I remember not too long ago when
Judy and I were eating over at Cracker Barrel. We sat right
by a wall and there was a fishing pole on the wall. And I said, well, look at that. That's a fishing pole just like
the one I had when I was a young teenager. And they got it on
the wall as an antique. Judy said, well. And that didn't offend me not
one little bit. We had a lady in our church in Rescue, California,
who was quite a bit older than us back then, and that was probably
30, 35 years ago maybe. And she was out working in her
yard, even at an old age. And someone, some lady came driving
in, got out of the car and walked up to her and she said, I'm looking
for some antiques. And she said, you're looking
at one. Well, you know, I say that to say this, life is like
a vapor. We read that in the Holy Scriptures.
And I can really identify with that now. I'm not going to tell you how
old Judy is, but I'm 81 and she's just as old as I am. So, you
know, time just flies by. Just flies by. We got married
right after she graduated from high school. I was a grade ahead
of her, and we were both 18. That was 63 years ago last June,
and it just seems like the other day. Boy, I tell you, we better
count the days, because it won't be long till our appointed time
of departure comes upon us. And we have no guarantee, even
at a young age, that we'll live to see tomorrow. So I have a
message that I want to bring before you this morning. I consider
it a great honor that our pastor would ask me to fill in for him
when he's gone. But I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians
chapter 11. The true gospel of Jesus Christ
is a simple message. And it can be summed up in one
word, substitution. God's children are a particular
people. God chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. And we read that in the Holy
Scriptures. God's people are a purchased people. Matter of
fact, the Bible uses the term of purchased possession. Jesus
Christ purchased us with his own precious blood. God's people
are a people enlightened by God's power. To know Christ and his
gospel comes by divine revelation right from our Father, which
is in heaven. Even our Lord Jesus, when he walked on this earth,
He asked his disciples, whom do men say that I am? And Peter always seemed to be
the spokesman. He said, thou art the Christ,
the son of the living God. And our Lord said to him, blessed
art thou, Simon Barjona, Simon, son of John. Flesh and blood
hath not revealed that unto you, but my Father, which is in heaven.
He always drew attention to his father and his father's will.
But when he preached, beginning at Moses and all the prophets,
he expounded on all the scriptures of things concerning himself.
So we're a purchased people, an enlightened people by God's
power, and a people who give Jesus Christ all the glory. Now
I'm not denying the Father and I'm not denying the Holy Spirit.
We believe in the great three in one. But all the fullness
of the Godhead is found in Jesus Christ our Lord. If we see Him,
we see the Father. And the Holy Spirit is God's
service. It brings the gospel to our understanding. when Christ is preached, the
Holy Spirit, who dwells in the heart of everyone who believes
the gospel, He reveals these things to us. And we're a people
who will never perish. And I bring those things out
just to point to the fact that there's another Jesus being preached,
another spirit being received, and another gospel being preached. And we find that right here In
2 Corinthians 11, verse 4, it says, For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another
spirit, whom you have not received, or another gospel which you have
not accepted, you might well bear with him. So, these false
preachers that bring in another Jesus, another spirit, another
gospel, were way back during the days of the apostles. Actually, those ungodly men who
denied the truth and preached lies go all the way back to the
fall of Adam. So we have them with us and we're
to expose these false preachers because we're supposed to come
out from amongst them. How are we going to do that if
they're not exposed? And that's what I want to do
this morning. I want to compare the Christ of Holy Scripture
with this phony Jesus. The Spirit of God that's declared
on the pages of Holy Scripture with the false spirit that dominates
ungodly, self-righteous religionists, and another gospel, which is
not another, but another being preached that people just grab
a hold of. And full of hatred for Christ,
they deny the truths of the Scripture. So first, the Jesus of Holy Scripture
and all who imitate Him. I ask you to turn to Ephesians
chapter 1, if you will, please. Ephesians chapter 1. And I want
to share with you a true event that took place in my life as
a preacher in the early ministry. I was invited to preach a small
congregation that meant in the San Francisco Bay Area, one of
the small towns. And the preacher that went before
me, there was another preacher invited, and he went before me,
and he actually made these statements. God needs us. Jesus is not here
now. And we're to take that which
He's entrusted us with, and we're to take it out to the people,
and invite them to come to church. And this is the way God adds
to His church, is through us. That is not true. None of that's
true. And I didn't even have to change
my notes when I stood up to preach. They never invited me back. Strange. Brethren, our Lord Jesus declared
this truth, and it's as true today as it
was when He declared it. He said, without me, you can
do nothing. Without Christ, we are nothing. We have nothing. We can do nothing. And He said, lo, I am with you
always, even unto the end of the world. So this Jesus that's
being preached today is not the Christ of Holy Scripture. Let me take you over to John
chapter six, if you'll turn over there please. All self-righteous
religionists have received the spirit of anti-Christ. So, God
the Holy Spirit reveals gospel truths as I've already mentioned,
and the universal love of God is a big fat lie. That's a wrong
spirit. Universal redemption is a big
fat lie. That's a wrong spirit. Man's
so-called free will is a big fat lie. It's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
So that's a wrong spirit. Some for whom Christ died will
perish is what they're talking about and saying. That's not
a big fat lie. Our Lord Jesus tells us in his
word that all that the Father gave him shall come to him and
we will never perish. The love of God is in Christ
Jesus and only in Christ Jesus. And if we're in Christ Jesus,
we'll never perish. And God's life-giving power,
they claim, can be resisted, and that's not true. That's another
big fat lie. And so here in John chapter six,
and I just want to say this before I read this text, this scripture. The Holy Spirit is God Almighty,
and we're comparing The spirit that's found on the pages of
Holy Scripture with this false spirit that's being preached
today. The Holy Spirit is God Almighty. No one can hinder His
work. He tells us that. He tells us
in Daniel 4.35, all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And He, that is God, doeth according
to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. And none can stay His hand. None can stop Him from
doing what He has purposed. Or say unto Him, what dost thou? We can't even question what God
is doing. Why is this happening to me,
we might say. Well, why not? This is God working
in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And right
here in John chapter 6 and verse 63, we read this. It is the Spirit that quickeneth. And that word means gives life. It is the Spirit that gives life.
The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. Brother, we need a new
heart. We come into this world with
that old natural heart. We all fell in Adam. We don't
become sinners because we sin. We sin because we're sinners.
And that old heart is enmity against God. We hate Him. People say, well, if I'd have
been back there in the days when Christ was crucified, I'd have
tried to stop them. No, you would not have. None
of us would. We hate, we hated Jesus Christ
in our un... regenerated state as much as
those unbelieving Jews and those unbelieving Gentiles that cried
out, crucify him, crucify him. And they did. They did. Pilate told our Lord, don't you
know I have the power to either crucify you or set you free?
And he said, you wouldn't have any power over me at all if it
hadn't been given to you from above. And that's where we are
today. That hasn't changed. The natural
heart is just as guilty as the old heart that we see in all
of those people all the way through the Old Testament and during
the days of the Apostle and all the way up to now. Hatred. Hatred. We're doing our loved
ones a grave injustice if we don't tell them that they need
Christ. And if they're meeting A goat
barn is what I heard one preacher identify those places where they
meet. If our children are meeting in
those places, and some people say, well, we just want to worship
with our children. They're not worshiping. They
don't worship God. They're blaspheming God. God's
people must And I stress that word must because that's the
word the Bible uses. We must worship him in spirit
and in truth. Our sovereign Lord moves nations,
millions of men and women with less effort than it takes for
us to get an empty glass and move it from a table to the sink.
That's his power. Jesus Christ is the power of
God. All power in heaven and earth
has been given to him. And none can stop him from doing
what he has purposed. So there's another Jesus being
preached, another spirit being preached, or received, or grabbed
and hold, I don't know the term to use. It's another spirit that
dominates false religions, I know that. It's a wrong spirit. Now, go over to Acts chapter
2, if you will, please. The Lord adds to the church daily,
such as should be saved. We read that in the Holy Scriptures.
And so let me ask you this question. Who needs to be saved? All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. All need to be saved. But that's
not what we read in the scriptures in Acts chapter 2, verse 47. The Lord added to the church
daily such as should be saved. So let me ask this question.
Who should be saved? who should be saved. Believers,
yes. Those who believe the gospel
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Those who embrace Him as the
One who by Himself purged our sins. Those who believe that
Jesus Christ is God Almighty, our Creator. Those who embrace
the truths concerning Him being on His sovereign throne of power,
like they say in the Deep South, right now. Right now. He, Jesus Christ, is on His throne
in glory, ruling over this whole universe and everything in it. Not one thing happens apart from
His permissive will. And if we believe these truths
as found in the Holy Scriptures, then brethren, we're His chosen
people who are enlightened by God the Holy Spirit. And we need
to believe these truths or will perish. Now I asked you to go
to Acts 2, I'm sorry, I should have said Galatians 1, that's
where I want to take you now. Galatians chapter 1, and I have
a closing point concerning the gospel. There's another gospel being
preached, and unregenerate Hell-deserving sinners have embraced
a gospel of man's imagination. And here in Galatians chapter
1, we read about this false gospel. Chapter 1, verse 3, Grace be
to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus
Christ. And Jesus Christ is our peace.
There's no peace apart from him. None. I was talking with Shelby
Fortner the other day, and her and her daughter were visiting
Madisonville. Her daughter had a meeting here,
and they just couldn't get over to worship with us Wednesday
night. But I was talking with them,
and we were talking about those people who are meeting in false
churches. And Shelby's daughter, Noah Shelby,
Shelby asked me this, how do people cope with the loss of
a loved one without Christ? I said, they don't. They don't. They have a false hope, a hope
built upon something that the person that died may have believed. or if they don't even have any
religious background at all, they'll turn to the bottle, drinking
liquor, or dope, or commit suicide. They have no hope. And actually,
I can understand that. If I didn't have Christ, and
I saw that I was going to die, and stand before my maker, I probably would do the same
thing. I probably would turn to something, something evil. But we have Christ. We have Christ
who is our true, sincere hope. We have fled to Him for hope.
And that hope is like an anchor of the soul, both steadfast and
sure. And we fled to him for refuge
and he promises us that we will never die. That's good news for
a hell deserving sinner. So this gospel is the true gospel. And we read
in verse four that Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins that
he might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory forever and
ever." Then Paul says this, writing on the divine inspiration, I
marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into
the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another. But there be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. And that's what all
of these self-righteous religionists are doing. They're perverting
the true gospel of Christ with their lies. And they're calling
our Savior a liar. They're calling Him a liar. Free will is a lie. Man's decision
for Jesus to earn salvation is a lie. to believe that some for
whom Christ died will perish, that's a bald-faced lie. And
we're to come away from them, come out from amongst them and
be separate, our Lord said. Now, let me take you over to
Hebrews chapter 10. Let me ask you this question
while you're turning there. What then is the gospel? If there's another gospel being
preached, what then is the gospel? We need to know what the gospel
is. And the gospel is Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the gospel. He's on every page. The gospel is on every page. A young preacher, and I think
I shared this with you before, but it bears repeating, a young
preacher was preaching in a congregation whose pastor was a very seasoned
pastor, preaching the truth. And as he came away from the
pulpit, he went and sat down by the seasoned pastor and said,
well, what did you think of my message? And the seasoned pastor
said, I didn't think very much of it at all. He said, wasn't
the scripture that I chose good scripture? He said, oh yeah,
they were good. He said, well, was my illustrations
good? Yes, your illustrations were
very good. Well then, why wasn't it a good message? He said, you
didn't preach Christ. He said, but Christ wasn't in
the text. He said, young man, every verse
of scripture points to Christ and it's the preacher's responsibility
to get our hearers on that path that leads to him as soon as
we can. And that's true. I have never
heard a true gospel preacher preach anything but Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. The Apostle Paul said, I determine
not to know anything amongst you except Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. And if he wrote those words under
divine inspiration, then that's exactly what we're to preach,
Jesus Christ. People are trying, false religion,
false preachers are trying to make disciples of Christ by preaching
practical godliness. Now, there's room for that, to
bring it into our messages, but not apart from preaching Christ.
Practical godliness is in the heart of every enlightened child
of God. We want to walk pleasing in the
sight of our God. But we still have that old nature,
and the old nature and the new nature war against one another,
so that we can't do the things that we should, and we do the
things that we shouldn't. That's why Paul said, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? I
thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord. And so, we're right
there, all of us. We want to please our Lord. We
know we didn't, not in the flesh, we know we had no desire to please
Him. Now the desire is here, but how
to perform that which we know we should do? We don't know how. We have sin that dominates everything
that we do. We're still sinners, saved by
the grace of God. But we have Christ, our hope,
promising us that when this is all over, will be with Him in
glory. What wonderful good news to a
hell-deserving sinner enlightened by God the Holy Spirit. Now here
in Hebrews 10, starting at verse 9, we read, Then said He, speaking
of Christ, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away the
first, that He may establish the second. So this is referring
to our Lord Jesus when He came to this earth. God the Father
sent Him to this earth to do His will. Did He? You bet He did. He was obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. So then, God has highly
exalted Christ Jesus And given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things
in heaven, of things in earth, and things under the earth. And
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, for
the glory of God our Father. So he came to do his Father's
will. Now let me ask you something,
did he do his Father's will? I asked that once, I want to
ask it again. You bet he did. He is the only man, Jesus Christ
is the only man that walked on this earth without sin. Now it
is true He was made sin for us and when He went to the cross,
our iniquities were laid on Him by God the Father. He bore our
sins in His own body on the tree. That's substitution. And He took
those sins and purged them away from God's sight forever. As far as the east is from the
west. That's how far he removed our
sins from God's sight. And I've said this before, but
it bears repeating. You start going east and you'll
never go west. There's no east pole, there's
no west pole, you'll just keep going east. And so our sins are
not only removed from God's sight, as far as the east is from the
west, God remembers them against us no more. No more. And that's what we're reading
here in Hebrews chapter 10. Look at verse 10. Speaking of
God's will, the Lord Jesus came to do. By the witch will, we
are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. Sanctified is a big word that
means made holy. It also means to set apart. And Jesus Christ, when he offered
himself as the supreme sacrifice for the sins of his people, he
sanctified us, made us holy. Not one thing that can be laid
to the charge of God the elect, does that bless you? Not one
thing. God our Father justified us. not just as if we'd never sinned.
We never sinned. In God's sight, we never sinned.
Those sins are gone, gone, gone forever. Now we remember them,
but God remembers them against us no more. So if He remembers
them against us no more, then nothing can be laid to our charge. We're innocent before God. washed
clean by the blood of Jesus Christ. Look down at verse 14. For by
one offering, he, Jesus Christ, hath perfected forever them that
are sanctified. By one offering, he not only
sanctified us, he perfected us forever. Can you imagine in your
mind being false? being perfect. That's the way
we're going to be presented before Christ on Judgment Day, faultless. Our Lord said, will say, I should
say, our Lord will say to those on His right hand, well done
thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord. When were we ever a good and
faithful servant? In Christ. In Christ. Everything he said was perfect. Every thought that went through
his mind was perfect. Every step he took was perfect. and His motive for doing what
He did is perfect. And that's ours. When we come
to the Christ of Holy Scripture, the Jesus that we believe in,
when we are led by the Spirit of God into all truths and have
this wonderful hope set before us by the faith of God's elect,
which is Christ's faith, when we embrace the true gospel of His
sovereign grace and His sovereign mercy. We are as pure as Christ Himself
in God's sight. I'm not making that up. I'm preaching
the truth. There's a song that we sing.
One of the verses goes like this. By faith I saw the flowing stream,
when I saw the flowing stream, thy holy wounds provide. Redeeming love has been my theme
and shall be till I die. Redeeming love, I didn't quote
that just exactly right, but that's almost right. Redeeming
love is the theme for every message God's preachers have the honor
to preach, every message. Not one message that comes from
the lips of God's preachers will point us to anything we have
done. Our pastor, David Edmondson,
brings this before us every time he preaches. Brother Tom mentioned
last Sunday, that was another good one, and I told David, What
you said, Tom, I said to David, every time you preach Christ
is a good message. Can't go wrong there. Christ
is the message. that we received by the power
of God, the Holy Spirit. And that's why we come to the
church where he is preached. We want to hear that over and
over and over again. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ
because I love the Christ of the gospel. God help us to keep
looking unto him, the author and the finisher of our faith.