Would you turn with me back to
John chapter 15? And tonight, Lord willing, I
want to preach from Titus chapter 3 on this subject. Be careful
to maintain good works. And we'll also observe the Lord's
table tonight. Look once again with me at verse
25 of John chapter 15. I've entitled this message, They
Hated Me Without a Cause. We read in verse 25, But this
cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written
in their law, They hated me without Now, this is God's charge against
you and I. We have been guilty of hating
the Lord God, the Lord Jesus Christ, without a cause. We have hated him freely from
the desperate wickedness of our own hearts. That's what we've
been guilty of, hating the Lord Jesus Christ without a cause. And that word, without a cause,
is generally translated freely. We have hated him freely. Now usually when a man is hated
by another man, he has given him a reason to hate him. Perhaps he's proud, and arrogant,
and selfish, and manipulative, ill-tempered, hypocritical, mean-spirited,
and he's given somebody a reason to hate him by the way he acts. the Lord Jesus Christ, they do
so without a cause. He has given them no reason to
hate him, but they do so freely out of the desperate wickedness
of their own hearts. They hated me without a cause. Do you realize that that's what
the Lord says regarding you and me? That's what we're guilty
of, hating the Lord Jesus Christ without a cause. Now, look back in verse 17 of
John chapter 15. Let's see what led our Lord to
make this statement. These things I command you, that
you love one another. But if the world hate you, you
know that it hated me before it hated you. Now, what is meant
by the world? If the world hates you, don't
be surprised, because you know it hated me before it hated you.
By the world is meant all unbelievers, all who have no love for Christ. The world will hate those who
follow him because they hate him. And the Lord lets us know
right off the bat, don't be surprised if the world hates you. Now,
this hatred for Christ is throughout the scriptures is expressed in
many different ways. You look at his life and how
many times were there murder attempts against him? I mean,
men hated him so much they'd pick up stones to throw at him
because of the claims he made of himself. One time in Luke
chapter four, when he had Right out of Isaiah 61, how the Spirit
of the Lord was upon him, and he talked about his father's
sovereignty and saving whom he would. Why, they led him up to
the top of a cliff to throw him down and kill him. They were
so mad at him. This hatred is expressed in murder attempts.
It's sometimes expressed in disdain. How knoweth this man anything?
He's never learned. He's never had an education.
Slander of his character. Behold, a gluttonous man, a winebibber,
the friend of publicans and sinners. That's what they accused him
of. Other ways of expressing hatred,
you know, to not love is to hate. Now listen to me real carefully,
because generally we think, does that mean everybody's just got
their teeth clenched wanting to kill Christ? To disdain is
to hate. To not see Him as altogether
lovely is to hate Him. To view Him as unimportant is
to hate Him. The Lord says, don't be surprised
if the world hates you. That might not necessarily be
expressed by, oh, I'm going to get them and I'm going to try
to tear them apart. No, just a disdain. Why you all don't, what you all
believe doesn't even count. How many people believe what
you all believe? I mean, you're all just so insignificant. I mean,
there's churches with thousands of people that really are doing,
you're all not doing anything. That's a disdain. It's a hate. You know, remember when the Lord
said, if any man come after me and hate not his father and mother,
brothers and sisters, his own life also, he can't be my disciple.
Now, when he said that, he was not telling us to positively
hate our parents or hate our wife or hate our children. He's
saying in comparison to obedience with me, you treat them with
disregard. So hate. is not necessarily a, oh,
I want to kill him. No, hate is just a disdain, ignoring,
not viewing as important. To not love is to hate. And this world has no love to
Christ. And, you know, you never really see how bad a man is.
He may seem like a real nice guy, but you never see how bad
a man really is until he hears the gospel. That's where you
find out where he's truly coming from, when he hears what God
says in his word concerning man. concerning himself, concerning
his salvation. That's when you find out what
men are really like when they hear the gospel. They may seem
like real nice people, and indeed they are, but we're talking about
what God sees. Our Lord said, men have hated
me without a cause. Now look in verse 18, if the
world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.
Verse 19, if you were of the world, the world would love his
own. But because you're not of the
world, But I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the
world hates you. I think it's interesting when
he talks about the world's hate, it has some connection with election.
He says, because you're not of this world, but I've chosen you
out of this world, therefore the world hates you. You know,
the world hates the elector. The world hates the election. And the world hates the elect.
If you want to find out what somebody really believes about
God, what they really believe about the Lord Jesus Christ,
see how they feel about election. Our Lord tells us the reason
they hate you is because I chose you. Look back in verses 16 of
this same chapter. He said, you have not chosen
me, but I've chosen you. And ordain you that you should
go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain,
that whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he may
give it to you. Now, look, you've not chosen me, but I've chosen
you. And then he says in verse 19, I've chosen you out of the
world. Therefore, the world hates you. Remember the word, verse
20. Remember the word that I said
unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they
persecuted me, they'll also persecute you. If they tempt my saying,
They'll keep yours also. You know, if I'm preaching the
gospel. And you're of God, you'll say
amen. I believe that. And if you say I don't agree
with that, it's because you don't agree with God. It's not me,
I'm not the issue. It's the word of God. Let's go
on reading. But all these things, verse 21,
Will they do unto you for my name's sake? Because they have
not known him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken
unto them, then they would not have sinned. But now they have
no cloak for their sin. Men are without excuse. They
have no cloak for their sin. All men are responsible for this
hatred. There's no excuse for this. I
mean, what did the Lord ever do? to you that would make you
hate him. Is there anything? No, he's altogether
glorious and lovely. If you've hated him, if I've
hated him, it's because we've done so freely. We don't have an excuse
for what we've done. Verse 23, he says, he that hateth
me, hateth my father also. If I had not done among them
the works which none other man did, they had not had sin. But
now they have both seen and hated, both me and my father." You see,
those who hated him were the ones who saw exactly the claims
he made concerning himself. He said, I and my father are
one. By saying that, he's saying,
I'm God. That's when they picked up stones
to throw at him and to kill him. They hated his claims concerning
himself. And he proved who he was by the works he did. I mean,
he could control the elements. He raised the dead. He healed
the sick. He gave sight to the blind. There
wasn't any question that this man is God. Only God can do the
things that he does. And he says, he that hated me
has hated my father. There's no cloak for their sin.
There's no excuse. Verse 25. But this cometh to
pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in
their law. They hated me without Now, this is what God holds me and
you guilty of. Hating His Son without a cause. Now, how do you feel about people
who hate your children? You think of how that would infuriate
you. Somebody hates my child, that
means they hate me. And I can't be at peace with
somebody who hates my child. I mean, you think about how it
just kills you when your kids, if somebody mistreats your kids,
you can't stand it, can you? I mean, it's OK if they mistreat
somebody else's kids. It's not OK. Don't get me wrong. I mean,
I'd say you get a lot more upset if they mistreat your kids. I
mean, if somebody else gives us life, but man, when it's your
kids, you know, it's different. Now, this is how the Lord views
every man by nature. We have been guilty of hating
his son without a cause, out of pure maliciousness, out of
the wickedness of our own hearts. Now, I believe this is true,
first of all, because the Bible says it. Do I need any other
reason? If Christ says this, it's true. We don't believe something for
any other reason, but because the Word of God says it. If the
Word of God says it, that settles it. I despise that saying. God
said it, I believe it, and that settles it. No, not at all. God
said it, and that settles it, whether you and I believe it
or not. We believe the Bible is the Word of God. And the Lord
Jesus Christ says, from the Old Testament Scriptures, he quotes
this, they hated me without a cause. Now, I believe it because the
Bible says it, but there are other reasons we believe this.
First, the history of man says it's true. Observation. Daily observation says it's true,
and if you ask any believer, he will tell you that he has
a nature that is completely evil. He knows that. Every believer
knows that about themselves, and they know they've been guilty
of this. Now, this is universally true of every individual. He
may be outwardly a nice person. You know, there's a lot of nice
people. You go out in the world, there's a lot of fine, nice people. People who are upright, people
who are honest, people who work hard, people who provide a good
living for their family, try to be good parents, good citizens,
and so on. There's a lot of nice people
and good people, and I'm all for that. You know, I'm glad
that everybody's not out murdering everybody else and continually
breaking the laws of man. There are a lot of nice people,
but this is what somebody's attitude towards the Lord Jesus Christ
is. They hate him without a cause. Now, he may not hate the Christ
that he's invented, but the Christ of the Bible he hates, and the
proof of that is the cross. If you want to know how bad you
are, If you want to know how sinful you are, you look at what
took place on the cross. If God left mere you to ourselves,
we'd be the first ones trying to crucify Him. Now that's God's testimony regarding
me and you. We've been guilty of hating His
Son without a cause. Now, this is true of every individual
from every race and every class of society. We're born into this
world with a nature that hates the Lord Jesus Christ. And, you
know, David understood this. He said, behold, I was shaken
in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Turn with
me to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. You ought to remember when I
found this out about myself. I never knew I hated the Lord, but I
remember when I found out that I did, that I was guilty of it.
And this is exactly what the Lord used to teach me this. When
I was confronted in my heart with the fact that God had elected
a people, that he chose a people before time began, and there
wasn't anything I could do to make myself one of them. You
know what my response was? It made me mad. That's not fair! It's not fair for God to say
something past life. I saw that I couldn't do anything
to save myself. And when I saw how my heart reacted
to that in anger with the Lord, thinking it's not fair, I found
out what my problem was, was that I hated God. That's what my problem was. It
was only when I was made to see that, that I saw I'm guilty. The Lord doesn't owe me anything
but hell. I'm a criminal before Him. Now, I'm not a pretty nice
guy. I believe I was. But that's not the point. I was
guilty of hating the living God, because it made me angry that
He could pass me by and send me to hell, and it would be no
unjust thing for Him to do that. And that's when I found out how
angry I was. I was mad. And then, oh, that's
what the Lord used to teach me. You've been guilty of hating
God. Romans chapter 8. Look at verse
6. For to be carnally minded, fleshly
minded is what that means. It's what we are by nature. This
is not just talking about when people think of carnal living,
they'll think of sexual sin and drunkenness and so on. That's
bad stuff. But what this is talking about is what we all are by nature. You've got a carnal mind. You're
born into this world with this carnal mind. Now, to be carnally
minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. because
the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it's not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be. It lacks the ability
to be, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Now, the natural man, the carnal
mind, Scripture says in 1 Corinthians 2, it receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God. It lacks the ability to. It can't
receive them because they're spiritually discerned. Now, notice
how he says in that verse of Scripture that the carnal mind
is enmity itself against God. It's not simply at enmity. It
is the thing itself. The carnal mind, that which I
have by nature, is actually enmity, hatred of the living God. Now,
let me remind you, to not love God as He is, is to hate Him. You see, if you love God, you
know what else you love? You love everything about Him. You
love His sovereignty. You love the fact that He's in
control of everything and that whatever happens, it's according
to His will. You love His power, that He has
the power to do whatever He's pleased to do. You love His holiness,
that He will not let sin go unpunished and that He will not Except that
you love His justice. You love His mercy. You love
His grace. You love His wisdom. You love
everything about Him. And it's the same thing with
the Lord Jesus Christ. You love the Sovereign Christ
if you love Him. You love the Christ as He's revealed in the
Scriptures. And if you don't love Him exactly as He's revealed
in the Scriptures, you don't love Him at all. As a matter
of fact, you hate Him to view as unimportant. Oh, can you imagine
what the Father thinks when He sees Some son of Adam viewing
his son as unimportant? As something you just disregard? Does that mean everything to
you? The carnal mind is enmity against God. It's not subject
to the law of God. Neither, indeed, can it be. Now,
that is seen so clearly in what makes up man. Now, what's the
difference between a man and an animal? It's got a living
soul. An animal doesn't have a soul
like that. I mean, we have intellect. We have a will. We have affections. We have things we love. We have
things we hate. Every man has that. Now, the carnal mind hates
God. This is seen in the understanding.
This is amazing. It's not amazing. It's just true.
Nobody here can understand anything that I'm saying unless God is
pleased to reveal it. We can understand all kinds of
things. Men are pretty smart. But in
the things of God, all men are dumber than a box of rocks, as
Donny Bell would say. I mean, just unable to do Unable
to understand. You know, men can understand
logical systems. Men can understand Calvinism.
Men can understand Arminianism. I mean, things that make sense.
But the natural man cannot understand grace. They cannot understand
the gospel. This hatred that is seen in the
understanding is just off the will. This is why men are so
evil. They will not come to Christ.
They will not be saved by His grace. They will not bow the
knee to Christ. Free will is the biggest lie
the devil's ever told. There's no such thing as free
will. This is why men are so evil. They've got a will to change
the sin. Evil can't change themselves. The affections, we hate what
we ought to love, and we love what we ought to hate. The carnal
mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither, indeed, can be. Here's the state of our heart.
They hated me without a cause. And this is true of all men universally. I think it's interesting how
men hate one another, but they'll unite together in their hatred
of Christ. I think that scripture is very
interesting where it says, Regarding Pilate and Herod, Luke 23, 12,
and on the same day, Pilate and Herod were made friends, for
before they were at enmity between themselves, but they all of a
sudden became friends in their hatred of Christ. It kind of
reminds me, this is a true story. I was working in a print shop
at the time, this had been like 20 years ago, and there was a
man I was working with who was an atheist. And I was trying
to witness to him. preach the gospel to him, and
there was a real religious guy that was working on the press,
besides he was listening. And all of a sudden, the atheist
and the religious guy got together, gnashing their teeth on me. I
mean, the atheist and the religious guy had more in common than me. I mean, that really happened.
I thought, boy, that says a lot. That says quite a bit. Now this being the truth, they
hated me without a cause. That's what we all are by nature.
I want to draw some conclusions from this. First, I'll tell you what, I know what we ought to be doing
over thinking about this. Every one of us ought to be weeping
that we're this bad. then guilty of hating the holy,
spotless Son of God without a cause. Anybody that doesn't love Christ
ought to be sent to hell. Paul said, If any man love not
the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha. Let him be damned upon the return. of the Lord. Anybody that doesn't
love Christ ought to be sent to hell. Amen? It's true. And that is what every one of
us have been guilty of. Now, like I said, I want to draw
some conclusions from this. First, salvation by human merit
is impossible because there is no such thing. Somebody that
hates the Lord Jesus Christ, there's nothing good about them
as far as what God sees. Now, like I said, you can be
a nice guy. You ought to be. But here's what God sees regarding
every son of Adam. There's somebody that hates his
son freely, without a cause. And somebody like that obviously
can't be saved by their marriage because they don't have any marriage.
Salvation by good works. is impossible because of that
kind of heart. Good works before God are impossible
because nobody has any, as far as that goes, because of the
nature. Like I said, I said this in Sunday
school class this morning. I talked about Proverbs 16. I
can't remember what verse it is, but it says the plowing of
the wicked is sin. Now, plowing seems to be a fairly
wholesome activity, doesn't it? Somebody going out and plowing
up a garden, maybe in order to grow food, feed the poor, yet
the scripture says the plowing of the wicked is sin. Why is
that? Because of who did it. Somebody that hates the Lord
Jesus Christ, anything they do is sin, so they can't be saved
by their good works because they don't have any good works. Not
a one. Can God see anybody as capable
of good work that in his heart hates his son? Now, man being this sinful, no
merit intrinsically in his heart, no good works outwardly in things
that he does, if man is this bad, guilty of hating the Lord
Jesus Christ, right off the bat that tells me that for me to
be saved, for me to ever love God, God's going to have to do
something for me. He's going to have to put something
in me that was not there before. You see, my nature, this sinful
nature, this carnal mind that is enmity against God, it can't
be improved. It can't be influenced. It can't
be made better. It can't be reformed. It's completely
evil. And I'm going to have to be given
a new heart. One that was not there before. You see, the work of the Holy
Spirit is not to influence us to make us better. It's not to
work with the old nature. The old nature is completely
evil. It can't be made better. What I need is a new heart. One
that was not there before. Now, since men are so desperately
wicked, God's salvation must be without a cause in man. They hated me without a cause.
If that's the case, if I'm that bad, and I am, then God saving
me must be without a cause in me. If I have to find a reason
in me for the Lord to look down in mercy on me, you know I can't
find one reason. Not one. The only way I can be
saved is if He saves me without a cause in myself. Our Lord said
in John 6, verse 44, no man can. He lacks the ability. No man
can come to Me except the Father which has sent Me. Draw him. Now, God's going to have to do
something for me. Lord, do something for me. At My prayer, Lord, do
something. Don't leave Me to Myself. Have
mercy on Me. I can't be saved by My merit.
I can't be saved by My good works. I can't be saved by anything
I do. I need you to do something for me without having to find
a reason for me to do it. For God to save me, first of
all, He's going to have to choose me. I'll never choose Him. I've
been guilty of hating Him without a cause. So He's going to have
to choose me without a cause in me. And that's what election
is. He chose me not because He saw I would believe, not because
He saw I'd be good. He chose me simply because He
would. That's good news. He doesn't have to find a reason
in me. Thank God for that. Redemption, Christ redeeming
work for His elect, for those who believe. That's without a
cause. He didn't die for you because
you were entitled to it. You know, it kills me when people
hear of Christ's death for His elect. It doesn't kill me. I
understand it. I should say, people hear of Christ's death
for His elect only and they say, that's not fair. You mean, His
death is an entitlement to you? Fair as hell. Thank God he died
for people without a cause in them. That gives me some hope.
Regeneration is not the Holy Spirit offered me the gospel.
I accept it and therefore I become born again. That's foolishness.
Regeneration is God giving me life without a cause in me. Now, this message, listen to
me real carefully. This message that God loves you and Christ
died for your sins and wants to save you, but He can't unless
you do something that will enable Him to, that's a lie out of hell. There's no truth in it. There's no gospel in that message. Now, if salvation is dependent
upon even a penny's worth of merit, ability, or will in man,
salvation is impossible because we've all been guilty of this.
They have hated me without a cause. Now, I want to show you another
place in the Bible. You know, this is all I was talking
about. This would be a pretty depressing message, wouldn't it? I mean,
this is not exactly a feel-good message. But it's true, it's
something I have to deal with. And I want to show you another
place where this word, without a cause, is used and translated
freely. Now would you turn with me to
Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3, verse 19. we know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before
God." Now, this is our state before God. It doesn't matter
whether we agree with it or not. It is our stake before God. Guilty
before God. Subject to the judgment of God.
My mouth stopped. In other words, I've got no excuses. My mouth has been stopped. I
stand guilty before God. Subject to the judgment of God.
Deserving damnation. Now, criminals... If somebody's a murderer, should
he be judged? Should they go to jail? Should
they be punished? If somebody murders one of your kids, should
they be punished? If somebody does, of course they
should. Now, we have been guilty of hating
the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought to be punished. They
hated me freely. They hated me without a cause.
So we stand before God guilty as charged. Have you ever agreed
with what God says about you? Now that's what repentance is.
It's taking sides with God against yourself. Guilty as charged. Is there anything we can do about
this? Verse 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. No, there's not a thing you can
do to bring yourself out of this position of guilt before God. Does that mean there's no hope?
No, it doesn't mean that, verse 21. But now, the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. Now, this doesn't mean there's
no hope. There's a righteousness without
the law. You know what that means? That
means there's a perfect righteousness before God without my personal
obedience to the law. If you find that attractive,
that you can have a righteousness perfect before God that's really
yours without any works on your part. If you find that attractive,
I tell you what, that's the only hope I have. That's good news. I find this infinitely attractive. But now, how can I know this
is true? Look what it says. But now the
righteousness of God without the law, without my personal
obedience to the law is manifested. It's being witnessed by the law
and prophets. How can I know this is true? It's because it's
what the Bible teaches. It's witnessed in the law and
prophets. This is what the Old Testament's all about. Isaiah 53. Isaiah 54. Their righteousness is of me,
save the Lord. This is what the Bible's always taught. Now, the
Bible is the word of God. If we don't have that, we don't
have anything. The Bible is God's revelation of himself. And this
is what the Old Testament scripture teaches, that salvation comes
by the righteousness of somebody else. One of the names of the
Lord is, this is the name wherewith he shall be called Jehovah Tzikinu,
the Lord, our righteousness. And in Jeremiah 33, it says,
this is the name wherewith she shall be the Lord our righteousness. Now, there is a righteousness,
a perfect righteousness before that law that can be had without
your personal obedience. This is what the scripture teaches.
Verse 22, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. For there's
no difference. Now, who gets this righteousness? Who's this righteousness for?
What's the text say? For all who believe. For all who rely on Jesus Christ
as their righteousness before God. Now, I'm one of those people
right now. I'm relying on the righteousness
of Jesus Christ as my personal righteousness before God. Just
as truly as my sin became His, His righteousness is mine. Thank God for that. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. Notice it doesn't say
by faith in Jesus Christ. This is why I love our old King
James Version. By the faith of Jesus Christ,
by his faithfulness, by his obedience, by his righteousness is given
to all who believe. For there is no difference between
any man, for all have seen him come short of the glory of God,
being justified. See that next word? What's it
say? freely. And that is the exact
same word that's translated without a cause in John chapter 15. Being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Now,
I don't suppose it would ever be appropriate. I know it's not.
Every time I preach, I ought to be preaching something regarding
justification. I have no doubt about it. If
I bring a message and if that's not behind what I'm saying, I'm
bringing the wrong message. Justification. If I'm justified,
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
of sin, Christ Jesus, if I'm justified, do you know what that
means? It means I'm not guilty. I'm not guilty. I have no sin. Because Christ's righteousness
is mine. And I stand before God without
guilt. Being justified without a cause. Don't you love that word freely?
Without a cause. God didn't have to look for a
reason in me to give me this wonderful justification. Being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. I love that passage of scripture
in Ephesians 1, 7, "...in whom we have redemption through his
blood, even the forgiveness of sins, being justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Verse
25, "...whom God set forth, whom God foreordained to be of propitiation
through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness." for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus." Where is boasting then? What can you brag about?
It's excluded. By what law? Works made by the
law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Now, in
closing, I want you to turn to Revelation 21. I want us to look
where this word without a cause is also used. Revelation 21. We look at Revelation 21 and Scripture
in Revelation 22. Verse 5. Revelation 21, verse 5. And he that said upon the throne,
said, Behold, I make all things new. You know what that means? God
makes me to be what I wasn't. I wasn't righteous. He makes
me righteous. I wasn't holy. He makes me holy. He makes all things new. Now, God said he did that. Behold,
I make all things new. And he said unto me, write, write
this down, for these words are true and faithful. And he said
unto me, it's done. Salvation is already accomplished.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, and I will give
unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of
life freely, without a cause. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor a fitness fondly dream. The only fitness he requires
is to have a need of him. Do you need him? If he calls on you to come and drink
freely, look in Revelation 22, verse 17. And the spirit and the bride
say, come, this is the message of the gospel. Come to the Lord. Come to Christ. Come to God. I mean, yes, you're guilty of
hating him without a cause, but yet he says come. That's the
message of the church. It brings people in. It doesn't
exclude people. You're already excluded. It doesn't
say stay away. It says come on in. The door's
wide open. The spirits and the bribes say
come. This is what God says to you
right now. Come to me. Come to me. This is what the
Lord says. Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden. You know you're guilty of what
the Bible says you're guilty of, but yet He says, come. Don't
stay away. Don't wait till you get better.
Don't wait till you understand more. Come right now to the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the message of the Holy
Spirit. That's the message of the church. The Spirit and the
bride say, come. And let him that hear it say,
come. That's what I'm doing right now.
I heard that and I'm saying, come. Come to the Lord. And let
him that is a thirst Come! I'm thirsty. You thirst for that
which you don't have. You can't produce it. You can't
produce a way to quench your thirst. It has to be brought
by something outside of you, that water. Let him that is a
thirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life
freely. Whosoever will. I love that. Whosoever will. I want to ask you a question.
Are you willing to be saved by Jesus Christ? You can answer
that with a yes or no. Are you willing to be saved by
his grace? Are you willing to be saved in
such a manner where Christ gets all the glory and none goes to
you? Are you willing to be saved by his righteousness? Are you
willing to be saved by His precious blood? Are you willing to be
saved by Him as being your great high priest interceding for you?
Are you willing? Yes, I am. I really am. I know it's because He made me
willing, but you can bet I'm willing to be saved by Him. Now,
what's He say? Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. Now, just as you and I have been
guilty of hating him without a cause, he will save us without
a cause. Isn't that good news? He will save us without a cause
in us. There's only one contribution
you can make to your salvation. You know what that is? Your sin. That's the only contribution
you make. Whosoever will, will you? Are
you willing to be saved by him? Let him take the water of life
freely. If I said you could have the water of life
for a hundred dollars, Everybody in this room would
figure out a way to get $100 to get this water of life. But if I say it's free, there's
people that just aren't interested in that. That's heartbreaking. But somebody's going to leave
this place having heard of the freeness of the gospel, And I
treat it with disdain. May God give everybody in this
room the grace to come and take the water of life freely. Let's pray.