about this gospel. I'm gonna
tell you something about it. I hope I can just deal with five
little things. I could stay with my introduction
and preach that. Should have probably done that.
Should have left well enough alone. But I'll tell you something about
this gospel that gives God all the glory. You know why it gives
him all the glory? Because it originated with him. You tell me something that didn't
originate with God other than sin. Creation originated with
God. The heavens, the stars, the sun,
the moon, everything originated with God. Man originated with
God. God said, let us make man in
our own image. And he took some clay, the mud
out of the dirt, and he made it and put it together. And he
breathed into that man's nostrils and he became a living soul.
And everything starts with God. When you start with the gospel,
the gospel always says, God who has saved us. Brethren, we're
always bound to thank God for you, who hath chosen you from
the beginning. In the beginning, God. And you'll
never think the gospel starts with God. If it ever starts with
man, get as far away from it as fast as you possibly can.
Huh? And I tell you, it's a gospel
that brings the praise to the glory of His grace. You see,
God is the one who originated this gospel. And it originated
with God before the world ever began. Do you know that? Christ stood as the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. And I tell you, this business
of everything originating with God, everything about us originates
with God. The only thing that we've got
that we can call our own in this world is our sin. That's the
only original thing we got. People talk about original sin.
I'm an original sinner. And if God's, my salvation hadn't
originated with Him, I'd be no hope for me or no hope for you.
And God didn't originate this sin, I mean this salvation, and
originate this thing just with, he said, well, I seen Adam made
a mess out of things. I'll tell you what I need to
do. I need to figure out some way to get out of this mess.
I need to figure out some way to undo this. Well, what can
I possibly do to change this? That's what most people think,
that God deals with things one day at a time, one situation
at a time. If you know God, you know that's
not, that can't be that way. It can't be that way. Look over
here at 2 Timothy chapter 2, chapter 1 in verse 9. This is what I'm talking about.
Oh, there's God. Who is He? He's holy. He's righteous. He's omnipotent.
But look what it says there in verse 9. It's all about the power of God. who
hath saved us. And this is what, and I've told
you this before, wherever you find salvation in the scriptures,
it's in the past tense. It's in the past tense. How come
it's in the past tense? Because God declared the end
from the beginning. As far as he's concerned, everything's
in the past, except when we get to glory. Isn't that right? So listen to this. Who hath saved
us and called us with a holy calling. Oh my, now listen to
this, this will tear people up who want to be saved by the words,
not according to our words, but according to His own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, four words,
before the world began. When did the world begin? When
God said, let there be. God gave us grace in Christ and
gave us a holy calling before he said, let there be light.
And tell you what that means? Before the world began. That's
a long time ago. Listen, salvation of who he is.
Salvation of the Lord. God himself is the one who this
salvation originated with. And I tell you what, in salvation,
you know, if you plan a salvation and purpose a salvation, well
how are you going to, we all have plans. You know, I've been
watching them build a house real close to where we are. They went
out there and they started with a piece of ground. But they had
plans. And then they started very slowly
and executed those plans. Now if God purposed salvation,
now how's he going to execute that salvation? If he's got a
purpose, he's got a plan, now how's he going to carry it out?
What's he going to do? How's he going to execute it?
How's he going to carry out this salvation? Well, the scriptures
tells us that in the fullness of time, God sent forth his son,
made of a woman, made under the law to redeem us out from under
the law. And one day, there was a woman
named Mary, and God sent from heaven, sent an angel named Gabriel,
said, go down there and tell her she's gonna have a child.
And that child is gonna be born of me. That the Holy Ghost is
going to come upon her and she's going to have a child conceived
in her womb. And that child you're going to
call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sin.
And so that angel come down there and told her that and she said
how in the world is that going to be? Said I don't know man. God said, I know how to be. Now
remember, he said, great is the mystery of godliness. God was
manifested in the flesh. Huh? God was manifested in the
flesh. So God, in executing this, he
sent his son. He came up with a covenant of
grace. And in that covenant of grace,
the Lord Jesus Christ stood good. before the world ever began for
an elect people, a chosen people, a people that was given to the
Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. God said, Son, He said, My beloved
Son, you're the light of my eyes, you're the joy of my heart, you're
my bosom, and I love you. Oh, I love you, God loves you. You're my only son. He said, but I'll give your people,
and they're a bunch of rotten, corrupt, sinful, godless, God-hating,
Christ-rejected, sinful from the top of their head to the
sole of their foot, and their hearts are full of deceitfulness
and wickedness. But I tell you what, if you stand
good for Him, if you'll bear their sins, If you bear their offenses, if you bear the hatred and enmity
of their heart, if you let me, if you let me judge you in their
place, let me punish you in their place, let me charge their sins
to you, Our Lord Jesus stood up and said,
Father, I delight to do thy will, thy will I delight to do. Just send me, I'll go, I'll go. And he started out as a baby,
infant, infant. And you know, there was an old
man, an old man, older than I am, I'm sure he
was. He walked in the temple one day and they had the Lord
Jesus Christ in there to dedicate him to the Lord, the firstborn.
And there was an old man walking around in there and he picked
that baby up. And that old man with that old
white beard, You know, and picked that baby up and said, oh Lord,
oh Lord. My eyes, I'm looking, my eyes
see thy salvation. Holding a 40 day old baby. He
said, my eyes have seen thy salvation. Now Lord, let me come on home. Let me come, and you ain't ready
to go home until you've seen the Lord's salvation. Or if I
saw him, if he saw salvation in an infant. And then when our Lord Jesus
Christ became 30 and entered into the ministry, born of this
virgin woman, and this man, this man, this glorious God man, he
come in here and he lived the life that you and I could not
live. God demands, listen, I know people really, they don't understand
this, they don't get this, but here's the thing, God demands
perfection. He will settle for nothing less
than perfection. He'll settle for nothing less
than a righteousness equal to himself. You got to, you know,
they said, when first Peter said, be ye holy as I am holy. And
there's people running around trying their best to be as holy
as God is holy. And I tell you what, they don't
know it. They don't have a clue what's going on. God's high and lofty one that
inhabits eternity. His throne is a throne of holiness. They called them holy angels,
and the angels cried, holy, holy, holy before. So our blessed Savior,
when He undertook for us, He undertook for everything that
about us. He was born sinless, but we were
born in sin so that He could deal with our original sin. That's why he was born as a baby,
like we're born as a baby. And then he lived for 33 years
on this earth, or 33 and a half, and our Lord Jesus Christ, every
day he was on this earth, he did God's will perfectly, he
loved God perfectly, he obeyed God perfectly, he never sinned,
he was perfect from the day he was born, and when he was on
that cross, He was not on there for anything that He Himself
had did. He didn't do it. And I tell you, when they entered
into that covenant, our Lord Jesus Christ came into this,
and I'm telling you this, everything He did, He did voluntarily. The only thing, two things constrained
Him. The love for His Father, and
the love for His people. And you know why He loved us?
Because His Father loved us. You know why He loved us? Because
the Father gave us to Him. That's the only reason why He
would love us and could love us. He couldn't love us any other
way, could He? So I tell you Christ, He had
to execute this. Had to execute it, and I'm telling
you what, he laid the foundation, you know when we talk about building
a building, he laid the foundation in grace. And over in Zechariah, it said
they started building a temple, and when they laid the top stone
on it, they said grace, grace, shouting grace, grace unto it.
Grace from the foundation, grace in the walls, grace on the ceiling,
grace on the roof, and the top stone said grace, grace unto
it. Oh, He executed it. Now, Him
sending Christ into this world, standing good for us, as our
substitute, our sacrifice and our sin offering, that ain't
gonna do you and me a bit of good, unless we have some way
to get it. Now, how's you gonna get this?
How are you going to get this salvation that Christ came here
to accomplish when he said it is finished? How are you going
to get it? I'll tell you what. You're going
to get it by your free will? You're going to get it by your
works? It's got to be applied and how
in the world is that? Who applies it? Does the preacher
apply it? Does the Catholic Church apply
it? Does what God does, He come along and give Phila a chance,
and when He gives you your chance, and you cooperate with that chance,
then you'll be saved? You know, for you to get this
salvation that Christ accomplished, do you have to come up here and
get on your knees before God? Do you have to come to the front?
Do you have to sign a card? Do you have to make a decision?
How do you get it? How are we going to get to salvation
that's finished? How are we going to get to salvation
that Christ come and accomplished, that God originated with God?
How are we going to get it? God's got the third part of the
Godhead. They call him the Holy Ghost.
God said, listen, them people can't save themselves. They ain't
got no power. They ain't got no ability. And
not only they don't have no power, they don't have any ability.
But they're dead on top of that. They can't hear me when I speak
to them. They can't see me when I'm everywhere. They've got a heart that's not
for me. They're dead, how am I going to give them life? Well, God scratched his head,
as some people say, you know. Wheeled around in his wheelchair,
said, well, I'll tell you what, I'll stand over the banners of
heaven. Come on, please come to me, come to me. Stand up, stand up for Jesus. I tell you what, if you all give
enough money ever, I heard a preacher say one time, it cost me 47 cents
to win a song. Come on, give me some money. We'll go out here and win some.
Let's get the music right. Listen. Don't never let them
know you're going to give an order call, because if you do,
you've got to sneak up on them, because they'll slip out before
you get up there. Don't do that. Whatever you do,
sneak up on them. No. I'll tell you how God applies
it. You know what He does? He said,
Our Lord Jesus Christ says this, He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. My sheep hear my voice. And they ain't gonna follow a
stranger. And our Lord Jesus Christ, He came and He says the
Holy Spirit. And when He sends Him, you know
what He does? He sends the ability to hear. You know, you go through the
scriptures, you cannot find anybody that God did not call that was
ever saved. Abraham was an idolater in Mesopotamia. And God came to where he was
and said, Abraham, you leave where you are and you go where
I'm going to show you. Abraham said, okay, I'm gone.
Huh? Lazarus! Lazarus! Donnie Bell, Dirk, Gary, Doc, come forth and he that was dead
came forth. What, Lord? I sure would like
for you to get out of that tree. I think I'll go home with you
today. No, Zacchaeus, come down. I'm telling you, he'd come out
of that tree so fast. And you know what our Lord said
next to him? Today I must abide at your house, for salvation
has come to you today. He didn't come to him the day
before, didn't come to him the day after, and he was up the
tree exactly where God put him for Christ to call him out of
the tree. Oh, that infant, that infant
cast out in Ezekiel 16, that baby infant, naked. His mama had him. And he came
out, and he still had his umbilical cord stuck to him. And there
was something wrong with him, and they threw him out in the
field. And he had afterbirth on him, and corruption on him,
and filth on him. Mama couldn't give him life.
Daddy couldn't. But our Lord, God said this,
our Lord said this, I pass by thee and saw thee. Saw you! And I saw you polluted in your
blood. Oh, you're so polluted. He said,
oh, but it was a time of love. It was a time of love. And you
know what else he said? He said, I washed you. Oh, I
washed you. And I cleansed you. And then
I swallowed you. And then I spread my skirt over
you. And then I decked you out in new clothes. I put some beautiful
jewelry on you. And you know what he said when
he passed by? When it was a time of love? I say unto thee, live. I say unto thee, live. Oh, listen. I am, I cannot bless God enough
that God came to where I was, because I certainly couldn't
go where He is. Huh? I can't go where He is. He has to come where I am. And you go through the scriptures, everything, just like Mephibosheth.
Mephibosheth. Jonathan and David entered into
a covenant. He told David, he said, David,
you're going to be king. There's no doubt about it. But
he said, would you show mercy to my house? King David got up one day and
he says, is there any yet of the house of Saul that I can show mercy to? He
said, well, there's one. There's a fellow over there,
he can't walk. He can't walk. Why can't he walk?
He fell. Crippled. Can't walk. He said,
well, where's he at? He's over in Lodebar. That little
place over there where there's no food, no bread, it's dry and
barren. Go fetch him. Go fetch him. And he fetched
him, and you know the first thing he said when he got in King David's
presence? He said, why dost thou look upon
such a dead dog as I am? And don't we still feel that
way? God, how could you look upon such somebody like me? How
could you? How could you? How could you?
So how in the world are we gonna get this? It's a factual calling. God's gotta call you. And I'm
telling you, if he calls you, if he calls you, and that's the
whole key to it, he's got to call you. There's some men went
to him one day and they told him, they said, if you be the
Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you, and yet
you believe me not. Why don't you believe? Because
you're not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. You know
why people don't hear the gospel? Not his sheep. But I'll tell
you this, he don't turn goats into sheep either. There's only
two sheep, two kind of sheep in this world. Found sheep and
lost sheep. But all the sheep, all the sheep,
the good shepherd laid down his life for. It's like the prodigal
son. Did he cease to be a son when
he took his father's goods and went out into the world and wasted
all of it? He's still his son. Here's what
I'm trying to tell you, is that we were God's sons and God's
children when we took everything God gave us Everything God gave
us and we wasted it by riotous living until we realized we didn't
have nothing left and we was poor and penniless and eating
stuff that hogs eat. He said, I'm going to go back
home. And you know what? The father
was looking for him. I'm going to go back, and this
is the first thing we say. I'm going to go to work. I'm
going to go to work for Jesus. I'm going to go to work for God.
I'm going to make promises that when I start going, I'm going
to live it. I'm going to get me a Bible, and I'm going to
really do something. And then when you get there,
the father says, no, no, no, no, no. You ain't going to do
a thing. You ain't going to do nothing.
Bring that best robe over here. Put it on him. Oh, listen. Let me stretch my arms out here.
No, no. Put it on him. Bring a glorious
ring over here. Put it on his finger. Showing
a covenant, showing love. And then put new shoes on his
feet. That gospel of peace, put it on him. That's how you get
it. And let me say this. Now once
God gives it to us, and once God comes and calls us, how in
the world are we going to keep from losing it? Now you think about that. You
know, look at me. As sorry as I am, as sinful as
I am, sorry as, I mean, I sin when I preach, I sin when
I pray, I sin when I read. Sin's mixed with everything I
do. So how in the world am I going to keep this salvation? Huh? When I would do good, I find
out evil's right here with me. I've got the will to perform.
Oh, I will to do. I will to do. But how to perform? I find not. What I would do, I don't. And what I wouldn't do, I do. So how are we going to keep this
salvation? How are you going to keep a salvation
when you get up some days and you don't even thank God until
4 o'clock in the afternoon? What are you going to do and
keep a salvation that you don't open your Bible for 4 or 5 days
at a time? How are you going to keep a salvation
when your mind gets in some of the awful states? How are you
going to keep it when you get depressed? How are you going
to keep it when you're in despair? How are you going to keep it
when you go someplace you ought not go? How are you going to
keep it when you say something you ought not say to somebody? How are you going to keep it
when words come out of your mouth and you say, oh my, how could
I have said that when you done something, how could I have done
that? How are you going to keep this? How are we going to keep it? Same way we got it. He which hath begot a good work
in you shall perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. God said he would perform for
us and then bring us, he'll perfect us and then take us to glory.
You know, God's got to carry on that word. God's got to keep
us. When our Lord said, I give unto them eternal life, that's
all we got that. But here's the next thing he
says out of it, and they shall never perish. If this left up to me, I'd have
perished years and years ago. If salvation was left up to me,
I'd have lost it years and years ago. It said over there in Psalm 91 that God put us under the shadow
of the wings of the Almighty. What a blessed place to be. Our
Lord Jesus Christ said, I'm the author I'm the author of their salvation.
You know what else he said? I'll be the one to finish it
too. When our Lord said this in John
6 37 said all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And most people all they do is
quote this verse. Him that cometh to me I'll never
cast out. But it's only those that are
given to him. He said I'll never cast them out. Then no way, there's
no way in the world I can cast them out. And I cannot tell you
how much I've pitched my cam, drove down my
nail, my stake right there on that house. I'll never cast them
out. Some of you have seen me do some
awful things. Some of you have heard me say
some awful things. And I've been places I should
not have went. And I think, oh Lord, are you going to forgive me?
Are you going to cast me off? Are you going to let me go? No. No. Simon Peter, I've prayed for
you that your faith fail not. He's one of them people. Galileans,
no, no, no, no, I don't know that man. Well, if he was one
of these disciples, you're lying, I don't know that man. A little maid come and said, you're
one of the, if I saw you with him, I don't know that man. And the Lord Jesus was standing
there bound. In that judgment hall, Simon
Peter standing there looking at him and Christ looked around
at him. Looked him right in the eye. And you know what happened
to him? He went out and wept bitterly. And you know what the Lord said?
He said when he appeared to him after his resurrection, he says,
you go and tell Peter that I'll go before him and meet him in
Galilee. Tell my brethren, but especially
tell Simon Peter. Because Simon Peter wouldn't
have went. He said, I can't go back in Christ's presence. No,
but Christ can go to where he's at. And ain't you grateful? Ain't
you grateful? Oh, how many times have he prayed
for us that our faith fail not? How many times has he held us
up when we, listen, I'm gonna tell you this, I said there's
never been a time that he ain't never held me up, because I can't
make it on my own. I can't make it on my own. I
can't. I can't do it. And then let me
tell you something. How in the world are we gonna
end up with this salvation? How's it, you know, how are we
gonna get to glory? How's that gonna happen? I don't
know the way. I don't know how to get from
here to heaven, but Christ does. And you know what he said? Oh,
bless his holy name. He said this. He said, I go,
I go. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. You know what I'm going to do
for you? I'm going to go away. And I'm gonna prepare a place
for you. And if I prepare a place for you, he said, you know what
I'm gonna do? I'm gonna come again. And I'm
gonna come get you. And you know what I'm gonna do?
I'm gonna bring you to where I am. I'm gonna bring you where
I am. He said he's gonna bring many
sons unto glory. You know what David said? And
I think every one of us will say this here today. I'll be
satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. I'll be satisfied. For our dear, dear, dear, dear
brother, best preacher I ever heard, Brother Henry Mahan, he
prayed night after night, year after year, Lord take me home,
take me home, take me home. He got to where he couldn't hear,
couldn't hear nothing, couldn't preach anymore. God, for him,
take me home. Prayed for him and Scott. So
Lord, take me and Scott home. They took Scott home. Left him
here. Finally, one day, he came and got him. Took him
home. And I tell you what, if we get
to go home, he's got to be the one to take us. Mr. Spurgeon said this, our first
movement as a believer is by grace. And if God took us right
to the threshold of heaven itself to go through the door and left
us to take that last step, we'd never get in. But you know what? That last
step when we cross glory, that threshold of glory, will be by
grace as much as the first one we ever took. Ain't that right? If that's true, I've got more
than blessed hope that you'll ever have in this world. Oh,
what a blessed hope I have. Huh? Oh, what a blessed, blessed
hope I have. I've got to, I got to quit. I
tell you, I just, there's nothing like this glorious gospel. Huh?
You know, I'll tell you something. I acknowledge my need of Christ. I acknowledge my need of the
gospel of grace. Not just occasionally, but continually. I'm never weary of it. Have you? I'm never weary of thinking about
it. Never weary of talking about it. But I don't want or need
just any gospel. I need a gospel of grace. A gospel
of grace. A gospel that gives the glory
to God Almighty. And I'll tell you why. I'm a
legalist by nature. I'm a legalist by nature. I need to hear grace. I'm self-righteous
by nature. I need somebody to tell me that
I have no ability. I have a darkness in me that's
frightening. And the gospel comes and drives
it away. I'm often in despair and often
in depression. The gospel gives me courage,
brings me courage, brings me such a glorious, glorious hope.
I'm sinful and I'm weak. The gospel gives me assurance,
forgiveness, and strength. I wouldn't know which way to
go if the gospel didn't direct my steps. And I wouldn't be saved
if it wasn't for the gospel of God's glory. Because see, he
originated it. He executed it. He applied it. He sustains it. And one of these
days, you know what he said? I'll quit with this last quote. For whom he did foreknow, him
he also called. Whom he called, he also justified.
Listen to this. And whom he justified, he also
glorified. What do we think of these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? Our Father. Oh, our Father. Oh, your grace just overwhelms
us. Your gospel just overwhelms my
heart, my soul. Overwhelms me, Lord. It just
overwhelms me. It fills my heart with such joy,
such thankfulness, such peace. Lord, bless your name. I'm thankful for what you did for
me. I'm thankful that I obtained
mercy. God bless the gospel today. Use
it for your glory and the good of your people. I ask you in Christ's name, amen,
amen. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. T'was grace that taught Oh, sing it. And grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear. Oh, listen. The hour. I first believe. Amen. To any dangers, toils,
and snares, I have already come. This grace that brought me safe
thus far, and grace will lead me home. That's what I just said.
When we've been there ten thousand We've only just begun. shining
as the sun. We've no less days to sing God's
praise than when we first begun. Well, God bless you.