Good evening and welcome. Before we sing our first song,
this is just on my heart and I want to share it with you.
Psalm 98, O sing unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done
marvelous things. I believe all of us that he's
revealed himself to can say amen to that. His right hand and his
holy arm hath gotten him the victory. The Lord hath made known
his salvation. His righteousness hath he openly
showed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered his mercy
and his truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the
earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise
unto the Lord, all the earth. Make a loud noise and rejoice
and sing praise. I hope that's what we can do
here tonight, sing praises to our Savior from our heart. Let's
stand together and sing Worship Him. We have come into this house. We have come into this house
and gathered in His name to worship Him. We have come into this house
and gathered in His name to worship Him. We have come into this house,
gathered in His name, to worship Christ the Lord. Worship Him, Christ the Lord. So forget about yourself and
concentrate on Him and worship Him. So forget about yourself
and concentrate on Him and worship Him. So forget about yourself
and concentrate on Him and worship Christ the Lord. Worship Him. Christ the Lord. So let's lift up holy faith.
So let's lift up holy faith and magnify His name and worship
Him. magnify his name and worship
him. So let's lift up holy faith and
magnify his name and worship Christ the Lord. Worship Him Christ the Lord He
is all my righteousness He is all my righteousness I stand
in Him complete and worship Him He is all my righteousness and worship Him. He is all my righteousness. I stand in Him complete and worship
Christ the Lord. Worship Him, Christ the Lord. Be seated. I want to read a couple verses
scriptures out of Galatians. We're so blessed to have three
dear preachers with us. Chris Cunningham from College
Grove. John Chapman from Spring Lake. Bethel Baptist Church in Billy
R. Geropoulos. What's the name of your place
down there? St. Pete Grace Church. St. Pete Grace Church. And I'm
just going to call him Billy R. Billy R. Geropoulos. You all get to hear
him tonight and get to meet him. And I'm very thankful that he
is able to come. Galatians 6 and verse 14. But God forbid that I should
glory, boast in, rejoice in, save in the cross, only in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified
unto me, and I unto the world. Three deaths there, Christ's
death, our death unto the world, and the world unto us. For in
Christ Jesus neither circumcision, availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature. And as many as walk according
to this rule, peace be on them in mercy and upon the Israel
of God." Let's pray. Our most blessed, gracious, glorious
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, We come into your holy
presence with great joy, thanksgiving, and praise. And we have come
here to worship you, to praise you, rejoice in you, and hear
your word preached by these dear men of God. Lord, I thank you
that you've allowed us this time to gather together. And Lord,
we want more than anything in our heart of hearts for you to
be exalted, you to be magnified, your grace to be preached, Christ
to be set before sinners as the only hope of salvation in this
world and the world to come. And Lord, as our dear preachers
come, God, anoint them, use them, bless them, give them the message
that we need to hear. And Lord, forgive us of everything
that's unlike you. And Lord, we bring our families,
Bring our children, grandchildren, husbands, wives, and we especially
bring those among us who are so sick. We bring them into your
holy presence, and we bless you and ask for your mercies to be
given to them for Christ's sake. God, meet with us. Please meet
with us as we've gathered to worship for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's sing hymn number 51 together.
Hymn number 51. Praise the Savior, ye who know
him, who can tell how much we owe him. Let us render to Him
all we are and have. Jesus is the name that charms
us, Trust in him he sings forever
He is faithful, changing never Neither force nor guile can sever
those He loves from Him. Keep us, Lord, O keep us, pleading
to Thyself and still believing till the hour of our receiving
Promise joys with thee Then we shall be where we would be Think
we shall be what we should be Things that are not now nor could
be Soon shall be Our first preacher tonight, we
call them speakers, you know, but preachers, is Pastor Chris
Cunningham. He pastors the College Grove
Church in College Grove, Tennessee. And I love him, appreciate his
message and his fellowship. You come on and preach for us. It's a blessing to be with you.
It's been a long time since I've seen many of you and it's a real
privilege to be with you this weekend. Coming to a Bible conference
like this, the Lord impressed on me this past week or two Thinking about what this is and
what we're doing and why we do it. Well, turn with me to 1 Thessalonians
2 and I'll show you what the Lord's put on my heart. Verse 13, 2 Thessalonians 2. Verse 13 for this cause also
thank we God without ceasing. Because when you received. The
word of God which you heard of us, you received it not. As the
word of men, but as it is in truth. The word of God. Which effectually also. Worketh in also which effectually
worketh also in you. that believe. The Lord impressed on me what
it is to come together and hear the word of God. I don't know
if we, if you're like me, I don't often realize what I'm
hearing. The word of God, as it is in
truth, the word of God, so few in this day are hearing the word
of God. And how can we not hear from
God? How are we going to make it without hearing from God? And this, you notice the words,
he says, when you received the word of God, which you heard
of us, you heard the word of God from a worm, from a, Do you understand what you're
reading, the Ethiopian Union? How can I accept some man should
guide me? You know, that's God saying that.
It's gonna take just some man. There were angels there that
appeared to those fellas, Cornelius and the Book of Acts, but the
angels didn't preach the gospel to them. He said, sin for old
Simon. Impetuous, self-righteous, proud
Simon. You heard the word of God of
us, and look, this whole chapter's about that. Look at verse one. Brethren, you know our entrance
unto you that it wasn't in vain. The word of God was not preached
to you in vain. God sent us for a reason. It's
never in vain, is it? The word of God is never in vain.
Paul said God always causes us to triumph. It's a win every
time the gospel's preached. Every time the Word of God goes
forth, that's a victory. And it's the savor of death to
some, it just is. But the savor of life unto life
to others. But it's always a win because
it's a sweet smelling savor of Christ unto God. That's what
we're doing here. The Word of God. You know, it's
the simplest things that we need to learn, isn't it? I don't need
to know more complicated truths. I just need to realize I'm hearing
from God. If you realize that tonight,
you might just listen. I might just perk up if God impresses
upon me that I'm hearing from God. It wasn't in vain. Verse two,
it came in spite of suffering. even after we had suffered before,
were shamefully entreated, and there was a lot of contention,
okay, that's gonna happen, we're sinners, we're wretches, but
we're gonna have to preach anyway, aren't we? We'll have to just
preach anyway. If you wait to preach or to worship
till everything's perfect, you're not ever gonna worship. He said in spite of all that,
We preached unto you the word of God, in spite of men's hatred
of it. In verse three, it came, how
else did it come? In honesty, with the best of
intentions, good intentions. It was not of deceit or of uncleanness,
nor in guile. We came to you honestly, just
wanting to tell you what God said. That's who you want to
hear from. Now here in verse 13, Paul's
still writing about the gospel came to these people, and as
we've said, in that we see the gospel, look at it, it's quick and powerful,
it's effectual, it's transforming, it's the person of Christ preached. See how he says, like in verse
eight, being affectionately desirous that we were willing to have
imparted unto you, not the gospel only, but also our own soul.
God's gonna always send you somebody to preach the gospel to you that
loves you. Every time. I'll send you pastors after my
own heart. I don't know how much we know
about the heart of God, but we know he loves his sheep, don't we?
He said, if you love me, feed my sheep. It's received. the way it is in truth. If when
you hear a gospel preacher, you hear it as though it's just a
man talking, then you haven't heard it the way it is in truth,
the way it really is. If it's just my opinion against
somebody else's, then you haven't heard it the
way it is. The truth about gospel preaching is that this is how
God speaks to sinners, like this right here. You're not gonna get an epiphany
in the night. If you're gonna get one, you're
gonna get one while one of God's preachers, when your faithful
pastor is standing up here proclaiming what God said, and God'll turn
the light on for you. He'll turn the light on for you.
We're not saying that there's anything special about us. There's
nothing special. God uses the foolish and the
weak and the despised and the things that are not. We're the
offscouring of the earth. I don't have to tell you that.
That's just the truth of it. This is simply saying that what
we preach is the word of God and the word should be understood
and acted upon as it is in truth, the word of God. I don't preach
suggestions because I'm not preaching my opinions. I don't preach opinions because
I don't preach my stances on doctrinal issues. Somebody said to me once, well,
you gotta take a stance on it. No, I don't. I'm just gonna preach
the gospel. Whatever stance the gospel is,
that's my stance on it. I don't have to take a stance
on something you came up with. that's not revealed, especially
if it's not revealed in the scriptures. I'm not taking a stance on that.
When God spoke from heaven, when he audibly spoke from heaven,
he don't do that a lot. He don't do that anymore at all.
But he audibly spoke from heaven. And he said, this is my son.
Hear him. Hear him. Now that word from
glory stands to this day. Every time the gospel is preached,
those words apply. When you come into this building
and you sit down in that pew, just think to yourself, this
is God saying, this is my son here. Hear him, hear him. Don't hear me if it's just me.
If they speak not according to the word of this prophecy, it's
because there's no light in them. We should hear this proclamation
from heaven in our hearts as we settle in to the church pew. This is my beloved son. This message is him. It's Christ. It's who he is.
It's what he did for sinners like us. It's what he accomplished
on Calvary, not what he attempted, not what he made available. He
don't try, he don't make available. He does and it's done. Hear ye him, not me, it's who
I preach. You've got to hear from him if
there's gonna be any good to it. Don't receive it as just a man
speaking. If you do, that's not how it
is. That's not how it truly is. That's not what it is. If the
man is speaking the gospel of Christ, then this is God's beloved
son. Because people who speak for
Christ, for God, speak of Christ. Determined to know nothing but
Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's how sinners receive the
gospel when God sends it. Notice that word in the text?
Effectually. Effectually. Boy, that's a good
word, isn't it? That's a good word. Well, most so-called preachers can only be received as the word
of men because that's what it is. Mark 7, 6, he answered and
said unto them, well hath Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites,
as it is written, this people honoreth me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me. And he's talking to the qualified doctors of divinity, the recognized
religious leaders and scholars of the day. You, in vain do you
worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. That's
the only one way you can receive that, and that's the word of
men, because that's what it is. In contrast to that, though,
here's the testimony of the true preacher of the gospel by the
grace of God. For you remember, brethren, our
labor, look at verse nine in our text, and travail, for laboring
night and day because we would not be chargeable unto any of
you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. Now you think
about that, the gospel of God. God strictly considered as God
may not be good news to you. You don't want to meet him apart
from a mediator. But the good news of God is that
there's a way. The way, the truth, and the life. The good news from God is there's
a place where he says, I'll meet with you there and commune with
you, not destroy you, not put you in hell where you belong.
I'll commune with you there. You know what it is? She was
playing it a while ago, the mercy seat. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where the blood shed.
That's where God receives sinners and communes with them there.
Paul says, we thank God for that. We thank God for that. You know
why? Because he did that. We thank God for that. He did
that for us, verse four, as we were allowed of God to be put
in trust with the gospel. He did that for us, and even
so we speak. Not as pleasing men, but God
which trieth our hearts. God's the one that's gotta do
something. If I please you, I might get you to do something. You
don't need to do something. The more you do, the more you
sin. We need for God to do something. So we please God. By his grace,
we please him. We preach what he said preach.
We preach him and his beloved son. We preach atonement. with
God for sin through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because he's the one we need
to do something. He's the one we need to bless.
We're not trying to get you to do anything. But we come up here
with the fond hope that God will do something for you and me.
May he do something for you and me. In verse 13, He did that
for us. He had to do something for us.
We were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel
that we preach to you. And you know what? He did that
for you too. Look at verse 13. For this cause also thank we
God without ceasing, because when you receive the word of
God, which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of
men. But as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually
worketh also in you that believe." He did that for us. He did that
for you. What's happening here? Us hearing
from God, us preaching the word of God and you hearing it. He
did that. Thank God for that. We thank
God for that. What a wonderful arrangement
this is. You ever think about that? What a wonderful arrangement.
God has blessed men to preach, and he's blessed us to believe
what is preached. And it is transforming. Look
at verse 12, that you would walk worthy of God who has called
you unto his kingdom and glory, that you'd be changed. You wouldn't
walk the same. You wouldn't be the same. You're
a new creation in Christ Jesus. We walk, consider the power of
that, the power of God in that we walk suitable to God. That's
what that word means, suitable to God. And that doesn't mean
that our walk measures up to God's holiness. You know what
that means? It means suitable to God. You think about what that means.
It means we walk before God as if he's God. Our walk is suitable. to who he is. That's grace. That's tremendous grace. That's
powerful, transforming grace. We don't measure up to God's
holiness, but by his grace, we walk as though he's God. Because we know he is by his
grace. Verse 13, we hear God's gospel preached to us as though
God himself were speaking to us. If you hear this gospel as
though God is speaking to you, as Paul said here, That's just
the truth of the matter. That's what he said. That's just
the way it is. But what a miracle, what a miracle
of grace that we could hear like that. Again, we don't need to
know deeper, more complicated things. We just simply need to
hear from God the plain, uncomplicated, You know, the simplicity that's
in Christ, you know what that is, that word, you look that
word up, that means all-inclusiveness. There's nothing complicated about
it. It's all Christ. It's all Christ. But we walk before God in a way
that's suitable to His sovereignty. We walk bowing to Him, don't
we? We walk in fear. You know, we say that the fear
of God is not being afraid of him. It's not being scared and
running from him like we did in the garden, and that's the
truth. But you know, there's a little bit of that fear in there, isn't
there? He said, I'll tell you who you need to be afraid of.
Not somebody that can kill your body and that's all they can
do. You be afraid of the one that can kill your body and put
you in hell where you belong. That's who you should fear. And
you know what he said right after that to his disciples? Fear not. Oh, I believe that's the gospel right
there, don't you? That's the gospel, fear not. But we do, we fear, we walk in
fear of him because not again like running and hiding, but in awe and reverence of him. We walk in a way suitable to
his infinite love for us. We don't have any idea how much
he loves us, do we? If we did, we'd never fret, would we? Things
would happen in the news that make us so mad now, we'd say,
ah, it's all right, it's fine. It's fine, whatever they wanna
do, it's fine. The Lord loves me so much that
he gave himself for me. We walk with a sense of His glory. We walk suitable unto Him who
is altogether lovely. We walk with some sense of His
worthiness. You know that's what worship
is? It's attributing worthiness unto our Savior, attributing
worthiness to Him. And I tell our folks back home
every once in a while, you know, we talk about, you know, religion's
all about numbers, how many showed up and how many showed up this
week. It's always gotta be more than last week, you know. And
it's all about the numbers. And we don't care about that.
But what we care about is people, souls. We do care about that. And you know, showing up for
the Lord's worship is not just a question of learning about
him. That ought to be enough, shouldn't it? It's a question
of honor. It's a question of honoring him,
isn't it? We come before him, we walk suitable
unto his honor. His honor, that's who he is,
his honor. That's how we refer to him in
our hearts. And his gray, suitable to his
gray. Somehow we know something about the grace of God, don't
we? How that he had mercy on us in spite, in spite. That's what this is. This word
effectual is one that we use now and then when speaking of
God and what he does. That's because he's God. Again,
it's not complicated. We use that word because he's
God. It just means old Jack Shanks. Some of y'all know my old pastor
Jack Shanks. from when I was in Texas, and
he used to say, effectual means it gets the job done. That's
a pretty good definition, isn't it? It gets the job done. That's God, that's the blood
of our Savior, that's everything about him. The word, when it's
received as the word of God, by his grace, And we know how
that happens. We're gonna read that here in
a minute. We know how that happens. That's not up to you. That's
not up to you. It wasn't up to Saul of Tarsus
that day when he heard from God and knew it was God. It wasn't
up to him. He didn't decide to do that. He didn't want anything
to do with that. Effectual, effective. When you
affect something with an A, It means that you altered it
in some way. You've had a hand in it. When
you effect something, that means you did it. That means you got
it done. You accomplished it. And that's
the word here. It's also, you know, it's the
same word in Ephesians 111. Listen to Ephesians 111. In whom
also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh. All things after the counsel
of his own will. That word worketh is effectual.
That's the only way he works. That's how he works. He doesn't
woo people. He doesn't try to convince people.
He doesn't tempt people. He doesn't coerce people. He
just does. He just causes it. What were
the chances there'd be light when he said let there be light?
And you know, that's the gospel. The one that commanded the light
to shine out of darkness. The one who said, let there be
light and there was light. That's the one that speaks in
our hearts when the word of God goes forth. That's what Paul
said, isn't it? He's the one that says, let there
be light and there's light in here. He has spoken to our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of his son. It's effectual, this is the confidence
with which we preach the gospel, isn't it, Donnie? We don't preach,
and look, our point of view is a little different from, you
know, God knows everything, that now, then, forever, he knows
the end from the beginning. We don't, so we hope that people
hear. There ain't none of that with
God. And it's good to preach that way, isn't it? To be able
to preach knowing This right here, Isaiah 55, 10, for as the
rain cometh down, this is how we preach. We don't forget this,
I pray, when we preach the gospel. As the rain cometh down and the
snow from heaven and returneth not thither, but watereth the
earth. It's not saying it doesn't return
thither, it does, but not until it waters the earth and maketh
it bring forth and bud, it causes life. And that it may give seed to
the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. How simple and clear that is.
It shall not return unto me void. It's gonna accomplish, it shall
accomplish that which I please. Isn't it good to preach like
that, Donnie, to preach knowing that? It's the word of God now. It's
not me, it's the word of God. It shall accomplish that which
I please and it shall prosper in the thing where to I send
it. That's why Paul said it's always a win. He always causes
us to triumph. This is the effectual nature
of the gospel that Paul speaks of in our text. Does God send
his word to you in order to save you? Then you'll be saved. Second
Corinthians 4.6, I just quoted, God who commandeth the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. You're not
gonna see God's glory without looking to Christ, are you? The
effectual nature of God's voice is seen in the first creation.
Let there be light. That was an effectual word from
God. So is this. So is this gospel. So is this
word when God speaks to your heart, look unto me and be ye
saved, he says. What did he say to Thomas? The one that said, let there
be light and there was light, he said to Thomas, be not faithless,
but believing. Thomas said, my Lord and my God. As God sent his gospel to you
this evening in order to comfort your heart, then you'll be comforted
like no other can, like no other's able to. You'll rest in him,
for here's his calling to you. Come unto me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden. You know, he sends out that call
of the lost, his lost sheep. But that's for us found sheep
too, isn't it? Are you laboring? Are you laboring
under a sense of your wretchedness? Are you looking to yourself and
not the Savior as we're so prone to do? Are you heavy laden? I'll
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart,
and you shall find rest unto your souls. You know, sometimes I get real
tired, and I wonder, why am I so tired? I haven't really done
anything physical in the last few days, but I'm just wore out.
And I realize my soul is tired. You ever get like that? My soul
is just tired. Well, again, that's for the lost.
Are you here tonight and you don't know the Savior? There's
just one resting place. There's just one resting place.
The Lord Jesus Christ is coming to me. Coming to me. And you'll find rest under your
souls. There's no other rest like that. Salvation is resting from all
of your vain works, from the bondage of the law, from your
laboring to please God by yourself, the going about to establish
their own righteousness. You know, there's nothing more
wearisome than that. That's making bricks without
any straw, isn't it, Donnie? Look into the Lord Jesus Christ
for righteousness. No condemnation to them which
are in you. No condemnation. Let's rest. That's still how peace comes,
by looking to Christ. That's how it'll come the first
time. I still can't find any anywhere else. Can you? Who believe
on him? Understanding that he holds you
in his almighty hand. Do you think about that? I hold
you in my hand and nobody can pluck you out. Understanding
that he worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
The one that loves you with an everlasting love is on the throne.
How's that for you? How's that working for you? This
is still my rest when I lay down my head at night. Where are you
gonna find any? Where are you gonna find me anywhere
else? I will both lay me down in peace and sleep. For thou,
Lord, only makest me to dwell in safety. The word itself is
effectual, and the word tells of the effectual God. You know,
the word effectual is the difference between false religion and the
gospel. That's it. Christ did what he came to do.
That's the difference, isn't it? That's the difference. He
didn't try anything. He didn't make anything available.
He came down here to save his sheep, and he did. Well, Chris,
am I one of his sheep? I don't know. Do you believe
on the Son of God? Do you believe on the Son of God? Paul speaks of false religious
people and describes them like this, traitors, heady, high-minded,
lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form
of godliness, but denying the power thereof. From such, turn
away. Denying the effectual power of
God. God's eternal purposes are effectual. I've got too much left to go
on with all of this. I don't want to wear you to night,
Listen to this, God's eternal purposes are all effectual. Everything's
happening exactly on time. Exactly the way he preordained
it. Exactly the way he purposed it.
I don't like the word plan that much with God because plans go
wrong, don't they? God don't really plan, he purposes,
doesn't he? He purposes things and they happen
exactly when and how and where and everything. exactly the way
he purposed them, but you know, here's the difference in the
gospel and false religion is that word effectual, isn't it?
Listen, Christ's sacrifice on Calvary is effectual. It's effectual,
it got the job done. I am the good shepherd and I
know my sheep and am known of mine as the father knoweth me,
even so know I the father and I lay down my life for the sheep. Jesus answered them, I told you
and you believe not the works that I do in my father's name.
They bear witness of me, but you believe not because you are
not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice. They hear it. They hear my voice. And they follow me. They follow
me and I give unto them eternal life. That's what we're talking
about. Not trying to get you to do anything. We just want God, if he'd do
something for us. I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. As our text shows, the gospel
call is effectual. The word of God, if it comes
to you that way, My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. That's what we just read. They follow me. It's effectual. It takes the effectual working
of God in you because there's nothing effectual about you.
We don't get the job done ever in any way. We've never gotten
the job done and we ain't never fixing to, are we? Jesus therefore
answered and said unto them murmur not among yourselves No man can
come to me except the father which has sent me draw him that
word means to take you from where you are and bring you to some
other place Where's where's God gonna draw us to no man cometh
unto me me Christ the Son of God As it is written in the prophets,
and they shall all be taught of God. Every man, therefore,
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me.
Effectual is the difference, isn't it? The effectual word
of God. How does God draw sinners? Look
what he said. They shall all be taught. Every
man that hath heard. That's what this is. The word
of God going forth teaching. What does God teach sinners?
The result of sinners learning from God is they come to Christ.
So that's what he teaches. May God make it happen. It doesn't
happen any other way but by the effectual working of the invincible
grace of God through the effectual word of the effectual Savior
and his effectual precious sin-cleansing blood. God save us. God save those that we love.
by your powerful grace. Amen. Yeah, God's word works. It works. Works every time it's used. Every
time it's used, it works. Thank you, Chris. Oh, that's
such a blessing. Take about five minutes. If you need to go to
the restroom, do that. When you come back, we'll have
a song. Chris is going to sing, and then Billy Argyropoulos is
going to bring us a message. So if you need to go to the restroom
while you need to, do about five minutes. th th th