Good evening my brothers and
sisters in Christ. I bring you greetings from your
brothers and sisters in Christ at Crow West Virginia. And my wife says specifically
I had best make sure that I tell you all hello. She wanted to
be here but was unable to make it. But I am so glad that Joe
was able to come with me. One of the first people that
I ever remember hearing the gospel from was that man sitting right
there. I was in a regular Baptist, the
Association of Regular Baptist Church, way back up in one of
the hollers of West Virginia. And that man, when he was a whole
lot younger and I was a whole lot younger, was trying to find
a place to worship God. And Marvin, the place we were
at, the place he came to, wasn't the place where you worship God.
But God sent him there for a reason. And I've never forgotten that
day since. Turn with me, please, to Matthew
chapter 11. I have a couple of texts, actually,
for this evening. My first text is Matthew chapter
11. Verse 1, And it came to pass,
when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples,
he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now
when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent
two of his disciples, and said unto him, Art thou he that should
come, or do we look for another? I'm not here to speak about the
reason why John sent the disciples, whether it was for John's benefit,
or for the disciples' benefit, or for both. But I want us to
look at what Christ said. Christ answered and said unto
them, go and shew John again these things which you do hear
and see. Well, think about it. This is
what these men seen when they came. And they seen this literally. We're not talking about many
of the hucksters of our day who play games with men's souls and
men's bodies. He says, the blind received their
sight, and they were. They were receiving their sight.
And the lame walk, and they were. And the lepers are cleansed. And the deaf hear. And the dead,
physically dead folk, were being raised up. But then look at this next statement.
And the poor. That's not poor in paycheck. That's poor in spirit. Poor before
God. Having nothing in and of themselves
to offer to God. And the poor have the gospel
preached to them. Do you see that? Gospel preaching
is declared to be a miracle. You see that? Gospel preaching
is declared to be a miracle. And then he gives this word,
and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. Because gospel preaching is preaching
Christ. But notice he's not talking about
his preaching only, he says, Blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended. He doesn't say by me, though
that would have certainly been true, but he says in me because
not only was Christ preaching a miracle, but everyone else
around him that he was sending to preach the gospel. Marvin,
that was a miracle too. Now here's my second passage.
1 Timothy 3.16. 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16. Listen
as I read. And without controversy, therefore,
Paul is saying we do not debate this. This is the way it is. This is the truth. We don't debate
it. We declare it. And without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Have you ever tried to wrap your
mind around that? God was manifest in the flesh,
and this God who was manifest in the flesh now, he says, justified
in the spirit. Jesus Christ, in and of himself,
was the impeccable man. Perfect man. Justified in the
spirit. Seen of angels, and here we get
a hint of that again, look, preached unto the Gentiles. But then look
at this last one. Believed on in the world. Look at that. Received up in the glory. That when any man or woman young
or old, believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, it is as much the
mystery of godliness as God manifest in the flesh. That boggles my mind. That boggles
my mind. My subject for the night, my
title is this. Christ preached miracle. Christ believed godly mystery. You see, the preaching of the
gospel and belief in Jesus Christ, the God-man, is no human institution. This is not something men came
up with somewhere to soothe their consciences. This gospel, this
faith, was purposed by God before the world began. The gospel is not history. It's
not history. Sadly, there are thousands upon
thousands in this world that are preached Bible history concerning
the death of Jesus Christ. They believe that Bible history,
and they think that's salvation. But gospel preaching is miracle. And believing that gospel, believing
Christ, is the mystery of godliness. It is not giving mental assent
or even inner assent to historical facts. Gospel preaching is not
bludgeon either. You hear what I'm saying? Most
people in this world think gospel preaching is when you get up
and you hammer on people for the sins they've committed this
past week. Don't they? They'll get up and preach against
this and I don't want to name certain things because I don't
want to leave anything out. Not because I'm afraid of mentioning
some things, but you know, whatever's sin, look it, there it is. But
most people think that gospel preaching is condemning sin.
No, gospel preaching is preaching Christ. Because he said, blessed
is he whosoever is not offended in me, in me. All gospel preaching save Jesus
Christ himself. Now listen to me. Don't prejudice
your mind against what I'm about to say. All gospel preaching
save the preaching of Jesus Christ only. All gospel preaching is
sinner to sinner. There stands before you this
evening a sinner of the deepest die. And that is not one of my
religious talking points. That is what God Almighty has
forced me to see, willingly, knowingly, and now joyously,
that I am as corrupt as one can be before God. And yet God has
ordained the gospel be preached sinner to sinner. Now think about
that miracle, if you will. Marvin, I can kind of understand
Christ preaching, the God-man preaching, that would be a miracle.
The very fact that he's here in human flesh, that's a miracle.
But Christ is talking about all gospel preaching. It's sinner to sinner. Sinners
only believe when other sinners preach Christ. You think about
that. Sinners only believe when other
sinners preach Christ. Miracle? Most definitely. And the fact that anyone would
believe it. Godly mystery without question. Well, Paul says without
controversy. Without controversy. Miracle
and mystery indeed. This reminded me when I began
to think about this. And since Marvin asked me to
come up here and preach for you folks, I thank you for asking
me. Marvin, it means a lot to me.
It does. You know, us preachers, especially when you haven't been
to a place in a long, long time, what am I supposed to say in
particular? And then later this, these two
passages hit my mind. And Marvin, I thought this was
a few months ago. And I thought, I can't wait that
long to preach this. But I did. Because I believe
that this is for us this evening. So it reminded me of a few things,
so I want to remind you of a few things. I want to remind us of
four profound considerations. Think about these four things
first. I'll be brief on these. Who is sufficient for these things? Joe Galusik, are you sufficient
for this? Marvin, are you sufficient for this? I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. And yet we know
the truth of scripture is this, God is our sufficiency. You know what it says? God is
our sufficiency. Secondly, this treasure is found
in earthen vessels. Whether it be the preaching of
the gospel, it comes from an earthen vessel. Or whether it
be the believing of the gospel, that takes place in an earthen
vessel. See, I say vessel to vessel, sinner to sinner, This
treasure is in earthen vessels. And you probably know this. Marvin
maybe has probably even preached on this. That word means clay
pots. Earthen vessels is the King James
way. Clay pots. I'm not a mean vase. I'm not
a mean vase. God doesn't use mean vases to
bring his gospel to men and women. He brings sinners just like the
sinners that are being preached to. Any man who preaches down to
people does not know the gospel. And that includes me if I do
it in such a manner. Includes me. But one person has
said, and I don't know whether it's true. I've tried to study
a little bit of Greek and a little bit less of the Hebrew because
it's really complicated for me. But I've even read a few folks
where they say these clay pots, these earthen vessels, you know
what they might really be? Night pots. Anybody here remember
what a night pot is? And I'll just leave that right
there. Because I am worse than Balaam's ass. Do you understand
me? I am worse than Balaam's ass. And for me to stand here and
preach to you the gospel of Christ, that's a miracle indeed. I remember
when this man first brought me the gospel, I hated it with every
fiber of my being. And I remember thinking, God,
why is he here? And I don't say this to make
him mad. I know it makes him glad. Why
is he here? I wish he would just go away. But thank God he did not answer
my prayer. Thank God he did not answer my
prayer. You see, God is the excellent power in gospel preaching and
in gospel-wrought belief. The power of the message is not
in the messenger, it's in God himself. If you believe the gospel
this evening, whether it's the first initial time you've ever
believed or whether you've believed in the past and been continually
believing, that's an act of God Almighty. But the third thing I'm reminded
of, the third profound consideration, I think about this. When I thought
about these two passages and what they're actually saying,
I thought how dull I am. I thought about how complacent
I can become. I got a little thing, Joe, you'll
have to, I always forget it, is it U-B-S stick? U-S-B stick? Joe always has to help. I can't
even remember the letters. And you plug it into my truck
and there's like 278 messages from gospel preachers. And I've
listened to it over and over and over, but after a while,
Marvin, I find myself skipping over one. Oh God, how forgetful I am. How
sinful I am. You ever been like me and said,
well I like that preacher. Now this one over here, he's
preaching the gospel too, but this one over here is really
doing something for me. No he's not. If anyone's doing
anything for you, it is God Almighty. And remember, we often get our
eyes on the vessel and forget the message that the vessel is
proclaiming. And I thought, that can't really
be a sin, just skipping over. But I find myself skipping over
because, well, that one just didn't touch me like it ought
to. You know what the problem is? The problem ain't with that
man that's preaching that message on that stick. The problem's
right here. Because Marvin, if I always remembered
that the gospel preaching is this miracle and that believing
on Jesus Christ is a part of the godly mystery. I would soak
in every gospel message I hear and want to hear it over and
I've never got through that 278 messages. I started with the
first one and said I gotta hear it again. And I gotta hear it
again. And I gotta hear it again. And I gotta hear it again. Do
you understand what I'm saying? I'm so dull. So complacent. so forgetful, so sinful. What about you? What about you? Here's the fourth consideration. In spite of all that, you hear
what I'm saying? In spite of all that, how faithful
is our God to his son, to his gospel, to gospel preaching,
and to working belief in his people. It boggles my mind. God is doing
this immutably, faithfully, and he's doing it in spite of us. This religious world would lie
on God. Joe and I discussed this a little
this evening. The scripture calls it blasphemy. This religious
world would lie on God and say to you and I and everyone else
out here that God needs our cooperation. I'm glad God does not need my
cooperation. Because if God was dependent
upon my cooperation, I will go to hell for sure. So then, so then what is gospel
preaching? That is this miracle. this miracle. Here are two unassailable certainties. The gospel of God, because remember,
Paul warns that there are other gospels which are really not
indeed the gospel, but rather are a perversion of the gospel
of Christ. The gospel of God and the gospel of God, that's
its source, is always, is always, without fail, it's always concerning
God's Son. Romans 1 verses 1 through 3. If I fail to preach Christ, even
if I know Christ, Marvin, if I fail to preach Christ, I'm
not preaching the gospel. When I was young, I used to hear
preachers say that, and I was a young preacher. And I thought,
how can that be? There's so much in this Bible.
How can it all speak of Christ? And as the years have gone on,
I found, again, finding myself in, there's Christ. I read about a smoking flax.
There's Christ. I read about a Balaam's ass.
There's Christ. It's all there. The gospel of
God is always concerning God's Son. And if you ever believe
the gospel, you will believe His Son. Hear me now. It's not about believing
a certain set of doctrines. Although certain doctrines you
will come to believe. But salvation begins, conversion
begins, when men and women are bowed down to the person of Jesus
Christ. Here's the second unassailable
certainty. Gospel preaching is a declaration of done. Done. Gospel preaching is not
about what you should do. Gospel preaching is about what
Jesus Christ has done. Just a few passages, and I know
these are familiar. I pray God they're familiar to
you. Romans chapter five, listen to what Paul says. Romans chapter
five, verse six, for when we were yet without strength, so
how much strength do we have? We were without it. We had no
strength. Not even the first little inkling
of strength. For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. And the ungodly only. You know,
there are a lot of good people in this world. But in quotes,
Paul right here says it, doesn't he? For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. And there are righteous men and good men in this world
when they compare themselves to themselves. But we're talking about comparing
yourself to God. To God. But God commendeth his
love, verse eight, toward us into while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. much more than being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." And
then he says, for if, so he's going to explain exactly what
he's talking about. For if when we were not believers,
but enemies. in the midst of our rebellion
against God. For if when we were enemies we
were reconciled to God, how? Not even by believing, but reconciled
to God by the death of His Son. No one believes to be reconciled
before God. Believing the gospel is believing
that Jesus Christ did reconcile me to God when he died. Marvin, that's as plain as the
nose on my face. And I've been told the Pendletons
have a pretty visible one. It's clear. The writer of Hebrews puts it
this way. When Jesus Christ died on that cross, he sanctified
a people. And every one of those people that he sanctified when
he died on that cross, he also, when he died on that cross, perfected
those people. So there's a real sense, a real
sense, in which in Christ Jesus, Marvin Stoniker, I was born sanctified
and perfected. Though in myself, I'm as corrupt
as one could be. That's the gospel. According
to Paul Colossians 1.20, Christ has already made peace. And he
made peace by the blood of his cross. You've probably seen some
of the old westerns or maybe they're getting ready to hang
someone and say, make your peace with God. You can't do it. You
can't do it. Peace has already been made.
Believing in Christ is not attempting to make peace with God. It is
believing Him who has made peace with God. Justification, Paul
says in Romans 3, 24, 25, is done. It should be justified
by His blood. Blood. blood, much more gospel preaching. That is this miracle produces
gospel belief. That is the mystery of godliness. This is the, you know what I
say? This is the God ordained warrant
to arrest the subjects of his grace and mercy and compassion. If the gospel doesn't arrest
your soul, then you're still out on the loose. You know what
I'm saying? Then you're still out on the
loose. Oh, but thank God there are some people in this world
that God decreed an arrest warrant for before the foundation of
the world. Before they ever fell in Adam,
God Almighty in His Son had decreed an arrest warrant and He will
meet them at His time with gospel preaching. Let me give you three scriptural
validations of this. According to Paul in 1 Thessalonians
1, verses 4, 5, 6, and actually right on down to especially verse
10, gospel preaching will manifest who the elect are. You know what
it says? Knowing, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, your election of God. How can you do that? That was
done before the foundation of the world. Our names are not
written down in here, are they? Ah, but they are written down.
They are written down. But here's how you know that.
Brethren, beloved of the Lord, we know your election of God
because, because why? Because our gospel came not to
you in word only, but come in word it must. Come in word. You don't just wake up one morning
and all of a sudden you hear the gospel out of thin air. God's going
to send a sinner to you to preach the gospel to you. And you probably
will kick and buck against that from the get-go. But God Almighty
has an arrest warrant for your soul. And He'll bring you not
only to love Jesus Christ, but to love that sinner that brought
you the gospel too. Second, the second validation
of this, gospel preaching conquers the elect. And I want us to read,
but think about it, it conquers the elect. Look at 2 Timothy,
or 2 Corinthians, I'm sorry, chapter 10. 2 Corinthians chapter
10 verse 4, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, look
at it, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Think of it this way, here's
a castle wall and there are people dug in behind that castle wall.
And they say, I will not bow to God, especially in his son,
especially in his son. But if God almighty had his arrest
warrant for you before the world began, he will knock down your
castle walls. He will invade your soul and
he will bow you at the feet of King Jesus. casting down, look
at it, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity. God's gonna put you in chains. And then you will come to love
it. That's just what it, he'll put you in chains and you'll
come to love it. bringing into captivity every
thought, not to obedience to Christ, but to the obedience
of Christ. Do you see it? It's a done deal. True gospel-wrought belief is
believing Jesus Christ has already done it all. If you're in Christ. If you believe
Christ, if God has conquered you by the preaching of His gospel,
you owe God nothing and everything at the same time. And if God
ever causes that to really sink in to what I just said, you owe
God nothing, but yet everything at the same time. God didn't just conquer me 33,
34 years ago. Joe Galusik, he's still conquering
me today. Today. I'll give you this about
how cold and indifferent we can be. And I've told the folks at
chapel, I mentioned this about Joe, so I'm not trying to embarrass
him or anything. But I used to pray, oh, God, give Joe something
to say to me this morning. Most usually, Joe preaches every
Sunday morning. We take a little break, then
I preach every Sunday. So we both preach every Sunday morning.
Marvin, I remember, said, oh, God, give Joe something to say
to me. And I haven't ceased to pray
that prayer. But I realized there was something
really lacking in that prayer. It's, oh, God, give me a heart
and a mind to hear what you give Joe to say to me. Because anytime I don't get something
out of it, the problem's not with the vessel or the message. The problem's right here. The
problem's right here. But not only that. Turn with
me. One more passage. I'm going to
give you this third scriptural validation of this. God Almighty
arrests His people by gospel preaching. Gospel preaching will
so conquer your heart, mind, and soul that you will not be
able to get away with it even when you try. Even when you try,
well I'm not going to do that today and God Almighty will put
Jesus Christ right in here. Right in here. Look at it. Galatians chapter 3. Now think
about this. Gospel preaching makes Christ accomplished work
a personal reality to all the elect. Now I understand Galatians
chapter 3 verse 1 is given to rebuke Okay? It's given to rebuke. I understand that. It's given
to rebuke because these people have begun to turn away from
the truth of God unto something else. But as I've already preached
to you, as Paul said, Paul said, if you're one of God's, God will
turn you back around. That's what he says, doesn't
he, in chapter 5? God will turn you around. I'm persuaded of
this, he says. But look at this. O foolish Galatians, who hath
bewitched you? that you should not obey the
truth. Now there's, he's given it, this is a rebuke. But then
look at what he says. Before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently
set forth, crucified among you. Do you hear that? Do you see
it? These people were not at Calvary.
Huh? He's not suggesting that maybe
there were a couple handfuls of them that made the trip to
see the crucifixion. Is that what he's talking about?
You know better than that. He's saying that when God Almighty
sends a sinner to you to preach the gospel to you, Jesus Christ
will be crucified right there among you. And you'll see it
as it is. It will become not just a historical
fact, but a reality in your soul, so that you will cry out like
the Apostle Paul, the Lord who loved me and gave himself for
me. When I read that, I thought,
before whose eyes? Jesus Christ hath been evidently
set forth, crucified among you. It is as real to me, Marvin Stoniker,
as if I'd have been standing there at that cross. Do you understand
what I'm saying? That's how real it is to me.
As I begin to think about this, I think, please, God. Oh, God, I beg for mercy. I beg for mercy because I don't
know, I do know that I don't preach this gospel. with the
heart that it ought to be preached with, with the passion and compassion
that it ought to be preached with. This gospel preaching is
a miracle. But I remember I'm just a clay
pot. I'm just a clay pot. And I am
forced to cry out unto God, oh God, be merciful to me, the sinner. He started me out that way. And
I pray God, my last breath will be a part of that. My last breath. You'll never get beyond that
if God really saves you. If you ever get beyond needing
the mercy of God, because you're the sinner, then you miss the
mercy of God. Oh God, I beg for mercy. Oh God,
do not leave me to myself. Do not leave me to myself. Because
gospel preaching is a miracle. Every time you hear the gospel
preached, it's a miracle! And yet, I'm so dull to it. Even though it's conquered my
heart. Even though it's conquered my heart. Oh God, don't leave
me to myself. When it comes to hearing the
gospel, When it comes to believing the Christ who is preached in
the gospel, oh God Almighty, continually bow me down in love
and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith, Paul says, worketh,
or is energized by what? Love. It's sad, but there are
those who believe the doctrine of Christ. but they don't really
love Christ. Oh, God, if I have not loved
him up to now, oh, God, make me love him now. Make me love
him now. Why? Because my love is superior?
Oh, no. No, but he deserves all my love. Oh, God, may your gospel miracle
bow me to believe your blessed son. Mystery of godliness, indeed. Indeed. My last phrase is this. Oh God,
save me from myself. Oh God, save me from myself. Thank you, Brother Walter. I
was made to think as you were commenting on those things, He
that cometh unto me. A believer continues to come. You don't look back and say,
I came. Well, maybe you did. But if you
came one time, you continued to come. Realizing your need
to come. Thank you. That was a blessing.