Thank you. Let's open our Bibles
again this evening to the book of 2 Timothy chapter 3. Look
up at verse 13. 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 13,
but evil men and seducers. Seducers are those who pretend
to be what they are not. These are false prophets, men
who lie on God, they're imposters. They're not preachers of the
gospel. They're not men who stand and
speak for God. They're not men who exalt Christ
Jesus and Him crucified. They're not men who set forth
the grace of God, God's free and sovereign grace to sinners
through the beloved Savior, through His blood and His righteousness. These men are seducers. They seduce people to believe
their false gospel. There are a multitude of false
gospels. But there's just one true gospel.
Just one message of life. Just one message of salvation
for us poor unworthy sinners. And that's by the death of our
Savior. Our message is not a complicated
message. And having said that, certainly
we know it's the very wisdom of God behind the gospel. Because
God in his wisdom, he knew the only way to save the lost without
doing any damage to his holy character was through his son's
death. After all, the law said the soul
that sinned shall die. The guilty must die. There's
no question about it. God's law must be upheld and
sin is going to be punished. But God sent his son. He gave his life as the substitute. He was the substitute for his
people. There is behind the gospel infinite
wisdom. Oh, the wisdom of God. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? But as the message is conveyed
to us, it's a simple message. The Lord Jesus did all of the
work. That's not complicated, is it?
I instructed these three dear saints of God. Before I baptized
them, I went to them and I said, just let me do the work. You
don't do a thing. I said, it's just like salvation.
We don't do a thing. It's the work of God. Just enjoy
the grace of God. Oh, how delighted my soul is. that the message that I have
the privilege to deliver to you tonight is not a message that
is conditioned upon you in any way. Salvation is not a conditional
thing. If you will do thus and so, then
God will do thus and so. No, it's a message of it's done. It's done. Our Savior, the beloved
Savior of sinners, God's appointed substitute for His people, He
gave His life. He sacrificed Himself. Divine justice dealt severely
with our Savior in a just and righteous way. And the result
is, you and I are saved freely. Nothing required of us. And even
the faith to believe Him, God gives us that. God's taking care
of everything in His provision of grace, in the covenant of
grace. So it is, back behind this salvation
is infinite wisdom, but it's a message that I set before you
tonight as clearly and as simply as I can do that salvation's
all in Christ Jesus. It's not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy, He has saved us. He has saved us. But these seducers,
they don't preach the gospel. They preach another gospel. And
it can be a gospel of baptismal regeneration. A gospel of decisional
regeneration. It can be a gospel of do the
best you can or the gospel of keep the law, but all of those
gospels are false gospels. In fact, the Apostle Paul says
in the book of Galatians chapter 1, he said they're another gospel. Another gospel. They perverted
the gospel. Whenever you add anything to
the grace of God, whenever you add anything to the work of our
Lord Jesus Christ, whenever you must contribute works or your
tears or your baptism or even your faith to make His work full
and whole and complete, you perverted the gospel. You have perverted
the gospel. The gospel message is not sin
or do. The gospel message is the declaration
of what God in Christ Jesus has already finished. It's a finished
work and if we could enter into that, oh, what rest we would
have for our poor souls. Oh, what a blessed hope we would
have by grace of a future of everlasting happiness based solely
on the obedience of another. Even our Savior. These seducers,
they wax, they increase worse and worse. Deceiving. Deceiving means leading astray. They lead people astray. That's
an awful thing. That's an awful thing to lead
somebody astray. Lead somebody down the wrong
road. Now wouldn't it be awful of you
if somebody passed by your house and they stopped yous out working
in the yard and they said, how do I get to such and such a place? And you sent them down another
road. Wouldn't that be awful of you? Why, it would be terrible.
You wouldn't think about doing that. But these false prophets,
they are people who are sincere and I know they are not born
of God. but they want directions, or
so they say, and here's a false prophet and he says, here's what
you do, go into the baptismal pool and wash your sins away.
That's leading somebody astray. That's taking somebody down the
wrong road. Listen, there's one road to glory. There's one way of grace. There's
one way to God. There's one way to salvation.
And our Lord Jesus Christ said, I am the way. He said, I am the
door. One door. There is one door. And by me if any man enter in,
he shall go in and out and find pasture. One way, one door, one
Savior, one salvation, one gospel. One gospel. But these are deceivers. Now in light of the fact there
are so many deceivers out there, What does the Apostle Paul admonish
Timothy to do in verse 14? He says, but, now here's instructions
for you Timothy, you just continue thou in the things which you've
learned and been assured of. You just stick with the old gospel. You know, false religion, Jim,
they got so much to offer. Yeah, they do. They got a lot
of activities. They got a lot of stuff going
on. But let's just continue in the things that you've learned
and you've been assured of. We don't want anything new. There
are a lot of attractions out there. There are a lot of enticements
out there that modern religion, that false religion will offer
you. And they'll get you involved
in their programs, get you involved in their churches. They'll keep
you busy every night of the week. But as the apostle said to Timothy,
so I say to you, continue thou in the things that you've learned.
And you've been assured of, don't fall for these deceivers, don't
fall for these imposters. Oh, but they have contemporary
music and they have so much excitement over there, but they don't have
life. Their message is a message of
death. And I make this accusation, I
bring forth this accusation against all of the churches in this area
that I'm acquainted with of other denominations and even Baptist
denominations all around us. If they don't preach the grace
of God in Jesus Christ, they're guilty of leading people astray. Well, what are we going to do?
We've got to just continue doing what we've been doing. They say,
don't you think we ought to have some new programs or something? No! No! We don't want anything
new. If it's new, it isn't true. And
if it's true, it isn't new. Just continue the old paths. That's what Jeremiah said. The
old paths. We say, well, that's the old
time religion. Well, it's good for the saints back yonder. It's
good for the saints today too. I want some new music. I like
the songs that the saints of God have been singing for a long,
long time. And you can have most of the
contemporary stuff. They call it gospel singing.
There's no gospel in most of it. We're very selective in what
we sing here. I pick out the hymns myself.
So if you find difficulty in the hymns that are sung, you
may approach me. Because I'm the one that picks
them out and I'm very particular. I'm very picky about what we
sing. Lest we preach the gospel on
the one hand and then sing our Minionism free will junk on the
other hand. Our song books, they've got a
lot of good hymns in it, but I tell you, our song book has
got a lot of junk in it too. We want to sing it, we just stick
to the old pass. To the old pass. He said, knowing
of whom you've learned them, who taught you this? And he says
in verse 15 that even from a child, even from a child, thou hast
known the holy scriptures. which are able to make thee wise
unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Our
brother read to us from 2 Peter chapter 1, the Holy Scriptures,
all of the prophets, they wrote as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost. That's a more sure word of prophecy. We've got something more sure
than even the eyewitness account of Peter, James, and John of
our Lord's mount of transfiguration, when He transfigured Himself
before them. Well, what do you have that's
more sure than that? We have the Word of God. And
that's all we need. The Word of God is all we need.
And He goes on to say, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable. It's profitable for doctrine,
for reproof. What's reproof? That's to correct
the errors. And for correction, that personal
correction, we need correcting as believers. The Word of God
corrects us. The Word of God chastises us.
It rebukes us, and if we need to be rebuked, then the Word
of God will do that. For instruction in righteousness. This book gives us instructions
in righteousness. You want to be righteous? After
all, that's the standard of the judgment, isn't it? God's going
to judge every man. He's going to judge all of us
by that man, Christ Jesus, and the standard is this, absolute
righteousness. I want to be righteous. I'm not
talking about doing the best you can. I want to be righteous.
Well, this book gives us instruction in righteousness. That the man
of God may be perfect. That is, have everything he needs.
And in Christ Jesus you have everything you need. Thirdly,
furnished unto all good works, those good works which God has
before ordained, that we should walk in them. So he says in chapter
4, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ
who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in
his kingdom Here's what you do, Timothy. You preach the Word. Just preach the Word. While all
of these guys are preaching all of their false doctrine, preaching
their junk, you stick to the Word. Preach the Word. Be instant. You know what that
word instant means? Be urgent and earnest. This is a day that calls for
urgency. This is an urgent matter. This
is not something to be taken lightly. You better perk up your
ears. This is an urgent message from
God Himself. And it's delivered in earnestness. Preach the Word. Be instant.
Be urgent and earnest. In season and out of season.
When people want to hear and when they don't want to hear.
and you reprove and rebuke and exhort with all long-suffering
and doctrine. Don't preach the lies of the
harlot. This morning we read to you from
the book of Proverbs, first of all in chapter 6 and then again
in chapter 7 about the harlot of false religion. Don't preach
the lies of the harlot. Oh, they'll get you a crowd,
but it's a deadly message. The message of the harlot is
always filled with the works of man, and the will of man,
and the worth of man. I guarantee you. You listen to
the message of the harlot. Listen to the message of false
religion. They always make salvation conditioned
upon the sinner. We're talking about the worth
of the Word of God. Both the written Word of God,
God's truth, and the incarnate Word of God, Christ Jesus. Think
of this, my friends. The Apostle Paul told Timothy,
preach the Word. We have God's Word in its entirety. What a blessing! We have God's
Word in its entirety. God has given us everything we
need. You know the Lord said over in
Deuteronomy, He said the secret things of the Lord belong to
Him. But the revealed things belong
to us and to our children. I know there are people who love
to delve into, dig into, dive into the mysterious, dark things
that God hadn't given us much information about. Listen, God's
given us so much information in this book that is very clearly
set before us. We've got enough to occupy our
times for several lifetimes, don't we? What God has written
right here. Oh God, give me understanding
of this book. I was reading something the other
day, This guy said something to the effect of, I wish I could
read some of the other writings of the apostles. If there were
other letters that they wrote, and I expect there was some other
correspondence by the apostles, I would suppose so, as they wrote
letters to family members or whatnot. This particular writer
said, I'd love to read the other things that they wrote. Why? Why? We have everything that
they wrote that God gave them right here in this book. The
other things that they wrote, they weren't inspired. The other
things that they wrote were just the writings of men. This is
not the writings of men. This is the Word of God. We don't
need anything else. We don't want anything else.
We don't bow to anything else. We bow to this book and this
book only. He says preach the Word. And
isn't it an unspeakable mercy that God raises up man to set
forth His Word? That's an unspeakable mercy.
And what a mercy it is that us unworthy poor sinners were drawn
by the Spirit of God to hear the Word proclaimed. It's a mercy
that God raises up men to set forth the gospel, and then it's
a mercy of God that He draws us to hear the man preach God's
message. How many places are there where
there's nobody to speak the Word of Life? For thousands upon thousands
of people, yea, millions of people, sit in spiritual darkness in
the shadow of death. There's nobody to tell them the
truth. Look with me in the book of Acts
chapter 16. Acts chapter 16. It's a great mercy
that God sends us His gospel. Acts chapter 16. And I say it's a great mercy
because He didn't have to. He didn't have to send you a
preacher. He didn't have to send me a preacher. He didn't have
to send me the message of grace. Look in Acts chapter 16, look
at verse 6. And here's the Apostle Paul and
Timothy, by the way, is with him, and Silas. Now when they
had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they went
there preaching the gospel, and were forbidden. of the Holy Ghost
to preach the Word in Asia. They were forbidden. God communicated
to them in some way, communicated to the Apostle Paul, and He said,
don't go over there and preach the Gospel. The word forbidden
means prevented or denied or restrained. The Spirit of God
restrained them and would not let them go and preach the gospel
in those areas. Now listen, they had a good desire. Because they got a great message.
All they wanted to do was just go preach the gospel to the people
in Asia. Well, that's a wonderful desire.
And the Spirit of God said, no. No. Now listen, where there's
no gospel, It's not going to be any conversions now. Because the gospel is light. Those people will remain in darkness. Is that right? That's right,
isn't it? And they want it to go. And that's a good desire.
Here's Timothy and Paul and Silas, and they're ready to go preach
the gospel. We want to go into Asia and preach.
And the Spirit of God said, not so fast. Not so fast. They were forbidden
to go. It was an honorable desire to
preach the word in Asia, but the Spirit of God wouldn't permit
them. And if God didn't permit them to preach the gospel in
that area where they wanted to preach, we can reach the following
conclusion. There were, at that time anyway,
none of God's elect in that area. Or if there were the elect of
God in that area, it wasn't the time to preach the gospel to
them. They'd hear it later. After all, the scripture says
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. But how shall they believe on
him in whom they've not heard? How shall they hear without a
preacher? And if God will not allow His
servants to go into an area and proclaim the gospel of salvation
by grace through the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
then we can draw this conclusion. There's nobody there to be saved. God leaves them in heathen darkness. But on the other hand, where
the Lord sends forth His Word, There is great cause for encouragement
and comfort. Because that's a good indication.
There's some of His lost sheep there. So we read, let's just
keep on reading. In verse 7, after they were come
to Missia, they assayed, they attempted to go into Bithynia.
But the Spirit suffered them not. He wouldn't permit them
to go there either. Again, they had a noble desire. All they
want to do is preach the gospel to these folks. They're in the
heathen darkness, wrapped up in idolatry. Let's go over there
and preach to them. The Lord said, no, no. So verse 8, they passing by,
miss you, passing by. Passed by. They came down to
Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul
in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia
and prayed saying, come over into Macedonia and help us. And
after we had seen the vision immediately, we endeavored to
go into Macedonia. Luke, this is where Luke joins
him. So here's the four of them. We endeavored to go into Macedonia
assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach
the gospel unto them. He called us to preach the gospel
there. We wanted to go this area and God said, no you can't preach
over there. Then they wanted to go to another area and God
said, no you can't preach over there. And then they wanted to
go now into Philippi because in a vision this guy from Macedonia
said, come over and help us. They said, well this is good
news because the Lord wants us to preach over there. So we'll
go over there and preach. So loosing from Troas, verse
11, we came with a straight course to Samothracea, the next day
to Neapolis. And from thence to Philippi,
which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia in a colony.
And we were in that city abiding a certain day, we were just waiting.
And on the Sabbath day we went down by the Went out of the city
by Riverside where prayer was wont to be made and we sat down
and spake unto the women which resorted thither. They wanted
to go into Asia and preach to multitudes. The Lord said no. They wanted to go into another
area and preach to all the folks over there. The Lord said no.
You go over here to Philippi. And they're there a few days
and on the Sabbath day they go down there and there's a few
women gathered by the river. The Lord said, this is where
you preach. This is where the Word's to go
forth. And there's a certain woman there,
verse 14, named Lydia. Lydia. Her name was written down
in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world.
The Savior redeemed her. She's an object of God's everlasting
love. And this is the time in which
the Spirit of God is going to shed the love of God abroad in
her heart. This is the time when the Lord
is going to pass by her and say, live! Live! This is when He's
going to spread His skirt over her and make her beautiful and
wash her in the blood of the Lamb of God and she's going to
become a believer. A certain woman named Lydia Celera
Purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, she heard,
she heard, the word us is inserted, she heard. She didn't just hear
the preaching of a man, she heard in her heart. Why? Because the
Lord opened her heart. Whose heart the Lord opened that
she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. No,
don't go into that area and preach. No, you can't go over there and
preach either. You'll go over here and preach. See those women
down there gathered by the riverside? Start preaching to them. And
as they preached, God opened the heart of a woman. And then
there's a Philippian jailer there in that area too. He's one of
God's elect. Listen, when the Lord sends His
servant to preach the gospel, That's a pretty good indication.
Pretty good reason for encouragement. Something good is going to happen.
Something good is going to happen. But nothing good is going to
happen if they don't hear the preaching of the gospel. If God
doesn't send forth His Word, that means He doesn't intend
to do anything there. Because He sends His mercy where
He will. He sends His preachers where
He will. Preach the Word. So the command
is just preach the Word. Preach the Word. Look over in,
look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. What did
he say, Timothy? Preach the Word. Just preach
the Word, Timothy. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
4. And by the way, you can go through the book of Acts and
over and over again you will read that the servants of the
Lord were sent to preach the Word of God. 2 Corinthians chapter
4 verse 3. If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to them that are lost. In whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But understand this, we have
this treasure, oh the gospel is such a treasure, Such a treasure,
more valuable than silver or gold. I'll tell you what we have
here this evening in having the gospel of God's free and sovereign
grace. We are the wealthiest people
on this earth. Oh, how rich we are. And they
are the poorest of the poor who don't have the gospel of Christ.
They're just absolutely poor. What a treasure we have. What
a treasure. But understand it, Paul writes
as a preacher of the gospel, he says we have this treasure
in earthen vessels. That the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us. We have this treasure. The man
who speaks to you tonight, I'm just a clay jar. That's what
this means right here. earthen vessel, I'm just a clay
jar. But the lowliness of the vessel,
and the feebleness of the vessel, and the sinfulness of the vessel,
and the common appearance of the vessel does not detract from
the treasure which He sets before you tonight. You know, in a couple of weeks,
we'll have our Bible conference. I'm so looking forward to it.
We're going to have a different schedule than you're accustomed
to having. Because on the Lord's Day, we'll
have a 10 o'clock worship service, and then we'll have an 11 o'clock
worship service. And then we'll have a big meal
in the back afterwards. And then that'll be it. You can
stay back there and fellowship with the preachers, fellowship
with one another as long as you want. but we'll have lots of
food, and I'm looking forward to tasting your food. I know
there's kind of a set menu, but I'm also assuming that you ladies
will bring your favorite dishes, and I'm so anxious to try them
out. I'd love to do that. I'd love to do a taste test,
because that will be after I have my blood work for my sugar, so
I'll be able to eat anything then. I'll be free. I'll be free. You're not going to be eating
off China. You're not going to be drinking from crystal glasses. And the tableware, the knives,
forks, and spoons, be careful because they'll break because
they're plastic. But that won't take away from
the quality of the food that we're going to eat. It's the
food that we're after. And you better watch out. Because
we're going to have fried chicken and all that. You better be careful. Don't get in front of me. I'm
looking forward to that. And I don't care what kind of
plate I have to eat off of, styrofoam plate, paper plate. That doesn't
matter to me. I'm after what's on the plate.
See, that's the way it is with the gospel. See, I'm just like
a plastic spoon and fork and knife and paper plate and a styrofoam
cup. That's all I am. And I can be
replaced. I can be replaced. But the treasure,
the treasure, oh, that's what's valuable. The food, the spiritual
food that comes forth from the clay jar, the clay pot. Oh, what a treasure. I tell you,
I'm not much, but oh, let me tell you about my master. I'm
like that servant of Abraham who sent out to his servant,
and the servant was looking for a bride for Isaac. That servant
wasn't much, but oh boy, he sure did brag on Isaac. He said, let
me tell you about my master. And that's the way it is with
every preacher of the Gospel. in and of themselves as just
another clay pot. That's all we are. But we do
have a treasure to tell you about. We got somebody to talk about
the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel remains a treasure
even though it's set forth by earthen vessel. And really, I
was saying about this this week, really it's a great mercy of
the Lord that He sends His gospel by way of earthen vessels. Because
had this gospel come to us from the lips of angels, angelic beings,
let's just say God sent an angel. Now I know every preacher of
the gospel is likened to an angel, but I'm talking about a heavenly
being with the wings and all. If God sent His Gospel and it
was proclaimed by an angel, why, we'd be in such awe of the One
who spoke to us. Surely He can't be addressing
me in such a heavenly being. But you know, when God raises
up just another earthen vessel just like you are, another sinner
saved by grace. And you see the man standing
behind the pulpit and you know, hey, he's a fallen son of Adam
too. He's a sinner just like I am.
And look what God's done for him. Look how God has taught
him the gospel of grace. Maybe there's hope for me if
God can save a fellow like that behind the pulpit. He can save
me too. See, that's good news that God
sends a gospel by way of an earthen vessel like this old piece of
trash in front of you tonight. Therefore, the command is preach
the Word. Just preach the Word. And when
God sends forth His preacher, it's a good indication something's
going to happen. I know some of the prophets in
the Old Testament, you know, the Lord said, I'm going to send
you forth to preach and they're not going to hear you. Let me
show you a prophet. Go over to the book of Jonah.
Look at the book of Jonah. The book of Jonah, chapter 3. Jonah, chapter 3. We know that
God sent forth Jonah to preach His word to the people of Nineveh. And we know that Jonah didn't
want to go. But the Lord has His ways of
persuading a man to do what He ordained for him to do. And so
we know that Jonah got back on track. Well, let me just read a couple
of verses out of chapter 2, verses 9 and 10. Jonah, from the belly
of the great fish, he said, I will sacrifice unto thee with the
voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. If
I'm to get out of here, God's got to get me out. And the Lord
spake unto the fish, and it vomited Jonah upon the dry land. Now
verse 1 of chapter 3. The word of the Lord came unto
Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great
city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. I'm going to give you the message
to proclaim. It's not your message, this doesn't
originate with you. You say what I tell you to say. So Jonah goes and he preaches
the preaching that God had given him. Now keep this in mind. The people of Nineveh know nothing,
they know nothing about God's communication to Jonah. They
don't know that the God of heaven and earth has an issue with them.
What is the issue? Go back into chapter 1. Look
at the first two verses. Now the word of the Lord came
unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh,
that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has
come up before me. They don't realize this. They
are in ignorance of this. They don't know anything about
this. They don't know who the God of
the Bible is. They had their little man-made
gods that they worshipped. Did God have to send them a preacher? No. Did He have to warn them? Did
God have to send them a preacher who would warn them of judgment? Did God have to send them a preacher
who would tell them, the God of heaven and earth has an issue
with you folks, and He's going to wipe you off the face of this
globe? No. He didn't have to. But the
fact that God sent them a preacher, the preacher who had the message
of God, that's a good indication God's going to show some mercy.
God's going to show some mercy. He could have left them to themselves.
Now look at chapter 3 again, verse 3. So Jonah arose, and
he went into Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now
Nineveh was an exceeding great city, a three days journey. And
Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he
started crying, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
So the people of Nineveh, they believed God. They proclaimed a fast. They
put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of
them. For the Word came into the king. The Word? The Word? Whose Word? God's Word. God's Word came into the king
of Nineveh and he arose from his throne. He laid His robe
from Him, He covered Himself with sackcloth and satin ashes
and He caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh
by the decree of the King and His nobles saying, let neither
man nor beast, herd nor flock taste anything. Let them not
feed nor drink water, but let man and beast be covered with
sackcloth and cry mightily unto God. Yea, let them turn every
one from his evil way and from the violence that is in their
hands." Who can tell? Maybe God will show mercy. Maybe
God will spare our city. Maybe He will turn and repent.
Maybe God won't go through with this. Maybe he'll turn from his
fierce anger and we perish not. God had already determined that
there would be the repentance of this king and of the people. Now, it's a temporary repentance. We know that. It's a temporary
repentance. But here's Jonah, just a clay
pot. Who would ever think? Surely
nobody would conceive this idea that this man Jonah had such
power in himself that he could cause a king and the people of
the whole city to bow down to God and beg for mercy. Jonah didn't do that. All Jonah
did was deliver the message. which shows that God uses preachers
to deliver His Word. And it shows that the power is
not in the vessel that delivers the Word. The power is in the
Word itself. The Lord's directions were specific. You go and preach unto it the
preaching that I bid thee. I don't come before you having
selected and chosen, well, I think I'll preach this. I've already
got the message. And no matter where I start in
the Word of God, it's always leading back to Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. We don't pick and choose. This
is God's Word. It's God's Word. We just deliver
it. We deliver it to people as they are. Let me give you one
other example of this. Look at Acts the second chapter.
What I'm saying is we just preached the Word. What did Jonah do? He just preached the Word. He
didn't have any power over the king. He didn't have any power
over the people. In fact, he didn't even want
God to show them any mercy. And you know that from having
studied the book. And he was upset that God did spare them.
He was just a clay pot. He was just a clay jar. And he
wasn't real happy about the fact that God spared them the judgment
that they deserved. It wasn't the jar. It wasn't
the vessel. It's the Word that he preached.
That's where the power is. And here in Acts chapter 2, here's
Simon Peter. Why, this is a man who just a
few days before this, he denied the Savior three times. Even
before young maiden. He just cowered down it. I don't
know it. Here he is preaching. Listen to what he preaches. Look
at verse 22. Acts 2, 22. You men of Israel, hear these
words, Acts 2.22. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you, by miracles and wonders and signs which God
did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know him
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands ye have crucified and slain,
whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death. Loosed
him from that travail. His soul travailed and in that
travail, in those birth pains, he redeemed his people. He reconciled
his people back to God. That's what Peter is preaching.
He said that it wasn't possible that death should hold him. And
so I'll jump down for the sake of time. He says, look at verse
33. Therefore concerning this Jesus whom God raised up, verse
33, therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having
received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed
forth this which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended
into the heavens, but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my
Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom
ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." He's preaching to
thousands of people. One man, just an old clay jar,
preaching the Word of the Lord, and something happens. Verse
37, now when they heard this, when they heard, once again they
heard, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and
to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall
we do? We've killed the Lord of glory,
what shall we do? Our hands are dripping with His
blood, what shall we do?" And Peter said, repent, repent and
be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for
or because of, that word for is because of, the remission
of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is unto you, and to your children, to all
them that are afar off. Even this promise is to as many
as the Lord our God shall call." And with many other words did
he testify and exhort saying, save yourselves from this untoward,
this crooked, the word is scoliosis, that's where we get our English
word scoliosis from this original word, from this crooked but lost
religious generation. And they that gladly received
his word were baptized." Now I ask you, was the power in the
preacher? No. He's just a man. He's just a man. And he's already
shown he's a weak, feeble, sinful man. Oh, but here's the commission
from God. Preach the word. Preach the word. And he did. And look what happens. Look what happens. Three thousand
people converted. What a miracle. So this is what
we do here. This is what we are all about.
Just preach the Word. Just turn her loose. It will
do its work in the thing where unto God sends it.