The. Alas, and if my Saviour bleeds,
did my Sovereign die, would He devote that sacred head, such
a worm as I? Was it for crimes that I have
done on the tree? Amazing pity, grace unknown,
now beyond degree. fell by the sun. The mighty Maker died for man's
outrageous sin. The drops of grief repay the
debt of love I owe. Separate, OK, turn back now to First Timothy
chapter one. I fully intended last. Week or this week it was wasn't
in Sunday morning, I fully intended to. Get down through at least
verse four. But just got to verse one. But
that's all right. I told you I was going to take
my time, and I will. This is an excellent, excellent
book. And I told you by way of review,
I told you there were three reasons that I have for undertaking this
study through 1 Timothy. Number one, I can relate to this
young man, being a preacher myself and a young one at that. various reasons. Secondly Timothy
was living in an age of opposition to the gospel. Paul counseled
him on how to deal with the opposition he was about to face the heresy
and we certainly live in a day like that don't we. And he gave
him many instructions concerning the ministry. Many instructions
concerning the ministry of the three basic reasons why. I wanted
to go through this book with you. And along the lines of the
ministry, he talked to young Timothy about the ministry. There
are three things. Necessary three things needful
in a true gospel ministry, three things, and he deals with these
as well. And the first is ministerial integrity or honesty. Uprightness
of life and integrity and honesty. In the man himself. And I fall
so far short of that and I need every bit of instruction and
exhortation and admonition and rebuke and correction that the
apostle Paul can give me. And secondly, another thing needful
in a true gospel ministry is doctrinal purity, or true to
the gospel. It needs to be true to the gospel
in order to be called a gospel minister, doesn't it? Not everyone
who takes that title is truly a minister of the gospel. And
then thirdly, there's much to be said about the way the church
is to operate. And we all need this, all of
us, and all in this letter and so much more. And from the very
outset, we saw clearly last week, or this Sunday, that the gospel
is clearly defined in just a few words. That's the reason we didn't
get past verse one, because the gospel was there to those who
understand it, that is. Because he said, going back to
verse one, he said, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ By the
commandment of God our savior in other words no man takes this
title to himself with this this office. But God. Puts a man in
the ministry not only an apostle but every true preacher of the
gospel no man. Seeks this office out nor can
you train for. There are no examples of that
in the scriptures of men going to school to train to enter the
ministry. That's not biblical. God calls
a man out of the world and then equips him supernaturally with
these gifts. And then if he wants to pick
up some some training, then it may be helpful. But if you look
through the scriptures, you'll not find one single single example
of a man who was training or studying to go into the ministry.
Fance Havner said, no prophet ever applied for the job. Elijah
was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen. He was a farmer, a hardworking
one, and the Lord called him and equipped him as no other.
And so it such is the case with every true gospel preacher. They
don't seek this office. You don't want to be a part of
a man who can't do anything but be a preacher. Look, I don't
think he could relate to you. I don't think it could. I said
before, that's the reason the Lord calls men and not angels
too, because men, what is the scripture that says as the water brings your reflection
back, as the face answers in the water, so does heart to heart,
something of that effect. At any rate, only a sinner like
you, having gone through the things that you went through,
can relate to you. OK, and then he says, I'm an
apostle, but it wasn't my seeking or my doing. It was God's commandment,
commandment of God, God our Savior, even the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the original, that's
how the original actually reads. It reads this way, by the commandment
of God our Savior, even the Lord Jesus Christ. It's one and the
same person here he's talking about. And that's what we got
stuck on, or rather stayed on, Sunday, the deity of our Lord
Jesus Christ, because he says he's our hope. If he's not God,
he can't save us. Only God can save us. Only God
can justify us from all things from which we could not be justified
by the works of the law. Only God can justify us. So Christ
must be God, and he must be man. So we dealt with that, didn't
we? Every. I want you to notice,
too, before we go on. He says, God, our Savior. God,
our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. Every. Attribute. Of God. Is attributed to the
Lord Jesus Christ. If you want some if you want
to know. If you want proof or confirmation
of the. The godhood of the deity of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know that every single
attribute attributed to God is also attributed to the Lord Jesus
Christ? That proves he's equal to the
Father, doesn't it? Proves he's equal. And every
reference to God is also a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, especially
this, he says, hope. There's a psalm that says, hope
thou in God, Psalm 42. Art thou cast down within me,
O my soul? Hope thou in God." Well, right here it says Christ
is our hope. That's right. He's God. He's God. Hope in Him. Jesus Christ is
God. And this is what Paul the Apostle
faithfully establishes from the very beginning. I want you to
turn quickly to 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter 1. And notice this real quickly
with me. 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 1. so as to leave no doubt that
Jesus Christ is God. There's no doubt with you. Like
Paul said in 2 Timothy 1, I know whom I have believed, and I know
each God, but this will confirm it to you. 2 Peter 1, Simon Peter,
a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained
like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and
our Savior, Jesus Christ. Do you have a margin reference
there, a little number two, right before it says, Of God, you see
that? A little number two, look over
in your margin and look at what it says. In the original Greek
Testament, it says, Of God, of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. That's how it reads in the very
original. to those who have obtained like precious faith with us through
the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Under
the sun, he sayeth, Thy throne, O God, is forever. And on and
on we could go, couldn't we? And I better go on, or I'll stay
in verse one again. All right. And I wanted you to
go to Titus one, but we won't. It says the same thing in Titus
one. Verse two in our text, Paul writes unto Timothy and and my
pastor wrote in his commentary I believe the reason he stated
that he was an apostle was because he knew others would be reading
this as well Timothy knew he was an apostle he didn't have
to confirm that to young Timothy did he but others will be reading
this and they need to be assured of who this was it was writing
all right verse two unto Timothy my own son in the faith. Timothy, my son, young Tim, my
son in the faith. Timothy was loved dearly by the
Apostle Paul, as well as others. But Timothy, I believe, had a
special place, a special place in the Apostle Paul's heart and
affection. And he says here, my son in the
faith. The gospel makes men and women to be brothers and sisters. Those who would otherwise be
strangers to one another, it unites us into one holy family,
makes us father and son, mother and son, brother and brother,
brother and sister, doesn't it? And the gospel makes us love,
honor, respect, and esteem one another as we should, and even
more highly than ourselves. Only the gospel would do that
because we're so full of pride by nature. Only the gospel would
change that and make us esteem somebody as high or higher than
ourselves. And you know, one writer noted
this to me, that these relationships that we have right here, this
little family here tonight, if you are in the family of God,
I hope you are, these are the only lasting relationships we're
going to have. throughout eternity. Your wife's
not going to be your wife. In heaven, there's no marrying
or giving in marriage, right? There's not going to be male
or female. Women aren't going to be lesser
than us. There's no male or female. Jew or Gentile. All the same. All the same in heaven. And these
relationships are what's going to last throughout eternity. Do we need any more reason to
cultivate? and establish and cause these relationships to
grow and not be too overly concerned with the other. Right? And then he says these marvelous
three words. Verse 2. Unto Timothy, my own
son in the faith, as dearer or dearer to me than a natural son,
if I had one, grace, mercy, and peace. This is what the Apostle
Paul wishes upon his young friend and brother and son. Grace, mercy,
and peace from God, our Father, and Jesus Christ, our Lord. That's where they have to come
from. God, our Father, and Jesus Christ, our Lord. Grace, mercy,
and peace. Now, you could take each one
of these words and preach a whole sermon on it, couldn't you? A
series of sermons on it. How many messages could we look
into on grace? Grace, free, unmerited, undeserved
love, honor, favor with God. Unmerited, unmerited. It's not
an offer of pardon. The world talks about grace.
Preachers maybe tonight are talking about grace, but it's not the
same kind of grace we believe in. We qualify it, don't we,
Joe? We call it sovereign grace. In
other words, it's not a general offer of amnesty or pardon out
there. Anybody wants it, just throw
it out there, and whoever wants it can have it. Whoever makes
the best use of it, you know, got to put a little crown on
their head for acceptance. No, no, no. That's helpless grace,
isn't it? We talk about sovereign grace.
Grace that can actually do something. Grace that does something. Grace
that does everything. That takes an old sinner all
the way from the dung heap and takes him all the way to the
throne of glory. The throne of grace, it's called. The throne
of grace. Unmerited favor. Not an offer,
but a gift. There's a difference. There's
a difference. If I have something that I'm
going to offer to Henry. Now, he can either accept it
or reject it, can't he? It's up to his own free will,
so to speak. I'm going to offer it to you. But if I proffer or
bestow it upon you and say, here, take this, like you do me all
the time. No, no, no, no, no. I insist. No, Henry, you can't.
Take it. OK. Now, that's grace. That's grace. Don't do anything
to deserve it. It's bestowed upon you, and all
you do is receive it. And there's no merit in receiving
a gift. There's no merit whatsoever.
There's no reward. The gift itself is your reward. And there's no reason for bragging
or boasting whatsoever for just receiving a gift. That's what
people are doing today. And I accepted Jesus. You did
what? Grace is condescending salvation,
is what it is. Scripture says, you hath he quickened
who were dead. Scripture says, deliver him from
going down into the pit. I found a ransom. Scripture says, it raises up,
God's grace raises up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up
a beggar from a dunghill, a cow pile in modern language, and
raises him up to sit among princes. Now, that's grace. That's great,
does everything for us. And it will go on, mercy, grace. And Paul is not only wishing
these things upon Timothy, grace to help him in his ministry,
mercy to pardon him, peace to comfort him, but he's also, these
things can be dwelled upon. Mercy, grace, mercy. I like the sound of the word,
mercy, mercy. Somebody defined grace and mercy
in these two ways, and it's always stuck with me. Grace is getting
what you don't deserve. This is getting what you don't
deserve. Scripture says that the wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God's eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
God gives his son freely. We don't deserve him. We didn't
deserve for him to come down here. He gives salvation. He
gives his righteousness. He gives his blood. He gives
his life. He gives salvation. We don't
deserve it. We deserve the opposite. So grace
is getting what you don't deserve. Now mercy, on the other hand,
is not getting what you do deserve. OK, Grace is getting what you
don't deserve salvation. Everything that that means adoption
with father. Mercy is not getting. What you
do deserve that is hell condemnation, God sparing us, not giving us
what we do deserve sick over in Ephesians. You all know this
by heart, but but turn back to Ephesians 2. It speaks of God's
mercy in such uh... black-and-white terms he said
scott's mercy against the backdrop of our black fans and it's down
to the uh... right now they are or do you
want to hear the reasons to burst one you and you there's a good
sermon title and and you who may be a you not not me god saves
a lot of people you know you've got a people is a the sands of
the seashore and as the stars of the sky. Sinners, all of them. Yeah, but you say, I'm the worst.
Yeah, and you. And you. Hath he quickened or
made alive who were dead? So dead you were stinking. Right? Like Lazarus. Didn't dead a long
time. How long were you dead, Terry?
Thirty years? I don't know how long. Some of
you bunched it a long time. Some of you stunk a long time.
And it seemed like a hopeless case, didn't it? Yeah, and you,
after he'd quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sin, wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, you did his
bidding. You know you were his slave? Bond slave, willing, you
know, taken captive by him at his will, is what Paul said.
And in your own will, you were willing to follow him. You liked
what he stood for, didn't you? According to the prince of the
power of the air, that is, the devil, the spirit that now works
in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation in life in times past, the lust of our flesh fulfilling
the desires and the wills of the flesh and of the mind, were
by nature children of wrath, even as others, but God, who is rich in mercy." Oh, what's
he doing saving an old scoundrel like you? Because he's got a
lot of mercy to go around, and he's wanting to display it. He's
showing it. You see, it says God's rich in
mercy. We are rich in sin and empty
in mercy. I never did find that scripture
that says it's not that way with men, the way God does things. It's not the way with men, but
it is with God to show mercy. It's not in our bones to show
much mercy. We're full of sin, though. But
we're empty in mercy. God's empty of sin, full of mercy. It's unimaginable to us, really. No sinner, no sinner who ever
lived too bad for God to show mercy to. And that's about the
best news this old boy's ever heard, you know. I beg to differ
with the Apostle Paul. He wasn't a chief. There was
another Paul coming along that was going to outdo him. Yeah,
there was. No sinner who ever lives, who
was ever too bad for God to show mercy to. As a matter of fact,
Paul said that he was a pattern of how God saves the worst. Paul
told us here in 1 Timothy chapter 1 of just how bad a fellow he
was. Now, he wasn't bragging about it. That's what some people
do, don't they? And there's still a little testimonials
we have to testify to testify. So those who get up and brag
about what a drunkard he was. That's what people do. They brag
they see who can outdo one another with how bad they were kind of
get a kick out of. Laugh about snicker about nothing funny about
our past life. Matter of fact it's a shame to
speak of those things which we want to be in secret. Shame. But Paul, under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, he does give his testimony, and he says, I
was the worst one of the bunch, but I obtained mercy. And this
is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation. Are you a
bad one? I mean, are you a bad apple? My mother used to think
I ran with the wrong crowd, but I was the wrong crowd. I was
it. But this is a faithful saying
worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came in the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. And he said, And I obtained
mercy that in me first he might show forth a pattern of all longsuffering,
a pattern to them which should hereafter believe to life everlasting. In other words, there's not going
to be a worse one than me that God cannot save if he wills to
do so. That was the worst. How's the
worst? And God saved him. Why? To show
forth the riches of his grace, and his mercy, and his glory. And then he says here, peace.
Peace. And I feel so very helpless before
this grand and glorious word, peace. We just don't know. We just don't know what this
word means, peace. Because God is he's going to
see what it means for us to be at peace with God to be reconciled. A hardened criminal convicted
a convict cannot make peace with the judicial system can. What
if something that foolish can you imagine there's some criminal
on death row now he writes a letter to the governor and he says I've
decided. To let you pardon me I'm going to make my peace with
the the society and and I'll straighten up and you can let
me go. For the governor would would
say when was his execution twelve minutes make eleven. Get this
guy out of our hair. You didn't deserve it peace one
of these days when God pours out the full extent of his wrath
and his fury on the human race. We're going to say. It should
have been me. I should have been made. And
it's because of God's grace and mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ
that we have peace. Because of the first two words,
we have the third. Peace. Because of God giving
his Son to come down here and establish a righteousness, because
God did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him freely give us all things? Peace. Peace. Acceptance with the Father.
We're declared at peace with God Almighty who was once angry
with us. He was angry with us. Because
Jesus Christ made peace by the blood of his cross, because God
Almighty poured out his wrath and judgment against Christ,
he's at peace with me. He can smile at me because he
frowned on his son, he can smile on me. Because he hid his son
between the eyes with the full force of his wrath, he can put
his arm around me. Only reason. Only reason. Otherwise he'd have to pour out
his justice on me. But Christ got it instead. There's a gospel in one word,
instead. Instead. Instead. Christ got
what I deserve, and I get what he deserves. You want a simple
sentence that comprehends the whole gospel? Christ got what
I deserve, and I get what he deserves. I think in the whole. He took my punishment. I get
his right. I get it right. Just if I. Just if I had never seen him
God looks upon me robed in Christ's righteousness just if I never
seen it justified. All right verse three let's hurry.
And it's from God, our Father, and Jesus Christ, our Lord. And
he says, I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus. Now, there's
a general rebuke, I believe, to all of us to stay where God
puts us, find out what our ministry is, and be faithful in a few
things. What makes us think that God
has something better for us if we haven't been faithful in what
we're called to do now? Stay where you're at. Abide still
at Ephesus. When I went into Macedonia, And this too, charge
some, that is people there at Macedonia. Timothy was going
to be a leader there. Charge the people, members, teachers,
elders, deacons, men and women, that they teach no other doctrine. What doctrine? Well, I think
you know. I think Timothy did too. It's
the only doctrine Paul preached. The gospel of God's sovereignty.
grace, sovereign mercy and grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Doctrine,
good doctrine. If you want a description, let's
turn over to 1 Timothy 6. 1 Timothy 6. He tells young Timothy, as preacher,
you charge everybody you're around, everybody you come into contact
with, to teach, to believe, to expound no other doctrine. What
doctrine, Paul? Well, the doctrine of God's sovereign
electing mercy and grace in Christ, the doctrine of Christ, John
said, 2 John 9, the doctrine of Christ. Any man doesn't abide
in the doctrine of Christ, he's none of His. 1 Timothy 6, verse
3, he says, If any man teach otherwise and consent not to
wholesome words, words there is the same as doctrine, he says
wholesome, so that is sound. I told you Paul mentioned more
than, no, less than thirteen times the word doctrine. And
he says, wholesome or sound doctrine, right doctrine, true doctrine,
pure doctrine. You know there's false doctrine?
Sure you do. You know there's unsound doctrine?
Unpure doctrine? Sure there is. Untrue, false
doctrine? Unpure doctrine? And he says, wholesome doctrine
here in verse three, wholesome doctrine, good doctrine, sound
doctrine, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, all that he
said. What did he say? Read it yourself. If anybody wants to know the
truth, they'll know it. The doctrine, Christ said, you want to know
the doctrine whether or not it's of God, you'll know it. Read
it. Read it. All that Christ said, Want to
start in place? Get out the Gospel of John. Start
reading it. That's a good doctrine, the doctrine
of the deity of Christ, and all that he said concerning his sovereign
salvation, his lordship. Christ preached the sovereign
God, didn't he? He preached the sovereign God. He preached a
depraved man, didn't he? He said, without me, you can
do nothing. He said, you will not come unto me, but you might
have life. No man can come to the Father.
Depraved, helpless, dead sinner, didn't he? Depraved man. Christ
preached himself as the only Savior. The only Savior. No man
cometh unto the Father but by me. I am the Word, the truth,
and the life. I am it. I am it. Every man that
heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me. He preached himself,
didn't he? As the only way to God. He also
preached electing He said that over and over again.
I thank you, Father, for these that you've given me. He preached
electing love. He preached particular redemption,
didn't he? He said, I lay down my life for my sheep. And you
don't believe this? Because I didn't lay down my
life for you. You're not my sheep. As I said unto you. He preached
particular redemption, didn't he? Christ. He preached irresistible
grace of the Holy Spirit, didn't he? When the Comforters come,
he'll lead you and guide you into all truth. He'll take the
things of mine and show them unto you. I'll not leave you
comfortless. I'll come unto you." He preached
perseverance of the saints too, didn't he? Yeah, he did. I give unto them eternal life
and they'll never perish. What did Christ preach? Sovereign
grace. No other doctrine. That's the
doctrine he preached. The doctrine, and he says here,
don't miss this. This is important. Paul didn't
have an unbalanced message at all. It all was vitally connected. The words of our Lord Jesus Christ
and to the doctrine which is according to godliness. As I
said when I first came here, I'm not afraid of that word.
I'm afraid I've come far short of it. But I'm not afraid to
tackle it. I'm not afraid to reprove, rebuke,
correct with all long-suffering and doctrine, and this is one
of them. The gospel, the gospel tells us how a man can come to
God. The gospel, in short, tells us
how a man can come to God, only by Christ taking us by our substitute. And the gospel teaches us how
a man can come to God, and it also teaches us how a man is
made like God. You could you could remember
this word by breaking it down into God-likeness. Godliness? It's God-likeness. That's why
God has created us, you know? Unto himself, he's made unto
himself a peculiar people, zealous of his what? That he's ordained
that we should walk there, right? That's right. God-likeness. And
that's what he has determined for all of his people. And he
says, don't teach any others. Teach no other, back to the text.
Charge some that they teach no other doctrine. The doctrine
of God's sovereign grace, the doctrine which is according to
godliness, the words of Christ. Verse four, and this will be
it. He says, Now neither give heed
to fables. Fables. Pay no attention to fables. And
I want you to turn over to 1 Timothy 4 with me. 1 Timothy 4, verse
7, verses 6 and 7. Fable, as you well may know,
it means a story, a made-up story, something somebody made up. Aesop's
Fables. You ever read those as a kid? Or Grimm's Fairy Tales or Mother
Goose's Nursery Rhyme. Much of what's being preached
today is not much deeper than that. Fables. Fables. Stories. Tales. Fiction. 1 Timothy
4 verses 6 and 7. If you put the brethren in remembrance
of these things, thou shalt be a good minister, a good preacher
of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of
good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. But refuse these
profane, ridiculous, absurd, and old wives' fables, and exercise
thyself rather unto godliness. Good doctrine versus old wives
fables. That's the difference between
true preaching of the gospel as opposed to what you're going
to hear coming from the average pulpit. Good doctrine as opposed
to old wives fables. Right? Titus talked about Jewish
fables. Peter talked about Cunningly
and Debye's fables. Now these fables, and I'll hurry,
These fables, I want you to turn to Mark 7, Mark chapter 7. This is so indicative or indicates
what's going on in modern religion today that people would rather
hear and believe silly little stories and sermon ads and antidotes
and cleverness rather than hear a man go verse by verse through
the scriptures and expound good, wholesome, true doctrine. Right? You grow tired of hearing
good doctrine? I don't. I like it. I like it. It feeds me. Silly sermons rather
than plain exposition of truth. That's indicative of what's going
on in modern religion today. People would rather hear something
ridiculous. And this attitude is typified by church bulletin
boards. typical. It's typified. You want
to know what? Well, it's not always. It's not
infallible what a church believes, but you can bet this. If they've
got some ridiculous, absurd little saying or cliche on their bulletin
board, they're not preaching the gospel in that blood. Mark
it off. Mark them off. Count on. Of the
thousands of verses in all the Bible, they'd rather have on
their little bulletin board some little cliche that Aunt Margaret
made up, or sorry, Margaret, Aunt John. That was my aunt's
name, Aunt John. Of all the thousands of
verses in the scripture, you know Solomon wrote 3,000 proverbs
and 5,005 songs, and they don't put a one up. They'd rather put
Reverend Jim's. Sorry, Jim. Reverend Nabil's
name up there, wouldn't it? Huh? In that indicative of what's
going on in church today, they're just a bulletin board out front.
Men would rather coin their cute little meaningless little cliches
in the word of God Almighty. There's nothing in there good
enough of all the proverbs, of all the verses, nothing good
enough. That's what Christ said. Mark 7, verse 7. In vain, how be it in vain, they
do worship me, or that is, they pretend to worship me. They don't
worship me. Here's what they're doing. Verse seven, in vain do
they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of
men. The majority of what they're
teaching and preaching from the pulpit is what their church creed believes
or says. Commandments of men. Look at
verse eight. They lay aside the commandment
of God, or that is, they just lay aside the book, the word
of God, laid aside to hold the tradition of men. as the washing
of pots and cups and many other such like things you do. Verse
nine, and he said unto them, full well you reject the commandments
of God that you may keep your own tradition. That is, it says
frustrate, twist, turn, corrupt, make it say what it doesn't say,
make it not say what it does say, add to it, take away from
it, frustrate it. frustrated where people don't
know what the Word of God says anymore. Blessed are your ears,
they hear, Roberta, if you're hearing the Word of God. Verse
13, he says it four times here, you make the Word of God of no
effect through your tradition. I know the Bible says election,
but that's not what we believe around here. This is what we
believe. Make it of no effect through your tradition. But you
can many such like things they do fables, traditions, creeds
are more to man's liking, aren't they? More to man's liking than
the Word of God. Why is that? Because the Word
of God is offensive. It's offensive. You and I were
talking about that up here. Barnard used to say, the Word
of God, if you hear it, it ought to produce one of three reactions
in you. God, the Holy Spirit, takes the
Word of God and applies it to you. If you hear it, I mean,
if you really hear what it's saying, it'll produce one of
three reactions in you. Number one, it'll make you mad. Nearly everyone that hears it
the first time makes them mad. I'm not that sinful. Right? I'm not that bad. I've
got some faults, but I'm not that bad of a worm. There's nothing good in me, and
it makes you mad at first, right? And God can save who He wills. He doesn't have to save you.
It makes you mad at first. No more. It makes a man mad.
Or it might make him sad. He's on a good road. He's on
his way there if he gets sad. But the first gospel makes you
mad, and then you really hear it and say, maybe I am that bad. God doesn't have to save me,
does He? And you get sad. Oh, sure wish you would. And
the third reaction, make you glad. And the word comes and
tells you, no, he doesn't have to save you. Yeah, you are that
bad. But he does save bad ones just like you. All we got to
do is call on him. That'll make you glad. Mad, sad, or glad. Which is you? Which of you, Ben?
Or all three? All three. In the gospel, the
word of God It offends man, and let me say this in closing. I've
got 48 more pages, but in closing, two of the biggest fables, and
Barnard said this too, but it still applies, two of the biggest
fables or stories that have ever been told, and neither one of
them is true. Let me tell you the story behind
that. He was preaching, holding a meeting. down in Central Park
in National Kentucky back in 1950. And all the city used to
come out to those tent meetings, you know. You may have been to
one yourself years ago. And Brother Barnard came, this
hitchhiking evangelist he used to call himself. And the world,
or that part of the world anyway, hadn't heard, hadn't been in
the spitting distance of the gospel. Neither had my father.
And Brother Barnard came storming into town, John the Baptist.
And he held a meeting that first Monday night in Central Park
with thousands of people. Every preacher from every church,
every member could pack themselves in there. And Barnard got up
and he said, in the first two words right out of his mouth
was this, two biggest lies have ever been told. That God loves
everybody and Christ died for everybody. He said, ain't neither
one of them so. And Dad said, you could hear
people's jaws hitting the floor. Preachers and pastors. My members
are hearing this. Two biggest lies. Maybe one of
them is so. Two biggest lies. Doctrines of devils is what they
are. Never even implied in the Scripture. You know why people
have problems with verses in the Scripture that say he died
for all men or something? Because it's parable. The Scripture
is not given under them to understand. Just like a parable, John. Everything
is not given for them to understand. Right? But they're all clear
to them to understand. There's nothing forward or perversion
in what God said. There's nothing hidden in God's
Word. Nothing hidden. Very clear. Very
clear. And the facts are that these
things were never implied in God's Word. Never even implied.
The fact is, God loves his people. And Christ came down to die for
his people. You've got no reason, Rick, for the word covenant,
if that ain't so. Do you? Throw out the word covenant. That's exactly what covenant
is. And it's called an everlasting covenant. Ordered in all things
and sure. Sealed. The blood of the covenant.
He's the mediator of the covenant. All sorts of things regarding
the covenant. You've got no reason to have
that word in the Bible unless God loves only his people. Unless
Christ died for only his people. Right? Look it up sometime. And you know what? There's no
reason for a place called hell if God loves everybody and Christ
died for everybody. No reason whatsoever for the
place called hell. Right? You know, God's love is
everlasting. I like that. Now, if it's everlasting, you
see, I've loved, I've drawn you with, I've loved you with an
everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
I've drawn you. If his love is everlasting, that means if he
loves everybody and sends them to hell anyway, he still loves
them. Isn't that the most blasphemous
thing you can think of? Would you send your daughter
to hell? Into a lake of fire where the worm doth not, weeping
and wailing and gnashing of teeth? Would you subject one of your
children? I don't care how rebellious they were, would you subject
your child to hell? Hell is a monument to God's holy hatred. and wrath
and judgment against all mankind that's not found in the covenant
of grace that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a monument. And
God will get glory from him. Yes, he will. And he goes on
in our text saying, you beware of these endless genealogies.
Endless genealogies which minister question. See that? Endless genealogies
which minister question. Where did King get his wife? Oh, Rick and I settled that,
you know? You know where Rick and I settled that question at
the end of the last century? You know where he got his wife?
I'll tell you right now, you have to put in good asking that.
He married his sister. Okay? Any other questions? God can do what he wants to,
can't he? Say that's not right. Who is that old man to fly against
God? Who else was around at the time? where it can get his wife. So
what about the 144,000? What about? Don't be bogged down
with these things. Jewish genealogy, Baptist genealogy. You know, Baptists make whole
denominations, tracing their Baptist lineage all the way back
to John the Baptist. Trail of blood, you know? And
they worship the church more than they do Christ. Worship
the body more than they do, not holding the head. Right? Landmark, they call it. Speculations,
that's all it all is. Guests, there's going to be 144,000
insiders and the rest are going to be guests. That's what they
say. Endless genealogies. Instead
of godly edifying, which is in faith, so do they. And I'll read
this to you real fast. But Paul says, which would you
rather have? Which would you rather have?
He says, oh, the foundation The grace of God was given me as
a wise master builder, and I've laid the foundation, and another
builds thereon. But let every man take heed how
he builds thereon. You know what edify means? Edify,
edifice, means to build up. Build up, and we're not building
faith by tearing down others, but you have to tear down men's
idols before you can start building. But there's no other foundation
that can be laid than that which is laid. Here's the foundation
of faith. No man's a fundamentalist unless
he lays this foundation mighty clear. Jesus Christ is the foundation
of everything. He's all. And every man's work,
now if any man build on this foundation, gold, silver, precious
stones, it'll abide. Or wood, hay, and stubble. Every
man's work shall be made manifest. The day of God's wrath shall
declare it. It'll be revealed by fire. It'll be revealed by
fire. And so he says to young Timothy,
young Timothy, avoid endless genealogies of minister question
written, but rather than godly edifying, which is in faith.
What you want to do, what you endeavor and strive to do in
your preaching, young Timothy, is to ground and settle people
in the truth of who God is, the truth of God's glorious character
and attributes and ways. How long could you spend on these
things? of the infinitely glorious aspects of God's eternal covenant,
the glorious beauties of the Lord Jesus Christ himself? Just
take each one of his attributions and go over them. The manifold
and marvelously mysterious works of the Holy Spirit, how long
could you spend on that? A union and communion and fellowship
between God and men and women, all of which produce faith and
and good works. And he said to young Timothy,
you avoid all the rest of this stuff. Let the pot stirred strive
with the pot stirred of the earth. But don't you do that. You minister,
you edify them in godly ministration, which is in faith. Point men
to Christ. Point men to Christ. You endeavor that they may grow
in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. So what
if you do know who's on what horse? And who isn't? What good
is that going to do? Huh? It's not going to call you
to grow in grace, is it? And in knowledge of Christ? What
we need to do is grow, come to know Him. Oh, that I might know
Him. And win Him, be found in Him. So he says to young Timothy,
do that. So do it. You know, the last
two words, so do it. So do it. Alright. Stand with
me and I'll dismiss it. Heavenly Father, no man is sufficient
for this. Young Timothy felt his insufficiency. Even Paul felt his insufficiency,
and certainly this one does too. And our sufficiency, those of
Thee, is from Thee. We thank You, Lord, for making
us to differ. We don't pride ourselves on being
exclusive We're trying to exclude people from this. We want more
men to hear it. Lord, we do thank You that You've
delivered us from religious bondage and superstition and darkness.
Delivered us from darkness of man-made gospel. And delivered us into His marvelous
light, the light of the glory of God, seen in the face of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You, Lord. We don't
deserve this. But we thank you, and we ask,
we beg you not to take it from us. You could do that, even,
take it from us if we don't esteem it as highly as we ought. And
Lord, cause us to desire it and hunger and thirst after it and
ever seek ways to support it and minister it. I pray these
things, I ask these things for your people, in the name of Christ,
for our good, our edification. Amen. We'll just make up.