Brethren, let's turn now to 2
Corinthians 2. Now, to get us focused on our
text, one of my favorite ways to introduce the message is just
simply to give you the outline as we read the text. That's what I want to do now.
Let's start reading in verse 14. He says, now thanks be unto
God. Thanks be unto God. That means
God did it all. We have no one to thank but God. Thanks be unto God which always
causeth us to triumph in Christ. And God maketh manifest the savour
of His knowledge by us in every place. By us, God is making the
savour of His gospel go forth in every place. The savour of
His knowledge is the savour of His gospel, the savour of Christ
who is the wisdom and power of God. Now here's our first point. What are God's witnesses unto
God? What are we unto God? Verse 15. For we are unto God
a sweet savor of Christ. That's what God's witnesses are
to God. We are a sweet savor of Christ. Alright, here's the second point. In whom are we a sweet saver
of Christ? In whom are we a sweet saver
of Christ? To God. Verse 15 says, In them
that are saved and in them that perish. To the one we are the
saver of death unto death, And to the other, the saver of life
unto life. And who is sufficient for these
things? Now here's the third point. Why
are we unto God a saver of Christ in them that perish and in them
that believe? Why are we a saver of Christ
unto God in them that perish and in them that believe? Why
is that so? Verse 17, For we are not as many
which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of
God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. I've titled this, What God's
Witnesses Are and Why. what God's witnesses are and
why. And the point is very simple.
God's witnesses are unto God a sweet savor of Christ because
we preach Christ and Him crucified according to God's Word in spirit
and in truth. We are a sweet savor unto God
because we declare the truth of Christ according to God's
Word. Now first of all, what are God's
witnesses to God? He says, verse 15, we are unto
God a sweet savor of Christ. Now who is included when He says
we are? Who is He talking about when
He says we are? He is talking about God's preachers and God's
people. I stress to you that together
we are witnesses of Christ. This is not a... And we don't have a clergy and
laity. We are together witnesses of
Christ. But this is not just any preacher
and not just any people. We're talking about God's chosen
people. We're talking about those God
redeemed. God chose, God redeemed, God regenerated, God called,
God keeps. We're talking about God's people.
We're witnesses. A witness is this. A witness
of God, a witness of Christ is this. We're witnesses of God's
ability to do all the saving beginning to end. That's the
only kind of witnesses God has. Those that are bearing witness
that God has the ability and saves His people from beginning
to end. cease at some point from beginning
to end, and I start saying that something's up to you, I've stopped
being a witness of Christ. Because God's witness bears witness
of Christ and of His ability to save. And we're sent by Christ. We're taught and called and sent
by Christ. If He's going to use you or me
to bear witness to somebody, we're going to be sent by Christ
to do it. And that's what together here as His church, sending the
gospel forth right now over the internet in a live broadcast.
We are together being sin of God wherever that gospel is going. So that's who we're talking about,
God's preachers and His people. And He says here now that what
we're talking about here that we are unto God. We're talking
about the all-knowing, all-seeing God who knows the heart and intents
of a man. We're talking about holy and
righteous God who requires perfect holiness and perfect righteousness
in those that He will receive and take delight in. Perfect
righteousness and perfect holiness. We're talking about unto God
who's the judge, the righteous judge, the one before whom all
men will stand in the day of judgment. We're talking about
this is what we are unto this holy and righteous God with whom
we all have to do. And what are we? What are God's
witnesses unto God? He says, we are a sweet savor
of Christ. What does that mean? A sweet
savor of Christ. It means under God, all those
that He's drawn to cast our care on Christ, all who's brought
to believe on Christ, we smell to God like His Son. We smell like His Son. A sweet
savor to God like His Son. And the gospel we preach, the
message we declare, is unto God a sweet savor of Christ. So we ourselves and the message
we preach are both a sweet savor of Christ. Now in ourselves,
outside of Christ, no man is a sweet savor unto God. The scripture
says in ourselves, outside of Christ, we are an abomination
to God. The word abomination means a
sulfurous stench. That's what it means. A stink
to God is what we are. Listen to this. Everyone that's
proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Though hand joined
in hand, he shall not be unpunished. And that's how we are outside
of Christ. We're proud-hearted, proud-hearted, self-righteous
rebels against God. And he says, ìThe proud in heart
is an abomination to the Lord.î He says, ìAll that do unrighteously
are an abomination unto the Lord thy God.î And thatís all any
of us have ever done constantly, continually, outside of Christ,
is unrighteously. He says, ìThe sacrifice of the
wicked is an abomination to the Lord.î When he tries to make
sacrifices to the Lord and tries to please the Lord, the sacrifice
of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. He says the way
of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. There is a way that
seems right under man. Well, I think God is this way.
I think God is the other way. I think God is that way. Does
it really matter what you think or what I think? It does not
whatsoever. All that matters is what God
says about Himself in His Word. And the way of the wicked, God
says, is an abomination to the Lord. The thoughts of the wicked. Can you control your thoughts? What about when you sleep? You
wake up sometime and think, where did that come from? The thoughts
of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord. The Lord told the
Pharisees, they were the most religious people on the face
of the earth. Outwardly they looked holy, they
looked righteous, they would cast out anybody from their midst
that failed to act like them or live up to their standards.
And our Lord Jesus Christ went to them and He said, you are
they which justify yourselves before men. Everything you're
doing, you're doing to be just before men. But God knows your
heart. That's what Christ told. You justify yourself before men.
But it's not fooling God because He knows your heart. And that
which is highly esteemed among men, that which they pat you
on the back for and praise you for, Christ said, is an abomination
to God. Abomination of God. And there
shall in no wise enter into heaven anything that defileth, neither
whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which
are written in the Lamb's book of life. So outside of Christ
all we are is an abomination, but all who are in Christ are
a sweet savor unto God of Christ. A sweet savor unto God of Christ. Now how do we become this sweet
savor? Did we do something? Did we do
some works to become this sweet savor? Absolutely not. This whole work to make us a
sweet savor unto God is the work of God in Christ. Turn over to
Ezekiel chapter 20. Ezekiel chapter 20. And look
here. Verse 41, God said, I will accept you with your sweet
savor. And that marginal reading is
a savor of rest. A savor of rest. That's what
the word means. To rest. A sweet rest. A sweet savor. I'll accept you
with your sweet savor. Now you get that. Salvation is
God accepting you and me. The world has that backwards.
It's not you accepting Jesus. It's whether or not God's going
to accept you. That's salvation. God said, I will accept you with
your sweet savor when I bring you out from the people. and gather you out of the countries
wherein you have been scattered. And I will be sanctified in you
before the heathen. Now turn with me to Ephesians
5. When God brings us out then, what is this sweet savor that
He says He will accept us with? Look over to Ephesians 5 and
verse 2. God sanctified Himself in your
heart and He's called you out from among the people. Here is
the sweet savor that we come to God with right here. Verse
2 says, Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for
us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. Christ gave Himself. He says that Christ loved us
and gave Himself for us. Have you ever loved somebody
you didn't know? Have you ever loved somebody you didn't know? It says He loved us and gave
Himself. He first loved us and then He
gave Himself. He knew who He loved. They were
given to Him before the foundation of the world. He loved us. He
came to this world loving us. And He gave Himself for us. He
gave Himself for us. That's the gospel of substitution.
Christ giving Himself for His people. His name is Jesus, for
He shall save His people from their sins. Brother Art just
read, for the transgression of my people was He stricken. See,
that's substitution. That's Him taking the place of
His people. And it says, "...and He gave
Himself for an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor."
Now in the Old Covenant, whenever they would offer the burnt offering,
that's what goes up with the sweet smell. That burnt offering
always was offered with the meat offering. And it wouldn't be
accepted, the burnt offering wouldn't be accepted without
the meat offering. Brethren, the work of Christ must never
be separated from His person. Christ gave Himself an offering
and a sacrifice. to God for a sweet smelling savor. And here is what we are going
to have to do. God is going to have to, when He comes to us
and He sanctifies us and He calls us out from among the people,
that is what sanctification is. God said, I will accept you when
I bring you out from the people. To be separated out, to be sanctified,
to be made holy from the rest. And when He does that, He is
going to turn you from your person and your work. You know, people
say something like, well, I may not always do what's right, but
I'm not that bad a person. You got to turn from your person
and your work to Christ's person and Christ's work. That's repentance
and faith. Turning from our person and our
work to Christ's person and Christ's work. And God will only accept
us in the sweet smelling savor of His Son. That's it. And when
we've been created anew by Christ, when He's come and done this
work and created you anew, that's when God manifests the savor
of His knowledge by us in every place. What does that mean? God
manifests the savor of His knowledge by us in every place. Well, first
of all, He makes us wear the garment of Christ's righteousness. That is, we have Christ's righteousness
imputed to us through faith because Christ made us righteous before
the law. And we have Christ's holiness
within because Christ is formed in the heart. So that's being
made entirely anew, adorned entirely by Christ alone. Christ our righteousness
and our holiness. And then when that's done to
us, So that we ourselves are a saver unto God of Christ, then
you'll go forth by God and God will manifest the saver of His
Gospel, the Gospel of Christ by us preaching His Word, preaching
Christ. Because once this has happened
to you by Christ, then you don't want to talk about anybody else
but Christ. He's the only one you want to declare. And He makes
us preach Him and hear Him alone. God maketh manifest the savor
of His knowledge by us in every place so that we are unto God
a sweet savor of Christ. Now, here's the second thing.
In whom are we a sweet savor of Christ? In whom are we a sweet
savor of Christ unto God? Verse 15 says, In them that are
saved and in them that perish. To the one, we're the savor of
death unto death. To the other, the savor of life
unto life. And who's sufficient for these
things? Now this is the two-fold effect the gospel has upon all
who hear it. To some, there's a sweet smell
of life and it's unto life. But to others, when they hear
this gospel, it's a smell of death and it's unto death. It's the smell of death unto
death. Now, if you look at this, this is the only effect that's
going to happen from the Gospel. And it always happens. This two-fold
effect where the savor of death unto death to some and the savor
of life unto life to others. That means everybody in this
room fits into one of those two categories. The question we all
ought to be asking ourselves is, which one of these am I? Is this gospel a savor of death
unto me, or is it a savor of life unto me? Does it smell like
stinking death to me? Does it stink to me? Or does
it smell good to me? It's one or the other. It can't
be in between. With God, there's no in between.
It's one or the other. One or the other. I'm telling
you, there's no peace in this world like knowing Christ and
being found in Him and knowing there's nothing else required. There's nothing else to be done.
God is pleased. You are a sweet smell of Christ
to God. That's peace. That's peace. And if you don't believe God,
if you don't trust God, listen to this, God tells me what to
tell you. He tells me in Ezekiel 33, 11,
say unto them, as I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure
in the death of the wicked. God has no pleasure in the death
of the wicked. God is not getting some kind of sinful wicked pleasure
out of seeing wicked men perish. He says, but that the wicked
turn from his way and live. You see though, that requires
us to turn from our way. I require God to say that the
wicked turn from His way and live. Our way is death. We have to turn from our way
to Christ the life. And He says, turn ye, turn ye
from your evil ways. Turn to faith in Christ. For
why will you die? But now be sure to get this.
Let's all get this. You and I who believe, get this
now. Either way, in them that perish or in them that save,
our text says God's witnesses are unto God a sweet saver of
Christ. Now get that. We are unto God
a sweet saver of Christ. How is that? How is that so?
Look at verse 16. To the one we are the saver of
death unto death. This is a saver unto God of death. under death. What savor? You
know, when you think of death, you don't think of a savor. What's
a savor of death? What's our message? The message
we preach is salvation by the death of Christ. That's our message. We're preaching salvation by
the death of Christ. The death of Christ as the substitute
of His people. We're preaching that it's by
the death of Christ that God's justice is honored. Because in
Christ's death, there's God's justice being poured out on Christ
in our room instead. His justice is honored. He has
in no way cleared the guilty. When He saves His people, He
hasn't cleared the guilty. He's poured out judgment upon
Christ in our room instead. So the justice of God is honored.
And when we declare this message, we're declaring as Romans 6 says
that the body of the sin, the body of our sin, of all His people,
that old man of sin, that old man has been crucified with Christ. He's been killed, executed with
Christ. So that he's buried, he's out
of sight, he's dead before God now. That's our message, the
death of Christ by which people are made to count ourselves dead
unto sin. We're made to count ourselves
to be dead unto sin. And also as we preach this, we're
declaring death to all man's works, and all man's wisdom,
and all man's righteousness, and all man's holiness, and all
man's will, everything about man. We're declaring the sinner
dead in himself, and all believers dead in Christ. That's our message. And that comes up to God a sweet
savor because it's declaring the triumphant work of Christ,
our righteousness, our holiness, our redemption, the wisdom of
God. But to some, all this preaching about death, about blood, to
some that just has a stench of death. That's all they smell.
That's all they smell is death. They don't have any joy in it
whatsoever. And so they're hardened unto
death. Condemnation, eternal condemnation. But even still, you and I who
are His witnesses are still a saver unto God even in them that perish. How can that be? Because even
in the death of the wicked, God's righteousness is honored and
declared and set forth so that God's glorified. Even in the
death of the wicked. Even when the gospel goes forth
and we preach it and somebody does not believe it, God's being
glorified. That's right. In that person
that's going to perish in reprobation and death, God's going to be
glorified. His justice, His righteousness,
He will not clear the guilty. You see, everybody that Christ
represented, our judgment met on Christ and was settled in
Christ. But everybody that meets God
outside of Christ, considering this to be a stink to them, they're
going to meet God and that judgment is going to meet on them. But
that judgment is going to be settled. And God shall be glorified. And then he says here, we are
also a saver unto God to the other, the saver of life unto
life. That's the other aspect of our
message. We preach death in Christ and
life in Christ. We preach that when Christ came
out of that grave, all His people came out of that grave with Him.
to newness of life. Christ never died of sin again.
Sin will never charge Him ever again. The law can never say
another word to Christ Jesus our Lord. That's what Romans
6 said. He died of sin once. The law can never lay a charge
to Him again. And it can't lay a single charge
to one for whom He represented either. Never can. Never can. That's why we got
to be called. That's why all these people have
got to be brought out. The law can never lay a claim
on them just because we were in Christ and it can't lay a
claim on Christ anymore either. We've risen and we sat down at
God's right hand complete in Christ. As He is at God's right
hand. That's how we are right now in
this world. Complete. So the law is taken completely
out of the way now between God and His people. There is nothing
but Christ and we can worship God in Christ. And so as we preach
this message, God's faithful witnesses preach this message
and this is the means by which God quickens His child and gives
life in us. It becomes life, a savor of life
unto life. And He keeps growing us by this
same message. He keeps keeping us by this same
message. And one day, He's going to bring
us into eternal life in its fullness through this gospel. He's going
to keep us and bring us there. So it's going to be life under
life. And it comes up to God a sweet savor just like, just
as real and as fully as it's a sweet savor unto God in that
person who believes and bows and gives all glory to Christ.
Same sweet savor unto God in the man that perishes. Oh, he
thinks he's shaking his fist at God and getting one over on
God. You know, I listen to a man as comedian of the night. And
I won't even tell you who he is because you shouldn't listen
to him. This man is an atheist and he was just so arrogant in
the things he was saying against God. And I sat there and thought,
God is going to glorify himself in that man. He is going to be
a monument to the justice of God one day, forever in hell,
if God don't intervene. But God, just as real as that
man who is a glory to God that bows and believes, God shall
be glorified in both. Every knee is going to bow and
every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of
lords and King of kings. We are all going to glorify Christ. And then now let me show you
this thing. You see now why we say who is sufficient for these
things. You know, you and I are humbled by this. And God's preachers
are humbled by this. People are humbled by this. Because
we know, it's a humbling thing to know that every time you bear
witness to somebody, when I stand right here and preach this gospel,
or when you're bearing witness to one of your friends or family,
it's having this two-fold effect every time you open your mouth
and speak about Christ. That's humbling. That's humbling. And we know that we have no sufficiency
to speak the truth, to do it according to God's will. We don't
have any ability in ourselves to do that. There's no sufficiency
in us to be able to say or answer men why God does it this way.
The only thing we can say is it's according to the good pleasure
of God's will. To reveal Himself to some and
pass by others. Look down at chapter 3 verse
5. Not that we are sufficient of
ourselves to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency
is of God. Now thirdly, I want to go to
this. This is very important. Why are we unto God the saver,
the sweet saver of Christ in them that are saved and in them
that perish? Why is all this true? That word
for means because. That's what it means, because,
for, verse 17, for, because we're not as many which corrupt the
Word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of
God, speak we in Christ. Some call us unreasonable when
you declare that the majority in the world today are not preaching
the truth, they're corrupting the Word of God. They say, you
can't say that. Brethren, since Satan entered
the garden, since he entered the garden with lies, the father
of lies, the many in every generation has been corrupting the Word
of God. The many have been corrupting the Word of God. Little children,
it's the last time, John said, and as you've heard it, antichrists
shall come. Even now are there many antichrists. whereby we know that it's the
last time. Paul said, For many walk, of
whom I have told you often, and I'll tell you even weeping, that
they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. This is a description
of Antichrist right here Paul has given. They are the enemies
of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God
is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly
things. That sums up right there Nine
out of ten preachers you come across. And nine out of ten professing
Christians you come across, right there. The Lord said, I'm against the
prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues and say he
saith. I'm against those, God said,
that use their tongue and say I'm the one who said that, God
said. He said, ìBehold, Iím against
them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord.î Thatís what
a false gospel is, is a false dream. ìThey do tell them it caused
my people to err by their lies and by their likeness, yet I
sent them not, God said, nor commanded them. Therefore,î listen,
ìthey shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord.î No preacher
is going to profit God's people unless God has sent Him. And
those that God has not sent, they won't profit God's people
at all. How can you preach corruption
and profit a corrupt sinner preaching corruption? It can't be done.
But according to God's purpose, God sends His faithful remnant
of witnesses. A faithful remnant of witnesses
in every generation. And this is what's true in every
generation. We are not as many which corrupt
the Word of God. We don't add to the Word of God
and we don't leave out. some of the Word of God. We declare
the Word of God. We just go verse by verse preaching
the Word of God. Isn't it good not to have...
I tell you what's really good being a preacher is not to have
to figure out something new to say. If you're writing songs
or you're writing creative writing or something like that, you've
got to constantly try to figure out some new way of saying something. Not this, you just go right here
and say, I'm just going to tell you what God said. That's all
we're supposed to do. We don't make merchandise of
men's souls. There's no ulterior motive. We're
not doing this for personal gain. We're not mixing the law and
the gospel, works and grace. We're not preaching one thing
to one group and another thing to another group. We're not trying
to preach just to prove our point, prove ourselves right. That's
not it at all. What are we doing? But as of
sincerity. What's the chief characteristic
of godly sincerity? Now the many will tell you the
chief characteristic of godless sincerity is to want to see as
many sinners as you can be brought to Christ. That's not at all. If that is our goal, you know
what we'll do? We'll change the gospel to make that happen. That's
what happens when every... association and denomination
that has ever tried to increase numbers, they always trim the
gospel to make it happen. No, the chief motive, the chief
characteristic of godly sincerity is we want to see God glorified. We want to see God get all the
glory. And so we speak the Word of God
in truth. Because that is how He is going
to get glory to His name. Listen to this. The righteous shall
be glad in the Lord, and they shall trust in Him, and all the
upright in heart shall glory in the Lord." Now that is not
a possibility. You know how I can tell you that's
not a possibility? That's so of every single person God saved. They delight in the works of
God, they trust in God, and they glory only in the Lord. They
praise only one, that's the Lord. You know how I know that's so
and how that shall be so if everybody got saved? Because that's part
of the Law and the Prophets and Christ has to fulfill it. Christ
has to fulfill it. So He's going to make His people
trust in God's works, trust in Him and glory in Him. He's going
to make that happen. That's what sincerity, godly
sincerity is, glorying in God. Now look here, we're a sweet
saver of Christ unto God because we don't depend upon ourselves.
We preach, he says, as of God. As of God, as one who God has
done it all. He's done everything in us to
bring us to preach the truth. Remember who we have to give
thanks to? Now thanks be unto God. It's God who always causes
us to triumph in Christ. It's God who makes manifest the
savor of His knowledge by us in every place. We got nothing
to boast in. It's God. And we speak as in
the sight of God. As in the sight of God. God beholds
all men. All the time. He knows the false
witness and the true witness. But God's child, has been given
a new heart. So that God sees us in Christ
with Christ formed in us and He delights in His child. And
with that new heart in the sight of God, we want to please our
Heavenly Father. Don't you? You know, a faithful
child, a good child, you want to be a good child, you want
to be a good son, a good daughter, Try to always make your Father
delight in you. That's what God's child wants
to do. That's why we only speak of Him. We want God to delight
in us. We want God to say, what a faithful
servant! What a faithful son! He's glorifying
my Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. What a faithful servant! Because
we are going to stand before Him one day. And all God's children
are not going to be afraid to do that because we are going
to be found faithful. Because God makes manifest by
us. He makes us do this. And we want
Him to, don't we? Because we want to stand before
Him and give account. Lord, I only did what You made
me do. I only did what You worked in me. Thank You, Lord. And He
will say because of everything He did in Christ, come and enter
in, by a good and faithful servant in the sight of God. Now look
here, what do we do? Here's the cheap thing. We speak
in, and the word there is in and of Christ. That's our message. God works in us to make His witnesses
only glory in Christ. We speak of Christ in whom God
chose His people. When we preach election, that's
our purpose, to preach election being that God chose His people
unto salvation in Christ Jesus. He chose Christ first and He
chose His people in Christ. When we preach the particular
redemption of those elect people, the limited atonement of those
people, we preach Christ who came forth and is the righteousness
of His people who laid down His life for us. when we preach irresistible
grace and how God the Holy Spirit must and shall regenerate and
call and convert all those who Christ redeemed and bring us
to rest in Christ. When we preach that, you know
what we are doing? We are declaring Christ the head of the church
who sends that gospel and sends the Holy Spirit and the Holy
Spirit turns us to rest entirely in Christ. When we preach the
perseverance of the saints or the preservation of the saints,
we are declaring Christ who keeps us persevering in Him, looking
to Him, trusting Him alone. When we preach about growing
in grace, Not growing more holy, growing in grace and in the knowledge. What is it? It's the grace of
Christ Jesus and the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Read the last
chapter of 2 Peter. He's growing in the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ. That means He's the one by grace
growing us. And it means growing in the knowledge
of Christ. We're growing to know more of Christ. That's growing. That's what the old, old, old,
old Witnesses, preachers used to mean when they talked about,
they used the word progressive sanctification. That's what they
meant. Growing in the grace of Christ
and growing to know Christ more. This junk they preach now about
getting more and more holy and overcoming sin until one day
you just can pop and bust right into heaven, that's why we don't
use the word progressive sanctification anymore because men have butchered
it, that doctrine, corrupted it. But whatever we preach, we preach
in Christ. Now let me wrap this up. I just
want to say a word here. My message to you is Christ.
The only way you can be saved is Christ. Christ. Now listen
to the Gospel here. Neither is there salvation in
any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Christ
only. There other foundation can no
man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. This is the
record. God has given to us eternal life
and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son hath not life. Now, I want to just
say this. I was talking to Will about this
this week. Let me say this. This will be
a lesson for you, just a life lesson for you, but it will also
be for the young people, but it will also be, has to do with
spiritual things. You can live life one of two
ways. You can set goals on things you want to achieve and work
to achieve those goals. And if you have to play a little
bit so you can rest a little bit, but you arrange that around
your work. And if you do that, you will
achieve a fair amount of those goals. Or, you can play. You can seek pleasure. And you
want to achieve anything you'll be a welfare bum. Now, when it comes to the Gospel,
that applies somewhat to the Gospel. Because the Lord said
this, He said, walk in the light God's given you. And by that
he meant God has put the Gospel right here in this place so everybody
here has got that light being shed forth right now. The Gospel
being preached in truth according to God's Word. He said, if you
walk in that light, meaning He says, take heed how you hear,
try to apply yourself, try to go home and read it and actually
take some time to sit down and say, now I want to know Christ. If this one is the only one by
whom I can be saved, I want to know Him. I'm going to look into
His words, see what God says about Him. He says, to that person
who takes heed, He says, more will be given to him. But he
says, but that person who hears it, and he won't take heed, he
won't walk in the light God has given him, he said, it will be
taken from him even that which he had. And I've seen that happen. I've seen men who had the opportunity
to hear the gospel, but there was just always something, some
play, they wanted to play. There was always something they
wanted to do playing. And they just, like Korah and
his crew, they just got swallowed up into the world and carried
away. And such men will lose their
own souls. It's what God calls being a lover
of pleasure more than a lover of God. Now here's what God said. Seek
ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he's near.
Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
And let him return unto the Lord. And he will have mercy upon him
and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. What I'm saying to you,
this gospel is either going to be a saver of life unto life
or death unto death. If I can walk out of here and
never give it a second thought, never pick up God's Word, never
apply myself, but just immediately find some pleasure to take me
away and take it all away. That's one of those descriptions
or one of those in that parable of the ground that perishes. But if God would give me the
grace and I find myself actually going and saying, I am going
to learn about it, I want to walk in this light, I want to
see, God says He will give you more. And you who He has called,
you and I who He has called, know this. Whenever you have
the opportunity to declare the truth, declare the truth not
like you would declare it or like you think you ought to say
it, just say it like God says it. Declare the truth as God
declares it right here in His Word. And God says if they believe
it or if they do not believe it, so long as you preach Christ
and Him crucified according to the Word of God, you are a sweet
saver of Christ unto God. Every time. It's because we preach
Christ according to God's Word. That's what makes it a sweet
saver unto God, of Christ. to preach Christ and Him crucified
according to this Word. It doesn't matter if you preach
to 5,000 people and somebody looks at that and says, oh, that's
a successful work. What are they preaching? There
might be one person there, but the person that's preaching is
preaching the truth right according to God's Word. That's the successful
ministry. And whether it's 5,000 that don't
hear Him, or 5,000 that won't listen to Him, or 1,000 that
will, it's a successful ministry. Preaching the truth. Alright,
God bless this world.