Except

I know that there are many things
in the word of God that are difficult to understand. In the book of
Romans, chapter 11, verse 33, Paul said, O the depths of the
riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable,
how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. In Deuteronomy 29, verse 29,
Moses wrote, the secret things belong to the Lord our God. But those things which are revealed,
which are revealed, belong unto us and to our children, that
we may do the words of his law. In 1 Corinthians 13, 12, in that
very precious chapter on love, Paul says, we see through a glass
dimly, but then, that is in glory, we shall see face to face. Now
I know in part, I know in part, but then shall I know even as
also I am known. The very fact that it is the
word of God limits my ability to understand and to comprehend
it all. We walk by faith and not by sight. So you know and I know there
are many things in the word of God that are difficult to understand
and difficult for us with our natural minds, with our finite
understanding, for us to grasp and to comprehend. But man's
difficulty, and I want you to listen carefully, man's difficulty
is not with the secret passages of scripture which he does not
understand. Man's difficulty is not with
those scriptures that are difficult to understand and to grasp, but
man's difficulty is with the Word of God which he does understand
and does not lack. Now that's where the problem
is. That's where your difficulty is. It's not with that scripture
that is hard to understand and secret and beyond your comprehension. The part of God's Word that gives
you trouble is that part of God's word which you understand perfectly
and which is clear and plain, but which you don't like. That
part of God's word against which your nature and your will and
your heart rebels. Now, for example, the rich young
ruler understood exactly what Christ was saying when he told
him to sell his possessions. He said, you're greedy, you're
covetous, You love your possessions, you love your riches. Now you
sell these things and share them with people about you. He didn't
like that because he was a greedy man. He was a covetous man. He
was a proud man. He was an outwardly moral man,
but he had a greedy heart. And he understood exactly what
Christ was saying. And he turned around and walked
off. And then the religious leaders knew what Christ was saying when
he declared, I and my Father are one. They knew exactly what
he was saying. They knew that he was declaring unto them that
he was God, that I and my Father are one. They didn't like that.
They rejected his deity. He said to them, he that hath
seen me hath seen the Father. And they rejected his deity,
and they took up stones to stone him. But they understood exactly
what he was saying. And then that religious gathering
in Nazareth, where he was brought up, understood exactly what Christ
was saying to them. when he declared there was a
widow who was a Canaanite, who was a Gentile, and the Lord fed
her and her family, and yet he didn't feed some of these Jewish
widows, and there was a Gentile who had leprosy, and God healed
him, but he didn't heal some of the Jewish lepers. And Christ
was saying to them that God was not obligated to them because
they were Jews or because they were Abraham's children. God
was not obligated to them because they were the children of Abraham.
God was not obligated to any man to show mercy to them. They
understood that. They knew exactly what he was
saying. And they took him out on the
brow of the hill upon which their city was built and would have
cast him down headlong. There are scriptures which are
difficult. His ways past finding out. How
unsearchable are his judgments. Now we see through a glass dimly.
We know in part. We prophesy in part. But there
are scriptures which we do understand. We do understand them, and if
we'd walk in the light God has given us, he'd give us more light. Now, my friends, I want to read
this morning four statements made by the Lord Jesus Christ. Four statements, I call them
clear-cut ultimatums. These statements are plain. plain
language, they are easy to understand, they all concern you personally,
they all have to do with your relationship with the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I say that our problem, we
are always bringing up things that are difficult to understand,
like where King got his wife, and how could the world have
four corners, the four corners of the earth? One man asked on
the radio talk show the other day, when Christ comes again,
the scripture says, every eye shall see him. He said, how can
that be possible when the world is round? How can everybody all
over the world see him at the same time? Well, there are some
secret things that belong to the Lord. There are some things
difficult to understand, but that's not your problem. Your
problem is with that scripture you do understand. but you don't
like it because it doesn't fit in with your tradition or your
custom or your will or your thoughts or your own mind regarding the
matter. Now, I'm going to give you four
passages of scripture, and all of them contain one word, except. Except. Now, you listen to them,
John 19, verse 10. Listen carefully, John 19, 10,
verse 10 and 11. Pilate said unto Jesus, this
was when our Lord was on trial before Pilate. He said unto Jesus,
Speakest thou not unto me? Don't you know that I have the
power to crucify you, and I have the power to release you? Don't
you know that? Jesus answered, Thou couldst
have no power at all against me, except it were given you
from above. thou couldest have no power at
all, except it were given you from above." Is that hard to
understand? It's clear, isn't it? Here Pilate was boasting
about his power over Christ, his power to do what he would
with Christ. Why? He said, I can crucify you
or I can let you go. I can get on your side or I can
get against you, either way. And our Lord set the record straight.
He said, now listen, You couldn't have any power over me at all,
except it were given you from above. And I say when natural
sinful men begin to boast of their power and boast of their
ability and boast of their own freedom of will, when men begin
to talk of what God can't do and what they can do and what
they have the power to do, I think it's time to set the record straight.
I think it's time to say what Christ said. You could have no
power. at all, except it were given you from above." My friend,
your birth is according to God's decree. What did God say to Jeremiah
in Jeremiah 1, verse 5? What did he say? He said, Jeremiah,
before I formed thee in the belly. Who formed him? God said, I formed
you. I knew you. Before you came out
of your mother's womb, I set you apart. Your birth is according
to the decree of God. You were born to whom? You were
born to where you were born, as you were born, when you were
born, by God Almighty's will, not by your own will. And then,
my friend, your material advantage is according to God's decree.
1 Samuel 2, verse 7. The Lord maketh poor, and the
Lord maketh rich. The Lord bringeth low, and the
Lord lifteth up. That's what the word says. and
your talents and your knowledge and your ability. You have ability
to paint or to draw or to play an instrument. You have ability
as an electrician or as a mechanic or as a preacher or a musician. God gave it to you. Listen to
the word, 1 Corinthians 4, 6. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou boast as if you did not receive Did you know
your health is in God's hands? Job said the Lord gave. When
Job lost everything he had, even his health, he said the Lord
gave and the Lord had taken away. You know what Paul said about
that? He said, lest I be exalted above
measure, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a physical
infirmity, a thorn in the flesh. God gave it to me. And then did
you know your spiritual knowledge is by God's grace. In the book
of Matthew 11.25, Christ said, I thank thee, Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things. What things
is he talking about? The things of the kingdom, the
things of the cross, the things of redemption. Thou hast hid
these mysteries of the gospel. Thou hast hid them from the wise
and the prudent, and thou hast revealed them unto babe. Who
revealed them? The Father did. To whom? To Babes. Your spiritual knowledge is of
the Lord, your life and death is in the hands of the Lord.
Listen to Job 14. Man's days are determined by whom? By God. Listen. The number of
man's months are with the Lord. God has appointed his bounds,
he cannot pass. You say, where is that picture,
Job 14.5? The scripture says, I am God.
I kill, I make alive. I wound and I heal. Neither is there any that can
deliver out of my hand. You see, my friend, it's not
the secret passages you're having a problem with. It's those passages
that are clear, just like that one right there, that these natural
minds and these proud hearts are not willing to bow. We're
not willing to fall into the dust and say, Lord, do what you
will. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
I'm in your hands. Do with me what you will. I'm
just a child. Teach me. I don't know anything. My life and my death is in the
hands of the Lord. David wrote in Psalms, the instrument
of death is already prepared. What will take me out of this
world? I don't know. Maybe a heart attack. The problem
may be already there. Perhaps leukemia may be already
in my bloodstream. Maybe they're making the car
in Detroit tonight that will run into me down on the highway
two years from now and destroy me, but the instrument of death
is already passed. God is sovereign over all things.
What Christ said, Pilate, don't boast of your power over me or
over anything else. You couldn't have any power at
all, except it were given you. You couldn't have any breath.
God gave you life. You couldn't have the ability
to walk. Get up from where you're sitting and walk across the room
without God. I challenge you. Do anything
without God. Raise your hand and say, I'm
raising my hand without God Almighty. Why, in him you live and move
and have your being. Your salvation is of the Lord.
That's what the scripture says, salvation is of the Lord. We
are his worship created in Christ Jesus. Psalm 110, verse 3, Thy
people shall be willing in the day of thy power. It's not our
power, it's his power. His power. We talk of power,
it's not ours, it's his. You couldn't have any power at
all, Christ said, except it were given you from above. Now, you'd better come to that
place. the way you recognize who God
is. In him we live and move and have our being. Now here's another
scripture. Turn to John 6.44. Now listen
carefully. John 6.44. Here's plain language,
clear-cut ultimatum. Our Lord said, No man can come
to me except the Father which sent me draw him. No man can
come to me except the Father which sent me, draw him, and
I'll raise him up at the last day. He'll participate in the
resurrection of life. He'll participate in my resurrected
glory. He'll participate in the kingdom
which is to come, if he comes to me. But he's not coming except
my Father draw him." That's what Christ said. That's easy to understand. That's plain language. These
people understood it. They said, now that's a hard
saying. That's what they said. That same John 6, who can hear
it? Who can understand it? This is
a hard, nothing hard about it, it's just truth. No man can come
to me. All right, here's the question.
What is it to come to Christ? What is it to come to Christ?
Well, it's not a physical coming, because Nicodemus came to him
in that way physically one night. The rich young ruler came to
him physically, but he didn't come to him spiritually. Coming
to Christ, what is it? It's not coming to him physically,
it's not just coming to his church. He didn't be a church member,
not be in Christ's body. He didn't be a church member,
not be in Christ's family. Judas was. Judas was an apostle. He was the treasurer of that
early group. Coming to Christ is not coming
to the ordinances. The baptismal waters, you can
come to baptism and not come to Christ. Simon Magus did. Peter
said, Simon, your heart's not right with God. And he said that
to him after he was baptized. Coming to Christ is not just
coming to the Lord's table, to the bread, to the wine. What
is it to come to Christ? He said, if you come to me, I'll
raise you in the last day. If you come to me, I'll give
you life. If you come to me, I'll give you peace. If you come
to me, I'll give you rest. Well, what is it? Well, coming
to Christ is described in three words, all making up the word
faith. Now, coming to Christ, first
of all, is to believe on him. The Philippian jailer said to
Paul, What must I do to be saved? And Paul said, Believe. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on him. Believe the record
that God hath given concerning his son. Believe who God says
he is. God said, This is my son. This
is the world which was with God and was God, and the world by
which all things were made, and the world was made flesh and
dwelt among us. God was in Christ. Who is he? He is God in the flesh. What
did he do? He came down here as our representative. He met the law for us and obeyed
the law perfectly, imputing to us a perfect righteousness. He
went to the cross and bore our sins in his body on the tree.
Why did he do it? that God might be just and justify
the ungodly. That's why he died on the cross.
That's why blood is essential to salvation. Not only because
it's precious and not only because it is valuable, but because the
wages of sin is death. God required death. Christ had
to die to save you because the wages of sin is death. Sin bringeth
forth death. And Christ had to die. And the
reason Christ could redeem so many people is because of who
he was, the infinite Lord died on that cross in human flesh.
Do you believe that record? That's what it is to come to
Christ, it's to believe. No man can come to God, Hebrews
6 says, except he believes God, believes the record God hath
given concerning his son. What is it to come to Christ?
It's to trust him. Paul said, I'm persuaded that
he's able. to keep that which I've committed
to him. I trust him as he's revealed in the promises. I trust him
as the sufficient Savior. I trust him as the acceptable
substitute. I trust him as my Lord and Master. I trust him. He can save. He's able to save to the uttermost
them that come to God by him. What is it to come to Christ? It's to receive him. As many
as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons
of God. We receive him as our prophet
to teach us, our king to reign over us, and our priest to make
intercession for us. That's what it is to come to
Christ. It's to believe the record God has given. It's to trust
Christ as he's revealed in the promises, and it's to receive
him. consciously, intelligently, willingly,
as your Lord and your Master. Now, what is Christ saying? No
man can come in that way except the Father. Draw him. That's
a supernatural work. That's a divine work, a spiritual
conversion. It's not a physical coming to
Christ. It's not just a physical decision. It's a spiritual miracle. It's
a new birth. What is conversion? Well, first
of all, it's a resurrection. You have bequickened who were
dead in trespasses and sin. That's God's work. What is conversion? It's a new birth. Christ said
that those who received him were born of God, not of blood, not
of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but born
of God. It's a new creation. We are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus. It's a divine revelation. Paul
said, God who separated me from my mother's womb. and call me
by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me." And it's
a divine keeping. We're kept by the power of God
through faith. The apostles one day said to
the Lord, after he had talked about the mystery of the gospel
and the spiritual conversion, they said, Well, Lord, who then
can be saved? And our Lord said, With men it
is impossible. Impossible. Now, if you're setting
out to save yourself, take the words of Christ there and carefully
weigh them. With men, it is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. God can save. God can give you
a new heart. God can give you a new nature.
God can give you a love for Christ. God can forgive your sin. God
can make you a new creature. God can do it, but you can't
do it. Your preacher can't do it. And Mama can't do it, but
God can do it. That's what he's saying here.
No man can come to me except my Father draw him." Here is
the third statement, Luke 13, verse 3. I say these are clear
statements, no problem here, no difficulty here. It is what
we want to believe, and I'm afraid many of us just don't want to
accept the words of Christ as they are written. Luke 13, verse
3, listen to it, "'Except you repent, you will perish.'" How
clear How clear that is! How much clearer could it be?
Except you repent. And Christ said it twice in verse
3 and verse 5. Except you repent, you perish. That's what he said. It's impossible
to come to Christ without leaving those things that oppose Christ.
No man can serve two masters. It's impossible to walk with
God and walk with the world. It can't be done. It's an impossibility. Except you repent, you perish.
It's impossible to serve God and serve myself. Paul said it's
impossible to please men and please God. No man can serve
two masters. If you don't repent, you'll perish.
Well, first you'll have what? Repentance. Well, let me give
you a definition of repentance. Now, first of all, I'll give
you the old one. Repentance is a change. But oh, what a change! Repentance is a turning. That's
what the old-timers used to say. Repentance is a change. Repentance
is a turning. But, oh, what a turning! In Isaiah 55, 7, our Lord said,
Let the wicked forsake his way, and let the unrighteous man forsake
his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord. Now, there's repentance. Repentance is a change. It's
a change of manners. Let the wicked forsake his ways. Now, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. There's a way that seemeth right
unto men, but the end is destruction. Let me give you a little homely
illustration and make a few folks mad while I'm doing it. These
folks riding down the highways with CB radio reporting where
the policeman located, that's wrong and that's evil. And that's sinful, and that's
a conspiracy against the servants of God who are magistrates and
policemen. We'll justify that. Man will
justify that. He'll find a way to justify that,
but that's not God's way, that's your way. And repentance is to
forsake your way, no matter how much you like it, no matter how
much it appeals to you, no matter how right you think it is. But
God says it's wrong. God said, I wonder, are we teaching
our children to disobey the law as long as we know where the
law is located? It's all right to break the law
if the law is not there watching you. Forsake his way. A man's repentance is a change
of manners. If any man be in Christ, he will
manifest the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
patience, That's a different way to walk, isn't it? The way
of peace, the way of patience, the way of gentleness, the way
of love. That's not our way, I know. That's
God's way. And repentance is to turn from
your way to God's way. Or let a man forsake his thoughts. That's a change of mind. Here's
where the converting work takes place. It's not just the outward
deeds. I might quit this and quit that
and quit the other and still have a wicked heart. But if God
changes my mind, God changes my mind about his word, and changes
my mind about him, and changes my mind about myself, and changes
my mind about my neighbor, a converting work is taking place. I've repented
of my thoughts. Now, if a man loves God, he'll
serve God. If a man loves holiness, he'll
pursue holiness. If a man hates sin, he'll avoid
sin. But he's got to have a change
of mind first. Got to have a change of mind.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said, Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord, I
do. Then you feed my sheep. But it's based on love for Christ.
What is repentance? Change of manners, change of
mind, and a change of masters. Thomas knew what repentance was
when he fell on his knees and said, My Lord and my God. God's my Lord, and he's my master. and I'm sold out to him. That's
repentance. I belong to him. I belong to
him lock, stock, and barrel. My home, my family, my car, my
income, my friends, my children, they belong to him. He's the
boss. That's repentance. All right, here's the last verse
now. This is clear. And that other one, except you
repent, you'll perish. When I listen to this one, Matthew
5.20, I say unto you, except your righteousness exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you won't enter
the kingdom of heaven. What is righteousness? Well,
it's holiness, goodness, purity, perfection, conformity to God's
law. But what kind of righteousness
did the Pharisees have? Well, it was their own. Paul
said they went about to establish their own righteousness. What
was their righteousness? It was outward. not inward. Christ
said they cleaned up the outside and forgot the inside. On the
outside they looked like a carpeted graveyard, on the inside they
were full of dead men's bones. They did it to be seen of men.
All their works, Christ said, they do it to be seen of men.
If they can impress you with their holiness, then they feel
good. But you're not the one they must impress. And then their
righteousness was filthy rags. That's what Isaiah said. When
was this righteousness that Christ said we must have that exceeds
theirs? It's the righteousness of Christ.
He is right. He is our righteousness. It is the righteousness of God
which we have in Him. Oh, John Jasper, a preacher up
in Richmond, Virginia, somebody asked him one time, said, John
Jasper, when you enter the gates of heaven and somebody walks
up and says, what right have you got to be here? What are
you going to say? He said, I'm going to say, I've
got no right to be here at all. I am here on the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Join us next Lord's Day at this
same time over this station for the broadcast. Until then I bid
you a very pleasant good day.

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