Let us take our Bibles and turn
to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Now, I have two readings. This one is terribly long. It's
two verses. And the other will be 11 verses, I believe it is. We'll read this one first and
then we'll catch the other one. I'm sure you all know this already. If anything takes place on this
whole globe that will be completed and substantiated
in eternal glory, only God can do that. We could have a million people
here, that's got nothing to do with anything. You can't find
a million people that's interested in nothing but Christ and him
crucified. One of these days, when we're
all gone, this building may still be standing, and there may actually be people
worshiping here. But I'm a skeptic as to who it
is that they'll be worshiping. There's only two objects of worship. One is Christ and the other is
ourself. So here to the Corinthians, 1
Corinthians 15, Paul makes this statement. Verse 1. Moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel," that's our title this morning,
simply the gospel, which I preached unto you, which also you have
received and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved,
if you keep in memory. What I have preached unto you,
unless you have believed in vain." Have you heard the gospel? Have
you believed the gospel? Well, what if you quit believing
it? You never did start. Never started. You must keep in memory what
I have preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain." Now
we go to Ephesians chapter 1. And if memory serves me right, we
want to come back to Ephesians, so if you'd mark Ephesians, We'll
revisit it, I think, in a little bit. In the first chapter of Paul's
letter to the church at Ephesus, namely Ephesians, he gives them
a gospel of the divine three, the
Holy Trinity. He begins at verse 3 and takes
us through about verse 5, I think, maybe 6, with speaking about
God the Father. And then the next five verses
or so are concerning Christ our Redeemer. The Son of God. Christ our Redeemer. And then
the last couple of verses are telling us about the work of
God the Holy Spirit. So I want to put this before
you now. This is not something you have
not heard before. We have been to this chapter,
I cannot tell you how many times. We've heard other people preach
from this passage. It is absolutely exhaustless. Alright? Ephesians 1 verse 3,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us, God the Father has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. And there's a colon
there at the end of that statement, and so the following statements
now are to define this more completely. Verse 4, according as He, that's
God the Father, What did he do? Paul told the Ephesian believers,
God has chosen you to salvation in Jesus Christ. You can't be saved unless God
chose you to salvation. According as He has chosen us
in Christ, not based on what we've done or haven't done or
who we are or who we aren't, This says before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy, H-O-L-Y, holy and without
blame before God in love. Now get a hold of that now, without
blame, without blame. Are you beginning to see that
it's not what's in us, it's who is in us, namely, our precious
Lord Jesus Christ? To be without blame before God
is not only for us to be in Christ, but for Christ to be in us. This is vital. This is spiritual
religion. This is Christianity. Therefore,
what you're hearing all over this world this morning is nothing
but pure paganism with a little Bible sprinkled in so people
won't get suspicious. Verse 5, having predestinated. I had a woman attend here some
years ago. In fact, somebody asked me about
this lady. She has died. a good while back. But she came for a number of
Sundays. Many of you knew her. And I knew
her husband. And one Sunday, I must have read
somewhere in the Bible, and it had the word predestinated in
it. And she went out that door that morning and didn't slow
down. She did come back to tell me she wouldn't be back. She
said, I don't believe in predestination. My pastor, whom she'd been under
for years, who doesn't know God and doesn't know the Bible and
doesn't know what to preach or who to preach, had convinced
his people that there is no such thing as Bible predestination. But I'm going to read it to you
twice in just a few verses. Here's the first one. having
predestinated, predetermined us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.
Now can God do what He wants to do? Than to hell with anybody
else. God does as He pleases. We just
heard this Craigstowe part of my thunder this morning. God
does as he pleases in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of men, and none can say unto him, what are you doing? He's unquestionable. He owes
us no explanations, no answers. But I'm trying to tell you that
today's religion does not know the true and living God. the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. That is to say, God exercises
this divine prerogative which belongs to him whenever, wherever,
and with whomever he pleases. He's not obligated to me or you. If he doesn't do something for
you, you're going to hell, and so am I. And verse 6 is not only the statement growing
out of what we've read, but into what we're about to read. And
by the way, that's the first period we've had since back in,
let me see, oh, the end of verse 2. Here's
the second sentence now in verse 6. This is also a chorus that
keeps recurring, though slightly altered. To the praise of the
glory of His grace, wherein He, God, has made us accepted in
the Beloved, namely the Lord Jesus. And in that beloved, in
the Lord Jesus, verse 7 reads, in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of God's grace, wherein God has abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure which he has purposed in himself. That in the dispensation of the
fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in
Christ. The only thing that will make
it to glory that more human flesh in this world is in Christ, both
which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. I know that plenty of preachers,
some big-name preachers, Billy Graham, the guy from the Crystal
Palace, I don't remember his name and I don't want you to
tell me, I don't even want to know. They're talking about people
living in third-world countries who've never so much as seen
a Bible or heard anything about the God of creation and have
not ever heard anything about Jesus Christ. They said as long
as they live an attempt to live a good, clean life, we'll see
them in glory. That doctrine has come to be
known as a wider mercy, a wider glory. that there's more involved
than what we read in this book. And I'm telling you, this is
how it is. And it ain't going to change.
I don't care what the century is, how much longer this world
stands, or how soon it's gone. Verse 11, "...in whom also we
have obtained an inheritance, being preordained." Destinated according to the purpose of God
who works all things after the counsel of His own will, that
we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in
Christ. Alright, from verse 7 to the
end of verse 12 is a second sentence. Now in verses 13 and 14, we have
God the Holy Spirit before us, in whom you also trusted. Sinners
saved by grace do trust Christ, in whom you also trusted. But when did you trust? Were
you looking for Him or was He looking for you? Come on now,
it's got to be one or the other. And you know which it is in your
mind that you believe. Watch what this says. In whom
you also trusted after. When do we trust God in Christ? Boy, I tell you, something's
got to take place and it's pretty big. It's bigger than we are. After that you heard the word
of truth. I don't mean just hearing it
with these ears. We've heard enough Bible read,
even in congregations that I consider pagan, like the one that I grew
up in, and a bunch that I tried to pastor. If you ain't never
tried to pastor goats, you ought to try it for a while. It don't
work too well. I wound up in the street a bunch
of times. So I came to expect it. I wasn't
surprised at what happened here. But this statement, after you
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in
whom also, after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise, Precious Spirit of God and Spirit
of Christ takes up residence in our souls. Verse 14 continues that this
granting of His Spirit is the earnest earnest. Some of you are old enough to
remember what's called earnest money. Nobody? Yeah, okay. You all just don't
want me to know. That's all right. I know what
it is. It's money that you pay on something
to tell whomever you're buying this from that you're serious
and you'll be back with the rest. That's earnest money. And it
goes on to say, which is the earnest of our inheritance and
the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
the eternal God's glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There it
is in just a few verses. I preach that message to this
congregation. I doubt I'd been here a month
when I tried to preach that. I hope I preach it better, but
I ain't sure of that. I think I'm going downhill. Alright,
so here is what I turn to next. And hang on to Ephesians. I need
to come back to some statements in chapter 2 if I get that far. I think I borrowed these from
Henry Mahan. Four indisputable facts concerning
The gospel. The gospel. Not a gospel. The gospel of God. The first thing is this. The gospel of God, who purposed,
who planned, and who executed this gospel. And if I ain't just
read you that, I don't know what I've read. It starts with God the Father. Then it's God the Son, and then
it's God the Holy Spirit. They're three in one. It's the
triune God. Secondly, this gospel is the
gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. Free and sovereign. Don't cost you anything. It cost
our Savior everything. But it's also sovereign. That
means that God saves whom He pleases. You take that fellow
that Craig was reading about this morning in the book of Daniel
chapter 4. This guy wasn't a nobody. He was the head knocker in the
biggest kingdom on the face of the earth at the time. And he
thought he was something. until God put him out to pasture.
And when he came back, he was a changed man. Before God did this, the man
was singing his own praises. He had the authority to put you
to death or let you live. Kings were that way back in those
days, and I suppose there are still some on the face of this
earth this morning. So this gospel that is All of
God's free and sovereign grace is not of works lest any man
should boast. No room for boasting. All the
bragging is on the Holy Three in One, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. Thirdly, this gospel is the gospel
of Christ. He's the primary subject in this
gospel because it is he who must come to this earth, take on himself
human flesh, live in this cruel, ungodly world for thirty-three
plus years, and then go to the cross and give himself as a ransom
for his people that God can give salvation to people who don't
deserve it, who haven't earned it, who don't want it. Oh, but
God can make them willing. He can make us willing. If you'd have asked me a year
ago if I'd live on the diet I'm eating right now, I would have
emphatically have said to you, never, never, ever, ever. But I did. And comparing me to God ain't no
comparison at all. He speaks, and it's done. We think we know how big He is,
but we don't. What does the Bible say about
Christ? that he died for the sins of
his people according to the scriptures. Now we have to be reminded of
this or we lose sight of it. Christ came into this world to
die. But he came for another purpose
as well. In order for us to be counted
as if we did these things, the Lord Jesus must come as an infant
and live for thirty-three years and some months in this world.
And what was he doing all that time? He is earning a perfect righteousness
for every last one of his people, every one of his sheep. Every
true believer, Christ has merited for you a perfect holiness and
righteousness without which we cannot see God. You can't do
it. Fourthly, this gospel is the
power of God unto salvation. Therefore, this gospel, according
to this book, is to be preached as long as this world stands. Wherever men are, it is to be
preached. We have those commissions at
the end of the gospel accounts, with the exception of John. in which our Lord told his disciples,
go you therefore into all nations and preach the gospel to every
creature and so forth. You've heard that all of your
lives. You can hear that in pagan religion as well as true Christianity. But it is, it is absolutely essential. You can't believe what you don't
hear. You can't believe what you don't know. Therefore, the
gospel must be proclaimed. That's why we support missionaries,
to take the gospel where we can't take it. And it's vital that we do. I mentioned that text that Brother
Rogers read from, but only two verses. I need to read you more
than that. Daniel chapter 4, do you remember? Bible class,
do you remember? Yes. Thank you. Daniel chapter
4. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and
Daniel interpreted that dream. And the old boy was pretty well
wasted after finding out what it meant. So in verse 28 of Daniel
chapter 4, all this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of 12 months, God
doesn't do everything like we do in a hurry. He doesn't get
in a hurry. A day is like a thousand years
to him. This old boy continued. at the head of that kingdom for
a whole year. At the end of 12 months, he walks
in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spoke and
said, Is not this great Babylon that I've built for the house
of the kingdom? By the might of my power and
for the honor of my majesty, this palace is to Show who I
am, how wonderful and how great. While the word was in the king's
mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar,
to you it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from you. And they shall drive you from
men, and your dwelling shall be with the beast of the field.
They'll make you eat grass as oxen, and seven times," I don't
know if that means seven years, "'shall pass over you, until
you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men,' and watch
this now, "'and gives it to whomsoever he will.'" You thought voting put people
in office. Nope. Nope. And somewhere in this same book,
I wish I could think like I once could, it says that he chooses
the basis, the lowest of men for these positions. I think I can see a correlation,
can't you? Verse 33, The same hour was the
thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from men, and
did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of
heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his
nails like birds' claws. And at the end of the days, I,
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding
returned to me. And I blessed, not cursed, I
blessed the Most High and honored Him that lives forever. Boy, this old boy went to a school
and it didn't take long to find out who God is. Lives forever. whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation
to generation. There ain't never been a time
since the creation of this world that anything got out of hand. It's God's doings from start
to finish. You can say whatever you want
to about that, and whatever you want to say about me, I don't
care. But I'm telling you the truth. The God of the Bible does
as he pleases, everywhere, with everybody, all the time. Well, you made me lose my place. Let's see. What was it, Craig? Thirty-five. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing? And he does according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What are
you doing? You can't do this. Can you imagine
telling God you can't do that? He said, Well, I did anyway. At the same time, verse 36, my
reason returned unto me, and for the glory of my kingdom my
honor and brightness returned unto me, and my counselors and
my lords sought unto me, and I was established in my kingdom,
and excellent majesty was added unto me." Now, our Nebuchadnezzar
gives his testimony. Praise and extol and honor the
King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment. And those that walk in pride
he is able to abase. Ask your religious friends if
they believe that about the God of the Bible. They'll laugh you
to scorn. But if God were to speak through
you, it could have an altogether different outcome. But only God
can do that part. We can't make anybody hear or
believe. When this gospel is preached,
when is that? When? When God is given his rightful
place, like we just read. God is eternal, God is holy,
God is just, God is sovereign, God is mercy, God is love. Secondly, this true gospel is
preached when? when man is put in his place,
when we're put in our place. Where is that? Brother Richardson
used to describe it as making dust our head forth, as in falling
on our face before God, testifying to him that he can do with us
as he pleases. Whatever he's pleased to do,
we ask him to do it. Let me take you through a couple
of Scriptures. Let's do Ephesians before you lose it. I'm sure
you've got it marked. Ephesians chapter 2 this time,
just to read a little bit, right after Galatians if you've lost
it, and right before Philippians I believe it is. In the second chapter of Ephesians,
I'd like to read you the first three verses. And you, has he, that is God,
quickened? Now who does God make alive spiritually
when the gospel is preached? Is it to people who deserve it?
No. Is it for people that ask for
it? No. Something has to happen before
you ask. He's found of them that sought him not. And yet the scripture
says if you don't seek God, you won't find him. But I'll tell
you what you'll find when you are truly seeking, and that is
that he's already found you. You has he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins? Wherein in time past, every last
one of us in time past, now some of us was on the moral side of
the street and some of us was on the immoral side of the street,
but we were all going the same direction, to get away from God
as hard as we could go. You walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.
And Paul is writing this to a church, to the Ephesian believers. And
in verse 3 it says, among whom? Among these children of disobedience. Also, we all had our conduct, our language, In times past,
in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature. Everybody that God saves, this
statement applies. Were by nature the children of
wrath. That's children of the devil,
even as others. No wonder I tell you if God don't
find you, you ain't never going to find Him. We seek Him because He sought
us first. 1 John 4.19, we love Him because
He first loved us. And it's that first loving us
that even gives us a hint of being inclined to accept this
wonderful mercy. Because to our flesh, it offends
everything about us. And we'd rather have the goodwill
of men than the goodwill of God. Well, that's enough. Let's see.
We've got one more here, I think. Well, maybe more than that. Mark chapter 10, I think it is. Let's see, that's in the Gospels,
isn't it? Oh, and Mark. Mark is second. Chapter 10. And we begin with verse 17. But I must preface the whole
thing by saying, the gospel is preached when? When man is put in his rightful
place. Where did we say it was? Making
the ground our headquarters, falling flat on our face before
God. Chapter 10, beginning at verse
17, you find an account of this very
same incident between our Lord and this rich young ruler in
Matthew 19 and Luke 18, and even a statement in Luke 10 of similar
portions. Verse 17, And when he was gone
forth into the way, there came one running. Now the other Gospels
don't tell us about this. This guy is really, really anxious. He wants Christ. At least it appears. Running. And kneels. Falls on his knees. This boy means business. And
he asked him, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit
eternal life? What can I do that I might deserve
eternal life? This guy uses the exact language
that I used to use, and now I'd rather be caught dead than use
it. If God gives us what we deserve,
will every last one of us go to hell? And our Lord wants to straighten
this man out on I guess you'd call it a language
or a grammar matter. He's called him good master. And the word master is a word
for human rulers. And he's taken a word that belongs
only to God, the word good, and called our Savior a good master.
And what our Lord is basically saying is, call me a bad master
or a good God, because there ain't nothing else in between.
None. I think this guy probably didn't
have a clue as to what was going on. Why call you me good in verse
18? There's none good but God. But
one, and that is God. You know the commandments. Do
not commit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do
not bear false witness. Defraud not. Honor your father
and mother. And the man answered before he
could complete it and said, Master, No longer a good master. Master,
all these have I observed from my youth. I've been keeping these
Ten Commandments ever since I was a little boy. Did you ever do
that? Yes, we did. Man, we thought we had the cat
by the tail. All these have I observed from
my youth up. Then Jesus, beholding him, loved
him, and said unto him, One thing you lack. Now, our Lord is going
to use one thing, but this old boy lacked every last one of
the ten. And so do we. These people that think they
can keep the Ten Commandments, they need to go to an asylum
someplace. One thing you lack. Go your way. Sell whatsoever you have and
give it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven,
and come, take up your cross and follow me." This boy was
anxious, but not anxious enough. He was sad at that saying and
went away grieved, for he had great possessions. Great possessions. This gospel is preached when
Christ is given his rightful place. Namely, God, man, the God-man,
Lord of lords and King of kings, our federal head and representative,
our sacrifice, our sin offering, our high priest, our mediator.
So I've got a little bit of time left. Let's go to Colossians.
This will be the last time. Colossians chapter 1. I think I had it marked, but
it's not showing up yet. Oh yes. Colossians chapter 1. Now I'm going to limit the verses
that I would like to read and shorten them. Verses 15 through 18 in Colossians
chapter 1. These are referred to as the
seven superiorities of Christ, beginning at verse 15. Who is
the image of the invisible God? The only way we'll ever see God,
at least with these natural eyes, will be to see him in the person
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the firstborn of every creature. Life itself comes from Christ. By him were all things created.
And yet people say Christ is not God. Well, I'd like to see
me or you try to make a world, wouldn't you? Not to even mention
the universe. By Him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by Him. Hey, here's a better one than
that. And for Him. Not just by Him, but for Him. Wow. And Christ is before all
things. Christ was in heaven before there
was ever a human being. In their communion with each
other in Genesis, I think chapter 1, verse 26, they said, the holy
three in one said, let us make man in our image. Man is a three-part being. But when Adam fell, we are born
fallen. We are hopelessly destined to an eternity without God, except
Christ save us. And he is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence, that our Lord
get all the glory. And we gladly declare that's
exactly what we would like to do, and we're proud to know that
he has all the glory, all of it. Chapter 2 in Colossians,
verse 3, in whom, this is in Christ, are
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Then in verse
9 of that same chapter, for in him, in Christ, what? dwells all the fullness, not
of us, of the Godhead bodily. That is, the Godhead in a human,
sinless body. Chapter 3, verse 4. when Christ, who is our life,
Christ our life, shall appear. Then shall you also appear with
him in glory. If we know him down here, we'll
enjoy him even more up there. Now verse 11, where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all and in all. He's all there is. He's everything. He's our life,
our hope, our peace, our righteousness, our sacrifice, our sin offering,
on and on and on and on.