Alright, if you take your Bibles
again, turn with me to Romans. Romans chapter 1. We'll be looking
at verse 14 through verse 17 this evening. I am a debtor both to the Greeks
and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. So,
as much as in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that
are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. For it, the gospel of Christ,
is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall
live by faith. I've entitled this message, A
Preacher's Debt and God's Power. A Preacher's Debt and God's Power. Now in verses 1 through 5 of
this chapter, we see the apostle establishing his authority and
his purpose. His office and his purpose. Look at this. He said, a servant
of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle. Separated under the
gospel of God. Called to be an apostle. He was
called to be an apostle for this and separated for one reason. To preach the Gospel of God. And he declares then the salvation. He actually explains the Gospel
there in verse 2. That Gospel which he had promised
afore by the prophets in the Holy Scriptures. What Gospel?
Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the gospel
that I am set apart to preach concerning what the prophets
had said concerning Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And he says,
because He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh
and declared to be the Son of God. God manifest in the flesh. God sent me, separated me to
preach His Son who is sent as God and man. declared to be the Son of God
in power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead. This was proof, this was manifestation
of His success, of His victory, of His power that God raised
Him from the dead. By whom we have received the
grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all the nations
for His name. And then he declares the salvation
of these that are at Rome. He says this to them, he says,
among whom you also, the called of Christ, you also had been
partakers of this gospel, this gospel that I preached, the Spirit
has called you also. to all that be in Rome, beloved
of God, called saints." He says, you are called of Jesus Christ.
You are beloved of God. You are the saints of God. And
this is His exhortation to you. The Apostle gives this to all
His saints. Grace and peace. This is what God says to you.
Grace and peace. How often does the believer become
anxious because of his sin? How often do we fear that God
surely would not be accepting of us? Imagine if our hearts
were opened, that everyone could see what
was in here. We would surely be ashamed. We would be ashamed. And yet
we come before God who knows all things concerning our hearts,
and yet He says, grace and peace be unto you. This is the exhortation
given by God the Father and God the Son to the saints. And in
verse 8, He says first, now this is to you saints, beloved of
God, He says grace and peace, and He says, first I thank God
through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken
of throughout the whole world. What an encouragement that was
to these believers. Don't you think that their faith,
their love was spoken of wherever Paul went. These people would
speak of the churches of Rome's faith. Would to God that that
would be true of us. And now listen, it is. Not the
whole world, but the people that we know people that I encourage,
they are encouraged by your faith, by your steadfastness. He commends
their faith. And then He prays for them. He
says, For God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the
gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you
always in my prayers, making requests, if by any means at
length I might have prosperous journey by the will of God to
come unto you. As I read that, he's praying
to God that he could come to them and be with them. He said,
that I might have a prosperous journey. That sounds like he
was getting on a plane and he was going to sit back and relax.
He was a prince. And he said, you know what? I
want a prosperous journey to get to you. He wasn't going on
a vacation. He was suffering. But he said,
you know what? I don't care how I get there
as long as I get there. that it would be prosperous,
that the Lord would bring us together. He said, I long to
see you and impart some spiritual gift that you may be established.
That is, that I may be comforted together with you by mutual faith. You know, when we come together,
we are comforted together by mutual faith. Don't we have a
mutual Savior? Don't we have a mutual Lord?
Isn't His grace mutual between us? It is. We are comforted together by
mutual faith in Christ. And he said, now I would have
you not ignorant. He said, look, I wanted to come
to you before. He said, I'm coming to you right
now, but listen, I don't want you to be ignorant of this. I
longed to come to you a long time ago. I wanted to be with
you, but the Lord did hinder me. The Lord led me in other
ways. I was not able to get to you
like I wanted. Isn't this wonderful? The Apostle
Paul wanted to do something he wasn't allowed to. Anybody have
any experience there? You want to do something? And
it's good. There's nothing wrong with what
you want to do. Matter of fact, you think it would be good. And
yet, he says, I was led hitherto. I had to go do something else.
I had to go some other people. And he said, being a servant
of Christ, being a servant of Christ, this is why I was led
hitherto by the Holy Spirit, to preach the Gospel to others. In other words, other people
needed and must hear the Gospel. So Paul had in his heart to go
to Rome, and God says, These people need to hear. And then
when they heard, he said, I want to go to Rome. And he said, no,
these people need to hear. And so God had led him to other
places. And then this is what he said
to them. He said, this is why I was led
hitherto. Verse 14, I am debtor both to
Greeks and the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. And this is my first point. Preachers
who are called of God must preach the gospel to all men. We who are preachers of the gospel,
listen, we are debtors to all men. I am indebted by the grace
of God that has bestowed this gift, this office upon me. It is vital for me that I preach
the Gospel unto all men. And as an apostle, he pronounces
his obligation. He said, I'm a debtor. It is
my duty. It is my necessity. Imagine that Christ was in this
same condition. That there was necessity laid
upon Jesus Christ to go certain places. You remember that woman
in Samaria. The Scripture says he must needs
go through Samaria. He was constrained to go that
way. Why? Because there was one there
who must hear the Gospel. And so it is with believers.
We go wherever God sends us to preach the Word. Why? We are
indebted to the grace of God. A debtor to mercy alone. We are debtors to the grace of
God. I'm a debtor both to the Greeks
and the barbarians, the wise and the unwise. All who are called
to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ are called by God to be
servants of all men in this matter of preaching. Look at 1 Corinthians
chapter 9. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
9 and verse 16. The apostle says this, for though
I preach the gospel, I'm called to preach the gospel,
I'm gifted to preach the gospel, I've been given the grace of
God to preach the gospel, though I preach the gospel, listen,
I have nothing to glory of. You understand that? What do
preachers have to glory? I didn't call myself to this.
You know, when I was a young kid, I didn't aspire to this. When I was a man and actually
believed the gospel of Jesus Christ, I feared this. But yet God has called me to
this and there is no glory for me. He said, There is no glory for
me, for necessity is laid upon me. Yes, woe unto me if I preach
not the gospel. We who preach do not do so by
force. No one forced me to do this. It is my heart's desire. Matter of fact, necessity was
laid upon me. Not by men, but by God. Not for
the glory of men, not for the money of men. We preach because
necessity is laid upon us. We preach the gospel because
we have been sent of God for you. I have been sent of God for you,
for your benefit. Over in Ephesians chapter 4,
The apostle says this in verse 11. He gave some apostles and some
prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. And for this purpose, for the
perfecting of the saints, the maturing of the saints, for the
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
That's why we are called. Necessity is laid upon us. We
are debtors to you. By the mercy and grace of God,
we are debtors to edify the body of Christ till
all come in the unity, until everyone's brought in. This is
going to happen until everyone is brought in. God's always going
to send preachers. He's always going to send men
into the field. And until the last one comes
in faith, this is going to continue. This is going to continue. Until
we broaden the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son
of God unto the perfect man, unto the measure of the statue
of the fullness of Christ. That we henceforth be no more
children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of
doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby
they lie in wait to deceive. You see, we're here so that you
don't get slipped up. It is our debt to you. that we preach the gospel of
Jesus Christ so you are not led astray by cunning craftiness. This is why God sends preachers.
But speaking the truth in love, this is what we do. We do this
out of love. Love for Christ and love for
you. That you grow up unto Him in
all things, which is the head, even Christ. from whom the whole
body fitly joined together, compacted, that every joint supplieth, according
to the effectual working of the measure of every part, make an
increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."
This is the purpose. Edifying the body. For the union
of the saints. For the growth of His people.
We are sent to you who are saved by grace so that you are not
tossed about. And the one message that does
this is the message of Christ. This is what we do. We preach
Christ to you. This is how you are edified.
This is how you are encouraged. This is how you are strengthened
by the one message we are given to preach to you. It is the message
of Jesus Christ. And Paul says this back in that
other place in 1 Corinthians 9. He said, Woe is me If I preach
not the gospel. Woe is me if I preach not. He
didn't say this. Woe is me if I preach not. That's not what he said. Woe
is me if I preach not the gospel. Now there are many who are under
the woe of God who call themselves preachers. There are many who
study and take great care in the presentation of their sermons.
Many take great care in the preparation of their messages, and many of
them have large followings of people. Many preach messages
using good and wholesome instructions. They use messages of moral duties. Some go through great ceremonies
and rituals and practices to make men feel holy. But God pronounces
a woe unto them for this. Not that they're not preaching.
They're preaching. The problem is they're not preaching the
gospel. And so I know this as one sin
of God. Woe is me if I don't tell you
of Christ. Woe is me if I don't preach Christ. And what a sad thing it is for
you if I don't preach Christ to you. This is what we're called
to do. Woe is me if I preach not the
gospel of Christ. We who are called are debtors
and servants of God to men. Not to preach what you desire
to hear. Not to preach what men long to
hear. I'm not here to put my finger in the air and see which
way the winds are blowing. See what's popular. I'm not here
to see what's popular. But we are ambassadors of Christ.
We have come to preach the gospel of Christ to you, the gospel
of peace, which is only in Jesus Christ. So we must preach Christ
and Him crucified. And we must preach Him to all
sorts of men. Paul says we must preach to the
Greeks. He said that back in your text.
Look at that. He said, I am indebted to preach the Gospel to, first
of all, the Greeks. What he means by this are the
learned men of his day. The Greeks, they considered themselves
very, very learned people. They were the aristocracy of
academia in their day. He says, I am indebted to preach
the Gospel to the learned. The great men of intellect, well
represented. Paul said, I'm here to preach
even to governors and kings. But that's not all of who I'm
preaching to. He says, I'm indebted not only to the Greeks, but to
the barbarians, to the superstitious. I'm indebted to preach the gospel
to the superstitious, the unlearned, the uneducated. The savage men,
those wise and unwise, educated and uneducated. Why? Because all men need to hear
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now listen, there's no difference
in this. If you take a highly educated man, and then you have
a very uneducated man, and both of them are dead. What do they
both need? They both need life. They both
need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you were to take a
very religious man, a very moral man, a very upright man, a very
highly regarded man, and then you were to take a vile, base,
evil, blasphemer, Yet both of them being dead in their sins,
what do they both need to hear? They both need to hear the gospel
of Jesus Christ. Because it, Paul says, is the
power of God unto salvation. And so then, both are dead, both
need to be given life by the sovereign work of the Spirit.
Jesus said this, the wind bloweth where it listeth, you can hear
the sound thereof, but you can't tell. You can't tell. How many times have we tried
to guess where He's going to go? And miserably failed. Why? You can't tell where He's
coming and where He's going. So is everyone that is born of
the Spirit of God. This was not for Paul to determine
who would be saved and lost. We don't determine. We look at
this group and say, well, okay, this group is educated. You know,
they're more likely to understand what I'm saying. than this group
over here that's unlearned. Paul says, I'm not here to make
that determination. I have one purpose to preach
the gospel to both of them. I'm indebted. A necessity is
laid upon me to preach the gospel to whoever God sets before me,
Greek or barbarian. It's not for me to determine
who's saved and who is lost, who hears and who does not. It
is the power of God alone that gives both life and faith to
the hearers. Neither is it for any preacher
to have the power to give spiritual life. I can't give you spiritual
life. I have no power whatsoever. I can't make you hear the gospel. This is also not in the power
of the hearer to give it to himself. Do you see how low man has fallen? Do you see how low man has fallen
that he cannot even hear himself? That's one thing for me to try
to give you spiritual life, but listen, you can't give it to
yourself either. You can't make yourself healed. You can't obtain
faith by mere decision or will. There is no power in the will
of the preacher, nor in the will of the hearer. As many as received
Him, John said, in John 1 and verse 12, as many as received
Him, to them gave He the right to become the sons of God. Well,
that's good. You received Him? You received Him? Well, you've
been given the right to be called the sons of God. Now, how in
the world have you received Him? By what means were you able to
hear the gospel that was preached while others did not? Here it
is. Which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. You heard because you were born
of God. The salvation of God rests solely
upon the will of God. As I preach the gospel, I'm indebted
to preach it, but I understand this, I have no ability to make
it effective for anybody. It is the will of God alone.
I am resigned to this, that if you are saved, it is by the will
of God. If you ever hear, if you ever
believe, it's because of God's will. God told Moses this, didn't
He? He said, I will have mercy. I like that. God declares He's
going to have mercy. He said, I will have mercy. Who
are you going to have mercy on? Whomever I will. That's who I'm
going to have mercy on. I will have compassion. Well,
that's good. We need compassion. Who are you
going to have compassion on? Whomsoever I will have compassion.
So then this is the conclusion of it. Listen. It is not of him
that willeth, nor him that runneth. Can you get much plainer than
that? Salvation is not of Him that will it. You know, you should take all
Arminian doctrine right there, ball it up, and throw it in the
trash. Because God said it's not of Him that will it. Nor of Him that run it. There's
every other works and ceremonial religious that tries to make
salvation based on their words. Throw it in the trash. Not of
Him that run it. But God that show us mercy. So we preach the Gospel of Jesus
Christ because we are sent for this purpose. We are to testify
of His mercy. We are to preach that only by
the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ are sinners saved. We preach with hearts of necessity
because it is laid upon us. We preach in love desiring that
God should save everyone that hears us. It is my desire that this message
save everyone that hears it. I long for everyone to hear it
and believe it and trust Christ. That's my desire every time I
preach it. I want everyone to believe. I preach to you as a dying man
to dying men. This is why God sends men and
not angels to preach. An angel can't enter into the
things of a man. I can. I understand what you are because
I'm one. I'm a sinner. I understand what
you need because that's exactly what I need. The Savior I need is the Savior
you need. Jesus Christ. So we preach unto
men the same gospel because we have the same need. Secondly,
in verse 15, look back at your text. He says this, So as much
as in me, I am ready to preach the gospel unto you that are
at Rome also. Not only do preachers have a
debt, not only indebted by the grace of God to preach the gospel
to you, We must also be ready to preach. We must be ready to
preach. Paul said, I'm ready. As much
as in me, I'm ready. I'm ready to preach. If we are called to preach the
gospel to all men, we must be ready to preach with great plainness. If we're to preach this gospel,
we must be ready. in order to preach it with great
plainness. If we are to preach to the theologians
as well as to the pagans, if we are to preach to the academic
as well as to the child, how can we reach both? How is that
possible? The only way is to preach with
such simple plainness that both can understand. That both can
understand. We're to preach with simplicity,
with singleness of mind and heart, with one message. Now listen,
I would hope and pray that this is true. I believe it is true
with all my heart that if you were to take all the messages
that I preach, they're really just one message. Just one. Religion loves confusion. It
does. It loves confusing language because
it can hide so many things in confusing language. The Scriptures
are never confusing. They're plain. Why? Because they're
always speaking about one person. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He is the sum and substance of
what they preach. And so therefore, we must not
preach in confusion, but simply this, thus saith the Lord. Go
to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Look what Paul said to these
people in Corinth. Remember, they were arguing about
who's the greatest preacher. They said, well, I'm of this
guy, and I'm of that guy, and I'm of this guy. Paul said, that's
carnal. That's carnal. Listen, remember
how I came to you. How did I come to you? He said
this, brethren, when I came to you, I came not with excellency
of speech. nor the wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. 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 power for this purpose, that your faith should
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. How be it? We're not idiots.
We're not unwise. He said we preach wisdom, we
speak wisdom. What kind of wisdom? Wisdom among
those that are saved. When we preach Christ, isn't
that wisdom to you? It's the greatest wisdom that
you can possibly fathom. You that believe, you know it
is. We preach wisdom to them that are perfect, yet not the
wisdom of this world, nor the princes of this world that come
to nothing, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. Even
the hidden wisdom of God ordained before the world to our glory. We preach the same gospel message,
not using the wisdom of words, but with plainness of speech.
We determine not to know anything except this, Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Well, how then do we preach Jesus
Christ and Him crucified? We are to preach it with simplicity,
plainness. We are to preach Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Our speech should be as in the
power of God, not in the wisdom of words. Because the gospel of Jesus Christ,
that's the wisdom and power of God. When our Lord Jesus Christ preached,
in His parables, I tell you that they were the most simple parables. They were parables that every
man could understand. Prodigal son, if you have any
children, you've been around children, I tell you what, you
can understand that. What about the woman that lost a coin? She
had a silver coin. She lost it. And when she found
it, she was happy. I mean, that's a simple parable,
isn't it? Good Samaritan, that's a simple
parable that we can understand. Yet they had great, profound
spiritual wisdom. Why? Because they spoke the Gospel
of God. They spoke the Gospel of Christ. This is how we are to prepare
our messages. We should speak like the children. With simplicity. So that no glory goes to the
preacher but only to Christ who is the sum, substance, and source
of all our message. A preacher once said this, If
I preach to a child, the most educated is able to understand.
Isn't that right? That's our goal. That is our
aim. So that you understand, so that
there's no misunderstanding. And thirdly, our message, the
Gospel message that we preach is the power of God. Go back to your text. Paul says,
"...as much as I am ready to preach the gospel of you as of
Rome, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of
God unto salvation." No preacher that is called of God is ashamed
of this gospel. Now you pay attention to this.
No man that is called of God is ashamed of this gospel. If a man tell you, I believe
the gospel, but he does not preach it, he is ashamed of it, and
he is not sin of God. Paul said, I'm not ashamed. I am not ashamed of this gospel.
Listen to this. There are five things here I'm
not ashamed to tell you. I am not ashamed to tell you
that man is totally, absolutely spiritually dead from birth.
I am not ashamed to tell you that. Why? Because God said it. God
said it. You that believe, you know this
by experience. And you have He quickened who
were what? Dead in trespasses and sins. Man is dead from birth. In Romans
5, Paul says this in verse 12, He says, Wherefore is by one
man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. So death passed
upon all men, for all have sinned. And because of this spiritual
death, I'm not ashamed to tell you this, there is none good. No, not one. Because we are born spiritually
dead, all of our works are evil. They are contaminated with sin. Paul says this in Romans 3. He
says in verse 10, as it is written. I like that because as it is
written means this. It's unchangeable. God wrote
it. God said it. Shut up. This is true whether
you like it or not. There is none righteous. Eight
times He uses these phrases, none, not one, all together,
all of us. Eight times in these short verses
He said this, there is none righteous. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are all together become unprofitable. There is none that
doeth good, no, not one. I'm not ashamed to tell you that. Matter of fact, necessity is
laid upon me to tell you that. I declare to you this, because
man is dead, because there is none that doeth good, no, not
one, there is no man that has the ability to come to Christ. I'm not ashamed to tell you that.
You know why? My Lord said it Himself. John
6, verse 44, No man can come to Me. He didn't say no man may.
No man might. He used the word can for a very
specific reason, very simple, has to do with ability. No man
can. Well preacher, I did. No you
didn't. I'm not ashamed to tell you, you're a liar. If you did it, then Christ is
a liar. And He just ain't a liar, you
are. He said, no man can come to Me except... Oh, here's an
exception. This is good. The Father which
has sent Me, draw him. Except the Father give you spiritual
life, you can't come to Him. The second thing I'm not ashamed
of is I am not ashamed of the sovereign election of God. I
am not ashamed of the sovereign election of God. Go to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. I
remember a man called me one time. I probably told you this.
I'm sure I have. A man called me one time and
he said, you know, election, election is not unto salvation.
I said, I beg your pardon, it is. And he said, no, it's not. God may have chose, but I'll
tell you this, that was no guarantee. It was not going to be to salvation.
He said, you find me a Scripture. I said, 2 Thessalonians 2, verse
13. We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Now why are we giving
thanks? For you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord. Why are you beloved of the Lord? Because God had
from the beginning chosen you, what? To salvation. Your election was always unto
salvation. God chose you to save you. Here's the means through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. I declare to you that
God has from eternity chosen some of Adam's race, that God
has set forth His love upon His elect. He has joined them to
Christ, His Holy Son, and purposed that they should be before Him
without blame, holy and accepted. That is the election of God.
that by their union with Christ they should be accepted of Him,
and that He should be all their salvation. 1 Corinthians 1, verse
30, But of God are you in Christ Jesus. You in Christ Jesus this
night? Who put you there? God in sovereign
election put you there. But of God are you in Christ
Jesus. who of God is made unto you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption." All your salvation. This election is by the free
grace of God without any goodness or work of those that are chosen.
How do we know this? Because in Romans chapter 9,
the Lord tells us this, that these two men, Jacob and Esau,
before they were born, neither having done good or evil, that
the purpose of God according to election might stand. It is
written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. This election is according to
grace, not merit. Grace, not merit. And thirdly, I am not ashamed
of the of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I am not ashamed to
proclaim the limited atonement, or rather the particular redemption
of Jesus Christ. What does this mean, limited
atonement? It doesn't mean that His atonement had limited power. No. His atonement atoned. It only atoned everyone it was
intended for. it atoned for everyone He intended
to atone for. I declare to you that salvation
from the wrath of God and forgiveness of sins, that the peace and reconciliation
with God is accomplished, it is finished by the person and
work of Jesus Christ by Himself. When our Lord died upon Calvary's
tree, before he dismissed his spirit. And no man taketh my
life from me. I lay it down. Do you realize
his spirit wouldn't have went anywhere had he not dismissed
it? He said this, it is finished. I am not ashamed to declare that
the salvation of Jesus Christ is finished. It's accomplished. This Jesus of Nazareth, a man
despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows acquainted with
grief, the only begotten of the Father, the only begotten Son
of God, yet the seed of David, the Son of Man. He came into
this world, the eternal Son of God came into this world as a man. in whom all the elect
were accepted of the Father before the world began, yet He came
as a surety for all those that God chose." I'm not ashamed to
tell you that. As a matter of fact, Jesus Christ tells us this.
I pray not for the world. I pray for them that Thou hast
given Me. Christ didn't come to save every
man without exception. What a foolish thought. You know
if He did, you know what would happen? Everyone would be saved.
If that was His intent, there would be no hell. That's how
victorious His atonement was. Yet He came as a representative
man, as a high priest, as a surety for all of the elect of God,
and He guaranteed this, that none the Father gave Him would
be lost. He said, All that the Father
hath given Me, they shall come to Me, and them that cometh to
Me I will in no wise cast out. For this is the will of Him that
hath sent Me, that of all He hath given Me I should lose nothing,
but raise it up again at the last day. I am not ashamed to
declare that. How many will Christ save? As
many as the Father gave Him. I don't know how many that is.
What did that hymn writer say? Yes, one or all the earth. Whatever
it is. Whatever it is. They will appear before Him without
blame. I am not ashamed of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, who became the Son of Man, the seed of the woman,
not of the blood of Adam, but by the Holy Spirit who prepared
Him a body. He became a representative man,
wherein Adam as a representative all died, even so. Those who
are represented by Jesus Christ shall be made alive. Now how shall they be made alive? By the work of His obedience. That's how. That's how all His
people will be saved. By the work of His obedience.
In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus said, I came not to destroy the law,
but to fulfill the law. to fulfill it. In Isaiah 42,
He said, He shall come and magnify the law and make it honorable,
which we defiled. And as our Lord Jesus Christ
walked upon the face of this earth and He obeyed the law of
God in every jot and tittle, He did it for our righteousness. For our righteousness. The righteousness
of God, merited by the faith of Jesus Christ, is imputed to
all the elect. And in the process of time, it shall
be imparted to them in a new birth. Why do you suppose men will not
cease from trying to earn their own righteousness? Why would you try to earn your
own righteousness when I'm telling you Christ already merited the
righteousness of God? Why will men continue to offer
up sacrifices for their sins to be accepted when Christ's
sacrifice, God says, was sufficient? God said His offering was sufficient. Why would you try to bring your
offering to God? That's foolishness. I'm not ashamed to declare this,
that His offering was perfect. For by His one offering, He hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. I like that when
He said that those priests stand daily. Constantly offering, often
times, the same sacrifice to never take away sin. But this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice, he sat down. He sat
down. It's done. It's finished. I'm
not ashamed to declare that. Isaiah 53 said, The Lord hath
laid on him the iniquity of his soul. Yet it pleased the Lord
to bruise him, to put him to grief. When thou shalt make his
soul an offering for sin, he shall see his elect, his seed. And he shall prolong his days.
Isn't that what happened at the resurrection? God prolonged his
days. And the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied." I'm not ashamed of a successful Savior. You know who should be ashamed?
They should be ashamed of a Savior that failed. Any man who preaches a Savior
that's trying to save and can't, he should be ashamed. I'm not
ashamed of a Savior that saved. He actually saved. And I'm not
ashamed of this, that the power of the Spirit of God is irresistible. I'm not ashamed to declare that.
When God sets his sights to save a man, he will save him. He will save him. Every gospel message that is
preached, no matter how well or ill, it must be applied by
the Holy Spirit in order to make it effectual. It is by the sovereign
power and work of the Holy Spirit to give sinners both life and
faith. The Spirit of God must raise
the dead to give life and repentance. Have you repented? Repented from
your dead works to serve the living God? Have you repented
from your thoughts of God? From your vain religious efforts
of saving yourself? This is what God the Holy Spirit's
work is to give you life. And then He gives you faith.
You turn in faith from your works to Christ. You flee to Christ. You embrace Christ by the effectual
power and working of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, what is the
evidence of your election? What is the evidence of your
redemption? What is the evidence of your spiritual birth? It is this. Faith in Jesus Christ. So when the Gospel is preached
to you, it is the Spirit of God that takes it. Look back. He
said, I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it. You that believe, you know this,
that this gospel we preach that we are not ashamed of is the
power of God. Why? Because it happened to you.
You experienced this. This is your testimony. And how did the Spirit use it?
He used the preaching of the gospel. There is no other means
that God uses but preaching the gospel. My friends, in this vain religious
world, they pervert this. They definitely do. They think
that the way to get to people is entertainment. You know, you've got to dazzle
them. You've got to have a band. You've
got to have all of these things. I love instruments. We could
have a hundred instruments. I love instruments. They're wonderful.
But that's their whole thing. That's all they focus on, is
trying to please the flesh. And no one is preaching the gospel.
Why? They're ashamed of it. They hate
it. Our Lord tells us this. He said
this. If you ever preach the gospel, John
15, verse 20 and 21, He said, they're going to hate you for
My name's sake. They're going to use My name
and hate you. This is exactly what's happening.
They'll hate you for My name's sake because they don't know
the Father, nor do they know the Son. Have you heard the Gospel? Have
you heard of God's sovereign election? Have you heard of your
total depravity, God's sovereign election? Have you heard of the
successful work of Christ? Who did that? It was the effectual
work of the Spirit. It is the work of the Spirit
upon the hearts of men. And you that believe, why do
you still desire to hear it? Is it still not the work of the
Spirit in us that moves us to desire to hear these things again? He gives us the Spirit to live
in us so that we may know more of these things. Alright, how
many of you know the absolute measure of your total depravity?
You found it? You found the end of it? What
about God's mercy? You've found the end of God's
mercy yet. You've plumbed the depths of God's mercy yet. Do you begin to know the value? Do you even pretend to know the
complete value of Christ's blood? No, these things we still are
learning. These things we are still growing
in. But this is the work of the Spirit as well, that we grow. And lastly, we preach without
shame. We're not ashamed of this. We
believe that all who believe on Christ shall endure to the
end. We believe that no one that God
the Spirit gives life and faith to, no one, will ever go away. They will never depart from the
faith. This doctrine is called the perseverance
and preservation of the saints. You that believe. You and I have
enemies all around us. Yet this is the promise of God. That if God has given you faith,
you will persevere. You will persevere. Perseverance
has this idea of struggle, doesn't it? You will endure. Jesus says,
He that endureth To the end, the same shall be saved. He that
persevereth to the end. Who is that? Everyone He gives
faith to. Everyone He gives faith to. They
will persevere. Why shall you persevere? What
is the promise? Christ said that all that the
Father has given me, I'm not going to lose one. When they
come to Me, I'm going to give them life. And when I give them
life, I'm never going to let them go. Isn't this your experience? You that believe? I know this. If I believe ten minutes from
now, it's because of this. Not so much that I persevered,
but I was kept. My perseverance does not depend
upon my zeal and determination. Although we should be zealous,
although we should be determined, yet it doesn't depend on that.
It depends on the preservation of God. Look at this in 1 Peter. Look at this in 1 Peter, and
I'll close with this. 1 Peter chapter 1. Apostle Peter talks
about our election in the foreknowledge of God. How through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience. Unto obedience. What's the obedience?
Belief on the Lord Jesus Christ. sprinkling of blood of Christ,
grace and peace be multiplied, blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again to a living hope, by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible,
undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who
are kept. by the power of your determination, kept by the zeal of your sovereign
will. Oh, thank God it says nothing
like this. You are kept by the power of
God. How long is He going to keep
you? The power of God through what?
Faith. How do you know you're kept?
Do you still believe? How about now? Do you believe
now? Oh, God, if I didn't before,
I do now. I believe now. I trust You now. You know why? I'm kept by the power of God
through faith. unto all complete salvation. Listen. Ready to be revealed. Have you experienced all there
is to experience about salvation? I sure don't feel like it. Do you feel saved? I'll tell you this. One day I
know this, I'm going to experience what it feels like to be saved. Fully, completely experience
what it is to be saved. Ready to be revealed. Not yet.
It's ready. Waiting to be revealed at the
last time. You are kept, and I am not ashamed
to proclaim that, that you are kept by the power of God under
salvation ready to be revealed. You are kept. Your faith is kept. Remember Judas and Peter. What
made the difference? What made the difference? Judas had faith
and Peter had faith. Judas' faith failed. And he went away. Peter's faith
failed. But what happened? He was kept. He denied the Lord. Why? Because Christ said to Peter,
I have prayed for thee. What was his prayer? That thy
faith fail not. You that believe on Christ, if
your faith is of God, it shall not fail because Christ has prayed
that it fail not. And it won't fail. And so we
see we conclude this. We conclude that every man that
is preaching necessity is laid upon him to preach the gospel.
And those that preach the gospel, I'm indebted to preach to everyone,
waiting on the power of God to save. And I'm not ashamed of
the gospel. I'm not ashamed to approach the
total depravity of man. I'm not ashamed to preach the
unconditional election of God the Father. I'm not ashamed to
preach the limited atonement of Jesus Christ. I am not ashamed
to preach the effectual, irresistible power of the Holy Spirit. And
I am not ashamed to preach the perseverance and preservation
of the saints. Why? It is the gospel. It is the gospel. And anyone who is ashamed to
preach that should not preach. They're not called of God. We are not ashamed. Why? That gospel is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believes it. I pray God will
bless this to your heart. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.