A dear, dear friend of mine,
I don't know if any of you ever heard this song or not, but a
dear friend of mine, Brother Mark Webb, has written some wonderful
songs and some hymns. And years ago, he shared this
one with me. And I have to tell you, folks,
since that day, this has just kind of been my testimony, this
song that Brother Mark wrote. And it's called This Poor Man. Once I was poor in the eyes of
God Poor for my sins against me was charged. My debt only grew with each passing
day. The price law demanded I just
could not pay. Jesus, come save me. Save this poor man. I cannot pay the price. You only can. He heard my cry. made me understand. He paid with his life's blood
to save this poor man. Deceived for so long by my hopes
and dreams, I thought my good works God's balance would swing,
but could I obey to His last command? Could be but my duty, it won't
pay for sin. Jesus, come save me. Save this poor man. I cannot pay the price. You only can. He heard my cry. made me understand and paid with
his life's blood to save this poor man. Now I am rich through Christ
God's Son. The faith that He gave has made
us one. No more do I stand in my filthy
dress, but clothed in the garment of His righteousness. Jesus, come save me. Save this poor man. I cannot pay the price. You only can. He heard my cry. made me understand. He paid with his life's blood
to save this poor man. He paid with his life's blood
to save this Poor man. Oh, aren't you thankful? Thankful
that there was one who had the price to pay for our sins. So grateful this morning that
he saved this poor man. Because if he hadn't, I'd still
be lost. Still be lost. Well, folks, there's
a lot on my heart this morning. I'm glad you just left that clock
there. I want to invite you to open
your Bibles with me to 1 Corinthians, Chapter 15. I'm grateful that you read this
morning what you read at the beginning of this hour from Galatians
chapter one, because that was a real confirmation to me. My
text this afternoon, God willing, will be from Galatians chapter
one. As I said, there's a lot on my heart. These past few weeks,
and I believe it's God who's burdened my heart as my heart
is burdened. These past few weeks, there's
been a growing burden on my heart as I consider what we look upon
as the church today. And oh, how refreshing it is
to be able to come to a place like this, where people believe
the truth, have not only embraced the truth,
but know that they embrace the truth because the truth has already
embraced them. What a privilege it is to be
able to preach to folks that know the gospel and what it really
is. But in the professing church
today, the burden of my heart is simply this, that even though
there always is a group of people, it seems, because God always
seems to have a remnant, when you get together with those who
call themselves God's people. Nevertheless, I fear that there
is a tremendous need in the hearts and lives of even many who would
call themselves the children of God, believers, Christians. Nevertheless, a tremendous need
to rediscover anew and afresh the gospel and its power. Isn't it a shame that we so often
forget, Brother Bruce, the things that ought to be the dearest
and the most precious things to us? And even what is sadder
than that is that when we find ourselves in that place of realizing,
we need to rediscover the gospel and its great power. When we find ourselves in that
place, then we also find that for that very reason we're not
guarding and protecting and keeping the truth that God has given
us dear to our hearts. And so, Brother Bruce, that's
really what's on my heart here this morning is that we consider
the need, and perhaps there's some of us here even this morning
that need to consider the need to rediscover the Gospel of God's
saving grace and its great power and realize that God has He trusted
us, His people, with that truth and given us instruction to guard
it and to keep it. So if you would look with me
as we begin here this morning in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 at
the first couple of verses in this chapter. Verses 1 and 2
of 1 Corinthians 15. Paul says, Moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which
also you have received, and wherein you stand." Oh, we could stop
right there. There's so much to think about,
to consider, this gospel that Paul preached. This gospel that
somebody preached to you sometime, somewhere back there in the past.
This gospel that, at a point, God opened your heart to see
and understanding. You received it by the grace
of God. You believed it. And perhaps have forgotten it.
The only way you stand before God today is in the gospel. In
the gospel. Paul is actually reminding these
folks that perhaps a more literal translation of this verse would
be, moreover, brethren, I remind you, I remind you of these things
that I preach to you, these things you receive, this in which you
stand, I remind you, by which also you are saved if you keep
in If you keep in memory what I
preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain." Oh, I
think we need to stop, Brother Bruce, and pray. Pray that what
God had the Apostle Paul write so many years ago would just
become a living and powerful word in our hearing and in our
hearts today. We need to hear it. It doesn't
make a bit of difference whether you hear me or not. I'm nothing. I'm nobody. I'm insignificant. I'm not important. But all God's
Word is. Everything I'm not. Everything
I'm not. Let's pray that God will give
us ears to hear. Can we? Let's pray. Our Father,
we're so unworthy. So unworthy that Please, at some
point in time, speak to our hearts as you did. Reveal the gospel
to us, Christ in the gospel, the Savior from sin, that one
who is our hope and always will be our hope of standing in your
presence, acceptable in your sight. Oh, Father, this morning,
would you be pleased to arrest our attention, to enable us to
focus upon your Word and to turn a listening ear, the ear of the
heart, toward the voice of your Spirit as you would speak? Lord, help us. We are a poor
and needy people. Help us, I pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. The Gospel. The Gospel. This morning I just call the
message, Rediscovering the Gospel and Its Power. And pray that
there might be such a discovery in somebody's heart today. A
rediscovery. Maybe a discovery for the very
first time. It may be that you're sitting here this morning and
the gospel has never become real to you. You've never really seen
it. You've never understood it. You've
never received it, as Paul talked about these folks receiving it.
If you've never received it, if you've never believed it,
you're certainly not standing in it. And apart from it, without it
and the hope it brings, you don't have any hope. Oh, may God help
us this morning. This message that we preach,
Brother Bruce, it's so precious. It means everything to me. And
sometimes I just grow damn right ashamed of myself when I find
myself not appreciating it like I should. Oh, the gospel. We've got to begin this morning
with the premise that the gospel is properly defined is good news. It's good news. And the very
fact that it's good news becomes all the more clear to us and
all the more real to us when we realize, by the grace of God,
that we're sinners. That we're sinners. Just last
week we were considering some of these things about the gospel
over in Plainfield there. And the Lord brought to my mind
that time when John the Baptist was out there on the banks of
the Jordan River, actually probably standing out in the river. And
he was baptizing folks and he lifted up his eyes and he looked
and he saw Jesus coming. Remember what he said? Behold,
look folks, the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. Do you know what John said didn't
mean a thing in the world to any of those folks except the
ones that realized they were sinners. Isn't that something? Oh, but anybody that realizes
they're a sinner hears good news like that. Behold, the Lamb of
God, which takes away the sin of the world. Oh, that's good
news. That's good news. We're sinners, aren't we? Sinners
by nature, sinners by choice, sinners by deed and act. Everything
about us comes right down to the fact that we're sinners. Started all the way back there
in the Garden of Eden, Genesis chapter two. God said, Adam. You can eat of any tree in the
garden, the fruit of any tree in the garden, except for one.
In the day you eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, in that day you shall surely die. Sin always
brings death. Just like God said it was. Just
like he said it was. And it didn't bring death just
to Adam and Eve, did it? Every one of us here today, every
one of us, young and old, infant to the oldest one here, are affected
radically by what happened there. Wherefore, as by one man, Paul
said, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death has
passed upon all men. And isn't that what Paul said
in Romans 3, 23, for all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. And what the glory of God is.
Well, there's a lot of things we could say that describe the
glory of God, they'd all come real short. But I believe the
best thing that I can think of that describes the glory of God
is sinless perfection. Sinless All have sinned and come
short of the sinless perfection of God Himself. A little bit
later, Paul says the wages, what we get for falling short of the
sinless perfection of God is death. Sin always brings death. And we're sinful by nature and
we're sinful by need, by nature. What we are as an inheritance
from Adam and Eve causes us to fall short of the glory of God. And then when we go on and commit
those actual sins, which we begin to do the very moment we're born, our actual sins only compound
the dilemma that we find ourselves in. It only makes it worse. You
know what that word dilemma means? Well, we use it for a lot of
different things, but in the context of what we're talking
about here this morning, that word dilemma that we find, all
of us find ourselves in, it means this. It is the state in which
evil, wickedness, or sin presents itself on every side and makes
it utterly impossible to find a way out. That's the dilemma
you and I come into this world. Not just facing, but in. That's our dilemma. Bound by
sin. Bound by wickedness. Enslaved
by that which is contrary to God's own sinless perfection. Oh, that we might see ourselves
in that boat. Because that's where we are.
True, folks. Every one of us. In other words,
you and I as sinners are enslaved and we are bound by humanly speaking,
let me stress that, by humanly speaking, unbreakable bonds. Unbreakable bonds. I remember
on one occasion the Lord Jesus was speaking in John chapter
8 to some very religious man and he told them, whoever sins,
is the servant of sin. Whoever commits sin is the servant
of sin. More literally, translated bond
servant, or clearer to us, simply slave. Whoever sins is the slave
of sin. Now what Jesus is teaching there
to those folks who didn't understand what he was saying, didn't agree
with him at all. Remember they said we've never been in bondage
to anybody. They just didn't grasp it. You know, the very
Lamb of God that God sent into this world to take away the sin
of the world was right there in their presence, right before
their very eyes. And they didn't want anything
to do with Him because they didn't see that they were sinners. Didn't
see it. Didn't see it. Oh, this morning
I pray that God will open your heart, your eyes to see. That
just like he says in his word, you are a sinner in the eyes
of God. I'm a sinner. We're sinners.
For all have sinned and come short of God's sinless perfection.
Well, what Jesus is teaching here to these folks is that the
sinner is unable to escape from his bondage to sin without the
powerful deliverance found only in the only Savior from sin,
the Lord Jesus Himself. A few verses further there in
John chapter 8, Jesus said, the Son, if He makes you free, you'll
be free indeed. Or you'll really be free. You'll
truly be free if the Son makes you free. And in that verse,
He's actually equating Himself with the truth. Because just
a few verses previously, he said, you shall know the truth and
the truth shall set you free. Well, what is that truth? Well,
the truth is. What we're talking about here
this morning, it's the gospel. The truth is the gospel, this
very truth. Paul referred to it there in
Romans chapter one. Verse sixteen, you might want
to just turn there with me just a minute. Romans chapter one,
verse sixteen. I trust many of you here this morning have this
verse hidden in your heart. I hope you do, because it really
speaks to what we're dealing with here this morning. The need
to rediscover the gospel and its power. Listen to what Paul
says in Romans one sixteen. He says, for I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto
salvation to all who believe, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed. The sinless perfection of God
is made known to us in the gospel. That which we fall short of is
revealed to us in the gospel, the good news. Oh, when we first
learn that, it doesn't sound like too good news to us, does
it? That we're sinners. Oh, but you see, the Lamb of
God taking away the sin of the world won't mean anything to
you unless you realize you're a sinner. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the
just shall live by faith, for the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold or suppress or hinder the truth in unrighteousness. Now,
when he speaks of the truth here and that there are some who hinder
that, suppress it, ignore it, just like those that Jesus was
talking to in John chapter 8, he's saying they're ignoring
the good news, the only good news there is, the gospel. They're
ignoring it. So you see, the gospel or the
good news from God is the only answer for sinful man's dilemma. Where we find ourselves, nothing
else will meet the need, nothing else will deliver us, nothing
else will set us free. The gospel, God's gospel is the
only answer for sinful man's dilemma, his slavery, his bondage
to sin, which, by the way, apart from God's free and sovereign
grace in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Apart from that, he finds
himself left right where he was when he came into this world.
Under the wrath of God. Under the wrath of God that Paul
mentioned there in Romans chapter 1 verse 18. Under the wrath of
God. And do you know what? If you're
under the wrath of God, do you know what you're facing? God's Holy, just, righteous condemnation. Condemnation. Oh, a couple of
Wednesday evenings ago. We've started on Wednesday evenings,
Brother Bruce, doing some word studies. And the word that we
looked at just a couple of Wednesday evenings ago was that word condemnation. Oh, dear folks, if you don't
know what that means, you need to look it up. You need to look
it up and understand what it means to be condemned by God.
There's nothing worse. There is nothing that you can
imagine worse than being under the condemnation of a holy, righteous,
sin-hated God. Nothing worse. Oh, but there's the gospel. There's
good news. There's good news. The wages
of sin is death. It is. That's the condemnation
of God, isn't it? Death. Eternal separation from
God. But there is good news. If the
wages of sin is death, God's gracious gift is eternal life
through Jesus Christ. Eternal life. Eternal life. John 3, verse 16. Everybody knows
that verse, I guess. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son
into this world to condemn the world, but that the world through
Him might be saved. That's good news for someone
who realizes that they're condemned by God because they're sinners. Well, this morning, let me ask,
just who is this good news for? Just who is it for? Well, I mentioned a few moments
ago, John the Baptist there, baptizing and singing to Jesus
and saying, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
the world. Who was that good news for? Who was it for? Well,
number one, it was good news for those who realized they were
sinners. and needed somebody to take away their sin. And the
news just got better when God graciously enabled them to put
their faith and their trust in that One who takes away the sin
of the world. So the good news, bottom line,
is for believers, isn't it? It's for those who believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that what John chapter
3 said there? Whoever believes in Him, Should not perish. Isn't
that what Paul was saying in Romans chapter one, when he says,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it's the power of God and
the salvation to who? To all who believe. To all who
believe the good news is for all who believe. Now, who is
that? Is that just that individual who believes for the very first
time? You know, I don't know how many times, Brother Bruce,
I've preached and sometimes preach just several weeks in a row just
on very plainly the gospel. And after a while, somebody in
the congregation will get me aside and say, aren't you going
to preach on anything else? Why are you just preaching to
those lost folks? Oh, let me tell you what, folks.
The gospel is good news for a lost man who sees he's a sinner and
believes in Christ. But we don't stop believing when
we first come to Christ. The just shall live by faith,
Paul said. If you were to examine closely, you'd have to be a better Greek
scholar than me to do this. I have to use all the helps there
are. But if you look at that word believe, Almost without
exception, when it's used, just like the Philippian jailer, what
must I do to be safe? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be safe. You know, that doesn't mean in
the Greek language, just believe once. The tense there is believe
and keep on believing. Believe and keep on believing. The gospel is the power of God
and the salvation to all who believe and keep on believing. Remember our text this morning
there? What was it Paul said? Let's turn back there. I want
you to look at this again. First Corinthians 15. Let me
just read those two verses again. Listen to what he says. See if
what I've just shared with you about believing doesn't apply
to what Paul says. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have
received, and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved,
if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed
in vain." Unless you didn't keep on believing, keep on trusting,
keep on relying on the only Savior from sin. You see, if your faith
was just something you had at a point in time way back when,
According to what Paul says here, it's probably vain faith. Real
faith continues. If God is pleased to put in your
heart trust and faith and confidence in the Lord Jesus, He's not going
to take it out. He's not going to remove it.
If anything, He's going to increase it. Oh, if you don't forget the
gospel, if you don't forget, if you keep in memory, These
things that are good news to believers. Oh, that text, 1 Corinthians
15. Gripped my heart a few weeks
ago, brother Bruce. Gripped my heart. Impressed upon
me how great is the need for the multitudes who call themselves
believers to be reminded of this gospel message. this gospel message. Did you hear it? Did you hear
what Paul said there? He wasn't writing that just for
those folks. He's writing that for us as well. Could it be this
morning that there might be one or two or more, maybe a handful
of us here this morning, who have forgotten and need to be
reminded that we might rediscover the gospel of God's sovereign,
saving grace in Christ and just how powerful it is. How powerful
it is. Well, the important thing this
morning is that we as believers of the church of the Lord Jesus
do just that. We discover just how important
this gospel message is. Let me say, if I can, emphatically
and even forcefully, God has given no greater treasure to
believers than the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to repeat
that. Listen to it. God has given no
greater treasure to believers, the church, than the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, don't misunderstand me,
folks. I want you to understand that
you simply cannot rightly divorce or separate the gospel of Jesus
Christ from Jesus Christ Himself. If you've got the gospel, you've
got Christ. If you've got Christ, you've got the gospel. You can't
divorce them. You can't separate the one from
the other. You cannot declare the gospel
without declaring Christ. You can't declare or talk about
the gospel unless you're talking about the Lord Jesus. You can't
preach the gospel without preaching Christ. You can't separate them. You see, the gospel message is
not just another message among so many messages. It is the message above all others. It is the message. For it, the
gospel, is the very uplifting and exalting of God's only begotten
Son as the only Savior for poor lost sinners. That's why Peter
said there's no other name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved. Only the name of Jesus Christ.
That's the gospel. Paul said, this gospel, this
gospel, hear it with your heart. This gospel, Paul says, I'm not
ashamed of it because it's the power of God unto salvation to
all who believe it. Oh, I wish we had time this morning,
and I'm not going to take the time because there's so much
more I want to share with you here this morning from the Word
of God. But if we had time, we'd just read a big portion of Ephesians
chapter one. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel, folks. Read it later, would you? Go
home later today, read Ephesians chapter 1, and think about it
as being good news. The gospel. The gospel of Christ. Every blessing in spiritual places,
in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, every spiritual blessing,
where is it found? In Christ. In Christ. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel. Oh, dear friends, this morning
we must rediscover the importance of the Gospel and the exceeding
greatness of the power of Almighty God Himself in the Gospel, the
Good News. You see, we as believers of the
Church, we are stewards of this Gospel
message. We're stewards. That word steward
means we're keepers. We're trustees. Now, why God
would entrust somebody like me or you with something so priceless
and such a treasure is beyond me. Because I know that he knew
how unfaithful we'd sometimes be with it. But nevertheless,
he's made us trustees of the gospel. Listen to what Paul said.
1 Corinthians chapter 4, if you want to go back a few chapters
there. 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 1 and 2. Paul says, let a man so account
of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries
of God. What are those mysteries? Oh,
that's the gospel. That's the gospel. Moreover,
he says, it is required in stewards Those who are entrusted with
the gospel, to what? To be found faithful. Now I believe with all my heart,
Brother Bruce, along with the Apostle Paul, by or with the
power of the Spirit of God, God has instructed not just Paul,
but all of us, to keep or guard the treasure that has been entrusted
Listen to what Paul wrote to Timothy, 2 Timothy 1, verses
13 and 14. Paul wrote to Timothy, he said,
Timothy, hold fast that form of sound words which thou hast
heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That
good thing which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost
and the Holy Spirit. which dwells in us." Sound words, Timothy. Hold fast those sound words,
that form of sound words. That good thing which was committed
unto you, keep. Now what in the world did he
mean by sound words and good thing? Well, to understand what
he's talking about there by sound words and good thing, We need
to go back and look at the context, look back at verse 8 and following
it, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 1. Listen to what Paul says. Be thou therefore ashamed, be
not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor
of me, his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of
the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and
called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace. which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began, but now is made manifest
by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished
death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
whereunto I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher
of the Gentiles." Oh, you can't read that passage without realizing
Paul is talking about the gospel. Timothy. Timothy, hold fast the
gospel, the sound words. Timothy, that gospel, the good
thing which was committed unto you, keep by the power of the
Holy Spirit. Oh, if we're to be faithful to
keep and guard this priceless treasure, we first of all got
to know the gospel, don't we? Got to know it. Got to know it. So we must do what Paul told
Timothy to do a little later. Chapter 2, verse 15. Steady. Steady to show yourself approved
unto God. A workman that needs not to be
ashamed. I believe King James says rightly
dividing the word of truth. Other translations say handling
rightly the word of truth. The gospel. The gospel. How are we handling it? I fear
the church is in the sad state it's in today because too many
believers have handled carelessly the Word of God. Oh, and they'll continue to do
so unless they rediscover the Gospel and its power, its power. Paul wrote earlier to Timothy
in his first letter, chapter 4, these words. Verse 15, Timothy, meditate upon
these things and give yourself wholly to them. Meditate on these
things. You know what that word meditate
means? Give some deep, serious, ongoing thought about it. Mull
it over in your heart. Don't take it lightly. Weigh
it carefully. Meditate on these things and
give yourself wholly to them. Are we doing that? Are we giving
ourselves as God's people wholly to the gospel? Or are other things
more important to us? What are we thinking about? Where
is our mind? Where is our heart? Where are
we as God's people? Brother, we better be standing
in the gospel, the good news. Meditate on these things. We
learn why this is so essential. To meditate on these things and
give ourselves wholly to them, if we look just one verse further,
verse 16. Take heed unto thyself and unto
thy doctrine, which is nothing less than the gospel. Continue
in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them
that hear you. Doing what Paul said to do does
two things. It enables those of us who know
Him to persevere in the faith. It enables us to persevere in
the faith as well as making the gospel the effectual means of
salvation to those who are yet lost in their trespasses and
in their sins. That's what He means by saving
yourself and them that hear you. Not that we're going to save
ourselves. Not that we can save anybody else. Oh, but if we give
ourselves wholly to this powerful message, the gospel that saved
us, we'll persevere. We'll live by faith in the gospel. And we'll preach it to those
around us that they might hear and be saved. Oh, if we had time,
we'd just look at some verses in 1 Corinthians where Paul talks
about the gospel there. what it is, what it is. Let me
just do a portion of this, share a portion of this with you. I
want to read some verses in Chapter 1, but let me just read the first
five verses of Chapter 2 of 1 Corinthians. Where Paul says, And I, brethren,
when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or
of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined
not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You know, Paul is saying, Timothy,
Give yourself wholly to the Gospel because that's what God has taught
me to do. Therefore, there is nothing else
important but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's it. And
I was with you, He said, in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power that
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God. In the power of God. The gospel. The gospel. The power of God. Oh, this was the Apostle Paul's
burden limit. This is what consumed his very
heart. It was Christ. Good news about
Christ. The gospel. And it's got to be
the burden of our heart as well. It must be. It must be, or the
world will perish in their sin. It will. Our text this morning
says, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel. And as I
said to you earlier, perhaps a better translation of that
is, oh brethren, let me remind you of that gospel that I preached
to you. Let me remind you. That gospel
that you heard and received, wherein you stand, by which also
you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you,
unless you believed in vain. Unless your faith was empty.
Unless your faith wasn't real. Oh, dear friend, why would Paul
write such a thing to these folks? Because nothing else Nothing
else is the power of God unto salvation. Nothing else. Apart from God himself, there
is no greater presence of the power of God to be found than
that which is found in the gospel. The gospel. Two times the Bible
calls the gospel the power of God. The power of God. Romans 1.16, 1 Corinthians 1.18,
I believe it is. The power of God. The Gospel
is called the power of God. And to the best of my knowledge,
nothing else in all of the Scripture, at least that I know of, is ever
described in this way except Jesus Christ Himself. 1 Corinthians
1.24, Christ the power of God. What's that tell us about Christ
and the gospel? They're the same. One and the same. One and the
same. You've got to remember, you can't
separate Christ from the gospel of the gospel from Christ. So
I believe that we can safely infer here this morning that
the gospel is not only powerful, but it is the very power of God
actually resides in the gospel. If you want to know anything
about the power of God, look to the Gospel. Look to Christ. The power of God does its greatest
work through the Gospel, in the Gospel. Oh, I want to tell you,
we get overwhelmed when we think about creation, don't we? God
said, let there be light, and there was light. Not compared to the gospel. Not compared to the gospel. Oh,
that we might see that there is no greater power seen. The
power of God is never seen more greatly than it is in the gospel,
in Christ. Brother Bruce, have you ever
been in the midst of a tornado? I tell you what, I've been real
close to being in the middle of tornadoes. What a demonstration
of the power of God. You know, I hear folks on the
news, you know, after a tornado like that one that was in Joplin,
Missouri, you know, some time ago, just devastated that town.
And the news would show pictures of the devastation. I mean, the
total destruction. That's God's power. That's God's
power. That's a demonstration of God's
power. That's not a demonstration of the power of the wind. That's
a demonstration of God's power. But did you know nowhere in the
scripture do we ever read that a tornado, a hurricane, a cyclone,
a tsunami, an earthquake, or anything else is ever called
the power of God? Never called the power of God.
What is called the power of God? The gust. The power of God unto
salvation. I've got family members that
are lost. Do you? I know folks that live right
next door to me that are lost. Donna works with some folks that
are lost. What about you? Do you want to
see the salvation of your lost loved ones? Do you want to see
the salvation of your lost friends and your neighbors and your acquaintances
and those that you work with every day of your life? Then
know and believe the gospel. It's the power of God to salvation. That Philippian jailer, you're
very familiar with what he asked Paul and Silas, what must I do
to be saved? Oh, believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Believe the gospel. Believe. Time and again in the book of
Acts, the power of the gospel is displayed. And almost without exception,
the gospel is displayed when somebody did what? Believed it. Believed it. Took God at His
word. Oh, how greatly we would see
the gospel working if we would only believe the gospel and give it its rightful place
in our hearts and in our lives. Well, Brother Bruce, I've gotten
halfway through the message. We not only need to rediscover
the gospel and its power, we need to realize that we've got
to guard it with all our heart. Guard it with all our heart.
Well, perhaps God will give us another opportunity to talk about
guarding the gospel. Guarding the gospel. How needful
that is. How needful. This is the message we preach.
This is the message. God has burdened my heart that some of God's people have
lost sight of what it is, forgotten it. God willing, this afternoon
we'll look at something that tells us why. Tells us why. Pray with me about that, would
you? Pray with me about that. Let's pray. Our Father, thank You. Thank You for such loving kindness
and mercy and grace shown to such rebellious, undeserving
sinners. Oh, Father, thank You for the
Gospel. Thank You for Christ. Lord, would you take your word
that we've considered this morning, make it, O God, a living and
powerful word in every heart. Use it for your glory. Remind
us, those of us who are believers, remind us, O God, of the gospel
and its power. And then use this word. in the
hearts and lives of those who are yet strangers to these things. Use it under the influence of
your spirit, O God, to quicken them and make them alive unto
you. Oh, help us, Lord, in Jesus'
name.