Divine truth is like a beautiful diamond. I don't know a great deal about
diamonds. I don't know that I've ever really
seen a valuable diamond, but I know a little bit about them,
and I know that diamonds are carefully cut. They have a diamond
has many facets, a certain number, but there are many of them. And
they face different directions. And they pick up all of these
facets together, cut in such precision, such a precise manner,
and with such precision, that you don't see any one facet. And it doesn't do the work alone.
But it picks up the light and just shines brilliantly. A flat
piece of glass will not do that. A flat piece of glass will reflect
your image. But the diamond reflects the
light. All the different rays and colors and brilliance of
the light, the glory of the light. And divine truth is like that.
Divine truth is one. God's gospel is one. God's truth
is one truth. but it has many facets, and each
one is highly polished and precision cut by the hand of Almighty God. Now this, and not to understand
this, not to understand this is what makes most preaching
and most current theology and most denominational creeds to
be lifeless and dull and dead and uninteresting. Spurgeon said
one time that truth is one, but truth is many-sided. And this
is what he's saying, that you don't pick up one side and look
into it. You stand and look at that brilliant,
beautiful diamond that's one. It's just one diamond you're
holding in your hand, but it has all these different facets
cut perfectly and precisely and highly polished by skilled hand
so that it reflects not your image, not anyone's image, but
it reflects the light and gives forth the beauty and glory of
the diamond. And men, preachers particularly, and churches, we
talk about they ride a hobby horse or they They get taken
up with one side of the truth, or they get taken up with prophecy,
or sovereignty, or free will, or something of this nature,
or the local church, or something of this nature. Well, what they're
doing is taking one aspect of the truth, one facet, one wall,
and they're exaggerating that one side. And that's what it
comes to be. It comes to be a dull, flat piece
of glass. that too often, John, reflects
their image. They get this truth cut down
like themselves, and that's what you see. You see them. You see
if the Baptist church emphasizes, once in grace, always in grace,
and rides that hobby horse, that's what you see. You see the image
of a man's understanding and a man's logic and a man's teachings. And it's the same thing with
these popular religious television stars and popular preachers,
that they reflect themselves, and men follow them. They become
followers of men. And we're looking at a flat wall,
or a dull, dead wall, and what they teach and what they preach
may even be truth. It may even be truth. It may
even have much value. But taken alone, it has no glory. Taken alone, it has no beauty.
Taken alone, it has no life. And taken alone, it does not
reflect or give forth the glory of God. Now you can take that
beautiful diamond and under a magnifying glass, if you could just look
at one facet, one flat, slick, polished facet, enlarged, It
wouldn't be pretty, it'd look like you're looking at a flat
piece of glass. But if you have the wisdom and the understanding
to see that that's one glorious divine truth, and yet it has
different facets, you're going to see the glory of God reflected
in it. And I know this doesn't come
overnight. It's not something that one learns in one sitting
or one lesson. It's a lesson that needs to be
taught, but it takes the Spirit of God to teach it. Sometimes
it takes a long time. For example, let me give you
some examples. Turn to Romans chapter 9. Romans 9 chapter. And the reason I know so much
about this, I've been so guilty of it in past years. And generally, as Barnard said,
we're like a pendulum. We're over here, and when we
find out a truth, we swing all the way over here and flop, you
know, instead of registering in the middle. We get hold of
a truth, he said, and we go crazy. But God uses crazy people too,
you know. He uses fools for Christ's sake.
But how much better we could be used, how much more effectively
we could be used for God's glory, if we could show the whole diamond.
If we could show the whole diamond. And that it reflect not our understanding,
and not our logic, and not our arguments, but His glory. Watch
this in verse 18 of Romans 9. Therefore hath He mercy on whom
He will have mercy, and whom He will He harden. That's the
truth. No doubt about that. That's so. That's God's Word. That's in there twice. That's
over the Old Testament and the New Testament. Whom He will,
He'll have mercy on whom He will. Whom He will, He'll harden. What's
the response to this? What's going to be the response
to it if you preach it and it alone? Divine sovereignty without
human responsibility. What does it do? Look at the
next verse. Thou wilt say then unto me. And this is a natural,
this is a natural reply and this is a natural response. Well, why does he blame me? Why
does he yet find fault? Why does he blame me for sinning?
Who can resist his will? If he has mercy, if God's absolutely
sovereign in all things, in heaven and earth, well, why's he blaming
me for sinning? Who can resist his will? See,
you have no human responsibility. A lady wrote me today from up
in Wayne, West Virginia, sent us an offering for the preacher
school and ordered last Sunday's TV tape. And she said, I have
a real burden to pray for my family. But she said, is this
of God? She said, I know that God's sovereign.
And I know he has an elect people. And I know they're going to be
saved. So is it in the will of God, Brother May, for me to pray
for my family? Well, I sat down and wrote her
a long letter. And I told her this in the letter. I said, our
God is sovereign in all things. You don't have to doubt that.
You don't have to have an either or there. He is sovereign. But
God Almighty, who is sovereign, has been pleased to ordain means
to accomplish his purpose. For example, I said the preaching
of the gospel. God has chosen the preaching
of the gospel by the preaching to save those that believe. And
God has chosen prayer as a means of grace, of giving grace. He
said, ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock
and it shall be opened to you. God has ordained means. I know
he's sovereign. I know he has elected a people.
I know his purpose is going to be accomplished. I don't have
to deny that, nor do I have to deny Cecil the means that God's
ordained to accomplish those purposes. God can work with or
without means. God is sovereign. But Almighty
God has chosen to use means. And those means of prayer, praise,
preaching, witnessing, writing, all of these things throughout
the Bible are means of God's grace. And I gave her many examples
of Moses, the intercessor, who stayed the plague by praying.
Joshua, who stayed the plague by waving the incense, which
is typical of Christ's intercession. Of Paul, who stood and prayed
for Israel, and God was pleased to save some folks. But this
is what happens when you get that one flat side. There's no
beauty there. There's no glory there. Sovereignty
alone without human responsibility leads to fatalism and indifference
and deadness, though there's an element of truth in it. All right, here's another example.
Human responsibility. All right, suppose I swing the
other way, and I preach human responsibility without divine
intervention, without God's sovereignty, without God showing mercy sovereignly
as He will. What will that lead men to? That
will lead men to despair. Job came to that place. He said,
well, how can man be just with God? How can he be clean that's
born of a woman? Why, look at the moon. It shineth
not in the presence of God. The stars are not pure in his
sight. How can man be clean that drinks
iniquity like the water? That's despair. If I've got to
preach human responsibility without divine sovereignty, I wind up
saying, oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
this body of death? Well, God will. God will. We're
like the centurion who said, Lord, I believe you better help
my unbelief. We need divine intervention.
But we need human responsibility. For example, take this. Turn
to Matthew 25. Matthew 25. Sovereign election. Sovereign election is true. There's
not a doubt in this world about it, all the way through the Bible.
God talks about his elect, his elect, his elect. The Apostle
Paul writes about his elect. In every book of the Bible, our
Lord Jesus Christ talked about the elect that would be gathered
in the four corners by the angels of God, how the Antichrist would
deceive, if it were possible, his elect. But you know, if we
preach sovereign election without means and without human response,
why, we lead men to idleness and error. For example, here's
a picture of it. Matthew 25, let's look at verse
22 Here's the parable of talents. I'll cut it short because we
must move on but in verse 22 of Matthew 25 He also that had
received two talents came and said Lord you delivered unto
me two talents Behold I've gained two other talents besides them.
He went out and used them put them to use his talents, whatever
they were His Lord said, well done, good and faithful servant.
Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I'll make thee
ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. Then he which had received the one talent, that may be the
one facet, the one side, sovereign election, he came and said, Lord,
I know that you're a hard man. I know you reap where you haven't
sown. I know you gather where you've not strawed. And I was
afraid, and I went and hid the talon in the earth. And lo, here
it is. Here's the one that I started out with. His Lord said, you
wicked and slothful servant. You knew I reap where I sowed
not and gathered where I have not strawed. God's able to do
that. Why, he said, our Lord said,
he can make these stones cry out if you don't praise him.
Why, he can raise up with these stones children of Abraham. That
ain't the way he does it. You ought, therefore, to put
my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I would receive
mine own with interest. Take, therefore, the talent from
him, and give it to him which hath ten talents. For unto every
one that hath shall be given, and he shall have an abundance.
But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which
he hath. And cast this unprofitable servant
into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Now, that parable says a whole lot. Maybe one night we'll study
it in itself. But what I'm saying is this.
Here's a man who has learned the truth of election. And he
sits down with his truth of election. He said, no, you're sending missionaries.
God's going to save his elect. We don't have to preach. We don't
have to witness. We don't have to send missionaries.
We don't have to give of our means. We don't have to witness. I don't have to give out a paper.
I don't have to invite people to church. God's gonna save his
elect, and you're right, he is. But God is a God of means. And
that servant is gonna reap the wrath of his God when he comes
back. Because that's not God's way. And you can see that right
there, that prayer was teaching that very thing. That's one side,
one facet. All right, let me show you something
else. Turn to John 3. There you have sovereign election
without means. Now turn to John chapter 3. If
you have sovereign election without means, it's going to lead to
idleness. It's going to lead to error, eventually into error. Our Lord didn't deny what the
man said of his power, of his ability. But you took that, he
said, and misused it. You took that truth and twisted
it and made me appear to be a monster. He said, you're a hard man. You've
got no mercy, no compassion. All right, John 3, look at this,
verse 26. And they came to John and said
unto him, Rabbi, he that was with you beyond Jordan, to whom
you bear witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come
to him. Talking about the Lord Jesus.
They said, John, you know that the fellow you pointed to and
said, behold, while he's preaching over there and folks aren't coming
to hear you, they're going to hear him. Now, let me tell you
something. If you get to emphasize in human
means and human effort without divine purpose, it leads to pride. It leads to a competitive spirit,
and it leads to self-seeking. And that's what these fellows
are saying to John. They say, he got more disciples than you
have now. There's more people going to hear him than going
to hear you. And listen to what John said. And John answered
and said, a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven."
You want to know something that'll cultivate, as Hap was praying
a while ago, that humility and spirit of unity to get a hold
of that one verse right there? A man can receive nothing, whether
it be physically or materially or mentally or emotionally or
theologically or any other way except God gives it to him. And
if God is pleased to use it, then I rejoice. I've got to rejoice
because it's God's glory that I'm seeking. So human means,
if we're going to emphasize sovereign election without means or without
human response, it'll lead to idleness and deadness. But if
we emphasize human means and response and efforts to the exclusion
of divine purpose, we become proud self-seekers and glory
seekers. This thing of preaching's not
all that easy, is it? All right, let me show you something
else. Turn to Matthew 20. The kingdom of Christ and the
reign of Christ on earth in a millennium. Now, I guess, you know, Brother
Roth said one time, he said, well, I've been right one time,
I've held all of them. But I really don't know about
the pre, post, hour, whatever. but I'm kind of convinced that
Christ is going to make a new earth and he's going to reign
on it. And whether it's a special millennium or so forth, there's
going to be a kingdom. There's going to be a kingdom.
But you know, if we emphasize the kingdom of Christ and the
reign of Christ on earth, in a millennium, whenever, without
the kingdom of Christ and the reign of Christ in men's hearts,
It'll lead us to seeking rewards and personal glory. Now you listen
to this, in Matthew 20, verse 20 and 21, and we know that the
early disciples, they had in mind, you know what they had
in mind? They had in mind an earthly kingdom like David. They said, are you going to restore
the kingdom back to Israel at this time? They said that after
Christ had died, after he had risen again, and when he was
standing on top of the Mount of Olives, waiting to be ascended
to the Father before he left, in Acts the first chapter, that's
one of the last things they asked him, they said, we going to get
that big kingdom now that you've been talking about? Oh, my, my. My, my. And he said, listen,
in Matthew 20, verse 20, and then came to him the mother of
Zebedee's children, James and John, with her sons. And she
worshipped him. But she desired a certain thing
of him. And he said, what wilt thou? And she said, grant that
these, my two sons, may sit the one on thy right hand and the
other on thy left in thy kingdom. It's ambition, isn't it? But
that's what we come to when we start talking about a kingdom. When we start talking about a
power or a reign, we start thinking about rewards. We start thinking
about our place and our position and our power and our possessions
in that particular kingdom, not realizing that the reign of Christ
and the kingdom of Christ is not in outward show, it's in
heart. It's in here. This is what's
important. For Christ to conquer me before he conquers the world. Let me show you another scripture
on that, and that's in Luke 17. Luke 17. If you will turn over
there just a moment. Now, this is the danger of this
one-sided preaching, this emphasizing one thing at the expense of another.
Luke 17, verse 20. And he talked this to the Pharisees.
And when he was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of
God should come, when's the kingdom of God going to come? He answered
and said, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation or
with outward show. Neither shall they say, lo here
or lo there. For behold, the kingdom of God
is within you. There's the reign of Christ.
And brethren, that must be more important to us than any physical
properties or power or presentation of even Christ's glory. Not outward show, but inward
reign and rule. And if he rules there, the battle's
over. Once Christ reigns in our hearts,
there's no more problem with self-rewards or self-seeking
self-glory, any of those things. Let me show you this, too. Turn
to 1 Corinthians 13. Now, I know that there are gifts
in the church. I know there's gift of teaching
and preaching and the gift of prayer and the gift of giving.
And then in the early church, some of the apostles had the
gift of tongues and the gift of healing. And there are gifts
of leadership and governments and diversities of language and
so forth. But let me tell you something,
religious activities, and I've got no quarrel with properly
controlled and directed religious activities. I like fellowship.
I like for us to encourage one another and exhort one another
and pray for one another and get together and fellowship with
one another and encourage one another. But all of the religious
activities and even great religious works without a motivation, which
is correct. And that is love. Every bit of
it leads men to nothingness. That's what he said. Now listen,
in chapter 12, he's talked about these gifts, and then he got
down to chapter 13, verse 1, 1 Corinthians 13, 1, and he says,
though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, I have
the gift of languages. And I can speak with tongues
of men and even with the eloquence of angels and have not love.
I am to come as a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal, and nothing
sounds worse than that, especially when you wear a hearing aid.
Boom! That's all. You might as well,
boom! That's all it amounts to, all
that eloquence and ability and delivery. Oh, what a great delivery
he has. He can just preach the stars
down. Yeah, but Christ said he doesn't
have love. You might as well hit a sounding
brass. And though I have the gift of
prophecy, and I understand the mysteries, and I have great knowledge,
and I have faith so that I can move mountains and have not love,
nothing. Though I bestow my goods to feed
the poor, I'm generous, and I'm I'm dedicated. I give my body
to be burned. I'll die as a martyr for what
I believe. I believe it to the deep gritting
stage. I believe it to the dying stage. Well, it's all right. But if
you don't have love, it won't profit you anything. So you see, all this beautiful
diamond, and I haven't got started at the many facets He gets one
truth, one truth, but so many facets. And if I can get them,
if I can get them just halfway in their proper perspective and
relationship to one another, maybe my heroes, Jay, will see
the glory of God, not see me. Maybe they'll see the gospel
and the glory of Christ and not see the Baptist church. Maybe
they'll see the glory of His grace and not see the doctrine
of sovereign grace. You see what I'm saying? It's
the whole truth. It's the whole, and here's the
thing I want to get into for the next ten minutes or so. Even
so, Christ receives men. Now I know that Christ receives
men. How does Christ receive men? Well he receives men as
a gift from his father. All that my father giveth me
shall come to me. He receives men as a reward of
his labor. and of his sacrifice. He said,
you're not your own, you're bought with a price. You belong to the
fellow that bought you. He redeemed you. You don't belong to yourself.
I do what I please. Well, you won't if you're a believer
because you belong to somebody else. You're somebody else's
property. Christ bought you. You're his. He's received you
by purchase, by purpose, by purchase, predestination, purchase. And
then he's received you as a as a pledge or a token or a gift
from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit went down in
Lodibar and fixed you. And He brought you to Christ.
He called you. You're the call of Christ Jesus. And then someday
He's going to receive you, body and soul, personally into His
presence. Salvations of the Lord, the gift
of God's eternal life, the Son quickeneth whom He will. If the
Lord of the Sabbath had not left us a rendement, we'd be like
Sodom and Gomorrah. But at the same time, and to the believer, you don't
have to explain this, and to the man who's wrapped up in human
wisdom, you waste your time to try. Christ receives sinners,
but sinners receive Christ. There's an act on the part, on
the sinner's part, in which he receives Christ. That's what
it says in our text. John, if you'll turn to John
1, I'll show it to you again. In our text tonight, it says
in verse 12, but as many as received him, to them gave he the right,
the privilege, to become sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name. There is an act on the part of
the sinner, which he receives Christ. For example, being awakened,
being awakened to the curse of the law. He calls for mercy. Isn't that what the publican
in the temple was doing? God, be merciful to me, the sinner. He was calling for mercy. Why?
Because he was awakened to the curse of the law. He was awakened
to the judgment of God upon his sin. And he called for help. Wasn't that what the thief on
the cross was doing? That was an act on his part. Now, if you
listen to some fatalistic, hyper Reformed people he had kept his
mouth shut and waited till God came to him He wouldn't have
said a word. He wouldn't assault the Lord.
He wouldn't have called for mercy He'd have just stayed out there
and waited till a thunderbolt hit him between the shoulder
blades But here was a man who was awakened and I know who awakened
him, but I don't have to explain everything He had been awakened
to the curse of the law and he cried for help Lord. Remember
me. I Bless your heart, the Lord
did. And being awakened to the guilt
of sin, as Job said, I repent in sackcloth and ashes. Who does
it? I repent in sackcloth and ashes. I repent. If thou shalt believe in thine
heart, and confess with thine mouth, Jesus to be Lord. Whose heart? Whose heart mourns? Whose heart grieves? Whose heart
repents? Whose heart believes? Not the
Holy Spirit. My heart. My heart being awakened
to the sufficiency of Christ. He calls on the name of the Lord.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. Call! Don't you dare ever listen to
anybody who tells you that a sinner cannot seek the Lord. The Bible
doesn't say that. It says he won't seek the Lord.
It doesn't say he can't. He won't. But if God enables
him to see what he is and who he is and who Christ is, he will
seek the Lord. And that's the many facets, John.
You see what I'm saying? It's call on men to repent. God commandeth every man, all
men everywhere, to repent. Command them to repent. Command
men to believe. Men ought to believe the gospel.
I know a lot of preachers who begin their messages this way.
Now, you're not going to believe what I'm going to say, but this
is true. I expect men to believe it. God said it. They ought to
believe it. What we all start out with now
is this. The fool has said in his heart
there's no God. But if there's a wise man here
tonight, he's going to believe what I'm saying because God said
it. If I send a messenger to your
door, he knocks on your door, I tell him what to say. I say,
messenger, you go over there to Ronnie Lewis' house and you
tell him this. So the messenger goes, knocks on the door, and
Ronnie comes, messenger tells him. He goes to beating on him,
the messenger says, now wait a minute. That's not my message,
that's Henry's message. He said tell you that. Now if
you got any fight, you take it up with him. I just delivered
the message. And what I'm saying is this,
God sent me to deliver a message. If you've got a fight to start,
don't fight it with me. It's Christ you want to deal
with. It's His Word, if we preach His Word that is. And the Word
of God says, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
I'll give you rest. And yet our Lord says, no man
can come except my Father which sent me draw him. And then being
awakened to the Lordship of Christ, he bows in submission, and he
says, my Lord and my God. Lord, what would you have me
do? Saul of Tarsus cried. Being awakened to the fullness
vested in Christ, God hath committed all things to him. God hath vested
all things in Christ. All fullness dwells in him. Paul
said, because of that, I've committed it all to him. I've committed
it. I've consciously, willingly,
lovingly, sincerely, eternally committed my soul to Christ.
Have you? If you don't, you're not saved.
I don't have to explain that, Jay. I just know it's so. I just
know it's so. If a man does not consciously,
willingly, firmly, intelligently, lovingly commit himself to Christ,
Receive Christ. He's going to miss salvation.
Salvation is not something you just find out you have. Sin is
something you find out you have. Sin is something you find out
you have. Guilt is something you find out you have. Condemnation
is something you find out you have. Salvation is something
you find out you want. You understand what I'm saying?
Something you find out you want, that God has, and God can give
it. God can give it. Cleansing is
something I don't find out I have. I found out God has it, and I
want it. You see why? This is so important. Sin is something, and this is
where some of our Our Calvinistic brethren have missed it. They
talk about a time salvation, an eternal salvation, and God
elected you and saved you, and you find out in time you have
it, and you may not find it out and still have it. And you might
die and never find out until you get to heaven and say, whoopee,
I saved after all, never did know. That's not so. Seeing something you find out
you have, and that's what men are going to find out, the judgment.
Some of them don't know it. They're going to find out they
didn't know Christ, that Christ didn't know them. They're going
to find out their guilt and their terrible condemnation, but sin
is something you find out you have. Guilt, dirt, filth, depravity,
moral inability, you find out that's what I have, that's what
I am. Cleansing is something God has, and I find that out,
and I say, oh God, that I may be clean. If you will, you can
make me clean. He said, I will be thou clean.
Salvation is something I found out that God has and that God's
willing to give and God's able to give. Well, you say, Brother
May, if you'll go back a little bit, you'll tell us the Holy
Spirit enabled you to find it out. I know that, but that's
not what I'm preaching right now. That's not what I'm preaching. I'm preaching human responsibility
right now. I've already told you the sinner
receives Christ and from whom and when and how. Now I'm telling
you how sinners receive Christ. Christ receives sinners, but
sinners receive Christ. Jesus found Philip, but Scripture
says Philip found Jesus. And they're both so. You don't
have one without the other. That's the reason we've been
looking into a blank wall and seeing a reflection of ourselves
instead of looking at the diamond of grace and seeing the beauty
and glory of our Redeemer. How does a sinner receive Christ?
Four major things are involved. Look at John chapter 1 for a
moment. How does a sinner receive Christ?
Four major things are involved. First of all, there has to be
a witness, verse 7 and 8, has to be a witness. The same came
for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all through
him might believe. John wasn't that light. I'm not
that light. You're not that light. Christ
is that light. He was sent to bear witness of
that light. Now, the eunuch, Philip said, do you understand
what you're reading? The eunuch said, how can I, said some man show
me. And that's what Paul wrote in Romans 10, Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how shall
they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall
they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? Romans 10, 17, Faith then cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Paul said, I preached
the gospel to you, and you received it, and you believed it, and
you stand in it, and you are saved by it. But I preached it to you.
God in his providence and mercy and purpose will cross the path
of his people and he'll have the gospel. There'll be a witness.
A man cannot trust an unrevealed Savior. He cannot bow to an unrevealed
Lord. He cannot rest upon an unrevealed
foundation. He cannot hide in an unrevealed
refuge. He cannot flee to an unrevealed
city. Has to be a witness. Has to be
a witness. That's why we send missionaries.
That's why we preach. That's why we go places and declare
the gospel. That's why I'll go preach to
5 or 10 or 500. It doesn't matter. Everybody's
got to hear a witness. All right? Secondly, there has
to be faith, verse 12. As many as received him, to them
gave he the right to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name. Mark 16, 15 says, go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel. To every creature he
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. John 3.36, he
that believeth on the Son hath life. John 20.31, these things
are written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God
that you may know you have life. Ephesians 2.8 and 9, for by grace
are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. Hebrews
11.6, he that cometh to God must believe that he is. This is the
record. God has given us eternal life,
and this life's in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
and these things are written that you might believe on the
name of the Son of God, and believing you might have life. What is
the record? What is it to believe the record? It's to believe what
God says about Himself. It's to believe what God says
about His Son. It's to believe what God says
about you. is to believe what God says about redemption, substitution. One man said this, he's my prophet.
Christ is my prophet. Thou art the truth. Thy word
alone true wisdom can impart. To thee I yield with a willing
mind and I open my prophet all my heart. He's my priest. All, I, all other priests disclaim,
and laws and offerings too, none but the bleeding lamb, the mighty
work of redemption can do. He's my king, my king supreme. To thee I bow, a willing subject
at thy feet. All other kings I disallow, and
to thy lordship I submit. So here's number three. How does
sinner receive Christ? Gotta be a witness. Gotta be
a, gotta be faith. Gotta be a conscious reception of Christ, I believe.
Maybe weak faith, small faith, little faith. But it's not the
strength of the faith, it's the object of the faith. I've seen
little old bitty vines growing around a tree that were hardly
bigger than a thread. And they stood just like those
great big vines that big around. But you move the tree and the
big vine would fall and the little one would too. Because the strength's
not in the vine, it's in the tree. You see that? And when
we wrap around Christ, it doesn't matter whether I've got peanut
faith or powerful faith. It's the object of my faith.
My faith doesn't save me, Christ does. But I can't trust an unrevealed
Christ. I got to have confidence in him.
All right, the third thing, verse 13, got to be a birth. Got to
be a witness, got to be faith, got to be a birth. Which were
born, verse 13, they were born, these sons of God, not of blood,
fleshly inheritance, family inheritance, because daddy was a Christian,
I'm a Christian. No, sir. nor the will of the
flesh, not your flesh, nor the will of man, nor anybody else's
flesh, but we're born of God. Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. That's uncharitable. Well, I
didn't say it. Christ did. That's all there
is to it. Christ did. If we have a quarrel
with the truth of the new birth, we have to settle it with Christ.
It's as positively stated in the scriptures, anything can
be stated. If words mean anything, there they are. Born of God. All right, fourthly, and I close,
there must be a witness, there must be faith, for a man to receive
Christ, there must be a birth. And that's of God, born of God,
of His Spirit, of His Word, quickened, regenerated, and if I wanted
to get on that, we'd get into divine sovereignty, pure and
simple. Because man makes no contribution
to his conception, he makes no contribution to his begetting,
he makes no contribution to his spiritual birth. We're born of
God, and we're totally, absolutely passive as far as any contribution
to our birth is concerned. just as much spiritually as we
were physically. Born of God. Born of God. Begotten of God. Of His own will
begat He us. And I'll tell you this, I could,
boy, I could be a mighty strong sovereign grace. I love to preach
grace. I tell you, I'd a whole lot rather
preach grace than human responsibility. I'll just be honest with you,
it appeals to me. I like to talk about His power. I'd like to
talk about His glory, but His glory is also His mercy and His
love. But there must be, and this brings
me to the last thing, there must be a view. There must be a witness,
there must be faith, there must be a birth, but there's got to
be, if a man receives Christ, he's got to receive the Christ,
not a Christ or any Christ, but the Christ. So there must be a view of Christ Christ's glory. He said, and
the Word, who was God and with God and made all things, the
Word, that's His deity, the glory of His deity, the Word, capital
W-O-R-D, the Word was made flesh as the glory of His incarnation.
The mighty God, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father
became the child born and the son given. as the glory of his
incarnation. You can't be saved believing
in Jesus superstar, because he's not God. You can't be saved by believing
in Jesus who's God, but not man. Not only have we got to have
a view of the glory of his deity, but the glory of his humanity. God can satisfy, but God can't
suffer. Man suffered. Man can suffer,
but man can't satisfy. God satisfied. And the God-man
suffered and satisfied. And I've got to, if I'm going
to trust THE Lord Jesus Christ, I'm going to have to trust Him
who is the Word made flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld His
glory. What? The glory of His deity,
the glory of His incarnation, the glory of His sacrifice, because
He was full of grace. It's His grace that took Him
to the cross. He said, no man takes my life
from me. I lay it down. It's His grace that took Him
to Calvary. It's His grace that took Him
to the grave. It's His grace that took Him
to the right hand of God to call the name of such a wretched,
worthless wretch. It's His grace. He's full of
grace and truth. Truth. We see the glory of His
justice, the glory of His righteousness. Even God cannot save a sinner
at the expense of His truth, at the expense of His holiness,
at the expense of His righteousness, at the expense of His justice.
And we see the glory, so to come to Christ, And I know a lot of
folks are coming to somebody named Jesus. They walk down the
aisle, they say they believe in Jesus, and you walk up to
them and say, Jesus who? Well, you know. You know? No,
I don't know. Who? Who is this? Who is this
savior? Describe him to me. And when
he gets through describing him, you say, well, now, that's not
the one described in here. You must be trusting somebody
else. And you're going to have to be saved by that somebody
else. You see what I'm saying? This is the importance. That
young man said to me down in Shreveport as he turned and walked
away, I don't want to talk doctrine with you. Well, someone's going
to talk doctrine with him. Because the Christ you believe
in is the one you're arresting your hope in for eternity. He's the one that's going to
have to plead for you and pray for you and intercede for you
because just one mediator. And if he's not the one that
God's ordained, if he's not the one that God has been pleased
to set forth as the Redeemer, then if it's another Jesus, then
we're in trouble.