You may be seated. Thank you,
Sherry and Dan. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians
1. which Brother Dan read. We're going to deal with the
first nine verses, 1 Corinthians 1. You have heard me repeat the
statement made by my pastor many times, which he said concerning
God's word, that it's full of promises. God's word is full
of promises, lest we despair. full of promises, and it's also
full of warnings, lest we presume. The promises are for believers. Promises are for those who believe
the truth, those who love the gospel of Christ. The warnings
are for unbelievers, mostly. Also, warning believers not to
presume upon the grace of God, not to presume that they're one
of God's people. But this epistle, this epistle
is full of promises and warnings to the church of Corinth. This
was a very modern, at the time, a modern church in the midst
of a Gentile nation, a large city. It's full of promises and
yet full of warnings. But I want to dwell just on these
first nine verses. this, the apostle begins to rebuke
and admonish and some things like that. But I just want to
dwell on these first nine verses, words of encouragement to this
church, to this church. He says in verse one, let's begin,
verse one, Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. He's writing in verse two, it
says, to them who are called to be saints. And he says, I was called to
be an apostle. In other words, Paul says, I'm
writing to those of you who've been called by the gospel. And
he said, I was called to, called the same way I was. I love his
letter to Timothy. He said, I was before a persecutor,
a blasphemer, injurious, but I obtained mercy. God called
me when it pleased God to reveal his son in me, called me by his
grace. I'll never get over it, that
God called me. He said, I'm called. I'm one
of the called, called to be an apostle, called to be a messenger
of the Lord Jesus Christ through the will of God. It's all through
the will of God. Everything's through the will
of God, but especially and particularly the saving will of God to call
his people. And he mentions this fellow named
Sosthenes. Do you know who this Sosthenes
is? He says, Paul and Sosthenes, our brother. You probably don't
know who he is, but there's a brief story over in the book of Acts
how this man named Sosthenes was a ruler of the synagogue,
a Jewish Pharisee, and a ruler, one of the leaders in Judaism. And when Paul was preaching at
Corinth, the Lord evidently opened Sosthenes' heart to the gospel.
Crispus is another name for him. And the Lord saved him. And not many Pharisees. And Paul,
don't you reckon, Brother Stan, that Paul and Sosthenes, they
had a lot in common. Two formerly self-righteous Pharisees,
and the Lord saved them both. They were cut out of the same
mold, see, and Paul, he enjoyed this man's company. Well, the
story is that the Jews took Sosthenes and beat him because he began
to believe the gospel. And they beat him up and cast
him out of town. So he just, he just went with
Paul. No more ruler of the synagogue.
King and priest with God. Well, Sosthenes, our brother,
Paul's writing, he says, Paul and Sosthenes, the people of
Corinth knew this man. If I would say, if I was writing
a letter to you and I was somewhere else and I'd say, Paul, you're
called to be your pastor and Don Bell writing to you, we're
writing to you, you'd know him, wouldn't you? And it would, It
would immediately bring fond memories of this beloved brother,
right? Paul and Marvin Stoniker, under
you, you would light up, wouldn't you? So these people, sostenito,
how is he? He's fine, he's with me. Verse
two, under the church of God, which is at Corinth, under the
church of God at Corinth, or here at Central, to them He said,
I'm writing to them that are sanctified in Christ. What a
blessed term that is. Sanctified in Christ. Don't think of this as just a
theological term, but think of this as God Almighty setting
you apart from a world of people. Setting you apart as, I think
it was Amos said, plucked as a bran from the burning. That's what sanctified means,
sanctified in Christ. That is, set apart by God and
put in Christ for safekeeping. Just like Noah and his family,
when they were put in that ark, when they were in that ark, they
were sanctified, set apart from the world. And from then on,
their salvation was in that ark. They were in that ark, so they
were saved. All those outside are shut off from the mercy of
God, but all inside had been separated unto the mercy and
grace. And that's what it means to be
sanctified, set apart, chosen by God, and put in Christ for
safekeeping. And you'll be safe from the overflowing
scourge of God's wrath when it comes nigh, and it is coming.
That's all your salvation. You didn't put yourself in Christ.
Of God are you in Christ, who's made unto us what? Sanctification. All right. Now, but this sanctification,
I want you to understand what this is. I'm going to make it
very plain. I know I preached in Liverpool,
England several years ago, and the church that I was preaching
at had just fired their pastor. I know why. He had not long before
that had preached fifty six straight Sundays on sanctification. I'd have fired into. Fifty six straight Sundays and
wore them out. I'm going to make it very simple.
All right. In five minutes. We won't cover it, but I'm going
to tell you what this sanctification is, all right? It's threefold.
Take a note. There's a threefold sanctification.
You see, you've got God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
They're all three in this thing of our sanctification. Number
one is sanctified or set apart by God Almighty in election of
grace. made a difference. Now none of them deserve, all
mankind is guilty before God. God foresaw that. But God in
sovereign mercy, sovereign love and grace sent his love upon
some of these undeserving creatures and set them apart. In his own
purpose and will, he set them apart, made a difference. God
made a difference between them and the Egyptians. Set them apart
to receive this holiness and this salvation. All right? God
the Father set them apart in his purpose before the world
began. Secondly, when God the Son came to this earth, Jesus Christ, in that work of
redemption on Calvary's tree and by his righteousness, made
them holy. Sanctification means set apart
for holy use. Christ imputed his righteousness
to them. That's a mystery. That's what
he did. He imputed God Almighty in Christ, transferred guilt
to Christ and innocence to them. And Christ bore their sins in
his body on the tree, paid for. So they're considered, because
of what Christ did, holy, unblameable, unreprovable in God's sight,
sanctified. They're set apart. They're separate,
harmless, holy, undefiled, separate from hell-deserving sinners.
How? By the blood and righteousness
of Christ. Christ sanctified them. But then the Holy Spirit
is involved. The Holy Spirit sanctified. In
time, we must repent. There must be
a regeneration. There must be a giving of life,
a newness of life, a new creature created in Christ. And in time,
the Holy Spirit comes in the gospel and sets apart his people. You see, we go into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. But God has a sheep among all
the goats. We don't know who they are. That's
the reason we're told to go preach to everybody. See, the argument
against sovereign election is, everyone argues this same thing.
Well, if only the elect could be saved, then why preach? Brother Spurgeon, one time, they
asked him that. If only the elect would be, are
going to be saved. Why preach to everybody? Why
not just preach to the elect, they said to him. He said, well,
if you could put a big E on them, I would. Put a big E on them,
and I'll preach to them only. I'll tell everybody else, forget
it. But we don't know, do we? God does. Known unto God, The
foundation of God stands assured the Lord knoweth them that are
his. He said, My sheep will hear my
voice. But they're in the midst of goats. They're wheat in the
midst of tares. Go and preach the gospel. It's
a huge seed. And the gospel net will gather
his elect. The shepherd's voice and the
Holy Spirit's the one who does this. He separates them. He sets
them apart by the gospel. He's the one who makes the arrow
of God's word stick fast in their hearts. He's the one that opens
their mind's eye. He's the one who convicts them
of their sin. He's the one who gives them repentance. He's the one who gives them faith.
The others don't have it. Well, who made them to differ?
Who set this person apart from that one? Why did this person
repent and this one wasn't moved at all? Why is this person broken
over their sin and this one's not broken at all? Why does this
one person see their need of Christ, and this one is not interested
at all, can't wait for it to be over? This is the sanctification of
the Holy Spirit. This new light, the seed, enters
in and springs up, opens eyes and ears, and sets them apart
from the rest, and he imparts unto them this new nature, this
new creature created in the image of Christ without sin, without
sin, holiness unto the Lord. Without holiness, it's impossible
to see the Lord. Well, they all have it. That's
what sets them apart. They didn't do it. They had nothing
to do with it. They've been born from without,
born of his spirit. See, this is his third sanctification. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
So you, if you're a believer, you've been sanctified in Christ. Now, he summed it all up, in
Christ, because Christ is where it all is. Christ is all and
in all. And read on. Verse 2. I like
this. Sanctified in Christ. Called to be saints. Or the word
to be. You could read it this way, sanctified
in Christ, called saints. All you under the church of God,
which is that central, sanctified, set apart by God, put in Christ,
safe, called saints. Saint John. I'm not talking about the one
in the Bible. That one right there on the third row. St. John Sheasley. Ever heard of
him? St. Wesley. He said the only Wesley I know was
a heretic. John Wesley. No, I'm talking
about that one back there. Hudson. St. Melamine. St. Gladys. Why are you laughing? This is
just as certain as St. Paul the Apostle. Oh, yeah. Oh,
yeah. Just as much a saint as St. Thomas, as St. John, as St. Bartholomew,
as St. Matthew, as St. Luke, as St.
Paul, as St. whoever, uh-huh, St. Sherry.
Well, who ever heard of such a saint? God made one. As far as I know, there's one,
maybe more with that name, but we've got one in our midst. St. Stanley. Called to be saints. He said
this in Romans 1, verse 7. He said, all that be in Rome,
called to be saints. Called to be saints. I'm glad
I don't have to wait until I die to be made a saint. That's what Roman Catholicism
does. It makes somebody a saint. You've got to be dead. Dead about
200 years. They hated you when you were
alive, but they got to take some 300 years to get over it, and
then they made you a saint. Well, who needs it then? They actually
made Martin Luther a saint. I have to laugh at that. Brother
Darnell, they wanted to burn him at the stake. That's significant. That's what
they did to Martin Luther's Lord. They hated his Lord. Boy, when
he's dead, don't we love Jesus? Martin Luther, they wanted to
burn him at the stake. Everybody was against him. Now
they've canonized him. Do you reckon he'd accept that
if he was alive? Oh, man. He'd be in St. Peter's Basilica right now, not
mailing 95 theses again to the wall. Whoever. Saint. Called to be
saints. Sounds strange, but it's true. It's true. Yes, it is. Known
in heaven. How do you know? Saint Deborah. How do you know
that someone's a saint? We don't have a little halo around
our head anywhere, do we? Don't have a book that we can
look at. Can't look at the book of life. I'll tell you how. Second
Thessalonians. Turn over to 2 Thessalonians,
chapter 2. I tell you how you can know somebody
is a saint. And the answer is in that phrase,
called to be saints. Called to be saints. You know it by the calling. The
call, what is this call? 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13,
Paul says, to give thanks always to God
for you, brethren, beloved, that is, foreloved before the world
began, beloved, beloved of the Lord." This is a beloved term,
beloved. I hate the way religionists use
this term. This is reserved for God's saints,
God's people who God Almighty elected and foreknew and and
called Beloved of God. Beloved. I hear preachers just
use that as a dearly beloved. Be gone with that. But be loved. Loved before. Beloved of God. Beloved of the Lord. Because
God had from the beginning chosen you to salvation, to save through
How did he do it? Sanctification of the spirit,
setting apart of the spirit, and belief of the truth. Whereunto,
this salvation, he called you by our gospel. That's how you know. How do you
know somebody's a saint? Saint Teresa. Mother Teresa. That's one of the only two I
really know that they're saints. Not that little shriveled woman
who hated Christ and loved her own righteousness. With this
beautiful redhead over here, the mother of Blair. I want to
make it particular. St. Theresa, right there. How
do we know? How do you know? She's sitting
right here under our gospels. She was called by our gospel.
It was the day when she heard our gospel. Not this other gospel. Our gospel. Paul's gospel. The
gospel. The truth. She said, that's it. She confessed Christ, and she's
still here today. That's Saint Teresa, I tell you. Teresa in English. Teresa in
Espanol. Called by our gospel. Everyone
who's heard this gospel and believed, been called by that gospel, they're
called saints. Saint Kelly. Has a good ring to it to me.
Now, we don't we don't. When you hear your name called,
and I'd like to call a bunch of them, time won't allow it.
But when you hear your name say whatever. What do you think? I don't call
me that. I don't deserve it. Nobody deserved it. He didn't
call but deserve it. You see, you're calling, brethren,
he said in the same chapter. You see, you're calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many not mighty,
not many noble, not any righteous. You can come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. The worst, the chief of sinners.
Is that you? All right. OK. You see, you're calling, don't
you? And you hear this St. Don't call me that. No, you don't. No, you don't. I think of old
Jacob. I love the story of Jacob. Jacob
was God's chosen son, and he's a scoundrel when God saved him,
when God found him. And all of God's people are called
sons of Jacob. Jacob's the one God changed his
name to Israel. You remember the story, don't
you? You reckon, Tammy, you reckon that when people ask him his
name, I mean, even when he was older, you reckon he'd say, well,
I'm Israel. Israel means prince. Oh, no. When God wrestled with him, he
said, what's your name? He said, Jacob. Jacob means no
good, a cheat, a supplanter, a rotten fellow. And Brother
Stephen from that day forward, that was his name. That's who
he thought of himself. I'm just an old Jacob. Peter,
would you reckon Peter would run around and say, well, how
do you know I'm Peter? A rock. What's your name? Simon. You ask the average believer,
well, every believer, are you a saint? Oh, not me. Stan is, not me. I'm just an
old sinner. I am nobody special, but God
changed the name, St. Stanley. Doesn't sound right
to you, does it? That's what God, that's how God
refers to you. He sure does. Saint, called Saint. And he says with everybody and
every place, back to our text. He said, I'm writing to everybody
in every place that calls upon the name of Jesus Christ, our
Lord, our gospel, and our Lord. Not this phony out there who
made salvation possible, but our Lord. I mean, our Lord, our
sovereign God. He said, I'm writing to every
church, everyone, all in Korah, who calls. Here's another way
you know a saint. You want to turn with me? Joel
chapter 2. Joel chapter 2. Oh, quotes part
of this in Romans 10. And this is what everybody uses
when they try to lead the people to Jesus. The Romans wrote, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Romans 10
verse 10. That's what they quote. That's
all they quote. Let's quote it all, Brother Stanley.
Saint Stanley, what do you say? Let's quote it all. Joel, chapter
2. See, all the called, all the
called call on Christ. He said to all the called that
in every place call upon him. How do you know the called? They
call on Christ. Verse 32, "...it shall come to
pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall
be delivered. For," it doesn't stop there, "...for in Mount
Zion," that's the church, "...and in Jerusalem," New Jerusalem,
"...shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said. And in the
remnant," the remnant Paul said according to the election of
grace, "...the remnant whom the Lord shall call." You see, God gets all the glory
that way, doesn't He? They're called. Whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, how are they going to call on Him in
whom they've not believed? How shall they believe in Him
in whom they've not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher?
How shall they preach except they be sent? Who sent them? Read it backwards. Who sent the
preacher? God. Who did he send them to?
They're called. They're called to be preachers.
Preachers are sent. They hear. They believe. They
call. God did the calling. We don't
call until he calls us. And they do. They call back in
our text. And all that call, present tense. See that? It wasn't a one-time
thing. Are you saved? Yeah, I made my
decision years ago when I was a kid. I went down in front.
Ah! No, no, no, no. Unto all them that call. Present tense. Not called. Call. Yeah, they were called to win
the gospel, and they called on him. Lord have mercy on me. I'm
a sinner. And he answered them. Was that
it? Oh, no. They continue from that day forward
to call. Until the day they die, they're
going to call on the name of the Lord. Because they're sinners
in need of mercy every day, and so every day of their lives until
they're taken from this world, they call. This is what separates God's
people. They continue to call, Lord,
and they're calling change. The first thing they called when
God revealed the gospel to them was, have mercy on me, the sinner. And the day they lay on their
deathbed, they're going to say, God, they're not going to say, I did
this, I did that. They're going to say, God, be merciful to me,
the sinner. I've told you many times how
that the martyrs, almost all of them without exception, Went
to the stake to be burned or whatever. Quoting Psalm 51. God be merciful. Have mercy on
me, O God, according to the multitude I tend to mercy. Well, what a
thing. Why don't you sing Victor NG?
Oh, no. They're going to call on God
for mercy till the day they die. all that call, present tense.
Read on. I knew I'd get hung up. That's all right. Verse 3, he said, Grace be unto
you, and peace, all graces to you, all that are called, all
that are sanctified, all grace. The God of all grace has determined
that all grace be yours. What kind of grace do you need? What kind of grace do you need? the grace of faith, the grace
of repentance. Repentance is a gift, a grace
of faith, a grace of brokenness, a grace of mercy, a grace of whatever, a grace to live by,
a grace to die by, the God of all grace, the God of all grace,
saving, keeping, eternal Grace and peace. Grace and peace. Paul loved these things. He said
it in every epistle. He began every epistle this way,
and closed every epistle. Because this is how it all began,
by the grace of God and the peace that Christ obtained by the blood
of his cross. And this is how it's going to end, brother John.
He begins every epistle, grace and peace, and ends every epistle,
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. We're saved
in the beginning by God's grace. And you know we're going to be
saved in the end by God's grace. It was God's grace that called
us. It's God's grace that keeps us. If it wasn't for this gospel,
it wouldn't be. You ladies would be fighting each other over something.
And one of you men would want to stand up here and preach.
You know, you'd think you could do a better job. Not when God's grace is revealed.
Nobody wants jobs. When God's grace is given, peace
is given, there's peace. God has ordained peace. It's
not a fight. for the grace of God which is
given you by Jesus Christ. I thank God for you and on your
behalf. I agree with Brother Dan wholeheartedly. I concur, Brother Dan. This is
some special family here. This is the salt of the earth.
It really is. See that there? This is the salt
of the earth. These people are altogether lovely
to me. I tell you how this this is these
are people whom the world is not worthy you believe that Jeanette
of this what about this front row right here swords and Anderson
how faithful they've been they were here before any of us they're
still here why grace of God grace of God I'm not bragging on them
bragging on the grace of God Ragging on the grace of God,
I thank God for them. Sure do. Right there they sit.
Were you in that seat a hundred years ago, Brother Henry? You're
not going to move, are you? Solve the earth. Yes, they are.
Verse five, enriched, I thank God that in everything you are
enriched by him. Now, I look out over this crowd,
and I don't see anybody that's too rich. I really don't. I don't think
there's anybody out there with... Well, I know you. Not too rich
in this world, but you have been enriched by him where it matters.
Oh yeah, rich in faith. There are those who have much,
yet are poor. There are those who have nothing.
The proverb said, yeah, rich toward God. All of their riches are in inheritance. They're waiting until they receive
that inheritance, and then you'll see just how rich they are. But
I see it now. I see some of these riches enriched
by him. You were taken from the dunghill
to be set among princes. Right now, you're sitting at
the king's table being enriched by him. I got a letter from a
woman And she was just marveling to me and thanking God for the
fact that she, the Lord, what all the Lord had done for her.
She was years ago was a divorcee and was a divorcee for many years
trying to raise a family by herself. The Lord revealed himself to
her, saved her by the gospel. And she was just not going to
marry anybody that wasn't a believer and trying to, you know what
it would be like for a woman to live alone and a believer
and trying to support a family and so forth. Just difficult. Living in a rented apartment. Well, she met her handsome friends. She met a man who was a member
of a a wonderful church, where the Gospels preach, with a wonderful
pastor and a huge family of believers. And she married him into his
family, into that church family. And she was writing me and said,
I feel like I married into royalty. Well, she did. And so have you. If you're married to Christ,
you've married royalty. Every one of us here are just
like Cinderella. If you're a believer, thus you
are, from the ashes. You've been brought up from the
ashes to be married to the crown prince of glory. Your maker is
your husband. And look at this family. Royal
family. Royal family. That's the way
it is with all. Joy and air is enriched, he goes
on to say, in utterance and in all knowledge. Now, he's not
talking about eloquent speech. I don't have it. And I don't
know anybody in here really who has it. Eloquent speech. Not many wise men at the flesh
are called, not many noble. He's not talking about eloquent
speech, just utterance. And knowledge, he's not talking
about intellectual knowledge. There's not too many very highly
educated people in here. Nothing wrong with that unless
you think you're something. Education's fine unless you think
you know something. You know, it's all right, it's
okay to learn a lot unless you think you know something and
you need to unlearn it. Well, you understood that, didn't
you? This knowledge and this utterance
that he's talking about, and I was going to have you turn,
but Paul said, when I came to you, I didn't come with excellent
sense of speech. He said persuasible words of
man's wisdom. But in demonstration of the spirit
and power, we have this treasure in earthen vessels, he said,
that the excellency of the power might be of God. Not intellectual
speech, then only the intellectual would understand it. Not high-sounding
oratory, then only those who are educated could understand
it. in the Spirit of God, which hides
these things from the wise and prudent, and reveals them to
babe. Simple truths that yet are hidden
to the wise, and God laughs, had not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world. Brought to nothing the understanding
of the prudent that revealed it unto babes. That's one of
the only times our Lord had said he rejoiced. He laughed, he laughed
that loud. He told a parable, and nobody
understood it but his fishermen. And he laughed out loud. Thank
you, Father. It's a revelation. And you're
enriched in utterance and knowledge. And I'll tell you what that means.
If I were to ask you to utter something profound, something
wise, the wiser someone is, the more they can bring great things
down into short phrases. You know that? The Proverbs of
Solomon, the wisest man on earth, one line is infinitely profound. You understand? That's the wisdom
of God, to be able to bring See, people that really don't know
much, they say a lot. Barbara, they talk a lot and
talk a lot and a long time because they're trying to get it across. They're only confused. Let me
say that. That's what I'm doing right now.
To be profound is to bring it all down into one short statement. If I were to ask you, every believer in To sum up, utter just one or two or a few
words. Just utter one or two or a few
words. Sum it up. All the purpose, the
will, the wisdom, the glory, the honor, the power, the salvation
of God. Everything. Sum it all up. Just a few words, or one, if
you will, to sum it all up. What would you say? Just one
word. Give me one word. Somebody utter
it. Somebody. Utter it! You're enriched. How profound! You'd ask a professor of theology
at Brown, what's the purpose and will of God? He'd give you
a two-hour dissertation, because he doesn't know. But let me tell
you, Christ, isn't that profound? You're enriched in all that utterance.
That's all you need to utter. Brother William, when you stand
before God, just utter one thing. That's all you've got to do,
utter one thing. It's the password of glory. It's the key to heaven. Why should
I let you in here? Christ! Come again. Why should I let you in here,
he says to the Pharisee? Well, I did that. I did that.
Look at that. Look at that. Get him out of here. Here comes
an old sinner. Why should I let you in here,
Mr. Thief on the Cross? Christ. You've been rich in all utterance
and knowledge. Now listen. Knowledge. What does the scripture
say? What did Peter conclude his whole
thing when he said, grow in grace and knowledge of what? Christ. Grow in grace. Second to last verse, and I just
seconded this, is growing grace and the knowledge of superlapsarianism,
inferlapsarianism, omnilental, preliminal, postmillennialism,
soteriology, eschatology, exegesis of Christ. Growing knowledge of Christ.
He said this in verse 6. He said, The testimony of Christ
was confirmed in you. Testimony of Christ, the gospel
of Christ is confirmed in you. You know, salvation is to know
one thing. That's one thing you need to know. One thing you and
I need to know. Salvation is one thing. It's to know Christ. And God
Almighty does this for his children. How do you teach your children
things? When they're little babies, do you Keep bringing different
concepts every day to them. To your kindergarten, you say,
well, today we're going to study nuclear physics, and then tomorrow,
after you've mastered that, we're going to get into... No, you keep A, B, C, D. The next day, Mary, well, we're
going to study, teacher. A, B, C, D. The next day, what
are you going to study? Line upon line, precept upon
precept, here a little, there a little. What is it? What's
the subject? Christ. Until it dawns on you, Peter
said, until the day of spring arises in your heart, until it
finally dawns on you, Christ is all in you. It takes a lifetime
to realize that. We try everything. We run here,
we run there. We learn this, we learn that. Until it finally dawns in your
heart, not just your head, but in your heart, until you lay
hold with your heart and you say, you know, I finally understand. All my salvation is in Christ. The same thing. Paul said, to
write the same things to you is not grievous. What things,
Paul? Christ. It's confirmed in you, the testimony
of Christ. The gospel of Christ is confirmed
in you. Till every one of his people
come to this excellent knowledge, in the end, every one of them,
and they sang with him. Christ is all. There's nothing else you need
to know. And like I said, I love, the Lord reveals this to his
people. You remember the story of Susan Stapleton up in Kentucky,
the church there in Ashland, teaches four and five year old
children. One day she asked those four-
and five-year-old children this question, and the profound answer
of one of those young people is just wonderful. She asked her kids, she said,
What is a Redeemer? What is a Redeemer? Now, if you
would ask this question the various heads of religious departments
in the universities all over the world, you'd get a bunch
of different answers. One of those little kids, four-year-old,
said this, one who redeems. Well, you mean one that actually
redeems? What's paid for me? Oh, no, anything
else? It's paid. What's a redeemer?
One who redeems. What's your salvation? Christ. Simple, yet profound, isn't it?
One thing. Oh, I love that story of that
coach driver who was driving the preacher into the town of
Bath for a meeting. He hired a coach driver. And
the preacher was a visitor there, and right in the back of that
coach lay a horse and buggy. And he was enjoying the scenery
along the road to Bath, and he was interested in some of these
things. He said, Mr. Driver, what's this huge plantation
on the right here? And the fellow said, I know not,
sir. Kept him right on. And they came to something else,
and the preacher said, pardon me, sir, Mr. Driver, what is
this? What is this rather large, imposing place on the left here?"
He said, "'I do not know, sir.'" And the preacher said, "'Pardon
me, Mr. Driver, what do you know?' He
said, "'I know the way to Bath.'" That's all he needed to know.
What difference does it make what others else know? We're
all, you know, we've got one way to go. We're going to meet
God. What difference does it make whether we knew this or
knew that, huh? Or who we knew, or what we did,
or whatever. All that's fact. Do you know the way to God? If you do, you're enriched. He said he'll confirm you. I've
got to finish this, all right? He'll confirm you. Verse 7, you're
behind in no gift. People, don't let these super-Christians,
don't pay any attention to these super-Christians out there, the
babbling idiots. Don't pay any attention to them.
They're religiosity, they're piety. God's not. They're a stench
in God's nostrils. Don't pay any attention to these
people that make you feel spiritually inferior. They ain't even children
of God. Anybody that's out there flaunting
their phylacteries or their religion, none of that. None of God. Don't let Him make you feel guilty.
You come behind. And Paul said this. This is why
he's right in here, brother Stan. Paul said this. The greatest
theologian God ever is telling these people, you come behind
no one in all these things. And he stood up in chapter 1
and says, where's the wise? Where's the prudence? Bring them
up on. Bring the religious on. Bring all these fellas on, these
righteous people. I'll put them in the dirt." And
he says to those simple believers, you're not behind anybody. As
a matter of fact, you're way ahead. You're much nearer to
God than they are. You who can't utter but one word
to God Almighty, and that is, have mercy, are far above and
beyond those who have eloquent speech and prayer. Far above and beyond. They're
not even going to see God. But you can just utter one word,
Christ. If the only prayer you can utter
is have mercy, God hears that. Men aren't impressed, but God
is. You're not behind anybody. I'm
telling you, there's a truck driver at the right hand of God
Almighty right now. And seminary professors wishing
they knew what he knew. Yes, sir. You come behind nobody. Any gift, you see your calling, brethren. I'll take this little brown tabernacle
on a hill any day to any crystal cathedral. And you'll be someday confirmed
unto the end. Verse 8, you confirm you unto
the end. I don't need to go to some priest
to have him confirm me. You heard a confirmation, hadn't
you? He'd been confirmed. By whom? By a homosexual priest. I don't want his confirmation. I want the great high priest
to confirm me. He says, Johnny, when you'll
be confirmed, who shall confirm you unto the end? Confirm it
in you to your own mind and heart, and confirm it for you to God
Almighty, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus.
Blameless! Presented! Who's able to present you? Are
you able to present yourself faultless, unblameable, unreprovable?
Who is? Only one. Who can pray for your
sin? Only one. Who can absolve you
of all wrongdoing? Only one. And he's going to do
it. How do you know? Verse 9, God
is faithful. God is faithful. By whom you
were called. Everybody called. Now, the kiss
and calling of God are without repentance. Everybody he called,
he justified. And everybody he justified, he
glorified. Now, what do you say to this
stuff? Ah, boy, those that have been
called, you ought to say one thing. Amen. Amen. Amen. My, my, God is faithful. He said that all that come unto
me by Christ, I will receive. By Christ only. All right, let's
sing in closing. You'll come up number 224 in
the Green Book, 224. I love this. Paul is the one
who said this, I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded.
He's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. Let's stand as we sit.