request I entered once a home of care
where age and poverty were there yet peace and joy were there The lonely widow's wedding She
found the strength her trials to bear She told me Christ was
all Christ was all, all in all She told me Christ was all I stood beside her dying baby
lay a man with an 18-hood waiting for Jesus to call. I marked his smile, so sweet
as may, and as his spirit passed away, he whispered, Christ is
all. Christ is all, all in all, he
whispered. i saw the martyr at the stake
the flames could not his courage shake nor death his soul uphold i asked him whence his strength
was given he looked triumphantly to hell and he said I saw the gospel preacher go to
Africa's sand and green and snow to give the gospel call. Not home nor life he counted
dear, Its wants and perils He knew no fear, for He knew Christ
was all. Christ was all, all in all, He
knew that Christ was all. I dreamed that this world's time
had fled, and earth and sea gave up their dead, I dissolved it
all. Then I saw the church's ransomed
throng, and heard that very triumphant song. They were singing, Christ
is all. Christ is all, oh Lord. They were singing, Christ is
all. So come to Christ, oh come today
The Father, Son, and the Spirit say And the pride repeats the
call He will cleanse your guilty stains His love will soothe the
trying pains For Christ is all Christ is all, all in all Yes,
Christ is all in all Christ is all, all in all Yes, Christ is
all Turn to Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17. Now the story here in Acts 17
is very familiar to most of you. Paul at Mars Hill. But because
it perfectly depicts the day in which we live and die, we
believe that it bears repeating over and over again. This is
the story of the Apostle Paul preaching in the city of Athens
at a place called the Court of the Areopagus, or Mars Hill,
for ease of remembrance. Mars Hill. Athens, Greece, at
the time of this story, was a fairly thriving metropolis. At one time
in the past, it was truly a thriving place. This place was much like
some major city in the United States today. It had much to
offer. Athens contained buildings that
we see ruins of today, the Greek Parthenon, huge buildings. And this capital city of Greece
attracted many people from all over the world, many politicians
and artisans and actors and historians and philosophers and scientists
and theologians from all over the world. It was also a center
of Great was known as the center of great learning. Schools of
philosophy and theology and science were all throughout Athens. And
to this great worldly city comes this miserable little old evangelist
named Paul. He enters this city, huh? Based
upon the Scriptures, he must have been a miserable, puny little
fellow. He said in one place to the Corinthians
that they said he wrote a good letter, but his speech was contemptible
and his presence was base. He was a base-looking fellow.
Now, Paul had just left Silas and Timothy back in Berea. Look at verse 15. And when he
arrived in Athens, I believe because of what he saw, the way
he was moved with this city after walking around, touring the city,
he sent word back to Silas and Timothy. Verse fifteen, they
that conducted or accompanied Paul brought him to Athens and
they received a commandment of Paul unto Silas and Timothy.
He told them to go with all speed and get them and bring them back.
I told them, these people, to go tell Silas and Timothy to
come quick. I believe it was because of what
he, after walking around in this vast, huge city and seeing the
great need there, he said, I need help. Y'all come quick. Y'all
come quick. And, you know, you felt somewhat
the same way. Brother Henry says sometimes,
well, I wish you'd been down this station today. Some fella
came in Oh, I had time. I wish you'd have been there.
Some help need help. Well, verse 16. Now, while Paul
waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him when
he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. See, his spirit
was stirred within him. Like the apostle Paul, you and
I, when we see what goes on around us, troubled by it. Our hearts
are stirred within us. We feel many different emotions.
We're saddened. We're troubled. We're angry.
We're amazed. How could they believe this and
that and the other? Many different reactions that
we have. We feel the same way as we look
upon this pagan and idolatrous nation that we live in. Little old Rocky Mount. You know,
it's seemingly a little innocent little community in the hills
of Virginia. But it's far from being innocent.
This place is full of idolatry. See, that's an awfully hard word.
I know it is. But it's true. We went to the local Christmas
parade not too long ago. And here they parade these floats
and all this pageantry that goes before you, and all of these
floats with the names of various churches, so-called churches
on them, and all of their idolatry all over those things. Some fellow
dressed up like Jesus. You think of the audacity of
a man to play the part of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of the
pagans, you know what I'm saying, crosses and all of their silly
slogans. It's idolatry. That's all it is. Idolatry. You know, idolatry is everything
that lends itself to outward, fleshly worship. images, pictures,
statues, crosses, these huge edifices that we see throughout
the world, the United States, our city, crystal cathedrals
and things of this nature. It's idolatry. And I counsel anyone, if you visit
one of these large major cities such as Detroit or wherever,
a large major city, perhaps Roanoke, Sometime make it a point to go
into one of these large Catholic cathedrals. Just go in there
and look. And you'll see what I'm talking
about. It will just amaze you. You'll
be taken aback. You'll think, I didn't know this
sort of thing went on. I mean, it's out and out. Pagan
idolatrous statues. It's unbelievable. You just have
to see it. But we experience a little bit of that to some
degree everywhere. With all this pageantry and so
forth that goes on. Idolatry. Religious pageants
and parades and holidays, holy days. Idolatry. Ignorant religious superstition. That's what it is. That's what
it is. God is Spirit. And they that
worship Him must worship Him in Spirit. Right? Right. Well, look at verse 17. The Apostle
Paul, much like we like the Apostle Paul, are very moved and disturbed
by what we see that goes on. And it's getting worse. It's
just getting worse, isn't it there? It knows no bounds. The absurdity of what's going
on under the name of Christianity, it doesn't seem to know any bounds. And the Apostle Paul was moved
by this in verse 17. Therefore, he walked around where
he was looking at all these buildings and this and that and the other.
And therefore, he disputed in the synagogue. He went to the
synagogue with the Jews and disputed with anybody, argued, discussed,
preached, reasoned with whoever would hear him. Anybody that'd
hear him, he'd tell them what things he'd seen and heard. He'd
tell them what was on his heart. He'd tell them what he saw. He'd
call a spade a spade, you know. What we endeavor to do here,
I hope with the same spirit that the Apostle Paul does. But he
did. He disputed in the synagogue
and with the devout persons. There were some devoted people,
but they were devoted to idolatry. And in the market daily with
them that met him. And then, certain philosophers
of the Epicureans. Now, I looked this up, and these
fellows, Epicurean philosophers, it's amazing the similarity here. They were followers of a fellow
who was an ancient philosophy teacher there. His name was Epicurus. And they didn't believe in God.
They were atheistic, basically, in their beliefs. They did not
believe in God, that He, the Creator, created all of this.
But rather, they believed in evolution. And I looked this
up, and they literally believed in a Big Bang Theory. They did. They believed that atoms and
molecules and matter and so forth were floating around by some
big chance. some big event, they thought
it all came together. Would you go down and see if
that nursery door is closed, please? But these philosophers,
they believed much like the evolutionists of our day. They were basically
atheistic or agnostics, and they believed in a big bang theory.
Now, these fellows converged on Paul, and it says, the Stoics,
verse 18, they encountered Paul. They pounced on him, the Stoics.
Now, who were the Stoics? They were religious people. They
believed in God. They professed to believe in
one God, a Creator, but that He created not personally or
actually, but fate. They believed in scientific creation.
It's amazing the similarities here of what goes on today. And
they believed that happiness was in virtue, living right,
that if you lived a good life, God would reward you in the end. And to live a moral life, you'd
be rewarded for that. But they also believed in final
destruction of the world. Well, both of these people, these
various, these believers in these philosophies and religion, they
pounced on Paul. They pounced on him. And look
what they said about him, verse 18. They said, what's this babbler
going to say? Look at this miserable little
fellow. We'll teach him a thing or two.
What's this babbler, this bass fellow going to say? And others
some said, well, he's setting forth a strange guy. We've never
heard this before. This is strange. He's talking
something about sovereignty. And the election, this is strange,
new doctrine. Nobody teaches that around here.
Well, and he preaches some Lord, Jesus, that he's Lord, that he
rose, that he died, and he rose again, and he's seated at the
right hand of God, and he's got the keys of hell and death at
his side. This is, this is not, we don't
hear this. This is strange stuff here. But verse nineteen, they took
him and brought him under Areopagus, that is Mars Hill. And they said,
we don't like what you're saying, but we'll listen to it a little
more. They knew he was some kind of
evangelist and perhaps his reputation had preceded him and perhaps
they did know this man, the Apostle Paul. And they said, since we're,
you know, we're a democratic people and we'll hear you out. So you just come on down to the
church, since you're an evangelist, and maybe you'd bring some people
in anyway. That's some money. We're getting low in the budget.
You come down and you preach for us. Verse 19, we'll know
what this doctrine, we want to hear you out here, what you're
talking about. Verse 20, so they brought him. They said, you bring
certain strange things to our ears, and we'd know, therefore,
what these things mean. Well, verse 21, for the Athenians. and strangers, which were there
in Athens, they spent their time in nothing else but either to
tell or to hear some new thing. Boy, that's 1989 in there. Some new thing. People are much
the same today, just like this. The preaching of God's Word is
old-fashioned. It's out of date. The old, old
story is just that. It's too old for our modern society
that we live in. It's been replaced with new things,
you know. Gospel sings, testimony meetings,
miracle healing crusades, prophecy seminars, sharing sessions and
such delight. And somebody can get up and say,
Somebody like, I keep picking on him, but he deserves to be
picked on. Jimmy Swagger. Get up and say,
the Lord told me in a dream last night. He said, Jimmy, you're
my only prophet. You know how he does. Walks around,
prances around the stage. God told me last night. He told
me this. If this is the way it's going
to be, I'm going to bless your ministry. And God told me this. And let
me tell you what he said. And people just soak it up. Listen
to it. Tell it, Jimmy, tell it. But you let a fellow stand up,
Sunday after Sunday, and just say, turn to Romans chapter 8,
and let's look, let's go verse by verse through Romans 8. I'm
not telling you to turn there. I'm saying a fellow can do that. Say, let's look at Romans 8.
Let's go through this verse by verse and see what God has to
say. I don't believe that. I don't have that. That's the way it is, isn't that
the way it is? We don't want to hear that. We've heard that before. We know
what that means. It doesn't mean what it says. It doesn't mean
what you say it means. Let's go to something else. Let's
hear it. Let's see a vision. Let's see a miracle. And they
were just like this back then. But they brought Paul to the
courthouse auditorium. You're going to hear him out.
And look down here at verse 22. So then Paul stood in the midst
of Mars Hill, the court of the Areopagites, and he said, he
spoke, the crowd quieted down, and he said, You men of Athens,
people, I perceive that in all things
you're too superstitious. That wasn't much of a way to
start a meeting, that was. Well, basically what he really
said here, I looked it up, the word superstitious, and what
that says, what that meant is religious. You're too religious. I perceive that in all things
you're too religious. He said, I passed by and looked
at all your statues and your buildings and your pictures and
your monuments, and I see everybody going to church on Sunday. The
different ones rushing here, one rushing there, rushing all
different places, go to church, get there real quick. I see everywhere,
everybody looks and acts with it. I see that you're just two
religions. That's the whole problem. And based upon everything that
I perceive, it says in verse twenty-three, I passed by and
I beheld your devotions. I looked in your church houses,
I see what you're writing in the paper. I hear you talking
and I found, I found out that you don't know God. What does he say in there? Verse
23, I found an altar with this inscription, to the unknown God. And him whom you ignorantly worship,
I'm going to declare unto you this day. That which they call
heresy is just what I believe." And they started stirring. They started stirring. But he
said, verse 24, God made the world. Well, that right there
went against their beliefs from the very outset. God made the
world. personally, particularly according
to his divine purpose, he made it, just like he made it. He made the world and all things
therein. He's God. God is God. Not man, not Satan. God is God. If you believe in the Word, the
Name, Sovereign, Absolute, Controller and Ruler and Creator of all
things, you have to believe that there's one. God is God, and
He made this whole thing, everything, and all things there, He made
you, and you're in His hands. That's what He said. You're in
His hands, and He's Lord of heaven in the true sense of the word.
He answers to no one. He took counsel with no one.
He does things as He will, with whom He will, when He will, how
He will. He is Lord. He is Lord. It's just one. He
does things according to his will. Not your will, O Epicureans
and Stoics. You have no free will. That's
what he said. He said, God is Lord of heaven
and earth. He doeth as he will. Our God
is in the heavens. He has done whatsoever he will.
Verse 24. And he dwells not in temples
made with hands. God is a spirit. This is the basic understanding
of all worshiping. This is the foundation of it
all. Men are not going to worship God aright until they understand
this, will they? God's spirit. They that worship
Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. And He doesn't
dwell in temples made with hands. He's not confined to a building
or a day. He just doesn't sit around. He just doesn't see you on Sunday.
I said, he's everywhere. He's omnipresent. He's everywhere
always. He is the I am. That's what he
called his name. I am that I am. That I am I am. I am. He is. He that cometh to
God must believe he is. What? I am. Omnipresent everywhere
at the same time. Omnipotent. Omniscient. All-knowing. All-seeing. All-powerful. God. He's God. That's where we
start. We always start with that, with
Him. God is God. That's where Paul
started. And he doesn't dwell in temples
made with hands. Verse 25, neither is he worshipped with men's hands. God cannot be approached by the
flesh physically. Just because you draw near with
your mouth and your body and so forth, doesn't mean that God
has to hear you. God doesn't see as man sees it.
Man looks on the outward countenance. God looks on the heart. He's
not worshipped with men's hands. And you see today, in this present
generation, all of this nonsense going on. All of this, you see
some people, you know, they're trying their best to fake this
thing. Because the fellow up on the
podium, he's looking real good. And they're trying to look real
good too. You know, they're trying to look
the part. They're trying to go along with Him. They're faking
it. I will be at home watching the ball game. God's not worshipped
with your hands. Put your hands down and get on
your knees in the closet by yourself. God's not worshipped with men's
hands. He's not served. Look at that. He says, as though
He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all. He gives to all
life and breath. and all things. He doesn't need
me or you or anything, does he? Or anybody or anything we have
at all. God doesn't need it. God wants you now. God loves
you and He wants you. No, He doesn't. And that's what
the Apostle was dealing with, the same thing we deal with today,
wasn't it? God doesn't need anything from you, but oh, you need something
from Him. You need to be Your eyes open
and your ears open. This is exactly what this man
is saying right in the midst of this pack of wolves. He doesn't
need anything from you. He gives. He does this. He does that. He gives. He's
in charge. He gives to all life and breath
and all things. In verse 26, he says, And God
is made of one blood in all nations of men. to dwell on the face
of the earth. You see, God created, in the
beginning, one man. His name was Adam. And all men
came from that man's loins. And by one man, sin entered into
the world, and so death by sin ended all that sin. Wait a minute
now. You're talking about original sin, aren't you? Why, yes. That's
what it is. In Adam, we all died spiritually. That's what the Apostle Paul
is saying, made of one blood, all nations of men to dwell on
the face of the earth, verse 26, and he's determined the times
before appointed and the bounds of their habitation. See, by
one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, for
all have sinned, and condemnation has passed upon all men. The
soul that sinneth, it must surely die, and we've all sinned and
come short of the glory of God, and we're going to die. We're
under the judgment and wrath of the Holy God we've offended,
and we're going to die." Now, this is unpopular today, and
it was unpopular then. Nevertheless, the Apostle Paul
was bold to preach this. He said, God has determined our
bounds. We can't pass. There's a day
appointed for every man and every woman to die, and we can't pass
those That's fatalism. No, it's not. It's God's Word. That's what it is. Verse twenty-seven. Now, knowing this, they ought
to seek the Lord, shouldn't they? That's what he said in verse
twenty-seven. Knowing this, that you've offended a holy God, and
He's appointed unto you a day to die, and you can't pass it.
It's coming. It might be today, it might be
tomorrow. You've offended this holy God, you ought to be seeking
him, shouldn't you? You ought to be down on your knees. And
like I say, every time I stand in this pulpit, I want to preach
for a verdict. What verdict? Repent! The kingdom
of heaven is at hand. God is holy, we've offended him,
Christ is coming back to receive his people. You need to be one
of his people. I'm not going to take it for granted that everyone
knows this and believes this, although I believe most of you
do. But the Apostle Paul is saying
the same thing here. Men ought to be seeking the Lord,
shouldn't they? They ought to be seeking the
Lord. But what does the Scripture say? There's none that seeketh
after Him. None. Oh, the light and telling of
hearing of any new thing, but not seeking the Lord, you know,
the Word of God, and it's not interesting to them, really.
some new fangled thing. They ought to seek the Lord if
happily, by chance, and by God's sovereign pleasure. They might
feel after Him, stumble across Him, and find Him, though He's
not far from us. What he's saying here is that
today is a day of salvation. Today you'll hear His voice. Today, harden not your heart. Man ought to be crying out for
mercy, because salvation is very near. How near is it? Well, from
Rocky Mountain, Virginia, it's only about two miles out here
on Route 40 West, isn't it? It's in the newspaper every now
and then. It's here and there, whoever
you talk to. It's very near. I don't like that. They ought
to be missing a chip. Thank God He made us to listen
one day. Verse 28. Now in God we live and move and have
our being, as certain also of your own poets have said. They said we are also His offspring. A God in whose hands our breath
is and are all our ways. We've not glorified Him. We've
not thanked Him as we ought to. We've not praised Him as we should.
We're not worshiping Him aright, Paul said. They said most everyone
will admit that God is somewhat a ruler over all, but not in
every area, will they? Men need to see that he is sovereign,
he is Lord, not only over creation, but in salvation. Every area,
he's Lord, he's God. But most agree to some bit of
God being somewhat sovereign, and they agree to some extent
that God created man upon this earth in some likeness to him."
Now, verse 29, "'Well, forasmuch then as we are the offspring
of God,' if you'll admit this much,' he says, "'we ought not
to think that the Godheads like silver or gold or stone, graven
by art and man's images.'" In other words, if you think God
created man, that he is a powerful being, and he created us. You've
got to believe he's more powerful than we are, that we can't thwart
him, that we can't resist his will, that he's God. We're not God. Everyone will
insist upon their own sovereign rights, won't they, over their
home, over their family, or whatever. I have my rights. I can do what
I will with whom I will in my family, what I will, what I own.
Shall not I do with my own what I will? We all say that, don't
we? He says, if you think that we are like that, how much more
God? That's what he's saying. God's the one that created us.
Surely, surely he can do what he will with whom he will. Yes,
he can. And you have to believe that,
you know, we don't go around worshiping one another's picture.
and images and so forth of one another. We don't have busts
of one another in our house to look at and to worship and wear
symbols around our neck of the one we love. No, we love that
person in truth, in our heart, with our person. Right? Well,
how much more God? In verse 30, he says, The times
of this ignorant God went that. You know, in our day, if you
believe, If you believe in God as being the absolute creator
and controller, if you believe in the God of the Bible, who
he is, holy, just, sovereign, holy, above all, he's a spirit
that he must be worshiped in spirit and according to truth. If anybody believes that, like
the Apostle Paul is saying here, we ought not try to worship him
any other way. Should we, in our imaginations,
our thoughts, our form, or any form or ceremony at all, if we
believe in God as he is, we ought to try to approach him and worship
him according to his book, according to his way, according to his
gospel. No other way. And he says there in verse 30,
at the times of this ignorance, God winked at. You know, God
puts up with all men to a point. He put up with us to a point.
winked at, perhaps is, I don't know, perhaps not the proper
translation of that, I don't know. But God, He puts up with
all of us to a point, doesn't He? He has put up and still puts
up with all of us. His long-suffering, the long-suffering
of the Lord is salvation. And He puts up with all of us
and has put up with every human being upon the face of the earth.
But He says now, Verse 30, God commands all men everywhere to
repent. Christ has come, he has lived,
he died, he arose again, went back, he's seated, expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool, till the day that
God says, it's now, go back. Angels consume it all, Christ
go back, get the people and bring them home. Now's the time. Men think, men
are procrastinators, aren't they? I'll get, when I'm at a more
convenient season, I'll hear this, I'll believe this. Yeah,
I'd like to come down to your church, but we're having a special
this Sunday and I don't like to miss. Now is the time, isn't
it? It may not be in tomorrow. And
that's the reason that we should be more urgent with our, in our
community. or urgent with this thing, with
this message. Now is the time to repent, to bow, to worship. Most not thyself of tomorrow.
We don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. Today is the
day of salvation. The preaching of the gospel.
Harden not your heart, as the children of Israel did and were
destroyed for unbelief. But we need to say, listen up.
Believe. Look to Christ. For His coming
draws nigh. Me and everywhere to repent,
verse 31, because, and here's perhaps the key verse to it all,
look at it, verse 31, because God has appointed a day in the
which he will judge the world in righteousness, in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained. Like Noah, Noah was called by
God a preacher of righteousness. What kind of righteousness? Man's
righteousness? No. God's righteousness, the
righteousness of the coming Messiah. This is the gospel. This is the
gospel in a word. In two words, imputed righteousness. Substitution. That's the gospel.
And God's true preacher today is preaching righteousness, not
man's righteousness. God's righteousness, Christ's
righteousness, that a man named Jesus Christ is the only man
ever approved by God, and he's the only man God will accept.
And unless we're in that man, unless we're represented by that
man, unless that man died for us and imputed that righteousness
to us and took our sins upon him, unless that is the case,
we're under the condemnation and wrath of God. All the earth will be judged
according to whether or not they have this righteousness." This
is not splitting hairs at all. This is the gospel here. This
is what it's all about. We're in Christ or we're not.
We're in Him or out of Him. We're justified by the blood
and righteousness of Christ and faith in Him, or we're not. Or
we're not. There are two religions. The
beginning of the world, Cain and Abel, and there are two religions
now, grace or works, justified by what we do, what we bring
to God, accepted by God by that, or justified and accepted by
God by what Christ has brought, what God has provided. It's one
or the other, right? And he says here, verse 31, he
says, "...whereof he hath given assurance unto all men." in that
he raised him from the dead. He proved who Christ was, that
he accepted his life and his death, his work, by raising him
from the grave. That's what the resurrection
was all about. That's the reason he raised Christ,
proving that he was accepted, that our sins were actually put
away, that we have a good hope, a sure hope through grace for
all who come to God by him. And this is a summary of what
Paul's saying. He says, God is God. And it's the message today. It's still the message. God is
God. He's to be worshiped as such, in spirit and in truth.
Judgment's coming because of sin. God, sin, and Christ, our
only hope. It's a very basic message, isn't
it? But it's the gospel. It's the gospel. We need to forsake
all our religious superstitions and imaginations and all of our
pagan idolatry and worship God in spirit, in Christ, in the
truth, in the gospel. Believe it is. Come and bow before
him. That's what the Apostle Paul
preached there. Well, look at verse 32. Verse 32. And when they that
heard of the resurrection of the dead, that was the point
they didn't like. What? That was the point that
they didn't like. And some of them that heard that
message, oh boy, they raised up and mocked, said, Resurrection! Hogwash! We don't believe that. And he could preach all this
message and he'd get upon some point,
some point of rebellion such as election or God's predestination
or Christ's sufficient sacrifice that he truly paid for his people's
sin. And people will mock. They will
jeer. It will not happen. But, by His grace, by His mercy, look
at it, verse 32, others said, we'll hear this again. We'll
hear this again. And some of you, by God's mercy
and grace, you're made to say, by His mercy and grace now, to
the natural man, it's foolishness. I will not have that foolishness. But to those that God has revealed
his gospel to by his spirit. They say, by his mercy and by
his grace, they say, we won't hear this again. Or you go to church. Oh, sycophants. They're predestinarians, aren't
they? That's probably what they said
to Paul, or somebody that listened to Paul. Where do you go to church? We go down there where Paul preached.
Well, you're a resurrectionist, aren't you? Well, you don't believe
that. You're a predestinarian, aren't
you? Yeah, well, it says that in the Scripture, doesn't it?
Yeah, but no buts about it. That's what I am. Now, you believe
in that election, don't you? Well, that's what it says in
the Bible, doesn't it? Yeah, that's what I am then. We don't have that. You believe
in that sovereignty, don't you? Well, is God God? Is he? Or is man? Well, God, if somebody
asked this question, he said, or somebody gave this answer,
that if somebody asked you concerning an election, you say this, you
ask them this question. Say, answer from the Scriptures. Answer this for me from the Scriptures.
Did God choose you? Or did you choose God? Everyone who professes to be
a Christian, ask them that. Did God choose you? Did you choose
Him? From the Scriptures now, give me a Scripture verse for
it. What does the Scripture say? You did not choose me. I chose
you. Christ said, didn't He? OK, all
right, if he chose you, then when did he choose you? From
the scriptures, I don't want to hear what you say about it,
I want to hear what the Bible says. Well, I think it says somewhere,
according as he had chosen us in Christ. From the foundation
of the world, yeah, that's what it says. That's what it says. Well, then, if that's settled,
Answer this from the Bible. Why? Why did He choose you? Well, because I did this, I did
that. Now, wait a minute. From the Scriptures, what does
it say? Why did He choose you? According as it hath pleased
Him. He just decided to. Case closed. That's the God I believe in.
God we believe in here. We worship Him. It's a God we
rejoice in. That's a God of a sure salvation in Christ. Not a maybe. Not a hope so. Not a perhaps. Not a God's done all He can do
and now it's up to you. No, no, no. Uh-uh. The God of
the Scriptures, the same God that the Apostle Paul preached
on Mars Hill to those superstitious religious people, is the same
God and the same message that we preach to this generation. And I hope we can say it with
tear, not with gloating, over the fact that we believe. There's
no worse pride in the world than pride of grace. There's different
prides. There's pride of race, like the
white man's so proud of his race. Pride of face, our beauty, our
talents, our achievements. But the worst of all is pride
of grace. What do you have that you have
not received? Now, if you received it, why do you boast or glory
as if you had not received it? Oh, we shouldn't be proud of
this. But since God's done this for us, we ought to go out and
tell others about it, shouldn't we? Perhaps, hopefully, happily,
that they might seek after Him. And He opened their eyes and
ears like He did us. We weren't seeking. Well, Christ and Him crucified. God on the throne, man in the
dust, and Christ crucified is the message. It's our only hope. And to all of them that hear
us, that's what we say. Stand with me and I'll dismiss
this in prayer. Our Father, we consider ourselves most blessed people on earth. We really don't understand. It
really hasn't entered into our hearts fully just what we have,
how blessed we are, how highly favored we are among men. We
really don't understand it. We get a little glimpse, a little
bit of an understanding. But because you've opened our
eyes and opened our ears, open our hearts to receive the gospel,
to look to Christ and Him alone. Because of that, we're the most
blessed people on earth. We may not have much money. We
have all we need, though. We may not live in the finest
of homes, but we have just what we need. We have food and rain. Above all, You revealed, and
we glory in that we know who You are. We know God. We know Christ. We thank You. And our one desire is that we
might know Him better and worship Him as He ought to be worshipped.
There's such a tendency in us even to worship God with His
flesh. when our hearts are far from
Him. Lord, may we worship You in spirit and in truth this day,
tonight, every time we meet together, every day of the week. May we
rejoice and worship our God in spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus,
and never put any confidence in the flesh. Enable us to go
out, give us strength and courage to go out and tell others what
we know, who we know, in Christ's name. Amen.