Here are four things from Luke
19, 10. The Son of Man is come to seek
and to save, that which was lost. Here are four things. Number
one, we are described here with one word, lost, L-O-S-T. That's how we're described. Secondly,
our Lord is described. He's described as the Son of
Man. And then a blessed fact is stated. He is come. He is come. You say it, just
two words. And then fourthly, his work,
his mission is described, he is come to seek and to save. That's what it says. That's very
simple. But the gospel actually, though
profound and mysterious, if it's ever revealed to you and the
light ever shines in your heart and the door is ever open, it
is Simple. It's the simplicity of Christ,
the singleness, Bob, of Christ, the oneness of Christ. I see
the gospel of God's redeeming grace, and I wondered why I didn't
see it before. And you'll say the same thing
if you see it. Now, first of all, how are we described? It
says he came to seek and to save the lost. Now, before the days
of radio communication, I thought about this. How do you define
lost? Well, in these days of radio and television and telephone
and telegraph and in these days of search planes, it's hard really
to lose anything. With these Geiger counters or
metal detectors, they could find the proverbial needle in a haystack.
It wouldn't stay lost long, Paul, would it? They'd find it. But
back before the days of radio communication and back before
these days of modern communication, search planes and so forth, suppose
that a sailing vessel is out yonder on the vast Pacific. And
some of you fellows that were in the service know how vast
the Pacific is. But out there in the vast Pacific,
and it runs into a storm, and the sails are all broken, the
mast is falling down, everything is crippled, and the vessel has
no power at all. It's just crippled with no source
of power. The food rations are about gone,
the water supply is about gone, it's sitting out there in that
burning Pacific sun just drifting with the wind on a shoreless
ocean. That vessel is lost. Mark it
off, it's lost. That's what it means to be lost.
And then suppose Walter Gruber and I, this is still true in
the Yucatan. We were driving along one day, and I made a comment
to him about that jungle over there. You leave Method and you
drive 200 miles to Port Juarez, and you pass Charlie on the right,
that jungle. You remember that jungle? Well,
we flew over it, you remember. It's vast, thick, It's full of
rattlesnakes and every kind of cobras and every kind of, I mean,
coral snakes and every kind of snake you can imagine, wild animals,
beasts. It's just a thick jungle. As
you look down from the airplane, it looks like a carpet, like
this carpet right here. And I asked Walter about that
jungle. I said, anybody ever go in that thing? He said, no,
sir. And he said if an airplane ever crashed in that thing, they'd
be just gone, gone. He said the jungle would open
up to receive it and close over it. They'd never see it from
the air and never find it. And if the person survived the
crash and stepped out of the plane, he'd never, ever reach
it back to civilization. You know what he said about that
jungle? So if a fellow, if that jungle opened up to receive a
plane, it crashed in there, it just covered over it. And that
man gets out of that plane and he's lost. He's hopelessly, helplessly
lost to die alone. Well, I'm telling you, this is
the word that our Master used to describe us, L-O-S-T. He said he came to seek and to
save the lost. And Paul said in Ephesians 2,
now look over here in Ephesians chapter 2, Paul described this
lost condition of the Gentiles and he says this in Ephesians
2.12, at that time, at that time you were without Christ. You
were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and the strangers from
the covenant of promise and you had no hope, no hope. And you were without God. Now that's what it means to be
lost. Without Christ, without hope, without God. I'm talking
about spiritually. Now that's the word, our Lord
chose this word, I didn't. And it's not the word of some
country uneducated preacher from the backwoods, as Scott said,
who came into Beckley on the back of a pickup truck. This
is the words of Christ. lost, lost, without God, without
Christ, without hope, lost. Now, how did we get lost? Well,
the Scripture says in Romans 5, well, you look over here a
minute in Romans chapter 5, how did man get lost? How did he,
what happened? He didn't, he didn't run into
a storm and all the sailing paraphernalia break on his boat, he didn't
crash dive into a jungle, how did man get lost? Romans 5, 12.
If you're interested, here it is. This is what the Bible says.
Wherefore, as by one man, that's Adam, sin entered into this world
and death by sin. That's how we got lost. Look
at Romans 5, verse 17, for if by one man's offense death reigned. Verse 18, therefore as by the
offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation.
Verse 19, for as by one man's disobedience the many were made
sinners. If you've got any argument, take
it up with God. If you've got any quarrel, take
it up with the Holy Spirit. That's how man got lost. We're
lost by nature. We're lost by birth. Turn to
Psalm 51. You say, I don't like that. Well,
so anyhow. It's what God says. In Psalm
51, listen to this. Verse 5, Behold, I was shapen
in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. There it is. Lost
from the womb. A sinner from the womb. That's
what the Bible says. Psalm 58.3. Psalm 58.3, The wicked
are strained from the womb. They go astray as soon as they're
born, speaking lies. That's how we got lost. We're
lost by birth, by nature. And not only that, but we're
lost by our actions. Our nature is revealed in our
actions. If you want to find out a person
is a sinner, just stick around and he'll prove it to you after
a while. I don't care who the person is. If you've got an understanding
of sin, if you've got a conception of sin, if you've got an understanding
of sin, you'll see it in everybody after a while. You'll see it
most of all in yourself. Oh, wretched man that I am. I'm
a man of unclean lips. My sins are ever before me. Against
thee and thee only have I sinned. I'm aware of my sins because
I'm aware of my thoughts. I'm aware of my failure. I'm
aware of my pride. I'm aware of these things. And
if I watch you long enough, I realize you're a sinner because your
nature will give birth to your actions after a while. You can
guard it, and you can cover it, and you can deny it and lie about
it, but it'll come out after a while if I'm with you long
enough. It'll come out. It'll leak out on you because
that's your nature. And that old spring will give
forth that rotten water and everybody's going to smell it because we're
lost by our action. And then we're lost by our inability
to do good. Inability to do good. The Ethiopian
Jeremiah said, cannot change his skin. The leper cannot change
his spot. Neither can you do good. You
say, now I've done some good. You've done some good according
to the standard of men. You've done some good according
to the standard and rules of men. You've done some good. I
know you have. I know you have. But when it comes to God's perfect
standards, you've never done any good. And that's just so. I haven't either. Because a man
walked up to our Master, the Lord Himself, and said, Good
Master. And the Master said, Why do you call me good? There's
none good but God. Now, if you want to argue, don't
argue with me, argue with God. That's what he said, there's
none good but God. That's you and me, too. There's
none good, no, not one. You know what Scripture said?
Man at his best state is vanity. That's exactly it. In the flesh,
no man can please God. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. I'm talking about before God,
in God's sight. No good thing. We're lost by
our inability to do any good thing. Christ said, you won't
even come to me that you might have lied. And then we're lost by the condemnation
that sin has brought upon us. It says in Romans chapter 3,
turn over there just a moment, the law has got something against
us. God's holy law. The holy law
says this in Romans 3, 19, Now we know that what things soever
the law saith, It saith to them who are under the law, and that's
every one of us, that every mouth may be stopped, let's quit alibine
and excuse an hour. He said, but, but, but, just
hush, just hush your mouth. That's what he said. The law
said just hush your mouth. And that all the world may become
guilty before God. That's where the guilt is, it's
before God. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things
written in the book of the law to do them. First John 5.11 says,
This is eternal life, for God hath given us eternal life, and
this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son of God hath
life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. He's
lost. Now here's a fine, here's a respected man in our community.
Now listen, I'm going to be honest as I can. Here's a respected
man in our community. He's honest. As far as the world
is concerned, he does his business on a right plane, on a plane
of integrity, he's a hard worker, he's clean cut, he minds his
own business, he takes care of his own family, he served in
the armed forces, he's been wounded for his country, he's done all
these things. If he does not have a Savior,
if he does not have an advocate, if he does not have a Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus Christ, he's lost. That's so. I don't care who he
is. But he believes in God. He's
lost. The devil believes in God. He's lost. Without the shedding
of blood, there's no remission of sins. Is that what the Scripture
said? Now, you can turn it around and twist it and do what you
want to, but it's going to hold up at the judgment. It's going
to stand at the judgment. He that hath the Son of God hath
life. He that hath not the Son of God
is lost. He's a sinner. Here's a dear
woman. Here's a woman, a mother. She's
got four or five children, maybe nine or ten. She's worked hard. She's raised her children. She's
sold till midnight. She's kept a clean house. She's
been a moral woman, clean liver. She's a woman that just, like
she says, works her fingers to the bone. She's slaved over a
hot stove. She's done all these things.
I tell you, if she has not faith in Christ, if she loves not our
Lord Jesus Christ, If she's not resting in Christ as her Savior
and salvation and sin offering, she's lost. I'm telling you,
she's lost. I don't care who it is. That's
what Scripture says. Are you going to compromise God's righteousness
to get some friend of yours in the kingdom of God? That's a fearful thing. Here's
a doctor or a nurse. Here's a soldier or a statesman. Here's a president. Take Abe
Lincoln. He gave me six volumes of Sandburg's
Lincoln. I've been reading it, just devouring
it, just enjoying it so much. I can't find any hope for Lincoln
in the kingdom of God. I really can't. He's a religious
man. He says a lot of good things. But he didn't know Christ evidently
from his writings. Evidently, Ron, he has no love
for Christ, no rest in Christ. Maybe he has. Maybe it's somewhere.
Maybe I'll find it yet. But I'm telling you, belief in
God won't save you. And according to Scripture, we've
got to find Christ as our hope, as our Redeemer. Now that's what,
he that hath the Son hath life. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath life. He that believeth not the Son
shall never see life. Never see life. As much as you
love a person, as much as you honor a person, as highly esteemed
and respected as a person is, and if in reading this, Ron,
I do find some relationship with Christ, some faith in Christ,
some association with the Son of God, I'll hold some hope.
But otherwise there's no hope. There's got to be a lamb, there's
got to be a sacrifice, there's got to be an atonement. I'm not
being narrow or bigoted or fanatical or radical or, you know, just
saying this is what God said. I am the door, by me if any man
enter in, he shall be saved. Christ said, I am the bread of
life, I am the water of life, I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. That's radical,
but that's what the Scripture said. That's what the Scripture
said. Here's a preacher. Here's a preacher.
He's written books. He's a theological genius. He's a professor. He's worked
in the seminary. He's a deacon or a Sunday school
teacher. or an elder, and holds to religious
principles, and teaches like this fellow out yonder in California. He teaches people to live right,
and love right, and do right, and walk right, and think right,
and all this sort of thing. But there's no Christ. There's
no sacrifice. And I say with Isaac, Father,
here's the altar, and here's the wood, and here's the candles,
and here's all the form and ceremony. Where's the lamb? Where's the
lamb? If there's no lamb, there's no
sacrifice. If there's no sacrifice, there's
no forgiveness. If there's no forgiveness, there's
no salvation. Lost. Surely God will have a place
for a man like that. Unfortunately, God does have
a place for a man like that. It's called H-E-double-L hell.
That's what it's called in the Bible. God does have a place. Well, they stood before him and
they said, Lord, we cast out devils in your name. And we did
many wonderful works. I never knew you. Depart from
me. He's lost. Men who have no prophet, priest,
and king. You say, you have a prophet,
priest, and king? I boldly declare to you in an
unashamed fashion, He's Jesus Christ. That's my prophet, priest,
and king. Men who have no Redeemer and
sin offering, do you have a Redeemer? I know that my Redeemer liveth.
His name is Jesus Christ. I have a sin offering. By one
offering, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. You
have a righteousness and a sanctification before God? I do, and His name
is Jesus Christ. Of God, He's made unto me wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Without Him,
I'd be lost. Without Him, I can do nothing.
You have an advocate before God? To whom do you pray? I pray to
God through Jesus Christ, my Savior. my High Priest, my Advocate,
my Mediator. There's one God. Turn to 1 Timothy. Now, if you want to see this
as clearly as it can be put, look at 1 Timothy 1, verse 5. In 1 Timothy 1, 5, there's one
God. You say, I'll buy that. There's
one God. Will you buy this? And one Mediator,
one Advocate between God and men. That's the man, Christ. One Mediator. one way to God. Mary said, My soul doth rejoice
in God my Savior. Any person who prays to Mary
sincerely, conscientiously, who looks to Mary as a mediator is
lost. I'm telling you that. Any Jew
who does not believe in Christ is lost. I don't care what his
name is. Any Baptist who does not love
Christ, know Christ, rest in Christ, believe Christ is lost. That's just so. Christ is a difference
in heaven and hell. He is a difference in lost and
saved. He is a difference between being blessed and being cursed
forever. Christ. because he is the satisfaction
of God's justice. He is the exaltation and honoring
of God's law. He is the sin offering. He is
the high priest. He is the one who opened the
way into the holy of holies, into the veil, within the veil,
into the presence of God. He is the one in whom we are
loved and regarded and accepted in the beloved. If you have no
beloved, you're not accepted, you're lost. Well, then I'm not
being radical. Well, maybe I am being radical,
but Paul was radical if he said anybody preaches any other gospel
than this gospel, I don't care if it's an angel from heaven,
let him be damned by God. That's what he said, accursed.
If an angel flies down here with impressive credentials and preaches
any other way to God than Christ, let him be accursed. Lost. Look back at the text now
quickly. Who'd the Son of Man come to
seek and to save? The lost. That's me and you,
lost. All right, how is he described,
the Son of Man? Who is this Son of Man? Well,
first of all, he's the Son of God. Now, let me make this as
clear as I can. Our people are so familiar with
this, but John 1 says, In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made
by him, without him was not anything that was made, and the word was
made flesh and dwelt among us." In other words, God became a
man. I don't have time to explain
that. If I had the time, I couldn't. If I had eternity, I couldn't
explain that. Somebody said the three greatest
miracles, incarnation, regeneration, and glorification. Perhaps the
greatest of all is incarnation, how God can become a man. But
that's so. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. He said in Hebrews 1, he didn't
take on himself the nature of angels, but he took on himself
the nature of the seed of Abraham. It says, God spoke to our fathers,
but the prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his
Son, by whom he made the worlds, who is the exact image of God. who thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. He said, I and my Father are
one. I'm saying this, that unto us a child is born, unto us a
son is given, and his name is Wonderful Counselor the mighty
God, the everlasting Father. That's who he is. He's God Almighty.
He's not a messenger sent from God. He's not a son of God. He's not a representative sent
from God. He's not just the image of God. He is very God of very God. That's clear as I can make that.
Thomas fell down at his feet and said, My Lord and my God,
and Christ didn't correct him. John on the Isle of Patmos fell
at his feet and worshipped him like a dead man. He didn't correct
it. The angels did. Now, when men
worshipped the angels, they said, get up, we're creatures just
like you are. And also, the apostles wouldn't let people worship them.
They said, get up, we're men just like you are. That's the
reason I know that guy in Rome named John Paul is an imposter,
because he lets men kneel before him. If he wasn't an imposter,
he'd look at them and say, get up, I'm a man just like you are.
I put my pants on just like you do and I'm a sinner just like
you are and I need the grace of God just like you do, the
man is an imposter. The Apostle Paul, somebody fell
down before him and he said, in the name of God, get up. It
scared him. Get up, I'm just a man. Now you
can hold these idols if you want to, I despise them. You can be
in fear and trembling of all these little silly religionists
playing their games if you want to. This word is true and every
man is a liar. Whether he's a pope or a priest
or a cardinal or a preacher or a deacon or a doctor, whatever,
he's a liar if he doesn't follow the word of God. Call no man
father, Christ said. One is your father. Be not many
of your masters and hunt these great swelling titles. When a
man does that, he reveals he doesn't know God. because we
want our God to be glorified, not ourselves. All right? He's
God, the very God of their God, and he called himself here the
Son of Man. Now, the scripture says that
he came into this world through the virgin's womb and took on
himself flesh and bones, and he was numbered with the transgressors.
He became identified with us. And we see when he calls himself
the Son of Man, we see his condescending nature. Our Lord became a man. We see his representative character. He was identified with us. He
represents us. Turn to Romans 5. Let me show
you this. Two scriptures. The representative
character of Christ, the Son of Man. Son of God, Son of Man. Two natures in one person. In
Romans 5, 19, by one man's disobedience, Adam, we were made sinners. So
by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. In Adam
we died, in Christ we're made alive. Death came by man, resurrection
by man. The first man is of the earth,
earthy, the red earth, Adam, man. The second Adam is the Lord
from heaven. As we have borne the image of
the first Adam, we'll bear the image of the second Adam. He
became our representative, son of man. Thirdly, this reveals
his mediatorial character. Did you notice when I read there's
one God and one mediator between God and men, what did he call
himself? The man. The man, Christ Jesus. That's
the character in which he's our mediator. In other words, on
the right hand of God is a man. And when the law of God demands
perfection, this man says, here it is. That's exactly right. When the justice of God says,
the soul that sinneth shall die, this man says, I died. When every
stature and commandment and ordinance of God cries out for fulfillment,
this man says, I fulfilled it. When the holiness of God says,
you've got to love God with all your heart, he said, I do. When
the righteousness of God says, you must love your neighbor better
than you love yourself, he said, I did. And even every statute
and holiness and law of God's characters put to silence in
the face of this M-A-N man, who did it in the flesh. And he did
it not for himself, but for me. So my representative, my advocate,
my high priest, and it's clear as I can make this, and it's
clear as it's ever going to be made to you. Turn your back on
this, you turn your back on God. He that heareth you, heareth
me, Christ said. And I make that bold claim tonight.
I'm preaching the gospel. I'm preaching what the scripture
says. I'm preaching all the hope you got. A man came to Dr. Gill one time and he said, I
don't believe what you preach about man being shut up to the
mercy of God and the grace of God. And Mr. Gill, dead in trespasses and
sin and depraved, he said, I believe man can do something. I believe
man can do something. I believe man can change his
state. I believe man can lift himself
and come to God. Gill said, have you repented?
He said, no. Have you believed on Christ? No. Have you come
to God? No. He said, then you're doubly
damned. You can and you won't. You can and you won't. You're
doubly damned. So if you want to take that position, you can,
you're doubly damned, because you won't. You won't. And then we have his substitutionary
character. Turn to Isaiah chapter 53 and
listen to this. It says here in Isaiah 53, verse
1, not many folks believe this message, this doctrine. Who hath believed our doctrine?
That's Isaiah's complaint. To whom is the power of the Lord
revealed? The power of God unto salvation, the arm of God, Joe,
is the power of God, and the power of God is the gospel of
God. To whom is the gospel revealed? He'll grow up, Christ will grow
up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground,
he hath no form, no comeliness, we'll see him no beauty, he's
despised and rejected, he's a man of solace, acquainted with grief. Now look at verse 4. But he bore
our griefs and carried our sorrows. Verse 5, he was wounded for our
transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
That's who we're talking about, the Son of Man. The Son of Man. All right, a blessed fact described.
Look back at Luke 19.10. It says he is come. He is come. Notice it doesn't say he will
come. He is come. You know how I admire the faith
of men like Moses and Abraham. and those who lived before Bethlehem's
manger. Can you imagine what extra super
faith it must have demanded for them to believe what I'm preaching
to you tonight? That God would become a man.
You know, our road is easy compared to theirs. I stand up and say,
He is come. They had to say, He will come.
He will come. Oh, think how difficult it was
to see Christ in that lamb. Think how difficult it was to
see Christ in Aaron, the priest. Think how difficult it was to
see Christ in the brazen serpent. Think how difficult it was to
see Christ in the manner and in these things. But they did.
And they believed. They believed that he would come.
And I'm here to boldly declare unto you that he is come. The
Son of Man, the Son of God, the Redeemer of sinners is come.
He is come. He has come in the flesh and
dwelt among us. The world knew him not. His own
received him not. But he dwelt among us. Our Lord
lived here, he died here, he arose and he ascended to the
right hand of God where he sits today in power and triumph. He
is come. It's been done. And let me say
this to you as kindly as I can. Some folks begin to ask me a
little bit about what I said this morning about the Jewish
nation. Let me tell you something. Anybody that's saved is going
to be saved by looking to Christ. I don't care if he's a Jew or
a Gentile, whether it's male or female. There's not going
to be any special door for the Jew or special door for the Millennium
Kingdom. It's going to be Christ or hell.
And they're going to hear the gospel just like you hear it.
You see, this is what Lazarus said to Abraham, let somebody
rise from the dead and go back to them, they'll believe. He
said, they won't believe though one rose from the dead. If they
had Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. Joe told me about
a book somebody's got out now, America's Hope for Survival is
Israel. In other words, they've got this
idea, you be nice to the Jew and God will be nice to you.
That ain't so. That's not so. Now, you be nice
and you treat right his believers, whether they're Jew or Gentile,
male or female, bond or free. God will bless you because he
said if you give a cup of cold water in the name of the disciple,
you won't lose your reward. And as much as you've done unto
the least of these my brethren, it's not that bunch of folks
in Jerusalem and Palestine, it's his brethren. Those who love
Him and know Him. There's not any special gospel
or special attraction for any special people. In Christ there's
neither Jew nor Gentile. That old covenant's gone. That
old Levitical law is gone. That old tabernacle's gone. That
old Sabbath day's gone. It's Christ! I don't know why in the world
people seem to think that they'd rather hear a Jew preach the
gospel than a Gentile. I don't care. I'd rather hear
a sinner preach the gospel. It doesn't matter to me if the
Jew or Gentile is saved the same way. There ain't no difference.
Let me show you. Turn to Romans 3 a minute. Listen
to this. In Romans 3, Paul says this,
but I'll tell you, there are some folks who have some strange
ideas. It says in verse 22, The righteousness
of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe. There is no difference. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is no difference. There's no difference as far
as redemption is concerned. In Christ there's neither Jew
nor Gentile, bond or free, male nor female. I think there's a
denomination that's got the woman riding into the kingdom of God
on the coattails of a man. That's not true. A woman must
be saved personally and individually, a Jew or a Gentile or anybody
else, by faith in Christ! That's true. I'm giving you the
truth, it's so. And you needn't look for Almighty
God to have a special program in the end days for those folks
to call themselves Jews and let them slip into the kingdom of
God some other way than by repentance and faith in Christ. It's not
so. They'll hear the gospel. And I'll tell you, they might
have to hear it from the mouth of a Gentile. God just made do
that. Our Lord Jesus Christ came to
that bunch of Jews in the synagogue on the Sabbath day in Nazareth,
and he said, I want to tell you a truth. There were many widows
in Israel in the days of the prophet, and God didn't feed
any of them. He fed a Gentile. He said there were many lepers
in Israel in the days of the prophet, and God didn't heal
one of them, he healed a Gentile. And that bunch of folks rose
up and said, we're special, we'll kill you. And they took him out,
didn't they, Cecil, on the brow of the hill and would have thrown
him off. Why? He simply said that the Jew has
no claim on God. That's all he said. He simply
said God's mercy is sovereign, and if he's pleased to save a
Gentile and pass by the Jews, he's still God. That's all he
said. And they rose up, and that's
exactly what I'm saying. I'm saying salvation is in Christ.
It's not in national heritage or national tradition or national
custom or national ancestry. It's in Christ. And that's the
way they're going to come, or they'll never come. Or in our
Lord's works, it said, the Son of Man, Son of God, the Son of
Man is come. He is come to seek and to save. That which was lost, he has come
himself to seek and to save. Now notice what he has not come
to do. He didn't come to set up a first
aid station. If the wounded can get to it,
he'll heal them. I hear people say, well, God's
done all he can do and that's up to you. If you take the first
step, you meet God halfway, he'll do something. Our Lord didn't
come to set up a first aid station to help you save yourself. He
didn't come to add to our righteousness and bring it up to perfection.
He didn't come to inspire us by his holiness and death to
live better lives. He didn't come to be our motivation.
He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He comes where
they are, finds them just like they are. and puts them on his
shoulder and brings them home. Let me show you a picture of
this in John 4. Now listen to this, John chapter
4. Here's a picture right here. Our Lord Jesus Christ in John
chapter 4 departed to Galilee and verse
4 of John 4 says he must needs go through Samaria. Must. So he went to Samaria, and he
was hungry, and his disciples were hungry. He sat down on a
well, and he sent his disciples away. He told them to go into
town and secure whatever they went to secure. And he sat there
on the well. And here comes a woman to the
well. Our Lord loves her. Our Lord knows her. Our Lord
came to save her. He came where she was. She has
no interest in him, no knowledge of him, no thought of him. Oh,
she was religious now. Oh, yes, she was. She told him,
she said, our fathers worshipped in this mountain. She said, are
you greater than our father Jacob? Huh? Didn't she? Who built this
well? She had the answers, but she
knew about as much as some of us know about those things. She
was religious. Now, don't you think, don't you
think just because this woman was a loose woman and had five,
six husbands, living with a man that wasn't her husband, all
these, don't you think she wasn't religious? She was, too. But
she had no idea that she was going to meet the gospel in person
that day. She had no idea that she was
going to cross paths with the Redeemer of sinners. She wasn't
looking for him. She was satisfied with her. She
even believed a Messiah was coming. Did you know that? Yes, she did. Now, this was no ignorant woman
that came in Beckley on the back of a pickup truck either. This
lady knew some things. And she was aware of some things.
That day crossed her path. She came to the well and met
him. Second thing he did, our Lord
came to seek. He'll seek his sheep. He'll find
some of them in the gutter and some of them in the pulpit. He'll
find some of them in jail and some of them in the pew. He'll
find some of them in the pool hall and some of them somewhere
else. He'll find some of them in Mexico and some of them in
Asia. He's going to seek his sheep. He's going to cross your
path. I guarantee you, everybody that sees is going to hear the
gospel, not a gospel, the gospel. Somebody said to me one time,
said, well, most of you Calvinists were saved in Armenian churches.
That ain't so. You might have had religion when
you was in Arminianism, but you weren't saved. Don't tell me
you were, because a man can't be saved if he doesn't know Christ.
That's right. It's the gospel of grace that
saves. And if you're looking back to that experience you made
in some kind of free will fundamental Arminianism, you've got a rude
awakening coming one of these days, because it won't hold water. You can't be saved without the
gospel, huh? And the gospel is the gospel of God's glory. I've
been telling these preachers that. I said, you fellas are
tracing your salvation back too far. And you're claiming to be
saved under something that ain't so. It's truth that sets men
free. It's truth that saves. A powerless,
weak God can't save a flea. And I'm saying men are saved
when their path crosses the path of the sovereign Redeemer. That's
when they're saved. Not a false Christ, not another
Christ, not another Jesus. You say the Armenians and fundamentalists
and free willers are preaching another Jesus? Well, that's what
you used to believe, too. And one day you met the King
of kings and Lord of lords, and he's the only one who has power
to save. I'm telling you the truth. And our Lord, you see,
he that cometh to God must believe that he is. He is who he is,
he is what he is, he does what he does. We've got to believe
he is who he is. You know him for who he is. Not
who you say he is or who the preacher says he is, but who
he is. And anything less than who he is, you don't know him.
It's another God. So he crossed her path and then
he created an interest. He said to her in verse 10, he
said to her, if you knew the gift of God, the gift of God. She knew religion, but if you
knew the gift of God, if you knew who it is that's speaking
to you and saying, give me a drink, you would ask him and he'd give
you living water. Not give you a recipe to how
to dig a well and find water. Not give you a decision to make
to go and find the water somewhere else. He'd give you that water,
you ask him. Well, she said, she said, I'll
take some of that water, verse 15. She said, give me this water
that I thirst not. So the Lord, she's interested.
She's interested. He crossed her path, now she's
interested. And she asked for the water and
he presents a problem. He said, go call your husband.
But she said, I don't have a husband. He said, you well said you have
no husband. You've had five. And he whom
you now have is not your husband. You said true. She said, I perceive
you're a prophet. You're a prophet. She said, now
she took him to her religion. She said, I'm religious. I'm
very religious. My father's worshiped in this
mountain, and you folks, I'm not like you folks. You worship
in a place called Jerusalem." He said, Verse 21, the hour is
coming when you shall neither in this mountain nor Jerusalem
worship the Father. You worship you know not what.
We know what we worship. Salvation is of the Jews. But
the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship
the Father in spirit and truth. That's true worshippers. The
Father seeketh such to worship Him. God's a spirit, and they
that worship Him, worship Him in spirit and truth. And the
woman said, well, I know the Messiah's coming, and He'll be
called the Christ. And when he's come, he'll tell
us all things. And he said, here's the fourth thing. I'm he. Look
no further. Look no further. Everything you
need is in me. Everything God requires is in
me. Everything God demands is in me. I'm he. And that's what
he did, and that's what he's doing now. That's what he's doing
now. He's crossing paths. And he's
crossing, but he never backs down. He never says to the woman,
well, we can work out a compromise here. Now, you can still worship
in the mountain and be safe. Our Lord Jesus Christ never works
out a compromise or turns with God. He's who he is and he reveals
himself for who he is. And he tells people who they
are. That woman, when he talked about the living water, he didn't
tell her, now you work it out so you can get to, he said, you've
got a problem. And she said, I know it. I got
a real problem. But he said, I'm the solution.
I'm the solution. I hope God will bless this to
your heart and make it effectual. We're not playing games. Life
is so short. Eternity is so long. Hell is
so terrible. Heaven is so blessed. And it's
appointed unto me and wants to die. And after that, the judgment.
And we can't carry on this charade now. We can do it in front of
people. We can even deceive our neighbors and friends and all
the other folks and deceive ourselves. But God is not mocked. God is
not deceived. And Almighty God has a character.
He has a law. He has justice which demands
fulfillment. And I'm telling you, the only
fulfillment that can be found is in Christ Jesus. The one way
to God. The one door. And whoever knows
not Christ has not life. Our Father, we're thankful for
your mercy. We don't want to emphasize to
the extreme what men do not have. We want to emphasize what's provided
in Christ. If everything's in Christ, why
should we look anywhere else? Why should we seek another door
when he's the door? Why should we seek another way
when He's the way and free and gracious, being justified freely
by His grace? Why should we want another way,
another door? Why do men in their blindness
and deadness look for some helping human strength and human power
and human works when God has condemned all these things? We
rejoice there is a way. We rejoice there is a door. We
rejoice that there is a foundation, there is a refuge. I rejoice
that it's free. I have nothing to pay. I rejoice
that it's by your grace. I deserve your wrath and your
condemnation. Lord, I lay hold upon Christ,
freely given. I lay hold upon his mercy, freely
bestowed. This is our hope and this is
our plea that when Christ died, he died for us. We pray these
things in his name and give thanks for his mercies. Amen.