me. Not for years of my own,
but for eternity. Your voice plugs my soul for Raised me from the infernal,
and replaced me with precious blood He gave to me. Now I belong to Him. Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me. Had you played that song before? I would have said no. I'm not
doing it. And nobody could have done a
better job than that. Right, Jeanette? I'm thankful for her. Thankful for him, too. These
are thankless tasks, thankless jobs. It's a necessary part of
worship, isn't it? I enjoy that piano so much. Boy, we had a faithful song leader
for so many years, didn't we? And irreplaceable. But I'm thankful
for you. Sure am. I'll tell you what he
told me. Our former song leader told me
when I replaced somebody before me, he said, you don't have any
shoes to fill. Now, never forget that. You're not trying to fill anybody's
shoes. You don't need to. Alright, let's go to Colossians
1 again. Colossians 1. We've been looking at these first
few verses of this chapter and a few words that sum up the word. Verse 5, the last line, the word. of the truth of the gospel. Words
make up the word of the truth of the gospel. And Gabe asked
me, are you going to get to faith, love, and hope this morning?
I hope so. But then again, we're going to look at the first
word again, and how could you say it without saying something
about it? You know, if you ask me a word
to sum up the gospel, one word, without hesitation, I would say
grace. Grace. The good news, the gospel
is by grace you're saved. If you ask me to give you a name,
I'd say Christ. And the two are synonymous. But
in a word, salvation is by grace. Grace, as we said before. So
say, I now again. Grace means gifts. It means a
gift bestowed. A lot of people use the word. And look at verse 6. The apostle writes in the last
part of that verse, he says, since the day you heard of it,
that is, the gospel, and knew the grace of God in truth. Peter wrote the same thing. Next
to the last verse in his first letter, he said, this is the
true grace of God wherein you stand. This is the true grace. People say grace. And there are
men and women standing up right now saying grace. But they don't
mean grace the way God's word says grace. other grace that won't do anybody
any good. Grace that's an offer. They talk
about grace like it's an offer, don't they? It's something God
offers all men, invites all men, throws out there for all men
to accept or reject, to do with it what they will, if they'll
just do something with this offer that God has made. One simple illustration do to
put all that to rest. All the world is guilty before
God and on death row. That's what the Scripture says.
Death row. We're all a bunch, by nature, a bunch of death row
criminals. Is freedom and pardon an offer? You can offer it all day long,
but they can't get out. One fellow argued with my pastor
one day about this. He said, here's what I believe
about this thing. He said, I believe God offers salvation to all people,
and He opens a door, and they're all prisoners, but He opens a
door, and if they go out, they want to. And my pastor in wisdom
said, he said, there's a big problem with that. He said, you
show me a jail anywhere that's taking in boarders. I said, stop thinking about that.
That was his answer. You show me a jail, a prison
that's taking in boarders. In other words, the door is open,
they can come and go as they will. These are people that are guilty
of breaking the law, and they're going to serve the sentence according
to the judge. And they just can't come and
go as they please. Somebody's got to pay the penalty. Somebody's
got to go in. But Rabbis had to go, didn't
he? Rabbis had to go. His crimes had been paid for.
His penalty had been paid. They're not going to take him
as a mortar. Grace is not an offer. Grace
is something done to you, for you. God's salvation is by grace. That is a gift, an operation
of God upon dead, guilty sinners. God's salvation, salvation in
this book, true salvation, the true grace of God, is God Almighty
purposed this thing of salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ purchased
this thing of salvation, and the Holy Spirit comes and applies
this thing of salvation to everyone whom God purposed to save, whom
Christ purchased. The Holy Spirit does it, regenerates,
applies it. Somebody said this simply, God
thought it, Christ bought it, Holy Spirit brought it. It's
all of God. It's all the work of God. Grace.
Grace meaning a gift, something we don't deserve, something He
does for us, to us, in us, simply because He would. A gift, if
you bestow a gift on somebody, it's yours to bestow on whom
you will. Every gift is sovereign. That
means it's up to the person giving it, not the person receiving
it. God said, I will be gracious.
to whom I will be gracious." Everybody doesn't deserve a chance
to be saved. That's not in the Bible. People don't deserve to be saved.
We deserve hell. But God, in mercy and grace,
chooses to save some. Sovereign grace. And He purposed
to save a people, and He sent His Son to this earth to save
them. To live for them. That is, fulfill
God's law, they broke it. To die for them, they broke the
law and sold it, sinneth, must die, so Christ took their plate. The penalty that they deserve,
He took it, He died in their stead. And God raised Him from the dead
three days later, proving that He accepted what He did. And
Scripture says we were raised with Him. And then the Holy Spirit
comes. Christ went back to glory and
sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Now I'm
talking about all that God did. The Senate, we do nothing. We've
done nothing. This is all something they did
for us, to us, and now in us. The Holy Spirit comes. Christ
is on the throne. The Holy Spirit comes. And everyone
whom God loved, everyone whom God elected, everyone whom God
chose, everyone whom God purposed to save, everyone whom Jesus
Christ died for, everyone that's got the blood on them, just like
the children of Israel back in the Passover, everyone that had
the blood over the doorpost and mantel, every single person whom
Jesus Christ died for, the Holy Spirit finds them. He knows who
they are. The foundation of God stands
sure. The Lord knoweth them that are here. Yes, he does. They've
got blood on them. And the Holy Spirit comes through
this right here, through the preaching of the gospel. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching. That is what the world calls
foolishness, this foolishness of election, this foolishness
of God's will, this foolishness of so forth. It's not foolishness. It's wiser than man, stronger than man. It's the power
of God and the wisdom of God. And God, through this thing of
preaching, what I'm doing right now, inexplicably, mysteriously,
God the Holy Spirit takes this just declaration of who God is,
who Christ is, and what He's done. That's it. Not begging,
not pleading, not anything. Just declaring the message like
old Ezekiel to those dry bones. And God in sovereign power and
grace through the Holy Spirit quickens dead sinners. All of
a sudden gives them But life, they've never had it before.
Spiritual life. Eyes to see who God really is. Eyes to see who
Christ really is. Ears to hear the glory of God
in the person of Christ. And a heart that just breaks
because of their sin. It didn't before. It didn't before. A broken heart. A heart of flesh.
And to love this gospel that they once hated. The Holy Spirit does. It's by
grace. It's all by grace. It's all grace. Something done
to us, for us, through us, in us, in us. An act of grace. A work of grace. Salvation is
a miracle of God's grace. That's what it is. He didn't
have to do it for anybody, but he does it for a people as the
stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore. And then the
next word. All right. He says, Grace be
unto you, verse 2, that is to the saints, those set apart,
those full of faith in Christ, faithful brethren in Christ.
Grace be unto you, sovereign, saving, keeping, powerful, generating,
quickening. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We looked at that Wednesday
night. Peace, didn't we? God's angry
with the wicked every day. That's right. Psalm 711. God hateth all workers of iniquity. Psalm 55. May have gotten the
two mixed up. One of them is right. God hateth
all workers of iniquity and God is angry with the wicked every
day. That's what the Bible says about the God of the Bible and
what he says about people. But here it says God is our Father. whose father? Not everybody's
father. To the saints and the faithful
brethren. Grace and peace from our Father. Peace. God is not angry with
his children. The wrath of God doesn't abide
upon his children. God doesn't hate his children.
He loves his children. I say to the children of God,
whoever they be, God loves you. And whoever God loves, buddy,
He saves them. Peace. Why? How? How come? I've sinned against
God just like everybody else. That's right. But God sent His
Son down here, who had not sinned, in whom is no sin. And He swapped
places with this death row criminal. I'm Barabbas, John, aren't you?
No good fella doesn't deserve to live, but God sent Christ
to take his place. Barabbas? Yeah, take his place. And so Christ went to Calvary's
cross, and God poured out his wrath on that sinner. You say,
he wasn't a sinner, he was me, and I was hanging there, and
God killed him. Who wants to argue about that?
Why would anybody argue about that? Well, God Almighty killed me. He killed Christ. And I have peace with God. God
should be angry with me, but He's not. God loves me. I have
peace with God. Why? What have I done? Nothing.
He did it all. He made peace by the blood of
His cross. The chastisement, the whipping
that God should have given me by His law, Christ endured it
all. The wrath of God, God's rod of
justice that should have slew me, slew His Son. Now that's the gospel. Grace and peace. You see, He
did it all. He did it all. God thought it. God purposed it. Christ came
down here and performed it. And the Holy Spirit comes through
this preaching like this and says, now let me tell you about
it. Not let me ask you. Not let me plead with you. Not
if you anything. But here it is. And God says,
now, bow. Kiss the Son. You do love Him,
don't you? You do need Him, don't you? Yes,
I do. It's grace and peace. You see,
it's all from Him. By Him, from Him. Didn't He say
that? Oh, I love that passage in Romans
11. It says, of Him, through Him,
of Him, through Him, to Him are all things. And here it says,
by Him, for Him. How much plainer can you get?
Salvations of the Lord. And it's by grace. Grace and
peace. All right, look at this. Verse
4, verse 3. We give thanks to God and the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. We give
thanks to God since we heard, verse 4, of your faith in Christ
Jesus and the love which you have to all the saints. We give
thanks to God since we heard that you believe. Oh, Paul says, Timothy says,
we thank God since we heard somebody told us that you actually believe
the living and true God, that you turn from idols to believe the living and true
God. We give thanks to God for that,
because if God hadn't done this, you wouldn't have done it. You
wouldn't have turned. If God hadn't in sovereign grace
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth, you would not believe the truth.
Isn't that what he said to the Thessalonians? Same thing. We're
bound, I love this verse, say it all the time, 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 13, we're bound to give thanks to God, beloved of the
Lord, for you. All over this world today there
are con men standing up thanking people for doing something for
Jesus, doing something for God. And the whole shooting match
is going to hell thinking they've done something for God, and how
God is well pleased with them for accepting their sign. Honestly! Christ said that. William, Christ
said that. Many will stand in that day and
say, Lord, Lord, we did this for you. We did this for you.
And you'll say, get out of my sight. Everybody in heaven that's there
today is talking about what He's done for them. Here's the whole
difference. Nobody in heaven is standing
before Christ saying, look what we've done for you. Look how
we accepted you. Look how we let you into our
heart. Everybody in glory right now is saying, thank you for
letting me into your kingdom. Thank you for breaking my heart.
Not knocking on my heart's door. Thank you for knocking the door
down and coming in. Isn't that what the Scripture
says? I can't preach any other way, folks. I'm so sick of this. The zeal
of God's house and God's glory is just eating me up. I don't
know how much more I can take of this God-forsaken religion
today. I don't know how much worse it
can get. Do you? Made a beggar out of God. You
know, God can't do anything without somebody baking something for
Him or doing something for Him. God can't do anything. Needs
everybody's money. Needs everybody's apple pies.
Needs to have a yard sale or His kingdom won't stand up. Making
a fool out of God. It's time somebody stood up and
gave God all the glory and declared God as He is in Iran. Maybe we
ought to open all these windows. Maybe somebody passing by We're
trying on the radio, aren't we? To declare God as He is. What
happens? You just try to declare the God
of the Bible. You're trying to give God all the glory. Really?
Really? Trying to give God all the glory.
You don't see my name everywhere, do you? Huh? I don't even put
it on the bulletin. I don't care if anybody knows
my name. Our radio program used to start
out, and Central Baptist Church invites
you to listen to it, and now Paul Mahan. I had them take that
off. It sounded too dramatic. Take that off there. And you just try to declare who
God is, giving God all the glory. Tell him what his word really
says, who Christ really is, what men really are, the truth of
what men and women are facing as young people. They're not
under the love of God. They're under the wrath of God.
That God is going to destroy this place. He doesn't have a
wonderful plan for it. He's going to burn it up just
like Noah said in his day. And people hate you for it. They
hate you without a cause, Nancy. They hate you without a cause. But is there not a cause? Didn't
David say that? Is there not a cause? Yes! What
is the cause? We say this over and over and
over and over. We're like a broken record. The
cause is God's glory. That's why He created this whole
thing. Sam, isn't it? The whole ball of dirt spins
because God created it for His glory. And these pinhead ants
called human beings are sharing it. Number one, they don't believe
God created them. Number two, they don't believe
He has any control over this thing. Number three, God sent
His Son down here to do something, and it all failed. It's all up
to them. Number four, they crown man's
will and man's power and man's everything, and crown it with
the crown of power and sovereignty. They make man a sovereign being,
and God's going to burn it up. He's going to burn it up. And every creature on it, except
those he by mercy and grace reveals himself to and does something
for them, to them, in them, every creature on earth running around
thinking they're something when they're nothing, proud of themselves. And God has had it. He's had
it. And religion is a word. Religion
does it in God's name. But they're still sharing God's,
stealing God's glory. And they're doing it in His name.
And that's worse. That's why Christ said the harlots will
get into heaven before you bunch of Pharisees. Before you bunch
of preachers. The harlots are going to go in. It's going to
be easier in the judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than average
Southern Baptist preacher. That's right. At least they're
not out on the street blaspheming God. But men in the name of God
standing up in the pulpit telling men what how much God needs them.
And he can't do a thing without them. And he loves them. Telling
God-haters, God loves them. But he never said such a thing.
He's going to burn it up. It's a lot sooner than we think. But he says to us, and some of
us, all of the believers who were by nature children of wrath,
even as others. It's just like that. Peace. All God's people know who chose
who, don't they? They know who's sovereign, who's
not. They're trusting one person.
Every one of them know if they get the glory, it's going to
be 100% by the grace of God Almighty through Christ. Christ is it.
They're going to get the glory and say, yes, there he is. That's my substitute. That's
the one. I've never seen him before, but
I've heard him right there. I knew I'd know him when I saw
him. Because he looks like a lamb that had been slain. This thing of faith, what I'm
trying to say is, far from an act of the human will, believing
this, believing this God, believing the truth like this, the true
grace of God, believing that, people hate it. People hate it.
Christ said that. He said, you're going to be hated
by all men for my name's sake. You name a modern preacher that
people hate, other than me. Name one. Nobody hates any of these fellas. They're too sweet. They're too
kind. People will love and fawn over
Pope John Paul and call him the greatest spiritual leader of
our time and take John the Baptist and cut his head off. People love and fawn over Mother
Teresa Or whoever it may be, Billy Graham, and they hated
John Knox, John Bunyan, John Calvin, John Newton. You fellas
named John have a good name. Charles Hazedom, one of them
dead. That's the truth. Our Lord said
that. He came, he said, you brag on
the prophets, but your fathers killed them all. And the apostles came and they
killed all them. The Son came and they killed Him. He's not begging men to do anything. He's sitting down on a throne. And human beings need to be begging
Him, please, have mercy on us. I saw some silly little girl
yesterday with a description of her God all over her t-shirt.
It says, God who cares, God who's kind, God who this, God who that. Not one mention of mercy. She doesn't need mercy. God's people do. Every one of
them know it. Mercy. Those that David said,
hope in thine mercy. David, who represents every sinner,
he said, God, what's the first thing out of his mouth, Kelly,
in Psalm 51? You know, all the old murders went to the cross
or went to be burned at the stake or whatever's quoting this psalm. The psalm every sinner loves
to quote. First words out of his mouth,
God be merciful. According to the multitude of
thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions against thee,
and thee only, if I sin." Everybody who says that, by His grace,
they won't do it, but by His grace. God says, I have blotted
them out. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people.
All those who hope in His mercy, tell them, I have. I blotted
him out like a thick cloud. Warfare is gone. I'm at peace. You see why he says, Oh, we thank
God when we heard you believe. We thank God when we heard that
you believe of your faith. It's called your faith, not because
it began with you, not because it came from you, But because
nobody's doing it for you, you're believing. But it's not of yourself. Did I say that? Ephesians 2 faith,
by grace you say through faith. Yes, no one's going to be saved
apart from believing. But he went on to say, by grace
you say through faith. And that's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. You don't
understand. You understand. You in here understand.
I was a young... Rebel against my parents, against
God, and I told all my friends, I told all my friends at one
time, 19, 20 years old, I told them I reject everything my father
preached. I told them all that. My best
friend in particular, I told him I can disprove everything
my dad has ever said. Do you think that haunts me to
this day? But Stan, I got an opportunity later on to recant. I did. The Lord allowed me to
face that fellow again. I'm so thankful. And that's when we parted, when
I told him what I used to hate, what I used to say I didn't believe.
I believed with all my heart. All my heart. I was a fool. I
professed myself to be wise, but I had become a fool. And
we parted ways. I've never seen him since. Never
seen him since. I heard he went to prison for
selling heroin. Faith is a miracle of God's sovereign
grace and power. Grace is not something God offers. It's something he does to you.
For you. In you. Peace, we have peace
because Jesus Christ, because God Almighty poured His wrath
out on Christ. And He's not angry with me. And this faith that we have,
oh, thank God for it. Blessed is the man whom God has
chosen and caused to approach unto thee. Come unto me. You will not come. My sheep will. All the Father gave me will.
All whom I send the Holy Spirit to, will. I'll make them willing
in the day of my power." And they'll believe what they
once hated. They'll love what they once hated. They'll believe
a God they once hated, believe the truth they once despised,
and follow the Christ they once didn't give a thought. Now do you see why he's thanking
God for them? We don't thank people for coming
here. We're not going to thank human
beings for coming to thank God for keeping us out of hell. Isn't that blasphemous? We're
bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved, foreloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you,
set you apart through belief of the truth, this truth of the
gospel. And we'll get to the next word,
okay? Faith. Since we heard of your faith
in Christ Jesus, and this always goes with faith, and the love
which you have to all the saints. Faith and love. Always accompanies
faith. Always. When God operates on
somebody, this thing of love is shed abroad in their heart.
Number one, love to God. All things work together for
good to them that love God. Who's that? Everybody quotes
it. Everybody says it. Everybody says they believe that,
don't they? Who does love God? Who really loves God? It's what
we were talking about a while ago. Those who really, really
love God's glory. They love God being God. They love God being God. They
wouldn't dare share the glory with God. You know what I'm saying,
don't you? They love God's rights. God's
will being done and not theirs. They love that. Aren't you thankful?
Believer, Rebecca, aren't you glad that you don't have free
will? Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad
God's will is being done, will be done, always has, always will
be? Aren't you glad you're in God's sovereign hands? Aren't
you glad? Don't you love the fact that
you're God's puppet, for lack of any better word? That's what
they say, if I believe that, man's a puppet. Folks, if God's
got me on a cord, Scripture says He's drawn them with cords of
love, cords of a man, cords of love. If God's got a hold of
me, I'm in good shape. If He cuts the cords, huh, what
will happen to you? If He lets go of me for a minute, I'm like old Pinocchio. I fall
in a pile of nothing. God showed that to all his people.
He shows it to all his people. He showed it to David. He showed
it to Peter. He showed it to all of them.
Abraham, if I let go of you, just for a minute, even though
you're a king. See, this thing is about grace. Sovereign power of God. We're
kept by the power of God through faith. That is, trust in Him. God's people love God as God,
don't you? And they love each other. They
love these people that love that God. The world doesn't. The world doesn't. Now, here's
a miracle, folks. You love me. I can tell you do. I know you do. You show it. You
prove it. You tell me all the time. One dear lady the other
day said, we don't tell you enough how much we love you. Yes, you
do. You tell me all the time. I know you do. But, Janet, the
people in this town don't love me. They utterly hate me. Now why is that? Granted, you know, I got this
old Adam nature still in me, you know, and I, ah boy, it's
an evil thing called mayhem. I still got it in me, I know
that. But honestly, they hate me without a cause. I try my
best to be nice to people. I really do. Treat them with
the same respect I expect to be treated with. I really do.
I never defrauded anybody. I pay all my bills and all that. Why do they hate me? Because of what I say. Truth. What I say about God. You love
me. You love me. And you love all
the brethren. And if you had an opportunity,
I didn't mean to bring me up, but if you had an opportunity
to stand up like me, see, I'm your spokesman, aren't I? I'm
saying what you would love to tell everybody, aren't I? You
give them tapes and say, here, this is what I believe, don't
you? I'm your spokesman. And if we swapped places, they'd
hate you too, hate you with a passion. And some of them do, Brother
Henry, some of them do. But what they think, really, is that you're
in a cult. Essentially, you're in a cult.
I've deceived you. That's what they think. And you and I know who the deceived
ones are. I've never asked you to do anything,
have I, Wesley? Have I ever offered you a ten dollar bill for anything?
Nobody else has either. And all we've ever done, Brother
Wesley, is this one thing, stand up and declare God's Word. Would
you go anywhere else? Would you hear anybody else?
You'd hear somebody else telling it. Your love for the brethren. This is a miracle. By this shall
all men know. Now, Christ said to His disciples,
listen carefully now in the content, Christ said to His disciples,
You shall be hated of all men for my name's sake." I told you
about that woman locally that told my wife, I hate your God. And Christ said, you shall be
hated of all men for my name's sake. He said that to his disciple.
He said, it's not you they hate, it's me. But you will be the
object of it. They can't get to me. But they
can get to you, and they hate you. And you're hated, but you
love one another. I mean, you really do. This love
of the brethren, by this shall all men know you're my disciple.
Love them that love thee. Isn't that what God said? Yeah,
you need to know this, that he that is begotten of God, love
with him that Loveth him that begat, loveth him that is begotten.
Whoever loves God loves those that love God, and they love
each other. And they think alike, they talk
alike, walk alike, act alike. Sons of God love each other.
By this shall all men know. And this is how you know you
have passed from death unto life. Well, now about faith, hope,
And love, the greatest of these, is what? Love. Talking to his
people. He's talking to his people. That's 1 Corinthians 13. He's
talking to his people. The saints at Corinth. The saints
at Colossae. How about it? Faith, hope and
love. We're going to look Wednesday night at hope. I hope. You know, that's providential,
though. I had a message prepared on just the subject of hope about
four or five weeks ago and never felt, it just didn't, it just
didn't strike me. It's time to deal with hope. But love, now by the faith, hope
and love, he said that to his people, and though the world
abuses that, love, love, But to his people, what he's saying
there, now about faith, hope, and love, the greatest of these
is love, meaning that faith will cease someday. We won't live
by faith someday. When we leave this earth, we
will not live by faith, but just live by faith now. But someday
we'll live, we won't leave faith. We'll be with him. Sight. We hope, we have a good hope. Come back Wednesday if you want
to hear about it. But hope is a desire for something you expect
to receive. That's what hope is. And we have
a good hope because of this grace. But someday that won't, we won't
have to hope anymore. We won't have to hope anymore.
We'll be, we'll, you see, we're going to stand there with Him.
Arm in arm with our hope. And I gave myself away. We're going to stand with our
hope. Jesus Christ. But love? That never fails. We love people
now, but we don't love them like we ought to. We love God now,
but we sure don't love him like we ought to. We will then. Perfect. Perfect love. Love is
all going to continue. Perfect love. Forever. Okay. Brother Gabe, come lead
us in something Sherry knows. Number 221. We're saying. and sweet. But I would pray,
if Lord, you'd pray, a prayer I would repeat. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me Thy great salvation, so rich and free. I'm trusting Him from
day to day. I'm truly saving praise. I believe in...