2 Corinthians chapter 1. I'm going to do a running commentary
of most of these verses down through here, and then we'll
dwell on verses 20 through 22. Actually, verses 18 through 22. running commentary down through
here, I fully expect to get some yays and amens from this message.
But that's not why I preach. That's not why I preach. For
applause. But if the gospel is plainly
preached and those who know it and love it and hear it, they'll
say yes. All right, verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
Paul. He doesn't say, The Right Reverend,
Most Holy Father of Dr. Paul. He just says, Paul. Titles like that are man-made.
The apostles never took the title of Dr. Paul. Reverend, they refused
to take that title. There's no mere mortal man who
is worthy of being revered. Psalm 111 says, Holy and reverend
is his name. Men are not to be feared or hailed
in awe and high esteem and revere them. They're not reverent. Paul. What do we call you? That's my thing. Paul, an apostle. An apostle is no—an apostle was
not a famous title back then. It was infamous. Everybody who
held the title was killed. It was no title that would get
you recognition and fame and honor and money. It got you killed. But he's writing to the church,
and it meant something to the church. Pastor Paul. That means
something. Preacher Paul. That meant something
to the church. Not to the world. They scoffed
at and lightly esteemed them as they do now. And I'm ashamed
to be linked with these fellows that are called preachers in
our day. Almost ashamed to tell people what I do. What I do because
preachers are that all scouring the earth in our day." Quotes. Paul, an apostle. The word apostle
means messenger. It means I'm a messenger. It's
somebody who was sent with a message. That's what a messenger is. Somebody
sent by somebody to tell a message. A messenger, an apostle of Jesus
Christ. How? How did you get to be one
of these apostles, Paul? By the will of God. No prophet ever applied for the
job. None of the apostles said, here,
Lord, here, call us, call us. The Lord called them. That's
what Paul said, I think it's Ephesians 1, when he pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
His grace. He put me in the ministry. He
called me to the ministry. He put me, not some recognized
board of directors. Not some seminary, not some president
or rector, or some colleague somewhere who
recognized me and put me in the ministry. No, by the will of
God. What are your credentials, Peter?
What'd you do in the past? Where'd you go to school? Well,
I was a fisherman. But wait, where'd you go to school,
Peter? I didn't. All right, Bartholomew,
what about you? I didn't go to school. Philip, what about you? No, I
was a fisherman. Where'd you go to seminary? Thomas, I didn't. Where'd you
go to school? Well, actually, we're all at
the school of the Holy Spirit. He's the great teacher, and he
has led us and guided us into all truth. And we had one textbook,
God's Word, and God sent us. God called us. God equipped us.
God gave us the ability. God put us in the ministry. God
sent us. By the will of God. And that's how all preachers
are sent, called and sent and equipped. Men don't make preachers. God makes preaching. And so if
they are brought unto the Church of God, verse 1, unto the Church
of God at Corinth, he's writing to the Church, as most of the
Word of God is written, to God's people, to the Church, God's
elect. God's chosen, God's sanctified,
those who were given to Christ, those who were saved by Christ,
those who were called by the gospel, and on and on we can
go. The Church, whom he redeemed. The Church, the Carth and all
the saints. And this applies to us, the Church. Verse 2, Grace be to you, and
peace from God our Father. and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ." The grace of God. The grace of God. God is the one who, this thing
of salvation. Salvation is by grace. By grace
you say, Ephesians 2.8. By grace you say. Salvation is
by grace. Period. By God's grace. It was the grace of God that
thought this thing. thought it, the grace of God
that bought it, and the grace of God that brought it. God the
Father thought it, purposed it, God the Son bought it, purchased
it, God the Holy Spirit brought it in the gospel. Grace came
from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, thoughts
of peace, grace and peace. God said, I know my thoughts
toward you, toward his people, thoughts of peace. But Christ,
the one who came down here, obtained it by the blood of his cross. Verse 3, Grace be to you, and
peace from God our Father. Blessed be God, blessed be God,
even the Father of mercies, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the one who gave him a body and sent him down here in our midst,
the Father of mercy God of all comfort, the author of all mercy. Any mercy in the earth comes
from God. But especially mercy, or saving
mercy, men not getting what they deserve, judgment. That's God's
the father of it. God's the author of it. The scripture
says His mercy is the New Year morning to it. And His mercy
endures forever. It endures forever. And a God
of all comfort. God who comforts us, verse 4.
Now, Paul says—these are kind of difficult to understand in
the reading—that God who comforts us in all our tribulations, and
we may be able to comfort them which are in trouble by the comfort
wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. What he's saying there
is that we're having troubles and trials just like you are.
The church at Corinth was going through tribulation and persecution
and troubles and trials, heavy ones, weighty burdens and hard
trials and persecution from the world. And the apostles were
too. And they said, we're going through
the same thing you're going through. And our comfort is the same comfort
we're trying to comfort you with, the God of all comfort. We're
trying to comfort you in the fact of who God is. He's God. He's God. And everything that happened
following you, God did it. There's no other comfort anywhere
else, is there? How can anybody find comfort in a devil who's
running loose, who's doing what he wants to, and God's standing
back with his hands tied, can't do what he will? There's no comfort
in that. That means Satan's more powerful
than God. Now, I'm going to start worshiping Satan then. I'm going
to start calling on Satan, please don't do this to us. God won't
do anything for me. He can't. Oh, Satan, please don't
do this to us. Don't kill my baby. Satan can't do anything. Read
the book of Job, unless God Almighty allows it. Romans 8.28 is more
than just a thing to quote at funerals. For we know, and we
know, that all things work together for good to them who love God,
who are called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow,
he did predestinate. Whom he predestinated, he called.
Whom he called, he justified. Whom he justified, he glorified.
These whole things of the Lord. Every jot and tittle, everything that moves, as one
old preacher said, everything that writhes or wiggles in the
universe, God Almighty controls it. If he doesn't, he's not God. But if you have a God like that,
and you're in his hands, and he's too wise to err, too good
to do evil, too merciful and too kind to do wrong, you're
in good hands, and you can be comforted. No matter what befalls
you, like the martyrs of old, the early church of old, though
they were being slain, like Job said, though he slew me, though he kill me, and God's
the one that does it, Deuteronomy 32, 39, I'm the Lord, I kill,
I make Blessed is the one who knows
this God who said, though he slay me, I'll trust him. He must
have a good reason. I'm just glad I'm not wise enough
to understand his ways, but he's God." That's your comfort, isn't
it? Isn't that your comfort? Those
of you who believe and know this God, the only God there is? Paul said we're going to, and
the apostles were going through some horrendous trials and suffering. It's God's will. Verse 5, he
says, "...the sufferings of Christ abound in us, but our consolation
abounds there." The sufferings abound in us. All of God's people—I
don't care what Pentecostal preachers are saying. I don't care what they're saying
today. It's totally unscriptural that God doesn't want anything,
any affliction or trials or bad things, sickness or poverty,
all that to happen to his people. That is absolutely a lie. God's people from Genesis to
Revelation are beset behind him with all the trouble. There was a pastor of a church
named Epaphroditus who was sick nigh unto death. Paul said, he
just about died. He was so sick. Besides that,
all the apostles were killed. But why, John? Timothy was evidently a sickly
young fellow. He said, you're many. Paul said,
you have many ailments. Take a little wine. Don't just
drink water. Pentecostal wouldn't like that, would they? Now, I'm
not just making fun of Pentecostals, per se. It's just this, all this
notion that they say God doesn't want you to be sick, God doesn't
want you to be poor, then why didn't He do something about
it? Huh? My wife's mother died of
cancer. Why didn't God do something about
that? My sister just recently died of cancer. Why didn't God
do something about it? Didn't she have enough faith? You see
why that angers me. And the apostle said here, the
sufferings of Christ abound in us, and you all are suffering
too, he said. I tell you what, it might be
a sign of God rejecting somebody, the fact they don't suffer. Right? That's what Psalm 73 seems
to indicate. David said, Lord, they're not
in trouble as other men. He said, I'm religious in vain.
I've cleansed my hands in vain. I've washed my... He said, the
waters of the full cup are running out on your people. Your people
are in bondage and sorrow and sickness and suffering. The world's
not in trouble like we are. And he said, right then I went
into the tabernacle and I understood. It's the end you need to look
at. It's the end, God says, to the world. You can have the world.
You can be rich, you can be famous, you can be trouble-free in this
world, but boy, when the end's on, you've got nothing but trouble. And he says to my people, to
your people, he says, you're going to have trouble here, but
you might find here no continuous fitting. Don't hang on to this. And I'm going to give you trouble
so you won't. Because you're not going to stay
here, and when this trouble's over, no more trouble. And the former trouble shall
not come to mind. And you're going to say there's
light affliction. You're not even going to remember
it. It's the same as those who didn't care for God won't remember
their good times, for the woe and the misery that's fallen.
Where was I? Oh, verse 6. He says, we're afflicted. It's for your consolation and
sorrow. How can a preacher who comes out of an ivory tower, who's never worked a job, who
comes out of an ivory tower, who's never been exposed to sin,
never sinned. He's never sinned. Liquor, never
touched any liquor. And he comes down to a people who are beset
behind and before with the ungodly, a man that goes to work at the
mill or at the factory. And the first thing he hears
out of some fellow's mouth when he walks in there is taking God's
name in vain and every other oath in the book. And these people,
God's people are just—and it creeps into them, and they see
it. The world's full of a bomb—how
can some preacher who's been secluded from all that sheltered
and protected from all that, and how can he relate? How can he preach on a sand?
How can he relate to anybody? How can he console anybody? He
can't. He can't. Peter said, I know what you're
going through, boys. I was a longshoreman. Aren't they a joke? Teamsters,
longshoremen, fishermen. They're a rough bunch. I was
right in the midst of them. We're secretaries. They're worse. And so on and so forth. Factory
workers, assembly line, a mean lot. They're a rough lot. You're
in the midst of them. who has never suffered or been
under any trial or affliction himself. How can he console somebody
who has gone through it? He can't do it. And it is often the case, and
usually the case, that God afflicts and trials his spiritual leaders
more than any other. It has been the case down through
the years. And I could give you many illustrations
of it. Paul was one of them. If I said Paul. Nobody suffered
like he did. Nobody. And John, so he could
say, couldn't you listen to a fellow that was sitting in prison writing
you a letter and say, now you need to be content. Can you listen to that fellow,
John? I know you're in that prison down at J.P. Stevens. Go in there
and feel like you're just locked up for hours. Well, Paul was
locked up. The place he had to be. And he said, now, be content. God put me here. God put you
there. And I've learned in whatsoever
state I am to be content. Why? Because God put me here.
You can listen to a fellow like that, can't you? So Paul says,
we console you. It's our consolation. That's
our consolation, what we're going through. Verses 7, he says, I
hope of you steadfast. We know as you partake of the
sufferings, you also partake of the consolation. If there's no consolation, people,
in this thing, if God doesn't console you, and you need to
check your religion. If there's no peace and no comfort
in this trusting God and no joy, I'd find me another religion. Scripture says, Rejoice in the
Lord. And again, I say, when did Paul write that? He was in
prison. Rejoice in the Lord. He said,
by the way, we wouldn't have you ignorant that the things
that happened to Verse 8, things that happened to us were pressed
out above measure, above strength. There's another place that Paul
says, Who's weak and I'm not weak? Paul said, Y'all come to me with
your troubles, and he said, I've got troubles, and I'm wondering
who am I going to go to? Paul says, Same bunch of persons
I'm trying to point you to. Then when you come to me, he
said, all I want to do is point you to him. I can't help you,
Pastor. I got troubles of my own." He
said, in another place, he said, we were cast down, but not forsaken. In distress, but not in despair. We go through the same doubts,
Pastor, the same doubts and fears. Am I saved or am I not? I don't
think I'm saved. Where are we going to turn? God's
Word. Same doubt, same problem. Same
afflictions, same struggles with sin may be worse on that account. That we might console you, because
this is where we're getting ours. Verse 9, we had the sentence
of death in ourselves. That's what we need to have in
us, too, don't we? Wrecking yourself dead to sin. I've got to hurry. We trust in God. We don't trust
in ourselves, and don't you trust in the Preacher." That's what
Paul said. Don't trust in me. Don't trust
in the Preacher, he said, but in God. That's where our trust
is. Who raises the dead? Paul said
we were condemned to die, but we just trusted that God would
raise us. Verse 10, from so great a death. He did. He delivered us time
and time again. Death delivered us, still delivering
us, and we trust he will yet deliver us. I've preached on that before.
That's a type of salvation, people. That's a type of salvation. God,
who determined and purposed our salvation before the world began,
his people, his elect, but yet in time there's a time where
we must hear the gospel and He must actually regenerate us,
who doth deliver us. But I'm not there yet. I'm not
actually standing on the other side of Jordan yet. I'm not saved
yet. I am. I'm saved in Christ. I'm
complete in him, but I ain't there yet. Paul said that. I haven't arrived. But I will. I trust it. God's going to get
me there. Not me and God, not me and Mama
praying for me. He, he, a trusting God that he
will yet deliver us. Verse 11, You also helping together
by prayer for us, also thanking them for praying for them, that
by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on
our behalf, He thanked them for praying for him, and that's what
Charles Spurgeon attributed, by the grace of God, attributed
much of the success of his endeavors, of the preaching there, to the
fact that the people prayed for him. There was a group of men
that actually met together while he was preaching, while he was
preaching, praying for him, Lord help him, help him. And that's
what Paul's saying here, I believe. Thank you. Brethren, pray for
us. Pray for us. And pray for yourselves
and your children. Pray for me, that God will bless
me with a message. God will bless my heart with
a message. I need it. And pray for yourselves, that
God will bless you through me delivering. Now, verse 12, he
said, Now I rejoice in this. The testimony of our conscience,
we have a pure conscience, that in simplicity and godless sincerity,
not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we had our
conversation in the world, but more abundantly or specifically
or most of the time toward you. Our testimony is this, of our
conscience. We lie not. Our conscience bears witness.
God, the sight of God, that in simplicity. We've had our conversation, our
life, our ministry toward you. Paul says, he said, the testimony
of our conscience is that we, and he said in another place,
we haven't coveted any man's silver. A true preacher of the
gospel is not in this thing for money. He's not in this thing for money.
I know several men who work, who have to work to support them
and their families because the congregation is too small to
support them. They're not in this thing for
money, but they're in it because necessity is laid upon them.
They say, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. They're in this
thing to preach. And they haven't coveted any
man's silver. They don't covet a name for themselves?
They don't covet recognition or honor from people? As a matter
of fact, they shun it. Oh, don't! John, John the Baptist,
of whom the Lord said there's never been a greater man live
on the planet Earth than John the Baptist. Oh, that's a real What a, what recognition. The
Lord himself said, that's the greatest man to ever live, John
the Baptist. They came to him, Teresa, they came to him and
said, who are you? Well, now's your chance, John. You can tell them who you are.
You can have a big crowd if you tell them your credentials. Tell
them your recommendation. Tell them who recommends you.
Tell them who, tell them! Who are you, John? You never even say his name.
Oh, boy. Yeah, but you're somebody, aren't
you? You're doing a great thing. You're doing a great thing. Oh,
I must decrease. He must increase. I'm just a
boy scrying in the wilderness saying, it's him you need to
admire. Him you need to be taken with.
Him. Like I said, I don't covet any
man's name or honor or my own name or honor or recognition.
Look at it. He says, simplicity. Another place, over in 1 Corinthians,
he said, he said this several times. He
said, have I offended anyone by abasing myself? He said, I didn't come with wisdom
of words. lest the cross of Christ be made
of no effect." Not with wisdom of words, that your faith should
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. He said,
I didn't use high-sounding oratory or intellectual phrases so you'd
be impressed by me. And Paul could have. He studied
at the greatest, at the feet of Gamaliel. He's the only one,
people, he's the only one that had formal religious training
in the Scriptures. Only one. Paul. You know what
he called it? Dung. I do count it for dung,
he said, for the excellency of the knowledge. I didn't know
Christ. I knew a lot of things, but I didn't even know Christ.
Now, he said, I count that bit dung, but I know him. And I'm
not going to find out about him in that school. We'll find out
from him right here. But Paul could have used high-sounding
oratorian-preached dissertations on the subjects of eschatology
as opposed to the millennial reign and the, you know, superleftsarianism
as opposed to infraleftsarianism, and the various views of the
Aryans, the Sassanians, and the philosophers of his day. But only giraffes would have
gotten in, indeed. sheep won't. As he said, we use great plainness
of speech, great plainness of speech, because we want to be
understood, not admired. That's what he said. We want
to be understood, not admired. Read on. He said that simple
preaching, godless sincerity, we're sincere about one thing,
that you know God. Not with fleshly wisdom, but
by the grace of God." That's what he's saying, not with fleshly
wisdom. But we're writing another thing, verse 13, than what you
have read or acknowledged. In other words, we're not writing
anything new. We're not preaching anything
new than what the Bible has already said. That's all the true preacher
does, is come saying, Thus saith the Lord. This is what God says. Not, Thus saith the denomination.
Thus saith the Pope. Thus saith the Lord. We're not
writing anything to you other than what you have read. We're
just confirming, repeating what God has already said. Repeat
it. Line upon line, line upon line.
As you also, verse 14, he says, you have acknowledged us in power.
You see that. You're rejoicing even also as
you also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. They
rejoiced in having a man like Paul come to them. They received him as sent from
God. They received his word as it
is in truth, the word of God, not the words of a man. Why? They were reading God's Word,
and they went home, took their Bibles, and went home to see
if what he was saying was solid. That's right. They started to
search the Scripture, and they found, hey, what Paul is saying
is according to Scripture. God must have sent him. God sent
him. And they rejoiced in Paul, and
he rejoiced in them that they received him. Verse 15 and 16, "...and
this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that
you might have a second benefit and pass by you. In other words,
Paul was intending to come to them, and something prevented
him. Someone prevented him, the Lord. Verse 17, he said, When I thought
about coming to you, when I was thus minded, when I had a mind
to come to you, when I was thus minded, did I use lightness? Oh, no, he said. Oh no. The things that I purpose, he
said, do I purpose according to the flesh? Oh no, he said. Not likeness.
No, I didn't likeness. Or he didn't say, oh, I can come
through at a certain time, and they'll ask me to preach, and
I will get a love gift. He said, no. Uh-uh. I just wanted
you, and I wanted to come to you. I wanted to preach to you.
And I didn't use lightness, but this thing was a heavy burden
to me. A weighty task. A weighty task. A purpose and a message. It had
a purpose, he said. It wasn't a light purpose. It
was a purpose to exalt and magnify and declare God Almighty. And
that's no light matter. Any message, any Sunday morning
message, a man approaches it with anything other than fear
and trembling. And he thinks it has eternal
consequences to everyone who hears it. He better get out of
that pulpit. He better do it fast. He didn't do it lightly, he said.
I have a purpose. That's the purpose, to magnify
God, and the message is to declare his cross. Let me hurry. Now,
verses 18 and following this. We'll give
a few more minutes to this, OK? Stay with me. This is the heart
of the message. All right? Are you still with
me? All right, he said in verse 17,
he said, There were some people that accused
Paul of saying yea, yea, and nay, nay, or that I'm coming,
but he's just a liar. That he just said he was going
to do something and wouldn't do it, didn't do it. He said
no, verse 18, I'll read it, verse 18. As God is true, our word
toward you was not yea and nay. As God is true, now listen. God
is—God is absolutely true, as God is true. That is, there's
some certain sure and true characteristics of God Almighty. That's just
the way it is. Are you with me? Please bear
with me. Bear with me, okay? I'm preaching
the God of Scripture. Paul said to the Galatians, he
said, if another come preaching another Jesus, bear with him,
but if not, bear with me. I'm going to preach to you, and
declare right now, the God of Scripture, the Christ of Scripture. There's another being preached
out there. All right. God is true. In other words,
there are certain sure and true characteristics about God that
men may know that he reveals himself. Not uncertain. Not God's
this way or that way. Maybe, maybe not. No, it's true,
certain characteristics, sure and true ways and judgment. And God wrote a book. It's not
the Bhagavad Gita. It's not the Koran, the Torah. What was it? I forget. Who cares? It's not that. It's
not the Book of Mormon. God wrote a book, and it's settled,
as Scripture says, forever and ever, Lord, thy word is settled
and heaven is sure. It's not uncertain. God's word
is not uncertain. It's not vague. God doesn't speak
in vague terms. It's not full of ambiguity. Pardon
the high word. That means double meaning. As a matter of fact, listen to
this. Proverbs 8 says this. Listen to it. Proverbs 8, he
says this. All the words of my mouth are
in righteousness. There's nothing fraud or perverse
in them. There's nothing leaved or hidden
or in them. They're all plain, he said. Plain to him that understand
it, and right. to him that findeth knowledge."
Right. Everything God says is plain
is right. As my pastor likes to say, he
said, the problem is that people don't, the problem is not that
they don't understand the scripture. That's not the problem. When
I read Ephesians 1, it says, for whom, that God chose the
people in Christ for the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1.4.
Or Romans 9, the purpose of God according to the election. Romans
8, from Edith Ford how he did predestination, and so on and
so forth. The problem is not people, I
don't understand that. I don't understand that. Ephesians
2, you were dead in sin. I don't understand that. Oh yes
you do. Oh yes you do. Dead. You know what dead is,
don't you? Dead's dead. God said they're dead. What's
dead mean? Well, it means they're dead,
maybe dead. Just a little bit dead. Dead's
dead! Isn't that what it means? God said,
I've chosen, in Ephesians 1-4, according as he has chosen us
in Christ before the foundation of the world. Chosen in Christ
before the, when did he choose? Who chose who? according as he
hath chosen us. God, I don't understand that.
Yeah, you do. He hath chosen us. When did he choose? In Christ,
before the foundation of the world. When did he choose that?
Before the foundation of the world. I don't understand that.
Yeah, you do. Before the foundation of the world. The problem is
not men and women understanding that. The problem is their will,
their unbelief. They say, I will not have that. Would somebody, so they then
say, would somebody please make up a perversion of Scripture
that doesn't say that? Somebody make up a Bible that
doesn't say that, and that'll be our Bible. Right? But God is true. God wrote a book. His word is
true. It's the absolute truth of who
he is, what man is, and who Christ is and how man is saved. I read
on, verse 19. 4. The Son of God, Jesus Christ,
who was preached among you by us. What does a true preacher
preach? Well, he gets up on Sunday morning
and preaches on the eve of abortion. No, he doesn't. How's that going to stop him
being by himself? It's not. Well, he's going to
get up and preach on the moral ills of the day, the ills of
society, the ramifications of our political system and consequences. No, he's not. The Apostle Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 2, he said, I'm determined to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Besides, God saves sinners. He saves sinners. He didn't come
to call the righteous anyway. I come to call people who've
had an abortion. That's who he saves. Son of God,
Jesus Christ was preached. What does a man preach? What
does a man preach? It's not a what, it's a who. He's not preaching a what. He's
preaching a who. The Son of God. This is eternal
life. People, listen. This is eternal
life. You see, the Pharisees, the Sadducees,
the lawyers, all the religious people of their day came to Christ
asking him lots of questions. What do you think about this?
What do you think about that? Who's on the white horse? Who's on
the gray horse? Where'd Cain get his wife? Asked him a bunch
of questions, didn't he? Huh? When's the end time? What's
the sign? What's the mark of the beast?
And so forth and so on. Asked him lots of questions,
didn't he? And he answered them all. Finally, he asked them a
question, didn't he? You remember what he asked them? What think ye of Christ? There's one issue that a man,
a woman, a young person must face that will determine the
destiny of their souls. What think ye of Christ? But
more specifically, people, it's what Christ thinks of us and
does for us, and that will determine what we think of him. And what
he does for us and thinks of us and what we think of him as
a result of that will determine the destiny of our soul. So I
need to preach Jesus Christ. He said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw men to me. I'll draw
men to me. I need to preach Christ. That's
what a preacher's sent for. An apostle of Jesus Christ. Christ said, Go preach. What
do I preach? Me! And the people need to hear Him,
because salvation is to know Him. Hannah, salvation, John
17, 3. This is eternal life. That they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He
sent. So what are we going to spend
our time doing this morning? What am I going to spend my study
and my ministry doing? Fighting the evil of the day?
It's a fruitless fight! It can't be won! But the greatest fight in the
world is this fight of sin, and Christ has
won that battle. You need to hear him preach.
You need to know him. Think right thoughts concerning
him. Read on. It says, the Son of God preached
by us, among you, by us, by me, Silas, Timothy, was not yea and
nay, but is in him that yea. Would you give me five more minutes?
I think I have five. I think I have it. I think, according
to the bylaws of good Baptist preaching, that 45 minutes is
what you're allowed. I think I've got five. I think
I started at 11.30, and it's 12.10. All right, five more minutes. All right, five more minutes.
I worry too much about that, but I realize you can't take
it all in, and I realize I don't want to wear you. Christ preached by us was not
yea and nay, but in him yea. Verse 20, all the promises of
God in him are yea, and in him amen. To the glory of God. Today's preaching is yea and
nay. Now, I'm not trying to be cute
or clever or make fun, poke fun of or bring down anyone or any
denomination or anything. Really, I'm not. But kind of like old Elijah of
old. You remember when Elijah faced the prophets of Baal and
they came to him? I love that story. They came
to him, a bunch of 450 prophets, and one prophet of God. And they started crying out to
their God and running and cutting and jumping up and down and trying
to get their God to answer them. You remember what Elijah said?
Why won't he answer? He was broken. He said, where's your God? He
said, maybe he's taking a trip. You know what he said there?
You know what he said there? You know what he said there.
Maybe he's using the bathroom. That's what he said. What's wrong
with your God? And I do make fun of and poke
fun at religion's God today. Because he's not worthy of worship,
people. He needs to be made fun of. Men
and women need that idol that they've made today, brought down
in the dirt, and they need to see his big arms. He has no head,
no arms. That's what preachers say, and
God does no hands but your hands, no feet but your feet. Well,
he's a quadriplegic. Prayer of God. How did he make
the world anyway with no hands, boy? It needs to be made clear now,
doesn't it? People need to see the absurdity of this g... small g ought to be in the family
of sins and worship. The absurdity of it! The absurdity
of this gospel is supposed to save them, but won't! Listen,
today's preaching is yea and nay, ambiguous. I had to look
that word up, didn't I? It means two... double meaning.
Today's preaching is yea and nay. There's certain meaning
to it. Two-term preachers say this,
God's in control. Listen, let's be, listen to this.
Rebecca, listen to this. There's a fella in Boone's Mill
who wrote an article in our local paper, the Friday paper, you
know, the religious section. He said this. He said it. I mean,
it's in black and white. He said, who is in control? That was the title of his article.
And he said, on down in our article, he said, We control the one who
controls us. He said that. I'll get you the
article and let you see. We control a Baptist, a good
old Southern Baptist preacher, and they're the most conservative
one. We control the one that controls us. That's got to be
deep. There's some hidden meaning there.
I can't, but I can't quite make it out. Is God in control, isn't
He? Yes or no? Well, yes and no. Ask me. Is God in control? Yes! Period! Exclamation point! I got a yea and a nay right there
in the same pew. I never would. God loves you,
they say. But he might send you to hell
in the end. Well, does he love me or doesn't
he? Huh? If I love my daughter, am
I going to send her to everlasting fiery torment? That's where hell
is. Huh? What kind of love is that,
John Hueschler? Does he love me or not me? Jeremiah
31 verse 3, I have loved them with an everlasting love. Doesn't quit. Therefore, he said,
since I love them, with loving kindness I've drawn them. I'll save them. Well, God loves me
or doesn't He? That's me. He says, yes. Will he save me? Yes. Well, Jesus died for your sins,
they say. Two-tongued preachers say Jesus
died for your sins, but you might have to go to hell and pay for
them anyway. That's what hell is, people,
punishment for sin. Did Jesus Christ die for my sins
or did he? Did he pay for my sins? Excuse
me, I'm getting worked up. Did Jesus Christ put away the
sins of his people, or didn't he? Yes. It's yes. There's power in the blood, they
say. There's power in the blood, if you make it effectual by your
faith. You've got to make things easy.
It can save you if you let it. The blood will save you if you
believe and make it effectual. Well, is there power in the blood,
or isn't there? Sounds to me like the power is in man's will,
man's faith, and man's ability to do something with it. Huh?
Isn't that where the power is? Let's sing that! There's power
in the will, power in the will. And that's what they do, Stan.
They put it on top of their church. free will. This is our God. Free will. My will. This is my God. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Is there power in the blood? Yes. All power. Saving power in the blood. Do you know why anyone believes
because there's fire in the blood. And every one of them whom the
blood is shed for and applied to, they will believe. Didn't our Lord say that in John
15? I laid down my life for the sheep. I know my sheep, and I
know them well. They'll hear my voice. I know
them, and they'll follow me. And other sheep I have that are
not of this fold, them also I must bring." I must. Got their name
written right here. I've got to bring them. I laid
down, not one drop of my blood going to be shed in vain. I died
for old Joe Parks, and he's going to be saved. For my blood was
shed in vain. So does Jesus Christ save or
not? Yes. Is God God or not? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Well, and I could go on and on. Did God elect a people or not?
Yes. Preachers say, well, yes and
no. God, they say, votes for you. Some big vote that took place,
Stan. That's what election, that's their idea of election. Big vote took place. Big vote,
big booth. Big voting booth. God votes for
you, and old Satan, he come over here, he's got equal power. He's
got veto power. He comes over, he votes against
you. Now, who's in charge? Who casts the deciding vote? You know what they say? God elects
a people? Yeah, we elect them. He chose
them. But, yea, but no. Yea, no. Did God elect a people
or not? Yes, he did. A certain fixed
number of people, is that what the scriptures teach? Yes, that's
what they teach. And only those people are going
to be saying, yes, that's right. I don't understand. Oh, yeah,
you do. You understand that. That's what it says, and you
understand it. Just admit you don't like it. That's what we should tell the
world. Just admit that, that we don't
like it. God's people like it. They realize he's God, and that's
his divine prerogative. He's God. Cannot he do with his
own what he will? Yes, and that's what he does.
God elects a certain fixed number, but praise God, who is ever merciful,
the fixed number is a number which no man can number. It ain't
wrong of that. You know, if God had chosen one
person, nobody would have the right to
cry unfair. If God had chosen one person
to save, just one person, Nobody ever could ever say unfair, it's
not right. God didn't have to save anybody.
That's what mercy means. That's what grace means, doesn't
it? That's what salvation means. But God who is rich in mercy,
rich, has lots of it, rich in grace. He said, I want to choose
a number which no man can number. Old man can number them. God
is love, sovereign love. Christ is God. Is Jesus Christ
God or isn't He? That's what the Jehovah Witnesses
say, well, yes and no. They say, yeah, you're not. But
He's the Son of God. He's not God. They say, that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you God? That's what the
Pharisees said. You're a man, and you make yourself
God. He said, Your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day and saw it and was glad. He said, Before
Abraham was, I am that I am. Philip, show us the Father. Jesus,
show us the Father. Lord. Philip said, I am the Father. Is he God or isn't he? He's God. Not less than God, he's God.
He's God. Well, he was given to a certain
number of people to live for, to die for, and he saved them. He saved them. Yes, he saved
them. Is that what the Scriptures teach
us? Yes. What do you say to these things? Amen. And just read this last
verse with me, okay? Now, He which establisheth us
with you in Christ. That sounds just like 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, doesn't it, John Davis? Of God are you in Christ? Doesn't
it? He, God, which establisheth us
with you It put us in Christ, chose us and put us in him, and
hath anointed us with his God." And he went on to say that he's
given us the earnestness of his Spirit, the testimony of his
Spirit. And you know what the testimony
of the Mark of the Beast is? It's not Sunday worship. Not Sunday worship. The mark
of the beast is unbelief. The mark of the Antichrist is
unbelief. But they all have on their foreheads.
What's the forehead? That's the place, that's obstinance,
Jerry. The man said his mind, his forehead,
he's stick-headed, they say. His forehead. His mind. The mark of the Christ is belief. Belief. Belief transformed with
a renewing in their mind. All right. Brother Joe, you have
a . . . 127. 127. Sing however many verses.