Somebody reminded me during the
break of the story of the rich man and Lazarus and how the rich
man fared sumptuously and Lazarus was at his gate with the dogs
licking his wounds and happy to get some crumbs of bread and
scripture says they both died. They both died. Think about that. Didn't matter. Death is the same
for every person. And Lazarus went into the bosom
of Abraham and the rich man went into hell. And the rich man pleaded
that someone would take his finger
and dip it in water and cool the torment of his tongue. And
Abraham said, there's a great gulf fixed between us. That's
not going to be possible. There's no coming back from where
you are. So the rich man said, please send someone to warn my
brothers of this place. And the Lord responds by saying,
your brothers have Moses and the prophets. They have the word
of God. If they won't believe the word
of God, they would not believe even if one was to rise from
the dead. Now, that's the unbelief of the
unbeliever. Even if one was to rise from
the dead, they wouldn't believe. What greater evidence do we have
than the resurrection? The Lord Jesus Christ conquered
death. God raised him from the dead.
There's our hope, isn't it? God says they've got Moses and
the prophets. They've got the Word of God. If they're not going
to believe the Word of God, they're not going to believe the resurrection.
And that's our hope, isn't it? God would give us faith to believe
His Word. And in believing His Word, believe
that the Lord Jesus Christ conquered death, put away sin, is seated
at the right hand of God. What hope we have in believing
God. Tom's going to come and lead
us in the hymn on the back of your bulletin, so let's stand
together. ? As on the cross of Christ I thought
? ? It seemed I heard one cry ? ? Is all this nothing in your
eyes ? ? You who this day passed by ? ? Is not such suffering
greater than ? ? That which you've seen before ? And was there ever
any man who grieved or suffered more? I looked again, and what
I saw I cannot fully tell. It seemed within his very bones
there raged the fire of hell. What caused you grief, I asked
the man. What crimes could you have done? that God Jehovah struck you down
and left you all alone. His answer cut my heart like
steel and left me void of breath. Tis for your sins this pain I
feel, for you I go to death. Your soul before my Father's
throne could find no place to hide. This is the way God can
be just and you'll be justified. Jehovah's mercies never fail,
each morning they are new. Great is His faithfulness and
love, therefore we're not consumed. Jehovah God in Christ the Son
shall all my portion be. My soul shall therefore wait
for Him and live eternally. Please be seated. Galatians chapter 4. Chapter 4 and verse 1. Because
Paul is speaking about an inheritance, and because only the sons could
inherit it, he uses the term son, but it includes all of us. Men and women, boys and girls.
We're all the children of God. Galatians chapter 4 and verse
1. Now I say that this heir, as long as he is a child, differeth
nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all, but is under
tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so, we, when we were children,
were under bondage in the elements of this world. But God. But God in the fullness of the
time sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law
to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive
the adoption of sons. And because we are sons, God
has sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying
Abba Father. Wherefore. We are no longer servants,
but errors and if errors. We are sons of God through Christ. Now that one little word wherefore
is very important. It means as a result of. As a result of us being in bondage. As a result of God sending forth
his son. As a result of the virgin birth. And as a result of Christ being
under the law circumcised the 8th day, the first shedding of
blood for our sins. Because we are adopted sons of
God wherefore because of this as a result. We're not servants
anymore. We're heirs of God. Through Christ,
that's one of the greatest things that God could ever open our
eyes to. We are the children of God. Father, we come before you this
morning father. burden with our sin, Father,
and our infirmities. But we know, Father, that our
Lord has said that if we labor and we're heavy laden, that he
will give us rest, Father. We believe that Jesus Christ
is the son of God, that he's done everything for us, Father,
that we belong to him. But in this life, Father, it's
hard to lay hold on these promises and keep them near and dear.
We'd ask, Father, you'd be with Greg as he brings us the gospel
this morning. You'd bless him with the grace,
Father, to bring us a gospel message and give us the grace
to hear it, Father. We ask these things in Jesus'
name, amen. Let's all stand together once
again. We'll sing hymn number five from your Spiral Gospel
Hymns hymn book, number five. ? Come ye sinners poor and wretched
? ? Weak and wounded, sick and sore ? ? Jesus ready stands to
save you ? ? Full of pity he joined with prayer ? He is able,
He is able, He is willing, doubt no more. He is able, He is able,
He is willing, doubt no more. Come, ye needy, come and welcome,
God's free bounty glorify. True belief and true repentance
Every grace that brings us nigh, Without money, without money,
Come to Jesus Christ and buy. Without money, without money,
Come to Jesus Christ and buy. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requireth
is to have a need of him. This he gives you, this he gives
you, Tis the Spirit's glimmering beam. This He gives you, this
He gives you. Tis the Spirit's glimmering beam. Come ye weary, heavy laden, Bruised
and broken by the fall, If you tarry till you're better, You
will never come at all. Not the righteous, not the righteous,
sinners Jesus came to call. Not the righteous, not the righteous,
sinners Jesus came to call. Please be seated. I love that hymn. I like the
one we sang in the back of the bulletin. We'll have to sing
that more often. As we were singing that hymn,
I was thinking about what the Lord said in Isaiah 55. Ho, everyone
that thirsteth. Are you thirsty? Do you live
in a dry and thirsty land? Do you find there's no satisfaction
for your soul in this world? The Lord says, come ye to the
waters. Ye that have no money, are you
poor? You can't buy God's grace. Buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine
and milk. But you're going to have to buy
it without money and without price. That word price means
to barter. Don't try to barter with God.
It's free. The grace of God is free. The Lord Jesus Christ gets
all the glory and He's done all the work. Wherefore do you spend
money for that which is not bread and labor for that which satisfieth
not? Hearken diligently unto me. Here, let him who has a ear
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Hearken diligently
unto me, and eat ye that which is good. Why callest thou me
good? There's none good but God. Oh,
the manna that God gives us, the bread of life, is the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. And he says, eat of my flesh,
drink of my blood, Incline your ear and come unto me. Here and
your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant
with you." Now, you can't make an everlasting covenant. That's
a contradiction. I'm not suggesting that God's
contradicting himself. I want you to understand what
an everlasting an everlasting covenant never had a beginning
and never has an end. You can't make something that's
everlasting. What God's saying is I'm gonna make the everlasting
covenant known to you. I'm gonna make it known to you
and there's our hope that the Lord Jesus Christ is the author
and the finisher of our faith. He's the one who stands in our
stead before God and he's the one who has given us as a church,
a clear mandate. I always find it somewhat humorous
when politicians get up after they've just been voted into
office 51 to 49 and they say the American people have given
me a mandate. Well, God gives a mandate There's
no 50-50 to it. There's no discussing it. There's
no debating it. It is a mandate, and a mandate
given by God is mandatory that we take heed and that we listen
to what God has called us to do and to be. At the end of the
book of Mark, if you'll turn with me to chapter 16 in the
book of Mark, Matthew ends with the same mandate. Acts begins
with the same mandate. When the Lord was on the Mount
of Olives about to be caught up bodily into heaven, he said, you go back into Jerusalem
and the Holy Ghost is going to come upon you and when he does
you're going to be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and Judea and
Samaria and out of the most, out of most parts of the world.
And in Matthew chapter 28 when the Lord Gets ready to ascend,
he gives them the mandate. He says, all authority has been
given unto me in heaven and in earth. I possess all authority. All men are under my sovereign
reign and under my sovereign control. You don't make Jesus
Lord of your life. He is Lord of your life, whether
you acknowledge it or not. We sang that hymn the first hour,
crown him Lord of life. We're acknowledging that he is
Lord. We're bowing willingly and thankfully
that he is sovereign. And he said, all authority has
been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Therefore, you
go, you go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. Teach them
the whole counsel of God. And lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the earth. There's a mandate and a promise. And the Lord concludes this gospel
that we've been studying now for several months with the same
mandate. And brethren, I want you to be
encouraged to believe God for this mandate. Begins at verse
15, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. That's the mandate. And he that
believeth and is baptized. And those who believe God will
be baptized. The theme this morning for both
hours is to believe. Oh, that God would give us grace
to believe Him. Them that believe, and those
who God gives faith to believe, want to profess Him publicly
in baptism. Baptism is not a work that we
do. It is the first act of obedience
of those who believe. They want to acknowledge their
union with Christ. and they want to acknowledge
their separation from all other false gospels. Buried with Christ
in baptism, they that believe and are baptized shall be saved. And they that believeth not shall
be damned. There's no purgatory. There's
no gray area. There's no in-between. You believe and you'll be saved. If you believe
not, you'll be damned. How many times do we see this
in the Word of God? We saw it just a few weeks ago
with the two thieves hanging on our Lord's right and on his
left on Calvary's cross, representing all of mankind. And you and I, each of us, will
identify with either those who believe God or those who don't
believe God. First question I'd like to answer
is what exactly is the gospel? Go into the world and preach
the gospel. The word gospel, you know, means
good news. There's no good news in the message
of salvation that leaves something up to me to do. Not really, not
if I'm an honest person. I can be a hypocrite and I can
be a liar and I can convince myself that I've done it right. But if I'm honest and I think
that my salvation is determined by something I do, a decision
I make, a work I perform, a knowledge that I achieve, then I'm fearful. I've watched fearful people who
are trusting in their works. I've watched them leave this
world without any establishment before God. You believe not,
surely you shall not be established. Have I done enough? I heard Mr. Rogers who was a Presbyterian. He was a graduate from a Presbyterian
seminary. Mr. Rogers, you know, the child
psychologist and entertainer on TV, on his deathbed, his last
words, he kept asking his wife, honey, do you think I've done
enough? Do you think I've done enough? You haven't. You can't do enough. There's no good news in a message
that leaves you something to do. The good news is that it's
done. The work is finished from the
foundation of the earth. The Lord Jesus Christ gets all
the glory. We're trusting Him. We're believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not hoping that we've done
enough. The scripture refers to the gospel
as the gospel of peace. Peter calls it the gospel of
peace. How am I going to have peace with God? How am I going
to be reconciled with a God that I have sinned against? We have
peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. There's our only
hope, the gospel of peace. And Paul in Romans chapter 1
refers to it as the gospel of God. It's God's gospel. He was the one who designed it. He was the one who fulfilled
it. It belongs to God. It's not,
we're not to tamper with it. We're to believe it just as God
has revealed it. And that's why Paul said in Galatians
chapter 1, if anyone, even an angel from heaven comes and preaches
any other gospel unto you than the gospel that I preached, let
him be accursed. Let him go to hell, because that's
what every other gospel is going to do. There's lots of gospels.
Lots of gospels in the world. There's only one gospel that's
true. There's only one gospel that
saves. It's called the gospel of peace.
It's called the gospel of God. It's called the gospel of Christ.
The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is referred to many times
in the New Testament that way. He's the one who fulfilled everything
necessary. That's why David said, this is
all my salvation and all my desire. Although my house, the tabernacle
of this flesh, be not so with God, although I be not like I
ought to be, and none of us, oh my goodness, yet, He has made
with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure.
In other words, everything necessary to ratify and to fulfill the
requirements of this covenant were ordered and made sure by
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why it's called the gospel
of Christ. He fulfilled everything necessary
for this good news for God's people. He bore the full burden
of God's wrath to put away all the sins of all of God's elect.
He presented Himself before God Almighty as our righteousness,
having satisfied all the demands of God's holy law. It's the gospel
of Christ. It's the gospel of peace. It's
the gospel of God. And I love Paul refers to it
as my gospel. My gospel. This is my God. It's mine. I'm not giving it up. I'm not
going to change it. I'm not going to swap it out
for another gospel. This is my gospel. Oh, that God
will make the gospel of peace and the gospel of God and the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ our gospel. This gospel is contained nowhere
else than in the Word of God. Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter
1. You're familiar with this passage. What is the gospel? The gospel's
for sinners. The gospel's for people who can
find nothing in themselves that gives them any hope of salvation. Nothing in the world. Those who
are dead in their trespasses and sins, those who see their
righteousnesses as filthy rags, that's what a sinner is. Sin
is a person who can't produce anything but sin. That's who
the gospel is for. Where do we find this gospel?
Look at verse 23 of 1 Peter chapter 1, being born again. That's what the Lord told Nicodemus.
Nicodemus, you've got to be born from above. You've got to be
born of the Spirit. That which is of the flesh is flesh. Whatever
you produce is just flesh. The flesh can't profit you anything. It's the Spirit that giveth life.
And now he says we're going to be born again. Born anew. Born of God. Born from above. Born of the Spirit of God. Not
with corruptible seed. This is corruptible seed. young people you get a bit older
you're gonna find out how corruptible you are and then when you get
older you know you just the whole body starts starts falling apart
doesn't it? It's corruptible seed but of
incorruptible incorruptible by the word of God remember the
Parable the Lord gave of the sower casting the seed and some
fell on stony ground and some fell on thorny ground and some
fell on the wayside and some fell on ground that had been
prepared to receive the seed. And some produced 20 fold and
some 40, some 30, some 60, some 100 at each believer. But the seed, that's the gospel.
And that's how we're born of the gospel. which liveth and
abideth forever." This is an eternal covenant. This gospel
hasn't changed. God's gospel is the same now
as it was before Adam was ever created. And it's the same as
it will be after this whole creation is brought to an end. God's gospel. For all flesh is as grass. Do you believe that about yourself?
Tell them. Well, remember Isaiah, when the
Lord told Isaiah, go and preach the gospel. Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people. Speak ye comfortably unto Jerusalem.
Tell them their warfare is accomplished. Tell them their iniquity has
been taken away. And Isaiah asked the question, Lord, where do
I begin that message? What do I tell them? How am I
going to comfort them? Here's how you're going to comfort
them. Tell them they're grass. God's people are comforted in
being told that they're grass. Sinners are glad to hear that
they're sinners because then they're just reminded once again,
there's nothing that I can produce. There's nothing that I can present
God to persuade him to save me. I'm grass. For all flesh is this grass and
all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord. Here's
the seed of the gospel, endureth forever, and this is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you. Now we can find plenty of fundamentalists
who would pound the pulpit on the authority of this book being
the word of God, but they're not preaching the gospel. They're
like the Pharisees. The Lord said to the Pharisees,
you search the scriptures, you're diligent, you believe the Bible's
the word of God. But you don't know that these
are they which testify of me. You have one. The Lord goes on
in that same passage. He says, I'm not gonna judge
you. You have one already that judges
you, the one whom you are trusting, Moses. You're trusting the law for your
salvation. You're reading the Bible believing
that it is a book of rules and regulations so that you can earn
favor with God by how you live. You make a rule book out of it.
You don't know that these are they which testify of me. This
is the word of God which by the gospel is preached unto you.
If the gospel is not being preached, the word of God is not being
preached. They may be using the same words out of the Bible But
they're given a different meaning to the Word of God. The Word
of God always points to Christ. This is the Gospel. The finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who laid down His life for His
sheep. the irresistible grace of God, who sends His Spirit
in power. It's expedient for you that I
go away. If I go not away, the Spirit of God will not come.
But when He comes, when He comes, He's going to convict the world
of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, of sin because they
believe not on Me. When the Spirit of God brought
you to Christ, you weren't You didn't come because you were
burdened over a particular bad behavior that you were engaged
in. When God brings a sinner to Christ,
they come because they see that their sin is unbelief. I've not
believed God. I've been trusting myself for
my salvation. Lots of folks get religion because
they want to change their behavior. But that's not what the spirit
of good that when the spirit of God come he will convict the
world of sin because they believe not on me. Lord I'm an unbeliever. I'm not believe the gospel. I'm
not believe to you. Of righteousness because I go
to my father. I need a righteousness to stand
before God for me. And we have an advocate with
the father Jesus Christ the righteous one. and of judgment because
the prince of this world has been judged. Oh, I believe that
what the Lord Jesus Christ did on Calvary's cross had finished
the work. Satan was judged. Grave was conquered. Sin was put away. God was satisfied. That's what the Holy Spirit does.
That's the gospel. And the Lord has given his church
a mandate to preach this gospel. and to call on men to believe
this gospel. Now, the second question I want
to ask is what is it to preach? What is it to preach? Well, let
me say what it's not. Preaching is not educating folks. Preaching is not giving people
history lessons and theology. It's not entertainment. It's
not storytelling. It's certainly not preaching
down to folks. It's not preaching at folks. I like to think of preaching
as something we do together. And that's the way the scriptures
refer to it. Let me ask you a question. If I was to come up here tomorrow,
I've got a key to the building. and let myself in and stand in
this pulpit and not a soul in this building and I preach the
gospel, would I be preaching? I wouldn't be. I wouldn't be. I would not be preaching. Preaching is something that has
to be heard in order for it to be preached. when the Lord commends every
one of his sheep, every single one of them. He separates the
sheep from the goats and he says to the sheep that are on his
right, I was hungry and you fed me. I was naked and you clothed
me. I was in prison, you came and visited me. I was thirsty
and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you took
me in. And what do the believers say? And when he says that to
the unbelievers, to the goats, they all say, Lord, when did
we not see you that way? When did we see you that way
and not take care of you? But we've been working down at
the rescue mission. We've been going to the prisons.
We've been at the soup kitchen. We've been doing all these things
for all these folks. We've been doing many wonderful
works. And that's what they're trusting
in. And what's the believer say? Lord, when did we do those things?
in that you did it unto the least of these, my brethren, you did
it unto me." You see, every time God's church gets together to
fulfill the mandate to preach the gospel, God credits every
member of the church with that work. He says, I was there, I
was one of the least of you and I was naked and you clothed me
the righteousness of Christ. I was hungry for food and you
fed me with the bread of life. I was thirsty and the river flowed
clear as crystal from the throne of God and I drank. I was in
the prison of my sin and the message that you preached unto
me. I was delivered. I was in prison. But you see, you don't take notice
of that. And I pray that God would give me the grace to not
take notice of that, that we would all say, you see, when
the gospel is preached in Lexington, Kentucky this morning, every
member of God's church is participating in this mandate. We are preaching
the gospel together. Oh, if God gives you the opportunity
to help somebody, maybe you don't want to go to the prison and
preach sometime. Maybe you need to go down to the rescue mission.
I know a brother that does that occasionally. The Lord gave him
a burden for that, but he's not looking to that as his, you know,
be ready to do good unto all men, especially those who are
of the household of faith. Isn't that what the scripture
says? And God give us the grace to be helpful when people are
in need. But it's the preaching of the
gospel that fills. The Lord gave the church. What I'm saying to you, brethren,
is that the preaching of the gospel is not something that
the man in this pulpit does by himself. Your attendance, your
prayers, your participation, your amens, the confirmation
that you're giving right now in your heart saying, yes, Lord,
that's my hope. You're my hope. We're not here to debate. We're
not here to prove anything to anybody. Let me speak to our young people
for just a moment. Evolution. is nothing more than man's attempt
to not have to deal with God. That's all it is. It's a lie
from the pit of hell. And it's nothing more than this
world's attempt to avoid having to bow to a sovereign God. And it is a religion. We're talking about believing
God. And I know young people might be thinking, well, how
do I know that what you're saying is true? If God convinces you
it's true, you'll know it's true. And I know there's a whole lot
of messages out there. And there's a message of evolution
that just, you know, that. Turn with me, I want you young
people especially, turn with me to Romans chapter one. The
reason I say young people is because I know that this is something
that you are confronted with in the world. And here's the
thing. Young people, listen to me carefully.
If you're in high school or college, the world will try to intimidate
you. They will say to you, you're
just some backwoods, Bible-thumping, ignorant Neanderthal that hasn't
gotten caught up with the modern times. What's the matter with
you? What's the matter with you? Listen to me. There is no fool. More foolish than the fool who
believes his own lies. There's no fool more foolish
than the fool who believes his own lies. When a man says I'm
an atheist, he's lying. He's lying. Now can he say that
often enough? to where he believes his own
lie? Yeah. Yeah. And he's proving himself
to be the biggest fool of all. And I'm going to show you that
from the scriptures. Romans chapter 1. Look at verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness, because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them. It's been made known in their
hearts. For God hath showed it unto them. Every person comes into this
world knowing that there is a God. You say, well, how many, why
are there so many religions in the world? because all men know that
there is a God with whom they must do and they've devised a
system of religion that's based on their image of that God in
an attempt to be reconciled to that God. Everybody knows there's
a God. That's why religion is so prolific. The problem is that if you've
got the wrong concept of God, then your religion is going to
be wrong, isn't it? You're going to be worshiping a God who doesn't
exist. Now God says those who say that there is no God, let's
read on verse 20, verse 20, for the invisible things
of him from creation of the world are clearly seen. All the person
has to do, it takes a whole lot more faith to believe in evolution
than it does to believe in creation. It takes a lot more faith to
believe in the Big Bang than it does to believe that God created
the heavens and the earth. Now you talk about people that
are religious, people that are walking on blind faith, there's
the people who believe evolution. For the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,
so that they are without excuse." God speaking now. Those who look
at creation and say that there is no God, or that these things
evolved on their own, they are without excuse before God. They may impress men with their
foolishness. God's not impressed. Because that when they knew God
they glorified him not, not as God neither were thankful but
became vain in their imaginations and their foolish hearts were
darkened. Their foolish hearts were darkened. professing themselves to be wise. Oh, young people, your professors
in college profess themselves to be wise, don't they? They
profess themselves to be wise, they became fools. The biggest
fool of all is the fool who believes his own lies. God says, person
doesn't believe in God, They've just lied to themselves
long enough to where they believe their own lie, and they are the
biggest fool of all. The biggest fool of all. Young
people, listen to me. This is true. This is the truth,
I'm telling you. I heard this week of a young
man who listened to the gospel. for three years and now he says,
I'm an atheist. I'm an atheist. This is not a debate. We're here, the church is here,
it's been given a mandate to preach the gospel. to say, Thus
saith the Lord. And that's all God's people want
to hear. Don't try to defend it. Don't try to explain it.
Don't try to educate. Just tell me what God says. Thus
saith the Lord. Don't give me any wiggle room.
Just restrict me to the Word of God so that I can say with
the disciples, Lord, where shall I go? For you alone have the
words of eternal life. got no place else to go. There's
nothing out there in the world. It's foolishness. It's foolishness. And that's what Paul said the
world calls the preaching of the gospel. And God uses the
foolishness of preaching to save them which believe. You see,
they call us fools and we call them fools. Who's right? Who's
right? I'm going to rest my hope on the
Word of God. I'm going to rest my hope on
the living word, the Lord Jesus Christ. Why did God give us this mandate? Because the preaching of the
gospel is the only hope that men have. All we need to give, we need
to educate folks, we need to put more money in the education
system, we need to We need to put more money into welfare.
We need to, well, maybe so. Maybe that, maybe those kind
of things will help folks to get along a little bit better
in this world. But you know what? The rich man and Lazarus, they
both died. And all those things that the
world says we need, they might be needs in terms of physical
needs in this world, but they're not going to satisfy your real
need. The real need that you have is to be able to stand before
a holy God in the day of judgment. Have you ever read that letter
that Bruce wrote yet in your bulletin? Read it, please. Because
what they're dealing with right now is what each and every one
of us are going to have to deal with in that moment of truth
when we're staring death in the eye and nothing else matters.
Nothing else matters. Why are you here? People say,
well, I come to church because that's where my friends are.
Well, you know what? Your friends are going to offend
you. And if you're just here for your friends, there's going
to come a point where somebody's going to make you mad and you're
going to leave. I know you're not here for the
entertainment. There ain't none of that. And I know you're not
here because it's a convenient drive. Some of you drove three
hours to get here. Why are you here? You're here because you need
to be saved from the wrath that is to come. You need to have
your sins put away. You need to hear the gospel.
And that's the only mandate we have. Churches that are involved
in all sorts of other things, they're not churches. Paul said,
I determined not to know anything among you, save Christ and Him
crucified. All I'm going to do is preach
the gospel. And all I'm going to do is call on you to believe
the gospel. Right after the Lord came out of the wilderness, the
scripture says that he preached the kingdom of God, saying, repent
and believe the gospel. Paul on the day of Pentecost,
after men were pricked in their hearts after listening to the
gospel, he said, what should we do? And Paul said, repent,
every one of you, and believe the gospel. When Paul was preaching at Mars
Hill in Athens in Acts chapter 17 with the philosophers of the
world, oh, how proud and how mighty they were. the Areopagus,
the Stoics and the philosophers. And he preached them that unknown
God, didn't he? And then he called on them to
believe, believe the gospel. But when they heard of the resurrection,
some mocked. And others said, we'll hear you
another day. But some believed. They believed what they heard. Our mandate, brethren, as a church,
and my need and your need, is to preach the gospel to every
creature. And he that believeth shall be
saved. And he that believeth not shall
be damned. God, give us faith to believe
you, to believe you. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for your word and know how we pray that you would keep us faithful
to the gospel of God, the gospel of peace, the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and cause us, Lord, to believe We ask it in Christ's
name. Amen. We're going to celebrate
the Lord's table. I ask the men if they'll come
and distribute the bread and the wine. Tom, are you going
to lead us in the hymn? Number 17. Just remain seated,
please. We're going to sing number 17
in the spiral hymn. See the table spread before you
See the feast of bread and wine These are symbols of our Savior
Tokens of His love divine Bread that's broken is his body, crushed
beneath the wrath of God. Wine poured out is a reminder
of our Savior's precious blood. Children of our God, remember
how he bought your soul and mine. In remembrance of our Savior,
eat the bread and drink the wine. Jesus came, the God incarnate,
to fulfill God's holy law. On the cross he made atonement
and retrieved us from the fall. Let us never forget the promise
Jesus made to come again. Soon he comes, our King, to call
us home to glory, praise his name. With this hope and expectation,
we rejoice to keep this feast, celebrating our redemption till
we lean on Jesus' breast. We just sang, we rejoice to keep
this celebration. This is a time of rejoicing. Knowing that it is the sinless
life of the Lord Jesus Christ, the unleavened bread, who is
our life before God. He said, eat of my flesh as often
as you do this, do it in remembrance of me. This all began back there at
the Passover. God told the children of Israel
to take the blood from that spotless lamb, put it on the doorpost
and the lentils of the door, and when I see the blood, I'll
pass by you. When the Lord Jesus Christ shed his blood on Calvary's
cross, it went straight to the mercy seat, straight to the mercy
seat. The veil was ramped. God said,
come in, come in. Everything I require, he's provided. Do this in remembrance of me. And all God's people said, amen,
amen. Let's stand together. Brother
Adam, would you dismiss us in prayer, please? Merciful Heavenly Father, Lord,
I'm thankful for your goodwill, pleasure, and drawings here to
hear your word. Thank you, Father, for your grace
and love to a people, Lord. I pray that we would be your
people, Lord, that you would find us abiding in your Son,
Jesus.