It's so good to be here. I'm so thankful for this privilege we have of fellowshipping together in joy in God's Word. And I cannot tell you how close the reading today is in a line with what we have to say. We're going to be in the book of Acts chapter 8 this morning. Acts chapter 8. I want to read verses 1 through 5.

Now we're going to be rereading some verses that we've done in the past, but it kind of sets the tone, the tenor of what we have here in verses four and five. Our message today, the gospel, the gospel. Saul was consenting unto his death, Stephen's death. And at that time there was great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem. and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house and hailing men and women, committed them to prison Therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them.

Now, Lord willing, next time we'll cover some about that preaching that Philip did down there. But we find in that verse 7, for unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came out. Many were possessed of them. Many were taken with palsies that were lame and were healed. And I want you to remember that verse because we're going to get to a verse of scripture the Lord Jesus gives us during his ministry that deals with that.

This is it, we may say, a physical sense, the Lord takes care of all these maladies in a spiritual sense. All right, as we look at this, we find out that they preach the gospel, and we want to say right up front that preaching the word, and that could have just as easily been a capital W on that word, word. They preach the word, they preach Christ, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. So wherever we go, declaring the gospel, we are declaring the Word of God. We're declaring Christ and Him crucified.

And that's exactly what we find Philip. Philip was doing there, he was preaching Christ, he preached Christ unto them. And we have to say up front, they were not preaching different things. This group that left during the scattering, preaching the word and Philip going down to Samaria were not preaching two different things. They were preaching exactly the same thing.

The Lord Jesus Christ never put in his word. God never put in his word. The Holy Spirit never put in his word that all roads lead to heaven. They don't. There's one road. That's Christ Jesus, the Lord. So the preaching of the gospel as we find it here in the word of God was always preaching the same thing. Whether they were prophets in the Old Testament or preachers and apostles in the New Testament, they were preaching Christ.

Now I'd like you to join me in a verse of scripture over in the book of Luke. And it is in this verse of scripture we find out that the Lord Jesus When messengers came, John the Baptist is in prison, and I don't know the condition of his mind while he's in prison, but he sent an inquiry. Isn't it wonderful that we can send an inquiry to the very throne room of God and ask, Lord, help me in this matter.

Well, in the book of Luke chapter 7, we find that the Lord himself is helping John in this matter. In the book of Luke chapter seven, verse 22, here's the answer that the Lord says, take to John, take this to John. He could have released him from prison because he did with the other apostles and the other preachers, but he didn't. He chose to leave him there, but he had this message for him. Take this message to John. Tell him what is happening here.

And it tells us here, then Jesus answering said unto them, go your way and tell John. Here is his message. You know, we find out that every time God speaks, it is personal. He never just blankets. He has a personal message that he's going to give to every one of his lost sheep, and there's also a personal message that he's going to give to every one of his found sheep. It is not a random shot. It is a personal message that God gives.

Go your way and tell John what things ye have seen and heard. So they must have spent a little bit of time with the Lord Jesus and saw a few things that he did and also heard some of the things that he said. And here the Lord Jesus says, you go and tell John this message. How that the blind see. Now the Lord's main ministry was not just to heal blind people or to heal people that had a problem with their back or their legs or their voice or their ears or whatever. He is demonstrating through every one of these different physical healings, the power that he has to deal with the spiritual situation that could be blindness.

What do we have here? How that the blind see. Those that were blind in the fall were able to see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. The lame walk by nature, we have no ability to walk and yet the Lord raises us. We'll get over there to that Valley of Dry Bones in just a little bit and once again rejoice in what happened there. The lepers are cleansed. My goodness, this is an impossibility and yet we find, we hear, we see that the Lord is dealing with lepers. He does several times, heals lepers. No one else had that capability. And you know leprosy so often in the scriptures is a sign or a picture of sin and it is the Lord himself that can heal us from our sin. He's the one that takes away our sin.

He said, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised. My goodness, take this message to John. You know, I can't help but think that when John got that message, he just simply said, hallelujah. I really knew it all along. He had some issues, don't we? He has some questions, don't we? He has some thoughts, don't we? And how wonderful it is to get the message from Christ himself saying, just listen, just listen and watch and see. This is the power of almighty God in the person of Christ Jesus dealing with our condition that we were born with.

And then it tells us there in that verse 22, the dead are raised. Now he did, we now have record of at least three that he raised. We have one's name. We have another young man, another young lady, and he demonstrated his great power in raising people from the dead. And then he shares with us, as he did with John, I am the one that raises people from the spiritual dead. I am the one that calls them out of darkness to the marvelous light of the gospel. And then he says here, to the poor the gospel is preached. The Lord Jesus says, take this message back to John. And the Lord Jesus intended for that message to be a comfort to his friend and the one that came, the forerunner that came. He comforted his friend, he comforted John there in prison as he waited for execution.

Well, turn with me if you went to the book of Galatians chapter one. In Galatians chapter one, as we think about the gospel, that's what Philip took, that's what these saints took when they were pushed out. Many of their friends and their family had been arrested and they'd been put in jail. But some of them, they left town. Who opened the doors for those to leave town? God Almighty. He had some people over here that needed to hear the gospel. He had some people over here, his lost sheep, that needed to hear the gospel. So they leave town.

Galatians chapter one, we read this. In the book of Galatians chapter one, the scriptures share this in verse 11. In verse 11, but I certify you, brethren, Galatians chapter one, verse 11, that the gospel which was preached to me is not after man. Now, every religious person has some idea on how people are to be saved. They have some idea what to worship, just go to the book of Judges. All kinds of ideas are demonstrated there, but you just go to the book of Joshua, same thing. Go to the book of Leviticus, same thing. Here he is giving the pattern, and right there in front of everybody is a group of people wanting a golden bull made out of gold so that they could worship. Nobody's satisfied with Christ until he quenches their thirst.

So here we have, it is what the gospel that was preached to me is not after man. And so we're going to find out when Philip went down to Samaria and preach Christ, or when those other disciples left and preached the word, they're not preaching a gospel that is after man. They're not looking for good works in somebody. They're not telling someone to keep the law in order to be saved. I like what I heard this morning. It just stirred me up again about that the law is not for the righteous man. The law is for the sinner. The law is for the adulterer. The law is for the lawbreaker. That's what the law is for. And someone who comes to me and says, I'm a believer, but I follow the law, you're not speaking very highly of yourself. The law is not for the righteous.

All right, turn with me, if you would, to the book of 1 Peter. 1 Peter 1, verse 25. 1 Peter 1, verse 25. As we read this about the gospel, the gospel, the word of God, the word of the Lord, preaching Christ, preaching the word there that we read about in Acts 8. 1 Peter 1, verse 25. Let's look at this verse of scripture. It tells us here, but the word of the Lord, 1 Peter 1, verse 25, the word of the Lord endureth forever. You know, to us, that means it never wears out. To us, it means we never get tired of it. To us, it means preach it again. Tell me the old, old story. Go over it again. It never wears out. It never wears thin. It never gets over. It is always what the sinner, the saint who's been saved by the grace of God wants to hear again. How did he save me from my sins? Go over that again. Tell me about the cross. Tell me about the blood of Christ. Tell me that I fell in Adam. Tell it to me again. Here we have the word of the Lord endureth forever. It was good for Adam, it will be good for the last one that's ever saved, and you know through eternity we'll continue to enjoy and rejoice in the word of God. Goes on, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. How glorious is this gospel. It's not sign the card. It's not come forward. It's not get baptized. It's not, this drives me. Forgive me, this is one of my favorite bothers.

I got saved. Oh man, that's like finding a bicycle. God saved me on purpose. He found me in my desperate condition. He saved me with a reason. I just didn't walk along one day and go praying. He'd been working on me for some time. He allowed me to hear the gospel. He allowed me to hear Christ and Him crucified. So the word by the gospel is preached unto you.

In the book of Galatians, again, if you join me there, book of Galatians chapter two, In the book of Galatians chapter two, we have this, as again, the apostle Paul was led to write to the saints at Galatia. Many of them had been drawn aside. No, a few of them didn't know the difference. I'm convinced that he was speaking to a whole bunch of people there in the book, in the churches of Galatia that had not heard yet. And they just were hanging onto their old religion. And there were a few in there who says, well, this guy, he's up in his 70s. Look what he's doing. He's following after this stuff. Maybe he's right. Maybe I should follow along. I'm only 25, and I've only professed Christ for a couple of years, and he's done this for years. And they follow this guy along, and pretty soon they say, that's not right. I don't care how old he is. He didn't know the gospel. If he wants me to put my faith in someone besides the Lord Jesus Christ, he does not know the gospel. So I'm going to leave him over there. I'm not going to go that way. I'm going to come back where the saints are. I'm going to come back where the simplicity of Christ is declared.

So here in the book of Galatians chapter 2 and verse 5, to whom he gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, but the truth of the gospel might continue with you. There's the truth of the gospel. People were telling me after I was saved that I heard the gospel in the church I grew up in. I heard their gospel, but I didn't hear the truth of the gospel. Nothing was ever said about the new birth. Nothing was ever said about the need for Christ to do the saving. It was laid at my feet. I was in charge of it. And if I wasn't saved, it was because I didn't want to be. Well, there's more to be said about that than we can care to say. I didn't want to be. I didn't want to be after I heard the truth. I'm thankful for a convincer though. The great convincer that convinces us that the word of God is the truth and the Lord Jesus Christ is truly the savior of his people. And by the way, he had a people set aside before the foundation of the world that he is intending to save every one of them.

Also in the book of Galatians chapter two, verse 14, it says, Here, by whom, but when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel. You know, the Apostle Peter, one who said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, one who said this, to whom shall we go? Thou have the words of eternal life. The Apostle Peter, he was caught up for a moment. He followed someone else and it tells us here, I said unto Peter before them all, if thou being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compelst thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? And you know what? I find that this Peter didn't raise an angry voice at the Apostle Paul and say, well, I'm going to go start my own church. I'm leaving here. He had a teachable spirit about him. And when he saw that the truth of the gospel was not something that he was sharing at the moment, he came back, and I believe he came back just like he did when he saw that he had been, that he had, lied about the Lord Jesus, that he didn't betray him in the sense that Judas did, but he denied him three times. I think he came back with that same attitude and went out and wept bitterly. Lord, forgive me. Keep me on that right way. Truth of the gospel.

And then in the book of Ephesians chapter one, the book of Ephesians chapter one over here, Nick's book, if you wouldn't, chapter one, verse 13. We read this about the gospel that Philip preached about those saints who took the word of God to the places that they went to. I remember Brother Henry telling me, your place of employment is not where you pigeonhole people and try to get a profession out of them. That's not where you do it. Your employer is paying you eight hours of wages for eight hours of work. Now, if the Lord opens the door for you, step through it. But it's not our business, that's our job. Now, when Christ opens the door, step through it. Here he says, Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13, in whom you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

how blessed is all parts of God's salvation for his people. It's not just a one instant thing that he does. He has so much involved in this, and that so much involved in this is our eternal security. He holds us to himself by his word.

And then we heard Brother Loren read there in the book of Colossians, and let's just go over there to Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one there in verses three through six. Colossians chapter one, verse three. It says here, we give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which ye have to all the saints.

For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which is come unto you, as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the days ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth.

What's it say there in verse five? For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. That's exactly what we find Philip and those saints doing. What the saints took when they took the word and what Philip took Christ, it was an absolute harmony of what they preached.

There's some things about this gospel as we find that the Apostle Paul shares with us, he did not hold back. We don't find Christ saying, well, I'm sending you to a real rough area over there, and so I want you to make the gospel a little more palatable for them.

Do you think, Brother Lance, when he went down to Papua New Guinea, and here's, there are two generations from being cannibals. They're not very far. Do you think he went down there with a more palatable gospel for them? He says, oh. I know you're having tough times here and we'll just break this off a little bit. Are you kidding me? Brother Lance went down there with the truth of the gospel. He didn't care whether he's talking to cannibals or people who went to church every Sunday. It was the very same thing that he took down there. The same thing he would have preached at a church here in the United States given the opportunity. He didn't change it one way. And so we find that the Apostle Paul, he didn't change the gospel for people. He preached the gospel in truth, he preached it in sincerity, and he didn't make it more palatable.

Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Acts chapter 20. In the book of Acts chapter 20, We find as Paul was used to the Holy Ghost to put the word preaching Christ this way. He says here in the book of Acts chapter 20 about what he preached and how he preached.

I was sharing with the men this morning that when I was, I was out of my league, I'll tell you. I looked back and see Brother Henry, he just went, when he brought me the gospel and I made some smart, eloquent remarks, he just probably shook his head. But you know what? He instilled in me patience with people who make foolish remarks, because we all do. I made some really stupid remarks. And one of them was that the doctrines, the difficult doctrines of the Bible are to be discussed over coffee in the sovereignty, election, predestination. Those are not to be mentioned from the pulpit. And you know, he just looked at me and didn't say a word. He probably said, that's about the stupidest person I've ever met. But he's just like me when I was pastoring a church and didn't know grace. Same thing.

Well, notice here in the book of Acts chapter 20 verse 25, Acts chapter 20 verse 25, we read this, that the apostle Paul, when he went preaching, you want to know what he preached? The whole counsel of God. Everywhere he went. He didn't care whether you bowed down before an idol or went to church. He didn't care whether you never had any interest whatsoever. I remember Sister Betty Reibenbach, her granddaughter said, don't give me any of that religion. Maybe there. That didn't alter Paul's preaching one iota. I don't care. If you sit there, I'll tell you the truth. If you want to leave, go. But here we go. It says here in the book of Acts chapter 20 verse 25. And now behold, I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more.

He's speaking to the Ephesian elders here and he loves these folks and they've come to be with him on his trip. And he's telling them, you'll never see me again. And you know what? He knew it. The Holy Spirit had shared that with him. You'll never see my face again. And he says, wherefore I take you to record this day. I want you to write down in a book. So after I'm gone, you can remember what I preached to you. He says there, that I am pure from the blood of all men. Do you remember that verse over there in the Old Testament that the preachers always hung over us and said, boy, if you don't talk to your cousins and to your mother and your dad, you're guilty of their blood. Well, the Apostle Paul said, this is why that verse is there. It says, I'm not guilty of the blood. Why? Why was he not guilty of the blood? Well, let's just go on.

It tells us here, it says, verse 27, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Now, if I'd been like a mamby-pamby and I went over here and I made it palatable because, you know, you've just had a terrible life and been in jail You've done all kinds of wrong things. I just want to be real nice to you. You know what? He had been guilty of the blood. And I say that figure to him. But since he was faithful to declare the whole counsel of God every time he preached, he said, I'm not guilty.

Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock. over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood." Verse 27, once again it says, therefore I have not shunned to declare, shunned to withhold under that, to lower or to shrink or to conceal, to be unwilling to utter from fear. He was not afraid to preach the whole counsel of God. He was not afraid to preach Christ and Him crucified. He was not afraid. He did not withhold any of the truth about the gospel. He faithfully preached that God Almighty, before the foundation of the world, knowing full well what was going to happen in the Garden of Eden, had a lamb slain. And he had names written down in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world or there would be nobody ever saved. That's what he preached.

You would not come to me that you might have life. We're dead in trespasses and sin as we find that's part of the gospel message. Ruined by the fall, that is a part of the gospel. I don't like to be told that I'm a sinner. I don't care. We are by nature, practice, and choice, and that's part of the gospel. It is my responsibility to share with you what took place in that fall. Now you may walk away and say, I'm not going to go back there, but I'm not going to be guilty of your blood. I will be faithful on my part. God will be faithful on his part.

All right. As we think about this, we find he shunned not to declare the whole council, all the council of God. The folks that escaped from Jerusalem due to the persecution of Saul did not try to make the word of God more palatable where they went. The apostle Paul did not try to make it more palatable where he went. He did not put sugar on it. He did not put salt on it. He left it as it was in its natural state. I remember our daughter, one time we asked her if she'd like some salt or pepper on her potatoes. She says, no, I like the natural potato flavor. Don't put any salt or pepper on the gospel. We like the natural gospel flavor.

In the book of Acts chapter 20, again, in verse 20, back up there to verse 20 of that chapter that you are, and how I kept back nothing. He was not afraid to answer any questions. He was not afraid to preach the gospel. You know, the first thing that we find that the person who came, he was told to go say, see Paul there in, or Saul of Tarsus, there in Damascus. God appeared unto him and said, I want you to go over here to Saul of Tarsus, and he's waiting for you. And you know what that man said? Lord, are you sure? And you know what the Lord said that convinced that man instantly that it would be okay. He is a chosen vessel of mine. My goodness, when God gives us that criteria about somebody, we're confident. Chosen vessel, you've done it again, Lord. You've carried out your great purpose of grace one more time, and I'll go. And he went over there and instantly, walking into his presence, he didn't ask him, are you that guy that's been after us down here? He says, Brother Saul. We have a relationship. It's the blood of Christ.

Paul declared, I kept back nothing that was profitable to you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house. In the public worship service, in the household worship service, it was the same thing. He didn't change because he was talking to the deacon. He didn't change because he was talking to another preacher. He kept the message the same wherever he went, and that's what we find Philip did.

I have to say this. There are some pieces of the Bible that I've never preached, but it hasn't been because I'm afraid of them. Time. I just haven't had the time to get there. We go through the part that we can, but it's not because I'm afraid of it. I have some friends that are afraid to preach the Word of God. What do they say? Oh, the people would leave if I preached that. Oh, people would get offended if I preached that. You know, they got offended when Christ preached it. Hades said, without reservation, there were many lepers in the day in Israel, and none was saved but a Gentile. And there were many widows in Israel, but none of them were fed but a Gentile woman. And you know what they did to him? They would have taken him out and stoned him to death if he had said, this is my purpose. They hated him for what he had to say. Why? Because he said, I'll save who I'll save. I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy.

What it is to preach the word, to preach Christ, number one, it is to declare the truth about the fall of Adam. Don't paint it prettier. It's a dark, dark picture. God said, the day you eat, you shall surely die. And we cannot even imagine the fullness of that death. It was so serious that Adam, when he disobeyed God, did not want to be around God anymore. He didn't want to have a conversation with God anymore. He didn't want to have God's righteousness anymore. He covered himself with his own fig leaf and he hid himself in the garden. He is dead, dead, dead.

I've said this a thousand times. There's only one place where we ever discuss what dead means, and that's in religion. And people will say, well, I know he's sick, but he's not quite all the way dead. That's not what the Bible said. The Bible tells us that we are dead in trespasses and sin. And it's more serious than we realize. And we will never understand an iota of it as we should understand it until God saves us by his grace. And then we say, that's really dead. I was so dead, I couldn't even hear the gospel with my spiritual ear.

Now we hear with this ear. We see it with this eye. We think of it with this mind and this heart, but it's not enough. We need to have a spiritual relationship. And that's what God ruined by the fall. The Bible declares as we do, as gospel preachers declare all the time, the truth about what happened in the garden, and we're not gonna make it more palatable. It was a serious thing when Adam disobeyed Almighty God. It was a serious thing. God said, the day you eat. Now he's not predicting it, he's promising it. What'd I hear this morning? That Jesus, when he was here, he predicted the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. My foot, what a statement. How idiocracy is that? He didn't predict nothing. He purposed it. And that's just what he does. He is a God of purpose.

Adam really was saying to God, you're not my boss. You know, I've had two grandsons tell me that, and I probably got another one coming. You're not my boss. I am right now. No, mama's my boss. She's not here. And Adam said, you're not my boss. And God said, I am God. And you died the moment you ate that fruit. He covered himself from God. We find the moment that he ate that fruit, he died spiritually. Now we know that he went on and lived a little bit longer, 900 years, 960 years in the flesh. But when he ate that fruit, he died spiritually.

You know, the Bible tells us a lot. What happened to Adam's decision-making ability? What happened to Adam's decision-making ability, spiritual decision-making ability? What happened to it? He lost it. Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 17. In the book of Jeremiah chapter 17, we find an Old Testament prophet saying, this is what happened to Adam's decision-making ability, spiritually decision-making ability. This is what happened to him. It tells us here in the book of Jeremiah chapter 17, Jeremiah chapter 17, and there in verse 9.

Now this word heart, we know what that means. That's not this blood pumper right here. It's the mind. It's the character. It's the nature. It's all of that. And he said here, the heart. We're not going to make it more palatable. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Now, I've met a lot of people. In fact, I was in that same group of people that would read that or have it read to me and says, yeah, I know somebody that's just like that. Yep, I do. I got a brother just like that. but you know it never hit me until the Lord saved me and then I realized that's the truth, absolutely the truth. The heart is deceitful above all things. It will do anything to convince us that the Bible is not true, God is not true, whatever the preacher had to say, that's not true. We have it all made up that heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it.

And then to what extent Does this condition overcome natural man? To what extent? Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter one. As we think about ruined by the fall, it is really ruined by the fall. There's not one part of us, one capacity of us, one atom of us that is not angry with God. We don't have any good part. Here in the book of Isaiah, chapter one, verse six, we read this about natural man. Another prophet says this, from the sole of the foot. Now where is that? Okay, I know where that is. I got it inside of my boots. Even unto the head. All right, what's that? Our whole stature. I think it's so interesting that by giving a thought, we cannot add one cubit to our stature, because it's still wrong. All right, goes on to say, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. Now, the prophet is, giving us some real illustrations from a natural view of man about our spiritual condition. He's saying, this is what we are spiritually. There's nothing in our head, down to our feet. In fact, the Apostle Paul is going to write to us in the book of Romans as he's led by the Holy Spirit to say, feet to shed innocent blood. A whole head, no soundness at all. We have no spiritual ability to come to Christ. We must be raised, that's part of the gospel.

But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores, they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. You know what we put on them? Fig leaves. We're no different than Adam. We put our own righteousnesses on us. And then we find out our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, unacceptable to God. Well, we find out by nature, by our natural birth, we're unacceptable to God. And we are commanded in that state to repent. We are commanded in that state to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul, and with all thy body. And we find that that's an impossibility. We find that as a saved person, that's an impossibility. I can't do that. It's impossible. Thank God for grace. Thank God for grace.

Paul wrote in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 15, for as in Adam, all die. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 22, for in Adam, all die. Everyone he represented, which is every human being that's ever been born, all of those that he represented. Now, when does this start in the human being? When does this spiritual death start in the human being? Well, David said, I came forth from my mother's womb speaking lies. So David was given the understanding that this does not start when we get 12 years of age. This does not start when we get five years old. It doesn't start when we come to, you know, the favorite word in the church I grew up in, age of accountability. It didn't start then. It started long before then. It started in the womb when we were conceived and sin did my mother conceive me. It wasn't the sin in the act. It was just that sin was passed on to me in conception. There was nothing that could be done. You know, doctors can do some marvelous things with those little bitty babies in the womb. They can detect problems right now. We had, Nancy has a niece that had a stroke in the womb and they were able to deal with it in her womb. All the surgeries they can do. But you know there's one thing that cannot be taken out? Sin. It's just right there. It's the natural part of natural man. My grandchildren, my children, Me, my parents, my grandparents came out speaking lies. And I just, I'm gonna stand by that, because that's what the Bible says.

Well, they're not always lying, well. Heart is deceitful above all things. In Isaiah 64, my time is about up. Isaiah 64, would you turn there with me? Isaiah 64, ruined by the fall. That's exactly what the Apostle Paul was going to take to those folks. That's exactly what those folks took to Judea, Galilee. They took, ruined by the fall. It's so valuable, so important to know.

Now we don't comprehend it like we should or need to or will until after we're saved, but it is a declaration that we must make. In Isaiah chapter 64, there in verse six, here's what the prophet said by inspiration, but we are all as an unclean. Now, thing is in italics. It wasn't in the original. It's been added. We are all as an unclean, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. We're so permeated, so filled, so everything of us.

Paul said, I did not come to you with enticing words of man's wisdom. it will not make any difference. The gospel will make a difference. We are allowed of God to hear the truth of Jesus Christ, the Savior of his people. There is only one who is all sufficient to do what is required. And in the book of Acts again, chapter four says, neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

Well, who's that referring to? Acts chapter four says there in verses 10 and 11, Jesus of Nazareth. crucified, risen from the dead. That's who this one is. So Paul and those saints were faithful to declare the gospel, the good news, the good news to sinners. The sin is made evident. The heart is deceitful above all things. Everything about us has a problem.

Oh, we're able to love our friends but not like we'll love them after we're born again. They will love our wives, but not like we'll love them after we're born again. We'll love our church, but nothing like we'll love our church after we're born again.

We're gonna stop there for now, and we'll pick up the second point, which is redeemed by Christ. Second part of the gospel, ruined by the fall, redeemed by Christ, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit, the gospel.