I was sharing with Chuck and
Judene just a couple of days ago about a woman who was passing
through. She was from somewhere down in
Southern California. I'm not sure where now. But she
liked what she heard. And she took one of our bulletins
and wrote me a letter. after she got back to her home,
asking if I would send her a couple of more of my messages. She wanted
to hear more of what I had to say. And so, I honored her request
and sent her a couple of messages. Then I got a letter from her
telling me, you need to take your message on the road and
become an evangelist. You preach the same thing over
and over." Well, whether she knew it or not, that was a very
high compliment. I only have one message. And
every time the Lord allows me to preach, that's the message
I preach. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I thought about that and I looked
up the word evangelist just three or four days ago. And the definition
from Strong's Concordance is an evangelist is one who preaches
the gospel. One who spreads the good news.
That's what pastors do. We preach the gospel. Oh, we'll
give, like Brother David is so faithful in doing, explain the
meaning of different words. We'll use different texts. We'll
give different illustrations. But it always points to Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. That's our message. And so I
want you to turn to 1 Corinthians 2. Let me share these thoughts with
you while you're turning there. Jesus Christ is the good news. He is eternal life, and if we
have him, we have all things that pertain unto life and godliness. If we have Christ, we have all
the promises of God, and all of them are yea and amen. If
we have Christ, we have all the blessings of God. All the blessings
are found in Christ. And if we have Christ, There's therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, no judgment. We have absolutely
no fear of coming judgment if we're in Christ. He took care
of our sin debt. washing us clean in His blood
and removed all of our sins from God's sight forever. Does that
bless you? That blesses me from the top of my head to the bottom
of my feet. If we have Christ, we have absolutely
nothing to fear. In Christ Jesus, we are as holy
as God Himself. Did you hear that? If we're in
Christ Jesus, we're as holy As God himself, God sees no sin
in Israel, none. I've shared this before, but
I'll share it again. A little boy was coming home from church
and there was a mocker standing in his yard. He saw him coming
from the church and he stopped the little boy. He said, you
believe all that they're preaching down there? He said, yes sir,
I do. God tells me that he's put all my sins behind him. And
the mocker said, well, what if God turns around? The little
boy said, they'll still be behind him. And that's true. There's nothing that can be laid
to our charge. If we have Christ, we are delivered
from this body of death in his appointed time, and we shall
be presented before him faultless. That's what the word of God says.
will be presented before the presence of the King of Kings,
Jesus Christ our Lord, faultless. I gotta stop and think about
that. Because I know my own, not completely,
but enough to know that I'm nothing but a sinner. saved by the grace
of God. I know I'm a sinner. I sin every
day. I have wrong thoughts go through
my mind. I entertain wrong thoughts, and
I'm sorry, I'm just being honest. So to be presented before Him
faultless is something that I can't fully comprehend, but I know
it's so. I know that the Lord Jesus Christ
has taken care of my sin debt, and I give Him all the praise.
Now brethren, there's only one reason God forgives sinners. One reason God bestows His sovereign
grace and mercy upon a hell-deserving sinner, such as myself, and that
reason is for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. We're to forgive
one another even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven us. Now, Brother David, in one of
his recent messages, had two points that he brought before
us. Substitution. and satisfaction. Christ is our
substitute. He offered himself for our sins. God's wrath was poured out on
his darling son because God our Father laid on him the iniquity
of us all. And God was perfectly satisfied
with the supreme sacrifice that Jesus Christ made. and he receives
us into his fellowship when he enlightens our minds to the truths
of the gospel and we embrace Jesus Christ as our only hope.
God himself embraces us for the glory of Jesus Christ our Savior. Now here in 1 Corinthians chapter
2, let me read verses 1 through 5. Paul, writing on a divine
inspiration, wrote these words. He said, I determined this with
myself, that I would not come again to
you. I'm in the wrong. I'm sorry. Forgive me. I was in 2 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 2, starting at
verse 1. And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. Now listen to this, for I determined,
I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and
him crucified. Paul didn't care if you were
wealthy or poor. He didn't care if you were educated
or illiterate. He didn't care if you came from
a prominent family or if you were just a common everyday ditch
digger. He didn't care anything about
you. You could express yourself all
that you want to, but he didn't have any interest in that. He
wanted this to be brought before the people. I determined not
to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Our Lord asked the same question,
what think ye of Christ? And some unbelieving Jews said,
He said, what think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? And they said,
son of David. Our Lord said, then why did David
call him Lord? Writing under divine inspiration,
and I'm paraphrasing. And they couldn't answer him.
So this is what we bring before the people. What think ye of
Christ? That's pretty important. Our thoughts should harmonize
with God's Word and with most churches and most preachers That
is not true. They're false preachers. They
bring before you a few truths taken out of context, and they
have entered into a religion that points to universal redemption,
universal love, and absolutely denies what Jesus Christ did
for his people at Calvary 2,000 years ago. God loves everyone. No, he does not. God does not
love everyone. I know he hated, what's his name? Jacob Esau. I know he hated Esau,
and he hates all workers of iniquity, but hang on to your pew because
we're gonna jump a creek right now, and it's a wide one. God
never did hate us. He loves us with an everlasting
love, and in loving kindness, he draws us unto himself. God's
love is in Christ Jesus, and we have always been in Christ
Jesus from way back before a star ever twinkled in the sky. God
shows us in Christ before the foundation of the world. He set
his love upon a particular people. And in God's appointed time of
love for us, he brings us under the preaching of the gospel and
enlightens our minds to the fact that Jesus Christ is God Almighty
who became a man to take care of our sin debt. So Paul is saying
this, I determine not to know anything among you save Jesus
Christ and him crucified. What do you think of that? Then
he writes in verse three, and I was with you in weakness and
in fear and in much trembling, and my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the spirit and of power, and here's the reason, that your
faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power
of God. Faith is God's gift to the sinner. Contrary to popular belief, this
religious generation believes that faith is your gift to God. We're dead in trespasses and
sins in our unregenerate state and we don't have any faith.
Faith is God's gift. Grace is God's gift. Mercy is
God's gift. And he must give us faith to
believe his glorious gospel truths. And when he does, None of those
who are enlightened by the Spirit of God will have anything to
do with a religion that promotes the works of man in salvation.
How can we have anything to offer God if we're dead in trespasses
and sins? And he comes to us in that unregenerate
state gives us a new heart, life precedes
conversion to Christ. We must have life, or we'll go
through life hating God, hating Christ, hating His gospel, and
go right into eternal torment when we go through that doormark
death. We better believe on Him. Now turn over to Acts chapter
four, if you will, please. Acts chapter four. The sovereign
power of Jesus Christ is the heart of the gospel. All power
in heaven and earth has been given to the resurrected Christ
of God. All power, not just some, all
power has been given to Him. Jesus Christ is the power of
God. Jesus Christ is the wisdom of
God. And here we are in this life
dealing with these truths without perfect understanding,
but with some, that whatever happens, whatever happens in
this world today, one minute at a time, was purposed by our
God for the glory of Jesus Christ before time began. All things,
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the call according to His purpose. All things, And
if Jesus Christ wasn't in control of all things, working all things
after the counsel of his own will, how could that be true?
But I know it's true. I don't understand it, but I
know it's true. I know what happens to me one
day at a time, one hour at a time, one minute at a time, was decreed
by my God for my eternal good and for the glory of Jesus Christ.
And if we have that understanding, we won't be so apt to shake our
fist at that guy who cut us off when we're in traffic. We won't
be so quick to find fault with others when we suffer a little
persecution for the glory of Christ. We'll bow before the
absolute sovereign power of Jesus Christ and will echo his words,
not my will, Lord, but thy will be done. Now here in Acts chapter
four, Peter and John had been used of God to bring the good
news to that impotent man, and the Lord healed him, raised him
from that state of being impotent to strong legs that could jump
and leap and praise God. And Peter and John were arrested. They were apprehended by the
unbelieving Jews. But they couldn't say much because
the miracle was performed and they couldn't deny that. But
they threatened Peter and John, told them not to preach in the
name of the Lord Jesus. And Peter said, Who should we
obey, you or God? You decide that. And so they
had to let them go. And when they let them go, they
returned to their company. And starting in verse 23 of Acts
chapter four, we read this, and being let go, they went to their
own company and reported all that the chief priests and elders
had said unto them. And when they heard that, when
the church, those who in fellowship with Peter and John in the true
gospel, when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to
God with one chord and said, Lord, thou art God which hath
made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that in them is,
who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said, Why did the
heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings
of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together
against the Lord and against his Christ, and of a truth against
thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both
Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of
Israel, were gathered together." Now I'm pausing on purpose. I want you to pay close attention
to verse 28. This is how the church back then
prayed. For to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done." What those Jewish people who
hated Christ and those Roman Gentiles who gathered together
with those unbelieving Jews to crucify the Lord Jesus, that
was determined by God himself to be done. God determined that. Jesus Christ came into this world
to die, and that was His appointed time to go to the cross and be
nailed to that cruel cross for the sins of His people, determined
beforehand to be done. God determined that. That was
no accident. That was the purpose of God for
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to go to that cruel cross and
bear the iniquities of his people. My sins were laid on him. Jesus
Christ bore my sins in his own body on the tree and was punished
as my substitute, as Brother David brought out in one of his
recent messages. Folks, listen, we've been punished
already in our substitute. God is holy. He must punish sin. He must. If you're without Christ, and
you go through that door marked death without Christ, you're
gonna be punished for your sins in eternal torment. But if God
gives you a mind to embrace what his word clearly teaches concerning
Christ our Savior, and we see him taking our place, we see
Him as the one who by Himself purged our sins, and God promises
us this, nothing will be laid to our charge. We have eternal
life. We have a promise from God Himself
that we will never see death. Absent from the body is present
with the Lord. We come to Jesus Christ by faith,
We bow before Him. We acknowledge that we're sinful,
that we hate God in our own legitimate state, and that we need a Savior,
and He gives us an understanding. Jesus Christ is our Lord and
our Savior, who took care of our sin debt by Himself. Now, if you will please turn
over to 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2, one more passage of Scripture,
2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Now how are we delivered from
the power of darkness? How do we obtain grace and mercy
from God? Well, He must bring us under
the preaching of His gospel, and He does. He must give us
His Holy Spirit. He must command the light to
shine in our new heart to give us the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. God must give
us faith to believe that Jesus Christ bore our sins in His own
body on a tree, and that we have already been punished for our
sins in our substitute, and that He, Jesus Christ, was raised
again for our justification. He, God, must give us faith to
believe that Jesus Christ is Lord of all, that everything
that happens is under His sovereign rule, and that He's working all
of these things after the counsel of His own will. I know that's tough. I know it's
hard to embrace that wholeheartedly, because things happen that disturb
us. Things happen that causes us
to be afflicted with sorrow and heartache and pain. But like
we heard in Sunday school this morning from Brother Larry, these
things are happening for the glory of Jesus Christ and for
the good of his people. These things are ordained. Let me say that again. These
things are ordained. They're not accidents. Nothing
happens accidentally. Everything that comes to pass
is purposed by God back in old eternity. Once again, for the
glory of Jesus Christ, and for the good of his people. I hear
in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, starting at verse 13, Paul has
already written concerning the unregenerate people that God
sent them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie. But
then he wrote these words, inspired by the Holy Spirit, but we are
bound We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth." You all believe that? That's the Word of God. God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation. You didn't choose
God, He chose you. He didn't put His vote against the vote of
the devil left the deciding vote up to you. God himself chose
you, chose me, if my faith is in Christ. He chose us to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit. That word sanctification
simply means set apart or made holy. And the Holy Spirit has
sanctified us. In the book of Hebrews, in the
10th chapter, we read that our Lord Jesus came to do His Father's
will by the which will that He, Jesus Christ, through the sacrifice
of Himself, should sanctify His people. And right down in a couple
of verses below that, it also says that He perfected us forever
by the supreme sacrifice of Himself. We're God's sanctified people.
He chose us to salvation through sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth. We believe the truth. This religious
generation doesn't know the truth. They don't know the Christ of
Holy Scripture. They don't know the gospel. And
they shake their fist at those who embrace the truth and try
to tell them that they're wrong. I'm telling you, I've dealt with
this. The Lord called me out of darkness when I was in my
late 20s, and here I am in my 80s, and for all of these years
I have dealt with this, and I know what people hate. They hate it
when you tell them that it's not of Him that willeth, nor
of Him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. They hate
that, because they want to rob God of His glory. and try to
tell people it's your decision, it's your free will. God's given
everybody a will to decide whether they should believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ or not. That is not the gospel, that
is not the truth. He, of his own will, begat he
us with the word of truth. And when we come out of darkness
into his marvelous light, that truth sets us free. That's the
work of the Holy Spirit, to take a hell-deserving sinner, blinded
by the God of this world, delivering us from the power of darkness,
the power of Satan, the power of sin, the power of self, and
we're set free from that bondage we were in. God's grace and His
mercy bestowed upon us for the glory of Jesus Christ. So Paul
says that God has chosen us to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. And then in verse 14,
we read, where unto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. God calls his people
out of darkness under the preaching of his gospel. In my Early walk
before God, I had two preachers that I admired. But they turned against Henry
Mahan because Henry Mahan believed that God sends his spirit into
the hearts of his chosen people under the preaching of the gospel. And in a passage of scripture, We read that there's divisions
among us, and there must needs be that those who are approved
may be made manifest. And my Lord gave me an understanding
that what Henry Mahan was saying, what Don Fortner was saying,
what David Pledger was saying, what Milton Howard was saying,
what Donny Bell was saying, and all of God's grace preachers
is one and the same. God sends his spirit into our
hearts under the preaching of his gospel. Paul said to the Philippians
in the third chapter, this only would I learn of you, receive
ye the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of
faith. We receive the spirit from God,
the spirit of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit of God, under the
preaching of His glorious gospel. This only would I learn of you.
Receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing
of faith. And so we, as God's enlightened
children, have received the Spirit of Jesus Christ who guides us
into all truth. We have nothing, absolutely nothing
to glory in but Jesus Christ our Lord. He's my Lord and my
God, and I am not ashamed to tell you that. Jesus Christ saved
me. He by Himself purged my sins. I believe what He says to His
children. If our faith is in Him, we will
never die. Oh, I know this body has to lay
down and go back to the dust from whence it came, but absent
from the body is present with the Lord. When God delivers us
from this body of death, we will see Jesus Christ in all of His
glory. What a day to look forward to,
to see Him glorified. We see Him through the eye of
faith now glorified, but we're gonna see Him through brand new
eyes and a brand new glorified body and for all eternity, for
all eternity, we'll give Him all the praise and all the glory.
for this great salvation, this unspeakable gift. I was telling
Judy just yesterday, I think, you suppose that when we leave
this life, God has a special cloud for us that we can ride
around on. Well, that's just foolish thinking.
We'll be so busy praising our Lord, we won't have any time
for anything else but to give him all the glory for what he
has done for us. And that day is coming. That
day's coming soon for a couple of us. And I pray, I pray earnestly
that our Lord will enable us through the eye of faith to keep
our eye focused on the Christ of God who loved us and gave
himself for us, that we'll see him, see him as our only hope,
Christ in you, the hope of glory.