Good morning, everyone. A couple of weeks ago, Marvin
started to preach about prayer. And I know sometimes when he
calls on me to pray, it seems as though you ever wonder if
it gets above your head. You worry about what you're going
to say, what people think of what you're going to say. But
this morning, what I want to do is read to you from a little
book titled The Valley of Vision. It's a collection of Puritan
prayers and devotions, and it doesn't give the author, but
this is, whether it's a devotion or whether it's a prayer, I'm
sure those of you who are believers this morning will be able to
relate to it. Because this is from the heart,
and I pray that it might be from my heart, too. I'm going to read
it to you. It says, Benign Lord. And when I read that, I thought,
well, that's kind of strange using the word benign. I've never heard
that before, given the way we use it today. So I looked it
up, and what it means is kindly. And obviously the Puritans used
that term a lot, you know, when they wrote. It says, Benign Lord,
I praise Thee continually for permission to approach Thy throne
of grace and to spread my wants and desires before Thee. I am
not worthy of Thy blessings and mercies. For I am far gone from
original righteousness. My depraved nature reveals itself
in disobedience and rebellion. My early days discovered in me
discontent, pride, envy, revenge, Remember not the sins of my youth,
nor the multiplied transgressions of later years. Boy, here's one that hits me
hard. It says, my failure to improve time and talents, my abuse of mercies and means,
my wasted Sabbaths, my perverted seasons of grace, my long neglect of thy great
salvation, my disregard of the friends of
sinners. While I confess my guilt, help
me to feel it deeply, with self-abhorrence and self-despair. Yet, I love
this, yet to remember there is hope in thee. and to see the Lamb that takes
away sin. Through him may I return to thee. Through him may I listen to thee. Through him may I trust in thee. Through him may I delight in
thy law. Through him may I obey thee. and through him be upheld by
thee." He says, preserve my understanding
from error, my affections from love of idols, my lips from speaking guile, my conduct from stain of vice,
my character from appearance of evil. that I may be harmless,
blameless, rebukeless, exemplary, useful, light-giving, prudent,
zealous for thy glory and the good of my fellow men." Again,
I said, that's a prayer I can't offer. I wish I could pray like
that, but I can't. And Marvin's going to teach us
he's going to teach us a little bit about that in a few in the
coming weeks and I hope that would help us all because I certainly
need. A believer. Is one. That truly. Has been made to see something
of his frailty. Paul said in Romans 9 to will. Is present with me. You know,
I would. I would desire to. To know and I would desire to
act, I would desire to pray. But how to perform that which
I would. Turn with me to Romans 15. Let's
look at a few verses here. Romans 15. We're going to actually be looking
at verses 18 to 21 in a minute. Last time we were here, we ended up with Paul the Apostle having
dealt with the graciousness of God's people. They act graciously toward others,
believers and unbelievers. Graciousness is a fruit of God's
Spirit that I by nature, that is, as being born in Adam, I
don't possess. I mean, I understand somebody
says, well, I know people that are kind. I know people that
are, you know, friendly, and I work with them, and they're
nice people, and they're kind people. But do they do what they
do for Christ's sake? There's a difference. Gracious
people. Paul set forth that God's redeemed
people, called out of darkness, they are gracious in the regenerating
power of the Spirit of God. So this morning, in continuing
with that thought, that's where we ended up with verse 17, I
have therefore, whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ and
those things which pertain to God. I'm going to glory in the
Lord. So the question that I want to
ask this morning is this. To whom do we give glory? Who do we give glory to? Who gets all of the glory? and salvation. Jeremiah, let
me read this to you. Jeremiah 9, 23, 24, Thus saith
the Lord, Let not the wise man glory. Now that word glory right
there means boast. It means boast. Sometimes the
word glory and it depends on how that word is used. But this
word means boast. Let not the wise man boast in
his wisdom. You know, man by nature, especially
if he's got a little education, Lots of kind of flaunt that a
little bit, you know. Marvin Stoniker, you know. B.S.,
M.S., Ph.D., you know. I don't have all those. Neither let the mighty man glory
in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glorieth. Let him that boast. Let him glory in this, that he
understandeth, that is, that he comprehends, and knoweth,
discerns me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness,
judgment, righteousness in the earth. For in these things I
delight, saith the Lord." If a man is going to boast, let
him boast in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1.31. that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." Paul
had said in that verse I just read, 17, I have therefore whereof
I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain
to God. Paul was saying, therefore, I
have boasting. But, he said, my boasting is
in Christ Jesus. as to the things that pertain
to God. I boast in the Lord." You know, being sent on this
most honorable calling. Paul was a preacher. He had said
in one of the books he wrote, he said, Paul, a servant of God,
called to be an apostle. God's people are his servants. Whatever the master bids, that's
what the servants do. Paul was called to be an apostle. Brother Neal was just talking
about prayer. There he is. There's a study
coming in Romans, in this book. And it's concerning prayer. And
it's a most rich study on prayer. Paul coveted the prayers of the
saints. Someone would say, well, you
know, Marvin, you've been called to be a preacher. Well, we've
all been called. God's called all of His people
to something. But I'll tell you, there is a
calling, a praying for one another. And I covet that. When I ask
you to say, pray for me, I've learned a little bit about this.
Here again, be careful Neal. I'll get right into that part
of this book, this chapter. Be specific when you ask. You
come up to somebody and say, Pray for me! Tell them something. Tell them something. You've got
something on your mind. You're thinking something. Tell them
something. Pray for me. Let me ask you something. Would you pray for me, that Almighty
God, would bless the preaching of this message right here. I pray that the Gospel this morning
would run well, that God would bless it to the hearing of His
people, the understanding of His people, the settling, the
comforting of His people. Paul said, I have boasting, but
my boasting is going to be in the Lord, a believer of whores. He hates glorying or boasting
in himself. And any time that you have something
that in your mind is the reason why you think yourself to be
saved, any time you think that there's something you've done
in order to establish salvation, you'd say, well, the Lord offered
it graciously and I took it. As I've said before, really what
you're saying is, I was the final word. God offered it, and He
was gracious to offer it, and the Lord Jesus provided everything
that was necessary, and it's just left up to me? It's left up to me? That I have
the last word? Well, you're boasting in yourself
then. No, I don't believe it's worse.
Yes, it is. You can't crawl fish around that one. You're not going
to sidestep that one. You're not going to back paddle
any way you want to say it. That's the way it is. Paul said in verse 18 and 19
of Romans 15, For I will not dare. to speak of any of those
things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles
obedient by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by
the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round
about unto Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ."
Paul said, I glory in the Lord. Our glory in God's power, God's
will, God's mercy, God's grace, God's providence, our glory in
the Lord. And he said, I'm not going to
dare, I am not going to be bold to speak or to utter my thoughts
about any of those things which Christ hath not wrought, which
Christ hath not accomplished through me, to make the Gentiles
obedient by word and deed." Paul is saying, I'm not going to make
up, I'm not going to mention anything that carnal man glories
in. I don't want to talk about it. I'm not going to waste my time
talking about it. If the accomplishment of the
calling out of the Gentiles, this is what he's saying, is
not going to be ascribed to the operation of the Lord Jesus Christ
through the power of the Holy Spirit, through the choosing,
electing grace of the Father. If it's not going to be that,
then I don't want to talk about it. I will not dare to speak
of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me,
to make the Gentiles obedient through word and deed." There
was a time that Paul did want to talk about it. Back in Philippians
3, you know, Hebrews circumcised the eighth day. Concerning righteousness,
I blame thee for the law. There was a time when he wanted
to boast. And if you really want to know what a man thinks, concerning
his stand before God, just listen to him. Just give him a minute. Just give him a minute. And when
he gets through all the religious jargon, you know, just a few
minutes, he'll come around to what he's done. It will always
come back to him. Paul said, I don't want to talk
about it. A believer knows salvation to
be of the Lord God of heaven. He knows that. Paul admits. It was Christ that through me,
the instrument, a preacher, that's all I am. God caused the Gentiles
to be obedient. Paul said, it was not me. And
Paul says, and it was the Lord that confirmed it through mighty
wonders and signs by the power of the Spirit of God. I know
that there's a religion, a denomination that's just built on, well, probably
more than one. One in particular I think about
where they just make a big deal that what they're looking to
is signs and wonders and miracles. That's what they're looking for.
Listen to me. Signs and miracles and wonders
were given as a confirmation by God through the apostles that what these guys were preaching
was the truth. God took his apostles and an
apostle could, and I won't go back if you'd like for me to,
please come up to me and I'll get the scriptures for you and
I'll show you this. An apostle by the power of God
for the confirmation could do these miracles and signs and
wonders by the power of God. and they could confer it, that
power, to another. There were some that did on the
laying on of Paul's hands, and Paul was an apostle. Paul said,
I was an apostle born out of season. Judas, and the Lord put
Paul there. I'm going to tell you something.
An apostle learned the gospel at the mouth of Christ. The apostles. had the power given by God for
a confirmation that what they were preaching was so. And they
could confer it. But after that, these other ones
couldn't pass it on. They didn't pass it on. Now,
like I said, ask me and I'll show you those scriptures. Because
I'd be foolish to be standing here and telling you this is
so, and it's not. Because somebody may come up
and call me on it. So if you'd like, I'd be glad
to. Signs and Wonders. 1670, and these signs shall follow
them that believe. In my name shall they cast out
devils. They shall speak with new tongues.
They shall take up serpents. If any of them drink any deadly
thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay on hands of the
sick. They shall recover. Not all of the signs were accomplished
by every apostle. These were signs that were accomplished
by different ones, by the good choice and power of Almighty
God. When it pleased God, but not every one of them. did all
of them, but they were signs. On the day of Pentecost, the
Spirit of God poured out His power, and in Acts 2, 4, and
5, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak
with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance, and there
were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men out of every nation
under heaven. On the day of Pentecost, the
Spirit of God poured out Himself upon a group of preachers some
Jews, and there were a group of Jews out of every nation that
was around, and they were all there. And these Jews that were
preaching, which Peter was one of them, they started preaching
with other tongues, languages that they had never learned.
I told you before, I don't speak Spanish. Now, there's times that
I may try to make you think I do, but I don't. I know a couple
of words. You know, I understand Spanish
when I hear it. I hear somebody speak and I say,
that's Spanish. I don't understand it. Somebody speak to me in Spanish. My mother speaks French. My mother
speaks fluent, she's 24 karat French. She talks to her sisters
and stuff like that. They speak French to each other.
Now I can understand, I hear it and I say, that's French right
there. But I couldn't tell you what
she's saying or anything. I don't understand it. So I don't
speak French. But if, for an example, I'll
tell you what this was right here. There were some preachers
there. And these preachers, these Jews,
were not from where some of these other folks were. But the Spirit
of God, through these men that had never learned those languages,
whatever those words, Cappadocia, in different places, they were
able to speak that other language, a tongue, an unknown tongue to
them. But God spoke through them, and
they spoke that language. Because some of them said, these
guys are Galileans. How is it that we hear every
one of us in our own language? God wrought a miracle. It was
called the speaking in tongues on the day of Pentecost. It was
languages that they had never learned, not just gibberish that
people say. You know, it goes in this mumbo-jumbo. He spoke to Jews. And then in the
book of Acts, chapter 10, for the sake of time, it's Acts 10,
44 to 48, God, through Peter, came and preached the gospel
to Cornelius. Cornelius was a Gentile. And
the same thing happened. These guys began to speak. There was Peter. You don't have
to come ask me now. Here's one of the examples. Peter
came and Cornelius and Cornelius had the gift. Cornelius never
gave it to anybody. But God confirmed through these
signs and wonders that he had blessed the Gentiles. Some of
those Jews said, those guys are speaking in tongues
just like we did, just like the Jews did. God blessed us. So
Paul is saying back in Romans 15, I'm not going to speak of
any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me to make
the Gentiles obedient by word, indeed through mighty signs and
wonders by the power of the Spirit of God. These were signs and wonders.
Hebrews 2, 3, and 4 says, How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the
Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him? God also
bearing them witness, those that heard Him. God bearing them witness
both with signs and Wonders and diverse miracles and gifts of
the Holy Ghost according to His own will. How are we going to
escape if we neglect what God's confirmed? How are you going
to do that? How are you going to escape? You're not. You're
not. So Paul, knowing that salvation
is all of grace, it is of the Lord, that no man by any means
has any right to glory or boast in himself, he bows to the ordained
means of calling out of God's sheep, the gospel. Somebody says,
Marvin, you basically preach the same thing every week. Thank
you. Thank you. If I ever deviate
from preaching the same thing, have you ever noticed how the
message is the same every scripture? It comes down to the same thing.
And you know what? A believer is listening to that.
Let me hear that which honors Him. Let me hear that which doesn't
honor me. Let me hear Christ and Him crucified. Paul says, I am not going to
glory in anything that God through Christ hasn't done. He said,
I fully preached the gospel of Christ. I preached it from Jerusalem
to Illyricum, I preached the gospel. I fully preached the
gospel. That's what he said in the latter
part of verse 19. I fully preached the gospel of Christ. What does
he mean when he said he fully preached? He accomplished by
the Spirit of God, the power of God, the work that the Lord
had called him to do. That's what he said. When he
said, I fought a good fight, I finished my course. Paul wasn't
boasting himself. He said, what God had purposed
to accomplish through me, God accomplished it. God did it. Now, you know, that's a pretty
bold statement. You know what? It's so. Every
believer could say this. God has done that which God has
been pleased to do. 2 Timothy 4, 17, notwithstanding,
the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching
might be fully known, that all the Gentiles might hear, and
I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion." You know, when
we are persuaded by the Spirit of God that salvation is of the
Lord, and that of ourselves we can do nothing, that the Lord
has ordained us a place, a position within His body, We don't want
to boast ourselves. Oh, that tendency is there, believe
me. Don't get me wrong. But I'm telling
you, we don't want to. That new man doesn't want to.
The old man does and does. He does boast in himself, but
not the new man. Paul was diligent. He said, I
preached, I fully preached the gospel of Christ. So not only was he diligent concerning
what he preached. This is what I'm going to preach.
I'm going to preach the gospel. As I've said before, I'm telling
you, people will say, you ask them, say, do you believe the
gospel? And they say, yes, I do. And I ask them, say, what is
it? Tell me what the gospel is. And
you think about this. You know what's amazing about
this? How many times have we sat and heard the gospel preached. And believe it. And believe it.
And then when somebody would say, well, what is the gospel?
You'd say, the gospel is the declaration
of what God has done in the salvation of Israel. And from that, everything
springs. It's the declaration of what
God says He saw concerning The salvation of His people and the
glorifying of His blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul
says, I have preached the gospel of God. But not only was he diligent
in what he preached, he was diligent about how he preached it and
where he preached it, but how he preached it. Verse 20 says,
Yea, shall I strive. to preach the Gospel. I strive
to preach it. What do you mean, Paul? You strive
to preach it. It means from a love of honor. That's what it means. Strive
for a love of honor. To be eager to do it for the
glory of God. strived. You know, we're so prone
to, we're tempted often to not do
the right thing. I had a buddy of mine years ago,
he was at West Point, and he told me that when he first went
in as a first year cadet, a plebe. I asked him one time, what does
plebe mean? He said it means nothing. It means nothing. You go into
West Point and that's what they consider you. You're nothing. And they do their best. He told
me, he said they do their best to get you to drop out as fast
as possible. If they get you to drop out first
day, that's what they're striving for. They want to see how many
can they get How many quitters you got in here? How many quitters
do you have? I mean, I mean, I mean, you're
going to just, you know, forget that. I'm not going. He told
me this, he said, before you got out, he said there was one
thing that they taught us over and over and over. He said the
hardest thing is to do the right thing. That's the hardest thing
to do. The right thing. Often you'll find you've got
one chance to do the right thing. To do it. Do the right thing.
What's right? Boy, we're so tempted to skirt,
to lie, to hedge. Nobody will know. I won't turn
that in. The right thing. He said the
hardest thing is to do the right thing. strived, fond of honor,
strived to bring it to pass. You know, let me ask you this. Do you believe that I believe?
I think I believe. I think I do. I'm convinced I
do. I think I do, that the gospel
is the power of God and salvation. I believe I believe that. I know
it in my head. I know I know it in my head.
But I truly believe that this is the power of God. What? Let me strive to do what God's
called me to do. Let me strive. Let me hunger. Let me be fond of God's honor.
Maybe I can convince you of something else. Maybe I can convince you
another way. Maybe somehow I can convince you. No, I can't. Paul
said, I strive to preach the Gospel. To honor the cause of his love for Christ,
Paul was eager to preach Christ. Called by the Master, he possessed
a hunger for the Master's work. Paul said, I strive to preach
the Gospel. Let me ask you this. Do you strive to learn? Learn
of me! Do you strive? You say, oh, I
want to. I want to. But oh, how little
I find myself. But I desire to. Paul said in
1 Corinthians 10, 31, whether therefore you eat or drink, whatever
you do, do it all to the glory of God. Paul was zealous in what
he preached. He was zealous in how he preached
it. But he was zealous also in where he preached it. Where? He said, I fully preach the gospel
of Christ, yea, so I strive to preach the gospel, not where
Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation. I tried to preach, Paul said,
where the gospel wasn't. Why? Why? Well, the attitude that Paul had toward preaching the gospel
where it was not named before, was not founded on Paul's desire
for prominence. Well, I want to go somewhere
where nobody's ever heard this before. Maybe, you know, I'll
get a little bit of recognition. No, that wasn't the reason he
didn't. He didn't want to go where the
gospel was already named. Why? Because that was not God's
calling for Paul. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3,
9 and 10, For we are laborers together with God. Ye are God's
husbandry, ye are God's building, according to the grace of God
which is given unto me as a wise master builder. I have laid the
foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take
heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundations can no
man lay than is laid which is Christ Jesus. Paul said, now
this is the Apostle Paul speaking under the inspiration of the
Spirit of God, and he called himself a wise master builder. Paul did. Now was he being arrogant? No. All that Paul had done concerning
the ministry was by the grace of God. He said that. I am what
I am by the grace of God. and his appointment and his qualification
in the direction of Paul's ministry was of the Lord. Now, you know
that. But he said that, Paul says,
I'm a wise master builder. I looked at it up. I thought,
you know, that just seems to have such a, hmm, it means an
architect. That's what the word wise master
builder means, an architect. architect. Paul wasn't the skill,
wasn't the power behind the work. You know that. Christ was. Paul was the vessel called and
sent forth to be the one who primarily, the means by which
God laid the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ in places where
the gospel was not preached before, where his name was not found. That was God's calling for the
Apostle Paul. And happy is the man that is
where God wants him to be. Paul said, it's written in verse
21, to whom he was not spoken of, they shall see. They that
have not heard shall understand. Paul knew that God had a people. He knew that. God's got a people. Now, somebody is going to go
where this gospel has not been preached before. Paul was sent
as that man. Paul said, I fully preached. That's what he meant. In verse
19, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ where God has
caused me to be. I was not leaving this world,
Paul said, until the Lord accomplished what the Lord was pleased to
do. Paul knew that God raised him
up for that work. God called him, appointed him. That's what
he told Ananias. He said, he's a chosen vessel
unto me. He's going to go where I tell him to go. Paul said in
Romans 1, 14, 15, I'm a debtor both to the Greeks, to the barbarians,
both to the wise, the unwise, so as much as in me I'm ready
to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. I was talking
to somebody last week, lived in Tennessee, and they asked
me, they said, Marvin, are you happy Do you like it there in West
Virginia?" I said, yeah. Yes, I do. I told him, I said,
you know, I was trying to be kind, which I do. I mean, you
know, I was kind about it. I said, I mean, there's folks
that I, you know, I don't get to see, I mean, as often as I
once did, you know, that live in Franklin. There's some folks
here that's been from other places, and you know what I'm talking
about. I told this person, I said, this is where I believe that
God wants me to be. This is where I believe that
the Lord has blessed the gospel to my heart. This is where God
has placed me and I'm comfortable here and I love it here and I
fully expect Thy here. This is where the Lord has placed
me. Paul was convinced. Paul's calling
was such that Paul said, God has given me the responsibility
of being an architect, wise master builder, and I am to go. My calling is to go in places
where the gospel, somebody's going to have to go. Paul said
it was my calling and it was according to God's purpose. And
there was some sheep out there. If there's a sheep out there,
God's going to send somebody. God's going to send a Paul or
a Philip or Henry or Scott or somebody. And Almighty God is
going to cross the path of His elect. And God Almighty is going
to give the message preached by that instrument of His grace,
and the Spirit of God in time will bless that message to their
heart And God Almighty will impart life to them and He will give
them faith and they will say, I believe. Whenever God Almighty calls them
out of darkness and when the last shot is fired and it is
all said and done, that believer called is going to say unto thee,
unto thee, give all honor in glory and praise because you're
worthy. Amen. Gary, with you comes.