Good evening. It's good to have
Bob and Carla Boyd with us. They're going to be here for
the month of January. I remembered they were coming,
but the time just slipped up on me. I didn't realize it was
January already. But they're going to be here
with us for the next several weeks, so we're so glad y'all
are here. Tomorrow afternoon at 4 o'clock,
The church van will be leaving from my house to go to Sarasota
for the meeting tomorrow night, and I think there's still two
or three seats left in that if anybody wants to go. Tom and
Cindy and Jeff will be driving over, and I guess Jimmy Ray,
you're going to ride with them. And ever y'all going over earlier
by yourself, okay, so are we so anyway services tomorrow night
in Sarasota are 7 and Then on Friday night at 7 and on Saturday
morning at 10, and if anybody would like to come over Need
a ride let me know I'll try to help you coordinate that with
who's who all's going I kind of have an idea Who's going when
so? If you're not able to go, I certainly
understand, but have we covered your prayers? The Lord will be
pleased to bless the services over there. Let's open our Bibles
together to Psalm 2. Psalm 2. For our scripture reading tonight. Why do the heathen rage? Why do they stand in such opposition
to God? And why do the people imagine
a vain thing? causes you to be a sinner and
gives you grace to see Christ, you just can't understand why
anybody can't see it. And that's what he's saying.
Why can't they see these things? The kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
his anointed, saying, let us break their bands asunder and
cast away their cords from us. We'll let God do what we allow
him to do, and that's about it. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them
in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have
I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree
the Lord hath set unto me. Thou art my son this day, have
I begotten thee. ask of me and I shall give thee
the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the
earth for thy possession." That's the Lord Jesus Christ
asking the Father for his people and what a blessed promise that
is. Thou shalt break them with a
rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's
vessel, Be wise now, therefore, ye kings. Be instructed, you
judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and
rejoice with trembling. Kiss the sun." I was so encouraged by the message
that Robert preached Sunday morning and the comments he made about
Michael's scripture reading from Romans chapter 9. about fearing God and what a glorious truth that
is to have a fear of God. To know that, serve the Lord with fear, rejoice
with trembling, kiss the Son lest he be angry and you perish
from the way. When his wrath is kindled but
a little, blessed are all they that put their trust in Him. Let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we come before Thee in need of Your grace, in need of Thy forgiveness. Lord, that You would be pleased
for Christ's sake to have mercy upon us, that you would put away
our sin from thy sight, and that you would give us the grace to
kiss the sun, to worship thee in spirit and in truth. We ask that you would send your
Holy Spirit in power to illuminate your word and enable us to set
our affections on Christ, who's seated at thy right hand. We
pray for the services in Sarasota this weekend, and we ask, Father,
that you would bless your word there, and that you would call
out your sheep, and that you would encourage your children,
and that you would build your church. We ask it in Christ's
name. Amen. Let's stand together again. Number 160. Will you open your
Bibles with me to the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. I had a conversation with a man.
recently and he commenced the conversation by accusing me of
setting up a straw man when I said in the context of a message that
if God loves those who go to hell in the same way that God
loves those who go to heaven then you must conclude that the
love of God has nothing to do with one's salvation He went on to let me know that
he was a professor in a seminary and that he'd have to think about
that. I said, well, no, it's just,
tell me, tell me what the love of God has to do with anyone's
salvation. So then in the conversation we
finally got to the meat of the matter when he began to define
the gospel. And so I asked him, I said, well,
what is the gospel? And he quoted from 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, verse 3 and 4. And this is what this seminary
professor, college professor, Bible college professor had to
say. He said, the gospel is that Christ died for our sins and
that he was buried and that he rose again the third day. That's exactly what he said.
He quoted that just like that. And I said, well, you left a
few words out. some very important words you left out the word how
and you left out the phrase according to the scriptures and he responded
by saying oh you part you're parsing the verbs in the Greek
now huh and I said no I'm just reading it right there in the
English how that Christ died according to the scriptures and
how that he was buried and rose again the third day according
to the scriptures. We concluded our conversation
by me letting him know that we worship two different gods and
that we in fact had ten-year-old children in our church that knew
more about the gospel than he did. And I don't think he appreciated
all that very much, but you never know. Maybe the Lord will be
pleased to cause him to hear. Paul does define the gospel here
in these three verses. When he says, moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel. I declare it. This is not something
that we're trying to hide from men. It's something that we're
trying to declare. We're shouting it from the rooftops. We want men to hear. We want
them to understand. We know that it's got to be a
work of grace in their heart. For the natural man cannot receive
the things of the Spirit. They are spiritually discerned.
But we're not keeping it hid. We're proclaiming it. commanding
all men everywhere to believe and declaring who the Lord Jesus
Christ is and what he accomplished in his death, burial, and resurrection. The gospel. The good news. And what's so good about it is
that it's all the Lord's work. It's all His work. That's the
kind of good news I need. I need something that I don't
have anything to do with. If I lay my hand to it, I know
I'm going to mess it up. I know I am. Has the Lord spoken to you and revealed to
you that you're not going to get any better than you are now? We live with this idea that I
just want to be a better person and sometimes the Lord just has
to shake you in because you're not getting any better and you're
not going to get any better. You're going to be completely,
totally dependent on me for all your salvation from now on. And the more you grow in grace
and the knowledge of Christ, the more you're going to see
your need for me. Paul said, I declared it unto
you, it was the gospel, which I preached unto you, which also
you have received and wherein you stand. This gospel is to
be believed, it's to be received, and it's the ground on which
we stand. We have no other standing before
God. There's no other place to be
safe in the presence of God than to have our feet planted on the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Rock of Ages. He himself is the gospel. He's the good news. By which also you are saved. This gospel actually saves. It
doesn't attempt to save. It doesn't offer to save. It actually saves. It actually
saves sinners. Those who have no righteousness
of their own, the gospel of God's free grace in how Christ died
according to the scriptures, how he was buried, how he was
raised again the third day according to the scriptures, You see, the
message of the gospel is not in that Christ died. Everybody believes that. Everybody
from the Catholics to the Charismatics believe in the historical event
of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
yet they don't know how. They don't know why. They got
the what figured out, but they don't know why. They're like
the children of Israel who saw the acts of God. They saw the Red Sea divided.
They saw the plagues of Egypt. They saw the manna come down
from heaven. They saw the water coming out
of the rock. They saw the fiery mountain.
They saw the acts of God. They saw what happened, what
God was doing. But to Moses, he knew why. why it was happening. The gospel
is in the why, not the what. This conversation I was having
with this man, he finally concluded the whole conversation by saying,
well it's not what you believe, it's who you believe. Now you've heard me say that
before and I don't think I'm ever going to make that statement
again. I've made that statement in relationship
to what the Apostle Paul said when he said, I know whom I have
believed and I'm persuaded that he is able. And I've made that
statement to help people know that don't be settled in thinking
because you know some doctrine that you know Christ. And in
that sense, it's not what you believe, it's who you believe.
But the who you believe has some what's about him. And if you
believe him for who he is, you're going to believe all the what's
and all the why's and all the truths about who he is and what
he's accomplished. There's just no getting around
it. By which also you are saved,
if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you believed
in vain. Unless you just had some kind of knowledge, you just
had an assent. You just had ears, but you didn't
hear. You had eyes, but you didn't see. If you believed Christ,
and if you ever have believed Christ, you do believe Him now.
And you always will. And if you don't believe Him
now, it's because you never have. The Lord's never saved anyone
halfway. Anytime he's ever converted one
of his children from darkness to light, they are in the light
for the rest of their lives, for the rest of eternity. The
rest of eternity. For I delivered unto you first
of all that which I also received." How? That Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that
he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Now the Lord Jesus Christ and
the apostles in the first century, they didn't have the New Testament.
All the gospel messages that were preached in the first generation
of God's church, the New Testament church, were preached from the
Old Testament. And what a glorious text we have. How that Christ died according
to the scriptures. Don't you love that story in
Luke chapter 24 where those disciples are walking back home after the
crucifixion actually after the resurrection and the Lord walks
along beside them and he begins to talk with them and reveals
to them from Moses and the prophets and the Psalms those things concerning
himself And when they got to their house, they pled with him
to stay and to break bread with him. And in the breaking of bread,
their eyes were opened. And what did they say? Oh, did
our hearts not burn within us as he spake with us along the
way. As he revealed himself through
the scriptures, he told us all the stories of the Old Testament
and what they meant and how they were fulfilled in him. Now we know. Now we know the
why. Now we know what was accomplished
at the cross. In Genesis chapter 3 verse 15,
when the Lord said to Satan, I will put enmity between thee
and the woman, between thy seed and her seed, and he will crush. That's what the word bruise means
there. You will bruise his heel and he will bruise your head. How do you kill a snake? How
do you kill a snake? You cut its head off, don't you?
That's exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ did on Calvary's
cross. He destroyed the works of the devil. He brought down
the gates of hell which shall not be able to prevail against
the gospel. He went into the very belly of
hell and brought out his people. that's what he accomplished how
that Christ died how that he was buried how that he rose again
according to the scriptures and beginning right there in the
very first promise that God made as to what the seed of the woman
would accomplish the Lord made it clear that he was going to
accomplish the destruction of Satan and deliver the people
that were held in his bondage Did he do it? Or did he just
threaten Satan? Did he just scare him a little
bit? Or did he actually accomplish
the destruction of Satan? The death, burial, and resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the accomplished work of Satan being
destroyed and God's people being delivered. It's accomplished. He's on death row. His sentence
has already been made. It's just a matter of time before
he's cast into the lake of fire. What about what Adam did? Eve was deceived when she believed
the lies of Satan, but Adam was not deceived. He went in with
his eyes wide open, and he ate of the fruit willingly, following
his wife into destruction, whereby he would ultimately bring deliverance
to her. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ did for us. When he went to Calvary's cross,
he wasn't deceived. He took on Himself willingly
the sins of His bride. He suffered the full penalty
of God's wrath for the sins of His bride so that He could save
her. And that's what He did. He saved
His church. He saved His bride. It wasn't
an attempt to save. It wasn't an offer to save. It
wasn't just a historical event that has to be believed. You
listen to these preachers today. They'll tell you, you know, this
is what the Lord's done. And if you believe, if you do
your part, you pray this prayer, then it'll work for you. That's
not what happened. That's not what happened. The
Lord Jesus Christ actually accomplished the salvation of his people. He actually crushed the head
of the serpent. He cut it off. He actually delivered
his bride from destruction and from hell. He actually did it. That's the how. That's according
to the scripture. Robert brought a great message
on Christ as our surety, bearing the full responsibility of his
people. From eternity past to eternity
future, he bears in himself all the responsibility of delivering
them, redeeming them, purchasing them, and saving them. Genesis chapter 43, Benjamin had to go back to Egypt. Joseph required it. And Jacob was afraid that if
he let Benjamin go that Benjamin wouldn't come back. He was his
favored child. Joseph had already been lost
and now he feared that Benjamin would be lost and Judah steps
in. And Judah says to Jacob, I will
be surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not and set him
before thee, let me bear the blame forever. Now those words surely are prophetic. The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking
through Judah there and he's saying to the Father, of my hand,
of my hand thou shalt require them. And if I don't bring every
one of them to thee, I'll bear the blame forever. Is it possible
for the Lord Jesus Christ to bear the blame before the Father
for not having accomplished the salvation of his people? Is it
possible? No. The gospel is not in the historical
events that took place 2,000 years ago. It's what was accomplished
in those events. How that he died according to
the scriptures. The Lord tried Abraham, told
Abraham, take thy son, thine only son, and offer him up as
a burnt sacrifice to me. And Abraham, in faith, believing
that God was going to raise Isaac from the dead, for he told his
servants when he went up on the mountain, he said, the lad and
I are going to worship God and we shall return. He fully intended
to do what God commanded him to do. to slay his son, believing
that God was going to bring him back to life. And Isaac said,
Father, here's the fire and here's the wood, but where is the lamb? And Abraham said, Son, God will
provide himself a lamb. God will do all the providing
he will provide himself as the lamb and he will provide the
lamb to himself God's gonna do all the saving and that's how
that Christ died was buried and rose again the third day according
to the scriptures don't you know that when the Lord talked to
those disciples on the road to Emmaus these were some of the
stories that he spoke to them about the clear teaching of the
scriptures. Surely he spoke to them about
the Passover lamb, the lamb that was to be brought in without
spot and without blemish, the lamb that was to be slain and
to be burnt whole and consumed and nothing of it was to be left,
symbolizing himself as the lamb of God who suffered the full
fire wrath of God's judgment for the sins of his people. and
the blood that was to be taken and put on the doorpost and the
lintel of the door and God saying to the Israelites when I see
the blood I will pass by you that's how Christ died was buried
and was risen again the third day God saw his blood the only hope we have is to be
behind the blood to be under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only sacrifice that
God's pleased with. He's not pleased with your sacrifice.
He's not pleased with my sacrifice. We've got too many spots and
blemishes, don't we? We're leprous sinners from head
to toe. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one that could offer himself up to God. and satisfy the demands
of God's holy justice, providing himself as our righteousness
before God. How that Christ died, was buried,
and rose again the third day. Perhaps the Lord spoke to those
disciples on the road to Emmaus about that Moabitess by the name
of Ruth, who was brought back to the house of bread with Naomi,
and how she just happed upon Boaz's field, and how Boaz just
happened to be her kinsman redeemer, and how Boaz met with that kinsman
that was nearer to her than he, and reconciled with that kinsman. being a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ as our kinsman redeemer, going to the law of God and satisfying
that kinsman that's nearer to us than even the Lord, putting
away the law and purchasing us unto himself. That's how that Christ died,
was buried, and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. These are just highlights, aren't
they? All the scriptures, all the Old Testament stories, every
passage of scripture from the Old Testament tells us something
about how that Christ died, was buried, and raised again the
third day, according to the scriptures. The gospel is in the why, not
the what. The gospel is in how? Genesis chapter 39 when Joseph
was wrongly accused by Potiphar's wife and thrown into prison and
the scripture says that the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's
hands all the prisoners. So now all the prisoners are
given to Joseph to be in charge of them and here's what the Word
of God says and whatsoever they did there he was the doer of
it. How that he died was buried and
rose again on the third day according to the scriptures God the Father gave to our Joseph
all the prisoners and says whatever they do, he's the doer of it. He's the doer of it. He's the
one that satisfied the law. He's the one that put away the
wrath of God's justice. He's the one. Did not our hearts burn within
us when he spake with us along the way? Oh, that tabernacle
that God gave to Moses to build, every part of it, every bit of
it, from the single door that entered into the tabernacle,
to the showbread, to the lights, the veil to the holies of holies
everything pointed to the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ
culminating there at that mercy seat when God says you take the
blood of the lamb you bring it in once a year you put it on
the on the mercy seat on the day of atonement atonement that
word means covering and when I see the blood I'll pass by
you and there I will meet with you there I'll meet with you
That's how that Christ died, was buried and rose again on
the third day. According to the scriptures. All these Old Testament stories.
And then we read of another atonement in the Old Testament. When God
said that he was going to destroy the earth. He looked down from
heaven, he saw that every imagination of the heart was only evil and
that continually. And he said, I'm going to destroy
the world. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah
preached the gospel while he built that ark, didn't he? And
the scripture says that he pitched it within and without. He sealed up every crack and
crevice in that ark so that it was waterproof. And that word
pitch means a covering. It's the same word translated
atonement. And that ark was a picture of
Christ. And when Noah and his three sons and their wives went
into the ark, the scripture says, God shut the door. God shut the
door. Now how ridiculous would it be
for Noah, after the door had been shut, and that and the depths
have been opened and the water begins to fall to hang out a
sign on the outside of the ark saying smile God loves you and
has a wonderful plan for your life. But you know what men do today? Or they'll put up a sign that
says, God is not angry. You suppose those folks that
were drowning in the flood thought that God wasn't angry? And as it was in the days of
Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man.
Few will be saved. And though the destruction won't
be by water, it will be by fire. And the only hope The only hope
that you and I have is to be in the ark. That ark that's pitched
within and without, that ark that's waterproof is the only
thing. He's the only one that can save
us from the wrath that is to come. And it is coming. And it's coming sooner than later. And the only reason this world
exists The only reason, the only reason this world exists is for
the church and for the salvation of God's people. And the proof
of that is that when the last of God's lost sheep is found,
it's over. It's over. There's no more need
for this world. There's no more purpose for its
existence. God's going to roll it up like
a scroll, the scripture says. You know what that means? That's
biblical language for... The scrolls were books, right?
And to roll up a scroll means that the book's been finished. That's what it means. He's going
to shut the book, and it's going to be over. How that Christ died, was buried,
and rose again according to the scriptures. It's not an offer of salvation.
It's an accomplished work of redemption. That's what makes
it good news. That's why it's called the gospel. What about Jonah? been sent by
God to Nineveh to preach the gospel and in rebellion against
God he finds himself on the high seas and in a storm and and even
the mariners the sailors are are fearful for their lives and
they're trying to figure out what to do and Jonah finally
admits that he's the cause and he says to them cast me into
the sea and reluctantly that's what they
did And as soon as Jonah went into the raging waters of the
sea, it was calm. Jonah spent three days and three
nights in the belly of a fish, didn't he? The scripture says
that when he declared salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is God's work. Salvation is what the Lord Jesus
Christ accomplished. How that he died. How that he
was buried. How that he was raised again.
According to the scriptures. What does the scripture say about
Jonah? And the fish vomited him up onto dry ground. What a picture
of the resurrection! The earth couldn't hold the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's hell! It vomited Him out! Right on to dry ground. The Holy
One could not see corruption. He could not remain in the grave. Why? Because He had satisfied
everything that God required for the salvation of His people.
The grave couldn't hold Him. that he died according to the
scriptures. God told a prophet by the name
of Hosea, take unto thee a wife of whoredom and children of whoredom
for my people have committed a great whoredom against me. And Hosea took Gomer, and it's
exactly what Gomer was. And all along in her whoredoms,
Hosea is providing for her gifts. She thinks her lovers are leaving
them, but Hosea is taking care of her. Why? Because he was her
surety. He was providing everything that
she needed, even when she got on the slave block and was being
sold as a slave. Worn out! from her life Hosea shows up with the purchase
price and buys her back to himself and she remains faithful to him
all the days of her life this is a picture isn't it this
is what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for his church for his
bride His love is very particular for her, isn't it? This isn't
a God that just loves everybody and wants everybody to be saved. Jared, Wayshie, and Lauren were
married last Saturday evening up in Kingsport. I had the privilege
of being there and helping with the service. Lauren's dad, Tony
Moody, asked Lauren, 22 years old, he said, Honey, this was
the night before her wedding. He said, Honey, are you ready
to be married? And she said, Daddy, I'm ready
to be married to Jared. Ready to be married to Jared. She had a particular love, didn't
she? That's the kind of relationship that Christ has with his bride. It's not a general offer of salvation
for all men. If you've heard that God loves everybody
and Christ died for everybody and God wants everybody to be
saved, you've heard a lie. It's not true. And if you're going to interpret
1 Corinthians 15 as the gospel that Christ died for our sins,
was buried and raised again the third day, as if just believing in that
event that took place 2,000 years ago is sufficient for your salvation,
you're going to find yourself outside of Christ. outside of
Christ. Believing what he accomplished,
believing who he is, what he's done, in order to redeem his
people according to the Scriptures. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we ask that your sweet Holy Spirit would
comfort our hearts with faith to believe that Christ would
do that for us. We ask it in His glorious name.
Amen. Number 60 in the Salt Back Temple.
Let's stand again. Okay.