If you'll follow along, Romans
chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. I feel very strongly that verse by verse teaching
and preaching that is verse by verse through
the scriptures is the only way that God has ordained that we
do this. The Word of God is His power. The Word of God is His power. A preacher of the Word is commanded
to preach it, to preach the Word of God. And Isaiah said, line
upon line, precept upon precept, line upon line, he repeated that,
precept upon precept, here a little, there a little, verse by verse.
In season or out, Paul told young Timothy, preach it in season
or out. It's mostly out of season right
now. Men would rather see signs and wonders and miracles, and
our Lord said that about evil generation, he said, they seek
the sign. But the word of God, he said,
preach it, in season or out, he said, preach all of it, not
just what you understand or what you believe
and leave out some of it, all of it, the whole counsel of God.
The apostle Paul said, I haven't shunned to declare all the counsel
of God. All of it. A preacher is not sent to tell what he thinks
about the Word of God either. His opinion, not his thoughts
or opinion. God said, God said, My thoughts
are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. So
the minute a man says, Well, this is what I think, he's wrong. Everybody has an opinion, don't
they? And some would say, well, everybody has an interpretation
of the Bible. No, no. The Bible, people, God's Word
is not to be interpreted so much as just declared. I don't know
of one preacher I have any confidence in. There aren't many. There
aren't many. As I've said before, I'm ashamed
to be grouped with this lot of fellows called preachers. He's
money-hungry, name-hungry. But there's no preacher I have
any confidence in who interprets the Bible, but he just declares
it. He's just preaching it. It's what it says. Not our thoughts,
not our opinions, not man's commentaries on it, but God's Word as it is.
And don't twist it. Don't make it say what it's not
saying. Don't corrupt it. That's what Paul said in 2 Corinthians
2, 17. He said there are many which
corrupt the word of God. They corrupt it by taking away
from it, by adding to it, by perverting it, by coming up with
all different translations of it. If you keep fooling with
something, you'll have it so different from the original that
it won't even resemble it. That's what all these They're
not versions, they're perversions of Scripture. Don't twist it. Peter said, they that are unlearned
and unstable do rest the Scripture. Don't twist it. They that are
unlearned and unstable. So preaching is declaring the
Word of God as it is, what it says, line upon line, precept
upon precept. And Romans, the book of Romans,
is the foundation of scriptural teaching, doctrine. The Book
of Romans, the foundation of who God is, who God is, what
man is before God, and who Jesus Christ is and what salvation
is. All right? The Book of Romans, and it's
all plainly taught here in the Book of Romans. All right, let's
get into it. Let's get into it. And if you want to know what
this church believes, so to speak, not that it really matters, Not
that it really matters. If we're the true church, it
does. But what we believe is not really important, but it's
what this book says. All right. But if you want to
know what we believe, you'll find out if you stay with us
through this study of Romans. All right. Verse number 1. a servant of Jesus Christ called
to be an apostle. Now, he's addressing these people
at Rome, and he says, and he's telling them who this letter
is from, Paul. But really, Paul didn't write
this. He took dictation. You see, listen,
I just partially quoted this verse. But 2 Peter 1, verse 20
says, prophecy of the scriptures of
any private interpretation or personal interpretation, but
prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy
men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." All
right? Paul was moved by the Spirit
of God to write this letter, and there are many proofs of
that. This is God's inspired word because, well, there are
many proofs, too many to number. But here we are, nearly 2,000
years later, reading this, and it speaks just as clearly and
plainly and relevantly to us as it did to these Romans years
ago. And men have tried to destroy it, but here it is. Here it stands. The Word of God. Forever, O Lord,
thy Word is settled in heaven. The psalm is set. All right.
Paul. Paul. He doesn't say, the most
right reverend, holy Paul. He doesn't say Reverend Paul
to the Romans. He just says Paul. Why? Well,
that's his name. He doesn't say Reverend Paul.
Why? Because he's not reverend. And I'm any more than I'm reverend.
No mere man is a reverend. I don't care if these fellows
take that title. Psalm 111. What does God's Word say about
reverend? What does God's Word say about who's called reverend?
Or does it say, call a man reverend? Psalm 111 verse 9 says, Holy
and reverend is his name. Whose name? Paul's name? No, his name. The word reverend
means to be in awe of and fear of and have a fearful respect
of, and no mere man is worthy of that title. Paul's just a
man like I am. I'm just a man like you are.
A sinful man. Don't deserve that title reverend.
There's one reverend, his name's Jesus Christ. Mark it down from
the Scripture, what this book says. Paul doesn't say the most
holy father. Christ said that, didn't he?
He said, don't call any man father. You have one father. He's not holy either. I'd hold
he's a sinner, like Paul, and read on. He says, Paul, a servant
of Jesus Christ, a bond slave, a called messenger, called to
be an apostle. I dealt with that this morning
in the Bible study. We're studying the book of Romans
in that as well. But I talked about this thing
of being called to be an apostle. There are no more apostles today,
people. There are no more apostles. Because the apostles had these
three qualifications. They had to see the Lord. They
had to see him with these eyes. Paul did. The rest of them did.
They had to see him. Secondly, they had to have received
from him their commission or their call. And Paul had that. The Lord said, you preach. I've
many people. He called him. And then they
had to have the qualifications, the miracles, the signs, and
the wonders. And there are no more of those today. I don't
care what they're doing. But these fellas, if anybody
raises a dead, I'll believe he's an apostle. Because that's what
they did. If anybody really, truly heals
a blind man, I don't mean a man who's nearsighted or who has
cataracts. I mean a blind man, like Bartimaeus, and I'll believe
he's an apostle. Anybody truly heals a man who's
born lame, never walked before, I don't mean with a wheelchair
or a cane, I mean who's lame, who's had cerebral palsy and
is lame, then I'll believe he's an apostle. But more importantly,
read on, called to be an apostle separated under the gospel of
God. If any man preaches the gospel and does those things,
then I'll believe he's an apostle. Because that's what the apostles
were called to do and that's what a true preacher of the Nothing
else but preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. Separate it
under the gospel of God. Separate it under the gospel.
That's what he wants to do. That's what he is called to do.
That's what he's sent to do. He's not sent to entertain people.
A preacher's not sent to entertain people. He's not sent to win friends
and influence people. Although, we all want to have
friends, but Paul said in another place, he said, have I become
your enemy for telling you the truth? See, the apostles, all
the apostles were not well-liked men, per se. Every one of them
were killed, but one. The prophets were not well-liked
men of their day, like most of these pinhead preachers are today
is a feminine. Hospital visiting wolves in sheep's
clothing. They were out to just win church
members. That's not what a preacher is all about. Try to get church
members. I was sent to preach the gospel
to declare what God is saying. Whether anybody believes it or
not, whether anybody likes him or not, and like the prophets,
they were all killed and the apostles Our Lord said, they'll
hate you for my name's sake, didn't he? He said, you shall
be hated. Well, separated under the gospel of
God. Look at that. Verse one says
it's the gospel of God. It's God's gospel. It's God's
gospel. He's the one that thought it. He's the one that authored it.
He's the author of it. He's the one that first preached
it. In Genesis, he's the first one to preach it to the first
fallen man, Adam. Genesis 3.15. He preached it
to Adam and Eve there. It's God's gospel, and look what
it concerned. Look what the gospel is. Paul
said, Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Verse 2, which
is? The gospel of God which he promised
before by his prophets in the Holy Scripture. In other words,
it's no new gospel. This gospel, people, did not
originate in the New Testament. It's no new gospel. The apostles
were not bringing a new message. As a matter of fact, in Acts
17, I believe it is, the apostles came to a town in Athens, and
it's written there, it said that these Athenians liked nothing
more than the telling and the hearing of some new thing. Tell
us something new. Something new, and Peter said
in another place, he said, we haven't, this is no cunningly
devised fable on our part. Some new thing. The preaching of the gospel is
not a new message, but it's the oldest message. The oldest one. It originated in the Old Testament.
The Old Testament. And when our Lord, I want you
to look at Luke chapter twenty-four. Look, I was going to quote it,
but Luke chapter twenty-four. Look over there with me. When
our Lord preached, what did he preach from? Any preacher preaches
from God's Word, doesn't he? If he doesn't, he's not a preacher.
He's not called a priest. What does he preach from? The
Word of God. Well, what did our Lord preach
from? The first time he stood up as a man, thirty years old. Jewish manhood. He stood up in
the temple, his hometown, and opened the Scriptures and given
him to read. And he read from Isaiah 61, and he read the Word
of God. He read the Word of God. The
apostles, what did they preach from? The Old Testament. That's what I'm saying. And whenever the apostles talk
about the Word of God, what book were they talking about? The
Old Testament. the Old Testament, right? Look
at Luke 24, and look at Luke 24, it says, verse 44. Look over there. No, let's look
down at verse 27. This is when our Lord appeared
after he rose from the dead and appeared to two disciples on
the road to Emmaus. And it says in verse twenty-seven,
beginning where? At Moses. That's Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, four, five books. And all the
prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and so forth, Daniel. He expounded
unto them in all the scriptures. What scriptures? Old Testament.
The things and what is in the Old Testament. What's it all
about? Look over at verse forty-four.
Look over there, Luke twenty-four, forty-four. He said unto them,
These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with
you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written
in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms.
That's all the Old Testament is. What's it concerning? Christ
said, Me. You see, the Old Testament Men
were saved back then, the same way they're saved now, through
faith in Jesus Christ, his person, his work, his blood, his righteousness.
Right? Oh, yeah. Our Lord said, Moses
wrote of me. Didn't he? He said, Abraham rejoiced
to see my day. Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he says he saw it and he
was glad. They had faith in the same one.
You see, Old Testament believers, they looked to a Christ who was
to come. He hadn't come yet, but that's who they looked to,
to save them through his blood and his righteousness. And then
the New Testament believer and us, we look to the one who has
already come and who is coming again, you see. And back in the text here, that's
what he says here in verses two and three. He said it's the gospel
of God which he promised before by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures
concerning his son, Jesus Christ. Concerning him. This gospel is about God's son.
What he has done. Who he is. Who he is. What he has done. About God's
son. Look at it. He said it's concerning his son,
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Our Lord, Christ is Lord whether
men make Him that or not. I get so tired of hearing that
statement today, and I believe it's blasphemy, based on what God's Word says.
Because it said, Peter preached at Pentecost. He preached to
all those people at Pentecost, and he said, You with wicked
hands have taken and crucified the Lord of glory. He said, God
hath made this same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and
Christ, didn't He? We don't make Him Lord. God made
Him that a long time ago. God made Him that from the foundation
of the world. God gave Him all power and authority
from the foundation of the world. He is our Lord. He is all men's
Lord, whether they acknowledge it or not. Salvation is to merely
know it and understand it. It's to know and understand that
He is Lord. That He is Lord. And we are in
His hand. This Jesus isn't... He's not
like they say today. What will you do with Jesus?
Oh, no. Oh, no. It doesn't say that in the Scriptures
anywhere. What will you do with Jesus? The question is, what
is this one who is Lord going to do with us? He's not in our hands, people.
He's seated on the right hand of the Majesty on high, the Scripture
says. He's not in my hands. I can't control it. I'm in His hands. I mean his
name. This gospel, look at it, verse
three, concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, which was made
of the seed of David, according to the flesh. And he says that
because he said there are many false Christs will come, and
I made mention of that Farrakhan fellow, Lewis Farrakhan, and
others who have come in the past. If we had time, I would show
you through the Old Testament and Micah and Isaiah and so forth
how it says that he must be born of a virgin. That Christ must
be born of a virgin. Why? Because he can't have the
seed of man in him. He can't have sin in him. He's
got to be sinless. He must be born in Bethlehem. That's where
God said his son would be from. Thou, Bethlehem, out of thee
shall he arise. He's the Christ out of Bethlehem.
He called from Nazareth, Egypt, and everything concerning the
Christ, which is written in the Old Testament. That's the reason
you've got to understand something of the Old Testament to have
the right Christ. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. He's no different God and no different Jesus, the
same one. That was prophesied out of old.
And the Old Testament tells where he came from, everything he would
say and do. You've got to have the right one. Concerning his
son, made of the seed of David, and I will quote you this, Isaiah
9, 6. Isaiah 9, 6 says, Under us a
child is born. Now, there was a baby born in
Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, nearly 2,000, a baby, all right? But Jesus Christ, Christ the
Lord of Glory, wasn't born two thousand years ago. Oh no, the
rest of that verse says, and thus a child is born, but the
Son is given. Son of God, the eternal Son of
God, who was with the Father from the beginning. As Scripture
says in John 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him.
And without him was not anything made which was made, and the
word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." He said, "'A body
hast thou prepared me.'" A body, a baby's body, and this Eternal
One assumed it. OK? Jesus Christ. And that's the
reason we don't worship on Christmas. We don't worship some baby in
a manger, because he's not a baby anymore. He was at one time,
but just for a little while. eternal God seated on the throne,
and hell, he's not a baby. All right? And that's the reason
we don't make much of that pagan holiday called Christmas, nor
Easter, nor all of these things. Why, we worship a living Lord
seated on a throne. All right? Concerning his Son,
Jesus Christ, our Lord, which was made of the seed of David,
according to the flesh. Read on. Verse four. And he was declared, he's still
talking about this gospel concerning Christ. He's declared to be the
Son of God with power. With power. Look at John 17 with
me. John 17. How much power does
he have? Does He have as much power as
men will let Him have? They say, make Him Lord. But God said He already did that.
They say, won't you let Jesus into your heart? Won't you accept Him as your
personal Savior? And these things are not in the
Scripture, people. They're just not in the Bible.
Those terms are just not in the Bible. They say, God wants to save you
if you'll let him. Where does it say that? I'll tell you what it does say.
It says, Isaiah, it says, God will work and who will let it? He said, I've purposed it. I'll
do it. Isaiah 46. It says, known unto God are all
his works from the beginning. Acts 15, 18. Doesn't it? Look at John 17. How much power
does Christ have? How much power a man will let
Him have over Him? All right, look at it. John 17.
These are out of the mouth of Jesus Christ Himself. Verse 2. He says, he's praying to God
the Father. As thou hast given Him, the Son, as thou hast given
him power over all flesh," how much power? All power. Over who? Who will let him? No. All flesh. "...that he should
give eternal life to as many as," what? "...as let him," that's
not what it says, "...as many as thou hast given him." Call
his name Jesus, the angel said. Why? He shall save who? His people. His people. The people that God gave him
before the foundation of the world. Yes, elect. That's what
this book says. Twenty-seven times in the New
Testament. His people. His people. He has all power,
the scripture says. All power over all flesh. all power. I've used this illustration
before, and they've used it last Sunday. And you know, I don't claim to
be some real smart preacher. I don't have very many illustrations.
What few I have, I keep repeating them over and over again. These
people have been coming for years. They've heard every illustration
I have to use. The reason I have to use them
my horse sometime. He'll come up with new ones. That young preacher went to that
farmer's house, you know, and said, Farmer Jones, won't you
come to the revival meeting? And he said, God wants to save
you if you'll let him. The old farmer said, no, I don't
want to. And the young man said, well, please come. God wants to save you if you
let him." He said, no, I don't want to save him. I don't want
to save him. And the preacher said, well,
Farmer, he said, Mr. Jones, he said, if you won't
let God save you, then he'll send you to hell. And the old farmer said, nope,
I won't let him do that either. He said, if he tries to save
me, I won't let him. God sent me to hell, I won't let him do
that easy. How much power does Jesus Christ have? Only the power that men let him
have? He said, all power is given unto man. Didn't he? He's declared, Romans 1 says,
he's declared to be the Son of God with power, with all power. Declared to be the Son of God,
read on, according to the spirit of holiness. He's declared to
be God's Son. according to the spirit of holiness,
or that is because of a holy life. I don't care what Pope
Paul says. He's not holy. You take off all
those white robes and that fish head off his hat, he's just a
wrinkled old man like we are. He's just a man, and he has lustful
thoughts running through his mind and his heart. He's a sinner.
He's the worst. He's a self-righteous sinner.
He's the worst. He lets people call him Holy
Father. He's the worst. He's the chief of sinners. He's
not holy. There's one man who ever lived
on this planet who's holy, truly holy. Turn to Psalm 24. Psalm
24, okay? This is one of the scriptures
that we use just all the time in reference to Christ because This declares what it means to stand before a holy God. God
is holy. And for us to be accepted by
God or stand before God, we have to be holy like God. Can we do
it? No. All right, let's read this, Psalm
24. It says in verse three, read it. Who shall ascend unto the
hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? Well, here he says, he that hath
clean hands. That is, who has never performed
any sin. Because the Scripture says the
soul that sinneth must surely die. Doesn't it say that? Doesn't
the Scripture say that? The soul that sinneth must surely die.
Who can say he's never sinned? Who can say that? Read on. And a pure heart. Not
only does a man or a woman have to be sinless in deed or in actions,
but in motive, in heart. It's got to be someone who's
never even thought about sinning. To go before God and have God
say, I accept you. And now what this says, Stan
Anderson? Who can say that? One. Only one man. Read on. who have not lifted
up his soul unto vanity, or that is, who has never in his life
lived for anything but because of scripture, all is vanity.
But a man who's never lived, or a woman who's never lived
in this life for anything but the glory of God, who can say
that? Just one. Or never sworn deceitfully, never
told a lie, never, no idle words have come out of this Nothing
but Thanksgiving praise, no murmuring, no complaining, no nothing but
Thanksgiving praise and holy things out of his mouth. Who
can say that? Huh? Read on. Now here. Verse
7. Lift up your heads, ye gates,
be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors. Somebody's walking into
heaven. There's a man in glory. There's a man walking into heaven.
God's going to open the gates of heaven to a man. The Scripture
said, who is it? Verse eight, who is this king
of glory? He's the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ. There's
only one. Christ came to this earth and he said, who can convince
me of sin? And they tried, but they couldn't. He's never, he
has clean hands, pure heart, never lifted up his soul unto
vanity and never sworn deceitfully. And God accepts him, and God
said it from heaven out loud. He said, this is my beloved son
in whom I'm well pleased. There's one man whom God Almighty
is well pleased with, and that's Jesus Christ. And you know he's
only well pleased with anybody else by faith in him. must die," the Scripture says.
Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin.
Right? Blood's got to be shed. Who can
do it? Only Christ can. And Christ did, and he shed his
blood for those people that God gave him to pay for their sins,
past, present, and future. Well, I'll be accepted by God
if I live from this day forward a holy life. I can't do it. We can't do it, can we? Who can
say they've done it? Who can say they've lived perfectly?
Paul was an old man when he wrote to Timothy. And he said in 1
Timothy 1, he said, he said, this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came in the
world to save sinners of whom I am the chief. Paul was 60 some
years old when he said that. He didn't say, I was a sinner,
now I'm a saint, now I'm a goody two-shoes, and I don't ever sin
again. I am a sinner. Well, what's your hope, Paul? What's all your hope? How are
you saved, Paul? How are you going to make it to heaven? By
living a good life? No! By Jesus Christ living that life,
Paul. That's what it means to have
faith in Christ. Believing that He, what He did, why He came,
He did it for you. When he went to that cross, those
sins were laid on him. By his stripes I am healed. And
God declares me. That's what it means to be justified.
That's what it means to be justified by faith in Christ. God declares
us holy, innocent, through what Jesus Christ did. Now, does everybody believe that?
No. Paul said in Romans 10, and here
I am going through the whole book of Romans, verse 3. But,
or 4, Romans 10, he said, Many are ignorant of God, and are
going about to establish their own righteousness, and have not
submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness, to everyone who believes it.
Not what I do. Well, here I am, Lord, I'm a
good person. No, there's none that doeth good,
no, not one, the scripture says. I mean good in the truest sense,
with a perfect motive and a heart and without flaw. None that doeth
good, no, not one. None righteous, that is, perfectly
holy and right. None, no, not one, but Christ. Well, I'll do this, I'll do that.
Well, that's fine, but don't expect God to accept you for
it. No. Ephesians 1, 6 says this,
and there's several people in here that can quote it. We are
accepted where? Let's say it. In the beloved. We are accepted not because of
what a good person I am, not because I join a church, not
because I come to church, not because I sat down, not because
I, I, I anything, but because of He. Him. Him. Him. See, it's concerning His
Son, declared to be the Son of God with power according to the
Spirit of holiness. That declares who He is because
He's lived a life that only the Son of God could live. And by
the resurrection of the dead, look at that, verse 4. He's declared
to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead. All these other
past so-called messiahs like Buddha or Krishna or There really
never was a fellow named Krishna. That's a fable. But Buddha, whoever it may be,
Confucius or Ali, Allah, not Muhammad, Allah, but Allah,
Allah, are false Christs because they didn't rise from the dead.
It says here, He'll be declared to be the Son of God by rising
from the dead, rising from the dead. See, they thought he was
gone. When they put him in the grave, they said, well, that's
it. There's been a bunch before him, and they're dead, and they're
gone, and their bones are with us. And there'll be some more
after him, and their bones will be in the grave, too. But there
ain't no bones over there in Jerusalem that belong to Jesus
Christ, because he came out of that grave. And that declares,
that means that everything he says is true. Everything he said about himself. Read on. All right, let's read
on. And we could dwell there, and
I just have a few more minutes, though. All right, he's declared
to be the son of God. It's the gospel concerning his
son, who's declared to be the son of God with all power, according
to the spirit of holiness, or a holy life, by the resurrection
from the dead, by whom, verse 5, by whom we have received grace
and apostleship. By Christ we have received grace. See, salvation is by grace. Ephesians
2.8, by grace you're saved. As a matter of fact, everything
we are and everything we have is by grace. What does grace mean? Unmerited
favor. Grace is a gift. Paul said in
another place, he said, now if salvation is by grace and it's
not of works. Isn't it? It's by grace, not
of works. Lest any man should go, he said,
salvation is either by grace or it's of works, because if
it's of grace, it can't be works. Or grace wouldn't be grace and
works would be works. Now let me illustrate that. Now
let me drink. All right. I asked Brother Stan
Anderson there to cut my grass and I'll give him more. I'll tell you, but now, Stan,
it'd be, I'd start to say $10, that wouldn't be enough. I'll
give you whatever, $100. Bush hogging and all that. And
Stan does it and he comes to me and I give him $100. No, I didn't. I didn't give him a hundred dollars.
He earned it. Because I said, you cut my grass
and I'll give you a hundred dollars. All right? Now that works. Right? He earned it. Now, wait a minute. If I just up and give Stan a
hundred dollars, which I don't have. Stan, I'm sorry. I've got
fifty cents. I don't even have that right
now. I spent all that yesterday. But if I just up and give him
50 cents, now that's grace. He didn't do anything to earn
it, did he? Unmerited gift. All right? Salvation is by what? Ephesians 2, 8. By grace, you
say. Romans 1, 5. By whom we have
received grace. Unmerited favor. It's not grace
works. It's not grurts. Or what's grace? It's not God's
grace plus my works, or it's not Christ's blood plus what
I do with it. It's my grace. Totally a gift, 100%
a gift. God said, now listen, this is
what God says. He said, now this do and live.
The law came by Moses, and what does the law say? Do this and
you'll earn eternal life. There was a young fellow who
came to our Lord and said, Good Master, what must I do to inherit
internal life? And the Lord said, Well, you
know the law. Keep it. And he didn't know the law, did
he? Because the law is spiritual. It requires perfection in heart.
Well, he said, I've done it. He said, I've done it. All these
things I've done from my youth up. The law says this, do and live.
Law came through Moses, but grace and truth, how a man is truly
saved, came through Jesus Christ our Lord. Know what Hebrews said?
Grace and truth. Grace came. The law says this,
do and live. And we approach the first one,
all right? Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy mind,
heart, soul, and strength. Broke it? I wish I could do like
old Barnard did one time. You know what he did? You told
me to say it, didn't you? He bought ten glasses. Ten brand
new glasses, and he brought them up to the pulpit with him. And
he said, now this is the law of God. And he read that first
one. Love God with all your might. Thou shalt love the... Who can
say that? And he took every one of those
glasses one by one and busted them to pieces. Broken. Broken. And he said to offend in one
point. Didn't he say this? To offend in one point is to
be guilty of it all. It doesn't matter if I've kept nine and
you haven't, I haven't. But to offend in one point is
to be guilty of it all. You've broken it all because
it's God's law. One point is the same as the other. We broke them all, we go down
the law, down the line. And the law is much deeper than
the Ten Commandments anyway. But Christ didn't break one of
them. He lived them perfectly, perfectly. And by Him, we have
received all those that believe Him, trust Him. Now, that's by
grace even, isn't it? Faith is by grace. You see, we
don't even plead faith before God. We don't even plead faith.
We don't come before God and say, well, I'm saved because
I believe Jesus. Why did you believe? Why does anybody believe? There
was a day when I didn't believe. I didn't give a flip for Jesus
Christ. I didn't care a bit. Then all of a sudden, one day,
I did. Why? Why? It's too late. By grace you say,
through faith, and that's what? Quote it. Not of yourself. It's the gift of God. Even faith. Because God chose a people. Called
them by the gospel and by the Holy Spirit gives them faith
is to leave the league. By nature we say no I'm not interested
by grace he says you are interested in our. Yeah I am. Called. That's what irresistible
grace me that's what it means. All right. "...by whom we have
received grace and apostleship." And let me just go down through
here. In verse 7, he says, verse 6,
"...among whom are you also the called of Jesus Christ." The
called of Jesus Christ. Christ said, all my sheep will
hear my voice, and they'll follow me. And that's the reason we
don't use any other means than this. This is what God said to you.
That's what he said to you. You remember the story in Ezekiel
where he said to Ezekiel, he said, he sent him down to the
cemetery and he, a valley of bones, and he said, he said,
can these bones live? Can these bones live, Ezekiel?
Ezekiel said, I don't think so, but you do,
you know. And the scripture says in Ephesians 2, 1 that We're
dead in sin. Dead. That's what it means to
have no interest in God. Dead. Dead. And it says, and you hath
he quickened who were dead in trespass and sin. Can these bones
live, Ezekiel? Well, I don't, it doesn't look
like it, Lord. What am I supposed to do, Lord?
Well, Ezekiel, have a puppet show. puppet show and have a ball team
for the kids that are buried out there, have a gospel quartet. Boy, these bones like good gospel
singing. They'll love that. I'll tell you what, stick a ten-dollar
bill under the pew wherever every bone is, and that'll bring them
in. They're dead. They're dead. What did he say
to do, Ezekiel? That's it. Don't use any gimmicks
or tactics or tricks or. Don't use anything else that
you mean, I'm not supposed to use saying, yeah, but not to
bring people in for the glory of God. Do what you do for the glory
of God, let everything be done for the glory of God, but for
salvation of people to bring people in, preach. What? Line upon line, precept upon
precept, my sheep are going to hear it. They're going to hear
my voice. And that's the green pastures
that the Lord, who is their shepherd, leadeth them into, maketh them
to lie down in it and rest in those green pastures and those
still waters that they drink from. Christ, the water, the
Word. Preach, preach the Word. Nothing
else. Don't add to it. Don't take away
from it. And don't use any other means
but the Word of God. Joe, you got a closing here I'm
picked at? 199. 199.