Bootstrap
Clay Curtis

Things we Most Surely Believe

Luke 1:1-4
Clay Curtis December, 29 2024 Video & Audio
0 Comments
Luke 2024

The sermon titled "Things We Most Surely Believe," preached by Clay Curtis, primarily addresses the certainty of the Christian faith as articulated in Luke 1:1-4. Curtis emphasizes the importance of divine revelation and the unique role of Luke, a Gentile and physician, in conveying the humanity of Christ and His work of salvation. Key points include the necessity of being taught by God through the Spirit, as articulated in 1 John 2:20, which asserts that believers have an "unction" from the Holy One and thus know the truth. Curtis connects these truths to the doctrines of grace, affirming that salvation is solely a gift from God and not based on human effort. He underscores the practical significance of faith as a relational trust in Christ rather than merely an intellectual assent to doctrines.

Key Quotes

“For God's saints, by divine revelation, by the Spirit of God revealing Christ in us, there are things most surely believed among us.”

“It's not what you know. It's who you know. It's not how much you know. It's who you know.”

“If our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost.”

“We most surely believe we have to have Christ. That's what he makes you know and keeps you knowing.”

What does the Bible say about the Gospel of Luke?

The Gospel of Luke emphasizes the humanity of Christ and His compassionate ministry as the Son of Man.

The Gospel of Luke was written by Luke, a Gentile physician, who was a companion of the Apostle Paul. This Gospel focuses particularly on the humanity of Christ, showcasing His compassion, healing, and identification with humanity, highlighting His role as the Son of Man. By documenting the accounts of eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word, Luke aimed to provide certainty about the truths contained within the Gospel, allowing believers to know the assurance of their faith. The overarching theme is the declaration of those things most surely believed, intended for all chosen children of God who are loved by Him.

Luke 1:1-4, 2 Timothy 4:11

How do we know the certainty of our salvation?

Our certainty of salvation comes through the revelation of Christ in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

The certainty of our salvation is not based on our own understanding or works but is a divine revelation through the Holy Spirit. When Christ is revealed to us, we see our true condition as sinners in need of grace, and we come to know that our faith and repentance are gifts from God. This understanding comes to us from the Holy One, who teaches us the truth of the Gospel and assures us of our salvation. It is by being taught of God that we truly grasp the implications of Christ’s sacrifice and recognize that our salvation is entirely by grace through faith.

1 John 2:20, Ephesians 2:8-9, Luke 1:1-4

Why is grace important for Christians?

Grace is vital for Christians as it is the foundation of our salvation, emphasizing that we can do nothing to earn it.

Grace is essential in the life of a Christian as it encapsulates the understanding that salvation is a free gift from God, unmerited by our actions. According to Scripture, we are saved by grace through faith, which itself is a gift. This truth leads believers to recognize that they have no part in their own salvation, which results in glorifying God for His mercy and grace. The acknowledgment of grace fosters humility, gratitude, and a deep reliance on Christ as the sole source of salvation and sanctification. It assures us that our standing before God is not based on our performance but on His sovereign choice to save us.

Ephesians 2:8-9, 1 Corinthians 1:29-30

What is the role of preaching in the Christian faith?

Preaching is fundamental as it conveys the message of the Gospel and is the means through which God draws His people to faith.

Preaching holds a critical role in the Christian faith, serving as the divinely ordained method for disseminating the Gospel message. Through the preaching of Christ and Him crucified, God brings about the conviction of sin, the illumination of truth, and the calling of His elect. The Gospel is described as the power of God for salvation, which means that it is through the proclamation of this message that individuals are made aware of their need for a Savior. Believers recognize that their faith arises not from their own understanding, but from hearing the Word preached, demonstrating the necessity of regularly engaging with Biblical teaching as a source of spiritual nourishment and growth.

Romans 10:14-17, 1 Corinthians 1:18, 1 Corinthians 1:21

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

100%
All right, brethren. Let's turn
in our Bibles to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. I'm just going to read the first
four verses. Luke 1 verse 1. For as much as many have taken
in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things
which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered
them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and
ministers of the word. It seemed good to me also, having
had perfect understanding of all things from the very first,
to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus. that
thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou
hast been instructed. I'm going to try to go through
the Gospel of Luke and we'll see how this goes. We'll see
if we end up going through it, but I'm going to try to. Let me say a little bit about
it before we get into the text. The Spirit of the Lord used Luke
to write it He's the writer of this, and he's the only Gentile
used to write any book of the Bible. Luke was a Gentile. The Lord saved him. He traveled with Paul on his
second and his third missionary journey, and when Paul went to
prison, Luke was with him all the way to the end. He wrote
when he was facing death, He wrote in 2 Timothy 4 11, only
Luke is with me. And I think it's appropriate
that the Lord used a man who was a physician and to write this gospel which
has to do with Christ's humanity, with him being the son of man
and how he healed and all that came to him. and that's what
Luke deals with mostly is how the Lord is the son of man. He
wrote this gospel and he wrote the book of Acts to a man named
Theophilus, and we don't know anything about this man. The
scriptures are silent about him, but his name means friend of
God, loved of God. And this gospel, like all the
rest of the Bible, is not just to Theophilus, it's to every
chosen child of God who is the friend of God, who is loved of
God. Now, all four gospels set forth
something to do with a particular characteristic about the Lord
Jesus. The Book of Matthew, the Gospel
of Matthew sets him forth as the King, as the Redeemer, as
the Messiah that the Old Testament Scriptures promise. The Gospel
of Mark declares he's God's righteous servant. It sets him forth as
the servant of God. The Gospel of John declares he
is God the Son. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was God. He declares he's God the Son. Well, this Gospel speaks of his
humanity. It shows his compassion and his
oneness with his people. And that's why I think it's appropriate
that the Lord used a physician who practiced healing people
the medicine to speak of the great physician who as a man
knows the feeling of our infirmities. Now I want you to notice here
what Luke says in verse one. He says, for as much as many
have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration, that's
what the gospel is, it's a declaration. He said, they've set forth a
declaration of those things which are most surely believed among
us. And he says, even as they delivered
them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and
ministers of the word. Somebody preached the gospel
to Luke, he said. He said, they saw, they were
eyewitnesses, they preached to us. So now I'm preaching to you,
that's what Luke's saying. I'm declaring to you what I've
been, had declared to me. He said, it seemed good to me
also, now listen to this word, having had perfect understanding
of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order,
most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty
of those things wherein thou hast been instructed. Our subject
is things we most surely believe. Things we most surely believe. For God's saints, by divine revelation,
by the Spirit of God revealing Christ in us, there are things
most surely believed among us. We know these things. We've known
them from the beginning. There are things most surely
believed among us, and that's what I want, I want to talk to
you about a few of these things. When we're part of God, when
the gospel comes, and Christ sends it to us and we're taught
of God, I mean taught in the heart, taught by God. And the
Spirit of God reveals the Lord Jesus to us. We surely believe
Christ is salvation. We surely believe He is salvation. And when you see Christ and He's
revealed, that's when you know, that's how you know you are the
sinner. We know He is the Savior and
we are the sinner. He's salvation. We're the one
who needs to be saved. We know that. We surely believe
this. Surely believe it. Luke, as I said, he was a physician
by trade, but he was a sinner saved by grace, just like everybody
God saves. A sinner saved by grace. Now,
those that declared the gospel to him were eyewitnesses. of
our Lord Jesus Christ. But there were many who were
eyewitnesses of the Lord Jesus that did not believe him. What
made those before Luke believe him? And what made Luke believe
him? Like every sinner that God saves,
like every sinner that he quickens to life, when the Lord Jesus
gives you faith and reveals Christ in you, It's a powerful, sure revelation. You're taught of God. You're
taught from above. That's how all God's people learn
the gospel. We don't learn the gospel of
ourselves. We can't educate ourselves into
the kingdom of God. We have to be taught from above.
We have to be taught of God, and that's really what this word
means when it says, he said, I had perfect understanding of
all things from the very first. From the very first means from
above. That's really what it's saying,
from him who is the first. Does that sound like a bold claim
that Luke's making? That sounds pretty bold, doesn't
it, to say, I have perfect understanding of all things from the very first. Go with me to 1 John 2. Listen, Luke's not boasting in
himself or anything that's of him. Here's who he's boasting
in. The scripture said, God said,
Christ shall not fail till he has set judgment in the earth.
And he's talking about discernment in the heart, judgment at the
cross and discernment in the heart. So he's made his children
know in the heart. And from the very first revelation
of Jesus Christ, when we're taught from above, from him who is first,
and this first revelation comes into the heart, That new heart
is born of incorruptible seed. Now think about that word, incorruptible
seed. What do you think incorruptible
seed's gonna produce? An incorruptible heart, a heart
in which is no guile, a heart in which the truth is made known. And when we're born from the
beginning, the Spirit of the Lord makes His child know and
have perfect understanding of all things. Look here, 1 John
2.20. He said there, well, let's read
verse 19. He said, they went out from us,
but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, They
would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that
they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But
you have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I've not written to you because
you know not the truth, but because you know it. You know it. And that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth
that Jesus is the Christ? He's antichrist that denieth
the Father and the Son. Now look there at that statement,
brethren. You have an auction from the
Holy One, and you know all things. The Holy One does not fail. The
Holy One gives perfect understanding. Well, what about our confusion
and our misunderstanding of things and our inability to see things
as clearly as we are? What about that? Scripture says
you see through a glass darkly. Why is that? Well, that's not
any fault of the Spirit. The Holy One, the Unction, He
gives you understanding. He never fails to reveal Christ
in you. The confusion and the misunderstanding
and the cloudiness that we have is from our flesh. That's from
our sinful flesh. It's from us. But the Holy One
never fails. Christ never fails. This unctuance
for the Holy One revealing Christ in that new spirit gives you
a perfect understanding to know all things. To know all things. He makes you to know all things.
He created a new spirit in us in holiness. The Holy Spirit
creates a Holy Spirit. A new heart in which is no guile,
which is no sin. If the spirit of Christ be in
you, that spirit's life because of righteousness. He teaches
us in the new heart and He never fails to do so. He gives His
child an understanding. You have an unction from the
Holy One and you know all things. What does it mean? He says, you
know the truth. Christ said, I am the truth.
It doesn't mean that you, from the very first, you know every
doctrine and every deep thing there is to know in theology,
but you have a perfect understanding from the beginning that Christ
is the gospel. He's the truth. He said, I am
the truth. You know this from the beginning.
This is what faith believes. This is why we believe. We know
him. He's revealed. It's not what
you know. It's who you know. It's not how
much you know. It's who you know. And He makes
you to know Him. We most certainly believe Christ
is the truth. These are some things that we
most surely believe. And we most surely believe the
Lord Jesus Christ is the truth. The Holy One in the new man has
made you have an understanding and you know the truth. You know
Christ the truth. And knowing Christ is the truth,
There comes another revelation with that. We most certainly
know we're not the truth. We most certainly know when you
know the truth, you know you're the liar by nature. Let God be
true and every man a liar. This is what, how do we learn
that? When you behold the Lord Jesus, the truth, when you know
Him, when He's given you an understanding to know Him and it's by revelation. It's by divine revelation. That's
when we know we're the sinner. is when you see Christ is the
truth. The Lord Jesus is the truth.
When Isaiah saw His glory, what happened? When he was made to
know the Lord and saw His glory, did he know Him? Yes, he knew
Him. He beheld Him. He had an understanding
when he saw His glory. And what did it result in? What
did he know immediately? Then said I, woe is me, for I
am undone. That's what he knew, I'm undone.
Because I'm a man of unclean lips, I dwell in the midst of
a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts. People think you can take the
law and you can whip people with the law and you can just come
down hard on people with the law and tell them you know all
the precepts of the law and that's gonna make a sinner see his sin.
No it won't. You're going to see your sin
when you know Christ. When Christ is revealed in you
and you see, when you see the truth, you're going to know I'm
the liar. When you see the one who is perfectly straight, you're
going to see how crooked you are. When you see him who's light,
that's when you know you're the darkness. You've got to see him. Christ revealed himself and he
revealed his power to his apostles when they were out there on that
sea fishing that day. Peter tried to argue with him, you know,
on where to cast the net and when he finally did what the
Lord said and he brought in that great drought of fish, what did
it make? He saw Christ. What did it make him do? Simon
Peter saw, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying, depart from me
for I'm a sinful man, oh Lord. You see, that's when you know
what you are by nature, when you see Christ and who He is. This unction, he says there in
John, he said, you know Jesus is the Christ. Anybody that confesses
not that He's come in the flesh is anti-Christ, but you know
He's the Christ. You know He is the Son of God
come in the flesh. That's what He reveals to you.
We most certainly believe these things. We believe these things. The Son of God chosen by God,
sent by God, to be Messiah, to be the Savior, to be the one
who is the salvation of His people. You know this from the beginning.
What else does... Faith is not just believing some
things. Faith's not just believing some
doctrine. Faith's believing a person. It has an object in believing
a person. It's the revelation of Christ.
And when He's revealed to be our righteousness, That's when
we know, brethren, we can't work out a righteousness of our own.
When the Lord our righteousness, Jehovah Sidcanu, is revealed
in you, that's when we most certainly know this righteousness is not
by the works of the law, it's not by my works, it's by Him.
When we see that God chose His Son and sent His Son to this
world, that's when we know salvation couldn't possibly have been by
my hand because He had to send His own Son. We most certainly
believe this. When He reveals in your heart
that Christ is holiness, that He's the perfect Holy One, That's
when we know sanctification is Christ. He sanctified His people.
He's our perfect sanctification. And it's only with Him dwelling
in us that we have this unction and know Him. That's when you
know. That's when you know. By the unction of the Holy One
revealing Christ. By faith we know God the Father
and the Son. He said the one that denies that
he's coming to faith, he's anti-Christ, he denies the Father and the
Son. When you know the Son, you know
the Father. That's what Christ said. You
believe on me, you believe on the Father. Look at, read it
again, 1 John 2.20. You have an unction from the
Holy One. And you know all things. You
know Christ who is all. You know Christ who is all. You
know he's the truth. He's the truth. There's only
one truth. There's not many truths. There's
not my truth and your truth. There's one truth. It's Christ
the truth. And you know it. no lies of the
truth. And you know he is, Jesus is
the Christ, and when you know him, you know the Father. Look
over at 1 John 5, 1 John 5, 10. How do we believe? He that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. God has come, the
three in one has come and revealed himself in your heart. He's born
witness in your heart. He that believeth not God has
made him a liar. A man who is ashamed to confess
Christ does not believe on Christ and he's calling God a liar.
That's what we did all our days. Because he believed not the record
that God gave of his son. And this is the record that God
hath given to us eternal life. That's what God declares. You
think God fails to be able to teach his people? Of course He's
going to teach us. He teaches you and He's given
you eternal life and this life's in His Son. He that hath the
Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. Oh, this is a frightening thing
to think about. We're coming to the end of a year. Very soon
we're coming to the end of this world. And sooner than most every
man thinks, we come to the end of our life. And you're coming
to the end of your life, and you that are sitting here right
now that do not believe on the sun do not have life. That doesn't
mean you're not going to live somewhere for eternity. You're
going to live somewhere for eternity. But you don't have eternal life.
These things I've written to you that believe on the name
of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life
and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. You know
why I'm preaching? For that same reason John wrote
this book. I want you that know him to know
you know him and know you believe on him. These are things we most
certainly believe. And I want you that don't know
him, I want you to know him. I want you to have this eternal
life. I want you to have Christ the
truth. All right, let's go back now, secondly. By the revelation
of Christ in our new heart, we most certainly believe that salvation
is the free gift of God's grace. We certainly believe this. I'm
telling you some things today that we certainly believe. We
certainly believe. When Christ is revealed in us
and he comes in power, you behold your sinfulness, You see what
you are and you behold that it took the Spirit of God to quicken
you and to give you life and to give you faith before you'd
believe on Him. You see that, you know that because
you spent all this time sitting there hearing message after message
after message and you wouldn't believe the Son of God. You couldn't
make yourself believe Him. But then one day, by His power,
you couldn't do anything but believe Him. And when that happens,
you know this was all of God's grace. This was the free gift
of God's grace. Regeneration has got to be the
gift of God by His power. Any true regenerated child of
God will tell you that is the case because he's experienced
it. The man that's saying that he
had something to do with his new birth has not experienced
a new birth or he wouldn't be talking like that. Isn't that
so? Faith and repentance is a gift of God by His grace. When you
have faith, you don't go around talking about your faith. You
don't go around talking about how you have strong faith. You speak of Christ, the object
of your faith, because that's what faith does. Everything God's
done for us is in Christ and it's by His grace. And when you've
experienced grace, that's when you know this is all of grace. I didn't do it, it's freely given
to me of God, the free gift of God. When we heard the scripture
declare, after He quickens you and He called you and He made
you to see, He's the truth, you're the liar. He is the Christ, you're
the sinner in need of the Christ. And He gives you the suction
from the Holy One, and you realize this is all the gift of God's
grace. I did not do anything to obtain
this. And when you know this, when
you hear the scripture declared then, He takes you all the way
back to the fountain, and you go all the way back before the
foundation of the world, and you hear Him declare that before
the foundation of the world, God the Father loved His people
simply because He would with no cause in us. He chose whom
He would in Christ, elected who He would save. When you hear
that now, You say amen and you have to because you know this
has to be of God. It has to be of grace because
I see what a wretch I am. I know now that I was kicking
against him and rebelling against him and it was Christ himself
I was denied. I know it now. I know it has
to be of grace. We most surely believe salvation
is by God's grace alone, apart from our works. We believe that. We heard Christ say to us personally,
you've not chosen me, but I've chosen you. Don't you know, when
you hear that, don't you hear Christ say that to you personally?
Can't you say amen? He says you didn't choose me,
I chose you, I ordained you. We cry out in gratitude and we
thank Him and we praise Him and we give Him the glory. This is
the sure effect of the revelation of Christ in you. This is the sure effect, brethren,
when the Holy Spirit has revealed Christ in you. You're gonna praise
God for saving by His free grace, by His sovereign grace, by His
saving grace. You're gonna give Him the glory
that it's all of grace. If it's of grace, it's no more
of works. And you say, amen, thank God
that's so. Why did he, this was his purpose
in saving through the gospel. Go to 1 Corinthians 1. I'm gonna
say a few things out of here, out of 1 Corinthians 1. I want
you to see this. This is the whole purpose of
God saving the way he saved. Luke said, there were some men
that were eyewitnesses of Christ. Christ came to them and saved
them, the apostles. Called them personally. Sent
them, and they preached the things they had been eyewitnesses of.
They declared the gospel. And he said, and we have the
most. We believed all things from the beginning. And these
are things we most certainly believe by the Spirit of God.
And when you know God did this, and you see how he did this,
and you had no part in it, that's when you know it's all of grace,
and that's when you glory in him only. And that's the whole
reason God saves this way. That's why he saves through the
foolishness of preaching. That's why he saved through a
bloody cross. That's why he does this. Everything
about the gospel is foolishness to men. Just sinners, just a
sinner, just an earthen vessel who's a sinner preaching to other
sinners. And he's preaching one who to
man just looks like a man. He doesn't have all the pomp
and splendor that, that's why the Pharisees reject him. He
didn't look Christ enough to them. He didn't look Messiah
enough to them. They didn't see what they thought
they ought to see in him. And everything about this gospel
fills us to it. Until God gives you a heart to
see. And here's the whole purpose
in it. Verse 29, that no flesh shall glory in his presence.
But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
that according as it's written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. That's what we most certainly
believe. We believe all the glory goes to God and none to us. We
most certainly believe. This is the perfect understanding
he's given us in the new heart. Oh, we have sinful flesh that
wants to confound this. We have sinful flesh that wants
to glory in self. It wants us to have some glory,
but the Lord subdues that iniquity in us, and He keeps you looking
to Him, and He makes you know, I get the glory, and you want
Him to have it in a new man. Now, lastly, I want you to see,
stay there in 1 Corinthians 1. We most surely believe that we
must have the preaching of the gospel. We most surely believe
this. We sure do. Luke said he's writing a declaration
of those things which are most surely believed among us, even
as they delivered them to us, which from the beginning were
eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. You see that? He said
the way we know this is somebody preached to us. And the way they
knew it is Christ made them eyewitnesses and gave them the word to preach.
You know, people say, well, he's just preaching what another man
said. If you're saved, The preacher that preached the gospel to you
preached what somebody else said. I guarantee he did. He preached
what Luke said, what John said, what Paul said. And you know
what they preached? They preached what Christ said.
If you're saved, you're saved by a man preaching you what another
man preached. That's how you're saved, because
that's how God saved. God used his ministers to preach
the gospel to us, and by experiencing the power of God and calling
you and giving you faith through this gospel, giving you life,
we most surely know and believe the gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. We surely believe this. We surely
believe this. We most surely believe that the
Son of God, the Lord Jesus, is the gospel. He is the word. He is the covenant. And he's
the prophet who speaks through the word and who sends the gospel
and speaks through the gospel and speaks in power in the heart.
We have eyes to see and ears to hear now because he spoke
to us in power and we most surely believe This Bible is the Word
of God, and this Bible is all about God's Son, Christ Jesus
the Lord, who is our salvation. And we most surely believe that
when a man stands to preach, he must preach Christ, because
that's the subject of this book. Christ, the person and the work
of our Lord Jesus, the triune God manifest in Christ. We have
to hear this, and we have to hear Christ in him crucified
preached, because we know this is the power of God unto salvation. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed.
It's the power of God unto salvation to the Jew first and also to
the Gentile. From faith, from the faithful
one to the heart of faith he's given. This is the power of God
unto salvation. That's what the Spirit of God
did in us. Here's, look, verse 18, 1 Corinthians 1.18, The preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto
us which are saved it is the power of God. For it's written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent. And that's what the Lord did
in us. He destroyed our wisdom and our prudence and gave us
new hearts to submit to Christ. He made you know you're saved
by the power of God. Look at verse 23. We preach Christ
crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block unto the Greeks villages,
but unto them which are called. both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Luke declares. He's not suggesting or recommending. He declares. That's what he's
declaring. He's declaring Christ and who
He is and what He did. He said, He said, this is why
he sent John the Baptist. The very next word we're gonna
see when we start through here, it's gonna start in with John,
John the Baptist. And the very reason the Lord
sent John the Baptist was to prepare the way for him through
the preaching of the gospel. And Christ, when he's gonna enter
into the heart of a sinner, he prepares the way by sending his
messenger, preaching the truth of this gospel. That's how he
does, announcing the king's arrival. And then the king comes in. And
by him giving you faith, he makes you eyewitnesses of the Lord
Jesus. Paul said those that preached
to us were eyewitnesses. Luke said that. They were eyewitnesses.
Luke himself, though he did see Christ, but he was an eyewitness
by faith. We're eyewitnesses by faith.
Faith is what? Faith is the evidence. What did
he tell the Galatians? He said, before whose eyes Jesus
Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you. It's
faith that beholds him evidently. It's the eye of faith. We most
surely believe that it's by this gospel, by Christ himself, by
the spirit of our Lord, that we're saved and that we're kept
and that we're preserved from the first moment he gives you
this understanding until he takes you out of this world. We are
being saved through the preaching of this word. It's by Christ
preaching to us. It's by this word of this gospel
that exalts him. That's why Peter said, Lord,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words. You have
the words of eternal life. That's what the gospel is, the
words of eternal life. We have to have the words of
eternal life. Just like you eat food every
day. You get up and you eat. Well, I don't need to eat anymore,
I'm full. In just a little while, you're gonna be hungry again,
aren't you? It's the same with the gospel. This is our food. We eat, and in a little while
you're hungry. We got to have, this is the words
of eternal life, the food of eternal life is what this is.
It's like our Lord fed that multitude with the fish and the loaves.
This is what he feeds a multitude of his elect throughout all the
generations of time. He's fed us with this gospel
of Christ and him crucified. Here's what it comes down to.
Go with me to 2 Corinthians 4. Here's what it comes down to.
Anybody that can forsake the gospel of Christ has never received
mercy from the Lord Jesus. It just comes down to that. He never received mercy of the
Lord Jesus because once you receive this mercy and the power of our
Lord Jesus has called you, that's what's going to keep you from
fainting, that's what's going to keep you from wilting, that's
what's going to keep you from going back. We're not of them
that go back. We're them that believe to the
saving of the soul. We persevere in faith. And that's
by the Lord. That's by His mercy. And anybody
that can forsake the gospel and go back They just hadn't experienced
the mercy of God. Christ doesn't fail. Look here
at 2 Corinthians 4, and look here in verse 1. Paul was talking
there about how we're saved through the Spirit of the Lord, giving
us a heart to behold the glory of Christ. And he says, therefore
seeing we have, 2 Corinthians 4.1, therefore seeing we have
this ministry, as we have received mercy, the same way we receive
mercy, we faint not. Look down at verse seven. But we have this treasured earth
and vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. Look at verse 16. For which cause
we faint not. Though our outward man perish,
the inward man renew day by day. Now look back at verse three.
But if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost. That's
it, that's where the rubber meets the road right there. We most
surely believe Christ shall not fail till he has set judgment,
discernment in the hearts of every one of his people and every
chosen Gentile who he redeemed shall wait on the law, on his
law, his gospel. We have to have it. And he won't
lose one of his blood-bought sheep. Just, you know, when he
works this work, it doesn't mean you're not going to stray, but
I'll tell you what's going to happen when you stray. He's going
to find his lost sheep. He said, I'll find my lost sheep,
and I'll bring it home on my shoulder. He said, I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. We most surely believe, and we
know the certainty of this, Christ is all. He is all. He truly is all. By His grace,
we depend entirely upon Him. By His grace, we believe He shall
save us and He shall preserve us and He will present us to
God without fault and without blame. We most certainly believe,
by His grace, He is our hope. We behold Him by faith, entered
into the veil, seated at God's right hand, and He's our hope
of eternal salvation. We most certainly believe we
are accepted in the Beloved, complete in the Lord Jesus. And
we believe he has saved us, he is saving us, and he shall save
us. He has delivered us, he is delivering us, he shall deliver
us. We most certainly believe we have to have Christ. That's what he makes you know
and keeps you knowing. Let's go to him. Father, we thank
you for this word. Lord, thank you that you chose
your son and sent him and that he is everything in the salvation
of his people. Lord, how we need you, how we
need your gospel. And we pray, Lord, you continue
this work in us. Thank you for our brother Luke. Thank you for using him to write
these words, giving him a heart to record our Lord Jesus and
the things that he did. things he accomplished. Thank
you, Father, that you gave us hearts to believe you, to see
Christ and know him. Lord, thank you for this gospel.
You have blessed us. We have everything because of
you. You've given us your gospel.
You've given us your son. You've given us life, salvation. Everything we have, you've given
it to us, Lord, and we thank you. You get all the glory. Lord, we want you to have the
glory. Help us to glorify you in things we say and do in our
lives. Help us to glorify you to lost
sinners. Help us to declare, Lord. Give
us strength to boldly declare, meekly and patiently and kindly
declare to perishing sinners the glorious good news of our
Lord Jesus. And Lord, we pray that you would
send forth laborers into this harvest. We pray you'd send forth
more preachers. And we ask, Lord, that you would
call out your people. Lord, we need you every hour. We pray you do this. And we know,
we know your promise, Lord, but we ask you, we ask you. We confess
our need for you to work. We thank you, Lord. We pray you
be exalted here today. Forgive us our sins, Father.
In Christ's name we pray, amen.
Clay Curtis
About Clay Curtis
Clay Curtis is pastor of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church of Ewing, New Jersey. Their services begin Sunday morning at 10:15 am and 11am at 251 Green Lane, Ewing, NJ, 08638. Clay may be reached by telephone at 615-513-4464 and by email at claycurtis70@gmail.com. For more information, please visit the church website at http://www.FreeGraceMedia.com.

Comments

0 / 2000 characters
Comments are moderated before appearing.

Be the first to comment!

Joshua

Joshua

Shall we play a game? Ask me about articles, sermons, or theology from our library. I can also help you navigate the site.