christ. There's a lot of doctrines that
make up the one doctrine of Christ. If you leave one out, you no
longer have the doctrine of Christ. If you add one, you no longer
have the doctrine of Christ. The simple doctrine of Christ.
And every doctrine is only understood in light of Him. What's election
without being chosen in Christ? It's some kind of arbitrary choice
that you don't even understand. What's election without being
chosen in Him? What is redemption? Redeemed
by His blood. What is regeneration? Being born
again. Well, if you're born again, that means you look to Christ
only as everything for salvation. That's what the new birth is.
It causes you to look to Christ and rest in Him. Justification
is being justified by His righteousness. Sanctification is being sanctified
in Him. He's made into us sanctification.
Acceptance is accepted in the Beloved. Forgiveness is in whom
we have redemption through His blood. Even the forgiveness of
sins. We talk about the second coming.
It's His coming. To Him give all the prophets
witness. Christ is all. You know what
that means everything else is? Nothing. And you'll believers
believe that. An unbeliever can't see it, but
a believer knows it so. Now I have a single object of
faith, Christ Himself. He's the object of my faith. He's the subject of my faith.
He's the giver of my faith. He's the sustainer of my faith. I have a simple ground of forgiveness,
a single ground of forgiveness. You know why I'm forgiven? For
Christ's sake. Not because I asked. Not because
I deserve to be. For Christ's sake. Be ye kind,
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you. Now, I love thinking about this.
When were you forgiven? Somebody says, well, I was forgiven
when I asked for forgiveness. Well, if you truly ask forgiveness,
I wouldn't deny that. You are forgiven when you ask
for forgiveness. You are. You know, the Lord taught us
to pray daily, forgive us of our debts as we forgive our debtors.
I mean, forgive us of our sins. We ask for forgiveness every
day. No doubt about that. Somebody
says, well, if you've been forgiven, why do you have to ask for forgiveness
again? Because he said to. That's a
good enough reason. He said, when you pray, You do
that. I mean, that's just the way it
is. This is just as true. When was I forgiven? Hold your
finger there and turn to Romans chapter 5. Verse 10. For if, when we were enemies, When were we reconciled to God? If when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Much more, being
reconciled we shall be saved by His life. And you know what
that verse of Scripture says? You know when I was reconciled
to God? When Christ died. But you weren't even born yet!
I know. But Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. And that's when I was reconciled. When Christ died,
the only reason I have for forgiveness is the Lord Jesus Christ. I have
a simple reason for not being condemned. Who is He that condemneth? Paul said, it's Christ that died.
That's the only answer I have to have. It's Christ that died.
If Christ died for you, you must be forgiven. You must be saved. To think that he could die for
somebody and they wind up in hell? Well, that's blasphemous.
All he died for must be saved. I've got a single reason for
all God gives me. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, hastily not also with him freely
give us all things. I have a single, simple cause
of salvation by grace he is saved. That's not complex, is it? A
single reason. I have a single view of my flesh. Paul said, I know that in me
that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Now that's simple.
There's nothing complex about that. Where people get messed
up is where they have a complex view. Well, I've got a mixture
of bad and a mixture of good. I've got some bad stuff. I've
got some really bad stuff. And I can do that. That's complex. It's wrong. I've got a simple
view of the new nature too. The old nature is nothing but
sin and the new nature is nothing but holiness. Have a simple view. There's nothing complex about
this. I have a single ground of assurance. Now, I love saying
this. I want to say this the right
way. I have assurance that I'm a child of God. I have assurance
that I'm one of God's elect. I have assurance that I am a
believer, that the Lord loves me, that I'm one of His. Now,
what's the ground of your assurance? 1 Timothy 1.15 says, this is a
faithful saying, and it's worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. of whom I am the
chief. That's the ground of my assurance.
I'm a sinner. And he came to save sinners.
Now don't misunderstand me. That doesn't mean that I commit
some kind of sin and think, oh, I must be saved because I'm sinning.
No, not at all. I don't mean that in any way.
As a matter of fact, every time I sin, I shouldn't be this way,
I realize that, but I'll sin, I think, are you really a believer?
Would you have done that? Would you have thought that?
I mean, that's just flesh, that's all it is. So I don't gain assurance
from the fact that I sin But I gain assurance from the fact
that I'm a sinner. Because Christ said He came to
save sinners. I'm one of them! That means He
came to save me. And if He came to save me, you
know what that means? I'm saved. Here's my assurance. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. And I've said this so many times
and I'll say it again. I'm so glad it doesn't say repentant
sinners or believing sinners. I think the silliest one is sensible
sinners. You can't even say sensible sinners.
Sinners are stupid. They're not sensible. He just
came to save sinners. Of whom, Paul said, I am the
chief. I have a single place to look.
Then when Moses held up that brazen serpent, where were the
people to look? There was one place, wasn't there? The brazen
serpent. That's the only place to look.
Christ crucified. I have a single motive for service. Love to Him. Not to earn a higher
reward. Not to avoid certain punishment.
Loved Him. I serve Him because I love His
person. He's altogether lovely. You know, I have a single desire.
Paul said, Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. There's
only one thing I want on Judgment Day. I don't want to be found,
Oh, He was a preacher. He was faithful. All the kind
of different things people think. Only one thing. There's only
one thing I want. I want to be found in the Lord
Jesus Christ so that all God sees when He sees me is Jesus
Christ. From the very depths of my heart,
that's all I want. I have a single satisfaction. I'll be satisfied, as David said,
when I awake in thy likeness. I have a single hope with regard
to Judgment Day. John said, Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness on the day of judgment. And here's what it is. For as
He is, so are we in this world right now. Now that's the only
thing that gives me confidence for Judgment Day, as He is. I
mean, if He didn't say that, I'd have all kinds of shaking.
But no, as He is, holy, Accepted by God without sin as He is,
so are we in this world. You know, here's heaven. Father, I will that they whom
you've given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my
glory. That's heaven. To be with Him
and to behold His glory. Christ only. If your faith is
single, if it's simple. Christ only. Nothing more, nothing
less, and nothing else. If Christ is all, He's all you
have. Is He all you have to plead before
God? Now, if He's all, He's all you have. But beloved, if He's
all you have, you have all. I love that passage in Matthew
chapter 13 of that fellow who was seeking goodly pearls, when
he found the one pearl. of great price. He got rid of
the pearls, plural, and became a possessor of one pearl. That's all that he had. Now back
to our text in Matthew chapter 6. The light of the body is the
eye. Verse 22, if therefore thine
eye be single, simple, thy whole body shall be full of light.
Now if you look to Christ only, you're going to have all kinds
of light. Add anything to that, and you're going to be full of
darkness. You will. He says in verse 23, but if thy
eye be evil, complex, mixed, thy whole body shall be full
of darkness. If therefore the light that's
in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness." Now, if thine
eye is evil, mixed, the whole body is full of darkness, and
that comes from the introduction of the word, and. Christ and. The double-minded man is unstable
in all his ways. Not Christ and. That's mixed. That's evil. Christ only. Now look at verse 24. The thought
is not finished. No man can serve two masters. Remember this thing of singleness.
We look to Christ only. No man can serve two masters. Here's what happens when he tries.
For either he will hate the one and love the other. You can't
love them both. You hate one and you love the other. You love
one and hate the other. Or else he'll hold to the one
and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon. Now, whenever we try to serve
two masters, in reality, we serve neither. Not really. The jack of all trades and a
master of none. You cannot be two places at one
time, can you? You cannot go in two different
directions. You cannot listen to two different
voices. You can't really do two things
well. You can't serve two masters.
Some people are so miserable in trying to get their priorities
straight. serving many masters. I know
Christ needs to come first. He comes first, and then my family,
and then my job, and then recreation, and so on. Trying to juggle all
their... You know, I don't even like this term, Christ-centered.
Christ-centered doesn't quite get it. It's not that He's centered. No, He's all. He's all. And He is the only priority. He's the only. priority. You can't serve God and mammon. Now, what is mammon? Well, I
looked both in the Thayer's Greek Lexicon and Vine's Greek Dictionary
and both came up with this word. Mammon is that which is trusted. We generally just think of money,
and well, people do trust money, don't they? I think if I have
more money, I can have more of this and more of that. It's true,
the love of money is the root of all evil. Money is not the
root of all evil, but the love of money is the root of all evil,
covetousness. Mammon represents that which
is trusted. You can't trust God and mammon. You can't trust Christ's righteousness
and anything else. You can't believe in free grace
and free will. It's impossible. You can't be
under the law and under grace. You can't look to the Word of
God and also look to the Word of men. You can't look to the
wisdom of this world and look to the wisdom of God. The wisdom
of God excludes the wisdom of this world. You can't trust Christ
is all and have a backup plan. No plan B. You can't serve God and man. And I think of what Elijah said
to those people. He said, how long halt thee between
two opinions? If God be God, serve Him. If Baal be God, serve Him. But don't try halting between
two opinions. No, you can't believe Sovereign
Grace and not preach it. You can't preach Sovereign Grace
and say there's any truth in anything that's contrary to it.
You can't. You can't serve God and mammon. Now, if your eye is single, your
whole body, It's full of light. I want you to think of the joy.
I'm appealing to every believer here right now. I want you to
think of the joy you experience when you really believe that
everything that God requires of you, He looks to His Son for.
You get joy from that, don't you? I mean, you rejoice in that.
Whenever that issue becomes cloudy, your joy goes out the door, doesn't
it? It disappears. If your eye is evil, Your whole
body is full of darkness. Now remember, the truth is simple. The Gospel is simple. It's not
complex. There's not a choice to be made.
You know, I love this. You don't choose to believe.
You believe because you have no choice. That's the only time
you believe. If you choose it, the only thing
you choose to believe is error. You've got to make a choice to
believe error. But you believe the truth because
it's the truth. That's why you believe it. It's
the truth. May God give us this simple faith
in Christ. Let's pray together.