Chapter 1. Mark Chapter 1. Beginning with verse 1. Beginning
and ending with verse 1. Mark Chapter 1. Let's just read
the first verse. And then I'll have you turn over
to Genesis. This is the title of this message
found here in verse one. This is a gospel according to
Saint Mark, and he writes, The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. the gospel of Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. Now, we read a while ago in 1
Corinthians chapter 1 that it pleased God. That is, God has
chosen this thing of preaching. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching. what men call foolishness. Most
people believe this is foolishness. They believe my occupation is
very unnecessary and very unneedful. But the Scripture says it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them, I believe, to save
eternally save some people's eternal souls by this thing called
preaching. And when he says foolishness,
that doesn't mean that God is pleased to save people by anything
that looks or sounds like preaching. You only need to turn your TV
on or your radio just for a short while to hear some foolishness
that is called preaching, don't you? just for a while. And it doesn't say, it's not
speaking of anything that comes across and sounds like preaching.
That's not what he's saying there. And it doesn't say the foolishness
of preachers. Well, there's a lot of that,
this man included. Or the preaching of foolishness. But God is pleased with and uses
to save men's souls. The gospel. Christ said, go ye
into all the world and preach. But Terry, he didn't stop there.
He didn't say, go preach. You all do a good job, man. Preach
what? The gospel. He said, go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel. And he that believeth,
believeth what? The gospel. will be saved. He that doesn't believe, believe
what? The gospel will be damned. Paul said, woe is unto me if
I preach. Not. He didn't stop there. The gospel. I don't have to preach. I can sit and listen to somebody
else preach just as well. Not woe is unto me if I don't
preach. Woe is unto me if I get up here to preach and I don't
preach the gospel. The gospel. Woe is unto me if
I get up here and preach on something else." That's what Paul said. And there's only one true gospel. Just one. One true gospel. Yet, the Apostle Paul warned
that in these last days there would come some people preaching
another gospel. And we constantly bring this
up, but it's necessary because the
fact is that false gospel is the most widespread message today. Paul said, if any man preach
any other gospel than that that we have preached, let him be
accursed or go to hell, and he repeated that again there in
Galatians chapter one. He said, if any man preach any
other gospel than what we have preached, let him go to hell. And I say the same thing right
here. I just repeat what he is saying,
not because I think we have a a monopoly on the gospel. I believe
there are many other gospel preachers, yes, but I believe they must
say the same thing. If they're preaching the gospel,
now remember, there's only one gospel. But how do you say, someone
may say, how do you know you're preaching the gospel? Because
I'm preaching exactly what the Apostle Paul preached. Everything
he preaches, I'm preaching. I'm trying to preach it. And
the men I know that preach the gospel, that's what they're doing.
They're just repeating what Paul said in the script, what Christ
said. They're preaching God's word, word for word. All of it. All of it. The gospel. What is the gospel? Couldn't
hear a more important message. What is the gospel? What is the
gospel? Well, somebody say it's the good
news. Yeah, that's what the word means. It means good news. That's
right. Good news. Good news about what? Well, good
news about Jesus who died on the cross to save people from
their sin. Jesus who? Why'd he die? To save people
from sin? What sin? Why do I need saving
from it? Why didn't he just come down
here and pick me up, take me on to heaven? Huh? Why'd he have to come down
here and die? Good question, that. Good question. We've got today
what's called gospel singers, gospel churches, gospel preachers,
gospel songs, gospel books, gospel bookstores, gospel rock. I've
even heard of strippers for Jesus. Gospel this, gospel that. Everything's
got the gospel in front of it, right? What's the gospel? We
need to come to some definite conclusions on what the gospel
is. Everybody and his brother and
his mother claims to be preaching and tell them the gospel. What's
the gospel? The gospel. There's only one.
Well, look over at Genesis with me, and let's start from the
very beginning. Let's start where the gospel started. Genesis chapter
2. Now, the gospel does indeed mean
good news. The gospel does indeed mean good
news. That's what the word means. Glad
tidings. Gospel. Good news. It stands to reason that you
don't need good news until things are bad, right? You don't need the good news
until you've heard the bad news. And this is where you've got
to start with the gospel, the bad news. Genesis chapter 2. Now, everybody knows the story. how that God created man, created
Adam and Eve. Some believe it, some don't.
But those who claim to believe this, that's who I'm speaking
to. God created man and woman and
put them in a garden, and God dwelled with that man and woman.
They dwelled together. The man and the woman and God
dwelled together in communion. They had a relationship together. God said, God laid down some
rules, some law. Actually, one law concerning
the man and woman. One law. Look at it in verse
sixteen, or verse fifteen. The Lord God took the man, Adam,
and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep
it. Now, remember, God was with him.
God talked with him, walked with him, spoke with him. God, they
loved each other, the man and God. And the Lord God laid down
one law here. He commanded, verse 16, the man
saying, Now, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat. You have total freedom throughout
this garden, total freedom. You may freely eat of everything
in this garden, but Verse 17, of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. Don't eat it. Don't eat it. In the day that
you eat thereof, thou shalt surely, make no mistake about it, the
day you eat, you're going to die. Die. And my margin says,
in dying, Thou shalt die. That's what the original Hebrew
says. The day you eat of that fruit, dying, you shall die. There's a twofold death that
goes on here. The man was in perfect bliss
and happiness, and he had the life of God. That is the presence
of God. This is what life is. This is
what spiritual life is. The presence of God. God communing
with, and you communing with God. Being with God. That's the life of God. God is
life. God removes himself, what do
you have? Death, right? God is life. You remember in
the scriptures, whenever Christ, wherever Christ approached death,
a funeral or something, that person rose. Look it up sometime.
Whenever Christ came around a dead man, that dead man rose. Why? Because he's life. When life
comes in, it's like a light coming in a dark room. When light comes
in a room, the whole room is shed full of light. Oh, God is
life. And when God is with you, you're
with God, in God. In God, you have the life of
God. And God put this one stipulation
down here of their communion, of this fellowship they had to
give. One stipulation. You obey me. You obey me perfectly. You choose me. Yes, this man,
the only man ever to live to have a free will. Adam, the only
man ever to live had a free will. He said, now you choose to serve
me, obey me, and you'll live forever. You choose to disobey
me, you will die. In dying, that is, death starts
then. In dying, that is, I'm going
to remove myself from you, and you will die spiritually, and
you'll die physically. You'll die physically. And God
said, now this is a token of my rule over you. This is the
only token here. Touch it, you die. Don't, and
you'll live forever. What happened? The serpent came to man and said,
Don't you want to be like God? What's God? God had no right
to rule over you like this. Don't you want to be like God
to choose between good and evil? Don't you? Yeah. What's he got
a right to limit me from eating this tree? I got a right to that
tree too. I got a free will. I'll just
choose then. I'll exercise my free will. There God. He died. He died. You say, no, he didn't.
He lived 930 years. Yes, he did. Because God said, kicked him out. God kicked him
out of his presence. Go and put flaming sword and
cherubims in the garden. This is typical of the presence
of God. The Eden, Garden of Eden, what?
Barred the way. from God, the disflaming sword,
lest he get to the tree of life, which is Christ. And now the
man is cast away from the presence of God, the man and the woman. And then they have a baby, Cain. Where is Cain? He's born dead.
He's stillborn. That is, spiritually, he's dead. He's just like his mom and daddy,
sin. When this happened to Adam and
Eve, when this happened, Things came through their minds and
their hearts like they'd never had before. Before, they'd only
had love and fellowship and no evil thoughts and so forth. But
when they began to question God, this principle called sin entered
into them. And then they partook of that
fruit, and then God cast them out. And then sin had permeated
their being, their heart, their mind, their soul. Adam said,
You, if you hadn't have sent the woman here, he'd never blamed
God for anything before. Now he was blaming God for giving
him the woman. She's the problem among you,
if you hadn't have done. And the woman said, well, the
serpent. And then the serpent said, well, blame, hate, envy,
jealousy, all these things. Adam never had these things before.
Where'd they come from? Sin had entered. This principle
called sin had entered into the man. And now, He was not anything
like God, nothing like him. And all his posterity, Cain,
Abel, on down the line, every one of them were just like Daddy,
hateful, sinful, barred from God's presence by nature. But do you know what? Before
God kicked him out, God said, The day you eat, you're
going to die. But right before he kicked him
out of the garden, to, in essence, to shut him out spiritually,
right before, look at Genesis chapter 3 with me, verse 15. Before the sentence was carried
out, God preached the gospel. And this reminds me of David.
When David sinned, you know, and Nathan came to David and
said, you're the man, you're guilty. He said, but wait a minute,
don't despair. God's forgiven you. And this
is the reason I believe perhaps Adam was a saved man in the end,
because God gave him the promise of the gospel. Genesis 3, verse
15. I hope you have a Bible with
you. God said, Adam, you don't have to die spiritually. You don't have to stay dead spiritually.
Oh, no. You're going to die physically.
It's what you get. It's what you deserve. It's what
I told you was coming. And spiritual death, you're going
to be barred from my presence for a while, but you don't have
to die spiritually, completely, forever, eternally. He says,
I'm going to put, he said to the serpent, this is the promise
given to man, but he was, he was talking to the serpent here.
He says, now to the serpent, I'm going to put enmity between
you and the woman. Between your seed, and her seed."
Who's he talking about here? He says, the woman's seed shall
bruise your head. Talking to the serpent there. And you will bruise his heel. He is talking about a man, talking
about the seed of a woman to come. Now remember now, woman
doesn't have a seed, man has a seed. Right? Man's the one
that plants a seed. Woman doesn't have a seed. Man
plants a seed in a woman and a baby comes forth. There was
a woman, though, that had a seed. A virgin. A virgin shall conceive
and bring forth a Savior. Who? The man. Jesus Christ. The seed of the woman is going
to come from a virgin. And now, he, Satan, is going
to crush your head. The power of sin. and iniquity. He's going to crush, bruise your
head. You're going to bruise his heel,
though. His body, his lower parts, his body is going to be bruised
and bleed and die. But in the process, he's going
to kill sin. He's going to open up that partition
between us and God. He's going to remove that flaming
cherubim and sword and say, so man can come into the presence
of God. The seed, the woman's seed, Jesus Christ. In essence,
God said to Adam, said, Adam, I told you, didn't I? You're
going to die. I told you, didn't I? And this was running, the
Word of God was running through his mind, I know, after he ate
that apple or whatever it was, ate that fruit. And he said,
Thou shalt, the day you eat, you'll die, you'll die, you'll
die, you'll die. The Word running through his
mind and his heart, you'll die, you'll die. All these things
are filling his brain. And God starts to kick him out
of the garden. He says, I'm dying. And God says, you don't have
to die. Now you can live. I'm going to send somebody, he
said, to get you out of this mess you've got yourself in.
Somebody. And you see, the gospel today
is the very same gospel then. And all through the scriptures,
it's about a person. It's about a person. It's coming. It's what the Old
Testament talks about. It's what the whole Old Testament's
about. Somebody is coming. Who? The Messiah, the Christ,
the Savior, the swallowing seed. He's coming to save some men,
some women. He's coming. The Gospels say, He's here! And
the epistles say, He's coming again. He's coming again to get
those people that He saved and take them back. You see, Adam heard the bad news.
Die, death, sin, iniquity, I'm dead, I'm cut off from God. But then he heard the good news.
You don't have to stay cut off from God. Now, God didn't, when
God sent this gospel now, he didn't say to Adam, he said,
no, he didn't say this. He didn't say, no, Adam, I'm
sending a woman to see you. Now, if you accept him as your
personal Savior, if you exercise your free will, he lost that
will. He lost it. When he was cast out of the garden
and the storms were cut off, he didn't have the mind of God.
He didn't have the will of God. He didn't have that perfect mind
and heart that loves God and chooses only good. He didn't
have that anymore. He was a sinner. Besides, he
proved, Henry, what choice and free will gets you. He had a
free will. What did he choose? Sin. What makes us think man's going
to choose good now? Adam was a much better man than
anybody on the face of the earth will ever be. Exception of Christ. Adam was the smartest, most intelligent,
upright, glorious creature every boy on the face of the earth.
What did he choose? He exercised his free will. What did he choose?
Sin. Rebellion. What makes us think
we're going to choose? We say we have a free will. Men
say we have a free will. What makes us think we'll choose
good? No. This principle is in us,
just like granddaddy Adam. Sin and hate. We choose evil.
That's what we do. If you're honest with yourself,
you'll admit it. We choose evil. God didn't come
and say, now if you'll choose this, he said, I'm going to send
somebody. I'm going to do for you what
you can't do for yourself. I'm going to do it. You tried
and failed. Now, I'm going to succeed. That's
the good news, Adam. You see, Adam, it wouldn't have
been good news. What if he'd have said to Adam,
what if Adam, a couple hundred years later, when there was a
bunch of people on the earth and they had preachers and church
services just like this, and Adam went to one of these services
and sat where old Henry was, and a man got up and said, man,
if you'll just live right. Now, I don't know much about
the Bible, he said, but if you'll just live according to the Ten
Commandments now, You'll be all right. Adam stands up and says,
No! He turned around and everybody
said, It won't work! I tried it! It won't work! Works won't get you into heaven.
I tried it, I failed miserably. You better tell us about somebody's
coming. He'd point his finger right in
the face of that false preacher. You better tell them not to see
you, or you ain't preaching the gospel. So what do you do with
it? Adam knew. And anybody that God
has revealed this bad news to and revealed the gospel to, they'll
say the same thing. Man stands up and says, you better
live right. If you live right, God will accept you. No! That
won't work. I'm trying. Tell me about somebody
that's coming. Tell me about the one who came.
That's the good news. I tried it, I tried to work my
way to heaven, and I failed miserably. Bad news, death, condemnation. But the good news is somebody
did it for me. He got the job done. That's the
good news, Charles, that's the good news, isn't it? He did it.
He didn't fail, he did it. He did it. And the gospel has always been,
like I said, the same, same story. It's about a person. Listen to these various different
descriptions of Christ in the scriptures. Turn with me, first
of all, to Colossians, chapter 1. I hope you have a Bible with
you. If you don't, listen very carefully,
please. The eternal truth and wisdom
and mind and will of God Almighty is in what I'm reading right
now. And if you're interested, please
listen to me. The mind of God Almighty is in these verses.
God, this is the mystery of all eternity in the universe. This
is it. Colossians chapter 1. Listen
and read it with me. Look at verse 13. Now Paul is
talking to some believers here. Saints, he said in verse 2, saints
and faithful brethren in Christ. This is not talking to everybody.
He's talking to believers here. And he says, God, verse 13, has
delivered us from the power of darkness. It's clear he's not
talking to everybody because everybody hasn't been delivered
from darkness. He's talking to believers here. He says, God
has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son. And it's in him, it's in
Christ that we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins, the forgiveness of sin. You know, when Adam, right after
God kicked Adam out, then he showed him, what'd he do? He
killed some animals and clothed Adam with their skins. He slew blood. That's typical
of the gospel. He slew an innocent animal to
cover a guilty victim or a guilty person's body, covered him with
a skin. This is Christ. We're covered
with his righteousness, believers are. In him we have the forgiveness
of sin. Now listen, stay with me. Verse 15. Christ is the image
of the invisible God. He's the firstborn. Adam wasn't
the first man. Christ was. He's the well-beloved
Son of God from the very beginning. He's the firstborn, that's what
he says, of every creature. And by Him, verse 16, by Him,
by Christ were all things created. All things in heaven and earth,
visible, invisible, thrones, dominions, principalities of
power, all things created by Him and for Him. Verse 17, and
He is before all things. And by Him, that is Jesus Christ,
all things consist. Look at verse 17. He's the head
of the body, the church, who's the beginning. He's the firstborn
from the dead, and in all things Christ must have the preeminence.
Verse 20. It pleased the Father that in
Christ should all fullness dwell. Verse 20. He's made peace through
the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things to himself. Look at chapter 2, verse 10. You are complete in him who is
the head of all principality and power. Colossians 3, verse
11, there's neither great nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all. And you know, all. He is everything. He's all. I feel so helplessly so helpless,
you know, before this subject. And you want to convey to people,
you read these scriptures, and if only God would show us, each
individual, and hear me, that Christ is all. All. All. He's all. He's all the counsel
of God, the wisdom of God, the power of God. He's God. He's
all. Listen to these descriptions
of Christ from the scriptures. These are different descriptions
given to the Son of God throughout the scriptures. These are just
a few. I've given fifteen here. That's just a touch. Listen.
He's called the Light. And I'll read you scriptures
that these come from. In him was life, and the life
was the light of men. And the light shined in darkness,
but darkness comprehended it not. That is, light came into
this world, but men loved darkness rather than light. Light came. Without Christ, all is darkness.
And you see it in men out there and people out in the world.
Without Christ, they're in darkness, superstition, darkness, unbelief. Christ is called the barren.
He said, I'm the vine, and you're the branches. He that abideth
in me, and I in him, the same brings forth fruit unto life.
Without me, you can do nothing. Without Christ, we're dry, dead
branches God's going to gather together and throw in the fire,
fit for the burning. Without Christ, unless we're
in him and he in us, vitally joined by faith in Christ, freedom. Christ is called freedom. If
the Son, therefore, shall set you free, you shall be free indeed."
Without Christ, we're in bondage to Satan. We do his will. We're
in bondage to sin. We do sin's will. Whenever some
lust or temptation comes across us, we dive right headlong. We're
in bondage to self. We're just in it for the big
S-E-L-F. We're in bondage to these things.
But if you know the truth, if you know Christ, he said, I'll
set you free from these things. free from rules and regulations
and ceremonies. I've got to do this, I've got
to do that. No, you believe. Trust Christ to do it all for
you. Christ is called salvation. Neither
is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, that
at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess
that he is Lord, that he is all. Without Christ, we're judged
and condemned to die. We're lost and without a Savior,
without Christ. He's salvation. He is salvation. We gave those last week. We gave
those through the Old Testament, the brazen serpent, the cities
of refuge, the ark of safety, the cleft of the rock, the lamb
slain, the scapegoat in the wilderness. Just keep going. All these Old
Testament types speak of Christ. He is salvation. Not what I do,
what he does. What he does. Christ is called
the way, the truth, and the life. He's the way. The way. No man
comes unto the Father but by Christ. And I'm sorry. But this is what this book says.
And I'm not sorry for what this book says. And I'm sorry that
people refuse to believe this. But this book says Jesus Christ
is the way to God Almighty. The Hindu, the Muslim, The Mohammedan, whoever is trying
to get to God any other way than the person Jesus Christ, that
person is condemned forever, according to this book. I wish
they'd believe this, but they don't. But I believe this book.
That's what it says. Christ said, no man comes unto
the Father but by me. By me. He's not talking about
you live just like me. He's talking about if I represent
you. Nobody's going to come to God
and accept I go to God for them and represent them. No man. The
way. The way. He said there is a way
that seems right unto men. But the end thereof is death
and destruction, isn't it? He said, if any man come any
other way than Jesus Christ, come through that door, he's
a thief and a robber, and God's going to kick him out. Didn't
he? That's what this book says. I
delight in it. I delight that Christ is the
way. Yeah, I do. Because I see there is no other
way. I've tried many other ways. I've
tried Hinduism. Yeah, I have. I sat cross-legged
on my roof, half naked, gazing at the center of my eyes before. Yoga. Low disposition. I tried
it. It doesn't work. It'll get you
sore knees. You know, it doesn't work. There's only one way to give
to God. That's Jesus Christ. That's all
there is to it. He's all there is to it. The truth. He says,
I'm the truth. Without Christ, everything else
is a lie. It's a lie. I don't care what
anybody says. I don't care how good it sounds.
If it doesn't, if it's not the gospel concerning the person
of Christ, it's a lie. I'm talking about salvation now.
I'm talking about things of the spirit, eternity, knowing God. It's a lie. That's dogmatic and
bigot. It's Bible. It's God's word. It's true. We all will find out
someday. It's the truth. Christ is the plain truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me, God. Yeah. He's the way, He's the
truth, He's the life. Scripture says eternal life is
in God's Son. It says, He that hath the Son
hath what, Henry? Say it. Life, right? This says,
He that has not the Son has not life. And we went back to the
very beginning of this story. That is, he that doesn't have
the life of God, doesn't have somebody to take him into the
presence of God, to break down that middle wall of partition.
Somebody to rip the veil out so he can get into the Holy of
Holies. If you don't have somebody, you're dead. You're cut off from
God Almighty. But Christ, when he shed his
blood on that cross, ripped that veil in two and walked into God's
presence and said, come with me back to God's presence. Life. You're dead, aren't you?
Yeah, I am. I can't see God. Don't know God.
Don't want God right now. Help me. Help me. Lord save me
or I'll perish. OK. Come on. Perhaps you're in
his bosom and his righteousness will take you right into the
Father. Here you are again. Right back to where your granddaddy
Adam stopped. But better yet, this time I got
a hold of you. And you ain't going nowhere this
time. So how could Adam have sinned if he was perfect in the
first place? He didn't have the righteousness of God. He had
a man's righteousness. There's a difference. Christ
is eternal. He is God. He's impeccable. No
possibility of Christ falling. No possibility. God created man
as a man. So he can't create God. Right? He can form God in us. You don't
create... Christ was never created. He's
always had been. Always had been. Man was created
as a man, given a free will. And according to the wisdom and
the power and the glory of God Almighty, he allowed that to
happen. And so in the end, he could give that perfect righteousness
of God that there's no possibility of ever losing. Give that to
some man to show his glory. Glorify him. No man ever thought
of that. Never thought of that. He's called Wisdom. Christ is
called Wisdom. If you'll read Proverbs 4 and
Proverbs 8 through the Scriptures, Christ is called Wisdom. The
Scripture says, In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge, all the treasures of wisdom. Without Christ, there's
only ignorance and superstition, right? That's the reason people
dance around poles, isn't it? That's the reason people That's
the reason the ladies in the jungle dance around poles, you
know, and cut their flesh and put plates in their lips and
just grotesquely deform themselves, all manner and fashion, trying
to get to God or whatever some being. Ignorance, blind ignorance,
and it's no different in the average church. People are trying
to work their way to God. It's just a little cleaner, you
know, a little more moral. Martin Luther, one time, the
one who started, by God's grace, started the Reformation. He was
a Catholic monk, and every morning he'd get up at three or four
in the morning and get out on his knees beside his bed and
pray for like two hours, and then he'd go to the temple or
the monastery, the cathedral there. And they had some steps,
there were some steps up this cathedral, and there were spots
on these steps, there were spots, and they were covered with glass,
I think, weren't they, Ed? Or they're covered with glass
now. But anyway, Martin Luther, he'd get down on his knees and
walk up that vast flight of stairs, kissing those spots. It's supposed
to be the blood of Christ, spots. Kissing, and whenever any evil
thought came in his mind, oh, they'd called self-flagellation,
I think it is. They beat themselves and go through
all kind of torture to try to get the sin and the evil out
of their minds and their hearts. But he'd walk up these steps,
kissing these spots, kissing these spots, thinking, God's
seeing this, this will work, until one day he said, You know,
the Bible was chained in the monastery where the average people
couldn't get to it. There's only one copy of the
Bible chained in the monastery, and only the monks, some of the
monks, had access to it. And Martin Luther read it. And
he read it. And he was walking, he was on
his knees, crawling up those steps, kissing those spots one
day, and this scripture came in his mind. The just shall live
by That is, the man that God accepts,
the man that God will have in His presence is the man who is
dependent upon trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, not doing
anything. Not doing anything. Just looking
to Christ, looking to Him. The one who is represented by
Jesus Christ, that just shall live. to live eternally by faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He jumped up when that came to
his mind. So he jumped up and ran outside
of that old dark monastery, threw those doors open, ran outside
and said, I'm free. A son with a son will set you
free. You're free indeed. You'll take off that little bonnet
and that hat and whatever it is you're wearing, you think
God will notice it. Whatever it is you're doing,
you think God is paying attention. Free! Free. I mean, I don't have to do anything
to get to God, no. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you will be saved. Salvation is in a look. In a look. Those people who were
bitten by that snake in the wilderness, to be healed, all they had to
do was look. They were blind people in their midst, they couldn't
see it, but they could look. by faith in the heart. They could
look. I don't see it. Where is it? Somebody point me
in the right direction. He was already healed. He was
looking, although he might not have even been pointed in the
right direction. He was looking by faith in his heart. Scripture says Christ is righteousness. Now, maybe perhaps the most important
one of all, the Scripture says God has made Christ to be sin
for us. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him or through him. You see, God is not a monster, but God is absolutely holy, spotlessly
pure and holy. You see, it seemed like a small
thing that Adam did, didn't it? Buy a piece of fruit? It seemed
like a small thing. We've done, oh my soul. My soul. It seemed like a small thing,
didn't it? God kicked him out. God kicked him out and barred
his way. Why? God's holy. He can't have
any filth, anything to defile his presence, his kingdom. He
won't have anything to do with anybody that's not holy like
he is. Can't have them. Won't do it.
Scripture says, I've read them over and over and over again,
he's of too pure eyes to even look upon iniquity. So behold,
the sun and the moon are not pure in his eyes. How much more
is man which drinks iniquity like the water? He said it must
be perfect to be accepted by God. Over and over. This is the
gospel. God is holy. Holy, perfectly,
spotlessly pure and holy. Not just morally, but just light
inaccessible. Darkness can't get into his presence.
Light, he's holy, he's righteous. And the only way you and I are
going to get into his presence is to be just like him. Just
like him. Not a thought, not a spot. anywhere
to be seen by God, not a spot, not a thought of sin, not a deed
of sin. Perfect. How are we going to
do that? We can't do it, can we? Can't do it. Christ did. Jesus Christ did. That's the reason He came down
to earth as a man to live, to walk, to talk, to think, to act,
to do perfection, righteousness as a man. As a man. See, a man, if a man's going
to dwell with God, a man's got to live perfectly. And Christ
did that as a man. And God said, there's a man I
accept. Yes, that's the way I like it. I approve of that. And then Christ
said, he took off that righteousness. But this is a mystery. But he
took this righteous, this acceptance, this approval of God Almighty,
took it off of himself and wrapped it on you and me, God's people,
wrapped it around us. And if God sees John Sheeley,
that's the man I approve of, God said. I'm well pleased with
you, John Sheeley. John says, how can this be? In
Christ. And then Christ looked, He took
John Ceasley's wicked, evil heart and thought, He took that on
Himself, laid it on His shoulder, and went to the cross, and hung
up on that cross, and God saw you and me and all of our wicked
sin, and killed His Son. And we got what was coming to
us. We got what was coming to Christ, Christ got what was coming
to us. It's called substitution. I couldn't
make the gospel any clearer. That's the gospel. If any man's
not preaching that, he's not preaching the gospel. Is he?
Is he, Rick? I don't care what he's preaching,
I'm as good as Santos. Substitution. I mean successful
substitution. And if you preach that substitution,
that Christ came down here to take the place of some people,
and He died and shed His blood and made it possible, now if
you Oh no. That ain't the gospel. That ain't
the good news. That means there's something
left to be done. That means he didn't do it. What if God told
Adam now, I'm going to send somebody down here to live for you and
he's going to shed his blood and so forth. Now if, that's
one stipulation. Adam had that stipulation before.
You're going to live if you don't eat the tree. And God doesn't
say that to me. You're going to live if you believe.
Yes, we have to believe. But He says, I want to give you
faith. Faith's the gift of God. See, it's all of Him. You say,
why? What's the point in it? The glory of God. That's where
we started in the first place. The glory of God. No flesh is
glory. Not even about believing. Nobody's
going to be able to go to the presence of God and say, I believed. Uh-uh. Everybody's going to go the same
way. Thank you for giving me faith. Thank you. Thank you.
I wouldn't have believed if you hadn't given me the belief. I
wouldn't have looked to God if you hadn't made me look. You
see, this gives all glory to God. And if any man is not preaching
that gospel, salvation totally of the Lord, first and last,
start to finish. The person of Jesus Christ, that
when that man came to this earth and lived a life as a man, and
then when that man went to the cross, And God punished him for
something. And then when that man enters
into the presence of God Almighty, represented by some people, that's
the good news. A man came and lived. A man came
and died. Now a man lives. And because
he lives, I live. Not because of what I've done.
My faith won't get it. Today I believe. Tomorrow I might
not believe. Right? But he remains faithful. But
the calling, the gifts and calling of God are without repentance,
right? He gives you faith. You'll remain
faithful. Yeah, he will. Wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, redemption. Redemption. In Christ we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin. We're
in jail unless Christ comes and pays our way. Here's the irresistible grace
of God, this is what I'm talking about, this thing of gift of
faith and us believing and so forth. What fool! What fool! Say a man's in jail, solitary
confinement. He's got a life sentence. He's
been given a life sentence. And the man comes down to the
jailhouse and says, Some by the judge or the governor
has issued this day a pardon, a pardon to you. Now, you want out or not? Come
on. If that man knows where he's
at, oh, he'll run leaping, screaming out of that place. Besides, somebody
said, what jail do you know that's taking up borders? Huh? You know any jails that have
taken up borders? That man has to go out. When
the governor issues the proclamation, says, that man's free. Not free
to go if he pleases. He said, let him out. When the
law is paid on your behalf, when Christ came down here, Henry
Sword, and paid the ransom price for your redemption, baby, you
are redeemed. You're going to be saved. It's paid. It's not on your account
anymore, not on your record. It's clean, it's gone. God said,
I don't remember it no more. That means when you get to heaven,
when you get to heaven and walk in, you say, well, what about
that last sin I sinned? It's gone. God looks at Henry's
sword and said, boy, you're clean, you're righteous, you're holy.
Come on in. What about, it's gone. Why? Because Christ carried
it away. I've got a scapegoat in the wilderness,
put on his head, carried it out in the wilderness, deposited
it, and came back. Gone. No more. No more. And folks, this is what
I'm talking about. This is the good news. This is
the only thing that will give you peace and happiness and contentment
and joy as it's gone and nothing left to be done. There ain't
no good news anywhere else. And nobody's telling any good
news and nobody has any true peace and contentment and joy.
until they see this. They're all taken. They're what?
Taken away? Not left up to me. Christ, the amuse, the hope,
the glory. I have about eight other things.
Don't have time. He is the gospel. He is the gospel. Everybody who's seen His glory
and His beauty His infinite value has heard the good news. They heard the bad news. See,
that's where it's got to start. It's got to start there. Hopelessness.
Helplessness. Without God, without hope, without
strength. That's the reason we preach men
in the dust as beggars is one. That's the reason. Because this
book does it. It's throughout the book. It
has man on his face in the dust as a miserable grasshopper, worms. These are descriptions of man
in the Bible. Grasshoppers, worms, nothing, less than nothing, vanity,
from the sole of the foot to the top of the head, no sound.
This is the picture of man in the scripture. This is not Robert
Shuler's picture of man, is it? That's God's picture of man.
Now, who do we choose to believe? God's picture. Why? Because I
know that's the way I am. But the Bible has man in the
dust, and has God on the throne, and in grace and mercy, preaching
down in kindness and goodness, making him a son of God. That's the good news. That's
the good news. That's the good news. It's done. I hope God, in mercy and grace,
will give you the faith to believe Him. He has to. It's of Him. He has to do it. And if He does,
oh my soul, if He does, you'll be just like the Apostle Paul.
You'll say, I'm determined. I'm determined not to know Him.
I ain't going anywhere to church where they don't preach this
gospel. I'm determined not to know anything. I know the fella,
he's smart, he's got a B.D., a fiddle B.D. after his name.
But I'm not going anywhere. I'm determined not to know anything
among you save that message, Jesus Christ is crucified. That's
what I want to hear. Because it was good news when
I first heard it, and it's still good news. And I want to keep
hearing the good news. That other stuff, bad news, I
don't want that. Stand with me and I'll dismiss
this in prayer. Thank you.