Our subject tonight is the necessity
of hearing the gospel preached. The necessity of hearing the
gospel preached. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and
verse 21, we read, For after that in the wisdom of God, the
world by wisdom knew not God, It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. I want us to consider
three things. First of all, what is the gospel? Secondly, what does God do through
the gospel? And thirdly, why is hearing the
gospel more important than all else to the believer? First of
all, what is the gospel? What is the gospel? The gospel is Christ Jesus, the
Son of God. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. No man, no sinner can come to
God but in Christ the way, Christ the truth, and Christ the life. Christ Jesus, the Son of God,
is the express image of God. He said, if you've seen me, you've
seen the Father. He is everything God has to say
about himself. We can't know God except by knowing
Christ Jesus. We read here in verse 17, Paul
said, For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the
gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ shall
be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, But unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God. Look over at Romans chapter one
with me. Romans chapter one. Listen to
what Paul said. Verse one, Romans one, one. Paul,
a servant of Jesus Christ called an apostle. separated unto the
gospel of God. Now he's going to tell us what
that is. It's the gospel which God had
promised to for by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. Everything
written of all in the Holy Scriptures, contrary to popular belief, is
not about my obedience or your obedience. It's about the obedience
of Christ. It's about the promise of God
in Christ Jesus the Lord. He says here, and that gospel
is concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh. He's a man. He
came, born of a virgin, came forth a man, made of a woman,
made under the law to redeem them that were under the law.
And he's declared the Son of God with power according to the
Spirit of holiness. When he was baptized of John,
the Spirit of God descended upon him in a visible form. And God
declared from heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well
pleased. Hear ye Him. Hear Him. And it was declared by the resurrection
from the dead. God declared that he's satisfied
with his Son. with His person, with His obedience,
with His obedience even unto death, He satisfied. And He declared
it by raising Him from the dead. Peter declared on the day of
Pentecost, he said, Christ Jesus has shed forth what you now see
and hear. And in doing this, God has declared
without a shadow of a doubt that He has made His Son both Lord
and Christ. He's King and He's the King Savior. And it's by Him, by whom we have
received grace. All the grace of God is in Christ
Jesus. The grace, that free saving grace,
of God in Christ Jesus. And it is of God to all those
God put in Christ Jesus by His grace before the world ever began.
And by Him we receive grace and apostleship to the obedience
of faith among all nations for His name among whom are ye also
the called of Jesus Christ. Now Paul said here to the Corinthians
that The preaching of the cross. The preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved is
the power of God. What Paul is declaring is, is
what we preach is that Christ Jesus His person, His faithfulness,
His glory, everything that is to be seen of God in Christ is
manifest in the pinnacle of His faithfulness and righteousness
at the cross. And that's what we preach. That's
what we declare. Romans 3, look there with me,
Romans 3, the work that God the Father had to be done, purpose
to be done from the beginning, was to justify a people from
his wrath and to make that people pure. We just read Augustus'
top lady, rock of ages. When Moses asked to see God's
glory, where did he put him? He put him in the cleft of the
rock. And that rock is Christ. That rock is Christ Jesus. And
Augustus' top lady wrote, From His side flowed water and the
blood. Be of sin the double cure. Saved from wrath, I'm justified
by Christ Jesus. And make me pure, I'm holy by
Christ Jesus. That's the twofold cure. Romans
3, Paul says, verse 20. Therefore, he's speaking here
that Now we know that what things
whoever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God. That's why God gave the law.
He didn't give it to you and me as a measure to measure our
righteousness, to measure our obedience, to measure our faithfulness.
That's not why He gave the law. He gave the law to shut our mouths.
He gave the law to declare that there is no righteousness in
us. There is no obedience in us. There is no holiness in us.
That's why he gave the law. Read the words. Therefore, verse
20, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified
in his sight. This is that being saved from
wrath, justified, free from the penalty, from the justice of
the law. The law demands all that sin
die. How are we going to answer to
the law's demands? We've got to die. For by the
law is the knowledge of sin. But now, the righteousness of
God without the law, without my obedience to it, your obedience
to it, is manifested. Being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. This is what the law and the
prophets were saying all along. Even the righteousness of God
by faith of Jesus Christ. Now, I know that using a New
King James translation and most of the new translations, you're
going to read that that says, through faith in Jesus Christ.
But we're talking about the righteousness of God that's manifest. The believer, indeed, is made
to apprehend, to be a partaker of the righteousness of God,
the righteousness of Christ Jesus by God's gift of faith to us. But it's not our act of believing
that manifests the righteousness of God. Many take the new translations
that says through faith in Christ and make faith to be a work whereby
we justify ourselves. The reason God's gift of faith
is called the righteousness of faith is because God-given faith
rests in the righteousness of the faith of Christ, in His obedience,
in what He did. The faith which God gives to
us lays hold of that which is already accomplished by Christ
Jesus. The purpose of God from eternity
and the reason that God was forbearing with the sins of His people from
the fall of Adam was this, verse 26, to declare, I say at this
time, his righteousness, that he might be just and he might
be the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. The gospel
is the proclamation that Christ Jesus is the righteousness of
God. This is how God can be just and
the justifier. And then the preaching of the
cross is the proclamation that Christ Jesus is the believer's
sanctification. Now, the righteousness of God. Scott and I were talking about
this on the way over here. The righteousness of God. Be
turning to Romans 10 with me. The righteousness of God, we
have things fed to us by the Holy Spirit,
thankfully, in ways that we can understand them. Separating righteousness,
justification from sanctification, so we can understand one is what
Christ accomplished for us, justification, and then sanctification is what
He accomplished for us, but we're made to be a partaker of it when
He purges our conscience and makes us to see that He is our
sanctification. But righteousness, in Scripture
is often given to us, and it includes not only being justified
legally by what Christ did when He died for His people at Calvary,
but also in that He is our holiness. He is our righteousness. He's
our justification. He is our sanctification. He
is truly all. Now, let me show you here Romans
10. I hear this quoted sometimes, Romans 10.4, Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. And
then folks want to limit this righteousness to justification
from the penalty of the law. And most who do that want to
limit it to that because the most common practice in our day
is to say, OK, we're justified by Christ. Our righteousness
is imputed to us by Christ, but now. Here comes that big loophole
so that man can have some boasting, but we're sanctified by our own
works. That's not the case. That's not
the case. If a person is righteous before
the law, he has obeyed the law. He has obeyed God in his person. and in everything he's thought
and everything he's done. He's holy. He is perfectly obedient. There's no sin in him, period. And Christ couldn't have justified
his people at Calvary unless he would have been spotless.
God could not have made him to be sin for us had he not been
without sin, had he not knew no sin. He had to be holy to
be the spotless Lamb of God. And so we read here, Paul says,
Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that
they might be saved. For I bear them record, they
have a zeal of God. They're going about doing a lot
of things in religion, but it's not according to knowledge. For
they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. Who is that righteousness? is
Christ Jesus the Lord. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Now watch, Paul's
talking about doing some things. For Moses described that the
righteousness which is of the law, that the man which doeth
those things shall live by them. but the righteousness which is
of faith speaks on this wise. Say not in thy heart who shall
ascend into heaven or who shall descend into the deep. That's
to bring Christ down, to bring Christ again from the dead. It's
accomplished, brethren. Our justification and our sanctification
is accomplished by Christ Jesus. But the word of faith says, what
saith it, verse 8, The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth
and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which
we preach, that if you confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus
and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved. For we believe unto righteousness. We don't work unto righteousness,
whether it be justifying ourselves or sanctifying ourselves. We
don't work. We believe unto righteousness. And how does it come? He goes
on into that chapter and he says it comes by the hearing of faith,
by the hearing of the word, by the gospel that declares that
Christ has both justified us and made us holy in his person. Now, He's righteous. He's wisdom. He sought to do only that which
pleased the Father. He honored the law in perfection.
He did only good. He is the holiness that we can
never attain ourselves because of sin that's in our flesh. Colossians
2.8. I'm going to have you turn there
with me too. Colossians 2.8. This has got to be laid down
first. We've got to understand why this preaching of the cross
of Christ is necessary and what it is. Colossians 2.8. Paul says,
Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy. We're going
to see here in a minute the wisdom of man and vain deceit after
the tradition of man. Men come up with a lot of things,
come up with a lot of ideas, a lot of imaginations of how
men are justified and made holy before God. After the rudiments
of the world and not after Christ. Don't let anybody spoil you.
Don't let anybody lead you away from Christ. For in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are, what's that
next word? Complete in Him. There's no such thing with God
as a partial holiness. That just don't exist. Only complete
holiness. There's no such thing with God
as partial justification. Only complete justification. There's no such thing as a partial
righteousness. Only complete righteousness. There's no such thing as a partial
acceptance. by God, only complete acceptance
of God. And the Scripture says that we
are accepted one way, in the Beloved, in His Son. Back in
the law, there was a thing called a free will offering. And a free
will offering was just what it said. It was a offering that
was brought voluntarily of a person's free will. He brought it to God
and sacrificed it. And the scripture says that that
offering shall be perfect to be accepted. There shall be no
blemish therein. In scripture, in Psalm 110, we
read that in the day of Christ's power, his people shall be made
willing in the beauties of holiness. By the power of God in regeneration,
Christ redeemed a road in the holiness of Christ Jesus himself,
born of the incorruptible seed of God, made one with Christ
and complete in Christ. And when we're made willing,
we're made willing that Christ be everything needed for us to
be accepted of God. And we freely, willingly come
to God in Christ. We offer our bodies, a living
sacrifice unto God in the body of Christ Jesus. And because
Christ Jesus offered himself to God without spot through the
eternal spirit, We're accepted as a freewill offering, perfect
to be accepted with God. That's the only way any sinner
can be accepted is in Christ Jesus, who God accepts. because He's perfect and we're
perfect by faith in Him. If you finish out reading Romans
3, it says, do we make void the law then through faith? No, we
establish the law through faith. By believing Christ, we have
fulfilled the law in every jot and tittle, just as Christ fulfilled
it. Justified and righteous before
God. For both he that sanctifieth
and they that are sanctified are all of one, for which cause
he is not ashamed to call us brethren." Isn't that wonderful? That's the gospel that Christ
Jesus sent forth Paul to preach. It's the gospel that declares
everything God requires of sinners has been made fully accomplished
by Christ Jesus and is Christ Jesus. Here's the second thing. What does God do through the
gospel? Well, Paul says there in verse
18, 1 Corinthians 1.18, the preaching of the cross is to them that
perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it The preaching
of the cross of Christ is the power of God, for it is written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent. Well, first thing God does is
through the preaching of the finished work of Christ Jesus,
God destroys our wisdom. And he brings to nothing our
understanding. Every sinner that God saves starts
out thinking. that we are wise and prudent. We learn our system of doctrine. We make our profession of faith.
And we go right on boasting in our obedience and in our wisdom. We rebuke. We whip. We bind. because that's how we think sinners
are made obedient. That's what was done to us most
of the time if we were saved out of religion. We are by nature
legal philosophers. That's what we are by nature.
The description of every child of Adam is given in verse 22.
Look down there with me, 1 Corinthians 1.22. For the Jews require a
sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. The Jews thought sinners
are accepted of God by obedience to the law, by the traditions
of men passed down, by all sorts of man-made rules and regulations. And so their gospel and their
practice concerned the outward signs of fleshly obedience. They looked on the outward appearance
of things. And the Greeks gloried in man's
wisdom. And this amounts to about the
same thing. This is whatever man is by nature. Now, you recall
how that the religious men of the day criticized the Lord Jesus
Christ and his disciples. They continually asked Christ
Jesus, the Prince of life, show us a sign. Show us something
so that we can believe you're the Son of God. Show us something.
Why do they say that? Why do they keep saying that
to Him? Isaiah 53 says, He hath no form
nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there's no beauty that
we should desire Him. You see, when they looked at
Him, they didn't see any works that they equated with the righteous
works of obedience that they saw in their own congregations
and in their own followers. They didn't see any righteousness
in him because he didn't do anything before them to appear righteous.
He didn't do anything to try to appear holy before them. And
all they could put any confidence in was, you've got to show me
something to give me some evidence that you are really righteous.
Show me something. Oh, they saw the miracles he
did, but they didn't see him. They didn't see he is the righteousness
of God. They didn't see him. They said
he eats with publicans and sinners. In the eye of the pious Pharisee,
those whom Christ freely received didn't appear to possess the
outward signs of righteousness like their own congregation did.
You remember that harlot that washed his feet with her tears
and dried them with the hair of her head? That's a beautiful
example. of the righteousness of faith,
of the obedience of faith. She didn't care what anybody
else thought. She didn't care what anybody
else saw in her. All she cared about was Christ
Jesus alone. But that Pharisee thought in
his heart, if this man was a prophet, he'd know who this woman is and
what manner of person. She's a sinner. She's a harlot. She's a whore, and we all know
she's a whore. She's been practicing it, and we know she is. No doubt
about it. If he was a prophet, he'd have
her before a disciplinary committee. He'd have her on church watch,
and he'd be watching her real careful to make sure that she
measures up so she can fit in with us holy people before we'll
receive her. That's the religion that looks
on the flesh, the outward appearance. You listen to religious men argue.
Every, Greg brought this out wonderfully the other night,
every religion but grace, every religion but those who trust
Christ alone. I don't care what banner it flies
under, whether it's Hinduism, Muslim, Catholicism, Methodist,
Baptist, Campbellite, Church of Christ, Assembly of God, it
don't matter what it is. Listen to men argue over what
makes them to be holding on to the truth. And it amounts to
this right here. Our practice is better than your practice.
Our works are better than your works. That's what it amounts to, because
it's all works religion. It's all works religion. There's only two kinds. There's
the religion Abel had, who came in the blood. And there's a religion
Cain had, who came with the works of his hands, that which was
earthy. It's only two there are in the
whole wide world. That's it. It's just that narrow. the very best wisdom and understanding
that any sinner has in his flesh can't see Christ, can't hear
Christ, or believe God when he declares that all who believe
on his Son are perfectly obedient to God. You see, in the truth
of the matter, that harlot who everybody knew was a harlot,
who everybody knew what her day-to-day occupation was, perfectly obedient before God. And that self-righteous, pious
Pharisee that everybody looked on and thought, now that's a
holy man, was completely disobedient to God. As long as you and I look to
our so-called obedience, our so-called holiness, we're not
trusting the obedience of Christ. Secondly, God destroys our wisdom
by making Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God in
the new birth. Look here, verse 23. But we preach
Christ crucified. Unto the Jews, He's a stumbling
block. And unto the Greeks, foolishness. Those that are seeking a sign
say there's just got to be more. You've got to show me something
else now. There's something else besides Christ, and there's some
works we've got to do. And the Greeks just say, well,
that's just utter foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom
of God. The foolishness of God that's
spoken of throughout this chapter is this manner of saving sinners
through the gospel of Christ. And the weakness of God is the
means of not using many mighty men, not using many men that
you're going to look upon and go, now, he speaks so well, and
he's got so many credentials behind his name. What is that? He said he got more degrees behind
his name than a thermometer. It's not going to be many of
those fellows that God uses. Why? Why is that? because He's going to use weak
and base men. He's going to make it appear
that this one singular message of His Son preached by base and
weak men, He's going to bring to nothing those that think they're
something. This way. So that no flesh could
glory in His presence. Verse 25 says, And when He calls
us, we behold that the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisest
men. And the weakness of God is stronger
than men. And in this way that we thought
was foolish and base, God effectually accomplishes in those for whom
Christ died what no wisdom and no strength of men could ever
accomplish. Look at verse 29. that no flesh
should glory in his presence. That's why he uses this foolish
means of preaching and these base things, these nobodies,
that no flesh should glory in his presence, but of God or in
Christ Jesus. Those whom God works this work
of grace were put in Christ Jesus before the world began. They
were put in Him by grace, not having anything to do with them,
good or bad. That's what grace is. It's free. It's unmerited. It's of God.
Now read it. Of God are ye in Christ Jesus. He's speaking to saints. He's
speaking to those that have been called by His grace. Who of God
is made unto us wisdom, of God Christ is made unto us righteousness,
of God Christ is made unto us sanctification, and of God Christ
is made unto us redemption, that according as it is written, he
that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." I'm kind of getting
the picture of me and you not going to get any room to glory
in this thing of salvation. It's going to be all to the glory
of God's grace, to the praise of God, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the Beloved, in Christ. And even God has to reveal
Christ in us. And it's great wisdom of God
to do it by preaching and by base men, because thereby he
reveals that he's doing what no man can accomplish, what no
man can do. When Christ has made our wisdom,
we stop exalting ourselves against the knowledge of God. Up until
Christ has made our wisdom, that's all we do, and every imaginary
thing we come up with that somehow we can present ourselves to God,
we're doing nothing but exalting ourselves against the knowledge
of God. When Christ has made righteousness
to us, we stop trying to justify ourselves before God and before
men. I'm not trying to impress you
with anything. I'm not trying to make you think I'm something
I'm not. I'm a sinner. That's all I am. I got nothing
about me. That's why when the Lord said
in Matthew 5, they were accusing him of being against the Law
and the Prophets. He said, don't think I'm against that. They
were calling him lawless is what they were calling him. An antinomian
is what they were calling him. But he said, I'm not that at
all. I came to fulfill it because no man could. And I'm fulfilling
it on behalf of my people. And he says, but the law of murder,
these fellows bring that law down to where they can jump over
it. They can get over it if it's just outward acts. Who in here
has committed murder in the act, the outward act? By their interpretation,
y'all are all righteous. By your work. But he said, anger
in the heart. Makes you guilty. He said it's
a heart matter. And he said, therefore, if you
go to worship God and you remember that your adversary's got something
against you, go agree with him. In other words, don't try to
justify yourself before men. You're guilty. If somebody's
got it all against you, instead of trying to justify yourself
and make excuses why you're not guilty, agree with them. Because
if it's not that thing you're guilty of, it's something worse
than that. You're guilty. Just agree with them. You've
got nothing to justify yourself before God or men. And when Christ
has made our sanctification, we stop boasting of some imaginary
holiness that we've done in ourselves and are truly separated into
Christ, who is our holiness. That's what sanctification is.
It's being separated from all those ideas that we thought were
holiness into Christ, our holiness. When Christ has made redemption
to us, we become free indeed. We've been ransomed. We've been
bought with a price. We're free from the fear of death.
We're free from sin. We're free from the bondage of
religion. And you know what happens when Christ becomes redemption
to you? Religion can't get you to do anything anymore. They
can't put their yoke on you anymore and make you do anything. You're
free. I'm Christ's willing bondservant. He's taken me to the doorpost
and He's put an all through my ear and I'm His and He's mine
and I'm willingly serving Him. Nobody else. Just Him. Well,
here's the third thing He does. The fleshly means which we thought
was wise. That fleshly means that we thought
was wise becomes utter foolishness to us. We once thought the gospel
was foolishness and his preachers were foolish. They just don't
do things like we did them. They don't practice what we practice.
They don't... have all the ceremonies and all
of the careful watchings that we have in our church, they're
not nearly what we are. That's what we thought. But now
all of that junk becomes foolishness, and this simple preaching of
Christ and Him crucified becomes wisdom. We say, that's how God
saves sinners. 2 Corinthians 10. Paul said, I myself, beginning
in verse 1, I, Paul, myself, beseech you by the meekness and
gentleness of Christ, who, when I'm with you in presence, I'm
base among you, but being absent, I'm bold toward you. But I beseech
you that I may not be bold when I'm present with that confidence
wherewith I think to be bold against some which think of us
as if we walked according to the flesh. There were some false
prophets in the churches at Corinth who were accusing Paul of doing
just what the Pharisees did to Christ. They were saying, He
don't use the means we use. He don't use the manners we use. And Paul says, I can use boldness. I have every authority to use
boldness, but I'm preaching the gospel to you. Why? Verse 3,
for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but that is, they're not fleshly. They're
not the strength of men. but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and
every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God. We vainly imagine that the gospel
consisted of touch not, taste not, and handle not. Like the
Pharisees, we spent all our time talking about what men have got
to do to give us some outward sign that lets us know they're
righteous and truly a child of God. We only knew men after the
flesh, but the kingdom of God is not meat and drink. It's not
merely an outward obedience, but all that while we were exalting
ourselves against the knowledge of God. against God's wisdom
and saving through the gospel of Christ only, and against Christ
who is the power and wisdom of God. We were exalting ourselves
against the knowledge of God. But through His gospel and His
great wisdom, verse 5 says, He brings into captivity every thought
to the obedience of Christ. He didn't say He brings us to
obedience. in something we've done, he says
he brings our every thought that was all scattered around looking
at touch not, taste not, handle not, looking at people by the
outward appearance, looking at our own flesh and what we've
done, how we've measured up or how we have it. He says he don't
bring us to that. He brings us our thoughts from
that into the captivity to See Christ who is our obedience. Understand that? It's different
from this world's religion. Altogether different. That's
what the gospel does. And then in verse 6, he says,
once God turns us from our dishonest dealings to trust in the obedience
of Christ, then He gives us a readiness to revenge all disobedience.
Look at verse 6. And having in a readiness to
revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
What does that mean? Once God works effectually in
you, using this foolish gospel, using base nobodies to preach
it to you, Then you behold that men cannot affect obedience. We can't bring it about. And
this revenge then ceases to be the strength of the flesh, but
it ceases to be brought about by the gospel of Christ. We're brought to behold that
our weapons are carnal, they're spiritual. And now then we renounce
the hidden things of dishonesty. in ourselves and in anybody else. If we hear somebody else pointing
sinners after the philosophy and vain deceit of men, turning
them from Christ to the flesh, we know that's disobedience. That's not pointing men to the
obedience of Christ. And when he causes an assembly
of believers to be brought to the obedience of Christ, to be
believing on Christ, trusting Christ, who is our wisdom, our
righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption, Christ is all
and in you all. Then He brings us all into the
unity of the faith so that now we're not going to stand for
that disobedience that turns us from Christ back to the flesh. Back to the rudiments of touch
not, taste not, handle not. Back to sanctification by something
we do. Back to justification by something
we do. Back to a righteousness obtained
by something we do. Now we know. that the only thing
that will bring sinners into obedience is Christ Jesus, the
gospel of Christ Jesus. You know, and it's so, for those
who have experienced it, you know it's so. I used to like
to hunt. I loved to hunt when I was growing
up. And I had a certain kind of gun that I used. And another
fellow had another kind of gun that he used. But the gun I used,
I liked best. Until I tried his gun. Then I realized his gun shot
a whole lot better than my gun. You see, once you've been saved
by this foolish preaching and through a base vessel of God
that the power might be of God and not of a man, then you've
made to realize everything else Every other method, every other
mean is disobedience. Christ Jesus to Lord is our obedience. The gospel of Christ is how he
brings us to the obedience of Christ. Nothing else will do.
Nothing else will do. And when John, you remember when
John said, told the Pharisees, bring forth fruits, meat for
repentance. John wasn't saying, now let me
put you on church watch and sit here and watch you for about
six months to a year, and let's make sure you measure up. That's
not what he was saying. If he would have said that, he'd
have been one with those Pharisees. What he was saying to them was,
turn from that and trust the obedience of Christ alone. That's
fruit meat for repentance. Aren't you glad? I guarantee
you that Ethiopian eunuch was glad that Philip wasn't a Pharisee. Because he didn't make him wait.
As soon as he said, I'm not going back to Jerusalem anymore. I
see Christ as my obedience. What hinders me from being baptized?
Here's water. Philip said, you believe him?
He said, I believe him lock, stock, and barrel. He said, you
can be baptized. When Paul was preaching to that
Philippian jailer and to his household, and God saved them
by grace, they were thankful Paul didn't say, now hold on
now. I want to stay here a while longer and watch y'all fellas,
make sure you go through a battery of tests and questions, make
sure you understand everything just right." No. They turned
from all that and said, I believe Christ lock, stock and barrel.
And he said, that's the obedience of faith, trusting the obedience
of Christ. Thirdly, here's the last thing,
and I'll be brief here. Why is this preaching of the
gospel the most important thing to the believer? Now, in our
original text there, verse 21, it says, it pleased God. After
that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God.
All that other junk, they didn't know God by that. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. God
began this work of grace in the hearts of his people through
the preaching of the gospel of Christ. But it's not a one-time
thing. It's not a one-time thing. It
goes on and on and on throughout the life of the believer. He
saved us when he called us by his grace. Every time we hear
the gospel preached, he saves us. Every time we hear the gospel
preached, he saves us. Every time we hear the gospel
preached, he saved us. He saves us. Christ is our life. And the gospel is his word to
us. And through this Gospel, He first
creates in every believer this hungering and thirsting after
Christ our righteousness. And through His words, He feeds
the inner man. He feeds the spirit. And He grows
us by His grace as He grows us in knowledge of Him. As we learn
more of Christ, more of His faithfulness, More of His holy character. More hear His words preached
in truth. We learn more of how we are complete
in Christ. And we grow, faith grows, to
trust Him more. And to look to our flesh less. We're not getting more holy in
this flesh. This flesh was the product of Adam. It's dead. It's
dying. and it will return to the dust.
It's not going to be raised. He's going to make a new body
even as He's created a new spirit within. Because everything that's
going to be in God's presence is going to be the creation of
God, what He's made. And so He grows us through this
Gospel. Now I want you to turn to John
6 for the last text here. John 6. Now you know that the suffix
E-T-H in the King James, in Old English, means continuation. It means it keeps going, keeps
going, keeps going. I want you to listen to this.
It's something we don't have. We lose that in the English translation.
We don't have that in our language. That E-T-S means it continueth,
it keeps on going. Now watch this, John 6 verse
53. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of
Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you." That's
what faith is. It's to eat His flesh and drink
His blood. It's to live. upon Christ. Look at verse 54. Whoso eateth
my flesh keeps on, continues, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal
life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh
is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent
me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he
shall live by me." He's our life. Now listen to this. It is the
Spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you... Have you heard Christ speaking
words unto you tonight? If all you've heard is a man,
you ain't heard much. Christ speaks his words unto
his people through his gospel. From God's heart to your heart,
from the God who is spirit into the spirit of your soul, into
that spirit he's made new. The words that I speak unto you,
they're spirit and they are life. His words are life to our spirit,
they're life to our soul. A hungry man, I've never seen a hungry man
have to be driven to a table to eat. Never seen a hungry man
have to be coerced and hogtied to get him to a big plate of
wonderful feast. I've never seen a thirsty man
have to be begged to come to the well and get water. It doesn't have to happen. Where
God has given a hunger and a thirst in the inner man after Christ
our righteousness, the words that He speaks are life to us
and we want to be wherever His gospel is being preached so that
we can feast on this feast of fat things that He set before
us. We want to feed on His broken body and His shed blood, on His
sacrifice for us by which He made us righteous and accepted
of God. Believers arrange everything
else around this feast of fat things. Now some heard this,
and they went their way. They heard it with the carnal
ear, and they saw Christ with the carnal eye, but they didn't
have His words abiding in them, they didn't have Him abiding
in them through the Spirit, and they weren't hungering and thirsting
after Him. But verse 67, Then said Jesus
unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered
Him, To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure Thou art that Christ, the
Son of the living God. Now hear Christ Jesus speak to
you. Here's what he said. Let us hold
fast the profession of faith without wavering, for God is
faithful, that promised. and let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another so much the more as you see the day approaching. You know, I've always looked
at that, exhorting one another so much more as you see the day
approaching. I've always looked at that as
being, as we see the day of price return approaching. It means
that. But also, as you see the day
approaching when the table's going to be spread with the feast. Tuesday, when your brother's
saying, oh, I just got too much. I just waited down in this world
and got so much going on. I got to go do this and that. The day's approaching. The table's
about to be spread. The feast is about to be put
out. The words of life. It's coming tomorrow. You're
going to be at the table. Come on, let's eat. There's a
good supper prepared. Let's go eat. Exhort one another. Comfort one another. Remind one
another. Not try to wilt somebody. We
have things come up and we can't always be here. But I tell you,
a believer is going to arrange everything else around, he's
going to be there. Babes in Christ don't always
do that. But over the course of time, this gospel, if you're
fed and you grow in maturity, you begin to realize, you know
what? My wife came to me and said, Will wants to play soccer. Well, the practice is on Thursday. Thursday afternoon, Thursday
evening. We can't play soccer then. That's when we meet over
there, Thursday night. Can't play soccer then. You think
he'll grow up and hate me because I didn't let him play soccer
on Thursday nights? If God's pleased to bless him by his grace,
he'll thank me for it. He'll thank me for it. I pray
God will use that and help you, encourage you.