Turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians,
chapter 1. 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, I've
entitled this message, Simple and Sincere Preaching. Simple and Sincere Preaching. Now, based upon what I am seeing
and hearing these days, I have come to a definite conclusion
about this thing of preaching, a definite conclusion, and I
hope it stays with me all the rest of my days, because there
are so many voices, so many denominations, so many people saying so many
things in the name of God, in the name of Christianity, and
because there is so much foolishness going on today in the name of
religion and Christianity especially. So much foolishness going on
and so little clear and true preaching of the gospel. I conclude that I need to, and
every man who stands up to preach who claims to preach the gospel,
needs to preach that gospel more clearly and more boldly than
ever. In a day when there's more compromise
and more confusion and more ridiculous nonsense going on, we need to
be preaching the gospel more emphatically, more boldly, more
dogmatically, more clearly than ever before, so that nobody,
so that everybody, will understand what we're saying, everybody.
Because to be sure, so very many people, if not most, are using
this book. They're using this book called
the Bible. They're using the terms taken from the Bible, such
as sin, salvation, mercy, grace, blood, Christ. They use the names
God, Holy Ghost, even Some people even use doctrinal terms in a
very general way, but some do use doctrinal terms such as justification,
sanctification, and so forth, redemption. Very rarely, imputation
and propitiation, doctrinal words like that. You very rarely hear
those, if ever. But some do use even the doctrinal
terms. But very few people in this day
are clearly defining what they're saying. They're using the terms
in generalities, general terms, the words from the Scripture.
But very few people are clearly defining what those terms mean. Very few. And it's my contention,
my bold, positive assertion, that you have not preached the
gospel unless you have clearly defined the gospel, so that there
can be no doubt what the gospel is, not just general terms. Now you know, as well as I do,
that today the conception of the gospel is, God loves you,
Christ died for you, now believe on Jesus. You couldn't get a
more general and a more That's not a definition at all,
it's just a perversion. But it's my contention that unless
you have preached the gospel very clearly and defined the
gospel, you haven't preached the gospel. The scripture says,
if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, how shall they prepare
for the battle? If the trumpeteer over here is
playing taps at 7 a.m. rather than robo-ring, then that's
going to be the fleet. You know what I mean? If the
trumpet give an uncertain sound, how shall they prepare for the
battle? And if a man preach an uncertain,
unclear gospel, how's anybody going to prepare his soul for
eternity? How? Like the Ethiopian Union
said to Philip, how can I know? He was reading the Bible. He
was reading Isaiah 53. That's the gospel very clearly
in the Old Testament. He wrote it. But he didn't understand
it. And he said, how can I know?
I said, Philip, I think you know what you're reading. He said,
how can I know? Somebody tell me what he's talking
about. And this is the reason God has
chosen the foolishness of preaching. Now, clearly, clear and bold,
what definitive preaching? If a man preaches an undefined
Jesus, if he does not clearly tell you who the Jesus is he's
preaching, there he may be preaching another Jesus. Right? That's
what Paul said. If he's not clearly defining
the gospel, then it may be another gospel that Paul said they're
preaching. But you're going to be cursed for preaching and believing. So, and I like this statement. I repeat this all the time, as
Ralph Martin would say. I use it all the time. He said,
preach on a burden. And this applies not just to
preachers or teachers, but to everybody who goes out there
to speak to anyone, to witness to people out there in the community.
Do it for a verdict, not just to get it over with, not to get
your duty out of the way, to get your 45 minutes over and
get gone. But preach for a verdict, Barnard
used to say. If the gospel is clearly preached
and defined, if you preach for a verdict, if you preach from
the heart, from God's heart, the truth of God's word, from
the heart to people's heart, they'll go out of their place.
with one of three reactions. They're going to be mad. I'm
going to have that. They're going to be sorrowed. Oh, that's sorrowing. I'm lost.
They're going to be glad. Oh, I'm glad. And I can tell
you that everyone that's sorrowing, everybody that gets sorrowed
about it, or convicted by it, will eventually be glad about
it. But he said, preach for a verdict.
Men ought to go out of there after hearing you preach clearly
understanding what you're saying. And they ought to be either be
methods for her to go, not lukewarm, or else you haven't clearly preached. Now, as I go through God's Word,
I see great plainness of speech. God doesn't need His Word, and
God's prophet don't need His Word. I see great boldness in
the speech and the preaching of God's men. of God's people
everywhere. I see prophets, apostles, disciples,
speaking so clearly and so definitively, so that everybody knows exactly
what they're saying, the way they have their heads cut off
for saying it. Bernard had a message called,
preaching to get your head cut off. They knew what these people
were saying, and thus they treated them accordingly. They knew what
they were saying, They killed Christ. They knew what He was
saying. They knew without a shadow of a doubt what He was saying,
especially Christ. But today, today there's just
a general apathy or indifference to preaching. Just a general
apathy to this preaching. Very few are or having any reaction
whatsoever to the preaching because it's very little dogmatic preaching. I've got a whole set of books
down there in my library called Dogmatic Theology. There is no
theology except dogmatic theology. That is absolute, certain, undeniable,
irrefutable truth. There's truth in the word, no
middle ground. concerning the doctrine of salvation
and other doctrines. And I go through the Apostle
Paul. He was used by God to write fifteen epistles and used so
greatly by God for the salvation of so many people. And I go through
his writings and I read things like this. Listen. He said, Christ
didn't send me to baptize. He didn't send me to see how
many folks I could baptize. to lead the Southern Baptist
Convention in Baptism for the month of August. He didn't send
me to baptize me, he sent me to preach the gospel, and not
with wisdom of words, that is, oratorical ability and so forth. Not with wisdom of words, because
the cross of Christ would be made of none of that. So I stood
up and tried to impress him, and he could help. He could help. He says things like this, When
I came to you, I didn't come with excellence in speech or
wisdom, declaring unto you this gospel. I'm determined not to
know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, whom you crucified.
And I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling in
my speech, and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's
wisdom. I read things like this from
the Apostle Paul's writings. He says, Woe is unto me. if I preach not the gospel. That
is, I have a sure and certain doom awaiting me if I preach
a social, a civil gospel of politics and socialism and so forth. No
reason to me if I preach not the gospel, and very clearly
define the gospel. He says things like that. He
says, we are unto God a sweet servant of Christ. a sweet saver of Christ, and
then they're saved. God's people, John said it, he
said, we're of God, and those that are of God don't hear us.
We know that we're of God. John said that very boldly, very
dogmatically, didn't he? And the whole world bowed in
worshiping him. This whole world's gone after this spirit of Antichrist. And Paul said, we're unto God
a sweet saver of Christ. And them that are saved and them
that perish, to one we're a saver of death and to death. Some can't
stand us. To the other, it's over a knife
on the knife. To others, we're the ambassador
of God. And who's sufficient for these things? I'll tell you
this, he said, we're not as many, but you're corrupting God's Word
in this day. Very boldly, he said that. Listen
to this. He said, seeing then that we
have such hope, for there is one hope, we use great plainness
of speech. We've got nothing to hide. That's
what he says here in chapter 4 of 2 Corinthians. Seeing we
have this ministry as we have received mercy, we think, no,
we're not going to quit because of all the persecution and so
forth. We've renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. We're not
walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully.
And we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God. Go home, he's saying. Go home
and examine the Word of God. Search it. Study it. Please do.
Come ask me some questions. See if what I'm saying is not
so. Compare Scripture with Scripture. I hear him say things like this.
I hear him say, chapter 4, verse 16. He says, I'll erase it over,
yeah, chapter, Galatians chapter 4. He says this, Galatians chapter
4, verse 16. He said, and I therefore will
become your enemy, because I tell you the truth. That is all I'm
interested in. And in one place he said, I will
seek the law, not the things of Christ. And Paul could say
from the heart, and this man better be able to say it from
the heart. Every man who stands up and claims to be a gospel
preacher better be able to say it from the heart. But I'm not
in this thing for money. I'm not in this thing for a show.
I'm not in this thing for a following. I'm not in this thing for my
own personal glory. See what I can get out of it,
but I'm in this thing for the good of the people and the glory
of Christ. He said, I'll seek their own.
Now, it's plain, it's obvious. What's going on in the religious
world today is seeking their own, their own fame, their own
fortune, a name for themselves, and not the things of Christ.
Men aren't interested in the glory of God, the glory of Christ,
and really the salvation of men's souls. But they're in this thing
for a show, a vain show. That's what we studied there
in Galatians chapter 6, Sunday. And he said, am I become your
enemy because I tell you the truth? No, a true friend, a true
friend, a true help, a true preacher is somebody who clearly preaches
the truth to folk and holds back nothing, cost what it may. Cost
what it may. Baxter said this, Richard Baxter.
You've heard this quote many times. But he says, I preach
as one that may never preach again. He said, I preach as a
dying man, a dying man. And the Apostle Paul, over time,
he preached. He preached about a man, I'm
sure. And that's the reason he said, woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel. If somebody comes in this place,
having never heard the gospel before, we don't know who has
heard the gospel. Everybody here has been here
many times. I don't know if you've heard the gospel. I don't know.
I don't know your heart. And woe is unto me if I don't
clearly stand up and find the gospel, so that that man will
hear the gospel and be able to hear it up, and be able to make
him rise in silence, and go out of this place having heard the
gospel, and be able to say, here's a whole song, right? Woe is unto
me. And God will require it in my
hands. And that's really the reason
that I don't feel ashamed of telling the same things over
and over again. He said, you write the same thing?
It's not grievous. It's not grievous. But it's so. For you, it's so. What a time
it would be for me. You know, I'm giving your life
to rights. That's what I'm doing. I'm leaving out of town right
now. Tomorrow. And may not be back. I don't
know. But this is the case every time we meet together. I may
not stand back up here again. You may not sit in the field
again. Some of you are old. Some of you are very frail. Even
the young may die tomorrow. We don't know what a day may
bring forth. Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel to you.
You're lost rats. You're going out to meet a holy
God. Woe is unto me if I don't tell
you about it and tell you how to go face Him. Right? Right. Right. And I want to be able
to confidently say in the Apostle Paul to anybody leaving here,
and I'm leaving, I haven't kept anything back from you. Don't
you forget that. Anybody leaving here, coming
in or going out, I haven't kept anything back. I haven't hid
anything. Don't you ever want to know what
the Scots say to any of them tiny preachers telling all of
them, I don't know. I don't know. I want to be able to confidently
say to you, Pastor Paul, I feel real. I've kept back nothing
that's profitable. I'm not ashamed to declare. I
need the whole counsel of God. I'm not ashamed to declare it.
It's something that God lays on my heart, and I feel like,
well, sometimes I take it kind of hard. It doesn't matter. I'll
come right out and say it, Paul said. I'll come right out and
say it. Well, look here at 2 Corinthians
chapter 1. And this is the only way that
a man can have rejoicing or peace of conscience in this thing of
the ministry, in the gospel ministry, and you yourself out there in the workplace. We
all try to witness to people. The only way you're ever going
to have any peace of conscience in mind is if you've told somebody,
if you've had an opportunity, if you've run across somebody
and you've clearly told them You know what I'm talking about?
If you go away feeling guilty, that isn't so right. And you'll
feel miserable from that time forward. That's not right. After
coming out of this place feeling like, I didn't care about it.
Like I ought to have told you. What is? What is feeling so right? You know what I'm talking about.
If you don't, if you don't clearly testify the gospel when you've
had an opportunity, You don't have, you don't, it's a couple
of you. And this is what the Apostle Paul starts out by saying
here in verse 12, in 2 Corinthians chapter 1. He said, I rejoice
in you this, a testimony of our conscience. That is, I got a
clear conscience. Wouldn't you like to have a clear
conscience here about everybody you meet? Clear conscience. I
told you. I told you. I told you. And that's
the only time you have real rejoicing, a clear conscience. He says our rejoicing is this,
testimony of our conscience, a clear conscience, a revelation
of our conscience to you, is that in simplicity and godly
sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God we have
had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you. Simplicity and sincerity. Simplicity that is plainness.
And they're plain. They're plain. They're clear.
They're brief. They're to the point. Straightforward.
To the time. Don't try to match my words.
Somebody said he's very direct. I wish I could be, I wish I could
be so direct that I could get right into somebody's heart and
get deep. Get deep. Take this word, it's called a
sword, and cut, and apparate. But I can't do it, the Holy Spirit
must do it. But we've got to be direct and
see the point so the men will know what we're saying. Simple,
simplistical. The people told Christ, they
said, tell us plainly. Tell us plainly. Are you the
Christ? He said, I told you. And you
haven't believed me. And every gospel preacher better
be able to say, I told you. The man is facing the judge,
and I told him, I told him, I told you. Paul said, we used great
plainness of speech. He said, if I got some head,
not because we hit it, not because we kept it back, not because
we said, oh, it's a family doctor. Like some people out there, I
had a lot to do with all those family doctors, just a family
of everybody's parents. He said, no, we haven't hit anything.
That's when we declare all the cancer. Heaven handled the word
of God beseeched of it. Let's see, how can I sneak this
in on you? How can I say this so you won't be offended by it
and sort of go out and say, no, I already handled the word of
God beseeched of it. Set it back again, set it back again. In simplicity, he said, in sincerity. In sincerity, that is, openness,
honesty, from the heart, from the heart, in all truth. as though,
Paul said, as though God didn't speak to you by ear, as though
God was listening by every word. And it's the case. What he said
there in 2 Corinthians 2, 7, 10, we preach as of God, in the
sight of God. God's listening to me. Are you?
That's the case. And every preacher better preach
without a man. God is listening what you say.
We will tell him. You're going to hide something,
you're going to sneak something in, you're going to fear him,
you're going to mince words, you're going to tell him not
to do it. In the sight of God, he said not with fleshly wisdom,
he said this many times, he said not with the wisdom of words,
that is, eyesight and understanding of the Word of God, or intellectual
or doctrinal discourses. I try, I like to sound smart
when I'm by the Word. I don't like to appear to be
protecting everybody all the time. some words every now and
then, but it's prudent. It's prudent. We're not trying
to use intellectual doctrinal discourses, lest the cross of
Christ be made a manifest cross of it. Lest you don't hear the
simple gospel, the simple cross of Christ, not with impassive
words of man's wisdom, so you wildly say, well, he speaks well.
And that's not all they say about some people. They hear the preacher
more than they hear the voice of the Son of God, you know.
I heard a message by a man, uh, but, uh, I thought it was clear,
as clear and as, uh, glorious about the message as I'd ever
heard. I just about couldn't hear it, because the man's full
of drama, his full of precariousness, and his great preponderance of
speech, words he used like that. I just about couldn't hear the
message for it. for paying attention to the man.
And Paul said, that's not great reasoning. That's not great thought
reasoning. One suitable, two suitable words.
Not the wisdom of this world, not great human reasoning or
philosophy, but he said, look at it here, verse four, that
by the grace of God we've had our conversation. in the world.
By the grace of God, our preaching, our speech, our life have been
established with what? Unbelief, grace. Sovereign grace. Sovereign grace. And we preach
it. Free, sovereign, unmerited grace. And let me define it one
more time. Sovereign grace. That is, that
God Almighty says whom He wills. But it's not up to our wills. It's not up to a man's wills.
Out of him that willeth, or him that willeth, willeth God that
shows mercy. A man is going to preach the gospel, he better
tell him of sovereign mercy. One of these times, about mercy,
he better tell him of sovereign mercy, that he have mercy on
whom he will have mercy. When we talk about grace, he
better define it, right? He better define it, that God
unconditionally loves me. Not that he doesn't love people
because they deserve to be loved, but he just decides to do so.
On the contrary, men are unloved men. And God just often loves
and unloves men. That's grace. We don't desire
God's grace. But God unconditionally chooses
people. He doesn't choose people causally.
He chooses to give them grace. But Christ is a gift of God's
grace. That's what we pray. But God gives fathers for whom
He wills an offer. Grace is not an offer. It's a
bestowing of a gift. Here! This is yours. What a gift. That's grace. This is the grace of God. Whom
He wills, that God saves whom He wills. Like Paul said, that
Timothy, God has saved us and called us to the Holy Ghost,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace. According to His free and sovereign
grace. which was given us when? And
we believe, no, in Christ Jesus before the world ever began.
That's where the grace started. You better tell, if you want
to talk about grace, you better tell me when it started, not when
you believe. It was given in Christ, that
grace was in Christ, was given to Christ, and Christ bestowed
it upon whom He will, and was given in Christ before the foundation
of the world, before you and I were born. If grace was already
decided, it was already bestowed. before we were able to sing it.
That's great, thank you. It's all because the song says
it. That's amazing. Everybody said,
that's great. We heard that now. Everybody
sings the song amazingly, but they don't clearly define what
they sing. They don't clearly define it. What they think of as grace is
just some general kind of effort of amnesty, no matter what's
up in heaven. No, that's not grace. Grace is
God reaching down in the downhill, in the pit, and picking somebody
up and saving. Take a verse 13. He said, We write none of the
things unto you. We're not preaching, we're not
writing, we're not saying anything unto you that once you've already
read or acknowledged. We're not preaching, we're not
writing, we're not reading, we're not preaching, we're not telling,
we're not writing anything that wasn't clearly revealed in this
book. We're not telling you what I think. Like somebody said,
like Terry said, they like to read a book of scripture and
say, let me tell you what I think. That's what they do in private,
out of everyone else. Everybody gets there. They read
a bunch of scriptures and use it as a practice. Read it as
a practice. No, we compare scriptures with
scriptures. We carefully, diligently, systematically,
expositionally do, verse by verse by verse by verse. And what do
you, look, look, if we're not saying, open your mouth, Don't
listen to nothing. Let's look here. You know what
I'm saying? Got nothing to hide here. Let's look at it together.
Let's see what God says. Look at it. Verse by verse. Nine
upon nine. Nine upon nine. Nine upon nine.
Nine upon nine. Precept upon precept. Precept
upon precept. Let's go through it again. We've
heard that before. Let's go through it again. Hear
a little better now. Hear a little better now. That's gospel preaching. That's
free preaching. We preach to you nothing but
what you've already had before, nothing but what you've read
and acknowledged already in God's Word. And I preach it to you.
I preach it to you. Every time. Every little day
in the gospel of God's sovereign grace in Christ. Simplificate,
Paul said. Simpler. Paul said he feared. He feared. He's not there. Every
Catholic priest is there. It's certain. But he beguiled
me, and he said it. He broke my mind from the simplicity
that's in Christ. The singularity, simplicity,
the scope of salvation being in Christ, in Him alone. It's
in Him. Look to Him. That's salvation.
In Christ. Him alone. Simplicity is Christ
alone. Salvation in Christ alone. That's salvation. the gospel.
In sincerity, Paul said, we speak of God. By the grace of God,
we preach of the grace wherein you must stand. You rise, you
fall, you stand. You rise, you stand by the grace
of God. The grace wherein you stand.
Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing more, nothing less. Like
Paul said, I'm dependent not to know anything about you. Anything. I don't care how interesting
some of these things sound. Prophecy. Right now would be
a good time to get into prophecy. We're going to be looking at
Armageddon. I don't care. I'm not going to...
I don't want to know anything among you. I want you to know
what it's about, what Jesus Christ is about. Testimony of Jesus, that spirit
of prophecy. Look at verse 14. Now, as I say,
you have acknowledged this in part. In part. Some of them see,
and some do acknowledge, God's true preachers. They know who
and who preaches the gospel and when the gospel is preached.
Some people do what they can. And he says, uh, you are our
rejoicing, and we are your rejoicing. Some people do rejoice in the
gospel, God's preachers, the Spirit of Him, the faith we stand
by them, and stand through the gospel, the faith we're stewarding.
of this gospel of God's grace, and even as you also are rejoicing
in the days of the Lord Jesus Christ, in this covenant, as
thou have minded to come unto me before, you might have a second
visit, to pass by you in the Macedonia, and to come out of
you, and of you out of the Macedonia, and unto you, and be brought
to you on my way toward you. In other words, he's saying,
I'd like to see you, if you join me later, He replied, so I want
to see you for a moment. I want to come and pray for you.
Man, he said, I desire to come pray for you. And I'll do that. In all honesty, you know, this
is a burden. A very, very big burden. And I desire, I look forward
to praying for you sometimes. Especially when I feel like God
knows something I don't. You know, when I was very poor,
it was just mine. I had ten men to come to me, and I wanted to
come and preach. Did I use madness? Did I use madness? Hell, did
I take this thing of preaching madness? Some men did. And I was one of
those in which it was a terrible thing. The only reason that a
man in the desert approached me was that's superior, that's sober,
that's serious, that's prepared to grow. A village of Berkeley,
a village that's prepared to grow is in the mind of folks
that can grow in you. If you folks are hearing all
this, not to say no, it's great. You're a candidate, I'm a candidate,
that's the way you think. But to get into the first job
seat and try to match again, come up here, Well, you're a
founder of the working class. That's right, that's right. And
also, I don't think there's something to preach in America. Ferdinand
used to tell a story, he told a story of a young man, he started preaching. And one
time he was preaching, he was so anxious, he just, he got to
where he was, and George was trying to preach. and do it as
part of a pre-fab, or a modulation, or whatever you want to call
it. But, uh, could one day we just
put the whole thing in a place and just put the old style, you
know, and put on the best pre-fab. The pre-fab is always the loudest,
where it's just a, it's just a two-hour nightly, looking at
the furniture, instead of sobering and tearing through the furniture.
He jumped up there and said, Lord, shut his mouth. And he
just lumbered and fell out of it. He said he came out of there
a broken man. Well, that's true. Everybody
knew it. He was just basically a broken telephone. And you know
it. He said he came out of there
weak. He said he came out of there
weak. He said he got him back later on Sunday. You continue to go on up there,
like you came down. It doesn't matter who's down
or who's up. You're going up in that circle,
like you came down, right here. It's weird. It's so unbelievable. It doesn't matter who's down
or who's up. It doesn't matter. That's the
thing about spirituality. You can love me, but I don't
take anybody's love. Not Tuesday night, or Sunday
morning, or the morning Bible study, or Sunday mass, or I don't
usually take anything lightly. And I don't act and move according
to plan. But what Paul said here, look
at, look at that sort of thing. He said, I don't use lightly.
And he's saying that the things that are purposed, that our purpose
is according to the plan. In other words, he said, I don't
think there was a diamond in my pocket. No, there wasn't. Actually, I didn't have to move
a finger or put my finger in my eye to get a reanimation,
but it looked like that. I don't know. It wasn't a brick. It looked like a brick. I said, do I purposefully know? Really? No, because I don't.
do that. Look at this. He said, well,
I didn't use Latin for things of that sort. I didn't do it to put him
in a place. It was means to be yea, yea, and nay, nay. In other words, I don't say one
thing and mean another. I don't claim to believe one thing and preach another. You
hear that so often, don't you? That he believes, he says, the most precious thing.
I say, that's, that's not me. I don't preach one message over here. I don't preach one message
over here. I don't preach one message over here. I don't preach one message
over here. I don't preach one message over here. I don't preach one
message over here. I don't preach one message over here. I don't
preach one message over here. I don't preach one message over here.
I don't preach one message over here. I don't preach one message over here. I don't preach one
message over here. I don't preach one Wherever I go to pray, the
priests come and knock at my door. They'd say, how are you? I'd say, what's
the matter? They'd say, what's the matter? I'd say, what's the
matter? They'd say, what's the matter? I'd say, what's the matter? I'd say, what's the
matter? I'd say, what's the matter? I'd say, what's the matter? I'd
say, what's the matter? I'd say, what's the matter? I'd say, what's the matter? I'd say, what's
the matter? I'd say, what's the matter? I'd say, what's the matter?
I'd say, what's the matter? I'd say, what's the matter? I'd say, what's
the matter? I'd say, what's the matter? I'd say, what's the matter?
I'd say, what's the matter? I'd say, what's the matter? I'd
say, what's the matter? I And I said, I don't preach one
message here, another somewhere else. Yo, yo, and now you know,
the first 18 minutes. God is true. And that is in the
sight of God. God is my witness. I preach it. Our word toward you is not yay
and no, not yes and no. That's not true. But the Son
of God, Jesus Christ, and He preached the message by us, even
by me, and Silas, and Timothy, wasn't yay. And nobody is human
but God. Yay, the Son of God who was preached
by us is not yay and nay, or yes, no, no, I think, I don't
know. What do you think about this?
Well, I don't know. Let's go to something else. But in Him was yay. We preached
Christ and Him preached God. What does He say explicitly here?
The Son of God was preached among you by us. We preached Christ,
that's what He said. We're preaching Christ, very
plainly, very consistently. The person as the universal Christ. The person and work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what we do. A definite
person. Isn't it? A definite person. We clearly define who Jesus Christ
is. We must. We must. Every time. We're not taking
for granted that everybody knows who Jesus Christ is. But we clearly
define who He is. God. That's the thing. God. Our power, the omnipotent, omniscient,
God in human form. God with us, Emmanuel, Lord. We don't just say that and that's
it. We don't say it without meaning it. We define it. Clearly, He's
Lord. Thank you, Father. Just as Jesus opened up and He
said, and everyone knew that. He saved everyone. Jesus Christ,
that man, He saved everyone because He's Lord. Why do you think? He suffered. He screamed. So
did you. Substitute, mediate, intercept,
security, high priest, we go through these things. A purely
divine. And a definite work, a purely defined work, what He
did. He had not preached the gospel
by man and angel in His own mind. He had not preached in the gospel
in the spirit of Christ. That's what you have to do from
now on. A definite work. A definitive work. If you're
going to If you're going to call His name Jesus, tell people,
why? And that's the trouble about
Jesus. And what is the meaning of that? Call His name Jesus.
Why? Why do you tell Him? What does His name mean? It means
Savior. He shall save His people from
sin. That's right. He's not making
a temptation. He shall save His people. If
you're going to call Him Jesus, do it with respect. And do it
with awe and mercy, that He shall save us. Savior, that's what
the name means. Successful, sufficient, victorious,
sovereign Savior. When you're going to talk about
the work of Jesus Christ, you better talk about a finished
work. You better not leave anything for us, for us to do, for man
to do. A finished work. Pure and certain
salvation. You better talk about salvation
as being complete in Jesus Christ. If you preach the gospel, and
we preach Christ, As God wants, we pray to God, and I want to
accept you to the Father, we pray to God, and we seek the
Father. All right? I just want to say
this. God has always approved man of
God. God always accepts. Look at those
cards. He says, all the promises of
God are in you and I. All the promises of God are in
God. Now, the promises of God are
in fact, that is, we preach facts. Let's all say it. The promises
of God, what are the promises of God? Let's talk about it. The promises of God. And what
does this mean? It's the text. It's what the
Old Testament, the Word of God, promises of God. From Genesis,
you recognize? If you preach the Word of God,
you preach it as being facts. From Genesis, And Genesis says,
in the Greek Leviticus, number three, verse one, verse three,
verse one, it speaks fast, in every book. All the promises
of God are in fast. Everything God has to tell us
is in fast. God is in the book. It speaks
fast. To Him, the Scripture says, you
have all the promises. With all the signs, all the scriptures,
it speaks fast. And if you want to go outside
and go to the church, You ought to preach the gospel. You ought
to preach the promises of God. Because everything must and will
be fulfilled in the church's and society's power. It will. It must be fulfilled. We preach
Christ, we preach Christ as the mercy of Christ. When we preach
the mercy of God, we've got to preach it at the end of the day,
and not just preach it the end of the time of the week. That'll
have mercy. Ah! Where's the mercy of God
to be found? By just going out and saying,
I forgive you. No, in Christ. By being a just God. By showing
mercy, by being a just God. That'd be a, he poured out his
life on somebody else, so that he could be a merciful God. I
mean, it doesn't have to be in Christ. The grace of God will
break the skin in Christ. It doesn't have to say, God blessed
me in Christ, anything he wants me to. Where is the grace of
God? It's in Christ. How can God be in Christ? in
Christ, because there's a man excited to ask of you. And there's
a man who thinks of God, and in that man asks of you. He gives
you a gift of service, to allow you into his presence. He preaches
the love of God. He preaches it in Christ. God
doesn't know anybody outside of Christ. The love of God abides
in that man. God's anger is original to God. In this love of God that he preaches
in Christ, and he sees Unless you clearly define that the love
of God is shown to us because the life of God is shown to us. That's where the purpose of God
is. It's in God. If you fix the purposes of God, you better fix
it in God. Because God is determined to
show you that everything, everybody is going to bring glory to His
Son, Lord Jesus Christ. If you don't talk about purposes,
about man, about God, you better talk about God. That's where
the person can have the glory of God. If you don't preach about
the glory of God, you're going to have to preach about the glory
of Christ. That's what I'm saying. We preach,
we sing, but the glory of God is in Christ. It's not well you know, but it's in
Him, and I'm sure all the promises of God are in Christ. All the
promises of God are in Christ. And I guess I'm sure he took
any trouble. In fact, I mean, I mean, I mean,
I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean,
I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean,
I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean,
I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean,
I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean,
I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean,
I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean,
I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean I would minister. The Apostle
Paul would say to me, the gospel that I received might have been
preached by me, if it ever had been from that place in the past,
in fact. And every man and woman who was
marching over to preach in the past, in fact, he would describe
it as, describe it as us. And he would say, you too, in
the past, in the manner of God. God. And that's where he would
say to me, I would preach to you, I told him, take my hand
and lead me, because I need to teach you that. Will you recognize
that? And God assumed us, given time
for the Spirit in our house. I mean, he, he just left the
house. And he said, look, if you're
scared, huh, take my hand, and we'll find a house. And we found
a house, and we go inside of it. I felt a certain desire and
a certain spirit. I felt very free, very boldly,
very frantically, and I felt kind of like that. Liberty and
a liberty. An infant and a little infant. That's our job, the rest of the time. I felt free. I felt prepared and prepared
for that. I felt that I could go where
I'm going, God made me to truly believe that I would
be a believer if I had faith. That's where we can be. That's where we can be. problem.